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Nintendo's Iwata Confirms Big Games This Year
1up has comments from Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata, as he spoke to investors earlier this week. When asked about the possibility of hardcore games coming to the Wii before the end of 2007, Nintendo's president assured gamers and moneymen that Mario and Metroid are coming this year. "It will be from around the end of this summer to the end of this year. We will then launch a new title of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption although the last one is primarily for the [American and European] markets. These will be the key titles for the period ranging from the summer until the holiday sales season of this year, and I think we will be able to cater to the specific needs you mentioned."
I know me and all my friends are going to have many all nighters when Brawl comes out!
Because nearly 7 million Wiis are already sold?
Sounds like they wont be out till christmas.
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
I have a console, and it took me three months to get a second wiimote. It's ridiculous. Maybe it's better for people living outside a big city (I'm in Toronto). And I still can't find a nunchuck (online or in stores).
The console is great, the games have thus far been great, so I can't complain. But this shortage of hardware is a real pain in the ass.
Let's see... Mario Sunshine, Mario Strikers: Charged (w/online play), Metroid 3, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, and Super Paper Mario is already out (I'm almost finished, great game). The Wii is looking better and better. Combine that with as the Wii ages 3rd parties will get better and better at utilizing the controls (for something other than a mini-game fest). I can't wait until we start getting good sports games with Wii controls (like Wii play but fleshed out controls and game play). Tennis especially. If they can get reading the racket right it should be great. How will they handle the next Madden? The last one got good reviews, now that they have a game or two under their belt let's see what it's like!
Meanwhile, the 360 and PS3 have games here and there that look interesting, but neither seems to have nearly as many games that I'm looking forward to. And most of those (God of War III, Bioshock, etc) are not exactly breaking new ground in controls, they are just refinement of some of the games we have had for a long time (beat-'em ups, FPSes).
The DS also produced some really quirky and fun games (like Yoshi's Touch and Go, for example). I can't wait to see more of that kind of stuff on the Wii. How about porting the new Sam & Max games or other adventure games? How about a Phoenix Wright title?
The Wii continues to be a very interesting system, and as it hits its stride better (remember the first year or two of the PS2?) things will only get better.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Nintendo's usual strategy is to dribble out games slooooowly, so that there are never too many hits in the marketplace at one time consuming each other's oxygen. That makes sense--usually. But right now is a completely different case. Nintendo needs to maintain its sales rate advantage if it's going to overtake the 360 in the US and maintain its lead over the PS3 in Japan. A slow second half of 2007 could cause the Wii to lose momentum and fall at a time when it's crucial to reach escape velocity. If by December 2007 the Wii is still in the lead, developers are going to start moving all their new projects to the Wii. Once that happens, if you want the game you need the system, and Nintendo has it made. If the Wii juggernaut slows in the second half of 2007, then the developers will split. US devs will follow the 360, and Japanese devs will follow the PS3. If that happens, Wii is going to be stuck in the middle and (while doing quite well) won't dominate. Thus, the pressure is on for Nintendo to churn out as much as possible as soon as possible. We'll see how that works out for them...
I agree. My wii is sitting there collecting dust and heating the dvd cases that are placed on top of it, even though its off.
But anyways, I am glad that these games are coming out, but im not getting my hopes up in any way. I am going to wait patiently and play my ps3 (actually top rated ps2 games, since i beat all the ps3 games i wanted)/PC and wait for the reviews to come out.
Nintendo didn't drop the ball with online play. They're not even playing in that field, they're over there, playing a different, more interesting game. It's called single player games
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
So, because the "revolutionary" control gets old you go back to play with another non-standard, and older, control in a music game.
Calm down, Yes, there aren't many games worth playing now, and when you play a lot you finish them really fast. The problem is that third party publishes didn't invest in developing for the Wii earlier, so now we have to wait to get more games. I guess we'll have a mediocre first year and a half, before everyone gets their games done.
The control scheme is all but getting old. You could do without moving the hands around, but the way to play Zelda is just great. I couldn't simply go back to play a similar game on a ps2 controller (my other console, and yes technically I could). It just feels right, only with mouse and keyboard I'd get the same degree of control.
Obviously it's not good for all types of games, I believe fighting games would be better with classical controllers. But a control good enough for people from 3 to 300 years old can not get old fast. The controller isn't the problem, the lack of games is (partly).
I'm not against non-standard controls in general. I think that Guitar Hero has perfect controls for that kind of game.
Of course I was talking from my own point of view, and I realise that the controls might be perfect for some, but I guess that unlike you, I don't experience any resemblance of control in comparison to a mouse/keyboard. It might be because I have a big TV (I've heard that the Wiimote is more accurate on smaller TV's?), or it might be because I'm just too used to a mouse and keyboard, I don't know - I just know that after playing the first games I bought for the Wii, I gave up on it, I didn't even have the urge to finish any of the games.
