The fact that Iwata again pointed out (Miyamoto did so first) that the conroller works with a projector says to me that the controller could be really practical with large screens, creating a VR-like environment.
The most I ever paid for an N64 game was 60. I once paid 70 for an import though. N64 was very succesful for Nintendo. There was nearly zero piracy. The console was quite profitable, esp. with the high value of the dollar at the time. It was developers who got shafted for high media costs and small storage space. Sure, the consumer paid an extra $10 but as a trade off you got nearly instantaneous gameplay - no loading whatsoever.
The other benefit was you never had to fumble for memory cards - it was built into the cartridge. This was only a problem when you rented a game and there was no external save option (first party titles mostly).
I know the choice to go with cartridges was a major contributing factor to the console's "demise" (despite major profits), but as a gamer I found myself appreciating the cartridge format. The load times were a huge plus.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo go back to it in a few generations, or the industry for that matter. Everything goes in cycles afterall.
Yeah but no one gave a shit. The wavebird was also notable in that it worked quite well and had great battery life.
Still, you're technically right. And as long as that controller was sold under the Atari name, Nintendo can't really say they were the first to sell them as 1st party vendors. But its more of a technical point than a significant one. Good research though.
Top add to your point, adding AA as a requirment to 360 games isn't a very big deal. ASFAIK because if it's unified memory arcitecture, the 360 can render 4xAA without much trouble.
Nintendo has been making a profit since n64. They're just sick of being 3rd. They've alreaday proved with the DS that with a lower price point and great software they can be a leader in the marketplace. Currently there has been a million more DS' sold in Japan than PSPs.
Factor 5 went with PS3 because they need a ton of horsepower for Thornado and the next Rouge Squadron. Silicon Knights went with 360 for Too Human because they're emphasizing content and storyline over gameplay. Nintendo's philosophy of simplicity and game design contridicted these developers vision.
I think that Nintendo is only company who is truly expanding the market. MS claims to be doing so, but that appears to only be true in as much as they're taking it away from Sony. Show me all the Nintendo gamers who are "quiting" for someone else. Elecktroplankton and Nintendogs are perfect examples of their expansion.
Good point and well made. I just wanted to mention that MS is suppoting small developers though with some kind of "Arcade" section built into the 360 dashboard.
At first I thought MS was segementing their (future) market, but now I'm starting to become indifferent to this development. I for one don't have immediate plans to display on a HD display, so movies won't be a factor. I can live withpout it for now as long as MS offers a good upgrade plan. If its along the lines of $50, well, it's still cheaper than a PS3 isn't it?
Well since Revolution is backwards compatible I think we can expect to see GCN games getting released for 8 years after the format was introduced. Miyamoto was quoted saying precisely this.
From TFA: "...the companies signed a cross-licensing agreement to promote the exchange of innovations developed by each company."
So maybe MS is trading Longhorn licenses for HD-DVD licenses with Toshiba. This is interesting because Toshiba helped develop the PS3 cell processer (right?).
I agree about the chicken and egg thing. The HD-DVD Consortium (Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC and Memory Tech) needs a huge product launch to gain acceptance. The 360 is just the ticket for American acceptance. Only thing is that HD-DVD is denfinately a higher cost than DVD. MS wants a $300 price point to stay close to mass market levels. They're already losing money on the console, I'm sure they can't afford to add $50 or so for the hardware alone, let alone lisences.
I doubt toshiba is giving completely free lisences to MS. It's probably discounted and even then limited to a set number of units (say, 1.5 million). A lot of R&D went into making HD-DVD.
Even if they got free liscenes at launch they'd still have to pay for hardware. Think 35-40 for HD over 10-15 for DVD. DVD is cheap and MS just wants a foothold. Nintendo is breathing down their backs with a low cost alternative that parents trust and Sony has a whole country's support behind it (3% of japanese stated they were planning to get a 360). If MS delays launch for HD-DVD, they're going to have compete against a shit-storm of marketing hype from Sony and Nintendo. Those two companies are simply too competitive for MS to delay.
HD-DVD will not make and appearance this winter. because the cost is simply too great. I'm willing to bet though that they offer an upgrade path for early adopters.
Its an interesting situatin MS is in similar to the one Sony had when they launched with DVD support. DVD was still rare but now look at it.
I wonder what the incentive is for MS to help make HD-DVD succesful. Maybe reduced lisence fees for their console sales?
But to respond to your point, you are saying that by MS confirming that HD-DVD will be released as an add-on or 2nd gen 360 after launch, that MS is hinting that they are launching with it? Sorry, but this is not the case.
