Messages

6426

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: March 14, 2009, 12:42:09 PM »

I remember Nintendo said they were going to avoid the system's first-year drought of games that had plagued the GC and N64, and it seems like they did that, but in their effort to avoid a first-year drought what they did was create a second-year drought, and I don't know if that has really gained them anything. They just pushed the release date of their big games forward, so now they've shot their load and there really isn't anything for them to push out until the next batch is ready (probably not until the end of this year, sadly).

Unfortunately, a lot of the progress Nintendo made with the Wii in regards to Market share has been squandered, and the PS3 and 360 are not sitting idle during this time, and they are gaining ground while Nintendo just sits on their thumbs. I guess Nintendo may have assumed that with as successful as the Wii became, it would have drew in major third party support and that would have filled this void, and by all rights that is what SHOULD have happened, but for some reason 3rd parties seem to hate NIntendo hardware, even if it is in the lead. Nintendo was probably counting on this 3rd party support to be here, and it should have been, but it isn't... and now they're hurting for it.

6427

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: March 14, 2009, 11:57:07 AM »

I don't know, I'm not convinced that the Wii will be able to catch PS2 sales in Japan. I sometimes wonder whether the console market and portable market in that country have switched positions.

In the case of the DS, the reason it is being outsold now by the PSP is everyone and their grandmother has 5 of them at this point, and with Japan's population actually declining due to low birth rates, who is going to keep buying them? That said, I find it alarming that the DSi's sales figures aren't higher than they are. With its improved capabilities, it should at least be outselling the PSP when combined with DSL sales, but it isn't...

In the case of the Wii, I'm not surprised. Most of the top games for it came out in 2007 or early 2008. You can't go a year without great titles and expect to lead in sales. I guess the Wii is actually doing much better than it should. Nintendo REALLY needs to get new games out, and not just GC-ports or grandma mini-games.

6428

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: March 13, 2009, 09:20:42 PM »

The reason that the Wii is sinking like a stone is because there aren't any new games. Where are Nintendo's AAA games?! 

6429

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Should "New play control" Wiimakes be extended to Pre-GC games?

« on: March 11, 2009, 03:15:52 PM »

If NPC Pikmin makes Pikmin 3 come by faster, with better controls and a wider audience, then I'm all for it.  Pikmin 1&2 were both under-appreciated games that more people should've played.  Same for Luigi's Mansion.  If sales of an NPC LM meant a LM2, then I'll be in line day 1.

That's a great way to look at it. Even if you owned the original GC versions of the games, we should keep in mind the GC reached a very small audience compared to the market-leader that is the Wii. By Wii-releasing these classic GC games onto the Wii, Nintendo is exposing them a much larger audience where 90% of them have probably never owned or played a GC and these games before.

These games sold well on the GC, but not as well as they should have, and that's because the GC's market share wasn't very good. But now, these games have a chance to really shine, and depending on how well they do Nintendo may be motivated to release sequels for them.

So even if you personally think they're a rip off, we should all still hope they sell well because then Nintendo will be more likely to make sequels.

6430

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo is the new McDonalds

« on: March 11, 2009, 03:11:46 PM »

How much did $ony pay them to write this crap?

6431

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: March 10, 2009, 03:51:16 PM »

Wii sales in Japan should explode once those monster collecting games start to churn out.

6432

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Should "New play control" Wiimakes be extended to Pre-GC games?

« on: March 10, 2009, 03:48:54 PM »

Actually, now that I think about it there are quite a few NES and SNES games that not only SHOULD be wii-made with NPC on the Wii, but it would be stupid for them not to. I'm thinking of the Zapper/Super Scope games which are absolutely impossible to handle correctly with the classic controller. Duck Hunt NEEDS to have wiggle-waggle control with a cursor added in so you can point and shoot, and they should also add in a new mini-game where you get to shoot at that dog for laughing at you, lol.

