Nintendo Madness

Hello and welcome to another installment of Eccentric Spheres!

Today we're talking Nintendo. Personally I'm not a Nintendo fan, I haven't even played one of their games since the '90s. Just wanted to make that clear right away. I have no personal stake in this.

I watch a lot of Let's Plays (LP), something regular readers are well aware of. I find them informative and fun, really the best way to figure out if a game is for me or not. And I'm far from alone in this. Youtube is full of great channels featuring gamers that play and critique games. You just need to find a guy or gal that you like and start watching.

Now, all the big AAA studios from EA to Ubisoft, Activision to Sony and so on get their fair share of critique. They are all guilty one way or another of making bad decisions (at least from the point of view of gamers) and generally pissing people off. But they all got one thing right.

Namely that LP's and streams are a great way to advertise.

If a popular Youtuber like the famous PewDiePie likes a game, a lot of people will rush out and buy it for themselves, and everyone is happy. The publishers get more sales, the gamers get a game they know they'll like and the streamer get's paid ad revenue so that they can make a living. So what's the problem? We'll get to that in a bit.

Some publishers encourage streamers and Youtubers so much that they even pay them to play the game and publish the video. This can of course be a bit controversial, but as long as the streamer is upfront about being paid and remains objective, more power to them I say.

Of course, not all streamers accept payment up front for ethical reason, but that's up to each to decide on their own.

The problem comes when the Publisher wants to control the video and it's message. Like with the Shadow of Mordor controversy where reviewers had to sign up for a paid deal and only give out positive critique if they wanted a preview copy. That was the deal. Dirty business indeed. The dumbest part being that SoM apparently is a really good game, and didn't need any of this nonsense.

But what of Nintendo you ask? Well they seem to be the only major game company on Earth who doesn't understand the positive power of Youtube and streaming sites like Twitch.tv.

Instead they recently started what they call the Nintendo Creators Program.

Usually when a Youtuber makes a video, Google takes 40% of the ad revenue and the streamer gets 60%. But if you make a video of Nintendo's games, one of two things will happen. If the game is on their approved games list they take your 60% for themselves. You get nothing at all, and if the game is not on the list, they shut the video down hard. Worst case scenario, this can cripple your channel for weeks.

Instead, they insist that video makers join their creators program. And here come the insanity. If you join, you have to first submit your video to Nintendo for approval. If they don't like it, you can't publish it. If they do like it however, they take a part of your ad money. Google still get's their 40%, but Nintendo takes 18% leaving you with a measly 42%. To be fair these are estimates, since the exact numbers aren't public, but they're close enough. So your choice becomes: Submit to censorship and a heavily reduced paycheck or get shut down. Then to make it even worse, the contract says that Nintendo can change how much you get at will and at any time. Nice...

But hold on, because apparently Nintendo has hired not one but two PR firms to find and recruit Youtubers for them! Instead of letting people make the videos on their own like every other game company out there, they are paying people to find streamers in order to monetize and control their work. It's insane. There are tons of fans who want nothing more than to do just that, if only Nintendo would leave their integrity and income alone.

I'm going to stop ranting now and let you get on with your day. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Grand Theft Auto 5

As I mentioned in last weeks post, my Blood Bowl career has been slowed down a bit by the long awaited arrival of Grand Theft Auto V.

GTA V for PC was delayed at least three times, and every time I shrugged and said “Oh well, it's better that they push it back and get it right at launch”. So the question becomes; did they get it right? The answer is yes, yes they did!

It's a real joy to play a game that's actually finished, unlike so many games these days that ship half done and get patched later, if at all.

GTA V on PC is an absolutely amazing game. The graphics are gorgeous, the voice work is great and the gameplay is the best in the series so far. The level of detail is insane. From the garbage on the streets to the characters actually using body language while carrying on a conversation in a moving car, the amount of things going on is astounding. Everything feels so incredibly alive, it's a joy to merely move around.

In a big departure from the previous games in the franchise, you control three main characters instead of just one. You have smooth career criminal Michael with his crazy family, streetwise Franklin working his way out of the 'hood and Trevor the lunatic. Trevor is not my favorite by a long shot, but I think he is the most entertaining of the three, he's just so outrageously insane.

Initially I was skeptical about this three character system, but it works really well, and makes the story considerably better and less linear. The only downside is when you want to keep playing say Michael, but he's out of things to do and you have to move on to one of the others. But overall I'm very pleased.

Being a game with such a focus on cars, I'm pleased to say that the vehicles handle better than ever. The streets are wide, and driving is a lot of fun.

