Not only that, but the Wii seems to be appealing to the "hard core" that I've known (including myself, though as an older gamer I guess I'm moving out of that sphere) by giving a unique experience that none of the other consoles have. So far, it's only those between 12-18 that go "I have to take a Wii", and even those seem to be settling down.
I'm actually predicting very good sales for Nintendo, not so much for their achievements (which are good), but because parents looking to buy a gaming system will probably say "$200 opposed to $600? Well, that's easy!"
Low: I think the lack of final price and exact launch date was a bad idea. I know that people were bored during Sony's "stock analysts wet your pants with numbers" opening - but those two details were important. It may be that Nintendo's seeing that Sony's final numbers look like and if they really have a market so they're not competing directly - but who knows.
Highs: Lots of games. Zelda looked awesome, and "Red Steel" is up there on my must try. Even the "Wii Sports" game they showed off towards the end looks interesting - I can see my son and I playing with the baseball game, and my daughter will like the tennis stuff. And golf? Well, that's for my wife so I can get behind her and help her with her strokes.
Low: They kept showing a Mario game (Mario Galaxies or something), but I either missed the details or they didn't talk about it. Where's Mario 128? Where's the Kojima new IP?
High: Showing the new guy playing with the Wii controller. "Easy to use, difficult to master" seems about right. The sweepstakes winner seemed able to play around with it without too many problems - with a few more minutes he would have been better I'm sure.
Hide your Japanese schoolgirls! Don't let it near the convention!
Oh, good lord - there's a 300 pound man dressed in a Sailor Moon uniform! Run, you fool! Runnnnn!
As I remarked to my wife the other day while we were watching "Sci-Fi Channel", can we ever invent a robot that Hollywood doesn't depict as trying to kill us?
And the DS goes into sleep mode just by closing the lid - both screens are protected from harm, and your battery is conserved.
The PSP has a sleep mode, but even it is "turn off, put back in case (if you don't already have a Logitech clamshell, which is bulky", then put away to protect the screen from dirty fingerprints".
Don't get me wrong - I like my PSP (great handheld emulator, and "DJ Max Portable" is sweet), but some design elements were from the "bigger is better" campaign - which in the world of handhelds usually is not.
The issues with the PSP has mainly been in the UMD, leading to longer load times (depending upon the developer - "Popolocrois" is awful, while "Daxter" has no problems) and lower battery life.
If MS decides to make a handheld gaming device, the best bet might be to make it a great MP3/WMV player (the gamepad would be fine for navigation, maybe with a center button so they're not exactly ripping off the iPod Wheel, but same functionality), and use the HDD for storage. Let people download games either through their 360 (plug in, get games/movies/music, walk away - which would make it a useful media hub) or through their main computer.
They have a lot of potential here - I'd say the key is leveraging the Internet and their existing base to draw people into their Live service. Odds are, knowing Microsoft, they'll just add in tons of extra hardware and bloat and try to make it look like Windows rather than a handheld, but if the 360 interface is any indication, they at least have *some* idea how to do it.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I could be wrong.
I haven't read the article yet (it's in my other tab) - but two questions:
1. Is this "crippled" in any way, or is it a real Tivo? 2. Does it plug into the Digital cable, or just the regular analog?
I have a Tivo now, but another one would be useful (since my wife likes the American Idol shows, and I - don't). But if Cox is considering this, especially in wake of the recent Tivo/Echostar (if I remember correctly) lawsuit, Cox could save money on development, say "You know, the control isn't worth the hassle" (which would be called "buying a clue"), and Tivo could get more customers. Everybody wins, even the cable customers.
Which is why I'm looking outside the window for those damn flying pigs.
It works as long as you don't move the screen at all - something in the hinges is shorted out, so if you move it at all (which is hard when playing "Ouendan" and you start spinning it) then it thinks it should go into sleep mode. It plays the GBA games fine (since the don't have a "lid closed sleep mode".
But yeah - I tried that. Thanks for asking!
