Random Gaming Thoughts II ~News Items Beware~

Kickstarting anything is an investment. Like any investment, that's fraught with risk. So like any risk, don't spend more on it than you can afford. I don't back much, and in doing so I don't overstretch myself; so I'm not likely to be put off in the future.

However, as for YL delivering exactly what was expected, I don't think it's beyond yer average backer to expect some modern-day gaming conveniences to be brought forwards, even into a retro platformer. Shovel Knight had on-cart save, despite being NES-stylee. A competent camera should be an absolute must, for example (and was my main problem with going back to SM64).

I've only backed two games on Le Kickstarter: Yooka-Laylee, and Bloodstained (and I can't remember what possessed me with the latter ). I think Kickstarter is for those kinds of games, though: ones that only a relatively small audience are actually interested in, so that investment can be captured and the development team can make the game they want to make. Whether that translates into a success (Shovel Knight) or not (Mighty No. 9) seems like a side issue for some devs. Y-L follows a template - perhaps too closely - but that was the intention.

Shenmue III will likely be a Yooka-Laylee situation - those that enjoyed the previous games will lap it up but I can see it being torn apart by some critics who don't understand the fan-focussed baggage these Kickstarter games often come with.

That Jim Sterling Yooka-Laylee review was ridiculous though. Really gone off of him lately with his OTT bashing.

That's exactly why I gave up on Zero Punctuation. I've never warmed to Sterling, though.

Balla I hear the camera in YL is a big problem and is something that is left over from the N64 era.

I think SK is a little different to MN9 & YL as it is a Yacht Club are a young team which grew up with Mega Man etc and made a game like that but over the years of gaming have seen the changes over the years and fitted it into a love letter to those older games.

I've heard likewise. It's worrying, that's 3D gaming 101.

I enjoy ZP because you come in expecting him to bash everything - and he does, humorously.  (He quite liked BotW though.)

Went to see hear Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses last night with my friends Katie, Jake and Amelia. We had some fun Switch play in the car, I saw the tail end of Insomnia Games Convention and met lots of cool games people, we went for a Nandos and I had an entirely unsatisfying veggie burger then gorged myself on other people's leftover chicken, and finally we went and saw some muzak.

It was incredible. My friend Katie was bawling her eyes out a couple of notes into the first song, and I definitely got a bit teary. Amazing stuff, obviously highly recommended to anyone on this forum (apart from Cappa, 'natch). It was in Birmingham though, so didn't get home until 1AM and I was already knackered from the night before and working all week.

Considering the only other UK date they've got this year is in London, I don't think I'd be able to go down and see it. It sounds like a blast though, which is somewhat gutting there's no dates a little bit closer to home.

How utterly amazing is this summer looking for games by the way? For me it's fuller than the last four or five Christmases put together. Off the top of my head, Sonic Mania, Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, Tekken 7, Everybody's Golf, ARMS, Splatoon 2 and Micro Machines World Series are all day one purchases by the end of August. I might still be tempted by stuff like Hey Pikmin and Steamworld Dig 2 as well. That's just mad.

I don't think summer will match up to either the holiday period or spring for me.  BotW and MK8D, then Xenoblade 2 and SMO (if neither's delayed).  Both of those duos are better than anyone has any right to expect.

But then, I am a single-format gamer, and looking forward to games is always good!

Sure is Cappa, I've been saying for ages that 2017 will be a banger.

I replied to Balla earlier about ARMS and I said something about supporting that New IP. Some of you have said in the FIFA 18 thread you may pick up to support 3rd parties and I said it myself about Skyrim even though I can buy it now on PS4 for £25.

Zero in one of the Metroid threads and RT from the GNamer account about buying the games coming to get more in the series.

Why do we say these things when it comes to Nintendo? I see sometimes on the other systems like buy Crash Remaster and we may get GTR remaster or buy Dragon Quest Heroes and more DQ may come to the west but that's from PR people not us the fans saying it.

