Messages

201

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Wii controls vs. Traditional controls

« on: August 02, 2007, 07:57:49 AM »

Disruptive technologies may not satisfy the needs of existing customers, indeed, existing customers may not be able to use them at all.

As time progresses, the disruptive technology fills the needs of existing users even better than sustaining technologies and the market leaders find themselves in trouble.

The next Wiimote may have a couple of extra buttons, but I think the basic nunchuck design is the future of game controllers.  Traditional "pad" controllers will take a seat next to joysticks in the accessories isle.

202

General Gaming / RE: Why do all 360 games look the same?

« on: August 01, 2007, 03:50:25 AM »

All 360 games are secretly developed by Microsoft and then attributed to different publishers and developers.  The company is actually losing 100 billion dollars per year, but they hid it in the cost of Bill Gates' new castle.

203

General Gaming / RE: Sony getting hit Hard lately (Hurry, patent Shiny Black Plastic while you still can!)

« on: August 01, 2007, 03:40:18 AM »

Hey Spak (edit - meant Ceric), I can't quite tell if you're being sarcastic about Neo-Geo...I know the system lasted 10 years plus...but who cares?  The thing is, Sony relies on having a huge fan base, if PS3 wound up as an uber-cult-classic piece of hardware, that would be cool for fans, but useless for Sony.

The patent squatting thing sucks.  Tough for Sony, but I can't really blame them for this one.  

204

General Gaming / RE: XBox 360 Price drop!

« on: August 01, 2007, 03:32:27 AM »

The drop on the Premium and Elite seems a little small, but I think it's reasonable considering the lineup MS has coming.

The tiny drop on the core is really interesting.  At $280 vs. $350, anyone who knows what they're getting will buy the Premium.  What's more, the Core already sells poorly, from what I've heard, so it needed the price drop the most.  Not to mention that it's still more expensive than a Wii, without even thinking about a game or a memory card.  I think one of two things is going on:

1. MS is trying REALLY hard to be profitable and the Core doesn't have that much wiggle-room in terms of price.
2. MS is planning to phase the Core out.

Overall it goes to show that Microsoft is still very focused on Playstation.  If it wanted to achieve any kind of mainstream success, it needed at least a $50 price drop on Core, and preferably a $100 drop across the board.  Instead it dropped the price on everything just enough to keep a comfy lead on PS3 while minimizing losses.

205

General Gaming / RE: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

« on: August 01, 2007, 03:11:14 AM »

I imagine the bad guys were on extra-stupid, I didn't see any reactions at all in the entire video...but maybe they really are that dumb.

[Ian Sane]

206

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Nintendo won't be attending TGS 2007

« on: August 01, 2007, 03:04:17 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"With E3 no longer what it once was and Spaceworld unlikely to return, I think the days of Nintendo unveiling games and making announcements at shows are coming to an end."

For Nintendo's sake alone (ignoring my own personal desire for Nintendo to keep me informed) I hope they don't ever think this is a good idea.  Out of sight = out of mind.  People forget about you when you're not in the news and new game annoucements and press conferences and stuff like that get you in the news.  And I'm talking about the mainstream media as well before someone says that none of this applies to non-gamers so it doesn't matter.  You disappear from the media and everyone assumes you're gone.  Nintendo has momemtum and they need to keep that going.  Being media-friendly is a good marketing tool.  That's why so many people were drooling over the Xbox before it was even revealed and the general public seemed almost unaware that the Gamecube was launching at the same time.  Suck up to both the mass media and the gaming media.  As long as the games remain of high quality there's no harm of losing any credibility with consumers and you get free ads out of it that most people don't even notice are ads.

I mostly agree, but I think we've got good proof that Nintendo isn't giving up media relations.  As many have pointed out, Wii Fit was arguably a much better mainstream media attention-getter than anything Sony or Microsoft showed this E3, even though the long Wii Fit demo is the source of most gamer consternation about Nintendo's E3 show.

Actually, did anybody notice if anything from E3 reached the mainstream media?

207

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Over 80% of Japanese Wii Owners use online features

« on: August 01, 2007, 02:58:28 AM »

I recognize Friends codes don't have a lot to do with the fact that online play is free, I'm just saying that the system's most popular whipping boy, Friends Codes, are totally acceptable to me in the light of free online play.

