Nightmare is here

It's finally here, one of the most sought after games from recent times, and it's called Bloodborne. This is not another Dark Souls but pretty much combines all the good things from that game series into a brand new one and it looks pretty impressive. 

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to buy popular press kits right now and I'm very sad to see that I'll be missing this game's press kit as well. But at least I managed to get the Nightmare Edition which quite heavy and packed with some cool items. My only concern with this edition is it abusive price.

Unfortunately there isn't much I can tell about the game itself. I usually don't like to spoil surprises by watching too many videos and trailers. On the other hand, I've got quite a few games to play on the list and not much of an opportunity to play them. It's been months since I played any of the consoles but thankfully within the next couple of months my biggest problem should be sorted and I'll finally have some time to rest my mind and to play a few videogames.

Read More »

Final Fantasy Type Irony.

I don't quite understand why some games from popular series never come out of Japan. Final Fantasy Type 0 is one of that kind of games. In my opinion, it should have been originally available in all world regions, especially because it's part of the spin off series based in Final Fantasy XIII. Instead, we had to wait for an HD version for the latest consoles. No, not even for PS3 or 360. It had to be for PS4 and XBone, with PSP-based HD graphics... You need a 400€ new gen home console to play a graphically outdated portable game that came out several years ago in Japan. That makes absolutely perfect sense! Nobody is going to pay full price for an outdated game for a portable console that the general public no longer plays. So they decided to release a new version for the latest systems because... well... it's more enticing to consumers, maybe? Even if the game looks more "outfashioned" and pixelated than a Minecraft version for Windows 95? Yeah, the game doesn't look like anything remotely close to a new gen game. I was excited at first but after seeing a demo of it, I became more reluctant because it doesn't look that good...

Yeah, I've bought the regular Collector's Edition from a local website. I say "regular" because the Square Enix Store featured a different edition with a much better looking package. But (there is always a but...) of course, it was impossible for me to buy it because I live in Portugal and Square Europe doesn't send items to Portugal without even explaining why. The usual 1st world problems, video game collectors version. We have tiny little companies making awesome games and sending them to the Moon if it's necessary, such as WaterMelon Games and Super Fighter Team. But then, Square Enix, a pretty damn big corporation with this website designed specifically for European consumers, decides to sell exclusive items only to a couple of selected destinations? Okay. I can live with that. Some people can live without a kidney, so I can live without that edition too.

Overall, I'm quite happy that I missed the special cover. I mean, it's not like I collect videogames at all, you see. Especially Final Fantasy games with exclusive editions and slipcases, I never buy those... It makes perfect sense that half Europe cannot order exclusive games from Square Enix Europe. (/irony).

Read More »

It's Mario Party time!

Yay, Mario Party 10 just came out and thanks to the Amiibo I already hate the game. You know that really hard to get figurine called Rosalina, right? Then you probably heard by now that the figurine unlocks an entire board in this game, right? So, you weren't expecting to see Nintendo pull a nasty trick on costumers by not producing more stock of Rosalinas, right?

Wrong. It was just leaked not too long ago that Rosalina will have its own wave release for the Super Mario series. So if you were actually thinking of finally completing the 3 first Smash Bros. waves with that character you're missing, Nintendo says "no". At least for now. In fact, Nintendo has a lot of trouble to comunicate. Mr. Iwata is trying hard to speak English in order to provide you with the latest information on Nintendo Directs, but he's unable to tell us the future of the Amiibo...

A difference of only 5 euros in price is reason enough for me to get the Amiibo Box Set instead of the regular game. In fact, I'm not even sure if I've seen any regular game available for sale separately in stores. 5 euros is as much as those figurines should be worth in the first place, let alone 30 or 50 euros like the annoying scalpers are asking...

If anyone wants to get rid of a boxed Gold Mario, I'm accepting gifts. Half the people who bought it want to get rid of it anyway (for cash...).

