Rest in Peace, Satoru Iwata

Death in the video game industry is a subject only thought of in relation to the violent content of the medium and its possible influence on us as human beings.  Nobody thinks about it in relation to the men and women that give their lives to this industry through game development, corporate management or game journalism.  Being fans and followers of video games as a whole, we sometimes bestow these people with imaginary invincibility when in reality, they are merely mortal.  They live and, unfortunately, they die.

Late July 12th, news broke that Satoru Iwata, now former President of Nintendo, passed away July 11th at the age of 55 due to a bile duct growth.

When I opened up Facebook to find the news plastered in the centre of my News Feed, I couldn't believe it.  I went into denial as I scoured the Internet for more evidence than a couple Facebook posts.  Once I confirmed Mr. Iwata's death, the shock sunk in.  Nintendo and other news sources have reported on Iwata's multiple bouts with illness over the past two years, which caused him to miss the last two E3s.  None of the reports mentioned that it was this severe; making the news even more tragic.

Among all the grief and sadness, I feel the best way to honour Mr. Iwata's memory is to share what made him such a great leader and lovable personality not only at Nintendo, but in the industry as a whole.

While not as prolific as legendary Nintendo designers like Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma or Masahiro Sakurai, Satoru Iwata was responsible for the creation of Kirby and fostering classics, such as Earthbound and Super Smash Bros., during his tenure as a programmer and later President of HAL Laboratory.  Upon Hiroshi Yamauchi's retirement in 2002, Iwata was named the fourth President of Nintendo.  As president, he would go onto lead the company through the launches of the Gamecube, DS, Wii, 3DS and Wii U. 

In his early years as president, it was hard to get a read on Iwata's personality since gamers would only hear from him in the occasional interview or appearance at E3 or Tokyo Game Show.  As the years went on and technology evolved, Iwata stepped out as one of the corporate faces of Nintendo along with Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto.  The Iwata Asks and the Nintendo Direct gave Nintendo fans into a closer look at the president's quirky personality.  From intensely staring down a banana to his "Directly to you" slogan and hand gesture, Iwata was never afraid to put himself in wacky and possibly embarrassing situations in order to entertain.  His signature quirkiness is the main reason fans love him so much. 

On the corporate side, Iwata was a fighter and an incredible leader.  He managed Nintendo through some of its most difficult times as a company.  Facing immense pressure from stockholders, the media and the consumer, Iwata always stood his ground and kept Nintendo's future in mind before making drastic decisions.  Despite low sales for Nintendo during the Gamecube and horrible launch sales for the 3DS and Wii U, Iwata avoided making shortsighted immediate gains and developed long-term plans to ensure success for the future.  Under Iwata's direction, the DS and Wii both saw unbelievable success and the 3DS has consistently outperformed the other systems on the market over the past couple years.

Although death is horrible experience to all those involved, Satoru Iwata's love for the industry and quirky nature will live on through those he led at Nintendo, the many people fortunate enough to meet him in person over the years and the millions that eagerly watched every Nintendo Direct to see what crazy thing he would do next.  All I have to say to Mr. Iwata is thank you.  Thank you for making the company that I have loved since a child the best it could be for these past 12 years.  You will be deeply missed.

Bit by Bit: January 2015

With Silver Bit's Year in Review 2014 ending last week, it is time to look forward to everything coming out in the next 12 months.  Aside from a few games, most being re-releases, this January has been slow on the games front.  On the news front, there has been a steady flow of new information on upcoming games already known or recently revealed.  An onslaught of news came from Nintendo as their January Nintendo Direct revealed their entire winter line-up from the launch of the New 3DS to Mario Party 10.  Keep reading for more on the latest Direct.  Also keep reading as I have lots to cover in the first Bit by Bit of 2015.

Game of the Month

When I write The Games I Missed article of the Year in Review, it takes me a while to actually start playing any of them.  Thanks to the Steam Holiday Sale and a greater desire to play games on my computer, things were different this year as I jumped into playing a couple games on the list.  Playing one game, in particular, would go on to influence my decisions for the Game of the Month.  The Game of the Month was about to go to Pokemon Omega Ruby before I got into The Wolf Among Us.  While I spent a shorter amount of time with The Wolf Among Us compared to Omega Ruby, it left quite a impact on me.  

