Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
Nothing really has been planned for Puyo Puyo. I thought of scheduling a game for the Virtua, but I figured it wouldn't be significant enough to mention, so if you'd like to discuss Puyo Puyo for the timeline you're free to do so. I do want to mention it would still be exclusive to the Apple systems ITTL.
The thing about Kobe's death is that he still likes to ride in helicopters ITTL, so while his death is still probably butterflied, it's definitely more likely to carry over into this timeline than some of the other OTL celebrity deaths, since the same issues with helicopters do exist. We'll see what happens, it's more than likely that he lives a full life ITTL, but nothing is set in stone.
I will say that because he's played his career in the Bay Area ITTL, it might make him more averse to riding helicopters since the weather up there is less favorable for it and it might make him more cautious with weather conditions than he was IOTL.
He'll probably be fine, but again, nothing set in stone.
Remember, even with Kickstarter gone and crowdfunding somewhat nerfed compared to IOTL, it's still slowly becoming a thing, and with one of the timeline's major tech innovators/investors heavily interested in it ITTL, it might still have a bright future.
Spring 2013 (Part 4) - Dueling Megatens
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a JRPG exclusive to the Apple iTwin. Developed by Atlus, the game is a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series, in which humans and demons and gods battle for control of the multiverse. Lucid, like most of the games in its series, focuses on a group of humans who are able to summon forth powerful supernatural creatures to battle a variety of deadly foes. These creatures, known as demons, are taken from a massive variety of folk and religious traditions, ranging from piddling imps to almighty gods, and everything in between. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid features the technique of lucid dreaming, in which people who realize they're in a dream can conjure up anything they wish with their minds. It takes this technique and adapts it to the technique of demon summoning, allowing people to venture into dreams and summon forth increasingly powerful demons. The game's villains are a group of evil spirits who are attacking people in their dreams (quite similarly to Freddy Krueger, with the game's writers admitting that they were somewhat influenced by the Nightmare On Elm Street series). The heroes, a group of humans from various walks of life, are able to save themselves and each other by using the power of lucid dreaming to summon forth demons to battle the evil spirits and the demons they themselves conjure. The humans are able to do this via the use of Dream Energy, which is gained by performing various tasks both in and out of battle. Summoning, fusing, and capturing demons, as well as navigating the dream worlds, requires Dream Energy, putting somewhat of a time limit on the player as they venture into the various dreams. Spend too long exploring, or waste your Dream Energy trying to bite off more than you can chew, and it's an automatic Game Over. Fortunately, this time limit is somewhat generous (though as it's a Shin Megami Tensei game, it's not THAT generous, forcing players to carefully manage their resources). The game's villain is a powerful angel named Morpheus who seeks to carve out a Dream Domain on Earth as a way to establish himself as a god of his own realm. The protagonists are assisted by a dream demon named Nod who is the one who gives them the power to summon and fuse demons with lucid dreams, and serves as a sort of guide to the player throughout the game. The entire game's plot boils down mostly to a war between a rogue angel and a rogue demon for the control of the dreams of humanity, which are said to have a special power. While Nod serves as an ally, he's also playing his own long con, and in the end, the human protagonists must decide for themselves who will have control over humanity's dreams. In the end, Morpheus does serve as the final boss, while Nod is tricked by the protagonists into leaving humanity to their own devices, at least for the moment. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a fairly average looking JRPG, even for a late-era iTwin game. The controls don't really take advantage of the twin motion capabilities, and the game has a somewhat small amount of voice acting compared to other RPGs on the console. Despite the pedestrian production values, Lucid is considered a decent RPG with solid gameplay and good muusic. It's released in North America in May 2013 and is the last significant iTwin exclusive released in the West, before the full transition from the iTwin to the Virtua. It's a somewhat forgettable sendoff for the console, but for hardcore RPG fans, it's a decently liked game.
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Shin Megami Tensei V
The fifth mainline game in the Shin Megami Tensei series comes to the Connect as an exclusive in early 2013 in Japan and June 2013 in North America. The game ditches the demon infusion system from Shin Megami Tensei IV, but keeps the "press turn" system and adds a more complicated system for fusing demons, allowing for more unique fusions and even different versions of the same demon if different fusion requirements are met. The game's plot focuses on an average Japanese city inhabited by a group of teenagers whose lives are turned upside down after a mysterious loner student at their school begins using powerful demons to inflict violence upon others and gain control of them. They learn that this student has made a pact with the lord of darkness, and must forge their own pacts with spirits and gods in order to gain the power to stop him. At the same time, they must also learn why this student made the choices he did, which can only be done by embarking on a detective mission of sorts, going around the increasingly ruined city and talking to people and demons alike in order to gather information and power. As they do so, the student's demonic influence grows stronger and stronger, and he becomes somewhat of a demon himself, his powers stretching and warping spacetime and creating a vortex directly to hell, which the protagonists must eventually enter and defeat an increasingly powerful hierarchy of devils and dark lords, with the student himself at the center of it all. Shin Megami Tensei V features significantly improved graphics and presentation over its predecessor. In fact, it's the first game in the series to allow for full 3-D, rather than a top-down perspective. It enjoys a higher budget than Lucid on the iTwin, and many players say that the graphics of Shin Megami Tensei V are actually slightly better, despite being on a less capable system. The game also features full cutscenes and more fleshed out voice acting, with major voiceover personalities like John DiMaggio and Jennifer Hale providing character voices in the game, a first for the series (which primarily used anime dub voice artists before). The result is a Shin Megami Tensei game with a massive amount of time and effort placed into it, and one of Atlus' biggest localization budgets ever. The game is hyped as one of the Connect's big spring games, and despite being somewhat overshadowed by the release of the Nintendo Reality around the same time, good reviews and excellent word of mouth help to drive strong sales in North America (relatively speaking for the genre and franchise). It sells about twice as fast in its first week as Shin Megami Tensei IV, and though it's nowhere near a blockbuster, it's one of the biggest localization successes for Atlus in years. The success of the game keeps the Shin Megami Tensei series alive in the West, and helps to bolster Atlus' localization efforts as well, offsetting the mediocre sales of Lucid in North America.
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Import Preview: Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor
The Nintendo Reality had a mostly successful launch in Japan, and one of the big launch titles was Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor, a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series and the only RPG to appear on the system's Japanese launch. Angel Factor isn't exactly a showcase for the Reality's graphics, though it's still a good looking game on the system, with a big world to battle in and smooth animations for characters and creatures alike. However, what makes Angel Factor so unique is the player's ability to summon forth hordes of angels to battle the game's powerful enemies. Unlike in a typical Shin Megami Tensei game, demons, while a part of the game's battle and growth system, aren't the most important fighters on the battlefield. Instead, the player calls forth angels to help them survive, with each angel having its own unique equipment, stats, and level growth. Angels can even evolve, Pokemon-style, into brand new angels, and some of these evolutions are incredibly impressive, with players able to grow their angels into creatures from obscure religious lore. With Angel Factor, Atlus aims to stretch its muscles on Nintendo's new hardware, and score some early adopter sales in the process. While it succeeds only marginally in the first goal, it proved quite adept in the second, becoming the #3 best selling game of the Japanese reality launch behind F-Zero: Firestorm and Wipeout Reality, even topping the acclaimed Cyberwar 4 port by a few thousand units. Angel Factor is a solid entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series thanks to its unique battle mechanics and characterization (giving each of the game's angels their own short story), and is an installment in the franchise that fans should try to grab once they score a Reality. A localization for North America has been announced for early next year.
-from a July 2, 2013 article on RPGamer.net
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Persona 5 Coming To Next-Gen, But Will Nintendo or Apple Score The Prize?
Persona 5, the expected newest entry in the most popular and acclaimed of the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series, is already in development for a next generation console. According to Atlus, the game is quite early in development and is targeting a 2015 release. However, the company has yet to say which console will receive the game. It's expected to be released for either the Nintendo Reality or Apple Virtua, with a multiplatform release not being entirely ruled out. The Persona series has seen four entries thus far, with games released on the Ultra Nintendo, Nintendo Wave, and Nintendo Sapphire, and handheld ports of the first three titles released on the Game Boy Supernova (a port of Persona 4, called Persona 4 Aqua, has been announced for the Nintendo Connect and is expected to be released sometime next year). No plot details or gameplay information have been released, but Atlus says that the game will have a "darker" tone than its predecessor, and expects to hearken back to the older style of games, with modern quality of life enhancements. We'd love to see Persona 5 land on the hyper-advanced Reality so we can enjoy the game in full VR, but a Virtua release would have serious immersion and mini-game potential, and could also open the door for the game to be an action RPG. We're excited for Persona 5 no matter what console it lands on, and as soon as we have more details about the game, we'll be sure to reveal them here.
-from an article on AnimeGamer.net, posted on July 4, 2013
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a JRPG exclusive to the Apple iTwin. Developed by Atlus, the game is a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series, in which humans and demons and gods battle for control of the multiverse. Lucid, like most of the games in its series, focuses on a group of humans who are able to summon forth powerful supernatural creatures to battle a variety of deadly foes. These creatures, known as demons, are taken from a massive variety of folk and religious traditions, ranging from piddling imps to almighty gods, and everything in between. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid features the technique of lucid dreaming, in which people who realize they're in a dream can conjure up anything they wish with their minds. It takes this technique and adapts it to the technique of demon summoning, allowing people to venture into dreams and summon forth increasingly powerful demons. The game's villains are a group of evil spirits who are attacking people in their dreams (quite similarly to Freddy Krueger, with the game's writers admitting that they were somewhat influenced by the Nightmare On Elm Street series). The heroes, a group of humans from various walks of life, are able to save themselves and each other by using the power of lucid dreaming to summon forth demons to battle the evil spirits and the demons they themselves conjure. The humans are able to do this via the use of Dream Energy, which is gained by performing various tasks both in and out of battle. Summoning, fusing, and capturing demons, as well as navigating the dream worlds, requires Dream Energy, putting somewhat of a time limit on the player as they venture into the various dreams. Spend too long exploring, or waste your Dream Energy trying to bite off more than you can chew, and it's an automatic Game Over. Fortunately, this time limit is somewhat generous (though as it's a Shin Megami Tensei game, it's not THAT generous, forcing players to carefully manage their resources). The game's villain is a powerful angel named Morpheus who seeks to carve out a Dream Domain on Earth as a way to establish himself as a god of his own realm. The protagonists are assisted by a dream demon named Nod who is the one who gives them the power to summon and fuse demons with lucid dreams, and serves as a sort of guide to the player throughout the game. The entire game's plot boils down mostly to a war between a rogue angel and a rogue demon for the control of the dreams of humanity, which are said to have a special power. While Nod serves as an ally, he's also playing his own long con, and in the end, the human protagonists must decide for themselves who will have control over humanity's dreams. In the end, Morpheus does serve as the final boss, while Nod is tricked by the protagonists into leaving humanity to their own devices, at least for the moment. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a fairly average looking JRPG, even for a late-era iTwin game. The controls don't really take advantage of the twin motion capabilities, and the game has a somewhat small amount of voice acting compared to other RPGs on the console. Despite the pedestrian production values, Lucid is considered a decent RPG with solid gameplay and good muusic. It's released in North America in May 2013 and is the last significant iTwin exclusive released in the West, before the full transition from the iTwin to the Virtua. It's a somewhat forgettable sendoff for the console, but for hardcore RPG fans, it's a decently liked game.
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Shin Megami Tensei V
The fifth mainline game in the Shin Megami Tensei series comes to the Connect as an exclusive in early 2013 in Japan and June 2013 in North America. The game ditches the demon infusion system from Shin Megami Tensei IV, but keeps the "press turn" system and adds a more complicated system for fusing demons, allowing for more unique fusions and even different versions of the same demon if different fusion requirements are met. The game's plot focuses on an average Japanese city inhabited by a group of teenagers whose lives are turned upside down after a mysterious loner student at their school begins using powerful demons to inflict violence upon others and gain control of them. They learn that this student has made a pact with the lord of darkness, and must forge their own pacts with spirits and gods in order to gain the power to stop him. At the same time, they must also learn why this student made the choices he did, which can only be done by embarking on a detective mission of sorts, going around the increasingly ruined city and talking to people and demons alike in order to gather information and power. As they do so, the student's demonic influence grows stronger and stronger, and he becomes somewhat of a demon himself, his powers stretching and warping spacetime and creating a vortex directly to hell, which the protagonists must eventually enter and defeat an increasingly powerful hierarchy of devils and dark lords, with the student himself at the center of it all. Shin Megami Tensei V features significantly improved graphics and presentation over its predecessor. In fact, it's the first game in the series to allow for full 3-D, rather than a top-down perspective. It enjoys a higher budget than Lucid on the iTwin, and many players say that the graphics of Shin Megami Tensei V are actually slightly better, despite being on a less capable system. The game also features full cutscenes and more fleshed out voice acting, with major voiceover personalities like John DiMaggio and Jennifer Hale providing character voices in the game, a first for the series (which primarily used anime dub voice artists before). The result is a Shin Megami Tensei game with a massive amount of time and effort placed into it, and one of Atlus' biggest localization budgets ever. The game is hyped as one of the Connect's big spring games, and despite being somewhat overshadowed by the release of the Nintendo Reality around the same time, good reviews and excellent word of mouth help to drive strong sales in North America (relatively speaking for the genre and franchise). It sells about twice as fast in its first week as Shin Megami Tensei IV, and though it's nowhere near a blockbuster, it's one of the biggest localization successes for Atlus in years. The success of the game keeps the Shin Megami Tensei series alive in the West, and helps to bolster Atlus' localization efforts as well, offsetting the mediocre sales of Lucid in North America.
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Import Preview: Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor
The Nintendo Reality had a mostly successful launch in Japan, and one of the big launch titles was Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor, a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series and the only RPG to appear on the system's Japanese launch. Angel Factor isn't exactly a showcase for the Reality's graphics, though it's still a good looking game on the system, with a big world to battle in and smooth animations for characters and creatures alike. However, what makes Angel Factor so unique is the player's ability to summon forth hordes of angels to battle the game's powerful enemies. Unlike in a typical Shin Megami Tensei game, demons, while a part of the game's battle and growth system, aren't the most important fighters on the battlefield. Instead, the player calls forth angels to help them survive, with each angel having its own unique equipment, stats, and level growth. Angels can even evolve, Pokemon-style, into brand new angels, and some of these evolutions are incredibly impressive, with players able to grow their angels into creatures from obscure religious lore. With Angel Factor, Atlus aims to stretch its muscles on Nintendo's new hardware, and score some early adopter sales in the process. While it succeeds only marginally in the first goal, it proved quite adept in the second, becoming the #3 best selling game of the Japanese reality launch behind F-Zero: Firestorm and Wipeout Reality, even topping the acclaimed Cyberwar 4 port by a few thousand units. Angel Factor is a solid entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series thanks to its unique battle mechanics and characterization (giving each of the game's angels their own short story), and is an installment in the franchise that fans should try to grab once they score a Reality. A localization for North America has been announced for early next year.
-from a July 2, 2013 article on RPGamer.net
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Persona 5 Coming To Next-Gen, But Will Nintendo or Apple Score The Prize?
Persona 5, the expected newest entry in the most popular and acclaimed of the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series, is already in development for a next generation console. According to Atlus, the game is quite early in development and is targeting a 2015 release. However, the company has yet to say which console will receive the game. It's expected to be released for either the Nintendo Reality or Apple Virtua, with a multiplatform release not being entirely ruled out. The Persona series has seen four entries thus far, with games released on the Ultra Nintendo, Nintendo Wave, and Nintendo Sapphire, and handheld ports of the first three titles released on the Game Boy Supernova (a port of Persona 4, called Persona 4 Aqua, has been announced for the Nintendo Connect and is expected to be released sometime next year). No plot details or gameplay information have been released, but Atlus says that the game will have a "darker" tone than its predecessor, and expects to hearken back to the older style of games, with modern quality of life enhancements. We'd love to see Persona 5 land on the hyper-advanced Reality so we can enjoy the game in full VR, but a Virtua release would have serious immersion and mini-game potential, and could also open the door for the game to be an action RPG. We're excited for Persona 5 no matter what console it lands on, and as soon as we have more details about the game, we'll be sure to reveal them here.
-from an article on AnimeGamer.net, posted on July 4, 2013
Spring 2013 (Part 5) - Fantasy Novels In The 2010s
A Song Of Ice And Fire
A Song Of Ice And Fire is an action RPG game based on the popular series of novels by George R. R. Martin and developed by a company called Zoratech exclusively for the Google Nexus, with the game being the first to be published by Google itself under its new "Google Games" publishing label. Developed with the idea of being a major exclusive for the Nexus, in the same way that TTL's original Witcher game was ported to the original Xbox to be a major exclusive for that console, A Song Of Ice And Fire presents an epic story spanning the first three books in the series: A Game Of Thrones, A Clash Of Kings, and A Storm Of Swords. The protagonist is a new character original to the games, a young mercenary named Cather Keld, who initially serves in the army of Eddard Stark, but is separated from the army after a chaotic battle, and forced into mercenary work as he attempts to find his purpose in a world of danger and intrigue. Unlike many RPGs of its stripe, A Song Of Ice And Fire is grounded in realism, and Cather is unable to learn magic, but must instead become skilled with a blade or a variety of other weapons and skills. In this aspect, A Song Of Ice And Fire has many similarities to the Rise A Knight series, which this game takes a lot of inspiration from. A big difference between the two games is that in A Song Of Ice And Fire, Cather's actions have little impact on the larger world, whereas in Rise A Knight, the player can affect the fates of empires and kings. The player's main goal in this game is simply to keep Cather alive and to achieve the small goals that he is able to accomplish along the way. There are a few other original characters in the game whose fates Cather can influence via his actions, and thus, the player is able to carve out a small bubble of happiness and success in a dark and unforgiving world. Combat is also on the more realistic side, with Cather generally unable to take on large groups of enemies at once, and much of the combat being balanced toward one on one fights. Therefore, it's important to be able to sneak around and avoid large groups when one can. However, it is possible for Cather to recruit allies to his side, with the ability to travel with up to two companions at once, making these group fights much easier. Cather is able to perform jobs for a wide variety of characters, many of whom appeared in the books themselves, including Eddard Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Joffrey Baratheon. Who the player chooses to perform jobs for will affect Cather's later missions and who it's possible for him to ally with, influencing the direction of the game, particularly during the latter chapters. The game's main plot itself changes as the game progresses. Cather's initial main goal is to reunite with Eddard Stark, and it is possible to do that, though it's not possible to prevent his death (indeed, depending on the quests that the player chooses to take, it's possible for Cather to have a hand in it). Later on, Cather's main storyline revolves around meeting Daenerys Targaryen, and it's possible to align with, oppose, or even romance her. Later, Cather returns to the Riverlands, and the climax of the game itself revolves around the events of the Red Wedding. Again, it's not possible to save Robb Stark and his allies, but it is possible to save an ally of Cather's who finds themselves among the wedding party. Either way, the game's main storyline wraps up with the Red Wedding's aftermath, where Cather must choose to help avenge Robb Stark or to fight with Frey's forces against those who would seek to avenge it. Depending on what Cather has done up to this point, he can end up dead, imprisoned, or alive and either alone or living with friends and allies and continuing his mercenary work. The war for control of the Iron Throne continues. A Song Of Ice And Fire is intended to be a major RPG title for the Nexus, and as such, its graphics and scope are among the best and biggest on the console to date. The game's voice acting is performed by a cast of British actors, a couple of whom would even appear on the OTL show (though most of them are unknowns). A Song Of Ice And Fire is released in June 2013 to strong reviews praising it as one of the year's best WRPGs, with reviewers loving the game's scale, scope, voice acting, and skill with which it adapts the first three novels. George R. R. Martin himself is neutral toward the game, saying that he would have done some things differently but that he appreciates the work that was put into it, even if he himself doesn't plan to play it (or any video games for that matter). The game's early sales are quite strong, and help to drive up interest in the book series, which sees a notable spike throughout the second half of 2013. As the first major piece of media connected to the Song Of Ice And Fire books ITTL, it helps to raise awareness of them, but isn't nearly as successful as the OTL television series.
