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Topics - Kairon

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376
Nintendo Gaming / Kneel, original DS... Rise...
« on: April 20, 2006, 08:23:18 PM »
DS Phat!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

377
Nintendo Fansite-blog Infendo is requesting Brain Age aficionados to capture pics of their brain age drawing sessions and send them in!

Click here to see the first entries!

Also, click that link and scroll down to the second comment to see yours truly give a 5 minute art analysis on the piece de resistance by possibly the greatest Brain Age Post-Modern artist today, Lindsey the GREAT!

Ridicule is welcome.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

378
Great things come in small packages.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=2029

These are shots of the grey dev-kit controller, in the hands of people who probably work at Ubisoft Paris. In some shots, you can actually see the black cord that connects the dev-kit controller to the dev-kit cleverly tucked away so we don't notice it. The fact that these are devkit controllers is probably proof that the "circle-gun nozzle" window on front of the controller is not necessarily anything close to the final design compared to the wider more remote-like IR-window.

There's also been some speculation about why some of the people are focusing their eyes "off-screen,"
outside where a TV might appear, but that's probably just photojournalistic grandstanding.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

379
Nintendo Gaming / Does GameInformer Mag suggest Rev headpiece?
« on: April 07, 2006, 12:25:59 PM »
Observe the following blurry image of GameInformer's first pages of their Ubi Soft Red Steel exclusive.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elmoco/124817433/

Those small images on the right? They seem to show a variety of activities, freehand, freehand and nunchuck, a freehand controller with a black "hilt" attached to it to simulate a knife or sword...

and third image from the bottom...putting on a pair of transparent see-through glasses?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

380
*ahem*

Game Informer showing their May issue cover

That gun in the background...makes it look like a modern day Samurai thingy.

~Carmine M. Red

381
General Gaming / Spong Says PS3 $499
« on: April 05, 2006, 02:42:03 AM »
Better start working overtime!

Developer gossip in LA LA Land points to high-end pricepoint

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Edit:
Apparently, a Sony of Europe Exec has also let it slip:

gamesindustry.biz reports it

And so has Joystiq

382
Nintendo Gaming / IGN Promises Rev Specs: Evening 3/29/06
« on: March 29, 2006, 01:52:35 PM »
Be prepared for the initial speculation to end and even more frenzied argument and secondary speculation to begin! It's all downhill from here:

Matt C's IGN Blog promises Rev Specs

There, now I'm gonna be refreshing the darn site every 2 minutes for the next 5 hours in darned anticipation. You've ruined my evening Matt!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

383
Nintendo Gaming / Kotaku Insider suggests Revolution delay?
« on: March 27, 2006, 10:27:18 AM »
FEAR the delay rumors!

http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/ea-insider-dishes-on-lack-of-revolution-163015.php

The site quotes their insider at Electronic Arts as saying:
Quote

"What is equally interesting to note is that the Revolution has not been mentioned at any Next-Gen meetings. Now, this means one of two things: We aren’t doing any Revolution launch titles (highly unlikely), or the Revolution isn’t coming out within the next 6 - 8 months so we aren’t worrying about titles for it yet. "


~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

384
Using the Revmote as a State-switch + Fighting/Action Game Idea

Sometimes we make things too complex to see simpler, more elegant uses of technology. For example, the revolution controller doesn't need to exactly mimic a game-world-object: it doesn't always need to be the handle of a sword, or a ski, or your gun. It can be something a little less complex, but in my estimation, more elegant.

The revmote, because it knows its location in 3D space, can act as a simple switch to change your game state. It can be used to contextually change what different buttons or inputs mean for tha game. For example, considering this game idea:

Untitled Weapon-Based/Martial Arts Combat Game

This game would be in the genre of either a weapon-based/martial arts fighter, or a weapon-based/martial arts action game. It will use a third person camera, and be played with the freehand and nunchuck.

The key to this game is using the freehand to contextually change the fighting stance of your character. Depending on the position of the freehand in 3D space, your character would be in a different fighting stance and thus, your inputs would make the character do actions of slightly different natures.

This would also imply that by moving the freehand controller to different positions DURING COMBAT your character's fighting style and tactical options can change on the fly.

