Nintendo's 2016 Plans: A 1-Up or A Game Over?

     Nintendo has had a pretty stellar couple of years. The most stellar was probably their 2015. With a constant release of awesome games, along with awesome DLC and  Amiibos being a huge thing, it would be almost crazy for Nintendo to slow things down. Luckily they aren't.

      The current president of the company, Tatsumi Kimishima, is promising that 2016 will be a big year for Nintendo. He is making some pretty huge promises five to be exact that will help improve the companies sales and content. Right off the bat, he is promising to be very big on smartphone gaming as well as branching into other media like TV and anime. The president is also promising to try new concepts and new ideas instead of sticking to old ones. Nintendo is really thinking outside of the box, the console box.
     Nintendo's theme for 2016 seems to new, which is great. For a company to survive and stay as productive and relevant over the years it is important to always try to come up with new ideas. It keep s things fresh and it keeps people interested. In Nintendo's case, it was needed. Again, most of 2013 through 2015 was them trying to help improve Wii U and 3DS sales. The low sales of the Wii U and the 3DS were a product of using old outdated methods of marketing. Luckily Nintendo understood that and have made improvements and sale improvements were shown.
     There are a couple of things I'm excited for with seeing Nintendo's mission plan for 2016. One is the expansion of games in smartphones. Mobile gaming has not only become a huge trend but it has made itself known to  be a new form of gaming that is here to stay. We've seen this, sadly, with Kim Kardashian Hollywood and the over 200 million dollars it made. It's is a smart move for Nintendo to utilize this. Kimishima has promised that we will see Nintendo characters in mobile games. We sorta was introduced to this with Pokemon Go which is coming out this year, hopefully.
      Another is information about the next console Nintendo is working on, the NX. It is suppose to be the hub of what Nintendo is striving for this year as it is rumored to be connected to the internet, handheld, PCs, and smartphone. We are suppose to get information around E3, but since they seem to be planning on releasing it this year as well we need the information on it now.
      Bottom line it is refreshing and interesting to hear that Nintendo is going to do some big and innovative things that are new and very different. Will it work? There is a huge chance that it will as well as a huge chance that it won't. The good thing however is that Nintendo is gambling big. The 2016 plan is suppose to give them if it is pulled off an extra 100 billion yen. Let's see if that will happen in the end.

How do you think Nintendo's plan will work out in 2016?

Games We're Checking For in 2016

2016 is here and that only means one thing. No, that not that resolution to lose weight or quit smoking, video games. 2015 was kinda ok. We got Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront and Bayonetta is finally in Smash Bros. 2016 is looking to be even bigger and better. Here's a list of games we cannot wait to play this here, or at least hope they won't be delayed and we'll actually get to play this year...

Star Fox Zero

It's nice to see that the Star Fox series isn't gone, forgotten, and only relevant in Smash Bros games, sorry F-Zero. we were teased about a new potential Star Fox game all the way back in E3 2013 when Shigeru Miyamoto showed us a small demo in a Nintendo Direct. Star Fox Zero plays a lot like the earlier Star Fox games like Star Fox and Star Fox 64. It also incorporates a bit of mechanics from the cancelled Star Fox 2 for the SNES like the leg Airwing. Miyamoto states that Zero isn't a reboot, but more of an reimagining of the Star Fox 64 game where each mission is more episodic than 64's cinamatic approach.

Yooka-Laylee

We all remember playing Banjo-Kazooie on the N64. We also missed playing it after Rare was bought be Microsoft and haven't done much with the franchise. Yeah we did eventually get Nuts & Bolts but it wasn't the B&K that we weren't used too. Well fortunately Platonic Games, former employees from Rare, has heard your cries. As stated above the gameplay of Yooka Laylee is very reminiscent to Banjo-Kazooie as its your traditional 3D platformer where you will have a ton of things to collect. It even has you transform into various things, like Banjo-Kazooie. When it ended its Kickstarter, it made over three million, so it's an understatement that people are dying to have this game.

No Man's Sky

No Man's Sky is simply beautiful and stunning. The game pretty much involves you exploring different planets in search for material and lifeforms.You are dealt with an enormous sandbox of planets and star systems to explore all which seems to be individual and running independently in real time. As almost as the universe you are exploring in the game, the possibilities of what you can do in this game is endless.

