Topic: Metroid Hunters to be a pack in game

[ActorJ]

Seems Nintendo plans to kill the PSP off right proper, and send sony wimpering off, tail between legs.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/entertainment/2004-09-21-nintendo-ds-launch_x.htm

Let's see, 149 price point, wi-fi, two screens, touch screen, 3d capable, 10 hour battery, backlit transflective screens (the best of both worlds!), card media for no load times and no moving parts, GBA compatablity, voice reconiftion wilth built in mic, pictochat built in, built in clock etc, and if that wasn't enough we get the news that the days of a PACK IN GAME AT LAUNCH are back.

Competition is a great  thing, and it looks like Nintendo has decided to wipe the floor with it.

[ruby_onix]

No way. The pack-in cannot be back. It must be a mistake. It must've been a "bundle option", and someone got it confused. Someone leaked Steven Kent some forged documents! Yeah. That's it.

[ActorJ]

lol @ ruby.....

before someone says its a demo, think, does releasing a demo on a memory card style medium seem cost effevtive to you? Yeah it cheaper than GBA cartridge meda, but it is STILL pricy to manufacture compared to a disc.

[Blackknight131]

I have to agree with you J.
Gawd I love calling people "J". Its so cool.

Anyways, packing in a game at this point (and Im cautiously choosing to beleive the article here as it is by Steven Kent who I feel knows his snuff) is speaking volumes for the price of these DS games. If Nintendo is finding it cost-effective enough to pack in a game card....surely we will find game prices to be much closer to the standard price of handheld games instead of this $50 rubbish that EB and other stores have posted...  

[Blackknight131]

About this memory card technology....it is supposedly not just "yeah its cheaper than GBA carts"....its SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper if the cost saving ratio of 3D Memory that I read about from a document dated 2001-02 holds up. And it just might as this technology is fully scalable with subsequent other advances in memory technology such as compression...to get an idea, the ratio quoted then was perhaps as much as 1/10 the cost of standard data cards...

I will say tho, that it is rather late and I did google this some months back. So, if anyone is motivated to do so: Matrix Semiconductor 3D Memory are the keywords.

I actually kind of wonder if the pack-in is more of a stripped down version of Hunters....its just so hard to beleive they would pack in one of their premier titles, and one that is not for many gamers to boot, including me (there are many gamers who are not fans of FPS/FPA). But hey, maybe touch screen will make me one.
In pure pack-in sensibility a title that showcases a bit more of things you can do with a DS makes more sense....like maybe WarioWare or a tech demo pack.

[Bill Aurion]

If it's true, then it may just give evidence that Hunters is a "multi-only" game...

[ActorJ]

im still seeing conflicting reports. it seems there is now consensus that this is a demo, but still disagreement about whether or not any single player levels will be included. hmm.

i am impressed. the fact that it is cost effective to release a demo on a memory card bodes very well for the future. this stacked memory technology must be very cheap indeed....

[kurst_chao3030]

this is the best news in months, the price mostly!

[MattVDB]

I wonder why this hasn't been mentioned before...

Look at the new screenshot of Hunters.  What is different about it?  That's right, the screens are switched.  AKA, you can't touch the top screen to pivot and shoot.  Therefore, since E3, the controls have changed substantially to something different, and supposedly better.  But what could they be?

[Berto2K]

It is a demo, consisting of both single player levels and multiplayer levels.  So you could take people on right in the parking lot of the store you just walked out of with First Hunt.

[Blackknight131]

Quote
Originally posted by: ActorJ
im still seeing conflicting reports. it seems there is now consensus that this is a demo, but still disagreement about whether or not any single player levels will be included. hmm.

i am impressed. the fact that it is cost effective to release a demo on a memory card bodes very well for the future. this stacked memory technology must be very cheap indeed....

Yea, the technology is indeed compelling.
But one thing that sorta made me go "meh"
Reggie in the teleconference call held Tuesday the 21st of Sept mentioned that manufacturing times from the current main plants in Asia would be roughly equivalent to GBA games, at least at first: that is, 4-6 weeks.
For anyone who looked it up, one of the benefits of this new technology is supposedly field programmability...in other words ultimately cutting down on the manufacturing time (field programmability roughly means being able to stockpile blank data cards for writing games onto at any time).

However, perhaps the quoted manufacturing period is merely a reflection of the plant's far off location. Reggie did also mention plants being built perhaps in the US which would bring down those overhead times.

Another thing about the game cards (this is the term Nintendo was using in their press release): every one of em will have Save RAM, eliminating the cheaper publishers desire to use password systems. Nintendo is making this standard now.  A small thing, but conveneint nontheless. Passwords do get annoying when you are forced to use them...

Hm, cheaper media indeed...

[kurst_chao3030]

since the ds has pictochat and all that other stuff it means it has a bios. even if there were no save ram in the cartridge, the mabye the bios could be used to right down notes, or passwords, but there is nothing to worry about anyway. that would've just been a good extra feature in the ds i guess

[KDR_11k]

It has a Basic Input/Output System. It'll also have a main menu, after all there was talk about a clock and stuff. And a few months after release it's going to have Linux.

