Preordered Hryule Warriors, SSB 3DS, and Pokemon Omega Ruby today.

NINTENDO, TAKE MY MONEY

^ Pre-ordered Zelda U and ordered a Wii U today.

Odd, I thought you liked Jimquisition.

Are you deliberately trying to take some offence with all my posts now? Of course I'm not trying to single handedly change the game market. What concerns me is the false notion that exclusivity is somehow in the interest of the consumer. Complaining about that notion isn't childish, it's common sense.

Zelda U I'm going to wait on a concrete release date before preordering. I prefer to have a date to wait on :V

There's also catering to existing demographics. I mean can we expect that Shin Megami Tensei will do well on the Xbox1? It seems portables are the right market for JRPGs. Turn based so you can stop playing at any time without any penalty. They don't demand a lot of hardware. I can't think of that being available everywhere and for Atlus to have some moral obligation to let everyone who doesn't have a 3DS try it out.

Also considering business relations, companies might just want to deliver a game for just one console. Seeing Bayonetta 2 vids it seems the people at Platinum were very happy with how Nintendo funded them and let them do whatever they wanted. Free money and free artistic freedom has to make a developer happy. If they make Nintendo exclusives it might be because Nintendo treated them well. Or if companies exclude making Nintendo games it's cause they don't believe Wii U games are a good investment.

It would be convenient of me to be able to play every single game on every system but I can't see how that would ever be the nature of the business. Each company has their mascots and style, their target demographics, their way of business relations with developers, and the types of games they want on their consoles. Whatever one best suits you is what you get.

Just like between Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video, Netflix is who I like cause they deliver the shows I want at the price I like.

Eh? Are you comparing console exclusivity to shady practices like on-disc DLC or pay2win and the likes now?

Er, no. I only call stupidity and useless whining when I see it. It's not my fault you're on a roll lately.

No one has said it was. But it's not particularly anti-consumer either, anymore than any competitive market is.

Not really, it's counter-productive and futile. Not to mention hypocritical when it's being handwaved when Nintendo does it "because mascots". Oh well, lol @ bitter PC gamers and their port begging... your tears are delicious, etc.

Yes, this is it exactly. What's more, different consoles were often better at different things just because of how they were made. The SNES wasn't good at the same kind of music the Genesis was, and vice versa.

Yeah, I don't usually pre-order much, but some Canadian stores give a 30% discount on pre-orders during E3 so...

You lucky little....

I wish I had that

No, but complaining about those is just as futile or non- futile as complaining about exclusives. At the end of the day producers will do what they think will make them the most money, and often Jim's appeals for trust and quality strike me as naive in their own way, but I digress. In truth it's not the best analogy.

*facepalm* You could at least take the time and try to comprehend what I wrote. Particularly if you're gonna repeat a misguided accusation I already rebuted.

The mascot argument came from Kahalachan. I merely referred to it and tried to explain (not justify) an aspect of it.

The difference is that in the case of so called "mascot games" it really is futile to ask for multiplatform support due to the reasons stated. Other games are exclusive for more arbitrary reasons. That's all.

Well, the PS3 stands out a lot at this point. I'm about ready to box up my 360 because outside of Halo everything else is on the PS3 and it continues to drown in exclusives with a lot of good stuff still coming into 2015. The winner is clear to me at this point. I was a 360 supporter from the start, but once I made the switch I did not look back even for a second.

Anyways, I can't believe I'm seeing this argument around here too. But damn, consider me stoked for Bloodborne to be an exclusive. Compare something like Infamous Second Son to Watch Dogs. What's the real next step? That's practically a joke question. What sounds better, developing a game exclusively for one console, or having to build a game that works on 4-6 entirely different pieces of hardware? Can you imagine how much resources, time, and testing is used (wasted) on multi-cross-gen games nowadays? Pick out any of the early PS3 exclusives and look at them today, they've aged pretty well. I am really damn tired of the cross gen going on especially, can we please move on now? And not like From is known to push technical boundries or anything and I'm hardly a graphics guy (especially now, I think the Wii U brilliantly showcases that art direction and other things can completely outweigh that stuff), but shit, can we please just move into the next gen now? You've got no excuses, this past gen already had the longest console lifespan by a longshot. It's BEEN time to move on and leave them in the dust.

