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Nintendo's Next Console Revolution Will Have WiFi
nparasu writes "Nintendo released fresh details about its upcoming games console, codenamed Revolution, at a game developers conference.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, confirmed that the new console will be able to run games originally made for the GameCube.
Despite the hardware announcements, most of Mr Iwata's speech, entitled "The Heart of the Gamer", was a call for more imaginative game design.
Game creators cannot rely on better graphics and more powerful games machines to attract new audiences, Mr Iwata said.
He also revealed that Revolution will come with wi-fi connectivity built-in."
I'd rather play a fun-playing mediocre-looking game than a mediocre-playing good-looking game.
the trick is that fancy screenshots often help to move boxes, and until you play a game you don't know how well designed it is.
air and light and time and space
is release more than 2 online games.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
sequels sell better than original ideas... and flash is more important than substance when it comes to marketing the games.
It is nice to see at least some companies who remember that games should be fun first, however.
Considering how poorly most people secure their WiFi, does this mean that I'll be able to hack together something and play other people's video games without their knowledge? Or, more realistically, does this mean that I'll be able to join multi-player WiFi games without being explicitly asked to join? Will gamers start driving around looking for open Nintendo WiFis to satisfy their gaming needs?
Or will Nintendo provide idiot-proof WiFi security (which could then be transplanted to other WiFi solutions...) ?
nintendo proves once again that it really is the apple of the console world. go innovation!
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The war on terror is a war for peace
"Despite the hardware announcements, most of Mr Iwata's speech, entitled "The Heart of the Gamer", was a call for more imaginative game design. Game creators cannot rely on better graphics and more powerful games machines to attract new audiences, Mr Iwata said. He also revealed that Revolution will come with wi-fi connectivity built-in."
I have played almost virtually every single version of the Nintendo since the original unit was introduced in the mid-80's. Many, many fun-filled nights were had on that system (Baseball All-Stars, Super Mario, Zelda, Techmo Football), yet it seems lately that the leadership at Nintendo is just trying to re-hash old titles. Metroid was a great initial title and completely original. That was what made it great.
That rant aside, I just wanted to put in my opinion on the above statement. Developers cannot rely on the latest graphics and more powerful machines? Correct me if I am wrong, but Half-Life 2, EverQuest 2, Doom 3, Far Cry and a few upcoming games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. etc) rely almost completely on the latest technology. While it might not make for the best games it is a tried and true method to attract new gamers.
Now, Wi-Fi? Serously, why on Earth would a Nintendo home console need Wi-Fi? Sure it sounds really, really cool to add but it also opens up the floodgates to a host of other problems. One of those recent problems was talked about here with Bluetooth and cell phones.
Putting great technology into a console is one thing, but taking advantage of what already exists is another. How can this gentleman sit there and call for a more imaginitive game design and in the same speech announce one of the latest technological advances in home consoles into the next-generation Nintendo system?
Just one man's opinion...
Finally, Nintendo releases a backwards compatable console. This way, even people who were too snooty to get a Gamecube will have a chance to play its greatest hits on the Revolution.
...Now that they've changed their minds, maybe I won't have to dig through old systems (and sacrifice a chicken to the god of dust mites in hopes that they'll still work) whenever I get the urge to play a classic game.
This sets a new precedent for Nintendo. I remember working as a "Nintendo Demonstrator" in high school when the SNES came out, and asking the local rep. why it wouldn't play NES games. "Why would we charge somebody for features they already own?" came the marketing-speak reply.
I can see the stategy now: Nintendo DS... it's not just a portable gaming system, it's a KICKASS wifi controller for your Nintendo console...
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Of course he can't; all of the next-gen Gameboy stuff is rumor.
I hope Nintendo had learned it's lesson with the GameCube and the GameBoy Advance by making it easier for third-party developers to actually develop games for their consoles.
I was the lead QA tester at Atari for the first GC and GBA titles. The GC was a pain since they withhold valuable testing information about the debug hardware for a year that only their internal developers had access to. The GBA multiplayer link was an absolute pain in the butt that took up most of the developer's time to get right and QA had to spend twice as much time on multiplayer than single player. My last GBA title was supposed to have wireless support but that was pulled due to bugs in the Nintendo API that turned testing into a nightmare.
Nintendo could have a lot more great titles for the GC/GBA by making the development process a lot more easier. Most game publishers been dropping Nintendo titles because it cost more to get approval from Nintendo.
This was one thing definitely missing from the GC (to play N64 games), as compared to the PS2. This will make it a lot easier to sell people a new console. (And it will be one thing that Microsoft (probably) hasn't got!)
I really don't understand how can this factor be neglected so often. For me, backwards compatibility with the original PSX was the key reason to buy PS2 instead of XBox. I have already had a huge library of PSX games, some of which happen to be among my favorite (Syphon Filter, for example), and - more important - also among my kids favorites (Crash Bandicoot series). Choice of PS2 was a no-brainer for me. If XBox 2 won't have backwards compatibility with XBox (and right now it seems unlikely for it to have, since they chosen entirely different hardware), MS will prove that they are not just evil, they are plain nuts.
Here is my take on Nintendo - they are so bent on "redefining gaming" that they refuse to try and copy a known good design. Everything you hear from Nintendo has the undertone not of "innovate" but instead of "reinvent". Nintendo has become so involved with it's own genius that it refuses to acknowledge the other person in this relationship - the consumer.
For instance, the DS. The DS is simply a game boy with two screens, one you can touch. But they tought it as something that is gonna change gaming. How? How exactly is this so much different from past designs that people are gaming differently now?
Nintendo is known for its pushing innovations in gaming, such as 4-port gameplay, rumble packs, and true 3D console gaming. But they've become so obsessed with their own genius that they refuse to copy good designs and give the customer what they want. Instead they'd rather "define" what you want and give it to you.. in their vision. So instead of a platform that is superior because it has the best games, instead we get platforms that are technically superior but no games to play on it.
Nintendo.. Sega called, it said you better step it up or just get out. Stop dick teasing all of us into thinking you're gonna give us some real good games and then pulling the "change the way you think" shell game.
I don't own a PS2 or XBox, but whenever I play them in the store the controllers always piss me off. They in-game characters will say something like "Press Triangle to shoot!" So I have to look down because Triangle feels the exact same to my thumb as Circle, Square, and X.
On the GameCube I don't even care about the button labels. My thumb just cares about the big one in the middle, the little red one below it, the gray one above it and the gray one to the side (which are 99% of the time shown in the shape of the button on the controller.)
Whoever designed that controller is a genius. I hope future Nintendo consoles use it.
and what is up with that freaky controller?
The controller reflects a strong game design philosophy, namely that games should have a single action button that you use most of the time. So there is a big, comfortable button, and the others are arranged around it. And since the other buttons have very different shapes/angles, it is virtually impossible to hit the wrong button by mistake. I'd consider it the best currently available controller.
Super Smash Brothers: Melee
Both Metroid Prime titles
Resident Evil series
Eternal Darkness
F-Zero GX
Both Prince of Persia titles
Pac Man Vs. (Best party game ever) Or are you going to argue that Pac Man is a kiddy game?
Mortal Kombat series
The Splinter Cell series
Beyond Good and Evil
Soul Calibur 2
I'd have to go dig around in my collection, but there are tons of things that should fit your definition.
However, what you probably mean by the "over 13 crowd" is "the 13-21 crowd that is too insecure to play fun, challenging games that may be viewed as kiddy games by their peers." In that case, you're pretty much screwed, since all of your mature friends are going to laugh at you for having a Gamecube in the first place, and the games won't even matter. Go play your XBox like a good media consumer.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal