Honestly, coming out last is the best thing Nintendo can possibly do. Here's my reasoning.
Nintendo's Revolution is already going to be cheaper than the other consoles, and is still very likely to make money per console. If the Revolution came out first, a lot of people (erroneously of course, but we've already seen how the persistant erroneous statements that the GameCube was 'just for kids' and 'has no adult games' hurt it) will assume that because it is both cheaper and coming out first is must therefore be worse that the Xbox 360 and PS3. However, by coming out last and cheaper, Nintendo simply makes many gamers who failed to look before they lept feel stupid for spending $100-$150 more for consoles that aren't significantly better.
Additionally, Nintendo has a history of being copied. Regardless of whether the controller is a red herring or the sole source of revolution, coming out last gives Nintendo the edge in that they can keep their Revolution secret for longer. If they were coming out before or at the same time as their competitors, they'd need to release information on the Revolution around the same time as Sony and Microsoft and give them plenty of time to make similar improvements or copies of the technology.
Even now, a lot of the hardware for the Xbox 360 isn't even set yet. Of course, if the Revolution is solely within the controller that hardly matters because surely whenever the controller is revealed the secretly assembled crack teams of Sony and Microsoft will be ready to make quick prototypes of their own similar controllers. However, I find it likely that the controllers are a red herring. Perhaps half the revolution lies within the controller, but I predict that either the revolutionary controller will require something that requires special hardware within the console to work, or is useless without the other console half of the revolution.
In any case, releasing last, Nintendo's secret can be kept so until the hardware for the other two consoles is immutable.
Also, being last means that technology will have improved, and thus opening up more opportunities to make a console as powerful as Sony's or Microsoft's without the crazy costs.
The last point is that, remaining last Nintendo can take a good look at the mistakes Sony and Microsoft make, and not repeat them. With the article concerning the design of the competitor's CPUs claiming they are hardly as good as was claimed, Nintendo could easily make a similar CPU that is not plagued with the same problems.
I didn't experience quite the hell spoken of here in High School. I got my dose of it starting in Kindergarden.
It starts pretty simply. Some kids are bigger that others, and they discover they can use this to get what they want. Honest children who understand that violence is wrong, or at least that their parents don't want them to be violent, get beat up by the kids that don't.
Elementary School was stacked against me the moment I entered it. I was smarter than most, deeper thinking, moral, criticizing of others (best way to piss people off), and utterly different. I was the only kid in my school with utterly curly hair, and I was also something of a crybaby. You couldn't have done a better job of setting me up for trouble if you had designed me with torment in mind.
In any case, my only friends were outcasts like myself. The worst part about it is the downward spiral it leads you into. No one includes you in the games, or the sports. So, you begin to detest the activities you're excluded from. Finally, you end up being skilless and unathletic not because you never wanted to exercise or play with a ball, but because no one would let you.
Because you can't play basketball or tag properly, you get made fun of more and excluded more. So, you get worse at the game, and then get made fun of even more. A vicious cycle if ever there was any.
After fourth grade, I was pulled out of public school and homeschooled by my parents, something I fully intend on doing with my own children whenever I have any. My friends at college may sometimes use me as an example of how homeschooling leads to being anti-social, but that's hardly true. My older sister was homeschooled as long as I was, but wasn't ostracized the way I was. Social butterfly is a phrase that comes to mind for her. What made me anti-social was my experience with the society of my own kind giving me an obvious "you're not welcome here".
I was homeschooled through high school, though I took a couple science and language courses at the local public High School because having dangerous chemicals around the house wasn't my parents idea of safety.
I was probably spared much of the hell that permeated the air around me because I had been out of the system for so long. My actual interest in learning and talent for it got me on the good side of every teacher I took a class from, which probably played a large factor in the relatively light attacks made against me.
Perhaps the reality simply was that I was being excluded, but I didn't notice because I had already been actively excluding myself from the public school system anyway.
In that regard I was an anomaly. I had no interest in being a part of the system, and that cut off most anything they could do to me, aside from hurl random insults. Without interest in the system, excluding me was worthless (and trying to include me would have been a victory for outcasts everywhere), and with a home base of supportive friends also set apart from the system, ostracizing me simply maintained my disinterest without hurting me.
