PixlBit

Yeah, Konami liked to outsource development to studios that were just not very good.  I remember the Contra on PSone pretty much killed the series.  It seemed like they turned it around though with Shattered Soldier and Contra IV, but I guess the sales weren't enough to commit to further development.  Castlevania was the same.  They wanted epic 3D because that's what sells, but due to flawed game design and lower budgets, they were never as good as the 2D games.  I guess it's the consumers' fault as much as it is Konami's, but whenever I see a successful indie shooter or metroidvania-inspired game, I wonder what could have been and why Konami couldn't simply have made one too.

Or any number of classics in their back catalog.  I wish these companies would make more of their retro games available.

I was never any good at Contra lol.  Castlevania all the way.

Funny, I said pretty much the exact same thing in another reply.  Konami, Capcom, and later Namco and Square were my favorites.  I can count up the number of EA, Activision, and Ubisoft games I own on one hand (and most of them are SSX titles for PS2 lol).

What's most disappointing is HOW Konami is going out.  It's like they're actively trying to be hated.

I guess it's just easier to make money in other sectors, with less risk involved.  AAA development costs a lot of money, and you have to be able to complete against the Activions, EAs, and Ubisofts of the world, whose primary focus is to make the most accessible, watered down experience possible to appeal to the most people.

How are you not a fan of Castlevania???  Castlevania III, IV, Rondo of Blood, and Symphony of the Night are four of five best games ever made (slight exaggeration, but only slight).  Anyway, I never had a TurboGraphx, so I never played Bonk, and I only played Bomberman once when I was a kid, so I can't say Hudson was a big loss to me.  Wait, they made Bloody Roar?  Well fuck...  Anyway, I always wanted to play Parodius, but it never came out in the states.  I considered importing the collection for PSP, but regrettably I never did.  

Good point.  I was holding out hope for a Snatcher/Policenauts combo pack, but I guess I can stop now.  I can't see Konami selling its IPs yet.  I think they're still profitable,  but who knows what they have planned since they're being so secretive. 

It seems like I'm saying that about a lot of my favorite publishers.  I think I'm just getting old.  Back in MY day... Get off my lawn!

I really need to play that demo again.  I started messing around in the tutorial but never got to the meat of it.  It looked really good, but I might just wait until the full game comes out to invest more time.  I already know I'm buying it.  Did you summon Ramuh?  I heard that looked amazing.

Nier's music was awesome.  I didn't get very far into the game.  It was kind of ugly, but it had some good things going for it.  Drakengard 3 was kind of a tie-in to Nier story-wise, but it think it was only on PS3.

You're a good man.  I would have gotten them to sell you the memory card at the price on the sticker.  They would have had to do it for both customer service and legal reasons.  Sucks for them, but they should have changed the price before opening.