SPC Soapbox - 11/13/12 Grand Theft Auto V, Wii U's Price, and the Irrelevant Press

There have been some interesting pieces of news that I could not talk about in full length. That is where the SPC Soapbox comes in. Once more I have three topics I'd like to broach about, including my main desire and what I like so far of Grand Theft Auto V, whether Ubisoft's CEO's comment about the Wii U's price is founded in reality or not, and why I think that when it comes to Nintendo, the majority of the gaming press is no longer really as relevant as they think they are.

Grand Theft Auto V hopes and wishes

Grand Theft Auto IV was one of the most undeserving games to give high praise to. It was also very controversial how day-one reviewers had to play the game with Rockstar employees watching them at some sort of special press event, and they could only play the game for a relatively brief period of time. It doesn't help that reviewers in retrospect started mentioning why the game wasn't so great afterwards.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was my first and my favorite Grand Theft Auto game. The world of San Andreas was remarkably ambitious. It was incredibly massive for a PlayStation 2 and then Xbox game. I loved the settings, from Grove Street to the Strip at Las Venturas. The fact that Grand Theft Auto V will be returning to San Andreas in some regard has me totally stoked. Hearing that the world is larger than that of Red Dead Redemption has me positively enthralled. It's going to be amazing, especially since instead of large rocky deserts to traverse, we'll have metropolises, which interest me much more in exploring. Additionally, the thought of having three main characters to play as intrigues me greatly. The possibilities are infinite for how the story and gameplay will work out, but the potential for failure is also there.

One of my main problems with GTA IV was the replacement of realism over the wacky fun of past games. The title grew to be a chore as well, and compared to the Saints Row trilogy, it was just neutered in the entertainment department to me. So my paramount wish for the fifth mainline game in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is for the return to some oddball fun and zaniness. However, at the same time, the more missions like Four Leaf Clover, the better too. There needs to be a balance between realism and crazy.

I am without a doubt excited to enter the sunny shores of Los Santos once more. I can imagine riding down the streets of Vinewood with the top down in my shiny red convertible, passing by pedestrians and accidentally running over several hundred of them. Grand Theft Auto V is yet another blockbuster planned for the absolutely packed 2013 gaming year. Here's hoping it satisfies rather than disappoints!

Is the Wii U's price too high? Ubisoft's CEO says so.

Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, recently made it known to the press that he is unhappy with the price of the Wii U. Of course, that is the typical take from a third-party on any platformer that many message board users will use as a talking point on how the Wii U is objectively overpriced. Nonetheless, you see, the higher the price of a console, it seems likely that the less games will be bought by consumers. In a perfect world, the Wii U would be free, so Ubisoft could sell the most games at launch. However, the world obviously does not work that way. Nintendo has already made mention that they are losing money on every Wii U sold, so Ubisoft and its CEO will sort of have to deal with the price right now.

For all Mr. Guillemot cares, Nintendo could take even larger losses on the console just as long as his company's games sell well. It's not really that selfish of a position if that were his stance, as it makes sense in Ubisoft's perspective, but considering Nintendo's stock price and fortunes have fallen within the past couple of years due to the dying off of the Wii, the slow start to the 3DS (which Nintendo also sold at a loss initially), and the exchange rates of the yen, making the Wii U cheaper would have sent Nintendo down an even more dangerous road.

Some people say the Wii U is just souped up Xbox 360, or an Xbox 360 and a Wii duct-taped together as it were. However, I don't know of any Xbox with a more advanced controller than the Wii U GamePad. Well, unless you make the argument that the human body is the controller for Kinect. Sure, that's plenty more complicated than any piece of tech! Regardless, having a bright screen, being able to play games on the GamePad itself, using near-field communication, using gyro for movement, and having what basically amounts to a Swiss army knife in the form of an essentially traditional controller makes for a higher price tag. I can't make any statements on the power of the actual system because 1) We don't really know the details until someone opens one up, and 2) My knowledge of tech is limited as it is. However, I feel the GamePad and the boost in visuals that I've seen compared to what the Wii could produce, the amount of storage, and for the Deluxe package, the bonus Nintendo Land game, make for a system that is worth the price.