Without a typical social life, I spent most of my time reaching out to my outcast friends. However, after all of elementary school and middle school to screw them up, the kinds of problems they had weren't curable by the reappearance of a fellow outcast.
One by one, I watched and reached and cried as I saw all of my outcast friends descend into depths of darkness that many of them remain in to this day, even after years of graduating.
When Columbine happened, my mother said, "Where were their parents?" My parents watched me play video games, plenty of violent ones at that. They also watched my sister who'd never taken a single karate lesson best me despite the fact I had a black belt because I was utterly against actually hurting anyone. They knew what was up.
Both the government and its extremities and parents these days are concerned with finding a scapegoat for their failures, and not fixing themselves. How else
For incredible amounts of money, you can find out what characters you might be interested in!
Might I suggest these money saving tips to avoid such wallet emptying options.
A) Read the manual B) Check out a fansite C) Observe other players D) Just play the game
It just doesn't make sense to me to pay what amounts to almost half a year's worth of MMORPG subscription fees just to see where you'd want to invest your time. Isn't half the fun in doing that yourself?
I hope they're only updating graphics for their n64 games (and maybe SNES games with that anti-aliasing mentioned). I don't care so much if the add more polygons even and make the n64 games spiffy looking, probably because I don't have the same kind of nostalgia for them as I do for the old NES and SNES titles.
I suppose that if Nintendo does upgrade the games, it'll make some sense. While there are plenty of nostalgic nerds like me there are also plenty of children who haven't seen any of this. Having played the GBA games, or at least seen them, they'd probably be confused by the "downgrade" in graphics.
One of the reasons why the stories for Halo and Halo 2 were good was because of the immersion. When you descended into flood infested areas, and all that pollen-like gunk filled the air with the dramatic music made some gamers hold their triggers a little too tightly. When Cortana gave the next objective, the gamer had to look ahead and see what obstacles were in their path.
Hollywood either has to carefully recraft the story so that it stands on its own without the intervening user controlled combat sequences, or somehow distill the essence of those FPS moments into something they can put on screen.
...and Nintendo makes a killing on Flash Memory expansions.
While how many Nintendo titles will be free and how much it will cost for others remains dubious, any number of quality games for free would be a true boon.
Regardless, I highly doubt Nintendo will charge $9.99 for all but the most insanely good NES and SNES games (such as Legend of Zelda), and only pass that for some N64 titles. In fact, I find it far more likely that most titles for all three emulators will be either free or excessively cheap, unlike Xbox Live Arcade.
Xbox Live Arcade requires 1) Xbox Live 2) A Special CD 3) Money to buy each individual arcade game. If you look at the prices, it's typically $9.99 per.
In response to your subject line, a question. Which is better, to lie and show your face, or tell the truth anonymously? If it's true, why be afraid? Of course, if you don't have a slashdot account, it would explain it. However, there isn't a reason to not have a slashdot account now, is there?;)
And not to nitpick, but there is a definitive difference between "shipped" and "sold". There were approximately 6 million "shipped" copies of ET: The Extraterrestrial for the Atari that were bull-dozed into land fills after the video game crash back in the day.
Can we have discussion of Twilight Princess without going over Wind Waker and Cel Shading vs Realistic? Wind Waker was different, and despite protests that's what we got. Twilight Princess is realistic, and despite anything we say and do that is what we will get. We simply have to live with it at this point and turn our attention to far more important things like gameplay.
That said...
The idea of revamping old items really appeals to me. Like others, I really long for the age old Sword Zap. The spinning mega slash is awesome as well, but it doesn't replace the original.
This is obviously some strange definition of "ready" I wasn't previously aware of. Not that the game was bad. But "ready" was not really the impression I got from the making of the game special availible on the bonus disc.
If it was ready, it was because they cut out hordes of goodies. Again, great game. However, a good number of people dissent about the "ending" and would probably dispute it was "ready".
Just as clarification concerning the excellent points made in response to me.
1) I do in fact realize the maps will be made free via Microsoft's Xbox Live service in a few months. It is notable that you have to pay for the Live service or ~$20 for the physical manifestation appearing in stores.
