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A personal opinion on Shingeki No Kyojin

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Our own private paradise Island

The world is facing a health crisis right now and many countries had been put under lockdown. Naturally, everyone is dealing with the situation in its own way. Therefore, millions of gamers have taken the opportunity to ramp up their playtime. And this includes a lot of Nintendo Switch owners which have taken to the relatively new Animal Crossing New Horizons to add a little color to these quarantine days, which includes my wife and me.

The Game released just as the mitigation measures started in our country. So, we foresaw that we would be playing quite a lot of it. Even before all this happened my wife and I were looking forward to it. That is since my wife likes co-op games rather than competitive ones. And what could be better than cooperating to build the best possible Island?! (We are not even close to what we have seen out there but the fun is in trying).

As a matter of fact, in roughly one month since Animal Crossing release, we have devoted well over 250 hours to the game between the two of us. That accounts for more than 10 days. We dedicated 10 of the last 40 days to playing animal crossing!!! (Since the playtime is accounted separately for both of us, it could be said that those were in fact 10 in 80 days. But you get the point anyway, we played a lot!).

Animal Crossing

I have never been an Animal Crossing fan myself. In fact, I had only played New Leaf before New Horizons. However, I did found myself engaged in the game and I had a lot of entertainment. Of course, that’s not to say that the game is perfect. There were times when I just got tired of grinding to get that one fish I wanted or something of the sort.

But I did got caught in the idea of making my island evolve and visiting my friends to see what they had come up with. There was this one time when I woke up just to see my wife giving the final touches to her new “shopping district” on the island. Scenes like these have repeated a few times.

Something that caught my attention is the support Nintendo has given to the game. Quickly updating it and treating it as an online experience. I don’t remember such treatment from Nintendo before on a game that is not Splatoon. (Which is obviously online-centered so it was much needed). I’m interested in seeing how it all develops in the end.

Anyway, I didn’t know how to finish this post. But I’ll keep playing Animal Crossing New Horizons with my wife during the lockdown on our country. What about you? How are you dealing with the situation?

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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Pokémon Sword and Shield announcements

June 5, 2019July 15, 2019

News regarding the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield games for Nintendo Switch directly from Gamefreak through a Pokémon Direct. Here are the announcements

Detective Pikachu

May 8, 2019July 15, 2019

We have not seen Detective Pikachu yet. But we are more than excited about it. We think it’s doing thinks right already and can’t wait to see the results.

Two New Nintendo Switch Models coming

March 25, 2019July 19, 2019

According to the WSJ we can expect to see two New Nintendo Switch models this year. The models would be a more powerful one and a portable handheld-only one.

New Pokémon Go features

May 29, 2019July 15, 2019

Pokémon Go is adding new functionalities to reward good sleeping habits. This come as part of the efforts of Pokémon Go to improve lifestyle quality…

The post Animal Crossing New Horizons – our Go-to game during lockdown appeared first on The Gaming Geek.

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Anyone else playing lots of #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons during this #CoronavirusLockdown ? 

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Google’s Stadia Biggest challenge

A problem beyond its own reach

Since its reveal one year ago at the GDC through its launch and first months, Google’s Stadia has been surrounded by both Excitement and skepticism. It was a revolutionary and quite ambitious entry point for Google into the Gaming World. However, it seems the biggest challenge for Stadia is beyond itself.

Google’s plans for Stadia were to establish it as a ‘non-hardware attached platform’. The first true Cloud Gaming platform. In which players would actually play in the cloud (A Google Server) from any supported device. It sounds great on paper! And it has the potential of leaving behind the hardware-related problems of gaming. (While also bringing new Cloud-related problems, but let’s leave that for later).

During this year period since we first knew about Stadia up until now, there has been a lot of talk about potential problems regarding the service. Namely, Latency, the ownership problem, multiplayer, input LAG and so on.

All this talking around the problems Stadia may face left me wondering what I thought would be Stadia’s biggest challenge. At first, the Ownership problem came to my mind. The question of whether Google or the users/players owned the license for the games.

First challenge: The Ownership Problem. 

