Id Software Games Probably Not Coming to Wii U, Vita or 3DS

Ever since I made the post about Developers/Publishers existing in some sort of paradoxical world wherein the only sane business model seems to be to do nothing at all because of risks (since absolutely nothing has an audience until it has an audience, and developing for something without an audience is bad according to them), I just sort of sat back and waited for the next big example of someone calling it into the light.  Or -a- big example, since I have probably already missed one prior to this one.  Turns out I didn't have to wait very long thanks to John Carmack who just had a Keynote speech at this year's QuakeCon.  He had some choice things to say about pretty much everything in the industry today, which Joystiq has collected (though likely not in full, so grain of salt, etc.) and, obviously, some of the things were about the Wii U and Vita specifically, both of which have obviously been identified at this point as "risky" because of the Catch-22 surrounding them.

"I always thought that the Wii U and Vita would be great targets for Doom 3: BFG Edition," Carmack explained. "We should be able to bring that over directly, but [the platforms have] generated nothing for us on the publishing side of things, because they're somewhat marginalized platforms."

"Clearly there's a difference on the handheld platforms," Carmack continued. "While the 3DS is doing okay, the Vita's really not doing particularly well."

"A lot of that has to come from the fact that [...] everybody is carrying a pretty good gaming platform already, and selling a new one to them is a little bit of a harder sell," Carmack said, referring to the widespread adoption of smartphones.

"I'd love to be able to develop on the 3DS and some of the other small platforms," Carmack said. "I'd like to see the games show up on the Vita or the Wii U, just to play with some of the characteristics they've got there, but it's extremely unlikely to happen. There's a finite amount of time and only so many things we can focus on."

At best here, we have a case of John Carmack simply talking out of both sides of his mouth, saying "Oh these things are really neat and great, but nobody likes them so we're not going to bother" and at worst, he's simply parroting the same damaging rhetoric that's already been attached to the Wii U specifically (and to some extent the Vita) which is only making it out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of thing.  "Nothing sells on it because nobody has it because there's nothing on it because nothing sells on it"  It gets less and less convincing every time you hear it because it only allows you to draw from the obvious absurdity that it exists on because it amounts to one big finger-pointing match which, as we know, is far from the height of maturity.  "They're not doing it, so we're not either!"  There's a point where it goes from being understandable to straight-up shifting the blame.

What draws particular attention to this as a blame-shifting exercise is the part of the quote where he infers it would be a very, very basic port job to see Doom 3 (Almost guaranteed the BFG Edition) on the Vita and Wii U from a structure angle, with then a little bit of extra thought to utilize the exclusive features of the devices themselves.  Which seems to infer that it's a very, very low-cost, low-risk situation, otherwise why would he say it would be easy and is something that he wants to do in theory?  Low-Cost, Low-Risk situations are exactly what you want to do in situations like this because it creates a steady platform for you to draw consumers to your particular brand that you can then support with future products.  That whole "If you build it, they will come" situation, basically.  The closing line of that spiel, saying that there's only so much time and so many things they can work on does make perfect sense clearly, but if that's the case then why again is he saying some of the other things he says?  "We'd love to support this platform, but we're currently stretched thin on our own projects" makes sense, but "We'd love to support this platform, but nobody else is so what's the point and OH YEAH, we're kind of busy as it is" doesn't.  It's redundant and unnecessary.

That's rather tame in relation to the other rather dumb thing that he's going on about, in bringing up the whole Cellphone situation, because it's yet another thing that everyone -says- without it being the least bit true.  I consider myself a pretty tech-centric guy in that I like all the new shinies as they come out, if sometimes only enough to find out what they're about before I'm not interested anymore, but my cellphone does not reflect this in the least.  I'm nowhere near alone in this.  I have a basic flip phone that can do standard phone things because it's a phone and that's all I want it to be.  Being just a phone serves it pretty well considering I can go a week and a half or so without even thinking about charging it, and I'm not shackled to some idiotic Data and Messaging plan that allows me the privilege to use my device for its intended purpose for a ridiculous sum of money every month.  Yet, I do enjoy handheld gaming which is why I buy handheld gaming devices.  As in devices specifically designed to be gaming things that are also handheld.  Crazy idea, I know.

