Nicalis: Japanese Gaming Doesn't Suck, Indies need to "realize their potential"

John Polson writes: "While 2012 has not yet seen many major reveals for Nicalis aside from bringing Ikachan to DSiWare, there has been no lack of indie craze with other developers. In particular, after an Indie Game: The Movie screening at GDC, Western-focused developers such as Jonathan Blow and Phil Fish expressed their distaste with most modern Japanese games. I decided to speak with Rodriguez recently to see if Japanese games have been giving him the same bad taste, what he thought about the current indie scene, and what's in store for Nicalis in 2012."

[Batzi]

!

[Majin-vegeta]

!!

[jony_dols]

Huh?! What was that noise?

[Virus201]

Guys? Are you there?

Report?

ARE YOU GUYS THERE?!

Hold on. We're Dispatching reinforcements.

[MariaHelFutura]

All clear. No sign of the missing man.

[Peppino7]

I really don't comment often but this HAS to be a play on words in the title because he CREATES them and doesn't actually make them. His team does. However his mgs series is my favorite of all time so I disagree with this title.

[2pacalypsenow]

huh just a box

[Masta_fro]

Wow,

Tyrone Rodriguez, do you know the saying any publicity is good publicity?

Its not true.

You DO NOT want to be the guy who said one of the most legendary video game makers of all time "sucks"!

[Insomnia_84]

What the fck is NightSky/Nicalis? and Who the fck is Tyrone Rodriguez??

I know who Hideo Kojima and what Metal Gear Solid is.

Who gives a flying fck about what a nobody says

[limewax]

Well now that was a big change in title wasn't it. Let me guess troll for hits then switch it after you garner the attention you wanted right?

[Captain Qwark 9]

i gave you all bubbles becuase i giggled.

[Bleucrunch]

meeee tooooo lol

[D3mons0ul]

I actually heard the alert sound in my mind.

[Snookies12]

We all do... We all do... Lol

[SilentNegotiator]

LOL, that reminds me of this picture.

It's hard to resist reading stuff in your head in their original context.

[HammadTheBeast]

Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

[KrimsonKody]

Di-di-dun, Dun, DUN!

...BANG!

[NarooN]

Huh? Whose footprints are these?

[Tdmd]

Huh... just my imagination.

[Foxton01]

ughr ughr ughr ughr ughr *snap*

[callahan09]

Indie means the same thing for games as it does for music or movies. There are a few huge, billion-dollar, often multi-national publishers (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Activision, EA, Ubisoft) that are the "major studios" or "major labels" to put it in movie or music industry parlance, and anything that's not funded by one of these major players is an "indie." It can even be released by one of them and still be an indie, though, so it is more complicated than just that, but if I made a game by myself on my own money, for instance, but Activision loved it, bought it from me, and published it, it's still an indie game, because it wasn't made "BY" Activision or their moneys.

[Snookies12]

I believe millions of people would disagree with this... Lol! The hell is this guy high on, saying Kojima is terrible at making games. MGS4 was the reason I bought a PS3.

[jony_dols]

MGS1 is a 12 year old game. And yet it's storytelling, gameplay & production values still hold up today, Hell it even surpasses most modern games.

So no, Tyrone Rodriguez, you're wrong.

[Kaizin514]

Cut him some slack, he just wants some website hits. :P

[Blacktric]

"Founded by former """"" IGN editor"""" ", Tyrone Rodriguez, Nicalis is a small developer known mostly for its ports of popular indie games, Cave Story and VVVVVV."

Now we know why. Controversy loving idiots.

[DarkSymbiote]

Even Metal Gear 2 from 1990 surpass most games today.

[badz149]

Tyrone who??

[SnotyTheRocket]

Yeah, i got one in 2007, then the date was pushed to 2008.... i was like NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"He says in particular that Metal Gear Solid developer Hideo Kojima should stop making games and start making bad movies (ironically, Kojima just might). "He's terrible at making games. Metal Gear is good in spite of him. I haven't enjoyed a game of his since maybe the original Metal Gear Solid, maybe." He feels the recent ones are tedious, riddled with bad writing, bad story-telling, and bad control."

Bad control? He needs to go into detail with that. I have no problems with MGS's controls.

Bad writing? If you compare it to a movie yes I agree, but for a game MGS is one of the deepest stories in gaming history...

Bad story telling? lol how? One of the best things about MGS is the way the story is told.

This guy is just jealous of Kojima's success and is is upset that Kojima called out japanese devs such as this fool.

