The Big Picture: Junk Drawer Rises

[Proverbial Jon]

You sir, just mentioned every one of the Beatles best albums. My eternal respect to you.

 

[daxterx2005]

NO! THERE CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH BATMAN!!!!!!!!

QFT

 

[Moeez]

I actually thought that BRAVE looks more like Dreamworks than Pixar. That trailer's humor and tone fits more the Dreamworks staple.

And I haven't liked recent Pixar since...The Incredibles? But that was entirely down on Brad Bird's talent. Wall-E and Up were disappointments, with the first 10 minutes being the only things worth discussing.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Batman is the topic we don't want but deserve.

 

[Mangod]

You are bad guy, but you are not bad guy = You're an antagonist, but you're not a villain.

 

[Disthron]

Didn't the Mario Bros games stay pretty much the same until Mario 64? Also, what came after that until "new" Super Mario on the Wii?

 

[Primus1985]

Enough Batman for awhile? Blasphemy! Dont worry after "Rises" flops the Batman license will go dormant for maybe another ten years if were lucky.

Personally as someone whose is descended from Native American ancestry, and finds the very notion of slavery abhorrent, I cant wait for Django. > Isnt this also directed by the brilliant Quentin Tarantino? Oh yeah Opening day front row im their. This'll be the 5th Qt movie (6 if you count Kill Bill separate) that ive done so with. I was a bit too young when RD, PF and JB came out.

 

[Calcium]

I don't think Moviebob's defense of Mario over Call of Duty was that good. From that example of the Beattles does that mean next-to-no-one on the Escapist can complain about either because they havn't developed a multi-million selling franchise?

What's true is that what's successful is generelly perpetuated - when/if the Call of Duty series starts to sell badly, that's when it will stop, or at least slow down. There are a lot of people that like CoD and there are a lot of people that like Mario and as long as these people exist the series will keep on going. The only gain in anyone complaining about either series is feeling good about themself when someone agrees with them.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I don't think Moviebob's defense of Mario over Call of Duty was that good. From that example of the Beattles does that mean next-to-no-one on the Escapist can complain about either because they havn't developed a multi-million selling franchise?

What's true is that what's successful is generelly perpetuated - when/if the Call of Duty series starts to sell badly, that's when it will stop, or at least slow down. There are a lot of people that like CoD and there are a lot of people that like Mario and as long as these people exist the series will keep on going. The only gain in anyone complaining about either series is feeling good about themself when someone agrees with them.

This, pretty much.

Personally, I see CoD as just a trend in gaming that will eventually die out. Weren't platformers the go-to game that was really popular back in the days from the NES to the PS1? I rarely see them marketed nowadays, at least not on non-Nintendo platforms, and any that have that kind of element to them usually have a gun attached. People just need to get over their gun fetish and we'll get something else eventually.

 

[Fusioncode9]

Haven't we reached the point where maybe, just maybe, we've seen enough Mario for a while?

Completely agree, 2 NSMB games come out within a few months of each other. At least Call of Duty never had two games a year. If people like Bob would stop being complete fanboys and actually try some games with innovation rather than playing the same Mario game over and over again, maybe we would have more originality in video game market.

What am I saying, asking Bob to stop being a fanboy is like asking the sun to stop shining.

 

[Impluse_101]

I'm kind of wagging my tail happily in hopes for Wreck-it Ralph. '-'
It's something I really really wanna see.

 

[trust Milo]

maybe, just maybe, we've seen enough Mario for a while?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob

Not that I dislike you, I'm just saying.

 

[MagmaMan]

Heh, agree SO much on the Mario front.

Thing is, even if they are just pumping out side-scrollers, things shake up a bit. New powerups, new enemies, new ways to interact with the environment (or using modern tech to put a unique spin on the old stuff) and generally giving us a grand experience.

No matter what CoD fans claim, reskinning guns and 'new' perks is nothin to write home about.