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As Winds Of Winter Looms, ASoIaF Film On The Way?
George R. R. Martin is said to be "hard at work" penning the sixth novel in his acclaimed fantasy series A Song Of Ice And Fire. Titled The Winds Of Winter, the novel will likely see winter arrive in Westeros, bringing forth the breaching of the northern wall and the start of the epic battle for the fate of the realm. The novel is expected to be finished and released sometime in 2015, but of course, could be delayed for any number of reasons, and Martin has already told readers "it'll be done when it's done". However, that doesn't mean fans of the series will be starved for new material. If you have the Google Nexus, you can buy A Song Of Ice And Fire right now and play your way through the first three novels in the series. And there's more. Though plans for a possible televised adaptation of the books seem to have fallen through, a production studio is attempting to get a potential movie off the ground that would perhaps serve as a prequel to the book series. 20th Century Fox, who distributed the successful films based off the Eragon books, now is in talks to produce a film centered around The Long Night, the generations-long winter that has become a legend in the annals of Westeros lore. Initial talks are centered around a single film, but if it's successful, they could look to make a trilogy, much like The Lord Of The Rings for Warner Brothers. Negotiations are still early, which means that a film would probably not see the light of day until 2015 at the earliest (and thus could be tied in with the launch of the sixth book?), but if it does get off the ground, it could become one of the biggest movies of the year and the latest fantasy book series to receive a successful big screen adaptation.
-from a June 26, 2013 article posted on Yahoo! News
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Kristin Kalavin's "Jester" Series Explores The Lighter Side Of Fantasy
Modern fantasy novels are proving to be increasingly popular amongst readers of all ages, from the ultra-popular Harry Potter series for children to George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire for older readers, fantasy is big business in the literary world. However, many fantasy works intended for older readers have proven to be somewhat dark in nature, exploring grittier and more realistic themes and eschewing old fantasy tropes such as princesses, magic, and happy endings. Kristin Kalavin, a 26-year-old writer from Tacoma, Washington, says that she doesn't like the darker turn modern fantasy has taken, and she's begun writing her own novels that feature more classic fairy tale themes, while also telling compelling stories of complex characters. Her first novel, Jester, was released in 2011. It tells the story of Bethany, a young court jester to a spoiled princess who one day inherits magical powers from a mysterious source and is banished from her home by the jealous princess. She must now roam the land to discover the source of her powers while using her natural comedic talents to make people laugh. Along the way, she's caught up in intrigue, danger, and adventure, and though the story is definitely intended for adults, with off-color sex jokes and some surprisingly violent scenes, the subject matter stays fairly light throughout, and hearkens back to classic fairy tale traditions, with direct inspiration from works such as Disney films and the aforementioned Harry Potter novels.
"Bethany's just a young woman caught up in a situation she doesn't understand," said Kalavin during our interview. "She's got these powers she can't control, the princess that she thought was her best friend suddenly hates her, and she's forced to perform for strangers for money, since she can't rely on her magic. At the same time, she finds out that she's having more fun than she's ever had in her life, and that maybe the people she thought were her friends are really just jerks and that she should try to find some new ones."
The book addresses themes of mental health, social anxiety, and even LGBT issues, with Bethany realizing over the course of the story that she may have had an unhealthy crush on the princess she once called her friend and employer.
"Bethany is confused, really confused, and she's got to process that confusion through the lens of her newfound freedom and the fact that she doesn't know what she's going to do with her life anymore. At the same time, she's got all these new people in her life and new feelings she didn't know she had."
Meanwhile, Bethany is being pursued by a mysterious assassin who seeks to kill her because of her powers, but this assassin, like many other characters in the story, isn't as black and white as they initially seem.
"The assassin, a man named Glint, we learn has two young kids at home who his wife won't let him see anymore because of the nature of his job. Glint is hoping that by bringing in one big score, he'll be able to convince his wife to take him back, but at the same time, he's got to kill Bethany, who he likes almost immediately because they share the same sense of humor. And of course, there's the princess, Priscilla, who starts out as a massive jerk but who also has these complex layers to her personality that will likely be explored further in future works."
A sequel to Jester called Make 'Em Laugh was released in the fall of 2012, and Kalavin has a third installment in the series, The Lollipop Forest, set for release in the fall of this year. Kalavin's series has received praise from sources far and wide, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and film director Quentin Tarantino.
"When I heard Quentin Tarantino liked the books, I about gasped, because I love his work, especially Kill Bill! I'm not sure if he liked the books because they're good or because of the scene in Make 'Em Laugh when I describe Bethany's feet getting stuck in some beeswax, but either way, I'll take it."
Kalavin is part of a growing movement of young writers making waves in the fantasy genre. These include both literary authors and writers for film and television, and Kalavin says that because of the Jester series, she now has lots of friends in both groups.
"We bounce ideas off each other sometimes for sure," said Kalavin. "I've been asked to write for TV, but I prefer books, it's what I know and I can just sit down and write without having to worry about a bunch of other people who might have different ideas. I don't play well with others when it comes to writing!"
-from an article on Cressida Lane, posted on June 10, 2013
A Song Of Ice And Fire is an action RPG game based on the popular series of novels by George R. R. Martin and developed by a company called Zoratech exclusively for the Google Nexus, with the game being the first to be published by Google itself under its new "Google Games" publishing label. Developed with the idea of being a major exclusive for the Nexus, in the same way that TTL's original Witcher game was ported to the original Xbox to be a major exclusive for that console, A Song Of Ice And Fire presents an epic story spanning the first three books in the series: A Game Of Thrones, A Clash Of Kings, and A Storm Of Swords. The protagonist is a new character original to the games, a young mercenary named Cather Keld, who initially serves in the army of Eddard Stark, but is separated from the army after a chaotic battle, and forced into mercenary work as he attempts to find his purpose in a world of danger and intrigue. Unlike many RPGs of its stripe, A Song Of Ice And Fire is grounded in realism, and Cather is unable to learn magic, but must instead become skilled with a blade or a variety of other weapons and skills. In this aspect, A Song Of Ice And Fire has many similarities to the Rise A Knight series, which this game takes a lot of inspiration from. A big difference between the two games is that in A Song Of Ice And Fire, Cather's actions have little impact on the larger world, whereas in Rise A Knight, the player can affect the fates of empires and kings. The player's main goal in this game is simply to keep Cather alive and to achieve the small goals that he is able to accomplish along the way. There are a few other original characters in the game whose fates Cather can influence via his actions, and thus, the player is able to carve out a small bubble of happiness and success in a dark and unforgiving world. Combat is also on the more realistic side, with Cather generally unable to take on large groups of enemies at once, and much of the combat being balanced toward one on one fights. Therefore, it's important to be able to sneak around and avoid large groups when one can. However, it is possible for Cather to recruit allies to his side, with the ability to travel with up to two companions at once, making these group fights much easier. Cather is able to perform jobs for a wide variety of characters, many of whom appeared in the books themselves, including Eddard Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Joffrey Baratheon. Who the player chooses to perform jobs for will affect Cather's later missions and who it's possible for him to ally with, influencing the direction of the game, particularly during the latter chapters. The game's main plot itself changes as the game progresses. Cather's initial main goal is to reunite with Eddard Stark, and it is possible to do that, though it's not possible to prevent his death (indeed, depending on the quests that the player chooses to take, it's possible for Cather to have a hand in it). Later on, Cather's main storyline revolves around meeting Daenerys Targaryen, and it's possible to align with, oppose, or even romance her. Later, Cather returns to the Riverlands, and the climax of the game itself revolves around the events of the Red Wedding. Again, it's not possible to save Robb Stark and his allies, but it is possible to save an ally of Cather's who finds themselves among the wedding party. Either way, the game's main storyline wraps up with the Red Wedding's aftermath, where Cather must choose to help avenge Robb Stark or to fight with Frey's forces against those who would seek to avenge it. Depending on what Cather has done up to this point, he can end up dead, imprisoned, or alive and either alone or living with friends and allies and continuing his mercenary work. The war for control of the Iron Throne continues. A Song Of Ice And Fire is intended to be a major RPG title for the Nexus, and as such, its graphics and scope are among the best and biggest on the console to date. The game's voice acting is performed by a cast of British actors, a couple of whom would even appear on the OTL show (though most of them are unknowns). A Song Of Ice And Fire is released in June 2013 to strong reviews praising it as one of the year's best WRPGs, with reviewers loving the game's scale, scope, voice acting, and skill with which it adapts the first three novels. George R. R. Martin himself is neutral toward the game, saying that he would have done some things differently but that he appreciates the work that was put into it, even if he himself doesn't plan to play it (or any video games for that matter). The game's early sales are quite strong, and help to drive up interest in the book series, which sees a notable spike throughout the second half of 2013. As the first major piece of media connected to the Song Of Ice And Fire books ITTL, it helps to raise awareness of them, but isn't nearly as successful as the OTL television series.
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As Winds Of Winter Looms, ASoIaF Film On The Way?
George R. R. Martin is said to be "hard at work" penning the sixth novel in his acclaimed fantasy series A Song Of Ice And Fire. Titled The Winds Of Winter, the novel will likely see winter arrive in Westeros, bringing forth the breaching of the northern wall and the start of the epic battle for the fate of the realm. The novel is expected to be finished and released sometime in 2015, but of course, could be delayed for any number of reasons, and Martin has already told readers "it'll be done when it's done". However, that doesn't mean fans of the series will be starved for new material. If you have the Google Nexus, you can buy A Song Of Ice And Fire right now and play your way through the first three novels in the series. And there's more. Though plans for a possible televised adaptation of the books seem to have fallen through, a production studio is attempting to get a potential movie off the ground that would perhaps serve as a prequel to the book series. 20th Century Fox, who distributed the successful films based off the Eragon books, now is in talks to produce a film centered around The Long Night, the generations-long winter that has become a legend in the annals of Westeros lore. Initial talks are centered around a single film, but if it's successful, they could look to make a trilogy, much like The Lord Of The Rings for Warner Brothers. Negotiations are still early, which means that a film would probably not see the light of day until 2015 at the earliest (and thus could be tied in with the launch of the sixth book?), but if it does get off the ground, it could become one of the biggest movies of the year and the latest fantasy book series to receive a successful big screen adaptation.
-from a June 26, 2013 article posted on Yahoo! News
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Kristin Kalavin's "Jester" Series Explores The Lighter Side Of Fantasy
Modern fantasy novels are proving to be increasingly popular amongst readers of all ages, from the ultra-popular Harry Potter series for children to George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire for older readers, fantasy is big business in the literary world. However, many fantasy works intended for older readers have proven to be somewhat dark in nature, exploring grittier and more realistic themes and eschewing old fantasy tropes such as princesses, magic, and happy endings. Kristin Kalavin, a 26-year-old writer from Tacoma, Washington, says that she doesn't like the darker turn modern fantasy has taken, and she's begun writing her own novels that feature more classic fairy tale themes, while also telling compelling stories of complex characters. Her first novel, Jester, was released in 2011. It tells the story of Bethany, a young court jester to a spoiled princess who one day inherits magical powers from a mysterious source and is banished from her home by the jealous princess. She must now roam the land to discover the source of her powers while using her natural comedic talents to make people laugh. Along the way, she's caught up in intrigue, danger, and adventure, and though the story is definitely intended for adults, with off-color sex jokes and some surprisingly violent scenes, the subject matter stays fairly light throughout, and hearkens back to classic fairy tale traditions, with direct inspiration from works such as Disney films and the aforementioned Harry Potter novels.
"Bethany's just a young woman caught up in a situation she doesn't understand," said Kalavin during our interview. "She's got these powers she can't control, the princess that she thought was her best friend suddenly hates her, and she's forced to perform for strangers for money, since she can't rely on her magic. At the same time, she finds out that she's having more fun than she's ever had in her life, and that maybe the people she thought were her friends are really just jerks and that she should try to find some new ones."
The book addresses themes of mental health, social anxiety, and even LGBT issues, with Bethany realizing over the course of the story that she may have had an unhealthy crush on the princess she once called her friend and employer.
"Bethany is confused, really confused, and she's got to process that confusion through the lens of her newfound freedom and the fact that she doesn't know what she's going to do with her life anymore. At the same time, she's got all these new people in her life and new feelings she didn't know she had."
Meanwhile, Bethany is being pursued by a mysterious assassin who seeks to kill her because of her powers, but this assassin, like many other characters in the story, isn't as black and white as they initially seem.
"The assassin, a man named Glint, we learn has two young kids at home who his wife won't let him see anymore because of the nature of his job. Glint is hoping that by bringing in one big score, he'll be able to convince his wife to take him back, but at the same time, he's got to kill Bethany, who he likes almost immediately because they share the same sense of humor. And of course, there's the princess, Priscilla, who starts out as a massive jerk but who also has these complex layers to her personality that will likely be explored further in future works."
A sequel to Jester called Make 'Em Laugh was released in the fall of 2012, and Kalavin has a third installment in the series, The Lollipop Forest, set for release in the fall of this year. Kalavin's series has received praise from sources far and wide, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and film director Quentin Tarantino.
"When I heard Quentin Tarantino liked the books, I about gasped, because I love his work, especially Kill Bill! I'm not sure if he liked the books because they're good or because of the scene in Make 'Em Laugh when I describe Bethany's feet getting stuck in some beeswax, but either way, I'll take it."
Kalavin is part of a growing movement of young writers making waves in the fantasy genre. These include both literary authors and writers for film and television, and Kalavin says that because of the Jester series, she now has lots of friends in both groups.
"We bounce ideas off each other sometimes for sure," said Kalavin. "I've been asked to write for TV, but I prefer books, it's what I know and I can just sit down and write without having to worry about a bunch of other people who might have different ideas. I don't play well with others when it comes to writing!"
-from an article on Cressida Lane, posted on June 10, 2013
In all honesty, it’s probably the one constant in all universes.GRRM delaying shit is an universal constant, it seems.
Sports In 2013
The 2012-13 NBA season saw the rise of two dominant teams, one in the East and one in the West. In the East, the reigning champion Philadelphia 76ers continued on their tear from the previous season, playing their way to a 64-18 record on the back of Dwight Howard and his strong supporting cast, taking care of business in a conference that didn't have a single other dominant big man to contain him. The Detroit Pistons were a distant second at 55-27, with Carmelo Anthony still hungry for his first title win but his team merely very good and not truly dominant. The East also saw Stephen Curry's Chicago Bulls challenge the Pistons for the division title, but fall short with a 51-31 record, still good for third. The Boston Celtics returned to some measure of respectability, clawing their way to .500 on the season and winning a tough battle for eighth place with the Miami Heat, who were still reeling from Kevin Durant's departure in free agency.
Speaking of Kevin Durant, he was now playing for the Seattle Supersonics, alongside Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and the three formed an incredible triple threat that helped the Sonics to a 69-13 record, the best the league had seen since the days of Michael Jordan's Bulls. The three combined for dominant offense, with Griffin's rim play opening up wide open threes for Durant all day long, and Chris Paul averaging an astonishing 15.8 assists per game passing to both of them, breaking John Stockton's single season assist record and setting a new standard for floor general excellence. This includes a game in which he had 34 assists, another NBA record. LeBron's Nuggets continued to play well, with a 59-23 record overall, but injuries to Lebron's supporting cast forced him to carry the load by himself more than he would've liked to. It was a tough season for LeBron, and with free agency coming up in 2014, the Nuggets knew the clock might be ticking on their dynasty. The Lakers, led by Dwyane Wade and Anthony Davis, also formed a potent duo, but regressed a bit from the previous year and landed in the #3 seed.
Playoffs:
First Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Philadelphia 76ers over (8) Boston Celtics, 4 to 0
The 76ers didn't have much trouble putting away the young Celtics, with Dwight Howard doing most of the heavy lifting throughout the series, joined by midseason acquisition James Harden, who poured in lots of buckets. The Celtics barely put up a fight, only managing to finish within single digits in game 3. The 76ers advanced, and looked great headed into the second round.
(5) Charlotte Hornets over (4) New York Knicks, 4 to 2
The Knicks were still a good team, but with Deron Williams playing poorly, they just couldn't get their offense off the ground. Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook of the Hornets played circles around him, and helped guide the Hornets to a fairly easy first round win.
(2) Detroit Pistons over (7) Indiana Pacers, 4 to 0
Heyward and Thompson were sharpshooters for the Pacers, but against teams with good perimeter defense like Detroit, they had trouble scoring. Meanwhile, the young Pacers lacked an answer to Carmelo, and he was able to penetrate the lane and get open shots pretty much at will. The Pacers played tough, but couldn't get a win against the hungry Detroit team.
