google "Blitzsafe". It's a very simple, generic cable that ties your iPod into the "CD Changer" port and charges your iPod as well. They have a number of different options according to the particular make and model of your stereo head unit (it works dozens of them, I hooked it into my '99 Camry). Then build yourself a custom mount, and you have the best iPod interface integrated right into your car: the iPod.
People take their hand off the steering wheel all that time, ever heard of something called "shifting geers"? Seriously, people make a big deal about taking your hands off the wheel, but that isn't what's dangerous, what's dangerous is focusing your attention elsewhere for any length of time. Those fancy iPod controls might be right on the steering wheel, yes, but if the system is combersomb and frusterating to operate, then it's going to be far more distracting and dangerous than "taking your hand off the wheel" to operate an interface you've used for years. None of the systems I've seen offer a "simpler" (meaning less pushing of buttons) interface than the iPod itself. And most car stereo buttons are no bigger than the buttons on a click wheel, not that button size really matters anyway.
It's myths like this that lead people to buy hands-free cellphone systems, even though they've been proven to be no safer than using a normal cellphone in the car. The only point to total car integration is that it feels snazy and looks pretty, although I'd say my homemade integration system (which uses the iPod for control) feels pretty snazy, maybe partly because I built it up myself.
Now, what's important is that the iPod is positioned in a static, secure place that doesn't require fumbling around for it (like trying to feel where you last put it on the passanger's seat). I've created a little mount for my iPod belt clip (a Vaja case) right on the top of the stereo head unit, that way it's always in the same place when I reach over for it, and it's no farther away than the stereo or temperature controls. I can quickly hit the forward and back buttons like I would on any car stereo, or if I'm at a stop light, I can quickly lift it off its mount (attatched with a modified rivet clip on the back of the case), and pull it right in front of me for more in depth control. In this case, I can choose my own level of involvement with the UI according to the particular driving situation.
There is one option that he forgot to mention, when going over a final rundown of solutions to use: the generic, CD changer interface that doesn't try to read a specific playlist, and you simply control it with your iPod. Seriously, there is NO better interface to control an iPod than the iPod itself, and I'm sorry, but the difference between an interface display with a 10 point font and a 12 point font is really insignificant (especially when one you can hold right in front of you when operating it), so just use the fucking iPod itself.
What I've done, on my '99 Camry, was I bought a "Blitzsafe" iPod adaptor, which plugs into the generic CD Changer port behind the console. I then built a little custom mount, using a modified Vaja case "rivet clip", to be able to quickly pull the iPod in and out of the mount, and attatched it to the top of my dashboard. This way, the rivet clip itself, on my case, acts as the mounting bracket. I left enough cable so that I can pull the iPod up to my face (while at a traffic light, or during light traffic), and operate it normally. If I'm just switching tracks, I'll just use the clickwheel. I've never seen a simpler, more reliable, safer, and more user-friendly iPod integration system than this.
Basically, all I'm trying to say is that with a little research and some ingenuity, anyone can create something far better, and far cheaper than the ones shown here. Everyone has their own way of using their iPod: some people use playlists, others don't, some people put their iPod in a leather case, some put it in a clear rubber one, some (stupid people) don't put the iPod in any case and let it scratch to hell. From what I've noticed, is that most these iPod integration systems virtually require that you 1) use playlists (I don't) and 2) not have your iPod in a case. My suggestion, build your own out of generics if you have the time, then you can customize it to your own style of usage.
To me, the Wii seems like the first usable DVD player/console, because of its remote. Trying to fumble through DVD menus and functions on a PS2 was insanely misserable, and a two-handed game controller just doesn't work as a user-friendly DVD player interface device. Sure, 3rd parties sell remotes for the PS2 and 360, but they aren't out of the box. Unless you have an HDTV, the Wii seems like a great DVD player if you don't already have one. I know that Sony wants the PS3 to be the media center, but if it doesn't come with a remote... I'm gonna have to go with the Wii for usability.
Yeah, price tag is not something that can be ignored:
lack of HDMI... few would notice.
OMGWTF amazing Cell processor... few would care.
BluRay... what's that?
But when Johnny goes to the store with $400 in hand ready to buy a system and a few games, it doesn't matter how ignorant he is, he won't be able to get it. Furthermore, if, like many people, he's had his mind made up that he's going to get "a system", he'll walk out with a Wii.
If it's true (unlike the blurb says) that the GameCube version will be un-mirrored, then this will make for an insane replay of the game if done a second time on the other system. Spacially, it will mean re-charting everything in reverse, which the human brain isn't really all that good at doing. You will be much more likely to not immediately remember the solution to each puzzle just by reconizing the room, since a reversed layout will many times look just "different". If this is true, I'm going to wait a few months, and then go back and play the other version... this could make for a REALLY interesting case study in spacial memory.
Had it been Majora's Mask, there would have been a rock band composed entirely of fish-people playing left-handed guitars! Wind-waker would have a folk band of leaf people playing left-handed cellos and pipes. Sweet Jesus!
