It’s more complicated. Apple allows it, but apply a lot of fees so that it is really expensive (and probably not viable). If I remember correctly, you can propose your own store but you have to pay a fee for every download on the store (even for free apps).

I could be interested in Overcooked :).

It’s great news because it will now be available in other countries which ban F2P games with « gacha » mechanics. I think I will give it a try in December (but I have to get some info on it first, I like Animal Crossing games but I have no idea how good this mobile version is).

Fair point. I am not interested at all, but I can understand ;).

And then, they will blame the studio when the game fails :/. There is no point to force a studio specialized in single-player games to develop a multiplayer one. And using an existing IP for that is not very effective imo (it reminds me a lot when, during PS360 era, all single player games had an uninteresting multiplayer mode solely to justify the online membership, like Fable 2 or Mass Effect 3). It’s exactly like the last Crash game no one cared about.

It feels like they are buying lottery tickets, hoping a winning ticket will cover all their expenses.

It’s sad, but I think the only way to preserve video games is through piracy and emulation. The companies do not care, states do not care, and most people do not care until it’s too late (and the games are seen as consumables by most people, which imo explains why they are « happy » to buy the same games again and again).

I heard they sue Pocketpair on copyrighted systems, not on the design of the Pals (eg: using an object like a Pokeball to catch the creatures). They certainly have solid legal arguments, which explains why they took their time to find some flaws they could exploit to sue them.

Not exactly. It seems it was 30 fps on the map and 60 fps during battle.

Not an excuse, but I believe that’s because they are porting the PS3 version (which already had those limitations if I remember correctly).

Probably one of my all-time favorite RPG. It’s a good classic RPG with good graphics and music. The gameplay is good and unique as well, but I remember from my first playthrough back in the days that it took me some time to get used to it. The game is not easy at all (because 2/3 bosses in the game are very hard).

It’s important not to make a big pause when playing this game. The gameplay starts slow and becomes very fast at some point. It is so unique that, if you stop and play again after a month or so, you will likely have a hard time to become fast enough again (when I played it for the 1st time when I was young, I did this mistake and had to start the game from the beginning).

I can’t comment about the 2nd game because I never played it.

Clair Obscure reminds me a lot Lost Odyssey with its dynamic turn-based gameplay with QTE to alter the outcome. The plot is also quite interesting. Perfect Dark also surprised me. It seems to have Mirror Edge vibes with a bit more infiltration / action phases.

I guess it’s time to invest in a mobile controller 😅.

It’s true for TCG online, but I doubt it will be the case for this one. They announced nothing regarding micro transactions nor how to get extra packs. They can totally make this one free, as it’s marketing value for physical cards is enough by itself.

Yes but if it’s free, I don’t think it’s a big issue. Very different than allowing people to buy lottery tickets (it could be the case, but I don’t think so).

Depends how you see it. TCG is by itself a lootbox game, but with physical cards instead. However, it does not seem that the Pokemon Company wants to turn its TCG game into a digital business, but instead use those apps as promotional products for TCG. Personally, I think it’s a much better model than the one pursued by everyone else. The apps are more a bonus / promotional stuff than a real thing. For this particular app, I won’t be surprised if there is no other way to get packs than waiting for the next day.

It’s normal to be skeptical no worries ;). Pokémon TCG is really a thing of its own, and managed by a separate entity within the Pokemon Company.

I could be wrong, but if it was the case, I am wondering why they did not already do it with their new TCG app that was released last year.

I don’t think so. The TCG online has no micro-transactions. You have to buy real packs to get digital packs in the game.

I believe this new game will just be advertisement for the TCG by itself, without the F2P stuff we are used to in other games. Giving people this app for free, and expect to convert some of them into TCG players who will buy real packs.

I generally support emulation, but I admit Switch emulation is hard to support when it happens while the machine is commercialized and the authors are trying to get money for it.

I don’t know much, but I heard Hasbro has fired all the guys who created D&D (after they bought the licence). Those guys helped a lot Larian during BG3 development (Larian even tried to speak about them when they won at the Game Awards, but were cut off before they could).

As long as it remains an option among others, I don’t see any issue with the subscription model. I play video games for 20+ years, and I can say it’s impossible for me at this point to play once again to most of the games I played in the past. A subscription model is the cheapest way to play most games if you do not play it more than once (which is the case for most games, at least for myself).

Even in the rare case where I would like to play again a game I did not buy at the time, between discounts, remake / remaster (or even emulation), and even if I have to buy it 5 years after its release, it will still be worth it compared to the dozens of games I had not bought.

I am much more concerned about DLCs, season pass, bugged games on release and so on. Releasing incomplete or imperfect games (and this also count for BG3) implies that one day, using a physical copy of nowadays in 20 years will be a subpar experience because you won’t have access to any of this content by legal means (assuming Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo shutting down their online services for old generations, which has already happened and will likely happen again in the future). Retrogaming for games released nowadays is kind doomed if you do not follow the piracy route (which is probably the only secure way to keep track of both DLCs and patches in the long run).