VitaTV: Sony's First Good Handheld Decision
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/14/13 at 03:21 PM CT
This week, Sony announced their first sensible decision with regard to the PlayStation Vita (and, indeed, their entire handheld ecosystem). The VitaTV is a $100 microconsole ($150 with a controller, but it supports the DualShock 3 controllers we all presumably own already) that brings the world of PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable games to the big screen.
I’ve long been a proponent of handheld-to-TV adapters, and had great respect for Nintendo’s past decisions with the SNES’ Super Game Boy and the Gamecube’s Game Boy Player. But recently, Nintendo has been slacking in this capability, and there is currently no 100% legitimate way to play DS or 3DS games on anything but a tiny handheld device (though DeSmume is a rock-solid emulator for PC). With the WiiU’s similarities to the DS, I have been expecting a DS Player announcement for months, yet none has been forthcoming. Instead, Sony took the world by surprise with a device (currently slated only for release in …
Backlog: The Embiggening - September, 2013
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/07/13 at 01:37 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. Perhaps the Summer Game Drought never really brought its full force to bear this year due to the impending dread by smaller developers of the juggernaut mainstream releases coming in September. Not that September actually looks to have many good releases, just that it will have at least one release that will sell to every ne’er-do-well with a game console: “Grand Theft Auto 5.”
Of course, the shovelware and licensed dreck developers aren’t afraid of “GTA5.” They’re doing their own thing since their target audience is too young to buy a ‘GTA’ game over-the-counter (no matter how fervent the desire). Thus we’re getting a new game based on HotWheels toy cars (Do kids even play with those anymore?), a DS back-port of a 3DS/Vita LEGO game, and teenaged DC Comics superheroes. Slightly older teens, whose angst surely will cause them no end of despair at their inability to legally buy “GTA5,” will have to content …
Review Round-Up: Summer 2013
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/01/13 at 02:17 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:
Summer is traditionally associated with vacations and lots of time to have fun. But as adults with multiple jobs, the MeltedJoystick crew doesn’t really get to experience that anymore. Instead of chipping away at my backlog and clearing out a large number of games (like I wanted), I ended up falling into the trap of trying to play two different RPGs at the same time – one a single-player TRPG and the other a MJ online co-op game. It is a lesson I learned long ago, but I experienced a momentary lapse that doomed me to a Summer of backlog stagnation: NEVER try to play two RPGs at the same time!
The drought of local co-op games has continued, leaving us with only a compilation of old arcade games to tide us over. It didn’t really live up to expectations. But now “Dragon’s Crown” is finally available to us, and we’re …
Could Microsoft be Pushed Out of the Console Race?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/23/13 at 06:55 PM CT
A recent TechFlash report has revealed that not all is well in the Land of Microsoft. According to the report, ValueAct, an investment firm that buys percentages of struggling companies with the goal of guiding them back to profitability, wants to make some big changes... one of which is rumored to be the disposal of the Xbox Division.
The Xbox Division, despite a few recent years of meager profits, has historically been a massive money pit into which Microsoft has joyfully poured billions of dollars that would have been better spent making their existing products better. The total of these recent profits has done nothing to dent the ever-present black hole of back debt generated by the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 during its first few years of its life. With the overwhelming amount of ill-will generated by the Xbox One even before retail availability, it doesn't look like things will be getting any better during the 8th Generation. It would be best to take the Xbox Division, …
5 Conspicuous Absences from Steam Greenlight
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/17/13 at 04:06 PM CT
With Steam Greenlight opening the doors to anyone with $100 to submit their game project for potential publishing on the world’s most popular digital distribution service, it would make sense that every Indie game with any kind of public interest would join the struggle for votes. Yet all 5 of the Indie projects currently on my radar are conspicuously absent from Steam Greenlight. Do some of these developers have access to that mysterious method by which some Indie and small-budget games appear on Steam without going through the Greenlight process? Are these projects still too far off from a finish date (even though there are plenty of games appearing on Steam Early Access as paid alpha and beta tests)? Regardless of the reasons, these are some Indie projects that should appear on Steam Greenlight, and if they did, I would encourage everyone to vote for them.
