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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."
Anyone else get the funny feeling that about.com has recently struck a deal with slashdot for page impressions?
This guy's the limit!
*OMG* another "All hail Nintendo" brought to you by Zonk!
*OMG* Who wants to play with their wii?
*OMG* Ponies!, Nintendo iz 4 kidz!
(I want blood, boobs, and blunts. I wanna be a (rated M for mature) HARDCORE gamer!)
Did I forget any?
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.
with the Wii design, the wii colors, and the wiimote............right up until I hit nunchaku dongle.
It reminds me of when someone is speaking french and then says an english proper name. For a split second the wheels fall right off.
Really? From reading Slashdot I thought it was 85% Sony bashing, 13% Wii adulation and 2% Atari/Colecovision. Oh and trace amounts of Xbox.
...copy protection system that can hit you in the balls.
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!
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.
Yes, in another news, one can find interesting patterns like this...
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.
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?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
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.
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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.
They plan to revolutionise the gaming market with the wiimote and to a lesser extent the wiiblowupdoll and with the online gaming capability users will be able to upload their stamina on the blow up doll and compare their scores with each other.
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.
Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
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.
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
that the people in those publicity shots aren't fat and lazy like the rest of us?
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
World of Wiicraft: You get to play as a Plumber, a Sword Elf, a Giant Mushroom, or ... um sorry lost track after the mushroom ... think it's magic.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
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.
just some guy