Here is a mission that has yet to be declassified then...
UNDISCLOSED - 007
James Bond’s only undisclosed previous mission concerned one of the five “QUANTUM COMPUTER DRIVES” for America and Britain’s DEFENSIVE JANUS DIRECTIVE TECHNOLOGY powering the QUANTUM-IRISES being stolen from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
With James Bond working alongside Felix Leiter to investigate, and return once again to South America after the events of QUANTUM OF SOLACE in Bolivia…on arrival he was met surprisingly by a younger and unusually confident female colleague, who Bond had unfinished history with, in another life, after a previous assignment went terribly wrong under the previous M.
Travelling north from Santiago to the nearby snow-covered Andes for clues to the technology’s disappearance… they are met by a scientific contact “Nifas Janus”, grandson of the wartime creator of this classified technology, that now apparently goes by the name of QUANTUM, but has in fact returned to the namesake of his great lineage…
@Sketcz In the end Goldeneye was a tight narrative based FPS with many gameplay innovations some of which resulted from the hardware/platform back when Nintendo gave Rare a lot of latitude over design, created by a great team and one visionary lead in Martin Hollis.
I still find it hilarious they added the 4 player at the end, because they just felt like it without telling Nintendo.
Everything is so over produced in First Light by the looks of it, like many games these days becoming interactive movies instead.
Will definitely still play it though, as first Bond game in a long time, well at least for an Aston Martin test drive...
Definitely ahead of its time, but think of everything it helped shape/create...
● Chaos Strikes Back
● Bloodwych
● Eye of the Beholder
● Knightmare
● Might and Magic
● Ultima Underworld
That's just some of the 16 bit influences as well, searching for games inspired/influenced by Dungeon Master opens up a great deal of recent hits of the last 20 years especially as everything went first person 3D in so many AAA titles...
I am not 100% sold on this yet, it looks vaguely generic for a Bond game but high production values. The proof will be in the story/narrative plus gameplay mechanism. The lead of this project also changed at IO Interactive during development as far as I am aware, not sure reason why...plus gestation has been long, I think 5+ years now...
Finally finish Secret of Mana 2 translated in English on SNES.
I am at the first God Monster, 13 hrs in and the difficulty has spiked massively just after Holy Island and getting Flammie. Missing many weapons and armour upgrades now as cost so much....need to do some grinding I think.
I resolved to finish it over holidays but took a break.
Waited 30 years for this game. Plus I am glad I have the World Map in English otherwise this would get really confusing!
Purchase a backlit Gameboy Colour from some chap online that makes them with larger screens and touch controls as getting into OG Gameboy in big way..
Get stuck into Terranigma, Alcahest, Treasure of Rudras, Star Ocean and other 16 bit RPGs missed out on...
Finally buy a Switch OLED...
Complete Elevator Action Returns on MAME.
Get around to playing Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey at last as well I guess, almost a decade late...
Purchase a 3DO. I stupidly passed on a Panasonic one for just 200 boxed and regret it and it is a system I really want to play with Night Trap!
I was just asking about 6 months ago who had the license to Mean Machines for a contemporary relaunch, this is next best thing, will definitely order! 😁
I got a double pack of Super R Type and R Type 3 recently on SNES this looks great, like the updated graphics, and just tried the first level of R-Type 2 on the PC Engine which is almost impossible!
Super R Type seems rock hard as well, either that or my skills have rapidly vanished these last few decades.
Now I want a create a Nintendo game simulator with Shigsy sending faxes and SMS texts as motivation then flying over to USA/UK as the end boss to evaluate it!
Imagine a dragon punch scaling into the action right next to the F16s as the USA music plays out, then Ken takes down Guile with a Sho Ryu Ken Flaming Dragon punch 4 hit combo!
I would just like to see official cartridge versions of Secret of Mana 2 on the SNES, and a few of the other lost JRPG like Romancing SAGA, Alcahest, and Bahamut Lagoon in English from Square and Enix. I am sure they would clean up.
Just got a lovely USA reproduction in English last month importantly with all inserts for Mana 2 from Spain, with a poster and giant world map then English instructions all in colour with great artwork from a chap that does amazing work. Actually feels official have to say.
