Freemium Economies Mirror Real Ones in Odd Ways
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/22/18 at 03:20 PM CT
As much as we may try to avoid them like the plague, the MJ Crew has become entrapped by a handful of Freemium entertainment software – that is to say, games and apps that are ostensibly “free,” but in actuality have a cost tied to them, be it paid in time or macrotransactions. Some of us are more invested in these than others.
One of the more interesting meta-game things that has revealed itself to me in the mobile app “Star Trek: Timelines” is the way its variety of Freemium currencies mirror the real world.
For those who are mercifully ignorant, Freemium currencies are the eternal plague of Freemium games. An array of these made-up monies are present in every Freemium game with the end goal of confusing the player/user/customer into no longer understanding the value proposition of any of the available macrotransactions.
In “Star Trek: Timelines,” the basic unit of currency is the Federation Credit, which, like all basic Freemium currencies, is absolutely …
A Handy Flow Chart for Pokemon GO
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/15/18 at 03:11 PM CT
The additions of Friends and Trading to 2-year-old mobile app, "Pokemon GO" are long overdue features, and their sudden appearance has sparked at least one of my acquaintances to fire-up the app again and try, in vain, to Catch 'Em All. This same acquaintance also has a hard time digesting large amounts of information all at once, including which Pokemon to keep and which to throw into the candy grinder. This flow chart was made just for you, and should probably be set as your iPhone wallpaper for easy access.
Microsoft Could Shake Things Up With New Xbox Peripheral
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/08/18 at 03:14 PM CT
Ever since they started producing Surface tablets, bundling Kinect peripherals with their Xbox consoles, and partnering with third-parties to create their Hololens Mixed Reality headsets, Microsoft, the non-gaming software developer that owns PC gaming thanks to Windows but doesn’t seem to know what to do with it, has been on, or at least near, the bleeding edge of hardware design. And it looks like the House that Gates Built is making waves yet again with a device they’re calling the “Adaptive Controller.”
Ostensibly designed to facilitate videogame playing for people with physical disabilities, the basic core of the Adaptive Controller looks like a large plank pretending to be an Xinput controller, with a large d-pad, two huge buttons, and a few other function buttons. This device isn’t, however, limited to the buttons and pads built into it, but accepts a huge array of USB add-ons ranging from the familiar – like a USB Wii Nunchuck adapter – to facilitators truly …
Backlog: The Embiggening – July, 2018
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/30/18 at 02:32 PM CT
The annual Summer Game Drought is upon us as July closes in. As has become a trend in recent years, publishers have taken the opportunity to shower us with shovelware and ports in an attempt to fool us into thinking the drought is less severe that it is. Instead of a downpour of watery diarrhea, however, we’re getting a light sprinkle, as the numbers are drastically lower than they have been recently.
Shovelware is back in full-force after largely disappearing for a good long while. New games based on the latest ‘Jurassic Park’ movie, the latest ‘Hotel Transylvania’ movie, and the thankfully-canceled/ended ‘Adventure Time’ cable cartoon are going to land like so many steaming cat turds in a sandpile.
After the cat got done with our Summer Sandbox, a pack of wild dogs moved in and had their way with the place, spraying, ports, remasters, and reboots over every available surface. Once again, the Switch is proving itself to be the new king of rehashed crap, with a …
Steam is Patient Zero: The Flood of Crap is Contagious
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/24/18 at 03:31 PM CT
Just a short time ago, I proposed the idea that Steam’s uncurated storefront as of the 8th Generation was a Darwinian approach to game sales, while the curated stores on PlayStation Network, Nintendo Network, and Xbox Live (notwithstanding Microsoft’s temporary experiment with Xbox Indies) were more mythological, where an all-powerful overseer separates the ‘good’ from the ‘bad.’ It seems that the age of faith may be coming to an end sooner rather than later when it comes to digital videogame storefronts, as just a single season later, these console storefronts don’t feel nearly as curated as they did last year.
Between March 1, 2018 and May 31, 2018 – one ‘season,’ the way we here at MeltedJoystick calculate things – Steam added countless crap titles to its ever-growing pile. However, it wasn’t alone. The Nintendo Network eShop gained nearly 300 titles, while PSN’s PS Store raked-in roughly 200, and Xbox Live acquired around 150 new titles. And that’s …
E3 Impressions 2018
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/16/18 at 05:50 PM CT
I had no expectations for E3 once again this year. I had hoped to see a handful of titles to help justify my Switch ownership, as well as a few multi-platform titles coming to PC that the MJ Crew could play cooperatively. I was not, however, prepared for the absolute tsunami of titles shown off at E3 2018. It was tough to take notes on everything shown off during the three console press conferences, the PC Gaming Show, and the individual publisher conferences… especially when I kept running out of space in the Do Not Want category.
