A Beyblade game. Beaten horse that needs a adrenaline injection and some insight ...

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) So I know this horse has been beaten, but I must comment because A) I don't understand the lack of games, especially on the smartphone (iPhone, iPad, galaxy , etc.) And I B) I also don't understand the negative comments thrown at any suggestion of a new one simply because of the slew of terrible Beyblade franchise games that have recently been released.

Its as if even die hard fans don't believe that there is enough content or good ideas sprouting from this IP. Come on fan boys, you have to admit that if done right this could be a great game with a great story. Hell only has to be mediocre with a decent side story from the series to sell to every BB lover out there and still, garner some attention from the casual gamer/generic anime fan as well.

Here is the thing, and since I haven't played any of the BBlade games myself, perhaps this has been addressed and is the reason for bad reviews. This is a cartoon mostly enjoyed by the 4-8 year old crowd. Don't get me wrong there are likely fans in their 30's (read: jme) and a decent chunk (2nd highest likely) is around 8-16. But let's admit it. The biggest fan base is the little ones. Example my new little nephew/friends son is 4 years old and adores this stuff. With over 50+ collected, he knows the name to all the characters (which is pretty impressive, he can hardly count to 10 [more on that later]) which are as you know obscure to a white bread American boy. I'm sure he has not one friend named Jenga. I'd be super surprised.

Anyways back to the point at hand. Video games where originally made for a younger crowd especially where consoles were concerned. I know that I would have been playing The Legend of Zelda in the 80's even if I was in my 30s like I am now. Hell my mom beat Zelda before I did and was the only one in the family to attempt (and beat) the second quest after beating it the first time. Maps on graph paper and all. But let's be real, games have grown up because the gamers have grown up. Most casual adult gamers would rather have the Vita over the DS. With its God of Wars with graphically impressive nudity and Modern War games with gritty realism. Sadly even the younger generation is leaning to the allure of sex with pros(edited for :-) content rules.) to regain health only to giddly beat her up afterwards to get the money back.....(it is hilarious...it never gets old for my hardened sensibilities.) at any rate I'm rambling and this post is getting long , I'm losing my train of thought and you prolly lost interest long ago. Here is the short and sweet of it....-
:-) :-)
After scouring the net and the apple store and the Google market and just about every which way to Google "mobile Beyblade game" I came away frustratingly surprised. I am still of the belief that there has to be one out there for the mobile gaming market. (I'm basically looking for something for free or a few bucks to keep the kid smiling and of course to earn brownie points with mom :-) .....) I know, or have at least read/heard about one or two for the Nintendo systems. Wii? DS? I don't know, but apparently they are awful.

I really doubt its because the titles are aimed at little kids who haven't quite figured out how to press the right direction key while simultaneously jumping to another platform (dang Mario got difficult!) I say that because I've noticed most reviewers are good at avoiding age bias and can look beyond the super simplistic control schemes and silly plot and game play to see what its worth and who it is for and review it for who its for. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

If you all hate the current fare so much that you don't even want to see another made because the titles out now are for little kids, please tell me and I'll put down some cash on a Bey game for the kid. Something tells me that the bad reviews are just that, reviews that are poor for games that are poorly made and that I imagine even a 4 year old would give a bad review. Am I right?
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So again I'm trailing off the point, but its all relevant. A game publisher needs to get on the ball and bring this cash cow to the bank. I'm talking a game aimed at kids 4-8 that even a 30 year old could squeeze some fun out of. My apologies to the hard core that is looking for some deep RPG kind of game with a super odd, convoluted Japanese anime plot with twists within twists that even Stephen Hawking would get headaches from trying to follow.

Toss in some learning aspect that is fun like Mario Typing was (this was an after thought. When. The 4 year old coul dn't pick out the number 8 from the numbers 8 and 3 I was sad. Shouldn't he know what the number 8 looks like next to another number? He didn't have a clue enough to even guess. Then I remembered that the US scores low on overall aptitude.) Learning stuff like easy numbers and the difference between right and left can be hidden enough to fool the player into learning. Because let's face it, education games that make it apparent make older smarter players feel like their intellegence is being insulted. Save for number munchers and the Carmen San Diego games. B. . Give it enough cut scenes so that real core Bey fans can enjoy in between the not so challenging game play (but oh so fun, think Galaxy on fire, simple yet fun. If you don't like that game then forget this sentence.)

And another drawing board idea to toss out there to see what others think. I would like to see a game that a 30 something dad can play and enjoy with his little 8yr old. Somehow giving the controller the adult uses more challenging and maybe quick paced objectives while the little one is doing some different and more his level, yet still playing side by side with the same goal in mind. I can't see how this would fit in Beyblader game play, so maybe some ninja game producer reading this will get two paychecks from this brainstorm.

