Metroid: Other M Message Board

We agree with Samus's sentiment. The new Figma Samus Aran action figure, due out in Japan this June, easily earns a rating of "thumbs up" by our standards. The 150mm (roughly 6") figure, modeled on Samus's appearance in Metroid: Other M, includes a base, two "beam effect" accessories, five alternate hands, and even a Morph Ball version of Samus.

If you have a shelf you'd like to keep Space Pirate-free, you can pre-order your own mini-Samus from toy importer AmiAmi for around $36. While you're at it, you can also pre-order this less posable, less clothed Zero Suit Samus statuette. If you're into that kinda thing, that is.

#metroid First shown at last month's Comiket, this Metroid: Other M statue features heroine Samus in her Zero Suit. Here's a better look, because this figure deserves one. More »

#metroid The latest Metroid game, Other M, took some...liberties with the universe's story, and what it did to hero Samus in particular didn't go down too well. Many people blame the game's developers, Team Ninja for this, but that's not very fair. More »

Your 3DS Mii is pathetically teensy now, suitable for posing next to hamsters and soda cans. But you could make your virtual self much more (virtually) substantial with the giant AR Card, available now from North America's Club Nintendo for 200 Coins. The 28.5" tall card has the question-mark block on one side, and Mario on the other, allowing it to be used for AR Mario images as well.

Two other prizes were added to the lineup today: for ten coins, you can get a Metroid: Other M screensaver -- released almost a year after the game ... or for 400 Coins, there's a set of three Donkey Kong posters, in the same style as previous Mario and Zelda posters.

[Thanks, Zonic505!]

#nintendo You've bought Nintendo product, registered it online, and collected Club Nintendo coins for your effort. Nintendo repays you with a Metroid screensaver, Donkey Kong posters, and a giant AR card you could have printed out yourself! More »

Nintendo's collaboration with Tecmo's Team Ninja didn't end with last year's Metroid: Other M. A new trailer for 3DS fighter Dead or Alive Dimensions reveals a dangerous arena encircled by lava and stalked by Ridley, the winged nemesis of Samus Aran. He's not one for mild-mannered spectating, instead opting to participate by spitting fire and taking an unfortunate combatant for an undignified tour around the ring.

The trailer also shows that Samus has been authorized to drop a power bomb in the middle of the stage. It's flashy, and detonated without the preface of trashy fighting words -- umm, not that any DOA fighter could handle the deadpan delivery of her Other Monologues.

See the video after the break, along with a trailer that shows off more gameplay and many of the game's slightly more realistic environments. You'll probably recognize a few from Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 4.

Nintendo's collaboration with Team Ninja continues.

Ten joyous games that caught us with our pants down this year.

Here's a chance to spend something other than full retail price for a new copy of Metroid: Other M. Amazon is currently offering the game in a lightning deal for the far-out sum of $19.99. The discount is only in effect until 6 p.m. EST / 3 p.m. PST, or until they run out, so dash on over.

"No, Joystiq, I don't need any more games," you whisper to yourself. "I've got this huge 2010 backlog already -- heck, I haven't even played Bayonetta yet, and that came out in January."

Your plight is shared by many gamers, but there's little point in protesting. You're going to pick up one of these deals and remain excited until you receive it, play past the intro and then place it on your to-play pile. Amazon lightning deals now offer to extend your intimidating backlog with Metroid: Other M for $30 (that's one dollar off for every cutscene eye roll) and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for $15.

Upcoming lightning deals also hint at a reduced price for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (going live at 6:15PM PST), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Outside of lightning deals, you'll also find Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom for $23.

"Well, that is pretty tempting," you mutter. "Maybe I'll check those -- wait, how do you guys know what I'm saying before I've even read this post? Is this a trick? Maybe if I say something unexpected ... garlic cannonball! Flamingo scabbard! Gravity donut! Okay, stop it! I am so freaked out right now."

[Thanks, Vallanthaz]

#wii Nintendo wanted to sell a million copies of Metroid: Other M, which wasn't a bad game. They won't, not by the end of the year in America, and now they're trying to figure out why. More »

Team Ninja has repeatedly proven itself to be one of the great reformers of fast-paced hyperviolent action games -- it should come as no surprise that the studio's new leader, Yosuke Hayashi, has a few things to say about the broader changes affecting the industry. In an interview with Gamasutra, Hayashi discussed his feelings on the way Team Ninja has been operating post-Metroid: Other M, as well as how the studio feels about new motion control technology and the 3DS.

The studio has a vested interest in the latter, having recently announced an entry into the Dead or Alive franchise on the eye-popping handheld. Hayashi explained the studio is "having fun" figuring out how to effectively use the 3D display -- though he figures gamers familiar with the franchise are expecting more than a bit of 3D ... jiggling. Of the fighters' ... assets. Why, we would never, sir.

Check out the full Gamasutra interview for more of Hayashi's thoughts on the industry big trends.

