This dev is not at all what they were during the PS3 days and before and anyone who denies it at this point is objectively wrong. For a decade now, they’ve made almost nothing but bad choices. Starting off with getting rid of Amy Hennig and putting Neil Druckmann in control of Uncharted 4 who scrapped months worth of work that had already been done, driving off numerous actors and recasting Todd Stashwick (who was supposed to play Sam) without giving him a reason why. While I did still like uncharted 4, that game being good was either because Straley still had some control or it was just a happy accident. They dropped the ball on supporting Uncharted 4’s multiplayer. Game had nowhere near the amount of content it should have had. Only 3 modes at launch and so many maps had the same environment theme. Sucks because it had systems that I really liked. Just not much variety. The Lost Legacy was good, but that’s because Neil wasn’t involved in that game at all. Bruce wasn’t either because he had left ND at that point. More evidence that the writing talent at Naughty Dog is not in Neil Druckmann. And 3 years after Lost Legacy released we get the plot hole ridden, character inconsistency laden turd burger that was The Last of Us Part II with a side of lies and false advertising. And for desert we get story upon story of employees going through nightmarish crunch times including a story in which one guy who was leaving ND went to get his last paycheck which was withheld from him unless he signed an NDA only for ND to give up when he rightfully threaten to sue them for that. Then we get an overpriced remake of TLOU1 that no one asked for and just a few months after that we get a botched PC port made by an unproven studio who already had a spotty record to begin (they did the PC port of Arkham Knight). Now we get news that Factions 2s multiplayer reveal was delayed. What the actual fuck? Devs are so shit at their jobs now that even game reveals are getting delayed. Pretty soon announcements for delays will be delayed. This is the worst year in gaming so far since 2013 for many reasons I won’t get into because this is solely about Naughty Dog. The new Factions has been in development since before the Pandemic. I know this because multiplayer gameplay came out along with the rest of TLOU2’s leaks in 2020. It has been well over 4 years and you still have nothing to show for it? And you think the best choice is to downsize the multiplayer team? Druckmann has been co-president for years now. What has he done to earn that role and what has he done to keep it? TLOU2 was not Neil’s first game by himself. He was also in charge of the piece of shit Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier. NOBODY FUCKING LIKED THAT GAME! Then he did 2 games with help from Bruce Straley that were good, and then the second he’s put in charge by himself on another one he shits the bed again. This guy can’t write a good story by himself. He has no sense of pacing or consistency. And now under his leadership as co-President we get a remake no one asked for, a shitty port by a studio known to be shitty, and a multiplayer reveal delay coupled with downsizing the multiplayer devs and to “reassess” the game. It isn’t that the game “needs more time” Naughty Dog. It’s that you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing. Neil Druckmann is an incompetent leader with no vision other than to suck off Anita Sarkeesian, another known liar and scam artist who stole footage from Lets Players because she never played the games she criticized in her shitty video series. Not only should Neil resign, he never should have been put in any position of leadership in the first place. All this fuck has ever done was piggy back off others for his own benefit. Rant over.
Why the hell does it take 90 minutes to sit in the Drive-Thru to get my goddamn weed?
Please feel free to correct me if any details are wrong. I literally whipped this up at work this morning. Also worth noting, some info was featured on the "extra footage" episode of the reunion on Peacock, the Call Her Daddy podcast Ariana was on, WWHL and VPR episodes. And lastly, anytime "Tom" is used, assume I'm talking about Sandoval.
Edit: watching again for the 3rd time and added a couple dates I missed and made a couple corrections.
Dec 2021 - James and Raquel call off their engagement.
Beginning of 2022 - Tom tells Andy during 1:1 this is around the time he starts having feelings for Raquel. 🧐 🤨
Mid April (at Coachella) – Allegedly, Tom tells Raquel that he and Ariana are in an open relationship. Raquel tells others, and it gets back to Scheana, who tells us this at the reunion. Rumors start swirling that Raquel and “Tom” were seen kissing at Coachella. It’s assumed to be Schwartz, but little did we know. 😠
Sometime in July – Schwartz tells us at the reunion Tom confided to him that he and Ariana are having problems. He's setting the narrative.
Aug 2 – Ariana’s Dog Charlotte passes away :(
Aug 3 – Guys night at the Mondrian hotel. Raquel and Charlie show up after leaving the girls trip.
Aug 4 – Schwartz tells us at the reunion that Tom told him he confided into Raquel about his relationship problems with Ariana and they had an "intimate moment”.
Aug 9 - After filming wrapped at “C-U-N-Tuesday” a bunch went to the Abby and that’s the night they had sex. Tom tells Andy this during his 1:1.
