Slashdot Mirror
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."
Design issues, much? I hated Halo on the XBox. Really, really hated. On PC...god, what a difference.
I also remember the thrill that was Duckhunt back in the day--Nintendo gave me my personal first experience of an alternative gaming controller. I really hope that they can make it that...well, awesome for me again. And that I can shoot the damned dog this time.
I am very glad to see Nintendo willing to experiement with the ways that gamers interface with their devices. Although there have been many different devices made (microphone, DDR mat, Duck Hunt gun, etc.) the latest evolution of the standard controller has maintained hegemony. I wonder what users will think of these new interfaces. They might love them or feel odd because of the change from what they know. Since the big N is (generally) targeting a younger audience, the user base may not be as set in its ways and a new generation of gamers might grow up not as entrenched in the gamepad paradigm of device interaction.
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
I was a gamer back when the NES was in its heyday. Then the SNES came out with controllers that had a hundred and dickety-two buttons, and suddenly I turned into Grandpa Simpson overnight.
I heard a rumor that Wii was going to support original NES games. If true, this could lead me to buy my first console since I was in high school. Unfortunately, the official Wii site doesn't address this at all. That's probably a bad sign, but still I hold out hope. Has anyone else heard this, or can anyone else corroborate the story?
Suprisingly, he's right...
Playstation,
Xbox, and
The big N
Guess who wins?
I'm so glad to see Nintendo doing something innovative and getting back in the game. I was raised on NES, SNES, and N64, but hated what Nintendo did with the Gamecube. A lot of gamers my age (college-aged) complain that Nintendo is only for kids and doesn't have the hardcore gaming that they look for. Now I don't enjoy the really kiddie games, but I love how creative Nintendo's games can be. Sure, you can have all sorts of realistic high-end FPS, even some with twists (like Prey), but after years of playing those games, it's fun to play something where you run around jumping on walking mushrooms or ride a dinosaur that has a tongue like a chameleon. Sony has a lot of fantasy games, but they don't appeal to me as much as the Nintendo games did.
I just hope that with the Wii, I can get creative, quirky-as-hell games that are actually challenging and entertaining. I think the Wii-mote will open up tons of doors for some very interesting games. Hopefully developpers pull it off.
----------------
With such a cheap price-tag on the Wii, I'd rather get a Wii and Xbox than spend that combined money to get a PS3.
The issue with this assertion is that "better" is HIGHLY subjective. To fans of hyper detailed, high physics games that do NOT lend themselves well to using the wii remote as a controller, (say, for instance, something like the next iteration of virtua fighter) what Nintendo is doing may not be making their gaming experience better at all.
What nintendo IS doing is using the wii controller to try to exploit an untapped demographic- the much older, much younger, or simply has less time casual gamer that has already decided they don't enjoy "traditional" videogames, but might be drawn in (or in some cases BACK in) by the different approach the Wii uses, much like what has happened with the Nintendo DS.
Back in the day, nothing was funnier than whipping the ball at a guy on the sidelines who wasn't looking!
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Ok, a "next gen" system is not a system that is the same as the last and just beefs the processor and graphics. Tell me, what are the real differences between the 360 and the original Xbox? NOTHING! All M$ did was inject steroids into the original Xbox. Nintendo is actually doing something new.
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
DID YOU KNOW? NINTENDO GAME OFFERINGS HEAT UP AS THE WEATHER COOLS DOWN
... Oh look, we're out of space.
July 25, 2006 - The fourth quarter of 2006 will herald a new era for Nintendo with the launch of its remarkable new Wii(TM) home video game system. But that's not what this news item is about! How could that be, you ask? Perhaps the secret to the launch information for Wii is somehow encoded in the text of this news item. You might want to pore over it for a few hours before staying up all night to debate phraseology and comma placement with your friends online. Or maybe it's all just a scam to get you to read the other games we have launching this fall. One of the two.
As the weather cools down, the Nintendo portable game offerings heat up. FINAL FANTASY® V ADVANCE makes its way to Game Boy® Advance SP on Nov. 6. As series go, FINAL FANTASY is to video games what James Bond is to movies. FINAL FANTASY loyalists will enjoy an opportunity to debate which installment was best.
