Topic: Nintendo Says New Console Probably at E3 2005

[StrikerObi]

Nintendo are the masters of stating the obvious.

According to news coming out of Japan, Nintendo held a briefing today in Osaka, Japan. The company spokesman said that Nintendo would like to debut their next home console system at the 2005 E3 show, which is being held next May from the 18th to the 20th. Earlier this month at the 2004 E3 expo Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata, told the world that Nintendo's next console wouldn't just be about high specs and fancy graphics. Instead, while the system would be powerful, they will be focusing on innovation.

[Ian Sane]

I hope they actually have something playable of the new system next year.  If they plan on launching in 2006 they should have some early game designs worked out by now if they want to avoid having a weak launch lineup like the Cube had.  Plus if it's playable in 2005 then if any third parties are impressed with the showing they'll have enough time to get something made by launch.

"Earlier this month at the 2004 E3 expo Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata, told the world that Nintendo's next console wouldn't just be about high specs and fancy graphics. Instead, while the system would be powerful, they will be focusing on innovation."

Even though the DS turned out to be pretty cool and had much better graphic capabilities than I thought it would this statement still makes me nervous every time I read it.  I just get visions of standard power glove controllers or something equally useless and bizarre.  It should all be fine if Nintendo remembers this rule: no matter what the hardware still has to be able to play the same types of games that are on the PS3 and Xbox2.  Oh and make a bigger d-pad this time too.

[nickmitch]

Hey, as long as the games look pretty and and are fun to play I'm happy.
But we all new it'd be at E3 '05.

[couchmonkey]

I never thought of the Cube's launch lineup as being really weak.  It was lacking a proper flagship game like Mario or Zelda, but I felt it stood up fairly well to the Xbox and was arguably better than the PS2's launch games.  Of course, I do tend to think of SSB: Melee and Pikmin as launch games even though they were a few weeks late.  Without those, I'd agree that it was lacking.

Amen to bigger d-pads!  I've learned to cope with the GameCube one, but it doesn't need to be so small.

[Ian Sane]

"I never thought of the Cube's launch lineup as being really weak. It was lacking a proper flagship game like Mario or Zelda, but I felt it stood up fairly well to the Xbox and was arguably better than the PS2's launch games."

It wasn't the launch lineup itself as much as the six month game drought that followed it.  Had they provided a must own killer app with a lot of depth like Super Mario 64 it wouldn't have been so bad.  The Xbox lineup at least had Halo which still is a system seller.  The PS2 launch sucked but that didn't matter because it didn't compete directly with the Cube and Xbox launches.  The PS2 2001 lineup is what competed with those and that lineup was killer.

I'm assuming that all three of the next gen consoles are launching in 2006 so since they'll be competing directly from the get-go a killer launch lineup would be a big advantage.  There's the potential to get a jump on Sony since they no doubt will not have a killer first party title.

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

"Earlier this month at the 2004 E3 expo Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata, told the world that Nintendo's next console wouldn't just be about high specs and fancy graphics. Instead, while the system would be powerful, they will be focusing on innovation."

Even though the DS turned out to be pretty cool and had much better graphic capabilities than I thought it would this statement still makes me nervous every time I read it.  I just get visions of standard power glove controllers or something equally useless and bizarre.  It should all be fine if Nintendo remembers this rule: no matter what the hardware still has to be able to play the same types of games that are on the PS3 and Xbox2.  Oh and make a bigger d-pad this time too.

Sadly, whenever Nintendo says that it won't turn into Sony or Microsoft, fans cringe.

Look, I'm not saying that it's a good thing, but I'd still like to think that Nintendo should be respected for it's integrity and focus as a game developer and innovater, and not looked down upon for not being able to outmarket the all powerful Microsoft, or out tech-geek the consumer-electronics powerhouse Sony.

And it may be that Nintendo is doomed to never regaining the top spot because it can't magically transform into Sony or Microsoft. But I'd like to think that real Nintendo fans have gotten past marketshare numbers to see what's really important: the videogame medium. And real Nintendo fans should be proud to see that Nintendo's dedication to the videogame medium and their enthusiasm for its future cannot be questioned, no matter how many PS2s fly off the shelves, or how many commercials for XBox we get exposed to.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Ian Sane]

"And it may be that Nintendo is doomed to never regaining the top spot because it can't magically transform into Sony or Microsoft. But I'd like to think that real Nintendo fans have gotten past marketshare numbers to see what's really important: the videogame medium."

