Though Nintendo is focusing a lot of attention towards the casual gamer, I think the wii has plenty to offer to the dedicated gamer as well. Being a dedicated gamer myself (been playing games actively since Zork,) I find it odd so many other gamers are willing to dismiss the wii, without playing it.
Found my quote. Had to watch a 20 minute video to get it.
Robert Summa of Destructoid asked Perrin Kaplan, "Is everything region free." Kaplan replied, "Yes. Yeah. Which is a good thing. I've actually had several people ask that of me today."
Here's the video. The quote is near the end. The quote is about 18 minutes in.
I think it would be helpful if there was a direct quote from Perrin Kaplan. The best I could find is this:
"Like the Nintendo DS, the Wii will be able to play games from other regions, such as Japan, without any restriction. Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted." - Joel Johnson, Wired
Could it be possible that this whole region free rumor was started by a mistake. Even Joel Johnson's quote implies, "there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on." And even then, Johnson isn't completely firm about the Nintendo's own region stance when he says, "but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted." Doesn't sound like?
Dead Rising never felt like grinding to me. And I generally despise XP based video games. I beat the game first time through, without restarting from the beginning. Considering that it doesn't take long to max out at level 50, my vote goes to Dead Rising be primarily skill based.
If you want to be able to save everyone and solve the storyline at the same time, and to have it be not that hard to do, then yes, you'll think it's bad design since it's not easy to do, but that's because they WANTED that heavy time pressure.
I remember a time when getting good at a challenging video game was considered good design. For whatever reason, it is now considered bad.
I feel the game should in fact be patched to allow you to do all the different quests in one run if you're good at bat (so to speak) and skilled enough to budget your time.
A skilled played will be able to rescue all the survivors (minus one) and finish all the cases in one game. No patching required.
Nintendo is also about profit, and they don't make a dime from used game sales. Re-releasing titles with added wii functionality is their way of competing with the used games market. I don't see this as a rehashing, considering they are also pushing a lot of NEW games for the system.
Whether you love to hate it or hate to love it, the "wii" is generating some wicked buzz on the internet. Here is a list of combined comment counts since the name was announced yesterday:
Slashdot 1146
Joystiq 731
Fark 540
1up 458
Kotaku 113
The name is so ludicrous, people can't help themselves from talking about it. For the short term, everyone will make fun of the name. And by the time the jokes get old, everyone will have heard of the Wii, or the Wii Wii, or the Wiid Nintendo was smoking when they thought up that name. Brilliant.
All we can agree on is that MS did not win the last round and is on its way to failing here too.
While I agree MS lost the last round, I do think they have a great chance of over taking Sony this round. This is just a personal theory, but I think Sony might have bitten off more than they can chew. If the PS3 doesn't ship by Black Friday, Sony will lose much of their user base to MS and Nintendo. Not to mention the negative reactions of fans if Sony has over promised and under delivers. Sony, more than the other two, need a huge user install base. And I stress the word if in all of this.
I fail to see the FUD in this. If anything, Nintendo is very much correct in their assertions about HD. Anyone that has a non-HD television pays for the HD feature of the 360, but don't experience HD gaming. And right now, that is an overwhelming majority of households. People keep saying that Nintendo is leaving a large portion of the market behind. But in reality, it is Sony and Microsoft that expect the market to catch up to them. By the end of this next gen console, you might have 50%+ HD penetration in homes.
Now I'm the exception to the rule. I have a 360 and a nice 62" HD TV. I'll share with you my take on HD gaming. The first few hours of gaming with my 360 I accidentally played at 480p (forgot to toggle the switch on the AV cable.) Before I realized this, I was still very impressed by next gen graphics. After switching over to HD, the picture did look sharper. But it was only a minor improvement. Especially compared to all the other advances in graphics. There is so much more we should be discussing about next gen graphics besides HD, but Microsoft and Sony have managed to frame the debate around this one narrow minded issue. If anyone is throwing out FUD, it's them.
That being said, I love my 360 (even though it ate my DOA 4 save file.) And I'm sure I'll love the Revo.