(3) Chicago Bulls over (6) Atlanta Hawks, 4 to 3
The first round's best series saw Stephen Curry pushed to the limit against a fierce and resurgent Hawks team, led by veteran scorer Adam Morrison, who had found his groove surrounded by players who could help him play to his strengths. Morrison's gutsy play almost led the Hawks to victory, and they led by six late in Game 7, but Curry made three clutch 3-pointers and the Bulls would come away with a 100-98 win and advance to the second round.
Western Conference:
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (8) St. Louis Arches, 4 to 1
Remember the St. Louis Arches? Yeah, they're still kicking, though attendance has been down and the owners have considered moving the team to Louisville, Tampa, Hampton Roads, or even Vegas. However, the Arches showed a lot of spirit in this series against one of the league's best teams of all time, pushing them to overtime in games 2 and 3 before taking Game 4. However, the Sonics couldn't be stopped, and crushed the Arches in a 161-88 rout in Game 5, the biggest margin in a playoff game in NBA history.
(4) Houston Rockets over (5) Dallas Mavericks, 4 to 3
This fierce battle of two Texas teams saw the home team win every single game, and the defending Western Conference champs found themselves dethroned by a talented Rockets squad led by the rookie Kawhi Leonard and the scoring machine Damien Lillard. The Rockets were a bit faster, a bit bigger, and a bit tougher, and the Mavericks won't be returning to the Finals this year.
(2) Denver Nuggets over (7) Golden State Warriors, 4 to 3
Kobe Bryant has played with Golden State for 17 years now, and though he's won several titles, he'd like to win one more to close out his career. Though this wouldn't be his last season, he played this series like it was, with one of the gutsiest playoff performances of all time. He scored 56, 50, and 67 points in Games 2, 3, and 6 respectively to lead the Warriors to victory in those games, but LeBron was just too good and the Nuggets managed to win Game 7 in relatively dominant fashion. However, in winning close, the Nuggets had some of their weaknesses exposed, and would have an even tougher test in the second round. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant made an offseason promise to play his last few years in Golden State, where he hoped to bring one more title to the city.
(3) Los Angeles Lakers over (6) Portland Trailblazers, 4 to 0
The Lakers left absolutely no doubt who was the tougher team in this series, smashing the Trailblazers in a clean sweep. Anthony Davis ran Portland all over the floor, averaging four blocks per game and grabbing a slew of rebounds, while Dwyane Wade turned back the clock and showed why he's still one of the league's best scorers. The Lakers were headed for another showdown with LeBron's Nuggets, and hoped to go all the way to another title.
Second Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Philadelphia 76ers over (5) Charlotte Hornets, 4 to 1
The 76ers were once again too big and too good for their opponents to handle. Russell Westbrook tried to do it all, averaging a triple double throughout the five games of the series, but even he couldn't play his way around the big man Dwight Howard, who kept the rim clean while James Harden put up big points. The 76ers looked like the odds on favorite to win the East, but they had one more team to beat first.
(2) Detroit Pistons over (3) Chicago Bulls, 4 to 0
Once again, Detroit's perimeter defense shut down a strong shooter in Stephen Curry, and the Bulls were no match for the Pistons, who played dirty and mean to advance to the Conference Finals. This series hearkened back to the Pistons/Bulls rivalry of old, but with no Michael Jordan on the Bulls, this was a one-sided affair.
Western Conference:
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (4) Houston Rockets, 4 to 2
The young Rockets put up a decent fight against the Sonics, much like the Arches had done but even better, with Kawhi proving that he'll be a star in the league someday. All but one game was decided by single digits, but in the end, the Sonics had enough offense and enough highlights to win this one.
(3) Los Angeles Lakers over (2) Denver Nuggets, 4 to 0
In a shocking series, LeBron's Nuggets found themselves swept out of the playoffs by Wade, Davis, and the Lakers. LeBron was visibly frustrated in this series, struggling to score on Anthony Davis, while Dwyane Wade lit up the injury-ravaged Denver squad. LeBron definitely seemed disgruntled after this series, and though many Nuggets fans were confident that they could keep him, some were starting to push for a trade to see what they could get for the star player before he left and they got nothing.
Conference Finals:
(2) Detroit Pistons over (1) Philadelphia 76ers, 4 to 3
The 76ers were expected to win this series fairly easily, but those expectations were tempered by the surging play of the Pistons and Carmelo Anthony coming into the series itself. When the Pistons stole game 1 in overtime, that's when things really heated up. The 76ers roared back, taking the next three games in the series, and it was expected that they'd be able to close out the Pistons in Philly. However, Carmelo refused to be denied, scoring 44 points in Game 5 and leading his team to a 106-97 victory. In Game 6, the Pistons edged out the 76ers in a defensive war, 93 to 91. In Game 7, the Pistons jumped out to a big first half lead, but seemed to be gassed as the Sixers and Dwight Howard took over the game, roaring back to take an 80-79 lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter. As it turned out, that would be Philly's only lead of the game: Carmelo would hit a three immediately afterward, and would then gut the Pistons to a tough 106-101 victory, taking his team to yet another NBA Finals, where he and Pistons fans hoped that this, this finally would be the year.
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (3) Los Angeles Lakers, 4 to 3
Another close, gritty series between two star-packed teams, though it wasn't quite as exciting as the Eastern Conference Finals, with four games, including the decisive Game 7, ending in routs of 14 or more points. The two teams split games 1 and 2 before the Lakers took game 3, and Seattle won a close Game 4 that was probably the best game of the series, 120-119. Seattle then dominated the Lakers in Game 5, 130-107, before the Lakers squeaked out a close 112-109 victory in Game 6. Game 7 was all Kevin Durant, the superstar put up 38 points and the Sonics won by a score of 140-108, advancing to the Finals, where fans hoped that Lob City would finally bring home the trophy.
2013 NBA Finals:
Detroit Pistons over Seattle Supersonics, 4 to 1
In a somewhat anticlimactic NBA Finals, Carmelo's Detroit Pistons finally earned an NBA Championship, the city's first since the Bad Boys' last title in 1990. Seattle was gassed after their tough Lakers series, while Carmelo and the Pistons were a bit more rested, even after their seven game war with Philly. They won the series the same way they won the other three, with hard-nosed defense, locking down Kevin Durant on the perimeter while Carmelo used his physical strength and sheer force of will to bully Blake Griffin on the boards while daring Dwyane Wade to beat him from midrange. The Pistons won in five and Carmelo Anthony won Finals MVP, while also dispelling any remaining talk about being a lazy or selfish player. He wept as he accepted the championship trophy, dedicating it to "his guys" on the team. The Pistons had won one of the guttiest playoffs in NBA history, and even though they were tired, there was already talk of a repeat in the locker room.
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The 2013 NBA Draft was looking stacked, mostly with high school players like Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon, and Julius Randle. Other highly touted players headed into the draft included Anthony Bennett, Cody Zeller, and Michael Carter-Williams, but perhaps the most hyped player of all was an 18-year-old high school player from the Chicago area named Willard Jones. Considered the best player to come out of the city since Benji Wilson, who was tragically killed in his senior year of high school nearly 30 years earlier, Jones was a spectacularly gifted scorer and passer, drawing comparisons to players like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook. He'd pondered going to college at Duke, since he was a big fan of Coach K, but decided to head directly to the NBA to support his family, and was expected to be the #1 overall pick, a pick that was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who'd mostly struck out with Ben McLemore. The Cavs were wary about taking a risk on a high school player again, even one as talented as Jones, but the best player of the non-high school guys was considered to be Anthony Bennett, and he paled in comparison. Enter the Nuggets, who were looking to deal LeBron James. LeBron preferred going to a larger city, and was hoping to play for the Clippers, who held the #6 overall pick and were also looking to deal it. The Lakers, Knicks, or Bulls also would have been acceptable destinations. However, LeBron was willing to play for his hometown team, and so the Cavs put together a blockbuster offer that included the #1 pick in 2013, the #1 pick in 2015 (unprotected), Ben McLemore, and veteran player Luol Deng, who at the time was the Cavs' second best scorer and best defender. LeBron's presence in Cleveland would attract at least one other strong free agent to make up for the players the Cavs were giving up, and the deal was done, sending LeBron back home to Ohio after a decade playing for Denver. The Nuggets selected Willard Jones with the first overall pick, and had their new superstar. Wiggins would go second, to the Milwaukee Bucks, while Joel Embiid would go third to the Miami Heat (who held the Sacramento Kings' first round pick from a trade the previous year), and Julius Randle would go fourth, to the Phoenix Suns. The Brooklyn Nets held the fifth pick, and were still rebuilding, though their veteran center Greg Oden was still excellent when he could play, and Bradley Beal was a promising rookie. They decided to snag Anthony Bennett, pairing him with Oden for a potent young frontcourt combination. Zeller would go sixth, Jabari Parker would go seventh, Gordon would go eighth, and Carter-Williams would slip to the Miami Heat at fourteenth for their second pick in that year's lottery. The St. Louis Arches would have the fifteenth pick, and they would select Giannis Antentokoumpo, hoping his exciting play would bolster attendance enough to keep the team in the city.
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Drew Barrymore: So your oldest, Natalia, she plays basketball, but Gianna doesn't?
Kobe Bryant: She skateboards.
Drew: Well that's pretty cool!
Kobe: She's a big Avril Lavigne fan, so yeah, she loves skateboarding. Her seventh birthday is today, believe it or not.
Drew: Well, happy birthday Gianna! *waving to her in the front row, the camera shows her waving*
Kobe: She saw Avril skating in the Olympics last year and that's when she started wanting to skateboard. She asked for a skateboard, she asked about skate parks... there's a lot of 'em in San Francisco, so that's pretty lucky at least.
Drew: And then your son who was born in 2011, Kobe Jr., is he going to be a skater or a baller?
Kobe: Maybe both! Who knows, right? Right now I think he's gonna be a baller, here he is with his hoop... *shows a picture of 2-year-old Kobe Jr. playing basketball on a small hoop with a small ball* but maybe he'll see Tony Hawk on the TV someday and be like, "dad, I wanna be a skater now", and that's cool too. No matter what sport they play, they're competitors. Natalia plays even harder than me, and Gianna... I have to be careful with her, because she's already going for those really big tricks and I've got to remind her that she's just seven and she can't do the big tricks yet.
Drew: Now, you and Avril both competed in the Olympics, she was competing for Canada, you were competing for the United States, did Gianna get to meet her while you were over there at all?
Kobe: Actually, no, unfortunately... no, Gianna saw her live but we didn't get the chance to meet her, I didn't know she wanted to meet her until after Avril already left. You know, when we played the Raptors this year, I tried to set up a meeting there, but Avril was doing a video game or something so we couldn't meet then.
Drew: Well, since it's Gianna's birthday, I've actually got a little surprise for her... a very good friend of mine is here-
*Gianna jumps up from her seat, already knowing who it's going to be, Kobe starts laughing*
Drew: It's 5-time X-Games gold medalist skateboarder Avril Lavigne!
*Avril comes out and walks over to hug Gianna, who rushes over to her, then she goes over and hugs and high-fives Kobe, the crowd cheers wildly at this and Avril talks to the two of them for about 30 seconds before the three of them sit down, Gianna is still talking to Avril after they sit.*
Kobe: *to Avril* Hey, this is real cool, thanks for coming out for Gianna.
Avril: No problem! Sorry we couldn't meet at the Olympics last year.
Gianna: I wish you had won the gold medal.
Avril: Aw, me too, there's always 2016 though.
-from the May 27, 2013 episode of Late Night with Drew Barrymore on CBS
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Mike Joy: And there's Mihoshi Koizumi, the incredible young driver who has turned NASCAR upside down these past couple years, winning last year's Daytona 500 and now the current points leader, hoping to become the first female driver ever to win the NASCAR iPhone Cup. She's currently in eighth place right now, just behind Jimmie Johnson and just ahead of Martin Truex Jr.
Darrell Waltrip: She's actually one of the most aggressive racers on the circuit, you can see her right there, right on Johnson's bumper, she's been trying to break through and catch up to the leaders, but no dice.
Joy: Jeff Gordon still in the lead here at Dover, Harvick in second place and Ryan Newman in third on lap 271, just over two-thirds of the way through this race and Harvick's been dominating most of the day, but right now it's Jeff Gordon.
Waltrip: He's got a really fast car, and he's been able to keep himself in it, and that's what you gotta do, race hard and stay with the leaders and wait for your opportunity. He's been doin' this for 20 years, he knows how to- oh, oh no!
Joy: Big, BIG wreck on turn two, lots of cars and oh, goodness, that looks like Mihoshi Koizumi's car has gone airborne!
Waltrip: Oh, no. No, no, no.
*Koizumi's car hits the pavement hard and bounces up, rolls and is hit by two other cars as they swerve to avoid the massive wreck, Koizumi's car catches fire and continues to roll with parts flying everywhere, meanwhile there are two other cars caught up in the carnage and one comes to a stop upside down, nearly half the field is caught up in the massive wreck which spills all over one side of the track.*
Joy: Tony Stewart's car hits the wall hard, Truex Jr. is still upside down, Mark Martin's car caught up in it, but oh... Mihoshi Koizumi's car is still rolling and it comes to a stop and it is completely engulfed.
Waltrip: That's... oh, no. Pray. Pray.
Joy: Fourteen cars were caught up and now we have a red flag, they're going to stop this race because there is debris everywhere, and Mihoshi Koizumi's car is engulfed in flames and we have not seen her come out. She took a hard, hard hit, that was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
Waltrip: I...
*There's silence on the track and from the announcers now as personnel rush to help the drivers. Despite slamming into the wall hard, Tony Stewart is okay. Truex Jr. climbs out of his battered car. Other drivers are okay, but Koizumi hasn't emerged from her car, which is in pieces on the track. NASCAR officials rush to the car.*
Joy: Mihoshi Koizumi, the current points leader... 23 years old, in her first full Sprint Cup season...
*As officials surround the wreck, racing to put out the fire, an arm emerges.... then someone's head, then their entire upper body. Koizumi climbs out through the window, looking shaken but otherwise completely unharmed. The officials help her to get away from the smoldering wreck, and after she's a safe distance away, she takes off her helmet, looks back at it, and puts a hand over her mouth in shock. Then she bends over and it looks like she's hurt, but actually she's just amazed to have escaped, then she lifts both her arms up, signalling to the crowd that she's okay. The crowd roars with approval.*
Waltrip: Oh, thank God. Thank God.
Joy: Koizumi... is okay!
Waltrip: These cars... these engineers... *he sounds like he's a bit choked up* They work so hard to make these cars safe, and we just saw that today. She walked away from... that was the most violent wreck I've ever seen.
Joy: And waving to the crowd as she's taken to the infield care center, which, even though she does appear to be okay, is the standard precautionary measure, the doctors are going to check her out and she's going to be done for the day, but it looks like everyone is okay after that massive wreck, and we're going to get this cleaned up and hopefully get back to racing.
Waltrip: I tell you what, I haven't been that scared about a wreck since my brother Mikey back in 1990.
-from FOX's broadcast of the Stonewell Subs 400 on June 2, 2013
Speaking of Kevin Durant, he was now playing for the Seattle Supersonics, alongside Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and the three formed an incredible triple threat that helped the Sonics to a 69-13 record, the best the league had seen since the days of Michael Jordan's Bulls. The three combined for dominant offense, with Griffin's rim play opening up wide open threes for Durant all day long, and Chris Paul averaging an astonishing 15.8 assists per game passing to both of them, breaking John Stockton's single season assist record and setting a new standard for floor general excellence. This includes a game in which he had 34 assists, another NBA record. LeBron's Nuggets continued to play well, with a 59-23 record overall, but injuries to Lebron's supporting cast forced him to carry the load by himself more than he would've liked to. It was a tough season for LeBron, and with free agency coming up in 2014, the Nuggets knew the clock might be ticking on their dynasty. The Lakers, led by Dwyane Wade and Anthony Davis, also formed a potent duo, but regressed a bit from the previous year and landed in the #3 seed.
Playoffs:
First Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Philadelphia 76ers over (8) Boston Celtics, 4 to 0
The 76ers didn't have much trouble putting away the young Celtics, with Dwight Howard doing most of the heavy lifting throughout the series, joined by midseason acquisition James Harden, who poured in lots of buckets. The Celtics barely put up a fight, only managing to finish within single digits in game 3. The 76ers advanced, and looked great headed into the second round.
(5) Charlotte Hornets over (4) New York Knicks, 4 to 2
The Knicks were still a good team, but with Deron Williams playing poorly, they just couldn't get their offense off the ground. Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook of the Hornets played circles around him, and helped guide the Hornets to a fairly easy first round win.
(2) Detroit Pistons over (7) Indiana Pacers, 4 to 0
Heyward and Thompson were sharpshooters for the Pacers, but against teams with good perimeter defense like Detroit, they had trouble scoring. Meanwhile, the young Pacers lacked an answer to Carmelo, and he was able to penetrate the lane and get open shots pretty much at will. The Pacers played tough, but couldn't get a win against the hungry Detroit team.
(3) Chicago Bulls over (6) Atlanta Hawks, 4 to 3
The first round's best series saw Stephen Curry pushed to the limit against a fierce and resurgent Hawks team, led by veteran scorer Adam Morrison, who had found his groove surrounded by players who could help him play to his strengths. Morrison's gutsy play almost led the Hawks to victory, and they led by six late in Game 7, but Curry made three clutch 3-pointers and the Bulls would come away with a 100-98 win and advance to the second round.
Western Conference:
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (8) St. Louis Arches, 4 to 1
Remember the St. Louis Arches? Yeah, they're still kicking, though attendance has been down and the owners have considered moving the team to Louisville, Tampa, Hampton Roads, or even Vegas. However, the Arches showed a lot of spirit in this series against one of the league's best teams of all time, pushing them to overtime in games 2 and 3 before taking Game 4. However, the Sonics couldn't be stopped, and crushed the Arches in a 161-88 rout in Game 5, the biggest margin in a playoff game in NBA history.
(4) Houston Rockets over (5) Dallas Mavericks, 4 to 3
This fierce battle of two Texas teams saw the home team win every single game, and the defending Western Conference champs found themselves dethroned by a talented Rockets squad led by the rookie Kawhi Leonard and the scoring machine Damien Lillard. The Rockets were a bit faster, a bit bigger, and a bit tougher, and the Mavericks won't be returning to the Finals this year.