All I'm saying is that good games are available on all systems and I don't want the N5 to be so different and unique that hit games on other platforms can't be ported or genres that I enjoy can't be played.  The Virtual Boy is the most extreme example of innovation killing a system.  When it came out I immediately wasn't interested in it because the types of games I enjoyed on the NES and SNES could not be made on the VB.  Think of it this way.  If the N5 is so innovative that a "traditional" game like Metroid Prime cannot be played on it that's a problem, correct?  Any innovation has to compliment the abilities of previous Nintendo consoles, not replace them.

[Kairon]

Oooh. Good point. Agreed.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[mouse_clicker]

I completely agree with Ian- I'm all for innovation and new gameplay ideas, but I want them to be in addition to the traditional way of developing games. It's like being what the competition is plus much more. In my opinion the DS hit this balance perfectly- it supports both game types.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Seriously, I truly believe that nintendo fans are the most paranoid and worrisome people on the planet, any statement or action by nintendo immediately leads to months of agonizing over nintendo's future.

Dudes this just continues the nintendo belief that its not flashy graphics that make a good game but accessability, and giving new gaming experiences that are more important.  

Everyone was so worried about what the DS would mean for Nintendo for months, well E3 has come and gone and can anyone say that there was not a method to nintendo's madness?  Just look at how Uber MP: hunters looks.

The revolution will be more of the same, nintendo realizes it can't do what MS and Sony does, so instead their pulling a Robert Frost and taking the road less traveled, but do you really think they'll make it so they can't bring Mario, Link, Samus and the rest to it?  Please, their going to make certain their Bread and butter is there.  Sit back and relax, enjoy the ride (and please keep arms and legs withing the compartment at all times).

[marsbarrow]

Would we all assume that there will be very few details on the Revolution at E3 2005 considering the system won't launch for a year and a half afterwords and also that the incredible looking new Zelda (GCN) game will be playable.   You have to think that Nintendo would basically just be previewing the system that early... maybe releasing some tech demo videos and some general information.  I honestly wouldn't expect to actually see the system at the show that early: especially if it is 'Revolution'ary.   Nintendo will most likely be promoting more DS games and the last of the big GCN games.

[Nephilim]

They should be thinking about starting on the zelda for cube2 soon, or even making a specail edition version of the one there making now (like castlevania se for n64  compared to first one)
The next cube is in safe hands, Nintendo is still busy with the cube thu

[BlackNMild2k1]

Quote
Originally posted by: Avinash_Tyagi

The revolution will be more of the same.......

Not according to Forbes.com

Quote
The company said on Thursday it would like to debut a new game machine at next year's E3, the game industry's annual trade show usually held in May, but Nintendo officials said it would be wrong to call Revolution a successor to its current GameCube console.

"This won't be a continuation, but rather something entirely different," Nintendo Senior Managing Director Yoshiro Mori said at an analyst's briefing. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told Reuters earlier this month that the next-generation game machine would change how people now play video games, sitting in front of a television holding a controller.

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

If the N5 is so innovative that a "traditional" game like Metroid Prime cannot be played on it that's a problem, correct? Any innovation has to compliment the abilities of previous Nintendo consoles, not replace them.

Take what you want from the comments above, but I hope nintendo was thinking like Ian Sane when they were planning the 'Revolution'

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Did you read my post?

I distinclty said it'll be more the same stuff that the DS does, unlike the other consoles its going to bring new experiences into the gaming industry.

Try reading my post next time.

[ootler]

People were dubious about the d-pad when they had all been using floppy joysticks on the vcs.

Analogue sticks and rumble were clearly the work of a deranged mind also.  How could that ever take off?

The idea that nintendo don't know what they are doing is evidently well founded.