How the Western gaming press is irrelevant when it comes to Nintendo

I mentioned this somewhat in my piece last week on the immaturity of the gaming industry, particularly the West. However, let me go into greater detail. It is my opinion that a lot of the Western gaming press is ambivalent towards Nintendo (when I say "gaming press" from now on, it will be meant as the majority and not all). The company doesn't play by the Western gaming press's rules, they march to the beat of a different drummer. The press seems to show contempt, especially after being made fools of when the console that they deemed dead on arrival outsold its competitors in a grand fashion. This failed analysis by the press made them look quite incompetent.

Nintendo has sort of wised up to the perception they have from the Western mainstream gaming press and have started creating avenues to completely bypass them. Enter Nintendo Directs and Iwata Asks segments. No longer does Nintendo have to give information to the press that will just be editorialized and communicated incorrectly by the press. Nintendo can simply give information straight to their fans without a third-party interfering. So it's no wonder why the gaming press has what I perceive to be contempt for Nintendo. The company plays by its own rules, it gives out necessary info on their schedule, and they directly give fans news now, making the mainstream press almost, if not completely, irrelevant for Nintendo coverage.

At that same token, it's important for Nintendo to hold a strong relationship with the press, and I feel that they do that. If going over the heads of the press to give information directly to the company's fans makes journalists bitter, these journalists will just have to deal with it, or maybe, just maybe, improve how they cover the company.

SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Shake It Up Edition

Wario and his garlic-breath self are entering SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs this week. Today I am highlighting a severely underrated and overlooked Wii game, Wario Land: Shake It! aka Wario Land: The Shake Dimension. We're gonna shake what our mamas gave us, so if all of your preparations have been completed, let's begin!

v236. Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Launchpad Labyrinth 

Let's kick things off with a Latin flair. The main melody consists of the Wario theme, also used in Stonecarving City. Stonecarving City just so happens to be the main theme for the level while Launchpad Labyrinth is used for Wario's escape. It's a piece that makes you wanna make a pit stop for nachos and guacamole on your way to the goal.

v237. Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Gurgle Gulch

We have an upbeat piano-filled piece for the escape theme of Foulwater Falls, the third level in Wario Land: Shake It! Not only is the piano the main melody, but it is also the bass line. This is one of my favorite songs from the game.

v238. Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Run-Down Pyramid

The piano returns for a lighthearted and jaunty theme that takes you through a pyramid at nightfall. The level the song is featured in has vehicles that roll along tracks. You control them by tilting the Wii remote ever so carefully as not to make them derail and crash to the ground below.

v239. Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Savannah Valley

The orange sky is home to a glistening yellow sun in Savannah Valley, a level of the second world in Wario Land: Shake It! This track is rather calming, relaxing, and mellow. My favorite part comes in right around 1:42. It seems a fellow YouTube commenter agrees!

v240. Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Windbreak Bay

We go from relaxing to uptempo with this theme for the final submarine level in Wario Land: Shake It!, Windbreak Bay. Each submarine level is auto-scrolling and features at most three paths to travel down. They all lead to the same place, but some house more treasure and riches.

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That concludes this spotlight on Wario's Wii platforming adventure. Next week we will feature another game for one edition. Until then and as always, take a gander at my VGM database for all of my favorite VGMs.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) Review

We have reached the end to another week on SuperPhillip Central. To make the upcoming weekend even more fantastic, I have a new review to share. Enter yet another mystery with Professor Layton leading the charge. It's Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask for the Nintendo 3DS.

Miracle Worker

When a series reaches its fifth game in less than the span of five years, there becomes talk of franchise fatigue. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is indeed the fifth installment of the franchise, and the first exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS. Despite having four prequels preceding it, The Miracle Mask manages to successfully keep the series fresh and relevant despite being the fifth game in just over four years.

The story of Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask takes the good professor, his assistant Emmy, and his apprentice Luke to a thriving desert city known as Monte d'Or, after Layton receives a letter from an old schoolmate. The letter states the city is being tormented by the Masked Gentleman, a mysterious figure giving the town "dark miracles", such as turning townspeople into solid stone statues. It is up to Layton and his two companions to investigate, find a logical explanation for the happenings in Monte d'Or, and uncover the identity of the Masked Gentleman. The plot delves not only into events of the present, but the circumstances in Monte d'Or deal with Professor Layton's past as well. Each chapter alternates between the present and Layton's past as a teenager, showing how he became so enthralled with archaeology and especially puzzles. While some mysteries of the game are easy to ascertain before they are properly revealed, many will have you guessing until the very end. It is a touching story with plenty of questions for the player to ask.

Get a peek into the past of Professor Layton.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, like all other games before it, is one part adventure game and one part puzzle game. The adventure aspects have you moving around from city section to city section investigating the surroundings, talking to civilians and other townsfolk, and progressing the story that way. Investigating each screen is much less taxing this time around. Miracle Mask has you using a magnifying glass to hover around the screen. When you are on top of an area of interest with the magnifying glass, it will turn orange. This is more efficient and faster than how previous games worked, requiring the player to tap everywhere on the screen like an obsessive-compulsive person. This means finding puzzles, hint coins (used to help solve puzzles), and hidden objects takes far less time and energy to do. That is a most welcomed change.

The bottom screen shows sections of Monte d'Or.

Also a most welcomed change is a chapter within the game that has a teenage Layton and his friend Randall exploring ancient ruins in a Legend of Zelda-like fashion. Most of the time you'll be moving through the ruins, solving boulder-rolling puzzles and avoiding robotic mummies. Yes, robotic mummies. This chapter is a blast to play and is something I'd like to see expanded upon further in a future Layton game.

Outside of that chapter and moving through Monte d'Or, conversing with civilians are puzzles. These are integrated into the story at nearly every juncture. Returning players to Layton's universe know that people there will generally not assist them without first solving a puzzle, or that puzzles pop up everywhere. For instance, a casino frequenter laments in the game about losing his hard-earned cash. Rather than just give Layton and his friends his sob story, he additionally throws in a puzzle his position reminds him of.

3D models replace the hand-drawn
characters of previous games.

There are 135 puzzles within the Miracle Mask. Not all need to be solved, but at a few points in the story, you will need to have completed a certain number of puzzles to proceed in the plot. Each puzzle awards you with picarats for solving them correctly. If you enter or guess the wrong solution, the amount of picarats that can be won decreases. Picarats are used at the end of the game to unlock features in the Bonuses menu such as art, voices, and profiles of the plethora of characters the professor, his apprentice, and his assistant will meet in their investigation.

There are a variety of puzzle types: deduction puzzles, pattern-recognition puzzles, logic puzzles, math puzzles, perspective puzzles, etc. One of my favorite puzzles had me sliding penguins across an iceberg with the goal of getting the emperor penguin to the center. Others have you flipping slices of pizza over to get all of them to face up (the catch is that for each slice you flip, the adjacent ones also flip), trying to get all cats to turn brown by having them jump over one another as if you were playing a remodeled game of Chinese solitaire, and puzzles where you have to evenly divide a board into four pieces with the caveat of none of them being mirror images of each other. The fun of some of these puzzles is that the answers can be as simple or as difficult as you make them. I particularly love some of the solutions. Some are trick questions while others just require some outside-of-the-box thinking.

My hat is off to you if you solve this puzzle.

For these tougher puzzles, hint coins found in the environments of Monte d'Or can help in providing clues for players. You can get up to four hints. Each hint reveals more assistance towards the puzzle you're trying to solve, with the final hint, the Super Hint, basically giving the answer away.