Nintendo DS(TM) owners are the big winners. Every week or so, another huge DS title hits, from the Touch Generations title Clubhouse Games(TM) to fan favorites like Elite Beat Agents(TM) and Yoshi's Island(TM) 2. Clearly a gamer's idea of paradise, here is Nintendo's upcoming DS lineup:
Oct. 9: Clubhouse Games(TM)
Oct. 16: Nintendogs(TM) (Dalmatian)
Oct. 23: Magical Starsign(TM)
Oct. 30: Pokémon® Ranger
Oct. 30: Children of Mana®
Nov. 6: Elite Beat Agents(TM)
Nov. 13: Yoshi's Island(TM) 2
Dec. 4: Custom Robo(TM) Arena
Dec. 4: Kirby(TM) Squeak Squad
And, for Nintendo GameCube(TM) owners, The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess will be available for you this fall. An enhanced version also will be a launch title for Wii. That will all happen on
For more information about all of Nintendo's upcoming titles, please visit www.nintendo.com.
http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=9938
"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for it's children." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
...Red Steel uses canned moved...
Actually, it used to use canned moves. It's not like the game was complete yet.
Meh, I know Nintendo is doing something in the online venue (old downloadable Nintendo emulators and whatnot), but personally, I don't see the fun in playing SSB Brawl online. The past two semesters, I played an ungodly amount of the original SSB (the vintage 64 version), but I doubt it would've been half as fun had it been done online. Personally, half the fun in playing games like that is the trash talk that goes back and forth, the periodic cig breaks between marathon free for all sessions, and the atmosphere of having four guys crammed on a dorm room couch (all conveniently within arms reach, should a dispute need to be settled properly). Honestly, I think a significant part of the experience would be lost in online play. Not to mention the fact that the SSB franchise is the only (AFAIK) worthwhile multiplayer game that doesn't require split-screen goodness. Sure, a game of Halo across the campus LAN can be fun, but even those rarely go more than a few rooms away, and generally teams are kept within the same room. I'm sure Nintendo will have a decent online system this time around (they certainly got it right with the DS), but it won't be the reason I get a Wii.
Online will (and should) be icing on the cake, but it certainly isn't a selling point (at least for me). It might benefit a couple of games here and there, but at least for the ones I'm keenly interested in (Zelda, Metroid, and maybe a new Mario Tennis with the controller?!?) don't require an online aspect at all.
I only mod funny =D
Now that much of the fanfair has died down for the Wii, I can look at the console with a more objective point-of-view. As a father of two little girls and being a veteran gamer, I see the Wii as being by far the most innovative, fun, and appropriate entertainment device for my kids, my wife, and myself. Frankly, I'm bored stiff with the current offering of games out there (excluding NDS). The old days of Duke Nukem and UT are far behind me. I enjoy my NDS more than any system I've ever played on. Even more than my friend's new $3,500 gaming monstrosity. In other words, the Wii is on our Chistmas shopping list.
Currently theta testing the prototype "Event Horizon" server-scaled desktop box with a 50 Gigameg of Ram.
So mods, for those of you just joining us, the post above is a good example of what's called a "troll". It can be difficult to determine, but here are some signs:
1. The same message has been posted repeatedly on Wii-related threads. Takes some close reading to catch something like that, but be aware of that eerie familiar feeling.
2. The message makes claims that are rather unlikely: "one of my friends is currently working on a Wii game"... suuuure. As the system hasn't been released, relatively few teams currently working on games for it, and most of them are in Japan (so they wouldn't have been working on a 360 game before).
3. The post has a flaw in its internal logic. Game developers in general don't have much access to unreleased games other than the ones they are actually working on. A controller, no matter how fantastic, isn't a lot of fun by itself. It's not surprising that the supposed friend would be bored with playing his own game or swinging the controller around in a devkit demo.