[odifiend]

Nobody said Nintendo didn't know what they were doing from a creative standpoint.  However some of Nintendo's past decisions have lacked forethought.  The DS had an incredible showing and I and many others look forward to trying it.  To me, the DS is already made: it plays GBA games, has its own brand of innovation (and so much multiplayer!), and it is competing where Nintendo has never lost its dominance.  Nintendo's console however no longer has that luxary.  In terms of consoles, Nintendo is behind marketshare-wise and more specialization in making a game could potential kill the console.  (Developers bitch and moan about the optical discs even though they are reportedly much easier to develop for)
But if it is true that the Revolution is backwards compatible, there should be no worries.  
Hmm... Another way the Revolution is parallel to the DS.

[Ian Sane]

"People were dubious about the d-pad when they had all been using floppy joysticks on the vcs."

Yeah but those floppy joysticks f*cking sucked.  The d-pad did a better job at digital control so it replaced it.  However the analog stick did not replace the d-pad because it is merely different, not better.  Any change that outright replaces an existing format has to be better.  If it's merely different the old method has to still be there.

"the next-generation game machine would change how people now play video games, sitting in front of a television holding a controller."

F*ck, quotes like that scare the sh!t out of me.  I get visions of Virtual Boy.  Odifiend's right in that Nintendo is in too weak of a position in the console market to bust out something really different and daring and have it take off.  They better know what they're doing.  It's got to be better than pulling levers and drawing Pac-Man or no one's going to buy it, myself included.

Anyone else find it odd that Nintendo claims that games have become too complicated for the average person yet their solution to this "problem" is to introduce new stuff that even seasoned gamers are unfamiliar with?

[odifiend]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane<br"the next-generation game machine would change how people now play video games, sitting in front of a television holding a controller."

F*ck, quotes like that scare the sh!t out of me.

I agree.  Does anyone remember SEGA's activator?  It almost sounds like that is what Nintendo is describing.  I owned it and it was only decent for Eternal Champions (the game for which it was designed) and it was useless for every other game.  This is the specialization Nintendo has to watch out for.

[KDR_11k]

Ian: things like the touch screen are more intuitive. If you have a set of buttons you have to figure out which one does what, with a touchscreen you just touch it (e.g.: Pikachu dem: "pinch his cheek!". Which button would that be? On the DS you just touch his cheek and pull with youer stylus). The more abstract a form of control is, the less intuitive it is.

Nintendo tests new ideas versus how many games could use it nowadays (in an interview Miyamoto said they have tons of ideas and sometimes throw a few of them at their hardware). Look at the Konga controller. Where others would have made the music game and left it at that, Nintendo makes more games using the controller.

[Kairon]

I agree that innovation that immediately locks out previous playing styles can have a detrimental effect.

But this is all paranoia. Not only do we not know much about the Revolution (Though I'm betting it'll come with wireless technology to work in conjunction with the DS... which has both a touchpad and built-in microphone...), but ever since the Virtual Boy (which, Gunpei Yokoi's creation, demonstrates a completely different school of thought than Miyamoto's current day philosophies) Nintendo has tried to create new input and gameplay relationships that are as intuitive as they are innovative. Nintendo doesn't have Sega's arcade background or their wackiness, but they are definitely experimental in their internal projects. But even then, these projects are not meant in a way to exclude users, but to create game systems that are more inclusive.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Draygaia]

To me "Online Gaming" is nintendo's biggest bane in home consoles.  Atleast we see it on DS.  If nintendo can get their home console online atleast I feel so much better.

[Kairon]

I'm sure Nintendo will go online, just as soon as they figure out a way to do it that consists of more than player-matching, and can create a paradigm shift so that by radically changing the online landscape they aren't fighting an uphill battle or imitating what's been done before, but having something to show that's new and gives them a fighting chance against electronics and information technology giants like Sony or Microsoft.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[theRPGFreak]

RPGFreak is back! Anyways, I think that online gaming is going to be required for Nintendo seeing how developers are getting into making games supporting it, and Nintendo REALLY cant afford to keep lossing developers. I would however, like to see them give the whole "connectivity" idea another shot however. Sure it is nothing compared to online gaming, but I still think that it has alot of potential.

[odifiend]

Take the online talk to "the mouseclicker vs. the world" thread before Bloodworth gets angry.