That is a huge amount of games, but when you figure that the combined library of N64, NES, SNES, Genesis and TB16 games (plus any additional platforms they may add later... maybe C64?) is far more than 480-720 games, they could speed things up a bit. For a lot of games, there's no point in holding off 3-4 years to release them. Most of the top-shelf games should come out in the first 12-18 months, if not sooner.
I think the main delay in a lot of the iconic games like Mario 2 and 3, Super Mario World, Zelda 3, etc, is that they have all been rereleased for GBA within the last couple of years, and Nintendo would probably rather save those for months in-between the big first party releases, like Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy.
What I would really like to see on the VC is a bigger mix of game styles, for example, it would be cool to see at least 1 RPG a month, along with all those platformers and puzzle games. Even though they've stated they don't plan on using the VC to bring over games never released in NA, I'm hoping they reconsider and bring over some of those that have had fairly large fan-followings in emulation circles. I would definately pay for an official release of Seiken Densetsu 3, and there are a bunch of other Square Enix games we never saw over here like Bahamut Lagoon and Dragon Warrior/Quest 5 and 6 (and they should release the earlier ones for NES as well).
That hasn't stopped most people from buying the re-releases of the same games for GBA or other systems, and considering how most people probably don't have their old systems anymore or never had some of them to begin with (How many people here actually owned a TG-16?) the virtual console prices are reasonable. The VC makes emulation as simple as can be. Even with emulators for older systems you sometimes have to keep 2 or 3 different emulators around and mess with different settings in each because some games will only run in certain emulators. Some games just never run well in emulators (like one of my favorite fighting games - WeaponLords)
Also, being able to pump the sound through the large system instead of an emulation of the sound through laptop speakers is nice too.
I will admit there are a few things I'd like to see for it though: 1) The abilty to upload to a DS cart, as mentioned before, would be awesome. Really, all they would need to do is create a special cart for the DS which contains the emulation software and can accept an SD card, so I can just take the copies from my Wii and put them on the cart. The tricky part here is that for protection reasons, you probably have to bind your emulator cart to your Wii so you can't upload some games you paid for and some games your friend paid for on his Wii.
2) While I don't think free-region is necessary (besides, with the whole NTSC vs PAL thing, it would be a pain to pull off), I would like to see some companies take this as an oppurtunity to take some titles and translate them for release in other regions. The problem here is that that sales aren't as guaranteed as they may have been on the original system, and localization is not a trivial expense, unless they can maybe by the rights to existing fan-subs and make corrections/fixes where needed.
One comment though - Why the basic SF 2 and not SF2-Turbo. Sure they'll probably release that one a year from now for more money, but I'd rather wait and assume they'll release Turbo later than buy SF2 now.
Agreed. Most of my old carts are either A) unreadable or B) I sold them after my NES broke down years ago. Plus, for games with a save feature, like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc, I'd rather rely on the Wii memory than the battery in the cart. The suspend feature of the VC is nice too - it doesn't let you cheat as much as State saving in an emulator, but makes playing old games in short segments easy as pie.
Plus, carts of a lot of those old games might actually go for more than what the VC is charging, especially once you figure in the overhead of some sort of adapter to read the carts. I'll rely on offically tested ROMs from Nintendo for my retro fix - I just wish they'd release more games more quickly (and bring out more of the classics). I just find it unfortunate that they don't seem to be looking at this as an opportunity to localize games that were never localized (I'm looking at you SquareEnix), which is a shame.
First, the Wiimote isn't an absolute pointing device. It's all relative to the Wiimote bar you place near your TV. Everything is relative to that device, so you are never actually pointing accurately at anything on your screen.
I don't think it ever was lauded or presented as an absolute pointing device prior to its release, but it is a very good ubiquitous pointing device and not simply a one trick pony as something like the Zapper was. As stated by others before me, this is because the sensor bar emits the IR which the wii-mote triangulates its pointing position from. It definately works best on the top of the TV, IMO. Ideal setup can vary depending upon whether you are typically sitting or standing, how high your TV is relative to the ground/seat, etc. Calibrating it is important too -- in my mind, that's one of the things that killed Red Steel - you can only calibrate at the very begining of the first level and not from the pause menu while pointing is an essential part of the controls. In Zelda:TP, you can play entirely without using the pointer and it still has a more advanced calibration option than the beginning of Red Steel available at all times (if only you could turn down the tingling fairy sound).
It would not be possible to have an absolute pointer that would work on all TVs; they would have to actually sell a Wii TV (a Wii-V?) with the IR beams behind the screen to make an absolute pointer. The reason the Zapper and other light guns worked as something like an absolute pointer is because the tech was different, and as I understand it will not work on some modern TVs (I can't recall if its LCD or Plasma). When you pulled the trigger on the Zapper, the screen flashed black for a frame, and the area around the target sprites flashed white after that to indicate a target. The photo-receptors in the Zapper would detect that different to determine a hit or miss. Would you really want the screen flashing right with every shot in any modern FPS? The problem with using something like an invisible later pointer is that TV screens are not flat, and are usually convex. To do a reflective pointer you would ideally want a concave screen with the player at the focal point. By using IR and having each Wii-mote figure out its own position, you don't have to worry about different controllers interfering with each other's signals, etc.