Nunchuck:
 Analog-Stick:    Movement
 Z1:                   Action 1
 Z2:                   Action 2
Freehand:
 A-button:         Action 3
 B-button:         Action 4/Environmental Response
 D-Pad:             Grab
 Gyroscopes:     Stance-switch
               shoulder-level: High-Response Stance - Doesn't move into stance fast, so only good at starts or lulls in battle. Good Stance to execute moves from.
               chest-level (normal): Combat Stance - Balanced stance and transitions easily into other stances
               cross-chest-level (backhand): Backhand/Special Stance - Special/Offhand/Backhand attacks
               side-dropped-level (relaxed to main-hand side): Strong-Attack Stance - high attack power low defense
               dropped-level (relaxed): Defense Stance - High Defense, low atack power

Despite there only being 4 action buttons available to you, the 5 stances give you 20 effective moves, all meant to flow from one move to another, one stance to another, such that the player can string moves through small yet graceful re-stancing of the freehand. This gives the game not only its unique gameplay, but its essential depth in choice of stance to use, choice of attacks to string together, and on-the-fly tactical judgements.


Hopefully that game idea demonstrated how using the Freehand for state-switching, in this case, changing the state of the character so that the action buttons would mean different things, can be fluid, intuitive, and a non-complex way to bring game innovations using the revolution controller.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

385
Nintendo Gaming / Sell Revolutions on the Home Shopping Network! AAAH!
« on: December 31, 2005, 09:09:09 AM »
Nintendo should also put Revolution up for sale on the Home Shopping Network and like tv shopping channels.

The Home shopping Channel offers everything Nintendo needs: actual game demonstrations AND a huge, easily accessible untapped traditionally non-gaming market! in-store demos? Why not real people playing real games so Dad/Mom/Grandma can understand it right on the TV! Plus, with its low price people who never thought about it before will buy it as gifts for their kids, or grandkids... or once they see the Rev's cooking game, conducting game, cheap NES downloads or (please please pleaaaaase) Mario Paint, they'll buy it for themselves!

AAAAh! Why didn't I think of this before!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

386
Nintendo Gaming / Is Nintendo WiFi an underpowered Online connection?
« on: December 23, 2005, 01:51:28 PM »
This needs to be put out in the open because without it, we'd just be willfully ignoring an aspect of Nintendo's plans that could prove problematic.

We've all heaped praise upon Animal Crossing and Mario Kart, but both of these games have powerful flaws in their implementation of online stability.

The developers of Mario Kart felt that certain courses could not be played online because they couldn't insure that with all the activity on the course, the connection would remain stable. In Animal Crossing, disconnections are not uncommon at all! (The loss of progress for everyone involved is actually a game design issue, and only very slightly related to connectivity stability.

In addition, the 30 foot distance on the WiFi dongle is fine if you're computer is in the living room, but 30 feet turns out to be exhausted by my walking right down the hall! But perhaps stronger WiFi routers are capable of better performance...

Anyways, if these problems persist onto the Revolutions online ability, then this would put a HUGE damper on the Revolution's claim on excellent AND free online capabilities.

But then again, there may not be too much cause to worry. The DS is not too strong a piece of hardware, and thus it may not be able to use techniques to enable online play via slower guaranteed throughput.

Blizzard, for example, offers a free online matching service, the highly popular B.Net. This is free and connects players, much like the Nintendo WiFi Strategy. And Blizzard's RTS games are very readily playable on 56K to boot! But this is done because a lot of what Blizzard has done is shunt the weiight onto the computer's cpu, 56K is fine as long as you have a strong enough computer to handle the less, but probably more complex data being sent over the net. Basically put, B.Net makes it such that you can play on %^K because the cpu uses programming tricks to make up for it.

Perhaps the Revolution will be better capable of this than the DS.

...Also of worth noting is that B.Net has no central server, when players play a Blizzard game one of their computers acts as the host. This seems highly like the way Mario Kart : DS AND Animal Crossing works, the service is free because Nintendo maintains few servers of their own and shunts the responsibility of hosting to the DS, and the Revolution.

This last paragraph lends thought to the idea that traditional MMORPGs and massively multiplayer online games like WoW or FFXI will be more difficult to pull off on the Revolution as compared to simple 4-player hookups like a Mario Kart Match, a Streetfighter match, Resident Evil Outbreak, SOCOM match-ups or a Gauntlet type cooperative game.

Finally, there's the question of how ready Nintendos coders are for network programming. At the very least, we'll see how ready NST is come March and the release of Metroid Prime: Hunters.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

387
Nintendo Gaming / Rumour come True? Zelda: TP Forward Compatible?
« on: December 22, 2005, 07:11:06 AM »
I feel icky being the bearer of the latest rumors, but I wonder if the particular idea of Zelda: TP making use of the Rev controller is picking up steam. Apprently, scans from the UK magazine "Gamer" suggests this very strongly, and they even imply that the two, the REV and Zelda:TP will launch relatively closely. Does this mean we're looking at yet another Twilight Princess Delay?