No, but seriously, what's the point of mirroring the NPCs too?
...unless you've never played with a console controller before, it will feel more natural to use the Wiimote in the right hand, since it has the main buttons, which have ALWAYS been featured on the right side of paddle controllers. The nunchuk, held in the left, will have the control stick, just like in traditional controllers.
If you think about it, controllers have always been strangely left-handed. It's our left thumbs that do the precision controlling that is usually associated with the dominant hand, while the right hand does the button mashing more commonly associated with the subordinant hand. Joysticks and keyboards feature directional control with the right hand. Seeing that Nintendo both designed the first paddle controller and featured a left-handed Link, one wonders whether the lead design team was made up of mostly lefties at the time... not that it really made much of a difference in the long run.
No, and Apple STILL doesn't have a profitable music store, at least not by much. The iTMS sales basically pay for it's own upkeep and bandwidth, and that's about it. iTMS, alone, is not an ecconomically worthwhile venture. However, they make it all worthwhile with parallel iPod sales. That's Apple's "XBox" model. Now, if you suggest that Microsoft sells the Zune at a loss, like the XBox, and then makes music sales prices competative with Apple... catch my drift? Not gonna happen.
So, before you go around calling other people idiots and trolls, take 2 seconds and try to compile what it is they're talking about, instead of spending that energy shooting your mouth off.
Well, let's, for a moment, forget about extreme violent crime in today's world: war, murder, rape, etc. and step back and look at more pallatable problems: the aggression of youth in schools to each other. Now, I'm not talking about the rare cases like Columbine, but your everyday shoving, name calling, and overall, aggressive behavior. There is an extreme increase in the aggression in school kids today, but I'm not sure whether or not it's being fed by games, or whether the games are simply catering to the rising levels of aggression. I'm going to take a leap here and suggest that 20 years ago, in the days of Super Mario Bros., GTAIII would have bored the shit out of most kids. "Why do I have to go around beating people up? What's the point here?" I'm not saying that it wouldn't appeal to anyone, but the threshold of kids that would be fascinated by this kind of activity would have been a lot lower.
But America has changed a lot in the past decade, you can blame the terrorists, you can blame Bush, you can blame videogames, but whatever, the results are pretty damn clear: we're becoming a more and more aggressive culture day by day. The acceptability of actions that would have, just years ago been considered socially taboo, are now encouraged by our peers, our parents, our leaders, and everyone else.
Video games isn't a large problem in the grand scheme of things. It's no more a cause of violence than the movies kids watch every day, and it CERTAINLY doesn't encourage aggressive behavior any more than watching our leaders point to groups of people and encourage their slaughter. Let's face it, an SUV says, "I'm bigger than you, and I'll fuck you up", yeah yeah, I hear all the "but I want to protect my family" bullshit, but the statistics aren't there to back it up. Our culture is becoming mean. A society where you are either a bully, or you're going to get bullied.
Entertainment is a reflection of culture, and in turn, ligitimize and spread the ideals of that culture, making it it more potent. Do videogames promote violence, then? Sure, but really it's US that are promoting the violence. Game companies have no particular reason to promote violence unless it's what the people want.
How many before they channel their resources and creativity on another concept? I think franchises stifle creativity
Sure, they can stifle creativity, but one can also make an arguement that they also focus creativity as well. It lays the groundwork, and means the designers can spend less time on the very basic aspects of a game (what the genre is, what the basic style will be, etc.), and focus on the more detailed aspects of the game, and subtler things, where I think the real meat of gaming is at. When I think back on my favorite games, there's a disproportionate minority that are from the first game of their series, or were a standalone game, very few truly great games are the first in their series, most game series only get better. There's only one major series where I thought the first game was the best, and most will disagree with me: Sonic the Hedgehog. I thought they had something special with that game, and while I love the following ones, the spin-dash really ruined it for me, making the game, instead of being about "getting fast", it made it about "being fast", but that's another debate. With Zelda, the series seems to get more and more sophisticated with age, experimentation in overall style, puzzle elements, even the stories have gotten much more non-linear and less cliche. Final Fantasy's continue to be incredibly inspired, even if I wasn't a huge fan of X, I'll admit it had just as much vitality as many first-run games, and my only problems with it had nothing to do with it's age. Sure, there are some series that just have run their course, and should probably be laid to rest (Sonic, MegaMan), but I think a franchise can be a great creative venture... allowing the dsigners to explore new ideas without re-inventing the wheel every time.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to echo a strong dissagreement with you on those. The only game that pretty much, universally, dissapointed was Super Mario Sunshine. New Super Mario Bros was a smash hit, much bigger than even expected, with gamers thoroughly satisfied and rivitted by it's attention to keeping true to the original series, while adding more modern features. Zelda - Wind Waker, is a staple, noone's going to call that anything close to a failour or dissapointment. Certainly, everyone had some issues with it, namely the sailing, but the style and feel of it had more vitality than ever, showing that the small interface and gameplay issues could easily be avoided next time around. Once the screamers got over the cellshading and played the game for what it was, I've hear nothing but renounding praise. I'm a little sad that Majora's Mask was not praised quite as much, because I think it's the best game in the series, personally. Also, though it's not technically made by Nintendo, Zelda - Minish Cap also did wonders for the Zelda franchise, keeping it's handheld form alive and very well.
