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[Tabris]

I just don't see the issue I guess...if the game will still get no higher than a M rating, why would NOA be concerned?

Why does Nintendo use friendcodes instead of actual names? I don't know the reasoning for their insane policies regarding "inappropiate material for children".

 

[Pureauthor]

You people are missing the most important part of this news.

KOS-MOS in Super Smash Brothers.

Probably the best thing to come out of this sorry deal.

And no, that doesn't actually mean I'm in favour of it.

 

[Link]

Doesn't that seem backwards? They need more of their own RPGs, now that they'll be getting more support from third parties anyway?

I think Nintendo's already learned that you should never depend on third parties. Yes, they're getting support back, but they should also expand their own portfolio while they're at it. It also gives third parties that make RPG's more confidence that the audience for their games will be there.

 

[Jiggy]

I vote Milly for Smash Bros. 4 instead, but know they'd be more likely to go with Sagi just to make me mad at having another sword user instead of the maracas of doom.

 

[Terrell]

Why does Nintendo use friendcodes instead of actual names? I don't know the reasoning for their insane policies regarding "inappropiate material for children".

Because the ESRB can't give Mario Kart DS an AO rating for all the penis decals?

 

[jj984jj]

Why does Nintendo use friendcodes instead of actual names? I don't know the reasoning for their insane policies regarding "inappropiate material for children".

It's the cheapest way to do online which Nintendo sees as non-profitable.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

Why does Nintendo use friendcodes instead of actual names? I don't know the reasoning for their insane policies regarding "inappropiate material for children".

The ESRB ratings are enough for Nintendo. Just stop, Tabris. It's getting sad.

 

[Berserker]

Aren't these guys making Disaster: Day of Crisis?

 

[citrus lump]

Aren't these guys making Disaster: Day of Crisis?

I'm not sure. Has it been mentioned at all in the last 6 pages?

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Egh. Why would anyone associate Xenogears with Xenosaga? Two different series with mega-variances in quality... Xenogears is god, Xenosaga is just another game.

 

[laserbeam]

Aren't these guys making Disaster: Day of Crisis?

They are which is why some feel they may have shown enough promise like Retro that Nintendo couldn't resist getting them.

 

[grandjedi6]

maybe Nintendo bought Monolith Soft to prevent anymore Xenosaga games from being made.

 

[Terrell]

So pretty much all hope of a Xenosga IV ever happening is over with.

I hope Nintendo crashes and burns. **** them

Uhhh... it didn't take Nintendo buying Monolith Soft to crush all hope of that. Really.

 

[Tristam]

Who the hell was Rare before Donkey Kong?

hmmm... does this mean Nintendo is going to entrust this dev with an existing IP whom we all loved for years and expect above the best quality ala a typical Nintendo game.

No pressure then.

Dude. You totally haven't played Battletoads.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Holy shit! Didn't see that one coming, Monolith Soft looks to be the new Retro Studios! it's following exactly as it did with Metroid Prime, Disaster must be awesome Also, people can't complain that Disaster Day of Crisis is a 3rd party outsourced game anymore, it's a 100% Nintendo 1st party developed game now!, WHICH MEANS THAT DISASTER DOC NOW COUNTS AS A COMPLETELY NEW AND ORIGINAL NINTENDO IP!!!

We are witnessing the beginning of a new Nintendo development studio and a brand new original Nintendo IP, the likes of which we've not seen since Pikmin! (Excluding Wii sports, play and the so called "Non games") Even if people are worried about MLS's output quality, you can bet your arse that Nintendo is gonna inject their own talent into it, just like what they did with Retro!

This is some of the best news I've heard in a long time, hopefully Ninty also got the Baten Kaitos franchise along with them, it's obvious that they really like it!

Yeah, I was thinking that taking TOSE away from Square Enix would probably cut their output down by like 400%.

Those TOSE ninjas are unbelievable. I can't believe they worked on freaking Madden.

WTF, Tose worked on Madden as well?! Which ones?! This is news to me!

BTW, fun fact: Did you know that Tose also worked on FF7 and DQ8!

 

[Abel]

Tabris you do know that Xenosaga I-II came out in Japan on...

Spoiler

Nintendo DS right?

 

[AniHawk]

Uhhh... it didn't take Nintendo buying Monolith Soft to crush all hope of that. Really.

When you rewrite history it totally makes sense.

 

[jj984jj]

WTF, Tose worked on Madden as well?! Which ones?! This is news to me!

BTW, fun fact: Did you know that Tose also worked on FF7 and DQ8!

Madden PSP, not sure about the DS version but probably that one too.

 

[schuelma]

Good news just because Wii needs as many RPG's as it can get.

 

[Zeal]

So basically the Xenosaga series didn't work out for Tanaka, huh lol. I guess Nintendo can expect more Kaitos.

I thought the first one was actually really good.

 

[Fio]

But, but, but aren't Nintendo trying to transform the market in a minigame paradise ?

 

[Deku]

I will now sink the to lowest level of punditry by comparing and contrasting:
While Sony is laying off developers, Nintendo is expanding development.