2) Concerning the tweaks and balances of Blizzard, those are availible for free without any additional cost save for what you already pay for an internet connection. I am not informed as to whether one can download the patches Bungie releases without subscribing to Live.
That said, I'm not complaining about the fact that in the near future console games will be enjoying the same post-release patchability that their desktop based brethren have enjoyed. My greater concern is in how companies decide to dole out gameplay additions (such as maps, weapons, storyline expansions, extra models for character creators etc.) to the gaming public. Honestly Halo 2's approach was perfectly fine. People like myself can readily wait and get them for free via Live (if already paying for that anyway) or wait and buy the actual expansion pack when it comes out. What worries me is how Microsoft and other companies might corrupt the method in order to squeeze money out of gamers.
In any case, I've use Macintosh computers for long enough to be used to being in the minority. Perhaps I will end up dealing with a world where Activision charges $3 for an extra skater for Tony Hawk's Amateur Skater Aboveground 12. Or maybe my fears are baseless and companies will not only do so well as Halo 2 did, but find even better and unique ways of distributing cool add-ons without it being a fleecing.
Judging from all the new downloadable content, it seems likely that Microsoft may follow a Halo 2 model when it comes to the new features. Any game that has any popularity at all has the possibility of being plagued by charges each individual new map, weapon, or character.
I'm not opposed at all to being able to acquire and even pay for new content. I've played enough Blizzard games to be familiar with the concept of the expansion pack. It's more some lurking fear about how Microsoft will implement what would otherwise be a nifty feature that has me worried.
Why is it that everyone seems so completely uninformed about everything these days, yet still hold opinions as rabidly as they would had God descended from heaven just to tell them that X political party, book, movie, person etc. was evil?
It seems obvious that the backers of this bill are only mildly aware of what a video game even is, let alone informed enough to pass law on it. All they know is from the mantra of concerned parents and from blanket-statement studies.
Speaking of which, are there any studies that go in-depth these days?
Think about all the statements you've heard about studies in the past year. How many of them produced anything but broad blanket statements concerning something, and vague ones at that.
Is there something wherein you need to pay them globs of money to find out what kind of people are at risk for X or exactly what figures lead them to Y conclusion?
Maybe it's my analytical personality but I'd rather have some hard data rather than a hypothetical statement like...
"The frequent (though unspecified frequency) use (though how is not specified) of video games may cause an increase (also not specified) in violent behavior (i.e. playing more video games)."
Such statements don't cover who is at risk, why they're at risk, or what they can do to prevent risk and still play video games if at all. I've seen horoscopes less vague.
Does anyone else see the awesomeness in having one Gameshark for 5 consoles simultaneously? That would be utterly and completely awesome.
Additionally, if Nintendo is extremely brilliant (because it seems obvious they're already brilliant), they'll have a wireless lightgun so you can play Duck Hunt and, dare I say it, a new Duck Hunt for the revolution as well?
Thanks a bunch. There's nothing like being completely unable to read subtitles because of Gamespot's hideously small windows combined with the video mess of streaming it.
Beyond the obvious reason of "behold the latest in Way Too Many Polygons(TM)" there are purposes to having processing power and multiple cores. The most significant of these is the AI that runs most of your games enemies, allies and miscellaneous creatures.
Because of the nature of AI, it can be as large of a drag on a CPU as graphics. But with the more obvious and aestetic graphics, AI has been sidelined in order to maintain the frames per second standard we come to expect. With the exception of the enemies faced in Halo 2, AI has not been that impressive in most of the action games of our time.
Even in games such as Ninja Gaiden and Metroid Prime (including Echoes), the AI is barely even that. After a very short time, I found that my enemy's actions were extremely predictable (if still hard to deal with).
While this worked very well for these games, perhaps we will really be able to see incredible AI in the coming generation, despite its being promised to us back in the days of the Dreamcast.
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly, coming out last is the best thing Nintendo can possibly do. Here's my reasoning.
Nintendo's Revolution is already going to be cheaper than the other consoles, and is still very likely to make money per console. If the Revolution came out first, a lot of people (erroneously of course, but we've already seen how the persistant erroneous statements that the GameCube was 'just for kids' and 'has no adult games' hurt it) will assume that because it is both cheaper and coming out first is must therefore be worse that the Xbox 360 and PS3. However, by coming out last and cheaper, Nintendo simply makes many gamers who failed to look before they lept feel stupid for spending $100-$150 more for consoles that aren't significantly better.