The most important point is that these series have both displayed an on-going, if not increased amount of vitality and inspiration in recent years, something that one can not say for many similarly old series like Sonic or MegaMan (though I'm currently digging ZX). Follow that up with cameos in the very popular party and smash games, and you have two very active, very well respected frachises.
I seriously don't think anyone can make any good case for either series' decline in any way, shape, or form.
I was totally with the article up until the last sentance, which makes a stupid, spun, assumption based on a causality. "People are buying CDs more than online music," great. "People PREFER buying CDs to online music," still good. "Online music has DRM," yes. But "Therefore people must not be buying online music because of the DRM," is NOT a good proof. DRM is one of MANY characteristics that separate CDs from music downloads, and I would argue it to be one of the least important to people. Even the "lossy/non-lossy" arguement is a very small, elite few, compared to the masses, of whome hardly care about the quality of their music. No, the three biggest reasons why CDs are still more popular is: tradition, the regularity of going to shop at a place, where you can then pick out music. And the third, which I think is probably the biggest, is the ownership of a physical object after purchase.
If people put money down on something, they want to be able to physically "hold it in their hand" (so to speak). It's human nature, we're used to dealing with physical objects. Being told, "now you have it, now go have fun" without any physical evidence doesn't naturally feel as ligitimate has being able to spend money, and hold in your hand the item you just bought. This may change, but currently people are comfortable exchanging money for items, admissions, but we haven't yet completely bought into this "paying money for non-physical data" thing.
I remember a study that showed that the majority of computer users didn't consider illegally downloading software or media to be anywhere as offensive as shoplifting. Similarly, I would suggest that people don't consider purchasing something online to be of the same legitimacy as buying something in a store.
Give me a decent, unbiased study that shows me that the common person gives much of a shit about DRM, and I'll listen, but this says nothing at all.
Your only problem (besides using it as an offtopic rant against Nintendo Fans), is that you've boxed yourself into thinking of Nintendo as one, single entity with a central mind. No business is ever that unified, especially an international one. We commonly like to think of a big business as an evil overlord, which is completely set on domination, where every worker is a borg doing exactly as they're told. If you're getting this impression, that's only because it's what a big business WANTS you to think, because it would be even worse if the public were to see behind the thin-vail of public unification to realize that it's all one big sprawling corporate power struggle, with different branches and divisions constantly at each other's throats, viaing for their voices to be heard. For their own good, though, everyone agrees to keep their public persona looking squeeky-clean. But what we see here is one branch saying "enough is enough, I'm going public with this disagreement!" Mother-ship is probably none too pleased at this, and will probably try to put Nintendo EU in its place, especially seeing that public shaming (which is what they did to Nintendo of America) is extremely taboo in Japanese culture. I think we'll soon see a pretty strong response from Nintendo of Japan, clarifying their statements, and by clarifying, I mean telling Nintendo of EU to "grow up and deal with it." I don't say this out of any love of Nintendo (though I do like their products), but as a realistic assessment of coorperate power structure.
Yeah, it's a Region war... the Allied NTSC against the Axis of PAL. But seriously, it sounds like it's just like that, and I'm guessing that there will be two reginons, maybe three (Australia). Nintendo and Nintendo of America have been growing pretty close, it seems, but the foundering EU Nintendo sales have made European branch a bit defensive, and worried that they're being ignored and crapped upon by the other branches. When you hear statements like this, especially one branch out-right publicly shaming another, you KNOW that there's a power struggle going on up the chain, and not just a miscommunication. There's probably a big disagreement in how the company should market their products internationally, and Europe may feel largely ignored, and possibly sacrificed for the whole. Remember, that in a company that big, it's only logical that branches on either side of the world would have largely different adjendas and ideas on how the company should work.
Of course, it's the mother ship (Japan) that has the final say, but it doesn't mean that another branch is going ot take it well. I am guessing that what happened was, in am execuative board meeting, Nintendo of America did a fairly good job of stating their case of region-free encoding to Nintendo of Japan, who all but said "let's do it", Nintendo of America comes back here, and at the first possible press confrence, claim their region-free victory. The European branch, however, has put their foot down, and realizing that Japan hasn't made the final call, is stating THEIR victory.
This doesn't look too good for the European branch. For one, they're already a bit of an outsider, PAL, and probably being largely ignored. Secondly, knowing Japanese culture and business ethics, public ridicule is highly taboo, and Nintendo of Japan is likely to just say, "fuck off, deal with it, and grow up."
Don't think of Nintendo, as many people do, as a saint, or as an evil demon, think of it as one big (disfunctional) family.