Microsoft:
Want: Tunic (still!)
Not Sure if Want: “Ori and the Will of the Wisps” (still!), “Battletoads”
Do Not Want: Game Pass, “Halo Infinite”/“Gears 5”/“Forza Horizon 4”/“Crackdown 3,” Touting “Exclusives” that… aren’t, Add-On Content for Crap Games (“Sea of Thieves,” “PUBG”)
Microsoft is clearly struggling, as this year’s E3 was a pale shadow of last year’s. The non-gaming company touted their …
The Money Game
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/10/18 at 02:42 PM CT
Recently, I was surprised by something said by rotund gaming pundit, Jim Sterling. While usually, I’m very impressed with Sterling’s ability to keep his thumb on the pulse of the modern games industry, this video, in which he reversed a previously held opinion about platform exclusive titles completely threw me for a loop.
I used to love exclusive games, but that was when the competing platforms were all significantly different. When the 7th Generation homogenized all of gaming into a big blob of Gray Goo and all non-first-party exclusives evaporated like so much dry ice, both Sterling and I saw the writing on the wall and decided to embrace the homogenization.
Sony’s release of the latest ‘God of War’ game, simply entitled “God of War,” caused Sterling to backpedal, but it seems he’s missing the bigger picture here. The argument goes that only first parties, like Sony or Nintendo, who are deeply invested in the success of their hardware, will sink the …
Review Round-Up: Sping 2018
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/03/18 at 02:24 PM CT
Welcome back to another installment of the MeltedJoystick Review Round-Up. Here’s what our staff has reviewed since last time:
Nelson’s Reviews:
I had a pretty good Spring as far as volume goes… but not so good with regard to quality. The MJ Crew managed to wrap up 2 coop games we’ve been working on for a while (one of which I loved, the other of which… not so much), while I was repeatedly disappointed by both fanslations and backlog scrapings.
“Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart” – 3/5
“Diluvion” – 3/5
“Seiken Densetsu 3” – 2.5/5
“Titanfall 2” – 2.5/5
“Treasure Hunter G” – 3.5/5
“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” – 4/5
“Shadow Warrior 2” – 4.5/5
“Treasure of the Rudras” – 2/5
“Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas” – 2.5/5
“The Bard’s Tale (2004)” – 3/5
Chris’ Reviews:
Chris finally (grudgingly) submitted a review for “No Man’s Sky,” even though he insists he’ll go back to …
Backlog: The Embiggening – June, 2018
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/27/18 at 03:04 PM CT
June is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to take a look at what our friendly Uncles in the videogame industry have planned for our Summer fun. This month looks a bit more evenly spread amongst the categories than last month… but the single biggest group of games being released to kick off the Season of Freedom for kids (or not, it seems that kids today are more firmly guided into thousands of hours of extracurriculars rather than being left to their own devices like we on the MJ Crew were) still begins with a ‘p’ and ends with ‘orts and remasters.’
Three bits of shovelware are poking their weed-like heads above ground in June: A new ‘Gundam’ breaker game creatively titled “New Gundam Breaker” (based on the mecha anime), “LEGO The Incredibles” (based on the Disney CG superhero movie, and released conveniently as a tie-in for the upcoming sequel), and “Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn” (based on stupid memes and an aging ex-baller who apparently …
The Nintendo Network Subscription is an Unfunny Joke
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/19/18 at 06:48 PM CT
Nintendo has been dragging their feet for over a year after the company announced that they would be adding a subscription paywall to online play for the Nintendo Switch (and presumably all future Nintendo hardware). For a while, it looked like maybe they’d changed their minds, but alas, last week they officially pulled off the obscuring tarp and revealed the monstrosity in all its glory.
For a basic price of $4/month (which only idiots would pay instead of grabbing the $20/year ‘bonus’ package, which is still of dubious value), Switch owners can pass unmolested through the paywall for games like “Splatoon 1.5,” “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch,” or “Mario Kart 8” (which were free to play online on the WiiU…), plus SO MUCH MORE! Let’s take a look:
Save Data Cloud Backup
One of the biggest oversights with the Switch hardware is the inability to locally back-up saves to an SD card or USB drive. Nintendo is clearly still terrified by the way the …
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