Computerchairgeneral

Yeah, fighting open source emulators is kind of like fighting a hydra. People will fork the project and one of those will probably emerge as the alternative to Ryujinx. At the same time Nintendo did manage to get an entire team of developers to exit the Switch emulation scene under penalty of breaching the settlement. It’s not going to kill Switch emulation, but they did manage to take down one of the most popular ones.

I’ve been grinding away at Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Spent the last few days running up against the brick wall of the Chapter Twelve Two-against-four boss fight that still manages to make you feel outnumbered. I was suspicious of just how the insistent the game was about checking out the battle arena, but it kind of feels mandatory if you want to get through that fight. Also managed to get spoiled for that Chapter 14 boss fight while looking up strategies, so I’ve got that to look forward to.

EA saw how many studios Embracer has been shutting down and got worried about losing their record for killing off the most game studios.

So, they’re no longer part of Activision and presumably no longer part of Microsoft, but they want to keep working with Microsoft? So will they be completely independent or are they just no longer under Activision in the Microsoft hierarchy? Either way I hope a partnership with Microsoft means they might be able to make Spyro 4. Also, excited at the prospect of studios breaking away from Embracer. Obviously there is no guarantee that they’ll be treated better, but at least they have a better chance of not being shut down by the end of the month.

I love the commitment to it, especially the spine reveal. It’s a shame they were shut down soon after they finished it, but what a note to go out on.

This is like getting punched in the gut and then pepper-sprayed.

So after banning adult content a few years ago, Tumblr decided to shoot itself in the other foot? It feels like the people in charge are actively trying to drive off the site’s users.

I never played Galaxies, but I was always fascinated by the concept of it, especially before it was revamped. The idea of giving you the freedom to just exist in the world of Star Wars was always something I wished more games would do. I mean, I loved KOTOR for what it was, but you were still the main character of a story someone else had written. It’s a shame nothing has really tried to emulate the style of Galaxies since then.

It’s a shame for everyone involved, but at the same time it doesn’t feel that surprising. It doesn’t feel like their games after Until Dawn reached the same level of success. I remember the Dark Pictures Anthology getting mixed reviews as it went on and I don’t really remember much about the Quarry’s reception except the hype around it being the next Until Dawn.

Thirty hours into Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Main story has started to ramp up, but I keep getting distracted by the business management mini-game and the kart-racing minigame that I just discovered while wandering around the map. It never ceases to amaze me just how dense these games are and just how many side activities they managed to pack into one game.

This is what happens when you wish for the resurrection of a beloved IP. Another finger on the monkey’s paw curls. The idea of a Crazy Taxi live service game is weird enough, but it’s just bizarre that they are using Fortnight as a major inspiration for the Jet Set Radio reboot. I guess at the very least we are getting proper remakes of these games alongside the live service reboots. It will be interesting to see how the games do head to head, especially with the difficulties live service games have been having lately.

It’s a shame that people are being laid off, especially when it seems like it’s retaliation for complaining about working conditions. Still, I don’t think I’d ever be able to buy anything from ZA/UM after they kicked most of the creators out of the company and took control of the IP.

You know if anyone needs to be let go maybe it’s the management who were spending like there was no tomorrow and are now throwing everyone overboard to stop the ship from sinking. Or, you know, just keep cancelling games and shuttering studios. I’m sure that’ll work out eventually.

It’s crazy how far micro-transactions and monetizing games have come since Bethesda charged $2.50 for cosmetic armor to put on your horse. If you’d told someone back then that one day an in-game mount would cost more than the game itself they would have laughed you out of the room.

Back to Yakuza: Like A Dragon after a week of playing steam demos from the Next Fest. I was surprised at just how many I ended up enjoying. Crypt Custodian is a neat little metroidvania about a cat sentenced to be the underworld’s janitor. Nice art style, sense of humor, and good puzzles. Cryptmaster is a typing-based dungeon crawler where every enemy you defeat gives you letters that you use to spell out the names of the skills you use in combat. It’s certainly an inventive take and I’m looking forward to the release. Surprisingly, my favorite demo ended up being for a platformer called Happy! the Hippo. It’s based on janky PS2-era platformers like Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. The game is purpose built for you to pull off those kind of tricks where you skip chunks of the level or even break outside the bounds of the game entirely. It’s really fun to play, but what I’m really enjoying about the game is the weird, almost horror game stuff that shows up the longer you play. It feels like an ARG game in a way, like Crow 64 if anyone remembers that. Or something like Shipwreck 64, a game that is a platformer on the surface but is actually a horror game once you get in far enough. Except Happy! the Hippo never turns into a horror game. At least not in the demo. There’s plenty of strange stuff the more you explore, but it never descends into an outright horror game. It feels like all the talk about how old 3D platformers could be unsettling and odd was a major inspiration for the game. Hoping the finished the game keeps that tone when it releases.

Seven years feels about right for a length between consoles. I am curious to see what they do with it. It’s hard to see Nintendo not sticking with the handheld console approach with the Switch 2, but just building a more powerful Switch doesn’t feel very Nintendo, if that makes sense. Like there has to be some feature or gimmick to set it apart from the Switch.

They’re charging people higher prices and refusing to allow them to keep their digital content? They’re basically just handing out the pirate hats and eye patches at this point.

It’s really been whiplash inducing to go from reading about how Microsoft was going to dominate gaming because of the Activision buyout to reading about how Microsoft is going to be the next Sega and are possibly exiting the console market. And it all happened in the span of a few months.

When the politicians say that they clearly mean they’re going to take away other people’s freedoms. Not my freedom. My freedom is going to be fine.

Yes, because console wars. A lot of people that bought into the Xbox brand are angry Microsoft is “giving up” and “disgracing” developers by putting their games on PlayStation. It doesn’t help that without a clear statement from Microsoft people are free to speculate that Microsoft is going to be the next Sega and Phil Spencer is going to personally come to their house and destroy their Xbox.

More seriously, there is some genuine concern about what will happen to the digital libraries of people who bought into the Xbox eco-system if Xbox stops being a thing. Or what will happen if the AAA game market comes down to Sony and Nintendo. But there are a lot of people angry their favorite mega-corporation “lost” even though we have no idea what Microsoft’s actual plans are.