Second, the Wiimote has accuracy/responsiveness issues. Not sure if it is interference from bright lights or some other type of wireless/electronic devices. There are times where you are having to repeat the same motions over again because the Wiimote isn't registering.
If you're having accuracy/responsiveness issues with the pointer, your most likely culprits are 1) other bright lights (including sunlight) in your gaming area 2) Other heat sources that aren't lights in the gaming area (i.e. laptop with running harddrive on the coffee table) 3) possibly reflective surfaces, but doubtful. If you aim your Wii-mote away from the screen and happen to pass another heat source like a candle or laptop, it may temporarily focus on that for triangulation, causing all sorts of problems, so keep your gaming area free of IR sources that can distract the remote. Lights should only be a problem if they are also a significant heat source (incandescent bulbs), and darkened rooms are better for gaming anyway.
I haven't had any obvious problems with Wi-Fi, but it and Bluetooth do operate in the same range, as do most cordless phones. If you're having response problems regularly, try changing the set channels on your Wireless router and/or cordless phones.
As for response issues with other motions, I have occasionally noticed some problems (like with batting in Wii baseball), where the bat seems way off, but if you go back to a base position and restart your motions, it usually comes out just fine. One of the tricky parts to motion recognition is determining which motions were deliberate and which are casual motions not meant to take an action. I much more often accidentally do something with a casual motion than have actions go undetected.
Maybe it's a good thing it didn't come out before Christmas 2006, so that WoW players don't have as much of an excuse for avoiding interaction with their family on Christmas day.
I speak for the general public when I say that it's probably a good thing you aren't an engineer or manager. From the consumer's perspective (the only one that counts), the strap IS part of the controller because it came with the controller.
As an engineer, I'm going to have to counter this by saying that when used as designed, the Wii wrist straps function perfectly fine. Even in the videos of "professionals" "flailing in video game ecstacy", they aren't swinging their arms around as fast as possible. In my opinion the original straps were fine but Wii Sports should have integrated more splash screens with reminders to use smooth steady motions and NOT swing your arm as hard as possible.
You'd think common sense would come into play in cases like this, but then again, this is the country where they have to put warning labels on lawn mowers telling you to not reach underneath it while its running in order to pick it up and use it to trim your hedges.
I think what would have prevented some of this problem is if Wii Sports included reminders to make smooth gentle motions, like it mentions in the manual. Wii Sports is most player's first exposure on the Wii and most people will do stupid stuff like swing their arm as hard as they can because 1) they don't understand how the technology actually works and how it has a built in acceleration limit and 2) they haven't figured out yet that movign your arm that hard is actually less effective and will make your shoulder hurt.
For any of the Wii sports games, like baseball, it's much more effective to just make wrist flicks for "fast" motions, because the system is measuring acceleration of the wii-mote, not the actual motion of your arm. As for the wrist straps being sufficient for normal gameplay - this is entirely true because Wii Sports is basically the only game that invokes a significant amount of arm flailing. If you actually tried moving your arm that much in Zelda, you'd be warn out pretty quickly; that's why most action games so far recognize a "jiggle" motion.
I should have included this in my previous post -
If you're curious, Wisconsin has hunting/fishing permits for legally blind hunters. The definition of legal blindness as described in our statutes is that "central visual accuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses or a visual field that subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees." Even after getting this permit, which lasts for 5 years (10 upon renewal), you still need to qualify for the appropriate licensure for whatever activity it is you're tring to take part in. Similar permits exist for other disabilities, such as lung disease, cardiovascular disease or other mobility impairments. There's also a special permit to allow use of a crossbow during bow season if you don't have full use of both arms, due to either amputation or other mobility/strength problems.
While I'm not a hunter myself, I have to agree with this statement. While hunters certainly enjoy hunting (otherwise, why bother), most people out there aren't just shooting animals for the heck of it. It isn't like the slaughter of American Bison during the expansion into the West, which truly was senseless. Most stores don't carry venison, so if you want to eat it, your best option is to hunt deer, or find a friend that does so. Sure, if someone snags a big buck, they're probably going to mount the head or rack or something, but they're also going to eat the meat, and possibly find a use for the deerskin, etc. If they don't use it themselves, there is likely to be a buyer. There may be a few bad apples out there who really are just out to shoot stuff and get drunk, but if we're lucky the getting drunk part means they most shoot themselves.