Some areas of E3 are a treasure trove
on
The Hidden Gems of E3
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I think it's karnthia hall or some such - I can never remember the name - but it's where all of the Korean developers hang out. That place is a trip, and sometimes the most unique (99% of the time crap, but 1% of the time it's something that at least worth a laugh).
And ignore him. He's just out for attention, and when lawmakers start to listen to him, I tell them the same thing: ignore him, or you lose my vote (yes, I actually write/email to congresscritters, and participate in drives to do it in masses).
Just leave the troll be - after all, if a troll shouts in a vacuum, can anyone hear him?
She's playing "Brain Age", my 4 year old son spills some water, and she puts it down - in the water by accident to go get a towel. Now, Nintendo is sending out a new one, but I can always use the power of guilt plus "But you always have it to play Soduku" to get myself a new one.
I'll mostly agree with you, but in either case, it takes a third party to activate the hidden content.
Odds are, this in the long run can be a good thing: if a game developer includes the "inappropriate" content - whether or not it is hidden - they run the risk of getting a bad rating.
While it's perhaps unfair to label both Fox and Al Jazeera as "extremists", but let's be honest: the people I've known who tend to rely soley on one or the other of these two news organizations tend to have very particular views (most hard-core Republicans I have known tend to swear by Fox "the only fair news" as they tell me).
So is it that people give greater trust then to news that reinforce their own views (which is why I'm sure more progressives would swear by Slate and Salon instead)? I'd be curious to see how news organizations do against political/religious/ethnic/age background (though this study at least looked into age).
And which one is the most "accurate"? It reminds me of a study done back in the 2004 elections who shows that viewers of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" scored higher on current events and political events accuracy than watchers of any other news organizations (including Fox).
Either way, it's interesting to see the Internet rising, but that's not surprising as the population gets older. I know I rarely watch TV news anymore save for the "Daily Show" (and that's not for information, but for perspective so I can laugh at the world a bit) and Sunday talking heads shows (so my children can ask me why I'm telling the people in the TV to "answer the question, you hack!").
The surprising thing is how the ratings of both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Oblivion only changed with third party users made patches to enable them.
In my mind, this is no different from the Bra and Panties Oblivion mod I've seen floating around (which changes the undergarments from boring brown to something lacy) - not Oblivion's fault as it wasn't meant to be seen when they shipped it.
The violence - OK, I'll deal with that, but notice that the rating change only happened when somebody went "OMG - there are boobies here!", and some religious nutcase went "OMG - can't have boobies there - think of the children!" ([sarcasm]Personally, I know that I've harbored deep hatred of all women since being exposed to breasts directly after my birth and the next year thereafter. I hate it when my wife shoves her large breasts in my face today.[/sarcasm])
Odds are, we'll see some press releases from "concerned groups/individuals" (we don't need to name them - that would only feed the trolls), I've already got a press release from IEMA about how fast they alerted the retailers so they could change the ratings right in the computer to prevent minors from buying it, and Oblivion sales might actually go up when 13 year olds looking to feel "mature" convince their parents to buy them the game.
Sure, the gameplay is simple, the point of "Go from world to world" is a little pointless - but there's an interesting story at work here, and it's actually kind of sad one.
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Basically, you have really the story of two people - Roxis and Sora, one of whom only exists because of a mistake from the other one. So right there you have the question - who am I? If my memories and self are absorbed by another, what point does "me" have? And when I choose to give that up for the greater good, will "I" be remembered - or am "I" just a shell, with no real identity of my own?
So, sure, it's simple and silly and rote at times, but there's actually some good gameplay here (I think the action commands are cool when boss fighting). Not "game of the year", but "pleasant low calorie diversion".
Good point - in my defense, I'll say that they aren't excluding hard core gamers - they just aren't going to cater to them. But you have excellent counter-arguments.
Did they do it on purpose?
on
Both Sides of Wii
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· Score: 4, Insightful
(Recycled from a blog post of mine. Cause I'm lazy. But it fit.)
