I agree about what he says about "fundamentals" and "tricks". About load times, well, for quick games load times and long waits for simple actions are really fun killers, I stopped playing FarmVille for the painfully long loading times for a game so simple and the even longer waits for even simpler actions like having to load pages after pages to accept every single gift, reloading the game after sending a gift, etc.

About Metroid, I don't know that series, so I can't either agree or disagree with his points about it (except that I STRONGLY AGREE with him when he thinks that gameplay > story, graphics, bells and whistles, but I disagree with him about his preference of 2D over 3D), but OMG, he hates that poor Sakamoto like the devil himself, did he poop into his tea and crumpets? And after all his rants he has the cheek to call Sakamoto's fans "cultists"? Why does he never call so his most rabid fans too?

He tacitly ignores the points of Other M that he should rather be cheering for. While it does seem apparent at this point that the baggage of the story is having a mostly negative impact, where was his call to fundamentals before? Dangerous combat has returned (albeit in a somewhat different way), and the core of the gameplay experience was designed to replicate the old Metroid experiences

The fun of Other M though is that even if it does prove damaging to the Metroid storyline, the damage is contained as an interquel (?). The game's sequel already exists, and so the main challenge would then be to salvage the post-Fusion story.

Though they are right about that Ridley scene. You've killed Ridley twice before (5 times if you count in Prime). If you were going to react like that at any point, it would have been in the original Metroid.

"but OMG, he hates that poor Sakamoto like the devil himself, did he poop into his tea and crumpets? And after all his rants he has the cheek to call Sakamoto's fans "cultists"? Why does he never call so his most rabid fans too?"

That depends on if he's actually trying to demonize him, or just doing hyperbole, like The Angry Video Game Nerd.

Considering he admitted Sakamoto can do some things well, I'd say it's the latter.

I caught another contradiction in there, where he complains about how Sakamoto prevented Retro from making Samus into a more conventional bounty hunter. He's complained about the exact opposite in regards to Aonuma and Zelda, that they're introducing gimmicks different from the fundamentals, and here he's complaining of the exact opposite...

"Fundamentals" doesn't mean doing everything exactly the same, but following a series of concepts; any change you makes either fits those concepts, or violates them.  The changes Retro was suggesting would've fit with the concept of Samus Aran being a "bounty hunter", now maybe it would've been boring or simply not work, but it sounded like a good idea since it fit with the theme of the game.  Sakamoto wants to explore Samus' maternal isntincts, which is totally opposite of what you'd expect from a bounty hunter; the "mama bear" moment at the end of Super Matroid being the only time where maternal instincts and the badassery you'd associate with a contract hunter/killer would ever intersect.

He wasn't arguing a poor point.  He was arging the frachise tha tis bigger in total sales.  Games that release more often than 2D Mario games have the advantage of more games but each game will sell much less.  Most franchises don't match 2D Mario Numbers.  CoD however does and surpasses it.  

He wasn't talking about how much they sell consoles.

He wasn't talking about how many people rebuy the games.  Other than mentioning it(MW2)sells to more than just previous owners since it outsold any previous CoD game.

The point of 2D mario selling more at this point in the year is a silly argument.  If someone last year were to say that the wii outsells the Ps3 in Japan every year and somene replied well the PS3 is ahead of it so far this year.  They would have be right for the moment, but wrong for the year.  When it comes to 2D Mario vs The CoD franchise, you made the same arguments as those did for the Ps3 last year.  CoD will outsell 2D Mario again this year as well since it will be getting a new game.

Not at all. First, Other M is not old school at all. The designer thinks it replicates the old Metroid, but it does nothing of the sorts. He thinks 2D controls for a 3D game is the Metroid experience.

Metroid is:

• About exploration
• A feeling of being alone
• secrets and twist

Metroid is not:

• Linear levels
• cutscenes
• "feelings,"

Other M has destoryed the Metroid series. Not only is it a bad game, it makes Samus into a laughing stock. She's killed Ridley 4 times before and NOW she's scared!?

No, Other M is a joke. It's too bad this is not a parody game and was an actual endevor.

It would be wise to wait and see sales before we talk franchise destruction. I doubt this game will miss the million-sales floor, and could even push the bounds of the franchise's ceiling.

Unless it's destructive in the same way that RE5 was, looked back as a mistake for the franchise in terms of progression and mechanics, but a strong pillar sales-wise

Malstrom has been on a crusade against Sakamoto for over a year now. What's funny is the narrative he's built up is distorting reality, and history. Malstrom has concocted a dramatic story - just the thing to rile up fanboys and launch a jihad - in which Sakamoto is an vile thief. Sakamoto swept in and "kidnapped" the pure and pristine legacy of poor Gunpei Yokoi, to pervert the memory of the dear departed. Malstrom and his fanboys have convinced themselves that Metroid was Gunpei Yokoi's "baby" and everything good about the series came from him.