Actually, I just want to go to town on that particular topic. Call of Duty has some of the most god damn BORING shooting in all of videogame history. I just had a quick look through my collection of First Person Shooters, and here's a couple of gems from the 'retro' (PS2 and older) section, in no particular order.

A shotgun that fires nails.
A shotgun that fires bouncing explosive shells.
A triple-barrel gatling gun where each barrel is a six-barrel minigun.
A frag grenade made out of flubber.
A self-guiding drill that homes in on brainwaves.
A gravity gun that lets you fire anything at anyone, and by extension can be used to kill zombies with paint cans.
A watch laser.
The Big Fucking Gun 9000.

In this list we have everything from the nifty but near useless to the outright insane. Does any weapon in 90% of modern shooters deserve to be anywhere near this list? Honestly, the only gun I can think of in FPS land that feels half as fun as this is... not in an FPS. It's the Patriot from MGS4 - an infinite-ammo SMG that plays the Snake Eater song when you shoot with it. Even then, however, it's just a less ludicrous (and thus less hillarious) version of the RYNO-V.

Why must the FPS genre be so damn boring now? No wonder I've played 100+ hours of Dragon Age (and its DLC / sequels) consecutively as of late...

A good example of this also is the Goldeneye Remake. They old one you could dual wield AK-47s, lazers guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, anything. The new one you've got... basically the same things Call of Duty has with no dual-wielding and only being able to hold three guns at a time, one of them always being your pistol. Yeah, there is a lazer, but it's not in campaign and is unlocked at the highest rank only in multiplayer. -_-

 

[nima55]

I don't see why django unchained is such a controversial thing to bob. I mean who likes slave owners?

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Enough batman? BLASPHEMY! BURN THE BAT HERETIC!

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Before watching this I didn't even want to watch the trailer for Wreck-It Ralph because I believed it was going to be Disney making their own terrible mock versions of characters from games I've played. After watch that little segment however, I saw the trailer and now I am anxiously waiting for the movie.

 

[Taunta]

Isn't Zangief's non-villainy sort of the point of what he's saying? He's an opponent, an obstacle for the player, but he's not necessarily a villain. A "bad guy" but not a bad guy.

Quoted for Emphasis

Wreck-it Ralph: I'm really excited about this movie. Also, as a Street Fighter fan, I feel the need to say: Who cares? Zangief is in a Disney movie. Also, consistent lore and characters were really never priority number one for the series. I'm just saying.

Mario: Yeah, I'm a Mario fan. No, the new sidescrollers are not earth-shaking innovation. But really, the Mario franchise is just "playing their greatest hits album" as Bob said. Personally, I'm disappointed that all they're making is sidescrollers and not another 3d platformer adventure.

(Only slightly related, but I feel like I'm the only one who really enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine. Also also, a lot of people don't like the water jetpack, which added a new gameplay mechanic, so Nintendo took it out, now people complain about the gameplay being same-y. Which do you want?! /soapbox)

Django: Eh.

Brave: Having seen the movie, the main theme of the movie is actually not gender roles. It's more about over-controlling parents.

Batman: I feel like Batman is the least interesting character in the Batman universe. Everyone has this habit of putting the exciting focus on the new villain. By the way, I wonder if Bruce Wayne's back is going to get broken in the movie. I have a theory that the random beat cop kid is going to be Azrael.

Arrow: The only time Deathstroke was compelling was when he was Slade. Yeah, I said it.

 

[itsmeyouidiot]

Haven't we reached the point where maybe, just maybe, we've seen enough Mario for a while?

Pretty much this.

And as a fan of the EA Sports NHL franchise, I think it's asinine to talk about how much Mario has innovated and then say those games haven't innovated at all. It just comes off as super pretentious.

"Yeah. I grew up with the NES. My franchise of choice is better than YOUR franchise of choice."

I grew up with an NES too. I'm just not a pretentious ass about it.

The Mario series has spanned several different genres, and Call of Duty and EA Sports have done the same damn thing over and over again.