[Ian Sane]

"every one of em will have Save RAM, eliminating the cheaper publishers desire to use password systems."

Awesome.

"It is a demo, consisting of both single player levels and multiplayer levels. So you could take people on right in the parking lot of the store you just walked out of with First Hunt."

Well I don't think I would challenge a complete stranger but it's a cool idea.  I'm glad that it includes single player levels.  A multiplayer only demo, as it was initially assumed to be, would suck because if none of your friends bought a DS at launch it would be useless.  Ideally the pack-in should make it so that you don't have to buy another game if you don't want to.  If it was multi only you would have to buy another game unless someone living with you bought one as well.

[PaLaDiN]

"Look at the new screenshot of Hunters. What is different about it? That's right, the screens are switched. AKA, you can't touch the top screen to pivot and shoot. Therefore, since E3, the controls have changed substantially to something different, and supposedly better. But what could they be? "

Nintendo did mention another control scheme being an option. Therefore, switching the screens may be an option.

Note that in this mode,  you can select missiles and such with the stylus.

I want to know if Pictochat is upgradeable. If not, they better make it perfect from the get-go. And that means I want to be able to use the mic, like a walkie-talkie, if I want to.

[foolish03]

Planet gamecube says its only a multiplayer demo.  Where  are you guys getting this from.

[TOY]

Quote
It is a demo, consisting of both single player levels and multiplayer levels.

Accorcding to the PGC main page, the demo is only multi-player.

Quote
UPDATE: Nintendo has also revealed that Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is being bundled with the DS. First Hunt is a four-player demo, designed to show off the system's wireless multiplayer function. There is no single-player mode in the demo, but it is expected in the full version of Metroid Prime Hunters which will be released at a later date.

If this is true it stinks, If there going to spend the money packing it in, you would think they would give you at least 1 or 2 single player levels to check the game out. A multi only game will be useless to most peolpe.


TOY  

[Ian Sane]

IGN mentions the single player stuff.  It BETTER have single player stuff or I take back any praise I have given for the pack-in idea.  A multiplayer only pack-in is f*cking useless.  In fact such a obvious oversight would change my whole opinion of the launch thus far.  A genius would include a pack-in.  An idiot would include a pack-in that virtually no one can play.

[Pale]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
...virtually no one can play.

Unless its gonna have internet over WiFi play from day one...  Maybe thats what October 7th is for.  ()

[Ian Sane]

"Unless its gonna have internet over WiFi play from day one... Maybe thats what October 7th is for."

That would great but HA!  Like that's going to happen.  I'm going to be shocked if the DS, depite it's ability to, even goes online.  But yeah that would make the pack-in worthwhile and would be another huge advantage for the DS.

[Bill Aurion]

"In fact such a obvious oversight would change my whole opinion of the launch thus far."

This is the most ridiculous exaggeration I've seen in a while...It's not like Ninty has to give out a demo at all...(I know *I'll* be using the multi demo)

[odifiend]

Honestly if you think about it from a business standpoint, a pack-in stripped metroid is brillant.  
1) They are making most customers happy.  The last pack in I got was when I purchased my Sega Genesis (Actually they had a form where you could send away for another free game, so I got two games free ).  Those days are so missed, and I am suprised and overjoyed that they are packing anything in at all.
2) If it is true that they are releasing metroid hunters at a later date, everyone will likely shell out for the full version after playing the demo.
To complain about a pack in when there is no discernable price increase is ludicrous.  Though I do think one single player level would be smart to include to ensure a greater success for the actual release of metroid Hunters.

[Ian Sane]

My opinion of this launch is so far that Nintendo's on the ball.  An entire company not noticing a flaw that a bunch of forum guys spotted shows that they're NOT on the ball.  Little stupid trivial junk like that plagued the Cube launch too and Nintendo has shown that if they miss the little things they miss the big things as well.  Something as idiotic as including a offline multiplayer only pack-in with a system is something that NOA shouldn't be allowing.  Of the entire of staff of NOA and NCL not ONE higher-up noticed that such a pack-in would be a waste of time and money (since the pack-in costs something to produce) to at least 80% of the buyers?  That's just wrong.  It shouldn't happen and little stuff like this is why there was a huge problem with sports games and small memory cards on the Cube for so long.  I'm tired of Nintendo not noticing little flaws that I and other people on this forum spot immediately.  That shows they're either not on the ball or they just don't care.

Sure a multi-only pack in is not going to doom the DS but all these little "mistakes" have to stop.  That kind of carelessness is exactly why the Cube is an ignored loser console.  With the DS they can make mistakes like that but they CAN'T with the Revolution.  So naturally stuff like this worries me big time.

[Perfect Cell]

At least it has a demo. The GBA came with nothing. To me its Gravy, Picto Chat was fine as it is...

The important thing is a good selection of launch titles.  Something lacking with the Last couple of Nintendo consoles. If theres plenty of cool games, then the demo wont matter.

[The Omen]

If it is only multiplayer, I will absolutely play some people out in the parking lot.  And maybe theres bots as well, to play by yourself.