The RFN crew talks about hopes and expectations for the Wii U launch details.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/31365
Jon is out this week due to a late work day, and we pushed off RetroActive again (it's definitely happening on 303 now). But there's still plenty to talk about on this show, as we return to a typical length packed with New Business, Listener Mail, and a sizable feature discussion.
James kicks it off with a string of game demo impressions. He enjoys Hybrid on XBLA (a shooter from the guys who made... Scribblenauts?), hates the net code in Heroes of Ruin, disses the tutorial-heavy demo for Dust: An Elysian Tale, and urges you to discover Miyamoto's forgotten gem, Mole Mania, now on 3DS Virtual Console. Guillaume brings a 2D platforming duo with the impressive homebrew level pack called Another New Super Mario Bros. Wii and the far less notable TOSE joint, The Legendary Starfy. Jonny continues that theme with his own take on Sound Shapes (PSN), a game Nintendo should have made themselves, and the WiiWare sequel/reboot Excitebike World Rally, which Nintendo probably should have left in pieces under the tea table.
We intended this to be just a quick preview, but our mini-feature discussion on the Wii U launch went much deeper than expected, and that's a good thing. We go through the date, price, pack-ins, software, retail supply, and media attention with expert predictions at every turn. Nintendo should be announcing the real details very soon, so listen now and see how close we called it! Finally, we tackled a bit of Listener Mail this week, with questions on which WiiWare games should follow ThruSpace and Fluidity on the path to eShop, plus our recommendations for a Nintendo gamer who just picked up a PlayStation 3 and PSP. Please send in your own questions and ideas so we can address them on a future show!
Next week, we'll FINALLY be talking about Wario Land 4 in the oft-delayed RetroActive #23 feature. Listener comments on the game will be pulled from this official forum thread, so drop off your thoughts and maybe they'll be read on the podcast! Also, we hope you'll check out the second episode of Nintendo Free Radio, made by some of our favorite community members. You can also hear what Jonny, Karl, Obi, and Stan have been seeing at the movies over on Box Office Poison.
C'mon, when you run into the mysterious, cloaked shopkeeper for the first time, the game drops two direct references in the dialogue to Resident Evil 4! How can you not love that? :P: : :
In regards to the pricing of games, it's more than just the price (where lower = more sales and higher = less sales). I worked at a gamestop for a long time, and there is a customer perception where if a game releases at less than 60, it's not worth buying. That's why you get mediocre games releasing at 60, and then quickly dropping later. There is a stigma with games that release for 'less' than full price. If you have assassin's creed 3 on all 3 systems, but the wii U one is 50, the customers will automatically assume it is an inferior product without knowing anything about it. To compete with ps3 and 360 it needs to price match them, even if that means they need to raise the price of their games. It's a total customer perception thing.
If Big Bang Theory is one of the funniest things on TV, I'm cancelling my cable since there's clearly nothing worth watching.
the digital license situation was resolved by Nintendo much more quickly and with greater satisfaction than I ever expected. This has been quite a Monday night over my WiFi network.
That last post was too long. ::)
As far as the whole "PS3 for Nintendo Gamers" thing goes, a couple of games come to mind. First off, we have ModNation Racers, which is essentially a better version of Mario Kart with a whole mess of creation tools. Probably the best kart racer I've played. There's also the WipeOut series, which is....pretty much F-Zero. Also, there's Outland, which is an awesome combination of Ikaruga, classic 2D Mario, and Super Metroid....Greg needs to play that game.
I went to a consignment store...take that for a 303 preview.
As far as the whole "PS3 for Nintendo Gamers" thing goes, a couple of games come to mind. First off, we have ModNation Racers, which is essentially a better version of Mario Kart with a whole mess of creation tools. Probably the best kart racer I've played. There's also the WipeOut series, which is....pretty much F-Zero. Also, there's Outland, which is an awesome combination of Ikaruga, classic 2D Mario, and Super Metroid....Greg needs to play that game.
I don't really love any of those games. Granted, I've only played the demo of ModNation Racers, but the racing and physics felt better in MKW, to me.
I also very much disagree with the idea that "WipeOut is pretty much F-Zero". On the surface, they're both fast-paced futuristic hovercraft racers, sure, but the track design and the way the hovercrafts control are completely different. I don't like WipeOut all that much, but F-Zero GX was one of my favorite games of that gen...
They look nice...... and that is it. I hated Ico (despite playing it to completion, hoping I would change my mind). The controls suck, which makes the puzzles very frustrating. I spent hours trying to line up jumps with wind mill sails and the water mill wheel (the latter was cut for the US release - you guys got lucky!). The puzzles were plain bad. The story left me cold. The game rules suddenly change, most jarringly was when you go from having to defeat every shadow in a room to proceed and are then blocked by infinite re spawning shadows with no warning or explanation. I was hacking away for ages before I released what was happening. At least the games is short! I hated this game so much, I was truly surprised at myself.
