If you know for a fact that the stock prices of companies involved with prisons are going to go up, aren't you morally obligated to your family and yourself to invest in that company?
No.
I typed up a long explanation of why this is so, but honestly, if you can't figure it out for yourself, words probably aren't going to do a damn bit of good.
Halflife was a bit more mature. They hired an actual writer.
You do realize id software did that for Doom3 as well, right? This has been public knowledge for at least two years now. (Looking at the credits, I believe it is Matthew J. Costello.)
And aside from the marines and (possibly) the ending, Half-life didn't really have any interesting story or setting elements. I am not done with it yet, but Doom3 certainly does a better job of establishing a certain feeling (being very very alone, very far from Earth and civilization).
the exclusive games that do exist are largely mediocre Most of the exclusive games for PS2 are pretty mediocre, and it has far more of them than Xbox or GC.
Compare the XBox exclusive Blinx to the PS2 exclusive series Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper.
That's not really fair. Why wouldn't you use a quality example, like Voodoo Vince for Xbox?
Works both ways, too - what quality exclusive rail-shooters does PS2 have that compare to a masterpiece like Panzer Dragoon Orta?
All this system measuring is pretty pointless - just pick the system that has the games you want. You need a quality rail-shooter and (of course) already own Rez for DC, get an Xbox. Want more platformers, get a PS2. Etc. etc.
Eh, the subject was Nintendo franchises. I know they are gunning for Gundam with Bandai (and hence most of Super Robot Taisen), but they aren't Nintendo-brand yet.
Some armchair critics will say that this stuff (especially the camera) should have been in the game in the first place.
Early reports (such as at IGN) are stating that the new camera, surprise surprise, is essentially useless in combat. It apparently mostly helps in the adventure sequences (ie finding stuff in the environment). I wonder if Team Ninja is just including this camera to show certain people "See, a full control camera you havet constantly fiddle with in a fast action game like Ninja Gaiden sucks!"
So I think it is pretty safe to not call it a patch, IMO. Only a week or so until we can all try it and find out.
(And for the record, I have been playing the new ESPN NFL for close to twenty hours now, with no major bugs whatsoever. There are some definite interface and commentary quirks, but the gameplay has been perfectly solid. Would love for these bugs not to be there, but this game is easily one of the more complicated games around, so I can cut Visual Concepts some slack.)
Avoiding the tricky bit of what 'nature' is exactly (besides a popular marketing buzzword), you probably mean something like polyamorist here instead. There is probably a more scientific word that would work, too (maybe even just non-monogamist). But as another poster pointed out, marriage certainly isn't natural......eh, maybe the argument about what is 'natural' is the important bit after all.:D
And I am not sure if I agree with you about the purpose of these laws. They seem to be more religious in nature than anything, I suspect - plenty of civilized, Western nations have much younger ages of consent (IIRC Canada is like 14), and there doesn't seem to be any obvious harm from them. There could also be some element of gender feminist politicing involved, as they seem to be the other major pro-censorship group.
He actually was later arrested (or was being investigated, I don't entirely remember) for possessing a large number of photographs that could be considered child pornography. Apparently he is quite the collector of old porn pics (like from the early 20th century), and had purchased a few large collections from other people. Pretty standard for collectors like that, I guess. Apparently there were at least some pics of people that by current standards are underage - of course they weren't when the photos were taken (when did that start? the 70s, I think). And it didn't seem like there was any real evidence suggesting he sought these specific photos out - they just came with the rest of them.
All of this is pretty baseless, IMO, but yeah, Pee Wee Herman was at least in some trouble over some sex stuff (remotely) involving children. So though you are probably right, it is possible the original poster really did mean Pee Wee.
Console games haven't always been able to afford complete freedom with the camera
You couldn't be more off here on what the problem is. With the exception of a couple of gaming genres (only forced first-person perspective games, really), gamers don't want full freedom of the camera. It doesn't make the games any more fun, it just serves as a frustrating distraction to the core gameplay. Unless I purchased a game about using a camera (whether welded to a gun or not:D), I really don't want to constantly mess with one.