(2) Denver Nuggets over (7) Golden State Warriors, 4 to 3
Kobe Bryant has played with Golden State for 17 years now, and though he's won several titles, he'd like to win one more to close out his career. Though this wouldn't be his last season, he played this series like it was, with one of the gutsiest playoff performances of all time. He scored 56, 50, and 67 points in Games 2, 3, and 6 respectively to lead the Warriors to victory in those games, but LeBron was just too good and the Nuggets managed to win Game 7 in relatively dominant fashion. However, in winning close, the Nuggets had some of their weaknesses exposed, and would have an even tougher test in the second round. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant made an offseason promise to play his last few years in Golden State, where he hoped to bring one more title to the city.
(3) Los Angeles Lakers over (6) Portland Trailblazers, 4 to 0
The Lakers left absolutely no doubt who was the tougher team in this series, smashing the Trailblazers in a clean sweep. Anthony Davis ran Portland all over the floor, averaging four blocks per game and grabbing a slew of rebounds, while Dwyane Wade turned back the clock and showed why he's still one of the league's best scorers. The Lakers were headed for another showdown with LeBron's Nuggets, and hoped to go all the way to another title.
Second Round:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Philadelphia 76ers over (5) Charlotte Hornets, 4 to 1
The 76ers were once again too big and too good for their opponents to handle. Russell Westbrook tried to do it all, averaging a triple double throughout the five games of the series, but even he couldn't play his way around the big man Dwight Howard, who kept the rim clean while James Harden put up big points. The 76ers looked like the odds on favorite to win the East, but they had one more team to beat first.
(2) Detroit Pistons over (3) Chicago Bulls, 4 to 0
Once again, Detroit's perimeter defense shut down a strong shooter in Stephen Curry, and the Bulls were no match for the Pistons, who played dirty and mean to advance to the Conference Finals. This series hearkened back to the Pistons/Bulls rivalry of old, but with no Michael Jordan on the Bulls, this was a one-sided affair.
Western Conference:
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (4) Houston Rockets, 4 to 2
The young Rockets put up a decent fight against the Sonics, much like the Arches had done but even better, with Kawhi proving that he'll be a star in the league someday. All but one game was decided by single digits, but in the end, the Sonics had enough offense and enough highlights to win this one.
(3) Los Angeles Lakers over (2) Denver Nuggets, 4 to 0
In a shocking series, LeBron's Nuggets found themselves swept out of the playoffs by Wade, Davis, and the Lakers. LeBron was visibly frustrated in this series, struggling to score on Anthony Davis, while Dwyane Wade lit up the injury-ravaged Denver squad. LeBron definitely seemed disgruntled after this series, and though many Nuggets fans were confident that they could keep him, some were starting to push for a trade to see what they could get for the star player before he left and they got nothing.
Conference Finals:
(2) Detroit Pistons over (1) Philadelphia 76ers, 4 to 3
The 76ers were expected to win this series fairly easily, but those expectations were tempered by the surging play of the Pistons and Carmelo Anthony coming into the series itself. When the Pistons stole game 1 in overtime, that's when things really heated up. The 76ers roared back, taking the next three games in the series, and it was expected that they'd be able to close out the Pistons in Philly. However, Carmelo refused to be denied, scoring 44 points in Game 5 and leading his team to a 106-97 victory. In Game 6, the Pistons edged out the 76ers in a defensive war, 93 to 91. In Game 7, the Pistons jumped out to a big first half lead, but seemed to be gassed as the Sixers and Dwight Howard took over the game, roaring back to take an 80-79 lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter. As it turned out, that would be Philly's only lead of the game: Carmelo would hit a three immediately afterward, and would then gut the Pistons to a tough 106-101 victory, taking his team to yet another NBA Finals, where he and Pistons fans hoped that this, this finally would be the year.
(1) Seattle Supersonics over (3) Los Angeles Lakers, 4 to 3
Another close, gritty series between two star-packed teams, though it wasn't quite as exciting as the Eastern Conference Finals, with four games, including the decisive Game 7, ending in routs of 14 or more points. The two teams split games 1 and 2 before the Lakers took game 3, and Seattle won a close Game 4 that was probably the best game of the series, 120-119. Seattle then dominated the Lakers in Game 5, 130-107, before the Lakers squeaked out a close 112-109 victory in Game 6. Game 7 was all Kevin Durant, the superstar put up 38 points and the Sonics won by a score of 140-108, advancing to the Finals, where fans hoped that Lob City would finally bring home the trophy.
2013 NBA Finals:
Detroit Pistons over Seattle Supersonics, 4 to 1
In a somewhat anticlimactic NBA Finals, Carmelo's Detroit Pistons finally earned an NBA Championship, the city's first since the Bad Boys' last title in 1990. Seattle was gassed after their tough Lakers series, while Carmelo and the Pistons were a bit more rested, even after their seven game war with Philly. They won the series the same way they won the other three, with hard-nosed defense, locking down Kevin Durant on the perimeter while Carmelo used his physical strength and sheer force of will to bully Blake Griffin on the boards while daring Dwyane Wade to beat him from midrange. The Pistons won in five and Carmelo Anthony won Finals MVP, while also dispelling any remaining talk about being a lazy or selfish player. He wept as he accepted the championship trophy, dedicating it to "his guys" on the team. The Pistons had won one of the guttiest playoffs in NBA history, and even though they were tired, there was already talk of a repeat in the locker room.
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The 2013 NBA Draft was looking stacked, mostly with high school players like Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon, and Julius Randle. Other highly touted players headed into the draft included Anthony Bennett, Cody Zeller, and Michael Carter-Williams, but perhaps the most hyped player of all was an 18-year-old high school player from the Chicago area named Willard Jones. Considered the best player to come out of the city since Benji Wilson, who was tragically killed in his senior year of high school nearly 30 years earlier, Jones was a spectacularly gifted scorer and passer, drawing comparisons to players like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook. He'd pondered going to college at Duke, since he was a big fan of Coach K, but decided to head directly to the NBA to support his family, and was expected to be the #1 overall pick, a pick that was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who'd mostly struck out with Ben McLemore. The Cavs were wary about taking a risk on a high school player again, even one as talented as Jones, but the best player of the non-high school guys was considered to be Anthony Bennett, and he paled in comparison. Enter the Nuggets, who were looking to deal LeBron James. LeBron preferred going to a larger city, and was hoping to play for the Clippers, who held the #6 overall pick and were also looking to deal it. The Lakers, Knicks, or Bulls also would have been acceptable destinations. However, LeBron was willing to play for his hometown team, and so the Cavs put together a blockbuster offer that included the #1 pick in 2013, the #1 pick in 2015 (unprotected), Ben McLemore, and veteran player Luol Deng, who at the time was the Cavs' second best scorer and best defender. LeBron's presence in Cleveland would attract at least one other strong free agent to make up for the players the Cavs were giving up, and the deal was done, sending LeBron back home to Ohio after a decade playing for Denver. The Nuggets selected Willard Jones with the first overall pick, and had their new superstar. Wiggins would go second, to the Milwaukee Bucks, while Joel Embiid would go third to the Miami Heat (who held the Sacramento Kings' first round pick from a trade the previous year), and Julius Randle would go fourth, to the Phoenix Suns. The Brooklyn Nets held the fifth pick, and were still rebuilding, though their veteran center Greg Oden was still excellent when he could play, and Bradley Beal was a promising rookie. They decided to snag Anthony Bennett, pairing him with Oden for a potent young frontcourt combination. Zeller would go sixth, Jabari Parker would go seventh, Gordon would go eighth, and Carter-Williams would slip to the Miami Heat at fourteenth for their second pick in that year's lottery. The St. Louis Arches would have the fifteenth pick, and they would select Giannis Antentokoumpo, hoping his exciting play would bolster attendance enough to keep the team in the city.
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Drew Barrymore: So your oldest, Natalia, she plays basketball, but Gianna doesn't?
Kobe Bryant: She skateboards.
Drew: Well that's pretty cool!
Kobe: She's a big Avril Lavigne fan, so yeah, she loves skateboarding. Her seventh birthday is today, believe it or not.
Drew: Well, happy birthday Gianna! *waving to her in the front row, the camera shows her waving*
Kobe: She saw Avril skating in the Olympics last year and that's when she started wanting to skateboard. She asked for a skateboard, she asked about skate parks... there's a lot of 'em in San Francisco, so that's pretty lucky at least.
Drew: And then your son who was born in 2011, Kobe Jr., is he going to be a skater or a baller?
Kobe: Maybe both! Who knows, right? Right now I think he's gonna be a baller, here he is with his hoop... *shows a picture of 2-year-old Kobe Jr. playing basketball on a small hoop with a small ball* but maybe he'll see Tony Hawk on the TV someday and be like, "dad, I wanna be a skater now", and that's cool too. No matter what sport they play, they're competitors. Natalia plays even harder than me, and Gianna... I have to be careful with her, because she's already going for those really big tricks and I've got to remind her that she's just seven and she can't do the big tricks yet.
Drew: Now, you and Avril both competed in the Olympics, she was competing for Canada, you were competing for the United States, did Gianna get to meet her while you were over there at all?
Kobe: Actually, no, unfortunately... no, Gianna saw her live but we didn't get the chance to meet her, I didn't know she wanted to meet her until after Avril already left. You know, when we played the Raptors this year, I tried to set up a meeting there, but Avril was doing a video game or something so we couldn't meet then.
Drew: Well, since it's Gianna's birthday, I've actually got a little surprise for her... a very good friend of mine is here-
*Gianna jumps up from her seat, already knowing who it's going to be, Kobe starts laughing*
Drew: It's 5-time X-Games gold medalist skateboarder Avril Lavigne!
*Avril comes out and walks over to hug Gianna, who rushes over to her, then she goes over and hugs and high-fives Kobe, the crowd cheers wildly at this and Avril talks to the two of them for about 30 seconds before the three of them sit down, Gianna is still talking to Avril after they sit.*
Kobe: *to Avril* Hey, this is real cool, thanks for coming out for Gianna.
Avril: No problem! Sorry we couldn't meet at the Olympics last year.
Gianna: I wish you had won the gold medal.
Avril: Aw, me too, there's always 2016 though.
-from the May 27, 2013 episode of Late Night with Drew Barrymore on CBS
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Mike Joy: And there's Mihoshi Koizumi, the incredible young driver who has turned NASCAR upside down these past couple years, winning last year's Daytona 500 and now the current points leader, hoping to become the first female driver ever to win the NASCAR iPhone Cup. She's currently in eighth place right now, just behind Jimmie Johnson and just ahead of Martin Truex Jr.
Darrell Waltrip: She's actually one of the most aggressive racers on the circuit, you can see her right there, right on Johnson's bumper, she's been trying to break through and catch up to the leaders, but no dice.
Joy: Jeff Gordon still in the lead here at Dover, Harvick in second place and Ryan Newman in third on lap 271, just over two-thirds of the way through this race and Harvick's been dominating most of the day, but right now it's Jeff Gordon.
Waltrip: He's got a really fast car, and he's been able to keep himself in it, and that's what you gotta do, race hard and stay with the leaders and wait for your opportunity. He's been doin' this for 20 years, he knows how to- oh, oh no!
Joy: Big, BIG wreck on turn two, lots of cars and oh, goodness, that looks like Mihoshi Koizumi's car has gone airborne!
Waltrip: Oh, no. No, no, no.
*Koizumi's car hits the pavement hard and bounces up, rolls and is hit by two other cars as they swerve to avoid the massive wreck, Koizumi's car catches fire and continues to roll with parts flying everywhere, meanwhile there are two other cars caught up in the carnage and one comes to a stop upside down, nearly half the field is caught up in the massive wreck which spills all over one side of the track.*
Joy: Tony Stewart's car hits the wall hard, Truex Jr. is still upside down, Mark Martin's car caught up in it, but oh... Mihoshi Koizumi's car is still rolling and it comes to a stop and it is completely engulfed.
Waltrip: That's... oh, no. Pray. Pray.
Joy: Fourteen cars were caught up and now we have a red flag, they're going to stop this race because there is debris everywhere, and Mihoshi Koizumi's car is engulfed in flames and we have not seen her come out. She took a hard, hard hit, that was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
Waltrip: I...
*There's silence on the track and from the announcers now as personnel rush to help the drivers. Despite slamming into the wall hard, Tony Stewart is okay. Truex Jr. climbs out of his battered car. Other drivers are okay, but Koizumi hasn't emerged from her car, which is in pieces on the track. NASCAR officials rush to the car.*
Joy: Mihoshi Koizumi, the current points leader... 23 years old, in her first full Sprint Cup season...
*As officials surround the wreck, racing to put out the fire, an arm emerges.... then someone's head, then their entire upper body. Koizumi climbs out through the window, looking shaken but otherwise completely unharmed. The officials help her to get away from the smoldering wreck, and after she's a safe distance away, she takes off her helmet, looks back at it, and puts a hand over her mouth in shock. Then she bends over and it looks like she's hurt, but actually she's just amazed to have escaped, then she lifts both her arms up, signalling to the crowd that she's okay. The crowd roars with approval.*
Waltrip: Oh, thank God. Thank God.
Joy: Koizumi... is okay!
Waltrip: These cars... these engineers... *he sounds like he's a bit choked up* They work so hard to make these cars safe, and we just saw that today. She walked away from... that was the most violent wreck I've ever seen.
Joy: And waving to the crowd as she's taken to the infield care center, which, even though she does appear to be okay, is the standard precautionary measure, the doctors are going to check her out and she's going to be done for the day, but it looks like everyone is okay after that massive wreck, and we're going to get this cleaned up and hopefully get back to racing.
Waltrip: I tell you what, I haven't been that scared about a wreck since my brother Mikey back in 1990.
-from FOX's broadcast of the Stonewell Subs 400 on June 2, 2013
What's Yoshiaki Koizumi doing ITTL? I know about how most people who dislike the Wii/DS Zelda games of OTL blame their faults on his absence.
Was koizumi the one who suggested skyward sword's tutorialized intro?
Looks like ITTL Carmelo Anthony finally gets a ring other then his wedding ring 😂
I keep forgetting she's a talk show host ITTL, but that was cool.
...............................Christ, that was heart stopping!
...and I actually used to watch NASCAR (before all the interesting drivers left)...
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
IIRC, a certain Toby Fox game got off to massive success thanks to Kickstarter funding. It's been confirmed that we get music in some form from Toby Fox (in 2018, he collaborates with Pharrell Williams on something), but it's also likely that he doesn't release an overwhelmingly popular indie game in two year's time.
We'll just have to wait and see.
No offense meant at all, but the news report felt like something right out of an earlier news update from this timeline. Probably a testament to the skills of Ry in writing and absolutely nailing hypothetical television transcripts from another world, maybe just because life has a tendency to reflect art in some form or another (but, in this specific case, not imitate).
Lane is still something I wouldn't mind watching an episode or two of, a fine ending this year.
Not posting a lot for a myriad of reasons, but since most of my gaming in the 2010s was on PC and was either Civ 4 or Civ 5, Paradox Grand Strategy games, and playing some late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s JRPGs, (And some Tetris, of course.) it's not everything in the world to froth over. That said I am still reading every update and appreciating everything that's going on, as always!
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Nintendo Reality Worldwide Launch
Nintendo Reality Technical Specifications
The Nintendo Reality is a rectangular white console with black trim and a black logo/design on top that incorporates a sort of circular pattern along with the new sleek Nintendo lettering. It's slightly larger than the Virtua, but also shorter, taking up a few square inches more real estate when placed on top of something. It has the same Blu-Ray discs and inputs as its competitors, though the design of the box itself is somewhat “cleaner”, with the ports and disc drive more discreet, and no cameras to speak of. The console is the first Nintendo legacy console since the SNES that doesn't have backward compatibility with its predecessors. Nintendo and Sony cite cost-cutting as a reason for not including backward compatibility, though many believe it's a ploy to encourage people to purchase digital games, which are included on the digital store from day one (and if you've purchased Sapphire/Wave/Ultra Nintendo/SNES/NES titles, you can download them immediately, you don't have to re-buy them). The console does play Blu-Ray and DVD movies, but not music CDs. It has a 1TB hard drive, the same as the Apple Virtua, in both the base and VR versions.
The Nintendo Reality is more powerful than the Apple Virtua by a decent margin, though practically, it's not that much more impressive in terms of graphics, except for specifically designed first-party exclusives. The Reality's custom CPU, codenamed “Integra”, is an octo-core setup with each core running at 2.3 GHz, and its GPU, a Radeon chip similar to OTL's PS4, runs at right around 1 Ghz. The Reality is capable of 2.75 teraflops of processing power, with a decent chunk of this used to power the system's VR suite (though this processing power can be shifted elsewhere if the VR isn't in use). This puts it almost halfway between OTL's PS4 and PS4 Pro, and the system is capable of taking advantage of that power with the 4K TVs coming into use around this time, though not to the same degree as OTL's PS4 Pro. The Reality utilizes a controller quite similar to the Sapphire before it, a controller not all that dissimilar from OTL's Switch Pro controller, complete with an enhanced rumble feature. However, the VR set includes a pair of motion controllers that are similar to OTL's PS Move controllers, though ITTL they do get compared to the iTwin controllers. These aren't intended to be used for non-VR games like the iTwin/Virtua controllers can be (though it is possible to use them since they share the same buttons). The Reality's controller lacks the L4/R4 functionality of the Virtua controller, but this does help save on costs, with the Reality controller priced at $59.99 MSRP.
The Nintendo Reality is a beast, a powerhouse of a console capable of running games that look better than those of any other console on the market. However, because of the compromises Nintendo made, the company is able to sell the base console at $100 less than the price of the base Virtua at launch. Buying the VR-included model does bring it up to $499, but you get quite a bit included, including a VR game/demo suite, the extra motion controllers, and the headset itself. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the headset functions similarly to OTL's PSVR headset, with slightly less graphical detail, but also more fluid motion. Intended to be used with simpler games, Yokoi had years to perfect the headset, and initial reviews are extremely favorable. The Reality VR is no Virtual Boy: it's the next step in immersive gaming, and an excellent demonstration of the console's capabilities.
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Launch Title Summaries-
(The Reality's North American launch line-up consists of 18 games, plus a few more small titles not worth mentioning here.)
