Nintendo is biding their time so that people can get used to how awesome their system is before they drop the price hammer down.
I'm not saying that the price won't be more than expected, I fully admit that it very well may be. But that strategy works exactly the same even if it's as low as anybody hopes. It's like what they do in infomercials -- talk about the product for a while, then say "and all this can be yours for just $19.95!"
Basically, letting the anticipation build would soften the impact of a $300+ price tag, but it would also enhance the awesomeness of a $200 price point. Now that I think about how I personally would react to a price announcement, I'd say that waiting was the right thing to do no matter WHAT the price is, assuming most people are impressed by what they see.
I noticed that about Disaster: Day of Crisis, too. I have a feeling that it's just really early in production, there may not really be much to show. It was really important to put it up there, though, because that is NOT a kiddy game, it's not even the tiniest bit cartoony, but it's a Nintendo first-party title. It's not what they're known for, but they're doing it. It might be a very real step in ditching the 'kids only' mentality of so many potential customers. Maybe I'm wrong, but seeing that Nintendo themselves are working on stuff like that really hits the point home a lot harder than having Capcom make your less-kiddy-looking games for you.
Note that I'm personally of the opinion that Nintendo is very much a company that makes games that are fun for everybody. I don't need convincing, so I could be way off base.
I know a lot of people are saying Nintendo's going to announce their NEXT big innovation and blow Sony's rip-off controller feature out of the water. And I'm not going to argue with that, not really.
But Nintendo's demos of their OWN controller are going to blow Sony's controller out of the water all on their lonesome. Anybody who's been following this knows that there will almost certainly be a demo of swinging Link's sword with that thing! Hell, it might even be the game that the winner of that contest gets to play, to show how easy it is to use.
There's nothing that you can do with Sony's controller that will come CLOSE to competing with that.
When the last battleplan was posted, the forums FILLED with people posting things along the lines of "Forget new content until you fix the servers!" When this one was posted, they filled with "What? That was all about the servers! No new content?"
I work in a bookstore. I know MANY of the customers well enough to just chat with them about things. People of all ages (mid teens to late 70's), males and females.
Yesterday, I was curious, so I started asking these people, "Hey, I'm having an argument with a friend, maybe you can help me settle it, would you be comfortable buying and owning a product called a 'Wii'?" Three people said sure. Fourteen said no.
I also wrote it down and asked some people (mostly fellow employees) how they think it would be pronounced. Half of the people got it right. (Five out of ten.) The others said "Why" or "Why-eye".
It's not statistically significant, but I still think it's telling.
Now, I provided the sound and the spelling separately, which I do think really hurts it. It's better if they're provided together. But even that's a huge problem. The chance to provide both simultaneously is missing in most contexts.
A game is simply a set of rules. Video games may use an incredibly complicated set of rules, but they're still just a set of rules and not art. Yes, they may contain a back-story (Monopoly has a backstory where you're a real estate broker trying to gain a monopoly on real estate in a city), there may be a story that's unveiled while playing, and the story may be considered art - but the game itself will never be art.
Okay...what about interactive fiction? Those are games, but generally the 'gameplay' is absolutely inextricable from the story.
A big part of it is...just getting into it. You have to get to know the characters and the style, and you'll start to appreciate it. That's not really something that everybody can/wants to do, so, like anything, it's not for everybody.
Did you read what happened, though? Harlan started it, not them. Asking somebody if they even went to high school (with the obvious intent of implying that the other person is a moron) up on stage in front of a ton of people isn't exactly what I'd call 'nice.'
A lengthy forum post on the lack of multiplayer in the game can be found here. It provides the reasons that it was left out, and they make a lot of sense. But he also is careful to say that multi is not a part of the base game, and even says the architecture was designed to handle it. So...we'll see.
I blew out one by putting the ram in backwards (note: WHAT? HOW DID YOU DO THAT! THEY ONLY FIT IN ONE WAY!. Thats what I thought. MAN! You wanna see fireworks? Try putting ram in the back of an Antec Aria case in a dark room. You hear a click and think its in. You think "That was a little tough to get in, but hey! it made a click!". Have you ever seen a northbridge chip explode?)