[Angels3785]

I agree that some movies are better than MGS4, but seriously if MGS4 was a movie (although there would probably be six of them and they would be confusing as hell) it would be one of the better movies to hit cinemas. Yes most games are cheesy and the writing is bad and the story not so engrossing, but MGS4 is seriously movie quality.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

@angels

Metal Gear could be a good movie, but it'll have to be changed up a bit. MGS was designed around being a game therefore the story suits it well, but as a movie not so much. There isn't much error to correct if a movie were to be made though since MGS is a great story to begin with.

[Brosy]

I have to disagree. I find Kojimas writing to be convoluted and just plain ridiculious. He is way over hyped in the story telling department.

[Morgue]

only 4 did

[AmaZinG]

thats why he makes some of the best games in the world...

MGS4 was one of the reasons i bough Ps3 and MGS3/2/1 still classics.

[cr33ping_death]

MGS4 was the reason i bought an HDTV :)

[Bimkoblerutso]

Well, in one respect I can understand where he's coming from, considering Kojima's own admission that he'd rather be making movies than games.

The fourth entry in particular, while still pretty great in the gameplay and presentation department, was mostly a convoluted, non interactive jumble of fart jokes, fanservice, conspiracies within conspiracies (which I just have to say as far as writing is concerned, is one of the cheapest tricks in the book), and sappy soap opera shenanigans.

[Goeres]

Most indie devs got real big mouths. Somebody make them shut up by stuff their piehole with a veiny submarine.

[unknownhero1123]

or better yet, don't buy their crap.

[vortis]

A veiny submarine?

Someone's been watching too much aquatic hentai.

[SilentNegotiator]

Successful ones like Notch, Rovio, this guy, etc always seem to have big mouths and a load of negative things to say about people even more successful than them.

[Kos-Mos]

Ocelot says: "Americans are too in love with the sound of
their own voice to speak the truth."

[Stinky_Fish]

who the hell to these indie wannabe insecure guys thing they are?

Seriously?

The 4 metroidvanias ALONE are what I want to play when this gen ends........I wanna play the 2 suikodens, beyond the L, ALL 6 METAL GEARS.........

[Frankfurt]

It's true. He makes convoluted, kitchen-sink messes that need to have controls reworked again and again to make them less clunky. He does'nt know the concept of "editing" or "control". The MGS series is the Transformers of gaming.

[Wintersun616]

If that was true, then the Transformers would be one of the best movies ever made.

[lover2012]

all you say is a full of cr..

why the mods didn't ban you yet ????

[Bathyj]

You give Germans and processed hotdog meat a bad name.

[tarbis]

"Founded by former IGN editor" - this already give it away.
IGN was shit and a company being founded by shit will become shit and will spew shit and nothing but shit.
They should rename their company to Nicalishit or Nicanus.

[Megaman_nerd]

indie devs are turning into hipsters now.

[ThatArtGuy]

The hipster in me preferred when the Chilean miners were still underground.

[from the beach]

The latest in a sorry line of no-name little scumbags taking pot shots.

[Pintheshadows]

What a tool.

[Ethereal]

lmao....yea right...No clicky from me.

[Shikoro]

From me neither. I just mostly read from the comments what's going on. If it is something interesting or positive, I read the full story, otherwise -- no clicky. :P

[BlackTar187]

Hey indie dev. Do you want to know how you keep people from buying your product? you Sh*t on what they like.

[Inzo]

I think when Tyrone Rodriguez is able to make a game capable of matching MGS4 and ZOE then he can criticize all he wants until then he should STFU!

[remanutd55]

who the hell is NightSky? who is Tyrone Rodriguez? first time i've heard about these guys

[TheCagyDies]

"Founded by former IGN editor, Tyrone Rodriguez,"

He's from IGN, opinion disregarded.

[fireplace]

Even IGN fired him.

[gtxgamer2]

MGS series. Case closed.

[Sidewinder-]

I feel what he says about the indie scene.

I mean, I got too sick of all the bellends in college thinking they were cool cus they liked 'indie' music.

"What's that mate? You like a band that's unheard of? That makes you cool? Maybe it's unheard of cus it sounds like shit? Tool..."

Thing is, with gaming it's diferent. At least it's not as pretentious.

But wtf is on about with Kojima...

[svoulis]

That was a good laugh. This guy is literally full of Sh@$. full of it.

[ninjaman999]

I seriously fucking LOVED Nightsky but dude, just no, Kojima is my jesus with people like Tim Schafer and Randy Pitchfork and Ken Levine as disciples. Dont diss the professionals bro, thats not cool cause I love all you guys ;_____;

[Saladfax]

Oh, for God's sake, never lump Kojima in with Tim Schafer. It's like using Hemmingway and Stephanie Meyer in the same sentence.