This all goes without pointing out that everyone shouting that the cellphone gaming space is awesome so let's all jump head-first into it is creating a situation where that's not the truth of the matter at all.  The resulting bloat, combined with the rather inefficient methods of sorting and visibility on the platform-holders parts lead to hundreds of developers releasing a game and not seeing anywhere near enough money to break even, let alone make a profit.  Which is only one of the myriad of problems with the mobile space, of which we've already expounded on several times in the past, so I don't really even need to go into further detail here about it.  Really, this whole little thing is just kind of some weird meta-reflection of what an unhealthy majority of the industry seems to be thinking at the moment and it's rather unfortunate.  While I don't think Doom 3 on the Wii U or Vita is going to make a difference of any sort, it's just the principle of the matter.  Just another person in the industry shouting all the wrong things at the wrong time.

I would've played Doom 3 on the Vita, but oh well, guess I'll just have to settle for Killzone:  Mercenary, and clearly I am on the losing end of this scenario, clearly

Metal Gear All The Way Down

So, there was a lot of news that pretty much dropped at the same time that involved all things Metal Gear.  Except REVENGEANCE.  All that got, pretty much, was a handful of screens, maybe a new trailer, but I doubt it.  Which, I say I doubt it because I'm not going to look for it because I am pretty tired at the moment and, thus, lazy.  Regardless, even if there was another trailer, it can't really compete with the other news which is funny because the lid has been slammed on shut to one of the bits of news specifically so it wouldn't out-shadow Rising.  But that's neither here nor there and since I am still excited about REVENGEANCE, I decided to throw up one of the new screens in honor of it instead of throwing down the picture for one of the things announced.  I'm silly like that, I suppose, but also I don't particularly care about the other bits of news right at the moment since they're basically just announcements and only that.  No real meat to sink into or anything of the sort.

The first bit of news up is the announcement of Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops, which rounds out the recent social game explosion quite nicely.  I'm not sure if there's anything at this point that separates Social games from Cell Phone games, or if it's just supposed to be a better term to take away from the Cell Phone aspect or what, but there's been a Persona 4 one, a No More Heroes one and certainly a couple more announced lately, and it is a -thing-.  Not a positive thing, nor a negative thing I suppose, depending on your taste with mobile games, but I do find it a little funny that they keep getting made.  If only because it shows a very obvious disparity in how the developers listen to 'fans' and how 'fans' go about deciding things, righting things with their wallets.

Whenever one of these social games get announced, nobody really seems for them, yet they sell, apparently, and thus more get made.  But with the amount of near-universal backlash these things seem to get when they're brought up, it doesn't quite seem like a 'vocal minority' situation here really.  I'm not particularly sure who is buying these, but it's equally hilarious when you have people arguing that handheld consoles (3DS and Vita currently) don't do well or shouldn't be regarded, because they 'only get watered-down console offerings' yet...well, I could move my hands at the images of these social games over and over in a manner to specifically call them out, but you couldn't see that.  Rest assured, I am doing it.  Not...currently, because I'm typing, but, you know what I mean.  Because if I am doing that to these screenshots, it is pretty obvious where I am going with this.

I'm not sure if the intention was thus, but what is pictured is very obviously something that looks an awful lot like an awful-looking Peace Walker.  I can hear you now:  "It actually doesn't look all that bad!", but, well, that's the thing about smaller images, they hide jaggies and blurries and such that you can see if you open the big picture and zoom it.  Depending on how big of a phone you're walkin' around with, well, it could be very noticeable, and that's just in stills, since we know things can go amazingly wonderful or completely pear-shaped in motion, depending on the factors involved.  Regardless, there's not a whole lot of information beyond what's in those two screenshots.  With the AP and such, one might wonder if maybe it takes on a more turn-based thing to reduce strain, or if that's just a thing and it's all wacky, but seeing as I'm not sure if these social games that have been announced stand a chance of coming out this way, I don't really care to expand too much without details.

I made reference to the joke already with this.  Now we don't have to make it.  Okay?

The next bit is probably just as divisive as the Social Game, but at least this is something that we'll definitely be able to get, or at least that's the -plan- of it.  That much is definite because apparently Columbia Pictures is making a Metal Gear Solid movie, like for realsies.  Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios, was on-hand for the announcement, because he's apparently going to be at the helm of it, rather than just attached to it like the tenuous Uncharted, inFamous and such movies that may or may not see the light of day.  I mean, as far as I know, he hasn't officially been attached to any of those properties in theoretical film version, so I'm just saying his filmography might be a little misleading, if you look him up.  Still, it's hard saying that just because this whole thing is a bit more official than other video game to movie adaptations are in conception, that it'll be a real thing that happens, but I'd put money on the side of more possible than not.