Edit: of course PS3 would offer the best of both worlds, but you arguably pay a premium up front for the free online play on that system.

208

General Gaming / RE: XBox 360 Price drop!

« on: July 31, 2007, 05:27:26 AM »

I don't doubt PS3 has problems, but by this time last year, I noticed some (very pro-Microsoft) forums were filling up with posts from people who had replaced their 360 at least once, sometimes as much as two or three times.

I also recall when Matt C. at IGN became the last editor to have his 360 break.  In the long run, PS3 may turn out to be just as unreliable (and I have also had a lot of problems with Sony electronics) but at this point in time the 360 seems to be worse off.

Maybe I should go lurk some Sony forums to see if they suggest otherwise!

209

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Confirmed: Dragon Quest Remakes For DS

« on: July 31, 2007, 05:03:25 AM »

It's been too long since I played DQ IV to give an accurate opinion, but at the time I had played Final Fantasy IV and had already decided that I would never touch Final Fantasy I again because of grinding, yet I still enjoyed DQ IV.

It definitely included grinding, but I only recall one area where I actually had to stop progressing and just wander around and level up for like an hour.  That said, a lot of content in the game hid grinding in a novel way for the time, which might not be so "novel" anymore.  Louieturkey mentions Taloon's chapter, where you have to earn a ton of Gold...but it was somewhat disguised by the novelty of running a store.

210

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Over 80% of Japanese Wii Owners use online features

« on: July 31, 2007, 04:54:04 AM »

I agree with Ceric.  Or at least, I'm one vote in the "won't pay for online stuff" bin...I have yet to download anything on VC, and I'll gladly take Friends Codes in exchange for free online play - if I had a 360, I would not pay for a Live membership.

211

Nintendo Gaming / RE: 8 Biggest Wii games of 07

« on: July 30, 2007, 07:26:40 AM »

Look, a list!  Be quiet, or you may scare it away:

1. Super Mario Galaxy
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3. Space Station Tycoon (although I need review confirmation of awesomeness before I commit)
4. BWii
5. Guilty Gear
6. Metroid Prime III
7. Zack and Wiki (Maybe...it's not exactly my kind of game)
8. Guitar Hero III

Honorable Mentions:
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
Dewy's Adventure
Fire Emblem  

212

General Gaming / RE: The truth about working at Rockstar

« on: July 30, 2007, 07:19:32 AM »

So the truth about working at Rockstar is that they sit around and debate the life and times of Mario?
(Yeah, Daisy is the princess of Sarasaland.)

213

General Gaming / RE: Rockstar Developing Exclusive Franchise For The PS3

« on: July 30, 2007, 07:08:23 AM »

We don't buy exclusivity!

214

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Rumor: Dragon Quest Remakes For DS

« on: July 30, 2007, 06:42:08 AM »

I'd like to see 5-7, I don't really care about the others as I already own 4 and...well, I suppose a remake of the earlier ones might be welcome, but at the time of their release they required way too much grinding for my current tastes.

215

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Viva Pinata DS announced

« on: July 30, 2007, 06:38:59 AM »

I will check it out.  Need to see reviews first, though.

216

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Heroes of Mana

« on: July 26, 2007, 11:04:40 AM »

Maybe every Secret of  game has used the same pathfinding routine since 1992.

217

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Doki Doki Majo Shinpan thread [girl groping zone]

« on: July 26, 2007, 11:03:38 AM »

A pervert is Super!
Although I'll never get to play it anyway, is it any good?

218

General Gaming / RE: Heavenly Sword

« on: July 26, 2007, 10:55:36 AM »

I'm definitely curious to hear more about this.  It looks cool, but the question is if there's more to it than arena after arena of fighting?

219

General Gaming / RE: The truth about working at Rockstar

« on: July 26, 2007, 10:51:31 AM »

Ha ha.

It sounds like management got messed up.

It surprises me and doesn't surprise me that Manhunt was Rockstar North's pet project.  On the one hand, the company used to do lots of relatively "innocent" games, like Space Station Silicon Valley and Lemmings.  On the other hand, they also like rocking the boat with their games.

