The Big Picture: Memorium

[RTR]

I distinctly remember an episode of The Simpsons about how it turns out that Itchy was created by some other guy and not Roger Meyers. I had no idea that was pretty much lifted from reality.

 

[ReleGamer]

Really enjoyed that retrospective into Nintendo/ Disney history. To me though, it just cemented the fact that Nintendo needs new IP. I would love to see new characters, new stories, new adventures...but i feel like they keep just retreading the same ground with different hardware. I respect the awesome ideas they have had in the past, but i would appreciate something new...

 

[Zer0Saber]

I see the heart felt memoriam at the end and then I say to myself, "wait for it..." Book plug.

 

[nightazday]

Henry Ford was just as problematic Edison. Whereas Disney was just conservative and has no real evidence on antisemitism, Ford was pretty much a nazi all but in nationality.

I myself would still compare Miyamoto to Walt and Yamauchi to Roy but either way Nintendo wouldn't have survived without both. May he rest in peace.

 

[Rastrelly]

It's the last Moviebob video I watched. You don't put ads to the end of post-mortem video. Never.

 

[Strazdas]

Why do you seperate videogames as something new. Videogames are a form of games just like Movies are a form of theater. And table top RPGs were around for thousands of years.
even some figurines were found 5000 years ago: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/06/5000-year-old-figurines-found-near.html
Or those recently featured in escapist 3000 year old wargame figurines.
And if we go even more basic they are games, as in, all games. so they are probably one of the oldest things around really.

Videogames isnt some new thing. they are extension of games, and games are old. very old.

 

[Rastrelly]

Why do you seperate videogames as something new. Videogames are a form of games just like Movies are a form of theater. And table top RPGs were around for thousands of years.
even some figurines were found 5000 years ago: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/06/5000-year-old-figurines-found-near.html
Or those recently featured in escapist 3000 year old wargame figurines.
And if we go even more basic they are games, as in, all games. so they are probably one of the oldest things around really.

Videogames isnt some new thing. they are extension of games, and games are old. very old.

Movies are separate from theatre for a long time now, IMO. They work differently. Even theatrical and cinematografic acting are entirely different. Same with games. While some games do represent classic "physical" games, some videogames have more in common with movies then tabletops (Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Fahrenheit and all adventure genre), and some cannot be even imagined as actual tabletops (take Mirror's Edge for example and make a boardgame out of its mechanics). Videogames and boardgames are entirely separate mediums now, even if they have common roots.

Captcha: book reading.

Yes, Captcha, I like it too.

 

[Strazdas]

Why do you seperate videogames as something new. Videogames are a form of games just like Movies are a form of theater. And table top RPGs were around for thousands of years.
even some figurines were found 5000 years ago: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/06/5000-year-old-figurines-found-near.html
Or those recently featured in escapist 3000 year old wargame figurines.
And if we go even more basic they are games, as in, all games. so they are probably one of the oldest things around really.

Videogames isnt some new thing. they are extension of games, and games are old. very old.

Movies are separate from theatre for a long time now, IMO. They work differently. Even theatrical and cinematografic acting are entirely different. Same with games. While some games do represent classic "physical" games, some videogames have more in common with movies then tabletops (Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Fahrenheit and all adventure genre), and some cannot be even imagined as actual tabletops (take Mirror's Edge for example and make a boardgame out of its mechanics). Videogames and boardgames are entirely separate mediums now, even if they have common roots.

Captcha: book reading.

Yes, Captcha, I like it too.

Well, bob in the video said that while movies wre young we still had theater so "That counts", so apperently he does not think so.

ANd i didnt mean jtu tabletop games. i did mean that games, in general, like hide and seek, should be counted.

 

[Rastrelly]

Why do you seperate videogames as something new. Videogames are a form of games just like Movies are a form of theater. And table top RPGs were around for thousands of years.
even some figurines were found 5000 years ago: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/06/5000-year-old-figurines-found-near.html
Or those recently featured in escapist 3000 year old wargame figurines.
And if we go even more basic they are games, as in, all games. so they are probably one of the oldest things around really.

Videogames isnt some new thing. they are extension of games, and games are old. very old.

Movies are separate from theatre for a long time now, IMO. They work differently. Even theatrical and cinematografic acting are entirely different. Same with games. While some games do represent classic "physical" games, some videogames have more in common with movies then tabletops (Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Fahrenheit and all adventure genre), and some cannot be even imagined as actual tabletops (take Mirror's Edge for example and make a boardgame out of its mechanics). Videogames and boardgames are entirely separate mediums now, even if they have common roots.

