Messages

3301

Nintendo Gaming / RE: The Time for a Revolution Unveiling should be soon

« on: July 29, 2005, 10:15:46 AM »

I like the idea of just showing little bits of Revolution, but I wonder if that would get a reaction from the press?  Certainly the gaming media would be all over it if Nintendo were to show a close-up of one piece of the new controller, for example, but the regular news outlets wouldn't give a crap and Nintendo could run the risk of slipping under the mainstream media's radar until E3 or system launch.  I don't know if that matters so much anyway, but I do think it's in Nintendo's interest to hype this system up soon.

I'm guessing Nintendo wants to finalize a lot of stuff first.  They're probably still tweaking a lot of things, but maybe they should just show off the non-final prototypes.  There's an idea right there...Nintendo has been talking quite a bit about Revolution, but images are what we're lacking.  If games are too early to show, why not show of prototypes of the system and the controllers.  Even if the prototypes won't be used, it would generate interest and could probably be done in a way that doesn't give any secrets away.

3302

General Gaming / RE:PS3 Estimated at $400

« on: July 29, 2005, 09:55:31 AM »

Personally, I don't think it matters how powerful they make PS3...Having seen several games and demos for Xbox 360 and PS3, I think as long as the actual games live up to that, we've basically reached the point where any new systems are going to be like new computer animated movies.  They'll cram 50% more details and some nifty new effect in, and a few people who really know what's going on will be impressed, but most people will not see the difference.

In other words, PS"4" and Xbox "720" are not going to be able to top the next-gen systems by a large enough margin to justify spending hundreds of dollars on them - unless they don't live up to expectations.  I think even PS3 and Xbox 360 are having a hard time justifying their existance with the graphics they're offering.

Because of that Sony may be thinking it's time to extend system lifespans.  I'm cool with that, but are Microsoft and Nintendo?  Nintendo probably would be, it wanted this generation to go longer than it did.  Microsoft will no doubt release another system in five to six years in the hopes of knocking Sony out.  I don't believe graphics alone will do that, but maybe some other emerging technology will force Sony to upgrade or replace the PS3.  What if Blu Ray fails miserably and HD DVD or some other new medium proves to be really popular, for example?

I fully agree with Ian on one thing: Sony can't make it too expensive. Publishers and developers won't care how good the system is going to look in five years if it doesn't have any users now.  I still think PS3 will be priced low enough to do well but it's sounding more and more like it really will be a lot more expensive than Xbox 360.

3303

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Where Do Babies Come From?

« on: July 27, 2005, 01:00:03 PM »

I like Feel the Magic, but having played Wario Ware, I think it falls a little short.  I feel the experience in and of itself is worth owning the game for, but now that I've had the experience, I don't think it will be as special the second time....soooo...Sega needs to beef up on the gameplay basics.  

I think the two main problems with the game were that it made you play the same thing over and over again, and it didn't have any scoring system.  In the case of playing things over and over again, it worked fine for certain games, but for others it became tedious or frustrating.  I thought the Dance game was killed by tedious repetition (hit button x three times in a row...over and over again).

As for scoring, there's really a limit to how long you can replay the game, because once you beat all the games, there's nothing left.  Sega tried to compensate for that by making the games fairly hard, but to me that just means the game is both frustrating and limited in it's replay value.

If Sega can improve the next game in those areas, I'll be there.  More games would be great too, of course.

3304

Nintendo Gaming / RE: A thread on why there is no thread on Geist on this board.

« on: July 27, 2005, 12:46:03 PM »

This is kind of disappointing, the game's concept had so much potential.

I agree that the mainstream media can't always be trusted, but for three different reviewers to give it scores that low (I'm assuming EGM still rates on a scale of 1-10), things are not looking good.

