Masahiro Sakurai refused to add Dolby Surround to a Kirby game because players had to sit through the logo - eviltoast
  • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Most households have a TV with TV speakers, only capable of L/R. Why pay money and have people sit through a corporate short film for a feature most won’t use?

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Its two seconds for the benefit of 5.1, so the people that have it can benefit. And the people that don’t can upgrade later.

      • missingno@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        Bear in mind that Kirby Air Ride came out in 2003, on a console that’s only meant to be hooked up to CRTs. How many users back then do you think would’ve had access to this feature in the first place? Or would still be playing this game if/when they upgrade later?

        • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          It was uncommon, but not so uncommon that it didn’t warrant being added to the game. Especially when Dolby was handing out licenses like candy apparently. I would imagine it was cheap to get a license, and would make some sense why Air Ride wouldn’t have it. Air Ride is my favorite Kirby game, but even I recognize that Air Ride is probably one of the lowest budget Kirby games.

      • theareciboincident@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 months ago

        The problem people have with your argument is not the existence of 5.1 surround sound.

        Nor is it that the vast majority of households can’t afford a properly tuned surround sound setup instead of haphazardly throwing speakers around which arguably creates a worse experience than stereo.

        It’s that the Dolby implementation requires publishers to license it and pay for an unstoppable ad that plays before every session, while benefitting only the petit bourgeois.

        Notice how you reverted so quickly to your capitalist brainwashing. May be a good inspiration to see what other ideologies have been implanted into you.

          • Signtist@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            Negative change worms it’s way in through small defeats. The first DLC’s were a small price for a lot of content, the first YouTube ads were only a single ad that was just a few seconds long, the first video game preorders came with amazing rewards, etc. When you allow for 2 seconds, then what’s 3 seconds? What’s 4, 5, 6? What’s 30 seconds? What’s 2 minutes? We’ve seen examples of this all throughout capitalism’s history; to ignore them is, well, ignorant.

          • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Not only is it just 2 seconds, but it’s 2 seconds while the game is no doubt being loaded into memory while it plays anyway.

            This is like whining about the Pixar animation that plays before all of their movies (for much longer than 2 seconds).

            • missingno@kbin.social
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              6 months ago

              Gamecube doesn’t have enough RAM to preload everything at startup like that, you have to go through the menus and pick a game mode and map to load.

              Surely if it needed that startup load anyway, then Sakurai wouldn’t be saying he turned the license down in order to get players in the game faster. I’m going to trust Sakurai’s word here!

              • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Sure, and the Spectrum ZX I used to use 35 years ago had even less. The GameCube is ancient history, it’s not the benchmark for a reasonable amount of memory for anyone.

                Edit: apologies, I forgot we were talking specifically about a GameCube game.

            • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I would understand the complaint if it was longer, like 5 or 7 seconds long for just the Dolby logo. But its not.

              Like, if seeing a logo for two seconds bothers you that much, better close your eyes when driving riding the bus walking around town, otherwise you might see a dreaded billboard or advertisement.

              • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                6 months ago

                Gonna just completely ignore that said 2s is otherwise unneeded so you can feel like you still have a point, hm?

                Seeing an ad while walking does not require me to stop what I’m doing and wait for the ad. Putting an unstoppable ad in your pre-game logo does

                • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  Loading screens in a game take longer than two seconds and don’t have the benefit of running one time before the game starts and adding surround sound support. So you would rather be greeted with a black screen as a game with less features loads instead?

                  Great idea.

                  • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    People in this thread don’t want to waste 2 seconds per use of a video game on a logo screen, but will happily waste the day discussing it.

              • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                My state banned billboards for the same reasons.

                It’s a really good reminder when I’m ever in another state that things like that just… Aren’t needed.

                The advertising thing is a slippery slope, and it’s OK for people to draw the line for how far down the slope they’re willing to go higher up than you would. It’s also OK that your line comfortably holds a 2-second ad.

                No position here is unreasonable, and everyone should keep that in mind.

      • hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        So many assumptions here.

        Let me refute them through educated guesses.

        • most people don’t have anything other than stereo
        • most people don’t want anything other than stereo
        • not everyone has the money to even get a decent TV, let alone 5.1 or God forbid 7.1
        • Kirby does not focus an people with high end playback devices. It’s traditionally a kids game.
        • 2secs Everytime you open the game can add up and be really annoying. Especially for kids, which are the core audience.
        • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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          6 months ago

          So because some people have a crappy home theater setup everyone should have a crappy experience?

            • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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              6 months ago

              Without at least 5.1, why even bother playing games or watching movies?

                • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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                  6 months ago

                  Sound is at least as important to the experience as the picture. Go watch a scary movie with the sound muted and you’ll notice it’s not scary at all.

                  Playing a game or watching a movie with just 2.0 audio, or worse: using the TV’s built-in speakers, is such a diminished experience that you might as well not bother.

                  • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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                    6 months ago

                    IMO

                    Watching a movie with 5.1: great

                    Watching a movie with 2.0: great

                    Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s cool, and I find good sound design at least as important as good visuals. It’s all part of the aesthetics package. One of my fondest media memories is watching Jurassic Park at a relative’s house with the sounds of the raptors coming from speakers all around. I even spent great expense setting up my own 5.1 setup.

                    But I’ve been chasing this dragon for too long. Audiovisual fidelity doesn’t move the needle for me anymore (pardon the metaphor overload). I no longer feel the need to have my media reach out and immerse me - if it’s good, I can do the work and use my imagination to get lost in the fantasy

              • Soggy@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Imagine consuming media with speakers rather than high-end OEMs to shut out all outside sound. Might as well just read books in a crowded café.

                • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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                  6 months ago

                  Imagine not being able to feel explosions in your gut because you have a pair of tiny speakers strapped to your head instead of a big long-throw woofer moving air.

                  • Soggy@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    Sorry I’ll be explicit: I’m making fun of how pretentious you sound and can’t take anything you say here seriously. I actually agree that a monster sound system can greatly enhance a movie or game experience, but the difference depends on the specific media. I saw Fury Road three times in the theater because I knew my home system would never match the experience. Something like Star Trek TNG or My Cousin Vinny or, as the topic of this post, Kirby’s Air Ride hinges far less on the audio quality to deliver the intended content. Gatekeeping enjoyment behind speakers makes you a colossal ass.

          • bitfucker@programming.dev
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            6 months ago

            From the pareto principle it can be said that if the cost for adding a feature for the little percentage of users is quite high, it is not worth it.