Also, in many areas, certain animals are overpopulated, mostly because their natural predators were hunted out long ago. For example, while whitetail deer were once very low in population about 75 years ago, conservation efforts have brought their numbers way up. In Wisconsin there are estimated to be 1.4-1.5 million deer. While wolves have been reintroduced to Wisconsin in recent years, they are still considered threatened, and their numbers aren't quite high enough to manage the deer herd on their own. We have also had problems with CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease - similar to Mad Cow disease) appearing in the local deer population, so the hunt allows the DNR to see where it is, where it is spreading too, and if necessary, order additional hunts to cull the herd in areas where it is rampant to prevent further spread.
Without the hunt, the deer population could eventually get large enough where they are starving themselves or damaging crops or causing more auto accidents.
Considering that virtually no retailers were selling the Wii or PS3 online due to the limited supply, those numbers should pretty much be accurate. If I had to take a guess, I would say that 360 sales might have some increase due to online sales (with that crazy $100 sale Amazon.com had) and DS, GBA and PSP sales are likely to increase more since they are cheaper and easier to ship.
They haven't said much about what the USB ports are for, but it would be nice if I could just plug my digital camera in instead of having to upload to my computer, move the files from there to an SD card and then put the SD card in the Wii. Plug and Play keyboard support would be nice too.
The only confirmed item I've heard of for the USB ports is the wired network adapter that is coming out in January for those that don't have WiFi at home, or the Nintendo Wireless port on their PC.
As for listening to whatever you want while gaming, the only game I know of that supports that is ExciteTruck, and you have to bring the songs on via SD card - I'm not sure yet if it plays straight from the SD card or if you have to copy them to the flash. I've noticed that games don't give an option to save to SD card directly, unless that only because my card isn't an offical Wii compatible card from switch and carry.
Voice acting was done for a couple of Zelda games, and they are now hidden in a closet somewhere because they were so terribly bad (they were released for Phillips CD-i in the early 90s, had terrible animation and horrendous voice acting and dialogue).
In my opinion, voice-acting should never be added to a Zelda game, or at the very least, it should never be done for Link, because it will be impossible to find a voice that pleases everyone (or possibly anyone). Link never has any lines anyway, and part of the charm is that while he does have a voice (when fighting, etc) we can maybe imagine how he sounds talking without actually hearing it. I could maybe see giving Ganon a voice, but it's not really necessary.
Wind Waker did include the typical minimal voice acting, and it was done to hilarious effect, especially with the little Battleship mini-game where the guy running the shop would yell "SPLOOSH" or "KA-BOOOOM"
I didn't have any problems playing multiplayer with only 1, or at least only 1 turned on - I can't recall if I tried it before I synced the controller.
Considering how much the Wii and it's packaging look like an Apple product, it seems like they are already working together.
In any case, it would make more sense for Apple to get into some sort of collaboration with Nintendo (iTMS Channel on your Wii maybe?) then to enter an already full gaming market. If Apple already had a games development studio, it might make more sense, but as it is, they're better off interfacing with the existing consoles instead.
It's not even clear if Ness will even be in SSB:B. There have been indications that not all previous characters will be returning, and only 10 or 11 characters are confirmed so far (Mario, Wario, Samus and Zero-Suit Samus, Kirby, Meta-Knight, Link, Pit, Snake, and Starfox are the onee in it off the top of my head). I'm sure there will be more, but it sounded like they might pare out some of the more obscure characters, although I will also be sad to see Ness go if he does.
On the bright side, it sounds like at least a couple more 3rd party characters will be showing up in SSB:B, with Sonic having been the top vote getter. I haven't heard any word on who another one might be, but my top guesses, in no particular order would be:
Bonk
Bomberman
Megaman (or some derivative there of, such as Zero)
Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
Bub and/or Bob (Bubble Bobble & Bust a Move)
Some Square-Enix character - maybe Mog?
Is everyone really so hard up for friends in real-life that they require these games to have online play? Admittedly, it can be hard to get people together for games, especially when you live in the middle of nowhere like I currently do, but playing together in person is so much better - no latency problems (which are a serious issue for any fighting game), no 12 year olds spouting off foul language because they think its cool like they do on Halo 2, and no worries about someones connection dropping out, etc.
Just the behavior of most Halo 2 players over voice chat is probably enough to deter Nintendo from adding in full voice support for online play. Now if only they'd add USB keyboard support for chatting between games.
As for concern about requiring friends codes - I'm guessing they'll have random play like Mario Kart DS does it, and probably have various levels of parental restrictions on that.
There are definately more than 2 good games; such as the afformentioned Excite Truck and Trauma Center. While Madden 07 might not look as good on the Wii as it does on the PS3 or XBox360, the controll scheme works great - sure there are a few times where it doesn't seem to register your motion, but if you were just too early or late it actually tells you that, and some of the more obscure commands are easier to remember in the Wii version (ex: Want to call for a fair catch? Wave the wii-mote over your head)
Sure there are some stinker games out for it, but the vast majority of them are games based off of kids franchises or movies, like Spongebob, Happy Feet, etc, and those would be bad no matter what system they were on. Of the other launch titles that didn't get great review like Zelda, there are plenty of titles worth trying out, and plenty more on the way.
