Where Is Zelda in Breath of the Wild?

     We were recently treated to a new trailer for the next Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. In it we see towns and settlements as well as NCPs fighting Moblins. We also see what looks like the ruins of Hyrule Castle town in the wake of Ganon awakening and decimating the area as well as Hyrule Castle. What we also see is a bunch of characters most notably two female characters.
     One of the female characters we see is wearing a female attire almost identical to what Link's default outfit in the game and promotion. She also has a Sheikan tablet in her hands. Another woman is standing next to Link. We see this woman is wearing a gown embroidered in gold and blue. We  don't know exactly who these women are as their faces are not shown.

     Going back to the female in Link's clothing, you would think that this could be a female version of Link, right? Well, according to Eiji Aonuma, the director of the Zelda series, we are not going to have a female version of Link in this game. Perhaps this character will be Zelda in the game. This isn't the first time in the series where Princess Zelda's role hasn't been solely princess of Hyrule. She has been a pirate, and a Sheikan warrior in the past games. This could alude back to Aonuma's comments about a female Link in the game. He did say that if there were to be a female protagonist in the game, it would be Princess Zelda. In some form Zelda could have a role where she is going through trials and awakening posts just like Link is in the game or may even assist Link in some of his trials.

      If the woman in the female version of Link's cloths is Zelda, then who could the woman in the gown be? There have been rumor that this could also be Princess Zelda later on in the game, but it could also be another important character in the game. It could be Impa. The gown looks similar to the outfit Impa wears in Skyward Sword. It even has a braid, just like the braid Impa had. It makes sense for her to make an appearance in the game since you are using Sheikan technology and the Sheikan tablet in the game. Impa's role could be just like Skyward Sword where she is a guardian, or like other Zelda games where she is a sage. She could also very well be a priestess of something.

WTF Are Ultra Beasts: A Theory

 

     Pokemon Sun and Moon are mere days away from being released worldwide and the game looks like it is loaded with tons of goodies. Z-Moves, Alolan forms of classic Pokemon, revamping classic game mechanics like HMs and Gym Leader battles with Trials and Poke Rides. This is a lot to take in from one game. One of the biggest feature in this is also its biggest secret, the Ultra Beasts.

     With the game only days away we still have no clue on what exactly who they are. The only information they have given us is that the are "really powerful creature that could pose a threat to both pokemon and humans" and due to data mining we know that we are able to catch them. But exactly what are they? 

     With the ones that haven been revealed so far, we see that some of them look like characters from the game. UB-01 looks like Lillie, UB-02 Beauty looks like Lusamine, and UB03 - Lightning does looks like Guzma. UB-05 Gluttony does look like the new pokemon WishiWashi's school form. Hypothetically you could suspect that the Ultra Beasts are creatures that are made up of human and pokemon DNA. This isn't new to the series, at least not new to the manga series. In the Pokemon Adventures manga Mewtwo was made up partially of Team Rocket scientist and Gym Leader Blaine's DNA. If this theory is partially right, this leads to the question, who made them?
     There are two possibilities. The first one is Team Skull. We don't know what Team Skull's true intentions in Sun and Moon might be, but it might be more than just being gangsters in Alola, especially since they are at odds with the Aether foundation which is doing research on Ultra Beasts and where they come from. Another possibility on who created them is the unkown legendary pokemon that was revealed in the latest issue of CoroCoro last week. The unkown pokemon does bear a striking resemblance to the Ultra Beasts. Going back to what I said earlier, with Team Skull, and basically every villainous team in the series since Ruby and Sapphire,  this could be their intentions in the game to create their own pokemon using this unknown pokemon. What also supplies this theory is that one of the members in Team Skull, Gladion, has new pokemon Type-Null which seems to be a genetically man made pokemon almost in the same way Mewtwo and Genesect were man-made as well. It is almost named the same way as the Ultra Beasts are.
    These may be theories (wild guesses actually) and nothing is concrete but we will probably find out when Pokemon Sun & Moon comes out November 18th.

     

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?
   

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.

Metal Gear Survive: The Future of a Franchise?