I can appreciate MGS to a very high degree, but there is *no doubt* that the Metal Gear Solid story could have benefited from HEAVY editing and paring down.

[TheFirstClassic]

lol I hold the mgs series in higher regard than any other game series period.

[h311rais3r]

Guess he won't get my money. Mgs is art

[Lord_Sloth]

That's okay. We don't particularly care for you either.

[Omnislash]

Kojima sucks at making games?
sure thats YOUR opinion, but critical acclaim suggests otherwise. Good day.

[Raoh]

When did game developers and publishers become rappers that feel the need to spit hate toward other devs?

[nevin1]

MGO is the most fun I had this gen.

[Stewie2k8]

ahh MGO that was one of the best mutliplayer games i have ever played. loved it so much.

[jimimick]

Heck 4 weeks ago I went and got a ps3 just to play MGO before they shut the servers down. And i still haven't completed MGS4 campaign.

[Baka-akaB]

What's your game again ?

Trashing (deservingly so) the guy aside , he got a point about indie .

"You're either a game developer or you're not. Indie has nothing to do with it. It's like this cool buzzword now. Do you make games? Okay, then you're a game developer."

I agree , from the very beginning , indie status has been a bit often , an excuse people came up to give slacks to understaffed and underfunded games .

And it shows , you'll often hear , , even in the media , ludicrous stuff such as it's a pretty good game "for an indie" .

It shouldnt matter , either the game is good or isnt . That's not your problem if the dev was struggling with cash , and if he wanted or not to keep things small .

Such behavior is weird , and you shouldnt be called indie anymore if you can actual reach a market of millions of users , be it on steam , XBLA , PSN or whatever

[DFresh]

WTF?!
Is this guy saying that Metal Gear Solid and Zone of Enders are crap?
What about Kojima Productions helping with the awesome production on Castlevania: Lords of Shadows?
What about that new Fox Engine that's being developed for game development?
I guess all of those things must be crap too.
Mind Blown.
O_o

[DeadSpaced]

He seems kind of mad.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

This guy sounds like Taeem's brother.

[InTheLab]

La le lu le lo? We don't talk about the La le lu le lo and we don't talk s*** about Kojima.

[MysticStrummer]

Kojima: Who?

[thebudgetgamer]

So Kojima, a well respected developer that has been in the industry for like thirty years v some d I just found out existed.

[Kahvipannu]

Hmmm, saying terrible is way too strong here, and all bad that came out MGS? Hell no, in genral mgs 2 and 4 were great, zoe's good too, and mgs3 masterpiece, but in regards of mgs4 I see what he is after with the filmaking comment.

The pacing in MGS 4 was terrible, story and new characters felt boring, ending was terrible too, stealth mechanics was more frustrating than just shoot thing away, more oriented to shooting, and so on.. But the pacing alone makes it one of the most terrible paced games ever, on that regards it is really terrible.

But with games with problems we can give a lot forgotten if the good things balance it, that's with all good games, but it's just stupid to say for example MGS 4 is perfect, becouse it clearly isn't.

Haven't yet played PW yet, I have heard it's better than 4, almost as good as 3, which is still by far the best MGS game out there, and one of my favourite games of all times.

[Megaman_nerd]

Honestly MGS4 ending was easily one of the most epic ending I have ever in in my life from anime to films. And bad pacing? Did you actually played the game?

[sly-Famous]

MGS4 was the defining game in the MG series. Maybe MGS4 wasnt perfect but it was damn near perfect, it was the launching platform for the PS3 with most of today's games are not able to match its classic status and as far as your pacing statment goes, it does not hold water because you as the player was able to dictate the pace of the game and calling someone stupid because they think a game is perfect is in it self as stupid as one can get because its their right and opinion. Maybe you should play the game first before you make a comment.

[Kahvipannu]

Yes, the pacing was off, badly, did you play the game? It was all over the place. Believe me, I played the game, and it was not even close as good as MGS 3 in every department expect visuals, and not as good as 1 was story wise. The ending was so happy happy joy joy that it made no sense..

EVERYBODY got so happy ending that it was just hilarious, even everybody that "died", except Eve if I remember right.. I have tryed to wipe it off from my memory, since it almost ruined the franchise that I love for me. How can you take something like that seriously? It was a joke, and a bad one. Kojima had no balls when he wrote that ending, and it even wasn't that well tought, it was a list of things that he explained in order to make everybody have happy ending, and to not make any real "epic" sacrifices.

Also what does that have anything to do with the game's quality, that it is on PS3? Consoles are just pieces of electronics and plastic boxes that play games, if that would matter, every game on PC would be masterpiece, and that's not the case...

