Quick Googling reveals that this rumour about the Wii U's lack of power, from 'an anonymous developer' (probably one with a vested interest in the Wii U failing), is complete BS.
Crytek founder Avni Yerli: The hardware is "very good". "Our guys in Nottingham, they are very happy with their tests on the dev kits and they're excited about it."
Tekken designer Katsuhiro Harada: Very 'impressed by the 60fps running of the game (Tekken) on the Wii U'
Vigil Games: “We had the game at the same level as high end pc version in a matter of days and a few lines of code got the game up and running on tablet in 5 mins.”
Gearbox: "The Wii U version (of Aliens: Colonial Marines) has so much more to offer... no other platform can do what the Wii U can do. The machine itself will be one of the best looking versions of the game [sic] because they’ve got more RAM than some of the other things [platforms]“, says Martel. “...they’ve got this really great processor.”
Epic Games: “It will do things current HD consoles simply cant do its going to be a powerful box.”
”EA: “Wii U is not a transitional platform, it is a true next generation system.”
THQ: “WiiU is just alot more powerful than current HD consoles it does 1080p very easy.”
When the Wii U launches later in 2012, and comes with a tablet/touchscreen controller able to stream content from the console. So you can play video games or watch Netflix or Hulu on your tablet controller, allowing your elderly grandpa to 'veg out and channel surf' on the TV.
Sure you won't have an online community as robust as X-Box Live, but now that we know their performance specs are comparable (the Xbox may be up to 20% more powerful - thats like a PS2 to Original Xbox difference), we know that most 3rd party games will end up on both systems, and you will be able to play online on Wii U for free, AND buy used games.
Because when no one had digital clocks, people did not stay up so late thinking that their clock will get them awake. Everyone was up at sunrise because they went to sleep shortly after nightfall (no later than 10PM). They only scheduled meetings for reasonable times when everyone would be awake, like 10AM.
With the tablet touch screen controller, Diablo 3 would be amazing, plus it could have graphics somewhat on par with the PC version. They gave the N64 Starcraft so anything is possible. Come on Nintendo drop a wad of cash off at Blizzard HQ.
Both the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS used ARM7 and ARM9 chips. Now that Nintendo is using a different company from Japan to produce the architecture for the upcoming 3DS, perhaps Microsoft has decided to get into the handheld console race. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple or PC-related plans. This is the beginnings of X-Boy
Because they certainly could not have had motion controls on a less powerful system, like for instance, the PSP, or even a GameCube-level home console....
Does anyone here on/. have a 3D television at home? Has it been worth it so far?
Dungeon Keeper? That game ruled - 3rd person RTS that could turn into a first person game whenever you wanted. Imagine if that concept had been added to other RTS games that came out later - Warcraft 3, Age of Empires, etc.
Hell, port the original games on Steam, WiiWare and the new download service on the DSi. It's a NO BRAINER EA! Both the Wii and DS have great interfaces for playing RTS/FPS games.
This game review feels like a book report. Lots of "here's the game and the story", and very little "here's whats good and what's not". Other than sub-par AI, which is standard for most games of this nature, why doesn't the game work for you? From your description, it sounds pretty cool, with two full-featured story modes and multiple classes. Other than the AI, the only major drawbacks you mention are that the art is "lackluster" which I guess means that if you've played other medieval fantasy games you won't see anything new, and that the game won't attract people who aren't already LotR fans. So, are you actually using a 10 point scale properly, and saying this is a decent, average game? Or are you using the scale that most online review sites use where everything under a 7 is a horrible travesty?
In case you are a canuck and aren't clicking every link you see in TFS, this is NOT the Canadian CSIS, which for the information of those outside of Canada, is the Canadian CIA - our government intelligence organization.
The best stuff will continue to get sequels every 3-5 years, and the sequels will almost always be better than the originals now unless they're like Mario and Final Fantasy - changing almost everything completely with each release. If a bad change was made, people will stick to the originals anyway. But even Mario and Final Fantasy games each stand up individually no matter how different will be able to stand the test of time (One can argue that FF8-12 and Mario Sunshine won't hold up). When something looks like it might fade away into obscurity (Mario64, FF1-6) they're just going to update it and re-release it on handhelds.
