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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Election Antics Part 2: The Denial of Democracy

By VORTEXICA - or; Vortexica complains about British politics ad nauseum.

Last we-... I mean MONTH, in my last article (E3 reactions notwithstanding), I broke down the main results of the May UK General Election and remarked on possible implications for the British gaming industry. This time I want to take one of the main talking points from the election and really lay into it for the sad denial of democracy that it is — or rather was. You can think of this article as me simply letting off steam about something I had to listen to over and over again during the campaign. So if you don't wish to hear me drone on about this incredibly dull topic in an overly verbose way, I warn you, turn back now. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Miiverse's New Console Ban Policy — A GOOD Thing!?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Yes, I do think so.

Recently on June 24, 2015, Nintendo's Miiverse messenger Julie gave us this "update" on rule policy

Miiverse Nintendo Julie console ban June 2015 update announcement
Julie resurfaces from a half-year hiatus to give us bad news.

This instantly triggered a massive uproar, with the comments section of the post being filled up to capacity (1,000 comments) within less than 4 hours. Miiversers have been calling for a boycott, a war, a mass exodus, and civil disobedience.

But... there's no real new policy going on, if you look closely. And that's just what I'm going to do. And this policy is... actually beneficial to Miiverse.

Friday, June 26, 2015

War Between The States: Apple vs. Common Sense

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Even history is censored.

And you really thought that Rawk was just connecting unrelated concepts in his article on the Confederate Flag and Rare Ltd. on Tuesday? No, the ongoing debate and controversy over the Confederate Flag is intricately related to the videogame industry.

How? Well, just look at Apple and their new move on their App Store:
"Apple appears to have joined the growing list of companies removing merchandise depicting the Confederate battle flag, pulling a number of Civil War games from its App Store."
One such game was Ultimate General: Gettysburg from Game Labs LLC. According to Game Labs, the game is the
"most accurate, historical, playable reference of the Battle of Gettysburg. All historical commanders, unit composition and weaponry, key geographical locations to the smallest streams or farms are recreated in our game's battlefield."
And out of the desire to be accurate and true to history, Game Labs has rejected Apple's consolation of "if you remove the flag from the game you can put the game back on the App Store."

Thursday, June 25, 2015

The Fate of Fire Emblem and Traditional Values

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Traditional relationships, but more importantly: Traditional game purchasing.

I have been on a roll lately with being concerned with what I deem "traditional values".

Nintendo used to represent traditional values within the gaming industry, but they've made it clear E3 2015 that they have transformed as a company to be... like any other videogame company. And perhaps no upcoming game (unless you're in Japan, then it just came out as Fire Emblem If) makes this clearer than Fire Emblem Fates. The Iwata Asks for the game was just published, and I recommend reading it here. It really makes clear why Intelligent Systems is doing what they're doing — partly because they got manga writer Shin Kibayashi on board. (They usually don't outsource the story.)

Shin Kibayashi looking fresh.

There are just a couple of unclear parts. One of which is this headline that the mainstream gaming media has picked up: "Fire Emblem Fates will include same-sex marriage" and variations of that. The story broke from the known-to-be-very-deceptive Polygon website.

Here's how Nintendo apparently worded their statement:
"Fire Emblem Fates [...] includes the possibility for a same-sex marriage to take place between the main character created by the gamer and another character in the game"
Apparently, the Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest will allow the male customisable protagonist to have a same-sex affair with another male character, while Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright will allow a female customisable protagonist to have a same-sex entanglement with another female character. If you want your protagonist to be female in Conquest or male in Birthright and want to live out your homosexual fantasies, then you're out of luck. At least you can still live out your erotic fantasies in the My Castle spa. (Obviously that's a scary link to click.)

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Nintendo's "Transform" Theme This E3...

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A simple form change... or is it a fundamental transformation of America?!

Before E3 2015 began, I wrote a great article about my fear of... change within the videogame industry. Change for the worse, which is the only direction change really goes in nowadays. There's little hope for better. This negative direction follows the same direction as our greater non-gaming culture.

I made a point that we used to be able to stand behind Nintendo as a great safe-house from this negativity and destruction, but that is changing and changing quickly. And my fears were confirmed when Nintendo, out of Reggie's mouth, stated that "transformation" was their theme of E3.
"It also represents a theme you're going to encounter consistently throughout Nintendo's experience for E3. That theme is transformation. Recently, Mr. Iwata has made several announcements on how Nintendo itself is being transformed. [...] Today, our purpose is more immediate: To focus on the transformations you'll be enjoying right inside your Nintendo gameplay in the coming months." [Emphasis added]
You know what this reminds me of that is totally not just a ridiculous tangent?

