Messages

7601

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 16, 2011, 02:09:29 PM »

It also depends on when Nintendo sent out those development kits to developers, if there are multiple versions and if so, who has what. That may explain why the estimates vary so greatly though that could just be plain subjectivity. Nintendo could have made those E3 boxes a week before the show so that could be final or just the latest version of the hardware. WiiU won't go into production for another few months so it's possible IBM and AMD are still tweaking them. Like I said in another thread, until we get final specs, there's really no telling just how powerful WiiU is. The estimates are all over the charts.

7602

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo's Current Focus is One Touch Screen Controller Only

« on: June 16, 2011, 01:21:23 PM »

If Nintendo supported 4 tablet controllers, Sony would do the same and call it better anyway because that's the kind of nonsense Sony pulls.

Sony doesn't know how to innovate. "Good artists copy; great artists steal." Unfortunately, unless you do something first, you always look worse than the idea you borrowed.

7603

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 16, 2011, 01:09:11 PM »

I remember reading that preliminary Xbox 360 development kits were Mac G5s (not sure if that was validated). That said, I think it's certainly within the realm of possibility that Nintendo pieced together the based models what IBM and AMD were customizing for WiiU and sent that to 3rd parties, telling them, "This is the bare minimum of what WiiU can do. The processors are far from finished but as you can see, it's capable of handling whatever current generation consoles can do and a little more. Do what you can and we'll send you final kits when they're ready."

Will the final product blow these kits away? Probably not, but a sizable jump in efficiency and processing power with some modern effects worked in is not only likely but expected.

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TalkBack / Re: Ocarina of Time 3D Commercial Stars Robin Williams

« on: June 15, 2011, 07:11:44 PM »

I wish that was the North American box. Boo/hiss

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo's Current Focus is One Touch Screen Controller Only

« on: June 15, 2011, 06:40:35 PM »

That's a pretty good point, especially since the tablet controller is the WiiU's main controller. And if people were willing to pay $80-$90 for the Balance Board, I'm sure Nintendo could sell the tablet controller for a comparable price, though I'd hope they'd aim lower.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Naming the WiiU Controller

« on: June 15, 2011, 03:42:42 PM »

The controller needs a name because it's not the only controller anymore because Wii/WiiU has 43 different controllers...

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo's Current Focus is One Touch Screen Controller Only

« on: June 15, 2011, 03:34:14 PM »

I really hope there's something lost in translation. Otherwise, this is a never-ending facepalm. It kind of sounds like Nintendo is trying to downplay the possibility that they can't get it to work. It's not about cost or the processors. It's about making sure the wireless transmitter thingamajig it's seamless and lag-free for more than 1 controller. Nintendo and AMD or whoever needs to figure this out and they shouldn't release WiiU until they do.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo's Online Network [Armchair CEO Time]

« on: June 15, 2011, 01:56:41 PM »

It's fair to leave it up to the developer though I can't imagine anyone but Nintendo opting out of including voice chat. This seems like a very anti-Nintendo thing to do. Normally, they would tell 3rd parties, "This is how we're doing things. Join us or GTFO." Still, I almost feel like a lot of developers wouldn't mind being "forced" to include voice chat because they were planning on including it anyway. It's 2011 after all.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii U 50% More Powerful than PS3

« on: June 15, 2011, 01:44:18 PM »

I'm reluctant to put any stock in these estimates. What does "50% more powerful than PS3" even look like? Also, developers probably don't have final dev kits. Nintendo's final hardware could end up being significantly more powerful. Or not. Until someone releases the set specs sheet, it's too tough to call. We've been hearing wildly different claims, even from the same developer during the same interview.

In any case, I think Nintendo will be fine on the hardware front. WiiU is already more powerful than the current hardware and anything MS/Sony come out with won't make WiiU look bad by comparison because graphics are beginning to plateau and budgets haven't gone down.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii U Controller Yet to be Named

« on: June 15, 2011, 01:31:49 PM »

I've been calling it the tablet controller even though it's not really a tablet. Screen controller works too. I'm curious what Nintendo will end up calling it.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 15, 2011, 11:02:44 AM »

Yeah! What I said. I mean what my doppelganger said!

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 15, 2011, 10:50:18 AM »

Just read this on Google news. Typical Nintendo explanation which is circumvented by the sheer fact that one of their partners holds the most Blu-Ray patents (as it's assumed their new disc format is based on Blu-Ray). Not a big deal for me since I have many devices that plays movies but it'd be nice if Nintendo gave the option for people who don't, namely all the Wii only owners who don't own a PS3/Blu-Ray player. There's really no way to PR spin that one. Nintendo needs to stop dictating what consumers want/don't want and start being as accessible and user-friendly as possible. Iwata cites "extra costs" but Nintendo always makes money on hardware so they're just pocketing the money instead of passing extra functionality and value to the consumer. Kind of lame but that's business, I guess.