PC games will never have to stand the test of time because everyone still plays all the older games anyway cause nothing has come out to dethrone StarCraft/HalfLife/Diablo2/DeusEx/UnrealTournament/Counterstrike/TheSims in the last 5 or more years. Spore, Diablo3 and Starcraft2 might. But no FPSs will dethrone the classics because new FPSs all require large hardware upgrades and the classics can run on anyone's PC without upgrading. Plus everyone's friends are still playing the same things. Also, nothing's going to stop WoW in terms of MMOs, which are basically immune to obscurity anyway unless the given company dies.
And Spore, Diablo3, and Starcraft2 are all basically sequels to classics which, if successful, mean that those franchises enter Mario and Final Fantasy territory, and if unsuccessful, will peter out after 4 years and everyone will still be playing Diablo2/Starcraft/TheSims.
Coming soon to your DS - a brand new game from Capcom. Now you too can experience what it's like to hear appeal after appeal on Bush administration pet projects. Over 700 hours of game time with our new RealPaperwork Engine! Unlockable characters like Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Colbert!
No objections to that!
Maybe that CEO should be aware that McDonald's has a deal with Nintendo to put N64s and GameCubes in their PlayPlace areas, and that they've also made it completely kid-friendly to play their DS systems online with McDonalds' WiFi connection.
It's a little hard to access all the info so far, so here it is. In US$:
Wii-Mote: $35
Nunchuck: $20
Virtual Console Controller: $20
Wii Sports on its own: $40
Most Wii Games: $50
In Japan, the Wii comes out on Dec. 2, for 25000 Yen (212 $US) and comes with a single Wiimote.
In North America, the Wii comes out on Nov. 18, for $250 US ($299 CDN) and comes with two Wiimotes, and Wii Sports (a compilation of golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and boxin)
Actually, I think that has been scrapped. It was an idea early in the development of the Revolution, but since it was brought up there has been no mention of it at all. Many sites such as IGN have had good looks at the Wii and have reported not seeing any output port for computer monitors. Actually, I think that it was rumoured to have the port before Nintendo had finalized the controller for the Wii. With the way the Wii-mote now works, it would be difficult to play most games on a PC monitor anyway.
Well, I was assuming it wouldn't get past it before 2008. There's a huge head start, and may developers are choosing the 360 over the PS3 when deciding on what platform to put their game. Many of those games won't make it to Wii based on the Wii's audience, and it's hardware capabilities. And those 360 exclusives should keep it ahead for the next couple of years. If, however, the Wii has more games than the 360 by 2008, then there's a good chance that the Wii will overtake the 360 by the end of the generation in 2009/2010.
Well, most analysts have predicted that the Wii would launch either mid-November (the 15th being thrown around a lot), November 1st, or sometime around Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. With this news that production has been going strong for almost two months, I think the earlier date is much more likely. If Nintendo can take advantage of a month's head start on the actual holiday season, it pretty much guarantees them second place worldwide behind the 360 until at least the end of summer 2007, and likely well into 2008. If the PS3 can't ship their 6 million before Nintendo ships theirs, it doesn't matter about demand. Plus, whichever console sees the most sales between November 2006 and March 2007 will undoubtedly get the most developer support, which will lead to an even stronger holiday season 2007. By January 1st 2008, the "winner" of this generation will have basically been decided. At that point, as we've seen with generations past, whoever has the most games wins.
If you want a good comparison number, the average minimum wage between all the provinces of Canada is about $6.95/hr CDN. With today's exchange rate, this equals to a national average minimum wage of $6.15 US. You guys are getting jipped.
I'm not sure why no one has mentioned Killer 7. It's probably the best example ever of a game designed to "disturb" the player. Not in a "horror" way, the game isn't scary - but truly disturbing. Watching a girl slit her wrists, seeing some of the end bosses, and generally the whole game just makes my skin crawl. Has anyone else played this game and want to back me up?