The Wolf Among Us is Telltale's Game first game after the incredible The Walking Dead Season One.  Coming after such a lauded game by both gamers and critics alike, Wolf Among Us had high expectations to live up to.  After beating the game, it is safe to say that Wolf Among Us demolishes those expectations.  Although it has some beautiful character moments that bring to light the intricacies of Bigby, Snow White and other fables, the game is a lot more plot-driven than The Walking Dead.  Speaking of the plot, The Wolf Among Us delivers some mind-blowing twists that had my mind racing in speculation for hours on end.  While story takes centre stage, the conversation-based gameplay and quick-time action sequences brings the entire experience together.  Despite needing to complete school readings, each episode had me eager to sit down and play more, the one thing all episodic games should do.  

Most Anticipated Game of the Month

Last week, Nintendo delivered their first Nintendo Direct of 2015.  The 45-minute presentation was great as the Big N announced their entire line-up for the first quarter of the year including release dates (something they usually withhold until the very last minute).  While the New Nintendo 3DS's reveal for North America headlined the show, I am not as enamored with the update as the vast majority.  Personally, I am not spending upwards of 200 dollars to get new features which can be added to my 3DS through peripherals.  It is a wise choice for those with the original 3DS, but not for those with an XL.  I can continue with this tangent, but it is time to get down to business.

My favourite piece of news from the Direct was the announcement of the new Fire Emblem for 3DS.  From the trailer, the new Fire Emblem looks to be very similar in gameplay and art style to Awakening, which isn't a bad thing considering Awakening is, in my opinion, the best 3DS game released to date.  Also the rumours about Fire Emblem's potential release in 2015 has spiked my anticipation for the game tenfold.  More Fire Emblem is always a good thing in my books.  Now, if we can only get an update on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem from Nintendo.

Video of the Month

Usually when a Nintendo Direct is released, I am hard pressed to include a video of or from the event as the Video of the Month.  This time around that precedence isn't the case as there is a video even better.  Funny enough, my video of choice is Nintendo related as well.  It comes from a great Youtube show called Game Theory, a show which seeks to use video games as a tool for education.  The episode dives into the tragic hidden lore of the Super Smash Bros. series.  It is quite fascinating especially when MatPat looks at the lore's connections to creator Masahiro Sakurai and the possible inner dilemma the famed creator faces with Smash Bros.  If you enjoy this video, I highly encourage watching past episodes of Game Theory.  You might learn some interesting connections between academic theories and video games such as applying multiverse theory to Pokemon.

On the Download: Earthbound

Since the inception of the Virtual Console in 2006, there has been one game that Nintendo fans clamoured to see on Nintendo's online catalogue- Earthbound.  Earthbound is a cult classic RPG from HAL Laboratory and Ape that released on the SNES back in 1994.  When Earthbound initially released, it did not do well commercially despite how loved the game was by RPG fans and critics.  Due to the poor sales, Nintendo kept future re-releases of Earthbound and its predecessor and successor in Japan.  For a long time, the only way to get Earthbound was by buying an original copy for the SNES, which easily cost upwards of 100 dollars.  After 19 years, Earthbound is finally being re-released for an affordable price in order for those who missed it to enjoy this classic.  The launch date for the Virtual Console re-release had been shrouded in mystery until the masters at Nintendo of America surprised everybody with a Nintendo Direct Mini, which revealed Earthbound would be released today on the Nintendo eShop!

Earthbound follows four unlikely heroes, known as the Chosen Ones, as they fight off an extraterrestrial threat.  These four heroes are small-town Onett native Ness, famous young physic Paula, child genius Jeff and mystic prince Poo.  These four heroes must use their Psi powers to dispatch numerous strange monsters from dinosaurs to piles of vomit and even some human foes such as hippies.  On their adventures, they will experience the quirky humour that Earthbound is known for firsthand as the game parodies American culture and many RPG tropes.  The original Earthbound came with a strategy guide to help gamers if they ever got stuck.  Considering this Virtual Console re-release is digital only, there is no way to get the guide when purchasing the Virtual Console version.  Before you get depressed, Nintendo has made a digital version of the strategy guide available for free on Earthbound's official website.  The guide is also optimized for use on the Wii U Internet Browser.

