Corpse Run 314: Chocoho
LIVESTREAM UPDATE:
Heya! The next livestream will be this Friday, May 24th at 10pm est! As always, I’ll be doodling what you guys shout out in the comments, and there will be games and what-have-you afterwards! Neat-o!
The stream can be viewed either here or here.
See you then!
END LIVESTREAM UPDATE!
For the record, what happens in the strip above is totally normal when breeding chocobos. To make a blue or green one, you need to mate a “good” chocobo with a “great” chocobo and feed them a carob nut.
Once you’ve got a blue and a green, mate them together (again with a carob nut) and you get the totally versatile black chocobo, which can travel over rivers and mountains.
Last night I was working towards breeding a golden chocobo, but it was taking way longer than I had anticipated. I got both a male and female “great” chocobo on my first and second attempt, and a “good” female on the first attempt.
Getting a “good” male, on the other hand, took over two hours. Must not have been my lucky day.
I’m still working for a gold one, but as far as the comic is concerned, I’d like to think there’s some Maury equivalent in the world of FF7 to solve their problems.
Speaking of problems (awful segue), on Tuesday Microsoft revealed their next-gen gaming console, the Xbox One.
Totally stupid naming convention aside, MS spent most of their press event detailing the XB1’s TV capabilities, Kinect functionality, and even announcing a Halo TV series being produced with the help of Steven Spielberg.
I’m fully aware that there are people who might be excited by those things, but I am not one of them. As far as I’m concerned, a gaming console should be all about games. Stuff like TV integration is nice, but those features should be window dressing, not the focus of the hardware, and certainly not extensively discussed at the unveiling ceremony.
While finishing up Skyward Sword with Rich on Monday, I voiced my concern that the Wii-U might be Nintendo’s last non-portable gaming system. I reasoned that the Wii-U has strayed too far from what the average video game player wants in a console, and with it’s already dwindling third party support, the Wii-U might knock Nintendo out of home consoles altogether.
I think Microsoft took a step in that direction with the Xbox One. It has kinect nonsense built in, which alienates the vast majority of people who just want to sit down with a gamepad and play traditionally, as well as game developers who might be forced to add totally useless and sometimes intrusive kinect features to their games.
And then there’s there issue with previously played games. There seem to be a lot of stories flying around about used games on the XB1, but the general theme appears to be this:
When playing a new game, the XB1 installs it to the HDD and ties it to your Live account. Should you want to play the game on a friend’s console, you have the ability to log into your account and play it, but if your friend wants to borrow the disc and play on his own, he has to pay a fee.
I really hope that isn’t true. I can’t count how many times I’ve lent a game to a friend or vice versa; playing used games is a major part of playing games.
This isn’t even a case of restricting digital downloads, this is restricting what you can and can’t do with a physical disc. If I own a piece of physical media, I should be able to do whatever I want with it, period. That includes (but is not limited to), lending it to a friend, playing it on another console, reselling it, or smashing it with a hammer.
I’m very interested to see if the XB1 used games story is accurate, hopefully things will become clearer at E3. Equally interesting is how Sony’s PS4 will handle used games; as far as I’ve seen they haven’t released a concrete statement on the matter.
If both consoles decide to restrict the secondary games market, I could totally see myself not buying either of them.
You know, assuming I was financially able… hopefully they don’t pull a $600 price tag like the PS3 attempted last time around.
From what I have been hearing, the game won’t actually be with the disk. It’ll have the installation files. Like when you install a program on the computer that you downloaded. The new Xbox is going to be based a lot around internet-capabilities, so that makes sense. Sucks for people with shoddy internet connections, but America’s terrible infrastructure in that regards is not Microsoft’s fault. But, in essence, you won’t physically own the game. You would own the right to download the game. Your friend wouldn’t have that.
I for one am totally OK with them fighting the used game market. That’s the reason I have to pay $60 for a new console game, but only $15 or so for a game on Steam. I think their model is going to approach Steam’s method. I can’t share a game on Steam with someone for free, they’d have to buy their own. But it doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg (usually). They might also take a method similar to GameStop (dicks that they are) and slowly decrease the value of the game over time. But, it would serve to prevent companies like GameStop (dicks that they are) from abusing the used-game market to make cheap buys and tidy profits that benefit no one involved with the game. Restricting downloads does prevent us from sharing physical disks (since the concept of the game on the disk might change), but it would bring strength back to the developers and publishers for games, potentially bringing prices back down to decent levels. Again, think Steam.
In regards to their not announcing any games…they said they wouldn’t. E3 is just around the corner, so why would they tell us everything? They announced 15 (I think) coming games, with over half of them being new IPs. The release event was just to say “Hey guys, we got a new system. Here’s how it’s relevant to a wide range of consumers and the modern age.”
