Metal Gear shorted, Sonic’s hot legs, and Persona 5 scoops
[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.]
But a week has passed, yet it feels a lifetime since we’ve touched. How has the last seven days time treated you? I’ve had better. I’ve had worse. I got to write about Persona a lot (see below), which is nice. I didn’t have working sinks for a few days, which was not nice. Brushing your teeth over the toilet is weird.
There aren’t twelve flippin’ previews this week. In fact, there are none. We’ll be making that up next week with some anticipated ones. Instead, we have a good deal of in-depth feature and editorial content for you to absorb with the unbearable lightness of your being.
Here’s last week’s. Let’s begin anew.
ORIGINAL CONTENT
The problem with Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’ price – Steven Hansen
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is getting a full scale marketing push and a hyped release on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. But it’s an itty bitty prologue of a game being sold for as much as $40 on barren systems under a recognizable name. That’s a problem.
The point is that if large companies can dump more costs on — or make more money from — consumers, they will, as evidenced with all the anti-consumer practices of the last five years. Horse armor, online passes, et al. I’m lenient on well-priced episodic adventures, but generally I don’t want piecemeal games.
Paradox on how to do free-to-play the right way — Hamza Aziz
Paradox is known for its grand strategy titles, but it’s growing as a publisher, one example of which is the upcoming Magicka: Wizard Wars, which will be free-to-play and is quite fun. And bloody. A lot of dead sheep. Anyway, Hamza sat down with Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester and talked about doing free-to-play right. I was there, too. Just saying. Some of those responses might even have been from my questions.
‘We do not want to monetize on people’s frustration, when people are angry because they lost their lives. We want people to pay for things when they’re really excited to play more of the game. What we see as a good way as monetizing is the way Dota 2 or League of Legends does it. It doesn’t change the game, it’s not going to be a game winner for you. It’s going to change the appearance of your character, [for example]. It’s still [about] the inherent skill that you have.’
How Paradox Interactive found success in a niche market – Hamza Aziz
Our talk with Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester was a lengthy one, so we’ve got another feature about Paradox’s humble beginnings, packing and shipping its games out of country by hand, to its current success wherein the average — average! — playtime in Europa Universalis IV is 190 hours.
‘I feel it’s crazy in a way because we never slowed down, sat back, and were happy with what we’re doing … But we’ll see. You still have to be humble about where the industry is going. Better companies than Paradox have fallen. My hope is that we’re going to grow to be three times the size that we are today in five years, but still keep the mentality of the small company that was shipping the Crusader King boxes in 2004, because on the inside, I’m still that guy.’
Guide: How to use the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter – Jordan Devore
We thought it would be useful to come up with a quick guide to the Bank and Transporter so you know what you’re getting into, what with this technically being a paid service and all. The process of transferring your Pokemon collection into X and Y is quite a bit more convoluted than I was anticipating, and I was expecting a tedious process to begin with knowing Game Freak’s history with these transfer tools. At least there are no minigames this time.
Free games, AOL discs and the afterlife with Ackk Studios – Jonathan Holmes
[W]e welcomed Brian and Andrew Allanson of Ackk Studios to the program. We talked about their breakout success Two Brothers, their start in making their own games (and Pokemon toys) before they were old enough to drive, the differences and similarities between using writing, coding, music, and visual art to convey ideas, and a lot more.
Podtoid 281: Rescue The Landlord’s Blood-Footed Cat – Jonathan Holmes, Conrad Zimmerman, Andy Dixon, and Caitlin Cooke
This week on Podtoid, Jonathan Holmes, Conrad Zimmerman, Andy Dixon, and Caitlin Cooke discuss their latest gaming experiences, including Conrad playing Awesomenauts, Caitlin’s obsession with The Price Is Right, Andy Dixon’s daughter’s shocking rudeness, and Jonathan Holmes’ landlord’s dying cat, and of course, dog maulings. Unfortunately, Max Scoville is MIA after heading south of the border to flee overdue child support payments.
The sexiest, stupidest, stretchiest Sonic Boom fan art – Steven Hansen
In the wake of Sonic Boom‘s announcement, we compiled some of the best fan art lampooning the new designs.
HOTTEST, SLIMIEST NEWS OF THE WEEK
Disney Infinity, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Kodoku & Bikinis – Max Scoville
Well, we got a new camera and I accidentally switched it onto “Sears Portrait Studio” mode, so sorry if I look a little bit like I’m in a porno from the late eighties. (What else is new.) Today, we’ve got some more details on Nintendo’s post-Wii U plans, Murdered: Soul Suspect is coming to PS4 and Xbox One, Disney Infinity has Marvel and Star Wars plans, but they also just laid off a few hundred employees, which sucks. Kodoku looks SO cool, there’s a new mech game called Matador with nice streetlights, and Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate gets ANOTHER sexy swimwear update.
Persona 5: Painting the town red & social responsibility – Steven Hansen
Persona 4: Dancing All Night & Persona 4 Arena’s future – Steven Hansen
Persona Q ‘like playing two whole RPGs altogether’ – Steven Hansen
[Persona 5 director Katsura Hashino] wants players to feel, “like they’ve found a renewed sense of self and an understanding that they can’t be apathetic towards what’s going on in society.” People that play games seem aggressively apathetic to what’s going on in society sometimes, so that’s an interesting aim. Of course, Hashino noted, “I’m not interested in force feeding a message down players’ throats,” and Persona fans who want to ignore its themes will find a typically wonderful role-playing experience all the same.
Sonic Boom, Metal Gear shortness and the Uncharted movie – Max Scoville
Nice hat, right? Fun news today, Sonic The Hedgehog gets not one but TWO games, as well as a TV show and a toy line in the newly announced Sonic Boom sub-franchise. The length of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been announced, and addressed by Kojima, and then counter-addressed by our very own Steven Hansen. Ubisoft’s gorgeous Child of Light gets an April 30th release date for just about everything you can plug a controller into, Amazon has purchased Killer Instinct developer Double Helix, and the Uncharted movie has a new director.
Ciao, amiche.
