Backlog: The Embiggening – March, 2019
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/24/19 at 04:05 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! The hoary, old chestnut states that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, or vice-versa. Here at the MJHQ, March is coming in like a big, annoying pile of snow, so it better damn well go out like a tropical paradise. At least we’ve already got our shovels (and snow blowers) at the ready, which will help with the lion’s and lamb’s share of this month’s game releases!
We’ve got 8 samples of shovelware to deal with this month. We’ve got an extra-crappy Sports title based on the “American Ninja Warrior” TV show, plus a couple of anime games based on “One Piece” and the incredibly convoluted “Fate” franchises. Nintendo is getting hit by a Casual mini-game shovelfest, “FUN! FUN! Animal Park,” by Aksys, who apparently think the Switch is still the Wii (and when you have to put that much ‘FUN’ in your game’s title, you’re trying too hard). Every platform except Nintendo’s is getting a new …
Square-Enix and the Pants on Fire
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/17/19 at 02:46 PM CT
Remember way back in 2018 (3 months ago) when Square-Enix earned special praise in the MeltedJoystick Year in Review retrospective? It is with great sadness that we must recant that praise and return Square-Enix to the garbage heap with the rest of the “AAA” mega-corporate publishers.
When Square-Enix released “Dragon Quest 11” in the West in September 2018, it came with much fanfare and reassurance from series creator, Yuji Horii, that it would be a ‘complete’ on-and-done purchase. Those reassurances were the sole reason I was willing to break my rule about buying “AAA” games at launch for anywhere close to full price.
By December 2018, rumors were already rumbling that the year-late Switch version of “Dragon Quest 11” would include ‘improvements,’ but these rumors were widely interpreted by the gaming media as meaning that the Japanese version of “Dragon Quest 11” would have the additional features the PC/PS4 Western versions contained (like …
Science: “Copyright Infringement is Good for Everyone”
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/10/19 at 03:30 PM CT
At long last, science, that great discipline through which all Truth is revealed, has taken a look at a unique phenomenon of the modern world: Copyright. Since the Digital Revolution brought on by the advent of the Internet in the early 21st Century, IP rightsholders have tried desperately to continue enforcing their will on the general public through excessive lobbying, which has led to increasingly draconian laws on the state books in numerous countries, such as the United States, Poland, and most recently Japan.
In a 2018 study by Indiana University, spearheaded by Antino Kim, science has proven what many of us have known for decades already: Copyright infringement results in a win-win scenario. But how is it possible that flaunting the law of the land can lead to positive results? It’s quite simple.
In moderate amounts, copyright infringement benefits the rightsholders for digital media by creating demand and increasing mindshare (a.k.a., positive network effect). …
Backlog: The Embiggening – February, 2019
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/03/19 at 01:46 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! After getting off on the wrong port… err… foot, 2019 is still chugging along. Let’s see what February, the month for lovers, holds in store for us to love. Or hate.
After multiple months without licensed garbage, annual sports releases, or super-casual fluff, the shovelware has come home to roost. Fortunately, the numbers aren’t great enough to require more than one shovel, though they’re all roughly the same type of licensed trash: A tie in for Monster Energy Drink, a tie-in for the new ‘LEGO Movie,’ a manga ‘Jump’ magazine tie-in, a tie-in for the final ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie (with a mindbogglingly Engrish title), and a third entry in the ‘Yo-kai Watch’ anime tie-in.
In ports and remasters, unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch is still in possession of a commanding lead this month (no that that’s a good thing). Switch will be getting a lot of old crap, including “Rad Rogers,” …
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