Additionally, Nintendo has a history of being copied. Regardless of whether the controller is a red herring or the sole source of revolution, coming out last gives Nintendo the edge in that they can keep their Revolution secret for longer. If they were coming out before or at the same time as their competitors, they'd need to release information on the Revolution around the same time as Sony and Microsoft and give them plenty of time to make similar improvements or copies of the technology.
Even now, a lot of the hardware for the Xbox 360 isn't even set yet. Of course, if the Revolution is solely within the controller that hardly matters because surely whenever the controller is revealed the secretly assembled crack teams of Sony and Microsoft will be ready to make quick prototypes of their own similar controllers. However, I find it likely that the controllers are a red herring. Perhaps half the revolution lies within the controller, but I predict that either the revolutionary controller will require something that requires special hardware within the console to work, or is useless without the other console half of the revolution.
In any case, releasing last, Nintendo's secret can be kept so until the hardware for the other two consoles is immutable.
Also, being last means that technology will have improved, and thus opening up more opportunities to make a console as powerful as Sony's or Microsoft's without the crazy costs.
The last point is that, remaining last Nintendo can take a good look at the mistakes Sony and Microsoft make, and not repeat them. With the article concerning the design of the competitor's CPUs claiming they are hardly as good as was claimed, Nintendo could easily make a similar CPU that is not plagued with the same problems.
That's my take on it all.
I didn't experience quite the hell spoken of here in High School. I got my dose of it starting in Kindergarden.
It starts pretty simply. Some kids are bigger that others, and they discover they can use this to get what they want. Honest children who understand that violence is wrong, or at least that their parents don't want them to be violent, get beat up by the kids that don't.
Elementary School was stacked against me the moment I entered it. I was smarter than most, deeper thinking, moral, criticizing of others (best way to piss people off), and utterly different. I was the only kid in my school with utterly curly hair, and I was also something of a crybaby. You couldn't have done a better job of setting me up for trouble if you had designed me with torment in mind.
In any case, my only friends were outcasts like myself. The worst part about it is the downward spiral it leads you into. No one includes you in the games, or the sports. So, you begin to detest the activities you're excluded from. Finally, you end up being skilless and unathletic not because you never wanted to exercise or play with a ball, but because no one would let you.
Because you can't play basketball or tag properly, you get made fun of more and excluded more. So, you get worse at the game, and then get made fun of even more. A vicious cycle if ever there was any.
After fourth grade, I was pulled out of public school and homeschooled by my parents, something I fully intend on doing with my own children whenever I have any. My friends at college may sometimes use me as an example of how homeschooling leads to being anti-social, but that's hardly true. My older sister was homeschooled as long as I was, but wasn't ostracized the way I was. Social butterfly is a phrase that comes to mind for her. What made me anti-social was my experience with the society of my own kind giving me an obvious "you're not welcome here".
I was homeschooled through high school, though I took a couple science and language courses at the local public High School because having dangerous chemicals around the house wasn't my parents idea of safety.
I was probably spared much of the hell that permeated the air around me because I had been out of the system for so long. My actual interest in learning and talent for it got me on the good side of every teacher I took a class from, which probably played a large factor in the relatively light attacks made against me.
Perhaps the reality simply was that I was being excluded, but I didn't notice because I had already been actively excluding myself from the public school system anyway.
In that regard I was an anomaly. I had no interest in being a part of the system, and that cut off most anything they could do to me, aside from hurl random insults. Without interest in the system, excluding me was worthless (and trying to include me would have been a victory for outcasts everywhere), and with a home base of supportive friends also set apart from the system, ostracizing me simply maintained my disinterest without hurting me.
Without a typical social life, I spent most of my time reaching out to my outcast friends. However, after all of elementary school and middle school to screw them up, the kinds of problems they had weren't curable by the reappearance of a fellow outcast.
One by one, I watched and reached and cried as I saw all of my outcast friends descend into depths of darkness that many of them remain in to this day, even after years of graduating.