Read More »

Crappy edition is crappy

Here it is, another Polish exclusive, this time for Dying Light. In fact this edition is quite interesting, except for a few major problems. First, my statue came with a broken arm and two broken fingers. Most statues arrived like this, unfortunately. Thankfully, I'm pretty confident I can fix that. The package is horrible as well. Inner supports are very fragile and arrived all dented and even ripped. 

Why can't they make decent packages? These are collector's items and there are some really serious and picky collectors out there reaching out for these. Why does almost no one cares about the way items are designed? It really troubles my mind to think that some people out there are making money producing really expensive editions with the crappiest packages ever. People buy online all the time and many editions are online exclusives as well, so why don't producers even consider making hard packages that can survive all the torture they go through during shipping process or at least ensure that the contents will survive the journey?

Other than that, the game is pretty cool and so is this edition, filled with some fine extras and a steelbook, like I usually hate. Being a country exclusive also rises my interested in it. I'm just disappointed with the outer package but I can live with that. Now I'll proceed to fix the statue and replace the inserts.

Read More »

Videogame Collecting is doomed.

Yes, collecting videogames is becoming a big pain in the ass. Sooner or later, within the next 10 or 15 years or so, it will perish.Unfortunately, that's what I see happening right now. If you just like to collect merchandise, figurines, statues and all those things that don't really include a physical copy of the game they come from, then the future is bright to you as a collector. You also need to have lots of money to spend on those because there are many "OMG SUPER UBBER RARE LIMITED RESSELLER EDITION WITH JUST 2 UNITS WORLDWIDE THAT ARE SOLD OUT IN 10 SECONDS". If you like to collect digital games and all the stuff that fits that denomination, the world is at your service now. But if you're like me and you just like to own physical copies of games, then I don't see a bright future ahead.

What is a collector anyway? If you search the internet, you'll find a ton of definitions and theories behind the meaning of that word. If you ask me what a collector is, my most direct response would be: a collector is a selfish, materialist person who likes to own lots of stuff related to a family of items. That's basically what a collector is and that's what I am. I can obviously come up with a more poetic or scientific definition to justify this kind of behavior but, in the end, those are just different and more complex ways of saying the same thing. Since the word "collector" involves all sorts of people with different purposes and objectives, from the guys that turn around garbage bins to the intellectual multimillionaire elite who collect paintings and wine, you can't go around spreading my definition of a collector because some people will get butt hurt. This doesn't make a collector a fool or an idiot, of course. It just makes him human. Anyway, there are collectors of all sorts. If something exists, no matter what it is, someone is out there collecting it.

Being materialist means digital, intangible contents that replace a physical item are a big Nope. I hate DLC, I hate F2P, I hate DMR, I hate all that crap. Because that's what it is: crap. DLC was supposed to be something good, something that extends the gameplay of a game a while after being released, pretty much like the good old expansion packs. But no. Thanks to the big companies, it sucks. You have to pay for stuff that's already available even before the game comes out, and most of it sucks. Most of these DLC are fully planned and prepared during the development stage. You basically buy an incomplete game when it comes out and you'll have to pay more for some of the missing bits. F2P is a great concept! People get the game for free and only pay to unlock things faster if they wish. This would be great if most games could be played normally instead of making you deal with all kinds of sh!t that ruin the gameplay experience, such as being unable to further play the game unless you waste your real life money on the items you need to progress or, alternatively, waste countless hours of your lifetime doing the most annoying things ever just to get them. Since I'm about to trash Nintendo again, here's an example: Pokémon Shuffle. Addicting game, fun to play... but then they make you wait at least half an hour just to have a single heart you need to play a single time, and you can't have more than 5 hearts at once unless you use a crystal. You can either win a crystal by doing some things such as beating a Mega Evolution or buy it for 0.99 cents. Seriously, who supports this? 

Then there's also another extremely annoying thing... the updates. Updates that take ages to download and install all the time. Updates that make you wait up to half an hour (if not more) just to play the damn game! Sometimes half an hour is all I got to get a little taste of the game I've just bought but nooooo, instead of instantly playing the game I have to sit there, depressed, looking at loading bar getting stuck on the last 1% for a longer time than it took to fill the previous 99%. Well done.

