Same reason emulators are allowed. As long as the emulator doesn’t use Nintendo’s literal software/hardware or schematics, and as long as the emulator doesn’t traffic in illegal file-sharing, it is allowed. Or at least, it exists in a legal grey area. And Analogue’s pitch is original hardware, essentially rebuilt from scratch using FPGA technology. You still need actual Nintendo 64 carts to use this device. Or at least, that is how it is marketed.
I think the recent emulator shutdowns by Nintendo were more about software piracy. The devs knew that their emulators were being used to play unreleased Nintendo games. The emulators themselves may have been safe and legal, but the devs are mostly just volunteers, or small time operations running on a patreon. As soon as Nintendo applied even the smallest amount of pressure, the devs caved, because they don’t want to spend their entire life savings and then some trying to defend software piracy on principle. Me thinks that Analogue would actually put up a fight if Nintendo tried anything, and that’s why Nintendo doesn’t try anything.
[alt text: a panel from a Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, depicting Sonic using his spin attack to cut a robot in half. There are caption boxes in the panel, which say: “For the first time in his life, Sonic is devoid of humor… For the first time in his life, Sonic truly understands the meaning of WAR…”]
[alt text: an image of a man standing at a self-checkout kiosk. The man has placed his hands on the scanning surface like he is playing a computer game. On the kiosk screen, it can be seen that the man is somehow playing Minecraft on the kiosk.]
[alt text: a photo of a statue of Mario in the process of sliding down a flagpole, as he commonly does at the end of Mario levels. The statue is placed in the video game section of a a supermarket. In front of the statue, there are multiple human hands holding up wads of US dollar bills towards Mario.]
how tf there only 2 comments in this thread? Y’all this is SILENT HILL TWO and it’s scoring WELL I guess my reason is horror games aren’t really my cup of tea. but this is a BIG DEAL!
Edit: here’s a key passage from the Eurogamer review that is hype:
The original game was both combat-light and a little short, and Bloober has addressed both these issues head-on. For the latter, the remake has opened up a slew of new landmarks for us to explore, so I devoted a lot of time picking through the streets of Silent Hill, revelling in the new-found freedom of being able to visit shops and buildings that had hitherto been out of bounds for us. This, coupled with longer levels and more places to visit, more than doubles the original eight-ish hour run-time.
As for combat? Well, be careful what you wish for, I guess. Silent Hill 2 was outrageously easy, even on its hardest difficulty, and Bloober’s edition is not. The good news is Remake doesn’t exactly make combat central to the experience (at least, not on standard difficulty). But it sure does make it harder to adopt the typical survival horror strat of run-away-run-away-run-away. Because of its claustrophobic tight spaces and nooks and crannies, it’s incredibly difficult to retreat from a fight, and there is essentially no meaningful way to stealth around the place, either. On top of that, most boss battles - they are all here, as well as a surprise or two - will deplete your ammo reserves with ruthless efficiency. It’s also often tough to finish off foes without taking damage yourself as a result, burning through your ever-dwindling medical supplies. (Yes, Lying Figures spewing toxic vomit in your death throes - I’m looking at you.)
They took a legendary game and made it better. Props to Bloober team, guess they still got it.
It’s a fair question, but honestly I think Nintendo generally focuses on emulators that they perceive as affecting their current or near-future income. The Wii U is fully dead to Nintendo, at least for the moment.
If you were using this emulator, you weren’t likely purchasing anything from them in the first place. And I’m no doctor, but… I’d have to imagine that’s likely the reason Nintendo took this down to begin with.
Actually…I own a Switch and paid full price for TOTK on launch week. But playing the game in 30fps chunky resolution was very painful for me, as i’ve gotten quite used to 60fps+ over the last few years with 3D games. I almost put the game down in the first hour or so, playing the game was literally making my eyes hurt. That’s when i went poking into the Switch emulation scene and set up yuzu (RIP). Within a few hours i was playing TOTK at 60fps 1440p and it was mostly glitch free. I put another 20 hours into the game before putting that down. But it was a glorious 20 hours, as that game is absolutely beautiful when you can wipe away the greasy look of 30fps low-res Switch graphics.
So…I am a Nintendo customer that was getting a better experience out of my purchased Nintendo game by emulating it. I know that isn’t everyone in this scene - I see the reddit posts everyday for the past week about people playing leaked Echoes* of Wisdom. I get why that shit would piss Nintendo off. It just sucks that now, others can’t share the amazing experience I had with TOTK.
