My most anticipated games of 2017 and beyond, so far.

 The new generation of consoles are now coming into their own, none of them had bad launch lineups by any means, but now we are getting into the meat and potatoes and PC just keeps on motoring. There also is a new console to look forward to for gaming of course being the Nintendo Switch coming this March, just around the corner really.
 That got me to thinking what games am I really looking forward to having the chance to play in 2017 and beyond, I was actually surprised. When I started to write them out there was a lot more then I actually realised had me really excited, granted some have no confirmed dates yet.

 So here are just a few of the games I am looking forward too in the next 12-30 months or so as always they are in no particular order. I will do my best to list all platforms and dates as of now the games will be releasing on. Do not expect to see any Call of Duty's, Battlefields or shooters really though I am looking forward to one. Outside of one of these games NONE are pre-orders my feelings on pre-orders are well documented, just DON'T do it.

Lets get this started with a game I have already played some of all be it in Japanese and that of course is Persona 5 and this is the exception to the rule  above.
 If there is one thing you should know about me by now is I am a huge RPG fan, RPG/JRPG/ARPG to SRPG's I love RPG's. From Final Fantasy Tactics and The Banner Saga, to Mass Effect and Persona.
 Persona is a series that well to be honest has never let me down I have played all of them, other then they often get delayed, but that has always proven to be a blessing. I can not think of a game series I have played in my 57 yrs on earth that has never let me down  the Persona series is the exception to the rule along with Mass Effect in so many ways. (PS4, PS3 April 4th/2017)

Hellblade what can I say I adore Ninja Theory, Heavenly Sword was the first game I bought for my PS3 and is still among my top 10 games. This game however has a serious message as it deals with Mental Illness as viewed through the eyes of a woman suffering from visions of monsters, demons and decent into darkness. You see her Psychotic world through the eyes of  (Senua) and her manifestations of her own reality and mind. I jumped out of my seat when this first appeared at Sony's 2013 E3 press conference for the debut of the PS4, as I thought it was Heavenly Sword 2, I cried. (PS4/PC sometime 2017)

 Next up I will keep it brief,  open world, interesting Female Protagonist, deep crafting system, and, oh yeah and Giant sometimes extremely violent Robot Dinosaurs, do I really need to say more. The minute this appeared on the screen at E3 it was a WTF moment for a lot of people, it was amazing, of course I am talking about Horizon: Zero Dawn oh my god I can not wait for this, the world looks amazing all I can say. (PS4 exclusive, Feb 28th/2017)

Up next a game I know very little about and to be honest have fears it may never be released, given 3 Microsoft Exclusives have been cancelled, despite being featured at E3 prominently. I fear for the game because we have heard literally nothing, and see nothing of the game since that E3 showing in 2014. Of course that is the Microsoft Exclusive Crackdown 3 despite a impressive showing at E3 showing, plus another at Gamescom 2015 we have heard nothing really. Given other games that where also given a lot of stage time like Fable, and Scalebound (both since cancelled) we know nothing (Xbox one/PC sometime 2017????)

Okay I will probably get some heat for this next one as people either love the stuff the studio does or hates it, and that is Quantic Dreams. Few Game Developers have a more polarizing leader then Quantic Dreams, he is the target of both love and Ridicule by many. I actually really like the games the studio makes, unlike many I actually really like Beyond: Two Souls, I almost have the platinum actually I liked it that much. And while it is easy to make fun of David Cages on-stage presence he has a vision and passion to all he does be it you love or hate it. Detroit: Become Human however I have heard nothing but good things and genuine excitement for the game, you can count me among those. (PS4 exclusive, scheduled 2017 sometime) I would not be surprised this one is delayed.

That brings me to the one shooter type game that I am actually genuinely excited and fearful for at the same time that is Ghost Recon:Wildlands I used to be really into shooters, CoD, Battlefield, Gears of war owned them all, so why am I fearful.
 I can sum that fear up in one word and you know what one that is developed/published by (UBISOFT) you had to know that one was coming. Ubisoft has a knack of showing one thing and what you actually get is a Ugly, buggy mess of a game. From Assassins Creed games, to Watch Dogs this company just has a habit of misrepresenting their games unlike anyone else.
 Still this game has my interest, and that is also unusual because it has a lot of MP aspects to it and I don't like gaming online. (Xbox One/PS4/PC March 7th/2017)

 Next is a PC exclusive and is the 2nd instalment in this magical world and I am talking about Divinity: Original Sin II any game that is going to carry on my story in this world I am in. It has no confirmed date that I have seen so far but is scheduled for 2017. Another PC exclusive is A hat in Time what can I say count me in "is a colorful 3D platformer inspired by classic games in the genre, such as Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64" this too has no confirmed release date other then 2017.

This is a change for me as I have not looked forward to anything Nintendo for pretty much a decade however I have to say a couple I really am. The new Shin Megami Tensei game for the switch has my interest but as of yet has not date. That said there will be a new SMT game coming out this year for the 3DS and most will be getting that for sure if a fan of SMT like me.
 Also while it just looks like a re-make of the original with a cpl of tweaks Splatoon 2 looks like a ton of fun and may convince me to buy a Switch, sorry not sold on it as a few of my posts show. If Nintendo can mange to entice smaller Indie developers, that can take advantage of things the Switch offers, then the list grows even more.


Mass Effect Andromeda is not on here on purpose, sorry I am still not sold on it, though I know at some point I will buy it on PC.

That's about it, I need to see more of God Of War, it also is most likely a Holiday 2018 game, The Last of US 2 well that could turn out to be a PS5 game.