Legend of Zelda Wii U

There is not much that can be said about this game as Nintendo has been pretty much hush about it. All we know is that the thing of the new Zelda game is all about exploration. Zelda Wii U is pretty much going back to the roots of the original Legend of Zelda game where the its just you exploring a large Hyrule map, except this time the map is much, much larger. Zelda Wii U gives us what is possibly the largest map of Hyrule in the series ever.

Doom

It's been awhile since we had a new game in the Doom franchise. A matter of fact almost twelve years. The game has been in development ever since 2008. Years went by and people got worried that the game was probably cancelled. The folks at iD decided to start everything from scratch in 2011 and that is how we got this. They've seem to have gone back to the basics and there is nothing wrong with that at all. It plays like old Doom and looks like new Doom. What's more to ask?

Uncharted 4

If you're new to the Uncharted series it is basically you, as Nathan Drake, going through exciting levels where everything is action packed and there are always surprises at every turn. Nathan's almost like an Indiana Jones, that steals. This time around Drake has been out of the thief business for three years. He is now getting back into the business after his long lost brother suddenly shows up. It is supposedly the last Uncharted series Naughty Dog will be working on so if that isn't a reason to buy I don't know what is.

Cuphead

I'm pretty much excited about this myself. Cuphead gives us a return of the shoot em' up genre. It's pretty as well with the classic 1930s cartoon animation. Seriously, it's like Mickey Mouse meets Contra.

Final Fantasy XV

Believe it or not, we've been waiting for this game for so long. The current and fifteenth installment of the series was once suppose to be Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which we thought we would never get after many postponements from Square Enix. Well we can now have a sigh of relief as it is now here and it is definitely will be releasing in 2016. Like Zelda Wii U, XV will be all about exploration. You and your party will be traveling across a huge map full of destinations and secrets that you will find and explore. What's different than the other series is that artistically the world you are in is a mixture of our world and the fantasy world, meaning that you'll be able to see giant admantoise  as you're driving down a highway and will actually encounter goblins, a staple enemy of the series, in caves. We were able to play a demo earlier and it was ok. Can't wait to play the whole thing in its entirety.

The Last Guardian

After years of postponement and tears of hope we have our prayers answered. Not much has been heard of this game for so long, we even thought that this game would be quietly cancelled, until it was recently revealed at E3 in 2015. The game has been in development hell since 2007. Helmed by director Fumito Ueda, Guardian will look and play just like popular and well renowned games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. You're a boy who has to navigate and solve puzzles through a giant ruin with this giant dog-chicken creature.

Dark Souls III

Unlike a lot of these games listed, we weren't really waiting for years or a long period of time to finally get to play Dark Souls. That doesn't mean that people have not been clamoring for another game in the series. Being the fourth installment Dark Souls III pretty much plays like its predecessor II, which I don't know how good that is being so damn hard. What's new to the series is a new gaming feature Ready Stance in which you can deal more damage to an enemy as well as faster combat gameplay. So if you like the last Dark Souls game, or just like dying over and over again I think you would love this.

What games are you looking forward to playing the 2016?

Metal Gear Solid: Will The Franchise Be Solid Without Hideo Kojima?

     This month we have gotten an official confirmation that game developer and producer Hideo Kojima and Konami are splitting up. If you've been somewhere in space for the past year or have been an employee of Konami the writing on the wall has been huge. We got the message that Kojima was planning on moving away from Konami for a while. It was apparent in interviews, the cancellation of Silent Hills, Metal Gear Solid V, both The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeros being Kojima's last titles, Kojima shutting down his studio, and let's not forget an New York Times journalist pretty much spilling the details.
      So apparently Kojima and Konami have already moved on to better things. Kojima is starting a new independent studio with Guillermo Del Toro and Sony and Konami is already staring the ball rolling by looking for a new director for the next Metal Gear Solid game. The problem is can Konami find someone to do the series justice. Can they even find someone who will make the games just as good as Kojima?
      If you are new to the Metal Gear Solid series, you need to know one thing. It is Kojima's child. It is his artist masterpiece. With Kojima's departure you have people worried or whether the series can go on or at least be as good without Kojima being a part of the project.

