mike_intv

Before they took the website off-line, I was able to get into it this morning and saw that a digital version of Issue 368 had been posted. The email sent to subscribers said that the last issue was in the mail. Since I received 367 a few weeks ago, it is possible that there is one more in the post. (The email also said where to write about pro-rated refunds. I sent that email several hours ago and am awaiting a response.)

The key question is how was this survey conducted. That can impact the results substantially - to the point of making them non-reflective of reality.

@HammerKirby
The concept of exclusivity as we currently think of it was cemented by Nintendo's third-party contracts during the Famicom/NES era.

In the classic era, companies often made their games for multiple companies. For example, Atari ported PacMan to the Intellivision and was working on a Colecovision version (finished, unreleased) when the North American Video Game Crash occurred.

My biggest issue is that I already bought the base DLC — which is again included in the $10 upcharge. I will probably wait for a sale.

Three words: Consider the source.

Does anyone know what the rate of success is for appealing decisions of the CMA?

Hopefully that is not the only thing this studio will get to work on. (It reminds me of EA and Activision buying studios to work on their respective FPS products — which usually means the end of that studio doing anything else.)

@Cashews True. He pled guilty. He also agreed to the $10M fine in a civil suit. I am guessing he never thought that Nintendo would try to collect it.

Did anyone else ever get implicated in this?

I ask because one reason the fine might be so high is to get this person to implicate the others involved.

You also have to wonder why his lawyers are not claiming the fine is "cruel and unusual" punishment and appealed the amount.

Some thoughts.

This seems like a really sloppy/stupid oversight. As if someone didn't realize that VG music has credit or didn't think something through.

It is also different than leaving the original team out of the credits for an upscaled version. It is also much worse since music has a long history of how to and when to credit.

Comparatively speaking, the The VG space is more fluid and has less consistency that other mediums. Do not interpret this as a license to not recognize previous work when doing enhanced/upscaled versions. Only that there is not the standard that music has developed over the decades on how to do it.

With reviews, it is hard to know if the game is being evaluated, the genre is being evaluated, the publisher is being evaluated, or the platform is being evaluated.

I write this less than two weeks before the shutdown.
Capcom has dropped the prices of all its games in North America to $2.99 (USD). But the DLC prices remain unchanged.

This is stock purchases on an open market. You or I or anyone can buy the stock.

My guess is that the Saudis are trying to diversify their holdings since their oil/energy sources will not last forever.

However, given that most of the stocks are in private (family) hands, it is doubtful that this will ever result in a takeover.

@ZealMajin
Even if it is not an 8-way stick, what appears in the photo is not the standard stick which was much lower/smaller. That could change how the game played. And the score would not be on a stock-equipped machine, which means it should not qualify for a record.

Do I wish this was the case? NO
Do I wish SA had a more 21st century approach to rights? YES
Am I worried about thi? NO (at this time).

It is all in what you want from a console.
The Switch is not the most powerful (nor was it ever).
The Switch on-line could be improved.
But the core gaming is fun and entertaining — and meets a lot of people's wishes. It is just that the readers of certain websites either feel like you must have maximum power or certain characteristics to be successful. But that is not Nintendo, which has had its most success when it does NOT try to be the most innovative.

@Otherboard
I saw that on my second read through — after seeing other comments. Hence my reply about using another free trial for the service.

@mike_intv
It might also be time to use another free trial for Apple Arcade.

It should be interesting to see the price-point of the game ... and its future release plans (post iOS).

I would love for this to be true. But alas, I don't think there are enough people left to make it really work.

I carried my 3DS everywhere — and knew all the places where I could get stored Street Pass hits (McDonald's, Barnes & Nobles, Best Buy, etc.). But one-by-one, those systems ceased to provide visitors (new or returning) to my plazza. And after visiting Vermont and not getting any hits, I had to use my back-up 3DS to complete my US map — and that was more than five years ago.

I still play my 3DS. But it now stays home.

I wonder what would happen if all the companies that were "victims" of these parodies filed a class action suit against Twitter and its leader.

Why is the video marked "Private"?

A lot of this tale is selecting telling.

• The $450M is an estimate of the total sales numbers for the franchise — based on almost $60 per game and almost 8M copies of the game sold on all platforms worldwide (according to VGChartz). Two things make this suspect - using the average price per game and using unverified sales numbers. Additionally, this is gross receipts — not profit or value.
• The last offer wasn't the best offer — but was implied to be.
  ...
  The best thing is for everyone to move on — and if you want to buy the game.

I am wondering why this was reposted to Twitter — without any updates from the information reported by Bloomberg.

I also wonder if this newly reported information has anyone changing their mind (or regretting their decisions).

When the original story first broke, I basically posted that we don’t know what we don’t know.

Now that more information is available, it is likely that the claims made by Hellena Taylor may have been parsed.

For example, the last offer of $4,000 may be true - but based on today’s information, it may also have been for the cameo only.

I will say I only watched the first Taylor video. Dragging the value of her seven years of acting education into the conversation did not sit right with me - nor did the timing of this revelation. So I always thought there was more to this. I just thought it was a petty pay dispute or a low-ball offer to let Platinum move on from Taylor.