On a side note, avoid Gamespot.com as a place for determining which Wii games to get. I have used them as a review source for years, but they automatically seem to deduct a full point from every Wii game purely for not having HD support; which the majority of people, who don't have HDTVs, doesn't really matter. Any source that gives Twilight Princess below a 9 on a 10 point scale is looking at the wrong criteria to rate a game (their other complaint was that it was too much like the past Zelda's, which is exactly what Zelda fans are actually looking for; you don't need to have crazy innovations in a game that only appears once every 3-4 years, unlike FPSs which are a dime a dozen.)
I only have 2 right now, although I had the oppurtunity to go straight to four (went to a Wal-Mart the day before thanksgiving and they were fully stocked).
In any case, I'd recommend looking at stores with electronics departments as opposed to gaming stores to get controllers. Target, Wal-Mart, etc. However, I'd watch out for Shop-ko; one of my co-workers went there and said they were charging 20% more for controllers than anyone else, at least on launch day.
This brings up another point - why the hell did they have stores put the controllers on sale two days early. I suppose it could have been to show people that weren't able to get a PS3 that Wii stuff is available, but it meant there weren't any controllers left for people that expected to get them with the system on launch day.
Nobody is implying they don't have an ecosystem. If you consider the amount of damage being done to ecosystems to provide the world's current energy supplies, entirely destroying 265 square miles to provide the world's energy would be an improvement.
I didn't read TFA, but the summary says a "square 265 miles on a side" - that's 70225 sq. miles, not 265. For comparison purposes, that's an area roughly the size of North Dakota (which is 70,762 sq miles)
As others have pointed out, there are problems with going solar in northern states, although it is a good options for places like Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. Northern states are going to have the following problems: 1) Due to being at higher latitude, there is much less direct sunlight 2) Areas like the Midwest tend to have much more cloud cover than the Southwest 3) Besides there being less sunlight during the winter months, we also have this usually annual meteorlogical phonomenon known as "snow", which can easily cover a rooftop with 12+ inches in a single day, thus limiting the usage of any solar panels on the roof. In addition, I'm not really sure if frost would also potentially be a problem for solar collectors
One thing I've wondered about the idea of putting solar collectors on rooftops - exactly how often are you expected to climb up there and hose off the bird crap, because it seems to be that they would get crapped on a lot.
The real problem with ads in games is that it's often done in way so that the ads are totally overwhelming, or they completely destroy any immersion in the game world.
Now in some game genres, like sports games, it makes sense for there to be ads in the stadiums and arenas, etc. However, if Halo 3 had ads for Nike, Dodge, or Pepsi in it, it would seem really odd. Not to say that games like Halo can't have advertising in them, but the ads should be done in a way to look like they fit; for example, a game set in a post-apocolyptic near future (like Fallout) could conceivably have old and busted up billboards and posters around for ads, while a game set further in the future should have futuristic looking ads, possibly for made up future products for existing brand names. Likewise, a game set in France in WW2 should have ads in French, in 1940s style.
In any case, the ads need to be varied and unobtrusive. Enter the Matrix was completely filled with Powerade machines and NVidia posters, and apparantly no other products exist in the Matrix. Likewise, any sort of forced commercial, for example, at half-time of every game of Madden, for a real product is bad move; but a commercial parody which might include a real product reference could be ok if it happens as part of the story of a bigger game and I don't see it more than once per play through.
In any case, as the price of game development skyrockets due to demand for HD graphics increases, ads in games are inevitable unless game companies either 1) only create games guaranteed to sell millions of copies and recoup their costs, thus stifling innovation or 2) start charging $100 a game for high end systems.
I've noticed this in a bunch of their titles recently as well. I spotted two early on in Red Steel (Tattoo spelled Tatoo in one cutscene, and before the action even starts, there's a sign that says something like "Authorized Acces Only" or something like that, with the missing S in Access.
There was another typo early in in Raving Rabbids too - maybe someone should send that Rabbids back to grammar school.
I agree completely, although besides user error, the setup of your sensor bar and other objects around your system is a factor too, and takes some trial and error. I moved my sensor bar from below my TV to above my TV and found that I had much more success with it, and aiming it felt more natural too (especially when standing). As for other objects, some fairly innocuous things like bright lights or heat source (candles, laptops, etc) between you and the system can cause problems if you accidentally point in their direction.
I think it was mostly the launch rush. At one point when I tried to look up my error code on support.nintendo.com I actually couldn't even connect to their website.
The issue I had was error code 51330, which I never did get looked up on the site, but it seemed to fix itself after I changed my router from allowing G-Only to Mixed. I'm not sure why this was necessary, it hasn't been downgrading the speed for my other wireless devices to B speeds yet so I'm not going to worry about it.
I seem to recall hearing that at least the first party Wii games will also be region free; third party developers will have the option of adding region encoding, but it's not clear yet how many of them will enforce region encoding.
