Topic: Episode 295: Too Many Bones

[Pandareus]

Games, letters, and the new RetroActive poll!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/30846

We start this show with an odd slate of games, starting with Guillaume's latest venture into Zen Pinball 3D (anticipating Marvel Pinball for 3DS) and his recent trips to a "gamer bar" in Montreal. He also played Infamous 2 thanks to PS+, but he has plenty of criticism for the superhero sequel. Jon catches up with the "original" Call of Duty: Black Ops and encounters some truly bizarre bugs in this two-year-old game. Jonny tries and fails to play Tomba, the classic PSone platformer, but he does successfully provide an update on his progress through Kid Icarus: Uprising. James closes the segment with one of his signature review rants on the completely pointless DSiWare puzzle game, Seven Wonders of the World... 2!

In Listener Mail, we continue to churn through the extensive backlog with several excellent questions from the crowd. Topics include MotionPlus on Wii U, the return of Advance Wars, the retro-future of handheld gaming, the industry's health overall, and Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow on Virtual Console. Send your own emails for next time, please!

Don't forget that we have several awesome t-shirt designs to show your love for Radio Free Nintendo and Connectivity -- check them out! And finally, be sure to take a few moments to vote in the latest RetroActive poll -- Second Chance Edition! Whatever wins, we'll play it and discuss the game on a future episode.

[geo]

As far as the motion plus support goes, I think nintendo needs to make it mandatory that all WiiU titles use motion plus.  If this is not done, motion plus support will be optional and will divide the market, meaning a smaller install base and less games developed using motion plus.  This needs to be a requirement akin to the way microsoft made "HD" and achievements requirements for any title developed for the xbox.  You dont want to split your userbase or the feature will get looked over by 3rd party devs.  This is why accessories typically fail.  You can't split the marketplace.

[TeaHee]

I found the discussion on whether Wii U will be as successful as Wii very interesting, and overall I would agree with the RFN crew.  However, the question that I have for anyone who can answer is what about Asia?  South Korea but especially China seem like they should be up and coming markets.  The Wii U seems like it is ideally situated with the second screen to take advantage of these markets where TV penetration and living space isn't as large as in the US.  I even recall Nintendo saying last year the second screen is ideal for the Japanese living room.  Also I remember someone in the forums pointing out Sing would sell a ton of systems in Asia.  So how about it can new Asian markets push the Wii U to new heights in the coming years?

[TJ Spyke]

As far as the motion plus support goes, I think nintendo needs to make it mandatory that all WiiU titles use motion plus.  If this is not done, motion plus support will be optional and will divide the market, meaning a smaller install base and less games developed using motion plus.  This needs to be a requirement akin to the way microsoft made "HD" and achievements requirements for any title developed for the xbox.  You dont want to split your userbase or the feature will get looked over by 3rd party devs.  This is why accessories typically fail.  You can't split the marketplace.

I don't think requiring HD was about anything more than them trying to make sure Xbox 360 games looked good. They stopped requiring it in like 2008 (so 360 games can be just 480i if a developer wanted).

[broodwars]

I don't think requiring HD was about anything more than them trying to make sure Xbox 360 games looked good. They stopped requiring it in like 2008 (so 360 games can be just 480i if a developer wanted).

Well, back when I was still a QA Tester on the 360/PS3 in 2010, Microsoft still required that you tested HD resolution support to see if any issues arose, so as far as I know developers still have to support it.  I don't know if that's changed since then, but if Microsoft's stopped requiring HD resolution support that's a fairly recent change.

[TJ Spyke]

I don't know if that's changed since then, but if Microsoft's stopped requiring HD resolution support that's a fairly recent change.

Not recent at all, they stopped requiring it back in September 2009: http://www.destructoid.com/xbox-360-games-no-longer-have-to-be-in-hd-147350.phtml

Maybe they might have continued having developers test in HD, but games have not had to be published in HD for almost 3 years.

[roykoopa64]

What bizarre bugs you have there COD! 

Hm, I share Guillaume's passion for Kid Icarus: Uprising. It was interesting to hear Jonny talk about how the game could potentially be better if you could select three weapons for a given level and could swap between them at any time. However, I appreciate the design as it currently stands due to the added challenge.

It was really interesting to hear the ideas for retro handhelds Nintendo could produce. A cheap, small, sturdy, long battery life, system with some classic GB games installed on it. I think... 'e-paper' was brought up? That would be cool.

Anyway, I've been listening to the show since Nov./ Dec. 2010, but I haven't thought of any good questions to send in to the mailbag. One day!

[Pandareus]

The only thing about e-paper is that, and I should have brought this up DURING the segment, the reason why it doesn't take much power is because it only needs it when the screen is refreshed. It is therefore perfect for books, since it doesn't use up any power until you turn the page. Even a watch, since the screen is refreshed only every minute. But games? LCD is probably still the way to go, especially since it can have backlighting.

[Crimm]

This is very true.

[Jonnyboy117]

It's hard to say how e-ink would compare to an LCD for battery life without a realistic use case (duty cycle). However, e-ink does have other advantages, including high contrast, daylight visibility, low eye strain, and lack of backlighting. It's not appropriate for most gaming contexts due to the lack of color (in standard, affordable versions) and relatively slow refresh rate, but both perfectly fit the original Game Boy platform.

[LittleIrves]

The idea of an e-paper screen on a game system is fascinating... if the power consumption and refresh rate is decent, the super-high contrast would look amazing.

Or they could fish out the unused red LEDs and oscillating mirrors from back in 1996 and use those. Marvel Galactic Pinball, anyone?

[Uncle_Optimus]

I found the discussion on whether Wii U will be as successful as Wii very interesting, and overall I would agree with the RFN crew.  However, the question that I have for anyone who can answer is what about Asia?  South Korea but especially China seem like they should be up and coming markets.  The Wii U seems like it is ideally situated with the second screen to take advantage of these markets where TV penetration and living space isn't as large as in the US.  I even recall Nintendo saying last year the second screen is ideal for the Japanese living room.  Also I remember someone in the forums pointing out Sing would sell a ton of systems in Asia.  So how about it can new Asian markets push the Wii U to new heights in the coming years?

Nintendo has a distribution presence in both S. Korea and China. Korea in particular gets many of the big hardware and software releases, but on a very staggered release schedule. Also note that it is a much smaller market (population of 40-some million).
China is a different beast. Over there Nintendo does not even distribute or market under its own name, instead using the iQue brand. As you can imagine for such a large market, the game players are there but a competitive business model is difficult to achieve in a market that is largely served by pirate goods. Nintendo, and really any electronics company looking to sell to this market, has a huge challenge in offering prices that can compete with the low low cost of unauthorized copies AND receive an acceptable ROI.
You know what, Iwata himself lays it out super well here:
http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=180550