Captcha: book reading.

Yes, Captcha, I like it too.

Well, bob in the video said that while movies wre young we still had theater so "That counts", so apperently he does not think so.

ANd i didnt mean jtu tabletop games. i did mean that games, in general, like hide and seek, should be counted.

I understood that. I just tried to separate videogames from "usual" games. What I wanted to say is: videogames nowadays are NOT ONLY games. Things we call "videogames" often just don't meet requirements to be a game. So videogame is not necessarily a game, these are two different arrays, which have some common elements - i.e., some videogames like multiplayer of Starcraft or Quake IS a game, but singleplayer of many modern videogames is obviously not - it's interactive drama, interactive novel etc. That's what I am trying to say: games as activity and videogames as medium are not the same.

 

[Strazdas]

Why do you seperate videogames as something new. Videogames are a form of games just like Movies are a form of theater. And table top RPGs were around for thousands of years.
even some figurines were found 5000 years ago: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2008/06/5000-year-old-figurines-found-near.html
Or those recently featured in escapist 3000 year old wargame figurines.
And if we go even more basic they are games, as in, all games. so they are probably one of the oldest things around really.

Videogames isnt some new thing. they are extension of games, and games are old. very old.

Movies are separate from theatre for a long time now, IMO. They work differently. Even theatrical and cinematografic acting are entirely different. Same with games. While some games do represent classic "physical" games, some videogames have more in common with movies then tabletops (Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Fahrenheit and all adventure genre), and some cannot be even imagined as actual tabletops (take Mirror's Edge for example and make a boardgame out of its mechanics). Videogames and boardgames are entirely separate mediums now, even if they have common roots.

Captcha: book reading.

Yes, Captcha, I like it too.

Well, bob in the video said that while movies wre young we still had theater so "That counts", so apperently he does not think so.

ANd i didnt mean jtu tabletop games. i did mean that games, in general, like hide and seek, should be counted.

I understood that. I just tried to separate videogames from "usual" games. What I wanted to say is: videogames nowadays are NOT ONLY games. Things we call "videogames" often just don't meet requirements to be a game. So videogame is not necessarily a game, these are two different arrays, which have some common elements - i.e., some videogames like multiplayer of Starcraft or Quake IS a game, but singleplayer of many modern videogames is obviously not - it's interactive drama, interactive novel etc. That's what I am trying to say: games as activity and videogames as medium are not the same.

What is a requirement of "being a game"?

 

[tontje]

Jobs died ??? so that's why they made a movie! I guess that's just how it's easy to miss when you have absolutely no interest said person or brand.

 

[Lightknight]

Nicely done homage. Something that needed to be done. Sometimes it just takes a cutthroat business man to forge a new path and start something great. There's good money to be had in making people happy/better off. No reason to dismiss the individual based on ruthlessness when this is what they make (I mean, unless they did something particularly vile to get there).

 

[Demandred20]

What is the game shown at 05:19 ?

Its Actraiser. One of IMo the finest games ever released on the SNES and a true classic.

That sounds familiar... although it conjures up feelings like anger, sadness and exasperation.

.......

...

Ah, found it! Oh, it's the second one I own. Actraiser 2 is one of my biggest gaming shames. For whatever reason, all my experience playing games leaves me the moment I start playing it. I have never made it past the intro stage(Yes, seriously.).... I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating when I say I have given about 20-50 tries at it. I don't know what the hell it is, from what I remember the intro sequence doesn't introduce any game feature or control scheme that would cause such difficulty. I just can't seem to gauge jumps, fight properly to avoid damage or learn from previous mistakes. It's uncanny, no game has ever made me feel like such a useless tool as that game!

I have to say, it's rather frustrating whenever I hear there's an amazing game beyond that point. I used to be content with my fluke purchase of crappy side scrolling brawler/platformer[sub][sub]This is likely entirely wrong but as I said, I failed to get passed the intro section...[/sub][/sub] while doing my best to ignore people saying it's an underrated gem.


Sigh, time to fire it up again this weekend... I truly believe there's a great game in there, I just wish I could experience it one of these days.