F-Zero: FIRESTORM
(Authors' Note: The following game summary was given to us by the reader HeX! We made a few edits to the development/performance details to fit in with the narrative, but the gameplay and plot descriptions are entirely by him.)
F-Zero: FIRESTORM is a new entry in the F-Zero franchise, and entirely alien from any of its spiritual predecessors. Firestorm departs from the speedy, precise, and brutal racing that defined the series since its debut on the SNES in 1990, though the game is no less high-octane and intense. At its core, Firestorm is the happy marriage of an open-world adventure title, a 3D platformer, and a beat 'em up, taking the best elements of each and almost none of the bad. Players take control of the People's Champion himself, Captain Falcon, and have a deep combat system at their fingertips from the get-go, in a large part inspired by the characters moveset from the Super Smash Bros. series. Falcon comes equipped with all sorts of punches and kicks and built-in combos. A strong attack launches foes into the air, allowing Falcon to combo them up there, and giving him the ability to pull off the iconic "Knee of Justice". Some characters wielding blades or other blunt weapons may drop them upon death, giving Falcon a sword or bat to use for a short while; when fighting one such enemy, an input, if timed properly, will result in a brief-but-epic cutscene Captain grabbing the blade by its flat mid-swing and yanking it away from the foe for his personal use. To incentivize combat and the usage of these combos, the only way to regain health is by punching bad guys, which builds up a "Firestorm" meter. Once the meter is built up, it can be used in three ways: as a slow burn, boosting Falcon's attack power and engulfing him and his moves in flames; to regain health, based on how far the meter is filled; and as a finishing move, involving flashy flips and kicks and ending with a devastating Falcon Punch.
Just as integral to the gameplay as combat is platforming, using a system not dissimilar to the momentum-based physics seen in Sonic the Hedgehog, but to a far less pronounced degree. Falcon's top speed is difficult to achieve, but once it has, his jump, double-jump, and climbing skills are amplified by an ability to temporarily run up or along walls or to leap great distances in a single bound. Keep max speed for a few seconds, and the Raptor Boost is engaged; Captain Falcon becomes engulfed in flames and leaves behind trails of fire as he runs extremely fast. If he keeps his speed up he can travel great distances quickly and even run straight up walls, but if not he'll gradually slow down. The tradeoff for such immense speed is the loss of most control, and hairpin turns immediately end the boost mode.
During certain sections, Captain Falcon hops into his ship to race other characters on classic racing tracks in the F-Zero universe to prove himself or get something of theirs. These races are largely scripted, and rip their mechanics directly from F-Zero (2008).
Development on F-Zero: FIRESTORM was a quiet affair. What would eventually become the game was conceived of in late 2008, when Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe bought, played through, fell in love with, and completed Fallout: The Boneyard on his Sapphire. As someone who had spent a bit of time playing the old isometric RPG Fallouts here and there, Tanabe was blown away by the shocking transformation the franchise had taken to morph into a first-person action-adventure game with an enormous world just begging to be explored. As the seeds of inspiration were being planted in his brain, Nintendo found themselves at a junction point: what to do about F-Zero? Back in the '90s, a mildly successful side-scrolling beat 'em up starring Captain Falcon had appeared on the SNES, but ever since, the franchise had stuck to its racing roots. Now, no F-Zero game was ever bad, per say, but Nintendo's creative staff was beginning to grow tired of repeating the same thing over and over again. Shelving the entire franchise became a very real possibility by New Year's 2009, even with the outstanding success of the last game in the series at that point still fresh in their minds.
Enter Kensuke Tanabe.
Development on A Chef's Tale for the Sapphire was winding down, and, in need of a new project, he caught wind of the situation with Nintendo's premier racing series (after Mario Kart, of course). There was a blinding spark of inspiration, and Tanabe went straight to Katsuya Eguchi's office with his idea: an open world F-Zero game, one part racing game, one part old '90s beat 'em ups, and one part Super Smash Bros. His ideas were big, but they were just what F-Zero needed: a shot of originality sent straight to the vein. Work began immediately, but concepts for the game just kept on getting bigger and bigger, until it was deemed the Sapphire would be far too underpowered to hold everything they had planned. As luck would have it, Sony was tinkering away at the console that was next in line to the Nintendo throne. The Big N decided that F-Zero: Outworld (as it was then called) would be the perfect fit for a next-gen launch title, then. Nintendo's must-have launch title. The console called "Reality" would not launch with Mario or Link or Pikachu or Samus leading the way. While Apple clung to Sonic or Commander Keen with a deathgrip, Nintendo wanted to prove they were still top of the heap by headlining their biggest, most ambitious piece of hardware yet with a little-known IP and an untested new game style. No pop culture juggernauts or instantly recognizable titles.
Just a good game.
And a good game it was. When F-Zero: FIRESTORM hit shelves, it could barely stay on them long enough for people to realize it was there. The spinoff title would go on to sell more than ten million total copies, almost as much as every previous F-Zero game combined. Firestorm was met with outstanding critical acclaim across the board, becoming the best reviewed game of the Reality launch and one of the best titles of 2013, with reviews averaging in the mid 9s and plenty of perfect scores from a variety of sources. The biggest complaint by far was that the VR aspects of the game felt a bit "tacked on" ...which they were, Firestorm was not developed with VR in mind until well into the design process. As a result, the VR was a mixed bag, highly immersive but at some times unnatural. Motion sickness became a real concern if players used first-person VR mode for too long, due to the speed at which Captain Falcon moved. This was probably why Nintendo, though hyping up Firestorm quite lot in the months preceding the Reality's launch, refrained from making it the console's pack-in title. Virtual Reality was the focus, after all, and Firestorm wasn't Nintendo's best foot forward into that field.
Chapter One
Race to Win
The game begins in the heat of the final laps of an F-Zero Championship Race, with Captain Falcon once again competing for the title of "Speed Demon" and the coveted Champion's Belt. Though a serious competition the race is more good-natured and friendly than one might expect for a championship, given that most of the racers are all good friends. Captain Falcon volleys playful banter back at everyone, though he lingers in flirting with Lady LeChique, someone he's very clearly romantically interested in, while she's somewhat indifferent. Falcon easily wins the race, humiliating his on-again, off-again bumbling nemesis, Samurai Goroh by stealing victory from his grasp. After the victor's ceremony, Falcon throws a wild party at his Batcave-esque mansion and garage, and passes out on his couch. When he wakes up the next morning, a new holo-mail is queued on his helmet, which he watches, revealing a dark, cloaked figure. He calls himself the Hood, and claims to be a high-ranking underworld overlord in need of a bounty hunter. Falcon protests, saying he left that kind of life behind a long time ago, but the Hood threatens him with revealing the star racer's dark past to the F-Zero Racing Organization, which would result in the revoking of all of the Captain's awards and trophies and a permanent ban from racing. With no choice but to comply, Falcon is given a list of names, mostly his fellow racers, but mostly his fellow racers that were on the shady side. Captain Falcon is to incapacitate or, if necessary, kill, these targets in one week, or his past is to be revealed and his life is ruined.
Chapter Two
Shadows
Sector I: Port Town
Port Town is, as far as things go, the most straightforward and linear sector in the game, a pseudo-tutorial without any hand-holding. Captain Falcon's hideout is fully explorable, chock full of easter eggs from across the F-Zero series and other assorted Nintendo franchises. By far the most interesting part of his house are the Champion Difficulty and 100% completion bonuses, which are hidden away in the game room on the second floor of the building. For beating the game on Champion (no easy task), players are rewarded with a slightly slimmed-down version of the original F-Zero for SNES; for collecting every item and achievement and completing every side quest, a model F-Zero racer is unlocked that allows players to train for races on virtual, procedurally-generated tracks against ghost racers. The city of Port Town itself is decently big, dotted with towering skyscrapers and glass pyramids in a Blade Runner-meets-Ghost in the Shell aesthetic that carries on through the rest of the game, though the skyline itself is dominated by a massive R.O.B. construction robot and the space harbor that surrounds it. Blood Falcon, the Captain's much more dangerous evil nemesis, has taken over the usually peaceful city streets of Port Town, and has even commandeered the harbor and R.O.B. Captain Falcon must first clean up the ground level by taking down Blood Falcon's gang of crooks and hoodlums, then scale the R.O.B. to reach his foe's stolen ship. On the decks of the SS Eagleland, the two Falcons do battle. After defeating Blood, the way to Mute City opens.
Chapter Three
The Greatest City in the Universe
Sector II: Mute City
Mute City is massive. A metropolis the size of Hyrule City from The Legend of Zelda: Hero Eternal functions as the game's hub, though it's far more than that. The city is bursting with things to do, people to see, places to explore. Sidequests abound, many being simple fetchquests, but a few special ones stand out with the caliber of OTL Majora's Mask's Anju and Kafei quest. An entire subsection, Casino Royale Mute City is frequently cited as one of the best places in F-Zero: FIRESTORM to use the Reality's VR functions, not even to really play the game but to just walk around the immersive, carefully designed world. Upon entering Mute City for the first time, players are given a number of main story quests to accomplish: orders from Falcon's employer to take down the murderous Skull, who's been wreaking havoc across Mute City; to uncover more about the mysterious Shadow Million organization, which seems to have its grimy fingers in everything from Port Town to Mute City; and to collect bounties on smaller perps by going to police stations and looking them up on wanted posters. The last item on that list was specifically made with the goal of having players lose themselves in exploring Mute City and not simply skipping over huge (but otherwise completely optional) portions of the game.
Captain Falcon eventually tracks down the Skull in a seedy part of town, but he's accidentally spotted. The Skull hops into a nearby hovercar, and the Captain does as well, following him on a high-speed chase into the heart of Mute City, Silence Square. Totalling his vehicle, the Skull manages to slip into the Shard, the city's most iconic building, leading Falcon on a chase up the elevator shafts to the roof. The two fight, and Captain Falcon ends up hurling the Skull over the edge to his doom. Following this, Mute City is able to reopen its ports to other planets, allowing the player to choose from a triad of possible next locations to go to: Red Canyon, White Slopes, or Big Blue.
Chapter Four
Worlds to Explore
Sector III: Red Canyon
While the order of the three new planets can be selected in any order, according to official canon Red Canyon is the next step. Here, Falcon must traverse a fairly linear canyon to find Samurai Goroh, who is revealed to actually be far smarter than previously thought. His bumbling, idiot self was a facade, a ruse to throw off the scent while he built his own secret criminal organization, the yakuza-esque Dragon's Claw. Thugs from this group line Red Canyon, armed with swords and some even clad in traditional samurai armor. Along the way, the Captain is assaulted with falling rocks, a raging river, and the remnants of a long-forgotten ancient civilization with all of its booby traps still intact and deadly. The boss fight with Goroh is straight out of OTL's F-Zero GX's story mode in a two-lap race around the canyon.
Sector IV: White Slopes
This is the next world in canonical order of selection. The section explorable is a massive ski resort complex, with a Swiss alpine motif. In addition to plenty of ski resort staples, there is also an indoor water park (with working slides and a few minigames) and the most impressive portion, the halfpipe and slopes. The former is reminiscent of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater stage, where Falcon can pull off tricks and combos to get high scores. The latter is made up of four separate slopes, leveling up from "Easy" (and the quote-unquote "tutorial"), to "Medium," to "Hard," and finally to "Expert." In regards to the story, when Falcon arrives the resort is in shambles due to the actions of Zoda, a mutant-android hybrid whose programming has gone haywire. The Hood reveals that Zoda is his creation, a first attempt at creating a loyal hitman from scratch that went horribly awry. He needs the Captain to put it down, not because of the havoc its wreaking but the fact that the havoc might be traced back to him. Falcon is joined for a large part of this sector by Lady LeChique, with the two flirting nonstop from beginning to end.Eventually, after Falcon helps clean up the resort a little, LeChique challenges him to a race down the slopes.
Things soon go south, however, as about halfway down the mountain a distant explosion can be heard, followed by an avalanche that separates the two and sends Captain Falcon down a dangerous alternate path, snowboarding down the mountain ahead of the tumbling snow in a moment similar to OTL's Sonic Adventure. Soon enough, the Captain catches a glimpse of Zoda, who is skiing down the mountain and had set off the avalanche behind them both. This is where the boss fight begins, and the player must ram Zoda into obstacles on the mountain as they sled down. After doing so five times, Falcon tackles Zoda out of the way of the avalanche and captures him. He lies to the Hood about "terminating" the creature, having instead set it free in the woods a few miles from civilization.
Sector V: Big Blue
The same situation of stage chronology applies here. Big Blue, while usually a tranquil paradise, is marked with horror as the bounty hunter Beastman attempts to track down and murder Bio Rex, Falcon's next target, in cold blood, his mind having finally snapped under pressure. Their battles have left the 1950s retro-future themed city in tatters, with tourists and locals alike scattered and terrified. The Captain helps out many of these people, bringing the tropical Caribbean feelings back to Big Blue slowly but surely. This section has the only underwater portions of the game, where Octoman lends you his submarine to take down Bio Rex--but only after defeating Beastman atop the tallest ship in the city. While Beastman is a traditional hand-to-hand fight, Bio Rex must be hit five times with Octomissles to knock him out and take him in, all while dodging wreckage of a sunken spaceship all around them.
Chapter Five
Charbroiled
Sector VI: Firestorm
Regardless of the order Red Canyon, White Slopes, and Big Blue are selected before this point, this is where all three of the branches link up. This is supposedly the final level, with the player facing down the toughest platforming and combat segments in the game. Depending on how many side quests have been completed, Falcon is either sent here to get the villainous Black Shadow simply as his next bounty, or as the head of the Shadow Million organization. There are no NPCs here, making the area feel hollow and abandoned and turning every encounter into a jumpscare for the player. The Firestorm Facility was a place scientists were studying the effects of prolonged heat and sun exposure, and as such the facility is in actuality a space station orbiting frighteningly close to a nearby star. The facility seems to be collapsing in on itself around Falcon as he goes. Eventually, Black Shadow is taken on, first in a traditional hand-to-hand battle and then in a footrace to the entrance after Shadow triggers the self-destruction of the station (similar to classic Metroid) and the pair must get out before they die. Falcon wins, however, and returns to Mute City with Black Shadow in chains. But then, Falcon's mysterious employer reveals himself upon their arrival: Deathborn. It turns out that Deathborn blackmailed Falcon to not only get him to do his dirty work, but to also get the celebrity racer out of his house so he could steal the F-Zero Champion's Belt (an optional side quest investigates this matter). He combines it with his own Underworld Champion's Belt to turn himself into a demigod. He then busts out all of Falcon's captured bounties from over the course of the game (he wanted them all in one spot, that's why he hired Falcon in the first place) and injects them with superpowers, setting them out to wreak havoc on Mute City. Falcon must take them all down in hand-to-hand combat, absorbing their powers after doing so to power up enough and have a fighting chance to beat Deathborn. When the final boss is gone from Mute City, Falcon "Super Saiyans" into Golden Falcon (his outfit looks similar to OTL's Smash Bros. golden alternate costume), and heads off to fight his final foe in the most dangerous track in all of F-Zero: Outer Space.
Chapter Six
Endgame
Sector VII: Outer Space
This section of the game has two parts: the ending, and the true ending. Over the course of the game, there are six suit upgrades for Falcon to collect. If the player hasn't found them all, they will fight Deathborn hand-to-hand, and while they are able to escape, Deathborn is as well, and Falcon's return to Mute City and Port Town in the final cutscene is a bit more unfulfilled. However, if the player has found all six suit upgrades, there is a transition after the first fight into a deathrace on the Outer Space track. Falcon defeats Deathborn and hurls him out into space, supposedly killing him for good this time. Either way the player goes about it, there are very few differences in the end cutscene, where Falcon monologues for a bit, gets a date with Lady LeChique and a good time with his friends, and then hops into the Blue Falcon and speeds off through Port Town. But if the player got the true ending, they're treated to another scene of Deathborn floating out in space, motionless and covered in frost. The camera pans in slowly on his face, and just before the camera cuts to black, his blood-red eye snaps open.
---
As stated above, F-Zero: FIRESTORM receives a flurry of critical acclaim. The company's boldness to go in such a strange direction with a mid-level property after the last game was so highly praised for sticking to what the series knew best was impressive. It also created a whole new generation of F-Zero fans. Suddenly, Metroid's most serious competition in the science-fiction market under Nintendo's vast umbrella was not Squad Four or Star Fox, but an unlikely entry in an unlikely franchise that was almost dead in the water. F-Zero: FIRESTORM would go on to become the highest-selling Reality game of the year, and would remain in the top ten for many more to come. Nintendo's focus on the franchise became serious. There were many sequels in store, not just to the traditional racers but also the Big N's newest, hottest open world video game.
"F-Zero: FIRESTORM was one of the biggest games of 2013 (considered to be one of the best years for gaming in history). It was the biggest game on the Reality until the release of Squad Four: Betrayal. And it was the first true step towards harnessing the power of VR any company took. Sure, the motion sickness was a problem, but if you look past all that, you can see for the first time a truly immersive, living, breathing world that you can loose yourself in for hours on end, playing poker in the Casino Royale or racing time-trial ghosts in virtual F-Zero tracks. Pretty impressive for a game that wasn't originally supposed to be on the Reality at all."
-MatPat, in the 2019 YouTube video Game Theory: Game of the Year? More like Best Games of the DECADE!
“The best game I've played in a long time, it combines open world action with fast-paced racing and is probably the most content-rich game of all time. It gets a perfect 5/5 from me, and it's the early favorite for my personal Game of the Year. What more is there to say?"