The Dreamcast was pretty much a done deal before Xbox hit the market. It sounds like another case of "Oh, Nintendo doesn't matter in the history of video games because they r teh kidd1!" SEGA failed because the PS1 and PS2 overhyped, and Nintendo got out of the CD add-on game early, leaving the SEGA CD to rot in a market that didn't exist: "People who want a $100+ add-on for a system that didn't have Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy and Donkey Kong Country." SEGA then took the rest of their money, and instead of saving it for the next gen, they decided to kick start a new gen early twice in a row with the Saturn and the Dreamcast. These, as I mentioned before, were killed almost exclusively by Sony advertising and promoting the PS1 and PS2 as machines more powerful than God.
Nintendo had their own fanbase that didn't leave them and didn't buy into the "mature games" fad, mostly because they were actually really young, or really liked FPS games, because the N64 basically only had FPS games and kids games, so that's why Nintendo's still here. That and Game Boy. It was just enough to let Nintendo try again with the Cube, where they got more kinds of games, almost killed the kiddy image, and then still got third place thanks to Microsoft who stole all the FPS games other than Timesplitters (because Free Radical are Nintendo fanboys at heart).
"Seriously, when was the latest "new idea" you saw with regards to gameplay?"
Super Monkey Ball - inspired the much lauded Katamari Damacy in obvious ways. Pikmin Donkey Konga THE FREAKIN NINTENDO DS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Nintendogs, Brain Training, Pac Pix, Kirby DS, Yoshi Touch and Go... *sigh* The Sony EyeToy The Nintendo Wii Goldeneye 007 Metroid Prime Eternal Darkness' sanity meter WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006's GM Mode - it's a freakin marketing video game! Are you even paying attention to anything out in the last 10 years? Looked at Nintendo lately? What do you think their point is? It's basically: "Something new has to be done soon or else no new gamers will ever be created, and the market will be even more stale from the latest cars'n'guns'n'thugz game."
"Everything I can think of these days is a variation on the same general idea (other than flight/driving "sims" of course). The last truly interesting and original game concept was over 10 years ago..."
It's true that in 1996, 10 years ago, original game concepts were very common, it's because Nintendo released the analog joystick on the N64 controller and Sony promptly stuck 2 onto the PlayStation. Noone had done something like Twisted Metal or 1080 Snowboarding or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or Mario 64 before. The problem with this gen is that there's no massive gap like there was between 2D and 3D, so Sony and MS have invented the theory that HD picture is the next big step, and Nintendo is saying "wait, if it's HD that's the next big thing, what will that change in terms of gameplay? I think you guys are wrong on this... lets make a better controller so everyone can play, not just geeks and college guys"
"Given that, the only real way to distinguish yourself as far as marketing goes, when limited to a fixed number of game themes, is by graphical or audio superiority. This costs money."
Or, you know, create new forms of control like a touch screen or a camera or a microphone or a controller that detects its position in 3D space, or a bongo drum set, or fucking DDR!
"Sad really... if someone was to come up with an original (or even, not flogged to death in the past 5 years), entertaining gameplay idea, they'd do well..."
Yeah, well tell that to all the people who DIDN'T buy Alien Homonid or Katamary Damacy or Eternal Darkness or Pikmin or LEGO Star Wars or Goblin Commander...
"Me? I'm waiting for a decent new 2d platformer to come out:D"
Umm... there is one. It's called "New Super Mario Bros." and it kicks nine kinds of ass... not to mention Kirby on the DS, and well, maybe you just really need to buy a DS and quit analyzing an industry you haven't been a part of in 10 years...