Mag sez: Twilight Princess launched Near Rev Date, makes use of Rev controller!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

388
Nintendo Gaming / 2-3 Times as powerful as GC true, sez IGN
« on: December 05, 2005, 03:57:09 PM »
Ign is reporting on their source's descriptions of the Rev's capabilities so far.

Revolution tech Details Emerge

Some key quotes:

"Readers are advised to make two notes before continuing with this article. The first is that developers are still working with incomplete Revolution hardware. Most studios are, in fact, developing on "GameCube-based kits," according to major software houses we spoke to, which have asked to remain anonymous. The second is that developers are still without final specifications for Revolution's ATI-developed graphics chip, codenamed Hollywood."

""To be honest, it's not much more powerful than an Xbox. It's like a souped up Xbox," a major third party source revealed to us. "But it's the controller that makes the difference and the controller is really nice." "

"Revolution will not have the RAM capacity to store and display an abundant source of high-definition textures. Third parties have revealed to us that the console will top out with 128MBs of RAM, and possibly even less. One studio would not give us an exact figure, but did say, "The same as GameCube plus an extra 64MB of main RAM." That number is by comparison nearly triple the amount of memory in GameCube. However, it is a far cry from the 512MBs present in Xbox 360."

"No developer that chatted with us had, or was willing to share, details on the console's GPU, Hollywood."

"Finally, quizzed about publishers' internal reaction to the device, a source responded: "People are interested, but they're still taking it all in at the moment. I'm sure [Nintendo is] going to get a fair amount of support. Probably a lot of people will initially look at existing franchises and whether or not they can kind of do customized versions for Revolution using most of the assets they've got. But whether they'll say, "Okay, let's do something completely original for it," that's the other question because it could be quite expensive to do that. Not as expensive as doing a PS3 or Xbox 360 game. But if you're a third party and you want to do cross platform, if you're doing a game on 360 you can do it on PS3 or PC using the same assets and that does make it a bit easier.""


My personal take:

Seeing what the GC can do with RE4 and Zelda:TP, the Rev will do perfectly fine on standard definition TVs. Also, this is NOT GC level graphics, we are looking at an increase in power, but an increase that doesn't push into diminishing returns like the PS3 or X360.

What this actually does suggest is that Nintendo may be looking at really hitting a low price point. Very impressive, especially if they can launch at sub $190. Can you imagine the revolution dropping to $99 within one year of it's release, yet still being competitive with PS3 and X360 based purely on revolutionary gameplay experiences?

But of course, we're still apparently waiting for news on the graphics chip.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

389
General Gaming / Late Sony PS3 Dev Kits Cause Dismay
« on: November 01, 2005, 03:05:22 PM »
Reference these two sites:

Game Science

Gamasutra - Check Middle Paragraph

I'm thinking this means that PS3 development is somewhere along the way... just not with real "final" dev kits till now. Although they say that the X360's dev tools were released last summer (Summer 2004) I'm betting that they mean preliminary tools, as I recall the final 360 dev kits being out more around this springtime (Spring 2005? Can anyone confirm or refute?).

Particularly of interest is Enterbrain's President (Enterbrain appears to be a mainly Japanese smaller RPG developer) statement that "We are unlikely to see games exhibiting a level only PS3 can achieve until the end of 2007." But then again, maybe the more established companies have a better grip on the hardware than he does.

Comparatively, we can still speculate as to the state of dev kits for the Revolution. Merrick recently claimed that third parties had development hardware, but at what stage? Link! The Rev dev kit materials are surely beyond the "Use a GC dev kit stage" and third parties almost certainly now have the controllers in their hands (Especially with so many of them speaking out about it from Japan). But the dev tools they have may or may not be final yet.

Still, if the PS3 dev kits are finalized (though they may not be) and Rev dev kits are not yet finalized, the Rev could still conceivably have games before the PS3 does because of Nintendo's own in-house development teams being privy to this information long ago, as well as the fact that developing on the PS3's completely from scratch Cell Processor with 9 cores may take devs longer to figure out rather than the much more dev and small game friendly Revolution hardware.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

390
General Gaming / HD-DVD on X360: Not for Games
« on: November 01, 2005, 02:40:50 PM »
Microsoft has no plans at all to have games for their 360 on HD-DVD discs, so they're stuck on good 'ol DVDs for this generation it seems... Nintendo will for the first time since the Super NES have the same size media for their games as a competitor!

Maruyama: No HD-DVD Games

Does this mean that there's a real logistics problem with using next-gen discs that aren't on market yet for next gen systems?