In reality Sakamoto was there from the beginning and it was his ideas and input that shaped much of Metroid. Yokoi existed in the role of a producer. In fact, neither Yokoi nor Sakamoto were even the ones to design the character of Samus Aran herself (or the power suit).

I don't know just what's up with Malstrom's tactic and the hate train he is helping to steer (his ploy of claiming he is trying to avoid seeming like the instigator notwithstanding - when he spent months and months laying the foundation for angry fan tirades and giving them a warped story to use as ammunition). Malstrom is a character of the author; it's never been clear how much of the author's real opinions show through. Purely as a character, I'm not sure what overall goal the author has in spending so much time villifying Sakamoto. So I figure that the author is indulging his own fannish peeves, or has gotten bored and is truly being a troll - enjoying seeing how much hate he can whip up and less knowledgeable fans he can manipulate.

Oh, as for the guy on the previous page who actually asked how Mario Galaxy 1 could be defended for being such a "flop": in the game played by Malstrom fans who have taken his ideas too literally, a game could sell 50 million copies or more, one to each and every Wii owner, and if it didn't cause a single /new/ system to be sold, it would be "a terrible flop and utter waste of Nintendo's time".

In the Malstrom fan narrative, only new customers from the Expanded audience matter, or keeping present customers from this perceived expanded audience matters. Malstrom has built up a complex and layered narrative about the evils of 3D Mario vs 2D mario that is, itself, a genius construction of borderline insanity and nearly impossible to dig through at this point for people who swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. (The real points buried in it, perhaps intentionally, are smothered under ten tons of bullshit and an intentionally adversarial character.)

Nintendo attempted to make Galaxy 2 more "friendly" to people who bought New Super Mario Bros because some extra sales from those folks wouldn't hurt. But by and large, I think it's pretty clear that Galaxy 2 is primarily aimed at those in the core audience who liked Galaxy 1 and wanted more. The core audience has to be kept happy - and Nintendo stated such, several times, over the last few years. Statements that Malstrom and co. either outright ignored, or recontextualized. There's no way that Galaxy 2 cost Nintendo as much to make as 1, with engine technology complete, design tools matured, assets created, and the team already having spent a lot of time working on level layouts and elements that didn't make it into Galaxy 1. Spending a moderate amount of time and money making a sequel that would in the end probably sell at /least/ 4 - 6 million and keep the dedicated fan happy and the Wii out of the closet? It would be absurd not to.

Only in the mind of Malstrom fanboys who don't really care about the games, but are just in it for this bizarre industry-watching and speculating pastime is Mario Galaxy considered a terrible mistake that should never have been created and a sign that "NIntendo has lost it" or whatever.

Sakamoto isn't a thief that stole the franchise, but his influence on Metroid seems like that of George Lucas to Star Wars, or Gene Roddenberry to Star Trek; two creative geniuses who got their respective franchises off the ground, two creators who had to deal with outsiders that didn't allow either to create their pure vision, who then got big enough they could go forth with their creative vision untainted by editors and such, and who promptly proved why editors exist in the first place.

Star Wars was a collaborative effort, George Lucas wrote the original script, but he passed it around and got it proofed by other writters and directors, such as friend Steven Spielberg.  Actors like Hamill and Ford would call him out on his bad dialog and change it entirely.  But by the time the prequel trilogy came about, he was considered the king of Star Wars, and did everything his way.  Fan reaction was mixed, though very universal in their hatred of Jar Jar Binks.

The same thing happened to Star Trek.  Roddenberry did not have absolute control, and had other writters and executives looking over his shoulder; executive meddling killed the TV show after three (almost two) seasons, but Roddenberry got the chance to shine with Star Trek: the Motion Picture.  Everyone else realized that Gene was an albatross holding the franchise back, so they promoted him to "Executive Consultant", a role where he could oversee everything and tell everyone what to do, while everyone else had the right to throw his suggestions in the garbage.  He still had full control when Next Generation got started and thus he gave the world Wesley Crusher.

Sakamoto was involved in the original Metroid, but he didn't have creative control, he was just a cog in the machine; this may give him credibility within Nintendo for handling the Metroid franchise, since Gunpei Yokoi is no more, but it was not his creative vision that make Metroid what it was, and it seems to be ruining it now.