220

General Gaming / RE:Anyone had problems buying NTDOY?

« on: July 26, 2007, 10:43:25 AM »

Yeah, I'd love to buy more, but I just can't!  Oh well, thanks for the input.

This recent downturn in the North American stock markets is a lot easier to handle owning some Nintendo.  Every other stock on my watchlist is down, down, down, meanwhile Nintendo just went up another 3 or 4 dollars!

221

General Gaming / Anyone had problems buying NTDOY?

« on: July 24, 2007, 07:07:28 AM »

Hey guys, I think there may be one or two other stock jockeys on the boards, has anybody attempted to buy some Nintendo through Pink Sheets and failed lately?

I had the problem a month or two ago and according to my trading company there was a cease trading order from Reuters, based on some kind of fraud allegations (not within Nintendo, I think it's one of the middle men between the Japanese stock exchange and ours).

Anyway, my concern now is that maybe it's my own trading company that is not allowed to purchase more Nintendo.  I want more Nintendo, darnit!  Does anybody know anything or have you purchased NTDOY successfully in the past two months?

222

Nintendo Gaming / RE: review alien syndrome already!!!

« on: July 24, 2007, 05:40:20 AM »

Uh-oh...if there are no reviews, likely Sega sent out now review copies, and that's usually a sign of an iffy game.

Granted, I've had low hopes for this all along...overhead RPG shooter thingies just aren't my cup of tea, so I'm being quite pessimistic.

[Spak-Spang]

223

General Gaming / RE:Miyamoto visits Ubi Soft

« on: July 24, 2007, 05:35:56 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Spak-Spang
I love the facial expressions.  

That poor girls looks totally intimidated by Miyamoto being front row...and he is like..."I wonder what kind of Jelly is on my sandwhich for lunch."

Don't you know that's Jade so-and-so and we're all supposed to trip over each other because she's a fairly attractive woman who makes games?

224

General Gaming / RE: Microsoft showing their true colors once again.

« on: July 24, 2007, 05:23:47 AM »

It's not the hardware makers having third party problems, it's the third parties having hardware-maker problems.

Sony and Microsoft priced themselves out of the market...possibly because they had no choice if they wanted to offer a level of hardware improvement that was acceptable to traditional gamers.

Nintendo came up with a new product that leaves a lot of the traditional market angry or at least dumbfounded, but that is cheap enough to grab up a lot of the traditional market plus some new markets.

Most third parties banked on the traditional consoles because they could quantify the audience.  Many PS3 projects were probably started 2-3 years ago when companies still thought PS3 would dominate the market.  And why wouldn't you think that?  Until people saw the Wii line-ups at E3, and heard Sony's ridiculous price, there was no telling things would turn out this way.  Even after that, many people were still skeptical: who would have predicted that Wii would still be sold out in many places even 8 months after launch?  Even huge proponents of the blue ocean / disruption business plan figured it would take about a year for Wii to catch on.

So what we have is a situation where a lot of  third parties are very invested in a big loser - PS3 - and most of them are way behind the curve on the big winner - Wii.  In fact many of them still aren't sure if Wii is the real deal.   It's not surprising, then, that third party support is all over the place.

Of course I'm ignoring 360, which actually has quite good third party support, it's just focused on a narrow demographic.  That's not a huge surprise, the original Xbox had the same problem (even worse), but I don't think people realized it as much until 360 had the first-mover advantage and had trouble selling systems.  

225

General Gaming / RE: Sega Gamegear Discussion Thread

« on: July 24, 2007, 04:47:13 AM »

My orthodontist had Game Gears at every chair, but I preferred to suffer 10% less.

Seriously, I played once or twice while waiting and it was fine, but clearly the battery life was a huge problem for this system.  The game selection seems so-so as well, but frankly I'm not all that happy with most pre-Game Boy Color games anymore either.  Link's Awakening and Donkey Kong 94 are about the only ones that I consider to be amazing games.  

I think you had to play a lot of these games in the time to appreciate them: they couldn't live up to the home versions, but that wasn't the point.  The point was that you were playing Metroid or Mario or Sonic on vacation or whilst riding in the back of the car.