Sunday, October 30, 2016

Will People Switch Over to the Nintendo Switch?


     After a long period of guessing, speculation, and really ridiculous rumors we have finally caught a glimpse of the NX, oops I mean the new Nintendo Switch. It didn't disappoint. The rumors of it being a hybrid of a console and handheld were true. You can disattach and take it with you anywhere from cars, flights, and even take it with you to play with you and your friends after playing a real game of basketball and reattach it to the modem at home. The controller looks pretty awesome as well as you can connect it like a old school controller or take it apart and use it like a Wiimote. You can even connect it to the Switch Pad and play games just like the Wii U screen. Yes things look really cool but will all of this'll ad to the Switch flying off the shelves? Will it get people to put down their PS4 and Xbox One controllers and Switch over to the Switch?
     It does look like a big step up from the Wii U which is already a good thing. It is apparent that the Wii U's launch and run was more of a fizzle than a big explosion. At first it wasn't anything that was setting it apart from the Wii other that a game pad. But the it would take more than technology to get people to buy the Switch. It needs games.
     One of the big problems Nintendo had with the Wii U, was its library of games during its launch. It didn't have enough solid game titles to get consumers to buy. Third party games were even worse as we barely had those during launch. They were in a drought for a couple of years until they had to revamp their marketing strategy.
    Fortunately for Nintendo, they are well aware of this issue they had with game title, especially third party ones and are making a system that encourages third party companies to want to work with the Switch and third party developers do want to work with the system. People are also excited based on only a snippet of what the Switch has to offer. Again, the technology look great but it doesn't matter if you don't have games that people want to play, especially at the launch period. It's great Nintendo is well aware of this and have a strategy to make sure we have some good games to play right from the start. It does have potential for it to be huge. It will be a waste if Nintendo squanders its chances by not backing it up with the right amount of effort to make sure it does well. It is expected to sell 2 million at launch if the demand is well deserved. We'll see if whether people are going to switch over to the Switch.

What do you think?
   

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Did Paper Mario Sticker Star Really Suck?


     The latest entry in the Paper Mario series, Color Splash has been out for a while and the response has been very, colorfully bright. People have seemed to be recepting the game very well. Complimenting the game has giving the series a fresh paint job by having fun and witty writing, creative gameplay, and puzzles that are just as fun. Some fans have been saying that this has been a breath of fresh air and the most fun Paper Mario game in a while, especially to past games in the series, including the one in this topic Sticker Star.
     Most games often have a black sheep in the series. Zelda had Zelda II, Metroid had the recent Prime Federation Force, and Final Fantasy had everything post the PS era. For this series from word of mouth it would have to be Sticker Star. Is Sticker Star worth of the the hate?
    I personally played it, am playing it and I have no problems with the game whatsoever. I like the battle gameplay where it sorta went back to its RPG roots where you would go into a turn-based battle, this time being decisive and using strategy of what stickers to use and the thing stickers were witty and clever. But why the hate? If you could pin it on something, maybe because of the battle gameplay. It was something completely new. The original Paper Mario was completely RPG, which they changed with Super Paper Mario and they drastically changed again with Sticker Star and Color Splash. It was completely different from the original Paper Mario gameplay which instead of it just being turn based, you need to have a set of stickers to actually fight and progress.
     Of course Sticker Star wasn't perfect. Some people may had trouble solving some of its puzzles as others and the humor was a little light compared to past Mario RPGs. Despite that Sticker Star wasn't really that bad or at least bad enough to get the hate that it gets. It is still to some degree enjoyable.          Going back to what I said earlier, it was a big change for the series and maybe that is why people wasn't receptive of it at first. Luckily people have come around to Color Splash as it perfected the gameplay in Sticker Star. It's also a nice for them to step up on the humor that made the Paper Mario series great.