Working through the fan translation I was kind of lost a few decades ago.
40% is a lot to lose from the original Mana though! I do wonder what it contained?
@jygsaw Thanks. I see it had a bit of a staggered end games wise...
"In Japan, the final game to be released on the system was Final Fantasy VI Advance on November 30, 2006, which was also the final game published by Nintendo on the system.
In North America, the last game for the system was Samurai Deeper Kyo, released on February 12, 2008.
In Europe, the last game for the system is The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, released on November 2, 2007.
Just started onto 7 of original run just got Zelda III issue at a nice price, I like the humour and writing in it plus glossy paper...Just arrived at a multi page Konami/Palcom insert/advert with all their games in full colour that is better than any manual now. Shows the tidal change in stark effect...
I am just reading through 4 really early issues of Game Zone and first advert I see is for this company from an early 90s magazine nearly forgotten about...
Has Time Extension done an article on Special Reserve by any chance?
Actually seeing a full page Console Concepts from Newcastle Under Lyme advert plus listings with a shop front photo has brought back loads of memories.
Please do a large feature on the grey import scene in UK in 90s at some point in future...
Shekhana, Raven Games, Console Concepts, Dream Machines, Whizz Kid Games all the rest...
@Sketcz Agreed the past was better not just nostalgia.
Just wasted 0.5 days of working week doing chasing around admin for a minor issue that would be solved on phone in 10 mins before smartphones...
I lived in South America in 2010s and it was like being transported back to the 90s. Malls of different varietys full of everything, game stores like this layout filled with modern and retro titles, indies and music plus vinyl shops...I loved it.
The difference, no online equivalents like Amazon carving out physical stores..
In the UK I recall the likes of Comet, Virgin Megastores and Game Centres, Future Zones, Electronics Boutique, GAME, and Dixons plus tons of indies in the 90s...
In the USA you had KB Toys, Babbages Funcoland, EB, Tandy, Tower Records I am sure, Toys R Us and many others as well...
Games were everywhere way into mid 2000s
Golden era of physical retail now passed as UK consolidated into monopoly killing Gamestation through GAME and America mainstream contracted into Gamestop.
Such is retail with Amazon/Shopto/Play and modern commercial trends unfortunately...
There is an excellent GI Biz article from Charles Cecil on maintaining Revolution's financial viability over the last 25 years and he made this quote I thought it was really insightful...
""I remember going to Develop last year, in 2024, and the old expression was, 'Just survive to '25'. And I remember standing up – and I made myself very unpopular – and I said, 'Why do you think we're going to go back to how it used to be?' It was so extraordinarily benign with Game Pass putting in millions and millions and millions, pumping up the industry. I said, 'Honestly, we have to find a new way to do business, because it's just not going to be the same.' And huge numbers of developers who did very well from the vast amounts of money being pumped into the industry just hoped it would return – but it won't."
Source: GIBZ
Maybe the age and more importantly viability of the AAA games industry is coming to a slow end?
Broken Sword 6 development also mentioned and current status.
I think you are right SNES CD would have been a success as Nintendo's console was hugely popular for the time in Japan and USA, it was still being sold in 1999 in mainstream stores like KB Toys with games.
Plus more importantly the software creators Square, Konami, Capcom, Hudson, Enix plus others and Nintendo themselves importantly really knew how to make it work and create amazing experiences...
Nintendo would have learned from Mega CD and PCE CD as well as kept an eye on 3DO...
The industry would have needed it to be a success...
This link has it all explained regarding real licensing issues with Nintendo/Sony..in comments the full Sam Pettus section/extract...
"Sony intends to broadly license it to the [whole] software industry]." This was anathema to Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi, who had no intention of letting Nintendo losing control over any part of the process. He conspired [tactically orchestrated I would argue = Deuteros] with Sony's rival Philips to publically humiliate Sony the following day at the show."
@retrophilion It's probably still the biggest videogame counterfactual there is, for sure the industry might be different.
