Rage Against the Machine: Wii U and Bayonetta 2

Platinum Games have copped a lot of hate - and even death threats - following the announcement of Bayonetta 2 as a Wii U exclusive.  Nintendo named itself as the game's publisher, practically assuring its exclusivity, and no doubt adding fuel to the fire.

The people who are angry about all this are people who considered a multiplatform Bayonetta 2 to be a real possibility.  To the those people, I would say this: you should be thanking Nintendo, because I assure you, Bayonetta 2 would not exist on any platform without them:

"That being said, the console games market is in a state of upheaval, so establishing a new game franchise requires a considerable amount of will, determination, and love. Bayonetta is a brand that we want to see become stronger, reaching the hands of more and more gamers, so we have continued to consult with SEGA, the previous game’s publisher, on how we can make sure this takes place. Our answer was a new partnership with Nintendo."

It's not all roses for Bayonetta 2.

Consider this: Platinum Games have not had a hit since the original Bayonetta, which only sold 1.35 million units worldwide.  Now, if I sold 1.35 million of anything, I would regard that as a success, but for SEGA as a publisher, I would imagine that the game sold well below expectations given the marketing push it had.  Now consider the fact that SEGA has financially hit a tight spot, and have had to drastically scale back their publishing operations in order to guarantee future profits.  That means sticking to your Sonics, your Yakuzas, your Monkey Balls, and your Total Wars - not your Bayonettas.  I would add that it is highly likely that Bayonetta 2 was part-way through development before SEGA's scale-back as well.

So you're Platinum Games, and you're faced with a decision: either throw Bayonetta 2 in the bin and it will never get made, or shop it around to another publisher, one that will not only need to fund its remaining development, but will also want it bad enough to buy it back from SEGA.

The only publisher who fits that bill is Nintendo.  Nintendo needs a strong launch lineup for the Wii U, and it needs to prove to 'core' gamers that it is serious about securing exclusive AAA third party content going forward.  In a huge show of faith, Nintendo is also putting its name to Platinum's new IP, publishing Wonderful 101 at launch.

It's clear that Nintendo is supporting Platinum in a big way, and Platinum is returning the favour.  Platinum was clearly looking for a way that Bayonetta 2 could exist, and Nintendo has provided them with that way.

Fighting Vapors

This is all that exists of Tekken X Street Fighter.  (And all that will ever exist of it.)

With regards to Tekken X Street Fighter, the Tekken team and Harada-san over there haven’t even put together one page of design documents regarding their game yet! They’re so slow… I want to put in all sorts of whatever nods or easter eggs that I can, but just two weeks ago Harada-san called me and said, “Hey… can I have a list of the Street Fighter characters?” And I was like, “What? You’re so slow!” It’ll probably take them six years to come out with their game!

~Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter X Tekken

To summarise, Tekken X Street Fighter has not been in development during the past 2+ years since its announcement, is not in development currently, and - mark my words - will not see the light of day, ever.  Given the PR nightmare engulfing Street Fighter X Tekken, this result grows ever more likely.

Power to the People

The nickel and dime operation known as VIDEOGAMES got just a tad more ridiculous when Nintendo revealed that the 3DS LL (aka XL) would not release with an AC adapter in Japan.  They then went on to announce that the price of the 3DS plug would be reduced from 1,500 yen to 1,000 yen, presumably in response to the web-wide backlash.  This is good news for serial lead-losers and cord collectors alike, but I'm not certain Nintendo grasps the full stupidity of their decision.

When the DSi LL (XL) saw release, it was squarely pitched towards the elderly, in the hopes that they would take to the device's bigger screen, bigger grip, bigger stylus, and bigger...well, everything.  It's not much of a stretch to assume that the 3DS LL is aimed toward that same demographic.  Will Japanese seniors be tech-savvy enough to know that this thing needs to be charged?  Or will they return to stores in droves three hours later to refund a doohickey that just stopped working?