Ooooooo, Yuko-chan's being creative! Wanna see?

¿Usted habla español?

Those of you who know me for any amount of time may know that I'm not white. My parents come from small Caribbean country called Cuba, and most of us from this countrytend to speak a language called Spanish*.

(*:Just so we're sure, this is sarcasm)

Now, many Spanish-speaking people from places like Cuba, Mexico and South America also play video games. I quite enjoy them, myself. However, the increased trend toward multi-lingual games - a necessity for bringing games outside of pathetic mini-game compilations to people who don't necessarily speak English very well.

Now why am I talking about this? Very simple. For some reason, I've noticed that there are several games of varying profile that are still without multilingual features. The most egregious of these is Call of Duty. Now, I understand that Activision is an evil company who probably laughs at people in the Americas who might want to play a game in another language and probably wouldn't even dub their games for European audiences if there was any way they could get away with it, but is it really that hard to put in some extra dialogue options in games that everyone knows aren't using the full disc (this isn't exactly Final Fantasy XIII we're talking about here).

However, the problem isn't magically excused by lack of disc space. There have been separate discs with separate languages for games released on this continent before. The most obvious example is the Halo series, which only has audio for the country the game is being sold in (though they at least have multiple sub tracks). Is there any reason for these Spanish versions not to be released in communities where they would be welcomed (IE, Florida, Texas, California, et al)? And while we're at it, why not French versions for Canada? I'm sure there's lots of folks north of the border who'd like to play more of their games in French.

However, the worst of it is when we get to digital content. Is there any reason I have to have a Spaniard account and import Spaniard PSN cards to play Final Fantasy VII in Spanish, othat than perhaps a prevailing, poisonous attitude that "if they come here, they should learn English"? Come to think of it, why the hell does the PS3 version of Megaman 9 not have Spanish while the Xbox 360 version does? There's absolutely no excuse for any digital release not to be multilingual.

Gaming has come a long way since the days of the NES, and has become the staple of men (and women) all around the world. It's high time that game companies started catering to the more diverse pockets of society, especially here in the US. "Dumb it down" shouldn't be the only way to make a game accessible.

Guess what this is about.

Crossing the streams is bad. Find out why here.

Click here for a message of hope in these dark times.

Resident Evil 5 has been quite the controversial game of late. First, the demo being out in Japan months before everyone else got it, despite said demo having English text. Then it was the brouhaha over the completely unaltered control scheme. Now it's the pay-to-play VS modes.

Resident Evil versus mode.

Okay, I don't know many things, and much of the world is odd to me, but why does anyone even want a versus mode in this of all games? I don't know about you, but it seems like something painfully stapled on at the last minute, as the very idea of death matches with controls virtually unaltered from Resident Evil 4 lacks appeal to me, especially in the face of far better shooters for multiplayer including Gears of War, Call of Duty and Killzone 2. Not only that, but who the hell buys Resident Evil and wishes they could play against others? The co-op I can kind of understand, certainly, but versus? Just sounds like it'd be stupidly frustrating.

However, the reason why I'm writing this is to respond to the apparent outrage over the fact that this is going to cost five bucks (400 MS points). It seems like a lot of money, and it most certainly is for something as tacked on as this. However, the irrational reactions of some just strike me as curious, particularly those who say they're going to boycott Resident Evil 5 over this. The reaction here just strikes me as wholly immature. Why the hell would you not buy a game that, by all accounts is pretty good, simply because of a stupid piece of DLC. That'd be like not buying Street Fighter IV because Capcom put out the costume packs. Rather than show a dissatisfaction with the DLC, you're really showing a disinterest in the game, which serves no one. The best way to deal with this is to pretend the DLC isn't there. That's what I've done since this generation began. I've bought no skins, cars, costumes, picture packs, or any other stupid items that have been thrown at the two marketplaces, simply because I don't want or need them. And you know what? I've never had a problem, and have enjoyed my games regardless.

In other words, spend wisely.

Due to the video content of this blog, it cannot be posted in its entirety here. Please go here.

Tomorrow, I'll continue my normal game blogging, and talk about the issues on my mind in the industry. However, today, I'd like to say Congratulations to the 44th President of the United States of America, Barak Hussein Obama. I can't speak for all America, but I think many would agree that this is a historic moment, and a sign that, no matter how hard the road seems, it gets better.

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Wanna see the inauguration speech? Click here.

