Letters to Kanto (Part 2)

Original Article By: Michael Malespin


Pokemon Snap 2 (Wii U; potential part 1 remake on the 3DS)

Pokemon Snap was a very interesting game that came out for the N64 where, as a character named Todd, you went around a bunch of different areas taking the best pictures of Pokemon possible. The game wasn’t large but it was sure more successful than anticipated. Taking a bunch of snapshots of Pokemon and even printing them out on the photo kiosks over at certain Blockbuster stores (remember that?) made the concept pretty cool. With the power of wi-fi, now these pictures can be shared around the world and even saved in an SD card to share on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and even printing them to share around! So what do I have for a Pokemon Snap 2 for the Wii U?

The concept is simple. You pick an area, you get started with a set amount of film, and then you go through the stage trying to snap pictures of Pokemon with the assistance of items. This concept can be brought back but with many different areas and maybe even some new items! Maybe even a bomb to reveal some openings in some of these stages or Scope Lens to spot out ghost Pokemon or camouflage Pokemon lurking about.

So how would the gameplay work? The Wii U tablet is pretty much your camera throughout the entire game so that your aim can be 100% precise when snapping photos and tossing items by moving the tablet in front of the TV while the ZERO-ONE (like the last game) is moving on its own. The touch screen can be used for (maybe) different photographic lens or zooming to get the best Pokemon pictures possible. If you’re not comfortable with using the tablet to move the camera where you want it to get pointed, you can use the tablet as a simple controller and the analog stick would be your camera control. At this rate, unfortunately, the controls to this game can only be using the tablet, 3DS (maybe; utilizing the camera function of the system to serve as your controller), and Classic Controller because, if a lot of these features are added, it would be hard to use just the Wii Remotes. Maybe it can use the Wii Remote with Nunchuck combination but it’s still a little tough to pull off.

Just like the previous game, you might not have guessed it, but let’s split this game into 2 separate versions. A simple red and blue version should be appropriate. Red version would have an enormous amount of Pokemon from a combination of Johto and Sinnoh Pokemon while Blue version will have that same amount but with Hoenn and Unova Pokemon. With this, many Pokemon and areas (with amazing effects like molten lava or shooting stars) will show up in both games in full-fledged 1080p HD. The pictures coming out of them would be phenomenal. To add another fun combination, there could be a 3DS version of this but since I didn’t mention Kanto Pokemon, this could technically be a remake of Pokemon Snap for the N64 only this game will allow you to download 3 version-exclusive stages from both Wii U versions allowing you to download 6 stages from the Wii U game for you to not only increase the duration of the game but allow you to see certain Pokemon outside of Kanto in full 3D!

In terms of multiplayer, the Wii U versions would not have multiplayer but it would have Wi-fi so you can compete against 2-4 others in getting the best score in a set stage! You can keep the photos you take and even post some of your best and funniest photos in a Pokemon Snap Community Channel where people can vote on the best photos and have most popular photos of the week and month to spice up some competition. The 3DS version however can add multiplayer with the same format but allowing you to compete with friends in getting the best scores and even saving the high scores from your friends into your own game. It’s a nice way of keeping track on what Pokemon your friends are good at taking photos of.

Pokemon Puzzle League 2 (Wii U and POSSIBLE 3DS Title; Maybe Wii UWare as one of the 1st games to be launched under that sort of software)

Can anyone believe that this game never came out for Japan? This game actually took the elements of the popular Tetris Attack game for the SNES (and Puzzle League for the GBA did the same thing) and launched it into a Pokemon idea. It was a heavily addicting game that made players on the edge of their seats trying to quickly remove blocks while attacking the opponent. It was a great 2-player game that pushed players to kill each other with massive garbage blocks with their favorite trainers and Pokemon.

Now what can this game do to improve from the prequel? For one thing, this will allow players to be a male/female trainer and pick from a great assortment of Pokemon to compete against a lot of different trainers (the Pokemon SHOULD have their anime voices). You select 3 Pokemon out of (for example) 200 of them (40 each region maybe?) and then you begin. Another concept that can work is that garbage blocks can grow or get chopped down depending on which Pokemon your own Pokemon are facing. Super effective would multiply the garage blocks’ sizes and not very effective would shrink the size of the garage blocks.