Reactions, as I've said, have been divisive though more on the side that we've more or less been trained to err on with past adaptations, which means there's not a whole lot of good faith out there.  For one, it seems like it's just impossible, these days, to put out a video game movie, based on the last one being...what, actually?  One of the Resident Evil movies, apparently, and before that, Prince of Persia:  Sands of Time.  With Tekken, Street Fighter and Max Payne going before those.  Needless to say, it has not been a smooth road, nor even a good one, for Video Game movies, and nobody is really expecting anything to buck that trend anytime soon.  However, and this is where the only real hope comes in, some people think that if anything can do it, Metal Gear Solid can.  And you know what?  I am solidly in this camp, and it's for a few very simple, very obvious reasons.

Obviously, I am a big fan of the Metal Gear series; I've made no attempts to hide it nor should I because it is a fantastic series.  The main complaints levied at it lie pretty much on the story, which makes it seem like doing a movie which is basically a story with pictures and movement and acting and such is kind of a bad idea.  But here is also something that has been made abundantly clear with the past trends in popular movies:  Nobody cares about story.  You can tap-dance around it all you want and try and move goal-posts or call me ignorant, blah, blah, blah, but things that have been popular lately, things like Twilight (which admittedly seems to be waning a bit), are conceptually awful and play out worse than the roots themselves are.  Nobody cares so long as the acting is good, the actors themselves have at least one big name amongst them, and the movie itself looks good.  If you're Transformers, you can drop the first bit and very few people will care regardless, it seems.

While I'm by no means trying to put Metal Gear Solid's story anywhere near the caste of these 'blockbusters', I'm simply saying that things like Plot Holes, retcons and the other things that people lob at Metal Gear Solid's over-arching story like so many bricks at so many windows, none of them will really matter whatsoever when it comes to a movie.  Give people action, give people good acting, and the spy-drama roots of the story itself will carry it well enough that they won't care if something absurd comes out towards the end as the traditional twist.  In fact, that could possibly even add excitement to it for the inevitable sequel (that, let's face it, we know everybody hopes their movie will be that successful to warrant one) for the most part.  So long as there's nothing super glaringly wrong, I'm sure we folks, familiar with the series as we are, will be fine with it as well.  Provided it is a thing that actually happens.  Which, it has a good chance of that, I'd say.

The last bit and arguably the one to say anything about is Metal Gear Solid:  Ground Zeroes, which is apparently going to be an open-world Metal Gear Solid title running on the FOX Engine.  Just go ahead and re-read that, let it sink in a bit while also remembering that the above picture might just be an image from the game.  It is more likely that it is from the game with some touch-ups, but then again this is the FOX Engine which, as we know, does not fuck around with the graphics from what we've been shown.  Still, we haven't seen it in motion on one of our consoles, so I can't blame anybody who might be a little wary of thinking it came from the game, but let's just run with it.  Because it's nice to dream that the above is possible on the systems that we have now.  (Since, as far as I remember, FOX Engine is supposed to be something to bridge not only PS3/Vita/whatever else development, as it's a multi-platform engine, but it's also likely going to bridge this gen and next, but started on this one.)

What we have here is something that is pretty much as obvious as can be:  another Big Boss game.  Unless there's some sort of MGS2-style twist with after-reveal stuff, Big Boss is taking another outing in the video game scene (note the Militaires Sans Frontiers emblem and the eyepatch strings under the goggles) and pretty much everybody is super excited for it.  I'm....optimistic.  My situation is a bit weird on the games, I admit, since my first one was Metal Gear Solid 2.  After which I played the first which was a wholly different game more or less, and then 3 and 4 when they came out, not to mention pretty much all the other iterations.  Except Twin Snakes.  As such, I've never really had -that- experience with Solid Snake himself (MGS4 was Old Snake, I kind of consider them different because I am a pedant), the one that clicks and feels perfect (I basically ruined MGS1 for myself by playing 2 first), and I've really been hoping that I could get that with a new game that comes out.  I can keep waiting, certainly with another Big Boss game to distract me in the meanwhile.