When Columbine happened, my mother said, "Where were their parents?" My parents watched me play video games, plenty of violent ones at that. They also watched my sister who'd never taken a single karate lesson best me despite the fact I had a black belt because I was utterly against actually hurting anyone. They knew what was up.
Both the government and its extremities and parents these days are concerned with finding a scapegoat for their failures, and not fixing themselves. How else
For incredible amounts of money, you can find out what characters you might be interested in!
Might I suggest these money saving tips to avoid such wallet emptying options.
A) Read the manual
B) Check out a fansite
C) Observe other players
D) Just play the game
It just doesn't make sense to me to pay what amounts to almost half a year's worth of MMORPG subscription fees just to see where you'd want to invest your time. Isn't half the fun in doing that yourself?
I hope they're only updating graphics for their n64 games (and maybe SNES games with that anti-aliasing mentioned). I don't care so much if the add more polygons even and make the n64 games spiffy looking, probably because I don't have the same kind of nostalgia for them as I do for the old NES and SNES titles.
I suppose that if Nintendo does upgrade the games, it'll make some sense. While there are plenty of nostalgic nerds like me there are also plenty of children who haven't seen any of this. Having played the GBA games, or at least seen them, they'd probably be confused by the "downgrade" in graphics.
One of the reasons why the stories for Halo and Halo 2 were good was because of the immersion. When you descended into flood infested areas, and all that pollen-like gunk filled the air with the dramatic music made some gamers hold their triggers a little too tightly. When Cortana gave the next objective, the gamer had to look ahead and see what obstacles were in their path.
Hollywood either has to carefully recraft the story so that it stands on its own without the intervening user controlled combat sequences, or somehow distill the essence of those FPS moments into something they can put on screen.
Either way it'll be tough.
..which you all should also be concerned with.
1. The voice actor for MasterChief in the games voices him.
2. The voice actor for Cortana voices her.
3. Two words, Sergeant Johnson.
Because of his armor, having one actor do MasterChief's movements and another his voice would work, ala Darth Vader.
Since Cortana would probably be computer generated, again, no issue.
And Sergeant Johnson rocks.
Perhaps he'll turn into a homicidal maniac and kill his dad?
We can only hope.
Maybe they were all getting the cold shoulder at Blizzard...
Concerning my title and completion of its sentence, it was just a joke.
:)
Although some rapid radicals like myself will probably have a closet full of carefully indexed flash memory cards storing all the old games.
...and Nintendo makes a killing on Flash Memory expansions.
While how many Nintendo titles will be free and how much it will cost for others remains dubious, any number of quality games for free would be a true boon.
Regardless, I highly doubt Nintendo will charge $9.99 for all but the most insanely good NES and SNES games (such as Legend of Zelda), and only pass that for some N64 titles. In fact, I find it far more likely that most titles for all three emulators will be either free or excessively cheap, unlike Xbox Live Arcade.
Xbox Live Arcade requires 1) Xbox Live 2) A Special CD 3) Money to buy each individual arcade game. If you look at the prices, it's typically $9.99 per.
In response to your subject line, a question. Which is better, to lie and show your face, or tell the truth anonymously? If it's true, why be afraid? Of course, if you don't have a slashdot account, it would explain it. However, there isn't a reason to not have a slashdot account now, is there? ;)
And not to nitpick, but there is a definitive difference between "shipped" and "sold". There were approximately 6 million "shipped" copies of ET: The Extraterrestrial for the Atari that were bull-dozed into land fills after the video game crash back in the day.
Can we have discussion of Twilight Princess without going over Wind Waker and Cel Shading vs Realistic? Wind Waker was different, and despite protests that's what we got. Twilight Princess is realistic, and despite anything we say and do that is what we will get. We simply have to live with it at this point and turn our attention to far more important things like gameplay.
That said...
The idea of revamping old items really appeals to me. Like others, I really long for the age old Sword Zap. The spinning mega slash is awesome as well, but it doesn't replace the original.
Nintendo Patents use of the words Mario, Luigi, Link, Princess and the use of a directional pad or joystick on a controller.
How screwed up the industry would be.
We did it with Halo 2.
This is obviously some strange definition of "ready" I wasn't previously aware of. Not that the game was bad. But "ready" was not really the impression I got from the making of the game special availible on the bonus disc.