Best part of this game would be finally using this style of gameplay for Wi-fi. Face trainers around the world with your favorites for 3-on-3 matches (potential best 2 out of 3). Nothing fancy and very simple. This gives players that loved playing these types of games a great way to remember how fast they were at acing others at them.
Pokemon Stadium Compilation (leading to bringing back R/B/Y and G/S/C for the 3DS)

A particularly odd thing to pull off but it can work like this: those that miss the old way of playing Pokemon can get Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, or Crystal versions from Virtual Console, play those games, and then use the memory data from the 3DS system with the game to transfer their Pokemon over to this game. Question gets raised here, “How can we trade Pokemon since it was all game link cables and such?” If you manage to get this Game Boy game to work wirelessly as if it were plugged into a cable, it works! But if not, this is why Pokemon Stadium can work in this favor. In the original Pokemon Stadium, trainers were able to trade and battle from that particular game so trainers can simply use this game to do the same.

Why do I say compilation? What if we compiled BOTH Pokemon Stadiums into one game? 6 Stadium Cups, 2 rounds, Triple-sped playing of the Game Boy games, Battle Now, the works! This game will touch the hearts of the lost Pokemon players that played and enjoyed the games in the past. Does it need much more? Not really. It’s like doubling the challenges and mini-games that can be played ALL in 3-D. Seeing Pokemon and attacks in 3-D would attract some of the players that are curious to see a Flamethrower or Hyper Beam looking like it’s coming off the edge of the screen!

Due to the first game idea I threw at you guys and the fact that R/B/Y/G/S/C can be easily saved on the 3DS, this Stadium compilation should come out for just the 3DS. It couldn’t hurt since the 3DS’ capabilities are definitely nothing to scoff at. This system is more than capable of doing all this and then some and not a bad idea if you guys want a great aftermath of the first game idea.

Pokemon Party! (For both systems)

What might this be? If you guys, with Game Freak, can team up with Hudson (partners of the Mario Party series), you guys can pull off a game made up entirely of Pokemon mini-games! Think of the opportunities! You guys can come up with so many mini-games, it would be crazy! The only thing that would make this hard is using the Wii U Tablets for 4 players…we have no confirmation that the Wii U supports more than one tablet at all. Of course, it would be a ton of fun to use the tablet with the 4 Wii Remotes on a lot of the games. It would be a great multi-player game that, with the help of Hudson and the Wii U’s amazing wi-fi, can even be taken online to party with a bunch of people from around the world! This can be added to the list of games children can play online without parents worrying about what they’re getting into in terms of online competitiveness!

How would this work you may ask? Again, this would re-create the ‘Party-like’ gameplay that Hudson is known for. You start off by picking what kind of trainer you want to be (child [boy or girl], Beauty trainer, Cool trainer [boy or girl], Muscleman, Old woman, Old man, and then 2 hidden ones being Red and Crystal). Now…bringing whichever trainer makes no difference as to what Pokemon you get for each mini-game or who has better odds. It just depends on what kind of trainer you like to use. You and 3 other trainers land on a game board with different areas. You roll 2 dices and you walk that certain amount of steps forward; passing through obstacles and landing on spaces that increase your experience points. Your goal is to collect as much Gym Badges as you can to become the greatest trainer in the game (it works since you’re controlling a bunch of Pokemon for the mini-games). You battle in the gym by completing the gyms’ set mini-games and, when you win, you earn the badge!

With Experience, you can purchase the mini-games you’ve played so you can play again and again. With the collected mini-games, tournaments can be played using these mini-games to see who the top underdog in all of them becomes! Wi-fi can really bring a lot of people together into the boards. Thanks to the mini-games, the high scores can be posted online for bragging rights and something to really go after. Even high scores (of experience and gym badges) for each map can be posted online!