What does “witch hunt” even mean anymore? I feel like it has been overused to the point of losing all meaning. In this case, by “witch hunt”, the writer means “they have started going too far and making some bad calls”. They aren’t calling for people to mount heads on spikes or review bomb, as far as I can tell.
It’s a strange case, though. Who do we think follows these curators? The title of the list is in Ukrainian, so I’d guess it’s mostly Ukrainians. On the one hand, I don’t want to tell Ukrainian folks how to spend their money with respect to Russia. Maybe for some, even the slightest whiff of Russia will turn them off from the game, regardless of how logical it is. It’s not my busieness to question the mostly-harmless emotional reaction of a people under siege. For those, these curation lists might still be useful. Of course, people that care this much would probably research another way if the curator lists didn’t exist.
For others, I’m sure they would prefer a curator list that actually does the research and doesn’t list a game unless the purchase would very clearly benefit Russia in tax dollars. For those, this turn of events is unfortunate. On the other hand, those people are probably level-headed enough to do their own research on a game-by-game basis.
My point is: the impact of these curator lists existing is probably minimal. But maybe i’m wrong, idk. What do y’all think?
The number of users to have voiced their disagreement already exceeds that of the admins.
Seems like it’s kind of a moot point then, no? If even a majority of Ukrainian users are aware of the issues with the list, I would expect most would just leave and the list would fade into obscurity.
they DID add those crossover decks recently, and the dev has indicated that there is more additional content coming. Idk, I think having the cards in HD wouldn’t look right, because the entire game has a specific kind of pixel art. Even the smooth, swirly background has a pixel art filter on it, bc that’s the vibe that the dev really wants the game to have. Mixing them would be like when pixel art rpgs have super hi-res fonts. It just doesn’t fit right.
We all expected that to be the case, it turns out it isn’t complete BS! But 8K TVs are currently outrageously expensive, and so most people don’t have them. Additionally, it sounds like the number of games that support 8K will be only a fraction of all the games that get PS5 Pro updates. Gran Turismo and F1 2024 are the only ones I saw called out in the video. They might have mentioned more, but I skipped around.
You make a fair point, that is a surprisingly accessible price. I could see a small audience of Gran Turismo freaks buying 8K TVs and PS5 Pros solely for that game. Though now that I say that, I feel like they are all satisfied already with PSVR2 🤔
i put very low stock in rumors, and i put even less on rumors reported by gamerant. No shade to you casey, I just think gamerant is a clickbait publication.
The main difference between Link and Zelda is that Zelda can’t fight. Instead, with a magical staff, she can summon material “echoes” of real objects from thin air – which could be anything from a cut of meat to distract monsters, to crates and tables to construct towers and staircases. When you come across the usual Zelda selection of deceptively mild-looking monsters, you can simply conjure a spear-wielding Moblin or a few bats into existence to dispatch them for you. Or, failing that, you can manifest a pot and throw it at whatever’s menacing you.
I did get used to Echoes of Wisdom’s new way of doing things as time went by – but I didn’t love it. There’s lots to like about it; particularly the painfully cute toylike aesthetic, which makes Hyrule feel a bit like like a giant Polly Pocket, and Zelda’s adorable horse. It’s a good game, and its mishmash of intersecting ideas does bring something new to Zelda. But I hope that the next time we play as Zelda, it feels more empowering.
So it sounds like this is the type of game that appeals to sickos that liked playing summoner necro in Diablo 2 (i’m one of those sickos). Except obviously it works better than that bc the entire game is built around it.
I don’t want to watch bc I’ve never played Tsushima and I suspect I will want to some day. What’s the spoiler free scoop? I had no clue this was getting a sequel, but exciting news in itself!
Y’all I finally watched the trailer and now i’m kinda hyped. I’ve been watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix and it’s giving me those vibes. Maybe it’s just the female (but maybe nonbinary) protagonist in both media, but either way, it’s working for me and now I’m eager to see more about this one.
This is such a nothing article. “We asked the creative head of the Space Marine 2 team if he thought the PS5 Pro would improve the framerate. His SHOCKING answer??? ‘Maybe.’”
here we go: this is definitely my favorite game i’ve ever played. Maybe it just stands out as the first metroidvania that I really sunk my teeth into, but I think Hollow Knight is truly something special and, judging by the hype for Silksong, I know a lot of folks agree with me. The gorgeous hand-drawn art and hauntingly-beautiful soundtrack create a striking first impression. The initially-depressive atmosphere shifts to new moods throughout the game. The nuanced combat is reminiscent of Dark Souls, maybe the best game to make that translation to 2D. The “badge” system is a clever and streamlined upgrade system that lets the player shift playstyles almost on-the-fly.
