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.")

Comments

Rock on, Nintendo

[redfiveneo]

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.

Re:Rock on, Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

This concerns me as a potential buyer, since game playback will probably use more power than movie decoding and playback. DVD-level MPEG's pretty easy to do nowadays, especially at low-res, but random game disc seeking and dynamically-loading 3d graphics with effects are going to eat battery time for lunch. I think 1 1/2-2 hours is going to be the upper limit for gaming battery life since 2 1/2 hours is the max that they claim for movies, unless they're really simple games.

I'm all set to buy a Nintendo DS (already got a few hundies earmarked for the DS launch later this year, hopefully that will bag me a bunh of games in addition to the system), but I'm going to play the waiting game with the PSP, especially at what it's going to cost for the system alone and that it's never going to offer any new kind of gameplay options like the DS. Graphics look good though. The Metal Gear game looks like something between PS and PS2 level, jaggies and all. Hopefully the framerate is not bad on PSP games, otherwise I might expect dizziness issues from the movement on the small (compared to a monitor or TV) screen. I'm one of those guys that gets sick from jerky low framerate FPS games.

New Zelda look a Let Down

[I_Love_Pocky!]

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.

Re:New Zelda look a Let Down

[MilenCent]

It's not a sphere you boneheaded cretin, I think it's more than obvious to anyone with a rudimentary frontal lobe that Link's head is an oval. An oval with a droopy elf hat. Sheesh.

You're obviously thinking of Charlie Brown, who never gets past Level One and always whiffs with his sword, and whose dog collects all the rupees before he can reach them.

And I sincerely doubt this will reach the epic level of the great vi vs. emacs feud, for the simple reason that "Church of Oval Link's Head" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Nintendo Conference

[MMaestro]

Theres a video you can download on the Nintendo conference online. The quality is bad though (shaky cam) and the angle which the video was taken isn't that great (glare). Sorry I don't know how to make the link clickable, so you'll have to copy and paste.

http://www.eurogamer.net/file_service_files.php

PSP a threat?

[wheresdrew]

It doesn't seem to be shaping up to be one, according to some of the big guys in the industry.

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.

Re:PSP a threat?

[hords]

"It's silly to talk about watching movies anywhere anytime; you want to concentrate"

Agreed. How are you going to watch movies on this thing anyway? It's not like a DVD will fit in it. Are they going to release movies in this disc format? It seems a little silly. Buy a movie and all you can watch it on is a portable gaming device. You couldn't even watch two average length movies on one full battery charge since they claim that it can only run for 2 1/2 hours during video playback.

Zelda

[Cuthalion]

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".