I think it’s fair to say that Metroid: Other M is not the Metroid game that many people wanted. Some gamers seem to really enjoy the direction taken with Samus’ most recent outing, while others feel that the character of Samus has been tainted a bit by the Other M outing. While we’ve [...]

We've all got old, crummy games laying around. You could either throw those away or you could make a nice piece of folk art, like this sculpture of Samus created by JJ Hendricks. To check out more shots of the Plastic Varia Suit version of Samus, hit up the link below.

In the wake of mixed reactions to Other M, we explore possible directions for the series' next sequel.

Contrarian Corner: Gender, perception and the emptiness of space.

Vijay Thakkar is the technical director at Newtoy, the company responsible for iPhone hit Words with Friends, as well as a former developer on Star Wars: Galaxies and at the late Ensemble Studios. He took the stage at GDC Online 2010 this morning to run a panel about how to embrace mobile gaming, and while extolling the virtues of Apple's mobile platform and its constant online connectivity, he took aim at the traditional game industry's long development times and buggy releases.

Thakkar railed for a bit on a bug found recently in the latest title of his "favorite gaming franchise ever," Metroid: Other M. When the save-breaking bug appeared in the game, Thakkar recounted, Nintendo couldn't use the Wii's internet connectivity to patch the game. Instead, Thakkar pointed out, the company had to "ask players to 'send us your memory card.'"

"That's awful," Thakkar added. It's 2010, he said, developers should have ongoing access to update and patch their games when necessary, and he pointed to the iPhone as a platform where games could be released and patched quickly. "At Newtoy, we've completed full games in less time than it took me to design systems for older triple-A titles."

This agility means that developers can not only fix bugs quickly after launch, but they can also prototype new ideas ridiculously fast (Thakkar said that Newtoy had created one internal test game in just two workdays). Plus, this business model lends itself to filling in and growing features according to player demand after release -- something that a lot of big, lumbering developers haven't figured out how to do yet.

#whoops Nintendo is warning players away from Metroid: Other M's potentially game-breaking locked door bug in Sector 3, but if it's too late for you and your save file, you're going to have to mail away for a fix. More »

Players can send in their game save files for free.

With a regular software update framework in place, Nintendo would have no problem patching out a recently discovered, game-breaking bug in Metroid: Other M. Unfortunately, such a system doesn't really exist, leaving the company to adopt a more ... unique approach to solving the problem. Nintendo is asking people living in Japan who have experienced the bug to send the SD card or Wii console with their game save on it to its Kyoto-based service center.

We've contacted Nintendo of America to see if it's come up with a more practical -- or any -- approach to fixing the issue. As it stands right now, homebrewers had a fix ready to go about a week ago, and that's ... well, that's just silly.

#onlyinjapan Metroid: The Other M has a game-freezing bug. In Japan, Nintendo has a fix. It involves sending things on a truck. More »

Metroid: Other M is by no means a perfect game; first and foremost, the game's plot is mediocre, largely due to the fact that Samus's characterization is, for lack of a better word, shit. I'm alright with the bad voice acting--after playing so many Japanese video games, I'm used to that kind of shit--but I'm not alright with the way Samus acts here and there. For example, toward the end of the game, you'll confront Ridley, who, for no reason whatsoever, causes Samus to freeze in her place and have a complete nervous breakdown. This is, like, what, the seventh (Or is it eighth?) game in the series chronologically; she should be used to kicking Ridley's ass already. In addition to this, a good portion of Samus's dialogue is shitty; it's just so cliche and melodramatic. Fortunately, some of the subplots prove to be pretty interesting later in the game; Ridley's metamorphosis, for example, caught me completely off-guard, and the whole MB storyline was very interesting. Ultimately, I'd argue that the game's plot is composed of good ideas that are presented in shitty ways; great story, bad, bad story-telling.

 

But yeah, enough about the story-telling. Metroid has never been about story-telling, and honestly, I don't believe this game is about story-telling, either. The game is ten hours long, and less than two of those hours consist of cutscenes or dialogue. The rest consists of good, old-fashioned alien-shooting fun, and that's what I bought it for. First off, the controls are... different, but movement with a D-pad shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes to get used to (And even less for anyone who remembers the good old days where early 3D games used directional pads, as well, for movement). The structure is similar to Metroid Fusion; it's more linear than other Metroid games, true, but that didn't stop me from completing the game with a mere 40% (I'm ready to go back and find all those missed pick-ups). My only real complaint regarding the gameplay is the somewhat clunky transition from third-person to first-person perspective, but aside from that, the game is an all-around fun experience. It's one of those games that you want to rent before buying, though; while it isn't a BAD game in terms of objective quality, it may not provide enough fun to warrant a purchase.

 

So, in summary, this game has a mediocre plot but fun, fresh and exciting gameplay. It definitely earned that little red mushroom.

How Metroid: Other M ruined gaming's greatest heroine.