The Revolution has 4 GameCube controller ports and two slots for GCN memory cards for full backwards-compatibility with GCN disks. So, yes, the GCN controller can be used with the Rev. However, Nintendo nor any third parties are designing games with a traditional controller in mind. The "shell" controller has yet to be revealed to developers, so for launch games and likely for the first year, hardly any games will use the shell. Likely, by the time games come out that require a shell, there will be so many non-shell games that noone will care anyway. Between the RevMote and the nunchuk joystick/triggers combo, that gives you enough buttons and movement axes for pretty much every game anyway. A shell is not needed but will be included to make developers feel like they have a plan B in case they can't get their game working ok with the remote, and also to let people play downloaded retro games (NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, TurboGraphix) without buying a GCN controller.
No, you're confusing the SuperFX used in Star Fox with Mode 7 in general, which was handled by the SNES for launch games like Pilotwings and F-Zero. Believe me, and millions of other people who know what they're talking about. Nintendo did not release underpowered systems until the DS and Revolution. Most of the time they were definitely the most powerful, or close enough that it didn't matter (Cube does some things better than X-Box, X-box does other things better).
Oh, and by the way, the Dreamcast should be included as part of this gen and not the N64/PS1 gen. It really wasn't too long ago that SEGA went third-party. The Dreamcast is just as if not more powerful than the PS2, believe it or not, and came with online play, analog shoulder buttons, the works. They lost because of Sony's marketing department and the debt SEGA racked up trying to get Sega CD, Saturn, 32X, Game Gear etc. off the ground.
Some kind of turn-based strategy game, like Advance Wars or Age of Empires on the DS, would be great. While it's the player's turn, they can get up and leave, come back, and its still there. They're easy to learn, can save at any time, and on the DS, you can just bring it anywhere you want.
Also - why aren't more Nintendo games being mentioned? Metroid Prime is a slower paced FPS concentrating primarily on exploration rather than headshots or kill totals. Great for those who don't have or even want to have the reflexes necessary to beat people online at CS or Halo. Not to say that the game is easy, far from it, but it's not as twitch-based as other first person games.
All the Legend of Zelda games are about exploration and a fairly easy quest so that you can enjoy the puzzles and story interrupted by a few original boss fights.
My dad's 56 now, and he absolutely loves Age of Empires, Dungeon Keeper, and Empire Earth, while my 48 year old mom loves The Sims - another good game that doesnt require intense concentration and quick reflexes and stress in order to have fun.
Also - this article is talking exactly about the people who Nintendo is trying to target with Nintendogs, Brain Training DS, and the whole Revolution concept. It's easy to picture most households with a cheap Revolution for the whole family to enjoy together, with family multiplayer games, single player games for older people (by older, I mean over 40), single and multiplayer games for kids (Mario, et al) and lots of single/multiplayer games for teens and younger adults (Smash Bros. Online, Zelda, Metroid, most 3rd party games). Combined with the ability to download simpler or older games (which has been proven a great idea by X-Box Live Arcade) for low cost, and a controller that fits in well with the other 2 or 3 remotes in the living room, the console won't be one that parents isolate into a kid's bedroom and never touch themselves, like the GameCube was. Parents will want to play too. And it's likely the least expensive console next gen, which will help new gamers uncomfortable paying $400 for something that looks almost more complicated than the PC they've barely figured out. So either alone or paired with an X-Box 360 or PS3 in Joe-17-year-old's room, it's the perfect solution for older gamers.
Not to be a Nintendo fanboy or anything. There are also many games for older players on Sony and Microsoft's systems too. Sony's got some good turn-based strategy games about to come out on PSP, I already mentioned X-Box Live Arcade, and the PS2 has so many games there really is something for everyone. The problem with the PS2 is that there are few games that everyone can play together. Instead, there's a GTA or racing game for the teen, a golf or sports game or simple puzzle game for the adults, Ratchet and Clank for the preteens. Most of the best games on PS2 and X-Box are too violent for parents to play with the kids in the house. The multiplayer games that the whole family can play together are mostly crappy 3rd party Mario Kart or Mario Party clones based on Shrek or The Incredibles. And the adults don't want to go near that crap with a 60-foot-ranged wireless controller. They end up playing only for their kids, and don't have any fun themselves.