There was an interesting idea brought up in a forum post somewhere else, and I don't recall where, yet the headline went like this:
"Hard core gamers: Do we matter anymore?"
And the second I saw it, I knew the answer:
No.
Gaming, to use an idea that would make Mr. Rogers cringe, is becoming more and more like the movie industry every day. Not in scale or stars, yet in history. The industry was first introduced with small players, making games out of their basement - like initial movie makers with their "moving cameras". Then came an era of competition and explosion - then the conglomerates came into being, and they started to get movie making down to a science.
People complain that movies are all "the same", yet the fact is this: movies sell. Yes, they're going into a slight downslide right now, yet I'd argue that's an issue with technology (home theaters more comfortable and convienient than movie theaters - look at how studios make more money from DVD rental sales than blockbuster sales). yet movies, as bland as they are, make money. They make a shitload of money. They make so much fracking money it's not funny, because they have the formula down.
Was "Momento" a better movie than "The Matrix"? I'd argue it was - yet it didn't follow the rules. It was harder to think through. It didn't challenge. People could watch the Matrix with it's biblical allusions and get the surface story - kick ass people in leather, yeah! Or get the subtext. In "Momento", you had to think the whole fracking movie, and work to understand it.
Nintendo gets this. Look at the games they've been releasing. Is "Pikmen" a good game? I liked it. yet it's not selling nearly as well as "Tetris" or "Brain Age" or "Nintendogs" - the latter are games that you don't have to think about (insert irony about "Brain Age" here). yet these are games that a) did not cost a lot to make, and b) could be played by anybody with more than 5 brain cells. Are they fun? Sure - Nintendo gets it: the hardcore gamers don't make them money. Armies of teenage schoolgirls and their parents do.
What does this have to do with Wii? I think Nintendo, in a way, is making a statement. To hard core gamers, they're saying "This is not your world. There will be things for you, for those who look past the name. yet we are establishing here and now - this system is not for the 'hard core'. This is for all of the girls and grown ups out there who don't get 40 button controls, who will look at the word 'Wii' and go 'Oh, that's interesting.'"
Look at their plans for porting: almost none. EA had an interview where they said they were all yet forced to rewrite games from scratch for the Revolution/Wii because of the difference of power and controller. Which is what Nintendo wants. Let Sony and Microsoft fight over almost exactly the same games and who's cock is bigger in the "HD-DVD versus Blue-Ray" fight. Nintendo will do what Sony did - offer a DVD player that also plays a ton of games that people can pick up and go "Oh, Mario. OK - I move this way and jump. I can do that", while the "hard core" will either look at the name and say "Wii is lame", or will look at the game lineup and go "Turbo Graphix? Sweet - hey, Phoenix Wright Wii version! Neat!"
I don't know if it will work. Or, it will probably work in Japan the way the DS all yet killed PSP sales. (As Tim once said, every time someone finds out how to do something fun with the PSP, Sony releases a patch to break it. Or, something like that.) It probably won't hurt the Xbox 360 sales, since for all the money it's losing it's supported by a monopoly that hopes for more, and PS3 sales probably won't matter because of the Wii.
Yet I think that Nintendo did the name on purpose, knowing it would piss off the "hard core". I'll probably get one, because I've got 3 kids and a wife who only plays "Tetris" and "Brain Age" (I leave the DS at home for her to play while I'm out working - which will be my excuse for why we need to buy a DS Lite when it comes out;) ), and I just don't have the time to play every really cool game I want to.
And I just bought a cheap copy (disks only) for the PSX from a friend of mine - I guess I have just enough time to get it onto eBay before it's common knowledge it's coming out for the PSP.
I'm sorry, I forgot to include this for the clueless hairsplitters.
"Does well" in this family equals "Try hard and don't be a whiner". Thanks for reminding me I have to include these definitions for the 1% of the population without a clue.