I've mused in the past that I have honestly no idea where another Big Boss game could really fit unless they just did a straight re-creation of Metal Gear 1, but the title "Ground Zeroes" does....bring something to mind.  Without spoiling the ending for Metal Gear Solid 4 since, after the trophy patch, I'd suggest it is a game that has re-upped its "Do not openly spoil" status, lest you look like a gigantic dick, I think there is something in MGS4's ending that is key here.  Something of a catalyst between two of the characters (Big Boss obviously being one) that could create a very obvious, very Major antagonist for the man, as well as giving the game the backdrop for another Peace Walker-esque Base build-up.  Just what that base will be, I have no idea, as I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline myself, and I could be completely wrong as I am often.  But that's what the sub-title brought to mind, so we'll just have to see when the game actually comes out.  I'd say it is probably the only other scenario that really has not been covered in a game yet for Big Boss.

Metal Gear Solid is kind of one of those things that I doubt anyone -really- can get enough of, despite the whinging of "Oh boy, another one?" that you'll get here and there.  Each game really has its own charm about it, and there's not been a one that could honestly be called 'bad', though I'm sure anyone could disagree with me on that for any reason.  Still, for each game that everyone dislikes, I'm sure that they have at least one iteration of the series that they do really enjoy and sometimes that's all you need.  Just that one, perfect, unspoiled game that does what you wanted it to do in a series that might not have done otherwise.  With any luck, Ground Zeroes won't be the last real game that we see come from it all anytime soon since, hey, we're looking at a new gen in a year or so, I'm sure.  It's definitely a series we want to see make the transition, and it just remains to be seen how it'll look after-the-fact.

Update!:  There is a sub-titled trailer now.  Everything is amazing.

 

Dig it.

Sick Post Because I'm Sick

Sometimes, Google.  Sometimes you do good.

So, as I have kind of alluded to in recent posts when I have actually posted, I have been fairly sick lately.  Thankfully not in the 'serious' sense, but enough so that I am in something of a haze for the better part of a day, or at least more of a haze than normal, what with it being Summer Spring (for a day yet) and all.  Which pretty much means I'm really in no condition to be writing even though I would love to.  I mean, I have tried the last couple nights, but I've had nothing really to work with and I feel like even if I had a giant two page -thing- about something really interesting, I wouldn't be able to do anything with it because I have just been 'derrrr' for the entirety of my down-time.  I also haven't been gaming all that much despite my recent acquisitions of Lollipop Chainsaw and Gravity Rush which burns me tremendously.  The brief bits of the former that I have played have been brilliant, but you'll hear about that soon enough in a format you might not expect.

I do have two bits of news here that I can talk about to try and get myself out of this little funk I'm in, since I feel like I am possibly on my way out of illness.  With any luck, I'll be back to throwing down posts that veer more verbose than a valiant victor verily vexing villains for a vendetta.  Said time is not tonight, however, so don't be surprised if I can only muster a couple paragraphs here for both bits of information.  Though, to be fair, there's not a whole lot to be said about either, one is pretty uniformly positive, and the other is Sega being Sega which means it is not positive whatsoever except maybe kind of a tiny little bit, but not really.  I should probably save that for the actual talking about it portion instead of here, but eh, I'm feeling all crazy wacky so who cares.

Why don't I just throw down the Goddamnit, Sega so we can have that done and move along, yeah?  Yeah, let's just go ahead and do that.  So, do you guys remember Valkyria Chronicles?  Well it's back!  In pog card form!  Kind of.  Valkyria Duel is a free-to-play, PC Browser-based card game that is, obviously, only available in Japan because shut up.  There's a planned Smartphone version of it as well, but that's not in the cards on the table just yet, though I imagine it will likely be fundamentally the same since it's likely not a very taxing game.  It will be, as some/most Free-to-play games are, supported by micro-transactions that I have no idea how they will play out.  I imagine you can either buy 'boosters' of people, or they'll have a special grouping of cards that are special enough to be paid-only.  I mean, it's a card game, there are not really all that many options here.