And this is the HD-DVD to boot! This is the easy-to-make next-gen disc.

Sony's Blue-Ray requires ENTIRELY NEW factories because old DVD factories can't be converted from old DVD manufacturing facilities... With microsoft shying from HD-DVD games could Sony have HUGE challenges ahead of them if they choose to go Blu-ray?

Or will...heaven forbid, all 3 next-gen systems, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have the exact same size storage medium?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

391
Nintendo Gaming / Revolution Retro Game DL Wishlist
« on: October 21, 2005, 03:31:34 PM »
I'm hoping we can use this thread to compile and relate our wishlists for Retro Nintendo System Games that we'd be totally willing to download if they somehow made it onto the Rev's DL service.

Here's my proposed format:

Nintendo Published Games:
game (system) <- comment
...

Third Party Published Games:
game (system) <- comment
...

I'm also proposing that we use a standard format so that even within our wishlist, we can see the game that are liable to make it onto the Rev download (Nintendo-published games) and the third-party published titles that are more likely to be pipedreams.

Also, let's try to add an additional challenge: list the games you'd actually consider buying assuming a price of 4 dollars for NES games, 7 dollars for SNES games, and 10 dollars for N64 games. These prices probably aren't right, but what the heck, this is a "wish"list right?

And yes, please do come back and edit/update your lists!

Now that I'm done with all my jabbering, I'd like to post my own personal list.

Carmine M. Red's Wishlist of Retro Games to DL, First Draft

Nintendo Published Games:

-Balloon Fighter (NES)
-Kid Icarus (NES)
-The Legend of Zelda (NES)
-Mother(NES) <-The Japan-only game whose sequel was Earthbound
-Star Tropics(NES) <- I've never played this...
-Lolo 1(NES)
-Lolo 2(NES)
-Lolo 3(NES)
-The Legend of Zelda: Link To The Past (SNES)
-Super Metroid (SNES)
-Mario Kart (SNES)
-Mario Paint (SNES) <- Even if they release a new version for the REV, I want the original
-Super Mario RPG (SNES)
-Battle Clash (SNES) <- Just for nostalgia, but in reality, playing without the Superscope isn't the same
-Super Mario 64 (N64)
-Mario Kart 64 (N64)
-Star Fox 64 (N64)
-Blast Corps. (N64) <- Just for nostalgia, and the music really
-Pokemon Snap (N64)
... I can't think of anymore for now...

Third Party Published Games:

-Gauntlet II (NES)
-Marble Madness (NES)
-Kickle Cubicle (NES)
-Contra (NES)
-Tiger Heli (NES)
-Jackal (NES)
-1984 (NES)
-River City Ransom (NES)
-Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
-Secret of Mana (SNES)
-Secret of Evermore (SNES) <-I've never played this one
-Final Fantasy 3 (SNES) <-yes, Three, as in the American Version
-Sim City (SNES)
-Rock 'n Roll Racing (SNES)
-Legend of Mystical Ninja (SNES)
-Turok 64 (N64)
-Body Harvest (N64) <- The Precursor to GTA 3!
-Quest 64 (N64) <- One of the worse RPG experiences I've ever had, yet why I am so drawn to it?
-Gauntlet 64 (N64)
... I can't think of anymore for now...

Notes: I'm sure there are more games that are vital parts of my childhood, it's just I don't recall them at the moment. I hate getting old and senile.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

392
General Gaming / Microsoft aiming to be home to Indie Games?
« on: October 17, 2005, 11:35:18 AM »
Here's an article I found about an Indie games conference, and where I was surprised to find an enormous Microsoft presence selling the XBox360. It looks like despite Nintendo's retro game distribution system, Microsoft will be the one claiming to control independent and homebrew games with the XBox Live Arcade, of which the announced prices are $5-$20.

2005 Indie Games Conference

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

393
General Gaming / XBox Live Arcade Pricing: $10-$20
« on: October 13, 2005, 09:22:52 PM »
The XBox Live Arcade is Microsoft's answer to Nintendo's retro library. As far as I can figure, it allows players to download for a fee more casual oriented arcade-style games, much like one might find on Flash Websites or on Yahoo, if I'm correct.

But anyways, according to this article from Gamasutra: X360 Live Arcade Pricing

These live arcade games will cost anywhere from $10 to $20 a download!

This begs the question, how expensive will Nintendo's Retro downloads be? Perhaps we'll find ourselves paying as much as $9.99 for NES classics like Duck Hunt, Lolo, and Balloon Fighter.