We, being the kind of people I think we are, are no longer the typical gamer. The typical gamer is now your average person. They’re in their late 20s or 30s, work full days and don’t have time to invest in complete gaming like we can. The Xbox One is going to appeal to these average people because it does not specialize. It does a large amount of different things in efficient ways. Or so the release looked to be. I’m sure it won’t be as seamless. But the target audience for this announcement was not for the gamers like us, but for the average consumer. Because average consumers use video game consoles now.
TL;DR:
-Game disc won’t be game, will be installation for game (from what I’ve gathered), therefore you own the right to the game, not the game.
-This will hopefully (in my opinion) counter companies like GS (dicks that they are) and the abused used-game market in order to bring down prices
-Potential Steam model of game sales and prices
-Core gamers like us were not the target audience for the release event
-They will be talking about games at E3, because that’s a more intelligent marketing move. Talk about the general stuff when everyone is listening, talk about the specifics when specific people are listening.
If I left something out of the TL;DR, then you should have read. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been discussing with people (read: my older brother) and seen discussed with some people who have done some continuous research into clarification matters.
Blarg, I really really hope that the discs don’t just contain install files and the licensing data.
I’m not against Microsoft taking a shot at the used games market, but in doing so, the average gamer is getting caught in the crossfire. In a way, I like your Steam comparison, I’d love there to be regular sales that bring the price of console software down to PC levels. Considering how consumers are used to shelling out 50-60 bucks per game, however, I’m frightened that MS will keep that price structure for their new method of distribution.
Then again, even if MS did lower the prices I’d rather be able to buy a physical disc (with the game on it) for cheap, and play it/lend it/sell it as I pleased.
The question whether you own a game (or any other software) if you buy it or if you just have the right to play it is actually very complex (and interesting). I’m following a course ‘Laws and Informatics’ where we discuss these kind of things. Software can not be directly compared to physical objects, because there are restrictions to what you can do with software that don’t apply to anything else. For example, it’s perfectly legal to disassemble your pc, but it’s illegal to reverse engineer the original code from a piece of software.
The price modelling would depend on their competition and reactions to that. If they’re willing to lower the prices, in exchange for the used-game deal, but Sony doesn’t, public reaction could swing different ways. Tim Buckley, the author of Ctrl+Alt+Del, gives a really clear review of the whole idea. Much better than mine.
http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/.
This Reddit topic also has a lot of people talking about it with sources linked.
http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/1ervek/unofficial_xbox_reveal_discussion/
I don’t mean to sound mean…but I find it odd that you say the Wii-U has dwindling 3rd party support. I mean…maybe I haven’t heard the latest news, but last year I head that 90% of 3rd party companies were looking to put their games on the Wii-U, and about 30% of those people were trying to make their game exclusive to Wii-U. So…not sure on the lack of 3rd party support on the Wii-U thing.
As for the Xbox…I can agree with you whole heatedly on this one. Everything you said about it is true. The whole Used Games being unplayable on the new Xbox (I refuse to call the third console “one”) is not only stupid, but may find Microsoft getting sued big time. According to law, once you own the game, you can do whatever you want with it. Them infringing on that right…well…we’ll see if Microsoft survives this or not…
Don’t worry, it doesn’t sound mean =P
In regards to the Wii-U statements, I certainly hope that Nintendo will be successful and continues to make home consoles. A major part of my youth was built around Zelda and Mario, and I’d feel kind of strange playing those games on someone else’s hardware. That said, the Wii-U hasn’t been selling well at all (3.45 million as of March 31st, 2013 according to this Nintendo sales report: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1303.pdf).
Despite battling a crazy $600 and $500 price tag for the launch units, the PS3 still outsold the Wii U in the same amount of time (3.61 million units).
To be fair, the 360 performed worse at launch than the Wii U (3.2 million units in the same amount of time), but I’d argue that the 360 never had the necessary support in Japan to boost its overall sales figures (in its first two years, the 360 sold just over half a million in Japan).
I find those numbers troubling for Nintendo, and I hope they call pull it out. Their first party software is always going to be great, but third party companies, as far as the games I’ve played, rarely utilized the motion controls in fun ways, which has led to a bit of an exodus.
After taking a look at the current Wii U games list, which features announced titles in addition to what’s already available, there isn’t a whole lot going on there. Sure, there’s some interesting stuff, but I’m seeing things like Angry Birds, new releases of old games, and “family” stuff like a Zumba game, Wii Fit, and Wii Party.
I have to admit, I’m concerned.
I’m not sure that Microsoft can be sued if they do move forward with the new used games policy. It depends on what you’re actually purchasing when you buy the game disc. If it’s installation stuff like Cassius mentions above, you aren’t buying the game, just a license to play it.
While I’m totally against them doing that and wouldn’t buy the console in the event that they did, I wouldn’t take the side of say, Gamestop (or other re-sellers) if they sued. Again, this is all speculation; at the moment, MS seems to be backpedaling on the used games fee, so hopefully they turn it around!