And this would pretty much be the ONLY way for Super Scope 6 and other SS games to work on the VC. Its been a LONG time since I played SS6 but I remember it was a cool little collection of games. Sadly, Nintendo has abandoned light guns since then and they never revisted these franchises, but I says its time they get wii-made, and after that maybe Nintendo could consider churning out some sequels?

6433

Nintendo Gaming / Should "New play control" Wiimakes be extended to Pre-GC games?

« on: March 10, 2009, 01:09:47 AM »

What do you guys think? So far all the "new play control" games have been wiimakes of Gamecube games, but why couldn't the same thing be done for the N64 library as well? Imagine a Wiimake of Mario 64 with motion controls and perhaps improved graphics as well, or how about Goldeneye, or the N64 Zelda games, and so forth?

I suppose Wiimakes of N64 games makes more sense than wiimakes of SNES or NES games, due to the fact the N64 is a 3d capable system, but really, why couldn't the older system games also be adapted to make use of the Wiggle-waggle controls? Imagine playing Super Mario Bros. with your wii-mote and pulling sharply upwards on the controller to make Mario jump, or swinging it to make him hurl fireballs or swing it down to make mario crouch or go down a pipe.

New capabilities could also be grafted into the older games somehow. For example, imagine Super Mario World with the ability for Mario to throw punches at his enemies simply by swinging the nunchuk. And who could ever forget Mario Paint? That's the perfect candidate for New play controls if ever there was one.

But yeah, mainly I think its the N64 library that holds the most potential for wiimakes. All these games should be small enough to be offered via Wiiware or VC, and a good price point for them could be $19 or so.

6434

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Do you think a Wii 2 will work?

« on: March 09, 2009, 11:16:15 PM »

But as a life-long Nintendo fan I would buy the Nintendo console. To hell with standards! Long live Fanboyism!

6435

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: March 09, 2009, 11:11:10 PM »

I think Mario and Luigi are secretly female because neither of them have a bulge in their pants.

But... but they got those huge mustaches and they know how to fix plumbing!


On the other hand, I did notice Mario's voice has a higher pitch to it these days. My theory is they were born men but they were turned into Eunuchs somehow....maybe one of those chomping balls on a chain managed to chomp em. Perhaps through his keen sense of smell Birdo mistakes them for women because of their lack of testosterone?

6436

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: March 09, 2009, 10:38:20 PM »

Birdo's eggs are inseminated prior to launching, aimed at unsuspecting females of any species.

If that's the case, why are so many of them aimed at Mario (and Luigi)?

6437

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Do you think a Wii 2 will work?

« on: March 09, 2009, 10:36:27 PM »

I just want a standardized format because I don't want to buy more than one system. At this point I couldn't care less about "innovation" or "improvement" or any of that nonsense.

I think most people who own systems generally own only one anyway.

6438

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 08, 2009, 11:54:55 PM »

It will be a grandma-friendly collection of mini-games called "Resident Evil Party".

6439

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Do you think a Wii 2 will work?

« on: March 08, 2009, 11:51:32 PM »

Games should use a standardized format just like movies have with DVD and previously VHS.

I have to disagree. Where is the incentive to innovate or improve if there is no competition? Nintendo is constantly pushing the envelope with new gaming capabilities, but would they do that if they were locked into PS hardware? I doubt it. Monopolies are bad for consumers and innovation.

6440

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: March 08, 2009, 11:45:52 PM »

so his personality isn't so distinct.

Isn't Birdo a SHE?

I think Birdo is a female for these reasons:

1) Birdo is Pink
2) Birdo lays eggs
3) Birdo has a bow on its head


Come to think of it, shouldn't Yoshi also be a she? Because Yoshi lays eggs...

6441

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 11:35:46 PM »

The new game will be....

Mario and Leon at the Zombie Olympics!

6442

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Upcoming Resident Evil game for Wii thread

« on: March 07, 2009, 01:10:05 PM »

Maybe it will be RE 6.... which will be a Wii exclusive that will come out in 2010, but then one month before its release Capcom will announce it will also make its way to every other system as well.