YES! Somebody else has done this! Words on a screen cannot express the relief I feel.
Have you ever tried to use GIMP while you also had four or five OTHER programs running at the same time? If I'm doing web design, I usually have at LEAST three other windows open just for that -- often more. Makes you really appreciate the MDI interface. Really. A lot. Just switch tasks ONCE and you know everything you need is right there, and things unrelated to editing images isn't.
People are really, really pissed about this apparently.
I just buy games to have fun. If there are ads, I ignore them -- I'm not so damn uptight that seeing a graphic is going to ruin my enjoyment.
Sometimes, ads make me feel a little more into the game. Not often, no. But it happens. I'm not playing games as an escape, I'm playing games as simple recreation.
If you let something like that get you as incredibly upset as some people here are, I really think you might want to step away from games altogether for a little while. Seriously, if an ad for shaving cream is enough to make you think about the real world and how much you hate it, figure out a way to make that better.
Lighten up. Petty shit can't bother you unless you let it.
Heh. You know, just last week I was running around with my level 52 priest, and there was the most insane server lag spike I'd ever seen. I suddenly died when the lag cleared, to an enemy I never even got a chance to SEE.
Hardcore servers don't work well in a game where things like that can happen.
They aren't using emulation - XBox 360 owners get to download new game binaries coded for the 360 because Microsoft knew emulation would be a bad way to go.
If this were true, this problem would never have been able to happen.
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Nintendo is biding their time so that people can get used to how awesome their system is before they drop the price hammer down.
I'm not saying that the price won't be more than expected, I fully admit that it very well may be. But that strategy works exactly the same even if it's as low as anybody hopes. It's like what they do in infomercials -- talk about the product for a while, then say "and all this can be yours for just $19.95!"
Basically, letting the anticipation build would soften the impact of a $300+ price tag, but it would also enhance the awesomeness of a $200 price point. Now that I think about how I personally would react to a price announcement, I'd say that waiting was the right thing to do no matter WHAT the price is, assuming most people are impressed by what they see.
But we'll see...at some point.
Well I'm already plotting how I can secure my wife's approval for spending two hundred dollars or so on a console... NOt going to be easy.
I feel so lucky. I convinced my girlfriend to watch the conference with me, live, and she has now decided that we're each getting one.
I noticed that about Disaster: Day of Crisis, too. I have a feeling that it's just really early in production, there may not really be much to show. It was really important to put it up there, though, because that is NOT a kiddy game, it's not even the tiniest bit cartoony, but it's a Nintendo first-party title. It's not what they're known for, but they're doing it. It might be a very real step in ditching the 'kids only' mentality of so many potential customers. Maybe I'm wrong, but seeing that Nintendo themselves are working on stuff like that really hits the point home a lot harder than having Capcom make your less-kiddy-looking games for you.
Note that I'm personally of the opinion that Nintendo is very much a company that makes games that are fun for everybody. I don't need convincing, so I could be way off base.
I know a lot of people are saying Nintendo's going to announce their NEXT big innovation and blow Sony's rip-off controller feature out of the water. And I'm not going to argue with that, not really.
But Nintendo's demos of their OWN controller are going to blow Sony's controller out of the water all on their lonesome. Anybody who's been following this knows that there will almost certainly be a demo of swinging Link's sword with that thing! Hell, it might even be the game that the winner of that contest gets to play, to show how easy it is to use.
There's nothing that you can do with Sony's controller that will come CLOSE to competing with that.
Uh...you know it's going to cost money to transfer a character, right? You won't want to just hop around constantly.
When the last battleplan was posted, the forums FILLED with people posting things along the lines of "Forget new content until you fix the servers!" When this one was posted, they filled with "What? That was all about the servers! No new content?"
Oh, be careful, now -- I have anecdotal evidence!
I work in a bookstore. I know MANY of the customers well enough to just chat with them about things. People of all ages (mid teens to late 70's), males and females.
Yesterday, I was curious, so I started asking these people, "Hey, I'm having an argument with a friend, maybe you can help me settle it, would you be comfortable buying and owning a product called a 'Wii'?" Three people said sure. Fourteen said no.