Slashdot Mirror
Quick Googling reveals that this rumour about the Wii U's lack of power, from 'an anonymous developer' (probably one with a vested interest in the Wii U failing), is complete BS.
Crytek founder Avni Yerli: The hardware is "very good". "Our guys in Nottingham, they are very happy with their tests on the dev kits and they're excited about it."
Tekken designer Katsuhiro Harada: Very 'impressed by the 60fps running of the game (Tekken) on the Wii U'
Vigil Games: “We had the game at the same level as high end pc version in a matter of days and a few lines of code got the game up and running on tablet in 5 mins.”
Gearbox: "The Wii U version (of Aliens: Colonial Marines) has so much more to offer... no other platform can do what the Wii U can do. The machine itself will be one of the best looking versions of the game [sic] because they’ve got more RAM than some of the other things [platforms]“, says Martel. “...they’ve got this really great processor.”
Epic Games: “It will do things current HD consoles simply cant do its going to be a powerful box.”
”EA: “Wii U is not a transitional platform, it is a true next generation system.”
THQ: “WiiU is just alot more powerful than current HD consoles it does 1080p very easy.”
When the Wii U launches later in 2012, and comes with a tablet/touchscreen controller able to stream content from the console. So you can play video games or watch Netflix or Hulu on your tablet controller, allowing your elderly grandpa to 'veg out and channel surf' on the TV.
Sure you won't have an online community as robust as X-Box Live, but now that we know their performance specs are comparable (the Xbox may be up to 20% more powerful - thats like a PS2 to Original Xbox difference), we know that most 3rd party games will end up on both systems, and you will be able to play online on Wii U for free, AND buy used games.
Because when no one had digital clocks, people did not stay up so late thinking that their clock will get them awake. Everyone was up at sunrise because they went to sleep shortly after nightfall (no later than 10PM). They only scheduled meetings for reasonable times when everyone would be awake, like 10AM.
With the tablet touch screen controller, Diablo 3 would be amazing, plus it could have graphics somewhat on par with the PC version. They gave the N64 Starcraft so anything is possible. Come on Nintendo drop a wad of cash off at Blizzard HQ.
It was called the N-Gage, and no one should ever ask for something like that ever again.
Both the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS used ARM7 and ARM9 chips. Now that Nintendo is using a different company from Japan to produce the architecture for the upcoming 3DS, perhaps Microsoft has decided to get into the handheld console race. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple or PC-related plans. This is the beginnings of X-Boy
Because they certainly could not have had motion controls on a less powerful system, like for instance, the PSP, or even a GameCube-level home console.... Does anyone here on /. have a 3D television at home? Has it been worth it so far?
Dungeon Keeper? That game ruled - 3rd person RTS that could turn into a first person game whenever you wanted. Imagine if that concept had been added to other RTS games that came out later - Warcraft 3, Age of Empires, etc. Hell, port the original games on Steam, WiiWare and the new download service on the DSi. It's a NO BRAINER EA! Both the Wii and DS have great interfaces for playing RTS/FPS games.
This game review feels like a book report. Lots of "here's the game and the story", and very little "here's whats good and what's not". Other than sub-par AI, which is standard for most games of this nature, why doesn't the game work for you? From your description, it sounds pretty cool, with two full-featured story modes and multiple classes. Other than the AI, the only major drawbacks you mention are that the art is "lackluster" which I guess means that if you've played other medieval fantasy games you won't see anything new, and that the game won't attract people who aren't already LotR fans. So, are you actually using a 10 point scale properly, and saying this is a decent, average game? Or are you using the scale that most online review sites use where everything under a 7 is a horrible travesty?
In case you are a canuck and aren't clicking every link you see in TFS, this is NOT the Canadian CSIS, which for the information of those outside of Canada, is the Canadian CIA - our government intelligence organization.