-Alex Stansfield, in the GamesOverMatter review of F-Zero: FIRESTORM
GameRankings Score: 95.01%
Pandora's Tower
An action-RPG developed by Ganbarion, this game has many similarities to the title released IOTL, but features significantly better graphics and a more fleshed out tower, as well as a more detailed story (due to the developers having more time to work on the game). The basic plot and gameplay are similar to OTL's title, with a protagonist named Atheron (name changed from OTL's Aeron due to it being too similar to the name of Sega's heroine Aerio) who seeks to rescue his lover Elena from a curse. In order to do so, he must ascend a tower full of puzzles and monsters in order to gather flesh for Elena to eat to free her from the curse. He wields a chain weapon that has a wide variety of uses, and is somewhat inspired by the whip from the Lash Out series, so its mechanics are somewhat altered from IOTL and it can be used in more versatile ways, which enables the tower itself to be more complex and larger. Like IOTL's game, the player is able to develop Atheron's relationship with Elena, which alters the ending and also the strength of the services that Elena can perform for the player, which include upgrading weapons and finding treasure. Pandora's Tower also draws inspiration from OTL's The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, which was the major launch title for the Nintendo Connect. This means that every floor in the tower is in some way its own small dungeon, and players can even return to previous floors to gather treasure and open up new secrets. The game features multiple endings, which are affected both by the player's relationship with Elena and their performance in the tower's various trials and challenges, with seven total endings in all, ranging from a completely happy ending to a very tragic one, and everything in between TTL's Pandora's Tower is a much more fleshed-out and developed game than OTL's Wii title. Graphics, sound, gameplay, and storyline have all been improved across the board, with the developers encouraged to create a “Zelda-like experience” due to the fact that there's no Zelda title at launch for the Reality. The game even allows players to use the VR to search rooms and battle certain enemies. Overall, the game is considered one of the year's best action RPGs, and is another major star of the Reality launch. North American sales are merely decent, but the game is a major hit in Japan.
GameRankings Score: 86.90%
Wipeout Reality
Psygnosis developed this latest Wipeout game as their first next-gen foray in the series, intended to be a sort of tech demo game for VR racing. It's not nearly as content rich as recent games in the series, with only 12 total tracks and less cars than normal, but it's visually stunning and moves incredibly fast, and is considered absolutely breathtaking in VR. The game itself is fairly basic, with the standard grand prix and time trial modes, along with a few battle modes and of course online gameplay. There's no adventure or storyline mode to be had, but there are some character bios for the racers. Overall, Wipeout Reality is considered a good racer, if a bit bare bones, and scratches the itch that many people have for a full-fledged racer on the Reality, since F-Zero: FIRESTORM only has small racing segments and isn't a full racing experience. Sales are surprisingly strong, making it the second fastest selling Wipeout title ever, and Psygnosis begins work on a proper next-gen title that will be multiplatform and will include many more racers and tracks.
GameRankings Score: 81.21%
Lucky Once
A title by David Cage, about a man who is tasked with stopping a terrorist attack, and has a number of ways to go about doing so. It's more heavy on story than gameplay, as is typical for a David Cage game, but does have some action/shooting sequences at pivotal moments of the game, with the protagonist's storyline responses sometimes affecting their performance in the action sequences, and vice-versa. The protagonist is able to choose from a variety of violent/non-violent methods to stop the terrorist attack, but each has its own set of consequences, and there's no right way to go about it (but there are a few wrong ways). The game attempts to explore the idea of morality in the face of a horrible threat against human lives, and what it's worth to stop such violent acts, but the narrative is somewhat clunky, and even the voice acting, which is performed by a mix of minor celebrities and voiceover pros, gets some criticism. Graphically beautiful and highly ambitious, the game has serious flaws and was rushed to launch, and ultimately ends up being a major disappointment that's overshadowed by the other launch titles on the system. Its initial sales at launch are actually fairly good, but the game can't shake the poor reviews and bad word of mouth.
GameRankings Score: 59.54%
Locked And Loaded
A somewhat simplistic third person shooter with an arcade-style feel that's somewhat light on story but features strong action gameplay (in sort of an inverse of Lucky Once). It's intended to be a sort of Duality-inspired game and while it doesn't quite reach those heights, it's a nice little showcase for the Reality's capabilities, with some of the best VR of any of the launch games. Sales are fairly low but the game would remain a popular budget title throughout its lifespan.
GameRankings Score: 79.10%
Cyberwar 4
Cyberwar 4 comes to the Reality at launch (and would be released on Apple's Virtua console on the same day). It includes some of the game's single-player and multiplayer DLC, though the biggest upgrade would be the graphics. The game has smoother graphics than the Nexus and Virtua versions, though it's not a huge difference. Cyberwar 4 doesn't include any support for VR at launch, but would get support via a major update in 2014 (Psygnosis didn't want the game to have crappy, rushed VR). Overall, this is the second best selling title of the Reality launch in North America, and is the best reviewed version critically as well.
GameRankings Score: 94.71%
MLB 13
The popular baseball franchise comes to the Reality, appearing as a launch title (IOTL, the franchise called MLB isn't a Sony franchise, but an Acclaim one, and is a multiplatform game). It's an improved and polished version of the one released for the last-gen consoles and Nexus earlier in the year, and though it's a bit late for baseball season, it achieves good reviews and sales. It's not Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame, but it's good enough for the Reality.
GameRankings Score: 83.90%
Assassin's Creed III
The same game as the Nexus and Virtua versions, with slightly better graphics. Ubisoft cheaped out on DLC inclusion, not giving Reality owners any extra incentive to buy the game: this is the base title. That knocks the review score down a bit, though this is still the best version of the game.
GameRankings Score: 87.71%
Call Of Duty: Coalition
This one does get a bit of included DLC, mostly bonuses for multiplayer. It's an average Call Of Duty game and looks great on the Reality, though, like other launch titles, it doesn't support VR at first.
GameRankings Score: 84.22%
Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends
Developed by Activision, this game is the latest in the rebooted Prince Of Persia series that began back in the 2000s, and is the first developed with eighth-generation consoles in mind. It not only sees the return of the Prince, but also features his queen Shana as a co-equal playable character. The two not only explore their own separate dungeons, but also team up to explore certain dungeons together, each with their own set of unique abilities. While the game is positioned as another sort of “Zelda-like” game in the absence of a real Legend Of Zelda at launch for the Reality (while also releasing on the Nexus and Virtua), it's a bit of a failure for a number of reasons. Though the graphics are great, they're not revolutionary, and other Reality titles, including games like Pandora's Tower, actually exceed it in most aspects in this regard. The game also suffers from “Donkey Kong 64 syndrome”, in that players are forced to go back with Shana to collect things that the Prince already collected, creating a lot of repetitive segments. The plot is also somewhat basic, involving a generic threat to the kingdom in the form of yet another evil ancient king seeking revenge, and though Shana gets some decent character development, the plot's progression is slow and predictable. This game is another disappointment, and is seen as a step down for the series in general.
GameRankings Score: 67.03%
Duke Nukem In Vegas
This game launches on the Nexus initially, and then the Reality at launch a few weeks later. It's an FPS featuring Duke Nukem stopping an invasion of pigs who have interrupted his Las Vegas vacation, and features the typical Duke Nukem gameplay: ultraviolent and sexy FPS with lots of one-liners from Duke. There's the ability to gamble and hook up with hookers throughout the game, as Duke lives it up in Sin City while blasting aliens into next week. The game spoofs all of the famous Las Vegas attractions, and Penn Jillette even took time out from his job as a senator to appear as a parody of himself in the game, which generates some controversy in the news considering the game's violent and sexual content and the reprehensible (but hilarious) actions of his character. This is a sophomoric, generic, and predictable FPS title, but that's just what Duke Nukem fans have come to expect, and the game manages to get decent reviews.
GameRankings Score: 70.50%
Remember Me
Developed by the same team as OTL's cult classic, but published by Ubisoft instead of Capcom (which enables it to remain a multiplatform game ITTL), Remember Me is an adventure title about a protagonist named Nilin seeking to recover her lost memories while manipulating the memories of others. The combat and puzzle gameplay from OTL are largely intact in this game, along with the game's primary gimmick of stealing and replaying the memories of others to advance in the story and enhance Nilin's abilities. The game features more RPG elements and a more narrative-heavy story, and delves even deeper into the characters of Nilin and her mother Scylla to make the player empathize more with both of them. It also introduces a few new characters into the narrative, including a young hacker named Russ and an assassin named Asuka. The combat is also improved from OTL's title, giving the players more components to use with which to generate combo moves, and also improving enemy AI to force the player to vary up their attacks. This, along with the improved graphics from being an eighth-generation game instead of a seventh generation one, make Remember Me a better received game than IOTL, and it does quite well commercially, selling around half a million copies in its first week of release (with around 80,000 of those on the Reality, 150,000 on the Virtua, and 250,000 on the Nexus). It's also much better received critically than IOTL, assuring the continuation of the series.
GameRankings Score: 82.11%
Batman: Dark Legend
Quite similar to the Virtua version of the game. It does include VR in certain segments, but not the entire game.
GameRankings Score: 83.82%
Shadowrun: Archaica
The Reality version, with its greatly improved graphics, is considered the definitive console version of the game.
GameRankings Score: 81.14%
Grapple: Settle It In The Ring
Not much to say about this port. The Reality version gets some extra DLC, which is nice.
GameRankings Score: 80.50%
Guacamelee!
Nintendo actually pushes this one fairly heavily on the digital store, and it sells decently in the first week of release.
GameRankings Score: 89.00%
Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra
Identical to the Virtua version, and not a big seller on the Reality, with no included VR to speak of.
GameRankings Score: 77.54%
Child Of Light
Actually looks a bit better and smoother on the Reality, but other than that, nothing's changed here.
GameRankings Score: 86.71%
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June 10, 2013
The Nintendo Reality is launched worldwide, at an MSRP of $399.99 for the base console and $499.99 for the VR package. It doesn't come with any pack-in games, though the VR package has a disc with a few VR demos to help players acclimate to the VR capabilities of the console. The VR package is also sold separately for $149.99 so that players can upgrade to VR if they wish. The release is preceded by a wide advertising campaign, but not one as ubiquitous as the Virtua's. Nintendo and Sony reason that Nintendo fans will know all about the Reality launch thanks to extensive coverage online, and that they'll let their friends and family who may not be aware of the launch know. The Reality receives very good reviews from the gaming media, who are impressed with both the quality of the launch titles (particularly F-Zero: FIRESTORM, Pandora's Tower, and Wipeout: Reality, along with the Cyberwar 4 port) and the system's technical might, both in and out of VR mode. The console's $100 lower price also serves as an attractive sales point for the console, with gamers who just want to play and aren't yet interested in taking the VR leap impressed with the quality of the games outside of the VR functionality. The VR itself receives mostly positive reviews, though it's a bit of a mixed bag from game to game. It does help to further hype and push the console amongst intrigued casual players, some of whom are convinced to buy the system.
The Reality has an extremely successful launch in North America, pushing nearly two million consoles there in its first week of sales, along with around 500,000 in Japan and around 250,000 in Europe, for a total of 2.5 million units sold in its first week of worldwide release. About a third of those are the VR unit, while two-thirds of purchasers buy the cheaper base unit. While Nintendo is slightly dismayed that their first week of launch in Japan wasn't as successful as the Virtua's, the huge North American sales make up for it, and the Reality enjoys one of the best first weeks of sales for a game console of all time.
Here are the launch week sales figures for the 18 launch titles, based on North American sales (on a total of 1,705,886 first week units sold in North America):
F-Zero: FIRESTORM: 890,115
Cyberwar 4: 481,970
Call Of Duty: Coalition: 204,614
Assassin's Creed III: 166,302
Wipeout Reality: 145,412
MLB 13: 117,734
Lucky Once: 100,216
Remember Me: 81,515
Pandora's Tower: 68,816
Batman: Dark Legend: 68,240
Duke Nukem In Vegas: 50,216
Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends: 39,547
Locked And Loaded: 32,496
Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra: 24,316
Grapple: Settle It In The Ring: 22,861
Shadowrun: Archaica: 20,885
Child Of Light: 17,350
Guacamelee!: 13,054
-
June 10, 2013
Nintendo's top brass were gathered at E3, preparing to watch as the company's keynote speech was delivered. The mood was a jubilant one: the Reality had launched successfully around the world, and Nintendo's E3 keynote would not just be a series of upcoming game announcements, but a victory lap in which the Reality's success would be touted to a waiting crowd. This success, hoped Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, would be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the console that would lead to more hardware units pushed and more software sales.
The Nintendo executives were joined by someone who was no longer officially with the company, but who had returned to help work on the VR technology at the heart of the Nintendo Reality, while also working on one final game that would provide the perfect showcase for the Reality's tech and would hopefully provide millions of players around the world with hours upon hours of entertainment. Gunpei Yokoi's new game wasn't quite ready to show at this year's E3 (he estimated it would probably be finished sometime in 2015), but he was there to spend time with his friends, particularly Iwata, and perhaps he could even be persuaded to make an appearance on stage.
“Thank you again for coming, my friend,” said Iwata, bowing slightly to Yokoi.
“Thank you for inviting me,” replied Yokoi, who bowed lower to Iwata, a show of respect for the man who had gone from being a hard working game designer to being the head of Nintendo, and a show of continued friendship for the man who allowed him to return to provide one final gift to the company and to the video gaming world. “I'm glad the launch of the Reality has been a successful one.”
“It wouldn't have been, without your help,” said Iwata. Yokoi gracefully shook his head.
“No, I contributed very slightly, the Reality is an amazing console. It has a bit more technology than I would have preferred it to have, but the games are still fun, so I suppose I can live with all of those expensive parts inside the machine.”
Iwata laughed, remembering Yokoi's love of simplicity. He too was as surprised as anyone that Nintendo was still pushing cutting-edge graphical power in its games, but 25 years of working with Sony had changed Nintendo's philosophy somewhat. Nintendo still considered itself an innovator in fun, but working with Sony, and Ken Kutaragi in particular, had shown many at Nintendo that amazing fun could be paired with cutting-edge technology. While it made for more expensive hardware, it allowed Nintendo to provide as much fun as possible with absolutely no compromises, and even Iwata had trouble imagining a world in which Nintendo and Sony weren't partners in the industry.
And just as Iwata's mind dwelled on Ken Kutaragi, the man himself walked up to the two Nintendo legends, bowing and shaking both of their hands with an exuberant look on his face.
“This is just incredible, isn't it? E3 once again! I can't wait to show off some of these games, I think they're going to really impress everyone, right?”
“You're not the one making the games,” said Yokoi, with a more subdued expression.
“Ah, but he did make many of them possible,” said Iwata. “Remember, he is the one who came up with the SNES sound chip. He's the one who made it possible for us to partner with Sony.”
“I suppose so,” Yokoi replied. “So, Kutaragi-san, do you have any suggestions for the virtual reality goggles?”
“I'd like people to be able to watch movies on them,” said Kutaragi. “There are devices that can do that already, but it'd be a nice feature for our goggles to have.”
“Kutaragi-san imagines one day that people will be able to look around a movie like they're really there, but they would have to shoot movies differently to make that possible,” said Iwata.
“It would be very expensive to add that capability to the goggles,” said Yokoi. “It would have made the console cost hundreds of dollars more.”
“They can do it cheaply on a phone,” said Kutaragi, “though I guess that's not quite the same.”
As the three men continued to discuss the Reality and Nintendo's future, they were approached by Nintendo of America's president Shawn Layden, who was getting ready to present the company's keynote speech. Iwata, Yokoi, and Kutaragi all greeted him and wished him well, and he took some time to go over one last time with Iwata some of the points of his address.
“I'm planning just to give a really excited speech, thanking those in attendance who have already bought the Reality,” said Layden.
“Be sure to thank everyone, even if they haven't played a Nintendo game since the Famicom,” Iwata reminded him. “We're trying to sell the Reality to everyone, not people who've already bought it.”
“Of course, of course. I'll start by talking about the launch games, invite you on stage, you'll talk for a bit, then after a few minutes of launch hype, we go right into the new Star Fox.”
“It's going to be fun out there,” said Iwata, smiling. “It always is.”
“I'm jealous!” said Kutaragi with a laugh.
As Layden headed toward the stage to deliver Nintendo's keynote, Iwata thanked Yokoi one more time.
“Are you sure you don't want to join me on the stage?” asked Iwata. Yokoi humbly shook his head.
“I'm fine with being the man behind the curtain,” said Yokoi. “Besides, most of the people out there don't even know who I am.”
“Those who do really appreciate your work,” said Iwata. “As do I.”
“Thank you, my old friend.”
The two men exchanged one more handshake, then parted, as Iwata made his way to the backstage area to listen to the start of Layden's speech and prepare for his entrance.
“Good morning,” began Layden, as the crowd cheered wildly. “Welcome to Nintendo at E3 2013, and welcome to the beginning of the Reality era!”
The crowd cheered again as a brief hype video for the Reality launch played on the screen. When it concluded, Layden continued.
“Just a few hours ago, the Nintendo Reality launched worldwide, and reports indicate that it was one of the most successful game console launches of all time. And that's all thanks to you, the Nintendo fans, who have made this amazing success possible over the last 30 years. Even if you haven't bought the Reality yet, and hopefully by the end of this presentation we'll convince you that you should, those of you who have supported us from the original NES all the way to the Nintendo Sapphire, thank you from the bottom of all our hearts.”
Iwata listened and nodded in approval. It was another successful console launch for Nintendo. He didn't know it yet, but it would be the last one he'd get to enjoy.
The Nintendo Reality is a rectangular white console with black trim and a black logo/design on top that incorporates a sort of circular pattern along with the new sleek Nintendo lettering. It's slightly larger than the Virtua, but also shorter, taking up a few square inches more real estate when placed on top of something. It has the same Blu-Ray discs and inputs as its competitors, though the design of the box itself is somewhat “cleaner”, with the ports and disc drive more discreet, and no cameras to speak of. The console is the first Nintendo legacy console since the SNES that doesn't have backward compatibility with its predecessors. Nintendo and Sony cite cost-cutting as a reason for not including backward compatibility, though many believe it's a ploy to encourage people to purchase digital games, which are included on the digital store from day one (and if you've purchased Sapphire/Wave/Ultra Nintendo/SNES/NES titles, you can download them immediately, you don't have to re-buy them). The console does play Blu-Ray and DVD movies, but not music CDs. It has a 1TB hard drive, the same as the Apple Virtua, in both the base and VR versions.
The Nintendo Reality is more powerful than the Apple Virtua by a decent margin, though practically, it's not that much more impressive in terms of graphics, except for specifically designed first-party exclusives. The Reality's custom CPU, codenamed “Integra”, is an octo-core setup with each core running at 2.3 GHz, and its GPU, a Radeon chip similar to OTL's PS4, runs at right around 1 Ghz. The Reality is capable of 2.75 teraflops of processing power, with a decent chunk of this used to power the system's VR suite (though this processing power can be shifted elsewhere if the VR isn't in use). This puts it almost halfway between OTL's PS4 and PS4 Pro, and the system is capable of taking advantage of that power with the 4K TVs coming into use around this time, though not to the same degree as OTL's PS4 Pro. The Reality utilizes a controller quite similar to the Sapphire before it, a controller not all that dissimilar from OTL's Switch Pro controller, complete with an enhanced rumble feature. However, the VR set includes a pair of motion controllers that are similar to OTL's PS Move controllers, though ITTL they do get compared to the iTwin controllers. These aren't intended to be used for non-VR games like the iTwin/Virtua controllers can be (though it is possible to use them since they share the same buttons). The Reality's controller lacks the L4/R4 functionality of the Virtua controller, but this does help save on costs, with the Reality controller priced at $59.99 MSRP.