I.....well, I really don't know where to start here.  I'm sure you can imagine where I'm coming from before I even say it, but suffice it to be said that there is not enough "Goddamnit Sega" that I can say here.  I could say it til my already raw throat dries up and cracks and it'd still not be enough for everything that is wrong with this picture.  Now, do I personally care that this is a quick cash-grab for a franchise that I happen to enjoy despite every instance of Sega trying to prevent that?  Of course not.  In fact, I encourage it - who knows, if they rake in enough profit from this, maybe they'll feel confident enough in a PSN-only, no-dub version of Valkyria Chronicles 3 for us since, hey, they'd still be making money off of the whole thing from micro-transactions of the card game.  And maybe if they did that, they could release -this- game over here for smartphones/browsers in an attempt at the same, but expanded, cash-grab.  I imagine it kind of hinges on at least having the ability to play all three games, however, since all three games rosters are involved, as you might be able to tell.

The thing that bugs me is that this is Valkyria Chronicles, and it's a card game at the same time.  I kind of have a thing for card games as you have no doubt realized, and I would probably buy into one based on several franchises I love.  I bought into Metal Gear Ac!d -happily- and would buy it all over again if I could play it on my Vita, which I keep mentioning.  It bugs me because it's pretty much a non-zero chance at being able to play this despite what I said above making something resembling sense.  Sega doesn't do sense, apparently, and said lack of sense still gives me reason to wonder at what's going to happen with further instances of series that I enjoy from them, namely Yakuza.  I have said it before, but I will straight up cut a bitch if my only option for Yakuza 5 is downloading it.  Regardless, that's not Valkyria Chronicles, nor Valkyria Duel related (Note:  Would totally buy a Yakuza card game, totally serious), but there's not much else to say.  It's free, it's Japan-only, it's a friggin' Valkyria Card Game and it taunts me something fierce.

Less vexing is the existence of Okami HD as a real thing, which is something I'm sure will make you all happy.  Should make Chance happy at least, so there's something.  As for myself, I am also happy, but in a less-so, I-may-not-buy-this-game-right-off way because it's DD-only which, you know what, I'm not even going to say it again, you know why that takes it off my radar.  Still, I hope it's only my radar that it takes it off of, because I really, really want this game to sell.  If I could buy and play it, I totally would, and if it catches a good Playstation Plus sale, I might even go against common sense and buy it to download it at some unforeseen time in the future when I have non-shit internet and a PS3 that won't explode or at least convinces me that it will not, should I choose to download something more than, oh say, 300 MB in size for the sheer amount of time it will have to remain on in which to do so.

I don't have much of a story with Okami, but I do have -something- of one with it, so I may as well tell it.  Back in the days of GameCrazy, you see, when I was but a teenager, I walked into the store with a desire to buy and the dosh to back it up.  I didn't know what I was looking for, and honestly could've been sold just about anything because I just needed something to play, since the games at home obviously weren't enough.  Being a dumb kid and all.  So, with just me and the cashier girl in the store, I walked right up to her as she asked me "Hey, anything I can help you find today?" and said "Well, I dunno.  I'm just looking for a new game."  Giving me something of a weird look before going into contemplation, she asked me what system I preferred and as she moved out from behind the counter, I said "PS2", prompting her to head that way.  She obviously had something in mind when she grabbed a case as soon as she went to it.

Going back to the counter, she placed Okami down, a game that I had not heard of at that point, and proceeded to extol unto me the virtues of the wonderful art style and direction, as well as the quirky, brush-and-platforming based gameplay.  Sufficiently curious, I informed her I'd take it, she rang my up and the transaction was complete, just that simple.  I took it home, played it and had to admit that the game was absolutely wonderful, while also wondering just how I had not heard of it, or at least not remembered it had I read about it.  I did beat it and had quite a bit of fun with it, and suffice to say that the next time I saw her, I informed her about her good taste.  And it's kind of for that reason that I hope the game does well since it is very underknown, underrated, despite a good portion of the internet not likely giving you that impression, especially now with this news.  So I suppose that means that maybe you should believe the hype.  Or at least buy it to give yourself an excuse to look at some gorgeous visuals, maybe use that Move Wand you bought (though it's not mandatory) and/or just to get some trophies.  Because you can never have enough trophies.