Earthbound is available now on the Nintendo eShop for 10 dollars, which is peanuts compared to the insane price the original SNES cartridge fetches nowadays.  Personally, I never got the chance to play Earthbound for myself as I did not owned a SNES.  Seeing Nintendo re-release this beloved RPG for fans old and new to experience is just wonderful.  Hopefully if enough people purchase Earthbound on Virtual Console, maybe Nintendo will finally bring Mother 1 and 3 across the pond to North America.  If you own a Wii U, it is time to make Nintendo notice that we want more games like Earthbound by talking with our money.  Simply Earthbound is a must-buy for any Wii U owner.

E3 2013: Nintendo E3 Direct Impressions

2013 has been the year where the Nintendo Direct format has come into true form.  While there are still a few areas where Nintendo needs to work on to improve the Directs as a whole, each Nintendo Direct this year has been like a mini-E3 full of surprises and exciting game news.  With this current success, many gamers hoped Nintendo would bring some big announcements for E3 since they opted out of having an actual press conference this year.  What Nintendo actually delivered was very interesting.

It has taken a couple days to fully process what Nintendo did Tuesday morning with their Nintendo Direct.  All the games showed off at this Direct looked phenomenal, but we all were expecting more.  Yes, Nintendo delivered on Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. along with the reveal of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.  It just felt too safe.  They kept to their regular line-up of popular Nintendo franchises like Mario, Zelda , Pokemon, Smash Bros. and Donkey Kong.  Gamers wanted to see franchises that have laid dormant for awhile now such as Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero or new intellectual properties.  Personally, I believe mentioning a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. would all be at E3 severely hurt this Direct.  If Nintendo just kept their mouth shut, these three announcements could have easily made this Direct an instant classic.  By revealing their hand back in January, it caused speculation to spin out of control to the point where expectations were too high.  The fault of those unrealistic expectations is solely on Nintendo.  Another situation that is entirely Nintendo's fault was the unbearable buffering issues the Nintendo Direct livestream suffered from.  The livestream kept buffering every 20 seconds or so until at least halfway through the Direct.  Maybe Nintendo did not anticipate the volume of people that would tune into the stream, but that does not excuse them from not preparing for these technical problems.  While Nintendo wants to control the message, they need to open up the Directs for other media outlets such as IGN or Gametrailers to broadcast in order to avoid these buffering problems in the future.

Like I metioned before, all the games showed off at this Nintendo Direct were phenomenal.  Super Mario 3D World looks to be an excellent follow-up to Super Mario 3D Land.  While many were hoping for a 3D Mario game more in the vein of Super Mario Galaxy, I believe the more Nintendo shows off of 3D World the more people will be impressed as it looks to blend the best aspects of the New Super Mario series with the features and gamplay of Mario Galaxy and 3D Land series.  Much like 3D Land before it, you will most likely have to actually play 3D World to get the full affect of its greatness. 

Mario Kart 8 could be the Wii U's killer app in my opinion.  The new anti-gravity feature applied to all of the tracks in Mario Kart 8 looks to add new ways to approach your tradition game of Mario Kart.  This grand new feature along with superb online multiplayer could move a lot of Wii U's to the casual Nintendo audience. 

While it was a little bit of a bummer to hear about Retro working on another Donkey Kong game, Tropical Freeze looks just as good or even better than Donkey Kong Country Returns.  The new full 3D camera adds a lot of interesting visuals to a game that was formerly restricted to just a two dimensional side view of the action.  Also the inclusion of new characters (Dixie Kong and a still unnamed third companion) and over five islands to explore (how many levels per island is still unknown) will provide lots of bang for your buck this November. 

Nintendo only showed Monlith Soft's X in trailer form.  Still the more Nintendo shows of this game, the more psyched I get.  After playing Xenoblade, everybody wanted to see these worlds brought to life in high definition.  X looks to answer those prayers and I personally cannot wait until Nintendo starts giving people hand-ons with this possible console defining open world RPG. 

There were a few other games I would love to get to from this Nintendo Direct like Pokemon X and Y, Wind Waker HD, The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2, but that could take far too long to read and there is one more thing I want to talk about.  That one more thing is Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.  While everybody knew it was coming, that trailer lived up to our expectations and then some.  The introduction of the Villager from Animal Crossing was classic especially the sinister twinkle in his eye.  I personally love the addition of such a quirky character to roster of Nintendo fighters.  The greatest part of the trailer was the reveal that Mega Man will be in Super Smash Bros.  Let me repeat, MEGA MAN IS IN SMASH BROS.!!!  I have dreamed of the Blue Bomber being in the next Smash Bros., but never thought it would actually become reality.  It was such an excellent reveal that I cannot wait to see any sort of information about the 3DS and Wii U entires of the Super Smash Bros. series.