7613

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 15, 2011, 12:54:30 AM »

It really depends on how customized/modified the GPU is. BlackNMild2k1 mentioned that both R800 and R900 could be based off of R700. It's possible that AMD just built a different successor to the R700 using it as a base, a Nintendo version of R800 or R900 if you will. That said, AMD's WiiU GPU could potentially be as powerful or more powerful than either R800 or R900. The latter is not terribly likely, but considering how little we know, still a possibility. Nintendo tends to favor efficiency so the likeliest scenario is that we end up with something on par with either later model, optimized to ease some of the bottlenecks, do more per cycle etc.

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TalkBack / Re: Disc-Only Version of Wii Play: Motion Available For Club Nintendo Users

« on: June 15, 2011, 12:02:59 AM »

Nintendo really has to start releasing 2 versions of these games on the same day: with remote and without remote. Motion Plus has been out for almost 2 years now and Nintendo has been selling the Wii with Remote Plus for awhile as well. They just started selling Wii Sports Resort without Motion Plus fairly recently. Lamezorz.

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General Gaming / Re: Dragon's Crown - Successor to Odin's Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade

« on: June 14, 2011, 11:53:20 PM »

Why is the Sorcoress even wearing clothes...

I'll probably pick this up for PS3 though it would be nice if it came out on WiiU. I like Vanillaware a lot, almost as much as WayForward Technologies.

7616

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 14, 2011, 10:07:43 PM »

See I don't find those graphics impressive at all. Sure they have all sorts of high textures, but it looks so damn ugly.

The demo lacks the polish and charm of a AAA game, but it's not supposed to have those things. It's meant to show off all the look-what-I-can-do effects. And it totally does, rather shamelessly.

Plus, I really don't see how those graphics will improve gameplay.

True, they don't but again, they're not supposed to. Graphics do, however, have a tendency to sell games even shitty ones and that's why they're still important. What a game looks like is the first thing people notice. Ultimately, a game is judged by how fun it is, but it might as well look as pretty as possible, graphically and artistically.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Super Smash Bros. WiiU (& 3DS)

« on: June 14, 2011, 09:57:58 PM »

They have 25GB to work with. The game better damn well be packed with content. I just hope it's content that people actually want as well as content that fits naturally into what the series is all about. Many of us previously wanted a fleshed-out Adventure mode after that cock-tease in Melee. However, The Subspace Emissary showed that it doesn't really work. This has nothing to do with the horrible enemy design or poorly crafted story. The gameplay doesn't lend itself well to a side-scrolling action-platformer/beat-em-up. Sakurai would be better off making a separate game with its own gameplay engine.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 14, 2011, 09:44:22 PM »

It is rather sad that Other M was so bad that hearing about a new Metroid fills me with absolutely zero anticipation or excitement.

Depends on who we're hearing it from. That quote came from Katsuya Eguchi who has never worked on a Metroid game. Do you consider that better or worse than hearing from Yoshio Sakamoto?

All joking aside, the R700(HD4xxx) is from 2008, but it is also the base for the R800(HD5xxx) and the newer R900 (HD6xxx) series....

Makes me wonder why they wouldn't just start with R800 or R900 as the base and have AMD customize it from there.

Epic Games thinks this is what the next generation of games will look like. Can WiiU can handle that? That tech demo sure does look fancy but I wonder if WiiU needs to be able to do that. Then again, needs to and should are entirely different things. 3rd parties may demands it. There's a noticeable difference between that tech demo and what the current console generation offers. However, developers haven't tapped the full potential of current HD consoles and the budgets haven't really gone down so will many games ever really look that good? The tech demo may look better; it just doesn't make the current generation look that dated.

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TalkBack / Re: 3DS Finally Reaches One Million in Japan

« on: June 14, 2011, 01:45:56 AM »

Last I heard, Japan doesn't really care about Zelda anymore.

Well, I hope you're happy. You just made Link very sad. /shakes head

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TalkBack / Re: 3DS Finally Reaches One Million in Japan

« on: June 14, 2011, 01:32:02 AM »

Ocarina of Time 3D comes out in 2 days in Japan. I expect sales to increase significantly.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo's Online Network [Armchair CEO Time]

« on: June 14, 2011, 01:17:32 AM »

To be fair, I said they feel obligated.

It begins and ends with the parents. Nintendo can put all of these roadblocks on their own platform, but unsupervised and unbridled internet access on devices Nintendo has no control over like a PC or smartphone supplants Nintendo's security measures quite easily (yes, I've seen some 7-8 year olds with smartphones). For parents who actually give a ****, they'll set the parental controls, they'll read the fine print, and even check up on what their kids are doing. All good things. They don't need Nintendo to be their watchdog though, admittedly, it's nice to have that extra measure in place. Alternatively, there are parents who don't give a ****, don't set the parents controls, and don't pay attention to anything until something bad happens at which point they look to see who they can transfer the blame to. Nintendo can't stop negligence. Something like Friend Codes is like an impenetrable fortress with a revolving door and a bright neon sign.