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That is a huge amount of games, but when you figure that the combined library of N64, NES, SNES, Genesis and TB16 games (plus any additional platforms they may add later... maybe C64?) is far more than 480-720 games, they could speed things up a bit. For a lot of games, there's no point in holding off 3-4 years to release them. Most of the top-shelf games should come out in the first 12-18 months, if not sooner. I think the main delay in a lot of the iconic games like Mario 2 and 3, Super Mario World, Zelda 3, etc, is that they have all been rereleased for GBA within the last couple of years, and Nintendo would probably rather save those for months in-between the big first party releases, like Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy. What I would really like to see on the VC is a bigger mix of game styles, for example, it would be cool to see at least 1 RPG a month, along with all those platformers and puzzle games. Even though they've stated they don't plan on using the VC to bring over games never released in NA, I'm hoping they reconsider and bring over some of those that have had fairly large fan-followings in emulation circles. I would definately pay for an official release of Seiken Densetsu 3, and there are a bunch of other Square Enix games we never saw over here like Bahamut Lagoon and Dragon Warrior/Quest 5 and 6 (and they should release the earlier ones for NES as well).
That hasn't stopped most people from buying the re-releases of the same games for GBA or other systems, and considering how most people probably don't have their old systems anymore or never had some of them to begin with (How many people here actually owned a TG-16?) the virtual console prices are reasonable. The VC makes emulation as simple as can be. Even with emulators for older systems you sometimes have to keep 2 or 3 different emulators around and mess with different settings in each because some games will only run in certain emulators. Some games just never run well in emulators (like one of my favorite fighting games - WeaponLords)
Also, being able to pump the sound through the large system instead of an emulation of the sound through laptop speakers is nice too.
I will admit there are a few things I'd like to see for it though:
1) The abilty to upload to a DS cart, as mentioned before, would be awesome. Really, all they would need to do is create a special cart for the DS which contains the emulation software and can accept an SD card, so I can just take the copies from my Wii and put them on the cart. The tricky part here is that for protection reasons, you probably have to bind your emulator cart to your Wii so you can't upload some games you paid for and some games your friend paid for on his Wii.
2) While I don't think free-region is necessary (besides, with the whole NTSC vs PAL thing, it would be a pain to pull off), I would like to see some companies take this as an oppurtunity to take some titles and translate them for release in other regions. The problem here is that that sales aren't as guaranteed as they may have been on the original system, and localization is not a trivial expense, unless they can maybe by the rights to existing fan-subs and make corrections/fixes where needed.
One comment though - Why the basic SF 2 and not SF2-Turbo. Sure they'll probably release that one a year from now for more money, but I'd rather wait and assume they'll release Turbo later than buy SF2 now.
Agreed. Most of my old carts are either A) unreadable or B) I sold them after my NES broke down years ago. Plus, for games with a save feature, like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc, I'd rather rely on the Wii memory than the battery in the cart. The suspend feature of the VC is nice too - it doesn't let you cheat as much as State saving in an emulator, but makes playing old games in short segments easy as pie. Plus, carts of a lot of those old games might actually go for more than what the VC is charging, especially once you figure in the overhead of some sort of adapter to read the carts. I'll rely on offically tested ROMs from Nintendo for my retro fix - I just wish they'd release more games more quickly (and bring out more of the classics). I just find it unfortunate that they don't seem to be looking at this as an opportunity to localize games that were never localized (I'm looking at you SquareEnix), which is a shame.
First, the Wiimote isn't an absolute pointing device. It's all relative to the Wiimote bar you place near your TV. Everything is relative to that device, so you are never actually pointing accurately at anything on your screen.
I don't think it ever was lauded or presented as an absolute pointing device prior to its release, but it is a very good ubiquitous pointing device and not simply a one trick pony as something like the Zapper was. As stated by others before me, this is because the sensor bar emits the IR which the wii-mote triangulates its pointing position from. It definately works best on the top of the TV, IMO. Ideal setup can vary depending upon whether you are typically sitting or standing, how high your TV is relative to the ground/seat, etc. Calibrating it is important too -- in my mind, that's one of the things that killed Red Steel - you can only calibrate at the very begining of the first level and not from the pause menu while pointing is an essential part of the controls. In Zelda:TP, you can play entirely without using the pointer and it still has a more advanced calibration option than the beginning of Red Steel available at all times (if only you could turn down the tingling fairy sound).
It would not be possible to have an absolute pointer that would work on all TVs; they would have to actually sell a Wii TV (a Wii-V?) with the IR beams behind the screen to make an absolute pointer. The reason the Zapper and other light guns worked as something like an absolute pointer is because the tech was different, and as I understand it will not work on some modern TVs (I can't recall if its LCD or Plasma). When you pulled the trigger on the Zapper, the screen flashed black for a frame, and the area around the target sprites flashed white after that to indicate a target. The photo-receptors in the Zapper would detect that different to determine a hit or miss. Would you really want the screen flashing right with every shot in any modern FPS? The problem with using something like an invisible later pointer is that TV screens are not flat, and are usually convex. To do a reflective pointer you would ideally want a concave screen with the player at the focal point. By using IR and having each Wii-mote figure out its own position, you don't have to worry about different controllers interfering with each other's signals, etc.
