The Belated GOTY Post

2012 has come and gone, but that doesn't mean its too late for a reposting of Adam Shaw's Catholic guide to the best games of 2012. It was originally featured on the Catholic News Service website, but it seems to have been taken down. While the lack of Xenoblade Chronicles makes my heart sink, the inclusion of Kid Icarus: Uprising almost makes up for it. Almost.

3DS Troubles

So for the second time since I first purchased my 3DS at launch day last March, I've had to send it in to Nintendo for repair. The first time, something went wrong with the gyroscope. The system would automatically shut down when I would apply pressure to it. Now, the circle pad/control stick is messed up. Both problems apparently require Nintendo's own folks to fix. :/

Fortunately, my brother has his own 3DS and I can just mooch off of him when I want to play Tales of the Abyss. But has anyone else had trouble with their 3DS like I have?

Behold!

It is mine, precious!!!!!






Also obtained: Street Fighter IV 3D and Super Monkey Ball 3DS. More impressions to follow!

Is the 3DS the New PSP?

Chris Kohler seems to think so. Universal praise, predictions of demise for its competitors, and a promise of "hardcore" gaming appeal - hardly typical of Nintendo, masters of mass-appeal gaming.

There is one difference in the position of the 3DS and Sony's yet-to-be-revealed new handheld (I await the day when the corporate masters deem it worthy for our eyes to feast on) is the position of Nintendo in the gaming market. Back in 2007, Sony was the dominant "home console" gaming company looking to destroy Nintendo's monopoly on the handheld gaming industry. Analysts and gaming afficianados alike predicted that Sony's PSP would force Nintendo into third-party game developer status. The reverse happened: Sony made a sizable dent into the handheld market, sure, but Nintendo sold more handheld machines than it ever had in the past. Now, Nintendo is unquestionably more dominant on both the handheld and home console fronts, with Apple's IPhone slowly emerging from it status as the "spoiler" competitor in the handheld gaming wars to a formidable gaming platform. And that's my prediction for the latest cycle of "console warz": Apple is going to take over the gaming market.

When Nintendo first unveiled it's "blue ocean" business strategy in 2006, gamers decried it as an abandonment of Nintendo's commitment to providing quality video games for a gradually expanding market. Analysts either dismissed it as a concession that Sony (and Microsoft to a lesser extent) had "beaten Nintendo at its own game" or predicted a massive drop in its stocks due to such a risky business venture. The rest is history: Nintendo usurped Sony's premiere status in a fashion no one thought possible.

But there's a funny thing about that whole "blue ocean" strategy Nintendo was bragging about circa 2007-2008. By targeting mainstream consumers as potential gamers, Nintendo may have put the nail in its own coffin. Since gaming has become so much more mainstream, it joins a list of other entertainment commodities that vie for the consumer's attention. Specialized products (think Amazon's Kindle) fall to "All-in-one" products like the IPhone and IPad. I believe the same will soon be true for gaming. The less "niche" gaming becomes, the more it will have to adjust to a market demand for multiple forms of entertainment. This is a bittersweet pill for gamers to swallow: it might mean a "decline" of hardcore games overall (not just for Nintendo, but for the industry as a whole), but it also means the days of social isolation for gamers are numbered. I believe that Apple is the company most poised to take advantage of this new "all-in-one" gamer demographic, especially given the increasing prevalence of downloadable content in all sectors of the marketplace. Nintendo is infamously negligent at utilizing the internet for its games, and as the above article shows, things don't look to be changing for the 3DS.

Thoughts?

Nintendo 3DS Conference

As usual, NeoGAF has all the information one could ask for.

Things I like:

- Tales of the Abyss DS (it looks just as good as the ps2 original)
- virtual console for game boy games
- release date: March 11, 2011.

Things I don't like:
- $250. Sadface, groan, etc. I spend too much on games as it is.
- lack of American developer support
- lack of F-Zero 3DX

Still pretty amped, though. Thoughts?