Those Brothers through Smash: Saving Apex 2015!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The community (and sponsors) saved the day.

We know that Apex 2015, (originally) from Friday January 30 to Sunday February 1, was signed up to be the biggest Super Smash Bros. series tournament ever, with well over 1,000 (to 2,000) unique entrants between the games. With Nintendo's sponsorship and even Splatoon making an appearance, what could go wrong? Having so much fun with Splatoon you miss your Smash Bros. match?

Well, the hotel that Apex 2015 took place at, the Clarion Hotel Empire Meadowlands Hotel, was shut down for fire code violations and crumbling infrastructure. For more information, check out this screenshot of reviews (and Clarion literally ASKED for these reviews) that Apex participants left for the hotel. You can look at more reviews at your own leisure:

Not gonna lie, I laughed with some of these.

 
So if the venue they planned a three-day event at basically collapses (and they don't refund you), what happens to the event? Lesser communities might have just said, "Well, these are extreme circumstances! Let's cancel it and spend the weekend in the New Jersey snow!" (Actually, Splatoon stayed at the Clarion the whole weekend for some reason, so maybe they'd all play Splatoon and have a blast.) 

Harry Potter? Nah. Zelda on Netflix? ...Maybe?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Rumours of Nintendo and pop culture.

I am notoriously bad at pop culture, whether it be anime or watching real movies. But this apparently requires some kind of commentary, so let's go!

Over the past few days, Unseen64 has revealed that Nintendo tried to buy an exclusive Harry Potter videogame license deal back in the late 1990s. The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Netflix is in the very early stages of a live-action The Legend of Zelda series.

Note that both these stories come from anonymous sources.

"We don't need you, geeky Wizzrobe! We got our own IP!"

Let's start with the first of those. Back in 1998 (the first book was written in 1997 and its first movie was 2001), according to Unseen64, the license for producing Harry Potter stuff in all media forms (not just videogames, but also movies, television, comics, whatever) was up for bidding from book series author, J.K. Rowling. Apparently, Nintendo and a bunch of movie companies (including eventual winner Warner Brothers) bid for it.

brentalfloss, stay back. We got Smiles and Tears WITH LYRICS covered!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Apparently, we can write better lyrics, too.

We love fan-created works at KoopaTV, whether they be fan games or fan art pieces.

We just don't like some videos created by "fans" if they happen to be made by obnoxious, popular people on YouTube. But hey, we love OUR videos. And... we're rather neutral on this brentalfloss guy.

I mean, he clearly does not know (or does not care) that Cranky Kong and Donkey Kong are two different characters. If Donkey Kong was truly just a "changed look" from Cranky Kong, how are they adventuring together in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze?

Meanwhile, his song with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, while popular in the viewcounts, is... troubling with its lyrics, especially one particular section which is totally inaccurate to what the game is about and would be better if it was a Highschool DxD WITH LYRICS! video. ...Or something. Which is sort of okay if it's a game everyone knows about, but Ace Attorney is sort of niche and that is probably thousands of people's first impression of it, if not tens of thousands or even... hundreds of thousands! Similarly, he gave people the impression that Punch-Out!! on the Wii (which we reviewed here, and is currently available for $20 on the Wii U eShop) is just a mere "remake". (It's a sequel.) (That said, his video isn't all that bad there.)

Are Games Too Hard to Learn?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Electronic Arts thinks so.

This is a pre-cursor to an article I've been meaning to write since 2013 on "easy to learn, hard to master", but I guess I better partly address the issue right here and now.

Richard Hilleman, Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts at the D.I.C.E. Summit that just happened, thinks that games are too hard to learn.

Hat tip to GameSpot, of course.

It's unclear if Mr. Hilleman was speaking for everyone when he said "Our games" or if he specifically meant EA's games. Clearly, some games now don't even last more than two hours, including most mobile games (how long do you plan to play Need For Speed: No Limits? For most people, until the gas tank runs out, right?) and KoopaTV's games like Trayvon Tyson's Punch-Out!! and Defend Anita Sarkeesian, the latter of which has its credits sequence lasting longer than the actual game itself.

Mr. Hilleman then stated, "And asking for two hours of somebody's time--most of our customers, between their normal family lives...to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask[.]"

Keep Those YouTubers Away From Nintendo! Nintendo Creators Program!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Exposing the fraudulent YouTube celebrities.

Props to Nintendo. They're making the hard, but correct choices. Back in 2013, I wrote an article that was very supportive of Nintendo taking monetisation away from the for-profit YouTubers who relied on using Nintendo's intellectual property to make money. After over a year later, those talentless hacks managed to achieve a shift in Nintendo's policy: Introducing, the Nintendo Creators Program!

Note that it's not "Nintendo Creators' Program". The "creators" (the content creators, being the YouTubers) don't own it. At all times, Nintendo is in charge here. Nintendo explains it with this,

The Nintendo Creators Program is a service through which Nintendo gives you part of the advertising proceeds it receives from YouTube for your Nintendo-related YouTube videos."