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Symbols of Stigma: a RARE Story

By RAWKHAWK2010 - She's got stigmas like you wouldn't believe~

As has been made clear in the past few days, select dudes were waiting with bated breath for someone like the Charleston church charger to come along. Not because they were in any hurry to feel sympathy for the victims or their families, but because it would incur a massive out-pour of guilt for said opportunists to jump upon like a goat on a hobo, so that they could achieve their own insidious ends and get everything banned/stigmatized/dead that they don't personally like.

And it appears to be working, beginning with total annihilation of the Confederate flag. Regarding whether the flag should remain at the Charleston capital after appearing in photos with Roof, Governor Nikki Haley said no, Mitt Romney said no, Jeb Bush said no, and even Lindsey Graham said nowhich means he just lost the few 2016 votes he might have actually had and will now be performing even more shittily in the Republican Presidential Primary Debate Super Contest than originally predicted. Not to mention that Wal-Mart has opted to pull all Confederate flag-branded items from their stores for being "offensive", despite the fact that just about everything sold in a Wal-Mart is "offensive" to one sense or another (from the ghastly produce to the third-world bar soap).

As the creator of such classics as "Rebel Crossing" and "I Wish I Was In Stoutland", I obviously won't take this sitting down. Well, I might, but I'm sure as hell still going to write about it. Because in defense of the Confederate flag, there's a timely story to be told here. A story about another powerful and beautiful symbol spat on and ridiculed by the "writers of history", which at long last Rose Again as it always knew it would.

The symbol of Rare.

Monday, June 22, 2015

E3 2015: Good, Bad, and Hideous Conferences

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Because ugly doesn't describe what happened last week with some of these companies.

Last week was E3 2015 week on KoopaTV. We published seventeen live reaction log articles for your enjoyment all linked to and labeled in our E3 2015 schedule. Hey, that's one more than 2014. So you heard from us more often on the key E3 moments!

And... it's through hearing us like we were there (Kamek was there literally but was stuck on the shelf for the rest of the conference) that we're able to come up with our educated and informed rankings on which company did the best during E3! 'cause if you're hearing us, then that means we had something to say.

So without further ado, here's the tier list and write-up, best-to-worst, with their main live reaction log linked: 

Friday, June 19, 2015

Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy First-Hand Impressions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nintendo Access: Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy! ...What a flop.

A month ago, when Nintendo announced the "Nintendo Access: Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy" event, KoopaTV wrote derisively of it.
"Does anyone out there actually want to go out to a Best Buy and play Mario Maker? Really?"
"Seriously, there is nothing compelling about going to that Best Buy event besides filling up your 3DS's Streetpasses. Which definitely will happen, assuming anyone shows up. The crowds will definitely be thinner this year."
Well, I went anyway on Wednesday June 17. Just to see how many folks would go there. So how many people were there? And should you go Saturday June 20?

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Nintendo Treehouse Live: Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright & E3 Ends!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The Treehouse concludes E3, but not before some Fire Emblem Fates action.

By the end of this reaction log, we will have covered the ending of E3 2015.

That sounds like such a huge statement! And we're going right back to our best friends at Nintendo Treehouse Live to bring us the end of E3 and their own videogame showcase. Included: Group pictures! Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, and even more Super Mario Maker! I'm Nintendork 13 13 (on AOL Instant Messenger anyway) and Rawk is himself. Let's go!

Capcom Unity Plays Mega Man Legacy Collection at E3 2015

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Time for a different company's live stream to see how the other side lives.

Did you know that Nintendo is not the only company constantly live-streaming their product offerings this E3 2015? The good folks at Capcom Unity are also doing that, though there wasn't anything that they did not already announce ahead of time.

So today we have Capcom Unity's Gregaman and Mega Man Legacy Collection producer Rey Jimenez. They are obviously talking about Mega Man Legacy Collection, which is a compilation of future-proofed ports of the NES Mega Man games (1-6) along with challenges, art, and a few other stuff. For context, there was a Mega Man Anniversary Collection over a decade ago with Mega Man games 1-8 plus two arcadey games Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man: The Power Fighters. So... a lot of people feel that Capcom is not doing a good job here, and we can see that in their stream since the Capcom guys respond to questions!

I'm Nintendork 13 13, and Rawk makes a cameo. Plus, breaking news regarding George Zimmerman! Let's see how well I know my classic Mega Man!

Mega Man Legacy Collection title screen E3 2015 intro
Some may claim this is "authentic". I claim this was made in Paint.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Nintendo Treehouse Live: Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Dull generic sidescroller.