The best stuff will continue to get sequels every 3-5 years, and the sequels will almost always be better than the originals now unless they're like Mario and Final Fantasy - changing almost everything completely with each release. If a bad change was made, people will stick to the originals anyway. But even Mario and Final Fantasy games each stand up individually no matter how different will be able to stand the test of time (One can argue that FF8-12 and Mario Sunshine won't hold up). When something looks like it might fade away into obscurity (Mario64, FF1-6) they're just going to update it and re-release it on handhelds. PC games will never have to stand the test of time because everyone still plays all the older games anyway cause nothing has come out to dethrone StarCraft/HalfLife/Diablo2/DeusEx/UnrealTournament/Counterstrike/TheSims in the last 5 or more years. Spore, Diablo3 and Starcraft2 might. But no FPSs will dethrone the classics because new FPSs all require large hardware upgrades and the classics can run on anyone's PC without upgrading. Plus everyone's friends are still playing the same things. Also, nothing's going to stop WoW in terms of MMOs, which are basically immune to obscurity anyway unless the given company dies. And Spore, Diablo3, and Starcraft2 are all basically sequels to classics which, if successful, mean that those franchises enter Mario and Final Fantasy territory, and if unsuccessful, will peter out after 4 years and everyone will still be playing Diablo2/Starcraft/TheSims.
Coming soon to your DS - a brand new game from Capcom. Now you too can experience what it's like to hear appeal after appeal on Bush administration pet projects. Over 700 hours of game time with our new RealPaperwork Engine! Unlockable characters like Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Colbert! No objections to that!
Maybe that CEO should be aware that McDonald's has a deal with Nintendo to put N64s and GameCubes in their PlayPlace areas, and that they've also made it completely kid-friendly to play their DS systems online with McDonalds' WiFi connection.
It's a little hard to access all the info so far, so here it is. In US$: Wii-Mote: $35 Nunchuck: $20 Virtual Console Controller: $20 Wii Sports on its own: $40 Most Wii Games: $50 In Japan, the Wii comes out on Dec. 2, for 25000 Yen (212 $US) and comes with a single Wiimote. In North America, the Wii comes out on Nov. 18, for $250 US ($299 CDN) and comes with two Wiimotes, and Wii Sports (a compilation of golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and boxin)
Actually, I think that has been scrapped. It was an idea early in the development of the Revolution, but since it was brought up there has been no mention of it at all. Many sites such as IGN have had good looks at the Wii and have reported not seeing any output port for computer monitors. Actually, I think that it was rumoured to have the port before Nintendo had finalized the controller for the Wii. With the way the Wii-mote now works, it would be difficult to play most games on a PC monitor anyway.
Well, I was assuming it wouldn't get past it before 2008. There's a huge head start, and may developers are choosing the 360 over the PS3 when deciding on what platform to put their game. Many of those games won't make it to Wii based on the Wii's audience, and it's hardware capabilities. And those 360 exclusives should keep it ahead for the next couple of years. If, however, the Wii has more games than the 360 by 2008, then there's a good chance that the Wii will overtake the 360 by the end of the generation in 2009/2010.
Well, most analysts have predicted that the Wii would launch either mid-November (the 15th being thrown around a lot), November 1st, or sometime around Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. With this news that production has been going strong for almost two months, I think the earlier date is much more likely. If Nintendo can take advantage of a month's head start on the actual holiday season, it pretty much guarantees them second place worldwide behind the 360 until at least the end of summer 2007, and likely well into 2008. If the PS3 can't ship their 6 million before Nintendo ships theirs, it doesn't matter about demand. Plus, whichever console sees the most sales between November 2006 and March 2007 will undoubtedly get the most developer support, which will lead to an even stronger holiday season 2007. By January 1st 2008, the "winner" of this generation will have basically been decided. At that point, as we've seen with generations past, whoever has the most games wins.
If you want a good comparison number, the average minimum wage between all the provinces of Canada is about $6.95/hr CDN. With today's exchange rate, this equals to a national average minimum wage of $6.15 US. You guys are getting jipped.
I'm not sure why no one has mentioned Killer 7. It's probably the best example ever of a game designed to "disturb" the player. Not in a "horror" way, the game isn't scary - but truly disturbing. Watching a girl slit her wrists, seeing some of the end bosses, and generally the whole game just makes my skin crawl. Has anyone else played this game and want to back me up?