The only difference between the Wii U and 3DS versions would be the mini-games and stages. Another way could be that, instead of controlling trainers in the Wii U version, one can control Pokemon and use them for each of the touch screen mini-games. StreetPass can be used to transfer high scores and records to other 3DS systems to give people high scores to aim at!


In conclusion:

The 3DS is still a baby but the Wii U is set to come out soon and, with all this, you guys are going to be dishing out some great games at both of the systems’ disposals. This sounds like a lot of games but these are some cool ideas that would be sweet! I am merely a fan but I can definitely tell you that, if you use most or all of these ideas, the fans will go crazy and these games will sell extremely well. I wish you guys a lot of luck in the future and, thank you for reading this letter.






Sincerely,
Michael Malespin
Just a fan; nothing more

Letters to Kanto (Part 1)

Original Article by Michael Malespin



To the nice folks at the Pokemon Company:

For so many years, you guys have given millions of fans endless loads of fun and competition with the Pokemon franchise. Now that the 3DS has come out and the Wii U is coming out, you guys have a lot of work to do. Now you might be thinking, “why should we listen to some random person when we’ve been skyrocketing a franchise for years with constant A-ratings and millions of games sold?” I honestly will open this up by saying that I don’t care to take any credit for this and that this is merely a few ideas that I think would at least get you guys to think. I am merely a fan that has followed the franchise since it first came out and I just want to feed you guys a bit of ideas.

I am not going to mention just one game for you guys. I actually want to give you guys some ideas for multiple games for BOTH the Wii U and the 3DS. I am not going to talk just about adventure/battling games for I have other ideas that might take you guys to memory lane with a whole new idea that can make the many features of the Wii U stand out tremendously. Another thing to think about, none of the fans mind waiting for these games to come out so take your time on them. Ratings have not being doing so hot for the console games lately (except for PokePark Wii which was actually better than anticipated) so here are a couple of ways that can take Pokemon for the Wii U to the next level.

Let’s cut to the chase with the Wii U Pokemon Game. What I like to call “Pokemon Arena”.

The first Pokemon console game, as we all remember, was Pokemon Stadium, the very first game that allowed you to take your handheld Pokemon to the big screen and have them battle the likes of many trainers in 3-D. This got many trainers together to battle and even trade with each other due to the lack of Game Link Cables in case the cables broke. Heck, even for tournaments, the places used Pokemon Stadium to make the tournaments more epic with the Pokemon attacks in 3-D and amazing commentator. Pokemon Stadium 2 brought that same impact for the fans using their Pokemon from Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Pokemon Colosseum was a great decision to make a 3-D adventure to add to transferring trainers’ Pokemon from Ruby and Sapphire to this game to use them in 3-D and then XD did the same but both made it interesting by allowing one to obtain Pokemon that were unobtainable in the handhelds. Pokemon Battle Revolution introduced battling trainers around the world which revolutionized the way trainers saw each other as how strong or strategic they were. So if all this was achieved, what would be next for the next Wii U Pokemon console game?

Let’s review the Wii U system: much faster processer, much more data, WAY better Wi-fi system, and, one of the most important features of the Wii U: 10…80p…HD. Imagine all 649 Pokemon (with ALL forms; including Kyurem’s forms) in solid gold HD. If taken the time, the Pokemon’s fur, scales, EVERY shred of detail can be worked on to make the Pokemon look as real as every trainer wants them to be as well as their attacks and the landscapes. As well, the day and night cycle can happen in this game…even for wi-fi. Depending on who chose the stage, it will depend on what time of the day you will battle the opponent (using their respective time zones which can lead to nice events happening in the daylight or nighttime such as parades or majorly lit buildings/fireworks during the battles). Shaymin will be greatly affected by this but it can be automatic that when you’re battling in an arena (since it’s indoors and it’s lit up except for maybe an open dome one), it can be played like battling in broad daylight so more than half the stages can be played no matter what time of day with Sky Form Shaymin.