My <1000 UID is with a hot chick
I'm enjoying the heck out of Spidey 3 for the Wii. It's a little sloppy, but I think that's me as much as the controls. The camera controls are already better than any other game I played on the PS2, and web swinging using each hand (Nunchuck for left, Wiimote for right) is a hoot. Spent two hours just swinging around Manhattan last night. Streets still aren't quite right, though. Jim Hanley's Universe is still nonexistant, the street where it should be, just south of the Empire State Building is not there. On the other hand, I think I found 666 5th Avenue _and_ where Coyote Ugly should be.
Yes, I try to find random RL landmarks in the Spidey games. It's one of those little mini-games you do for no reason, like stepping on only white tiles.
Fighting has been pretty fun. Shake the remote, shake, push button, dodge... I'm pulling up six to eight hit combos.
Someone might see a "box" but that doesn't mean a Wii. Here in Ann Arbor, MI I see Wii boxes at various stores but if you ask they are all empty! In order to get a Wii, you must come in on magic shipment day which the employees will not tell you. You must be there promptly to get the 10 or less Wii systems they get in. They will try to bundle them with crap.
Now the only people I've heard of getting a Wii had to go into Walmart. The nearest one I know of is in a bad neighborhood and I probably wouldn't make it to my car with it. Target isn't even trying to stock them anymore around here. They have a sign up that they won't be getting any Wiis.
I'm sure there are markets that have Wiis, but many of us have struck out since last year. I know I could order a $600 bundle online but I can't afford that all in one shot. I'm a college student!
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
I don't even know where Wii Sports IS. I have literally lost the disk. I tend to play Trauma Center and Zelda... and I'll be getting Paper Mario in a few weeks. The only multiplayer games I ever really play is SSB:M (and, presumably, Brawl, when it comes out) and WoW.
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
There are reports of Wiis being sitting on store shelves all over Europe.
In Berlin, Wiis have reappeared at major electronic stores just recently.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I was thinking along the lines of a second Generation PS3; A Bigger hard drive, more connections, more accessories, more games, and fully refined and developed technology to take advantage of what is incorporated into the system. Not to mention manufacturing of scale to bring down the total costs of the ps3. Keeping the old cash cow profitable ps2 around was genius of them. Something that can't be said for xbox v1 which had costs that didn't come down due to the fact that nvidia and intel didn't want to lose any profits in that area and kept the costs associated with those market items quite high. I think that Microsoft could have continued thier success with the V1 had they continued its manufacture. It was fairly difficult to get last holiday and still is. Nintendo: If the wii continues to dominate through the end of 2007 then with the infusion of cash on hand they will(hopefully) use to bring in new ideas and talent to keep making consoles and bringing in games dedicated to thier target market.
I'm not arguing its not newsworthy, it's great new for Wii players everywhere (unfortunatly I am not one at the moment), but its a little like saying 'Microsoft Announce Halo 3 for Xbox 360 this year'. I'm as excited as anyone to see where Nintendo are taking their innovation, but I fear people are getting a little over-zealous in their attitudes; lest we forget the real (and non-established) areas of gaming the Wii could take us into.
... and America is the Land Of FPS. Quake, Unreal, etceteras - I played through Metroid Prime : Hunters on my DS and it felt like a mix of Quake 4 and Quake 3 gameplay elements. Metroid Prime is really more of a Nintendo Quake than anything else - you could swap out the sprites and models and change the name of the game and I doubt anyone would notice.
From what I've seen, the Japanese market is all about the platformers (such as the real Metroid games, and Castlevania) and RPGS - and the Metroid Prime series is neither. I don't have any figures, but if the Japanese had as big a hardon for FPS as they did for RPGs, the X-Box would be doing gangbusters over there.
And if you're getting your Japanese culture from Megatokyo, you're getting an unbelievably skewed perspective.
A failing console making a comeback after being almost two years on the market is something that - as far as I can remember - has never happened in this business, and I don't think it will ever happen. The reason is simple:
If a console starts to lose ground, developers start to abandon it. The console will see less exclusives, and the cross-platform games will be shoddier on that console. Hence, its appeal to consumers will decrease, which will make it fail even quicker, decreasing the chance of a comeback.
Owning both a Wii and a PS3, I can see this starting to happen already. While more and more exclusive 3rd-party games are announced for the Wii, PS3 exclusives are going multi-platform one by one. PS3 games often run worse than 360 games (Ridge Racer, THPS3) - although this may be because they're first-gen games for a console that is pretty hard to program - while Wii ports often do interesting things that no other version does (see Godfather).
If this trend continues, Sony's games will be the only reason to buy a PS3 by 2008. And if Nintendo can't sustain a console on its own (see Gamecube), Sony can't, either.
If the PS3 is to become the dominant console, it needs to make a comeback now, not in a year.
Try "The Godfather: Blackhand Edition" before giving up. It's quite an experience, and I expect to see more like this with Scarface on the way.
GPL: Free as in will
Stores around where I live are all sold out of Wiis, and continue to sell out within minutes of them going on sale, but there are plenty of PS3s and XBox 360s setting around on shelves. Not just display boxes either, but actual systems for sale. I live about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor. Only got mine through shear luck of someone I know going on break right before they went on sale and getting me one.