In other words, Nintendo is doing you a favour by giving you anything. It's sort of like the mentality that the federal government is trying to give to its citizens: The government owns all of your money, and it doesn't tax all 100% of it just because it pities you.

...Except unlike the government's, Nintendo's claim here is very legitimate. The government's claim is just theft via force, and the IRS should be abolished. But that's the subject for a series of other articles already written.

You give Nintendo money when you buy the game.
Then Google gives Nintendo money when you film the game.
...Then Nintendo gives you some money back, and soon, you'll pay off the game's purchase price!

Dos and Don'ts: Club Nintendo's Last Rewards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - My recommendations of that catalogue.

I got 700 Club Nintendo coins to use until June 30th, and I have no idea what to use them on. For your collective sake, dear readers, perhaps I'll dedicate them to KoopaTV-related prizes. But I kind of want to enjoy myself, too. So let's check out Club Nintendo's grand finale! I can tell you what to get and what to avoid.

...If we can get in.

Are Our Soundtracks Safe?

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Hold them tight!

For those that watched my award-winning advertisement video, "Koopasentai",  y'all may have picked up on that I'm a pretty big fan of Dragon Ball. And that's what I'm here to talk about.

"But KoopaTV is for video-games, you tuberculosis-suffering orphan!" Aha, sure enough, but for years now one could say that Dragon Ball has primarily been a video-game franchise above all else. During the years-long droughts that separate the canon Toriyama-directed movies such as Battle of Gods, how are fans' brains going to keep their new content nodes satisfied? It's the games, bro!

KoopaTV's January 2015 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - How did you like the first 1/12th of 2015?

Did you like January? January had some lifestyle changes for us. Those were largely undesirable. Anyway, we still brought you a variety of awesome goodies this month.

Let's get right to the top 5 recommended articles for January 2015! (In chronological order.)

1. Rush Limbaugh: Videogamers Are the Least Successful Among Us
2. 2015 Starts Dim for the 'Zim
3. amiibo Attacks on Canon
4. A Review Of Choice: Texas — Should You Choose It?
5. Japan Vs. ISIS: Humour Versus Terrorism!

Of course, every article is worth reading.

We had multiple long-running article series end in January (including the latest chapter in the George Zimmerman saga), so with so much concluding, what will KoopaTV do now? Never fear, we really won't go on another hiatus this month. So look forward to the first February of KoopaTV!

We also had some big opportunities from social media from January, including Japan's first real exposure to KoopaTV. We're excited about those opportunities.

By the way, we're looking at some big things that will happen in — or be announced in — the month of February. And we're not just saying that: We have actual plans being discussed in our AIM Blast! Want access to it? Download AIM and become a KoopaTV staff member, including the new Japanese Marketing Manager position! Want to help share in our past, present, and future success? Become an affiliate!

Want to just be a loyal reader? That's fine too. We love your comments, by the way.


Share KoopaTV to your friends, enemies, and anyone else walking by. Or running. Or surfing... on the web. You wouldn't want to interrupt their surf in the ocean, would you?


For last month's (December 2014) newsletter, click here.
For next month's, and the first February ever, click here.
Last year's newsletter review called itself "a new start" and then took a one-month hiatus.
Next year's January 2016 is right here!

George Zimmerman Didn't Really Throw a Wine Bottle

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And he's not getting charged. George Zimmerman rides again!

Last month, we gave hugely concerning news: George Zimmerman got arrested within the first two weeks of 2015! He was supposed to be in court on February 17, and you better believe that we were going to cover it.

HOWEVER, it turns out there were other plans in store for this American hero. Namely, the prosecution is dropping all charges against George Zimmerman! The Orlando Sentinel reports,

"But this morning the State Attorney's Office reported that the woman, Zimmerman's roommate and dental hygienist, 28-year-old Brittany Brunelle, had recanted her story and refused to cooperate. As a consequence, it is dropping the case."

The Orlando Sentinel adds this very important bit:

"When they issued a subpoena, she did appear with her attorney and either told them or handed them a statement saying that Zimmerman had not thrown a bottle at her and that she never feared him, the statement said."

DID I CALL THAT OR WHAT? KoopaTV, January 12:

"The unidentified girlfriend told the police about it when she was undergoing a traffic stop. Perhaps she made up the story so she wouldn't get a traffic ticket?" (Emphasis added)

An OBJECTION! To NeoGAF's Racketeering

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The nerve of breaking the law using a law-based franchise!

Apparently, people walk around with the NeoGAF logo on their shirt. They buy such shirts from places like here with designs like this:

Look familiar? OBJECTION!

According to Spreadshirt's copyright section,

"These users agree when they create these designs that they have all necessary legal rights to do so. In order to be scalable, a majority of this process must be done automatically. This means that Spreadshirt cannot ensure that 100% of shop owners actually have these legal rights."

We wanted to let the real copyright holders over at Capcom know what was going on.