The other major part, fighting, is also really smooth. From gun play to fisticuffs, I have no complaints at all. Well OK, one small complaint. You tend to get stuck on corners a bit. This can delay you at a critical moment, but once you're aware of this, it's no biggie.

The one “bad” thing I've found so far is the radio. Compared to previous GTA titles, this iteration has the weakest soundtrack of the bunch. But as always, you can put music in a designated folder and you have your own radio station. And this is the cool part: they have both a DJ and commercials on this station, which makes it feel more legit and less than a playlist.

For some odd reason, all versions, even the Steam version uses the Rockstar Social Club as a kind of DRM. 99.9% of the time this is a non-issue but I understand that it went down at one point which made it impossible to play even the single player story mode. I had hoped we would have moved past this by now. As with all DRM it punishes the genuine customers and ignores the pirates, since the DRM is cracked anyway. Especially on Steam this is so unnecessary since you can't have a pirated game on Steam. At least as far as I know. I myself haven't seen the Social Club problem, but I've run into similar issues with Uplay, Ubisofts “launch platform”.

To sum up: if you've ever played a GTA game and liked it, this is a game for you. Simple as that. I can see no reason for any fan of the franchise to skip GTA V. Now, there is an online mode that I have yet to try, so I won't comment on it. More on that when I have some experience.

That's it ladies and gentlemen, so until next time, have a great week!

Blood Bowl

Back in the early 90's I bought the 2^nd edition of Blood Bowl the board-game, and although I liked it I never played it much.

But now I've become completely hooked on the computer version, specifically Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition.

Simply explained, Blood Bowl is an alternate version of the WarhammerFantasy world, where the different races play a kind of American Football instead of fighting wars. It's ultra violent, complex and tons of fun.

With 23 playable races in the chaos edition you get so many choices since every team plays differently, and thus demands their own strategies. For example, the orcs are a very bashy team, that is they are more interested in hitting the opponents than making skillful touchdowns, but they are clumsy and slow. In complete opposition are the elven teams that really have to be careful about who they hit and when. The elven strength is their speed and agility which allows them to jump around and make plays other teams can only dream about.

I really like the way you start by choosing your race and then build up your team. You get a set amount of money and you have to have at least eleven players on your team for it to be legal. Since different teams have wildly different costs, this becomes a very strategic decision indeed. Add to this the ability (need) to buy re-rolls, cheerleaders, assistant coaches etc, and the process can become pretty hard. But that's all part of the fun.

Then as you progress in the campaigns and championships you earn money to buy more benefits, new players, or indeed replace players that were injured or even killed.

All in all this is a wonderful, complex and very exciting game. I don't know if I can recommend to it people who regularly play other sport games, but for those who don't (like me) this works wonders.

I rediscovered this game by watching The Game Stations league on Youtube, and if you are at all interested in what you just read, do check it out. It not only serves as a tremendously entertaining demonstration of the game, it also teaches you to play it. To be honest the tutorial is pretty lousy, and this taught me the game so much better.

That reminds me, you don't have to confine yourself to playing against the AI. The game is fully set up to play online, either against friends or strangers. As a bonus, you don't have to get the more expensive Chaos Edition, since at least the Legendary edition is compatible with the Chaos Edition. You simply can't play as the Khorne, Underworld or Chaos Dwarf teams.

So, if this has tickled your fancy, go forth and play Blood Bowl! Personally I know that my teams are going to be progressing slower in the coming days since I'm downloading Grand Theft Auto V as I write this, and I know how immersed I get in those games.

That's it, so until next time, have a great week!

Positive Warfare

The history of mankind is a history of war. I've covered many odd war stories before but today I have a real doozy.

From 14 June to 23 August 1866 the Austro-Prussian war was fought. Sharp eyed readers might note that this conflict lasted all of two months and nine days. Not that dramatic in itself, but it did lead to the unification of Germany. And that was a pretty big deal.

However during this war, Liechtenstein put together a mighty army of 80 men. You know, so as not to be left out. This grand force then marched towards the Italian border to guard a small mountain pass.

Nothing much happened during their stay at the pass, so they went home again. But here is the kicker: They were 81 when they returned.

It seems they made a friend who some sources claim was Italian while others say Austrian, but either way they liked their new pal so much they invited him back to Liechtenstein with them. If only all wars could be so nice...

I'm not 100% positive, but this may have been the most successful military campaign in history if you only count lives lost. Negative losses are pretty rare in war after all.

Then in 1868 Liechtenstein disbanded its army completely, and is today one of the fifteen countries in the world with no military whatsoever. But they do have a SWAT team so don't think you can go there and push them around.

That's it friends, short and sweet. Until next time, have yourself a great week!