Grand Union: “Just Give Up On Square Enix Already…”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: May 17, 2013 19:36 JST
- Tags: Announcements, Keitai, Marketing, Social Games, Square Enix
Square Enix’s latest exciting new title has been announced as “Grand Union” – a social card battle game for mobile phones, prompting the usual howls from the few remaining gamers who expect anything more from the company.
Aside from the usual moaning about Square Enix focusing on facile card games instead of endless JRPG sequels, the declining quality of the art employed in their card game has also aroused comment.
The game is due for release on smartphone platforms, although Square Enix has already demonstrated it has more than enough gall to consider porting such titles to handhelds as well.
| 
Top 20 Anime Deserving of a Second Season
Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin Announced – But…
Strangers Fisting For Candy: “A Pretty Sweet Deal!”
Netoge no Yome Grinds Hard
King Of Fighters XIV Trailer Boasts Breasts & Brawn
Yuzuruha Figure Sexy & Sophisticated
IdolMaster: Platinum Stars Trailer Happier Than Ever
Top 10 Most Anticipated Anime of Spring 2016
Splendid Abuse Eden “A Heaven of Sorts”
Hatsune Miku Ero-MMD Fit & Tight
Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade Recruits Garland
Godzilla Resurgence Trailer Unsurprisingly Monstrous
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir Mercedes Trailer Super Cute
Suisei no Gargantia Pachislot Unveiled
Rin Hoshizora Nekomimi Seifuku Figure
Top 20 Ecchiest Shonen Jump Manga
Hatsune Mike Ero-MMD Stealthily Sexy
Star Ocean 5 English Battles Boisterously
Dragon Ball Super Quite A Hit
Gainax Selling Tomatoes: “Why?”
Tasha Tracer Cosplay Truly Tantalizing
Witch Craft Works Cosplay by Kagune Intensely Seductive
Kaine Cosplay by Yuricha Flawless
Kasumigaoka Utaha Cosplay Pretty Pure
Goddess of 2ch “Another Bathing Beauty!”
Tantalizing Hestia Cosplay Busts Out
Kashiwazaki Sena Cosplay Pure & Innocent
Minami Kotori Casino Girl Cosplay Takes No Chances
Shimakaze Cosplay by Ema Sakura
Harley Quinn Cosplay by Miyuko Colorfully Crazy
Triple Triad Ver. 3.14moe
at least, this was an ok game
Actually they should make Triple Triad card game. If there were any social game that fans wouldn't mind it would be triple triad!
I seem to recall that they did do something like that with FF11 that was an extra monthly charge.
But only if we can convert the cards into real life items so that we can boost our stats. You know, be stronger, or more intelligent, or give us superhuman abilities like in FFVIII.
Translation: Fucking no.
I am more of a Tetra Master fan, but I like both^^
btw anyone notice how FF12 & FF13 didn't have any of those cool games? FF10 had Blitzball, FFX-2 that coin game.
Cut content due to a strengthening relationship with Microsoft and not believing at all in their existing fanbase which allowed "10 million sold per game" on PlayStation.
Hmmmm... Tetra Master would be a good name for a Zelda doujinshi...
I'll inform the FF8 players just to hear out their agony and trauma.
Hey! I like Triple Triad!
Cards! Oh please Square, give me more card games for my phone/ipad/whatever because there is nothing better than a mediocre card game that will nickle and dime me to death!
Meanwhile, I'll just look to other game developers to, y'know, produce some fucking decent games.
The worst part is after the information about social gaming surpassing Nintendo, they're not really doing anything evil or stupid considering their financial woes. Something that I can't even begin to wrap my head around is happening and it's scaring me like the older person I'm becoming. For the first time in my life I can understand the past generations when they can only shake their heads in incredulity at the younger generations, because it just quite simply does not compute in our perceptions how the tumbling fuck anyone would not only buy card games, but cards from them that don't actually exist in reality for that matter.
Even facebook's uselessness made sense because all their crap is modern day Populus or Tetris with friends, which has some merit. Even phones with Fruit Ninja are merely the new Minesweeper. But the days of engrossing story and atmosphere proving itself a viable component to gaming has apparently waxed and waned into a new NES era where everything is basically short and mindless with a smattering of epic on the fringe.
I'm absolutely with you there. For several years I'm not really going with trends anymore and don't understand what's so great about most stuff... and I'm turning only 23 this year!
Be it video games that only serve as eyecandy for graphics whores, social networks, smartphones, Apple products, tablets, Windows 8 + Metro, "cool visually pleasing websites with huge fonts, huge double spacing, so narrow it's definitely pandering to tablet/smartphone users", "friends" who you can only 'meet' via the internet... and lots of other stuff.
