Messages

6076

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 11, 2006, 02:54:45 PM »

Ah, but it's possible to move my chair backwards by jerking my body suddenly and then SLOWLY moving it back to the position before jerking it, then moving suddenly again. Slowly but surely, I will move backwards because the initial movement is far stronger than the aftermath.

Like I said, the physics would allow for it, especially if, after the weight moves, it hits a cushion of some kind which would decelerate it to prevent it from jerking.

Then again, as long as the player felt the initial oomph of the controller against their palm, would it matter if it moved a little after that?

[MaryJane]

6077

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Interesting ONM comments (HYPE++)

« on: April 11, 2006, 02:45:40 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
8 month long strip tease lol good one.

It'd be funnier if it weren't true.

It's like, first the scarf comes off and...come back in three weeks for the left glove.

Just ain't fair...

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
I had the same concern that Ian, third party developers have a really hard time in Nintendo consoles because they have to compete with Nintendo's first party, while in the other consoles they only have to compete among themselves, but then I thought that maybe the big secret left for the rev is in the final dev kits, and Nintendo wouldnt like that leaked the way IGN specs got leaked.

Thing is, though, sell enough Revs and it won't matter. Sony had their own games on the PS2 but no one was worried about them because there was enough userbase to go around.

Also, Reggie has endorsed Red Steel, meaning that Nintendo is using its marketing power to push 3rd party games, effectively taking some of the sting off of competing against Nintendo's games (it's like your competitor is also advertising for you).

'Course, they'd be REALLY smart to coordinate with 3rd parties and time the releases of their games so that none of them overlapped or coincided, especially not similar genres being released at the same time. That would almost completely eliminate the concern of Nintendo's competition as anyone who wanted a new game would always have 3rd party offerings between Nintendo's 1st party titles.

[jasonditz]

6078

Nintendo Gaming / RE:The Rev should be a download center for DS demos

« on: April 11, 2006, 02:43:24 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: jasonditz
What would be very cool is if the Rev could broadcast as a DS download station even when a game is being played. So for instance someone walking by your house could download the demo they want off of your rev. If every online-enabled Rev is doubling as a DS download station whenever it's playing, they'd have a huge amount of coverage.

Also that would be great for kids who don't have a download station within walking/biking distance. Mom won't take you to Best Buy to try the demos? No problem, just put the DS into "download" mode and wander around your neighborhood. Sooner or later you're bound to find somebody who's got their Rev turned on.

As much as I hate to say it (and disagree with their sentiment), people would probably categorize that under the "scary pedophiles would use it to lure children" heading. I think it's a neat idea, though.

On another note, what IS the DS's internal flash memory, anyway?

6079

General Gaming / RE: "Oblivion" gets 4 1/2 yawns on a scale of 5

« on: April 11, 2006, 02:40:17 PM »

You know, I thought it a bit suspect that one of the accessories being sold for 360s is a fan add-on...

6080

TalkBack / RE: Ubisoft Officially Announces Red Steel

« on: April 11, 2006, 02:37:03 PM »

I'm glad Nintendo chose the road of helping 3rd parties to sell their games on their console, rather than slinging money hats at them.

This is evidenced by Reggie's statement in the article. It makes sense that they do this: Nintendo fans will be more likely to buy the game and Ubi will be more likely to duplicate their support in the future as a result, knowing that Nintendo is willing to lend resources to help them.

I've always believed that Iwata was a diplomat and that a diplomat is just what Nintendo needs right now.

[MaryJane]

6081

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 11, 2006, 12:59:17 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
bah i didnt even see that quote, that will be rather disappointing if there's a pointer, hopefully they'll have an option to turn it off, cuz although i'd stil buy this game, i'd be  severely disappointed.

I'd bet an organ or two that there will be an option to turn it off.

6082

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 11, 2006, 12:57:01 PM »

I think that, if the initial motion of the ball was quick, you'd have a decent amount of force, but the act of returning it to "home" position would be much more gradual and thus wouldn't induce a force on the Revmote.

Truth be told, I think it's doable but I think that my idea is the wrong way of doing it.

[vudu]

6083

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official DS Sales Thread

« on: April 11, 2006, 12:23:16 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: vudu It's also shapred like a wang.  Doesn't get much more mature than that...

Good point.

Unsanctioned 3rd party games could become miiiighty interesting with the Revmote...

6084

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Official DS Sales Thread

« on: April 11, 2006, 11:45:14 AM »

It's clear that they realize that, in the US, you can sell a console based on insecurity alone.