The Dreamcast was pretty much a done deal before Xbox hit the market. It sounds like another case of "Oh, Nintendo doesn't matter in the history of video games because they r teh kidd1!" SEGA failed because the PS1 and PS2 overhyped, and Nintendo got out of the CD add-on game early, leaving the SEGA CD to rot in a market that didn't exist: "People who want a $100+ add-on for a system that didn't have Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy and Donkey Kong Country." SEGA then took the rest of their money, and instead of saving it for the next gen, they decided to kick start a new gen early twice in a row with the Saturn and the Dreamcast. These, as I mentioned before, were killed almost exclusively by Sony advertising and promoting the PS1 and PS2 as machines more powerful than God.
Nintendo had their own fanbase that didn't leave them and didn't buy into the "mature games" fad, mostly because they were actually really young, or really liked FPS games, because the N64 basically only had FPS games and kids games, so that's why Nintendo's still here. That and Game Boy. It was just enough to let Nintendo try again with the Cube, where they got more kinds of games, almost killed the kiddy image, and then still got third place thanks to Microsoft who stole all the FPS games other than Timesplitters (because Free Radical are Nintendo fanboys at heart).
"Seriously, when was the latest "new idea" you saw with regards to gameplay?"
:D"
Super Monkey Ball - inspired the much lauded Katamari Damacy in obvious ways.
Pikmin
Donkey Konga
THE FREAKIN NINTENDO DS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Nintendogs, Brain Training, Pac Pix, Kirby DS, Yoshi Touch and Go... *sigh*
The Sony EyeToy
The Nintendo Wii
Goldeneye 007
Metroid Prime
Eternal Darkness' sanity meter
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006's GM Mode - it's a freakin marketing video game!
Are you even paying attention to anything out in the last 10 years? Looked at Nintendo lately? What do you think their point is? It's basically: "Something new has to be done soon or else no new gamers will ever be created, and the market will be even more stale from the latest cars'n'guns'n'thugz game."
"Everything I can think of these days is a variation on the same general idea (other than flight/driving "sims" of course). The last truly interesting and original game concept was over 10 years ago..."
It's true that in 1996, 10 years ago, original game concepts were very common, it's because Nintendo released the analog joystick on the N64 controller and Sony promptly stuck 2 onto the PlayStation. Noone had done something like Twisted Metal or 1080 Snowboarding or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or Mario 64 before. The problem with this gen is that there's no massive gap like there was between 2D and 3D, so Sony and MS have invented the theory that HD picture is the next big step, and Nintendo is saying "wait, if it's HD that's the next big thing, what will that change in terms of gameplay? I think you guys are wrong on this... lets make a better controller so everyone can play, not just geeks and college guys"
"Given that, the only real way to distinguish yourself as far as marketing goes, when limited to a fixed number of game themes, is by graphical or audio superiority. This costs money."
Or, you know, create new forms of control like a touch screen or a camera or a microphone or a controller that detects its position in 3D space, or a bongo drum set, or fucking DDR!
"Sad really... if someone was to come up with an original (or even, not flogged to death in the past 5 years), entertaining gameplay idea, they'd do well..."
Yeah, well tell that to all the people who DIDN'T buy Alien Homonid or Katamary Damacy or Eternal Darkness or Pikmin or LEGO Star Wars or Goblin Commander...
"Me? I'm waiting for a decent new 2d platformer to come out
Umm... there is one. It's called "New Super Mario Bros." and it kicks nine kinds of ass... not to mention Kirby on the DS, and well, maybe you just really need to buy a DS and quit analyzing an industry you haven't been a part of in 10 years...
