Devil's Third - Itagaki's Last? *spin*

[BRiT]

Not even Nintendo wants to sell Nintendo WiiU Games

ArsTechnica has an article about The WiiU game release Nintendo would prefer you didn't notice.

It seems Nintendo has released the game Devil's Third last Friday to North America but hasn't even announced it or listed it as a new release. It's been entirely silent about the game despite owning it entirely.

 

[I.S.T.]

Well, it had poor reviews and the main personality behind it made a public ass out of himself once said reviews came out. I think at this point they're only recouping costs.

Edit: Or fulfilling contractual obligations.

 

[Goodtwin]

Devils Third is getting terrible reception, and I think Nintendo knows this is a bad product, and does not want to push this on their customers. I'm not sure how much money Nintendo forked out to publish this game, but they are certainly losing money on it, and apparently would rather lose money than have this tarnish their reputation.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I won't give a click towards arsetechnica because they have an axe to grind against Itagaki ever since he showed contempt towards the western gaming press over the DOAX3 thing.

Well, it had poor reviews and the main personality behind it made a public ass out of himself once said reviews came out.

What are you talking about? Why would this statement make him an ass out of himself?

Hey guys,
Thank you for playing our Devil's Third.

I believe that those of you who actually have the game in your hands are more than satisfied with how interesting and fun the game is.

Unfortunately the scores we've been receiving in Europe are pretty awful.
Some of the criticism we're getting is constructive and fair - I can accept that.
But in general, I'm going to guess that most of the people reviewing the game weren't given a chance to evaluate it properly.

Just as one example, we designed the online multiplayer mode to be enjoyed together with tons of people, but it seems dozens of reviewers were only allowed to try the game in a closed environment.

That's extremely unfortunate for everyone involved. As you can imagine, no one can effectively evaluate the playability of multiplayer games under these conditions.

For me though, I value the feedback you guys can offer much more.
Please enjoy the game for yourselves.
After that, let me know everything about what you're thinking, so that we can make a better future.

Gamers, let's build a future together
Thanks as always.

Tomonobu Itagaki

If you see user reviews anywhere, they all seem to praise the multiplayer mode a lot. It was essentially a multiplayer game with a single-player demo (like all those 10-out-of-10 CoDs and Battlefields out there), but it was reviewed as a single-player game. Perhaps the biggest mistake with the game was to launch it for the Wii U, which has a piss-poor multiplayer community because.. well, because Nintendo.

 

[I.S.T.]

He launched into a twitter tirade when the very first european or japanese reviews came out.

 

[I.S.T.]

Apologies, it wasn't Twitter, it was Facebook.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20..._to_poor_player_skill_claimsntomonobu_itagaki

And it was previews, not reviews.

Look, I get that a fair bit of gaming journos aren't the best at gaming, but he literally blamed it all on gaming skill and said the game improves if you're better at that. That's fucking stupid.

Know what game/s I'm awful at? The various versions of The Binding of Isaac. Know what game/s I love? The various versions of The Binding of Isaac. I've never even gotten to the Mom fight, which is pretty goddamned early. I still love the damn game/s. I'm pretty sure almost every reviewer/previewer/etc who works at the major sites like Nintendolife have games they love that they're awful at.

So, yes, Itagaki made a massive ass out of himself. It was a controversy earlier this year and basically sealed the deal on the game selling worth a damn. How? It publicized the game's issues in a massive light and made a guy known for outlandish statements and rubbing people the wrong way, well, rub people the wrong way even more. The man's ego is unchecked and he's honestly the closest thing to a Japanese Molyneux I can think of, aside from the massive lying issue and the much longer history as a big name in game development(He got his name due to DoA 2, which came out in 1999 or 2000 in Japan, I forget which. Molyneux got famous about a decade earlier).

Itagaki's ass has been writing checks it can't cash since DOA Volleyball put off all but the most hardcore DOA fans(Ironically, I hear the first one had decent Volleyball in it and that the sequels actually made that aspect worse). Ninja Gaiden 2's still a good game, but was not nearly as universally praised as Ninja Gaiden 1 or especially Ninja Gaiden Black and DOA4 has been all but forgotten(For that matter so has DOA3. People tend to talk more about DOA Ultimate or DOA2 or DOA1).

 

[I.S.T.]

As for your comparison to COD and Battlefield, Tranz, some information's required here. Does Devil's Third's SP mode have way less mechanics going into it like COD and Battlefield's SP modes compared to their MP modes? If it's mechanically the same across both SP and MP, then it doesn't hold up.

In addition, COD review scores have been going down, and Hardline didn't get super amazing reviews either.

 

[tuna]

Itagaki was a cool character but he started believing his own hype and does not have a team that can deliver anymore.

 

[AlNom]

Ironically, I hear the first one had decent Volleyball in it and that the sequels actually made that aspect worse.

IIRC, the first game had the advantage of:

• analog buttons on oXbox (hit strength)
• 60fps
• better partner A.I. (DOAX2 felt like the partner would just decide to fail so you couldn't get a perfect score)

I can't remember what changed in the engine that they had to drop to 30fps. It can't be the independently floating boobies.