This Nintendo Direct from E3 failed to convince gamers that the hard times this system is currently in will end anytime soon.  The third party support just is not there to really convince people to go out of their way to buy a Wii U over the PS4 or Xbox One.  A lot of games shown off at E3 like Watch Dogs and Battlefield 4 had those second screen experiences that would be at home on the Wii U Gamepad.  Nintendo needs to find a way to court the publishers that are making these games to port them to the Wii U.  There is a solid line-up of first party support from August on and 2014 looks to be a killer year for Wii U, but there are still some problems Nintendo needs to work out before they get out of their current predicament.  I believe a price cut will definitely help, but it cannot be the only solution.  Overall, this Nintendo Direct may have been lacking in surprises, but it was still a solid show.  While the unacceptable technical difficulties did lower the grade significantly, this Nintendo Direct was one of the better showings at this year's E3.

Grade: C+

The End of Nintendo E3 Press Conferences

News broke late Wednesday evening, early Thursday morning that Nintendo would be taking a much different approach to E3 this year.  Instead of tackling the giants of the PS4 and the next Xbox head-on with a major press conference of their own, Nintendo has opted to holding smaller Nintendo Direct broadcasts from E3.  Definitely a move to save the Big N some money and make them stand out from Sony's and Microsoft's offerings at E3.  To say the least, ending the tradition of major E3 press conferences is an incredibly bold, risky and polarizing move by Nintendo, but it is also a smart move.

Ever since E3 downsized way back in 2007, the grandeur and spectacle of what was originally the video games industry's biggest convention of the year has slowly but surely been lost.  To the point that last year's E3 was nothing short of abysmal.  While great moments have squeaked through the cracks on occasion such as the unveiling of the 3DS, Kevin Butler's speech or Watch Dogs, the E3 press conferences these past six years have left a lot to be desired.  Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have tried too hard to appeal to a much broader audience with their E3 press conferences that many of them lose their focus and easily become a chore to watch.  These companies forget that the people who actually tune into to watch their E3 press conferences are primarily hardcore gamers.  These gamers want to see games, not applications or entertainment options.  With the Nintendo Direct format, Nintendo has captured lightning in a bottle.  Nintendo directly talks to their consumers through 30 minute to one hour mini conferences.  Providing information on upcoming games, applications and initiatives directly to their audience.  Due to the nature of these mini conferences, Nintendo is able to make these Nintendo Directs target certain audiences be it casual or hardcore gamers, Wii U or 3DS owners or even younger or older fans.  It allows Nintendo to keep these conferences focused and more importantly keep surprise game reveals from leaking.  From Link to the Past 2 to the sequel to Xenoblade, Nintendo Direct has offered a numerous amount of E3 quality surprises that if not kept internally would have easily been leaked.  Adapting this format to E3 is an excellent idea because it keeps the focus on the games and makes a more intimate connection with their audience than a massive press conference would.  While it is a great idea, Nintendo still needs to worry about being swept under the buzz of the PS4 and next Xbox and the lack of mainstream coverage due to the smaller scale.  Addressing these possible problems will be the difference between Nintendo's success or failure at this year's E3.

No matter what breaking tradition can always sting.  Personally, I am a little bummed out about Nintendo's announcement of no more large-scale press conferences.  While I do have some fond memories of past Nintendo E3 press conferences, the video game industry is constantly changing.  With the traditions of E3 becoming more and more stagnant over time, change is definitely needed in order for E3 to regain the grandeur and spectacle that it has lost.  Nintendo is trying an entirely different format to how they present their news at E3 and it will be interesting to see how things turn out for better or worse.