3305

TalkBack / RE: Iwata to Speak at Tokyo Game Show

« on: July 27, 2005, 12:34:09 PM »

Nintendo IS showing its solution to complex gaming.  It's called Nintendo DS.  Yes there are games that are very complex, like Super Mario 64, on the system.  There are also games that some people think are too simple (I disagree) like Wario Ware, Yoshi, and Feel the Magic - even if they are "too simple", they still give an example of how Nintendo can make gaming simpler.  Then there's Kirby which in my opinion, has shown us the best of both worlds: It has a reasonably long, engaging adventure mode, but the controls are still extremely simple.  I could sum all of the controls up in two or three sentences.

So maybe Iwata should give a speech on how a few particular DS games have met Nintendo's requirements for simplifying gaming.  But it seems like giving speeches about existing games is not the norm...everyone likes to talk about the next big thing at these conferences.  Nintendo's next big thing is Revolution.

I do think Nintendo needs to talk about Revolution soon.  Well before the Xbox 360 launch.  I also hope that Nintendo has been showing third party developers the system for a long time.  So yeah, Nintendo has work to do, but Nintendo has been turning Iwata's theories into practice with the DS.

3306

TalkBack / RE:Xiaolin Showdown Licensed!

« on: July 27, 2005, 05:14:52 AM »

This has potential that will be squandered on a boring platformer or Double Dragon clone.

3307

General Chat / RE: NHL is back! 20 of 30 teams make playoffs?

« on: July 26, 2005, 01:47:30 PM »

Ha ha, I was born in Alberta I don't hate the Leafs with a passion, but I'm no fan either.  
I don't like shootouts either, I see no problem with the current system, though maybe they think shootouts are more climactic.  20 teams in the cup seems silly but I can probably live with it, depends on how it's implemented.

3308

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Paring down the Revolution controller

« on: July 26, 2005, 01:01:27 PM »

Ian's right, forcing people to buy old controllers to play the backwards-compatible games would be silly.  I wouldn't be too surprised to see Nintendo shoehorn existing functions into different types of input (c-stick into trackball? Not likely, but maybe....) but I'm sure it will include all the needed functionality for backwards compatibility in the main controller.  Besides, the last interview they had basically said that the controller will allow cross-platform games.

3309

Nintendo Gaming / RE: The Time for a Revolution Unveiling should be soon

« on: July 25, 2005, 10:16:30 AM »

Thinking on it...I should point out I have a pretty long-term view.  "Soon" to me would be in a month or two, I don't expect them to say something next week or anything.

I think an announcement around the time of the Zelda launch would be a good idea, but that depends on the timing of the Xbox 360 launch.  I think it would be best for Nintendo to give out some exciting new details about the system before then.

3310

General Gaming / RE: Hot Coffee decision already affecting other games

« on: July 25, 2005, 10:01:07 AM »

I don't doubt that the ESRB and EA will fight back on this one, as there's really no way around this sort of thing without changing the concepts of the Sims.  And really, if there are some sick people out there enacting pedophillic acts with their Sims, wouldn't we rather have them doing that then running around looking for real victims?

[Ian Sane]

3311

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Paring down the Revolution controller

« on: July 25, 2005, 06:50:02 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

Yes it is pretty much exactly what I wanted.  Though at this point, even thought I would be happy with a controller like that, if that's all they had I would be pretty peeved they hid it for so long.

100% agreed.  I'd like Nintendo to do something a little more traditional in terms of button layout, but that would be no reason to hide it.  I'm sure Nintendo knows that though.  I mean, releasing a controller that's even less unique than your last one is not an innovation.  I'd like to take a second to harp on my personal pet-peeve.  If they go back to a Super NES button layout, great, but please shape the buttons differently like the North American Super Nintendo did!  It makes it so much easier to learn the buttons.

Edit: changed U.S. to North America to appease dumb Canadians (like me).  And Mexicans...don't know if they got the same Super NES as us, or if there are any on here, but you know, equality and all that nice stuff.  