Ninja Gaiden 2's still a good game, but was not nearly as universally praised as Ninja Gaiden 1 or especially Ninja Gaiden Black

NG2 could have used a Black redux to fix up the issues from feedback really since he was trying to add quite a bit more things to the gameplay. It probably didn't help that Itagaki was breaking up with the company at the time too. Quite a shame.

For that matter so has DOA3. People tend to talk more about DOA Ultimate or DOA2 or DOA1.

DOA2U was an amazing effort though. It had a lot of free costumes, the multi-level stages were more interesting (DOA5 still hasn't matched the latter).

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I.S.T. this a japanese guy writing stuff in english, My guess is a lot of what he means is being lost in translation.
A guy that was with his head completely up his butt wouldn't say something like "Some of the criticism we're getting is constructive and fair - I can accept that. "

As for the difficulty thing, he's the author of the Ninja Gaiden series, and that's pretty much a love-it-or-hate-it style. I never played Devil's Third but consumer reviews tend to praise the multiplayer part quite a bit.

As for CoDs and Battlefields, yeah sometimes some websites won't give them outrageous scores, but the metacritic average is always top-notch. Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare are above 80%, and so is Battlefield 4 despite all the terrible problems the players got during the first 6 months or so. Hardline seems like a side-project, Visceral's first real experience with a FPS (eerm 15 years after a 007 title, apparently). I doubt Hardline ever got even a fraction of the marketing budget that Battlefield 4 got, for example.

The man's ego is unchecked and he's honestly the closest thing to a Japanese Molyneux I can think of, aside from the massive lying issue

That's a massive aside, though...

 

[orangpelupa]

DOA2U was an amazing effort though. It had a lot of free costumes, the multi-level stages were more interesting (DOA5 still hasn't matched the latter).

yes it was awesome and i was dissapointed with the "multi level" on DOA5

 

[orangpelupa]

does the basic gameplay mechanic is horrid or something?

Destiny has a lot of wrong but the basic gameplay mechanic is superb. Simply shooting stuff simply fun. There's also Metal Gear Rising Revengesomething that does not look beautiful but have satisfying gameplay and over the top bosses.

i though Devil's third is like MGRR and No More Heroes? not to be taken to serious and it is over the top?

 

[I.S.T.]

IIRC, the first game had the advantage of:

• analog buttons on oXbox (hit strength)
• 60fps
• better partner A.I. (DOAX2 felt like the partner would just decide to fail so you couldn't get a perfect score)

I can't remember what changed in the engine that they had to drop to 30fps. It can't be the independently floating boobies.



NG2 could have used a Black redux to fix up the issues from feedback really since he was trying to add quite a bit more things to the gameplay. It probably didn't help that Itagaki was breaking up with the company at the time too. Quite a shame.


DOA2U was an amazing effort though. It had a lot of free costumes, the multi-level stages were more interesting (DOA5 still hasn't matched the latter).

NG2 did get one. NG Sigma 2.

 

[I.S.T.]

I.S.T. this a japanese guy writing stuff in english, My guess is a lot of what he means is being lost in translation.
A guy that was with his head completely up his butt wouldn't say something like "Some of the criticism we're getting is constructive and fair - I can accept that. "

As for the difficulty thing, he's the author of the Ninja Gaiden series, and that's pretty much a love-it-or-hate-it style. I never played Devil's Third but consumer reviews tend to praise the multiplayer part quite a bit.

As for CoDs and Battlefields, yeah sometimes some websites won't give them outrageous scores, but the metacritic average is always top-notch. Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare are above 80%, and so is Battlefield 4 despite all the terrible problems the players got during the first 6 months or so. Hardline seems like a side-project, Visceral's first real experience with a FPS (eerm 15 years after a 007 title, apparently). I doubt Hardline ever got even a fraction of the marketing budget that Battlefield 4 got, for example.




That's a massive aside, though...

I'm guessing somebody at Nintendo, given Nintendo's got a much bigger stick to swat him with than Tecmo ever had and ever will have, yelled at him and told him to be more humble.

CODs have been going down in review score consistently since Black Ops 2 or Ghosts. As for BF4, it's not the latest game, and there haven't been even half the amount of BFs as there have been CODs(There are like 20 CODs at this point, and only seven BFs not counting the XBLA remake of BF1942), so I just counted the latest one, Hardline. BF4 had a somewhat big consumer backlash at how dysfunctional it was at launch, and that I think contributed to an extent to Hardline's somewhat mediocre reputation. Hardline had issues at launch as well.

 

[AlNom]

NG2 did get one. NG Sigma 2.

The playstation versions doesn't count. :3

 

[London Geezer]

Devil's Third what? Leg? Nipple?

 

[AlNom]

Devil's Third what? Leg? Nipple?

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/16/devils-third-framerate-and-resolution-still-being-worked-out/

Something about music/tone.