Second, the Wiimote has accuracy/responsiveness issues. Not sure if it is interference from bright lights or some other type of wireless/electronic devices. There are times where you are having to repeat the same motions over again because the Wiimote isn't registering.
If you're having accuracy/responsiveness issues with the pointer, your most likely culprits are 1) other bright lights (including sunlight) in your gaming area 2) Other heat sources that aren't lights in the gaming area (i.e. laptop with running harddrive on the coffee table) 3) possibly reflective surfaces, but doubtful. If you aim your Wii-mote away from the screen and happen to pass another heat source like a candle or laptop, it may temporarily focus on that for triangulation, causing all sorts of problems, so keep your gaming area free of IR sources that can distract the remote. Lights should only be a problem if they are also a significant heat source (incandescent bulbs), and darkened rooms are better for gaming anyway.
I haven't had any obvious problems with Wi-Fi, but it and Bluetooth do operate in the same range, as do most cordless phones. If you're having response problems regularly, try changing the set channels on your Wireless router and/or cordless phones.
As for response issues with other motions, I have occasionally noticed some problems (like with batting in Wii baseball), where the bat seems way off, but if you go back to a base position and restart your motions, it usually comes out just fine. One of the tricky parts to motion recognition is determining which motions were deliberate and which are casual motions not meant to take an action. I much more often accidentally do something with a casual motion than have actions go undetected.
Maybe it's a good thing it didn't come out before Christmas 2006, so that WoW players don't have as much of an excuse for avoiding interaction with their family on Christmas day.
I speak for the general public when I say that it's probably a good thing you aren't an engineer or manager. From the consumer's perspective (the only one that counts), the strap IS part of the controller because it came with the controller.
As an engineer, I'm going to have to counter this by saying that when used as designed, the Wii wrist straps function perfectly fine. Even in the videos of "professionals" "flailing in video game ecstacy", they aren't swinging their arms around as fast as possible. In my opinion the original straps were fine but Wii Sports should have integrated more splash screens with reminders to use smooth steady motions and NOT swing your arm as hard as possible.
You'd think common sense would come into play in cases like this, but then again, this is the country where they have to put warning labels on lawn mowers telling you to not reach underneath it while its running in order to pick it up and use it to trim your hedges.
I think what would have prevented some of this problem is if Wii Sports included reminders to make smooth gentle motions, like it mentions in the manual. Wii Sports is most player's first exposure on the Wii and most people will do stupid stuff like swing their arm as hard as they can because 1) they don't understand how the technology actually works and how it has a built in acceleration limit and 2) they haven't figured out yet that movign your arm that hard is actually less effective and will make your shoulder hurt.
For any of the Wii sports games, like baseball, it's much more effective to just make wrist flicks for "fast" motions, because the system is measuring acceleration of the wii-mote, not the actual motion of your arm. As for the wrist straps being sufficient for normal gameplay - this is entirely true because Wii Sports is basically the only game that invokes a significant amount of arm flailing. If you actually tried moving your arm that much in Zelda, you'd be warn out pretty quickly; that's why most action games so far recognize a "jiggle" motion.
I should have included this in my previous post - If you're curious, Wisconsin has hunting/fishing permits for legally blind hunters. The definition of legal blindness as described in our statutes is that "central visual accuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses or a visual field that subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees." Even after getting this permit, which lasts for 5 years (10 upon renewal), you still need to qualify for the appropriate licensure for whatever activity it is you're tring to take part in. Similar permits exist for other disabilities, such as lung disease, cardiovascular disease or other mobility impairments. There's also a special permit to allow use of a crossbow during bow season if you don't have full use of both arms, due to either amputation or other mobility/strength problems.
While I'm not a hunter myself, I have to agree with this statement. While hunters certainly enjoy hunting (otherwise, why bother), most people out there aren't just shooting animals for the heck of it. It isn't like the slaughter of American Bison during the expansion into the West, which truly was senseless. Most stores don't carry venison, so if you want to eat it, your best option is to hunt deer, or find a friend that does so. Sure, if someone snags a big buck, they're probably going to mount the head or rack or something, but they're also going to eat the meat, and possibly find a use for the deerskin, etc. If they don't use it themselves, there is likely to be a buyer. There may be a few bad apples out there who really are just out to shoot stuff and get drunk, but if we're lucky the getting drunk part means they most shoot themselves.