I have never owned a Chibi Robo game but I've always found it cute. The series. ...And the character.

So why did the series suddenly decide to add a 2D platformer? I dunno. But you'll read my live reactions to it being showcased on Nintendo Treehouse Live below.

Chibi Robo Zip Lash mini cute screenshot gameplay dialogue
Chibi Robo holding a mini Chibi Robo. I'm rude and didn't let him finish what he had to say.
 

Nintendo Treehouse Live: Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You know what would be better with Smash? Super Smash Bros.

And now the game and the reaction log no one asked for: Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash!

Now I'm joined by my colleague, RawkHawk2010, as we get bored pretty fast from this back-and-forth sport!

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash Bowser audience panels win
Clearly the best part of this whole thing.

Take it away, Nintendo Treehouse!

Nintendo Treehouse Live: Genei Ibun Roku #FE

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You may remember it as Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem.

It is Day 2 of E3, and that means that Nintendo has more to talk about with their Treehouse Live series of having their localisation team go out and play the games they announced in their Nintendo Digital Event.

I'm Nintendork 13 13 in the following log, and... I'm the only KoopaTV staff member around. But that's okay, it's annotated with exclusive screenshots!


Genei Ibun Roku #FE Nintendo Atlus Treehouse Live E3 2015
Your cast today. The guy at the far-right is not Sakurai. He's from Atlus.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to Nintendo Treehouse Live: NWC Super Mario Maker levels!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Sit-down and looking at the Super Mario Maker levels from the finale of the Nintendo World Championships.

Say what you will about the Nintendo Digital Event (and we have TWO different logs covering just that), but at least Nintendo's Treehouse is still trying to fill three E3 days worth of content.

So today they're going to interview the Treehouse dudes on their journey from localisers to level designers for the Nintendo World Championships. (View our reaction to that event — and their surprising levels, here.) The tool? Super Mario Maker.
Nintendo Treehouse Live Super Mario Maker World Championship levels
"You're watching Super Mario Maker!" No we're not. We're watching three dudes talk.

Ludwig's Reactions to Nintendo Digital Event + Treehouse Live Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Heroes always come late.

You really think that just because I boycotted the live-showing of the Nintendo Digital Event that I wouldn't give KoopaTV my thoughts of it? It's my own site!

I'm doing a live reaction log ALL BY MYSELF. If you want Rawk and Vortexica's reactions (Kamek was actually at E3 so he couldn't live-react), then click here.

Rawk and Vortexica show up when you can ctrl + f "3:51". That's when we watch Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

Watch the Digital Event for yourself here. Though it's not recommended. (Subsequent Paper Jam coverage not included.)




So... Uh... how did I take the event? Find out below. I'm watching the Digital Event alongside reading Vortex and Kamek's log, which is how we honestly think you guys read these Live Reaction Logs.

KoopaTV's Square Enix E3 2015 Conference LIVE REACTIONS!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - That burn towards Nintendo at the end...

The last conference is here: Square Enix! Having largely been responsible for the success of the Sony E3 2015 Conference, how much credit will Square take for themselves?

Will our Square Enix hopes be met? Will Kingdom Hearts 3 be shown? How about Ludwig's obsession with the Dragon Quest slime? I'm actually in this log now (unlike the previous one), along with RawkHawk2010 as himself and Vortexica as breezinabout.
Phil Rogers Square Enix E3 2015 conference CEO Americas
It's Phil Rogers! You'll figure out who he is if you read the live reaction log!

KoopaTV's Nintendo E3 2015 Conference Live Reactions

By VORTEXICA - We're down to two dudes!

Welcome to KoopaTV's live reactions to the Nintendo E3 2015 Digital Event, perhaps the most KoopaTV-appropriate event of the E3 week.

In a departure from standard live reaction procedure, Ludwig has taken to boycotting the Nintendo log over the Deluxe Digital Promotion debacle. As you might expect, without him everything went to pieces, with muggins here left to get this log sorted. And since I'm the one doing it for once, no, I'm not this "breezinabout"! I'm Vortex in the AIM log. Rawk as usual is himself, and joins me for commentary. You may also notice that the timestamps are on the opposite side of the names than usual... and are off by five hours. Look, just roll with it.

Let's dive right in, shall we?

Monday, June 15, 2015

KoopaTV's Sony E3 2015 Conference Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Otherwise known as "PlayStation E3 2015 Press Conference".

The last conference for this very long Monday is Sony's.

