Hideo Kojima's Toxic Mono-Entertainment Philosophies

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Kojima puts the Hideo in hideous.

When legendary game designer Hideo Kojima isn't awkwardly embracing Geoff Keighley, he's in Tokyo working for himself at Kojima Productions, currently trying to develop Death Stranding, a game we know nothing about other than that it's disturbing and inappropriate, reflecting Kojima's creepy fantasies.

Kojima recently took the time to speak with BBC's Newsbeat gaming reporter Steffan Powell, who asked Hideo Kojima some questions. While Mr. Kojima refused to give any more details about Death Stranding (not that I was wondering, personally), he did provide information on the current status of his philosophy regarding the entire umbrella of the entertainment industry:

“Things such as games and music and novels and movies and all of these things will kind of mesh together into one type of entertainment. [...] The time you have to choose what media or entertainment you experience is dwindling. [...] More and more people are looking at types of media that combine elements together. [...] If we just make a game people are less likely to choose that as something to do. They would rather engage in something that combines different forms of entertainment together. That's where we need to focus our efforts, on this convergence.”

To be fair to Hideo Kojima, he's not saying he WANTS that kind of thing. That's just where he sees the entertainment industry going, and he's going to try to have a first-mover advantage into it.

That said, he probably has that futuristic vision because it confirms what he's believed for years, not because he has any hidden insights or market research that the rest of the world doesn't have. So let's talk about it.

Nostalgia and Video Games: What's Enticing About the Retro World

By BRANDON WILLIAMS - The beauty of nostalgia is knowing a game is still great 20+ years later.

IIf you’re a gamer, then you’re probably familiar with the feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia is that strong sensation you get when you dust off your old copy of Pokémon Stadium, blow on the cartridge, and recreate your childhood team that helped you beat Gym Leader Castle, and it’s immensely satisfying for most gamers.

Nostalgia is frequently brought up in discussions of classic video games, but it doesn’t have to be delegated to a spot in history. By building upon video games of yesteryear, new productions can capture that classic feeling while still updating the content for the modern age.

Once upon a time, video games were produced with less-than-stellar graphics and considerable technical limitations. And they took the world by storm. While video games have made mountains of “improvements” from the days of Super Mario World, contemporary games could stand to benefit from some reintegration of classic trends.

Don’t believe me? Just think back to the iconic features that made retro games so addictive.

Get ARMS to EVO 2017!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...It'd be funny.

I sound like RawkHawk2010 right now, but it would be funny. ...Lemme back up a bit.

This year's Evolution Championship Series 2017, or EVO 2017, is taking place this July 14–16 in Las Vegas. It's the world's premier fighting game tournament. I've talked about it before. Multiple times. As the one dude on the staff who actually follows two eSports: Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. For the Wii U. They're both gonna be at EVO 2017! Yay.

We're gonna talk about that bottom-right box, ‘cause it's not a game called VOTE.

However, this year, EVO is holding a charity drive contest (all proceeds to Make-a-Wish International): Nine games are nominated to be the COMMUNITY CHOICE game that people will then sign up for and play competitively. The game that raises the most money gets the slot, and the deadline is February 8th.

These games all have established communities and fanbases... and then there's ARMS. 

The Nin Godzilla?!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This could be a new IP... via self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the deep depths of the Technology news of the Wall Street Journal in the business section for today (page B4, Tuesday, January 24, 2017) was a short story about Nintendo! What'd they do now? It was written by a seemingly strange man, the Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki, who is their technology reporter in Tokyo. It was headlined,

“Possible New Character Is Teased by Nintendo”

(It's an easier read than the above “Ford Invests to Promote Online Auto Loans”.)

What is it? This thing... the Nin Godzilla. Otherwise known as ニンゴジラ. (ニン is the “Nin” in Nintendo's Japanese name, and ゴジラ is “Godzilla” in Japanese.)

Source: An error message at store.nintendo.co.jp
Note that ニンゴジラ doesn't appear, so that's a fanon name.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo's Japanese site's online store is allowing customers to pre-order “semicustomized versions of the Switch console”, and the dinosaur appears as “an error message saying the site is overloaded and can't take orders.” Well, at least that means there is demand for the Nintendo Switch! (Or Nintendo has healthcare.gov-esque server problems.)

So... is it a new IP or something? 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Wii U, or Switch?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Will you SWITCH your pre-order to a SWITCH?

Contrary to the sub-title, I don't have The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild pre-ordered. The last The Legend of Zelda game I ever pre-ordered was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which has a very similar development history with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Multiple delays for multiple systems. At least the best version of that was the GameCube version, which is the one I pre-ordered. But what's the best version of Breath of the Wild?