If it was ready, it was because they cut out hordes of goodies. Again, great game. However, a good number of people dissent about the "ending" and would probably dispute it was "ready".
Just as clarification concerning the excellent points made in response to me.
1) I do in fact realize the maps will be made free via Microsoft's Xbox Live service in a few months. It is notable that you have to pay for the Live service or ~$20 for the physical manifestation appearing in stores.
2) Concerning the tweaks and balances of Blizzard, those are availible for free without any additional cost save for what you already pay for an internet connection. I am not informed as to whether one can download the patches Bungie releases without subscribing to Live.
That said, I'm not complaining about the fact that in the near future console games will be enjoying the same post-release patchability that their desktop based brethren have enjoyed. My greater concern is in how companies decide to dole out gameplay additions (such as maps, weapons, storyline expansions, extra models for character creators etc.) to the gaming public. Honestly Halo 2's approach was perfectly fine. People like myself can readily wait and get them for free via Live (if already paying for that anyway) or wait and buy the actual expansion pack when it comes out. What worries me is how Microsoft and other companies might corrupt the method in order to squeeze money out of gamers.
In any case, I've use Macintosh computers for long enough to be used to being in the minority. Perhaps I will end up dealing with a world where Activision charges $3 for an extra skater for Tony Hawk's Amateur Skater Aboveground 12. Or maybe my fears are baseless and companies will not only do so well as Halo 2 did, but find even better and unique ways of distributing cool add-ons without it being a fleecing.
Thank you for your comments.
Judging from all the new downloadable content, it seems likely that Microsoft may follow a Halo 2 model when it comes to the new features. Any game that has any popularity at all has the possibility of being plagued by charges each individual new map, weapon, or character.
I'm not opposed at all to being able to acquire and even pay for new content. I've played enough Blizzard games to be familiar with the concept of the expansion pack. It's more some lurking fear about how Microsoft will implement what would otherwise be a nifty feature that has me worried.
Why is it that everyone seems so completely uninformed about everything these days, yet still hold opinions as rabidly as they would had God descended from heaven just to tell them that X political party, book, movie, person etc. was evil? It seems obvious that the backers of this bill are only mildly aware of what a video game even is, let alone informed enough to pass law on it. All they know is from the mantra of concerned parents and from blanket-statement studies. Speaking of which, are there any studies that go in-depth these days? Think about all the statements you've heard about studies in the past year. How many of them produced anything but broad blanket statements concerning something, and vague ones at that. Is there something wherein you need to pay them globs of money to find out what kind of people are at risk for X or exactly what figures lead them to Y conclusion? Maybe it's my analytical personality but I'd rather have some hard data rather than a hypothetical statement like... "The frequent (though unspecified frequency) use (though how is not specified) of video games may cause an increase (also not specified) in violent behavior (i.e. playing more video games)." Such statements don't cover who is at risk, why they're at risk, or what they can do to prevent risk and still play video games if at all. I've seen horoscopes less vague.
Does anyone else see the awesomeness in having one Gameshark for 5 consoles simultaneously? That would be utterly and completely awesome.
Additionally, if Nintendo is extremely brilliant (because it seems obvious they're already brilliant), they'll have a wireless lightgun so you can play Duck Hunt and, dare I say it, a new Duck Hunt for the revolution as well?
Thanks a bunch. There's nothing like being completely unable to read subtitles because of Gamespot's hideously small windows combined with the video mess of streaming it.
Beyond the obvious reason of "behold the latest in Way Too Many Polygons(TM)" there are purposes to having processing power and multiple cores. The most significant of these is the AI that runs most of your games enemies, allies and miscellaneous creatures. Because of the nature of AI, it can be as large of a drag on a CPU as graphics. But with the more obvious and aestetic graphics, AI has been sidelined in order to maintain the frames per second standard we come to expect. With the exception of the enemies faced in Halo 2, AI has not been that impressive in most of the action games of our time. Even in games such as Ninja Gaiden and Metroid Prime (including Echoes), the AI is barely even that. After a very short time, I found that my enemy's actions were extremely predictable (if still hard to deal with). While this worked very well for these games, perhaps we will really be able to see incredible AI in the coming generation, despite its being promised to us back in the days of the Dreamcast.