Remember Steve Jobs' first days back at Apple in 1997 as Interim-CEO-for-Life? Trying to save the company, Steve got Bill Gates to invest $150 million in Apple and promise to keep Mac Office going for a few more years in exchange for a five-year patent cross-licensing agreement? The idea in everyone's mind, of course, was that Microsoft would grab lots of Apple technology, which they probably did, and it quite specifically ended an Apple patent infringement suit against Microsoft. But I'm told that the exchange wasn't totally one-way, that Apple, in turn, got some legal right to the Windows API.
It a convincing idea, that Apple could then use this API details, put it into OS X, and have Windows apps run natively within a Macintosh without a need for "virtualization" or "dual booting". Users could play games or run those 1-2 Windows apps they need (like Groove, Visio, or Encase Forensic), and Mac for - everything else.
The benefits to Apple could be big, since they could tell Windows users "Why upgrade to Vista - our stuff runs your current applications, and runs them inside a secure environment!" They could get more switchers, and use that to tell developers "Hey, we've got 8-10% of the market now - do you want to be a little fish in a big pond, or the big fish in the little pond? Look at Deliscious Software and how much money they make - and you can even use your Windows XP knowledge to start, and we'll help you in the transition!"
However, the big issue is that 600 pound gorrilla - Microsoft. They've shown a willingness to break things to keep other people run competing with them. Look at how they're already announcing products that are "Vista only", like "Office 12" and "Halo 2" - and how long until a Windows XP patch, coupled with a new Office 2003 patch, prevents the latter from running in a Windows API enabled OS X system (barring the question, of course, of why one would run Office 2003 in OS X when Office 2004 is there, but that's another issue).
Nice pipe dream, but I'm willing to bet it's just a dream, no matter how much the tech community wishes it were so.
In his press release, Mr. Gonzales brought up the statistic that "one in five children has been solicited online".
To which my wife and I looked at each other and went "Uh - really. One in five."
And then I started to wonder. Was this children solicited by adults? How are we defining children? Is this just a sampling of MySpace users, assuming that all solicitees are children, and all soliciters are adults? Are we including two teenagers including lovey-dovey emails to each other, or kids hanging out in Pokemon chat rooms getting hit on my a pedophile?
I'd like to see the numbers, because I've been in lots of forums, have recieved emails from adults and teens about things I've written (like a "Xenosaga Backtracking" article), and I haven't seen a random person pop up in one of these forums "Hey, that's a nice Pikachu - now I'd like to see you naked!"
Granted, maybe I'm naive - but I have the feeling that "one in five" is either inflated, or including things that most people would never consider solicitation (again, such as minors hitting on minors).
Actually, at the risk of bragging, there isn't - she's the only 7 year old, because she asked me if she could go when her school announced a club for the 5th graders and up. We've been playing since she was 5, so I let her go. So far, she's doing OK, but she really needs to work on her strategy rather than "impulse piece captures".
The discussion was regarding Microsoft's announced intentions to make the Xbox 360 a "mainstream" system, not for "hardcore" gamers at all.
And yet - they have a $400 console, the games for the system so far are a lot of FPS games, then there's Condemned, and Dead or Alive 4 - all interesting games, but nothing that makes me want to sit down with my 4 year old son and 7 year old daughter and say "Hey, let's play some DOA4, kids! Watch Kasumi's bounce physics!"
We have started up a game of "Kingdom Heart 2", which we can all enjoy, or Mario 64 DS, or my daughter really likes "Animal Crossing" and wants her own DS someday for "Nintendogs" (which she can only get if she keeps her grades up and does well in her chess club), and my non-gamer wife likes Tetris on the new DS.
So far, I'd say that if Microsoft intends for the 360 to be a "non-hardcore" system, then so far they're doing a crappy job of it. Right now, it *defines* the hardcore console gamer.
Or they'll pull a "Well, it was exclusive for 6 months" maneuver, like other folks did for the Xbox 1 - and what developers have done on the PS2 and Gamecube. I wouldn't be surprised to see these games on the PS3 if they don't sell well on the 360.