This problem is inherited from the idea of a Platform as a Service. Let’s use another platform as an example: PC. If you buy a Game’s License in Steam. For instance, it’s yours to use. Steam handles the transaction and downloads for you but the game is yours to play whenever and in whichever PC you want to play it. Steam in this example is just a Store in which you buy your license, but the license is yours. That is to say that Steam cannot take that game from you.

On the other hand, we can turn to Netflix to understand what happens if you do not own the license. Netflix is an entertainment service for watching movies and Shows. In Netflix’s case, they own the license for the movies and shows users watch on their service. Meanwhile, users get access to their service for a monthly fee. However, in this case, if Netflix loses the license for a Movie or Show (Due to legal conflicts or simply because the license expired) all the users would automatically lose access to it as well.

You can see then how important it’s to know who owns the license to the games. For instance, if Google owns the licenses you may end up not being able to play or finish the games you wanted. Perhaps you acquired the service to play one particular game or series anywhere with any of your devices but you end up not being able to.

However, users of the service can rest assured as Google confirmed the games brought on Stadia are licensed to the players. Therefore they are theirs to play with whenever and wherever they want. Still, this brought another problem, one that I could relate to.

Stadia Biggest Challenge: Trust

Google claimed the games would be owned by the players and that’s great! However, the remaining questions are: “Will it comply? For how long?” and some variants of it. In the end, the question is just one: “Can we Trust Google?”.

The Players trust

Why? Because Google has made a name for itself on giving up on non-so-profitable projects. As a former Google+ user, I can relate to the feeling of mistrust. “How long will Google support this platform?”. “What will happen to my games if it fails?”. “What about all the time and money I would have spent on it?”

These questions are enough to make a user doubt. Especially if as a user you already have something functional that you consider trustworthy. So, my conclusion at the time was that Stadia’s biggest problem would be to earn the Gamer’s trust. As it turns out, I was WRONG.

The publisher’s Trust

Regarding trust, there’s one major challenge for Stadia besides earning the players Trust. That is to earn the game publishers’ and developers’ trust.  And recent reports suggest that is not the case right now. 

Publishers and developers can see the very same things from Google as all of us have seen. They aren’t sure if they can trust them in maintaining the platform in the long run. Even more, they are not sure if they can trust Gamers will trust the platform.

Under those circumstances, it might be difficult to decide between supporting the platform/service or using the resources somewhere else. That is because it turns out Game Development is a very expensive and time-consuming task. 

Therefore, publishers have to consider where to put their resources. Will they invest time and money into developing or porting games for this new and interesting platform with no significant user base? Or would they rather focus their resources on well-established platforms with millions of users waiting for new games?

Some big publishers have enough resources to take chances and even doing both cases. But smaller publishers and indie developers can’t afford to take the chances. Just a few wrong moves could mean their defeat. 

Stadia’s Future

Subtracting the risks and benefits while factoring the trust issues we can clearly see how this might be Stadia’s biggest problem. One that could finish them before even warming up. That’s because no gaming platform can survive the lack of games and players. Lack of players causes a lack of games which ends up causing more lack of players and so on. That is how platforms die.

However, this is not to say that Stadia will fail. It has, as we previously said, a revolutionary concept and a lot of potential. In the end, the fate of Stadia lies on Google’s hands. It all depends on Google earning the trust of both publishers and players.

Though, even if Stadia manages to overcome its’ biggest challenge there will be more to come. Namely, service reliability, service availability, LAG, input LAG and so on. But, even if these technical problems aren’t there, it would be irrelevant if the biggest and most important problem is not dealt with first. On the other hand, if the technical problems remain while not dealing with the Trust Challenge the future of Stadia would look quite dim.

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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E3 2019

June 12, 2019July 15, 2019

A summary of all our E3 2019 Predictions, Expectations, Highlights, and Impressions articles. Let’s share the joy of this year E3 show and presentations!

Detective Pikachu movie review

June 3, 2019July 15, 2019

Our own Detective Pikachu movie review. We would like to let you know our opinion on this video game movie adaptation. Better late than never…

Nintendo Switch Lite announced

July 10, 2019August 7, 2019

The new addition to the Nintendo Switch family of Systems is the handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite. Here are the Nintendo Switch Lite details…

Google Stadia Announced

March 19, 2019July 15, 2019

Google revealed its Vision for the future of gaming today at the Game Developers Conference: Stadia. Stadia is a new online games streaming platform.