Why would I want full camera control in a 3D third-person action game, the genre which gets most camera complaints excepting platformers (which has similar problems)? A quick camera reset button in Ninja Gaiden is more than enough - I don't have enough hands or fingers to play a serious, fast-paced, difficult action game and still worry constantly about a camera.
Sure, some minimal control can be nice (to look around at some parts of the artwork/environment, or a quick 'behind-the-back' re-adjust if the automatic camera isn't working as well I would like it), but full camera control is usually terrible.
The real game camera problem is just that many developers still aren't any good at making them. Part of that is that the 3D gaming artform is young, and we are still learning what works well and what doesn't. It is a hard problem, with only a few known 'perfect elements' (that many developers still don't seem to even be aware of - imagine if only a quarter of working cinematographers knew how to use a camera correctly!).
EX1: Too often in games the non-player entities aren't aware of the camera perspectives (it should be part of their AI), so they attack from positions that the player can't see from, etc. This is obviously pretty stupid, but it still is a hard problem (you want a little surprise, after all). The enemies need to be aware of the what the player can see, and be pretty fair about that knowledge.
EX2: Zooming in the camera too far is a big problem - developers need to have the discipline to let their characters look less impressive (because of the bad resolution of the TV, though this is getting better) to fascilate better gameplay. Ninja Gaiden does this pretty well - the environments and character models are gorgeous, but Team Ninja still keeps the camera zoomed far out so that the situation is clear. Team Ninja could have zoomed things in like their Dead or Alive series, but that would have been stupid beyond belief. Many devs do just that, though (Devil May Cry is pretty bad with this.)
EX3: Probably the most obvious important technique, and the easiest, is that the player shouldn't be running towards the camera for any significant length of time. There are a couple of exceptional situations for this, of course (like running away from something, a la the whale in Sonic Adventure, or during some parts of horror games), but it is shocking how many games get this completely wrong. Devil May Cry is another bad example of this, though there are far worse cases.
EX4: Almost as obvious an issue - the camera needs to automatically track threats to some extent. You don't want the camera doing quick crazy 180 degree turns or the like (PC FPS gamers are fairly rare examples of people who aren't made sick by this, and their kind is almost completely unknown in places like Japan), but it can't require the player to constantly fiddle with. Otogi is an example of how not to do this - the camera is almost completely static, yet enemies swirl around the player from all sides (including above), oftentimes with fast charging attacks or projectiles that are completely off-camera. It has a rudimentary lock-on system, but it needs to be manually trigger and is paired with a pretty stupid combat tracking system (you basically won't attack a non-targeted enemy unless you are completely touching them). The camera will not look up or down at all.
So we know to some extent what makes a good camera in games, but too many devs seem ignorant of these elements. I suspect it will get better in the next few years (it already is), but I wouldn't be surprised if the early third-person 3D games are nearly unplayable to future generations.
Maybe they just don't like games that are massively repetitive, boring, really short, and filled with inane storyline sequences mixed with some pretty bad writing.
Uhhh FYI, Advance Wars is just a 'rerun' of a long-running console series, starting way back on the Famicom. It saw sequels on both Super Famicom and the original Gameboy. I am not sure how it happened, but other consoles also saw very similar games, like the classic Military Madness series on the PC Engine.
One of the reasons genres like turn-based strategy games work so well on previous portable systems (such as the GBA) is because the portables simply weren't up to doing many other genres. The controls of a GBA, in both number of buttons and movement method (smallish D-pad), just aren't very good for modern 3D racing games, 3D action games, fighting games, etc. The small low-resolution (i.e. less than a television) screen is also a factor.
IMO, that is the most exciting 'feature' of the PSP - we have here a portable that can handle stuff like 'real' racing and 'real' action games now, something that has been missing in the portable space for many years. The PSP has more than enough buttons (same as or more than a SNES, yes?). It has a very clear screen that is also an excellent size. It has analog control, which is the real big deal versus the DS. I will take real analog over a stylus almost any day of the week, and I am not remotely alone - who wants to play a Mario64 or MarioKart64 port with no analog control? Would I rather 'suffer' through a portable FPS game with some analog control (a la Goldeneye) or with a stylus that makes my 24-year-old male hand block the screen (a la no successful game I have ever heard of)?