6443

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Do you think a Wii 2 will work?

« on: March 07, 2009, 01:05:30 PM »

I don't think "Wii 2" will be the name of Nintendo's next console. Nintendo has NEVER, and I repeat NEVER, had a successor console with a 2 behind the name of its predecessor. Sony does this with their PS -> PS2 --> PS3 line and will probably do it with a PS4 at some point, but as far as I know they're the only company lame enough to do this. Nintendo might name their next console "Super Wii" or "Wii 64" or "Wii Advance", but the last thing they will ever name it is "Wii 2".

6444

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: March 03, 2009, 04:50:29 PM »

Ian brings up an excellent point about Mario Party and Animal Crossing. I accept that Mario Galaxy is significantly different enough from Mario Sunshine and Mario 64 to justify its existance, but can the same be said about Animal Crossing on the Wii? I owned the Animal Crossing for the GC and then when the Animal Crossing for DS came out I got that too, and was extremely disappointed by how little had actually changed from the original. This is why I didn't get the Wii Animal Crossing game and never will. Actually, in some respects Animal Crossing for the Wii is actually a DOWNGRADE from the GC, because you lose the GBA connectivity and features that introduced.

I am playing Galaxy right now, and I agree it is an excellent game and I think its existence is very much justified, but the fact is it is still a Mario game. It didn't have to be. Considering its background, it could have been a Captain Olimar game. That's the issue here. The Mario franchise is overmilked, and I think Nintendo should dust off some of its other franchises (or heaven forbid, create some new ones) and give other characters and universes a bit of attention. I love the Mario universe and I always will, but is it wrong of me to want to see something new or something else get put in the spotlight for awhile?

I am glad Nintendo has dusted off its Punch-out franchise and is bringing that back, and I hope they'll do the same with Icarus and why not Ice-climber and Nester too? These are all Core original franchises which have not appeared on any Nintendo system since the NES days. They aren't "new" but they have been absent for so long that any new game featuring them would be fresh now.

6445

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: March 02, 2009, 08:03:59 PM »

I agree with what Ian just said for the most part. Every new Nintendo system does get some new IPs, but lately its been stuff catered to casual/non-gamers. The DS introduced Nintendogs and the Wii introduced Wii Sports. Those are the sorts of new franchises Nintendo is introducing these days. "Core" gamers get rehashes of old franchises, but seldom anything new. The Gamecube is often blasted for having a weak lineup, but by this point in its life it introduced more 1st party hardcore franchises than the Wii has so far. The Gamecube gave us Luigi's Mansion, Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, etc. But where are the equivalent of these on the Wii?

Like Ian said, the games introduced for the Wii are score-based arcade or family style non-games with no plot and no characters. Nintendo is becoming very predictable in what their gaming lineups are going to be. Whenever Nintendo announces a new system, you instantly know what games are going to come out for it (Zelda, Mario, Metroid for sure).Its a given that Nintendo will churn these games out ad infinitem at least once or twice for every generation of its consoles. But where are the new stuff? What if we aren't a non-gamer? I want to actually be surprised when Nintendo announces its gaming lineup and see something major going on that isn't Mario, Zelda, or Metroid (or a non-game) for a change. Players get burned out on these things after awhile.

6446

General Gaming / Re: MS officially announces the RE5 LE 360 in RROD color!

« on: February 28, 2009, 06:32:11 PM »

Why does the PS3 controller still look exactly the same as both the PS2 controller and the PS1 controller before it?

6447

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: February 28, 2009, 10:57:30 AM »

Also Ian if you look at the trends of the so called hardcore gamers on HD platforms they favor action games or FPS games that are less than 15 hours long.

15? The numbers I've seen reviews cite were 5-6 normal, 8-10 for a long game.

Which is less than 15 hours, as was said.