This kind of stuff happens all the time within companies. What's unique about this, though is that most inter-branch conflicts go on behind closed doors, as everyone agrees that public disagreement will be very bad for the company's image. I work for a small-town ClearChannel TV station (yes I know, their evil), and we're commonly pretty pissed at the mother ship, which ignores our pleas for upgrading out equipment to something at least resembling mid-90s technology. Most of the people in the company do not have a very nice view of CC, and we have no interest in helping them further their media dominance as an entity. To the average middle-man, all they do is tell us what equipment we're supposed to buy (their contracted equipment), tell us what software we can use (all windows... including TV production, where I work, which SHOULD be Final Cut), and ignores us when that system they've forced us into doesn't work. Ya know, when they tell us, "You are forbidden from using Firefox because we have an agreement with Microsoft (and also because our spyware doesn't work well with Firefox)" it doesn't really make you feel all warm and cuddly.
Now that's just some strange logic, I can understand being a huge Metroid fan and not interested in the launch titles, and holding out until Metroid 3 comes out... but what's with the "Now or Never at All" additude? If you WANT to play Metroid Prime 3, just consider it's release date your personal Wii release date, and get it then. Unless, are you about to head off to Africa shortly after the Wii launch or something? Or is it out of spite because you feel that this, in some ways, reflects some problem with Nintendo's additude?
And yes, it's been confirmed Metroid Prime 3 is not a launch title, and is delayed until 2007.
I see a lot of people saying, "what??? $60 for the Wii Controller?" and I just wanted everyone to think about this for a second. For one, the Wii comes with a Wiimote and Nunchuck, so ditto for single-player games. As for multiplayer games, there has not been a single multiplayer game announced that uses the Nunchuck, in fact, I doubt there will ever be one from Nintendo. The point of the Wiimote is it's momentary usability, and an attatchment just makes that clunky in party situations. Down the line, if we see offline multiplayer FPS games, we'll probably see multiplayer games with the Nunchuk, but for now, think of your secondary controllers (for multiplayer games) as being strictly non-nunchuck (say that 3 time fast). So for completely active mutli-player support, additional controllers are $40. The standalone Nunchuck is basically just for replacing the bundled one when it breaks or gets lost.
I have a bad feeling that Metroid Prime 3 is going to be delayed until 2007, you'd think that this would have been announced by now if it was. There were rumors of its delay before, now it seems they may be true. Ah well, it'll take me a while to finish up Twilight Princess and probably Final Fantasy XII (doubt I'll finish it in 3 weeks), so I'll probably be set until January, but a Metroid launch title would have been a good boost for Nintendo.
Now I'm totally convinced this is misinformation. They just confirmed that Wii Sports will NOT be packed into the console... bottom line, the date and price have not been announced yet. Notice that this information was NOT part of the actual translated press release, and should not be trusted. The very fact that they have messed up this means that it is unreliable.
Things are starting to not add up. A Sunday release? 2 days after PS3... that seems EXTREMELY risky to me, if not foolhardy. Plus the fact that the article was taken down, this could all be pure speculation. I'm going to guess that the $250 price tag is correct, but I kinda doubt the date is, something's just fishy, the next few hours will probably tell.
Interesting, I predicted the bundled Wii Sports just earlier today. When I started thinking about it, the idea of $250 with Wii Sports didn't seem too bad, provided a controller and nunchuck (which is still remains to be seen, as I can't access the article), this may lesson Wii sales SLIGHTLY, as many people were starry-eyed with the $199 price tag (myself included), but I think it might be a better bet, in the long run, for Nintendo to release it with a game of THEIR making that centers around the controller, so that the first experience people will get with the Wiimote is a very solid one. I'm a bit dissapointed to have to wait another 2 months, but it'll give me time to finish Final Fantasy XII at least. And it's just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend. Strangely, it's positioned to be released a week after the PS3, which I think is a GREAT idea, since it will basically give them a week of free press (from Sony) and advertising, and then drown the PS3 the next week.
If this were any other console, I'd be VERY surprised if they bundled a game on launch, which they haven't done since the SNES days, and even then, it was intermitant. The GameCube got a few later in it's life, but not at launch, and the N64 didn't at all, to my knowledge.
However, this is a very different beast, and Nintendo wants to make SURE, if at all possible, that the users first experience with the Wiimote is a positive one, with them at the helm. Wii Sports isn't exactly a "hot" title, although it went over VERY well with players at E3 as a first time demo for the Wiimote. It's exactly the kind of title Nintenod WOULD bundle with their consoles, one that probably won't sell all that well, doesn't have any kind of following, but works as a fun demo, and incentive to see their console really in action. The more I think about it, the chances of it being bundled are pretty good.