Even better, most of these features make the PSP more suited for stuff like turn-based strategy games. Especially the better screen.
Obviously Sony could screw up the PSP (price and battery-life are important, if less crucial than many Nintendo fans claim). I am hardly a Sony fanboy (they piss me off far more often than not), but the PSP has a real shot at finally allowing some real genre variety again in the portable videogaming market. Just because Nintendo has traditionally chosen to make a cheaper and less capable portable system doesn't mean all portables have to be like that!
(As a historical aside, the original Gameboy had tons of quality action games and the like that you just don't see on its GBA successor. You had a good Metal Gear Solid game for example. Whether the GBA is missing these types of games because of the consoles moving to more advanced [i.e. 3D] versions of these genres, or the fact that apparently 90% of the GBA market is little kids who want franchised games or sequels is a question yet to be answered. I suspect the PSP might answer it, though...)
At least the last time id mentioned multiplayer it was said that Doom3 is peer-to-peer only. No servers needed (and they would be pretty silly with a 4 player limit). There was talk that this could change however. I suspect the engine is (or maybe more accurately will be) able to handle a server-client setup, because future games using it will probably do more with multiplayer. But I doubt Doom3 would see any benefit from this.
The rest of your points are pretty spot-on, but...
Face it US corporations usually produce lots of rather lousy non intuive sequels, whereas japanes companies used to go for the riskier sides and didnt rely entirely on sequels and shooters.
This really isn't fair or particularly true. Sure, Japan gets more weird or niche games overall, but outside of a few exceptions that doesn't mean they ever sold all that well. Looking at the twenty best-selling games in Japan so far this year (via Magic Box's recent news), I only see two games that aren't existing franchises or sequels. Maybe it used to be better, but I think if you actually look back you will see it has almost 'always' been like that in Japan - niche games do niche business, almost always, almost everywhere.
And US game devs have made lots of innovative games, it was just that in the past you were more likely to see them on a PC rather than a Japanese console. This is even more true for European devs.
(Animal Crossing is just a sequel to an N64 game that didn't see release in America. I would argue it certainly isn't a new franchise because of this, but it is debateable I suppose.)
Pikmin is certainly a noble attempt at creating a new setting, but come on - should we really only expect one new setting a console generation from Nintendo from now on? And even your example of a cel-shaded Zelda shows how conservative Nintendo is with creativity - when fans got a little miffed at the new direction, Nintendo PR went on and on how this was how Link always should have looked ("Just look at the old manuals!"). They didn't sell it as a new Zelda so much as they sold is a return to the original aesthetics of the series!
(And I won't even really get into just how derivative the 'new' Zelda look was of certain specific, popular anime and cartoons. This wasn't like Jet Set Radio, which had an interesting visual style inspired by anime, American comics, graffitti, etc.)
I guess the issue can be boiled down to a game example that I haven't even played: why did Dinosaur Planet need the Star Fox characters shoehorned in it? Are the Star Fox characters famous for hand-to-hand fighting with a staff, or exploring a planet via running? Why wouldn't Star Fox fans be mad that the game wasn't like ANY of the previous games in the series? It was just a particularly inept version of the same thing Nintendo has been doing with all sorts of games for quite a while.
You won't get me to really argue against not massively innovating new gameplay mechanics. Videogames aren't necessarily like films or music - when you find a really good way to control a character, you probably shouldn't arbitrarily stop doing things that way just to be different and innovative for a sequel. But that just makes the need for new characters and settings even more important!
You could be right about a gradual changing of design sensibility and the like at Nintendo. I still don't see it clearly, but I can see little things that may be signs of it. Only time will tell, of course, but I don't feel very optimistic about it. The moment Nintendo makes something vaguely original now (Metroid Prime, Made in Wario), they whore it out into as many sequels and spinoffs as they can, as fast as they can. And older series (like the side-scrolling Metroid games) which used to get an occasional update (3 games over 4 systems, for example), now get rapid-fire sequels. I think they are getting a little desperate, and it will only make them less willing to try new designs and settings...