If you have been keeping up with KoopaTV's conference live reactions (see 'em all in one place here, with a schedule) then you know we do these live-reactions over AIM, and put in screenshots. I'm Nintendork 13 13, RawkHawk2010 is himself, and Vortexica is breezinabout.

Also, periodic Shenmue 3 Kickstarter updates throughout the log!
Andrew House Sony Computer Entertainment E3 conference 2015
Andrew House looking nervous. Why would he be?

KoopaTV's Ubisoft E3 2015 Conference Live Reactions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Did Ubisoft fill'er'up with memes? Or was it boring?

And now, Ubisoft.

You should know who we are already. But in case you don't, I'm Nintendork 13 13, Rawk is himself, Vortexica is breezinabout. And Kamek finally shows up as Ultralink1000.
Aisha Tyler. There's more where this came from.

KoopaTV's Electronic Arts E3 2015 Conference Live Reactions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Started off really well. ...Then sports...

It is absolutely no secret that KoopaTV has great displeasure for Electronic Arts. Still, we're objective people, right? If they have a good conference, then we'll acknowledge it!

Who are "we"? I'm Nintendork 13 13, RawkHawk2010 is RawkHawk2010, and Vortexica is breezinabout. We're gonna give you screenshots and live-reactions to everything that EA had to show for us!

KoopaTV's Microsoft E3 Conference 2015 Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Does the hype meet expectations?

This is the conference to explain why our E3 2015 KoopaTV banner has Rare logos on it. It may be the conference that our collective KoopaTV staff energy is most hyped for. This is the Microsoft Conference, discussing the Xbox One, Windows 10, and all the games.

Of course, RawkHawk2010 is here. I'm here as Nintendork 13 13. Vortexica too as breezinabout. Let's go.

Phil Spencer Xbox E3 2015 Conference Briefing shirt zipped covered
Phil Spencer with his shirt covered.

KoopaTV's Bethesda E3 2015 Conference LIVE REACTIONS!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, BONUS! Live reactions to the Greg Gutfeld Show!

For the last article of the night...KoopaTV watched all of the Bethesda E3 2015 Conference! It's their first-ever!

It's also the third-ever episode of The Greg Gutfeld show, both on at the same timeslot: 10 PM Eastern. So we... live-reacted to both. At the same time. Nintendork 13 13 (me) and RawkHawk2010 (him) had both Twitch and Fox News on simultaneously, while breezinabout (Vortexica) had a more traditional E3 live-reacting experience.

Greg Gutfeld is scared of the robot.

 So, here we go!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

KoopaTV's Nintendo World Championships Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Wow, what a win.

After 25 years, now there is a new Nintendo World Championships. (See the qualifiers information here.) Featuring retro games, new games, and WORLD PREMIERE NEW GAMES we've never seen before! Check out the pre-show here.
 
KoopaTV's staff sits and talks through the entire thing. I'm Nintendork 13 13, Rawk is RawkHawk2010, Vortexica is some breezin guy.

This is how the bracket works:

This is the bracket set-up.

Warning: This log is EXTREMELY LONG. It may crash you. Just saying. But it's the World Championships from start-to-finish!

KoopaTV's Nintendo World Championships Treehouse Live PRE-SHOW Live Reactions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - What's with the announcement at the end?! Wow!

Seriously guys, we thought this would be Nintendo Treehouse people babbling endlessly, but this moved on from that pretty quickly for BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Nintendo World Championships 2015 logo #NWC2015
YEAH!
I'm Nintendork 13 13, Rawk is himself, Vortex is breezin. Let's go. Seriously. Big announcements.

KoopaTV's "Super Smash Bros. - New Content Approaching" Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The first E3 event, and it's good ol' Sakurai again.

Today starts E3 2015, and KoopaTV's live reaction coverage. First up: Masahiro Sakurai (recently added as a source to not get information from) wants to share with us Super Smash Bros. For Wii U/For 3DS downloadable content news between today and August, with the majority of it being released TODAY! Downloadable NOW!

Here to give you our live reactions are Nintendork 13 13 (yours truly), RawkHawk2010 (himself), and breezinabout@msn.com (Vortexica). ...Kamek has a valid excuse for not showing up.

If you want to watch along with us, check out the video here!


Ryu Super Smash Bros. For Wii U illustration character art AKIMAN
Rawr.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

E3 Week 2015 Schedule!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Your friendly index of KoopaTV's E3 2015 coverage.

Everyone wants to know: What are all of the E3 events this upcoming week? Even KoopaTV's own staff can't keep track of them all, so we're going to just write 'em down.


