Hello webmaster
I’m playing a lot of ping pong this weekend. Remember Ping Pong: The Animation? It has saved anime. I’m in some unfathomable cabin with a pool, pool table, ping pong table, tequila, and just enough wifi to post this. My hair is alive with olive oil. Maybe it will attract the bears.
This weekend, you should call your mother. See how she’s doing. Mine wants to hang tomorrow but I’m in the woods.
Hang out with your mom and watch Ping Pong: The Animation with her. Cook some food.
Here’s last week’s post. Let’s begin anew.
[We post a lot of articles here at Destructoid. The endless, ouroboros news cycle has us burning the snake at both ends, which will ultimately push big news, thoughtful original pieces, and all sorts of other great content off of the front page. Check here every Saturday for my attempt to rectify that.]
ORIGINAL CONTENT
Super Smash Bros. on 3DS is missing one thing – Steven Hansen
Super Smash Bros. for me was equal parts single and multiplayer good times. The 3DS has a lot to do, but it’s all sort of the same, likely because of the same system limitations that killed Ice Climbers, separated Zelda and Shiek, and turned Pokemon Trainer into a lonely Charizard. Aimlessly messing about in Smash Run, the 3DS-specific single-player mode, isn’t all that fun to me (same with most of the move tuning/RPG elements).
And while single-player progression has been undercut seemingly to open up multiplayer, the 3DS is not a multiplayer-friendly system for me. Online play has been 1/3 fine, 1/3 super slow motion (miss you Slow-mo Melee), 1/3 input lag, and I know few 3DS owners in real life. Plus, they have to own a copy of the game instead of one communal copy facilitating fun.
If I made my own racing game… – Dale North
I think about racing games a lot. While I’m Destructoid’s resident JRPG guy, I’ve always loved racing games. I’ve been playing them regularly since Pole Position (yeah, I’m old), and I’m perfectly open to racers of all sorts, from casual kart games all the way up to full-on simulations.
But lately, after spending time with Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2, I’m hung up on what my ideal racing game would be. Both of them hit positive marks for me, but there are plenty of things I’d change or do differently. And I have some ideas of my own that no one has managed to work into a racer yet.
So here’s what my racing game would look like.
Humanity, splendor, and wonder creep out of commercial systems – Steven Hansen
It is the transcendence of the human interacting in an arcane, self-imposed system of rules, along with the earnest surprise that comes with divergence in those systems. Sports are a series of narratives (though, isn’t everything?) within a commodified, closed system. Anything that strikes a human cord and reverberates out is interesting and that din is what draws me to sports more than numbers, wins, or my favorite #brand on a stadium.
Losing is as interesting as winning. In the midst of an improbably good season, chubby, fastball throwing, 41 year old Bartolo Colon is “too fun to trade.” It’s why a hopelessly bad team is almost better than a middling team. It’s why the perfunctory Peyton Manning Colts — the Call of Duty of football (or maybe the Pats?) — were so boring outside of Manning’s jazz hands and the occasional sick Reggie Wayne grab. It’s the same reason why our best stories about games, things we share with friends, are unique moments that happened to you (or your unique response to shared moments).
I’ve discovered a new go-to game for relaxing – Jordan Devore
I play videogames for many reasons. Sometimes, I play for the story — the chance to visit new worlds and live out someone else’s life. Other times, it’s the sense of competition I find most alluring, or the chance to master a game’s rules and finally overcome its fiercest challenges.
But for every passing motivation to play games I have, I’ll always been in need of one that can help me relax. Something to take my mind off life’s problems, no matter how big or small they might be. Something I can get into for 15 minutes, or hours on end. Something that’ll last.
Right now, Endless Ocean: Blue World is that game for me, and what a gem it is.
BioWare is working to specifically differentiate Dragon Age: Inquisition from Dragon Age II – Chris Carter
The romance system is something I always felt that was lacking in either game, and Darrah was excited to tell us how they’re changing it. “The affection system was always very gamey, in a bad way. We made it a bit more organic. All your party members can approve or disapprove of your choices. You can’t just give them 30 wet loaves of bread to make them fall in love with you. You really have to talk to your companions to romance them rather than game them. There are no meters anymore, you have to have a real conversation.”