      Ironically they have done something like this in the past. Konami had made a American only sequel to one of the Metal Gear games in 1990, Snake's Revenge. Kojima had absolutely no involvement in making the game. A matter of fact he didn't even know about it until a developer working on the game told him about it. The game didn't fair well as the company made it by completely taking out everything that worked with the first game and just mad a generic shooter, pretty much like Contra, except not good. Luckily this made Kojima to make a true sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2 computer.

     I would like to believe that Konami had learned their lesson since then, considering the fact that they made sure Kojima has been involved in every Metal Gear title since then, and this would be the exact time to show it. Will they pull it off? It is a possibility they could or it's a possibility that they won't. One thing is sure is that whatever director they go with it will be tricky and they will have their work cut out for them. Again, it is hard to imagine the series without  Kojima being involved. It's almost like Nintendo without Shigeru Miyamoto or Wes Craven without the Nightmare series. For one thing, we will know that the series will be different. Hopefully it will not be that different. Hopefully a good different.

Characters We Probably Won't See As DLC in Super Smash Bros... Maybe

     It's December which could mean only one thing, no not Christmas, the Super Smash Bros themed Nintendo Direct is almost here. Nintendo announced that for the month of December, there will be a Nintendo Direct dedicated to Super Smash Bros. We could be treated to new characters or new stages for upcoming DLC. Since the recent announcement of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII being added to the roster, you could almost add any popular character to the list, that's ever been on a Nintendo console or handheld, almost. While these characters might be cool to be added, they most likely won't. Goku and Shreik need not apply.


King K. Rool

 

If you don't know King K. Rool was the main antagonist for the Donkey Kong country series as well as Donkey Kong 64. He would torment the Kong family by stealing DK's bananas in the first game and would later on kidnap DK and Diddy in the later sequels. In Donkey Kong 64 he even went so far as to threaten to blow up Donkey Kong's home DK Island. When Rare was purchased by Microsoft that was the last we've seen of K. Rool and his Kremling klan, I mean clan, as the more recent Donkey Kong games moved on to more enemies that DK had to defeat. So, when Smash Bros was released for the 3DS, we were treated with seeing some familiar characters returning, the Kremlings in Smash Run. With the inclusion with Kremlings, it would seem more likely that their ruler would be making a long deserved comeback since Donkey Kong 64, right. Well he did, as a costume for the Mii brawler. Since K. Rool's appearance had been reduced to a costume, it is most likely that he might not be added.

Crash Bandicoot


Yes, the former Sony mascot has been in a couple Nintendo titles. Crash and Mario had an intense rivalry during the late 90s and early millennium as both of them adventured into 3D for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. His inclusion would have been huge as their rivalry during those times almost as big as Sonic's who is in the game. As with all things popular they become unpopular and the Crash series fizzled out with lower sales. We haven't seen Crash in anything since his last game in 2010 so we most likely won't see him in Smash either.

Banjo-Kazooie


If you were a kid in the early 00s and didn't have Banjo-Kazooie for the N64, your parents didn't love you. Banjo-Kazooie were characters in their own game during Rare's golden era of making games for the N64. Them being added like a lot of the characters here would be just for nostalgia reason, which are justifiable. They had a ton of games that made for Nintendo before Microsoft bought Rare. For that reason, they are most likely not going to be added unless Microsoft wants to loosen their grip and loan them out for a while?

Heihachi Mishima


Unlike the other characters listed, Heihachi, and other Tekken characters were actually considered to appear in Smash Bros, but due to software limitations during the developing stages for Smash Bros on the 3DS, as well as Masahiro Sakurai not know what to do for a movelist, Heihachi was dropped. That's probably why we got Ryu instead. Sakurai did give him a nod by making him a costume for the Mii fighter instead.

Ridley


OMG, he is not going to be in the game as a playable character. Give it up!