1983.

The year gaming died.

I don't think I need to remind anyone old enough to remember the Atari 2600 how horrifying that year was. A glut of unchecked shovel ware led to massive consumer confusion. Eventually, people just stopped playing. Arcades went dark, stores were slashing prices on their remaining video games, and a large number of companies died a horrible death. Before 1983, an investor could get filthy rich off Atari Games stock. Those riches went away, along with any vestige of the company we remember (the company calling itself Atari now is actually a subsidiary of French publisher Infogrames). The industry only returned to relevance in 1985, when the NES started gaining popularity.

Unfortunately, history has a horrible way of repeating itself.

2008.

The Nintendo Wii is undeniably the hottest selling console today. Nintendo has proven unable to stop rubbing it in everyone's faces. Iwata must be sore from beating his chest so damned much. Their arrogance is frighteningly like that of Atari leading up to the fateful year. However, the hardware success has not translated into broad industry growth. 3rd parties like Electronic Arts have found the Wii a tough nut to crack, with thoughtfully designed games like Boom Blox, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 and the All Play sports series failing to register with Wii owners. Indeed, a game isn't going to get anywhere on the Wii unless it stars Nintendo's mascots, is pitched as a self-improvement tool Most Wii Fit users have NO interest in video games at all) or comes with an accessory (let's be honest here, the only reason people buy Wii Play is because it's only $10 more than a remote by itself). As a result, the quality of games on the platform has taken a precipitous nosedive as more and more 3rd parties realize that there's no real way to make Nintendo level money on the Wii and content themselves with a 60k or so sales of shovelware to get that last cash push before the company's main titles come out on the 360 and PS3. The only upcoming 3rd party games that really have a shot in hell of being good are No More Heroes 2, The Conduit and Madworld, and considering how poorly NMH1 sold (especially in Japan and the US), I doubt these games will be rewarded for the effort with retail success.

I can't help but keep thinking about what happened in 1983 when I think about present-day Nintendo. They're so isolated from the rest of the gaming industry, unable or unwilling to address the ever-growing pile of shovel ware that would put the E.T. Landfill to shame, and providing no evidence that their success is anything other than a boom, like the industry was experiencing in 1982. It's the same reckless irresponsibility that destroyed many .com businesses at 2000 and the housing market just two years ago. Rather than focus on making a sustainable growth, Nintendo seems content to ride the boom, unaware of the bust that is on the horizon.

Not that I'm rooting. Not even close. The 1983 video game industry crash, the 2000 .com bust and the recent housing bust – chiefly responsible for the current economic crisis,but that's another blog post – were all preceded by runaway growth. If trends continue, and the complete lack of foresight at the big N suggests that it will, we're in for a massive bust sooner than later, one that, like Atari's, will take huge swaths of the gaming industry with it. Go back to that Kotaku article I linked toward the beginning of this post. Look at the chart. It's no secret that most of Nintendo's money is coming from hardware. At any moment, the boom they're experiencing can end, and that 1% suddenly becomes the 99%. That's when we see layoffs and collapsing companies that make the recent loss of Free Radical seem minor.

I could go on all night, but I think I've made my point. Nintendo isn't growing anything – They're in a boom, and the bust that comes after this boom could be tragic.

Of course, I could be over exaggerating. Perhaps Nintendo's eventual implosion will be more like 3dfx, a company who's failure only affected itself and left plenty of room for more competent companies to fill the void. However, I just can't help but feel we're staring down the edge of the Grand Canyon, just waiting to fall.

As Samual L. Jackson said in Jurassic Park: hold onto your butts.

Whew, I just had to come up for air. I know I said I'd post more, but this holiday rush has been FAR larger than previous ones. I have plenty to say about that, but for now, I'd like to talk about something far more important, at least to me.

Back in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected (if you can call it that) to the White House, he was sold by the Republican party as a uniter, not a divider. "Compassionate conservatism," was billed as a conservative policy that could still at least be agreeable to moderate and liberal elements in the country. Fast forward to 2009, 18 days from the inauguration of Barak Obama. The country is the most bitterly divided it's been in recent memory, clustered into coalitions of red and blue states, with about five "battleground states" deciding the last election. I wonder if President-Elect Obama will ever be able to repair this broken husk of a nation.