With more data, this Pokemon game can be a perfect combination of Pokemons Colosseum and XD, Pokemon Battle Revolution, and Pokemon Stadium. What if we make one final Pokemon 3-D adventure for the 1 player mode and then input a section that relates to Pokemon Battle Revolution with shreds of Pokemon Stadiums 1 and 2 all over it? It would be one giant, yet VERY replayable game for Wii U owners and Pokemon fans to enjoy. This is, in a way, to make a Pokemon game that needs no sequels to come out.

So let’s go with the adventure mode first. I’ll admit, I loved the idea and challenge of capturing shadow Pokemon and purifying them to finally obtain the Pokemon that were unobtainable in the handheld games. XD introduced obtaining a lot of Pokemon and getting them many special moves that weren’t obtained in the games at all either. So, since this adventure would be a step up from XD, this game can finally allow trainers with Black and White obtain Unova Pokemon and more with their Dream World abilities. It is an easy opportunity to release them all to release them in Dream World areas down the road. Pretty cool right? Let’s keep going!

Want to make this idea even more interesting? For the first time in Pokemon history, let’s make this split into 2 versions. That’s right, a console Pokemon game split into 2 separate versions that are the same game but with a couple of differences. Need names? Pokemon Arena: Light Version and Pokemon Arena: Dark Version. Each version will allow you to catch 100 Shadow Pokemon and ‘catch from the wild’ about 12 Pokemon from 3 areas (bringing back the wild Pokemon idea from Pokemon XD). With the Pokemon from the wild idea, there can even be 3 Pokemon trades in the games.

As for the story, Giovanni has a Team Rocket base in the expanded Orre region and Giovanni calls for his 7 assistants. After they appear, he thanks them for all their hard work and gives them all a Pokemon inside Pokeballs. After he summons them out to polish up on their shadowy work, he looks up smiling at the final Pokemon he was converting into a shadow Pokemon which will depend on the version (let’s say, in Light version, he looks at a shadow looking like Mewtwo and in Dark version, it’s a shadow looking like Giratina). Afterwards, the scene will shift to another part of the Orre region to the hero (boy or girl; beginning will allow you to choose) who is helping the professor with a bit of research when Team Rocket comes in to attack the lab.

The hero (or heroine) wants to help so he/she chooses a starter Pokemon (in Light, you get to choose from Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile while Dark allows you to choose from Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle; ALL with their Dream World abilities). The leader of the group has one shadow Pokemon (being, in this case, Patrat) but after a little while, the professor tosses a PokeBall and catches Patrat. After the members leave frustrated, the Professor explains how the shadowy aura altered the Pokemon’s emotions, attacks, and even their abilities and that, after purifying your starter, the professor noticed that the emotions and attacks went back to normal but the ability stayed the way it was at its corrupted state. Being the hero, your character agrees to help out the Shadow Pokemon and defeating the source. You get started with your starter, Patrat, and some Pokeballs and the adventure begins!

The list of Pokemon might be a bit of work but I have a list with levels, Dream World abilities, and a special attack(s) that appear when the Pokemon gets purified like in XD. This list includes the Pokemon that the 7 (technically 6 with these plans) assistants have by underlining them. The last assistant would end up being a Rocket Member that softened up during the time the player was foiling Team Rocket’s plan by stating that he wasn’t enjoying the plan much anymore. He had his prized Pokemon (Landorous) that he took the time to purify but didn’t think he deserved it. At the same time, he didn’t want to give it to just anyone. As stated in the list, if the player collected and purified every shadow Pokemon, they will obtain Landorous. The list also has the wild Pokemon and trades that can show up in the game.

The rest of the story is up to you guys. Reverse Mode can come back from XD as well as all of the shadow attacks from that same game as well as making up some new ones like some that attack everyone or benefit from Triples Battles that can be in the game and the Purification Machine can make a comeback as well. Most matches may have to be in doubles again to benefit from capturing Pokemon while attacking the other. Triples would make capturing some of them a bit tough but a cool and different way of doing so as well. Mt. Battle can make a comeback as well as throwing in a couple of in-game tournaments to add more to do in the adventure.

