Topic: Episode 252: Sky Puppies Defeat Fake Hero

[TJ Spyke]

As I mentioned, almost ALL of the Mario Kart games have generic names:
Super Mario Kart (many SNES games had "Super" in their name)
Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart Wii
Even Mario Kart: Super Circuit was known as Mario Kart Advance in Japan.

That is why I thought it would make most sense to call it Mario Kart 3D. I think it was Greg who mentioned that is makes no sense to start numbering a series in its 7th entry. It would be like if they had called Skyward Sword The Legend of Zelda XIV.

[Crimm]

I take credit for the "starting at 7" comment. I have a related point I'm holding on to, because there is a real chance this could come back up.

[TJ Spyke]

My bad, I remember the discussion but forgot who made the comment.

[NWR_insanolord]

Add me to the group who likes the 7. Which is odd, since I thought it was stupid when Microsoft did it with Windows 7, though my being a Mac guy may have had something to do with that.

[adadad]

Mario Kart Prologue would be much more suitable IMO.

[Ceric]

Add me to the group who likes the 7. Which is odd, since I thought it was stupid when Microsoft did it with Windows 7, though my being a Mac guy may have had something to do with that.

Yes, with your OS 10.X series because, they don't want to leave the X moniker.

[SeaNet]

Hey NWR Crew! Remember me, Joseph? I called in on 250, and asked a question about the 3DS, concerned that I couldn't see in 3D...


Well, as I said there, I love portable gaming and I guess these 20 free games are what I needed to buy the system. I picked one up the other day! Still can't see it in 3D, but I still enjoy the system   but it's a little underwelming. Like a suped up DS.

[NWR_insanolord]

Add me to the group who likes the 7. Which is odd, since I thought it was stupid when Microsoft did it with Windows 7, though my being a Mac guy may have had something to do with that.

Yes, with your OS 10.X series because, they don't want to leave the X moniker.

See, if I were going to criticize Apple's naming conventions I'd go after the cat names, which even for an Apple fanboy like me are getting a little tiresome at this point, before the numbering.

[NWR_Lindy]

"Like a suped-up DS"...that's my opinion of the 3DS at this point.  It's better than the DS across the board, but what it does is too similar overall for me to have any sort of dying need for it.  The price drop is tempting (Wal-Mart has a deal coming up on August 9 that will drop it to $169.99, allowing you to buy it at the new price and still get the Ambassador games), but there still isn't anything I want to buy the system to play. 

The 3DS' problem all along is that there haven't been any games to really justify that $250 price tag to the vast majority.  Now that it's going to be $169.99, it's entered into the "will buy when it has several games I really want to play" territory.  It's still not an insta-buy for me, though.  The 20 free games is cool, but I honestly wouldn't play them anyways.  Maybe a couple, but in all honesty they'd probably just sit there on my 3DS.  So that isn't enough at the moment.

Nintendo's getting close, but that software library really needs something completely new, something that people haven't seen before.  Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are not those games; those are welcome additions, but they're givens at this point.

[GoldenPhoenix]

"Like a suped-up DS"...that's my opinion of the 3DS at this point.  It's better than the DS across the board, but what it does is too similar overall for me to have any sort of dying need for it.  The price drop is tempting (Wal-Mart has a deal coming up on August 9 that will drop it to $169.99, allowing you to buy it at the new price and still get the Ambassador games), but there still isn't anything I want to buy the system to play. 

The 3DS' problem all along is that there haven't been any games to really justify that $250 price tag to the vast majority.  Now that it's going to be $169.99, it's entered into the "will buy when it has several games I really want to play" territory.  It's still not an insta-buy for me, though.  The 20 free games is cool, but I honestly wouldn't play them anyways.  Maybe a couple, but in all honesty they'd probably just sit there on my 3DS.  So that isn't enough at the moment.

Nintendo's getting close, but that software library really needs something completely new, something that people haven't seen before.  Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are not those games; those are welcome additions, but they're givens at this point.

The GBC was a souped up GB, the GBA was a souped up GBC, heck the PSP portable was basically a mini PS2. That stuff really does not matter much with handhelds, the first DS was really the only successful handheld that tried to shake things up since the original GB, even the PS Vita is basically a souped up PSP with a touch pad. I also fail to see how Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 aren't major incentives to buy the system, both games have been incentives for every Nintendo system previously released, on top of that you have Resident Evil, Kid Icarus, and even Animal Crossing (which will hopefully add a bit more then previous installments have). We also have Luigi's Mansion 2 in the wings as well.

Nintendo franchises still are big when it comes to people buying them, while it will be great to see "something new" (whatever that is) it is not that necessary so early in the game, they just need a must buy title that isn't a remake or a pretty bare bones title (Thinking of you Pilotwings, I love you but you are hardly a must buy title). That alone, IMO, will do wonders for the 3DS along with the price cut, especially for the christmas season. I still think Nintendo's biggest blunder wasn't price (even though it contributed) but lack of games, which will thankfully be rectified soon.

It is not like Sony isn't relying on established franchises to sell the PS Vita. I don't see why it should be different for Nintendo, especially since games like Mario Kart and Super Mario sell like hotcakes, not to mention sell systems, especially handhelds.

