Nintendo's Next-Gen Arsenal

Much of the coverage of the next-gen skirmish so far has focused on Sony and Microsoft. The already-impressive Xbox Live vs. the PS3. Just the same, for the first time in many years Nintendo is definitely in the running for top spot. About.com has a piece looking at what the big N is bringing to the next-gen party this November. From the article: "While Nintendo is trend setting with controllers like the Wiimote and, to a lesser extent, the nunchaku dongle, other companies will be following along. Nintendo's game plan from the genesis of the Wii has been touch and gamer-friendly games. They see the future of gaming in the Wiimote. Everyone else, at this point, seems to be just catching up."

Comments

about.com

[gEvil (beta)]

Anyone else get the funny feeling that about.com has recently struck a deal with slashdot for page impressions?

Re:about.com

[hexix]

I agree. There is absolutely no new information here. Everything is the same old crap that we've known since E3, written up in the same old style.

This is the kind of crappy article that I expect on digg. I thought having editors on slashdot prevented this kind of non-news from being posted.

Oh well, I guess it's just a slow news day.

What it needs the most is...

[Data Link Layer]

A good online service comparable to xbox360s live. Imagine super smash brawl with unlimited online oppentens, tournaments galore, and updated content. I play smash bros. melee still but only for the multiplayer. With a quality online feature nintendo will surely take the lead in sales with the next generation consoles.

Re:What it needs the most is...

[joe 155]

I would think that the service will be pretty good, the service for the DS is very good (although I wish it would be faster at finding opponents). I also think that the download of games will be a really big selling point, getting old classic games for about £2 would mean that for a party I could get about 5 of the classic fun multiplayer games (inc. Goldeneye and Super Smash Brothers, of course)

Re:What it needs the most is...

[WFFS]

Not only that, but something that attracts all walks of life. You got games that the little kiddies can actually play (I'm sure I'd buy my daughter a game that would allow her to point the Wii and pop balloons!), games for the regular generation of gamers, games for people like me who grew up with the original NES, games that Baby Boomers can play with their kids, and games that allow the more senior members actually participate without too much problem. Sony and Micrsoft have stuck with the 'bigger is better' mentality, whereas Nintendo have stuck with their roots. Good on 'em.

Re:What it needs the most is...

[UglyTool]

And I suspect where Nintendo has a target market which includes a lot of younger children/families, many of those people wouldn't want on-line gameplay.

Quite to the contrary, I think. My daughter has loved Animal Crossing as soon as it came into our home. She has been frustrated, because we don't have any other kids nearby that won the game as well, and she wants to visit new towns. With online gameplay, it could be possible for her character to visit towns world-wide. I, and I suspect many others, would love to have this capability, with other Nintendo games, as well (Harvest Moon comes to mind).

With online capability, Mario Kart Double Dash, and Super Mario Strikers, Tennis, Golf, Baseball, etc. will take on completely new dimensions. I, for one, am looking forward to it, and will purchase it as soon as it is released.

Nintendo's Strength

[WFFS]

I think the strength of Nintendo, is that while the PS and XBox have continued along their paths of getting better machinery to make games faster and look more realistic, Nintendo have veered to the left slightly and concentrated on making the gaming experience better. Of course there are some weaknesses as well, but time will tell if this will be a money making strategy. I personally think that both camps will live in harmony for the near future, though the PS and XBox's prices are hard hitters. Thank goodness the PS2 will be supported for the next 5 years. The only things I could improve for the Wii, is to have a built in DVD player, and to get Final Fantasy back on their system. Without those, I actually have to think before I put down my $50 deposit!

Re:Nintendo's Strength

[Manmademan]

Photorealism has happened in games, just they are encoded video files and not rendered. When it comes to rendered work, I still have yet to see anything pass the "uncanny vally" for humans, so I highly doubt anything in this generation of consoles will.

I think photorealism is the wrong objective, as it's too focused on still images. I think realism (not just photo-) is becoming less about what we've come to think of as "graphics power" (which is largely just fill rate), and more about physics and animation.

I thought I'd reply to you both in one shot. I COMPLETELY agree that just going for pure photorealism is the wrong way to go with games, but considering the gap between where the rendering power of your typical gaming system is NOW, and what a typical NTSC (and NOT highdef) Television is capable of displaying, its clear there is still a LOT of room for improvement. Saying that the Ps3, 360, and Wii games will look exactly the same because we've hit the limits of what's possible on NTSC is just dead wrong. Is the "next" generation capable of photorealism? No, and the one after likely won't be, either. But that doesn't mean everyone should stop pushing the envelope.

as for physics and animation, we're in complete agreement. "more power" in CPU's and GPU's isn't just for pretty graphics, but will add an entirely new dimension in how our games behave and animate, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next generation will be able to do.

Wii has easily gotten the most, and best, press

[ianscot]

Aside from last holiday season's hype, the X-Box has been a back burner item for the press. Sony's PR has been almost uniformly poorly received.

Meanwhile outlets like slashdot have been talking up the Wii for months and months. It's not like we didn't have items posted on /. just for the name switch from Revolution to Wii, you know? Hotly debated at the time, too. People are paying tons of attention.

Where'd the idea that Nintendo's been all but ignored come from? Lordy. How'd this "Did you know Nintendo has a new console too?" story get accepted?

Re:I hope this works...

[mrxak]

I simply refuse to play any sort of FPS on a console. I need my keyboard and mouse. And so many other games that I like to play just don't translate at all to consoles. Can you imagine Civ IV on an Xbox?

There Is An Exception, IMHO

[BRock97]

I have to agree, but there is one exception in my opinion. Metroid Prime/Echoes for the Gamecube rocked my world and is on the list of FPS that I did actually feel the need to finish. The thing with Metroid, though, is that Retrogames realized the limitations of FPS on a controller and implemented the lock on feature that made it possible to rock in that game. Between that and the limited RPG elements to the game, they are both classics and ones that I have played over again. If you haven't given them a try, I would highly recommend it.