3312

Nintendo Gaming / The Time for a Revolution Unveiling should be soon

« on: July 25, 2005, 06:42:10 AM »

Okay, last week we saw the unveiling of Factor 5's new game, Resident Evil 5, and Too Human...all for other consoles.  Sony and Microsoft are starting to show off their new systems with plenty of media, and ironically, three of the biggest products used to be Nintendo exclusives in some way or another.

Which brings me to a point one of our more controversial forum-buddies, Ian Sane, made: what is Nintendo giving us?  We've lost all these cool products and the competition is really starting to turn up the hype on their new systems.  I believe Nintendo needs to unveil the Revolution soon.

So far the company has shied away from showing media from the games, I'm beginning to think that they want to show the Revolutionary aspect before showing any games.  Okay, but if Nintendo wants Revolution to be taken seriously by the media, it needs to do something to generate excitement.  At the very least, I think Nintendo needs to announce a date for the official unveiling.

[mantidor]

3313

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Saturo Iwata: revolution graphics as good as competitors

« on: July 25, 2005, 06:29:29 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
"I don't think the Revolution's (graphics) will be inferior in any fashion to Xbox 360 or PS3. Even if you look at Zelda on GameCube - I don't think that looks inferior to what the competition is touting as "next generation" visuals."

"even" is the keyword, remove the last sentence if you are that worried.

But why is Nintendo always qualifying its statements about graphics?  Saying, "remove the last sentence if you are that worried", is the same as saying, "take the quote out of context".  If the system is as powerful as the others, Nintendo needs to say, "Revolution will be just as powerful as the PS3 or the Xbox 360."  Instead it keeps saying something like, "We think the graphics will look good, graphics aren't that important anyway."  It's not reassuring.

I admit, I agree that the power increase we're seeing next-gen is not that important.  Pretty graphics are nice, and I'll be a little sad if Nintendo isn't up to par with the others, but I don't believe there will be a big impact on gameplay.  Using the example of controlling 500 Pikmin: it lifts some slight limitations, but it wouldn't be anything like the completely new style of gameplay that the first Pikmin introduced.  To me, none of the demos shown so far have shown any really good applications of large scale character numbers, they're mostly eye-candy.

I guess what it comes down to is that I'm sick of wondering.  I don't really care if Revolution is less powerful than the other next-gen systems as long as it offers more power than the current systems, I just wish I knew one way or the other.

3314

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Saturo Iwata: revolution graphics as good as competitors

« on: July 23, 2005, 01:13:39 PM »

Interesting.  If the second article is the actual translation, then he didn't really say the system would be as powerful as the others, he just gave some smoke and mirrors about how even Zelda looks as good as a 360 or PS3 game.  I'm betting on Rev to be the least powerful console of the next gen, but maybe not by a wide margin.  People will notice more that Nintendo focuses on cartoony graphics than that the system is actually less powerful.

I'm glad to hear the controller will play any type of game, that puts many fears to rest.  Overall, seems like a positive interview.

3315

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Paring down the Revolution controller

« on: July 23, 2005, 12:54:44 PM »

Well, Nintendo has been emphasizing interface over controller lately, which had me thinking.  I do feel that Nintendo's options for really surprising us with the controller are few.

If it is just the controller itself, I think it would be pretty easy to copy (as Dual Shock showed us, the competition can copy almost any controller Nintendo invents, as long as Nintendo doesn't hold an invincible patent).

3316

General Gaming / RE:That whole GTA ruckus

« on: July 21, 2005, 10:00:06 AM »

In retrospect, I don't think the game deserves an AO rating for the hidden sex games, and I do think it deserved one for the violence in the first place.

Granted, I may not have seen everything the game has in it, but as I understand, the characters were clothed in the un-modified sex game.  From what I've seen the things they can do are pretty suggestive, but while wearing clothes, I don't think it's as bad.  I think there's similar stuff in the Playboy Mansion game.  Had Rockstar been up-front and given that content to the ESRB from the start, I wonder if it would have gotten an AO rating?  I'm not knowledgable enough about any of these games to say, but it's an interesting question.