Anyways I'll be grabbing a PS4 when Bloodborne drops.

Game of the fucking forever.







Most metal game ever? You betcha. Can you believe, the above is from an old build they didn't want to show at E3 and it's actually a leak... oh my.

That looks really badass, Morrigan. Not the best graphics I've ever seen, so I don't really find it that hard to believe that those clips aren't the final product.

@HellBlazer: Zelda U is already up for pre-order!? It doesn't even have a title, let alone release date! I was such a giddy ten year old while watching that announcement trailer the other day. It's such a great time to be a rabid Zelda fanboy. Link Between Worlds was one of my favourites of the series, Wind Waker HD looks amazing and I look forward to playing that sometime before Zelda U (my main incentive for getting a Wii U) and I'm still confident they're going to go ahead with the Majora's Mask 3DS remake.

It would have been cool if some Mount & Blade: Bannerlord footage was released. Fuck I'm looking forward to that game so much.

Now that I finally had some sleep I still have some things to get off my chest:

See, the main point I was trying to make is merely that there's no good reason, as a video game consumer, to support the practice of platform exclusivity. There are good profit related reasons for the console manufacturers to do it, yes. Also it's not really a malpractrice like other bullshit the game industry serves us. Yet it's not something that can be defended from a consumer perspective, which some posters in this thread clearly tried to do. It's like supporting 60$ launch prices because making them cheaper devalues the product or some shit. Publishers have every right to set high prices but that doesn't mean I have to like it. In fact, I feel compelled to let everyone know that I won't buy any 60$ games because given that enought people do the same this is as good a way as any to reduce prices. Similarly if enough people expressed the sentiment that exclusive title are no sufficient reason for buying a console this should lead to more ports being made.

And whatever is wrong with promoting ports? I mean, fine, let them have their exclusivity for a year or two or three. Surely after such a period there's some economic sense in bringing your product to audiences on other platforms. If making a case for that is futile, then any attempt by consumers to influence supply and demand is futile.

But somehow arguing this way seems to warrant getting called out and insulted as stupid and childish (which is ironic at best), and being pigeon-holed into the platform antagonism box (GIMME YOUR GAMES ALREADY YOU FILTHY CONSOLE PEASANTS!!!). The only thing this has convinced me of is that you're an unpleasant debater, Morrigan.

Yeah, I'm also puzzled as to why the practice would be defended by the consumer, as it ultimately means less games for people to play (and thus less people get to experience the games that the developers put all their love and care into), or far more money out of our pockets in order to even get to them. It makes all the sense in the world for the console creators to do it (as it forces people to buy their console if they wish to play an exclusive) and publishers to do it (as, I believe, they get a nice hefty paycheck from Sony or Microsoft or whoever for being an exclusive). If you're a member of, or have ties to the companies, then it makes sense to defend it. But as a consumer? I scratch my head at it. Surely the most consumer-friendly practice would be to get rid of exclusives entirely so that everyone can play the games on their platform of choice?

I and... FSM I think brought up a few. 1) Time and money spent developing cross platform ports impacts the time and money that can be spent on actually making the best game possible. 2) Exclusive titles are designed with specific controls and specifics in mind, allowing the games to be built with (theoretically) a little bit more specific care. 3) Every console is going to have to deal with each game having it's market divided into smaller and smaller chunks, and prevents any console from gaining a library which makes them preferable to competition. This damages the profits there, which leads to money grubbing asshole tactics like always online, social media linking and microtransaction hell. 4) If the consoles aren't going to be different, why even have multiple ones? The similarity is what makes the few differences so annoying, there currently ISN'T a game based reason to actually differentiate between devices. This again means that profit's are cut for the business, which means they need to gauge elsewhere since less people are going to own multiple ones.

Yup.

1) That's a fair point but doesn't apply to ports made after the fact. 2) Same as 1 and also there are plenty of games to prove that it's totally possible for multiplatform games to support a wide range of specifics just fine (e.g. Dust, which was also made by a single person). 3) Happens either way because publishers are money grubbing assholes no matter what. Kinda reminds me of the argument that workers rights lead to fewer jobs. 4) Different hardware - see Steam Machines. Also if I had to decide whether to buy an Xbone or a PS4 that would be a very easy decision because the Xbone blows. One of the reasons for that are Microsoft's terrible anti-consumer business practices and since the PS4 seems to be doing much better I'm led to believe that those practices have a good chance of being prevented by consumer pressure in the future, particularly if there is more competition than just Microsoft vs Sony with Nintendo lurking in the background. But the causal link between multiplatform support and those shit practices is speculative at best. I'm very excited to see how Steam machines will shake up the market once they... well... pick up some steam...