Of course I understand franchising. That doesn't mean I can't be sick and tired of it. Nintendo certainly was big into franchising back in the SNES, NES, or Gameboy days, but they still created plenty of new series and settings, too (like Pokemon on GB, for example - that certainly was good for them!). I am not really seeing that kind of creativity from them anymore.
The fact that companies franchise the hell out of certain things doesn't also mean they can push it too far and customers get sick of it - this happens all of the time in music, movies, comics, games (look at the sales for the latest Tomb Raider and Resident Evil releases). Nintendo has pushed things too far - that is what their declining sales are partially about. Mickey Mouse isn't really selling things anymore either - Mario and him have reached a saturation point.
And you are certainly right that getting unique projects going can be hard. I probably would be easier on Nintendo if they weren't always ranting about how they are the Creative Company. But new characters and settings are important to me.
I love the Silent Hill series, but if the developers hadn't (apparently) moved to a new setting and set of characters for the upcoming sequel, I probably would have mostly ignored the game.
Xbox is solidly #2 in both the US and Europe, the two largest videogame markets in the world. Pay attention next time worldwide sales are hyped by the various console makers and you will see world-wide standings (which haven't changed since early this year - Xbox is still number 2).:D
The problem is that end of 2003 thing. This was true then - but a lot has changed in six months. In particular, immediate post-Christmas sales for Xbox were extraordinarily strong. The price-drop also gave it a nice boost. Combine that with Nintendo just not releasing any big titles recently...
Googling for links to current console sales numbers is MADNESS I have found, so I won't even try.:D You can trust me (and this has been publicized here and there - this is not just conjecture on my part), or you can just wait a month or so for one of the biggies to publicize world sales numbers again.
It certainly is a close race still, though, and you are dead on with your analysis of Japan.
And the lastest indicator of Japan's increasing videogame sales irrelevance: Silent Hill 4, lush with critical praise and hype, sold only around 50,000 copies in its first two weeks of release. It will easily sell five times more than that individually in both Europe and the USA.
Ignore the "Main Ram" number. Check out the official flyer for the Atomiswave at System16 - it clearly states it has 16 megs RAM, just like the DC. It also wouldn't surprise me if the rest of those numbers were wrong, too, though I imagine at least the sound one is correct.
I personally don't think the problem for porting the games to the Dreamcast comes from RAM size differences - going from the fast loading speed of a cartridge to a suboptimal CD-R speed would be the real issue that would require software reengineering.
A bigger deal is the 'couple more years to flawless' DC emulators out right now, as they could be quickly modified to run Atomiswave. I assume Sammy has created some pretty impressive copy-protection on these cartridges, which will theoretically protect them. Still seems silly to me, since I assume they plan to use this hardware for quite a few years - amateur ROM hackers are getting pretty damn good nowadays, and the pros are even better. And the working emulators will just make their job even easier. The best existing arcade board protection systems mostly rely on stuff like custom CPUs holding encrypted ROMs, which is just not something you can do with a cartridge system like this, IMO.
New arcade games (whether they go into an existing hardware system like Neogeo or Naomi, or not) simply have never cost $50, and they never will. To expect otherwise is ridiculous.
Emulator users aren't the real problem for SNK - as they themselves state, it is the actual real 'pirates' that are causing the problem. Bootleg arcade machine showing up a few days after the game's release is insane.
I admit I am not entirely parsing what you are saying there, but the Xbox does have a higher game attach rate than any other console (in the US, at least - I have no idea about other countries, though I imagine the numbers are similar in Europe). Almost double the attach rate of the Gamecube, if my memory serves correctly...
Yeah, and you would have to be a fool to not realize that a very small segment of the gaming market wages massive influence over word-of-mouth sales. 'Hardcore gamers' get games sold (via "This new game rules, check it out.", game journalism, etc.), and this segment mostly loves online gaming.
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If you know for a fact that the stock prices of companies involved with prisons are going to go up, aren't you morally obligated to your family and yourself to invest in that company?
No.
I typed up a long explanation of why this is so, but honestly, if you can't figure it out for yourself, words probably aren't going to do a damn bit of good.