And here I am writing all this gibberish just because I recently heard that Nintendo announced it will start producing games for mobile phones, tablets and similar devices. It's a fact that portable gaming on these devices is extremely popular in Japan. I don't have a crystal ball to guess the future, otherwise I wouldn't be missing some of the preorders that I'd really like to get before they become sold out, but this kind of attitude coming from a company that dominates the handheld consoles' market seems like an attempt to shoot its own foot. In fact, these news just came out very shortly after Nintendo released the New 3DS models, which don't really add anything relevant to the previous 3DS consoles available. But, oh, wait, "we're working on a new console", they said. I won't even comment on this one. I hope it does better than the WiiU.

Now, if you consider Nintendo is leaving their fans very upset with the extremely limited availability of its most recent releases such as the WiiU GC controller adapter, most of the Amiibo figurines, console editions, plates, preorder items and all of those things, these announcements just seem to add horribly wrong. Now we have a solid gold Mario available exclusively on Walmart in the US. This is how Nintendo gives the middle finger to the rest of the Amiibo collectors around the World, and fools like me will continue to support these companies.

The digital era is not just about negative things. It actually has more pros than cons. No more rare or exclusive games produced in limited numbers, no more wasted resources in producing millions of discs, cheaper games... Sometimes the disc alone is far more worth it than the game recorded inside... So many good things about the digital market! Unless they release digital games with physical Amiibo or Skylanders. Those are awesome to own but horrible to collect. On the other hand, the digital market totally ruins the fun of collecting physical games and it will certainly value retro games and physical copies a lot. Many awesome games will never make it to my collection because they are digital only and I still wasn't able to adapt to the idea of paying for something that you can't "own", unless it's ultra cheap (but I guess that's what happens most of the times, according to Steam). Considering how well I see steam cards and similar stuff selling in regular videogames' stores, I'm pretty sure this will not ruin the business for most of them, as much as they know how to adapt. 

The amazing success of physical goods and collector's editions seems to be a contradiction in the recent tendencies of the digital markets. What kind of strategy comes from companies whose physical games, limited editions and toys sell out like hot cakes but decide to release digital games? The answer is quite simple: it's all about the money.

General gamers just want to play a game for the cheapest price they can get. If that means not owning a physical version, that's not a problem at all. Collectors are a minority in the general videogaming market and companies are not making videogames for charity purposes. Companies just want profit. One day they make collectors happy and the following day they make them sad. One day they make most gamers happy and the next day they make them sad. It doesn't matter to them. All their strategies have a single goal in mind: profit. Their decisions are only based on how much money they can get from something at a certain moment. The consumer's satisfaction is a consequence and an objective at the same time, because there's no profit without that (at least, not legally...). That's basically how the current world works. There's no routine.

Read More »

The Enemiibo...

Good thing to know a friend of mine called Ivan just posted some weird study on Facebook saying that bad humour is a sign of intelligence. Looking at all the rants I've been writing in this blog, I must be a f***ing genius.

One thing is certain: I'm stupid. Another thing is certain: so is Nintendo. This has to be the worst collector's nightmare in recent times, seriously. What the heck, Nintendo? I originally bought a couple of these figurines called the Amiibo, but I promised myself that I would not buy all of them. GG Nintendo, I fell for your trap and I'm pretty sure plenty of other people out there can relate... Now what?

I started with Link, Marth and Pikachu because they were cool. I didn't have plans to buy the rest of the 1st wave because I thought I would be able to buy them later after a price drop or something. I certainly am not a genius, but at the time I didn't realize that expecting a price drop for most of these figurines was something even those guys from Criminal Minds would miss. 