If SEGA had more of a free ride early years SATURN style against 3D0 version 1.0 and Playstation and SONY went SOLO after breaking with Nintendo one hardware cycle down the line, in say 1997-99 it could be a totally different landscape if Dreamcast emerges against a 1st Gen 128 bit SONY machine and they are still learning to be a hardware provider...
Then again the security and learning experience of working with Nintendo from 92-95/96/97 could make SONY jump out gates even stronger in late 90s not 1994...
That extra motivation to broadside Nintendo was a key factor in getting everything up and running then doing things differently with licensees then using professionalism of their consumer divisions to strengthen the launch...
You might even be looking at a less strong Nintendo in terms of cornering their market right now...
Would SEGA have lasted past mid 2000s as a hardware manufacturer still given the issues between SEGA USA and SEGA Japan plus business sense, plus what would a 360 Era SEGA console even resemble?
Certainly a sliding doors moment for industry if SEGA were first to market over 360 and possibly Microsoft buy SEGA outright to kickstart own entry even (See 2000/2001 rumours)
In the end you just adapted to circumstances/hardware and the slow down gave you some hidden advantages in end plus was just a quirk of system but it was really bad in some early titles...Gradius III, even Area 88 plus some others, they got smarter programming wise by mid cycle...
That's a pretty good breakdown from what I recall from era especially the bit about CD caddies and I had forgotten not just Secret of Mana but Chrono Trigger was a CD title at first stage.
The whole "obfuscating paradigm" plus vaporware aspect as a marketing tactic to impede Mega/Sega CD sales while Nintendo worked out just exactly what they were going to do...and with which partner to side with if anyone is on the money...
Little bit pro SONY but cannot have everything...🫠
@slider1983 I enjoyed it on Amiga at the time got killed tons, played Super after got SNES never went back...
The Capcom Amiga US Gold Box Artwork was really well done as well for all their games, think it was the same artist...especially the Platinum Collection.
@MegaMel86 Never really heard much about this theory through decades...but it is an interesting one.
Do you have any links or is it just a theory?
Found this...from 80s
"In 1985, Nintendo, a rising star in the home video game console space, fought against Magnavox’s volley of lawsuits with the claim that Baer’s patent was invalidated by prior art. Years before Baer developed his idea, William Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory built what is now believed to be the first video game, Tennis for Two, to run on an analog computer. Tennis for Two is clearly similar to Table Tennis in many respects, but the court found one crucial distinction: Higinbotham’s oscilloscope-based game—which actually dated back to 1958 and an era that no one would associate with video games—did not involve television signals, which was a key component of Baer’s patent and the video games at issue."
Here is the gumpf over the recent Streetfighter 2 E Honda stage alteration and reason...
"No official reason has been announced for the change, but the most likely explanation is that Capcom wants to avoid a negative reaction in other parts of Asia to the rising sun imagery. Particularly in China and Korea, vocal groups associate the symbol with the Imperial Japanese Army and World War II-era occupation. The issue is a complex one for many reasons, not the least of which is that although the Rising Sun flag was flown by the Imperial Japanese military, the symbol was neither created for nor exclusively used by the armed forces, and so it doesn’t have a necessarily militaristic or imperial feel to most Japanese citizens. Capcom, though, has apparently decided it’s not worth the risk of risking a backlash over Honda’s background, and so the sun has been scrubbed out of the mural entirely, even from the for-sale-in-Japan version of the games."
Comments 315
Re: The Making Of: Dungeon Master, A Truly Trailblazing First-Person RPG
I was thinking of Might and Magic III Isles of Terra 1991
Re: IO Interactive Says 007 First Light Is "Completely Different" To The "Fantastic" GoldenEye 007
@BulkSlash
Here is a mission that has yet to be declassified then...
UNDISCLOSED - 007
James Bond’s only undisclosed previous mission concerned one of the five “QUANTUM COMPUTER DRIVES” for America and Britain’s DEFENSIVE JANUS DIRECTIVE TECHNOLOGY powering the QUANTUM-IRISES being stolen from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
With James Bond working alongside Felix Leiter to investigate, and return once again to South America after the events of QUANTUM OF SOLACE in Bolivia…on arrival he was met surprisingly by a younger and unusually confident female colleague, who Bond had unfinished history with, in another life, after a previous assignment went terribly wrong under the previous M.