Most of these are just being civil. However, I think we all have probably violated this part of the code — somewhere, sometime:

"Requests for service beyond social norms, such as requesting free repairs beyond what is covered by warranty."

That being said, I understand the issue. And I usually ask such in a perfunctory nature and don't expect to get anything for free.

Doing some research (from Backstage magazine):

Video game voice actors starting out in the industry can earn “between $1 and $5 per 100 words,” according to a Performer Life report from March 2022. More prominent performers can earn $50–$200 per 100 words and are required to be paid “$850 for a single session [that] lasts up to four hours.” Like any actor, those in high demand can bump their rates up.

Also, it should be noted that according to IMDB, Hella Taylor has no credits in the last eight (8) years. And the only credits between 2012 and 2014 were for Bayonetta voices.

So I am not sure what is appropriate in this case or what should be done. I do know that hearing one person's side of any story is more often than not an incomplete story.

This does not sound/look good. But I do have some questions.

1. How much was the actor paid for voicing the first two games?
2. How long was the time commitment involved?
3. Is the job being paid at "scale" — and the actor wants more? (Remember, it was said that this was legal).
4. How much did Platinum have to pay the new actor (which we won't probably not find out)?
5. Are there other factors here (i.e., was this an intentional lowball offer because there were issues between Platinum and the actor - so the company wanted the actor gone but either contractually or for the sake of appearance had to make an "effort" to retain the original actor)?

Again, I agree on the surface that this amount seems low. But I would like additional information on the situation.

This ended with a whimper - just as anyone would have guessed.

There is no email telling the contractor to find something in the testers record to fire them. (To be honest, the contractor provided the grounds publicly on Twitter.)

Unfortunate situation.

But people do need to remember that business failure is not necessarily a "scam situation" as some may want to make this out to be. It is not stealing — even if it has the same effect.

Two quick notes
1. The link to Time Extension results in a "404"
2. I should know better than to Google the name of the company and the name of the device.

@IronMan30
I think you described it accurately. It appears this abhorrent behavior is endemic to this (and other) industries. And it is especially true where there is a power dynamic issue (such as temp workers) and where the industry is traditionally male-dominated.
Anyone to think that Nintendo would be immune from this behavior would be naive. And given that the majority of this appears to have been occurring with those working for the contractor, how much the company actually knew about what was going on is uncertain. (Please note that I am not saying that it should not know what was going on — only that it may not have been getting the full story.)

Interesting. Still waiting to see how to access it.

@HollowSpectre
I was ... to figure out how to play it ... until it would not start.
At least I didn't pay for it .. and now I no longer have it.

More to that point, it was instructive that matchmaking would take an extraordinary amount of time — and occasionally would just prematuring end the GP.

The NA price is essentially the converted Japanese list price of 14,400 yen.

Why do I get the feeling that the current Amazon page is for importing the Japanese version and not for the North American version?

This just seems so weird. With shipping, it is almost twice the cost of the original. Then Sega will wonder why no one buys it.

Did Sega not take its allowed depreciation?
Bad business in another way.

@gaga64 I was wondering the same thing ... as in why do you have to be connected to the Internet for this game.

Does anyone know if/when this will be available to view in the US?

@Anti-Matter I almost bought one of those. It was so strange. I both wish I had and am glad I did not.

@mike_intv
From Forbes: GoldenEra will arrive on Altitude and a number of digital platforms in the UK and Ireland from June 27; a US release is also planned, pending a distributor, with the hope it’ll hit the North American market in time for the 25th anniversary of GoldenEye 007 on August 25.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattgardner1/2022/06/15/goldeneye-007-documentary-goldenera-promises-a-view-for-a-thrill/?sh=633d9ab0585a

Does anyone know about accessing this in the United States?

@Serpenterror
Technically, true. But that region lock did not occur until the NES came into being ... in 1985. So this work in Turkey pre-dates that by a year. (It does not pre-date the FamiCom, but it is before the NES).

@Serpenterror From what I have learned, there was no lock-out (or region-locking) on the FamiCom. The chip was added to the NES (circa 1985) to avoid unlicensed games as was the case with carts from other Asian markets made for the FamiCom..

The basic premise is correct — that Nintendo needs to better "use" its back catalog of music.
That being said, I am not sure that the Olympics situation applies to this discussion as there were other substantial factors at play.

It's Fipull!! (That's the Japanese name).

I play Mini Motorways on Apple Arcade. I was looking forward to it on the Switch. But the price has me delaying/deferring my purchase ($15 (USD) - or $5 more than its predecessor (Mini Metros))

North America is going to be interesting. Gamestop's orders briefly went live last week. I managed to get one — though some others had their orders cancelled. Best Buy's "Coming Soon" page has been in stasis since it went up three weeks ago.

@CharlieGirl
Please do not think I was saying that this should be written-off. Quite the contrary. (If that was not the purpose of your comment, I apologize in advance).

I just wanted to remind people that it is too common of a practice in far too many industries — so just "trashing" Nintendo which often happens in these comments is not constructive.

This happens in everything from retail (part-time sales staff) to websites (how many survive because people work for free) to academic institutions (adjuncts teaching classes).

It is especially pernicious in the United States where medical coverage is tied to work — rather than through a public (governmental) entity. By this, I mean people are often either contact or part-time employees worked to the point where they would qualify for benefits.