And I stopped playing Shadow of the Colossus when I realized that it wasn't a game about fighting bosses but about watching concentric HUD circles filling up followed by button mashing. All these beautiful graphics were flying by and I was just looking at the stupid circles. (for those unfamiliar, you have to grip to the Colossi and the circles show how strong your grip is). I played half of the game and gave up, not one boss fight was a patch on a Zelda boss battle anyway and it all stank of trial and error game play.
I really don't see it as being similar to Zelda in the slightest, and I feel that the story is WAAAAYYY overrated, but for what it is, I found it excellent.
The over-editing theory is off the mark. Spacing out cross-talk doesn't diminish interaction between people on the show; it just makes that interaction more intelligible to the listener. It's not like Guillaume hears us arguing/joking/etc. and just cuts out that part because it's hard to hear. He carefully spreads out the tracks so you can hear what each person is saying. It's a very time-intensive process, but the results are totally worthwhile. It's the best substitute for natural body/vocal clues that you can only get from an in-person roundtable with zero latency.
I think I'm doing an alright job for an amateur, especially given the limited amount of time and energy I can afford to put into this. I mean, I started out by watching tutorials on youtube showing how to cut and paste in Audacity... A little bit of training from Greg helped me reach the next level, but I'm still an amateur, doing this in my free time. And freeing my time to do this.
Thanks for the feedback, however. I value it, it is important if I want to keep improving.
I think I'm doing an alright job for an amateur, especially given the limited amount of time and energy I can afford to put into this. I mean, I started out by watching tutorials on youtube showing how to cut and paste in Audacity... A little bit of training from Greg helped me reach the next level, but I'm still an amateur, doing this in my free time. And freeing my time to do this.
Thanks for the feedback, however. I value it, it is important if I want to keep improving.
Think about the Wii. While it had plenty of good games, the only game that makes me say, "This is why Nintendo made this controller, and I'm glad they did." Is Skyward Sword. The real "ah-ha" moment for motion controls came too late for most people to care anymore.
I miss the "outtakes" at the end of the episode. Greg would usually be like a minute of extra audio on at the end of the episode featuring someone messing up while recording the show. Otherwise, great job so far.
When I played Skyward Sword I also had revelatory experience, but I drew very different conclusions. For the longest time I thought that all the Wii needed was for someone to take motion controls and implement them intelligently in a triple A game made for core gamers. What I realised when I played Skyward Sword was that the motion controls are fun for games like Wii Sports, but regardless of the fidelity I just don't need or want them in my traditional action/adventure games.
I guess you could say Skyward Sword made me think 'This is why Nintendo made this controller, and it finally works!...But no thanks'.
I miss the "outtakes" at the end of the episode. Greg would usually be like a minute of extra audio on at the end of the episode featuring someone messing up while recording the show. Otherwise, great job so far.I put outtakes for, like the last three shows before this one.
Hey Pixie, how ever did you get past the first half of A Game of Thrones? Makes Dune seem like a page turner.
Hey Pixie, how ever did you get past the first half of A Game of Thrones? Makes Dune seem like a page turner.
I just finished all of them myself, but over books on tape during my commute. I don't know how I would have done it otherwise. Seriously long winded, but excellent story and character development. You absolutely feel like all of these are real people.
Hey Pixie, how ever did you get past the first half of A Game of Thrones? Makes Dune seem like a page turner.
I just finished all of them myself, but over books on tape during my commute. I don't know how I would have done it otherwise. Seriously long winded, but excellent story and character development. You absolutely feel like all of these are real people.
As long winded and repetitive as the series becomes I actually found the first three books to be excellent page turners. I have a tendency to really burn through stuff that I'm enjoying (don't even ask me about my Deadwood or The Wire marathons). By the time I got to 'A Feast for Crows' though even I was beginning to find the series a little tiresome. However, by that point I was in too deep and needed to see it through to the end. 'A Dance with Dragons' was a definite improvement over 'Feast', reintroducing my favourite characters helped, but it was still a little slow to get moving. The characters and story are totally worth it though for those who can deal with the slow pacing.
Wheel of time started good then whne the it got winded, Original Author dies, new one picks it up and takes the tone and pacing back to the original and the series picks up again. Which remind me I need to read the last book if its out.Hey Pixie, how ever did you get past the first half of A Game of Thrones? Makes Dune seem like a page turner.
I just finished all of them myself, but over books on tape during my commute. I don't know how I would have done it otherwise. Seriously long winded, but excellent story and character development. You absolutely feel like all of these are real people.
As long winded and repetitive as the series becomes I actually found the first three books to be excellent page turners. I have a tendency to really burn through stuff that I'm enjoying (don't even ask me about my Deadwood or The Wire marathons). By the time I got to 'A Feast for Crows' though even I was beginning to find the series a little tiresome. However, by that point I was in too deep and needed to see it through to the end. 'A Dance with Dragons' was a definite improvement over 'Feast', reintroducing my favourite characters helped, but it was still a little slow to get moving. The characters and story are totally worth it though for those who can deal with the slow pacing.
Second this for true facts.
Except I didn't bother finishing Dance, lol. The whole series just started to drag, and I couldn't take it anymore. Then again, I read all of the Wheel of Time so I dunno, apparently that book series was slow paced as well.
