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Nintendo Talks DS, Zelda, PSP Threat
Thanks to IGN Cube for its interview with Nintendo VP of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan, as she comments on the Nintendo DS' backwards compatibility ("I think the initial appeal the DS gives you is that you can start with a library of 500 games"), on the new realistic-looking Zelda title ("We knew that people were going to say, 'Oh, is the new Zelda because you made a mistake with Wind Waker?' You don't make a mistake when you sell something in the millions and millions"), on the battery life of Nintendo's forthcoming handheld ("Very similar to the [Game Boy Advance] SP and I think very different from the PSP. I'm not quite sure why Sony said "Two to 10 hours" [for PSP's battery life]. That must mean that it's two hours"), and on rivalry with Sony's PSP ("I think Sony has developed a very nice looking screen. I think that having a system with claims to all the multi-functionality is a big question in our minds. Pricing is a huge question.")
Battery life is the most important aspect of a handheld/portable device. I applaud Nintendo for trying hard to match the SPs battery capacity. IIRC, the SP is 10hrs with the backlight on, 18hrs with it off.
Compared to an estimated 2-10hrs for the PSP, the DS is looking good.
I don't understand why a "realistic" Zelda game is a good idea. Wind Waker was awesome because it looked and felt like a cartoon. I'm still going to buy it when it comes out, because Nintendo doesn't make bad Zelda games. Despite the down grade in graphics, I'm sure the game play will be top notch as always.
On the plus side, fighting from the horse seems like an awesome idea.
The battery life and the backwards compatability are big selling points for me. The ability to pick it up and still be able to play all the old GB games I have amassed is probably the clinching point for a sale...
"You did WHAT to WHO for BEER MONEY?!? Jeez, man - you don't even like beer..."
We gonna have to work on our communicatino skills.
Are those the skills we use when we speak in Spanish?
So, having a backlight on ONE screen halves the SP's battery life, what will having a backlight on TWO screens, powering TWO processors, along with Wi-Fi, which ALSO drains battery life do to it?
to quote homer_ca, on a topic about Wi-Fi on Cell Phones: "Toy is right. Besides the problem of roaming, power consumption is a huge problem with Wifi. 802.11b is a high bandwidth, long range (compared to Bluetooth at least) protocol. It consumes a lot of power just maintaining a link to the AP. According to this it consumes 800mW while idle with a link up, 950mW while receiving, and 1400mW while transmitting. Wifi might be practical for outgoing calls, but not the other way. You'd drain your battery ust sitting at a hotspot waiting for a call."
Nice try Nintendo, but you'll have to tell us how many hour(s) the DS can run before you can criticize the PSPs battery life.
http://www.eurogamer.net/file_service_files.php
Asian Wall Street Journal story: http://tinyurl.com/2mqoj
What's more, Sony's decision to put out a machine that plays movies as well as games has some creators scratching their heads.
"Will it be a game machine or a video Walkman?" asks Michihiro Sasaki, general manager of corporate strategy at Japanese video-game maker Square Enix Co. "We're still not sure what Sony wants to do with it -- that's a problem."
Mr. Sasaki says Square Enix, known for its Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, eventually hopes to provide content for the PSP but wants to hear more about the PSP's business model before deciding what to prepare.
Still, some game developers worry that it may be hard to balance competing technical demands -- as well as figure out the price and audience -- for a gadget that combines the functions of a Walkman, video player and game machine.
"It would be better if [the PSP] were just a game machine," says Kazumi Kitaue, executive in charge of video games at Konami Corp., which puts out the popular Metal Gear Solid series. "It's silly to talk about watching movies anywhere anytime; you want to concentrate."
Mr. Kitaue says that Konami has started developing games for the PSP and that he has high hopes for the machine. But he worries that the product release could be delayed in Japan -- as it was in the U.S.
I don't think Nintendo's all that worried about the PSP.
Though the graphics looked decent, the system itself looks clunky and ackward. I still, for most games, do not see a need for two screens. And the touch screen dosn't seem all that great either, a long time ago, I got a Game.com (Old failure by Tiger Electronics) for my birthday. And those had one, and I saw no innovation or good use of it.
Besides, how am I going to tap stuff on the screen when I'm using the controller and looking at two screens at the same time?
I'm sorry, but the PSP seems much better then the DS. It has good graphics, one BIG screen, and a familiar control layout. Who cares if it has a 2-10 hour battery life? Worse case scenario, I can only play it for 2 hours before recharging, and not many people, while on the go, can sit and play a game for that long.