Only other one I can think of maybe is Days Gone on PS4 as Bend have been working on it since Golden Abyss (2011) and not much hype around the game, so studio could close etc (I doubt it) which we never want to see.

I think people tend to complain about a lack of third-party/ certain franchises on Nintendo but then fail to buy them. It's just a case of putting your money where your mouth is.

I'm not a big believer in it anyway. I buy the games I want, and I resent the capiatalistic idea that purchasing power should be the driving force in what art gets made.

Resent it all you like: we're all part of the big capitalist machine, as are the companies we support.

Having said that, I pretty much put my money where my taste in games is. Although I didn't in the latter half of the Wii U's life because I could barely be bothered turning it on...

I won't buy a game to "show interest" (sorry ARMS), but I will admit my loyalty to Nintendo is such that I'm waiting on both the supposedly-underwhelming Yooka-Laylee and the supposedly-superwhelming Rime are coming to Switch. I think it's the attitude of the developers in these cases. The sound that's come out of both Playtonic and Tequila is "we're dead cuffed 'cause we're making a Switch version!" and I'm a sucker for that. Whereas the big companies tend to be a bit more PR-speak; they could probably live comfortably financially without investing in a new format, and that's their top priority.

I'm going to try to avoid buying games in July - money's a bit tight at the minute and I do have lots of games in the backlog that I could and should be playing instead. I haven't got RPG Maker Fes yet, though, so that does mean The Mathster Quest will be delayed.

That's entirely fair. It would be impossible for me, of course: July is the month of SPLATOOOOOOON.

For a nice change, Nintendo have made July look quite good. There'd have been plenty of Julys in the past where I'd have joined you in buying no games, Zero...mostly because Nintendo usually had hee-haw going on in plenty of Julys in the past. I don't think anything came out at all on the Wii U in July 2015 or 2016.

For me personally, that depends if Hey! Pikkers is any good, else it's going to be a one-gamer.

Not thinking of picking up RPG Maker Cappa? I jest, but at the same time I'd actually like to see the genre subversion that would cause. (Possibly just one enclosed room full of people saying, 'Fuck off and play FIFA instead.')

I can't find the thread I was looking for but we had where we came up with our own game ideas (looking back we've got some old forum game ones that might be worth having another round with) and Drunka came up with one with Godzilla but you played as a human.

This isn't exactly what he meant but this is coming

It was this thread. You're right, that doesn't quite match up with what I was talking about but I am excited to give it a pop.

Yes that's the one where I basically make Bioshock

On that note: if you're on Twitter, I'd recommend following @newgameplusbot - for a bit anyway - it generates ridiculous video game ideas.

Schmedit: As for that old post about making games, I realise that was ~3 years ago and I haven't made anything really in that time .

Has anybody outright banned themselves from buying more games?

I have so many games that I need to play that I am thinking of not buying anything for 2 years. Bear in mind I've pre-ordered a SNES Mini, but I've also got the likes of The Last of Us, Uncharted 2, Binary Domain, X-Com: Enemy Unknown, Civilization V, Rocket League, Xenoblade Chronicles, Psychonauts, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Saints Row The Third.

That's ignoring the early Wii games I picked up. In July 2019, I reckon the Switch ver. 2 will be out so could be a good time to dive back, but is a self-imposed ban actually possible and has anyone ever done it?

Not me, but my self restraint is pretty good. The switch marks the first console I've had at launch - every other console has been at least two years after its launch. Because of that, I've always been one to rifle through the bargain bin first, knowing that there will be done cheap gems in there, therefore picking up no more than a couple of brand new games annually.

My back log is still bad despite that, but it's normally just stuff priced like a meal deal that remains untouched; I usually have a go at everything I pick up otherwise.

The biggest problem I have is that despite enjoying, for the most part, all the games I buy, my interest fluctuates quite wildly week to week so I don't end up finishing things I don't deem world class: see so many half finished master leagues.