     Metal Gear Survive is the newest game coming out for the Metal Gear Solid franchise. It has already have some differences form the past games. For one it is the first game since the departure of its creator Hideo Kojima. Second it seems that Konami is taking some liberties from the other games as this game will feature zombies. Konami Europe president Tashiro Tomotada has stated that Survive will be a "fresh take" on the series.
     So far the game has been met with some backlash. For one the most recent trailer on YouTube has been met with a lot of dislikes. Adding to that Kojima in a recent interview at TGS 2016 kinda did a backhand remark on the game, saying the following:
"That’s nothing to do with me!" “The Metal Gear games are about political fiction and espionage,” “Where do zombies fit in with that?”
     The idea of adding zombies in the series isn't new. Kojima himself had an idea of putting zombies in as "nanotech" corpses in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Even though zombies never made it into the series, weird has never been new to the series. Psycho Mantis, time paradoxes, The Sorrow, and playing as an old Snake to name a few. This however does raise an interesting question dealing with the direction the series might go post-Kojima. Will Survive be an inkling of the future of franchise?
     Going by Tomotada's words, I see this as Konami's way to put their own spin on the franchise and as a way to differentiate themselves from the Kojima-influenced Metal Gear games of the past. They're testing the waters. Whether the franchise is in trouble or not is indeed uncertain. Some things will work and some things will not. Time will tell. What is important is that Konami sticks to what made the series great and not delve too far from that. Everyone is scared that concerned that with zombies, the series and the people developing the new games will lose sight of the past games and it will be a big mess, kinda like THAT other zombie video game series we won't talk about. If they stay focused on what worked for the past games and how they can improve that then maybe we won't have anything to worry about.

What are your thoughts on the future of the Metal Gear Solid franchise? Is it in good hands?

Is The NX Nintendo's Last Chance For A Good Console?

     The NX is probably the biggest secret Nintendo is keeping right now. Since the past two years of what we've heard it being announced we know absolutely nothing about it. Also every bit of information from it has been rumors so far. Nothing legit or official. They have chosen not to reveal anything about it in the past E3 and more recently this Nintendo Direct happening today. You can kinda makes sense of Nintendo being reclusive. They're trying to do something extraordinary. And they kinda need it.
     What isn't a secret is the underperformance of the Wii U and the 3DS. Not that many people bought the Wii U. It is low even compared to the its console rivals the Xbox One and PS4. They did many attempts to try to boost up sales and it did somewhat work, but the company has still faced revenue lost for a few years. With this failure of the Wii U, and once upon a time the Gamecube, Nintendo is starting to repeat the previous failures of their former rivals Sega. In a recent interview with Alistdaily, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that one of the problems with the Wii U's failure was not successfully demonstrating the Wii U's software capabilities with consumers.
     If they don't think of it as their last console, then they ought to. Nintendo cannot afford another failure console. Fortunately they are aware of the issue they are facing. In the same interview Fils-Aime further stated:

"One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience. And we have to do a better job from a software planning standpoint to have that continuous beat of great new games that are motivating more and more people to pick up the hardware and more and more people to pick up the software."

     It is apparent that a lot is riding on the NX's success so it is understanding that they are taking their time to officially announce things. They're making sure everything is perfect and the NX raises standards and expectations. Whether things come out perfect or people are willing to buy the NX will be determined when we Nintendo finally announce what the console can do.

Is Pokemon Go Over?

 

    Pokemon Go is the breakout game of the summer. Pokemon Go is an app developed by The Pokemon Company and Niantic where it uses your phone's GPS and allows you find and catch pokemon, find pokestop locations for items like pokeballs and lures to attract pokemon, and fight at gym locations. If you are unfamiliar with the franchise, I would like to know how was living on the moon. When the game was available for iOS and android in July, it was 90s Pokemania all over again. It has done extremely well. It caused Nintendo's stock to rise like a Ho-Oh form the flames. It had more users on it than Tinder and Twitter. Everything seems just perfect, except it's not.
     Over the past few days Pokemon go has been in a bit of controversy. The recent update was an attempt to fix some issues with the app like the 3-step glitch. The latest update removed it all together as well as the batter-saving option. Reasons for the removal were quoted

"We have removed the ‘3-step’ display in order to improve upon the underlying design," the company wrote. "The original feature, although enjoyed by many, was also confusing and did not meet our underlying product goals. We will keep you posted as we strive to improve this feature."

     This was enough to make some fans of the game outraged. The game is still facing problems with lag and crashing. It seems like everytime Niantic, the company responsible for Pokemon Go takes one step to fix an issue, they get knocked two steps back. The features are slated to be coming back. But is the damage already done? Is this and continuing problems with the app enough to give this game a short lifespan?
     First of all there seem to be a lot of issues with Niantic. We were basically handed a broken game when it had server issues in the beginning and even now. They weren't prepared. They are however acknowledging the problem and Niantic's CEO John Hanke says they are working tirelessly to making improvements. All problems can be fixed, with the right people fixing the problem.  So is the app officially dead? Not really. Luckily for them people are still using Pokemon Go. It is obvious that  there is some serious work done. Hopefully the problem is fixed soon, and especially before Gen 2 pokemon get here.