The post Google’s Stadia Biggest Challenge appeared first on The Gaming Geek.

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We took a look at Google's Stadia gaming platform and decided to share what we think may be Stadia's Biggest Challenge to secure a position in the Gaming World. 

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My first Dungeons and Dragons experience

Featured Image: Dungeons and Dragons Warriors of Waterdeep via dnd.wizard.com

A friend of mine got really into Dungeons and Dragons (D&D / DnD) a few months ago. So he proposed a group of friends, including my wife and myself, to join a campaign. I have never played DnD before but I have heard people talking about it and how fun it is. Besides I love RPG’s and DnD is kinda the RPG by excellence. So we decided to go with it!

However, we didn’t start right away, instead, he got a few months to study for being a good Dungeon Master. Meanwhile, we got to work on our characters and knowing more about the game. But, being diligent and non-procrastinator as I am I did none of that. Rather I went to our first playing session, the session Zero as my friend called it, completely lost.

Session Zero

My friend did warn us that “Session Zero” wasn’t for playing but rather to create the characters and make sure everyone was on the same page with the campaign. So I thought “Well since I don’t know a single thing about Dungeons and Dragons I will wait for session Zero to create the character with the help of my friends”.

And so I did, I went to the session without even knowing the races (Apart from elves, humans and other common RPG races). So the inevitable happened. Everyone started talking about races and traits and a lot of information that was just too much for me to handle at that moment. So I felt completely overwhelmed.

I was so overwhelmed that my course of action was just to throw myself on a sofa and wait for the world to give me an answer on what to do. There were just so many things to take into consideration! Races, Classes, subclasses, etc. Besides, I suffer from “Not Able to Decide Syndrome” which doesn’t help in these situations (Sidenote: Although that’s a made-up syndrome the WHO and APA recognize Dependent Personality Disorder as a personality disorder).

Eventually, I got myself, with some help, into taking the task one step at a time. So I started reading about the races on DnD from an online guide. Then, after picking one, I started to think about what kind of character I wanted to play like and looked for a fitting class and so on.

At some point, I stopped feeling overwhelmed and started to feel quite excited about my character, the characters of my friends and the world. I went from “I’ve got no idea of what to do” to asking my friends “Hey! can I do ‘this’ and ‘that’? What about having a companion?”. It turned out to be quite the experience to be creating characters with my friends. 

The excitement of playing DnD

Finally, after all of us expended a few hours creating our characters and writing everything down we were all eager to try them out. So, when the time came to finally start playing we were all quite excited (And a little bit tired as well).

I can say it was amazing to see how my friends got into the roles of their respective characters. The whole experience was quite entertaining and it left me with the desire of playing more! So we got a playing session, I guess session one, scheduled for the next Sunday. And I can say that I’m quite eager to play now.

The post Playing DnD for the very first time appeared first on The Gaming Geek.

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Nintendo, Remaster Paper Mario

The case for Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

On July 27, Arlo, one of our favorite Nintendo Youtubers, published a video rallying its fans to campaign for a remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-year door. The campaign has got a lot of exposition by media outlets reporting on it and Twitter users implementing the #RemasterThousandYearDoor hashtag. Plus, as of September 10th, the Change.org petition has been signed 44,000 times. Therefore, being only 6,000 signatures of its target of 50,000 signatures.

Arlo rallied his fans to aks for a Remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

As you can see, the campaign has received a lot of support. In fact, as an Arlo fan, I’m supporting it myself. But it’s not only because he asked, but because I want it to happen. However, I would like to get the first game in the series first. So I think it would be great if they could remaster it as well.

The Paper Mario series

You see, I’m not exactly a Paper Mario fan. In fact, I have NEVER played any Paper Mario Game. However, I’m quite interested in the games series. I have been interested in Paper Mario since the Gamecube days with Paper Mario: The Thousand-year door. But I never got myself into the series. It wasn’t until the last generation that I started thinking seriously about it with Color Splash.

