@fishy1624 I would start by thinking of all the biggest games you know off the top of your head and just googling the studio/director. Maybe if you get the ball rolling folks will begin to add to it.

To adress a few specifics you brought up... Reggie is basically in charge of American marketing for Nintendo. So you can can pretty much completely ignore him if you're looking for who's responsible for actual Nintendo game development.

Also, sometimes it can be VERY hard to tell who's really responsible for a product unless you were part of the development team yourself. Many times directors really do deserve a lot of the credit for the quality of a game, but sometimes not. And many game projects have multiple directors, and many lead artists controlling large but specific elements of a game. Many 'superstars' in the game development world are quite humble people who prefer to stay out of the spotlight, so most end-users will never have any idea who they are. I know a handful of people who travel from studio to studio lending their talent in a very specific area because they're so good at what they do. Studio 'brands' themselves tend to break down when you see them from the inside. The 'Naughty Dog' that made Uncharted is not the same 'Naughty Dog' that made Uncharted 4. However, certain key employees like Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley were involved in both of those titles so there's SOME through-line there. In fact, there's some names for ya. Those two are the reason why current Naughty Dog games are what they are.

Metal Gear is probably the clearest and easiest example of a game series HEAVILY controlled by a single designer/director - Hideo Kojima.

Nice! Folders are a no brainer.

There's a lot of ending-credits music posted here. I was thinking the spirit of the thread was more about songs used in the actual ending of the game itself. 'Still Alive' from Portal is perfect though, it's a bit of an exception because it's basically the story continuing while the credits role.

I have no problem at all with the name. I think it makes more sense than any other alternative I've heard so far. Neo is vague, PS4K only points out the resolution bump and ignores HDR, PS4ever was only mentioned as an option thinking that the PS4 would be the last numbered playstation console released, and PS4.5 would probably be the most confusing of all. The word 'Pro' when applied to products like this is universally understood to mean 'of higher quality in some way' to the non-pro version. It works.

I really like the design of the slim, but I'm not a huge fan of the three-tiered look for the Pro - it's a little cluttered.

That said, if the pro allows FFXV to run at 60fps instead of 30, I think I'm all in.

'Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday' may be my number one pick.

Youtube Video

And, 'You Were There' from Ico has to be mentioned.

Youtube Video

Had the pleasure of checking out Kingsglaive with the Allies in LA at the meet up. It was a fun night (though I was a bit tired and perhaps nodded off a few times during the movie) So...I'm finally getting around to posting some thoughts.

Kingsglaive was brought to us by generally the same team that created Advent Children. I had high hopes that they had learned from their experience making that movie and would craft something more coherent. But…. Not being bound to the inherent limitations of creating a fan-service 'sequel' story didn't seem to help. My expectations weren't high, but they weren't low, and thus... I was disappointed. Sad day.

This director, Takeshi Nozue, seems to have a very poor feel for filmmaking. Both AC and Kingsglaive come across as string of shoddily stitched together independent scenes. Little care is taken to connect the audience to some of the most important elements of the world which the characters seem to care about so much, like the lands outside of Insomnia. (btw, the city is called ‘Insomnia’) ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Music is applied without much care for subtlety, and the action sequences are staged in a way that make them unintelligible. I’m sure that the plot actually does make logical sense, but I’d have to watch the movie again with my thinking cap on to be sure, which I may do.

The fidelity of the rendering is amazing - the characters and magic effects in particular. Sure, they had to deal with some Japanese dialogue animation, but when the animation was good, it was GOOD. I’m definitely a fan of where the visual design has gone for the FFXV world. I think it’s huge improvement over FFXIII in several areas. Square-Unix still could use a LITTLE more restraint when it comes to layering detail on detail in many vehicles, props and characters. I think Nomura and his team could learn a thing or two from Yoji Shinkawa.

As far as whether Kingsglaive successfully hyped me for the game… I’m not sure. I guess I understand why it’s had that effect on some, but really, part of me doesn’t understand. I think mostly I just walked away questioning whether the game’s narrative is going to be as jumbled as the introductory movie. At least it didn’t completely turn me off. Still looking forward to playing it.

Really, it’s interesting to me that Square even made this movie. I’m curious to know all the motivation behind it. Did they simply think that they needed more marketing behind the game? I wonder if the plot of Kingsglaive was originally meant to be a part of the game but eventually got pushed out to do development evolution over the years. I guess it’s also possible that they created it after realizing supplementary material was needed in order to fully understand the game’s story. Not sure about that one. Projects like this are an incredible amount of work and very costly. Way too costly to have such a limited theatrical release in the US. Would love to know more about the entire situation.

I saw that the Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills will be showing it. Any LA area allies planning to go? Ben mentioned interest in an official Easy Allies meet up of sorts. Just wondering if that's still a possibility.

-Justin

The Witness.