I think Ian's point is valid, although I doubt it will be an issue.  I think the ESRB caved in specifically in this situation because the content was hidden from them.  Typically game companies are supposed to submit the "worst" content of the game to the ESRB for review, and I'm sure that if the ESRB had ruled an M rating knowing that the sex game was in there, they'd have stuck to it...but my guess is the sex game was either never reviewed by the ESRB, or it was reviewed and they told Rockstar to take it out if it wanted an M rating.

3317

Nintendo Gaming / RE: NoE Prime 3 Arena Interview

« on: July 20, 2005, 06:26:22 AM »

I agree with KDR on the change for this game, I think it's a good thing.  It can't hurt to change things up for one game, and even if it doesn't fit the "spirit" of the series, it does fit the plot.  Why not do something different?

I also agree that the series has been over done this generation.  What happened to the Nintendo that said the industry was tired of seeing too many sequels?  The promise at the beginning of the Cube's lifespan was that Nintendo would innovate and avoid uninteresting sequels, but I believe it went in the opposite direction.

Of course, a lot of it comes down to taste.  Obviously some people do like to have a sequel per year, just see Sony, Capcom, EA, and THQ.  It doesn't suit me though.

3318

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Resident 5 confirmed....not on Rev!

« on: July 20, 2005, 06:03:12 AM »

I'll argue with the idea that this marks the beginning of the series going downhill again.  Looking at the original series, a lot of people consider 2 to be the best.  This one is being directed by the same guy who worked on 2, and I think the new direction Resident Evil 4 took the series in is still fresh enough to make this game fun.  So I'd say this could be the best game in the series, or at least an equal for Resident Evil 4.

What it probably does mark is the beginning of the series being over-sequelled again.  This one could turn out great, but when 6, 7 and 8 follow on an annual basis, it will get boring again.

3319

General Gaming / RE: That whole GTA ruckus

« on: July 19, 2005, 07:45:26 AM »

I'm going to make some people mad, but whatever.  I was reading an interview with...I think his name is Leland Yee, on IGN.  He's a politician in favour of Government regulations on videogames.  After reading the interview, I agreed with him.  My first impression was rather negative, ("Won't someone think of the children?")  but he eventually convinced me by giving some real, rational reasons why the Government should be in control of rating games.  

Instead of simply going on a tirade about how awful video games are, he pointed out that the ESRB basically gets its money from game sales, which is a conflict of interest.  I don't personally trust corporations to regulate anything.  He also pointed out that if the ESRB is doing the job of keeping kids from buying adult games as well as it claims to be, then the industry shouldn't lose any sales due to a Government ratings system that enforces age restrictions by law.  Of course, he doesn't believe that the ESRB ratings system works, and he cited studies done by high school students showing that a pretty large percentage of stores will sell M-rated games to underage kids.

Of course, a decent percentage of stores will sell cigarettes and porn to kids here in Canada, and they face fines if they're caught.  Even so, I don't trust the ESRB to come up with an appropriate rating...I feel a number of games like Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto may deserve Adults Only ratings based on their violent content alone (but I admit I haven't played them, so I'm not saying that for sure...it's just my impression from reading reviews).

3320

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

« on: July 19, 2005, 07:05:38 AM »

Realism just isn't fun to me.   I think it is personal taste, and I actually enjoyed the sailing in Wind Waker quite a bit...more than I might let on by my complaints.  But I think it harms certain games more than others.  In the Halo series it can become incredibly boring and frustrating - if you lose your vehicle at the wrong time, you can be running around for minutes when you just want to be blasting aliens.

It also depends on smart travel design.  The thing I really like about the Wind Waker is that once you learn the Ballad of Gales, it never takes more than a couple of minutes to get to any part of the world, and less to get to the most common destinations like Windfall Island.