Wow, I feel old and misplaced in our modern world. If only I were born 1 generation earlier to live the 70s and 80s...
I dunno. I think this can't be compared to older generations, who, for example, had absolutely no idea what a computer even really was, let alone what you could do with it.
We have a perfect understanding of how modern things work and what the theoretical appeal is. We know exactly the inner workings and goals of social apps, so the opinion that they are manipulative non-games is highly informed and not just based on feelings of "ugh, kids these days".
You do know.
Why? All you said is nothing but pure truth. Only fanboys and shills paid to distort forums on the internet would deny you.
@00:04 18/05/2013
They've been watching MTV too, so even that's tentative.
It's the same with most MMORPGs. If you look into the psychology of habitual gamblers you'll understand why MMORPGs can be addicting. Provide a carrot and people will follow. "Invested time" mindset hoping for a payoff. In the case of "social gaming" (multiplayer gaming?? are we using new buzzwords now?) it's only value is giving people an easy excuse to interact with people. IMO if a game is only fun just because it provides opportunity to interact with people, then it just sucks. You're not actually there for the game. You can go to a bar or social event without the game.
The ultimate reality is, the social addiction is causing people to be duped to sit around and play scrabble. FUCKING SCRABBLE. Oh I'm sorry, "Words with Friends."
Pokemon trading card game was fairly fun and addicting on nintendo gameboy, and the Yugioh games took that and incorporated and RPG feel into it, so i can see the potential of a card game that takes a que from the MMOs with real money stores, after all, real money stores take advantage of a certain type of person that can't controll thier spending, and they are a lot of people like that, add the option to bill your cell phone and they've just created a bunch of kids secretly billing their parents phones.
Problem is: Yugiou and Pokemon are big successful franchises. And they started the whole card game / collection boom back in 199x / early 2000s.
Whereas this Grand Union game is just 1 out of hundreds of similar games! There are far too many of these games and most are so bad that the number of players dwindles until the game is discontinued (social games are like MMOs, no players = dead game).
One might give this a try and like it, but why should I play this when there are dozens or hundreds of competitors?
Heck, why should I play some social card game that will die after several months, when there are addictive Pokemon games since the 1990s? The SIXTH generation comes this year and will be a success, Grand Union comes and will be a failure (btw haven't played Pokemon since Silver)
Well, like you said they'll still make some cash through backdoor traps and billing phones.^^
Have you not heard of magic the gathering...... pokemon did not start the card craze.... fucking younglings everywhere.
Speaking of Nintendo they are enforcing copyright on YouTube which any movies made or produced featuring their video games the Ad Revenue money Youtube users make off this goes directly to Nintendo.
http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/nintendo-claiming-ad-revenue-on-youtube-videos-featuring-its-games--19287
At best they can get a cut. But why shoot themselves in the foot? It's free advertising. It's like asking for a cut when a magazine makes money off reviewing and previewing your games.
No, things have regressed to Atari levels of basicness. It's multiplayer Atari and it's popular with this generations youthful zombies.
If this game will be as good as Senran Kagura (and I am not talking about boobs and fanservice), I think I will give it a try.
The game looks more like Neptunia with more colors.
You know it is not an action games or JRPG game right? It is another rubbish social mobile game that will suck out you money. The interface is just like any browser games, much worse than flash games.
good luck decent games are rare
Consuming bad games because there is nothing else left isn't something smart either way.
SQUEENIX SUCKS
Square Enix just wanna follow the success of TCG on smartphone like Rage of Bahamut...
Who can blame them? a simple game with no complexity, ROB manage to rack up 3-5 million dollars a month (of what i heard), on the peak of their success just with the premise of sexy/moe artworks...
Low budget, high ROI, and all they need is good artwork. Sound too good to be true...but they blew up on the artwork department. Way to generic to caught any attention.
Then I hope for their own sake that they have a plan B for when things go to Hell, because according to these cases, they ALL eventually do.
Atlus thought that social gaming could save their asses. It didn't.
EA, the root of all gaming evil in modern times with their huge resources and marketing machine, thought social gaming could add some more to their evil empire with Sim Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society. They ended up already shut down all three. So, no, it didn't.
Zynga? FUCK NO, IT DIDN'T.