On a feature level, the Wii U and Switch versions of Breath of the Wild are the same. On a technical level, the Nintendo Switch version is superior, according to a differences list that Nintendo provided to GameSpot. These technical differences include a higher resolution and crisper sounds on the Switch. The controllers are also obviously different, and I have no idea how the Switch's Joy-Cons compare to the Wii U GamePad since I haven't held the former. (Maybe I should ask Bowser Jr.?)

Unless you're in my situation, figuring out which to get isn't hard.

 

Donald Trump: Inauguration Day

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - “This moment is your moment. It belongs to you.”

Today is the day that has gotten the most politics-related discussion from ordinary, normally non-political people, since Election Day 2016.

Donald J. Trump, who earned KoopaTV's endorsement for president some months ago, is finally inaugurated as the President of the United States. Today. January 20, 2017. It's quite historic. We no longer have to refer to him as president-elect!

Following how we referred to (former) President Barack Hussein Obama throughout KoopaTV's existence, we will now refer to Mr. Trump as...

President Donald John Trump.

KoopaTV is truly fair & balanced, NeoGAF! Unlike you!
Source: That one NeoGAF thread that got Ludwig's account banned.

 
As is typical for inauguration days, President Donald John Trump gave an inauguration speech, embedded immediately below. It was beautiful.

If you would rather read his speech than listen to it, there's a transcript available on Donald Trump's Facebook page, here.

Vortexica did the honours of giving a solo live-reaction of Donald Trump's inauguration speech (and some time before and after), if you wanted to see that play-by-play: 

The Super Mario Odyssey Nintendo Switch Presentation Trailer

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm just saying that Super Mario Odyssey shouldn't be a surprise to you, the KoopaTV reader.

During the super-important presentation that Nintendo gave to us a week ago about the upcoming Nintendo Switch, it became apparent that the console will have two phases for 2017: Launch, featuring The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the holiday season, featuring Super Mario Odyssey. I have some comments regarding the former, but those are gonna be for next week.

Let's formally get my thoughts down on Super Mario Odyssey. The second time we saw it was the First Look at the Nintendo Switch, back in October when we finally got to stop calling it the Nintendo NX. There was a brief moment where a 3D Mario platformer was shown, and it matches precisely with Super Mario Odyssey. The third time we saw it was the presentation last week, featuring this trailer:

 

Let's talk about that trailer.

KoopaTV's Non-Live Reactions to the Fire Emblem Direct!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Well, I missed it live. Rawk saw it already.

At 5 PM Eastern, Nintendo had a 19-minute Fire Emblem Direct that covered 4 games. Here's the embed of it, but I give my reactions (first-time viewing it, an hour and a half after 5 PM Eastern, though) for the whole thing, so read along with those.

After, Rawk (RawkHawk2010) and I (Nintendork 13 13) discuss it. My Fire Emblem Heroes (that's the name of the mobile game) votes are open to be manipulated by reader suggestions, by the way, as long as they're from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and/or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. 
 

Nintendo Switch: Paid Online Subscription; No Miiverse

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Less services, higher cost.

Among the immediate criticisms to come out of last week's massive and important Nintendo presentation on the new Nintendo Switch coming out this March, is that online services will now be on a subscription-basis. In other words, this brings Nintendo in line with the other console manufacturers.

However, it's a new phenomenon for Nintendo users, and many don't know how to handle it. Myself included.

What does this subscription get you? Nintendo has a handy chart:

Source: Nintendo's online service page for the Nintendo Switch.

 

Assuming this chart represents everything the as-of-now-unspecified-in-amount-or-frequency subscription fees go to, there are some serious issues with it. That assumption may be flawed, since Nintendo's website says, “Check back for more details on the service and its features after the Nintendo Switch system launches.” Still, I'm going to commentate on what I got, on each row on their chart.

Bowser puts the Dad in King Dad: Parental Controls!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - King Dad is doing a great job raising his kids. I'd know.

In the absolutely important and news-making presentation that Nintendo had on January 12–13 about the Nintendo Switch (that we have covered, LIVE!, here), Nintendo also let slip a cute little video... featuring my dad, King Bowser Koopa! ...And that pest, Bowser Jr., who is technically my brother. But... I don't like to think in those terms.

It wasn't totally invisible — it has two million views right now on YouTube. But that pales in comparison with the over seven million views that Super Mario Odyssey's trailer has. (Don't worry, folks: We'll have an article just for that. Soon.)

Enough talk: We're obligated to embed and talk about the most Koopa-related thing that came out of last week. Here's the video explaining Parental Controls on the Nintendo Switch: