Hangout The Games Hangout Thread

[Jammin]

I don't know much about what that would entail but several videogame podcasts I listened to seemed to think it was a pretty far fetched idea.

Not sure why. Like you said, it seems like selling rights to the franchise makes sense for Konami if they are not going to use them; it would have to bring in like half a billion. They seemed to think it's something that just isn't done in Japan. Whether the price would be too high or the sense of pride would be too high, I don't know. It would definitely be ideal though.

Like even if Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, or Activision got the rights. Literally anyone is better than Konami.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

I don't know much about what that would entail but several videogame podcasts I listened to seemed to think it was a pretty far fetched idea.

Not sure why. Like you said, it seems like selling rights to the franchise makes sense for Konami if they are not going to use them; it would have to bring in like half a billion. They seemed to think it's something that just isn't done in Japan. Whether the price would be too high or the sense of pride would be too high, I don't know. It would definitely be ideal though.

Like even if Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, or Activision got the rights. Literally anyone is better than Konami.

Yes Konami simply don't care about their franchises anymore, and the way they treated Kojima's team was humiliating. If they really want to focus on gambling and whatnot then it's better to sell those franchises, instead of not releasing any game like they did with Castlevania.

 

[Jammin]

Sometimes I wonder if some of these Japanese companies even realize how much of an appetite builds up for all the dormant big franchises out there.

It could be that it just gets lost in the local feedback they get. I know that mobile gaming is huge over there and the AAA space is shrinking. While in the west it's growing like mad. Like even a modest Castlevania or Mega Man title would have to sell insanely well just based on the name alone. Even if it was a small indie sized project.

It's kind of amazing the number of famous game series that are just sitting around collecting dust while so many companies do blind dart throws to try and find promising IPs.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Sometimes I wonder if some of these Japanese companies even realize how much of an appetite builds up for all the dormant big franchises out there.

It could be that it just gets lost in the local feedback they get. I know that mobile gaming is huge over there and the AAA space is shrinking. While in the west it's growing like mad. Like even a modest Castlevania or Mega Man title would have to sell insanely well just based on the name alone. Even if it was a small indie sized project.

It's kind of amazing the number of famous game series that are just sitting around collecting dust while so many companies do blind dart throws to try and find promising IPs.

I agree, the fans are eagerly waiting for the return of some of these franchises that haven't had any games released recently.The Bloodstained kickstarter shows that the fans are willing to buy anything Castlevania related.So either Konami overestimates the amount of money they'll get from mobile gaming or even pachinko, or it really is they can afford to not release games on consoles.
And overall it looks like they're focusing only on Japan, and not so much about the rest of the world where people still play mostly on consoles. I can't see that changing tbh.I don't like mobile gaming, the way it is right now.For the exception of emulation, which again allows me to play older titles that were released on consoles, I don't play that much on my phone/tablet.

 

[Jammin]

Adding to the Kojima related news it seems that his new studio Kojima Productions will most likely be based in Tokyo and he will be joined by Yoji Shinkawa and Kenichiro Imaizumi. The former being the artist behind the Metal Gear franchise. The latter being the producer for the last few Metal Gear games; and back in the day also was a CGI designer for Castlvania Symphony of the Night and Vandal Hearts.

Lots of talent in this new studio already.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Adding to the Kojima related news it seems that his new studio Kojima Productions will most likely be based in Tokyo and he will be joined by Yoji Shinkawa and Kenichiro Imaizumi. The former being the artist behind the Metal Gear franchise. The latter being the producer for the last few Metal Gear games; and back in the day also was a CGI designer for Castlvania Symphony of the Night and Vandal Hearts.

Lots of talent in this new studio already.

I had no doubts about Kojima's ability to gather talents for his new studio.Same happened with Koji Igarashi who worked on the Castlevania series(we owe him games like Symphony of the night) when he also quit Konami, after getting sidelined. A bunch of people who worked with him also quit Konami, and are now working on his new game.
The real question is will Kojima be able to work on the Metal Gear franchise in the future? It could happen if Sony bought the franchise for example. And if it's simply not possible, then maybe he could launch a new franchise, that could be a spiritual successor for Metal Gear maybe?
I think that could also be interesting, given how overly complicated the MG series story became of late.It would be a nice change to have new characters and story, while retaining the elements that made the success of Metal Gear.Basically it could be Metal Gear without the name.

 

[Jammin]

As much as I love Metal Gear and The Phantom Pain in particular I doubt Kojima will be working on Metal Gear in the near future. It sounds to me like he's ready to work on something else. Probably something smaller and probably something brand new and I'm kind of excited to eventually see what he does.

I mean, I think we all have our dream games to have Kojima work on. He's one of those rare people involved in making games that you can trace all that you can trace all the way back to original Nintendo and every step of the way he's just gotten better and better at it. So whatever he comes up with is bound to be interesting.

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There is almost no way this would be his first project but I'd love to see what he could do with a Sci-fi game.