With no doubt many games which will turn the Rev into a gun/sword toting experience, the console has huge potential to become insanely popular with the older crowd in a hurry.

The controller doubles as the handle of a sword or gun. Doesn't get much more mature than that...

6085

General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 exclusive GTA?

« on: April 11, 2006, 11:13:57 AM »

Grand Theft Chariot in ancient Rome.

Hell, if they can do Battlefield 2142, anything is possible.

[jasonditz]

6086

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 11, 2006, 11:03:35 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: jasonditz
I'm thinking an improvement on the rumble might be unbalancing the controller in your hand. Here's a quick sample. Pick up a 2-liter bottle of pop that's about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Swing it around a little bit. Notice that you can feel some (albeit little) force when the liquid sloshes around? You could do a more controlled version of that inside the controller and probably simulate to some extent a force in a given direction. It would probably be a real power leech, and unfortunately, it's probably not going to be possible to "stop" your hand during a sword strike unless you make the controller ponderously heavy.

It would definitely be impossible to force the player's hand to a full stop, but ideally, the controller would simply "bump" in the direction the force would be coming from in game and the player would learn to move accordingly by feeling these bumps to know when they've struck an unyielding object.

It's definitely possible. A rumble unit is just a rapid oscillation of a small weight inside the controller. Imagine the same weight, a perfect sphere, sitting in the middle of a small spherical plastic chamber with springs on all sides touching the sphere and going to the wall of the chamber. On command, one of the springs compresses while the spring on the other side of the weight uncoils, the result would be that the weight was rapidly shifted from center to one of the edges, resulting in a singular direction force feedback, before quickly resetting to zero (with all springs at medium point). This might actually result in pushing the controller in the opposite direction that the weight moves, but this would still work to the ends which it would be used for.

That's just a rough idea and I'm sure there are flaws with it, but something of the sort would definitely be possible. I've seen devices which are designed to jerk in a direction on command (devices with far less battery oomph than the Revmote will have). I don't see why the controller wouldn't be able to do so and still offer 4-8 hours of play time.

6087

Nintendo Gaming / RE: The Rev should be a download center for DS demos

« on: April 11, 2006, 10:48:24 AM »

Puzzles are the only example which I admit will give the player a pretty regular experience, but the Meteos demo was the best example of this and even that paled in comparison to the final game.

I like the idea of simply cycling the demos out. All in all, I think they'd garner more sales from players being able to try the demos right away than they'd garner moochers who never intend to buy the game. Besides, if the demo goes away, that's incentive to buy the game right there (or never turn their DS off, which they'll have to do eventually).

[MaryJane]

6088

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Interesting ONM comments (HYPE++)

« on: April 11, 2006, 10:01:34 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
I just want this damn thing already.

I know how you feel.

Nintendo is basically doing an 8 month striptease.

6089

General Gaming / RE: Thank you, VGCats. Someone had to say it...

« on: April 11, 2006, 09:45:41 AM »

Since Ramsoomair includes the URL in every comic, I don't think it's a big deal but I changed it anyway.

[jasonditz]

6090

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 10, 2006, 05:25:14 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: jasonditz
What I'm picturing is if you aim to the left, the cursor moves immediately, and if you leave it pointing to the left for a set amount of time (which might be different depending on how far left of center you're pointing), it starts to drift your view in that direction. If you're trying to aim at a particular stationary target that's on the left, you will have to drift the controller progressively to the right as the screen drifts to keep the controller on the target. Eventually, the target will be in the center, and so will the cursor.

This is what I envisioned myself.

If the Revmote is pointed somewhere ON screen, the screen wouldn't move. If it's pointed off screen, the screen will spin until you move the Revmote back onto the screen.

Remember that he said it would take 1 second to spin completely around. I'm assuming there is a setting which you can use to adjust the sensitivity at which the screen moves, but 1 second for a full 360° is pretty damn fast.

I doubt there's a lag time when you touch the edge of the screen or go past it. If someone is shooting you from the left and you have to wait for the screen to move to the left even after you aim the Rev controller off the screen to the left, then a huge part of the game dynamic will be ruined.

There's a cursor on the screen so you can see where you're shooting at all times (though, I would like an expert mode to disable it) and I'd bet that this is what will serve as your means of moving the camera.

In any case, moving the camera sounds very similar to moving a gun around, which is indeed the purpose of the game. I'm sure they'll have it figured out before they ship the game.

6091

General Gaming / RE: "Oblivion" gets 4 1/2 yawns on a scale of 5

« on: April 10, 2006, 05:14:50 PM »

Like I said, I came to the game expecting to find it enjoyable.