Makes you wonder how many game developers will look at this and say "Gee - if we do the Blizzard route and make our games dual-platform, that could be a selling point - 'Don't reboot - our game is Windows/Mac compatible!".
I actually think it will cause *more* developers to think this way, since it's a competitive advantage to do so (at least in marketing terms).
Slashdot Mirror
Not only that, but the Wii seems to be appealing to the "hard core" that I've known (including myself, though as an older gamer I guess I'm moving out of that sphere) by giving a unique experience that none of the other consoles have. So far, it's only those between 12-18 that go "I have to take a Wii", and even those seem to be settling down.
I'm actually predicting very good sales for Nintendo, not so much for their achievements (which are good), but because parents looking to buy a gaming system will probably say "$200 opposed to $600? Well, that's easy!"
Low: I think the lack of final price and exact launch date was a bad idea. I know that people were bored during Sony's "stock analysts wet your pants with numbers" opening - but those two details were important. It may be that Nintendo's seeing that Sony's final numbers look like and if they really have a market so they're not competing directly - but who knows.
Highs: Lots of games. Zelda looked awesome, and "Red Steel" is up there on my must try. Even the "Wii Sports" game they showed off towards the end looks interesting - I can see my son and I playing with the baseball game, and my daughter will like the tennis stuff. And golf? Well, that's for my wife so I can get behind her and help her with her strokes.
Low: They kept showing a Mario game (Mario Galaxies or something), but I either missed the details or they didn't talk about it. Where's Mario 128? Where's the Kojima new IP?
High: Showing the new guy playing with the Wii controller. "Easy to use, difficult to master" seems about right. The sweepstakes winner seemed able to play around with it without too many problems - with a few more minutes he would have been better I'm sure.
Hide your Japanese schoolgirls! Don't let it near the convention!
Oh, good lord - there's a 300 pound man dressed in a Sailor Moon uniform! Run, you fool! Runnnnn!
As I remarked to my wife the other day while we were watching "Sci-Fi Channel", can we ever invent a robot that Hollywood doesn't depict as trying to kill us?
And the DS goes into sleep mode just by closing the lid - both screens are protected from harm, and your battery is conserved.
The PSP has a sleep mode, but even it is "turn off, put back in case (if you don't already have a Logitech clamshell, which is bulky", then put away to protect the screen from dirty fingerprints".
Don't get me wrong - I like my PSP (great handheld emulator, and "DJ Max Portable" is sweet), but some design elements were from the "bigger is better" campaign - which in the world of handhelds usually is not.
The issues with the PSP has mainly been in the UMD, leading to longer load times (depending upon the developer - "Popolocrois" is awful, while "Daxter" has no problems) and lower battery life.
If MS decides to make a handheld gaming device, the best bet might be to make it a great MP3/WMV player (the gamepad would be fine for navigation, maybe with a center button so they're not exactly ripping off the iPod Wheel, but same functionality), and use the HDD for storage. Let people download games either through their 360 (plug in, get games/movies/music, walk away - which would make it a useful media hub) or through their main computer.
They have a lot of potential here - I'd say the key is leveraging the Internet and their existing base to draw people into their Live service. Odds are, knowing Microsoft, they'll just add in tons of extra hardware and bloat and try to make it look like Windows rather than a handheld, but if the 360 interface is any indication, they at least have *some* idea how to do it.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I could be wrong.
I haven't read the article yet (it's in my other tab) - but two questions:
1. Is this "crippled" in any way, or is it a real Tivo?
2. Does it plug into the Digital cable, or just the regular analog?
I have a Tivo now, but another one would be useful (since my wife likes the American Idol shows, and I - don't). But if Cox is considering this, especially in wake of the recent Tivo/Echostar (if I remember correctly) lawsuit, Cox could save money on development, say "You know, the control isn't worth the hassle" (which would be called "buying a clue"), and Tivo could get more customers. Everybody wins, even the cable customers.
Which is why I'm looking outside the window for those damn flying pigs.