[bebojet]

This is funny... A no-name developer criticizing the man who made one of the greatest game in gaming history.

[MrIreland]

This guy belongs in my toilet.

[ZBlacktt]

Nightsky who? small developer?? Oh I see, you are a no one and always will be. So go after one of the greatest all time just to try and get some attention.

[GTRrocker]

Snake? Snaaaaaake!

[FarCryLover182]

I haven't even played MGS4 and I know that what this guy said is false. Kojima terrible at making games?!? What?

[RELIGHT]

"What's going on? Respond!"

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

*stops playing mgs4 to respond*

!

*continues playing mgs4*

[Soldierone]

N4G: No One Cares About The Title :P

Awesome flamebait headline, too bad I won't be buying any games from this "developer" ever now. You call Metal Gear not making great games? You must think Angry Birds is a god and won't achieve to make anything better.

[Hueynewton2012]

Check they're site its pretty cool with really cool retro gaming music.

[Panaru]

I don't even know who this guy is. He must not matter much.

[Enigma_2099]

This is a joke article, right? No way this guy's serious.... he sounds too f'n stupid.

indie=independent. They're small, and making the games on their own, INDEPENDENT of the BIG publishers... that's why they call themselves indie developers, you moron.

[th3_d3an]

Ok who?! lmao cmon man!! bill wennington never talked crap about michael jordan stop it lol

[PixL]

You must understand, it's the only way for him to appear on the news.

[ziggurcat]

@ Tyrone Rodriguez:

U MAD, BRO?

[mamotte]

I wish I'd be as terrible as him.

[gypsygib]

This is like a bum saying Bill Gates doesn't know how to make money.

The ego on these kids now a days.

[Awesome_Gamer]

who the fuck is tyrone rodriguez anyways?

[Awesome_Gamer]

Edit: double post, sorry

[Paul85]

Kojima is genius must I say more the MGS series Is the reason I have owned every generation of playstation consoles including the games for psp.

[StoneAgeWarfare]

hes looking for hits.......no respect

[Tommykrem]

What a retarded thing to say. I don't usually use that word, but I believe we need it to describe a lot of what is going on in gaming journalism these days.

"You're either a game developer or you're not. Indie has nothing to do with it. It's like this cool buzzword now. Do you make games? Okay, then you're a game developer."

It may be a cool buzzword, but indie developers should take every buzzword they can get. As the fastest growing, most competetive game development scene I think they can afford to take the 1 millisecond to add the extra label. They are after all independent developers, so it's not like they're lying. And we need it to promote small business and free market.

And the thing about Kojima, well that's his opinion - and I don't agree at all, but we do have freedom of speech and little guys should be allowed to talk out against people in power (thankfully), and at least he's got a point on some level. Even though saying that "Metal Gear is good in spite of him [Kojima]" is like saying "Hideo Kojima's game is good in spite of Hideo Kojima." If anything, his more recent games are the ones with less Kojima and more others. They're still awesome though.

[Inception]

Wow...is this man just waking up from a bad dream that suddenly he throw shit from his mouth???

[Lulz_Boat]

who is this idiot?

[NateCole]

Bioware should hire Kojima to make a proper ending for ME3.

[KrimsonKody]

"Kojima is bad at making games"?

Ow,
No, they did'nt!
*Snap*

[DtotheRoc]

These have easily been the best comments I've ever read in these forums. MGS is the greatest series in videogames with mgs4 as probably the best game if all time so I really must disagree with whoever this Retardo Rodriguez is. Everyone here with their comments has managed to bring me back. True nostalgia. So thanks everyone

[Kakihara]

MGS does have some serious cheese and broadly drawn characters but it still manages to get under your skin and once it does you'll see just how much heart and imagination is in those games. This current batch of hipster indie games on the other hand are becoming so fucking cliche. How many more contrived 'retro' games with visuals like a Mr. scruff video (seriously, Google Mr. scruff and tell me you're not looking at almost every Indie game out right now) can we have until this style stops being hailed as a bold and daring move.

[kasasensei]

/me deletes NightSky from the hard drive.

[jimimick]

*with vvvvvvvvv and cave story +

[goldwyncq]

This guy is terrible at writing articles.

[JoeSchmoh]

People hate that the Japanese produce better games, so they say that they don't know how to tell a story in a game, their games make you get involved in them too much, they're childish looking and over the top. It is a culture difference, but don't just straight up judge them because their games don't appeal to MEGALOMANICS like us in the west. Why you think Metal Gear sells so well in the west? Because it's a DOPE/RAW ASS Japanese game with a Spy/War/Espionage THEME...PERIOD!