Not completely relatevant but I think that's how many in the industry will see it when they gauge the relative momentum of the two companies.

 

[Jiggy]

Maybe now there's hope for that Baten Kaitos DS project to get back up and running... One can only hope, seeing as that's the platform that the battle system was made for. The prerendered backgrounds might be a bit hard to pull off on DS hardware, though... Maybe they could do prerendered towns and use sprites for battle graphics.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Man, GC days Nintendo and today's Nintendo have now completely different philosophies. Maybe they regret selling Rare, dispatch Silicon Knights and kicked DMA Design?

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Actually, I think I saw firsthand why Nintendo does friend codes when I was in line to pick up my Pokemon game on Sunday...and after that line-up, I think I agree with them.

 

[TJ Spyke]

Man, GC days Nintendo and today's Nintendo have now completely different philosophies. Maybe they regret selling Rare, dispatch Silicon Knights and kicked DMA Design?

After seeing Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power all doing lackluster sales (and all be boring), I doubt it.

 

[Deku]

Man, GC days Nintendo and today's Nintendo have now completely different philosophies. Maybe they regret selling Rare, dispatch Silicon Knights and kicked DMA Design?

not RARE.

 

[fernoca]

Actually, I think I saw firsthand why Nintendo does friend codes when I was in line to pick up my Pokemon game on Sunday...and after that line-up, I think I agree with them.

Yep.
One half was too young...and the other half was too old.

Man, GC days Nintendo and today's Nintendo have now completely different philosophies. Maybe they regret selling Rare, dispatch Silicon Knights and kicked DMA Design?

Well, Rare..maybe..but considering that Silicon hasn't released ...ANYTHING...I doubt they regret that.

 

[Evlar]

Actually, I think I saw firsthand why Nintendo does friend codes when I was in line to pick up my Pokemon game on Sunday...and after that line-up, I think I agree with them.

pedobear.gif?

 

[Speevy]

After seeing Viva Pinata (boring)

Again, Viva is the most highly acclaimed game Rare has produced since the Nintendo 64.

That may be your opinion, but it's not a generally held one within the industry.

(and yes, I know the game bombed)

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Yep.
One half was too young...and the other half was too old.

And some of the half that were too old were wearing berets and boy scout uniforms. I'll be buying my Pokemon through Amazon from here on out.

 

[donkey show]

Actually, I think I saw firsthand why Nintendo does friend codes when I was in line to pick up my Pokemon game on Sunday...and after that line-up, I think I agree with them.

I felt the same way when I went to the Pokemans Center in Tokyo. All those old people playing in a crowd of little children really creeped me out. :lol

 

[Gallagher]

Again, Viva is the most highly acclaimed game Rare has produced since the Nintendo 64.

That may be your opinion, but it's not a generally held one within the industry.

(and yes, I know the game bombed)

Good but short. Boring after a while.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

After seeing Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power all doing lackluster sales (and all be boring), I doubt it.

Or because they lost key people responsable for million-seller games and one of Nintendo top sellers of all time (DK series)?

After Rare left, Nintendo still didn't found a real replacement for the Donkey Kong franchise. Even the GBA versions of DK Country games were managed by Rare.

No I don't consider DK Jungle Beat a real DK game, besides being great.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

I felt the same way when I went to the Pokemans Center in Tokyo. All those old people playing in a crowd of little children really creeped me out. :lol

It's not so much the old people as the creepy looking old people. I'm pretty sure the Dateline guy must have been hiding behind a standee or something.

 

[SouthernDragon]

Maybe Nintendo's getting frustrated with third parties, and this is the manifestation of their frustration?

"We sold 6 million consoles in 5 months guys! Guys? Hey, why aren't you declaring any projects yet? W- What do you mean 'wait and see?!' Ok, you know what? **** you guys. Yeah, **** you. We'll.. uhh, we'll go buy a studio so we can get some damn games on our consoles. We even delayed our games hoping you'd at least announce something. [whisper]So, who can we buy? Uhh, uhhh...[/whisper] *looks around* You there! Yeah, you. Come here. ---- Hey, guys! Look who joined the team! Yeah, it's Monolith Soft and they're perfectly willing to make games for us, so there!"

 

[Joe Molotov]

Man, GC days Nintendo and today's Nintendo have now completely different philosophies. Maybe they regret selling Rare, dispatch Silicon Knights and kicked DMA Design?

I'm sure they regret that big pile of money that Microsoft gave them for Rare. They could probably buy 5 Monolith Softs with that money.

 

[CrisKre]

am i the only one that thinks they might be a great match?

 

[Link]

Actually, I think I saw firsthand why Nintendo does friend codes when I was in line to pick up my Pokemon game on Sunday...and after that line-up, I think I agree with them.

And some of the half that were too old were wearing berets and boy scout uniforms. I'll be buying my Pokemon through Amazon from here on out.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

I'm sure they regret that big pile of money that Microsoft gave them for Rare. They could probably buy 5 Monolith Softs with that money.

Or could let Rare make a game wich sales profit could equal the money Nintendo got with their sale.