The Nintendo Reality is a beast, a powerhouse of a console capable of running games that look better than those of any other console on the market. However, because of the compromises Nintendo made, the company is able to sell the base console at $100 less than the price of the base Virtua at launch. Buying the VR-included model does bring it up to $499, but you get quite a bit included, including a VR game/demo suite, the extra motion controllers, and the headset itself. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the headset functions similarly to OTL's PSVR headset, with slightly less graphical detail, but also more fluid motion. Intended to be used with simpler games, Yokoi had years to perfect the headset, and initial reviews are extremely favorable. The Reality VR is no Virtual Boy: it's the next step in immersive gaming, and an excellent demonstration of the console's capabilities.
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Launch Title Summaries-
(The Reality's North American launch line-up consists of 18 games, plus a few more small titles not worth mentioning here.)
F-Zero: FIRESTORM
(Authors' Note: The following game summary was given to us by the reader HeX! We made a few edits to the development/performance details to fit in with the narrative, but the gameplay and plot descriptions are entirely by him.)
F-Zero: FIRESTORM is a new entry in the F-Zero franchise, and entirely alien from any of its spiritual predecessors. Firestorm departs from the speedy, precise, and brutal racing that defined the series since its debut on the SNES in 1990, though the game is no less high-octane and intense. At its core, Firestorm is the happy marriage of an open-world adventure title, a 3D platformer, and a beat 'em up, taking the best elements of each and almost none of the bad. Players take control of the People's Champion himself, Captain Falcon, and have a deep combat system at their fingertips from the get-go, in a large part inspired by the characters moveset from the Super Smash Bros. series. Falcon comes equipped with all sorts of punches and kicks and built-in combos. A strong attack launches foes into the air, allowing Falcon to combo them up there, and giving him the ability to pull off the iconic "Knee of Justice". Some characters wielding blades or other blunt weapons may drop them upon death, giving Falcon a sword or bat to use for a short while; when fighting one such enemy, an input, if timed properly, will result in a brief-but-epic cutscene Captain grabbing the blade by its flat mid-swing and yanking it away from the foe for his personal use. To incentivize combat and the usage of these combos, the only way to regain health is by punching bad guys, which builds up a "Firestorm" meter. Once the meter is built up, it can be used in three ways: as a slow burn, boosting Falcon's attack power and engulfing him and his moves in flames; to regain health, based on how far the meter is filled; and as a finishing move, involving flashy flips and kicks and ending with a devastating Falcon Punch.
Just as integral to the gameplay as combat is platforming, using a system not dissimilar to the momentum-based physics seen in Sonic the Hedgehog, but to a far less pronounced degree. Falcon's top speed is difficult to achieve, but once it has, his jump, double-jump, and climbing skills are amplified by an ability to temporarily run up or along walls or to leap great distances in a single bound. Keep max speed for a few seconds, and the Raptor Boost is engaged; Captain Falcon becomes engulfed in flames and leaves behind trails of fire as he runs extremely fast. If he keeps his speed up he can travel great distances quickly and even run straight up walls, but if not he'll gradually slow down. The tradeoff for such immense speed is the loss of most control, and hairpin turns immediately end the boost mode.
During certain sections, Captain Falcon hops into his ship to race other characters on classic racing tracks in the F-Zero universe to prove himself or get something of theirs. These races are largely scripted, and rip their mechanics directly from F-Zero (2008).
Development on F-Zero: FIRESTORM was a quiet affair. What would eventually become the game was conceived of in late 2008, when Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe bought, played through, fell in love with, and completed Fallout: The Boneyard on his Sapphire. As someone who had spent a bit of time playing the old isometric RPG Fallouts here and there, Tanabe was blown away by the shocking transformation the franchise had taken to morph into a first-person action-adventure game with an enormous world just begging to be explored. As the seeds of inspiration were being planted in his brain, Nintendo found themselves at a junction point: what to do about F-Zero? Back in the '90s, a mildly successful side-scrolling beat 'em up starring Captain Falcon had appeared on the SNES, but ever since, the franchise had stuck to its racing roots. Now, no F-Zero game was ever bad, per say, but Nintendo's creative staff was beginning to grow tired of repeating the same thing over and over again. Shelving the entire franchise became a very real possibility by New Year's 2009, even with the outstanding success of the last game in the series at that point still fresh in their minds.
Enter Kensuke Tanabe.
Development on A Chef's Tale for the Sapphire was winding down, and, in need of a new project, he caught wind of the situation with Nintendo's premier racing series (after Mario Kart, of course). There was a blinding spark of inspiration, and Tanabe went straight to Katsuya Eguchi's office with his idea: an open world F-Zero game, one part racing game, one part old '90s beat 'em ups, and one part Super Smash Bros. His ideas were big, but they were just what F-Zero needed: a shot of originality sent straight to the vein. Work began immediately, but concepts for the game just kept on getting bigger and bigger, until it was deemed the Sapphire would be far too underpowered to hold everything they had planned. As luck would have it, Sony was tinkering away at the console that was next in line to the Nintendo throne. The Big N decided that F-Zero: Outworld (as it was then called) would be the perfect fit for a next-gen launch title, then. Nintendo's must-have launch title. The console called "Reality" would not launch with Mario or Link or Pikachu or Samus leading the way. While Apple clung to Sonic or Commander Keen with a deathgrip, Nintendo wanted to prove they were still top of the heap by headlining their biggest, most ambitious piece of hardware yet with a little-known IP and an untested new game style. No pop culture juggernauts or instantly recognizable titles.
Just a good game.
And a good game it was. When F-Zero: FIRESTORM hit shelves, it could barely stay on them long enough for people to realize it was there. The spinoff title would go on to sell more than ten million total copies, almost as much as every previous F-Zero game combined. Firestorm was met with outstanding critical acclaim across the board, becoming the best reviewed game of the Reality launch and one of the best titles of 2013, with reviews averaging in the mid 9s and plenty of perfect scores from a variety of sources. The biggest complaint by far was that the VR aspects of the game felt a bit "tacked on" ...which they were, Firestorm was not developed with VR in mind until well into the design process. As a result, the VR was a mixed bag, highly immersive but at some times unnatural. Motion sickness became a real concern if players used first-person VR mode for too long, due to the speed at which Captain Falcon moved. This was probably why Nintendo, though hyping up Firestorm quite lot in the months preceding the Reality's launch, refrained from making it the console's pack-in title. Virtual Reality was the focus, after all, and Firestorm wasn't Nintendo's best foot forward into that field.
Chapter One
Race to Win
The game begins in the heat of the final laps of an F-Zero Championship Race, with Captain Falcon once again competing for the title of "Speed Demon" and the coveted Champion's Belt. Though a serious competition the race is more good-natured and friendly than one might expect for a championship, given that most of the racers are all good friends. Captain Falcon volleys playful banter back at everyone, though he lingers in flirting with Lady LeChique, someone he's very clearly romantically interested in, while she's somewhat indifferent. Falcon easily wins the race, humiliating his on-again, off-again bumbling nemesis, Samurai Goroh by stealing victory from his grasp. After the victor's ceremony, Falcon throws a wild party at his Batcave-esque mansion and garage, and passes out on his couch. When he wakes up the next morning, a new holo-mail is queued on his helmet, which he watches, revealing a dark, cloaked figure. He calls himself the Hood, and claims to be a high-ranking underworld overlord in need of a bounty hunter. Falcon protests, saying he left that kind of life behind a long time ago, but the Hood threatens him with revealing the star racer's dark past to the F-Zero Racing Organization, which would result in the revoking of all of the Captain's awards and trophies and a permanent ban from racing. With no choice but to comply, Falcon is given a list of names, mostly his fellow racers, but mostly his fellow racers that were on the shady side. Captain Falcon is to incapacitate or, if necessary, kill, these targets in one week, or his past is to be revealed and his life is ruined.
Chapter Two
Shadows
Sector I: Port Town
Port Town is, as far as things go, the most straightforward and linear sector in the game, a pseudo-tutorial without any hand-holding. Captain Falcon's hideout is fully explorable, chock full of easter eggs from across the F-Zero series and other assorted Nintendo franchises. By far the most interesting part of his house are the Champion Difficulty and 100% completion bonuses, which are hidden away in the game room on the second floor of the building. For beating the game on Champion (no easy task), players are rewarded with a slightly slimmed-down version of the original F-Zero for SNES; for collecting every item and achievement and completing every side quest, a model F-Zero racer is unlocked that allows players to train for races on virtual, procedurally-generated tracks against ghost racers. The city of Port Town itself is decently big, dotted with towering skyscrapers and glass pyramids in a Blade Runner-meets-Ghost in the Shell aesthetic that carries on through the rest of the game, though the skyline itself is dominated by a massive R.O.B. construction robot and the space harbor that surrounds it. Blood Falcon, the Captain's much more dangerous evil nemesis, has taken over the usually peaceful city streets of Port Town, and has even commandeered the harbor and R.O.B. Captain Falcon must first clean up the ground level by taking down Blood Falcon's gang of crooks and hoodlums, then scale the R.O.B. to reach his foe's stolen ship. On the decks of the SS Eagleland, the two Falcons do battle. After defeating Blood, the way to Mute City opens.
Chapter Three
The Greatest City in the Universe
Sector II: Mute City
Mute City is massive. A metropolis the size of Hyrule City from The Legend of Zelda: Hero Eternal functions as the game's hub, though it's far more than that. The city is bursting with things to do, people to see, places to explore. Sidequests abound, many being simple fetchquests, but a few special ones stand out with the caliber of OTL Majora's Mask's Anju and Kafei quest. An entire subsection, Casino Royale Mute City is frequently cited as one of the best places in F-Zero: FIRESTORM to use the Reality's VR functions, not even to really play the game but to just walk around the immersive, carefully designed world. Upon entering Mute City for the first time, players are given a number of main story quests to accomplish: orders from Falcon's employer to take down the murderous Skull, who's been wreaking havoc across Mute City; to uncover more about the mysterious Shadow Million organization, which seems to have its grimy fingers in everything from Port Town to Mute City; and to collect bounties on smaller perps by going to police stations and looking them up on wanted posters. The last item on that list was specifically made with the goal of having players lose themselves in exploring Mute City and not simply skipping over huge (but otherwise completely optional) portions of the game.
Captain Falcon eventually tracks down the Skull in a seedy part of town, but he's accidentally spotted. The Skull hops into a nearby hovercar, and the Captain does as well, following him on a high-speed chase into the heart of Mute City, Silence Square. Totalling his vehicle, the Skull manages to slip into the Shard, the city's most iconic building, leading Falcon on a chase up the elevator shafts to the roof. The two fight, and Captain Falcon ends up hurling the Skull over the edge to his doom. Following this, Mute City is able to reopen its ports to other planets, allowing the player to choose from a triad of possible next locations to go to: Red Canyon, White Slopes, or Big Blue.
Chapter Four
Worlds to Explore
Sector III: Red Canyon
While the order of the three new planets can be selected in any order, according to official canon Red Canyon is the next step. Here, Falcon must traverse a fairly linear canyon to find Samurai Goroh, who is revealed to actually be far smarter than previously thought. His bumbling, idiot self was a facade, a ruse to throw off the scent while he built his own secret criminal organization, the yakuza-esque Dragon's Claw. Thugs from this group line Red Canyon, armed with swords and some even clad in traditional samurai armor. Along the way, the Captain is assaulted with falling rocks, a raging river, and the remnants of a long-forgotten ancient civilization with all of its booby traps still intact and deadly. The boss fight with Goroh is straight out of OTL's F-Zero GX's story mode in a two-lap race around the canyon.
Sector IV: White Slopes
This is the next world in canonical order of selection. The section explorable is a massive ski resort complex, with a Swiss alpine motif. In addition to plenty of ski resort staples, there is also an indoor water park (with working slides and a few minigames) and the most impressive portion, the halfpipe and slopes. The former is reminiscent of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater stage, where Falcon can pull off tricks and combos to get high scores. The latter is made up of four separate slopes, leveling up from "Easy" (and the quote-unquote "tutorial"), to "Medium," to "Hard," and finally to "Expert." In regards to the story, when Falcon arrives the resort is in shambles due to the actions of Zoda, a mutant-android hybrid whose programming has gone haywire. The Hood reveals that Zoda is his creation, a first attempt at creating a loyal hitman from scratch that went horribly awry. He needs the Captain to put it down, not because of the havoc its wreaking but the fact that the havoc might be traced back to him. Falcon is joined for a large part of this sector by Lady LeChique, with the two flirting nonstop from beginning to end.Eventually, after Falcon helps clean up the resort a little, LeChique challenges him to a race down the slopes.
Things soon go south, however, as about halfway down the mountain a distant explosion can be heard, followed by an avalanche that separates the two and sends Captain Falcon down a dangerous alternate path, snowboarding down the mountain ahead of the tumbling snow in a moment similar to OTL's Sonic Adventure. Soon enough, the Captain catches a glimpse of Zoda, who is skiing down the mountain and had set off the avalanche behind them both. This is where the boss fight begins, and the player must ram Zoda into obstacles on the mountain as they sled down. After doing so five times, Falcon tackles Zoda out of the way of the avalanche and captures him. He lies to the Hood about "terminating" the creature, having instead set it free in the woods a few miles from civilization.
Sector V: Big Blue
The same situation of stage chronology applies here. Big Blue, while usually a tranquil paradise, is marked with horror as the bounty hunter Beastman attempts to track down and murder Bio Rex, Falcon's next target, in cold blood, his mind having finally snapped under pressure. Their battles have left the 1950s retro-future themed city in tatters, with tourists and locals alike scattered and terrified. The Captain helps out many of these people, bringing the tropical Caribbean feelings back to Big Blue slowly but surely. This section has the only underwater portions of the game, where Octoman lends you his submarine to take down Bio Rex--but only after defeating Beastman atop the tallest ship in the city. While Beastman is a traditional hand-to-hand fight, Bio Rex must be hit five times with Octomissles to knock him out and take him in, all while dodging wreckage of a sunken spaceship all around them.
Chapter Five
Charbroiled
Sector VI: Firestorm
Regardless of the order Red Canyon, White Slopes, and Big Blue are selected before this point, this is where all three of the branches link up. This is supposedly the final level, with the player facing down the toughest platforming and combat segments in the game. Depending on how many side quests have been completed, Falcon is either sent here to get the villainous Black Shadow simply as his next bounty, or as the head of the Shadow Million organization. There are no NPCs here, making the area feel hollow and abandoned and turning every encounter into a jumpscare for the player. The Firestorm Facility was a place scientists were studying the effects of prolonged heat and sun exposure, and as such the facility is in actuality a space station orbiting frighteningly close to a nearby star. The facility seems to be collapsing in on itself around Falcon as he goes. Eventually, Black Shadow is taken on, first in a traditional hand-to-hand battle and then in a footrace to the entrance after Shadow triggers the self-destruction of the station (similar to classic Metroid) and the pair must get out before they die. Falcon wins, however, and returns to Mute City with Black Shadow in chains. But then, Falcon's mysterious employer reveals himself upon their arrival: Deathborn. It turns out that Deathborn blackmailed Falcon to not only get him to do his dirty work, but to also get the celebrity racer out of his house so he could steal the F-Zero Champion's Belt (an optional side quest investigates this matter). He combines it with his own Underworld Champion's Belt to turn himself into a demigod. He then busts out all of Falcon's captured bounties from over the course of the game (he wanted them all in one spot, that's why he hired Falcon in the first place) and injects them with superpowers, setting them out to wreak havoc on Mute City. Falcon must take them all down in hand-to-hand combat, absorbing their powers after doing so to power up enough and have a fighting chance to beat Deathborn. When the final boss is gone from Mute City, Falcon "Super Saiyans" into Golden Falcon (his outfit looks similar to OTL's Smash Bros. golden alternate costume), and heads off to fight his final foe in the most dangerous track in all of F-Zero: Outer Space.
Chapter Six
Endgame
Sector VII: Outer Space
This section of the game has two parts: the ending, and the true ending. Over the course of the game, there are six suit upgrades for Falcon to collect. If the player hasn't found them all, they will fight Deathborn hand-to-hand, and while they are able to escape, Deathborn is as well, and Falcon's return to Mute City and Port Town in the final cutscene is a bit more unfulfilled. However, if the player has found all six suit upgrades, there is a transition after the first fight into a deathrace on the Outer Space track. Falcon defeats Deathborn and hurls him out into space, supposedly killing him for good this time. Either way the player goes about it, there are very few differences in the end cutscene, where Falcon monologues for a bit, gets a date with Lady LeChique and a good time with his friends, and then hops into the Blue Falcon and speeds off through Port Town. But if the player got the true ending, they're treated to another scene of Deathborn floating out in space, motionless and covered in frost. The camera pans in slowly on his face, and just before the camera cuts to black, his blood-red eye snaps open.
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As stated above, F-Zero: FIRESTORM receives a flurry of critical acclaim. The company's boldness to go in such a strange direction with a mid-level property after the last game was so highly praised for sticking to what the series knew best was impressive. It also created a whole new generation of F-Zero fans. Suddenly, Metroid's most serious competition in the science-fiction market under Nintendo's vast umbrella was not Squad Four or Star Fox, but an unlikely entry in an unlikely franchise that was almost dead in the water. F-Zero: FIRESTORM would go on to become the highest-selling Reality game of the year, and would remain in the top ten for many more to come. Nintendo's focus on the franchise became serious. There were many sequels in store, not just to the traditional racers but also the Big N's newest, hottest open world video game.
"F-Zero: FIRESTORM was one of the biggest games of 2013 (considered to be one of the best years for gaming in history). It was the biggest game on the Reality until the release of Squad Four: Betrayal. And it was the first true step towards harnessing the power of VR any company took. Sure, the motion sickness was a problem, but if you look past all that, you can see for the first time a truly immersive, living, breathing world that you can loose yourself in for hours on end, playing poker in the Casino Royale or racing time-trial ghosts in virtual F-Zero tracks. Pretty impressive for a game that wasn't originally supposed to be on the Reality at all."