Also, in many areas, certain animals are overpopulated, mostly because their natural predators were hunted out long ago. For example, while whitetail deer were once very low in population about 75 years ago, conservation efforts have brought their numbers way up. In Wisconsin there are estimated to be 1.4-1.5 million deer. While wolves have been reintroduced to Wisconsin in recent years, they are still considered threatened, and their numbers aren't quite high enough to manage the deer herd on their own. We have also had problems with CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease - similar to Mad Cow disease) appearing in the local deer population, so the hunt allows the DNR to see where it is, where it is spreading too, and if necessary, order additional hunts to cull the herd in areas where it is rampant to prevent further spread.
Without the hunt, the deer population could eventually get large enough where they are starving themselves or damaging crops or causing more auto accidents.
Considering that virtually no retailers were selling the Wii or PS3 online due to the limited supply, those numbers should pretty much be accurate. If I had to take a guess, I would say that 360 sales might have some increase due to online sales (with that crazy $100 sale Amazon.com had) and DS, GBA and PSP sales are likely to increase more since they are cheaper and easier to ship.
They haven't said much about what the USB ports are for, but it would be nice if I could just plug my digital camera in instead of having to upload to my computer, move the files from there to an SD card and then put the SD card in the Wii. Plug and Play keyboard support would be nice too.
The only confirmed item I've heard of for the USB ports is the wired network adapter that is coming out in January for those that don't have WiFi at home, or the Nintendo Wireless port on their PC.
As for listening to whatever you want while gaming, the only game I know of that supports that is ExciteTruck, and you have to bring the songs on via SD card - I'm not sure yet if it plays straight from the SD card or if you have to copy them to the flash. I've noticed that games don't give an option to save to SD card directly, unless that only because my card isn't an offical Wii compatible card from switch and carry.
Voice acting was done for a couple of Zelda games, and they are now hidden in a closet somewhere because they were so terribly bad (they were released for Phillips CD-i in the early 90s, had terrible animation and horrendous voice acting and dialogue).
In my opinion, voice-acting should never be added to a Zelda game, or at the very least, it should never be done for Link, because it will be impossible to find a voice that pleases everyone (or possibly anyone). Link never has any lines anyway, and part of the charm is that while he does have a voice (when fighting, etc) we can maybe imagine how he sounds talking without actually hearing it. I could maybe see giving Ganon a voice, but it's not really necessary.
Wind Waker did include the typical minimal voice acting, and it was done to hilarious effect, especially with the little Battleship mini-game where the guy running the shop would yell "SPLOOSH" or "KA-BOOOOM"
I didn't have any problems playing multiplayer with only 1, or at least only 1 turned on - I can't recall if I tried it before I synced the controller.
Considering how much the Wii and it's packaging look like an Apple product, it seems like they are already working together.
In any case, it would make more sense for Apple to get into some sort of collaboration with Nintendo (iTMS Channel on your Wii maybe?) then to enter an already full gaming market. If Apple already had a games development studio, it might make more sense, but as it is, they're better off interfacing with the existing consoles instead.
Oops, forgot to actually use HTML to format that list. My bad.
It's not even clear if Ness will even be in SSB:B. There have been indications that not all previous characters will be returning, and only 10 or 11 characters are confirmed so far (Mario, Wario, Samus and Zero-Suit Samus, Kirby, Meta-Knight, Link, Pit, Snake, and Starfox are the onee in it off the top of my head). I'm sure there will be more, but it sounded like they might pare out some of the more obscure characters, although I will also be sad to see Ness go if he does. On the bright side, it sounds like at least a couple more 3rd party characters will be showing up in SSB:B, with Sonic having been the top vote getter. I haven't heard any word on who another one might be, but my top guesses, in no particular order would be: Bonk Bomberman Megaman (or some derivative there of, such as Zero) Simon Belmont (Castlevania) Bub and/or Bob (Bubble Bobble & Bust a Move) Some Square-Enix character - maybe Mog?
Is everyone really so hard up for friends in real-life that they require these games to have online play? Admittedly, it can be hard to get people together for games, especially when you live in the middle of nowhere like I currently do, but playing together in person is so much better - no latency problems (which are a serious issue for any fighting game), no 12 year olds spouting off foul language because they think its cool like they do on Halo 2, and no worries about someones connection dropping out, etc.
Just the behavior of most Halo 2 players over voice chat is probably enough to deter Nintendo from adding in full voice support for online play. Now if only they'd add USB keyboard support for chatting between games.
As for concern about requiring friends codes - I'm guessing they'll have random play like Mario Kart DS does it, and probably have various levels of parental restrictions on that.
There are definately more than 2 good games; such as the afformentioned Excite Truck and Trauma Center. While Madden 07 might not look as good on the Wii as it does on the PS3 or XBox360, the controll scheme works great - sure there are a few times where it doesn't seem to register your motion, but if you were just too early or late it actually tells you that, and some of the more obscure commands are easier to remember in the Wii version (ex: Want to call for a fair catch? Wave the wii-mote over your head) Sure there are some stinker games out for it, but the vast majority of them are games based off of kids franchises or movies, like Spongebob, Happy Feet, etc, and those would be bad no matter what system they were on. Of the other launch titles that didn't get great review like Zelda, there are plenty of titles worth trying out, and plenty more on the way. On a side note, avoid Gamespot.com as a place for determining which Wii games to get. I have used them as a review source for years, but they automatically seem to deduct a full point from every Wii game purely for not having HD support; which the majority of people, who don't have HDTVs, doesn't really matter. Any source that gives Twilight Princess below a 9 on a 10 point scale is looking at the wrong criteria to rate a game (their other complaint was that it was too much like the past Zelda's, which is exactly what Zelda fans are actually looking for; you don't need to have crazy innovations in a game that only appears once every 3-4 years, unlike FPSs which are a dime a dozen.)