Why do I bring this up in a gaming blog? The success of the Wii, rather than bring gamers and non-gamers together as Nintendo envisioned, has served to partition the gaming community in much the same way the presidency of George W. Bush has partitioned the United States.

The term "casual" has always been around, of course, but never before had it been such a venomous word. In the prime of the PS2/Xbox/Cube, people who played games with dedication would throw the occasional barb at one another, but didn't much give a bunch of crap to those who enjoyed games casually. Now look at where we are. Instead of meaning someone who enjoys gaming without the intensity of the traditional gaming demographics, or even the short association with PopCap Games' ****of easy to learn, hard to master and addictive as hell puzzle games, "casual" has become a ****fication of cheap to make, unimaginative shovel ware like Rig Racer and Anubis II. It's become a derogatory term, not only for many games outside of the traditional gaming genres, but also for the people who play them.

The PS3 and 360 camps have, with some exceptions, united under their mutual hatred of what Nintendo has become, but the real tragedy is the rift seen within Nintendo's fan base. On one side, you have people who have become myopic about the company, defending even the most pedantic, infantile effort from them (Wii Music, for example) as signs of the sort of progressive thought that only Nintendo has (in their mind, anyway). On the other, you have disillusioned gamers, of which I am admittedly one, who view Nintendo's current console as little more than a cynical attempt to make quick cash from the mouth-breathing Oprah crowd.

While there have always been divisions with regard to gaming, they've never seemed so deep, so bitter, or so irreparable as they are now. Say what you will about the PS2, but the diversity of games offered on the platform made for an equally diverse community that the majority of people with any interest at all in gaming were part of. Today, the gaming nation is tangibly split into coalitions of Wii and PS3/360 states. And unlike the US, there's no Obama coming to try uniting us.

I weep for what the gaming community has devolved into.

Check out more posts on my main blog over at Giant Bomb!

Due to the video content used in this post, it cannot be put here.  Please click here.

Why am I partying? Find out here!

Before I start, I'd like to preface this by saying that what I'm going to say right now isn't the most popular sentiment out there.

Consider yourself warned.

Well, Spore's been out for a while, and with the exception of people complaining about DRM, there seems to be a huge divide, at least if Meta Critic is to be believed. Meta Critic has the game at 85% based on 45 reviews, but the game rates 4.7 with users. Now, we're going to be liberal and give the game a full extra point to excuse people ranting solely on the DRM without having played the game. So that's 85% with reviewers and 57% with users. Why the incredible gulf? Looking at Meta Critic, it seems that many reviewers are willing to excuse the overly simplified gameplay because the game's so darn creative. Which of course is a nice way of saying that they all worship Will Wright and don't dare give the game a poor rating.

Continue here

With the announcement of a 5-install limit for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and the problems legitimate consumers have had with Spore, people are once again railing against the evil that is DRM in the PC gaming landscape. Indeed, no form of copy-protection has been able to prove effective, and nearly all of them have proven bothersome, from the minor inconvenience of checking the manual or a CD-Key to the nightmare of online activation. With numerous workarounds for Steam games, it's been proven that even digital distribution doesn't work. That is of course to say nothing of digital distribution plus SecuROM, which did no favors for Bioshock. Indeed, not a single method of protection has proven effective.

However, what is the alternative?

With installs fast becoming a mandatory hindrance for PS3 users, I decided to get a new HDD for it. 320GB, I figured, should be enough. If I only knew what I was setting myself up for.

Continue here.

Recently, Katherine Fletcher over at Channelflip Games has shown us what she believes to be the ten worst games of all time.

With some obvious picks and some less-than-obvious selections, Katherine has created a well-rounded sampling of some of the most atrocious crap to ever "grace" the gaming industry. While hers is qite a list, I thought I'd think about the games I consider to be the cream of the crap, and ask you all what you consider yours.

Continue here.

Here is is, my first post on Giant Bomb! Come join me!

As many of you may have heard (probably from Nintendo fanboys gloating), Nintendo Wii has overtaken the Xbox 360 as the best-selling console in North America. This while software - especially 3rd party software other than Guitar Hero - continues to lag ridiculously behind the Xbox 360. To call it odd is an understatement.

The whole phenomenon of the Wii hardware doing so incredibly well while the software does so phenomenally poorly is one I can't really see having been replicated in the industry. In the post-crash era, the software sold best on NES, SNES, PlayStation and PlayStation 2. It's just common sense that the best-selling console also have the most successful software library.