Halflife was a bit more mature. They hired an actual writer.
You do realize id software did that for Doom3 as well, right? This has been public knowledge for at least two years now. (Looking at the credits, I believe it is Matthew J. Costello.)
And aside from the marines and (possibly) the ending, Half-life didn't really have any interesting story or setting elements. I am not done with it yet, but Doom3 certainly does a better job of establishing a certain feeling (being very very alone, very far from Earth and civilization).
the exclusive games that do exist are largely mediocre
Most of the exclusive games for PS2 are pretty mediocre, and it has far more of them than Xbox or GC.
Compare the XBox exclusive Blinx to the PS2 exclusive series Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper.
That's not really fair. Why wouldn't you use a quality example, like Voodoo Vince for Xbox?
Works both ways, too - what quality exclusive rail-shooters does PS2 have that compare to a masterpiece like Panzer Dragoon Orta?
All this system measuring is pretty pointless - just pick the system that has the games you want. You need a quality rail-shooter and (of course) already own Rez for DC, get an Xbox. Want more platformers, get a PS2. Etc. etc.
Nah, at E3 Nintendo revealed it is just one touch screen. No way they could make that big of a mistranslation. :D
Eh, the subject was Nintendo franchises. I know they are gunning for Gundam with Bandai (and hence most of Super Robot Taisen), but they aren't Nintendo-brand yet.
Some armchair critics will say that this stuff (especially the camera) should have been in the game in the first place.
Early reports (such as at IGN) are stating that the new camera, surprise surprise, is essentially useless in combat. It apparently mostly helps in the adventure sequences (ie finding stuff in the environment). I wonder if Team Ninja is just including this camera to show certain people "See, a full control camera you havet constantly fiddle with in a fast action game like Ninja Gaiden sucks!"
So I think it is pretty safe to not call it a patch, IMO. Only a week or so until we can all try it and find out.
(And for the record, I have been playing the new ESPN NFL for close to twenty hours now, with no major bugs whatsoever. There are some definite interface and commentary quirks, but the gameplay has been perfectly solid. Would love for these bugs not to be there, but this game is easily one of the more complicated games around, so I can cut Visual Concepts some slack.)
Man is by nature a polygamist
...eh, maybe the argument about what is 'natural' is the important bit after all. :D
Avoiding the tricky bit of what 'nature' is exactly (besides a popular marketing buzzword), you probably mean something like polyamorist here instead. There is probably a more scientific word that would work, too (maybe even just non-monogamist). But as another poster pointed out, marriage certainly isn't natural...
And I am not sure if I agree with you about the purpose of these laws. They seem to be more religious in nature than anything, I suspect - plenty of civilized, Western nations have much younger ages of consent (IIRC Canada is like 14), and there doesn't seem to be any obvious harm from them. There could also be some element of gender feminist politicing involved, as they seem to be the other major pro-censorship group.
He actually was later arrested (or was being investigated, I don't entirely remember) for possessing a large number of photographs that could be considered child pornography. Apparently he is quite the collector of old porn pics (like from the early 20th century), and had purchased a few large collections from other people. Pretty standard for collectors like that, I guess. Apparently there were at least some pics of people that by current standards are underage - of course they weren't when the photos were taken (when did that start? the 70s, I think). And it didn't seem like there was any real evidence suggesting he sought these specific photos out - they just came with the rest of them.
All of this is pretty baseless, IMO, but yeah, Pee Wee Herman was at least in some trouble over some sex stuff (remotely) involving children. So though you are probably right, it is possible the original poster really did mean Pee Wee.
Console games haven't always been able to afford complete freedom with the camera
:D), I really don't want to constantly mess with one.
You couldn't be more off here on what the problem is. With the exception of a couple of gaming genres (only forced first-person perspective games, really), gamers don't want full freedom of the camera. It doesn't make the games any more fun, it just serves as a frustrating distraction to the core gameplay. Unless I purchased a game about using a camera (whether welded to a gun or not
Why would I want full camera control in a 3D third-person action game, the genre which gets most camera complaints excepting platformers (which has similar problems)? A quick camera reset button in Ninja Gaiden is more than enough - I don't have enough hands or fingers to play a serious, fast-paced, difficult action game and still worry constantly about a camera.