One point of comparison: Nintendo's E-cards. If you bought the $40 dollar GBA accessory, you could buy simple old NES games on E-cards at about 5-6 dollars a pop.

On the one hand I dream of $4.99 NES downloads. On the other hand, if Microsoft is charging $10-$20 for High Definition Yahoo/Flash games, why wouldn't Nintendo charge as much for honest to goodness classics?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

394
Has anyone else discovered this article which takes a look at Nintendo's attempt to inspire new genres with the Rev controller? It doesn't take a position on whether the end result will be good or bad, but it provides an excellent explanation of just what Nintendo's corporate thinking may be, and why it makes perfect sense.

Nintendo's Genre Innovation Strategy: Thoughts on the Revolution's new controller
Edit: Fixed Link

Some quotes:

Quote

Focusing on product innovation at the expense of commodity markets is a classic business strategy that is used successfully in non-game companies around the world. Companies like 3M are required as part of their strategic plan to have 30% of their revenue come from new products. They are constantly exiting markets when strong competition emerges and constantly competing with themselves by offering new products that outdate their existing products. Nintendo releases new genres where other companies release new products, but the basics are the same.


Quote

What you find is that selling innovative products early on can be dramatically more profitable and less risky than selling commodity products. The early market might not be as large, but the money is much better. You see this over and over again. Nintendo sells less but makes more money. Sony and Microsoft sell more, but make less profit.

Consider this tidbit. The Xbox, which focuses on highly mature genres catering to hardcore gamers has production costs of $1.82 million a title. The Gamecube costs half as much at $822,000 a title. The real kicker is that the Nintendo DS only costs $338, 286 a title to develop for, even less than the Gameboy. Some of these costs have to do with the hardware and development kits, but for the most part they are derived from the scope of the projects. Being able to develop successful titles at 1/5th the cost of your competitors is a major boost to your bottom line.


Quote

As a side note, folks who argue Nintendo should just make games for other platforms are completely missing the point. Nintendo needs to control their hardware platform in order to force innovation to occur in the control mechanisms. Other console manufacturers who rely on the hardcore audiences and standardized genres don’t see this need. They would happily standardize the console platform and make it into a commodity. Microsoft has historically made major comments about having one universal development platform.

The moment Nintendo loses control over their hardware, they lose a major competitive advantage in terms of creating new genres.


Quote

A ‘gimmicky game’ is really just another name for a new core game mechanic that hasn’t been polished. Donkey Kong is considered shallow and gimmicky by children playing it for the first time in this modern age. Yet it sported the same core game mechanics that eventually blossomed into an entire genre of highly polished 2D platformers.


~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Edit: Fixed Link  

395
Nintendo Gaming / Train Your Brain replacement - Ping Pals
« on: July 05, 2005, 07:27:53 PM »
Train Your Brain for Adults may never make it to a stateside release, but you can still take an America released game and traing your brain with a little imagination! And that game is the wonderfully underrated Ping Pals from Ubisoft!

Train Your Brain relies on simple brain excercises that won't make you into a genius, but will instead keep your brain active so that you're protected from degenerative effects (I make no medical claims here, lol).

You can do these activities easily with Ping Pals for Nintendo DS!

How do you replace Train Your Brain's simple math problems?

Play the "guess a number out of 10" game in Ping Pals! You're required to guess a number between 1 and 10, and are rated on how close you are to the secret number! This is an excercise in simple math as you should be constantly calculating the risks and benefits of guessing 2, 5, or 7. Guessing five all the time can be boring, so some risk taking spices things up while you continue to do submliminal addition and subtraction!

How do you replace Train Your Brains reading aloud challenges?

Simply reading aloud actually stimulates a large portion of your brain! Just enter into a chat with one of Ping Pals computer charatcer and read aloud what they're saying. You can only respond in yes or no, but you can add inflections and accents to the computer characters if you want a more exciting and brain-involving experience!

How do you replace Train Your Brain's artistic challenges?

Easy! All you need is two players. One of you makes a random scribble in the drawing mode. You pass it to the next player, who must then decide what the random scribble most represents. In this way you can creatively turn a bunch of lines into anything from a hippopotamus, to an F-14, to a man on a toilet bowl! Once you've figured out what your friend's scribble is, make a scribble of your own and pass it back to him so he can take a turn! Guaranteed fun and laughter! (Note: this is also achievable on the built in PictoChat software of your DS)

How do you increase your vocabulary and memory?

This is something that Train Your Brain doesn't do, but by simply playing Ping Pals Top 10 game, you'll get a chance to practice your memory and vocabulary! Ping Pals challenges you to name 10 things in a category, and although Ping Pals has set answers, naming 10 different foods is tougher than you think! How about vehicles? Or Dinosaurs? This game is a veritable vocab booster!