Lots of Bite-Sized News Chunks

I'm pretty sleepy today, as I had a long day and didn't really sleep all that well.  It doesn't help that there's really not a whole lot of exciting news out there to really energize me, though there's a lot of news out there.  It's just that it's so basic, I can't really say a whole lot of it.  So I figured, "Well, I've done this type of thing before, so I can do it again" and I'll just throw out all the news that I've seen lately and let you decide.  I can't get too in-depth in a lot of it because there's honestly not a -lot- of stuff to cover on these bits.  You'll see what I mean, I guess, rather than me just reiterating that point.

First off, something that did manage to spark my vitriol is stupid Jonathan Blow (you know, the Braid guy) talking about his stupid new game "The Witness" which will likely be as fucking sub-standard, preachy and nonsensical as Braid.  If you can't tell, I am not a fan of Braid; I got it for half-price on PSN and honestly wish I could get that money back to put to something, anything better than it.  Like those stupid, cheesy premium themes that are $3 for no particular reason.  Or dozens of avatars for games I don't even like.  The point is, the $7.50 or so that I spent on Braid is something I really, really regret.

Anyways, Blow says "The Witness" is only coming to PC and iOS devices because consoles are too old and it's not worth it because he doesn't want to have to 'do tricks' to put it on consoles and pay for certification.  He's more than willing to 'do tricks' to put it on the iPad, however, which means he's a fair-weather cockwit and the last time we hear about him and his stupid games will be a time too many.  If there's one thing I just can't stand, it's a PC Gaming Elitist, and if there's another I can't stand, it's a Phone Gaming Elitist.  Having both as the same person is just too much.

Speaking of embarrassments and people who should learn when to shut up, Yoichi Wada went on record lately saying Final Fantasy 14 'greatly damaged' the Final Fantasy branding.  Which....let's be honest; it did.  It really really did.  But this.....well, this is not something you say.  We appreciate honesty from the top folks, we really do, but this is a prime moment for some good PR-Spin.  Don't say "Final Fantasy really, really screwed up", say "With the latest features we're implementing in Final Fantasy 14 (materia, chocobos, etc.), we feel it's quickly becoming the experience we envisioned when we decided to make it".  Because by many fans standards, Final Fantasy isn't even that strong of a brand anymore (especially after 13) and could honestly use all the rhetoric money could buy.  But that's just me and my opinion, I suppose.

And in other Squeenix news, (I've got a really good flow going here, huh?) Yosuke Saito, who was the producer of Nier (which you all know I loved) just tweeted something that suggests an announcement about Nier in some form is inbound this Friday.  (Which, I think is, well...-now- in Japan.  I guess it's a matter of hours, honestly)  "Will there be an amazing announcement on Friday? Perhaps," says he, with the tag of #nier that denotes, yes, it's about Nier unless he's a fantastic troll.  Which....wouldn't surprise me, given Drakengard and Nier.

I'm a little worried and a lot excited about this, perhaps inordinate amounts of both, if simply because the last time anyone who isn't the Cavia team worked on a project in the Drakengard template (which I'm including Nier in for....reasons.  I mean, I've said it's a spiritual successor a few times) we got Drakengard 2 which was crap.  Every shade of crap, aside from the inclusion (and how he was included) of Caim from Drakengard 1.  I'm still not sure how that whole thing resolved, Cavia being folded into this company and this and that, so I can only assume key members of Cavia are not, in fact, with Squeenix as Saito clearly is, being the director of Dragon Quest X and all.  I guess we'll just have to see what the project is and how it's being handled, I suppose.

Finally, keeping with the Winter theme (you'd have to play Nier to get it, but trust me, I have perfected flow in this post), Ubisoft just recently announced the oft-mentioned, never-elaborated title of "I Am Alive" for a 'Winter' release.  Interestingly enough, for anyone looking at the game, it's actually a PSN/XBLA title.  I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest it's not going to be your typical PSN/XBLA title in that it'll be $15, take about 10 hours of your time (if that) and generally leave you satisfied, but rather a "Skipping the disk entirely" release.  This isn't to say PSN/XBLA titles can't look -this good-, just that I'm suspect such a game can honestly be put out for the same price as everything else around.  I'm expecting a $30-40 pricetag, personally, but I can't say one way or another if it will or won't be worth it.  I just know that it looks fairly interesting and I'll be keeping an eye out for news, if only because it looks as close to Disaster Report 4 as we'll ever get.

Update!:  As predicted, the news just took a little bit longer.  It's a Nier concert.  For Japan.

Sigh.