Topic: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*

[Kairon]

Hmm... after some thought, I'm not too affected with the possibility of MP3 getting delayed.

Not only is this good news for third-parties (Ubisoft especially), but it allows for a better game in the end.

Now, the question would be whether they put in online play, or just make a better offline game that releases in December or whatnot. I get the sense that if they wanted online play, it'd take them 'till February at the earliest because they'd have to create new levels, import new code, work out the kinks in the virgin network, and force MP's single player design into a multiplayer environment.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Bill Aurion]

Quote
Originally posted by: darkheart

Quote
We still get your Loli golf Pro!

I thought that was a Japanese only title, they are considering it to come to the U.S. but last I heard it was not even confirmed for a Stateside release.

Considering they put out an English trailer for the game at E3, they sure as hell better be bringing it over...(Plus it's on EBGames release lists)

[Ceric]

Co-op campaign.  That would be an interesting edition to the Metriod Series.  Especially since it's very go it alone.  They could do co-op in a way were you might never see you partner until the end.  Interesting indeed.

[The Omen]

Quote
Most people who care about Zelda probably like Metroid in some way and vice versa.

And they would buy both without hesitation.  

Look, I have no problem with Nintendo spacing out titles, as it is their right.  But for fans of the games to worry about having too many interesting games to choose from...well that's just absurd.  I would love to buy both Metroid and Zelda on launch day.  Doesn't mean I have to buy them both, but I would like to have the option.  I understand delaying games from a business standpoint, though I think the rationale behind the idea is overstated-both of those games would sell through the roof simultaneously.  What I don't understand is this idea coming from the fan perspective.  

[stevey]

I happy for the metroid delay, after zelda come out I wont be playing any other games for a looooooong time.

"If Corruption is delayed. I am willing to bet its so it can get online play."

I'll take you up on that bet, Retro all ready said they wont have online plan on release but might have it as a download for later.

[Spak-Spang]

Stevey:  They also said it would be a launch game.  So if they were already planning the download...why not take the delay and incorporate it into the final product.

It makes more sense...and makes the product a more complete package.

[Aussiedude]

Nintendo to install "count down clocks" in Virgin UK stores today?




link

[JonLeung]

That's a cool title to have.  "Head Of Games".  I want something spiify like that to go along with my name!

It's still the 13th here, but I guess most of the world is ahead of Mountain Time Zone, overseas probably being early tomorrow morning already.

I think I heard that a possible European date was leaked already, and/or an Australian one.  It's North America that's still in the dark.

[Ceric]

Wait a minute... If those we're leaked then why don't we know... (Donutt007 then uses his superb information skills and links someplacing telling it.)

[BlackNMild2k1]

When did Europe become more important than America?
They get the Black DSL even before Japan
and now they get in-store promotions and leaked release dates?

Do us Americans mean anything to Nintendo anymore?

[Strell]

The general idea is that America is such a large and profitable market, that NOA can essentially bypass super cool promotions and extra system colors and other neat sh*t that other countries are given (no Navy DS, no super awesome Japanese rewards system, certain games translated to English but for UK only, etc), as we are seen as a "you'll buy it anyway" sort of region.

Which is really sh*tty logic, but that's the general case.

People over at CAG have e-mailed them in regards to such things, and that was the basic response they got, but it wasn't worded as derisively.  More like "America is too big of a region for us to do such promotions."

It's like the ice cream man saying he wouldn't go to an elemtary school at 3 PM because he's afraid of the rush.

Actually, it's more like him being afraid that there will be a run on fudgesicles, and one kid is going to go home unhappy because they didn't get one.  And because of that, he just decides to forfeit the entire area.

Me?  I like cookie cake.  So screw the ice cream man.

[Zach]

Quote
Nintendo will be contacting your store to arrange the installation of the countdown clocks from the 14th August

Does that mean they will be announcing the release date tommorrow?  It wouldn't be the first time the announced info shortly before a big game conference (they gave us the Wii name 2 weeks before E3).  It would make sense if they are planning an early launch  (as has been rumored).

Meh, probably just wishful thinking.

[Aussiedude]

Quote
Originally posted by: BlackNMild2k1

Do us Americans mean anything to Nintendo anymore?

NO !! Even Australia gets the black DS-Lite before the yanks.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: BlackNMild2k1
When did Europe become more important than America?
They get the Black DSL even before Japan
and now they get in-store promotions and leaked release dates?

Do us Americans mean anything to Nintendo anymore?

My guess is that they've been giving the shaft to Euro/Aussie gamers for a while now and what you're seeing is an effort to make it up to them.

Seriously, it took an extra YEAR to get AC out to Europe. How hard is it to rewrite some goddamn holidays, anyway?

They're aiming to strengthen their ties with the territories where they're traditionally the weakest, hence all the DSL ads in Australia.

It sucks for US yanks, I know, but the US will likely still get a bunch of releases before other countries so it kinda evens out.

[JonLeung]

So is that countdown clock thing for real?