A couple buddies and I got into the Destiny Alpha last night, you haters should really check it out, it's way better than I expected even in Alpha... As a retired Halo pro I guess the fact that I was going on 10-15 killing sprees kind of helps me like it more but the open world co-op MMO element is really fucking fun and impressive already.

You guys can keep bickering about whatever it is you're bickering about and Morrigan can keep posting a half dozen gifs of some game that everybody is going to drown the board in jizz over for the next two years.

I'm gonna sit here and just hang around on GOG and get I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream for less than a pack of gum.

Ports of (former) exclusives can sometimes be made, and that's great, but not when the games are financed (or outright developed) by the console makers. So... what then? Is it still a "shitty business practice" if Nintendo makes Mario games for its consoles and refuses to have it ported on other platforms? Absurdity. If Nintendo doesn't do that, there is no incentive for people to buy a Nintendo console. So people don't buy Nintendo consoles, and not only does Nintendo lose money that could be invested into the development of new games, the whole console market starts to fail (as it's doing in Japan right now -- Japanese gamers aren't buying consoles much anymore, and as a result we see fewer interesting games being released on consoles, just look at Capcom funnelling all their efforts towards mobile gaming ). Perhaps you'd prefer if there were only one console and only one company had the monopoly, or if all consoles disappeared and we'd have nothing else but PC and mobile gaming, but personally I find that a far, far worse alternative.

It's not about defending it from a customer's perspective, it's about explaining why the market is that way and why this aspect is not going to change and bitching about it is just childish entitlement ("b-but I want to play ALL OF THE GAMES!" okay then, buy all of the platforms! or, accept that there'll be a game or two you won't get to play, guess what, there's a zillion others). It's not a shitty or shady aspect of the market, it's a necessary one for that market to even exist, and it's been like that ever since the Nintendo vs Sega wars in the 80's at the very least. Unlike, say, on-disc DLC, asinine pre-order bonuses or absurd price points (which are not necessary for the market, which are indeed shady, and which can be voted against with your wallet without affecting the quality of games being released). Funny you should mention the $60 price point* as comparison; so you don't like that and wait for price drops, yes? Well, guess what, you can do the same with consoles! If you never owned a PS2 back in the day I'm sure you can buy one for very cheap and have access to its wide library of games today. In a few years you can play Mario Kart 8 or whatever by buying a Wii U for cheap if you feel the current option is too expensive. But if Mario Kart 8 were released on all the consoles, why should there even be multiple consoles in the first place?

* If anything, I should get to bitch about that far more, because games in Canada are now at $70 CAD instead of $60.

Now, can we please move on this stupid port begging (I should make that banworthy just like on NeoGAF ) and revel in the glory of Blooborne? Game of the forever, or what?

Haha, I'm calling it "GOAT" Game of All Time, because Satan.

Nope. Far Cry 4 looks pretty cool. Was also hoping to hear a slight bit about Saints Row V, but alas, nothing.

Bloodborne is going to be fucking incredible. I mean I'm not sure what to even say other than that. I've already been absolutely astonished countless times during my first playthrough of Dark Souls at the genius and intricacy of the environmental/atmospheric design, and Bloodborne looks like it's going to carry that experience so much further. I love the idea of a sprawling, seamlessly interconnected world the size of Lordran but with more of an interlocked aesthetic continuum to it. Dark Souls gives the impression of there being different, discrete "levels" within its world, however fluidly interconnected they are, so I would definitely welcome a step away from that into a more continuous, unbending, all-consuming aesthetic that would conjure even more of a sense of belief and place in the game world.