These problems aren't running rampant on competing platforms so I have to wonder if Nintendo sees a problem or if they're inventing a solution for a problem that doen't exist or is at least far less severe. Granted, the age of PS3/360 users tend to skew older, but younger players still exist on those consoles. For all the dipshit kids who all claim to have had sex with my mother and apparently are aware of my supposed latent homosexuality, I wonder what the **** they're doing even playing these games anyway. Who is watching them? No one. That's why Nintendo's safety measures only serve to annoy the people it shouldn't be annoying. For people who take safety seriously, they don't need these measures though, again, certainly nice to have. For the people who don't, the extra measures are undermined by their own negligence and irresponsibility.

No, it should be the other way around. It should be activated unless you are a parent and deactivate it.

I agree. If it's not already activated, I feel like fewer people are going to activate it.

I feel like the best way to balance accessibility and safety is by providing more specific options and requiring parental approval through password protection for literally everything. And they should all be set to the highest security setting by default. Nintendo's online platform should seem like it resembles the current set-up prior to toggling the options. Examples:

1. Voicechat: on/off/friends only
2. Display online ID: on/off/friends only
3. Accept friend request: with password/without password
4. Accept messages: on/off/friends only/with permission

And so on. They can even get even more specific than that. It still won't stop negligence because nothing can unless one makes the conscious effort to start caring, but it's there for everyone who wants it to be there and can be shut off for everyone else.

7622

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Super Smash Bros. WiiU (& 3DS)

« on: June 13, 2011, 10:57:03 PM »

He did not feel that it would be right to just increase the volume, adding 50 characters or doubling the stages for instance.

That still shouldn't stop him from adding 50 characters and doubling the number of stages. I mean, don't stop there, but it's certainly a good place to start. Smash Bros. is inherently a multiplayer game. Anything that makes that experience more fun and more engaging should be considered 1st.

And the 3DS version just doesn't seem like a great idea, but I'm willing to keep and open mind. As long as I don't need the game to unlock stuff in the WiiU version, I won't feel the need to get it if I'm not a fan.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo's Online Network [Armchair CEO Time]

« on: June 13, 2011, 10:42:43 PM »

"We always try and strike a balance. Because we do have more younger consumers than any other hardware manufacturer or games brand we need to protect them while also making it as accessible as possible for the more active and hardcore consumers to go online."

No, you really don't. It's not Nintendo's responsibility to play babysitter or raise other people's children. People like to pass the buck and relinquish blame on companies like Nintendo or Google or Facebook. In the end, they're just bad parents. They're responsible for what comes in and out of their houses.

I know when Nintendo says, "we need to protect younger consumers," they really mean, "we're trying not to get sued." Still, they'll get sued anyway because you can just about sue anyone for anything any number of times (i.e. the Winklevii have sued Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg like 4869 times even after accepting settlements) but chances are those cases will get thrown out. Nintendo needs to write good warnings and have their legal team look over them with an even keener eye. Additionally, we have a rating system (that admittedly needs to be revamped) and we have parental controls. Nintendo shouldn't have to feel obligated to alter their strategy and online platform.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Wii U

« on: June 13, 2011, 10:28:52 PM »

Let's face it, visuals are hitting a wall because of development costs. The jump between PS3/360 and the next generation isn't going to be nearly extreme as PS2/Xbox to PS3/360.

That's what I was thinking. Programmers can always make something look better; a sharper texture here, maybe some extra blades of grass there. I wonder, however, when it stops being worth putting the time, money and effort to add things that gamers don't have time to pay attention to because they're playing the game. I think Nintendo is in a good position. They've made a console that is more powerful than the current generation, but not so powerful to the point of diminished returns where companies are spending resources on things that ultimately change very little. Maybe, for once, Nintendo's "good enough" is actually good enough. We're at a point where current generation games like God of War 3 or Mass Effect 3 look so good that they won't ever be considered dated. Five or ten years from now, they'll still look good graphically and not in the Super Mario Bros. retro-chic kind of way. And I'm still a big believer in art direction > graphics. I don't think we're seen a cel-shaded game that looks anywhere close to a Disney animated film. I feel like that is the next generation of graphics, getting to something that looks like The Little Mermaid instead of Toy Story 3.

There are four USB slots, where are the other two?

Well, it is a prototype unit, so maybe they have not added them yet.

If anyone is wondering where I got these, I paused a Kotaku video of them checking out the WiiU E3 console (which I still believe to be not final) and used the print screen tool on this here Macbook Pro.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo's Online Network [Armchair CEO Time]

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:14:10 AM »

Satisfied? That would be epic boner time for all.

This and other topics ask what Nintendo should do with their online platform. So, yes, they SHOULD go after and aspire to be the best (Valve's Steam). Personally, as long as the platform was competent and easy to use, even if it wasn't the absolute "best," I'd be "satisfied."