The second half of the game can be an interesting mix of Pokemon Stadium and Battle Revolution. From the Revolution side, you can bring back adding multiple passes, buying items and clothes with currency (ESPECIALLY items that haven’t been released in Black and White yet like stat-boosting berries), and DEFINITELY the wi-fi battling. Parts of Stadium can come back such as rental Pokemon (that can differ through Rounds 1-3 [like Unova rentals in round 1, Sinnoh and Hoenn rentals in round 2, etc] which can be registered as battle passes to be used online), battling in stadiums, a crazed and hyper commentator, Battle Now, and even minigames. Would Gym Leader Castle make a comeback? I can see why you might not want that concept to come back but it is a challenge. Maybe replace it with a harder version of the game’s Mt. Battle. Stadium mode can bring back Puny Cup (Little cup from Stadium 2), Poke Cup, Pika Cup, and Prime Cup while introducing a few others like one where your Pokemon are chosen at random or another where only powerhouses (Fully evolved Pokemon from levels 70-75) can compete.

A final matchup against a shadowy trainer toward the end of each round could add to the challenge. Battle now can be simple: Round 1 can preset 2 out of 4 teams with use of only babies, Round 2 can use middle teams, Round 3 can use fully evolved Pokemon, and then when you beat Round 3, Battle Now turns into legends.

I’m not 100% sure of what mini-games can work for this game but it sure would add a different spin in the game. Each game can utilize the Wii Remote and Wii U tablets to add a lot of fun into the multi-player for the game. Like in Stadiums 1 and 2, it’s a great way to take a break from all the battling. Even at one-player mode, players can face-off against the computer for practice.

As we all know, wi-fi for the Wii U is planned to be nearly 10 times better than what was on the original Wii. Because of this, there are many enhancements that can be done to the wi-fi for this game. First of all, what would be brought back? Pokemon Battle Revolution already did a pretty good job with Wi-fi having friend matches, using multiple passes, and having many different arenas/colosseums. Of course, we would have a set amount of brand new arenas/battle areas and maybe bring back 3 old ones. As we remember, Battle Revolution brought in singles and doubles so this game can add Triples but Wonder Launcher should be only for Friend Matches giving you certain and set amount of items to use during your matches. Rotation battles are still debatable whether it should be for random matchup or for friend matches only considering the possibility of singles matchup dropping in popularity since Rotation Battles are practically like singles only with free ‘switching’ by rotating.

This next concept that I’m about to bring up is something that can reduce the amount of…what a lot of us like to call ‘sore losers’ on wi-fi. A problem that has emerged for most trainers is the amount of trainers that disconnect just as they are about to lose. From experience, that happens far too frequently. When an opponent is going to lose and they just ‘happen’ to disconnect, that is obviously not coincidence. So how do we stop it? It’s simple. So you’re facing an opponent on wi-fi and you seem to have the upper hand. Your opponent wants to keep his/her win-loss record at a maximum of win so he/she disconnects.

One or both things can happen: #1. A computer can take over the team so the one who doesn’t disconnect can still finish the battle towards the end and then, #2, the disconnecting player now cannot enter this game’s wi-fi for 24 hours. It may seem unfair to a person with a poor wi-fi connection but since the Wii U’s wi-fi is much better, the only odds of that being accidental is the player not having a good enough internet connection or a bad router which are both completely easy to fix (or blackout which would be bad luck). With all this, the wi-fi will land at extraordinary levels of replayability.

Any other features in mind? How about a Pokemon Wi-fi Community Channel that actually posts players’ rankings over the wi-fi community? It would get trainers to battle at their best but only if you play ranked battles (which would have a set fair amount of rules). Otherwise, Free Random Wi-fi Battle can be like Battle Revolution in which there are no rules or restrictions but still some speculation if the legendary Pokemon were achieved correctly and that the stats aren’t WAY off from what they’re supposed to have at lv. 50 as well as none of the battles affecting your stats on wi-fi. That and maybe wi-fi tournaments that can earn you items and even Pokemon prizes out of Cherish Balls.