Well, I do understand your point, but 3.45 million copies of the Wii U… I mean… you say “only” on that one. While I’m not really certain on standards for what is considered “a lot” I’d imagine 3 million copies is still a really good number. Especially since the PS3’s numbers are barely above that. The other factor to keep in mind is that the console has also been out for a year. Those who have bought it already are those who really want it. Those who haven’t are those who don’t really want it, or are waiting for a price drop. My family keeps saying “I’ll buy the Wii U once the price comes down.”
I also haven’t really looked at upcoming titles either, but I know there’s quite a few coming out. I’m sure we’ll learn more during Nintendo’s conference at E3 (or rather, their Nintendo Direct for E3). However, even if Nintendo is doing poorly, one thing to consider is that Nintendo has over 90 billion dollars in their Japanese bank alone. Meanwhile, Sony had to actually sell its American branch recently to pay off its debt for that year. I’d say if anyone is in danger of not making consoles anymore, it would be Sony.
Also, Microsoft has too much money to even notice how badly their doing…
Not to mention the lack of backward compatibility…
While it’d be totally awesome to have backward compatibility, I’ve been hearing that the XB1 is too far removed from the 360 in terms of hardware/OS in order to play the 360 discs natively.
I’m not 100% sure about that statement, however.
It’s just like how a lot of older games can’t be played on a newer PC. The hardware and OS for the new Xbox is too far ahead of the 360.
Good thing my Godbrother is making me a PC that’ll be upgrade-proof for the next three years…
I’m going to take a break on the console world. They’ve made me too much of an achievement/trophy hunter and that really isn’t that fun anymore.
I wish I knew your Godbrother @.@ That computer sounds awesome…
It might sound awesome, but you have to realize that a PC that is upgrade-proof for 3 years costs around $600-$700. The Xbox 360 cost $400 when it launched and was upgrade-proof (sort of) for 8 years. While I do prefer a PC myself as well, it costs more.
However, it’s not as simple as that. You probably need a computer anyway, so instead of $300 for a crappy pc you spend $700 for a good one, so you lose as much as you would have if you bought a pc and a Xbox 360. Furthermore, PC games are generally cheaper than console games. It kinda depends on the amount of games you buy. And the amount of consoles, because if your console dies after your warranty expired, you still need to buy a new one. And I think consoles die quicker than PC’s.
I kinda lost my train of thought here, but anyway… A PC is more expensive at first, you will need $700 before you can buy a good PC. Mine cost €800, but I’m hoping it will last at least 5 years.
If you are interested in discussing this further, just come to the forum. You won’t regret it!
(I’m not responsible for any regret following your visit to the forum)
Eh…I think I’d rather spend the money you mentioned getting NES accessories and making them into outfit accessories for school so that people will look at me and be like, “The f***?”
And then getting the SNES mouse and turning it into my computer mouse.
Ok, that last thing sounded AWESOME! Sorry, but I need to go get one and do just that >.<
Or you could do that. You still need a computer for that mouse though…
Pifanjr,
Yes, I get your point and I understand it real well.
The funny thing, though, is that his current computer, which he built from scratch, is strong enough to handle Crysis 3 on Ultra. He’s building me a stronger version.
And the funnier thing, he’s not charging me for some reason…
He’s only 13 or 14.
I’m sorry, I think you made a typo. You accidentally said he isn’t charging you for a computer that can handle Crysis 3 on Ultra. Now, what I think you meant to say is that you have to pay him somewhere around $1000 (at least) for that PC…
I’m saying his current computer he built for himself can handle Crysis 3 on Ultra.
The computer he’s making for me is going to be stronger than that.
He’s NOT charging me for some reason I don’t know, but I’m okay with.
Is there a setting higher than Ultra? And do you think he’s interested in making two of those computers? I’m even willing to pay the shipping costs :P.
My friends kept telling me to get an xBox…
So I got a Wii U! And now, I mostly don’t regret it. Because Microsoft practically told their fans, “Up yours!”
I, for one, will not be buying the either xbox or ps4. I’m highly dissapointed at both companies for their lackluster reveals, and especially for the juvenile way they seem to be treating their customers. Wii-U, on the other hand, seems like a solid choice to me. As you said in an earlier comment, first party games for Nintendo tend to shine like they left luck to heaven (BAWWWW), and I feel that with the current alienation of their own customers, Sony and Microsoft will yet again find themselves playing catch-up with Wii-U in a short time.
I find the rumors that used games can’t be played interesting as well. It not only affects the used game marketplace, but it affects the game rental business model. How are you supposed to try out a game before buying it? I’ve bought several games new that I hated after the first couple of levels. The demos don’t usually have enough playtime, so I like to borrow from a friend or rent the game first. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.