3321

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Where is all this fake Revolution stuff coming from

« on: July 19, 2005, 06:39:42 AM »

Yeah, I agree with Rancid Planet, it's nothing but good news if people are so hyped up about the Revolution to keep coming up with all this fake stuff.

3322

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Mario Kart DS: ONLINE

« on: July 18, 2005, 01:32:08 PM »

Too bad I'm never online on the weekends.  Engaging argument a day too late:

I thought the Block Fort was awesome.  All you need to do is look at the map to find other players, it shouldn't take you more than a minute to get at them.  Overall I felt MK64's track selection was slightly superior, but the thing that really gets me about Double Dash's battle mode is that after six years, it barely improved.  Mario Kart 64 had the luxury of being a pioneering multiplayer game, without much to be compared to.  The bar has been raised.  I look at a game like Timesplitters 2, and Double Dash just looks sad next to it.  I realize Mario Kart is not about having 100 playable characters, track editors, and a million options, but six arenas is a slap in the face...it seems like they put almost no effort into them.

3323

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

« on: July 18, 2005, 01:14:13 PM »

I heard the same thing as Vudu, except I heard specifically that there was one Triforce piece in particular that required you to collect a big chain of maps...like 10 or something to get one piece - I think the rest of them might have been the same as in the U.S. version.  Personally I enjoyed the Triforce quest, but I'm very glad they took that out of the American version.

I'd like to take this chance to throw in my two cents about scale...I'm opposed to trying to create ever-larger worlds, because I think they encourage repetitiveness.  I enjoyed sailing in the Wind Waker, but like others, I think they made the world a little bit too big.  They could have made that better by giving us more to do, but I thought there were already quite a few activities...there's a treasure in every square, many have enemies, once in a while the barrel-slalom game would start up...part of the problem is a lot of the activities became repetitive after a while, and I personally think that's bound to happen as a game world becomes really large.  Things get out of control, and parts of the world become boring, dragging the rest of it down somewhat.

That's not to say nobody should try to make a large game world, but bigger and bigger worlds are definitely the trend (see Halo, Grand Theft Auto, and even Zelda) and I think there's a false mentality that bigger is always better.   A 1000-page novel isn't better than a five page short story unless it's actually written better, and that means a lot more work.  

3324

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Killer Apps

« on: July 18, 2005, 12:50:02 PM »

TVMan's earlier comment got me thinking about the importance of Killer Apps.  I do think they exist, but I agree that when it comes to the big picture, the body of work a system has matters more...even if people only buy the Killer Apps.

The existance of Killer Apps is proven by titles like Super Mario 64 and Halo.  Those games dominated their respective systems for months, and kept the systems selling even when their overall lineups were poor.  On the other hand, mature-themed titles like Goldeneye and Resident Evil were never enough to completely turn around Nintendo's image, even though they sold extremely well.

Ummm...I guess I'm a little off-topic now, I just thought it was an interesting comment.  I think Super Smash Bros. will go a long way towards fulfilling the killer app requirements for the Revolution, but it will need some other stuff as well.  A new Mario platformer that takes advantage of the system's Revolutionary capabilities might do the trick...at the very least some kind of adventure game is needed.  For that matter, an adult-oriented title is needed too...so I guess I'm agreeing with TVMan, in a way...no one game will sell the system.

3325

Nintendo Gaming / RE:200,000 Pre-Orders!?!?!? - Jump Superstars

« on: July 14, 2005, 11:20:05 AM »

I can't believe people are STILL whining.  Yes, Nintendo should have done better, and I was right there bitching along with you in January and February, but the lineup is fine now.  Two of the best games on the system so far were released last month, go play one of them!  Those of you who aren't convinced yet, sucks to be you!  Kirby is awesome.  Everything I hear about Meteos is awesome too.  Nanostray comes out next week.  On top of those games, there are at least 8 others that are worth checking out.

Hopefully Jump Superstars will come here but I won't miss it too much otherwise.  There are plenty of other titles I'm looking forward too.  Looks good, though.