Don't you think a DK game made from Rare for GC wouldn't be a major seller? If even Super Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart Double Dash, both with questionable quality, were major GC blockbusters, a Rare-made DK for GC certainly would be as well.

 

[Duderz]

Can I get a list of all the stuff Namco censored out of the Xenosaga games in North America?

Owned.

Hopefully with some direction, Nintendo can turn this studio around.

 

[Nibelung Valesti]

Imagine yourselves doing chaos' Lunar Seal with the Wii-mote O___O

AWESOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME

 

[Chumly]

Dunno if anyone saw this

Xenosaga Developer Switches Sides
Namco transfers its hold in Monolith to Nintendo.
by Anoop Gantayat
US, April 26, 2007 - Nintendo may have just become a major player in the RPG field. Bandai Namco Holdings issued a press release today announcing that it will transfer 80% of its 96% stake in Monolith Soft to Nintendo, effective May 1.

As reason for the move, the firm cited considerations involving the future growth of the Monolith studio and the desire to strengthen its relationship with Nintendo in the console software business.

Monolith is known primarily for its work on the Xenosaga series, which has been mostly a PlayStation franchise. On Nintendo platforms, the developer brought Xenosaga I&II to the DS and also supported the GameCube through Baten Kaitos and its sequel. More recently, it is developing the Wii title Disaster: Day of Crisis for Nintendo.

This isn't the end of relations between Monolith and Bandai Namco, though. In addition to retaining a 16% stake in the developer, Bandai Namco says that it will continue to make use of the studio for planning and development. What this means for the Xenosaga series is anyone's guess at this point, but we'll let you know if we hear anything.

 

[Link]

Wasn't there talk about Nintendo buying Bandai a while back? Maybe they're just gonna do it one studio at a time.

 

[AniHawk]

More recently, it is developing the Wii title Disaster: Day of Crisis for Nintendo.

Jeez. I know they know more than we do, but I wouldn't call Day of Crisis a disaster just yet.

 

[Scalemail Ted]

Wasn't there talk about Nintendo buying Bandai a while back? Maybe they're just gonna do it one studio at a time.

:lol

 

[ziran]

It does look like Nintendo has been reading GAF and was displeased with Tabris, so they decided to buy Monolith Soft just to piss him off :lol

I think trolls should take this as a warning!

Wow, this is like going shopping for turds.

Xeno :lol

Hey, don't be so critical, Matsuno needs a team now he's with Nintendo :lol

I'm sure he can knock them up into a RPG powerhouse

 

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

High-five Namco. Looks like a good move, they still have xeno franchise and tri-crescendo, and they get rid of Monolith Soft. (I think they got rid of Baten Kaitos IP back with Origins, and even if you all here like it, sales-wise it was very poor).

The only part that gives me a bad feeling is that Namco can only milk Tales now, not huge news but still creepy.

 

[Fady K]

THINK OF THE FADYS!

WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE FADYS?!?!?!

As long as its not you Dragona

I've always maintained that BK's brilliance was tri-crescendo's doing... Let's just hope this buyout ensures that t-c's involvement continues.

Oh and they need to axe the Xenocrapa team. kthxbye.

If they axe the Xenocrapa team then that would be ace! Dont want them with Nintendo.

I think you have it confused, he's calling the idea of Nintendo buying Monolith Soft garbage

Well said.

Xenosaga was the only way that game was going to happen again, so yeah, any hope of that is also dead

Well, Tabris, Nintendo does not fully own Monolith Soft - yet, maybe? But Monolith does not own the Xenosaga franchise. So, there may be hope some day, but Im not going to anticipate anything for now.

Tabris and Fady are on suicide watch.

Whoa. Talk about exaggeration. Shit happens, man, I dont know about you, but I dont get these meltdowns anymore. Xenosaga III IS my favorite game of all time (like you didnt see that coming) and it gave me gaming bliss, and I thank Monolith Soft for it. Im not happy about the Nintendo-MonolithSoft deal obviously, but hey, whatever, life goes on.

Oh, the memories. Thanks for the pics, Tabris.

So pretty much all hope of a Xenosga IV ever happening is over with.

I hope Nintendo crashes and burns. **** them

I dont have much hope for Xenosaga IV either, but Nintendo and Monolith both dont own the Xenosaga franchise. N who knows, since Namco Bandai and Monolith still have, albeit barely, any relations, maybe Xenosaga IV will happen one day.

 

[Hunahan]

Xenosaga was probably one of the worst stories I've ever witnessed in any medium. It was just unfathomly retarded. I was seriously embarrassed to have played them.

With that said, the production values in 'Saga were always pretty darn spiffy. I wouldn't mind Nintendo mining those talented portions of Monolith and bringing some high-budget, cinematic RPG action to the Wii under better conceptual direction. It really is an area that Nintendo has suffered far too long without.

Either that or making a Nintendo Universe RPG ala Smash Bros. They really need to just pull the lid off and let the Nintendo characters interact with each other in more games. A big, sprawling RPG would be a terrific starting place for that.

Oh...and lol wtf monolith sux lol.