Sure, some minimal control can be nice (to look around at some parts of the artwork/environment, or a quick 'behind-the-back' re-adjust if the automatic camera isn't working as well I would like it), but full camera control is usually terrible.
The real game camera problem is just that many developers still aren't any good at making them. Part of that is that the 3D gaming artform is young, and we are still learning what works well and what doesn't. It is a hard problem, with only a few known 'perfect elements' (that many developers still don't seem to even be aware of - imagine if only a quarter of working cinematographers knew how to use a camera correctly!).
EX1: Too often in games the non-player entities aren't aware of the camera perspectives (it should be part of their AI), so they attack from positions that the player can't see from, etc. This is obviously pretty stupid, but it still is a hard problem (you want a little surprise, after all). The enemies need to be aware of the what the player can see, and be pretty fair about that knowledge.
EX2: Zooming in the camera too far is a big problem - developers need to have the discipline to let their characters look less impressive (because of the bad resolution of the TV, though this is getting better) to fascilate better gameplay. Ninja Gaiden does this pretty well - the environments and character models are gorgeous, but Team Ninja still keeps the camera zoomed far out so that the situation is clear. Team Ninja could have zoomed things in like their Dead or Alive series, but that would have been stupid beyond belief. Many devs do just that, though (Devil May Cry is pretty bad with this.)
EX3: Probably the most obvious important technique, and the easiest, is that the player shouldn't be running towards the camera for any significant length of time. There are a couple of exceptional situations for this, of course (like running away from something, a la the whale in Sonic Adventure, or during some parts of horror games), but it is shocking how many games get this completely wrong. Devil May Cry is another bad example of this, though there are far worse cases.
EX4: Almost as obvious an issue - the camera needs to automatically track threats to some extent. You don't want the camera doing quick crazy 180 degree turns or the like (PC FPS gamers are fairly rare examples of people who aren't made sick by this, and their kind is almost completely unknown in places like Japan), but it can't require the player to constantly fiddle with. Otogi is an example of how not to do this - the camera is almost completely static, yet enemies swirl around the player from all sides (including above), oftentimes with fast charging attacks or projectiles that are completely off-camera. It has a rudimentary lock-on system, but it needs to be manually trigger and is paired with a pretty stupid combat tracking system (you basically won't attack a non-targeted enemy unless you are completely touching them). The camera will not look up or down at all.
So we know to some extent what makes a good camera in games, but too many devs seem ignorant of these elements. I suspect it will get better in the next few years (it already is), but I wouldn't be surprised if the early third-person 3D games are nearly unplayable to future generations.
Maybe they just don't like games that are massively repetitive, boring, really short, and filled with inane storyline sequences mixed with some pretty bad writing.
It did have some okay graphics, though.
Uhhh FYI, Advance Wars is just a 'rerun' of a long-running console series, starting way back on the Famicom. It saw sequels on both Super Famicom and the original Gameboy. I am not sure how it happened, but other consoles also saw very similar games, like the classic Military Madness series on the PC Engine.
One of the reasons genres like turn-based strategy games work so well on previous portable systems (such as the GBA) is because the portables simply weren't up to doing many other genres. The controls of a GBA, in both number of buttons and movement method (smallish D-pad), just aren't very good for modern 3D racing games, 3D action games, fighting games, etc. The small low-resolution (i.e. less than a television) screen is also a factor.
IMO, that is the most exciting 'feature' of the PSP - we have here a portable that can handle stuff like 'real' racing and 'real' action games now, something that has been missing in the portable space for many years. The PSP has more than enough buttons (same as or more than a SNES, yes?). It has a very clear screen that is also an excellent size. It has analog control, which is the real big deal versus the DS. I will take real analog over a stylus almost any day of the week, and I am not remotely alone - who wants to play a Mario64 or MarioKart64 port with no analog control? Would I rather 'suffer' through a portable FPS game with some analog control (a la Goldeneye) or with a stylus that makes my 24-year-old male hand block the screen (a la no successful game I have ever heard of)?
