We've got RPGs galore, plus answers to your questions about our favorite consoles and, of course, Project Cafe.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/26137
We'll have something special next week, but this episode follows the standard format and is full of everything you love about RFN. In New Business, James has full impressions of Phantom Brave, the Wii tactics game that perhaps no one fully understands. Jon has made significant progress in Chrono Trigger (no, really!) and, with his new commute by train, it looks like he will finish it soon and move on to even more role-playing goodness. Jonny got to play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl with TYP, but his main games this week are the awesome Portal 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, which he enjoys despite serious problems associated with the setting and Western RPG conventions. Greg completes the segment with a report on the El Shaddai demo (looks a bit like Killer 7, from the character designer of Okami), and he delivers the final word on Capcom's overlooked Okamiden for DS.
Since we ran out of time for Listener Mail last week, it was a great pleasure to catch up on this show with some of your excellent queries. First up is a survey on our favorite gaming systems of all time, including some controversy over whether PC is eligible. Then we launch into the cascade of Project Cafe letters, covering topics such as resolution/framerate utopia, the true meaning of development codenames, and whether GameCube could be the next Virtual Console system. Please keep those emails coming!
I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter. Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.
I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter. Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.
I know. I'm often surprised by that as well.I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter. Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.
There's a front page?! o_O
Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.
I actually started playing Chrono Trigger not to long ago too. Haven't put a lot of time into it, but I certainly hope to finish it soon and hear Jon finally complete it and get the biggest (?) cause of Lindemann Syndrome of his back. =P I played Fallout: New Vegas and while I did find it to be unstable with some minor freezes and long loading times, I found exploring and finding places to be intriguing and it was a surprisingly engaging experience for me.
Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.
I make the pretty pictures in the squares.
They're Crimm's Precious.Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.
I make the pretty pictures in the squares.
They're so pretty.
Eh, I'm not sold on the DS one, but it was late and I was tired.'Hate when that happens. You mean the red DS top?
I had a better one for the updated Wii Successor rumor list but my image editor died just as it was saving.
1080p60 depends on the developers, not the hardware. Few HD games run on 60 FPS while Nintendo almost always delivers 60 even though the Wii is much weaker than the HD systems. Developers have to decide how to allocate the system's resources and if they decide to spend the power on making it pretty instead of making it fast then the resolution and framerate are going to suffer no matter what the hardware does.
I think Nintendo will likely make games run at 1080p at a steady 60 frames per second. That's just how Nintendo operates.
It isn't significantly more powerful.This sounds like a personal challenge.
It will not cost $600.
None of my research on the topic has indicated either are even remotely possible.
What I worry about the new Nintendo console is the price of the controllers, it's getting out of control.
I have no doubt that Sony and Microsoft will follow-up with much more powerful hardware, but that will be a couple of years later at significantly higher prices.
I have no doubt that Sony and Microsoft will follow-up with much more powerful hardware, but that will be a couple of years later at significantly higher prices.
I agree with the rest of what you said, but I'm wondering if this part will be true. It's clear that the tech is available, yes, but with dev prices already as insanely high as they are now, would devs be able to afford to make games for a system that's much more powerful than what we have at this moment? They've certainly shown that they generally can't squeeze a profit from the current prices; wouldn't going much higher just ensure that they'll get as little third-party support as Nintendo does now?
I have no doubt that Sony and Microsoft will follow-up with much more powerful hardware, but that will be a couple of years later at significantly higher prices.
I agree with the rest of what you said, but I'm wondering if this part will be true. It's clear that the tech is available, yes, but with dev prices already as insanely high as they are now, would devs be able to afford to make games for a system that's much more powerful than what we have at this moment? They've certainly shown that they generally can't squeeze a profit from the current prices; wouldn't going much higher just ensure that they'll get as little third-party support as Nintendo does now?
Yea, I really just think that the graphics/processing side of technological advancement is yielding diminishing returns both in the experience and in the profits to be made. Unfortunately, that means less bang for more bucks - and that's not a business model I'm psyched about.
So, I would love it if Nintendo kept doing "their thing" - lower costs and better (IMO) gaming experiences. I also admire that they have been moving technology diagonally forward (IR pointing, touchscreens on handhelds, various forms of motion control) as opposed to just straight forward with higher processing power/screen resolutions.
Now, I know that admiring Nintendo and not caring about dick-waving system specs must mean I'm a """fan boy.""" But keep in mind, this is all coming from a guy who hadn't owned a Nintendo platform since the NES/GB. I only got a SNES, N64 and Gamecube when my (now) wife and I got our place together (yea, she's a catch ^_^ )
And wouldn't a 2013 release of the PS4 be breaking their "10 year life cycle" of the PS3? Or is it gonna be like how they still think we're in the PS2's life cycle because the thing keeps selling?
That's what I'm thinking too. The hardware to make consoles have far more horsepower than we have now is certainly commercially viable. The PC, for example, has been able to outstrip the HD consoles for years now, as it has in every previous generation, but this is the first generation I can remember where PC games don't really go far above-and-beyond, in terms of horsepower, above their console counterparts. I have to imagine it's due to commercial viability: by and large developers and publishers this generation are swimming in red ink like no generation before, notwithstanding that revenues are at historically high levels. Like ninsage, I have to imagine that the HD consoles are near the cieling of what's commercially viable, in terms of dev costs, at least until much better dev tools become available.
I honestly think Dev costs won't go much up from here once everything settles at 1080p assets. Thats going to be the biggest for a while. No one is truly ready for the next jump yet. In fact I think the next bump will bring more parity to the systems.
It's already been semi-confirmed they're both targeting two years from now for their new systems
True, but that's not what I was getting at. I've no doubt that new consoles are coming from MS and Sony. I must doubt that those new consoles will be "much" more powerful. Stream will likely end up being the weakest of the three, but only to the degree that the PS2 was weaker than the Gamecube and Xbox. I think MS and Sony will have to pull a Wii, and make something beyond mere added horsepower be the primary hook of their new system.