So while all you Nintendo fans are wiating for Train Your Brain, go and check out Ping Pals for Ubisoft and train your brain!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

396
General Gaming / Microsoft , not so bad after all?
« on: June 14, 2005, 08:43:14 AM »
I'm throwing my opinion behind XBox 360 vs. PS3.

Reading the recent May 23 Time cover story on Mixrosoft's XBOX 360, I can't help but feel that Microsoft may actually be a good, if not great, thing for gaming. The article talked a bit about the inner workings of Microsoft's XBOX division, and it's clear that this division has been well insulated from the rest of Microsoft's corporate thinking. J Allard, who heads Microsoft's XBOX efforts, seems an able visionary (who convinced MS in 1993 to take a closer look at a thing called the internet), and someone who can hold Bill Gate's attention, enough so that their division, more of it's own entity/company, doesn't seem to answer directly to any of the more distatseful aspects of Microsoft's nasty corporate side.

That is to say, when Microsoft makes investments in videogames, as with the XBox and the various other PC developers they own, they seem to let the developers do their own thing. At least, I haven't heard anything to the contrary.

In fact, I remember watching a documentary of the development of a Microsoft Crimson Skies XBox game, and it looked like Microsoft was truly content to let the developers go in directions they wanted to go. Of course, Microsoft's representative always kept an eye on the budget, but it was more like they were willing to spend the money if they could be convinced that it was being used wisely. In fact, they delayed that particular game in the documentary for 6 months and scrapped the lead designer because the developers felt the game wasn't going where it needed to go. This is a gutsy thing, and can only benefit from comparison to Nintendo-esque delays.

Anyways, what this insulation and support from MS bigwigs means is that the Microsoft games unit seems to be much more open to what types of gaming the future will need as opposed to Sony's thinking on the matter.

This is suggested also by the Microsoft technology analysis press release that came out after E3 comparing the PS3 and X360. Whereas the Cell processor with it's multi-tudes of different processor entities was optimized solely for non-flexible pure graphical power, the XBox 360 looked superior in ease of development AND in more essential and more important areas such as the unique processing capabilities that AI programming would require.

This shows some level-headedness and future-sense from the XBox team compared to Kutagari. Whereas Kutagari has built a straight-up number-crunching monster and has the gall to call it a supercomputer that sounds ominously like Skynet (see: the Terminator movies), Microsoft is instead finding out where gaming has exploded in this last generation (the enemy and squad AI in games like Halo) and didn't forget that in addition to their quest to up the technological ante.

Basically, while Sony sees technology as a way to pump out more polgyons, Microsoft interprets technology more freely based on what the games of today need.

Add this software-oriented hardware design with an insulated game division within microsoft that has and probably shares developmental freedoms, and I don't care whether Bill Gates sees $ signs with a MS console in my living room, it simply looks like the XBox 360 will be a good thing for gaming, and offers a positive direction as opposed to Sony's one-sided view.

For those Nintendo fans out there looking for a more moderate choice than "Innovation-at-all costs" Nintendo and "Graphics-at-all costs" Sony, Microsoft, an American company in a traditionally Japanese world, may be worth taking a look into.

I already feel that the XBox 360 will compete powerfully and could even beat the PS3. Maybe if I have the money, I might pick it up a year or two into the life-cycle. That's in addition to my revolution of course, lol.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

P.S. The shortening of game console generations is sadly a byproduct of not only technology's leaps and bounds, but Microsoft's need to make a virgin sacrifice, the first XBox, to the videogame industry monster. The first XBox existed not to make money, but test gaming ideas, markets, and show that Microsoft wasn't an "oogie-boogey" doomsday-bringing demon after all. And it's succeeded. Microsoft has my respect now, whereas in 2001 they had only my wary caution.

397
Reference: http://cube.ign.com/articles/624/624200p1.html

To wit:

Quote

"It is accurate that at this time we will not support high-definition [on Revolution]," confirms Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs, Perrin Kaplan.

"Nintendo's Revolution is being built with a variety of gamers' needs in mind, such as quick start-up time, high power, and ease of use for development and play. It's also compact and sleek, and has beautiful graphics in which to enjoy innovative games," Kaplan says. "Nintendo doesn't plan for the system to be HD compatible as with that comes a higher price for both the consumer and also the developer creating the game. Will it make the game better to play? With the technology being built into the Revolution, we believe the games will look brilliant and play brilliantly. This can all be done without HD."


