Spilled Tea: Switch 2, Warhammer, and AI…

…Oh my!

The Principle of Credulity is a philosophical axiom by Thomas Reid that suggest we have “a disposition to confide in the veracity of others, and believe what they tell us”.


Everyday on the internet leads me to believe this is very true

Today is all about about gossip and rumor here on ATE , as there seems to be quite an awful lot of it swirling around gaming news sources as of late, so what the hell? Let’s spill some tea. Before we begin, I just wanted to mention that throughout my day, I always have a hundred little conversations with myself that I think “hey, this would make an interesting aside for one of my ATE articles”. I think that share is possibly one of the first times I actually remembered to retain said kind of conversation, and we are all technically worse off for it. Not because the share was inane or valueless, mind you, but as a reminder of all the times I was unable to remember the rest of them. I really got to start carrying around a tape recorder ala Coop from Twin Peaks to record my thoughts, as every time you read a write up, it is only one of a very large number of permutations we both could have delighted in, had things just turned out differently.


Strange how it all works out

With multiversal shenanigans now in play as a relevant topic of interest, we shift our focus to a peculiar happening that timeextension brought to revelatory light, with a delightful little article going in-depth about how some Capcom staff were initially resistant to the whole idea of crossover fighters involving the Street Fighter crew from very early on. Apparently, due to the lack of sales of X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes in Japan, many at Capcom were silently hoping X-Men vs Street Fighter would die a quiet, quick death. This gave the team a lot of wiggle room to over deliver when the time came, and the break out success of the title would go on to eventually spawn the Marvel vs Capcom series, which has stood the test of popular time, as evidenced by the recent release of Marvel vs Capcom: Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics release.


As I always say: set lower expectations and then over deliver

Continuing on with the theme of what is old is new again, it looks as if Nintendo’s lawyer have finally caught wind of Palworld, an open-world multiplayer survival game, which has designs reminiscent of the big N’s own critically acclaimed Pokémon series, and are ready to mount a legal battle over copyright infringement claims. I’m surprised Nintendo’s legal ninjas took so much time getting around to this one, as this sucker has been making lots of noise since earlier this year, and is even an official release on multiple platforms, and not even a fan made dealie. Ultimately, time will tell if Nintendo wins out with the legal disputes involving the developers of the game Pocketpair, but Nintendo has historically been quite grumpy about this kind of thing for a long time now, and regularly geared towards legal actions in the course of their own history. They even took Blockbuster to task for copyright infringement over their manuals for Christ’s sake. I might love their games, but the Pokémon company has had a stick up their ass over petty frivolities for awhile now, so I hope this just blows up in their face.


How Chinpokomon flew under the radar all these years I
will never know

Staying on the topic of Nintendo, potential images of the follow up to the Switch have “leaked”, according to a number of rampant shares on the internet, which I surmised were all pulled from the same dodgy ass source on the internet that no one bothered to check the legitimacy of….or at least I thought as much, and then I read a piece from Eurogamer commenting on the whole affair. The article mentions how the models do seem to correspond with data that has leaked in the past about Nintendo’s next console, but they did come from a 3D modeler’s post on a Chinese social media website, who as since deleted the posts. Like most leaks: dubious at best, and what took someone possibly two hours to make is now going to be discussed for two weeks with endless pissing competitions involving the veracity of the claims themselves. No news from Nintendo on the matter (big surprise).


Everyone knows the Switch 2 is just going to be 16 Gamecubes
duct-taped together, what are we even speculating for?

In another moment of interesting hearsay, IGN reported about a bizarre happening involving recently released shooter 40,000: Space Marine 2, in a story that allegedly has the CEO of Saber, Matthew Karch, commenting on a Youtube video by user Asmongold about the quality of the title. The gist of the posit which was *allegedly* Karch, has the CEO going on about other devs “imposing morals on gamers”, reinforcing games should be about the design itself and not beating the brow of gamers with some kind of overt messaging muddying the waters. Putting aside for a second just how broad of a declaration that is to even confront, the comment hasn’t even been officially verified as the actual CEO, and a comment which could potentially be some kind of windup from a rando impersonating him, trying to create a fuss in the comments section on a Youtube video in a silly attempt at fanning the flames in the name of some obtuse culture war nonsense. I guess, regardless of whether or not it is actually the CEO of the company hanging out in a Youtube comment section (why would he?) giving praise to their own game (why wouldn’t they?), a good game is a good game regardless of messaging. Don’t worry about what other people are playing, do what you want.


To quote a modern day prophet

And finally, to wrap our daily tea spilling as we are nearing an empty pot, EA decided to remind people why they were voted worst company in the US two years in a row, by deciding to make generative AI as their main talking point in a recent investors day presentation, much to the surprise of no one who is use to EA’s bullshit. They went on to assure onlookers that AI is not a buzzword, and is a core element at the heart of their game development strategy. Read the room guys: with so many negative news stories coming out weekly about foot in mouth comments involving AI, to other very real impacts the practice of using AI has had on workers within the industry, you’d think EA would avoid saying the quiet part out-loud and just keep the fuck quiet about their internal machinations, just to save some face in the name of good PR alone.