Back then, I wanted to get a new game for my Wii U so I started reading reviews and the sort. However, I got discouraged since everyone seemed to agree that it wasn’t as good as the first 3 games. I even heard people call The Thousand-year door one of the best game sequels they have played. (I can’t know for sure until I play it but people do seem to have a very good opinion on it). 

So, I decided to try the series. After all, I’m a big fan of other Intelligent System series like Fire Emblem and the Wars series. Sadly, it wasn’t that easy to get to play the first Paper Mario nor Paper Mario The Thousand-year door. (And I’m one who likes playing games in order). 

So the time passed and I just decided to move on to other games and eventually the Nintendo Switch. But that wasn’t because I was uninterested in the games. Rather it was because I didn’t want to put the effort on emulating them or thinking of getting it some other way. That said, I would be completely into the games if they released them on Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo’s games backlog

Nintendo’s backlog of games is full of amazing titles and masterpieces and Nintendo can take advantage of it. They have done so with Nintendo Switch Online service, providing access to both NES and SNES games. Through these services, players will be able to experience games they either want to revisit or have just heard about. Furthermore, services like these could get new players into old games or full game series.

But it doesn’t have to stop there though, Nintendo could also harness it’s Nintendo 64 and Gamecube library. Or, if that’s too troublesome for them maybe just remaster a few games like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. They have done it already with titles like Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. So it’s not completely out of the question.

Whichever the case is we do hope that Nintendo harnesses the full potential of its backlog catalog. That way not only they would make all-time-fans happy, but they might be able to get new fans as well. That, my friends, is a win-win situation. So please Nintendo, remaster both Paper Mario and Thousand-Year Door. Perhaps even Super Paper Mario.

Oh, and since we’re here… What about bringing Mother 3 to the west? 

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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Two New Nintendo Switch Models coming

March 25, 2019July 19, 2019

According to the WSJ we can expect to see two New Nintendo Switch models this year. The models would be a more powerful one and a portable handheld-only one.

Is the National PokeDex Controversy that much of a big deal?

August 6, 2019August 6, 2019

Is The Pokémon Sword and Shield National Pokedex controversy really that much of a big deal? Is there anything to win from it for those who don’t mind it?

We Love Nintendo

April 30, 2019July 15, 2019

Nintendo is our favorite gamig company, so we decided to share the reasons we like it so much! We take a look at Nintendo in all its roles in gaming.

Pokémon Home

May 29, 2019July 15, 2019

Pokémon Home will be a new cloud service app that “lets players continue their Pokémon adventures beyond a single platform”.

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Would you be up for a Paper Mario remaster on Nintendo Switch?

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Se MIGHT get SNES games on the Nintendo Switch soon

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SNES games on Nintendo Switch?

Nintendo Switch Online

As reported by Nintendo Life earlier this week, Resetera user Link83 spotted an FCC filing for a Nintendo Switch SNES controller. This seems similar to the Nintendo Switch NES controller available for Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers. Therefore it seems likely that we might get a new SNES controller and SNES games on the Nintendo Switch.

The possibility of SNES games on Switch has been discussed many times as it’s a logical next step after the Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online Service. Furthermore, data miners have previously reported finding code hinting at SNES games on the Nintendo Switch Online App.

Besides, as pointed out by Nintendo Life, the service is about to become one-year-old on September 18th. So, many users will have to decide to either keep their subscriptions or opting out. And with so much controversy around the service, it makes sense for Nintendo to give an extra feature to keep its users.

Which SNES games would we see?

The list of NES games in the Switch has been steadily increasing since the launch of the service. Now the service boasts more than 20 games plus special editions. So it makes sense that we would see a similar treatment to SNES games. (Assuming the SNES games do come to the service).

Moreover, we can have an idea of which games might come to the service at the beginning by looking at the data miners report. The list includes SNES classics like Super Mario Kart, Star Fox, Kirby Super Star, etc. Plus personal-favorites like Super Metroid and Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2.

Here’s the full list for your convenience: (Thanks to Nintendo Life)

Super Soccer

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Demon’s Crest

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Stunt Race FX

Kirby’s Dream Course

Pop’n Twinbee

Contra III: The Alien Wars

Kirby Super Star

Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Kirby’s Dream Land 3

Super Metroid

Super Mario World

Pilotwings

F-ZERO

Star Fox 2

Super Punch-Out!!