Common sense until the Wii came along. Despite selling 10.9 million units in North America, the software attach rates on the Wii are pathetic next to the 360. Also, with the exception of Guitar Hero and Wii Fit, the only consistant software sellers are Nintendo Mascot games (Wii Play, by any notion, sells because of the remote). This isn't to say that there aren't good 3rd party games, despite what Nintendo fanboys tell anyone who'll listen. There ARE good games out there that aren't selling, such as Boom Blox, which has tanked phenmonimally, or No More Heroes, which was marked down in price in two or three months after release because Ubi just couldn't move copies. The good games just aren't selling well, with the exception of Rayman Raving Rabbids the two Resident Evil games on the platform.

So what's created this strange atmosphere? It'd be easy to write it off as just casuals only buying it for "exercise" or some nonsense like that (though I'm sure that's happening in large numbers), but I suspect the real problem is us, the gamer.

Because of the Wii's inexpense compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3, many owners of the next-gen systems also own Wiis. However, as software sales are suggesting, the Wii is not the primary console for these people. I know that I myself look at 360 first, then PS3, then PC (I recently upgraded my rig), THEN the Wii. Boom Blox and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon aside (I want to get those badly), I mostly use my Wii as a Mario/Zelda/Metroid player. It's no common secret that the best selling Nintendo games, even among their first-party titles, have been mascot games for well over a decade.

The question then becomes "what can be done to make the Wii a primary console?" Titles like Madworld are a huge part of that shift, but for it to happen, Nintendo themselves need to be more agressive in courting the gamers, convincing them that their Wiis are good for more than just Mario, Zelda, Metroid and some Pokemon. Nintendo needs to take risks in the software arena. 3rd parties also need to help. While there are plenty of good 3rd party Wii games, the 3rd parties are more concerned with clinging to their piece of Nintendo's novelty crowd, knowing that gamers are more likely to buy for the 360 and PS3. We need more good, gamer-focused games that aren't crappy ports of PS3/360 titles (I'm looking at YOU, Activision).

However, even if that happens in the short term, will 3rd parties back away at the first sign of failure? If MadWorld doesn't do well, will the rest of the 3rd-party development community take it as a warning not to put big money in making games for the Wii? If that happens, we'll have no one but ourselves to look at for viewing the Wii as a Nintendo mascot machine.

For the few of you who may not have head, Final Fantasy XIII will be headed to the Xbox 360. Not only that, but Europe and North America will see the 360 version released on the same day as the PS3.

To say this is a major coup for Microsoft would be putting it lightly. Considering the original Xbox's complete lack of RPGs that mattered outside of KOTOR, MS has done an absolutely amazing job turning their second system into the RPG powerhouse of this generation. Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Enchanted Arms, Mass Effect, Operation Darkness, and now Final Fantasy XIII, now make the Xbox 360 the first choice for RPG lovers. This will also be a sure seller of 360s in the future. To say that MS is on top of the world right now would be an understatement.

But where does that leave Sony? Yes, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was a huge system seller, but what's their next major exclusive? Yes, Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still exclusive for now, but it's only a matter of time before that game goes multi-platform. That doesn't leave Sony with a lot to boast outside of Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, White Knight Story and Killzone 2. So the question becomes this: What does Sony do to ensure a steady stream of exclusive games? There's really only two things they CAN do, honestly:

1) Start paying publishers. Microsoft's gotten pretty far by bribing publishers left and right. I strongly suspect most Japanese publishers wouldn't even look at Microsoft were it not for generous kickbacks, considering the Xbox 360's pathetic position in Japan. Considering the sheer girth of Sony and their recent strides in streamlining the PS3 production process, Sony should really look into buying some exclusives the way Microsoft has. Failing that, they could do...

2) Greatly strengthen 1st party development. The PlayStation 1 and 2 saw relatively few mega-hit titles from Sony themselves. Yes, the titles they put out were often quite phenomenal (Shadow of the Colossus, Jak & Daxter, etc), but unlike Nintendo, Sony's always been overshadowed by 3rd party efforts on their systems. If Sony's not willing to start paying for exclusives, they might want to start making a whole hell of a lot more of their own titles, and advertising the everloving hell out of them.

Either way, the days of Sony getting tons of exclusives because of the PlayStation brand alone are long dead. The last two years have damaged that name in the eyes of consumers and publishers. It's time Sony started rebuilding.