Of course, I had to bring up DLC at some point. People are rightfully wary of EA’s influence, and Darrah noted that they are going to mostly going to listen to fan demand to shape post-game support. Although he wasn’t able to confirm anything, DLC will likely be comprised of sandboxes — large new areas that players can wander around and complete a main quest in, but also find sidequests for. There isn’t going to be another expansion like Awakening though, sadly. Darrah said that it was “far too much work, and very expensive, as everything has to interact with the original game.”
What gaming locations would you want turned into a Smash Bros. stage? – Hamza Aziz
How awesome would a level set inside Bowser be in Super Smash Bros.?
By awesome I mean extremely silly, of course. Since the bottom of the 3DS screen is dedicated to your stats, I think a level based inside of Bowser’s body would really only work out best on the Wii U version of the game, stylized like the 3DS so there’s “two screens” on your TV.
On the bottom half of your display is the traditional setup, with up to four players battling it out inside Bowser. On the upper half of the screen is Bowser himself, looking exactly as he does in the DS title. Your actions in his stomach will make Bowser do a variety of stuff, like say use too many fire type attacks and maybe it’ll cause Bowser to guzzle down a ton of water, thus filling up the fighting arena full of water for a duration of time.
Hardline 31: Smash Bros. hype, Driveclub expertise, and the surprising goodness of Mordor – Jordan, Steven, Dale, Brett
At long last, Steven has returned from his grocery shopping and he brought Dale with him! This week’s Hardline covers Super Smash Bros. 3DS, Shadow of Mordor, Driveclub, and visiting Japan.
Lots of tangents, too. It’s good to have a full cast again.
PREVIEWS
Civilization: Beyond Earth makes weekends disappear – Darren Nakamura
The Civilization series is famous for playing out in unplanned marathon sessions, where “one more turn” quickly turns into five more turns, which turn into another hour, before the player finally looks away from the screen to see that it is starting to get light outside. Knowing this, I’m not sure what I was thinking starting the preview build of Civilization: Beyond Earth on a Friday night.
By the time I finished for that session, I had played for eight hours straight and it was then four in the morning. Then I went to sleep, woke up four hours later, and started playing again, eventually logging almost a full day’s worth of play time in a single weekend.
HOTTEST, SLIMIEST NEWS OF THE WEEK
Battle Chef Brigade looks like the actual best game – Steven Hansen
I love cooking, as you hopefully well know. The initial inspiration for A la cartridge was Iron Chef, though it ended up something completely different. And so here is a game that speaks tenderly to my soul.
Battle Chef Brigade, now doing some crowdfunding, is what you’d get if Iron Chef contestants had to go out and kill their own food to serve. It looks gorgeous, which just makes me hungry. It’s just like how food always looks so damn good in Ghibli films. And the idea — have a variety of chefs go out into a persistent environment to get the freshest of ingredients to cook up — is amazing.
Dragon’s Crown‘s cooking minigame was not enough. This is what I need.
Sony confirms PlayStation Plus price increase in certain regions – Chris Carter
The price of PlayStation Plus is rising in a few regions. According to Sony in a statement to Joystiq, “We slightly increased prices for PlayStation Plus in South Africa, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and India regions due to various market conditions. Currently, price adjustments are not being planned for PS Plus in the SCEA [North American] region.”
Kamiya re-iterates that bringing Bayonetta 2 to PS4 or Xbox One is Nintendo’s call – Chris Carter
As we draw closer to the international release date for Bayonetta 2, a lot of people continue to bring up the exclusivity deal. “Will we get it one day on other platforms,” people ask constantly, hoping that one day it will see a release outside of Wii U. Of course, producer Hideki Kamiya is there to shut those hopes and dreams down.
Speaking about the deal, Kamiya notes that if you want to see it on other platforms, “ask Nintendo” — implying that there’s no chance, and to “try asking for Mario and Zelda too.” Check out the full quote below.
Ciao, amiche.