It works as long as you don't move the screen at all - something in the hinges is shorted out, so if you move it at all (which is hard when playing "Ouendan" and you start spinning it) then it thinks it should go into sleep mode. It plays the GBA games fine (since the don't have a "lid closed sleep mode".
But yeah - I tried that. Thanks for asking!
I think it's karnthia hall or some such - I can never remember the name - but it's where all of the Korean developers hang out. That place is a trip, and sometimes the most unique (99% of the time crap, but 1% of the time it's something that at least worth a laugh).
And ignore him. He's just out for attention, and when lawmakers start to listen to him, I tell them the same thing: ignore him, or you lose my vote (yes, I actually write/email to congresscritters, and participate in drives to do it in masses).
Just leave the troll be - after all, if a troll shouts in a vacuum, can anyone hear him?
She's playing "Brain Age", my 4 year old son spills some water, and she puts it down - in the water by accident to go get a towel. Now, Nintendo is sending out a new one, but I can always use the power of guilt plus "But you always have it to play Soduku" to get myself a new one.
Ah, the power of guilt!
I'll mostly agree with you, but in either case, it takes a third party to activate the hidden content.
Odds are, this in the long run can be a good thing: if a game developer includes the "inappropriate" content - whether or not it is hidden - they run the risk of getting a bad rating.
While it's perhaps unfair to label both Fox and Al Jazeera as "extremists", but let's be honest: the people I've known who tend to rely soley on one or the other of these two news organizations tend to have very particular views (most hard-core Republicans I have known tend to swear by Fox "the only fair news" as they tell me).
So is it that people give greater trust then to news that reinforce their own views (which is why I'm sure more progressives would swear by Slate and Salon instead)? I'd be curious to see how news organizations do against political/religious/ethnic/age background (though this study at least looked into age).
And which one is the most "accurate"? It reminds me of a study done back in the 2004 elections who shows that viewers of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" scored higher on current events and political events accuracy than watchers of any other news organizations (including Fox).
Either way, it's interesting to see the Internet rising, but that's not surprising as the population gets older. I know I rarely watch TV news anymore save for the "Daily Show" (and that's not for information, but for perspective so I can laugh at the world a bit) and Sunday talking heads shows (so my children can ask me why I'm telling the people in the TV to "answer the question, you hack!").
The surprising thing is how the ratings of both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Oblivion only changed with third party users made patches to enable them.
In my mind, this is no different from the Bra and Panties Oblivion mod I've seen floating around (which changes the undergarments from boring brown to something lacy) - not Oblivion's fault as it wasn't meant to be seen when they shipped it.
The violence - OK, I'll deal with that, but notice that the rating change only happened when somebody went "OMG - there are boobies here!", and some religious nutcase went "OMG - can't have boobies there - think of the children!" ([sarcasm]Personally, I know that I've harbored deep hatred of all women since being exposed to breasts directly after my birth and the next year thereafter. I hate it when my wife shoves her large breasts in my face today.[/sarcasm])
Odds are, we'll see some press releases from "concerned groups/individuals" (we don't need to name them - that would only feed the trolls), I've already got a press release from IEMA about how fast they alerted the retailers so they could change the ratings right in the computer to prevent minors from buying it, and Oblivion sales might actually go up when 13 year olds looking to feel "mature" convince their parents to buy them the game.
Sure, the gameplay is simple, the point of "Go from world to world" is a little pointless - but there's an interesting story at work here, and it's actually kind of sad one.
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Basically, you have really the story of two people - Roxis and Sora, one of whom only exists because of a mistake from the other one. So right there you have the question - who am I? If my memories and self are absorbed by another, what point does "me" have? And when I choose to give that up for the greater good, will "I" be remembered - or am "I" just a shell, with no real identity of my own?
So, sure, it's simple and silly and rote at times, but there's actually some good gameplay here (I think the action commands are cool when boss fighting). Not "game of the year", but "pleasant low calorie diversion".