Aug 13 - Tom and Ariana host a pool party where Tom defends Raquel against Lala
Aug 23 – Scheana’s wedding in Mexico (Schwartz and Raquel kissed) Tom caught in footage smacking Raquel’s ass. There are rumors Tom and Raquel were seen making out in the hotel.
Aug 31 – Schwartz tells us at the reunion that’s when he finds out about the “one night stand” between Tom and Raquel. Says Tom blamed alcohol and it absolutely won’t happen again.
Sept 2 – Lala’s birthday – Katie tells Tom that Ally saw him and Raquel at the Abby “enjoying” each other.
Sept 5 – Ariana’s Grandmother dies (according to the obituary)
Sept 5 – Labor Day cook out in LA, Raquel is also in attendance. Tom says he “couldn’t get a Lyft” back home to Ariana while others confirmed Lyfts and Ubers were in and out of there all day long.
Sept 12 – Raquel’s B-day, she buys the Lightning Bolt necklace for herself around this time. Also Glamping trip. This is also when Schwartz confirmed at the reunion he was including Tom when he mentioned Raquel having a type of going after men that are taken.
Sept 16-18 Life is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas – Pictures shown of Raquel on Tom’s shoulders. Tom tells Andy at the reunion this is when the affair “amped up”. (Ariana was in attendance.)
Sept 19 - Raquel’s Instagram post from life is beautiful featuring her wearing the lightning bolt necklace. Captioned “It’s giving Harley Quinn falls in love with the joker vibes ⚡️”
Sept 24 – Ariana’s Grandmoms funeral. Ariana flies to Florida twice this month to be with family. Unclear what those dates were.
Sept - While Ariana is home in FL, Ken Todd drops the mother of all gossip bombs. “I can’t believe, that Tom Zandaville had Raquel, over, when Ariana’s away, in the ju… jacuzzi as well. AND SHE STAYED ALL NIGHT, YEAH?!”
Sept sometime - Tom tells show runner in unaired footage that he feels guilty he’s not sharing his issues on the show and thought it was unfair to the rest of the cast. Again, laying the groundwork.
Oct 14-16 Bravocon – Raquel shows up in TomTom hoodie. Schwartz tells Katie that Raquel isn’t there for him. 👀
Oct 31 – Tom dresses up as Raquel for Halloween
December – Tom takes Raquel home to STL for Christmas.
January - Scheana says she has a convo with Ariana and she said she and Tom are in a good place. Communication and intimacy were good.
January 2023 – Big Bear trip with Schwartz, Jo, Tom, and Raquel – Ariana was not invited. Schwartz claimed he did not know about the affair at this time.
“Mid/late Jan” – Tom tells us at the reunion that’s when he told Schwartz about the affair. Neither can get their stories straight however.
Feb 8 – Both Toms on WWHL. Schwartz is extremely nervous. Tom acts very composed and laid back. (Meanwhile, Raquel is in their hotel room based on info Ariana shared on the CHD podcast)
Feb 14 – Valentine’s Day, Ariana and Tom go to V-day dinner, Tom gifts her flowers. Fight all night about their relationship. (Details provided by Ariana on CHD podcast)
Feb 28- Tom records him and Raquel fapping to each other on Facetime at Schwartz’s apartment.
Mar 1 – Scheana & Raquel are guests on WWHL. Raquel calls Sandoval the “hotter Tom”. Ariana finds out about affair by looking in Tom’s phone in a bathroom stall at Tom Tom restaurant.
Mar 2 – Affair made public by TMZ.
There is an event going that's offering free food and raffle, no purchase needed whatsoever, you just gotta enter the store. It's for their memorial day event. Just pm me bc I can't say more here.
NO SNITCHES PLEASE. WHEN U DO ATTEND, DON'T TELL THEM U SAW IT ON REDDIT, JUST HEARD FROM A FRIEND.
Within this fanbase there are many who tout that Nintendo constantly ignores or neglects the Metroid series, and they point to hiatuses as proof of this, or the fact Metroid doesn't have as many releases as some other Nintendo IPs like Mario or Zelda.
I find these statements to be disingenuous and based on ignorance.
It's truly worrying to me that we seem to be curating a society of gamers who honestly believe if a game isn't released in their beloved series every 1-2 years, then it's a "dead" or "abandoned" franchise. They seem to have no concept of patience, nor do they think of the real life people who are making these games. They just see Nintendo as this robotic factory that can just pump out games whenever it chooses, and by nature of not pumping out the games they want in the timeframe they want, Nintendo is "choosing" to be neglectful of these beloved IPs. I truly believe this to be an unhealthy mindset.
Currently the two biggest gaps in Metroid release history is Mar. 1994-Nov. 2002 (8 years & 8 months) and Aug. 2010-Aug. 2016 (6 years).
1994-2002 Addressing the gap after Super Metroid in 1994.