Because it's just after noon here in Mountain Time, meaning that it should be evening (7 PMish?) over in the UK by now.  If the countdown clocks were installed anywhere we should've at least heard about them, even if everyone had to wait for the workday to be over first before they had a chance to go online at home to post about it.

Granted, it could still be another day or two even if it is real...

[Ceric]

It could just be that Nintendo set the date arbitrarily to have the clocks start and they will actually be ready to install after the announcement.  There just trying to get logistics done. (I'm sure they all run off batteries.)

[Strell]

I posted this at the CAG forums, and decided it would be fun to post here.  This is only my pure speculation, and I don't even know if it is feasible, but ehh, I'll just see what others think.

Quote

Originally Posted by dothog
My only concern for the Wii library is that there's a new, improved Mario Kart on the way. After hearing about the DS cooking games I'm hoping the Wii library contains a solid cooking game, which will be very popular with my friends and family.

You know, when I read this a few minutes ago, something stuck in my head, but I couldn't just quite understand what it was.

So I thought about it more and it hit me - there's a potential here for something very cool, or something very shitty.

As you've proposed, since the control schemes can essentially mimic each other per system (Wii vs DS), that leaves the possibility that we'll see games that are highly similar to each other, but with different coats of paint. Case in point already is Trauma Center, where the Wii version is a pseudo-sequel/remix sort of situation. It's not a direct port, but is sort of an enhanced version with new missions, characters, etc.

But at the core, it's the same game, same mechanics, etc.

Which worries me. Cuz it's like you said - what happens if the DS games, say, a simulation cooking game, and a Wii version comes out 3 months later that is essentially an improvement in every way?

I could see this causing competition within the N community between people going for one version over the other. Maybe Wii Cooking Mama has twice as many levels. Maybe DS Cooking Mama 2 has all of the Wii's version's upgrades, and adds two player wireless support. And then a few months later we get Wii Cooking Family, and it's a full-on simulation game with minigame cooking schemes.

There's a potential for developers, unfortunately, to rip not only each other off, but rip themselves off, AND create massive double, triple, and tetra-dipping situations for the consumer.

But then I thought...

What if this is a way Nintendo plans to do expansion packs?

In much the same way the GBA port can be used to expand upon DS games, what if the Wii could utilize a wireless connection to a DS *as* you are playing a Wii game, and it feeds/downloads/installs upgrades and things in the Wii's resident memory, thus allowing there to be standardized expansions available at stores?

For example, Smash Bros Brawl. Maybe they release it and it has 40 characters and no online play. Well, 3-4 months later, Nintendo releases a DS cart that contains information for 10 new characters AND wireless connectivity. So you turn on your DS and set it to wireless play, turn on the Wii and tell it to search for new content. It finds the DS's information, downloads all of it into it's resident memory, and then lets you play with those characters online and off.

You could even have it flush memory when you shut off the machine, meaning Nintendo could theoretically have multiple carts out. Maybe there's a Capcom pack, and you get Megaman, Dante, Ryu, and others. Then there's a Konami Pack. A Squeenix pack.

-OR- you could have the option to save the data to an external memory source, such as an SD card, so that when the Wii is turned on/off, it could load that external data directly.

This would solve the issue of allowing DLC when the Wii only has 512 megs of internal memory. Seeing as how it would be impossible for people to syncrhonize across wirelessly UNLESS Nintendo had a way to deliver it outside of WiConnect24. 'Cuz it would be damn near impossible when searching for online matches in SSBB to make sure that everyone had the same version, especially if someone doesn't have the memory available because they already downloaded a lot of VC games....a good solution would be add-on cards that get access from the DS.

I need someone with more technical info than me to tell me if this is even possible.

Edit: Someone has brought up that it essentially tell consumers that upgrades cost $130 bucks + carts, which is insane.  Which is a very good point, indeed.  I'm mostly curious if the idea could work period.

[AnyoneEB]

Strell: That is an interesting idea for people without broadband access, but it makes no sense for people with broadband access. It would be much easier to just offer expansions as downloads or on Wii discs (to be loaded into flash memory, if needed) if you wanted to have them. As for online play with different expansions? Just allow the user to enable/disable them. Blizzard deals with them online (for Starcraft and Warcraft III) by letting you log onto BNET either as original or expansion and only see games from other people who logged on the same (although you can chat with users on any game).

[Strell]

Yea, but the problem with the Wii in terms of DLC is that it only has 512 megs of space internal, and if they want the game to be the same across the board for online play, they'd have to ensure that everyone had that data in that 512.

And since some people might not own SSBB, and since others might not have space for however many megs the download might be, there's no way Nintendo is going to have DLC for SSBB.  It's too difficult to synchronize.  You'd have to plan everything in advance, and that's a headache if I've ever imagined one.

BNET is fundamentally different because it's a computer, and it's assumed you'll have gigs of extra space.  That's sort of an agreement you have with PC developers to begin with.  They assume you have the space no matter what, and if you don't, you'll delete crap off your HD and/or get more space.  

