Topic: Chris Kohler trolls the 3DS

[oohhboy]

I don't believe that the 3DS itself has any fatal or serious flaws. It's a fine machine and it has some nags like the battery. The machine itself isn't the problem here.

The problem is everything else. Nothing else has matched up to the confidence the machine itself has generated. The launch line up is a bit oh hum although much better than the DS launch. It has a self inflicted sticker price shock thats going to make people think twice and bite Nintendo twice. Nintendo now infamous pissing around with online has come about again with delays and lack of any substantial infrastructure investment on their part. Nintendo is starting to show some hubris, although no where near as bad as telling people to get a second job with their increasingly discriminatory pricing towards most of the world.

I have to fundamentally disagree with most of what Chris has said. The iPhone and others like it are never going to be a real threat to gaming as we know it. While there is some overlap, you can not wave away the fact that a game playing device is fundamentally different to a Phone or multi-function device and it has be to. The 3DS primary function is to play games and everything to designed around this. This is not a niche, a massive population of people out there wants something that just plays games. It is the iPhone that is the niche. It fills the distraction level of the market that game players aren't quite as good at due to price and differing demand. In the end, it's not really gaming, it's a distraction. A person who buys a 3DS is buying it to play games. This is not true on multiple levels for phones.

If distractions is what gaming is coming to, I will have none of it.

Besides, who the hell quotes a NY times article that forms it's entire basis on what Pachter says.

[NWR_insanolord]

People who bought a DS just for Brain Age and Nintendogs (a not insignificant portion of the user base) could very easily be satisfied by what's available on the iPhone. People like us are never going to be satisfied with just that, but people like us aren't the reason the DS has sold 140 million units.

[oohhboy]

I won't argue the fact that the 3DS could and can service that level of gameplay, but I would say it doesn't service it very well. Phone gaming is somewhat equivalent to going to the dollar store to buy a cap gun and making some noise. It can be fun and is a subset of toys. They can have their dollar cap guns, but there are people like you and me that want more, so we go to actual toy stores to buy bigger, better toys like full auto nerf guns.

But to say in the future everyone will play with cap guns just because there are more dollar stores than toys stores is silly. It's not even reaching, it's tearing your arm off, throwing it and calling where it lands your "Reach".

[NWR_insanolord]

I think you're underestimating the quality of what's available on the phone platforms. There is a lot of good stuff there, and even some with real depth. The lack of physical controls means certain types of games will never work well, but things that can be adapted to the touch screen or tilt control can and do work very well. As I've pointed out before, Square-Enix is porting the PSP remake of Final Fantasy Tactics to the iPhone. Is that just a distraction? The platformer junkie and Nintendo fanboy in me would never let me settle for just that, but people who aren't fans of the genres that depend on physical controls will find plenty of quality games on the iPhone.

[Ian Sane]

It is the iPhone that is the niche. It fills the distraction level of the market that game players aren't quite as good at due to price and differing demand. In the end, it's not really gaming, it's a distraction.

Back when the Wii launched I would have argued that motion control and the Wii in general would fit this same description.  Motion control is hugely popular but so far I have found it to be utterly worthless for any sort of gaming with some meat to it.  It's often used for mapping a button press to a gesture which ends up making the controls LESS precise and only offers novelty value.  I think "distraction" is a good word for this.
 
My opinion has not changed but I was looking at it all from the perspective of the gaming audience I was familiar with at the time.  I did not guess that there would be this huge market of casuals that would eat this stuff up and NOT get bored of it years later.  Kinect just sold like hotcakes and I was initially thinking "why would ANYONE be interested in something so obviously inadequate for controlling any videogame with the slightest amount of depth" when it was first revealed.  I don't think like these people, just like I don't think like the people that make some really horrible songs or movies successful.  There are times where I cannot even think of how someone in theory could like something and it becomes a big hit.
 
Poor singing and a weak melody does not prevent a song from being a hit.  Bad writing and plot holes don't prohibit bad movies from being hits.  Games also do not require responsive controls or engaging gameplay to be popular.  I think smart phones are easily good enough for the casual market.  EVERYTHING is a distraction to this group.

[Chozo Ghost]

Motion control is hugely popular but so far I have found it to be utterly worthless for any sort of gaming with some meat to it.

Have you tried RE4 on the Wii? If you have and if you compare it to the other versions you might agree with me that it does add something to the game in this instance, and of course Resident Evil is absolutely NOT a casual meatless game. Sure, most motion control games are Carnival Games and things like that, but RE4 on the Wii shows it can be done with hardcore games and done well. The problem is its just seldom done that way, but that's the fault of developers. But my point is that it can be done even if it seldom is.

[TGM]

It's a "what if" article. The majority of the criticism amounts to speculation, not known fact. I think the proper term for this is "fear mongering".

[Runic]

Personally I have thought motion controls on the Wii are a gimmick. I own a Wii and really hate using them. The Kinect on the other hand is amazing. Back to the topic, I had a chance to play the Nintendo 3DS at E3 and I can tell you it is the most impressive tech I have seen in 5 years. The graphics are sharp and smooth and the 3D really works.

[nickmitch]

It's a "what if" article. The majority of the criticism amounts to speculation, not known fact. I think the proper term for this is "fear mongering".

Fear mongering is just a type of trolling.

[UncleBob]

People who bought a DS just for Brain Age and Nintendogs (a not insignificant portion of the user base) could very easily be satisfied by what's available on the iPhone. People like us are never going to be satisfied with just that, but people like us aren't the reason the DS has sold 140 million units.

Well, I bought five...

[NWR_insanolord]

So did I, but I'm pretty sure we're outliers in that regard.