I've played games all my life, from Pong to Resident Evil 4. Including a lot of shooters like Space Invaders and Ikaruga. IMHO, Geometry Wars is truly impressive. The game has a classic feel, akin to Robotron and Asteroids. And like Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000, there is a true marriage between the balanced game play and the aesthetic of the graphics and music. Beyond that, Geometry Wars is simply fun to play. Pure video game nirvana.
I strongly disagree. Halo was nothing more than a generic military operation set in a sci-fi setting. About as interesting as shooting your way through a plethora of purple hallways. imho.
I know my opinion might strike many of you as unpopular, but I think retailers should be restricted from selling used games for 60 days after the release date of a title.
I also believe being able to buy used games is very important, as it enables consumers to buy legacy games that are out of print. But it is vital that developers make a profit, so that they are able to develop more games in the future.
No doubt, if the new Zelda title would be ready for the upcoming holiday season, Nintendo would sell many copies, and probably a few gamecubes to boot. More so than probably any other time of the year.
But this might not be such a blunder, on their part. With Zelda out of the picture, they can focus their holiday marketing on the DS and online strategy. MarioKart DS and Animal Crossing DS are both internet enabled, scheduled to be released in the fall. If Nintendo does this right, they'll secure their dominance in the handheld market for yet another generation. Much more important than selling cubes, imho.
Nintendo will still be able to use Zelda's later launch date to their advantage. Being the Revolution is backwards compatible, they can release both the game and system at about the same time. Might be enough to inspire some folks to pick up the revolution. Especially if they offered a bundle.
The difference between Blu-Ray and all the other mediums you just listed (records, cassettes, VHS, CDs, DVDs) is that those were all already established in the market place. Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD have made their way into the hands of consumers.
Both Microsoft and Sony are partially relying on their choice of HD technology to be adopted by the masses, so that more units are manufactured and sold, so that the prices for these technologies eventually come down. New technologies are costly upfront, and companies plan to make up for these intially high manufacturing costs down the road.
Hypothetically speaking, Blu-Ray fails to capture the consumer movie market... This means the PS3 could be stuck using a more expensive technology for it's entire lifespan, because not enough Blu-Ray hardware was manufactured to drive down the costs. Consumer buying habits can also be affected, as there is no incentive to pay extra for an over priced Blu-Ray movie player feature that no one supports. Same would be mostly true with Microsoft and HD-DVD.
I'm guessing Sony has the upper hand. But Sony also needs Blu-Ray to succeed more than Microsoft to succeed, because Sony is also relying on making money from the licensing fees from Blu-Ray technology. HD-DVD isn't Microsoft's technology, it belongs to Toshiba.
I hope you don't mean me. I'm a nintendo fanboy, all the way. Out of the next three, the 360 is last on my list. But just because I feel that way doesn't mean I can't make a feable attempt to look at things semi-objectively.
Microsoft could easily become the industry leader if HD-DVD becomes the next media standard. Sony is betting the farm with Blu-ray. If blu-ray fails, the PS3 will most likely fail. Same could happen to Microsoft if Blu-ray succeeds. That's the way I see it.
Right now, the main event is Sony Vs. Microsoft. The Xbox 360 will, eventually, support HD-DVD. The Playstation 3 will use Blu-Ray technology. Which ever HD technology gets adopted by the masses could make or break Microsoft's or Sony's video gaming initiative. And they are both spending a lot of money trying to out do each other in various ways.
Then there is Nintendo, hiding in the shadows, watching the two titans waste their hit points (and money) fighting each other. Nintendo could potentially give the fatal blow to the , with a low cost unit, and huge classic game library. They're taking a risk by not supporting HD. But probably a very calculated risk, as HD won't be fully adopted until the very end of this next generations life cycle. And they aren't betting the farm like the other two.
My guess is, if someone is going to fall this next round, it will be either Sony or Microsoft. IMHO.
Slashdot Mirror
oops. s/661/641/
That 661k number is for the GBA, not DS. The DS sold 918k.
I don't believe a single word you just said.
The Japanese weekly games magazine Famitsu did a survey of over 4000 attendees of the Tokyo Game Show:
Nintendo wasn't even present TGS.