Good point - in my defense, I'll say that they aren't excluding hard core gamers - they just aren't going to cater to them. But you have excellent counter-arguments.
(Recycled from a blog post of mine. Cause I'm lazy. But it fit.)
;) ), and I just don't have the time to play every really cool game I want to.
There was an interesting idea brought up in a forum post somewhere else, and I don't recall where, yet the headline went like this:
"Hard core gamers: Do we matter anymore?"
And the second I saw it, I knew the answer:
No.
Gaming, to use an idea that would make Mr. Rogers cringe, is becoming more and more like the movie industry every day. Not in scale or stars, yet in history. The industry was first introduced with small players, making games out of their basement - like initial movie makers with their "moving cameras". Then came an era of competition and explosion - then the conglomerates came into being, and they started to get movie making down to a science.
People complain that movies are all "the same", yet the fact is this: movies sell. Yes, they're going into a slight downslide right now, yet I'd argue that's an issue with technology (home theaters more comfortable and convienient than movie theaters - look at how studios make more money from DVD rental sales than blockbuster sales). yet movies, as bland as they are, make money. They make a shitload of money. They make so much fracking money it's not funny, because they have the formula down.
Was "Momento" a better movie than "The Matrix"? I'd argue it was - yet it didn't follow the rules. It was harder to think through. It didn't challenge. People could watch the Matrix with it's biblical allusions and get the surface story - kick ass people in leather, yeah! Or get the subtext. In "Momento", you had to think the whole fracking movie, and work to understand it.
Nintendo gets this. Look at the games they've been releasing. Is "Pikmen" a good game? I liked it. yet it's not selling nearly as well as "Tetris" or "Brain Age" or "Nintendogs" - the latter are games that you don't have to think about (insert irony about "Brain Age" here). yet these are games that a) did not cost a lot to make, and b) could be played by anybody with more than 5 brain cells. Are they fun? Sure - Nintendo gets it: the hardcore gamers don't make them money. Armies of teenage schoolgirls and their parents do.
What does this have to do with Wii? I think Nintendo, in a way, is making a statement. To hard core gamers, they're saying "This is not your world. There will be things for you, for those who look past the name. yet we are establishing here and now - this system is not for the 'hard core'. This is for all of the girls and grown ups out there who don't get 40 button controls, who will look at the word 'Wii' and go 'Oh, that's interesting.'"
Look at their plans for porting: almost none. EA had an interview where they said they were all yet forced to rewrite games from scratch for the Revolution/Wii because of the difference of power and controller. Which is what Nintendo wants. Let Sony and Microsoft fight over almost exactly the same games and who's cock is bigger in the "HD-DVD versus Blue-Ray" fight. Nintendo will do what Sony did - offer a DVD player that also plays a ton of games that people can pick up and go "Oh, Mario. OK - I move this way and jump. I can do that", while the "hard core" will either look at the name and say "Wii is lame", or will look at the game lineup and go "Turbo Graphix? Sweet - hey, Phoenix Wright Wii version! Neat!"
I don't know if it will work. Or, it will probably work in Japan the way the DS all yet killed PSP sales. (As Tim once said, every time someone finds out how to do something fun with the PSP, Sony releases a patch to break it. Or, something like that.) It probably won't hurt the Xbox 360 sales, since for all the money it's losing it's supported by a monopoly that hopes for more, and PS3 sales probably won't matter because of the Wii.
Yet I think that Nintendo did the name on purpose, knowing it would piss off the "hard core". I'll probably get one, because I've got 3 kids and a wife who only plays "Tetris" and "Brain Age" (I leave the DS at home for her to play while I'm out working - which will be my excuse for why we need to buy a DS Lite when it comes out
(Shrug.) Guess we'll see more at E3.
And I just bought a cheap copy (disks only) for the PSX from a friend of mine - I guess I have just enough time to get it onto eBay before it's common knowledge it's coming out for the PSP.
I'm sorry, I forgot to include this for the clueless hairsplitters.