It would cost money to enter the tournaments thus continually earning this company money when tournaments are being held! It’s a great way to keep everyone from getting bored of playing online if they think they run into multiple boring trainers or too many disconnectors. Last feature in mind can be a spectator mode where players get to monitor other trainers online to check out some cool and interesting matches and place the game’s currency on the battles.

As for the battling itself, it’s extremely simple how it works. You have 3 kinds of controllers: The Wii Remote, the Wii U tablet, and of course, the 3DS. The tablet’s touch screen is the simplest of controllers launching every switch and attack command from the touch screen. The 3DS can be used as a controller as well just out of total convenience especially when the game is entirely transferred to the tablet while someone wants to watch something in the TV. When free battle is launched and the Wii remote is used, you can take what’s from Pokemon Stadiums 1 and 2 and select attacks and switches through the D-Pads, 1, and 2 buttons. Nice and easy way to make the multi-playing free battle mode less…predictable. As for the visuals, as long as the Pokemon, landscapes, and attacks are detailed in HD while exaggerating what some of the stronger attacks look like, this game’s visuals will give the fans everything they wanted.

A game like this would be incredible for the Wii U and would be so large and amazing, that there is no way a sequel for this game needs to come out. The list of the Pokemon will be at the end of the letter and, of course, this is only if you guys want to do this. Just did a bit of research and ended up with all this for an idea for the Wii U. Now, there is another idea for the Wii U that just will give people a great trip down memory lane.


To Be Continued..

The Equation of Software

The PSVita is doing much better than I originally anticipated, but the fact remains that if they want to ever have a shot at defeating or deflating the 3DS they have to focus on one major thing: software.

More software = better hardware sales.

Superior technology does not, shall not, will not make you the victor. As a matter of fact, the past two generations have been won by a system with weaker processing and memory and graphical capabilities. The Nintendo Wii is and will win the seventh generation, while the Playstation 2 pretty much ran away with the sixth generation. The Nintendo DS was weaker than the PSP in the long run but it still became the best-selling system in the history of gaming. The Neo-Geo Pocket was arguably stronger than the Game Boy Color but got obliterated to the twelfth degree. Heck, if you go back to the early 90s the colorful Game Gear got annihilated by the black-and-white Game Boy.

Now the obvious reason in all this is because of software. The Wii delivered more great games early in its lifespan while the competitors released their true-blue gems far too late. The Playstation 2 had the GTA, Gran Taurismo, and Metal Gear games while the Xbox was riding on mainly Halo and the Gamecube remained afloat because of surprise-surprise hits here and there. The Nintendo DS has at least a dozen of the best games released in the last 15 years, while you can barely count on one hand the amount of memorable PSP titles. And of course the earliest example involves the Game Gear providing nothing that could even touch Link’s Awakening, Super Mario Land 2, Donkey Kong, Wario Land, and Kirby’s Dream Land (All released at around the same time, by the way).

So if software is such an easy answer then why do companies continue making the same mistakes? By the way, the Vita already has Uncharted, yet for some odd reason there was barely any press, minimal commercials, and no hype for it. Instead, the PSVIta focused on a baseball video game---that’s originally a PS3 title as its headlining commercial. There’s even Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on the Vita but we barely see any attention for it. Hardware will not move hardware sales. It has never been the case.

The 3DS learned this the hard way, as its starting sales were extremely subpar and remained that way until Ocarina of Time, Mario Land 3D, Star Fox 3DS, and of course Mario Kart 7 pushed its sales to the limit in the holiday season. And now with Kid Icarus and Metal Gear on the horizon, the 3DS will continue to destroy the Vita until Sony can throw in some third-party support and bust out their big guns soon. Sony still has Gran Taurismo, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, GTA, Final Fantasy, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Burnout, and so much more. Where in the heck are they?