This isn't a technical choice but an economic one. MS cant afford to pay for the license fees of the 2 million 360's that will get sold before the upgrade or version 2.
The only reason I decided to invest in a 360 is because Jeff Minter has developed an app built into the dashboard. I don't even plan on playing any games yet on it.
This is going to have very little effect on initian sales. Reports will be very succesful about the launch I'm sure.
The case may be that when you take off the faceplate it is very easy to eject the DVD drive. I don't think they're going to screw over their user base much themselves by segregating their own marketshare. Think about it.
"The only games that will take advantage of the blue-ray are lame japanese rpg's that have 50+ hours of cut-scenes of androgenous dudes with big swords who sound like women."
Implementing most of these techniques would cost too much. Besides, most GCN games don't exceed 500Mb or so, unless they have a lot of FMV. Nintendo enters "garbage" data to fill the rest of the disc. Warioware was something like 300Mb only.
But the Rev supports GCN discs, doesn't it? So isn't downloadable GCN content kind of moot?
I work for an organization that uses video conferencing to teach dance to kids in rural areas. They project the feed of the instructor and the kids on a giant wall in each of their respective locations. As of right now, they are receiving quite a pixilated image as a result of the low quality video combined with the enlargement of the projection. HD would be a blessing if the latency stays low.
Totally agree with you, my friend. Mizuguchi has created the funnest games I've ever played. They're mysterious, intuitive, exciting, fun and happy. Someone reading this interview would never realize this without playing his works. Even the interviewer seemed more comfortable on MTV than talking about game design and was quite dull with his questions. The interview became pigeon holed from the objectives of centering the discussion around his soundtracks and ended up snubbing any sort of real raport and connection, not to mention the language barrier.
Totally lame interview. 1UP needs some new talent, preferrably someone who doesn't need a spliff at the end of a day to become enlightened.
Slashdot Mirror
The fact that Iwata again pointed out (Miyamoto did so first) that the conroller works with a projector says to me that the controller could be really practical with large screens, creating a VR-like environment.
The most I ever paid for an N64 game was 60. I once paid 70 for an import though. N64 was very succesful for Nintendo. There was nearly zero piracy. The console was quite profitable, esp. with the high value of the dollar at the time. It was developers who got shafted for high media costs and small storage space. Sure, the consumer paid an extra $10 but as a trade off you got nearly instantaneous gameplay - no loading whatsoever.
The other benefit was you never had to fumble for memory cards - it was built into the cartridge. This was only a problem when you rented a game and there was no external save option (first party titles mostly).
I know the choice to go with cartridges was a major contributing factor to the console's "demise" (despite major profits), but as a gamer I found myself appreciating the cartridge format. The load times were a huge plus.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo go back to it in a few generations, or the industry for that matter. Everything goes in cycles afterall.
That mockup is such crap. IGN is not helping Nintendo in this case.
Yeah but no one gave a shit. The wavebird was also notable in that it worked quite well and had great battery life.
Still, you're technically right. And as long as that controller was sold under the Atari name, Nintendo can't really say they were the first to sell them as 1st party vendors. But its more of a technical point than a significant one. Good research though.
I'm sure million's of other gamers agree with you.
(laffs)
Top add to your point, adding AA as a requirment to 360 games isn't a very big deal. ASFAIK because if it's unified memory arcitecture, the 360 can render 4xAA without much trouble.
Nintendo has been making a profit since n64. They're just sick of being 3rd. They've alreaday proved with the DS that with a lower price point and great software they can be a leader in the marketplace. Currently there has been a million more DS' sold in Japan than PSPs.
Factor 5 went with PS3 because they need a ton of horsepower for Thornado and the next Rouge Squadron. Silicon Knights went with 360 for Too Human because they're emphasizing content and storyline over gameplay. Nintendo's philosophy of simplicity and game design contridicted these developers vision.
I think that Nintendo is only company who is truly expanding the market. MS claims to be doing so, but that appears to only be true in as much as they're taking it away from Sony. Show me all the Nintendo gamers who are "quiting" for someone else. Elecktroplankton and Nintendogs are perfect examples of their expansion.
And the DS version should be neat too.
Good point and well made. I just wanted to mention that MS is suppoting small developers though with some kind of "Arcade" section built into the 360 dashboard.
At first I thought MS was segementing their (future) market, but now I'm starting to become indifferent to this development. I for one don't have immediate plans to display on a HD display, so movies won't be a factor. I can live withpout it for now as long as MS offers a good upgrade plan. If its along the lines of $50, well, it's still cheaper than a PS3 isn't it?
I love this idea but then the console manufaturer loses income on memory cards. I think they must turn a large profit on those cheap flash cards.