Travelling north from Santiago to the nearby snow-covered Andes for clues to the technology’s disappearance… they are met by a scientific contact “Nifas Janus”, grandson of the wartime creator of this classified technology, that now apparently goes by the name of QUANTUM, but has in fact returned to the namesake of his great lineage…
Re: IO Interactive Says 007 First Light Is "Completely Different" To The "Fantastic" GoldenEye 007
@Sketcz In the end Goldeneye was a tight narrative based FPS with many gameplay innovations some of which resulted from the hardware/platform back when Nintendo gave Rare a lot of latitude over design, created by a great team and one visionary lead in Martin Hollis.
I still find it hilarious they added the 4 player at the end, because they just felt like it without telling Nintendo.
Everything is so over produced in First Light by the looks of it, like many games these days becoming interactive movies instead.
Will definitely still play it though, as first Bond game in a long time, well at least for an Aston Martin test drive...
Re: The Making Of: Dungeon Master, A Truly Trailblazing First-Person RPG
Great article.
Definitely ahead of its time, but think of everything it helped shape/create...
● Chaos Strikes Back
● Bloodwych
● Eye of the Beholder
● Knightmare
● Might and Magic
● Ultima Underworld
That's just some of the 16 bit influences as well, searching for games inspired/influenced by Dungeon Master opens up a great deal of recent hits of the last 20 years especially as everything went first person 3D in so many AAA titles...
Re: IO Interactive Says 007 First Light Is "Completely Different" To The "Fantastic" GoldenEye 007
I am not 100% sold on this yet, it looks vaguely generic for a Bond game but high production values. The proof will be in the story/narrative plus gameplay mechanism. The lead of this project also changed at IO Interactive during development as far as I am aware, not sure reason why...plus gestation has been long, I think 5+ years now...
Re: Warhammer Owner Games Workshop Bans Its Creative Staff From Using GenAI
I think the backlash has already started, there will be a seperate category or tag attached to work...
[ORG]IFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
For art, or creative endeavours produced by the organic human mind and hand over computational.
The fact GW will continue to use real artists and writers is a selling point, in the continually oversaturated technological world.
Re: "Beyond Incredibly Dumb" - The Internet Doesn't Like People Sealing Up Graded 3DS Consoles
I bought a graded USA SNES UN Squadron, as it was a decent price, now I am part of the problem as I am lookimg at other 16 bit era games!
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Retro Gaming Resolutions For The New Year?
Finally finish Secret of Mana 2 translated in English on SNES.
I am at the first God Monster, 13 hrs in and the difficulty has spiked massively just after Holy Island and getting Flammie. Missing many weapons and armour upgrades now as cost so much....need to do some grinding I think.
I resolved to finish it over holidays but took a break.
Waited 30 years for this game. Plus I am glad I have the World Map in English otherwise this would get really confusing!
Purchase a backlit Gameboy Colour from some chap online that makes them with larger screens and touch controls as getting into OG Gameboy in big way..
Get stuck into Terranigma, Alcahest, Treasure of Rudras, Star Ocean and other 16 bit RPGs missed out on...
Finally buy a Switch OLED...
Complete Elevator Action Returns on MAME.
Get around to playing Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey at last as well I guess, almost a decade late...
Purchase a 3DO. I stupidly passed on a Panasonic one for just 200 boxed and regret it and it is a system I really want to play with Night Trap!
Re: This Switch-Sized Handheld Packed With Capcom And Bandai Namco Games Is Finally Launching This Year
Where is the list of 100?
No UN Squadron/Carrier Airwing therefore= no sale.
Re: Game Changer: Forget Pokémon And Magic: The Gathering, Fantasy Top Trumps Was My Introduction To Card-Based Gaming
I had the dragon set always quite liked the artwork! Did not know there were two other accompanying packs!
Re: Sega Co-Founder David Rosen Has Passed Away
@sdelfin Will check that out, the Sunsoft documentary, thanks.
The Amazon ones are about 50 mins an episode so easily digestable but do skim through a bit sometimes. However good interviews.