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

Super Mario All-Stars

Breath of Fire II

Above all, we can highlight the presence of Star Fox 2. Star Fox 2 was just released in the west through the SNES classic console. So, it could be great to have the opportunity of playing it without acquiring new hardware. At the same time and to our sadness Earthbound is not to be found on the list. If these happen to be the games available on the service we do hope to get it in the future.

The bottom line

It’s extremely likely that we’ll see SNES games on the Switch soon. Although there hasn’t been any confirmation yet it’s only logical that it will happen. In fact, Nintendo recently started promoting the NES controllers special offer in the app. It might not be related but it surely caught my attention.

Nintendo is reminding us about the NES controllers for Nintendo Switch

So, What do you think? Would you like to see these games on the Nintendo Switch? Is there any other SNES game you might want? (Apart for Earthbound, off course. Because you definitely want Earthbound). Are you interested in the controllers?

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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What is the Nintendo Switch Online?

July 23, 2019August 16, 2019

What is the Nintendo Switch online? Is the service worth it? How much does it cost and what’s the cheapest way of acquiring it?

E3 2019 wishes and expectations

June 5, 2019July 15, 2019

Our very own list of E3 2019 wishes and expectations. Announcements and games we would like to see featured on this year E3 presentations.

Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers

July 19, 2019August 7, 2019

Nintendo Switch game vouchers are part of the Nintendo Switch Online membership special offers. However, is this offer worth the $99.99? It depends…

Goodbye Reggie

April 15, 2019July 15, 2019

Our bodies may not be ready for your departure but we wish you the best! Thanks for everything! You will always have a special place in ours and all Nintendo fans hearts! Farewell, Reggie!

The post SNES Games on Nintendo Switch? appeared first on The Gaming Geek.

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Age of Empires 4

The future of the Age of Empires series

Odds are you are here because you’re like me and you can’t wait to get your hands on Age of Empires 4. Likewise, you might have lost your mind on August 21st, 2017 when Microsft unveiled the game. After all, Age of Empires 3 was released more than a decade ago in 2005. And since the closure of Ensemble Studios, there wasn’t much of hope for a new game in the series.

However, we got it, at last, a rather vague announcement video of Age of Empires 4. Hope was once again with us. Once again I overjoyed and annoyed my friends over the announcement of the 4th installment in of my favorite game series. (The other one being Metroid Prime 4 on that very same year- Ahh! that was a great year…).

Age of Empires IV announcement trailer

Sadly, we haven’t heard anything about Age of Empires 4 since that glorious day. Two years and two E3’s have come and go without a single word on the game. Some fans, including myself, started to feel uneasy about the lack of information. 

However, we can rest assure as some news implies that Age of Empires 4 is still in the work. Furthermore, this news could potentially imply the possibility of further titles in the series. What are we talking about?

Age of Empires game Studio

Microsoft announced Xbox Game Studios in its E3 2019 press conference. And, as part of Xbox Game Studios, there’s the Age of Empires game studio. The Age of Empires game development studio is behind the Age of Empires Definitive Editions and Age of Empire IV. 

While the developers have been working on the Age of Empires series for a while now, the formalization of the studio has great meaning. First, we know that there’s a development studio fully dedicated to the series. Therefore, with the imminent release of Age of Empires II definitive edition, we know they’ll be focusing mainly on Age of Empires IV now.

Second, we know the Age of Empires series will get continuous support. Why do we say that? Well, it wouldn’t make sense to have a whole studio dedicated just to releasing one game. So, it’s only logical to think the Age of Empires series will either get more games or continuous support in its current games. 

This continuous support could come in the way of DLC, constant updates, a maintained online community or even a perpetual game with new content added constantly. (Unlikely but let’s just name it for the sake of possibility). On the other hand, there could be new games in the series. However, this could be problematic as there’s a limit to the Ages of human history. But it could be pulled out in some clever ways like visiting small kingdoms or empires in history.

Either way, one thing is for sure, there’s more Age of Empires to come. And for an old and beloved franchise that’s great! What do you think about it? I’m sure excited for the future of the franchise.