And my favorite part: THE MAP (by which i mean both the game world and the map system)!!! Omg I know a Metroidvania is made or ruined by its map, and so all well-regarded Metroidvanias have a pretty good map. Simply put, Hollow Knight is just a cut above all of them. Like all Metroidvanias, the map does the cool thing where paths are locked off to you until you get new abilities that act as “keys” to open up new areas. Hollow Knight differs in that the game starts off linear, and then two abilities you get within the first few hours act as the keys to open up almost the entire game world. So as soon as you get your legs under you and you are getting the hang of the combat, you can turn around and go almost anywhere you want as long as you are down for the challenge. Accordingly, almost every player of this game has a pretty different experience, which is really unique for non-roguelike.
Regarding the map system itself: unlike most Metroidvanias, the map does not automatically fill in as you go. Instead, you don’t get any map for a new area until you find the traveling mapmaker NPC. Once you find him, you can buy his rough, incomplete map of the area, which is nonetheless invaluable. Once you buy the pen upgrade from the shop in town, you can fill out the unfinished map with areas that you have explored. However, the map only updates when you rest at benches (save points), so you still have to keep a mental map while you are exploring. And the pen does not work in an area until you find the mapmaker NPC (little ghost needs a piece of paper to draw on). The devs play with this - in some areas the NPC is pretty close to the entrance, but in others he is pretty deep into the area, so again you have to keep up a mental map for longer. And finally, the map does not show where you the player are on it unless you equip a specific one-slot badge (some badges take up more slots). Some players are frustrated by this, but it helps if you view that slot as like a bonus slot. Once you memorize an area, you can take that badge off to get a little extra power for a boss fight. In “exploration” mode, having that badge equipped makes you feel just a little less powerful, which adds to the tension.
Which segues into my final point: this game makes you feel like an adventurer exploring a forgotten kingdom, in a way that I have never felt in any other game, not even Dark Souls. The extremely open-ended design and MASSIVE game world mean that you the player will be constantly discovering new areas, even dozens of hours into the game. It just keeps surprising you over and over. This is why I like the map system described above. Many are turned off by the friction that the devs added to the map - they could have just given you an auto-updating map like every other Metroidvania. But the friction adds to the feeling that you are an explorer in a hostile land, and the tension you feel when you are exploring a new area without a map is unparalled. In Dark Souls, there are parts where you can choose where to go, but the game overall is pretty linear, so it rarely feels like you the player are driving the exploration. That sense of exploration, and the layers-upon-layers of mystery within the story, are why Hollow Knight remains my fave of all time to this day.
Side note: I suspect Elden Ring would give a similar feeling, given that it is Souls + open-world exploration. However, I have not played Elden Ring yet personally (i’m a patient gamer down to my bones). For folks that have played both: Are there similarities in Elden Ring’s sense of exploration? Is there any intentional friction in the map system? Or did From go with an auto-updating map like most games?
my rec: try to power through until you get the Mothwing Cloak and Mantis Claw, which you get within the first 5 hours or so. If you don’t like the game by then, it isn’t going to click, but I think a lot of people give up on Hollow Knight too early.
I really love the difficulty in this game, but I get that that’s a matter of taste. Hollow Knight would definitely benefit from an “assist mode” like Celeste, or a “god mode” like Hades. I think the devs intended for the badges to be a way for players to fine-tune their difficulty and playstyle (kind of like how in Dark Souls, pyromancy is easy mode, at least early on). But often the best badges are hidden behind challenges, and even the best badges do not dramatically reduce the difficulty. So I totally empathize with your perspective.
this is where I think an assist mode would come into play. Personally, I think the difficulty and the limited checkpoints are important for the delicious tension of the game, so removing either aspect would ruin the game for me (and as I said elsewhere, this game is my favorite of all time). But if you could go into the settings, and flip on an assist mode that gave you checkpoints at the beginning of every room? I see no downside there, make the game more accessible for more people!