Wiimote and nunchuk, almost gaurenteed. What console has ever been launched without a controller in the box? And the nunchuck probably comes with the Wiimote if bought separately
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google "Blitzsafe". It's a very simple, generic cable that ties your iPod into the "CD Changer" port and charges your iPod as well. They have a number of different options according to the particular make and model of your stereo head unit (it works dozens of them, I hooked it into my '99 Camry). Then build yourself a custom mount, and you have the best iPod interface integrated right into your car: the iPod.
People take their hand off the steering wheel all that time, ever heard of something called "shifting geers"? Seriously, people make a big deal about taking your hands off the wheel, but that isn't what's dangerous, what's dangerous is focusing your attention elsewhere for any length of time. Those fancy iPod controls might be right on the steering wheel, yes, but if the system is combersomb and frusterating to operate, then it's going to be far more distracting and dangerous than "taking your hand off the wheel" to operate an interface you've used for years. None of the systems I've seen offer a "simpler" (meaning less pushing of buttons) interface than the iPod itself. And most car stereo buttons are no bigger than the buttons on a click wheel, not that button size really matters anyway.
It's myths like this that lead people to buy hands-free cellphone systems, even though they've been proven to be no safer than using a normal cellphone in the car. The only point to total car integration is that it feels snazy and looks pretty, although I'd say my homemade integration system (which uses the iPod for control) feels pretty snazy, maybe partly because I built it up myself.
Now, what's important is that the iPod is positioned in a static, secure place that doesn't require fumbling around for it (like trying to feel where you last put it on the passanger's seat). I've created a little mount for my iPod belt clip (a Vaja case) right on the top of the stereo head unit, that way it's always in the same place when I reach over for it, and it's no farther away than the stereo or temperature controls. I can quickly hit the forward and back buttons like I would on any car stereo, or if I'm at a stop light, I can quickly lift it off its mount (attatched with a modified rivet clip on the back of the case), and pull it right in front of me for more in depth control. In this case, I can choose my own level of involvement with the UI according to the particular driving situation.
There is one option that he forgot to mention, when going over a final rundown of solutions to use: the generic, CD changer interface that doesn't try to read a specific playlist, and you simply control it with your iPod. Seriously, there is NO better interface to control an iPod than the iPod itself, and I'm sorry, but the difference between an interface display with a 10 point font and a 12 point font is really insignificant (especially when one you can hold right in front of you when operating it), so just use the fucking iPod itself.
What I've done, on my '99 Camry, was I bought a "Blitzsafe" iPod adaptor, which plugs into the generic CD Changer port behind the console. I then built a little custom mount, using a modified Vaja case "rivet clip", to be able to quickly pull the iPod in and out of the mount, and attatched it to the top of my dashboard. This way, the rivet clip itself, on my case, acts as the mounting bracket. I left enough cable so that I can pull the iPod up to my face (while at a traffic light, or during light traffic), and operate it normally. If I'm just switching tracks, I'll just use the clickwheel. I've never seen a simpler, more reliable, safer, and more user-friendly iPod integration system than this.
Basically, all I'm trying to say is that with a little research and some ingenuity, anyone can create something far better, and far cheaper than the ones shown here. Everyone has their own way of using their iPod: some people use playlists, others don't, some people put their iPod in a leather case, some put it in a clear rubber one, some (stupid people) don't put the iPod in any case and let it scratch to hell. From what I've noticed, is that most these iPod integration systems virtually require that you 1) use playlists (I don't) and 2) not have your iPod in a case. My suggestion, build your own out of generics if you have the time, then you can customize it to your own style of usage.
To me, the Wii seems like the first usable DVD player/console, because of its remote. Trying to fumble through DVD menus and functions on a PS2 was insanely misserable, and a two-handed game controller just doesn't work as a user-friendly DVD player interface device. Sure, 3rd parties sell remotes for the PS2 and 360, but they aren't out of the box. Unless you have an HDTV, the Wii seems like a great DVD player if you don't already have one. I know that Sony wants the PS3 to be the media center, but if it doesn't come with a remote... I'm gonna have to go with the Wii for usability.
Yeah, price tag is not something that can be ignored:
lack of HDMI... few would notice.
OMGWTF amazing Cell processor... few would care.
BluRay... what's that?
But when Johnny goes to the store with $400 in hand ready to buy a system and a few games, it doesn't matter how ignorant he is, he won't be able to get it. Furthermore, if, like many people, he's had his mind made up that he's going to get "a system", he'll walk out with a Wii.
If it's true (unlike the blurb says) that the GameCube version will be un-mirrored, then this will make for an insane replay of the game if done a second time on the other system. Spacially, it will mean re-charting everything in reverse, which the human brain isn't really all that good at doing. You will be much more likely to not immediately remember the solution to each puzzle just by reconizing the room, since a reversed layout will many times look just "different". If this is true, I'm going to wait a few months, and then go back and play the other version... this could make for a REALLY interesting case study in spacial memory.
Had it been Majora's Mask, there would have been a rock band composed entirely of fish-people playing left-handed guitars! Wind-waker would have a folk band of leaf people playing left-handed cellos and pipes. Sweet Jesus!
