X Marks the Spot
is an alternate history work by the_idiot on AlternateHistory.com. The story tackles a What If? premise about Nintendo and Microsoft teaming up to make a video game console, named the Nintendo X.
Not to be confused with the movie of the same name.
This work contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Midway Games partner with IO Interactive to take over publishing duties for Hitman after Eidos' bankruptcy and acquisition by Apple. Midway also establishes a partnership with Interplay Entertainment to publish games based off of their intellectual properties for them, with Midway even gaining full ownership over Fallout.
- Creator Killer: The failure of Fable causes Eidos Interactive to go out of business much earlier, as it receives much more backlash for failing to meet the lofty expectations set by Peter Molyneux. Eidos ends up selling Crystal Dynamics, Legacy of Kain, and Gex to Sony, Ion Storm and Deus Ex to Acclaim, and eventually sells itself wholly to Apple Inc. Meanwhile, Avalanche Studios ends up presenting their Rico: Terror In the Tropics demo to Nintendo, who decide to retool it into a new Startropics game, while Midway Games takes over publishing duties for IO Interactive's Hitman series.
- Development Hell:
- Downplayed with Eternal Darkness. It gets delayed by two years, due to Denis Dyack and Silicon Knights wanting to fully take advantage of the Nintendo X's graphical power. This ends up being a boon to the game, as it ends up selling better than it did in Real Life, mainly due to them pushing it as the "scariest game ever made" due to its impressive graphics.
- Dragon Quest VIII suffers this, as it gets ditched by Level-5 for Gold Empire (an MMO original to this timeline) and restarts development with Matrix Software at the helm.
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Even Better Sequel:- Star Fox Rogue, developed by Factor 5, is considered to be one to Star Fox Adventures, as well as the Star Fox series as a whole.
- Dead or Alive 4, now released earlier on for the Nintendo X, is this to Dead or Alive 3, featuring a bevy of modes and gameplay styles while polishing the series' fighting system. It also becomes the
Breakthrough Hit for the series, putting it on the same scale as Tekken in terms of mainstream attention.
- Killer App: By console:
- Nintendo X - Halo, the Battlefield series (published by Microsoft, who owns DICE instead of Electronic Arts), Devil May Cry, Dead or Alive 3 and 4, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Perfect Dark Crisis, the Tecmo Bowl games (whose success causes Tecmo to expand into other sports genres), Vulcan (original game developed by FASA Studio and published by Microsoft) Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Ninja Gaiden.
- PlayStation 2 (not including games from the original timeline) - Snowblight (original game by Psygnosis and published by Sony), Final Fantasy Online, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Def Jam Vendetta, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, Twisted Metal: World Tour, Xenogears: Episode II, Monster Hunter.
- Leno Device: One update is an interview between Sam Rubin and Mark Cerny over controversy caused by Killzone.
- No Port For You: Defied by Electronic Arts in regards to Medal of Honor and their sports titles when Sony requested exclusivity for them. They eventually settled on making Def Jam Vendetta a PS2 exclusive, which became a Killer App for the system.
- Oh, Crap!: Nintendo and Microsoft have this reaction after seeing Apple enter the console market while also acquiring Visual Concepts from Sega, as well as Eidos Interactive. Their reactions are that Nintendo immediately buys out Silicon Knights, Factor 5, and Avalanche Studios, while the latter expands their 40% stake in DICE to 60%, as well as acquiring Bizarre Creations.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: Killzone's story campaign focuses on the Helghast in this timeline, in order to distinguish it from Halo. This however, upsets many Moral Guardians and causes the game to disappoint commercially, though it remains a Cult Classic instead.