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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Pokémon Masters revealed

May 30, 2019July 15, 2019

Pokémon Masters was revealed on the Pokémon Press conference as an upcoming mobile game featuring famous Pokémon trainers from the Pokémon games.

Sonic Movie delayed

May 31, 2019July 15, 2019

The Sonic Movie has been delayed to “make Sonic just right”. But we can’t help but wonder if it will be enough to prevent it from being a bad movie…

New Pokémon Mobile Game coming

May 10, 2019July 15, 2019

A new Pokémon Mobile Game has been revealed by DeNA in its investor’s briefing. The game will be released before March 2020. What could we expect from it?

Super Smash Bros Ultimate just became even better

April 22, 2019July 16, 2019

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just became even better by adding new features in its version 3.0 update. This update got us more excited than we thought….

The post Age of Empires 4 appeared first on The Gaming Geek.

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Let's talk about Age Of Empires IV and the future of the age of empires series... 

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Is the National PokeDex Controversy that much of a big deal? 

Opinion

The Pokémon Sword and Shield Controversy has been steadily increasing since E3 2019. However, we can’t help but wonder if the National Pokedex controversy is really that much of a big deal?

Note and Disclaimer: This article is all about the author’s opinions and perceptions. It shouldn’t be taken as fact and is not backed-up by any accountable data. Besides, the author is not a competitive Pokémon Player nor have he played all the games on the Pokémon Series.

My story with Pokémon

Although I have loved playing videogames for a long time I’m relatively new to Pokémon. I first played Pokémon back in 2013. At that time a few friends of mine got excited about the new games in the series (X & Y) and caught my attention. So, I decided to download FireRed on an Emulator and try it out with my brother. Then, we enjoyed the game so much that we brought a 3DS console to play the new ones.

As a result, I became some sort of casual Pokémon fan. Since then I have played all the new games in the mainline series. And have shared some great and exciting moments in battles with my friends. However, I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan since I haven’t played all the games in the series. Besides competitive trainers get the best out of me with ease. Nevertheless, I enjoy the games a lot and I’m pretty excited for the new installments.

Pokémon Sword and Shield

Since becoming a Pokémon fan and playing the games I have longed for a more mature game. (As its the case for most “old” Pokémon Fans). Sometimes even dreaming of the possibility of an open-world Pokémon adventure. Or at the very least something new that got away from the formula I got accustomed to in just 2 generations.

Therefore, when the Pokémon Sword and Shield were revealed as the eight generations of Pokémon and the first games in a home console I got pretty excited. Especially when I heard Shigeru Ohmori stating they have been challenging themselves to try new things.

“As we worked on the development of these games our goal has been to create the greatest Pokemon experience yet. We are challenging ourselves to try new things, while still treasuring what makes Pokemon special.“

-Shigeru Ohmori, Game Freak

Thus, I thought this game could be a step towards the fan dream of better and innovative Pokémon Games. In fact, I’m still excited about that and I do believe these games could be a step in a good direction. Despite the whole controversy, there are some elements in the games that still get my attention. For instance, the Wild area and the new online interactions. I’m just excited to see how everything turns out. However, what about the National PokéDex and the whole controversy…?

The Bring Back The National Pokedex controversy

Despite my relatively brief history with Pokémon games I have enjoyed using the PokéBank. Bringing my Pokémon from previous games to the new ones and enjoying the emotion of having a long-time partner. 

So I got quite interested in Pokémon Home when it was announced and I’m on the lookout for news regarding the service. And I also got a little bit alarmed when I got the news that I might not be able to bring my Pokémon to the new games.

However, the problem wasn’t that much of a big deal form me. In fact, the more I thought about it the less it seemed to matter. You see, when I play Pokémon games I like to go into a completely new adventure up to defeating the champion. So, when I play Pokémon I rarely use my old Pokémon in the story. Then, after becoming the champion I bring my Pokémon to use them in the Post-game.

So, the whole controversy has not impacted my view of the games. In fact, as far as I can tell from my friends and people I talk with both online and face to face, it hasn’t affected their decision to buy the games either. So, I take that most players are not planing on not supporting the games despite the controversy.

But I do understand people being mad. I have heard and seen many comparisons between how Game Freak, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company used to manage the Pokémon games. The way this has been handled makes me think that the problem is not necessarily about the missing Pokémon but the philosophy of the companies behind Pokémon.