No, but seriously, what's the point of mirroring the NPCs too?
...unless you've never played with a console controller before, it will feel more natural to use the Wiimote in the right hand, since it has the main buttons, which have ALWAYS been featured on the right side of paddle controllers. The nunchuk, held in the left, will have the control stick, just like in traditional controllers.
If you think about it, controllers have always been strangely left-handed. It's our left thumbs that do the precision controlling that is usually associated with the dominant hand, while the right hand does the button mashing more commonly associated with the subordinant hand. Joysticks and keyboards feature directional control with the right hand. Seeing that Nintendo both designed the first paddle controller and featured a left-handed Link, one wonders whether the lead design team was made up of mostly lefties at the time... not that it really made much of a difference in the long run.
Did anyone else, besides me, just have a fun little 12-year-old moment when you read "you can't just bust a dike"?
No, and Apple STILL doesn't have a profitable music store, at least not by much. The iTMS sales basically pay for it's own upkeep and bandwidth, and that's about it. iTMS, alone, is not an ecconomically worthwhile venture. However, they make it all worthwhile with parallel iPod sales. That's Apple's "XBox" model. Now, if you suggest that Microsoft sells the Zune at a loss, like the XBox, and then makes music sales prices competative with Apple... catch my drift? Not gonna happen.
So, before you go around calling other people idiots and trolls, take 2 seconds and try to compile what it is they're talking about, instead of spending that energy shooting your mouth off.
Well, let's, for a moment, forget about extreme violent crime in today's world: war, murder, rape, etc. and step back and look at more pallatable problems: the aggression of youth in schools to each other. Now, I'm not talking about the rare cases like Columbine, but your everyday shoving, name calling, and overall, aggressive behavior. There is an extreme increase in the aggression in school kids today, but I'm not sure whether or not it's being fed by games, or whether the games are simply catering to the rising levels of aggression. I'm going to take a leap here and suggest that 20 years ago, in the days of Super Mario Bros., GTAIII would have bored the shit out of most kids. "Why do I have to go around beating people up? What's the point here?" I'm not saying that it wouldn't appeal to anyone, but the threshold of kids that would be fascinated by this kind of activity would have been a lot lower.
But America has changed a lot in the past decade, you can blame the terrorists, you can blame Bush, you can blame videogames, but whatever, the results are pretty damn clear: we're becoming a more and more aggressive culture day by day. The acceptability of actions that would have, just years ago been considered socially taboo, are now encouraged by our peers, our parents, our leaders, and everyone else.
Video games isn't a large problem in the grand scheme of things. It's no more a cause of violence than the movies kids watch every day, and it CERTAINLY doesn't encourage aggressive behavior any more than watching our leaders point to groups of people and encourage their slaughter. Let's face it, an SUV says, "I'm bigger than you, and I'll fuck you up", yeah yeah, I hear all the "but I want to protect my family" bullshit, but the statistics aren't there to back it up. Our culture is becoming mean. A society where you are either a bully, or you're going to get bullied.
Entertainment is a reflection of culture, and in turn, ligitimize and spread the ideals of that culture, making it it more potent. Do videogames promote violence, then? Sure, but really it's US that are promoting the violence. Game companies have no particular reason to promote violence unless it's what the people want.
Sure, they can stifle creativity, but one can also make an arguement that they also focus creativity as well. It lays the groundwork, and means the designers can spend less time on the very basic aspects of a game (what the genre is, what the basic style will be, etc.), and focus on the more detailed aspects of the game, and subtler things, where I think the real meat of gaming is at. When I think back on my favorite games, there's a disproportionate minority that are from the first game of their series, or were a standalone game, very few truly great games are the first in their series, most game series only get better. There's only one major series where I thought the first game was the best, and most will disagree with me: Sonic the Hedgehog. I thought they had something special with that game, and while I love the following ones, the spin-dash really ruined it for me, making the game, instead of being about "getting fast", it made it about "being fast", but that's another debate. With Zelda, the series seems to get more and more sophisticated with age, experimentation in overall style, puzzle elements, even the stories have gotten much more non-linear and less cliche. Final Fantasy's continue to be incredibly inspired, even if I wasn't a huge fan of X, I'll admit it had just as much vitality as many first-run games, and my only problems with it had nothing to do with it's age. Sure, there are some series that just have run their course, and should probably be laid to rest (Sonic, MegaMan), but I think a franchise can be a great creative venture... allowing the dsigners to explore new ideas without re-inventing the wheel every time.
oh yeah?
Yeah, I'm gonna have to echo a strong dissagreement with you on those. The only game that pretty much, universally, dissapointed was Super Mario Sunshine. New Super Mario Bros was a smash hit, much bigger than even expected, with gamers thoroughly satisfied and rivitted by it's attention to keeping true to the original series, while adding more modern features. Zelda - Wind Waker, is a staple, noone's going to call that anything close to a failour or dissapointment. Certainly, everyone had some issues with it, namely the sailing, but the style and feel of it had more vitality than ever, showing that the small interface and gameplay issues could easily be avoided next time around. Once the screamers got over the cellshading and played the game for what it was, I've hear nothing but renounding praise. I'm a little sad that Majora's Mask was not praised quite as much, because I think it's the best game in the series, personally. Also, though it's not technically made by Nintendo, Zelda - Minish Cap also did wonders for the Zelda franchise, keeping it's handheld form alive and very well.