I also wrote it down and asked some people (mostly fellow employees) how they think it would be pronounced. Half of the people got it right. (Five out of ten.) The others said "Why" or "Why-eye".
It's not statistically significant, but I still think it's telling.
Now, I provided the sound and the spelling separately, which I do think really hurts it. It's better if they're provided together. But even that's a huge problem. The chance to provide both simultaneously is missing in most contexts.
Bioshock the spiritual successor to the SS series, so we'll just have to see how that lives up to expectations when it comes out.
OT, I know, but everything I saw in the latest CGW on it gives me great hope.
A game is simply a set of rules. Video games may use an incredibly complicated set of rules, but they're still just a set of rules and not art. Yes, they may contain a back-story (Monopoly has a backstory where you're a real estate broker trying to gain a monopoly on real estate in a city), there may be a story that's unveiled while playing, and the story may be considered art - but the game itself will never be art.
Okay...what about interactive fiction? Those are games, but generally the 'gameplay' is absolutely inextricable from the story.
It's best to avoid making such broad statements.
A big part of it is...just getting into it. You have to get to know the characters and the style, and you'll start to appreciate it. That's not really something that everybody can/wants to do, so, like anything, it's not for everybody.
Did you read what happened, though? Harlan started it, not them. Asking somebody if they even went to high school (with the obvious intent of implying that the other person is a moron) up on stage in front of a ton of people isn't exactly what I'd call 'nice.'
A lengthy forum post on the lack of multiplayer in the game can be found here. It provides the reasons that it was left out, and they make a lot of sense. But he also is careful to say that multi is not a part of the base game, and even says the architecture was designed to handle it. So...we'll see.
I blew out one by putting the ram in backwards (note: WHAT? HOW DID YOU DO THAT! THEY ONLY FIT IN ONE WAY!. Thats what I thought. MAN! You wanna see fireworks? Try putting ram in the back of an Antec Aria case in a dark room. You hear a click and think its in. You think "That was a little tough to get in, but hey! it made a click!". Have you ever seen a northbridge chip explode?)
YES! Somebody else has done this! Words on a screen cannot express the relief I feel.
This argument makes me laugh a little.
Have you ever tried to use GIMP while you also had four or five OTHER programs running at the same time? If I'm doing web design, I usually have at LEAST three other windows open just for that -- often more. Makes you really appreciate the MDI interface. Really. A lot. Just switch tasks ONCE and you know everything you need is right there, and things unrelated to editing images isn't.
People are really, really pissed about this apparently.
I just buy games to have fun. If there are ads, I ignore them -- I'm not so damn uptight that seeing a graphic is going to ruin my enjoyment.
Sometimes, ads make me feel a little more into the game. Not often, no. But it happens. I'm not playing games as an escape, I'm playing games as simple recreation.
If you let something like that get you as incredibly upset as some people here are, I really think you might want to step away from games altogether for a little while. Seriously, if an ad for shaving cream is enough to make you think about the real world and how much you hate it, figure out a way to make that better.
Lighten up. Petty shit can't bother you unless you let it.
They didn't shut down THIS guild. They just aren't allowed to advertise in public, in-game channels.
It does seem like the kind of tech that would end up having greater use OUTSIDE of spaceflight.
...Did you even play Pikmin? It's as much thrid-person adventure as RTS -- you only control one character.
Heh. You know, just last week I was running around with my level 52 priest, and there was the most insane server lag spike I'd ever seen. I suddenly died when the lag cleared, to an enemy I never even got a chance to SEE.
Hardcore servers don't work well in a game where things like that can happen.
That was two advantages.
I can't believe nobody said that earlier.
Show me the "brilliant physicists" that have published four papers in one year, each individually deserving of a Nobel Prize.
If there weren't OTHER physicists publishing similar papers first, perhaps some physicists would. That's the point.
The only similarity I see is the fact that it takes place on Earth...
It could be an attachment.
They aren't using emulation - XBox 360 owners get to download new game binaries coded for the 360 because Microsoft knew emulation would be a bad way to go.
If this were true, this problem would never have been able to happen.