I always thought that c64 games on the wii virtual console would be awesome. Though I never thought it would actually happen. Games I want:
Alice in Wonderland
Below the Root
Jumpman
Beach Head
Montezuma's Revenge
Labyrinth
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mind Benders
Though Nintendo is focusing a lot of attention towards the casual gamer, I think the wii has plenty to offer to the dedicated gamer as well. Being a dedicated gamer myself (been playing games actively since Zork,) I find it odd so many other gamers are willing to dismiss the wii, without playing it.
Found my quote. Had to watch a 20 minute video to get it.
Robert Summa of Destructoid asked Perrin Kaplan, "Is everything region free." Kaplan replied, "Yes. Yeah. Which is a good thing. I've actually had several people ask that of me today."
Here's the video. The quote is near the end. The quote is about 18 minutes in.
Well, which is it?
Dead Rising never felt like grinding to me. And I generally despise XP based video games. I beat the game first time through, without restarting from the beginning. Considering that it doesn't take long to max out at level 50, my vote goes to Dead Rising be primarily skill based.
If you want to be able to save everyone and solve the storyline at the same time, and to have it be not that hard to do, then yes, you'll think it's bad design since it's not easy to do, but that's because they WANTED that heavy time pressure. I remember a time when getting good at a challenging video game was considered good design. For whatever reason, it is now considered bad.
I feel the game should in fact be patched to allow you to do all the different quests in one run if you're good at bat (so to speak) and skilled enough to budget your time.
A skilled played will be able to rescue all the survivors (minus one) and finish all the cases in one game. No patching required.
Nintendo is also about profit, and they don't make a dime from used game sales. Re-releasing titles with added wii functionality is their way of competing with the used games market. I don't see this as a rehashing, considering they are also pushing a lot of NEW games for the system.
Are you still satisfied with your 4 gig drive from 1996?
:)
When I got my first 20 meg hard drive in 1988, I thought I'd never fill that thing. And I was right.
Whether you love to hate it or hate to love it, the "wii" is generating some wicked buzz on the internet. Here is a list of combined comment counts since the name was announced yesterday:
Slashdot 1146
Joystiq 731
Fark 540
1up 458
Kotaku 113
The name is so ludicrous, people can't help themselves from talking about it. For the short term, everyone will make fun of the name. And by the time the jokes get old, everyone will have heard of the Wii, or the Wii Wii, or the Wiid Nintendo was smoking when they thought up that name. Brilliant.
All we can agree on is that MS did not win the last round and is on its way to failing here too.
While I agree MS lost the last round, I do think they have a great chance of over taking Sony this round. This is just a personal theory, but I think Sony might have bitten off more than they can chew. If the PS3 doesn't ship by Black Friday, Sony will lose much of their user base to MS and Nintendo. Not to mention the negative reactions of fans if Sony has over promised and under delivers. Sony, more than the other two, need a huge user install base. And I stress the word if in all of this.
I'm approaching three years with mine. Not a problem, yet.
I fail to see the FUD in this. If anything, Nintendo is very much correct in their assertions about HD. Anyone that has a non-HD television pays for the HD feature of the 360, but don't experience HD gaming. And right now, that is an overwhelming majority of households. People keep saying that Nintendo is leaving a large portion of the market behind. But in reality, it is Sony and Microsoft that expect the market to catch up to them. By the end of this next gen console, you might have 50%+ HD penetration in homes.
Now I'm the exception to the rule. I have a 360 and a nice 62" HD TV. I'll share with you my take on HD gaming. The first few hours of gaming with my 360 I accidentally played at 480p (forgot to toggle the switch on the AV cable.) Before I realized this, I was still very impressed by next gen graphics. After switching over to HD, the picture did look sharper. But it was only a minor improvement. Especially compared to all the other advances in graphics. There is so much more we should be discussing about next gen graphics besides HD, but Microsoft and Sony have managed to frame the debate around this one narrow minded issue. If anyone is throwing out FUD, it's them.
That being said, I love my 360 (even though it ate my DOA 4 save file.) And I'm sure I'll love the Revo.