-MatPat, in the 2019 YouTube video Game Theory: Game of the Year? More like Best Games of the DECADE!
“The best game I've played in a long time, it combines open world action with fast-paced racing and is probably the most content-rich game of all time. It gets a perfect 5/5 from me, and it's the early favorite for my personal Game of the Year. What more is there to say?"
-Alex Stansfield, in the GamesOverMatter review of F-Zero: FIRESTORM
GameRankings Score: 95.01%
Pandora's Tower
An action-RPG developed by Ganbarion, this game has many similarities to the title released IOTL, but features significantly better graphics and a more fleshed out tower, as well as a more detailed story (due to the developers having more time to work on the game). The basic plot and gameplay are similar to OTL's title, with a protagonist named Atheron (name changed from OTL's Aeron due to it being too similar to the name of Sega's heroine Aerio) who seeks to rescue his lover Elena from a curse. In order to do so, he must ascend a tower full of puzzles and monsters in order to gather flesh for Elena to eat to free her from the curse. He wields a chain weapon that has a wide variety of uses, and is somewhat inspired by the whip from the Lash Out series, so its mechanics are somewhat altered from IOTL and it can be used in more versatile ways, which enables the tower itself to be more complex and larger. Like IOTL's game, the player is able to develop Atheron's relationship with Elena, which alters the ending and also the strength of the services that Elena can perform for the player, which include upgrading weapons and finding treasure. Pandora's Tower also draws inspiration from OTL's The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, which was the major launch title for the Nintendo Connect. This means that every floor in the tower is in some way its own small dungeon, and players can even return to previous floors to gather treasure and open up new secrets. The game features multiple endings, which are affected both by the player's relationship with Elena and their performance in the tower's various trials and challenges, with seven total endings in all, ranging from a completely happy ending to a very tragic one, and everything in between TTL's Pandora's Tower is a much more fleshed-out and developed game than OTL's Wii title. Graphics, sound, gameplay, and storyline have all been improved across the board, with the developers encouraged to create a “Zelda-like experience” due to the fact that there's no Zelda title at launch for the Reality. The game even allows players to use the VR to search rooms and battle certain enemies. Overall, the game is considered one of the year's best action RPGs, and is another major star of the Reality launch. North American sales are merely decent, but the game is a major hit in Japan.
GameRankings Score: 86.90%
Wipeout Reality
Psygnosis developed this latest Wipeout game as their first next-gen foray in the series, intended to be a sort of tech demo game for VR racing. It's not nearly as content rich as recent games in the series, with only 12 total tracks and less cars than normal, but it's visually stunning and moves incredibly fast, and is considered absolutely breathtaking in VR. The game itself is fairly basic, with the standard grand prix and time trial modes, along with a few battle modes and of course online gameplay. There's no adventure or storyline mode to be had, but there are some character bios for the racers. Overall, Wipeout Reality is considered a good racer, if a bit bare bones, and scratches the itch that many people have for a full-fledged racer on the Reality, since F-Zero: FIRESTORM only has small racing segments and isn't a full racing experience. Sales are surprisingly strong, making it the second fastest selling Wipeout title ever, and Psygnosis begins work on a proper next-gen title that will be multiplatform and will include many more racers and tracks.
GameRankings Score: 81.21%
Lucky Once
A title by David Cage, about a man who is tasked with stopping a terrorist attack, and has a number of ways to go about doing so. It's more heavy on story than gameplay, as is typical for a David Cage game, but does have some action/shooting sequences at pivotal moments of the game, with the protagonist's storyline responses sometimes affecting their performance in the action sequences, and vice-versa. The protagonist is able to choose from a variety of violent/non-violent methods to stop the terrorist attack, but each has its own set of consequences, and there's no right way to go about it (but there are a few wrong ways). The game attempts to explore the idea of morality in the face of a horrible threat against human lives, and what it's worth to stop such violent acts, but the narrative is somewhat clunky, and even the voice acting, which is performed by a mix of minor celebrities and voiceover pros, gets some criticism. Graphically beautiful and highly ambitious, the game has serious flaws and was rushed to launch, and ultimately ends up being a major disappointment that's overshadowed by the other launch titles on the system. Its initial sales at launch are actually fairly good, but the game can't shake the poor reviews and bad word of mouth.
GameRankings Score: 59.54%
Locked And Loaded
A somewhat simplistic third person shooter with an arcade-style feel that's somewhat light on story but features strong action gameplay (in sort of an inverse of Lucky Once). It's intended to be a sort of Duality-inspired game and while it doesn't quite reach those heights, it's a nice little showcase for the Reality's capabilities, with some of the best VR of any of the launch games. Sales are fairly low but the game would remain a popular budget title throughout its lifespan.
GameRankings Score: 79.10%
Cyberwar 4
Cyberwar 4 comes to the Reality at launch (and would be released on Apple's Virtua console on the same day). It includes some of the game's single-player and multiplayer DLC, though the biggest upgrade would be the graphics. The game has smoother graphics than the Nexus and Virtua versions, though it's not a huge difference. Cyberwar 4 doesn't include any support for VR at launch, but would get support via a major update in 2014 (Psygnosis didn't want the game to have crappy, rushed VR). Overall, this is the second best selling title of the Reality launch in North America, and is the best reviewed version critically as well.
GameRankings Score: 94.71%
MLB 13
The popular baseball franchise comes to the Reality, appearing as a launch title (IOTL, the franchise called MLB isn't a Sony franchise, but an Acclaim one, and is a multiplatform game). It's an improved and polished version of the one released for the last-gen consoles and Nexus earlier in the year, and though it's a bit late for baseball season, it achieves good reviews and sales. It's not Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame, but it's good enough for the Reality.
GameRankings Score: 83.90%
Assassin's Creed III
The same game as the Nexus and Virtua versions, with slightly better graphics. Ubisoft cheaped out on DLC inclusion, not giving Reality owners any extra incentive to buy the game: this is the base title. That knocks the review score down a bit, though this is still the best version of the game.
GameRankings Score: 87.71%
Call Of Duty: Coalition
This one does get a bit of included DLC, mostly bonuses for multiplayer. It's an average Call Of Duty game and looks great on the Reality, though, like other launch titles, it doesn't support VR at first.
GameRankings Score: 84.22%
Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends
Developed by Activision, this game is the latest in the rebooted Prince Of Persia series that began back in the 2000s, and is the first developed with eighth-generation consoles in mind. It not only sees the return of the Prince, but also features his queen Shana as a co-equal playable character. The two not only explore their own separate dungeons, but also team up to explore certain dungeons together, each with their own set of unique abilities. While the game is positioned as another sort of “Zelda-like” game in the absence of a real Legend Of Zelda at launch for the Reality (while also releasing on the Nexus and Virtua), it's a bit of a failure for a number of reasons. Though the graphics are great, they're not revolutionary, and other Reality titles, including games like Pandora's Tower, actually exceed it in most aspects in this regard. The game also suffers from “Donkey Kong 64 syndrome”, in that players are forced to go back with Shana to collect things that the Prince already collected, creating a lot of repetitive segments. The plot is also somewhat basic, involving a generic threat to the kingdom in the form of yet another evil ancient king seeking revenge, and though Shana gets some decent character development, the plot's progression is slow and predictable. This game is another disappointment, and is seen as a step down for the series in general.
GameRankings Score: 67.03%
Duke Nukem In Vegas
This game launches on the Nexus initially, and then the Reality at launch a few weeks later. It's an FPS featuring Duke Nukem stopping an invasion of pigs who have interrupted his Las Vegas vacation, and features the typical Duke Nukem gameplay: ultraviolent and sexy FPS with lots of one-liners from Duke. There's the ability to gamble and hook up with hookers throughout the game, as Duke lives it up in Sin City while blasting aliens into next week. The game spoofs all of the famous Las Vegas attractions, and Penn Jillette even took time out from his job as a senator to appear as a parody of himself in the game, which generates some controversy in the news considering the game's violent and sexual content and the reprehensible (but hilarious) actions of his character. This is a sophomoric, generic, and predictable FPS title, but that's just what Duke Nukem fans have come to expect, and the game manages to get decent reviews.
GameRankings Score: 70.50%
Remember Me
Developed by the same team as OTL's cult classic, but published by Ubisoft instead of Capcom (which enables it to remain a multiplatform game ITTL), Remember Me is an adventure title about a protagonist named Nilin seeking to recover her lost memories while manipulating the memories of others. The combat and puzzle gameplay from OTL are largely intact in this game, along with the game's primary gimmick of stealing and replaying the memories of others to advance in the story and enhance Nilin's abilities. The game features more RPG elements and a more narrative-heavy story, and delves even deeper into the characters of Nilin and her mother Scylla to make the player empathize more with both of them. It also introduces a few new characters into the narrative, including a young hacker named Russ and an assassin named Asuka. The combat is also improved from OTL's title, giving the players more components to use with which to generate combo moves, and also improving enemy AI to force the player to vary up their attacks. This, along with the improved graphics from being an eighth-generation game instead of a seventh generation one, make Remember Me a better received game than IOTL, and it does quite well commercially, selling around half a million copies in its first week of release (with around 80,000 of those on the Reality, 150,000 on the Virtua, and 250,000 on the Nexus). It's also much better received critically than IOTL, assuring the continuation of the series.
GameRankings Score: 82.11%
Batman: Dark Legend
Quite similar to the Virtua version of the game. It does include VR in certain segments, but not the entire game.
GameRankings Score: 83.82%
Shadowrun: Archaica
The Reality version, with its greatly improved graphics, is considered the definitive console version of the game.
GameRankings Score: 81.14%
Grapple: Settle It In The Ring
Not much to say about this port. The Reality version gets some extra DLC, which is nice.
GameRankings Score: 80.50%
Guacamelee!
Nintendo actually pushes this one fairly heavily on the digital store, and it sells decently in the first week of release.
GameRankings Score: 89.00%
Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra
Identical to the Virtua version, and not a big seller on the Reality, with no included VR to speak of.
GameRankings Score: 77.54%
Child Of Light
Actually looks a bit better and smoother on the Reality, but other than that, nothing's changed here.
GameRankings Score: 86.71%
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June 10, 2013
The Nintendo Reality is launched worldwide, at an MSRP of $399.99 for the base console and $499.99 for the VR package. It doesn't come with any pack-in games, though the VR package has a disc with a few VR demos to help players acclimate to the VR capabilities of the console. The VR package is also sold separately for $149.99 so that players can upgrade to VR if they wish. The release is preceded by a wide advertising campaign, but not one as ubiquitous as the Virtua's. Nintendo and Sony reason that Nintendo fans will know all about the Reality launch thanks to extensive coverage online, and that they'll let their friends and family who may not be aware of the launch know. The Reality receives very good reviews from the gaming media, who are impressed with both the quality of the launch titles (particularly F-Zero: FIRESTORM, Pandora's Tower, and Wipeout: Reality, along with the Cyberwar 4 port) and the system's technical might, both in and out of VR mode. The console's $100 lower price also serves as an attractive sales point for the console, with gamers who just want to play and aren't yet interested in taking the VR leap impressed with the quality of the games outside of the VR functionality. The VR itself receives mostly positive reviews, though it's a bit of a mixed bag from game to game. It does help to further hype and push the console amongst intrigued casual players, some of whom are convinced to buy the system.
The Reality has an extremely successful launch in North America, pushing nearly two million consoles there in its first week of sales, along with around 500,000 in Japan and around 250,000 in Europe, for a total of 2.5 million units sold in its first week of worldwide release. About a third of those are the VR unit, while two-thirds of purchasers buy the cheaper base unit. While Nintendo is slightly dismayed that their first week of launch in Japan wasn't as successful as the Virtua's, the huge North American sales make up for it, and the Reality enjoys one of the best first weeks of sales for a game console of all time.
Here are the launch week sales figures for the 18 launch titles, based on North American sales (on a total of 1,705,886 first week units sold in North America):
F-Zero: FIRESTORM: 890,115
Cyberwar 4: 481,970
Call Of Duty: Coalition: 204,614
Assassin's Creed III: 166,302
Wipeout Reality: 145,412
MLB 13: 117,734
Lucky Once: 100,216
Remember Me: 81,515
Pandora's Tower: 68,816
Batman: Dark Legend: 68,240
Duke Nukem In Vegas: 50,216
Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends: 39,547
Locked And Loaded: 32,496
Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra: 24,316
Grapple: Settle It In The Ring: 22,861
Shadowrun: Archaica: 20,885
Child Of Light: 17,350
Guacamelee!: 13,054
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June 10, 2013
Nintendo's top brass were gathered at E3, preparing to watch as the company's keynote speech was delivered. The mood was a jubilant one: the Reality had launched successfully around the world, and Nintendo's E3 keynote would not just be a series of upcoming game announcements, but a victory lap in which the Reality's success would be touted to a waiting crowd. This success, hoped Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, would be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the console that would lead to more hardware units pushed and more software sales.
The Nintendo executives were joined by someone who was no longer officially with the company, but who had returned to help work on the VR technology at the heart of the Nintendo Reality, while also working on one final game that would provide the perfect showcase for the Reality's tech and would hopefully provide millions of players around the world with hours upon hours of entertainment. Gunpei Yokoi's new game wasn't quite ready to show at this year's E3 (he estimated it would probably be finished sometime in 2015), but he was there to spend time with his friends, particularly Iwata, and perhaps he could even be persuaded to make an appearance on stage.
“Thank you again for coming, my friend,” said Iwata, bowing slightly to Yokoi.
“Thank you for inviting me,” replied Yokoi, who bowed lower to Iwata, a show of respect for the man who had gone from being a hard working game designer to being the head of Nintendo, and a show of continued friendship for the man who allowed him to return to provide one final gift to the company and to the video gaming world. “I'm glad the launch of the Reality has been a successful one.”
“It wouldn't have been, without your help,” said Iwata. Yokoi gracefully shook his head.
“No, I contributed very slightly, the Reality is an amazing console. It has a bit more technology than I would have preferred it to have, but the games are still fun, so I suppose I can live with all of those expensive parts inside the machine.”
Iwata laughed, remembering Yokoi's love of simplicity. He too was as surprised as anyone that Nintendo was still pushing cutting-edge graphical power in its games, but 25 years of working with Sony had changed Nintendo's philosophy somewhat. Nintendo still considered itself an innovator in fun, but working with Sony, and Ken Kutaragi in particular, had shown many at Nintendo that amazing fun could be paired with cutting-edge technology. While it made for more expensive hardware, it allowed Nintendo to provide as much fun as possible with absolutely no compromises, and even Iwata had trouble imagining a world in which Nintendo and Sony weren't partners in the industry.
And just as Iwata's mind dwelled on Ken Kutaragi, the man himself walked up to the two Nintendo legends, bowing and shaking both of their hands with an exuberant look on his face.
“This is just incredible, isn't it? E3 once again! I can't wait to show off some of these games, I think they're going to really impress everyone, right?”
“You're not the one making the games,” said Yokoi, with a more subdued expression.
“Ah, but he did make many of them possible,” said Iwata. “Remember, he is the one who came up with the SNES sound chip. He's the one who made it possible for us to partner with Sony.”
“I suppose so,” Yokoi replied. “So, Kutaragi-san, do you have any suggestions for the virtual reality goggles?”
“I'd like people to be able to watch movies on them,” said Kutaragi. “There are devices that can do that already, but it'd be a nice feature for our goggles to have.”
“Kutaragi-san imagines one day that people will be able to look around a movie like they're really there, but they would have to shoot movies differently to make that possible,” said Iwata.
“It would be very expensive to add that capability to the goggles,” said Yokoi. “It would have made the console cost hundreds of dollars more.”
“They can do it cheaply on a phone,” said Kutaragi, “though I guess that's not quite the same.”
As the three men continued to discuss the Reality and Nintendo's future, they were approached by Nintendo of America's president Shawn Layden, who was getting ready to present the company's keynote speech. Iwata, Yokoi, and Kutaragi all greeted him and wished him well, and he took some time to go over one last time with Iwata some of the points of his address.
“I'm planning just to give a really excited speech, thanking those in attendance who have already bought the Reality,” said Layden.
“Be sure to thank everyone, even if they haven't played a Nintendo game since the Famicom,” Iwata reminded him. “We're trying to sell the Reality to everyone, not people who've already bought it.”
“Of course, of course. I'll start by talking about the launch games, invite you on stage, you'll talk for a bit, then after a few minutes of launch hype, we go right into the new Star Fox.”
“It's going to be fun out there,” said Iwata, smiling. “It always is.”
“I'm jealous!” said Kutaragi with a laugh.
As Layden headed toward the stage to deliver Nintendo's keynote, Iwata thanked Yokoi one more time.
“Are you sure you don't want to join me on the stage?” asked Iwata. Yokoi humbly shook his head.
“I'm fine with being the man behind the curtain,” said Yokoi. “Besides, most of the people out there don't even know who I am.”
“Those who do really appreciate your work,” said Iwata. “As do I.”
“Thank you, my old friend.”
The two men exchanged one more handshake, then parted, as Iwata made his way to the backstage area to listen to the start of Layden's speech and prepare for his entrance.
“Good morning,” began Layden, as the crowd cheered wildly. “Welcome to Nintendo at E3 2013, and welcome to the beginning of the Reality era!”
The crowd cheered again as a brief hype video for the Reality launch played on the screen. When it concluded, Layden continued.
“Just a few hours ago, the Nintendo Reality launched worldwide, and reports indicate that it was one of the most successful game console launches of all time. And that's all thanks to you, the Nintendo fans, who have made this amazing success possible over the last 30 years. Even if you haven't bought the Reality yet, and hopefully by the end of this presentation we'll convince you that you should, those of you who have supported us from the original NES all the way to the Nintendo Sapphire, thank you from the bottom of all our hearts.”
Iwata listened and nodded in approval. It was another successful console launch for Nintendo. He didn't know it yet, but it would be the last one he'd get to enjoy.
Unfortunately, he does still get cancer ITTL, the same as he did IOTL. Of course, TTL Nintendo is different from OTL Nintendo, so it may affect the company in a different way, even if Iwata's fate remains unchanged.