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Nintendo Announces Western DS Game Line-Up
Thanks to Nintendo's press site for a release listing the Nintendo DS dual-screen handheld titles currently in development for a Western release. Although sharing many games with a recently announced Japanese listing, it's explained: "Many of the industry's biggest software companies confirm that they will deliver names like Madden NFL, Viewtiful Joe, Rayman and SpongeBob SquarePants to the Nintendo DS", and other new/surprising DS titles include GoldenEye from EA, an Atari Classics pack from Atari, and a Western release of the previously mentioned Caduceus surgery game from Atlus.
At first glance (yes, I RTFA) it looks like there are less than ten original titles on this list. Given the fact that the DS is supposed to be some sort of gaming revolution, opening up new control possibilities and allowing completely novel game concepts to be created, this bothers me. I realize that sequels to proven properties are more likely to be financially successful, but the DS is not the next logical evolution of a proven property. Why aren't game makers coming up with more novel concepts? The first generation of games, when gamers won't know what to expect, is the best time for such innovation. Who really needs another Bomberman, another lineup of Atari Classics, or yet another version of the Sims?
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It seems to me that a lot of these games should probably be GBA games instead of DS games. The DS can play GBA games, but the GBA can't play DS games, so it doesn't make sense to release a DS game unless it actually makes use of some of the DS's new features. Granted, the features include the larger media and the extra buttons as well as the two screens and the touch screen, but some of these games don't sound like the sort of thing that need any of those features.
Of course, it could be that I'm too cynical and these developers all have great new ideas. Certainly, many of them do. Even some of the games that at first prompted me to type this could, on second thought, make good use of the DS. Atari Classics, for example, sounds like nothing special at first, but then I realized that the touch screen could be used to emulate the trackball from such arcade classics as Centipede.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really don't have faith that these companies will make the best possible use of the DS, which will ultimately be what determines whether the DS is a gimmick or a revolution. I'm hopeful, though.
I sure hope Konami doesn't try to go 3D the Castlevania game. If they simply continued with the type of increasingly high-quality 2D game they've put into Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, they will have something quite special. Add in some features that really exploit the DS hardware, and the press will fall all over themselves promoting it for you.
Konami's had their three strikes in 3D with Castlevania 64, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (N64), and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PS2), and should just stop trying, for now. (I guess it's three-and-a-half strikes if you count the aborted Dreamcast game.)
Not that the Castlevania games couldn't use some work. Harmony of Dissonance had some less-than-stellar musical tracks. All the GBA games have had a nearly useless map function that needs some serious enhancements to avoid driving players mad with backtracking insanity. And they could all do with a new set of artists and creative thinkers to get beyond the same tired enemy types that have existed since the very first games.
Anyway, I do think that Castlevania DS with a map screen that switches to an enemy profile when you're attacking would be neat. Let's hope they're doing it right so that we're not left saying "No special DS features? This could have been done on the GBA!"
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
Now imagine doing that with the stylus...
As for Sony, as I said, I don't pay all that much attention to these kinds of things, but even I have heard about problems with PS2's dying after a relatively short period of time. And this is from the company using the 'good pricey hardware'...
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
The more things I hear about the DS, the more it sounds very interesting. I was initally pretty skeptical of the system, but the touch-screen thing really adds some cool stuff.
I can see a Madden with the option to scratch out custom plays with the stylus and Goldeneye with the ability to tap enemies (aiming) and punch in key codes on bombs/security systems for little mini-puzzles. The options are very open!
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
Hey where's Mavis Beacon Teaches Hand Writing? With the touch screen, a good edutainment writing title should be a snap!
Okay, just kidding, but it still concerns me that there's little in that list of games that introduces new and innovative gameplay. Sega's Project Rub sounds potentially interesting given Sega's history of unusual games, Seaman for instance. Hmmm maybe Project Rub is a follow up to Seaman wherein tactile interaction with the creature is included... A lot of potential for "echi" titles there if Nintendo gets desperate!
Anyway, the biggest concern with the second screen is that so far the most interesting uses I can think of are for things that are hardly games. If Nintendo were trying to make a new PDA, then I can think of lots of things to do with a touch sensitive screen. But gaming uses are a bit of a stretch. I'm also concerned about how this screen is going to wear over time. That will probably have the effect of suppressing the used market or eliminating it altogether. Any way you slice it, Nintendo is taking a big risk here.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Metroid Prime: Hunters was shown at E3 this year (usually only games slated for US release are shown at E3), and Metroid is QUITE well loved in the US. More so than any other region. I don't think you should be disturbed in the slightest. Especially considering that the list presented is a list of 3rd party titles coming out for Nintendo DS.
