No Sword/Shield National Dex: What About The Spin-offs?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, a... poem of sorts at the end.

While I think the vapourware state of Town is the current biggest controversy regarding GAME FREAK at the moment, literally no one else cares about Town. In fact, you most likely disagree with me and think GAME FREAK's biggest controversy is the lack of a National Dex (more like an International Dex) in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. While I think Rotom becoming a smartphone is the biggest culprit in why there will not be a comprehensive Pokémon registry, most people seem to blame GAME FREAK being an incompetent development team and Junichi Masuda personally. ...And as someone who equates Masuda as the Pokémon version of Shigeru Miyamoto (that's a bad thing), I'm not going to try to defend GAME FREAK or Masuda.

Since I have nothing outrageous to add about GAME FREAK being bad at planning or lazy or that they shouldn't have announced Pokémon Home until after Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield released (because who is going to pay interest to the Nosepass running Pokémon Bank now?), my main concern isn't actually the Pokémon not being in the Galar National Dex. It's the increased chance of deleterious effects it may have on downstream spin-offs.

If a Pokémon won't even be programmed into the flagship Generation 8 game—keep in mind that previous games don't let you catch every Pokémon in-game but they're still in the code—what chance do they have of being in spin-offs based on Generation 8? Quite low.

Gaming Disorder Official in ICD-11. Good!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Videogame addiction ain't fiction.

In early January 2018, I wrote about how the World Health Organization would add a “gaming disorder” to the ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition). If you're not familiar with what the ICD manual is all about, that article does a better job than other contemporary gaming outlets did at describing it, so check it out.

Now that it's mid-2019, I can report that they've done it. Gaming disorder is officially a thing, a child of “disorders due to addictive behaviours.” Here's the description of gaming disorder:

“Gaming disorder is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour (‘digital gaming’ or ‘video-gaming’), which may be online (i.e., over the internet) or offline, manifested by:

1. impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context);
2. increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities; and
3. continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. The behaviour pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

The pattern of gaming behaviour may be continuous or episodic and recurrent. The gaming behaviour and other features are normally evident over a period of at least 12 months in order for a diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe.”

Makes sense to me. But it's also very familiar. Compare it to the description of gambling disorder:

You're Invited to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Online Open June 2019 Tournament!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - May possibly be referred to as the Super Smash Bros Ultimate North America June Open 2019, depending on its mood.

You may remember I advertised the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Open 2019 some months ago. That was the series of three tournaments that could get the winners an invitation to PAX East, where they competed to be the North America team in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Championship 2019 3v3. ...Which Japan's team ultimately won.

At the end of the World Championship 2019 was an announcement that the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America June Open 2019 is open for registrations. I joined right away, since I personally had a good time with the three tournaments in the non-June Open 2019 when I wasn't fighting against a Pichu in the main bracket semi-finals. Pichu got nerfed after that, so I personally think I'm unstoppable.

But why should YOU join the tournament, and how is it different than the non-June Open 2019? Well, I'll give you the details and the rationale in this article. Plus, to add value, I'll share some TIPS!

Why Is Cyberpunk 2077 So Anticipated?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's another “Ludwig displays how uncultured he is” article.

I took the advice of my staff and didn't look at social media during and right before E3 2019. Not only because I was a busy investigating Koopa (and then a jailed Koopa), but because of “leaks” that threatened the sanctity, sanity, and expectations of the viewing audience.

As a result, when Cyberpunk 2077 was being shown during the Microsoft E3 2019 conference, we... didn't really recognise it as something that was standout. Meanwhile, social media was exploding in activity over it. 

Keanu Reeves appearing at the conference for the game didn't affect anything for me or anyone else in the log. I just saw him as yet another Hollywood celebrity. I don't like celebrities. I don't even know what a “John Wick” is, but I thought it was a Game of Thrones character. (It's not.) Shows what I know. Keanu Reeves is not even portraying the main character of Cyberpunk 2077, and he can't be, since the main character is totally customisable and could even be a female. I really don't see what the big deal even is about him being on the game's staff. Keanu Reeves doesn't even play videogames, so why do gamers care what he thinks about them or what he does?

How is it featuring Keanu Reeves if he only appears for a few seconds at the very end of the trailer?
Isn't this whole thing just clickbait?

I didn't even remember that Cyberpunk 2077 was shown at the end of the Microsoft E3 2018, as the game that “hacked” the conference. Rawk seemingly didn't remember either, since he made the exact same Fallout 76 comment (2077 vs. 2076) both times. (In fact, he made it a third time while we were discussing the game tonight to prep for this article.) I had to find out that it was at E3 2018 from reading the game's Wikipedia article, and Cyberpunk 2077 apparently won awards at both E3 2018 and E3 2019.

Where Was Town At E3 2019? The True GAME FREAK Controversy

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - No home if there's no town.

The Nintendo world is very unhappy right now over the state of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield: Specifically that not every Pokémon will be coded into the game. Traditionally, even if a Pokémon isn't natively found in, say, Alola, you could still transfer/ship a Pokémon from a faraway region to an Alolan trainer. The Pokédex would recognise it. It'd work. Trainers could use any Pokémon discovered up to that point.