Things became more serious when they officially announced that three figurines from the first wave would be discontinued, confirming those rumours that were lurking around in doubtful articles on the internet. I already had Marth, but I still needed to get the two retarded ones: Wii Fit Trainer and the Villager. Well, honestly, sorry if I offended you guys who are fans of any of these two, but even still you have to recognize they are the most random characters to ever make it to the Smash Bros roost. Seriously, what the heck are those characters? It makes more sense to release a "Mii version of Mr. Potato" Amiibo than those two characters. They could even call it Miister Potato as far as I'm concerned. Then they would allow you to customize your own Amiibo with accessories that were sold separately. Oh no, don't give them more ideas... Anyway, I only bought the weird couple to avoid regrets later.

So, by the time I had 5 figurines, I noticed I was missing the interesting ones, such as Kirby (cute and gay), Samus and Fox. Obviously, by the time I bought those, I was only missing two to complete the first wave. I was determined to buy them all at this point. Thank you Nintendo, for ruining my sanity.

Second wave comes out, and brought us plenty of cool characters. I visited one store that had them all, but there was only a single figurine of my favourite character from that wave: Little Mac. I didn't buy any because I didn't feel like wasting money at that moment. I waited a few days before deciding to get some of them but then I noticed I could no longer find Little Mac at the local stores. I travelled a few km to different stores and I eventually realized that Little Mac was only available in extremely low quantities. I started to worry at first, but I eventually found a few here and there, so I bought one. I warned a couple of friends of how limited that figurine seemed to be but they didn't seem to care until it was too late. I was completely unaware of what was happening in the rest of the world.

Third wave comes out and this was by far the easiest to get. Stores over here don't give a crap about figurines. If they have too many on the shelves, they don't put up more for sale, even if they are new ones just released. They don't care about release dates either. Several days before 3rd wave came out, I randomly entered a local store that had all the new figurines available. Plenty of them actually, not less than about ten of each, including Rosalinas. I bought Rosalina, Ike, Toon Link, Lucario... At this point I thought that getting the full collection was not a problem. I heard Rosalinas were rare, so I checked eBay, saw their values and a couple of weeks later I returned to the same store that still had about 7 left and I decided to buy a couple to make some spare money. Yeah I know, I was such a scalper and I kinda feel bad for that.

So I bought a couple of Rosalinas and placed them on eBay with the lowest buy it now and free postage. In a matter of minutes I received a message from another guy in this country asking how much I would sell that figurine for... I thought to myself "hummm this is weird, this must be super common as that store alone had about 10 of them for almost 3 weeks... This guy will probably find it easily if he visits a few stores". I told him that and I never heard from him again. I hope he didn't die or something... 

The Rosalinas I placed on eBay sold ridiculously fast. Some time later I realized Rosalina was nowhere to be found in any other store around this area (and, believe me, there are plenty of stores in a 20km radius...). I even got a few just to help other people who needed it, without making any profit. That's when I understood how scarce these were, and I have a few close friends who wanted one but couldn't get it. Damn, the feels...

Okay, so I was still expecting to easily collect all the figurines... until the 2nd set of the 4th wave comes out. You know, the one that includes Shulk, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Mega Man and Sonic... I didn't even bother looking at release dates, since all I had to do up to this point was walk into that store and get them. Or so I thought.... Shulk was by far my most wanted character and for a second I thought I had missed it for good. Nintendo had the absolutely brilliant idea of releasing just two figurines per store, and only a bunch of stores got them and they were already reserved for scalpers, one guy in particular. Yeah, I know who you are, I know you've been to three different Worten stores reserving almost the entire stock. Oh, but you're such a nice guy, because you left one Sonic and one Megaman for another guy!!! Now die alone.

And now the 4th wave is sold out everywhere, except in the local stores who don't even know what they are selling. I don't know if I will be able to get the 4th wave figurines. Stores over here know nothing until they receive it. Last time I made a phone call asking for the Nintendo figurines called Amiibo and the guy on the phone said "hum I've no idea what they are". So I told him about the Skylanders, and he didn't know what Skylanders are. Seriously???? You work in a Multimedia store and you don't know what Skylanders are? Damn, I hope that guy has some short term plans for your future...