There are only two problems I have with the puzzles of Miracle Mask: 1) Some puzzles force you to switch between the instructions and the puzzle's image. What I mean by this is that if you have a puzzle that requires you to look at the puzzle's accompanying picture and the instructions to solve it, you're constantly and annoyingly switching between both with no option to have them on the dual screens of the 3DS simultaneously. 2) There are still many sliding block puzzles, the bane of many Professor Layton players' existence.

Some puzzles are simpler than they seem.

In addition to the puzzles to give players a lot of enjoyment, there are three mini-games, each with ten levels to play. The robot mini-game has you moving a wind-up toy robot through a maze of blocks, conveyor belts, and enemies. Your robot moves three spaces at a time. The objective is to land on the red goal space to clear each level. The shop mini-game has you organizing items on a shelf for customers to purchase everything in one go. This is done by putting like-minded items next to one another (e.g. a red apple next to a red banana, next to a yellow banana, next to a yellow lemon, and so forth). Finally, Luke befriends a rabbit, and that mini-game is all about teaching Luke's new pet new tricks. It's sort of like Nintendogs. The tricks learned are used to tell a story. Using the rabbit's actions at the right time help make a story that makes sense, allowing you to clear it. Completing each mini-game's ten levels unlocks three puzzles in the Layton's Challenges section of the Bonuses menu.

Wind him up and watch him go.

Outside of the content already on the 3DS game card (which will already last players upwards of 15-20 hours) are downloadable puzzles. Nintendo and Level-5 promise one puzzle each day for a year. Don't worry if you can't download a puzzle every day or fear about missing a puzzle. When you hit the download puzzle button, every puzzle you haven't yet received is downloaded. In theory, you could wait until a year from now and then download every puzzle sent out all at once. These puzzles aren't as complicated or complex as the story ones, but they are still entertaining to play and wrap one's head around. They come in twenty types.

Professor Layton's latest upgraded its already stunning presentation from the DS for its 3DS debut. The hand-drawn characters are now three-dimensional models, but don't worry, they look excellent and they are animated splendidly. The environments are wonderfully designed, and all of the art in the game is fabulous. Like any Layton, there are fully animated cutscenes that, with the addition of stereoscopic 3D, jump out and look sensational. Additionally, like any Layton, there is an abundance of incredibly done voice acting to accompany a lot of scenes. Nintendo and Level-5 truly spared little expense in crafting the masterful presentation of Miracle Mask.

Giddy up, Layton, Luke, and Emmy!

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is a fantastic first entry in the Layton franchise on the Nintendo 3DS. It is a game that will surprise you, astound you, and enchant you. It will make you feel dumb with one puzzle while it will make you feel like a genius at another. While the title for best Layton game is still held by Unwound Future, The Miracle Mask is definitely in the upper tier of Layton titles with its breadth of content and charm. Still, after five games, the formula is still being tinkered and tailored to avoid fatiguing fans. Like any good puzzle, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is certainly one game worth experiencing.

[SuperPhillip Says: 9.0/10]

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Multi) Wii U Trailer

Showcasing the Wii U version specifically, this trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed shows off the capabilities of the Wii U GamePad such as the tilt steering, ability to play solely on the new controller, and much more. Race with Sonic and friends on November 18th.

Top Five Forgotten Capcom Franchises

The fighting game world collectively jumped for joy (but they were too self-conscious and proud to do it in front of their buds) when a new Darkstalkers was announced for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network for next year (let me clarify that this is a new collection). That got me to thinking that this news is fine and all, but what about those other franchises that don't get enough time under the sun? At least you'll find here at SuperPhillip Central that they will get time in the spotlight tonight. These are series that have not had a serious entry in quite a while. Will your lost loves be mentioned? Only one way to find out, and that's to read on!