Sometimes when I'm working on projects things disappear, I suspect gremlins.
When I bought one, we got one of two remaining consoles on that day. I also hear they're nowhere to be found in the Netherlands.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
One of the reasons that there's no shortage of the Wii in Denmark might be that it's much cheaper to just buy it in some -currency country... I live in Denmark and I'm thinking of buying a Wii when I go for some travelling, and save about 45 euros, 335 kroner or 15% of the price.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Nintendo did an excellent job marketing the Wii. That being said those I work with bought the Wii as their first Nintendo console since well the first NES in some cases. Since I'm a fanboy it is easy for me to be happy with the system and games. My co-workers however are finding that they aren't sure what games to pick up and are starting to look at the 360 with a lot more intrest. Nintendo has created a market. Their sales of systems will continue for a while yet. If they truely want to dominate however they need to release some solid games and market them to the console owners. Seriously GH coming to the Wii is huge. It is a simple game that could run on anything but having it on the Wii will improve it's image. Along those lines Nintendo, I think, Should be pushing quilty GameCube games. I know there isn't a lot of money in selling 10.00 games but it could introduce a lot of players to Nintendo franchises before the Wii releases later this year. Games like Smash Brothers / Sunshine / Batallion Wars and Prime should be in the Wii cabinets and visible to gamers. All good titles with Wii sequals on the way. Maybe they could sell them with a pack in GC controller. Ok just giving my thoughts on the subject of game releases.
Too easy.
Don't be surprised, though. This one-year drought is typical of any console system. The same thing happened with the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube, as well as the Playstation 2, and most any other system that has ever been released. This is because the first launch titles are the dip titles. It's when the developers all get ready to take a dip in the pool and see how the water is. Later, once they have an idea on how to develop for the platform and its capabilities they'll start taking advantage of all its features. This goes just as well for first and second party developers as it does for third party developers, too. In some cases, though, developers will buy their dev kits and choose to experiment on the capabilities instead of throwing all their effort into a launch title. This is most likely the case with development studios with big pocket change like Square Enix or Nintendo, and in this case its Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3, and Super Mario Galaxy.
And from what I can tell, Metroid is not that big of a series in Japan. Don't ask me why, though. They either like their big rpgs, short arcadey games on their cell-phones, or games that imitate aspects of normal life.
Nobody drives in New York: there's too much traffic.
And, of course, games where you touch witches.
Two tears in a bucket. Motherfuck it.
Well, Nintendo appears to be dominating right now, but if you look at sales in North America since it launched, you'll notice that Microsoft has sold 200K units more than Wii's so far and about a million more than PS3. So what does this mean. Since the Wii sales seem to be slowing down if you look at the chart, it means that the 360 and the Wii are pretty much going to be neck to neck in the next few months, until heavy hitters like GTA4, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Halo 3, Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime 3 launch. I'm sure there's a few other AAA titles on the Wii coming soon, I just don't know about them. If the 360 can match the Wii in sales and Sony doesn't pick up steam real quick, the North American market will pretty be much owned by the 360. As for Europe, I can't tell. Japan is pretty much a no brainer. I bet the Wii and DS will continue to dominate there for a few years I think. Unless the Wii becomes just a fad. Which, I hope it won't be because I'd be sad to see Nintendo go away, but I wouldn't be surprised if people got bored of their Wiimotes.
Whats funny is my friends that have a PS3 don't use Resistance as the example of a good game. They generally say MotoStorm is awesome, and now FEAR. For the most part, they are waiting for some good games just like the Wii owners are.
-- toolie
For your friendly neighborhood Meijer stores, it's Sunday. Go to any of the three Meijer stores in your area and they usually have one in stock for most of the day.; Jackson ave. (which would be a haul if you don't have a car), Ann Arbor-Saline rd., or Carpenter rd. Most of the reputable game shops will tell you their ship dates as well, if they're going to get any. Best Buy is hit or miss, but they seem to get more shipments through the week. Also, Meijer doesn't bundle their's with anything. Actually, I haven't heard of anyone doing that, other than Circuit City's online store.
Ann Arbor has a very healthy gaming community, and they're a bit of a technology "counter culture" for lack of a better phrase, which leads to a lack of Wii's. If something is different, trendy, but not nessicarily better, Ann Arbor is all over it. (Heck, I'm amazaed it has taken them so long to get an actual Mac store in the area. Many years ago U of M was supposedly the #2 user of Macs in the world behind NASA.)
Now the only people I've heard of getting a Wii had to go into Walmart. The nearest one I know of is in a bad neighborhood and I probably wouldn't make it to my car with it.
Oh, please. I lived across the street from that Walmart for three years. Other than typical apartment bullshit crime, that neighborhood is no different than any place in A2. It's in Ypsilanti, not fscking Compton. (but then, on Ann Arbor maps, Ypsilanti is just labeled "The land of scary minorities and no lattes!") It *is* a shitty wal-mart for sure, but then, aren't they all?
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.