I didn't RENT the damn thing so I could turn around and bitch about it. Why would I willingly give Blockbuster my money for something I expected not to enjoy? I might as well go downtown and pay a 400 lbs. woman to break my nose and crush me between her thighs if I'm going to be into spending my money in a masochistic fashion. I mean, why not jump in with both feet?

I assume that there would be other people who thought as I did: that the game will be enjoyable without needing to have an appreciation for exploration and large periods of downtime where nothing much happens.

I admit I was rather angry and sarcastic in my posting, but I am serious when I say that potential buyers should be warned and should rent the game before buying it if they're on the fence. They might enjoy it, they might NOT. I'm just trying to establish that doubt and I think that a 2-3 page flamewar should hopefully have established that by now.

[Michael8983]

6092

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 10, 2006, 02:32:11 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Michael8983
Even if that was possible I don't see how it could be feasible without making the Revmote WAY too expensive.
I do suspect it will come with an enhanced rumble feature which will be the next best thing.

It's an interesting idea.

What if the vibration unit (which does exist in the controller) gave force feedback in a specific direction rather than simply vibrating?

If your sword clashes with that of your enemy, the controller could vibrate in the direction opposite of where your sword hit, simulating the feel of the handle pushing into your palm on an impact. When the gun fires, you could have actual recoil instead of just vibration.

It might very well be doable, as the controller was noted as being the most expensive part of the whole system, but we'll have to wait and see in that regard.

Personally, I think it would make games like this just that much better.  

6093

General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 exclusive GTA?

« on: April 10, 2006, 02:18:18 PM »

I think, if Red Steel is what it promises to be, that it will be the new GTA.

We've done Western crime to death. It's time to see what crime looks like through the ranks of the Yakuza and when swords come into the picture.

From the sounds of it, you can choose missions in whatever order you please which means that we might be able to expect a consistent world like GTA has, except from a FPS viewpoint and with far more depth and a system for real combat.

[TrueNerd]

6094

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 10, 2006, 01:25:41 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: TrueNerd
Random Thought: This game better have the best melee attack ever in an FPS. I want it to feel like like I'm really smackin' a dude in the head with the butt of my gun.

As for the yes/no, nodding/shaking thing, meh. Is that really that much better or worse then hitting "A" for yes or "B" for no? It could be better if a menu asking you the question doesn't come up at all and the NPC asking the question demands you to nod or shake your head until you do.

Yeah, I was always saying how insanely fun the melee attack in Halo would be with the Revmote.

Maybe the character will be mute in this game, making him even more of a cipher, hence why all he can do is nod or shake his head.  

6095

General Gaming / RE: "Oblivion" gets 4 1/2 yawns on a scale of 5

« on: April 10, 2006, 12:53:43 PM »

And like I said, they didn't even climb the first slope of the graph. The NPCs didn't come close to replicating actual living, sentient beings.

It was awkward to watch them move their disjointed mouthes and jerky animations, sure, but I think that was more pity for the developers than anything.

If they had been SO close to real and yet had some bizarre characteristic which always made them seem non-living, then sure, but these were clearly mannequins from the very beginning.

[Artimus]

6096

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Red Steel Topic, new details added!

« on: April 10, 2006, 12:47:11 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
Words cannot describe how frustrating your comments are. How ignorant, how pathetic, how childish.

Hey, come on! We got Ian to say something POSITIVE! As far as I'm concerned, the day is won.

As for the question, if you move the Revmote up and down and the screen moves with it while you're talking to someone, then that is indeed better for immersive purposes. It sounds like your character might very well be a cipher, but I'm willing to forgive it if the game is done in such a way that I TRULY feel as though I am the character in the game.

So if I use an actual gesture to nod and shake my head, then sure, I'm cool with that, if the camera moves when I do it then it simulates exactly what I'm going to do. I like the idea of having no cutscenes as it will further enhance the immersion potential of the game.

As for special moves, I think the idea was that the game would be controlled primarily with motion and as such would attempt to perform every action possible with the Revmote. I can guarantee that controlling a point in 3D space will be more immersive than moving a stick around. I loved lightgun games because when you were actually aiming the gun, the game did a far better job of pulling you into it then moving a cursor around with a controller.

Thus, I could say that, when I want to unleash a devastating attack, I can channel my character's energy with a gesture of my blade, something which isn't terribly far-fetched in the world of samurai swordplay, and it'll keep me more in the game than pressing a button or, god knows, selecting from a list of attacks I wish to perform.

I think it'll aid in immersion so I don't think it'll feel unnatural.