Nothing breeds amazing games like nasty competition. This previous amazing generation proved this, as the PS3 and Xbox 360 have been neck-and-neck for second place for about a year now. In order for the 3DS to really pull out all the stops, they need Vita to catch up and pose as a threat. And in order for the Vita to ever pose as a threat, they need to ante up the software. And now before it is too late. The idea of the best of Playstation being at the palm of your hand equipped with PS3-like graphics is a good one---so why in the heck is it that Sony has yet to release a handheld that has gotten my interest?

No software.


Sony, get to work.

$60 For Incompleteness

So Mass Effect 3 has run into a little bit of controversy for two reasons. The main one is because of its ending, which for the sake of spoilers I won’t merely discuss. But, there has been letters written to them and major Twitter campaigns to fix up the ending. The second controversy is smaller in complaints, but to me is a much more damning issue and one that is part of a bigger problem in the world of gaming. Day one downloadable content. When I first read it, I didn’t see what the big deal was until I learned that this DLC was already in the game, but locked from the gamers until you throw in some more dough. This is ridiculous, is happening far too much, and has to stop.

Mass Effect 3 is not the first game to rip off gamers by forcing you to pay for crap that was already in the disc---Capcom is notoriously evil and ridiculous for consistently doing these actions with their fighting games (And they've even done it with their latest game). But this does not justify the actions here. What they did is the 90s equivalent of Nintendo selling you Super Mario World, but then force you to buy a second cartridge at a smaller price to actually finish the game. Sounds silly I know, but if gamers are forking over $60 to play your game, why in the hell are you forcing them to pay extra money to get stuff that is already in the disc they just purchased???!?!!? Why didn’t you at least wait about a month to disguise your disgusting actions?

See, this is why gaming while on the upswing quality-wise is threatening constantly for a total breakdown economically. Smaller games like Angry Birds is exploding in popularity and while it doesn’t have the technical advancements and depth of your best games it has the advantage in one major aspect: price. As opposed to paying over $70 to play a game and enjoy all its extra content, you can now charge in the medium pizza price range and get a full video game that’s actually quite long (adding to its lasting appeal that’s nowadays inevitable). Before this wasn’t possible but thanks to IPod applications, smarter phones, emergence of indie gaming companies, and increasing technology, we can get fun and entertainment at much smaller prices.

The economical pundits will argue that Bioware is out to make money, which is the goal of every company. This is indeed true, but ripping off gamers isn’t the solution: good games are. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they will not half-ass a game or sell one incomplete. Hell, Miyamoto is notorious for constantly delaying games so he can put some extra touches and ensure that everyone will finish the game satisfied. Nintendo has reached the online atmosphere but has yet to throw in this DLC nonsense right after the release of a game. While they are way behind in the online component I can bet you any amount of cash that the company wouldn’t dare pull the nonsense that Bioware, Square Enix (Case in point for Square: Final Fantasy XIII-2), and especially Capcom pulls every so often.

For more fun, let’s compare Super Smash Brothers Brawl to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. One of them has a level creator, several extra video games hidden inside, hundreds of songs to choose from, a much bigger roster when compared to the previous installment, and over 50 different ways of fighting. The other game has a smaller roster, DLC from the start, nothing beyond this content-wise, and then flips the switch by releasing an “Ultimate” version of the game about a year later. Care to guess which is the best-selling fighting game of all time and which one barely sold 2 million copies? And before you care to mention that Nintendo has many more characters (and a deeper history) than Capcom or Marvel—Marvel has thousands of comic book characters---literally—and has been around for decades before Nintendo---literally. The moral of the story here is: we prefer complete games. Most skipped out on MvC3 because we all secretly knew there was going to be another version down the road.

I am all for a company making money, that is fine. But if you are releasing a game to the public, the right and noble thing to do is to allow us access to everything within the game we bought, as opposed to shelling out even more money just to see what else is on the game that we JUST purchased. You may think that gamers aren’t going to rebel to this sort of thing, but with Resident Evil, the Capcom fighters, and other franchises selling less than the previous installments even though the gaming industry fanbase has practically doubled in recent years, you may have to think twice before pulling this crap again. Online gaming has pushed the medium to a new plateau of opportunity, but has also opened new doors to new ways to rip us off.

Shame on you Bioware.