This Is A Linkle/Female Link Post

     A while back we were introduced to a "new" character for the up and coming Hyrule Warriors Legends game for the Nintendo 3DS, Linkle. Up until Linkle's debut she was just a concept art for the Hyrule Warrriors game. She was believed and written to be a female version of Link, the protagonist of the Legend of Zelda series. Now that she's an offical character in the game, Linkle is more of her own established character instead of being the female version of Link. This isn't more about Linkle's, but what she represented before she was made a full fledged character.
    Linkle represented an interesting ideal that whether the protagonist Link in the Zelda could be female. If you are new to the Zelda series the games and the Hyrule timeline spans across years with a new a different incarnation of the main characters Lunk and Princess Zelda. In almost each game you have a different Link and Zelda. This was introduced to the game Skyward Sword where Zelda was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and at the end of game both Link and Zelda's souls were destined to be reincarnated whenever Hyrule is in trouble. Linkle leads to a interesting theory that there could be a female incarnation of the

legendary hero. 

     It was a rumor that around Linkle's discovery as a concept art for Hyrule Warriors that the incarnation of Link that would be introduced in the upcoming Zelda Wii U game could possibly be a woman. The question is if Nintendo decided to switch the character of Link, and possibly Zelda, would it be a good decision?

     If Link was a woman in a possible Zelda game, it would be in fact good. Story wise, it would be interesting. It has never been said that the spirit of the hero has to be passed down to a male incarnation. It could add more to the Zelda mythology of the spirit of the hero being passed down to one person to another. It would be great as it would breathe new life to the supposed characters. It would be interested to see a Prince Zel and a female Link interact with the threat that could affect Hyrule.

     It could be important as it could symbolize what the character Link is suppose to be. Link is suppose to represent the link between him and the player. It is apparent that more women are playing video games as a hobby. It would be good for a girl who is new to not only video games, but new to the Zelda series to be able to play as a character that represents her.

What do you think about having a female Link in a Zelda game?

10 Weirdest Video Game Costumes Ever

Let's face it. Some outfits and costumes characters wear in video games are awesome. Some of are inspired to dress up as them this Halloween. When designing these costumes, designers can't do no wrong in making video game characters look totally cool, right? Wrong.

Dairy Bastard (God of War)


If you played God of War, you'd know that it is a very violent and brutal game. You're violently attacking cyclops and Greek gods apart in a quest for revenge. Kratos is a badass. You don't want to mess with him, maybe dressed up as a cow? In this costume, Kratos' blades of chaos are replaced with milk jugs of death? He also has unlimited magic and collects twice the amount of orbs, but his strength is reduced in half. Challenge of the Gods.

Nintendo Outfits (Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition)

You know what's worst than getting your ass kicked by Heihachi? Getting your ass kicked by Heihachi in a Mario costume. These costumes come with the Tekken Tag Tournament for the Wii U which not only your favorite Tekken characters dressed up as Nintendo characters, but it comes with power-ups like Mega Mushrooms which adds a little more strategy to fights, and a little comedy.

Alien Zack (Dead or Alive 5)


Fighting games sometimes offer fun costumes for character to fight in or just to see how . Nothing more fun and outrageous than Zack's alien costume. Zack gets two set of this costume offered as DLC. Zack as a character himself isn't new to outrageous costumes.

Tofu (Resident Evil 2)


When playing Resident Evil 2, you get to play a parody of The Fourth Survivor minigame called The Tofu Survivor where all the players of HUNK are all replaced with tofu. You get this by unlocking The Fourth Survivor and clear the Leon A/Claire B storyline 3 times with an A ranking. The tofu costumes reappear in Darkside Chronicles where the zombies are replaced with tofu.

Donut Drake (Uncharted)


The objective of a master thief is to get your pockets fat by stealing whatever you can. Apparently Drake heard otherwise. You get to play a much fatter version of Drake in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. You get this skin by .

Evil Panda (Onimusha)

Onimusha is a game where you play a badass warrior. Nothing says badass like a evil panda suit. You get this by collecting 10 Flourites and ending the game.

Princess Heart (Silent Hill 3)


Silent Hill is a scary game made by a Japanese development team. Sometimes Japanese culture can rub off. Princess Heart costume Heather gets to play that is seems straight out of some magical girl anime or something. It even comes with a cute transformation sequence. It's more than just a skin. Heather can use the sexy beam to kill monsters that will try to harm her.