As for Ubi, Splinter Cell was a take on MGS, BG&E was a Zelda-like adventure. The only game from them which was truly original was PoP, which stayed true to the original PoP games by being an acrobatics based adventure which won plenty of awards because nothing like it has been seen this generation.

This is a completely new franchise and something which has yet to be done in the world of gaming, hence why I was surprised when I heard it from Ubi.

[Kairon]

6097

Nintendo Gaming / RE:The Rev should be a download center for DS demos

« on: April 10, 2006, 12:17:29 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
Yeah, ideally you'd want to keep the DS downloading Demos in stores so that you have a social networking place for DS gamers.

I understand that point, but:

1. It increases the chance of creepy pedophiles sleazing around the DS download stations (yeah, it's bull, but it's bad press Nintendo doesn't need).

2. Updating the DS download centers actually requires work on the part of the stores and you have no way of knowing in advance if the demo you want to try is available. On the Rev, they update the demos at Nintendo's ISP and every Rev owner has access to them.

3. Why bother letting people download demos when you could just as easily have DSs on display running the same demos? Why do people need to play on THEIR DS? All this does is invite theft when thieves can say with a straight face that they brought the DS in with them to try the demos.

4. Many people are too damn busy to drive to a store just to try out some games. I love the DS because it's the busy person's handheld: you close the thing, it freezes the action of whatever game you were playing and you put it in your pocket until the next inactive moment rolls around. The Rev would offer these demos to people who just don't want to waste the time and gas to drive to a store to try these games.

5. Plenty of people order games online for the aforementioned reason instead of buying them in stores. If a customer doesn't want to leave their home but would still like to try/buy your products, why not let them?

6098

General Gaming / Thank you, VGCats. Someone had to say it...

« on: April 10, 2006, 12:04:40 PM »

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=192

I never thought I'd hope for better marketing from a console which competes with my favored one, but I'd like this crap to go away in a goddamn hurry.  

6099

Nintendo Gaming / The Rev should be a download center for DS demos

« on: April 09, 2006, 09:39:46 PM »

Think about it.

Games like Wario World on the GC offered GBA connectivity which copied a few Wario Ware mini-games to your GBA for you to try. AC did the same with NES games.

The demo download centers in stores are a nice idea, but what about people who don't live anywhere near one? I've already touted the merits of downloading NES, SNES and maybe N64 games to DS from the Rev's Virtual Console, but I can think of no better way to sell DS games then to let the Rev be the gateway to sampling any and all possible games.

The Rev could access these demos without any hardware changing or anything, just connect to the demo server which would be updated regularly with upcoming DS game demos.

First of all, it would give those of us who are REEEALLLY looking forward to a game something to whet our appetites.

Second, it gives DS owners the ability to test drive the games they want right from their own home, wirelessly and without hassle.

The closest DS download center to me is 45 minutes away. I'm curious about Brain Age but not THAT curious. It makes perfect sense to allow the Rev to be a download center: there's almost no cost to Nintendo, you download the demos as you want them and you can know which games you want to preorder before they hit shelves (or ship to you via Gamestop). You could even add yourself to a mailing list which announces when new DS demos are up for download.

Rev game demos would also be a welcome addition (the 360 already does this), but unlike MS, Nintendo has to consider connectivity to it's insanely popular handheld a big issue: this would just add one more reason on the growing list of reasons to own a Rev. I'm sure many people would buy one just for the Virtual Console and DS demos alone.

So let's hope Nintendo reps read PGC. I think this would be too good of an idea to pass up.

6100

TalkBack / RE: Revolution May Have Twenty Launch Titles

« on: April 09, 2006, 09:16:49 PM »

I think it's a company preference.

Look at Apple. Microsoft has been ripping them off for ages, effectively making Apple into a no-cost R&D for MS. There's even a video where Bill Gates is introducing "new" features for Vista or something and someone edited in screens of Mac OSX (Apple's current OS) at all the points he was talking about the "new" features, instead showing that these features are already in Apple's OS and have been for months.

Lucky for Apple, the iPod is something which they were first to market with (a low cost MP3 player which connects easily and seamlessly to a computer to add music to it) as is their download service and they've been off and running with it ever since, still the market leader, by far, despite the fact that a bajillion copycats have sprung up all over the internet.

I'm not convinced that Sony won't be introducing a "PS3mote" at E3 as an optional peripheral, but we'll have to wait and see.

I just hope Nintendo doesn't become the free R&D where they're the only company who innovates and everyone just rips them off, like Apple was for so goddamn long.