What I can't figure out is whether this refers to 480, 1080i, or 1080p. But the move certainly appears to grow out of a cost benefit analysis by Nintendo.

Especially with Nintendo positioning themselves as an "AND" choice (that is, buy a PS3 AND a Rev, or a X360 AND a Rev), cutting manufacturing costs for a low, impulse buy price is imperative. Additionally, it may keep development prices for the Rev down.

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"Companies focused on outdoing each other for technology's sake are using the power of public relations to confuse the media into thinking high-definition is a live-or-die part of the games of the future," says Kaplan. "It is a technological fact that games will still look incredibly beautiful and play incredibly well without the high cost of making them HD compatible. HD may be one of the technologies of the future. Is it the gaming industry's only future? We don't think so."


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"This is my single biggest worry," admits Eggebrecht. "Let's put it this way. At 640x480 [standard definition], we're at a point where we can do anything. Anything. Finally. But with high-definition, I think we're at about the same level of challenge when it comes to framerate as we are this generation. You can do a hell of a lot more polygons. You can do a hell of a lot more shaders. But the inherent fill-rate issues are still certainly there. Will it be a 30-frame time? Will it be a 60-frame time? It will be interesting to see."


The IGn article also states that HD penetration rate in the US is 12.5% right now, but that HD marketshare is sluggish in both Europe and Japan.

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Europe's inability to settle on a unified HD standard stalled its plan to get rolling with the format. Now, the continent is set to use the same HD standards as America, but nevertheless manufacturers have been slow to gain momentum with the conversion just as Europeans have been slow to embrace it.

The Japanese market has encountered similar issues, which might explain why Nintendo, whose decision makers operate out of Kyoto, is unwilling to accept high-definition.




Once you all recover from your knee-jerk reactions, I'd like to think you'd ask yourselves: What should this tell us?

I, for one, don't care much about HD-TV. As long as the darn game plays, I'm good. Besides, we'll be playing NES, SNES and N64 games on our Revolution!

But while this news doesn't affect me personally, it makes me ever more interested in the Revolution launch price. Let's remember Hiroshi Yamauchi's aim for the original NES: a game machine that sold at 100 bucks. They missed thta mark, but they still sold the NES for cheaper than anything else on the market, that WHILE the NES was also the least capable system technologically, and had cut corners on everything from chips, to memory.

And again, I'm reminded of the "And" approach. Nintendo isn't telling us to buy a Revolution instead of another system, but to buy a Revolution IN ADDITION TO another system. In essence, Nintendo is going to try to enter living rooms via the "stealth mode" of the price-conscious/impulse buy. This is an intrigueing strategy, and could definitely be much more successful than Nintendo trying to face Sony and Microsoft head-to-head. Referring back to the NES... could a console that launches at $199 in 2006 sneak into everyone's living room? Could a console that launches at $150 do it?

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

398
I hate it when people compare Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft using standards that they don't even question. The simple fact of the matter is that, as early as the Gamecube's launch, we all should've realized that Nintendo CANNOT go toe-to-toe with Sony or Microsoft in any obvious way.

Simply put, Nintendo is little more than a large, experimental Japanese software company. Compared to the Cancerous-Domino-Octopus Microsoft, or the Skynet-like Sony, Nintendo has less resources, less know-how, less technological know-how, less pervasive market presence, and less chance than a snowball in hell.

So how does Nintendo seem to be coping? By examining the strategy of Sony and Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft are NOT in this for the games, they see the videogame market as a backdoor entry into people's living rooms, with their systems slowly progressing into what Sony and Microsoft hope to be game/DVR/computer/tv/internet hybrids. They basically want to take control of all of people's entertainment options via the game system, and this is what leads them on their rampage to cutting edge technology, endless ports, and that "technolust" factor that drives the early adopters in a traditional consumer electronics product plan.

Where's the chink of armor in that? With the first hints of the revolution, we should see how Nintendo hopes to carve out a successful niche for themselves in the market: Instead of committing hara-kiri by trying to out-compete Sony or Microsoft on Electronics or Computer technology (areas where absolutely NO one can challenge either Sony or Microsoft), they are trying to broaden the casual gaming market directly. This is what Nintendo means when they say "Revolution," they will try to change the structure of the videogame market where casual gamers are not the hangers-on off whatever the technolusting early adopters do, but instead are customers who can be sold to directly via introduction of new control schemes, new game types, and simplicity of use and pricing.