The most important point is that these series have both displayed an on-going, if not increased amount of vitality and inspiration in recent years, something that one can not say for many similarly old series like Sonic or MegaMan (though I'm currently digging ZX). Follow that up with cameos in the very popular party and smash games, and you have two very active, very well respected frachises.
I seriously don't think anyone can make any good case for either series' decline in any way, shape, or form.
Ya know, I think I saw another guy with that meme, just the other day.
I was totally with the article up until the last sentance, which makes a stupid, spun, assumption based on a causality. "People are buying CDs more than online music," great. "People PREFER buying CDs to online music," still good. "Online music has DRM," yes. But "Therefore people must not be buying online music because of the DRM," is NOT a good proof. DRM is one of MANY characteristics that separate CDs from music downloads, and I would argue it to be one of the least important to people. Even the "lossy/non-lossy" arguement is a very small, elite few, compared to the masses, of whome hardly care about the quality of their music. No, the three biggest reasons why CDs are still more popular is: tradition, the regularity of going to shop at a place, where you can then pick out music. And the third, which I think is probably the biggest, is the ownership of a physical object after purchase.
If people put money down on something, they want to be able to physically "hold it in their hand" (so to speak). It's human nature, we're used to dealing with physical objects. Being told, "now you have it, now go have fun" without any physical evidence doesn't naturally feel as ligitimate has being able to spend money, and hold in your hand the item you just bought. This may change, but currently people are comfortable exchanging money for items, admissions, but we haven't yet completely bought into this "paying money for non-physical data" thing.
I remember a study that showed that the majority of computer users didn't consider illegally downloading software or media to be anywhere as offensive as shoplifting. Similarly, I would suggest that people don't consider purchasing something online to be of the same legitimacy as buying something in a store.
Give me a decent, unbiased study that shows me that the common person gives much of a shit about DRM, and I'll listen, but this says nothing at all.
Your only problem (besides using it as an offtopic rant against Nintendo Fans), is that you've boxed yourself into thinking of Nintendo as one, single entity with a central mind. No business is ever that unified, especially an international one. We commonly like to think of a big business as an evil overlord, which is completely set on domination, where every worker is a borg doing exactly as they're told. If you're getting this impression, that's only because it's what a big business WANTS you to think, because it would be even worse if the public were to see behind the thin-vail of public unification to realize that it's all one big sprawling corporate power struggle, with different branches and divisions constantly at each other's throats, viaing for their voices to be heard. For their own good, though, everyone agrees to keep their public persona looking squeeky-clean. But what we see here is one branch saying "enough is enough, I'm going public with this disagreement!" Mother-ship is probably none too pleased at this, and will probably try to put Nintendo EU in its place, especially seeing that public shaming (which is what they did to Nintendo of America) is extremely taboo in Japanese culture. I think we'll soon see a pretty strong response from Nintendo of Japan, clarifying their statements, and by clarifying, I mean telling Nintendo of EU to "grow up and deal with it." I don't say this out of any love of Nintendo (though I do like their products), but as a realistic assessment of coorperate power structure.
Yeah, it's a Region war... the Allied NTSC against the Axis of PAL. But seriously, it sounds like it's just like that, and I'm guessing that there will be two reginons, maybe three (Australia). Nintendo and Nintendo of America have been growing pretty close, it seems, but the foundering EU Nintendo sales have made European branch a bit defensive, and worried that they're being ignored and crapped upon by the other branches. When you hear statements like this, especially one branch out-right publicly shaming another, you KNOW that there's a power struggle going on up the chain, and not just a miscommunication. There's probably a big disagreement in how the company should market their products internationally, and Europe may feel largely ignored, and possibly sacrificed for the whole. Remember, that in a company that big, it's only logical that branches on either side of the world would have largely different adjendas and ideas on how the company should work.
Of course, it's the mother ship (Japan) that has the final say, but it doesn't mean that another branch is going ot take it well. I am guessing that what happened was, in am execuative board meeting, Nintendo of America did a fairly good job of stating their case of region-free encoding to Nintendo of Japan, who all but said "let's do it", Nintendo of America comes back here, and at the first possible press confrence, claim their region-free victory. The European branch, however, has put their foot down, and realizing that Japan hasn't made the final call, is stating THEIR victory.
This doesn't look too good for the European branch. For one, they're already a bit of an outsider, PAL, and probably being largely ignored. Secondly, knowing Japanese culture and business ethics, public ridicule is highly taboo, and Nintendo of Japan is likely to just say, "fuck off, deal with it, and grow up."