Later episodes cover Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Minecraft but was less interested in those, plus there is an EA/Madden one.
Re: Sega Co-Founder David Rosen Has Passed Away
Oh that is very sad news, I was just watching a documentary all about SEGA over the weekend.
I never knew they were owned by Gulf + Western and Paramount early on, as well but it was mentioned...
It was the Game Changers 2025 series on Amazon. Worth a watch, plus episodes on Atari, Nintendo and much more...
Lots of Tom Kalinske in the SEGA episode and 16 bit wars plus some insight into relationship between SEGA USA and Japan during the 90s.
Re: Julian "Jaz" Rignall Shows Off His Potential Successor To Mean Machines
I was just asking about 6 months ago who had the license to Mean Machines for a contemporary relaunch, this is next best thing, will definitely order! 😁
Re: ActRaiser Was Originally Supposed To Be A Dragon Quest-Style JRPG
Great soundtrack.
Re: The SNES Classic 'R-Type III: The Third Lightning' Is Getting A Remake For Modern Consoles & PC Next Year
I got a double pack of Super R Type and R Type 3 recently on SNES this looks great, like the updated graphics, and just tried the first level of R-Type 2 on the PC Engine which is almost impossible!
Super R Type seems rock hard as well, either that or my skills have rapidly vanished these last few decades.
Your own pet Alien Boss as well!
Re: Here's Our First Look At The New Live-Action Street Fighter Film
I am sure I read Capcom still makes money every year from the original 1994 film, so in 2055 this new incarnation will have a lot to live up to...
Re: Here's Our First Look At The New Live-Action Street Fighter Film
Just saw this on X, I think it looks decent, some are better than others and a few are hilarious as to be expected...
Big Akuma red necklace for Roman and Guile looks OTT with the famous blond hairdo added to Cody...
Still think John Cena should have been Bison...
Re: These Fan-Made WipEout Lego Sets Are Amazing, And You Can Build Them Yourself
Impressive build.
Re: Unofficial Dreamcast Port Of Star Fox 64 Now Available
Now I just want an entirely new on rails Statfox game for Switch 2, with amazing graphics, story and sound...
28 years Nintendo! (Discounting Wii U)
Re: 'Pixels To Pages' Is A Remarkable New YouTube Documentary Covering The History Of Electronic Gaming Monthly
The digital copy of the EGM Compendium Kickstarter is meant to arrive this week as well...
Re: Former Rare Designer Pranks Everyone With Doctored Fax From Miaymoto On Banjo-Tooie
Now I want a create a Nintendo game simulator with Shigsy sending faxes and SMS texts as motivation then flying over to USA/UK as the end boss to evaluate it!
Could be a winner!
Re: 33 Years After It Hit Arcades, A Secret Debug Menu For Street Fighter II Turbo Has Been Discovered
Imagine a dragon punch scaling into the action right next to the F16s as the USA music plays out, then Ken takes down Guile with a Sho Ryu Ken Flaming Dragon punch 4 hit combo!
😱 😎😳🏆🥊🥋🇺🇲
Re: Secret Of Mana On PC Engine? It's Early Days, But Someone Is Trying To Make It Happen
@Sketcz and @Daniel36
I would just like to see official cartridge versions of Secret of Mana 2 on the SNES, and a few of the other lost JRPG like Romancing SAGA, Alcahest, and Bahamut Lagoon in English from Square and Enix. I am sure they would clean up.
Just got a lovely USA reproduction in English last month importantly with all inserts for Mana 2 from Spain, with a poster and giant world map then English instructions all in colour with great artwork from a chap that does amazing work. Actually feels official have to say.
Working through the fan translation I was kind of lost a few decades ago.
40% is a lot to lose from the original Mana though! I do wonder what it contained?
Re: "I Never Thought That It Would Be Possible" - Ridge Racer Comes To The GBA
@jygsaw Thanks. I see it had a bit of a staggered end games wise...
"In Japan, the final game to be released on the system was Final Fantasy VI Advance on November 30, 2006, which was also the final game published by Nintendo on the system.