Even better, most of these features make the PSP more suited for stuff like turn-based strategy games. Especially the better screen.
Obviously Sony could screw up the PSP (price and battery-life are important, if less crucial than many Nintendo fans claim). I am hardly a Sony fanboy (they piss me off far more often than not), but the PSP has a real shot at finally allowing some real genre variety again in the portable videogaming market. Just because Nintendo has traditionally chosen to make a cheaper and less capable portable system doesn't mean all portables have to be like that!
(As a historical aside, the original Gameboy had tons of quality action games and the like that you just don't see on its GBA successor. You had a good Metal Gear Solid game for example. Whether the GBA is missing these types of games because of the consoles moving to more advanced [i.e. 3D] versions of these genres, or the fact that apparently 90% of the GBA market is little kids who want franchised games or sequels is a question yet to be answered. I suspect the PSP might answer it, though...)
At least the last time id mentioned multiplayer it was said that Doom3 is peer-to-peer only. No servers needed (and they would be pretty silly with a 4 player limit). There was talk that this could change however. I suspect the engine is (or maybe more accurately will be) able to handle a server-client setup, because future games using it will probably do more with multiplayer. But I doubt Doom3 would see any benefit from this.
The rest of your points are pretty spot-on, but...
Face it US corporations usually produce lots of rather lousy non intuive sequels, whereas japanes companies used to go for the riskier sides and didnt rely entirely on sequels and shooters.
This really isn't fair or particularly true. Sure, Japan gets more weird or niche games overall, but outside of a few exceptions that doesn't mean they ever sold all that well. Looking at the twenty best-selling games in Japan so far this year (via Magic Box's recent news), I only see two games that aren't existing franchises or sequels. Maybe it used to be better, but I think if you actually look back you will see it has almost 'always' been like that in Japan - niche games do niche business, almost always, almost everywhere.
And US game devs have made lots of innovative games, it was just that in the past you were more likely to see them on a PC rather than a Japanese console. This is even more true for European devs.
(Animal Crossing is just a sequel to an N64 game that didn't see release in America. I would argue it certainly isn't a new franchise because of this, but it is debateable I suppose.)
Pikmin is certainly a noble attempt at creating a new setting, but come on - should we really only expect one new setting a console generation from Nintendo from now on? And even your example of a cel-shaded Zelda shows how conservative Nintendo is with creativity - when fans got a little miffed at the new direction, Nintendo PR went on and on how this was how Link always should have looked ("Just look at the old manuals!"). They didn't sell it as a new Zelda so much as they sold is a return to the original aesthetics of the series!
(And I won't even really get into just how derivative the 'new' Zelda look was of certain specific, popular anime and cartoons. This wasn't like Jet Set Radio, which had an interesting visual style inspired by anime, American comics, graffitti, etc.)
I guess the issue can be boiled down to a game example that I haven't even played: why did Dinosaur Planet need the Star Fox characters shoehorned in it? Are the Star Fox characters famous for hand-to-hand fighting with a staff, or exploring a planet via running? Why wouldn't Star Fox fans be mad that the game wasn't like ANY of the previous games in the series? It was just a particularly inept version of the same thing Nintendo has been doing with all sorts of games for quite a while.
You won't get me to really argue against not massively innovating new gameplay mechanics. Videogames aren't necessarily like films or music - when you find a really good way to control a character, you probably shouldn't arbitrarily stop doing things that way just to be different and innovative for a sequel. But that just makes the need for new characters and settings even more important!
You could be right about a gradual changing of design sensibility and the like at Nintendo. I still don't see it clearly, but I can see little things that may be signs of it. Only time will tell, of course, but I don't feel very optimistic about it. The moment Nintendo makes something vaguely original now (Metroid Prime, Made in Wario), they whore it out into as many sequels and spinoffs as they can, as fast as they can. And older series (like the side-scrolling Metroid games) which used to get an occasional update (3 games over 4 systems, for example), now get rapid-fire sequels. I think they are getting a little desperate, and it will only make them less willing to try new designs and settings...