KoopaTV E3 2015 week banner Rare logo

KoopaTV E3 Week banner 2015 edition designed by RawkHawk2010.
Then edited by Vortexica. Then edited by Rawk again.
So where the hell is Kamek in all this?

For every conference not for Nintendo, head to Twitch during the given event. For Nintendo's stuff, go to e3.nintendo.com or Nintendo's Twitch!

Below is the E3 schedule that KoopaTV will be following. We should have coverage for everything below. All times are in Eastern (GMT -5), so hope you know your timezones.

Behold:

Friday, June 12, 2015

The Deluxe Digital Promotion DISASTER!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV's first scandal, and Nintendo doesn't help.

I hope you remember Nintendo's Deluxe Digital Promotion. I went over its details before it ended, here. ...And it's just now occurred to me that after calling it the "Digital Deluxe Promotion" since 2012, that it's really the "Deluxe Digital Promotion".

Nintendo Wii U Digital Deluxe Promotion
This is what's left of ddp.nintendo.com. I doubt that sub-domain will be up much longer.

So, now then. What's the disaster? Well, I put the two DDP codes I earned as prizes for the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. I got the points before December 31, 2014. I converted the points to codes before March 31, 2015. And now I was going to give the codes to the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program winners before June 30, 2015. Everything was on schedule.

There was... a problem, though. A big problem. A big enough problem that I'm doing something very drastic this E3 in protest.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

No Ace Attorney at E3 2015!?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - CAPCOM showing their hand before the event.

According to a press release from CAPCOM, their E3 lineup is as follows:

Mega Man Legacy Collection, Street Fighter V, Resident Evil 0, and Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition. All of those games are coming only to non-Nintendo systems with the exception of Mega Man Legacy Collection, which will be released on the Nintendo 3DS months after its release on other systems.

Only Street Fighter V is an actually brand new game, and that's being developed in some sort of exclusive partnership with Sony. The rest are ports/remakes, consistent with their new strategy to focus on "remasters". Capcom is also pursuing more and more of a digital download path for their games, spelling doom for Ace Attorney fans everywhere that love their physical copies.

...Speaking of doom for Ace Attorney, just where IS Ace Attorney? Dai Gyakuten Saiban is coming out next month in Japan (July 2015) yet it still has not been announced for localisation anywhere.

Even worse, perennial localisation announcement hope Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations 2 still hasn't gotten the lucky break, and it seems clear that E3 2015 will not be the place, either. As you may have noticed, the list of four games includes nothing from the Ace Attorney franchise. What's going on?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Lost in the Shuffle

By RAWKHAWK2010 - And my feathers are ruffled.

Following the passionate and suspense-driven drama that was the Zimmerman Trial, I decided I'd finally give the Ace Attorney series a try. Because how could I not? As I watched the case unfold with my fellow (and ex-fellow) KoopaTV staff members, Ace Attorney music was blared, Ace Attorney quotes were hollered, and the application of Ace Attorney to real-life political hijinx was entertaining enough to finally make me take the plunge. Before then, my contempt for everything else Capcom naturally meant that I didn't give a Mouser's ass about Ace Attorney either (nor Ludwig's shilling of it), but that...that was the difference I needed. 

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Kira Hillary Rodham Clinton what difference does it make tesimony
"What difference, at this point, does it make?" - Hillary Rodham Clinton

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Culture and Videogames: The Last of a Dying Breed is Dead

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Progressivism is destroying all worlds.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, E3 2015 is a time for new things and evolution. So we should be excited. But it's also a time of apprehension.

People like to say that Nintendo is "behind" on the times, like, a whole generation behind the rest of the industry. You know, with the supposedly 20th century Internet infrastructure. Well, I've always been a proponent of the "traditional" way of doing things, whether it be a culture drenched in traditional values, or just being able to buy a game cartridge and have the full game available right there without ever needing to connect online or purchase anything else.

So it's a fantastic thing, as a hardcore gaming fan, that Nintendo still appreciated these traditional values. However, ever since they were hammered hard by the anti-Nintendo #Miiquality movement, Nintendo has had to re-evaluate their positioning or else face backlash from fascist bullies. This affected not only their aesthetics, but also their practices in the videogame industry, detailed below.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Excited for E3 2015?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's enjoy this awful trailer from the ESA!

As you should know, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is next week. Hosted by the Entertainment Software Association. KoopaTV will cover it extensively like we've done in years prior.

It's the most important gaming-related event of the year. (It might be the most important media event of the year but... the Republican presidential debates are also starting this year so who knows?) So let's see how the ESA is promoting it, courtesy of social media:
(Analysis to follow.)