Nintendo is the Most Tone-Deaf Member of the Band
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 03/26/17 at 03:11 PM CT
When it comes to the popularity of PC-like consoles over the last decade, nobody really seems to understand “why.” Sony spent quite some time pondering why the PS4 did so well at the beginning of the 8th Generation, but never came to any conclusions (at least that they announced publicly). Rather, the company is merely content to accept the fact that they are currently loved. They will likely expect this love to continue into the 9th Generation, despite never figuring out a cause, and thus no way to replicate the circumstances that brought about their current popularity.
Nintendo is, as always, in the same boat with Sony; neither company truly understanding why they’re doing what they’re doing. Unfortunately for its fanbase, on the rare occasions when Nintendo plays Follow-the-Leader and adopts ideas from other game industry giants (specifically Western ones), they always seem to miss the point.
Ever since the Wii first brought Nintendo into the online marketplace for …
How to Fix Steam in Three Simple Steps
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 03/19/17 at 03:23 PM CT
Ever since Valve, the parent company of near-monopoly PC gaming hub, Steam, introduced their Steam Greenlight process a few years ago for adding games to their online storefront, the service has been increasingly flooded with submissions. While Gabe Newell seems to be in love with the idea of removing barriers between Steam and people who want to sell their products on Steam, the result has been less-than-spectacular for the PC gamers who use the service. It is well known that Steam’s library has ballooned over the past couple years, and that a significant portion of the new submissions are not the type of thing anyone would actually want to buy.
Last month, Valve announced that Greenlight was going away, to be replaced with a new process called Steam Direct sometime in Spring 2017. While Greenlight leveraged crowdsourcing to approve submissions, Direct aims to leverage recoupable application fees in the range of $100 to $5000 instead.
If the goal of removing Greenlight and …
He’s Everywhere II!: Pokemon Edition
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 03/05/17 at 03:25 PM CT
Last year, when I roasted Chris for his birthday, I had to cull down the large list of Chris-like videogame characters to a mere 10 for the article. This year for Chris’ birthday, which was yesterday, and in honor of the big ‘Pokemon’ anniversary that took place recently, I have decided to create another list of videogame characters that remind me of Chris, but this time, I will be limiting them to the collectible critters of the pocket monsters universe.
If you ever think you’ve encountered one of these pokemon in the wild, don’t whip out your pokeballs and berries… just run away! It’s probably actually Chris.
10. Darumaka (#554)"It’s small. It’s round. It’s bizarre-looking. It looks inexplicably happy, despite a roaring internal fire. Somehow this pokemon is even more disturbing than Chris, as its Pokedex entry describes how people love to put its hot droppings inside their clothing in order to stay warm. If anyone put Chris droppings in their clothing, …
Review Round-Up: Winter 2016
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 03/01/17 at 02:29 PM CT
Welcome back to another installment of the MeltedJoystick Review Round-Up. Here’s what our staff has reviewed since last time:
Nelson’s Reviews:
This quarter, I finally got the opportunity to play “Pillars of Eternity,” which I had been looking forward to since… 2000? Between that and a few short, Indie RPGs, I got my fix, plus I had a chance to play a truly excellent Metroidvania… and a not-so-excellent one.
“BADLAND: Game of the Year Edition” – 2/5
“Dragon Fantasy (Book I): The Volumes of Westeria” – 2/5
“Dragon Fantasy (Book II): The Black Tome of Ice” – 3.5/5
“Shadow Complex Remastered” – 4.5/5
“Pillars of Eternity” – 4/5
“Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition” – 3/5
“Warhammer Quest” – 3.5/5
Chris’ Reviews:
I don’t really know what Chris was up to this quarter. We don’t have that much in the way of coop reviews to double-post, since we all spent the better part of Winter playing the Early Access …
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