Don't think of Nintendo, as many people do, as a saint, or as an evil demon, think of it as one big (disfunctional) family.
This kind of stuff happens all the time within companies. What's unique about this, though is that most inter-branch conflicts go on behind closed doors, as everyone agrees that public disagreement will be very bad for the company's image. I work for a small-town ClearChannel TV station (yes I know, their evil), and we're commonly pretty pissed at the mother ship, which ignores our pleas for upgrading out equipment to something at least resembling mid-90s technology. Most of the people in the company do not have a very nice view of CC, and we have no interest in helping them further their media dominance as an entity. To the average middle-man, all they do is tell us what equipment we're supposed to buy (their contracted equipment), tell us what software we can use (all windows... including TV production, where I work, which SHOULD be Final Cut), and ignores us when that system they've forced us into doesn't work. Ya know, when they tell us, "You are forbidden from using Firefox because we have an agreement with Microsoft (and also because our spyware doesn't work well with Firefox)" it doesn't really make you feel all warm and cuddly.
Now that's just some strange logic, I can understand being a huge Metroid fan and not interested in the launch titles, and holding out until Metroid 3 comes out... but what's with the "Now or Never at All" additude? If you WANT to play Metroid Prime 3, just consider it's release date your personal Wii release date, and get it then. Unless, are you about to head off to Africa shortly after the Wii launch or something? Or is it out of spite because you feel that this, in some ways, reflects some problem with Nintendo's additude?
And yes, it's been confirmed Metroid Prime 3 is not a launch title, and is delayed until 2007.
I see a lot of people saying, "what??? $60 for the Wii Controller?" and I just wanted everyone to think about this for a second. For one, the Wii comes with a Wiimote and Nunchuck, so ditto for single-player games. As for multiplayer games, there has not been a single multiplayer game announced that uses the Nunchuck, in fact, I doubt there will ever be one from Nintendo. The point of the Wiimote is it's momentary usability, and an attatchment just makes that clunky in party situations. Down the line, if we see offline multiplayer FPS games, we'll probably see multiplayer games with the Nunchuk, but for now, think of your secondary controllers (for multiplayer games) as being strictly non-nunchuck (say that 3 time fast). So for completely active mutli-player support, additional controllers are $40. The standalone Nunchuck is basically just for replacing the bundled one when it breaks or gets lost.
I have a bad feeling that Metroid Prime 3 is going to be delayed until 2007, you'd think that this would have been announced by now if it was. There were rumors of its delay before, now it seems they may be true. Ah well, it'll take me a while to finish up Twilight Princess and probably Final Fantasy XII (doubt I'll finish it in 3 weeks), so I'll probably be set until January, but a Metroid launch title would have been a good boost for Nintendo.
Now I'm totally convinced this is misinformation. They just confirmed that Wii Sports will NOT be packed into the console... bottom line, the date and price have not been announced yet. Notice that this information was NOT part of the actual translated press release, and should not be trusted. The very fact that they have messed up this means that it is unreliable.
Things are starting to not add up. A Sunday release? 2 days after PS3... that seems EXTREMELY risky to me, if not foolhardy. Plus the fact that the article was taken down, this could all be pure speculation. I'm going to guess that the $250 price tag is correct, but I kinda doubt the date is, something's just fishy, the next few hours will probably tell.
Interesting, I predicted the bundled Wii Sports just earlier today. When I started thinking about it, the idea of $250 with Wii Sports didn't seem too bad, provided a controller and nunchuck (which is still remains to be seen, as I can't access the article), this may lesson Wii sales SLIGHTLY, as many people were starry-eyed with the $199 price tag (myself included), but I think it might be a better bet, in the long run, for Nintendo to release it with a game of THEIR making that centers around the controller, so that the first experience people will get with the Wiimote is a very solid one. I'm a bit dissapointed to have to wait another 2 months, but it'll give me time to finish Final Fantasy XII at least. And it's just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend. Strangely, it's positioned to be released a week after the PS3, which I think is a GREAT idea, since it will basically give them a week of free press (from Sony) and advertising, and then drown the PS3 the next week.
If this were any other console, I'd be VERY surprised if they bundled a game on launch, which they haven't done since the SNES days, and even then, it was intermitant. The GameCube got a few later in it's life, but not at launch, and the N64 didn't at all, to my knowledge.
However, this is a very different beast, and Nintendo wants to make SURE, if at all possible, that the users first experience with the Wiimote is a positive one, with them at the helm. Wii Sports isn't exactly a "hot" title, although it went over VERY well with players at E3 as a first time demo for the Wiimote. It's exactly the kind of title Nintenod WOULD bundle with their consoles, one that probably won't sell all that well, doesn't have any kind of following, but works as a fun demo, and incentive to see their console really in action. The more I think about it, the chances of it being bundled are pretty good.
Wiimote and nunchuk, almost gaurenteed. What console has ever been launched without a controller in the box? And the nunchuck probably comes with the Wiimote if bought separately