I also agree that the Shade is a flaw in the game design. Honestly the only clumsy design choice that I can think of in this game. I think Team Cherry wanted to do something similar to the Dark Souls bloodstain mechanic without completely copying it, but the shade ain’t it. If you like the difficulty of the game, the shade becomes a meaningless roadbump after the first few times, so it might as well be an automatic collection. If you are struggling with the difficulty of the game, the shade is just another hurdle to the game clicking for you. The shade has some lore significance, but I feel like they should have just made it an automatic collection without having to actually fight the shade.
Thank you for your write up! This has me WAY more interested in Elden Ring than I was before. I like Dark Souls a lot, but part of it is my investment in the lore. It’s not that I expect Elden Ring lore to be worse in any way, but it’ll be a new world to relearn so I have to work myself up to it. Reading your take has me way more excited to dig into it!
[alt text: a post on twitter by @Ranting_Trans, posted in June 2022. The text in the post says: “People only ask ‘what is a woman’ and not ‘what is a man’, because that question was already answered by the greatest philosopher of our time: Dracula”. Below the text is a screenshot from the game Castlevania: Symphony...
this is your weekly reminder that c/gaming has Meme Mondays, and you are invited to share your favorite gaming memes on this day of the week! Let’s break up all the great discussion with a lil fun and humor!
Please let this be true. Games are too damn long. They should shorten this main story, then if they want to do more narrative, they should throw it into DLC or online co-op missions. They make more money, and we get the grace of a main story that ends when it’s supposed to.
Witcher 3 is actually a perfect example of what I mean. The original game is too damn long. Like so much so that I never even saw the critically-acclaimed DLC, because I was burnt out from the main game. Would have loved if the main game was shorter to give the DLC some more breathing room, but maybe that’s my own fault for chasing after too many question marks on the map.
Analogue’s 4K Nintendo 64 launches next year for $249 (www.theverge.com) angielski
Game composer Nobuo Uematsu will retire after Fantasian's console launch (www.gamedeveloper.com) angielski
war... war never goes fast... (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a panel from a Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, depicting Sonic using his spin attack to cut a robot in half. There are caption boxes in the panel, which say: “For the first time in his life, Sonic is devoid of humor… For the first time in his life, Sonic truly understands the meaning of WAR…”]
you filthy casuals wouldn't understand (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: an image of a man standing at a self-checkout kiosk. The man has placed his hands on the scanning surface like he is playing a computer game. On the kiosk screen, it can be seen that the man is somehow playing Minecraft on the kiosk.]
when Nintendo finally runs out of ideas (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a photo of a statue of Mario in the process of sliding down a flagpole, as he commonly does at the end of Mario levels. The statue is placed in the video game section of a a supermarket. In front of the statue, there are multiple human hands holding up wads of US dollar bills towards Mario.]
really robs the dramatic tension (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: text that says: “boss: kills me for the 20th time & takes me back to the unskippable cutscene before the battle...
Silent Hill 2 (2024) Review Thread
Game Information...
[Fan Art] Super Smash Bros. Poster by Marinko Milosevski angielski
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/19005703...
The Rocky Horror Video Game is a thing, and coming out this month [Eurogamer] (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Nintendo has reportedly shut down Ryujinx, the Switch emulator that was supposedly immune (www.theverge.com)
Ukrainian gaming curators turning to witch hunting (medium.com)
Hit deck-builder Balatro is now available for mobile [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
PlayStation 5 Pro Hands-On: 11 Games Tested, PSSR and RT Upgrades Revealed, Developers Interviewed! [Digital Foundry] (youtu.be) angielski
TL;DW:...
Rumor: Sony Will Announce More Major PS5 Exclusives for 2025 (gamerant.com) angielski
Sucker Punch is planning ‘other spin-offs’ beyond Ghost of Yotei [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review Thread
Game Information...
Ghost of Yōtei (Ghost of Tsushima sequel)- Announce Trailer (youtu.be)
Space Marine 2 devs “hopeful” PS5 Pro will surpass Quality Mode with higher performance - Dexerto (www.dexerto.com) angielski
Let's discuss: Hollow Knight (beehaw.org) angielski
The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!...
he got his bachelor's in gender studies circa 1492 (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a post on twitter by @Ranting_Trans, posted in June 2022. The text in the post says: “People only ask ‘what is a woman’ and not ‘what is a man’, because that question was already answered by the greatest philosopher of our time: Dracula”. Below the text is a screenshot from the game Castlevania: Symphony...
According to New GTA 6 Rumor, Main Story Might Be Shorter Than Red Dead Redemption 2 (questalerts.com) angielski