RFN kicks off 2011 by catching up with your Listener Mail.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/24643
It's a new year but RFN gets 2011 underway with a classic episode format and the cast you know all-too-well by now. Jonny's still on the road (calling in this week from the Big Apple) so Greg handles the hosting duties, beginning by taking us through a (relatively) brisk round of New Business, in which Dr. Metts once again demonstrates his mastery of physics by besting VVVVVV, a retro-styled, gravity-flipping puzzle-platformer. Also, James goes on the trail of dream thieves and flea murderers in the bizarre Touch Detective, Greg looks back at Donkey Kong Country 3, and Jon hits upon his "broiest" game yet with Resistance Retribution.
After the break it's time for us to catch up with your questions in Listener Mail, beginning with a look at the state of WiiWare—suddenly a hot topic in the wake of the recent cancellation of Super Meat Boy and the delay of Retro City Rampage. Next, the crew discuss the apparent demise of region-free portable gaming before wrapping things up by debating the causes of "fluff"—unsatisfying additional content—in games such as Kirby's Epic Yarn and Metroid Prime 2. Next week: Jonny and Lindy together in person!
If it were not for the hardware restrictions holding Wiiware back, then that service very well could become a power house due to Nintendo's relationship with independant developers compared to its competitiors.
If it were not for the hardware restrictions holding Wiiware back, then that service very well could become a power house due to Nintendo's relationship with independant developers compared to its competitiors.
Yes, Nintendo's truly "special" relationship with crappy independent developers (excluding the few truly good ones like Gajin Games, Telltale Games, etc.) is really something to behold, which gives Giant Bomb something to laugh at every week and the Newscast something to groan at every couple of weeks. Sony and Microsoft are truly jealous of the relationship that brings forth such classics as we largely see on the service every week.
Now, you may take issue with kytim's statement. I do; I think that removing that size restriction is a necessary, but far from sufficient, condition for Nintendo to attract greater indie support. However, the correct response is to point out the flaws in his statement. Instead, you went off course and pointed out how crappy the current environment is, which is something he's implicitly acknowledged in the statement you quoted. size restriction is
The size restriction, though, is only part of the problem. I was mocking the quality of the titles because he was giving the impression that Nintendo already had a better relationship with independent developers than Microsoft or Sony. If Nintendo had such a great relationship, they'd have better developers and better games on WiiWare despite the size restriction.
Microsoft are truly jealous of the relationship that brings forth such classics as we largely see on the service every week.
Nintendo is concerned we cannot process all the falling block games we are getting.
Yes...but those are indie games. The dreck we get week in and week out comes from publishers, and Nintendo rations it so one hidden item game doesn't overshadow the three others that were ready to come out that week. Nintendo is concerned we cannot process all the falling block games we are getting.
I suppose that's true. As long as it would be cheaper than it would be for a retail version, I'd be willing to download it. As far as development costs, couldn't they simply and cheaply cut it between worlds? Something like "Episode 1: World's 1-3", "Episode 2: World's 2-6", etc.?
I suppose that's true. As long as it would be cheaper than it would be for a retail version, I'd be willing to download it. As far as development costs, couldn't they simply and cheaply cut it between worlds? Something like "Episode 1: World's 1-3", "Episode 2: World's 2-6", etc.?
That's a lot of effort for apparently little return. Think about it...not only would they have to spend time and manpower to break it up into chunks that made sense from a code standpoint, but they would also have to hire an external testing team to test each episode (again), and then they'd have to run each episode through Nintendo's approval process (again), and then they'd have to get on the hype train and market each episode (again, and over and over again over the entire release cycle). Breaking it up into episodic releases would pretty much triple the amount of work involved.
On the other hand, they can use that time to make another XBLA game that Microsoft will actually promote, with no worries about size limits, and make a ton of money.
Pretty easy choice, unfortunately.
They don't have the power to release a retail version. They need publishers to fund them.
Nintendo published Samurai Warriors 3 and that was on the PS3 too.Indeed. It's weird that Nintendo decided to pick that up for other regions since Tecmo Koei handled it in Japan.