Spoiler: My feelings about this scenario summed up rather well in a single image

Actraiser 1 and 2 are completely different games. The second is solely a platformer while the first is a weird hybrid where you platform and build villages Sim City-esqe style while fighting monsters on the map and following a story told through your villages you try to build.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

I really love the ending of this -- the idea that even if the people you looked up to turn out to be flawed (as they all will), you can still love their work and the impact they made. So, everyone bitching about Orson Scott Card's personal beliefs and boycotting his movie...well, one's political beliefs and one's game/book/movie/etc.-making ability are usually not related, and one can suck as a person while making amazing things, so yeah.

 

[Dragonbums]

Good to see the man got a good memorium on this site.

I have to admit, the lack of comments on this site in regards to his death was pretty depressing. If just a little insulting.
Especially when he was responsible for reviving the gaming industry way back when.

 

[Dragonbums]

Would we have gaming websites and gaming culture today if Nintendo had never existed? I'd say absolutely.

I played computer games throughout the 80s and 90s, and never owned a Nintendo product. Before today's interwebs, we were already using online BBS systems to discuss games, and after that, USENET.

It seems to be a common theme among Nintendo fans that think the entire gaming world once revolved around Nintendo. It didn't.

But for many people in that decade that was all but true.

Computer gaming if experiences from those very people were to go by involved a good in depth knowledge of the system, coupled with command codes, and no guarantee that the thing would work.

That is not something that the average consumer would bother about, and considering how Atari shat themselves to high heaven with the videogame genre in general, it would simply become a passing fad for the North American audience.

Not to mention that after Nintendo hit the scene in regards to home console gaming, they were a monopoly in every sense of the word.
It was either their way, or the high way, don't like it? go cry in a corner tough luck. The Nintendo we see now with Iwata, was nothing like the Nintendo back then when Yamauchi was in charge. He was indeed a ruthless business man.

Just look around the gaming sphere and see how many people have stated that they started out their first gaming experience on an NES, SNES, or N64 (in my case anyway).
PC gaming while doing well, wasn't all that mainstream. Or at the very least as mainstream as consoles have made videogames. That evidence is still here today. GTA V on a pure console release made $1 billion in 3 days.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

"Would any of this be here?"

Yes.

Remember that column Shamus wrote about the great video game crash? You should read the comments about it here and on his blog, the crash was well contained within the USA.

Not only that, the crash was limited mostly to the idea of domestic consoles. Arcades didn't get as big a dip as the console industry did, and the infancy of personal computers was still experimenting with gaming just fine.

But you know Bob. If he has to mention nintendo, he also has to point out how Mario is the most perfect game ever in ALL of its iteration and how Nintendo is the ultimate god of Gaming and we should pay tribute in blood.

That SAID... still in agreement with the rest of the sentiment here (if I thought MovieBob was all drivel I'd have stopped listening to him long ago). Great people are still people. Mistakes can be made by anyone and deification of someone is the most sure-fire way of getting disappointed.

And Thomas Edison was certainly aspiring to become Nyarlathotep.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I think the reason that Mr. Yamauchi's death didn't get so much media attention here in the U.S. is because his influence went against our firmly-held fantasy that his "type" isn't necessary- that, if you're creative enough and smart enough and ambitious enough, you don't need the likes of him to make your dreams happen. That's why we venerated Jobs so highly, because Apple was basically (thought of as) "his baby", and his fingerprint was on pretty much everything the company did. (I could make a pithy comment here about him being the charismatic leader of the Apple Cult, but in the interest of civil discourse, I'll decline.) That romantic vision requires us to disregard the fact that a lot of the Miyamotos in the world need a Yamauchi to help them grasp that first rung, to get those ideas out the door.

 

[GrimTuesday]

... Andrew Carnegie... But god damn do I respect that man and what he did for Pittsburgh.

and of course Bob missed the man's biggest contribution. Shadow Owner of the Mariners.

For those of us who are actually Mariners fans, it was a huge contribution. Had he not stepped in and bought the team, we wouldn't have baseball in Seattle anymore. While I'm grateful for all the things Mister Yamauchi brought about by his running of Nintendo, I'm many times more grateful for his keeping baseball in Seattle at a time when things looked bleakest.

In that same vain, you could say that he has also had a major impact on American baseball, considering the ever growing numbers of Japanese baseball players we see coming to the US.

 

[Pescetarian]

"Oob Eewerks"

Ah...no. Sorry, Bobby, but no.