But to give a ray of hope, Revolution and Microsoft both have USB ports. Dunno about PS3 off hand.
Well since Revolution is backwards compatible I think we can expect to see GCN games getting released for 8 years after the format was introduced. Miyamoto was quoted saying precisely this.
I agree. It's much cheaper to just warez pc games.
Well Perfect Dark is a pretty big deal...
Interesting. Thanks for clearing that up.
This is a press release about MS and Toshiba partnering up to promote HD-DVD: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_06/pr270 1.htm
From TFA: "...the companies signed a cross-licensing agreement to promote the exchange of innovations developed by each company."
So maybe MS is trading Longhorn licenses for HD-DVD licenses with Toshiba. This is interesting because Toshiba helped develop the PS3 cell processer (right?).
I agree about the chicken and egg thing. The HD-DVD Consortium (Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC and Memory Tech) needs a huge product launch to gain acceptance. The 360 is just the ticket for American acceptance. Only thing is that HD-DVD is denfinately a higher cost than DVD. MS wants a $300 price point to stay close to mass market levels. They're already losing money on the console, I'm sure they can't afford to add $50 or so for the hardware alone, let alone lisences.
I doubt toshiba is giving completely free lisences to MS. It's probably discounted and even then limited to a set number of units (say, 1.5 million). A lot of R&D went into making HD-DVD.
Even if they got free liscenes at launch they'd still have to pay for hardware. Think 35-40 for HD over 10-15 for DVD. DVD is cheap and MS just wants a foothold. Nintendo is breathing down their backs with a low cost alternative that parents trust and Sony has a whole country's support behind it (3% of japanese stated they were planning to get a 360). If MS delays launch for HD-DVD, they're going to have compete against a shit-storm of marketing hype from Sony and Nintendo. Those two companies are simply too competitive for MS to delay.
HD-DVD will not make and appearance this winter. because the cost is simply too great. I'm willing to bet though that they offer an upgrade path for early adopters.
Its an interesting situatin MS is in similar to the one Sony had when they launched with DVD support. DVD was still rare but now look at it.
I wonder what the incentive is for MS to help make HD-DVD succesful. Maybe reduced lisence fees for their console sales?
But to respond to your point, you are saying that by MS confirming that HD-DVD will be released as an add-on or 2nd gen 360 after launch, that MS is hinting that they are launching with it? Sorry, but this is not the case.
This isn't a technical choice but an economic one. MS cant afford to pay for the license fees of the 2 million 360's that will get sold before the upgrade or version 2.
The only reason I decided to invest in a 360 is because Jeff Minter has developed an app built into the dashboard. I don't even plan on playing any games yet on it.
This is going to have very little effect on initian sales. Reports will be very succesful about the launch I'm sure.
The case may be that when you take off the faceplate it is very easy to eject the DVD drive. I don't think they're going to screw over their user base much themselves by segregating their own marketshare. Think about it.
"The only games that will take advantage of the blue-ray are lame japanese rpg's that have 50+ hours of cut-scenes of androgenous dudes with big swords who sound like women."
And all in glorius high definition!
You mean unlike Sony or MS who didn't post a profit at all last quarter?
Implementing most of these techniques would cost too much. Besides, most GCN games don't exceed 500Mb or so, unless they have a lot of FMV. Nintendo enters "garbage" data to fill the rest of the disc. Warioware was something like 300Mb only.
But the Rev supports GCN discs, doesn't it? So isn't downloadable GCN content kind of moot?
I work for an organization that uses video conferencing to teach dance to kids in rural areas. They project the feed of the instructor and the kids on a giant wall in each of their respective locations. As of right now, they are receiving quite a pixilated image as a result of the low quality video combined with the enlargement of the projection. HD would be a blessing if the latency stays low.
True, but at a party this size. you're still going to have to type in you insults.
Totally agree with you, my friend. Mizuguchi has created the funnest games I've ever played. They're mysterious, intuitive, exciting, fun and happy. Someone reading this interview would never realize this without playing his works. Even the interviewer seemed more comfortable on MTV than talking about game design and was quite dull with his questions. The interview became pigeon holed from the objectives of centering the discussion around his soundtracks and ended up snubbing any sort of real raport and connection, not to mention the language barrier.
Totally lame interview. 1UP needs some new talent, preferrably someone who doesn't need a spliff at the end of a day to become enlightened.
The dual-core platform is what to look for. There are some smart people at Intel, like Scott Gardiner, who develop intel's first PCI express MB.
Then once you upgrade after that, get a Blue Gene blade multi-core system from IBM (or apple or whatever).