I'm done with the Amiibo as soon as the Smash Bros. Series ends. I don't even care about the new ones from Super Mario. Nintendo is making fans give all the money to scalpers just because they had the stupid idea of not releasing enough figurines. There's a billion of super marios from wave 1, then there are like 39 Shulks all over the world. What's the point??? Is Nintendo dumb? Don't they want more money? Do they prefer to piss their costumers and drive them insane looking for these stupid figurines? I like to walk in a store and get the ones I like when I feel like buying them. I don't want to look like a crazy guy constantly refreshing the amiibo page on websites that still didn't put them for sale, FFS...

Well done Nintendo, I hope you enjoy burying your unsold 1st wave Super Mario Amiibo in the Nevada Desert while you watch the rest of the World killing each other just to get a Ness figurine.

Here it is, the full collection of Smash Bros. Amiibo up to number 29, in risk of never going beyond that number now that I've lost the preorders for the next wave. Even the background is a nightmare to edit on this one, so please just enjoy a regular, crappy, unedited picture showing all my Amiibo in their current habitat. This collection is driving me nuts to the point I've considered selling the whole thing and make a profit just to buy other editions coming out soon.

Read More »

My Order arrived on release date

Sometimes I have this feeling that I'm always complaining about the editions I buy. I wonder what people who read this blog think about it. Am I crazy for spending extra money on pricey editions and games just to complain about? Do I really like most of the stuff I post here or is it just a fetish or an addiction to buy every single one of these? Kinda...

The Order 1886 is another one of those games I'd love to be playing right now, but unfortunately I can't. Not until I solve my problems at home, and that will take a few months. By the time I'm done, I'll probably move on to other games and this one will be left behind. There's a top three this year that I want to play no matter what, unless of course they add DMR or require online connection all the time. No matter how hardcore I am, I do not support that. I just hope that everything is solved by the time those big games come out. 

This Blackwater Edition was a major disappointment. I do welcome smaller editions for cheaper prices, so I don't really complain about the fact that we didn't receive one of the huge editions with large statues as those released in the US. But if I'm going to spend additional money on one game, then it rather be worth it. I rarely ever buy brand new game releases unless they have a limited edition, and even still I don't buy all the limited editions on release date. I just do that when I'm guessing it will be sold out or when I truly like the game and/or the edition related to it. 

It's pretty clear that this game was one of the big hits, and big hits are usually very sought after. Considering this, I've made up my mind about picking this edition on release date. Unfortunately, as the edition was heading my way, I had the chance to open one and see the contents. I was rather disappointed. First of all, the necklace it comes with or whatever that is, is pretty pointless. In my opinion, it's not interesting, charismatic, whatsoever. It has little meaning to me. Secondly, the exclusive cover of the game inside this edition is horrible. The regular game has a much prettier cover and they could have easily added that one with the name of the edition of it if they wanted it to differ from the regular solo version. Even the steelbook edition is much prettier and for a moment I considered that to be the best purchase. The problem is that I hate steelbooks, even when I have to keep them sealed. I already quit buying all the Portuguese editions, so I won't bother getting that one as an extra. The rest of the content in this edition is fine, but it feels not enough. I don't care about DLCs but still got one of those papers with a useless code I'll probably never activate.

The edition doesn't come sealed. I mean, it does come sealed with your good old sticker on the box flaps, but not with cellophane or shrinkwrap. It comes in one of those types of clear plastic cases that allow them to print all the useless information almost nobody cares about while sparing the actual box from having all that trash directly on it. It also makes these editions look neat. The same type of plastic cases that get easily scratched if they are mishandled by distributors, stores and warehouses, which they obviously are and all parties involved in the making (including designers) know about that. They then look ugly, worn out, old, no longer mint. When used copies pop up at stores, they'll probably look even worse. Adding some cellophane around the box provides additional protection before the edition is sold but nobody cares. In the end, they are just concerned about sales. Nobody is concerned about professionalism, nobody is concerned about taking these things more seriously. They are just videogames and videogames are just  I'm not an expert about limited editions and packages, but I also don't get paid to put these on sale and do an average job at best.

Read More »