The Revolution has 4 GameCube controller ports and two slots for GCN memory cards for full backwards-compatibility with GCN disks. So, yes, the GCN controller can be used with the Rev. However, Nintendo nor any third parties are designing games with a traditional controller in mind. The "shell" controller has yet to be revealed to developers, so for launch games and likely for the first year, hardly any games will use the shell. Likely, by the time games come out that require a shell, there will be so many non-shell games that noone will care anyway. Between the RevMote and the nunchuk joystick/triggers combo, that gives you enough buttons and movement axes for pretty much every game anyway. A shell is not needed but will be included to make developers feel like they have a plan B in case they can't get their game working ok with the remote, and also to let people play downloaded retro games (NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, TurboGraphix) without buying a GCN controller.
No, you're confusing the SuperFX used in Star Fox with Mode 7 in general, which was handled by the SNES for launch games like Pilotwings and F-Zero. Believe me, and millions of other people who know what they're talking about. Nintendo did not release underpowered systems until the DS and Revolution. Most of the time they were definitely the most powerful, or close enough that it didn't matter (Cube does some things better than X-Box, X-box does other things better).
Oh, and by the way, the Dreamcast should be included as part of this gen and not the N64/PS1 gen. It really wasn't too long ago that SEGA went third-party. The Dreamcast is just as if not more powerful than the PS2, believe it or not, and came with online play, analog shoulder buttons, the works. They lost because of Sony's marketing department and the debt SEGA racked up trying to get Sega CD, Saturn, 32X, Game Gear etc. off the ground.
Some kind of turn-based strategy game, like Advance Wars or Age of Empires on the DS, would be great. While it's the player's turn, they can get up and leave, come back, and its still there. They're easy to learn, can save at any time, and on the DS, you can just bring it anywhere you want. Also - why aren't more Nintendo games being mentioned? Metroid Prime is a slower paced FPS concentrating primarily on exploration rather than headshots or kill totals. Great for those who don't have or even want to have the reflexes necessary to beat people online at CS or Halo. Not to say that the game is easy, far from it, but it's not as twitch-based as other first person games. All the Legend of Zelda games are about exploration and a fairly easy quest so that you can enjoy the puzzles and story interrupted by a few original boss fights. My dad's 56 now, and he absolutely loves Age of Empires, Dungeon Keeper, and Empire Earth, while my 48 year old mom loves The Sims - another good game that doesnt require intense concentration and quick reflexes and stress in order to have fun. Also - this article is talking exactly about the people who Nintendo is trying to target with Nintendogs, Brain Training DS, and the whole Revolution concept. It's easy to picture most households with a cheap Revolution for the whole family to enjoy together, with family multiplayer games, single player games for older people (by older, I mean over 40), single and multiplayer games for kids (Mario, et al) and lots of single/multiplayer games for teens and younger adults (Smash Bros. Online, Zelda, Metroid, most 3rd party games). Combined with the ability to download simpler or older games (which has been proven a great idea by X-Box Live Arcade) for low cost, and a controller that fits in well with the other 2 or 3 remotes in the living room, the console won't be one that parents isolate into a kid's bedroom and never touch themselves, like the GameCube was. Parents will want to play too. And it's likely the least expensive console next gen, which will help new gamers uncomfortable paying $400 for something that looks almost more complicated than the PC they've barely figured out. So either alone or paired with an X-Box 360 or PS3 in Joe-17-year-old's room, it's the perfect solution for older gamers. Not to be a Nintendo fanboy or anything. There are also many games for older players on Sony and Microsoft's systems too. Sony's got some good turn-based strategy games about to come out on PSP, I already mentioned X-Box Live Arcade, and the PS2 has so many games there really is something for everyone. The problem with the PS2 is that there are few games that everyone can play together. Instead, there's a GTA or racing game for the teen, a golf or sports game or simple puzzle game for the adults, Ratchet and Clank for the preteens. Most of the best games on PS2 and X-Box are too violent for parents to play with the kids in the house. The multiplayer games that the whole family can play together are mostly crappy 3rd party Mario Kart or Mario Party clones based on Shrek or The Incredibles. And the adults don't want to go near that crap with a 60-foot-ranged wireless controller. They end up playing only for their kids, and don't have any fun themselves.