I'm curious to see how the online community experience will be integrated or how it'll be different from Dark Souls. I feel I'd enjoy the idea of online play more in the urban setting of Bloodborne rather than in Lordran, if only because being in a more thoroughly populated setting makes interaction with random individuals seem a lot more plausible and organic, especially if the prevailing atmosphere is that of a violent, paranoid, dog-eat-dog existence, where being ambushed and hunted down opportunistically would seem a little more logical within the game's concept.

Miyazaki described the online approach as an "explorative community," I believe, and part of me thinks/hopes that that will mean there will be parts of the game world that will be simply impossible to discover or traverse (due to sheer difficulty or hordes of beasties) without the help of at least one ally. It would also be pretty awesome if they continuously unlocked expansions to Yharnam (new catacombs, buildings, suburban zones) that weren't officially announced but could only be discovered or disclosed to others by the players themselves. A previously unpassable gate broken open, a window smashed, a roadblock moved aside, a crypt defiled, a crude ladder leaned against a wall, a sewer grate rusted away and destructible, a collapsed floor spanned with planks....that sort of thing. The city could be an evolving, ever-growing entity.

Ugh, me in a good VG store is like a kid in a candy store. I can't fucking leave without buying shit D:

I found MK3 (SNES, sadly not Ultimate), MK2 (SNES) and Shadows of the Empire for $6 each and Viewtiful Joe for like $12. Pretty good actually

With you there there has never been a better time to be a cheap bastard. Heck, some of my favorite games of the last few years have been fucking free.

Heh, many outlets will take preorders as soon as a game is announced. It's up on Amazon for instance. They want to secure as many sales as early as possible, so why not. With E3 deals, I'll get $20 off on it at launch too, so pretty nice.

It's going to be a loooong wait though.

EDIT: Also, for other fanboys, a long analysis of the short trailer. It's crazy all the details they spotted in the distance in that field scene.

Definetly riding on Bloodborne hypetrain, looks so damn brutal and visceral. I like the idea of not being able to use a shield, and that setting...

I think a Bloodborne thread is going to be in the works. It's effectively dominating this one, and there's barely anything released about it yet.

I've been on a bit of a point 'n' click kick this past week (not a genre I've really ever given a chance) and that title comes up a lot when googling recommendations for horror themed ones. Looking to get into something really immersive, that keeps you constantly on edge. I'd sort of thought there would be hundreds of horror point 'n' click games waiting for me to discover, but most lists I've found seem to be the same handful of games, not including all the indie flash based titles out there.

I actually came to this thread to ask for recommendations, what a coincidence to see that game mentioned.

Put down Dark Souls II for a bit and started playing Skyrim. This is my introduction to the Elder Scrolls saga, and I gotta say, it's rather nice so far. Just started, currently on the first dungeon, and focusing on destructive magic. I usually focus on physically oriented characters when playing RPGs, so going with a badass mage dual wielding spells is a breath of fresh air for me. I don't like how wonky animations can be in this game, but other than that, it's visually competent, and the atmosphere while you trudge the landscape is quite pleasing. Good first impressions so far.

[insert Luigi death stare gif]

STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

I hate Far Cry because the game can sell itself to me based on what animals do.

I wanted to play Far Cry 3 because I liked the idea of having wild animals killing things for me. I loved herding Komodo dragons and having them kill enemies for me or freeing tigers from their cages to take over a fort. Good times.

Now Far Cry 4 has elephants. I know I'm going to have fun with that. Goddammit why does this gimmick hook me so easily?

My, that leaked video look amazing! Really liking the art direction too, can't wait!

Exactly the kind of reactions I was expecting

Hahahaha well played.

Are you on the PC, per chance? Elder Scrolls is the kind of game that starts to get really boring fairly early on. That can be delayed to an insane amount with mods, however. It's a game that you may put 50-60 hours into with vanilla, but easily rack up hundreds with mods (so long as you can figure out how to install them and get the damn things working together, of course).

In any case, Skyrim was a massive improvement over Oblivion (though its expansion, The Shivering Isles, was cool), so it's a good place to start. Morrowind isn't as good as a lot of nostalgic people remember it as, but it's still a solid game worth looking into as well.

Also, good idea to go mage. Elder Scrolls has always had mind-numbingly dull melee combat.

All the good gameplay mods require Dawnguard

Snatched Skyrim up during Winter Sale and haven't touched it since due to that simple realization. Vanilla Skyrim just doesn't interest me very much.