All Pokémon fans can benefit from this controversy

I stated before that the controversy and online riots are very unlikely to impact Pokémon Sword and Shield, at least for now. However, that’s not to say that it’s meaningless. Nor that those who don’t care that much for the missing Pokémon has nothing to gain from it.

The controversy has demonstrated that there have to be changes on the way Pokémon games are produced. The one-year development cycle coupled with one studio handling all the process is certainly not being enough for the games and the players. This could result in Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. sitting down and discussing a change on development for future games in the series.

Furthermore, it could open the gate for implementations and features in services like Pokémon Home that may let us use our beloved Pokémon beyond the games. Game Freak has already stated there will be gameplay elements on the service. But the controversy might push the service into expanding its features even more.

That way, players would be able to access the world of Pokémon on a perpetual service. Then, new games would be the introduction to new gimmicks, new regions, and new Pokémon. Ultimately, it could lead to a world-like ever-expanding Pokémon game or service. 

Perhaps I’m being too optimistic but there’s the chance. This is the first time Pokémon receives this much feedback. It could be the perfect moment for a change. Especially given that Pokémon is now shifting from portables to home console systems.

So, what do you guys think? Do you believe we can all gain something from the controversy? Has the controversy impacted your decision of buying the games? Do you think the games can still be changed for the best?

About the Author

Tony Ortega

@TonyOrtega25

tony@thegamingeek.com

Founder, Editor, Web developer & Social Media Admin

Pasionate gamer. Love all videogames but espcially Nintendo. In process of becoming a Game developer.

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#Opinion Is the #bringbacknationalpokedex controversy that much of a big deal? Is there anything for #Pokémonfans to gain from it? #Pokemon #PokemonSwordandShield #PokemonControversy #nintendo #GameFreak #ThePokemonCompany #videogames #gaming #Pokémon

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Happy 30th anniversary to our beloved Mother series!

The Mother Series is 30 years old... could this mean...?

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Happy Mother 3…0th Anniversary

Celebrating the beloved Mother/Earthbound series

Today, July 27, 2019, is the 30th anniversary of the Mother’s series. So, we wished to celebrate the anniversary of one of our most beloved game series. As of right now, there’s a Mother Spirits celebration event on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, we can’t help but wonder if this will be the only way of celebrating the 3 decades of the Mother Series.

You are most likely well aware of that but it turns out there have been 3 Mother games on this 3 decades. However, we have only 2 Earthbound games in the western territories. As you can clearly see, there’s something missing here. 

I think you would agree with me that there’s no better way of celebrating these 30 years than releasing a Third Earthbound game. Why? Well, when Earthbound turned 20 years old Nintendo released Earthbound Beginnings. Now, Mother turns 30 years old, that’s 3 times ten. 

Furthermore, Earthbound turns 21+3 years old this year. Meanwhile, Earthbound Beginnings is 1+3 years old. And Mother 2 is 22+3 years old. What do all those dates have in common? As you can clearly see, there are 3’s in ALL OF THEM.

Plus, 2019 is exactly 673 times 3. Additionally, 673 has a 6 which is 2 times 3 and ends in 3. Now, 2 times 3 plus one 3 are exactly three 3’s.  Also, I should point out that Mother’s anniversary is on July 27. And you know how much is 2+7? 9! Which is exactly three times three or Thee 3’s!!! Consequently, July has 3+1 letters and is the 3+4th month of the year, once again, a word with 3+1 letters. Thus, making it three 3’s!

Mother 3 confirmed

That’s right, you’re not being fooled, you counted that just right. There are 3 three 3’s there. Hence, Nintendo is clearly confirming that Mother 3 will be announced and released this year for Nintendo Switch!!! And with so many 3’s, what surprises me the most is that I didn’t see it coming. However it only makes sense now, everything falls right into place. Am I right?

I’m glad we agree. So, let’s enjoy Mother 3 together in the future. In the meantime let’s celebrate Mother/Earthbound’s anniversary. As I struggle with some sort of mental breakdown you can read our article on the possibility of having Mother 3 on the west. (Don’t worry I was at a better state when I wrote that one).

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