My personal view is that if you have to spend more than $1 for each hour you get out of a game, you're paying too much. With games like Zelda you're probably going to spend 40 or even more hours in it, so if it costs $49.99 then its worth it. But if its a 360 or PS3 HD game for $59.99 that lasts 5 hours, then that's a huge waste of money, imho. Some might argue the HD visuals make it a better investment, but I disagree. I'd rather have a good terrible looking game than a terrific looking game that can be finished in one sitting.

If a game can be finished overnight or over a weekend then it may be worth $19 or $29, but if I'm paying $39, $49 or (God forbid) $59 then it better take at least an entire week to finish.

6448

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Get DSi, or wait for DS2?

« on: February 28, 2009, 10:49:44 AM »

I guess the concern is that the DSi might just be like the GBA Micro. Now, the GBA SP definitely made sense because it was a huge advance over the original GBA, and it came out early enough to be worth getting... but if I'm not mistaken, the GBA Micro actually came out after the DS was released, so that really made no sense, and I doubt Nintendo recouped their development cost for that because so few actually sold. I mean the Micro was a cute idea and a nice thing to have, but if you had an SP or DS it wasn't really worth it.

At least the DSi is coming out before the DS2, so that's something, but on the other hand the DS2 may be only be a year or two off.

6449

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official DSi Discussion (was: New DS model Details :rumor)

« on: February 27, 2009, 04:04:49 PM »

Hasn't Nintendo knocked the PSP out of the market completely anyway?

No. I just recently watched the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with Brendan Fraser and the kid in it is playing a PSP, not a DS or a Gameboy. Now I bet if the DSi had come out in 2006 like it should he would have been playing a DSi.

6450

Nintendo Gaming / Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots?

« on: February 27, 2009, 07:07:09 AM »

Nintendo is doing great, no doubt about it, and I am pleased about that. But I can't help but think this success is coming at a cost. What made Nintendo great from the NES years onward wasn't that it was the market leader, but that the games were of stellar quality and that made owning Nintendo systems worthwhile even if third party support was ****. And during the NES and SNES  years Nintendo coupled 3rd party support with excellent 1st party offerings.

But is this still true with the Wii? Though the Wii is the undisputed market leader, the only new franchises Nintendo had introduced is non-games like Wii Fit and Wii Music and Wii Resort. We do enjoy rehashes of core classic NIntendo games like Zelda and Mario, but where is the new hardcore stuff? Nintendo has apparently realized softcore games are cheap to develop and sell extremely well, so that's pretty much all they focus on now. Longstanding Nintendo fans are "rewarded" with rehashes of recycled franchises, but all the new stuff goes to wooing grandmas. What gives?

Remember when the Gamecube only did games and nothing else? Many people complained about that, but I thought it was the right way to go. When you try to shove a lot of capabilities into one device you lose focus and you end up excelling at nothing. This is the problem with the PS3 and 360. While they do play games, they also want to do movies and everything else at the same time. Well, Nintendo used to be above that, but look at the DSi and you see they are caving in somewhat to the same sort of behavior that led Sony to develop the PSP. The PSP is a jack of all trades, but a master of nothing. If you want a gaming device, you get a DS. If you want a multimedia device, you're better off getting an iphone or ipod. The PSP can do all those things, but it can't do them terribly well.

But the main issue is the games. Nintendo is a wealthy company now (actually they have been for many years), so why do they just horde their wealth? They should be using their wealth to build and acquire new studios and start pumping out new franchises, especially ones geared towards their hardcore fans. The 20th incarnation of Mario or Zelda can only satisfy old guard fans for so long, eventually we want something new and fresh, but where is it? I'm not a non-gamer really at all. I can play them for 15 minutes or so and then I'm done. I need more 40+ hour epics.

I think Nintendo's problem came when they became successful again. They were succesful in the 80s and 90s too, but there was something different then that I can't really put my finger on. Maybe its because many of the people who made Nintendo great back then have left the company, or have become older and had their interests change which unfortunately seems to be the case with Miyamoto. Yes, Nintendo is a huge success once again, but it seems they've sold their soul to get there. Has success made Nintendo no different than any other huge company? Are they now really no different than Sony or MS?