So those are just a few of the games I am looking forward to there tons I am overlooking I am sure, how about you, what games can't you just cant wait to play, share them in the comments below.

As always Play nice with each other.

David

How Nintendo can turn public opinion around on The Switch.

Can we all be honest for a minute the Nintendo Switch live event last week was to be kind real awkward and uninspiring to say the least, oh yeah uncomfortable also. I realize they where playing to their Japanese base being based in Japan, but that was down right cringe worthy for anyone outside of Japan. I speak some Japanese and even I was cringing at a lot of points of the presentation, it was Nintendo once again being weird as hell as always. As for the sentiment " Well it was directed at the Japanese press and Nintendo shareholders" yeah that worked realllll well. In a span of 3 hrs during and following the live event Nintendo stock plummeted almost 6%, yeah investors where real impressed with the event.
 I follow stocks a lot matter fact watching Bloomberg Asia as I am typing this, and can not recall last time their stock dropped that fast and much. Was not all bad the console would have limited region locking, granted no device should ever be locked to start with. However that is a step in the right direction, they also announced storage can be expanded using easily bought Sd cards, no weird format memory cards (You listening SONY) again another great choice.

  One Youtube personality I follow regularly is Jim Sterling, watching this event reminded me of a video he made a year ago or so. It was called IIRC " Everything that is wrong with Square Enix " it is not safe for work unless wearing headphones, but it was so true in it's content, same apply's to Nintendo IMHO

  Stop being so bloody weird Nintendo, do something normal for once, just be normal for godsake, weird is not working for you. Other then the Wii every iteration of your consoles have sold less and less, just be F'ing normal for once. What games they showed where fine, just the presenters my lord and that translator was all I could do to stay awake. Okay so enough ranting, sort of I offer up these ways that Nintendo can turn around Public opinion surrounding the Nintendo Switch.

Let's get started shall we!

So Nintendo chose the location and event time based on showing to Japanese Investors, and of course the media, fair enough, but did you consider the time on the East coast of the US. Now I live in the West of Canada so it was early enough for me, but to be honest at 57 I am not your target audience. The younger kids are who will bug their parents for that Mario Game, or Arms, not me not their parents in some cases. You held the event not only at 11pm ET but on a Thursday night to boot, a School night for heaven sake. I have dual time zones on my PC and my watch, one is set to Vancouver the other to Osaka where I visit as often as possible. You could have easily held the event 3 hrs earlier and still had the press and investors ear, it would have been 10am JST 8pm EST.

 Your largest market in combined sales is not Japan so keep that in mind for the future, other things came out the same night and the following days.

1) The Switch will ship with no Netflix support at launch, are you freaking kidding me, even the Vita and 3DS has a Netflix app. Now this could be a temporary thing, but if you google around Netflix has said they have no plans at present to support it
 Come on Nintendo get on it this is 2017, not 1997 get with the times. Regardless what some people de-cry about consoles are for gaming not for media watching, millions do. 85+ million people subscribe to Netflix in more countries then I can remember., your device has no UHD or Blu-Ray drive even and people watch movies, animes and tv on their consoles daily. 
 Now this is not Nintendo's fault for there being no app, apps you use like Hulu, Youtube, Amazon Video etc are created by the respective companies. That said they are not going to invest the time and money to make those apps if they do not think it will be used due to low sales numbers of a device. Nintendo your a Billion Dollar company open the damn wallet a TINY bit and tell Netflix, Hulu the like we want your apps on our device at launch and we will help fund the development.

2) One game a month if you pay for their online service, and not only is it a NES or SNES game but you don't even get to keep it. Once your month is up regardless if you payed for a years subscription the game leaves your library. You can not be serious, even Sony with it's PS+ service which has been criticized for removing your free games if you quit PS+ allows you to keep them so long as you are a member. On Xbox Live which is the same price as your service you get your free games every month it is yours for life, regardless you stay a Gold member or not, get with the times Nintendo.

3) You need to somehow re-work the pricing on your peripherals, $70USD for the pro controller is insane that is close to $90+ CDN, unacceptable. The Joy-Cons are even worse, you promote it as the couch co-op family gaming system but Joy-cons are $80USD, your out of your mind. You could end up spending $300 for 4 controller for the family, and don't give me you can play with them split. So sane person in their right mind are going to play with a single dinky Joy-Con and enjoy it.

4) Just hold normal events without all the goofy weird awkward moments, and don't tell me that is what fans want as thats bullshit. Yes there are some of course who do love it, they are quite vocal but it does not translate into sales. This mantra you like to spout that people buy Nintendo consoles to play Nintendo games is utter rubbish. If this was the case then the Wii U would be a runaway success selling 80 million units + as Nintendo games was all it had for the most part.

5) Improve your relationships with those who create media such as Twitch Streamers and YouTube creators, you know the people trying to help you sell your products. Your draconian enforcement of copyright strikes and claiming all revenue from those creators unless they give you 80% of it is beyond redemption.
 Those people have millions of subscribers in a lot of cases like Boogie2988, Angry Joe and others to numerous to mention, YOU NEED TO STOP THIS CRAP. Oh and before anyone says anything, I do not make You Tube videos, nor do I monetize this blog though I have the option, I am grateful  if even one person finds my blog and posts entertaining, enlightening or down right amusing.

With that I will end it those are just 5 ideas I have to help Nintendo turn around a lot of the bad press/comments regarding The Switch.

If hope you enjoyed my take and suggestions, by all means you have Ideas what Nintendo can do to turn it around share them in the comments.
 Till next time as always play nice with each other.

David