[broodwars]

It is not like Sony isn't relying on established franchises to sell the PS Vita. I don't see why it should be different for Nintendo, especially since games like Mario Kart and Super Mario sell like hotcakes, not to mention sell systems, especially handhelds.

I think it helps that Sony isn't taking PS1 games, replacing their textures with higher resolution versions, and then selling them for $40 on the Vita and calling them "new must-buy Vita games".  The games may be from familiar series and be very similar to previous installments of them, but they are all-new games and they're not even from franchises that are that old.  By contrast, Nintendo's so desperate for worthwhile software on the 3DS that they're re-releasing N64 games as $40 3DS titles.

[GoldenPhoenix]

It is not like Sony isn't relying on established franchises to sell the PS Vita. I don't see why it should be different for Nintendo, especially since games like Mario Kart and Super Mario sell like hotcakes, not to mention sell systems, especially handhelds.

I think it helps that Sony isn't taking PS1 games, replacing their textures with higher resolution versions, and then selling them for $40 on the Vita and calling them "new must-buy Vita games".  The games may be from familiar series and be very similar to previous installments of them, but they are all-new games and they're not even from franchises that are that old.  By contrast, Nintendo's so desperate for worthwhile software on the 3DS that they're re-releasing N64 games as $40 3DS titles.

Funny, I don't believe I disputed relying on a remake is a bad idea. Thanks for taking things out of context. Also Sony isn't innocent when it comes to remake/ports, just look at God of War 1 and 2, Sly Cooper and Ico/SOTC. I don't think that is a bad thing, I am looking forward to the Ico/SOTC ports, but to act like Sony doesn't do the same stuff is silly.

We still have no idea what the launch lineup is going to be on the PS Vita, it could be just as uninspired. It is a tradition in the gaming industry for launch lineups and "launch window" games to not inspire much awe, especially lately. 3DS is probably one of the weakest and does feel rushed. I own two games for 3DS, Pilotwings and Zelda: OOT, with no other games out there I want to buy. Also I do want to defend OOT, it is more then "higher resolution textures", the game was rebuilt from the ground up visually and it does show. Do I think they should have done more? Yes, but it is more then your illustration of it.

[broodwars]

Funny, I don't believe I disputed relying on a remake is a bad idea. Thanks for taking things out of context. Also Sony isn't innocent when it comes to remake/ports, just look at God of War 1 and 2, Sly Cooper and Ico/SOTC. I don't think that is a bad thing, I am looking forward to the Ico/SOTC ports, but to act like Sony doesn't do the same stuff is silly.

To me, those ports/remakes are a much different story, as they are compilation re-releases that complement the substantial PS3 software library already available on a continual basis every month.  With the 3DS, it's a much more dire situation.  You buy those ports or you have nothing to play on the 3DS.

We still have no idea what the launch lineup is going to be on the PS Vita, it could be just as uninspired. It is a tradition in the gaming industry for launch lineups and "launch window" games to not inspire much awe, especially lately.

We'll see.  Sony has said that they are delaying the Vita until next year to make sure they have a worthwhile software library at launch, so maybe they won't have the same problem right out of the gate.  Sony has a much more major problem that they still have to find a way to make people want to play not-so-portable versions of console games, and I haven't seen any evidence so far that they've cracked that problem.

[NWR_Lindy]

I think it's very ironic that with Wii, Nintendo preached that game visuals didn't matter, and the system sold gangbusters out the gate; with 3DS, the main selling feature of the system (in fact, you could say its raison d'etre) is its game visuals, and the system is struggling early.  That's what I mean...I look at the 3DS' feature set, and graphics aside, how is it markedly different from the DS?  The eShop is a bit better, but that was there already; it still uses a friend code, so while that's improved it's still a bit cumbersome; StreetPass is neat but nothing overly enticing; the touch screen/stylus setup remains unchanged.  If the 3D effects aren't used in a novel way that fundamentally changes gameplay (and that was my impression from my lengthy hands-on time at PAX East), what do you have? A suped-up DS.  Maybe Mario Kart will be good enough to make me buy the system; right now what I'm hearing about Super Mario is that it isn't.  I'm waiting for an excuse to buy one.

As for Vita, Sony is certainly doing some things that intrigue me.  3G? Hell yeah! They can do some interesting stuff with that, things that really fundamentally affect what can be done with the system. Nobody knows how they're going to handle the subscription stuff, but assuming they handle it in a sensible manner (hopefully entirely free, or free for AT&T cell customers/nominal fee for others, or free for PlayStation Plus subscribers, whatever) it'll be pretty cool. It's at least something different and new to handhelds.  I'm also digging what they're doing with Ruin, which is to literally allow you to have the same game span a console and mobile platform.  That's really interesting.  Of course, the fact that it has two analog sticks is huge for a portable.  We can finally get some legit handheld first-person shooters, instead of third-person shooters with assisted aiming and cobbled-together hybrid control schemes.  My point is that I can at least look at Vita and say, "It's stuffing a lot of technology under the hood, and doing some pretty new and different stuff...I can see why they're charging $300 for the top-end model".  I could never say that about 3DS.  All I could do was wonder what the heck cost $250 in that thing.

But then, that's just me.  I love gadgets, I love the "always on, anywhere" nature of 3G, and I love first-person shooters, so the Vita's featureset instantly appeals to me.  I love my DS to death, but 3DS needs to differentiate itself a bit more.