Many probably didn't realize Super was intended to be the finale of the story of Metroid as stated by Yoshio Sakamoto in Super Metroid's Japanese guidebook:
Interviewer: "With this story, this time it’s on the same planet – Zebes is the setting, isn’t it?"
Sakamoto: "This time I wanted to complete the Metroid series. Also, I wanted to bring back an old enemy. A nemesis would be revived, and for the sake of portraying an image of this showdown with Samus, this time it could only happen on Planet Zebes. This is what I thought. The battle between Samus and Mother Brain would come to an end. I wanted to show what happens at the end of Metroid."
In a 2003 interview Sakamoto would reiterate this while also addressing the behind the scenes reasons why there was no Metroid for Nintendo 64 or Gameboy Color.
Interviewer: "Why was there no Metroid game on the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color?"
Sakamoto: "Although there are many reasons, the first is that the story was tentatively completed with Super Metroid. After that, I was Development Assistant for the Handheld Game Department, so it was difficult for me to develop software for the N64. There were also discussions with licensees, but they weren't settled in any definite form. However, the power of expression on the N64 was also a little too limited for making a realistic game. As for the Game Boy Color, it would have been similar to the design of the Famicom, and so would have been unfavorably compared to the Super Famicom version. Those are some of the reasons, and as a result, there was a silent period of nine years."
Super Metroid being the original finale of the series' story would be acknowledged by
Metroid Other M's Japanese guidebook which states Fusion and Other M were considered "after stories" set after Super.
In a 2010 interview Sakamoto would elaborate further why he didn't develop a N64 Metroid game, as well as why a third party studio Nintendo talked with also turned down making a N64 Metroid:
GamesTM: "This apprehension over 3D gaming, is that the reason there was never a Metroid 64?"
Sakamoto: "I was actually thinking about the possibility of making a Metroid game for N64 but I felt that I shouldn’t be the one making the game. When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around. So for me it was just too early to personally make a 3D Metroid at that time. Also, I know this is isn’t a direct answer to your question but Nintendo at that time approached another company and asked them if they would make an N64 version of Metroid and their response was that no, they could not. They turned it down, saying that unfortunately they didn’t have the confidence to create an N64 Metroid game that could compare favourably with Super Metroid. That’s something I take as a complement to what we achieved with Super Metroid."
GamesTM: "Can you say who that company was?"
Sakamoto: "Sorry, I cannot."
The reasons for the hiatus of 1994-2002 were:
-The Metroid story was complete with Super Metroid.
-Sakamoto's position was changed to handheld development and couldn't work on N64 games as easily, and felt a GBC Metroid would be seen as inferior to Super Metroid.
-An unknown third party was contacted by Nintendo to develop a N64 Metroid, but declined feeling they wouldn't live up to Super Metroid.
2010-2016 Many believed this "hiatus" was caused by the
less than ideal sales of Metroid Other M. However, there is nothing to support this claim, and in fact is actively debunked when one realizes there was a Metroid game in production during this period.
Before getting into that however, one needs to understand why there was the lack of Metroid Prime 4 from Retro Studios during this time.
After the release of Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii in 2009, Retro Studios would not work on Metroid for a decade.
The reasons for this was due to many staff feeling fatigued of making Metroid games after Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but especially after Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Both Principal Technology Engineer
Jack Mathews and Senior Producer
Bryan Walker (ex-Retro devs) would go into detail over feelings of fatigue.
2008 would then see several key members of Retro, Designer Mark Pacini, Art Director Todd Keller, and Jack Mathews, leave to form their own studio,
Armature Studio.
The remaining Retro staff, still feeling fatigued of Metroid, wanted to work on other Nintendo IPs and would go on to work on non-Metroid IPs for the next decade; Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010), Mario Kart 7 (2011 co-developed), Donkey Kong Country Returns 3DS (2013 co-developed), and Donkey Kong Country Returns Tropical Freeze (2014 + 2018 Switch port).
In 2019 it would be announced that Retro Studios would return to Metroid by
restarting development on the 2017 announced Metroid Prime 4.
They would also release Metroid Prime Remastered in 2023.
Despite Retro Studios stepping away from Metroid after 2009, Kensuke Tanabe, Prime series producer, would still continue his efforts in making a Metroid Prime game.
Tanabe would first hint at the potential of another handheld Prime entry in 2009, as well as state his desire to always be planning new Prime games, in an interview with Online Nintendo Magazine.
ONM: "Do you think that Samus will ever return to the DS?"
Tanabe: "We are always planning to make new games in the Metroid Prime series. Depending on the timing and the situation, we cannot deny the possibility of realising it on DS or DSi."
Metroid Prime: Federation Force, released in 2016, began development in 2009 and was an idea Tanabe had since at least 2007 when making Prime 3.
Tanabe: "Well, first I would say that the focus on the battle between the Federation Forces and the Space Pirates was an idea I had since I was involved in Metroid Prime 3,"
He also stated he intended the game to launch alongside the New 3DS model, which came out in 2014, but wasn't able to do so.
Tanabe: "In making this game we initially intended it to launch alongside the New Nintendo 3DS, but we were a bit late in doing that," "The team who's schedule was free at the time was Next Level Games, and so we turned to them."
In a 2016 promo video, he would go into the full history of the development of Federation Force:
Tanabe: "Development on this game started on 2009. At that time, we started with the idea of developing a new online multiplayer-focused Metroid Prime series title for a handheld system.
Early experiments began in collaboration with our reliable partners at Next Level Games, who I had worked with on Mario Smash Football for Nintendo GameCube and on Punch-Out!! for Wii.
But at that point, we were working on it on Nintendo DSi, and with DSi it became clear that we wouldn't be able to achieve the type of performance that fans would expect.
When we saw New Nintendo 3DS a few years later, we knew that the system would address these performance issues, and also welcomed the expanded control options provided by the C Stick.
We wanted to tell the story of the battle between the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates. I had always imagined battles between these two within the universe... But we had never really explored that in the previous games, and I had been wanting to for over 10 years. I was ready and excited to try it."
In-between the original 2009 DSi attempt and the finalized 2016 3DS release, Tanabe would work with Next Level Games to release Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS in 2013.
For Sakamoto's side, he stated in a 2017 interview he had wanted to make a 2D Metroid game since around 2012-2013.
Sakamoto: “I have been wanting to make a 2D Metroid game for four or five years,”
As stated in another 2017 interview, he would begin development on Metroid: Samus Returns around 2015.
Sakamoto: "We started around two years ago, so it’s been about two years... It’s almost there. It’s quite a ways along."
The reasons for the 2010-2016 "hiatus" was:
-A Metroid game actually was in development since 2009, but wasn't completed until 2016.
-Another Metroid game started development in 2015, but wasn't completed until 2017.
-Several key Retro staff left to form their own studio.
-Retro staff felt franchise fatigue for making three Prime games back to back for 8 years straight and wanted to do something else. They worked on Donkey Kong Country and Mario Kart from 2010-2018.
Another thing to consider is that unlike The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma, who has exclusively directed/produced Zelda games since the release of Ocarina of Time in 1998, both Sakamoto and Tanabe work on multiple Nintendo IPs that's not Metroid.
Sakamoto has been a producer, supervisor, and/or writer on: Famicom Detective Club, Wario Land, WarioWare, Tomodachi, Rhythm Heaven, etc
Kensuke Tanabe has been a writer, director, producer, or supervisor on: The Legend of Zelda, Paper Mario, Donkey Kong Country, Chibi-Robo, Kirby, Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Bros, etc.
Due to this it's sometimes possible their creative desires to work on other franchises may not align with the Metroid fanbases' desire for more Metroid games. I feel we should respect their decision to work on other non-Metroid games. They may also need to do so in order to stay creatively fresh.
A "creative dead end" is something Sakamoto had talked about in a 2010 interview about Metroid Other M:
Sakamoto: "Of course, there was the choice for me to work on a game more similar to Super Metroid but I don’t know if that would represent a true evolution of the series. We might be able to come up with a better Super Metroid but, some day sometime, we would work ourselves into a creative dead end if we were simply moving forward in one direction. I, myself, have been seeking new stimulations and new play feels with the games that I’ve been working on so at least I am trying to avoid repeating the same things."
IN CONCLUSION It's worth noting that since 2000 to the present of 2023 there hasn't been a single year where at least one Metroid game wasn't in production or pre-production.
Sadly there are sometimes issues and setbacks with game development that can cause significant delays. We've seen this happen with Metroid three times: Metroid Dread, Metroid Prime Federation Force, and Metroid Prime 4, have all been internally delayed long past their originally planned development schedule.
The real people behind making these games can have other desires beyond making Metroid; whether it's Retro Studios, Yoshio Sakamoto, or Kensuke Tanabe, I feel we should respect their decision to not always exclusively focus on Metroid.
I feel the developers deserve to take their time when creating these games, and shouldn't be forced to release games every couple of years, if they need to take 5-6 (or more) years on a single game, then so be it. Give them time to fully extract their creative visions into the final product. Neither us nor them would be happy with a subpar mess of a game.
To anyone reading, I hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
The complex is spread out over a couple of roads, one of which has apartment buildings on both sides. They're complete assholes on a power trip and threatening to tow any vehicle "on the property" that isn't registered with them.
I'm assuming it IS legal for them to require registration if you park in a parking spot in their lot (these are not something you pay extra for).
This is NOT something that is in my lease unless you rent a car port.
Jax, FL