1. Project Eternity
The state of PC RPGs has been pretty dismal since 2006, when “Neverwinter Nights 2” provided the …
3 Ways to Make Your OUYA Suck Less
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/10/13 at 01:40 PM CT
Depending on where you look, you might find that the OUYA Indie console is experiencing incredibly light sales that contrast drastically with its overwhelming Kickstarter support, or it’s selling so well that Amazon has sold out of them. Either way, if you’re a new OUYA owner, whether a Kickstarter backer or a retail purchaser, you have probably found the upstart game platform to be… lacking in many areas. After spending a month futzing around with my OUYA, I have gathered a few pieces of sage advice that I want to share with other frustrated OUYA owners in order to make the Indie console experience as non-horrible as possible.
1. Tip the OUYA onto its side.
Having problems getting your OUYA to connect to your wi-fi? Find that the controller lags to the point of unplayability after just a few minutes? What I initially assumed was a firmware issue, then a controller issue, then a battery issue (it seemed that the OUYA controller would stop lagging for 15 minutes on a …
Nintendo Direct 8/7/2013 - Wii U Titles
Nick - wrote on 08/07/13 at 03:24 PM CT
Nintendo Direct is a "new online home for exclusive Nintendo news - broadcast directly to you, the player". Does this mean Nintendo is actually coming out with new Wii U games? Well, they still claim to be... but are they crying wolf? I think instead of having a new means of announcing news, they should simply get their butts in gear and release some games! Here is a breakdown of the current announcements.
Sonic Lost WorldThis game is expected to be released October 22nd, 2013. The game itself doesn't look at that interesting, and why it is taking so long to come out I have no idea. The multi-player aspect of any Sonic game has never been very good, it is more designed to enjoy some fast paced action for about 20 hours of your life before you get bored with it. This game also comes out on the 3DS, and you can tie the two together for some sort of cooperative play. Let's face it, no one is going to do that. And if this is why it is taking so long to come out, that's pretty …
Backlog: The Embiggening - August, 2013
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/03/13 at 03:09 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. As I predicted last month, the Steam Summer Sale did terrible, horrible things to my backlog. However, the damage wasn’t nearly as severe as I’d expected, considering that most of the great-looking Indie games on my Steam Wishlist (nearly 20 of them!) didn’t go on sale for more than 50% off. Anyone who understands Steam Sales knows you DON’T buy until the discount reaches at least 66%, but preferably 75%-80% off. I did add a few things to my backlog on the cheap, however: “D&D: Chronicles of Mystara” (not on sale, but the MJ crew really wanted to play it), “The Cave,” “RAGE,” “Deus Ex,” “Deus Ex: Invisible War,” “Deus Ex: Human Revolution,” “On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3,” “On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4,” “Fallout 3,” “Fallout: New Vegas,” “Krater,” “Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams,” “Ys I,” Ys II,” “Borderlands 2,” and a little bit of DLC for some …
Xbox: Done - Don't Be Fooled Again
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/31/13 at 05:33 PM CT
As my friend George "Dubya" Bush so eloquently put it:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
After having what has to be considered one of the most disastrous launch campaigns ever conceived, it seems Microsoft has done a complete 180 and taken out all that nasty stuff that pretty much everyone was complaining about: the always on requirement? Gone. The crippling DRM preventing trading and selling used games? Gone. The Kinect 2 watching you while you sleep? Now you can turn it off. Giving Indie Gamers the finger? Now they're invited back to the party.
What does this all mean? To me, nothing. For one, if Microsoft has that little issue in turning things around so quickly - it just means they could just as easily change their minds in the future. Hell, if they would have simply stuck to their original guns, I may have at least …
OUYA vs. Steam Greenlight: Clash of the Indies
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/26/13 at 06:21 PM CT
As my first impressions showed, after all the hype, I was not actually impressed with the OUYA Indie console – or its games – once I actually got some hands-on time with it. On the other hand, my love of Valve’s Steam gaming platform only continues to grow. Yet, when it comes to the distribution of independently developed games, both platforms seem to want to wear the crown.
While OUYA went the Kickstarter route of so many Indie games, turning itself into THE Indie Console, Steam’s endeavors to court Indie developers mainly revolve around a new section of their web services called “Greenlight,” which was launched in August 2012. After a scant year of existence, Steam Greenlight has found itself home to hundreds of candidate games and, at the time of writing, has ‘greenlit’ 125 of them for inclusion in Steam’s library once they are finished. Of those greenlit games, 47 have already been made available for sale.
Both OUYA and Steam Greenlight remove most of the …
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