Metal Gear always had such strong Sci-fi elements anyway. I'd love to see he and his team could do with a space opera series or even a mech centric game ala Front Mission. He made Zone of the Enders but it's been a long time since then and I'd be pretty excited how he could apply the things he's learned over the years of making Metal Gear.

 

[Doraku]

Sometimes I wonder if some of these Japanese companies even realize how much of an appetite builds up for all the dormant big franchises out there.

It could be that it just gets lost in the local feedback they get. I know that mobile gaming is huge over there and the AAA space is shrinking. While in the west it's growing like mad. Like even a modest Castlevania or Mega Man title would have to sell insanely well just based on the name alone. Even if it was a small indie sized project.

It's kind of amazing the number of famous game series that are just sitting around collecting dust while so many companies do blind dart throws to try and find promising IPs.

Interesting point because I just read the interview with Xenoblade's exec producer who said that pretty much game companies in Japan are more interested in reaping profit domestically rather than overseas. I am more inclined to believe this problem is caused by budgetary limits, but I really want to know how most Japanese games fared in the international market financially. With the exception of well-established franchises (MGS is one of them), most localized games aren't doing really well, I assume.

I had no doubts about Kojima's ability to gather talents for his new studio.Same happened with Koji Igarashi who worked on the Castlevania series(we owe him games like Symphony of the night) when he also quit Konami, after getting sidelined. A bunch of people who worked with him also quit Konami, and are now working on his new game.
The real question is will Kojima be able to work on the Metal Gear franchise in the future? It could happen if Sony bought the franchise for example. And if it's simply not possible, then maybe he could launch a new franchise, that could be a spiritual successor for Metal Gear maybe?
I think that could also be interesting, given how overly complicated the MG series story became of late.It would be a nice change to have new characters and story, while retaining the elements that made the success of Metal Gear.Basically it could be Metal Gear without the name.

Not all people in Konami's (late) gaming division get as lucky as Kojima. To be honest all the media's attention are too focused on portraying 'Hideo Kojima' as The Auteur who had to face this diabolical company called Konami all by himself. Which is probably not a morally wrong thing to do, but on the other hand I am genuinely curious about how bad of a company Konami is. What is the primary reason of their failures? How's about the progammer who was reassigned as a janitor? those are several interesting Big Questions that I hope can be answered some day, but considering how hermetic Japanese corporate culture can be, I doubt it'd be happen anytime soon.

As for the question whether he'd work on another MGS, I really doubt it. Additionally, even as a longtime fan of the franchise, I hope he doesn't milk the franchise anymore. It's disheartening to see one of my childhood memories is ruined because the game itself had been dragged for too long, even the creator himself had forgotten the identity of MGS as a video game. Don't get me wrong, the series is still something that I love dearly, it's just I prefer he makes something fresh, something that is totally Hideo Kojima who isn't (totally) restrained creatively by shady corporate cultures.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Interesting point because I just read the interview with Xenoblade's exec producer who said that pretty much game companies in Japan are more interested in reaping profit domestically rather than overseas. I am more inclined to believe this problem is caused by budgetary limits, but I really want to know how most Japanese games fared in the international market financially. With the exception of well-established franchises (MGS is one of them), most localized games aren't doing really well, I assume.



Not all people in Konami's (late) gaming division get as lucky as Kojima. To be honest all the media's attention are too focused on portraying 'Hideo Kojima' as The Auteur who had to face this diabolical company called Konami all by himself. Which is probably not a morally wrong thing to do, but on the other hand I am genuinely curious about how bad of a company Konami is. What is the primary reason of their failures? How's about the progammer who was reassigned as a janitor? those are several interesting Big Questions that I hope can be answered some day, but considering how hermetic Japanese corporate culture can be, I doubt it'd be happen anytime soon.

As for the question whether he'd work on another MGS, I really doubt it. Additionally, even as a longtime fan of the franchise, I hope he doesn't milk the franchise anymore. It's disheartening to see one of my childhood memories is ruined because the game itself had been dragged for too long, even the creator himself had forgotten the identity of MGS as a video game. Don't get me wrong, the series is still something that I love dearly, it's just I prefer he makes something fresh, something that is totally Hideo Kojima who isn't (totally) restrained creatively by shady corporate cultures.

Apparently Konami is pretty bad right now, worse than Capcom some would say. The info that gets out is hard to verify, but even then you can tell that Konami don't really care anymore, they're even putting a halt to some franchises, and it's all because they don't bring enough money.
Yeah it would be interesting to see something new from him, and for once he could do the kind of game he wants without having too much restraints.

---------- Post added at 01:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 PM ----------

As much as I love Metal Gear and The Phantom Pain in particular I doubt Kojima will be working on Metal Gear in the near future. It sounds to me like he's ready to work on something else. Probably something smaller and probably something brand new and I'm kind of excited to eventually see what he does.

I mean, I think we all have our dream games to have Kojima work on. He's one of those rare people involved in making games that you can trace all that you can trace all the way back to original Nintendo and every step of the way he's just gotten better and better at it. So whatever he comes up with is bound to be interesting.