Anyway, thanks for moderating and good luck.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
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. The most realistic games I can recall off the top of my head are Shenmu(sp?) for Dreamcast and Resident Evil 4 for Gamecube, niether of which have the power of the PS2, X-Box, or 360. As for controlling fighters, remember the remote can be used as a standard controller, and you can use Gamecube controllers (Gamecube has some pretty fun fighters on it too, like Super Smash Brothers and Soul Calibur 2).
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
This article was discussed a few days ago on Digg and the general opinion was that it was garbage. I agree with the general Digg opinion on this particular subject.
First of all, if Zelda is first does that mean that the Gamecube will receive a boost in sales as it will be released for both platforms? Games are important but the other platforms also have games, this is not a weapon as massive as others that Nintendo has.
Discarding all games we are left with three outsiders from the list:
The Wiimote, which is oddly on the last place: shouldn't it be first? The Wii is almost defined by the Wiimote, it's what makes it different.
The Virtual Console, on 6th place. Taking advantage of a huge back collection of games, the Virtual Console should be a huge plus for most hardcore gamers that miss a quick fix of old school gaming. I'm sure it's not a decisive feature for most but I would put it far above 6th place.
And the EA support, on 5th. Is this relevant? I mean, EA is important as it guarantees plenty of games per year but it has a huge downside, most games, in my opinion, are not top notch. Besides, noone buys a console because it has EA games although I'm sure many wouldn't buy a console exactly because it didn't have any mainstream, EA games. Way too high on the list, maybe 10th place?
Besides these three, there are, at least two important features of the Wii which should have made the top10.
WiiConnect24 and GCN compatibility. Nintendo finally learned that it was important to ensure a huge catalog of games in every new console right from the start. These two features help in that by making sure you'll receive demos of new games and the ability to play GCN games. These will also be joined by the Virtual Console which is part of the WiiConnect24.
Other killer features should be stuff like interoperability with the DS or support for indie developers. I, for one, would be extremely interested in developing a small fun game and selling it for 1 a copy or something through the Wii.
Conclusion: This article misses some obvious "weapons" and seems to have simply chosen 10 things wii-related and shuffled them in whatever way they seemed fit. Horrible article, Zonk should be more careful of what he posts.
-- Would it be acceptable to just put my name on my sig?
They have been known to try new things such as these:
Bazooka-like Super-Scope for the SNES
The Donkey Kong bongo-drums for the aspiring percussionist
The super-cool Power Glove. Kind of odd Virtual Boy during the VR craze
The fun Power Pad for Track and Field and other great games which we would play in our college apartment a couple of years ago.
The ever popular Light gun - who didn't try to shoot the hunting dog in duck hunt when he laughed at you???
Most of the older stuff can be bought on eBay for really cheap - makes for great nostalgic gaming.
If anything is going to spur the wii on to huge numbers it's Zelda.
Now before you say "what about Mario" Mario is always coming. People bought the Gamecube for Mario, and got Sunshine, and people were happy. You got Luigi's mansion at the begining though and people weren't doing backflips celebrating that game.
But Zelda at launch is going to be interesting. This Zelda has definatly been under development longer, better graphics, and new controls, and lack of cell-shaded graphics I hope. It's going to push the system I believe, coupled with a Metroid Prime (which is good but remember Metroid Prime has ONLY been played by Gamecube owners and players)
The one problem they will have with their virtual console vs. Marketplace is no achievement points (from my understanding) Is it a system killer? Nah, but it's something I wouldn't say no too.
The most interesting thing is this is the first time Nintendo really did a cross platform game themselves, but on the other hand it does look like it has the power to really launch the system and I'm sure everyone has heard at least one person who was going to buy the Gamecube for Twilight princess, of them many probably are going to pick up a Wii for this game as it's close to the same price.
The only problem I forsee at launch is a lack of systems which will be a sad day. Btw, at the same time the PS3 is only planning 1 million systems for a world wide launch? I've got to guess they know they should have lower expectations than they did for the Ps2.
If anything, what could make the Nintendo a winner in the next-gen sweepstakes is cost. In the 2007 recession, not a lot of people will be buying $500 PS3s or even $300 Xbox 360s.