Galar is different. If it's not in the Pokédex, that's it. It's not allowed in the region.

I blame the Rotom Pokédex taking form as a smartphone instead of a real Pokédex—which in prior games have been designed based off of Nintendo handhelds. It's obviously a commentary on the superiority of a dedicated handheld gaming device versus the inferior experience offered by smartphones. Other people think it's a commentary on Brexit-inspired immigration efforts, but I'll leave the Brexit interpretations to Ubisoft and Watch Dogs: Legion.

I'll also leave further discussion about this to another article. (Or maybe I'll dodge it entirely and never write about it.)

I want to actually dedicate this article to discussing GAME FREAK's other Nintendo Switch title.

Town.

E3 2019: Company Conference Tier List

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - My controversial and personal opinion not representing the KoopaTV staff.

Alright, this year's E3 2019 was a bit awkward in terms of KoopaTV coverage. You can see a bunch of missing spots in our E3 2019 Schedule since we did not cover every company's conference with a reaction log.

There was a very, VERY good reason for all of that which you can read in last Friday's narrative-for-an-article, here. 

I'm going to try to make that up to you, however. All-in-one E3 2019 coverage: Behold, the E3 2019 (real) company conference tier list! (AKA my way of never having to watch the PC Gaming Show, and not rating Devolver Digital.) For E3 2019, that leaves five companies. Here's my tier list from worst-to-best, that every other KoopaTV staffer disagrees with (and they, as well as you, are encouraged to write their own article or lengthy comment expressing that) along with my reasoning:

Phoenix Wright vs. E3 2019: Drugs, Detainment, and Discounts

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - How I met Phoenix Wright for the first time, and ruined E3 2019.

If you are a regular reader of KoopaTV, you are probably wondering where I've been during the past several days of E3 Weeks 2019. Don't worry, the other KoopaTV staffers are wondering the same thing.

And if you're an irregular reader, you might be wondering why a gaming site's coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest gaming event of the year with the most impactful news drop, was so... lacking this year.

It was all foretold before E3 began that KoopaTV's staff would be flying out to Los Angeles to look for Phoenix Wright, former ace attorney and now just a disbarred and struggling man. Coverage of E3 itself was a secondary consideration.

I managed to do it. I found Phoenix Wright. I talked with Phoenix Wright. I acted on behalf of Phoenix Wright. I'll tell you the full story of what happened this week. ...You'll find it quite interesting. I'll write it from a third-person perspective, similar to the How Team Koopa Escaped Rio series.

Your Majesty and My Majesty: Unicorns vs. Narwhals Splatfest!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's keep the word majesty meaningful.

You may be thinking, “Ludwig, why are you publishing about a Splatoon 2 Splatfest during E3 Weeks 2019?” Because I have no choice and Nintendo decided to have a Splatfest happen right when E3 ends. I have to write and publish coverage of this at some point before the 15th, so I picked Thursday, the designated Nintendo Treehouse Live: Indie Game Edition day. No one's going to whine for us not covering that, right?

This month's Splatfest is about two horned mythical/rare creatures: The unicorn and the narwhal.

Which creature is more majestic? The unicorn or the narwhal?

I had to do a lot of research for this Splatfest. You see, Pearl and Marina spent a lot of time discussing not the majestic attributes of the unicorn or the narwhal, but whether or not they exist. Allegedly, unicorns don't exist but narwhals do. Marina went into a tangent about how her landlord is a narwhal. Really uninformative banter from them overall that I had to supplement.

In my world, there is no such thing as a unicorn and there is no such thing as a narwhal. There's some ancient and non-living depictions of unicorn-like figures that signify they may have once existed (in the flesh or in someone's minds). By comparison, there's literally no mention of narwhals in the entire history of Koopa Kingdom, the Mushroom Kingdom, or anywhere else in Star World.

Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3 2019 Day 2: I AM ERROR

By KAMEK - Error.

I AM ERROR.
WE'RE EXPECTING SOME DIFFICULTIES.
NINTENDO TREEHOUSE: LIVE
WILL BE BACK SOON WITH MORE GAMEPLAY
AND INFORMATION YOU CAN'T GET
ANYWHERE ELSE. STICK AROUND!

Boss isn't even around for what Nintendo is doing with E3. The staff tried to watch Nintendo Treehouse: Live, got an error, and called it a day.

Nintendo Direct at E3 2019: KoopaTV's Live Reactions!

By WITCH PRINCESS - Time to awaken and react.

I  am back from a long slumber for this special occasion. And I'm also one of the staff members excited for this E3 2019 Direct!

Unfortunately, Ludwig went out on a search for Mr. Phoenix Wright, still hoping to get him here at E3 with us. Seriously, hope and pray that we find him! Wright needs to be in Smash!

I'll be covering Nintendo's thing, along with our good friend Ryu, RawkHawk2010 (towards the end), and Wendy (also towards the end).

Let's begin!