We can already see this with Nintendo's DS. Nintendogs, Electro-Plankton, Mystery games and Wario Ware are all games that defy contemporary hardcore convention: instead of providing a linear gameplay experience, they create new types of gameplay that appeal to Non-Traditional gamers, i.e. new customers who wouldn't normally be sought after by Sony or Microsoft except as after-thoughts who buy the PS2 3 years after it's out. Is it successful? Again, look to the DS. While "traditional straight-shootin' console gamers" like us don't know what to make of it, the Japanese have made the tamagotchi-esque Nintendogs a huge hit. And Animal Crossing DS may just prove to be the unique DS hit that Nintendo is incorporating into their battle plan: instead of having a select few early adopters ooh and ah at minimally improved graphics while gameplay remains virtually the same, Nintendo can offer games aimed directly at the wider-than-expected casual gaming market where Halo, Tekken, and MGS are not considered god's gifts to men.

This strategy allows Nintendo to choose their battleground. If Nintendo fights Sony and Microsoft solely on technology, or electonica geek-lust, then they will always lose. Always. But Sony and Microsoft are concentrated on taking over the living room via the early-adopter technolust strategy, so that leaves them blind to new gameplay possibilities. Already, we've seen the PS3 and X360 controllers. They are the exact same things as the PS2 and S controllers, except wireless (and imho, uglier). Sony and Microsoft believe that the true future in gaming is merely to keep continuously ramming more power and more graphics, more polys and more lightsources, into games that play basically the same as their predecessors. Nintendo hasn't revealed their controller because like Miyamoto said, Nintendo's analog stick was stolen, as was their rumble pack, their wireless controllers, and so many other innovations that Sony and Microsoft, with their armies of engineers, can replicate within 6 months. Let Sony and Microsoft innovate for themselves.

We've already seen Nintendo start to experiment with the DS's touch screen opening up new styles of gameplay that can appeal to non-traditional gamers. And while with the revolution, the requisite Metroid, SSBM and Mario will satisfy some traditional fans, any growth in marketshare is DIRECTLY reliant on Nintendo's ability to create new gameplay that isn't simply copied over and over by their competitors. And that new gameplay is what Nintendo is holding back, along with their new controller.

What's the revolution? The revolution IS NOT in the increase of technological power, but the application of it. Instead of making systems that can run hotter or faster than each other, Nintendo wants to make something that appeals to people who are outside of Sony and MS' blast radius. Microsoft wants to use the internet to connect players in Perfect Dark Zero deathmatches. Nintendo wants to use it to not only do that for SSBM, but connect Animal Crossing communities in ways that appeal to people without an urge to twitch-kill. Sony seems to believe that if they throw enough polygons at a game, they'llc ross a magical point where it will somehow convey "emotion." Nintendo knows that emotion is not a product of the eyes, but one of the heart. Players didn't cry over Aeris in FF7 because of the graphics, they cared because the story crafted a connection to her; Players won't see their DS' as personal extensions of themselves because of Metroid Prime Hunters (though that may entice some of you out there), but because their Nintendogs have wormed their way into their hearts.

Nintendo's success, ever since Sony entered the game market, has relied on their games. Now, with third parties having the ability to create quality games in any of the conventional genre, Nintendo, even iIF they had third party support, would have nothing to help them stand out...except new games that feature new gamestyles that connect with people who Sony and Microsoft expect to be rewarded with 2 years after their hardcore early adopter launches.

Will it work? Can Nintendo revolutionize, democritize, the industry by creating game experiences, either with ease of use, retro-games, or new gameplay? Only time will tell, and only the secrets that Nintendo's hiding can determine the outcome. Maybe it's even IMPOSSIBLE for Nintendo at this point, maybe the tides of history will be against them, just like it was against so many great powers in the past.

But to me one thing is clear: Nintendo CANNOT compete against Sony or Microsoft on processor speeds or polygon numbers. They will ALWAYS be behind. Nintendo is a company that made Hanafuda playing cards in the past, and software experiences now. Nintendo's only hope to succeed against Sony or Microsoft is to be different. Nintendo will be dead in the water the moment they have a system that is closely comparable to Microsoft's or Sony's boxes, because by then they'll have been so distracted as to lose their only competitive advantage, and Sony and Microsoft will NOT be beat on their home turf.

Nintendo may fail, their revolution may not succeed. It may even be coopted by Sony or Microsoft. But if that's the case, then Nintendo will have failed trying to win, trying to be unique and different and successful. They will not have failed with a retooled XBox360 on their hands and bereft of the deceny or innovation that sets them apart from Sony or Microsoft. They will have failed doing what they do best: developing innovating gameplay instead of following the consumer heartless, electronic and entertainment center bandwagon.

Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

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