Bit by Bit: February 10-16

It has been an exciting two months.  Things have been falling into place in my life and for this blog.  This Sunday is WWE's Elimination Chamber PPV, the final PPV before WrestleMania, and that marks the return of my Road to WrestleMania series on my wrestling blog, The Silverdome.  I would love to have a weekly post on both blogs, but with all my school work I cannot get around to writing two blog posts a week.  For the time being, I will be taking a little hiatus from Silver Bit.  I will most likely try to put up previews for Tomb Raider and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, two games I am personally excited for, next month.  Things will return to normal once WrestleMania has past.  Now without any further ado, let us get down to business.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week, Game of the Month and a possible frontrunner for Game of the Year.  I am talking about Fire Emblem Awakening for the 3DS.  It has been a while since a game has blown we away like Awakening has done.  Intelligent Systems has improved their already masterful strategy series to astronomical heights.  The excellent pair up system, a support system that adds much more than bonus conversations and a seemingly endless supply of missions to play, teams to fight through SpotPass and StreetPass and bonus challenges and maps to complete.  I have played Fire Emblem Awakening for close to 30 hours and I am only halfway through the main story of Awakening.  On top of all that, Nintendo is releasing new DLC missions every week for gamers to buy that adds much more value to this incredible game.  The more I play Fire Emblem Awakening, the more I love it.  It is a masterful game and possibly the best game on the 3DS and the best game in the Fire Emblem series.

Most Anticipated Games of the Week

I have two Most Anticipated Games this week.  Both games have out for a while, but this week they will be going on sale.  They are F-Zero for the Wii U Virtual Console and Crashmo for 3DS.  The former will be on sale for only 30 cents, while the latter will be on sale for 6 dollars.  It is a no brainer for someone who has been wanting to buy these game for a while now.  I highly recommend also checking out these deals if you own either a 3DS or Wii U.

Video of the Week

The Nintendo dominance continues here in this week's Bit by Bit.  This past Thursday, Nintendo gave us the best Valentine's Day present we could of ever asked, a brand new Nintendo Direct.  This Nintendo Direct focused on the 3DS games that will be released later this year and it was amazing.  Announcing Mario Golf World Tour, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D was the most newsworthy announcement from the show, but we also got a plethora of information on new eShop games for both 3DS and Wii U and some smaller Wii U announcements.  If Nintendo keeps releasing these Nintendo Directs at a regular pace, it could be an excellent year for us Nintendo fans.

Nintendo Direct 6.21.12 Impressions

Nintendo Direct is a mini-conference where Nintendo announces new and exclusive Nintendo announcements and showcases their upcoming games.  Nintendo Direct serves as a way for Nintendo to keep Nintendo fans up-to-date on the newest happenings in the Big N directly from them instead of through video game websites or magazines.  It is a very cool idea and personally these videos have always been fun to watch.  Last night, Nintendo hosted another Nintendo Direct that focused mainly on Nintendo 3DS, but had a little section to showcase a game or two for the Wii.

First and foremost, I really did enjoy this Nintendo Direct as it did wrapped all the information about 3DS and Wii into one concise 20 minute video that flowed perfectly.  My one big grip is that a lot of the big announcements that Nintendo shared with us should have been at E3, not this 20 minute mini-conference.  The major announcements of the Nintendo 3DS XL and Namco Bandai helping develop the new Smash Bros. games along with the reveals of Fire Emblem and Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask should have been showed E3 because it would have definitely improved Nintendo's okay showing at the event and it would gotten out to more people than just this little mini-conference that usually is only viewed by Nintendo fans and video game journalists.  While I can criticize Nintendo's decision to omit a lot of this huge announcements, the Nintendo Direct did what it was suppose to do.  It got Nintendo fans excited for the next wave of 3DS games and the Kirby Dream Collection for Wii.  I would have liked if Nintendo gave a concrete release date for The Last Story, but that is just minor.  We got a price and date for the 3DS XL, a rundown of all the third-party 3DS games, looks at New Super Mario Bros. 2, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Kirby's Dream Collection, Fire Emblem, Pokemon Dream Radar, Pokedex 3D Pro and Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.  One of the other big announcements for me at least was the 8-Bit Summer initiative for the Nintendo eShop.  If any of you have read some of my On the Download posts, I have been crying to the heavens about the lack of Virtual Console games on the eShop.  It seems somebody at Nintendo of America has heard my prayers.  There will be two Virtual Console games released each week in July starting July 5th including Kid Icarus: Of Myths & Monsters, which should of come out alongside Kid Icarus: Uprising in my opinion.

All-in-all, this Nintendo Direct mini-conference was very good.  It was packed to the brim with great content and announcements.  While some of this stuff should have been at E3, I cannot fault this mini-conference for Nintendo's obvious gaff.  If you want to check it out, I have provided the video for you to watch below.  Enjoy and have a nice day.