In North America, the last game for the system was Samurai Deeper Kyo, released on February 12, 2008.
In Europe, the last game for the system is The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, released on November 2, 2007.
Re: "I Never Thought That It Would Be Possible" - Ridge Racer Comes To The GBA
Where does the GBA sit in terms of power compared to other 32bit systems like Playstation and Saturn or even the Neo Geo and N64?
I have been doing a bit of reinvestigating more obscure titles for the system, and quite enjoying it.
Always surprised it was like only primarily active from memory from 2000- 2005 from what I recall before the third pillar of the DS arrived,
Not sure when the Micro arrived and the last game or system was released...seems 2010 so about a 10 year run like the original Gameboy hardware.
I do not recall it being front and centre during the DS years though once the dual screen iteration took off.
Re: Reviving Acclaim's Old IP Is "Not The Objective" As Some Of It Was "Not Great", Says New CEO
No BMX XXX on the cards then in a 2025 climate! 😱
Re: SNES-Inspired RPG 'Kingdoms Of The Dump' Is A Game About Trash From "Those Who Sweep Your Floors"
More charm than most new releases!
Re: "You Wouldn't See Street Fighter Or Tekken Putting This Garbage Out" - Mortal Kombat Art Book Accused Of Using AI Upscaling
Cannot wait until the next Mortal Kombat game uses AI generated characters then...😱
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
Just started onto 7 of original run just got Zelda III issue at a nice price, I like the humour and writing in it plus glossy paper...Just arrived at a multi page Konami/Palcom insert/advert with all their games in full colour that is better than any manual now. Shows the tidal change in stark effect...
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
I am just reading through 4 really early issues of Game Zone and first advert I see is for this company from an early 90s magazine nearly forgotten about...
Has Time Extension done an article on Special Reserve by any chance?
Actually seeing a full page Console Concepts from Newcastle Under Lyme advert plus listings with a shop front photo has brought back loads of memories.
Please do a large feature on the grey import scene in UK in 90s at some point in future...
Shekhana, Raven Games, Console Concepts, Dream Machines, Whizz Kid Games all the rest...
Re: "We Live In An Age Where Even Bubsy Can Make A Comeback" - Meet The Developers Trying To Resurrect The Barcode Battler
Great write up/column.
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
@Sketcz Agreed the past was better not just nostalgia.
Just wasted 0.5 days of working week doing chasing around admin for a minor issue that would be solved on phone in 10 mins before smartphones...
I lived in South America in 2010s and it was like being transported back to the 90s. Malls of different varietys full of everything, game stores like this layout filled with modern and retro titles, indies and music plus vinyl shops...I loved it.
The difference, no online equivalents like Amazon carving out physical stores..
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
In the UK I recall the likes of Comet, Virgin Megastores and Game Centres, Future Zones, Electronics Boutique, GAME, and Dixons plus tons of indies in the 90s...
In the USA you had KB Toys, Babbages Funcoland, EB, Tandy, Tower Records I am sure, Toys R Us and many others as well...
Games were everywhere way into mid 2000s
Golden era of physical retail now passed as UK consolidated into monopoly killing Gamestation through GAME and America mainstream contracted into Gamestop.
Such is retail with Amazon/Shopto/Play and modern commercial trends unfortunately...
Re: Ed Boon Pays Tribute To Retiring Audio Director Who Played "A Major Role In The Feel & Vibe Of Mortal Kombat"
@StyrofoamCup
Great post. It encapsulates how I feel about this westernised challenger to Streetfighter and the Mortal Madness that was the 90s.
Have you watched this?
Full 2hr official documentary
Insert Coin (2020) | Full Movie | Making of Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam & other 90s Hits
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7zx5GunyUS4
Re: Team Ninja Founder & Dead Or Alive Creator Tomonobu Itagaki Has Passed Away
One of the last great true gaming personalties.
RIP Tomonobu Itagaki
Re: McDonald's Is Teasing Something Street Fighter-Related, But Only In Japan
Sho Ryu Ken Special Deluxe Burger with Spinning Style Kick Fries and a Hado Ken Milkshake please!