Of course I understand franchising. That doesn't mean I can't be sick and tired of it. Nintendo certainly was big into franchising back in the SNES, NES, or Gameboy days, but they still created plenty of new series and settings, too (like Pokemon on GB, for example - that certainly was good for them!). I am not really seeing that kind of creativity from them anymore.
The fact that companies franchise the hell out of certain things doesn't also mean they can push it too far and customers get sick of it - this happens all of the time in music, movies, comics, games (look at the sales for the latest Tomb Raider and Resident Evil releases). Nintendo has pushed things too far - that is what their declining sales are partially about. Mickey Mouse isn't really selling things anymore either - Mario and him have reached a saturation point.
And you are certainly right that getting unique projects going can be hard. I probably would be easier on Nintendo if they weren't always ranting about how they are the Creative Company. But new characters and settings are important to me.
I love the Silent Hill series, but if the developers hadn't (apparently) moved to a new setting and set of characters for the upcoming sequel, I probably would have mostly ignored the game.
Xbox is solidly #2 in both the US and Europe, the two largest videogame markets in the world. Pay attention next time worldwide sales are hyped by the various console makers and you will see world-wide standings (which haven't changed since early this year - Xbox is still number 2). :D
The problem is that end of 2003 thing. This was true then - but a lot has changed in six months. In particular, immediate post-Christmas sales for Xbox were extraordinarily strong. The price-drop also gave it a nice boost. Combine that with Nintendo just not releasing any big titles recently...
:D You can trust me (and this has been publicized here and there - this is not just conjecture on my part), or you can just wait a month or so for one of the biggies to publicize world sales numbers again.
Googling for links to current console sales numbers is MADNESS I have found, so I won't even try.
It certainly is a close race still, though, and you are dead on with your analysis of Japan.
Nostalgia is very powerful for some people, especially for some particularly hardcore players like your average videogame reviewer.
I personally am sick of Nintendo's complete lack of character or setting design creativity, and I am increasingly not alone in this.
Ummm, Xbox is number two world-wide.
And the lastest indicator of Japan's increasing videogame sales irrelevance: Silent Hill 4, lush with critical praise and hype, sold only around 50,000 copies in its first two weeks of release. It will easily sell five times more than that individually in both Europe and the USA.
It is a bug (and a pretty bad one, IMO). Not an intentionally stupid design decision.
Ignore the "Main Ram" number. Check out the official flyer for the Atomiswave at System16 - it clearly states it has 16 megs RAM, just like the DC. It also wouldn't surprise me if the rest of those numbers were wrong, too, though I imagine at least the sound one is correct.
I personally don't think the problem for porting the games to the Dreamcast comes from RAM size differences - going from the fast loading speed of a cartridge to a suboptimal CD-R speed would be the real issue that would require software reengineering.
A bigger deal is the 'couple more years to flawless' DC emulators out right now, as they could be quickly modified to run Atomiswave. I assume Sammy has created some pretty impressive copy-protection on these cartridges, which will theoretically protect them. Still seems silly to me, since I assume they plan to use this hardware for quite a few years - amateur ROM hackers are getting pretty damn good nowadays, and the pros are even better. And the working emulators will just make their job even easier. The best existing arcade board protection systems mostly rely on stuff like custom CPUs holding encrypted ROMs, which is just not something you can do with a cartridge system like this, IMO.
$50 a game is expensive, but reasonable. No?
New arcade games (whether they go into an existing hardware system like Neogeo or Naomi, or not) simply have never cost $50, and they never will. To expect otherwise is ridiculous.
Emulator users aren't the real problem for SNK - as they themselves state, it is the actual real 'pirates' that are causing the problem. Bootleg arcade machine showing up a few days after the game's release is insane.
I admit I am not entirely parsing what you are saying there, but the Xbox does have a higher game attach rate than any other console (in the US, at least - I have no idea about other countries, though I imagine the numbers are similar in Europe). Almost double the attach rate of the Gamecube, if my memory serves correctly...
Yeah, and you would have to be a fool to not realize that a very small segment of the gaming market wages massive influence over word-of-mouth sales. 'Hardcore gamers' get games sold (via "This new game rules, check it out.", game journalism, etc.), and this segment mostly loves online gaming.