5) Power Stone

Ah, yes. Capcom is already feverishly excited about pushing new fighting games onto the market, so why not one that isn't just 2D, x-axis based? How about one that takes place in three-dimensional arenas? That's where Power Stone comes in. Pulverize your opponent with fists of fury, special attacks, and even the ability to grab objects like chairs and tables (what is this, an old-school ECW match?) to beat them senseless. The Power Stone in... well, Power Stone comes from the option of grabbing three gems that will turn your fighter into a force to be reckoned with for a limited amount of time. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 were Dreamcast classics, and both would be ported to the PSP in the form of Power Stone Collection. Where's the third game to make this rough and rowdy arena fighting game series a trilogy, Capcom?

4) Viewtiful Joe

What do you get when you take a cinema-holic and suck him inside the world of movies? Well, you basically get a movie-lover in the world of movies. But when he is tasked with rescuing his girlfriend Sylvia and receives the fabled V Watch, you get Viewtiful Joe! The hero is armed with super-fast moves in his arsenal: red hot kicks, red hot one-hundreds, and the ability to slow down time, speed it up, and zoom in to dish out serious damage to foes. These maneuvers not only assisted Joe in battle, but they helped solve puzzles, too. While only two mainline games in the series were made (both for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube), they left a lasting impression on this player. If somehow Capcom can find it in their cold hearts (and while they're at it, find some cool creativity) to make a brand-new Viewtiful Joe, I will just gush like a gummy bear when its been bit down on.

3) Onimusha

A franchise which is essentially an action-adventure take on Japanese history with a mix of the supernatural, Onimusha combines swift skill-based swordplay with occasional puzzle elements. The original game in the series had directional pad for movement, but subsequent sequels introduced not only analog movement, but fiercer foes, higher stakes, and more intense action. Onimusha is a series that has had an extended hiatus on consoles. As if the company were pulling down its pants and shaking its butt at its fans, Capcom hinted at a new entry in the series -- at long last! Turns out it was just a browser game. Right to the gut, Capcom! Onimusha would scratch the itch of a hard-as-nails action game that Ninja Gaiden 3 just couldn't relieve. A hole is in the marketplace, and the Onimusha series is one franchise that could fill it indubitably.

2) Breath of Fire

I hold huge nostalgia for old school Super Nintendo and 16-bit RPGs, but few grant me the most nostalgia than Breath of Fire. It was one of the first RPGs I ever played. It was a collaboration between Capcom and the artist formerly known as Squaresoft. The story was relatively simple, but there were so many memorable moments to be had. The world was vast and varied, dungeons were fun to explore, the characters were endearing, the battle system was easy to learn, and the music was absolutely lovely. Four more entries in the franchise would be released, from the Super Nintendo to the PlayStation 2. The last release, Dragon Quarter, was an atypical RPG that tried something new for the genre and was successful in most regards. I wish this franchise would return. I think the portable devices (3DS, Vita, iOS) would be perfect for a return to the world of dragons, demons, and heroes named Ryu.

1) Mega Man

Rockman X Over is coming, but let's be real here -- virtually no one is anticipating or even wanting it. It's the Blue Bomber's 25th anniversary for Wily's sake! How can Capcom treat the reploid that shot them to the top like this? I would accept anything that had the ounce of thought put into it. Heck, I'd even take a sequel to Mega Man Star Force! Yes, I'm that desperate. The fall of Mega Man started with the cancellation of Mega Man Universe, a downloadable title that was plagued with development problems. Then came the out-of-nowhere nixing of Mega Man Legends 3, a title that had been desired by fans for over a decade. Poor Mega Man Volnutt is still stuck on that moon! Fans like me can only hold out hope for so long before the reality sets in. Capcom's current state just doesn't want Mega Man. They'll take Resident of Duty 6, but not the being that jettisoned them as a household name to gamers. So sad. ...I think I need some time alone, you guys.

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...But before I go to my man cave to start crying, what forgotten Capcom franchises would you like to see brought back from hiatus? I can only find solace in thinking that maybe I'll get lucky like with my Localizations, Please articles and game choices and now these titles will come into fruition! ...Sigh.