--------------------------------------------------------

There is almost no way this would be his first project but I'd love what he could do with a Sci-fi game.

Metal Gear always had such strong Sci-fi elements anyway. I'd love to see he and his team could do with a space opera series or even a mech centric game ala Front Mission. He made Zone of the Enders but it's been a long time since then and I'd be pretty excited how he could apply the things he's learned over the years of making Metal Gear.

Yeah either something Sci-fi like Zone of the enders.... or maybe he could work on that PT game again. I don't think I've seen something as scary as that in a long time, and since Silent Hills was cancelled(again by shitty Konami) maybe he could rerelease it in another form. Either way he could venture in the horror genre, with someone like Guillermo del Toro at the helm it could be something really interesting.
Basically he can do anything he wants right now.Since it's a Kojima game it's bound to get the fans all excited , which is sure to be reflected on the sales. And I think it has a good chance of turning good.

 

[Doraku]

Apparently Konami is pretty bad right now, worse than Capcom some would say. The info that gets out is hard to verify, but even then you can tell that Konami don't really care anymore, they're even putting a halt to some franchises, and it's all because they don't bring enough money.
Yeah it would be interesting to see something new from him, and for once he could do the kind of game he wants without having too much restraints.

Yeah well, but I doubt any Japanese game companies is more villainous than Konami at the moment. Capcom is still in a relatively healthy and functional state; they have long-running franchises like Street Fighter and Monster Hunter, to name a few. Konami wants fuck-all with game industry anymore, so... I wish some journalists out there would reveal what happened inside Konami some day.

I'm crossing my fingers for Cyberpunk genre - Ghost in the Shell-ish games.

 

[Jammin]

The business culture in vidogames is changing. And I think companies like Konmai and Capcom are either going to have to change or get left behind.

Sony used to make a lot of the same mistakes around the PS3 era. Shuhei Yoshida in large part changed that when he and the rest of the upper management of Sony's Worldwide Studios embraced the idea of creating, and being apart of, a worldwide gaming community. The fact that they have this super nice and approachable guy who genuinely likes video games and likes talking to people about videogames is such a huge advantage. When Sony does things like use their clout to approach Disney on behalf of Double Fine and get them permission to remake their Lucas Arts adventure games or get SEGA to license Shenmue out so we can get a Shenmue III fans love them for it.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer is much the same. He's a likable guy who can sit down and talk about videogames without sounding like he's trying to sell you a used car. So, unlike the previous president Don Mattrick, he ends up actually understanding his community.

 

[riki]

Some new info on Nintendo's next-gen console

 

[YumaKuga]

Anyone else playing Star Wars Battlefront?

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...x-rpg-coming-soon-to-iphone-android-pc/.97104


Yes please,let it come to PC and phones. It's my favorite FF game.

 

[Jammin]

The very unusual kaiju defense game Metropolis Defenders is heading west under the name Aegis of Earth for PS4, PS3, and Vita.

Spoiler: Here's the Trailer

Pretty strange looking game but seems like it could be fun.

 

[Demonspeed]

Forgot to post this. Gust opened a poll for their future tittles on FB.

Poll closes tomorrow.

 

[Jammin]

Just finished X-Com 2 and at the end there was a possible preview of what they are going to do next with the series. Which only the hardest of the hardcore X-Com fans will be excited by. A reference to X-Com: Terror from the Deep! For anyone who may not know what that is (which is probably everybody) it was an X-Com sequel that was basically the original but...*Cue the music*


It's going to be great.

 

[Kiki]

All Naruto fighting games are not bad and can't be underestimated. Every games are more and more developed, one by one. Now I am waiting for Naruto Storm 4. It's very cool!

 

[Jammin]

Looks like the Fable: Legends is cancelled and Lionhead studios is getting shut down by Microsoft.

I don't think many people actually cared about Fable: Legends. The game looked and sounded like a bad idea pretty much from day one but it's a real shame to hear that it brought Lionhead down with it. This is something that really never should have happened in the first place.

Sadly, it seems like there could be a good chance the Fable franchise is dead. Which is a huge bummer. The Fable games weren't perfect but they were still fun RPGs and it's a shame to see that it could possibly end like this. I'd love for Fable 4 to be given to some other studio but I'd be pretty shocked if that happened at this point. Fable was such a signature thing for Lionhead.

So RIP Fable.

 

[Kamui]

All Naruto fighting games are not bad and can't be underestimated. Every games are more and more developed, one by one. Now I am waiting for Naruto Storm 4. It's very cool!

Personally, I find storm 4 to be a bit underwhelming. I feel as though there is still a massive piece of a very complex puzzle that still has yet to be put in its rightful place.

With the most recent and final installment of the storm games, only a few new characters were added. And some of those characters that were put in the game are less relevant than more important characters that weren't added, but should have definitely been put in the final game. And even though the game play and graphics seem to have improved a bit, the story and online modes are lacking in comparison to previous titles. At this point I'm still debating whether I should even get them game or not, seeing as I have owned every storm game prior to this one.