Nintendo is just doing what it has always done. Cheap low price crappy hardware but fun
NES - cart reading mechanisms tended to wear out over time, but the console itself and the carts have lasted 20 years now. The hardware itself allowed for large scrolling games. This was in an era where most games were on a single screen.
SNES - exceptionally durable console. I don't know of many broken ones, even this many years later. The quality is also quite exceptional, with a DSP that was state of the art at its release, and capability to display many more colors than the competition of the era.
N64 - as always, exceptionally durable. The quality of the console was unquestionable. The CPU was just a monster, with a fairly good clock rate, and the games easily blew away the other consoles of the generation. Held back mainly by a small amount of working memory and storage medium constraints. Not a nice system to develop for, but well made.
GCN - Durable as hell. There are a few people having problems reading discs already, but nowhere even close to the number of people having problems with the PS2. Hardware is designed with efficiency and ease of development in mind, essentially the anti-N64. Console is definitely a match for the current generation, trumping Xbox's graphics in many cases but at a fraction of the cost. (Xbox has higher clock frequencies, but GameCube beats it out in efficiency and coordination of hardware. Case in point, most polygons in a console game record still belongs to GameCube (Rebel Strike))
GameBoy - Essentially a portable monochrome NES. The durability is also unquestionable, but what really made this console great is that it didn't eat through batteries at too high of a rate, and was playable for extended periods of time.
GameBoy Color - GameBoy with a smaller form factor and a color screen... what more is to be said?
GameBoy Advance - This is probably the Nintendo console I am most familiar with. The hardware works together unbelievably well (ala GameCube), and functions quite well as a portable SNES, and does it without eating up batteries or compromising ease of development. Regardless of what you might think, this is truly a console for the ages.
Nintendo DS - Nintendo has packed in wireless connectivity, 2 lit screens, a touchpad, a microphone, a speaker, and 2 fairly high performance CPUs while claiming battery life comparable to GBA SP. I am prepared to take their word on it, as it's unlike them to lie about that. Especially compared to the battery life of the PSP, that is completely undeniably awesome.
SNES - exceptionally durable console. I don't know of many broken ones, even this many years later.
Well, now you know of two broken ones. I had one die of apparant old age not long ago, but it got played very hard, though - once, I went through Chrono Trigger five times without turning the console off because the save battery in the cart was dead and I wanted to get a few endings I hadn't seen yet.
I also destroyed one shortly after the release, but you know, that giant worm in the Tower of Hera in Link to the Past was a bitch and a half, and the thirtieth time he knocks you down to the fifth floor, you've gotta let off some steam.
This list doesn't look like the revolution Nintendo promised. This could very well have been the lineup for the last GBA, and it is especially not the kind of lineup I'd really want going up against the PSP. Compare Sony's lineup with Nintendo's, and there's some obvious overlap. This is bad news for Nintendo, as ports will hurt Nintendo. For the touch and dual screen to really work they need to be implemented from the bottom up, not as an afterthought. What's more is that when we're talking $200+ price tags, the kids going on vacation playing Spongebob and Monster Rancher in the back seat, it's the 24 year old riding the bus to class playing Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo (at least in the US). Without an effective touch and dual screen implementation, any ports will inevitably look better on the graphically more powerful PSP.
Those that aren't ports and are indiginous to either system seem to be kid oriented titles on the DS and conversely more "adult" titles on the PSP.
Now, to be fair, the handheld market is obviously doing fairly well among kids and neither company can ignore that. As much as I hate to admit though, I think that Sony's pulling a Playstation here on this. The proliferation of cellphones and mp3 players means people - adults - are used to having electronic devices in their pockets, and that's a relatively untapped market so far. Toss in a Grand Theft Auto PSP in the American launch lineup, and it may well be the end of Nintendo as we know it.
Sure, Nintendo's isn't a bad lineup persay, and it remains to be seen what Nintendo will pull out of their hat. But this is definitely not the lineup of someone fighting tooth and nail over what is essentially the last bastian of the their once grand empire. This is instead s reminiscient of a clueless company who thinks that Goldeneye will sway the GTA3 junkies.
Gee, that sounds familiar. I think that Nintendo might be in for some deja vu here. I'm thinking this smacks of PSX v. N64, only tinier. Here's hoping it's not, because I do love Nintendo and I think that the DS could be something really great in video gaming, a pinnacle moment in innovation. Nintendo just needs to start acting like it is all.
"because the save battery in the cart"
If you've had it long enough for the battery to die, I'd say the warranty is already expired. Just open it up and replace the battery.
"you've gotta let off some steam."
Ya know, the controller is right there in your hands and much cheaper. I remember way back when a friend of mine had teeth marks in his NES controllers...