Nintendo doesn't have that sort of luxury.  So if they want to have expansions down the line, they have a few options - 1) an enhanced release of the same game, 2) something that can be accessed externally that loads data into resident memory.

Nintendo doesn't care about online enough to go all out on it.  So I don't see them doing DLC or causing rifts in who owns what.  Which is why I doubt we'll see another Mario Kart DS until the DS2 hits.  

Animal Crossing can have DLC because it's just a tiny gift, and it doesn't effect anyone visiting your town.  SSBB can't rely on that.  If someone has downloaded the expansion and has, say, Kid Icarus's sword attack weakened for the sake of balance, but the other person doesn't, then that's going to ruin the game.  It's not so much a question of adding characters, it's about fixing gameplay down the line.  Nintendo doesn't want to do that - they want whole and cohesive products out on the market at all times.  

Now maybe they've got something cooked up no one knows about.  But there's too many obstacles for something like DLC beyond very small things.  WiConnect24 will never compete with XBL, or whatever Sony-ripoff will come up.  We're not going to get 15 minute 1 gig trailers, 1.5 gig gameplay demos, or 50-60 megs of maps.  It's just not going to happen unless Nintendo gives us more space to play with AND has the forethought to restrict just how much people can access.  

Unless games start shipping with SD cards for additional expansion, I don't see it happening.  Too many variables for too many people to deal with.

 

[Smash_Brother]

I expect Nintendo to add a cheap USB drive to the market in a Wii-styled case.

[Ceric]

No they've already said they aren't getting into that game.

Now hold on there.  The last thing I want is expansions and patches.  The Wii should work just like anyother pure console.  What you ship is what you get.  All the bugs worked out or there forever.  I still believe that the 512 Megs of Flash are not going to be available to the user for permanent storage.  Temporary yes.  Permanent no.  I can't see Nintendo going down that sticky road.  Especially since there is no indication that you can upgrade the internal memory.  I think they'll just have you place all your games and like on an external memory card for longterm storage.  Plus Nintendo has always been into Mad Compression technology and I wouldn't doubt that the Wii has something built in help on that front.

[couchmonkey]

About those clocks: the way that message was worded, I was under the impression that this means someone is going to be calling the stores about installing the clocks starting today...they might not actually be installed for a while yet.

[BlackNMild2k1]

An IGN Forums user, one who called the wiimote speaker months b4 EGM or E3....

Quote
Originally posted on IGN forums in February
Date Posted: 2/8 1:48pm Subject: Developer Comments - Date Edited: 5/8 2:18pm (2 edits total) Edited By: namlas

"The controller will contain a small amount of memory, which can be written to by the console (via Bluetooth) during the game. This will usually be used to store small sound files which can be heard via the controller's small internal speaker.

In demonstrations this system could be used, for example, to simulated the sound of gun shots coming from the controller when fired; when you put this together with the force feedback, it creates a game experience which surpasses anything we have been able to create before.

In other experiments we created a simple "Chinese whisper" style communication game which one player could whisper into the controller (we were even able to be in another room when doing this) and then the sound would be sent via the console to another player's controller which they could then hear. Great fun!"

....Has now let another little rumor out into the wild. This time its about wireless headsets, accessories that are transferrable between Wii and the DS, and Speech to text technology that is to be used in conjuction with Nintendo WFC.

Quote
Originally posted on IGN forums
"...voice communication will be via wireless, head-mounted microphones..."

"Some peripherals for the DS will be compatible with Wii and vice-versa."

"Many Nintendo first party games (specifically games designed for a younger audience) will feature a new system currently being developed by Nintendo called ‘voice to text communication’.

The system works using an advanced voice recognition system which Nintendo has been developing for several years. When a user speaks the sound is converted into on screen text and sent to the other players. However, rather than just plain text being sent the system also picks up the tone, pitch and volume of the voice and translates that into colour, font size and character set. For example, if a player shouts ‘I win’ loudly into the microphone the on screen text may be all capitalized, and in a large red font; conversely if a player speaks quietly the font may be a pastel shade and smaller.

This system also allows online voice communication to be easily censored by the user.�

Sounds good and plausible and this guy supposedly has a good track record, since he did call the wiimote speaker, and there are patents for the Nintendo Speech to Text technology.

Patent 1

Patent 2



   

[Strell]

Why in the hell would we need that when we could have, gasp, voice chat?

C'mon Ninty, that's just a waste of time.

Soon we'll hear of molestors seducing small children with their evil purple text.  

Hu h huhu huh uh uhu.  Purple.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well what about speech to text translation?
Now I could play anyone across the world and we could communicate even though I have no idea how to speak their language.

I could be playing a Japanese man where he could speak Japanese and maybe I could even hear him speak Japanese, but I would see the english text translation at the bottom of the screen.  It would also allow Nintendo to censor the text to keep conversations in the "PG" area.