A Wii Skeptic

[Quarem]

This is probably not the outlet to express such opinions, but while I am interested to see what is actually going to come of the Wii I am still really skeptical about the system. To me it seems more like a slightly upgraded Gamecube with a new controller. I'm not sure if that is worth $200 or more.

It is just far to early to be making any judgments about the Wii. The system is all about game-play and we do not really have any experience with the Wii's game-play to make any judgments about it. Is the game-play going to improve enough to make up for the difference in graphical prowess that the Wii lacks when compared to the other two next-gen systems? I'd like to believe that Nintendo can pull it off, but I'm not convinced yet.

I'll be sitting on the fence until after the system has been released.

Re:Lets get this over with

[Serapth]

MAN, seriously stupid post on Slashdot. These days, anyone saying ANYTHING negative about Nintendo, even making fun of the seriously stupid name, is going to get modded into oblivion.

The slashbot mentality picked the Wii as the current flavour and all who disagree shall be modded into oblivion. I guess with Bill Gates turning into a genuinely nice guy and linux becoming pretty much mainstream, the needed a new cause to crusade for!

So come my friends, pick up the banner and be part of the hurd! Xbox and Playstation are evil only caring about better graphics that just dont matter! For real good gameplay, you need a gimmicky remote and outdated graphics!!! NINTENDO! NINTENDO! NINTENDO!
God the moderation system on this site really stinks sometimes. Oh well, see you in a couple minutes in moderation hell! (Score:0,Flamebait)

Nah

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just that house of MS cultists have been ordered to praise the Wii whenever possible. The true 360 lovers have been encouraging pro-Wii talk whenever it occurs, as they seem to believe anything which hurts Sony is ultimately good for their 360. Microsoft's bloggers hath ordered, and so shall it be.

The real forgotten system

[MooseMuffin]

The new xbox gets very little credit for what its done. There seems to be a more attention being paid to the potential success of the Wii and the potential dissaster of the ps3 than to the 360. It seems to me that Microsoft has been playing this round very well, with upcoming games that show of its power, live/live arcade, reasonable price (at least in comparison to its most direct competitor), and they still have trouble getting some praise. (I dont know where my bias comes from, I dont even have a 360)

Oh, please.

[Hitto]

I've been replaying mario sunshine and zelda windwaker on my lowly GC for the last few weeks, and these games look AMAZING. Wii is supposed to be twice as powerful. Just because the other two contenders are number-crunching-powerhouses DOES NOT MEAN THAT WII GRAPHICS WILL LOOK LIKE PONG.

I call corporate shill.

Re:Oh, please.

[Manmademan]

call anything you want, I'm only speaking what makes sense. Tekken 3 and Vagrant Story were great games too back in the day and looked AMAZING. today? Not so much.

Much as demand for what was "great" by Ps1 and N64 standards died off as the Ps2 and Dreamcast ramped up and surpassed them, its VERY unlikely gamers will simply settle for what was good by Gamecube standards when The Ps3, 360, and PC are breaking new ground.

Re:Oh, please.

[tgibbs]

Much as demand for what was "great" by Ps1 and N64 standards died off as the Ps2 and Dreamcast ramped up and surpassed them, its VERY unlikely gamers will simply settle for what was good by Gamecube standards when The Ps3, 360, and PC are breaking new ground.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest successes of the XBox 360 is the XBox live games, most of which are roughly at the standard of SNES.

Sustainable Entertainment

[mizel]

What Nintendo is doing with the Wii is great. It's new. It's different. It looks fun. But is it sustainable entertainment?

As a pretty avid gamer I see myself tiring of the Wiimote (great name, btw). Wouldn't your wrist tire quickly? It just doesn't seem to work well for long periods of gaming (>2hrs).

Okay, so the average gamer is not hardcore. I understand that. But will they stay entertained? At some point the novelty of the wiimote and wiigames (made that one up) will wear off and the system will be judged on its ability to provide superior entertainment.

Nintendo can typically provide superior entertainment in its games. I just hope the Wiimote opens new doors for innovative entertainment and doesn't typecast the wii as a novelty item--Virtual Boy style.

I fully intend to buy a Wii and I think I will really enjoy it. But the real test is if I am still playing it a year from now.

Re:Lets get this over with

[Ghostx13]

Man, do you think you could whine some more?

Did you ever think that the people that are excited about the Wii are genuinely excited as opposed to jumping on the band wagon?

I own a PS2 because there are a large number of games on it that I like and it was fairly cheap. I don't own an XBOX because there aren't any games on it I care for. I'm not interested in an XBOX 360 at all because of the lack of games I'd actually want to buy, and I'm not paying $600 for a PS3. If they made the PS3 $300 and there were more than 10 games I wanted I'd consider it.

The Wii on the other hand is going to be fairly cheap and there are DOZENS of games that I'll want to get, not including anything new that's released for it.

Graphics are awesome, and certainly have their place. But I'm not dropping a ton of cash on a PS3 or XBOX just for good graphics. The Wii has absolutely everything I could want in a console: classic games, "casual" games, and party games. The controller is just icing on the cake, and I'd buy the Wii even if the controller wasn't available at launch.

I don't have a problem with the PS3 or the XBOX 360, they're just not for me. A lot of Slashdot feels the same way, probably because we don't sit in front of a videogame console as our primary means of entertainment.

Re:Wii controller

[justchris]

The answer to your question is Bluetooth. It has a limited bandwidth channel. By making it the way it is, they save channels for other devices they might want to connect through the Wii via bluetooth.