I'm sorry, I've never really been a Sony fan (bought a Playstation in 1998, that's it), but I'm gonna need to go with them on this one.
I think it's a sad reflection of the state of the games industry when people immediately conclude "Windwaker was a mistake" from "We're not doing it exactly the same this time".
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
Kaplan referred to the new Nintendo system as Nintendo Revolution. Which begs the question... what happened to Nintendo Reloaded?
It appears to be exactly like a SNES. What is so unfamiliar about that?
As for the need for two screens, I almost agree, except that I play a lot of strategy and RPG 'tactics' games, which would heavily benefit from the second screen. Platformers, sure, no point. Racing games... maaaaybe no point. But Advance Wars could benefit enormously if the action were played out in the background on one screen while you continued to issue commands on the other. Much less delay and you still get to see the cute animations.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
The obvious use of the touch-sensitive screen is to provide a point-and-click interface to RPGs. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance have a very convoluted menu system. An actual GUI could make those games substantially more accessable to new players.
Real-time strategy games could also benefit greatly from a point-and-click interface, and arguably a screen and stylus solution is easier to use than even a mouse + monitor once you're used to it.
Also, games could rather easily add customization options, where a player could draw an image to be mapped on the hood of his car, or paint his spaceship, or come up with a crest for his kingdom, or draw a character portrain 1st Edition D&D character sheet style.
And naturally, creative software like Mario Paint also seem like a natural -- indeed, a Mario Paint-like app with an export function, making use of wireless connectivity to save images to a computer's filesystem, could be *extremely* cool, and could make it possible to use a DS for -- dare I say it?? -- real work.
I'd pay real money for a Palm-like productivity card for the DS if it was also filled with fun Gameboy Camera-style features, and with its generous default feature-set it almost looks as useful as a PDA. And imagine using Animal Crossing DS with the wireless connection to send *real* e-mail, to people in other towns? Or visiting other towns, over the internet, and actually meeting the people living there in-game?
The sole reason I was pleased when I heard that nintendo was releasing a "realistic" Zelda was because that was what the consumer base was clearly demanding.
I loved Wind Waker, and I anticipate seeing a new generation of cell shading from nintendo, regardless of franchise, but it was clear that the cell shaded zelda was a point of contention amongst the fanbase.
The customer may be many things, but even if your last name is Miyamoto, you must concede the customer is always right. Because even if he's wrong, he's still not buying your product.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
It's not just that it looks geeky to carry such a brick around, it's also big enough to be inconvenient. Judging by the announced titles, the game library will also be nothing like the GBA's. And lastly, with such a giant I'm very skeptic on the battery life - that screen must eat a lot of power.
That's kind of a Micro$oftistic remark; every Zelda title gets sold a lot 'cuz it's Zelda. Even if they make something bad (not implying that Wind Waker is bad!) they still sell 'millions and millions'. It's always easy to fall back on sales numbers when quality is questioned.
Windows is the #1 used OS out there. That can't be a mistake, can it?
No encryption can withstand the power of the Lucky Guess.
Doesn't anyone recall? Nintendo had dominance in the market. Sony released a more expensive system, which differed from Nintendo's in that it had games on a medium which gave them far more impressive impact, due to the inclusion of cut scenes and pre-rendered video. Nintendo stuck with smaller cartridges with less capacity.
The average buyer looked at both, and preferred the system that had the cooler looking games. I suspect history is about to repeat itself.
---
In the beginning, there was nothing, then God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a lot better.
"We knew that people were going to say, 'Oh, is the new Zelda because you made a mistake with Windwaker?' You don't make a mistake when you sell something in the millions and millions"
I actually think moving back to realism will be a big mistake. While playing Windwaker it was easy to forget you were playing a game, it was just a beautiful interactive cartoon. This just looks like OoT with some new features (using the sword on horseback for example) and higher res textures. Until realistic games get to the point where they might be mistaken for a TV show or a Movie (and I don't mean long boring cutsceens, actual game play) then it is always going to feel like your playing a game. Complete immersion in a realistic style is not possible with today's technology. But when it comes down to it, gfx are not as important as the gameplay and i know we wont be let down there
TIAEAE!
They still say things like Playstation is only on top cause it came out first (Dreamcast came out first, that didn't help it) and they still deny they aren't in first. They're ignorant "our way is best, the other companies suck" behaviour is childish. And they seem to take joy in insulting the other companies too (more childish behaviour)
IGN reported that several third parties, which asked to keep their companies' names anonymous, reported that initial hardware tests ran for less than an hour.