SE's programmers, composers and 3D modellers must be having the time of their lives right now. Welcome to Twitter, Facebook and a little porn, suckaz! THIS is deskjob life! lol
1. Code some simple plusminus stat game.
2. Throw in static 2D illustrations, apply tweening effects and make them glow a bit for 'graphics'.
3. Shoot any gibberish notes that barely resembles rhythm and melody in FL Studio for 'music'.
4. Compile the 'game' for mobile platforms and charge retards for every little thing they have to do to win.
5. ?????
6. PROFIT!!
Brilliant plan, Yosuke Matsuda! Just fucking brilliant!
*single-man applause*
Whatever it takes to stay afloat until someone decides to actually come up with a good idea for a real game that will sell. Cellphone/smartphone games are probably the gaming industry's version of the anime industry's OAV/OVA: Stuff you put out there to make some quick cash to stay afloat or to build up funds to produce your real work. Probably. I could be wrong.
Why is Inori from guilty crown there?
And why do the armors, weapons and gay colors remind me of the "crystallization" in Guilty Crown? BTW they really like that azure color, don't they?
They should just disband.. leave with the money while you have it, and if your in dept.. take what ever the company has and run.
These comments never cease to reveal how little people think or know about anything they don't even try to understand.
It simply reveals a lack of knowledge in economics, House. If you please...
Are social games really that big in Japan...?
Am I missing something here?
Well, in Japan many people read manga and LNs or play these games during train and bus rides, whereas in Europe (America most likely as well) people don't do that (many don't read at all). Instead they listen to music, visit Facebook (also playing shitty games), chat with friends or simply look around... in Japan it is "forbidden" to talk in public transports. Quite ironic that instead of conducting conversations the Japanese rather play "social games"^^
So... it seems to be a cultural thing with these games. Westerners play/do other things and might not understand this, though Facebook games are not any less shitty... good thing that I neither own a smartphone nor use social networks at all
Wow, interesting observation on the unsociable train etiquette causing the Japs to resort to their phones and 'social' gaming. That's really contradictory.
Though, as always it simply proves that culture!=common sense.
The train etiquette is an example for this modern phenomena in Japan.
That doesn't mean it's not present in the Western society...
Several years ago I noticed the trend of instant messengers, which nowadays turned towards social networks.
People always asked for my ICQ number, so they could add me as a "friend". School ended, you came home, turned on your computer, got a connection to the internet and then started ICQ. Then you'd chat with people all day long, sometimes waiting for someone to come online... and it was not only people you really knew, but also people from online games, forums etc.
My problem is... instead of meeting someone in person to talk, play games, go out, or do nothing.... you ONLY met online, because it was easier, faster and stuff. As a child I met people in person to spend time and it was fun. Nowadays even children only meet in Facebook. Sure, people still meet up and do stuff, but it's regressing.
So, social networks = social games... the same shit
Implying they aren't playing Candy Crush Saga.
They're more casual than you think. I mean, if the mobile LNs and VNs sold like hotcakes, then wouldn't the rest of the bandwagon-riding mobile indie devs have jumped to follow?
Wow, that sounds completely different from what they show in anime...
HAWT GIRLS!!!! GAME SUX!!!
NUFF SAID!!!!
Let's face it: if there was anyone left in the company that actually cared about games, or telling stories, or the status of their franchises they'd surely leave after being forced to work on this stuff. I was the one who always scoffed at the "end times" soothsayers but it's time to acknowledge that the current SQUEENIX is no longer going to be an environment where quality games can grow. Creative affairs, if ever proposed will be shunned to favour quick and non-expensive cash-ins. After no much time, designers, coders, storytellers and artists that really want to make games will learn to avoid the company like the plague.
This is really sad, really really sad. Today, for the first time in over a decade I understand that a third "Chrono" game will not happen nor a true sequel to FFT (none of that watered-down FFTA crap). It was great while it lasted.
Stop fucking complaining!! So they made some games you don't like so don't fucking buy them then there are plenty of other game developers out there producing great games.
I most certainly won't buy this bullshit. The reason people are upset/worried is that this looks like a massive turn away from them putting out any future RPGs. The only real hope left is for Versus XIII to do so insanely well when it finally comes out that the executives are financially motivated to continue the series. The upcoming FFX and Kingdom Hearts HD remakes will definitely make them some money, but I doubt it'll be enough to change any minds against doubling down on social gaming/F2P. A lot really is riding on Versus XIII.
this is like watching a train wreck it motifying and awe droping awsome to watch but you know deep down its relly just tragic. and nothing good is gona come out of it.
- Lost
am i the only one who thought of yuzuki yukari with the last pic ?
It's funny. Compile Heart has Amano and Uematsu working on their games, which are becoming more like traditional games now...
...While Square Enix's work is becoming more and more like what Compile Heart USED to put out.