Re: "Thanks To Everyone Who Played" - Donkey Kong Country And Banjo-Kazooie Designer Gregg Mayles Leaves Rare After 36 Years
@Masacheez
There is an excellent GI Biz article from Charles Cecil on maintaining Revolution's financial viability over the last 25 years and he made this quote I thought it was really insightful...
""I remember going to Develop last year, in 2024, and the old expression was, 'Just survive to '25'. And I remember standing up – and I made myself very unpopular – and I said, 'Why do you think we're going to go back to how it used to be?' It was so extraordinarily benign with Game Pass putting in millions and millions and millions, pumping up the industry. I said, 'Honestly, we have to find a new way to do business, because it's just not going to be the same.' And huge numbers of developers who did very well from the vast amounts of money being pumped into the industry just hoped it would return – but it won't."
Source: GIBZ
Maybe the age and more importantly viability of the AAA games industry is coming to a slow end?
Broken Sword 6 development also mentioned and current status.
Re: "Thanks To Everyone Who Played" - Donkey Kong Country And Banjo-Kazooie Designer Gregg Mayles Leaves Rare After 36 Years
Thanks for the memories Gregg.
Re: This Deep Sea Shooter Is Essentially A Horror-Themed Take On Star Fox 64
This looks pretty great I have to say.
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
@Johnny_Arthur
I think you are right SNES CD would have been a success as Nintendo's console was hugely popular for the time in Japan and USA, it was still being sold in 1999 in mainstream stores like KB Toys with games.
Plus more importantly the software creators Square, Konami, Capcom, Hudson, Enix plus others and Nintendo themselves importantly really knew how to make it work and create amazing experiences...
Nintendo would have learned from Mega CD and PCE CD as well as kept an eye on 3DO...
The industry would have needed it to be a success...
This link has it all explained regarding real licensing issues with Nintendo/Sony..in comments the full Sam Pettus section/extract...
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/12/nintendo-left-us-standing-at-the-altar-shawn-layden-on-the-vengeful-birth-of-playstation
This was the key inflection point
"Sony intends to broadly license it to the [whole] software industry]." This was anathema to Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi, who had no intention of letting Nintendo losing control over any part of the process. He conspired [tactically orchestrated I would argue = Deuteros] with Sony's rival Philips to publically humiliate Sony the following day at the show."
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
@retrophilion It's probably still the biggest videogame counterfactual there is, for sure the industry might be different.
If SEGA had more of a free ride early years SATURN style against 3D0 version 1.0 and Playstation and SONY went SOLO after breaking with Nintendo one hardware cycle down the line, in say 1997-99 it could be a totally different landscape if Dreamcast emerges against a 1st Gen 128 bit SONY machine and they are still learning to be a hardware provider...
Then again the security and learning experience of working with Nintendo from 92-95/96/97 could make SONY jump out gates even stronger in late 90s not 1994...
That extra motivation to broadside Nintendo was a key factor in getting everything up and running then doing things differently with licensees then using professionalism of their consumer divisions to strengthen the launch...
You might even be looking at a less strong Nintendo in terms of cornering their market right now...
Would SEGA have lasted past mid 2000s as a hardware manufacturer still given the issues between SEGA USA and SEGA Japan plus business sense, plus what would a 360 Era SEGA console even resemble?
Certainly a sliding doors moment for industry if SEGA were first to market over 360 and possibly Microsoft buy SEGA outright to kickstart own entry even (See 2000/2001 rumours)
Re: This Modder Is Making The Best Home Port Of Ghouls 'n Ghosts Even Better - And You Can Help
@KingMike Yeah know what you mean.
In the end you just adapted to circumstances/hardware and the slow down gave you some hidden advantages in end plus was just a quirk of system but it was really bad in some early titles...Gradius III, even Area 88 plus some others, they got smarter programming wise by mid cycle...
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
@mganai77 Thanks for link.
That's a pretty good breakdown from what I recall from era especially the bit about CD caddies and I had forgotten not just Secret of Mana but Chrono Trigger was a CD title at first stage.