Seriously though. There needs to be a BB game targeted at the core audience of 4-10 year holds that is not only a solid game despite being aimed at little kids while providing the kind of challenge that won't confuse or make their little brains melt, but also not insult these kids intellegence. (The kid who had a hard time with the number 8 but has no trouble remembering funny sounding Japanese names, but he's a master at angry birds) toss in enough fan fare to get the older gamers involved (if they can write that many episodes for TV they could certainly mix one up with something interesting and new not seen on a Sat morning) maybe even include a difficulty scale. Perhaps even make the first 4th of the game seem like the entire game for younger fans, even tossing in an ending while the last 3/4 of the game is aimed at an older audience with more skill and attention span to stick it out for the rest of the story and the more challenging battles. Hell as I write this post (that has now become a blog) I'm getting a flood of new ideas that I know would play well and even bottom line get good reviews leading to selling well.

I also hate to say this. Being a die hard PC gamer with a real soft spot and love all its own of console gaming who can see the demise of hardcore gaming due to the casual smartphone/iPad/etc. Infection this game just feels in my mind li heldke it would work bettern those markets. Touchscreen controls seem made for a game like this and there is a lot of fun stuff that can be add ased to make for some original game play, for example the acceleromter and gyroscope. I imagine tilting the phone or iPad to move the bladders, perhaps by tilting the battleground it self. The ability to download updates seamlessly. Maybe buying the actual toy allows you to scan/download the Bey or upgrade to your arsenal. Bringing a new dimension to t333he new pay for moreitem cash to do better model. I wouldn't mind having to buy a new Bey for my game if it meant all I had to do was buy the physical toy. Giving long time players of the game something to show for their investment. Instead of shelling out 60 bucks on a game that would otherwise be in the bargain bin if it was a full PC or console purchase (I hate the idea of games with rehashed n64 an ie:d ps2 engines and game graphics and game play costing twice as much as a game on xbox 360 with many more times the work and production value, not to mention content..)
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It. Could work well on the wii maybe with ideas for new controllers. Would certainly work with DS or 3DS. I think hand held is ideal. And the idea of blades battling auto, or trading them across platforms (kid with iPhone trades with kid with Samsung galaxy.) As well as vs mode cross iPad/smartphone platform. Bluetooth and WiFi. If as many people in the US owned a DS it wouldn't even be a question. The ability to exchange info across Bluetooth just by being in close proximity of another DS with wireless on is a real cool feature when it can be used. I hope to one day be on a busy subway train in Tokyo and see just how many miis I collect. The DS shines in Japan. Couple that with the AR card feature and the 3DS could be the ultimate platform. But it really is a toss up when it comes to mobile gaming in the US where more kids' have or have access to an iSomething or a phone or tablet by Samsung and HTC to name a couple, and the ability to play cross platform AND start the revolution of the paying for in game items with silly amounts of money (really, 200 cks to experience GT Racing to its fullest? ie: all cars and upgrades and its basically a dumbed down Grand Turismo on ps1 with HD graphics. Your a sucker, admit it. The game devs could drop the game, or many number of things can easily happen to make that 200 investment in pixels that you still don't legally own and you're stuck. You certainly can't sell them to someone for a return loss like you can with a game disc, but I digress. This is about why buying a physical representation of your new upgrade sounds way more satisfying to me. The scam that is the new money making model of say Glu or Gamescape is borderline robbery is for another rant/post gone blog gone novel....time to clean up this page. Forgive the many mistypes and odd numbers and letters here and there. This tablet is molasses slow and the cursor seems to like to jump from the point that I am typing from to another dimension on the page.



For those that read this (I owe you about 30 minutes of time don't I?) Thank you for you attention. I'd love to hear what people think and see if anyone has something good to add. I'm sure we can't avoid the flood if "no don't make one it will suck" nay Sayers, but I would venture to say they must not be true fans of the cartoon really. Again thanks to the 3 people who stuck with my crazy train of ideas jumping around. A moderator is welcome to lightly edit this (lightly: ie : move stuff around to make the post flow better with a little more cohesiveness, take out blatant redundancies p, but please don't cut prices. I think a lot of these ideas could do someone good. Not that I fully expect any developers to skim this site, anything is possible. And with the stale state of gaming these days devs could do themselves some good scouring the net for ideas. The net is one free idea bank, with ideas limited only by imagination and not deadlines or technical capabilities. The next big game is some where in a forum like this one. The good ones clearly aren't residing in any big game publishers round table talks. I'm sure they are talking about how much more they can squeeze out of a 4th iteration of a game that they once lab led trilogy. And all the original stuff has low budgets and not enough attention. If the smartphone game craze has any reedeming factor it is the ability to help the indie teams rise up. Still, with today's consoles and PC tech it really does take a powerhouse to fund a truly great game. The right idea with the proper backing and resources could advance the industry like games like 1942 and world of Warcraft did. Its time for something new with the gamer in mind. Not sales.

Ugh another random tangent. Anyways if by chance a dev does happen upon this, I dont want credit. I just want to see the games exist. I have many more ideas that aren't pipe dreams that are impossible games to make due to budget constraints and programmer limitations. Anyone is free to drop me a line to bounce ideas around. Dev or just gamer.


And DONE
Hm, use the Gaming Random Thoughts topic ? I am not even certain you are not a SPAM bot.