I only have 2 right now, although I had the oppurtunity to go straight to four (went to a Wal-Mart the day before thanksgiving and they were fully stocked).
In any case, I'd recommend looking at stores with electronics departments as opposed to gaming stores to get controllers. Target, Wal-Mart, etc. However, I'd watch out for Shop-ko; one of my co-workers went there and said they were charging 20% more for controllers than anyone else, at least on launch day.
This brings up another point - why the hell did they have stores put the controllers on sale two days early. I suppose it could have been to show people that weren't able to get a PS3 that Wii stuff is available, but it meant there weren't any controllers left for people that expected to get them with the system on launch day.
Nobody is implying they don't have an ecosystem. If you consider the amount of damage being done to ecosystems to provide the world's current energy supplies, entirely destroying 265 square miles to provide the world's energy would be an improvement.
I didn't read TFA, but the summary says a "square 265 miles on a side" - that's 70225 sq. miles, not 265. For comparison purposes, that's an area roughly the size of North Dakota (which is 70,762 sq miles)
As others have pointed out, there are problems with going solar in northern states, although it is a good options for places like Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. Northern states are going to have the following problems:
1) Due to being at higher latitude, there is much less direct sunlight
2) Areas like the Midwest tend to have much more cloud cover than the Southwest
3) Besides there being less sunlight during the winter months, we also have this usually annual meteorlogical phonomenon known as "snow", which can easily cover a rooftop with 12+ inches in a single day, thus limiting the usage of any solar panels on the roof. In addition, I'm not really sure if frost would also potentially be a problem for solar collectors
One thing I've wondered about the idea of putting solar collectors on rooftops - exactly how often are you expected to climb up there and hose off the bird crap, because it seems to be that they would get crapped on a lot.
The real problem with ads in games is that it's often done in way so that the ads are totally overwhelming, or they completely destroy any immersion in the game world.
Now in some game genres, like sports games, it makes sense for there to be ads in the stadiums and arenas, etc. However, if Halo 3 had ads for Nike, Dodge, or Pepsi in it, it would seem really odd. Not to say that games like Halo can't have advertising in them, but the ads should be done in a way to look like they fit; for example, a game set in a post-apocolyptic near future (like Fallout) could conceivably have old and busted up billboards and posters around for ads, while a game set further in the future should have futuristic looking ads, possibly for made up future products for existing brand names. Likewise, a game set in France in WW2 should have ads in French, in 1940s style.
In any case, the ads need to be varied and unobtrusive. Enter the Matrix was completely filled with Powerade machines and NVidia posters, and apparantly no other products exist in the Matrix. Likewise, any sort of forced commercial, for example, at half-time of every game of Madden, for a real product is bad move; but a commercial parody which might include a real product reference could be ok if it happens as part of the story of a bigger game and I don't see it more than once per play through.
In any case, as the price of game development skyrockets due to demand for HD graphics increases, ads in games are inevitable unless game companies either 1) only create games guaranteed to sell millions of copies and recoup their costs, thus stifling innovation or 2) start charging $100 a game for high end systems.
I've noticed this in a bunch of their titles recently as well. I spotted two early on in Red Steel (Tattoo spelled Tatoo in one cutscene, and before the action even starts, there's a sign that says something like "Authorized Acces Only" or something like that, with the missing S in Access.
There was another typo early in in Raving Rabbids too - maybe someone should send that Rabbids back to grammar school.
I agree completely, although besides user error, the setup of your sensor bar and other objects around your system is a factor too, and takes some trial and error. I moved my sensor bar from below my TV to above my TV and found that I had much more success with it, and aiming it felt more natural too (especially when standing). As for other objects, some fairly innocuous things like bright lights or heat source (candles, laptops, etc) between you and the system can cause problems if you accidentally point in their direction.
I think it was mostly the launch rush. At one point when I tried to look up my error code on support.nintendo.com I actually couldn't even connect to their website.
The issue I had was error code 51330, which I never did get looked up on the site, but it seemed to fix itself after I changed my router from allowing G-Only to Mixed. I'm not sure why this was necessary, it hasn't been downgrading the speed for my other wireless devices to B speeds yet so I'm not going to worry about it.
I seem to recall hearing that at least the first party Wii games will also be region free; third party developers will have the option of adding region encoding, but it's not clear yet how many of them will enforce region encoding.