Rainbow Kuma (Street Fighter x Tekken)


This outfit is based off of R. Mika from the Street Fighter Alpha series that Kuma can wear. It's a nice spin not only because of Kuma's moves, but it's also a nice reference to another Street Fighter character, Zangief who Mika not only met and fought with a few time, but also Zangief was known to wrestle bears in his meantime.

Cheerleader Riptor (Killer Instinct)

When Rare rebooted the Killer Instinct franchise it offered some retro costumes as DLC. You get to play as Jago and Orchid in their classic costumes from the original games. You also get this. Nothing says spirit like a raptor in a cheerleader outfit. It seems appropriate since Riptor is a female. I wonder if someone at Rare is a Raptors fan.

Street Fighter Animal Costumes (Street Fighter 4 Ultra)

Again, when developers come up with DLC they tend to make things fun and sometimes outrageous. These costumes are nothing but. I admit these are kinda cool but their weird nonetheless. It's especially funny to see Makoto as a chipmunk and Hikan as a octopus.

What are some weird video game costumes have you encountered?

Goosebumps: Does It Suck?

I haven't done a review in a while, so over the weekend, I went out to see Goosebumps. For those who are new to Goosebumps or who wasn't born in the 90s, Goosebumps was children's horror book series penned by R.L. Stine. The books were scary. Really scary. The books launched a ton of spin-off book series like the Give Yourself Goosebumps books, which were almost as scary since you choose how the story goes, and a TV series, which was just as scary as the books. The books generated a ton or sales and money for R.L Stine and has stuck with a lot of people either as nostalgia or as we're still getting nightmares about evil lawn gnomes. Which is more than an apparent reason why there is finally a movie based off of the books and series, right? At first hearing that there would be a movie, I had two things run into my head. First excitement. I loved reading the books and watching the TV series growing up as a child so it's no shocker I would be stoked for this. Another thing was the notion of whether they would do justice to the series. To many of us, Goosebumps is in a part of of childhood memories. We grew up on this. We would like to see if things were done in a faithful way. Was it? Was it cool, of did it suck?

Story

Let's start off with story. The whole premise of the Goosebumps movie was that all of the monsters in R.L Stine's books are real due to him creating them with his super imagination.They are all unleashed on the town and it's up to him and a bunch of teenagers, who let the monsters out in the first place, to put them back before they ruin the town. The whole plot of the movie is almost like Jumanji for the millennials or better yet a nice little spin on the intro of the TV series. The pacing of the movie is a bit odd. The first half which introduces characters and set up their traits is a bit slow and it does lag on a bit. When the exciting stuff happens in the second half when the monsters are out and the protagonists have to go after them it's quick. I mean really quick. The first half felt longer than the second half. Also, what bummed me out were that there were some famous Goosebumps monsters that reduced to just cameo appearances, some that were used for promo. As many books Stine made you would've figured out that they would featured more than the ones they chose. One example was that they could've shown more of the monsters going on a rampage on the town and one of my favorites, the Haunted Mask, could've been that character making mischief attack people as the run from the chaos kinda like Gremlins. On a positive side there are some Easter eggs in the film. See if you can find them.

Comedy

As I stated earlier, Goosebumps stories were scary. People had nightmares about them. So what do you do when you have some of the scariest books of kid literature ever? You make a comedy out of them. I think you can say that the Goosebumps movie is a form of satire on the series. It pokes of its self. The monsters were portrayed in a sort of comical form as you would think they would be in the books. Overall, there were some jokes that worked and some that didn't and were forced. An example was all the scenes with the main protagonist's (Zach Cooper played by Dylan Minnette) mom played by Amy Ryan. They did try to do the cool mom thing but they couldn't. Perhaps they should watch Amy Poeler in Mean Girls and see how it's done. Jack Black is standard Jack Black, weird fat guy that does something funny once in a while, like in almost every film he's in. Take that as you may. The highlight of the film's comedy was Ryan Lee. He basically stole every scene he was in and was gold.


Final Verdict

Goosebumps was alright for what it was overall, a kids movie. It was good, but it could've been great. Some jokes were great, some could've been better. They had a lot of material to work with and utilized than the stuff they used. Despite that it was sorta enjoyable. Audience beware, you're in for a okay scare. It gets a 3 out of 5.