"Does well" in this family equals "Try hard and don't be a whiner". Thanks for reminding me I have to include these definitions for the 1% of the population without a clue.
It a convincing idea, that Apple could then use this API details, put it into OS X, and have Windows apps run natively within a Macintosh without a need for "virtualization" or "dual booting". Users could play games or run those 1-2 Windows apps they need (like Groove, Visio, or Encase Forensic), and Mac for - everything else.
The benefits to Apple could be big, since they could tell Windows users "Why upgrade to Vista - our stuff runs your current applications, and runs them inside a secure environment!" They could get more switchers, and use that to tell developers "Hey, we've got 8-10% of the market now - do you want to be a little fish in a big pond, or the big fish in the little pond? Look at Deliscious Software and how much money they make - and you can even use your Windows XP knowledge to start, and we'll help you in the transition!"
However, the big issue is that 600 pound gorrilla - Microsoft. They've shown a willingness to break things to keep other people run competing with them. Look at how they're already announcing products that are "Vista only", like "Office 12" and "Halo 2" - and how long until a Windows XP patch, coupled with a new Office 2003 patch, prevents the latter from running in a Windows API enabled OS X system (barring the question, of course, of why one would run Office 2003 in OS X when Office 2004 is there, but that's another issue).
Nice pipe dream, but I'm willing to bet it's just a dream, no matter how much the tech community wishes it were so.
In his press release, Mr. Gonzales brought up the statistic that "one in five children has been solicited online".
To which my wife and I looked at each other and went "Uh - really. One in five."
And then I started to wonder. Was this children solicited by adults? How are we defining children? Is this just a sampling of MySpace users, assuming that all solicitees are children, and all soliciters are adults? Are we including two teenagers including lovey-dovey emails to each other, or kids hanging out in Pokemon chat rooms getting hit on my a pedophile?
I'd like to see the numbers, because I've been in lots of forums, have recieved emails from adults and teens about things I've written (like a "Xenosaga Backtracking" article), and I haven't seen a random person pop up in one of these forums "Hey, that's a nice Pikachu - now I'd like to see you naked!"
Granted, maybe I'm naive - but I have the feeling that "one in five" is either inflated, or including things that most people would never consider solicitation (again, such as minors hitting on minors).
Actually, at the risk of bragging, there isn't - she's the only 7 year old, because she asked me if she could go when her school announced a club for the 5th graders and up. We've been playing since she was 5, so I let her go. So far, she's doing OK, but she really needs to work on her strategy rather than "impulse piece captures".
The discussion was regarding Microsoft's announced intentions to make the Xbox 360 a "mainstream" system, not for "hardcore" gamers at all.
And yet - they have a $400 console, the games for the system so far are a lot of FPS games, then there's Condemned, and Dead or Alive 4 - all interesting games, but nothing that makes me want to sit down with my 4 year old son and 7 year old daughter and say "Hey, let's play some DOA4, kids! Watch Kasumi's bounce physics!"
We have started up a game of "Kingdom Heart 2", which we can all enjoy, or Mario 64 DS, or my daughter really likes "Animal Crossing" and wants her own DS someday for "Nintendogs" (which she can only get if she keeps her grades up and does well in her chess club), and my non-gamer wife likes Tetris on the new DS.
So far, I'd say that if Microsoft intends for the 360 to be a "non-hardcore" system, then so far they're doing a crappy job of it. Right now, it *defines* the hardcore console gamer.
I call it a Macbook Pro with Boot Camp.
*cough*
Or they'll pull a "Well, it was exclusive for 6 months" maneuver, like other folks did for the Xbox 1 - and what developers have done on the PS2 and Gamecube. I wouldn't be surprised to see these games on the PS3 if they don't sell well on the 360.
Makes you wonder how many game developers will look at this and say "Gee - if we do the Blizzard route and make our games dual-platform, that could be a selling point - 'Don't reboot - our game is Windows/Mac compatible!".
I actually think it will cause *more* developers to think this way, since it's a competitive advantage to do so (at least in marketing terms).