I've played games all my life, from Pong to Resident Evil 4. Including a lot of shooters like Space Invaders and Ikaruga. IMHO, Geometry Wars is truly impressive. The game has a classic feel, akin to Robotron and Asteroids. And like Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000, there is a true marriage between the balanced game play and the aesthetic of the graphics and music. Beyond that, Geometry Wars is simply fun to play. Pure video game nirvana.
I strongly disagree. Halo was nothing more than a generic military operation set in a sci-fi setting. About as interesting as shooting your way through a plethora of purple hallways. imho.
I know my opinion might strike many of you as unpopular, but I think retailers should be restricted from selling used games for 60 days after the release date of a title.
I also believe being able to buy used games is very important, as it enables consumers to buy legacy games that are out of print. But it is vital that developers make a profit, so that they are able to develop more games in the future.
No doubt, if the new Zelda title would be ready for the upcoming holiday season, Nintendo would sell many copies, and probably a few gamecubes to boot. More so than probably any other time of the year.
But this might not be such a blunder, on their part. With Zelda out of the picture, they can focus their holiday marketing on the DS and online strategy. MarioKart DS and Animal Crossing DS are both internet enabled, scheduled to be released in the fall. If Nintendo does this right, they'll secure their dominance in the handheld market for yet another generation. Much more important than selling cubes, imho.
Nintendo will still be able to use Zelda's later launch date to their advantage. Being the Revolution is backwards compatible, they can release both the game and system at about the same time. Might be enough to inspire some folks to pick up the revolution. Especially if they offered a bundle.
Think about it a little.
The difference between Blu-Ray and all the other mediums you just listed (records, cassettes, VHS, CDs, DVDs) is that those were all already established in the market place. Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD have made their way into the hands of consumers.
Both Microsoft and Sony are partially relying on their choice of HD technology to be adopted by the masses, so that more units are manufactured and sold, so that the prices for these technologies eventually come down. New technologies are costly upfront, and companies plan to make up for these intially high manufacturing costs down the road.
Hypothetically speaking, Blu-Ray fails to capture the consumer movie market... This means the PS3 could be stuck using a more expensive technology for it's entire lifespan, because not enough Blu-Ray hardware was manufactured to drive down the costs. Consumer buying habits can also be affected, as there is no incentive to pay extra for an over priced Blu-Ray movie player feature that no one supports. Same would be mostly true with Microsoft and HD-DVD.
I'm guessing Sony has the upper hand. But Sony also needs Blu-Ray to succeed more than Microsoft to succeed, because Sony is also relying on making money from the licensing fees from Blu-Ray technology. HD-DVD isn't Microsoft's technology, it belongs to Toshiba.
The stupidity of xbox fanboys is staggering.
I hope you don't mean me. I'm a nintendo fanboy, all the way. Out of the next three, the 360 is last on my list. But just because I feel that way doesn't mean I can't make a feable attempt to look at things semi-objectively.
Microsoft could easily become the industry leader if HD-DVD becomes the next media standard. Sony is betting the farm with Blu-ray. If blu-ray fails, the PS3 will most likely fail. Same could happen to Microsoft if Blu-ray succeeds. That's the way I see it.
You honestly think Sony is 'battling' MS?
Yes. It's called defending their dominant position. Thanks for not adding anything new or insightful to the discussion, Anonymous Coward.
Right now, the main event is Sony Vs. Microsoft. The Xbox 360 will, eventually, support HD-DVD. The Playstation 3 will use Blu-Ray technology. Which ever HD technology gets adopted by the masses could make or break Microsoft's or Sony's video gaming initiative. And they are both spending a lot of money trying to out do each other in various ways.
Then there is Nintendo, hiding in the shadows, watching the two titans waste their hit points (and money) fighting each other. Nintendo could potentially give the fatal blow to the , with a low cost unit, and huge classic game library. They're taking a risk by not supporting HD. But probably a very calculated risk, as HD won't be fully adopted until the very end of this next generations life cycle. And they aren't betting the farm like the other two.
My guess is, if someone is going to fall this next round, it will be either Sony or Microsoft. IMHO.