A picture of EA’s new PR manager

Cheers for joining me in spilling some tea. Until our next party, then…

~Pashford

A Link Between Posts

Hey Gamers,

A Link Between Worlds continues to thrill me with it’s sense of artistry, and how Mr.Aonuma’s team really went all out in creating a gorgeous looking world you can really jump into.

I Know, I Know

You Saw What I Did There

I wasn’t even sure if I was going to Link these articles into a trio, but I stand corrected. Who knows? We may get a quadrilogy out of my thoughts, with my fourth post talking more about the in’s and outs of the armaments and multiplayer elements ALBW has to offer.

Hmm…I’ll have to think of a good name.

While I have no definitive focus in writing about ALBW today, I never really have a definitive focus, and it hasn’t turned out poorly yet. Besides, some of the aspects of the game I want to discuss don’t really involve playing the game, as much as they center around ideas the game has inspired. As I made mention of in yesterdays post, the “wall hugging” aspects of ALBW really ties the game together. It’s obvious the experience was built from the ground up with merging in mind, and the ability feels just such, and not more so a gimmick to distract from the gameplay.

Yet Another Fate Link Doesn’t Always Avoid

My mention of Skyward Swords motion controls are in acknowledgement, and not agreement of their accused gimmicky nature. I’m taking a breath as we speak, so as not to completely derail from my ALBW focus. I could write entire an series of articles detailing the dialogue surrounding Skyward Sword, and the Wii era in general, so bare with me as I struggle against the urge. In any case, while I’m not congruent with the angry detractors Skyward  Sword definitely had, it was hard not to hear the outcries of it’s stubborn use of motion controls. Ignoring all other premise involved with the argument, it didn’t matter whether the motion controls were good or not, it’s that motion controls just aren’t good for some people. Even more alarming, is that some people who don’t enjoy motion controls, also happen to like Zelda.

True madness.

This realization alone should have forced Nintendo into a compromise, and allowed for a pro controller or wave bird alternative to make everyone happy. If the goal of your game is to reach a wider audience, (See: Nintendo Blue Ocean Strategy), then customized controls are the first logical step towards including the largest number of gamers (buyers) as possible. Think of it as kind of a …”Between Worlds” option, one that would benefit all kinds of players.

Let Me Think Of A Good Comparison

I imagine some of you laughing, while others are thinking to themselves “bitch don’t know comparative analysis worth dick”.

Fuck you, and give me a second.

The comparison isn’t exact, in paralleling ALBW on the 2DS and proposing SS be played with regular controllers, only because I referred to the wall hugging as the gimmick, and not the 3D of the device itself. However, when one considers the motion controls for SS were a bi-product of the Wii’s functionality, then Nintendo offering up the 2DS (and subsequently being able to play ALBW without the 3D as a result), shows us a clear case where Nintendo was quick to correct innovative assumption. Once again, I don’t dislike the 3D on the 3DS, and I can play with the effect full blast for hours. I can however, hear noticeable cries against the implementation of the 3D, whether it be through it’s inclusion as a gimmick, or just the fact that the 3D physically bothers their eyes (and hurts the wallets).

Kind of re-framing my point for a second, the 2DS kind of represents a (thankful) awareness on Nintendo’s part, that for once, a gimmick gamble didn’t pay off. This is in stark comparisons to when it certainly did with the Wii, by stupid fucking amounts, but the continued trouble the 3DS has had, from early attempts with the apologetic ambassador program, to the inclusion of the far cheaper 2DS, proves that Nintendo has only been able to make right in recent times, by admitting how terribly wrong they were.

Sadly, Nintendo just doesn’t have that old school nostalgic infallibility they were once known for. In some ways, Nintendo lost it’s Power a long time ago.

In More Ways Than One

So, after some deliberation, and an extremely round about point, I think just analyzing why Nintendo came out with the 2DS is a serious indicaton, in a weird way, there really is no reason to have refused Skyward Sword players an alternate control method at all. It’s been made perfectly clear Nintendo can’t be on a high horse of success when they’re dodging low hanging tree branches of logic, and I think SS would have been more warmly received and just more played ($$$), had they just released an alternative control scheme to begin with.

It’s way easier than coming out with a whole new console.

I’m Guessing

Wait, what was I suppose to be talking about? A Link Between Worlds? Well, that didn’t really work. I’ll just rename the piece “A Link Between Posts” and act like I was tying two separate points in time together through some clever editing.

They’ll never know.

Entirely focused or not, I think we covered some good ground today. We learned wall hugging is easier than sword fighting, and that ignoring those who matter most will cost you dearly in the long run. Oh, and Zelda rocks…but I’m not sure my post was entirely needed to impart that truth. While I am of the firm belief gaming benefits creative solutions and fun effort, that’s not to say there isn’t more than one way to approach a problem, and sometimes the best solution is often the simplest. I said yesterday that in order to enjoy ALBW, all you had to is think fourth dimensionally.

Simply speaking, thinking fourth dimensionally isn’t always required.

Sometimes it’s best to just avoid tripping over yourself.

Something I’ve Had A Lot of Pointers On

~Pash