The whole "obfuscating paradigm" plus vaporware aspect as a marketing tactic to impede Mega/Sega CD sales while Nintendo worked out just exactly what they were going to do...and with which partner to side with if anyone is on the money...
Little bit pro SONY but cannot have everything...🫠
Re: This Modder Is Making The Best Home Port Of Ghouls 'n Ghosts Even Better - And You Can Help
I only played the sequel on the Platinum Collection for Amiga with Strider, Black Tiger and Forgotten Worlds.
Re: This Modder Is Making The Best Home Port Of Ghouls 'n Ghosts Even Better - And You Can Help
@slider1983 I enjoyed it on Amiga at the time got killed tons, played Super after got SNES never went back...
The Capcom Amiga US Gold Box Artwork was really well done as well for all their games, think it was the same artist...especially the Platinum Collection.
Re: This Modder Is Making The Best Home Port Of Ghouls 'n Ghosts Even Better - And You Can Help
Super Ghouls n Ghosts with slowdown removed and the PSP version are where it is at!
I think the GBA version has an arrange mode as well...
Lovely graphics and great music!
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
@MegaMel86 Never really heard much about this theory through decades...but it is an interesting one.
Do you have any links or is it just a theory?
Found this...from 80s
"In 1985, Nintendo, a rising star in the home video game console space, fought against Magnavox’s volley of lawsuits with the claim that Baer’s patent was invalidated by prior art. Years before Baer developed his idea, William Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory built what is now believed to be the first video game, Tennis for Two, to run on an analog computer. Tennis for Two is clearly similar to Table Tennis in many respects, but the court found one crucial distinction: Higinbotham’s oscilloscope-based game—which actually dated back to 1958 and an era that no one would associate with video games—did not involve television signals, which was a key component of Baer’s patent and the video games at issue."
Pretty good summary
https://www.thinkbrg.com/thinkset/ts-case-of-the-video-game-lawsuit-racket/
Specific...
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/707/717/1574608/
Although I see Phillips were still after Nintendo in 2014 for Wii and Wii U motion control patents...
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
There are a couple of columns with lots more detail on this topic one from 2015...
=110 comments even!
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2015/12/feature_what_if_the_snes_playstation_had_actually_happened#comments
This is most recent and has some good stuff in comments regarding SNES CD fiasco with SONY that birthed their main competition...
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/12/nintendo-left-us-standing-at-the-altar-shawn-layden-on-the-vengeful-birth-of-playstation
Fan Project to make SNES CD a reality
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/01/modder-behind-the-custom-sega-neptune-might-make-the-snes-playstation-a-reality
Plus a more recent one that was relevant...
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/03/turns-out-ken-kutaragi-has-a-nintendo-playstation-kicking-around-in-a-cupboard#comments
And these interesting EA/3DO/Hawkins snippets...
https://www.timeextension.com/features/flashback-sega-and-sony-almost-joined-forces-to-battle-nintendo-in-the-90s#comments
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/12/ea-founder-denies-giving-sony-the-idea-for-playstation
Re: Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror Is Officially Set To Get The "ReForged" Treatment
I just wish Revolution would make a few "new" adventure games once in a while!
Re: "Nintendo Has Made Serious Objections" - Last Ninja Collection Delayed On Consoles
Here is the gumpf over the recent Streetfighter 2 E Honda stage alteration and reason...
"No official reason has been announced for the change, but the most likely explanation is that Capcom wants to avoid a negative reaction in other parts of Asia to the rising sun imagery. Particularly in China and Korea, vocal groups associate the symbol with the Imperial Japanese Army and World War II-era occupation. The issue is a complex one for many reasons, not the least of which is that although the Rising Sun flag was flown by the Imperial Japanese military, the symbol was neither created for nor exclusively used by the armed forces, and so it doesn’t have a necessarily militaristic or imperial feel to most Japanese citizens. Capcom, though, has apparently decided it’s not worth the risk of risking a backlash over Honda’s background, and so the sun has been scrubbed out of the mural entirely, even from the for-sale-in-Japan version of the games."
https://japantoday.com/category/entertainment/rising-sun-removed-from-%27street-fighter-ii%27-background-in-game%E2%80%99s-latest-rerelease