Messages

2201

TalkBack / RE:Mario Appears in NBA Street V3

« on: December 14, 2004, 12:20:51 PM »

I think that this helps both EA and Nintendo.

Some companies, such as EA and Ubi Soft, seem better than others about getting their games to all three consoles (some even to the PC).  But unfortunately in North America, where the PS2s and Xboxes are all that, and EA sells bigger here, I'm guessing, getting a GameCube version to sell as well as the others isn't possible without some added oomph.

After Namco's Soul Calibur II featuring Link selling better than the PS2 and Xbox versions, I guess it doesn't hurt that EA and Nintendo would try to do this.  More EA GameCube games selling benefits both Nintendo and EA.  Which one it benefits more, I don't know, but definitely a plus for both.

I'm not so sure I would like to see this kind of thing happening too much, but with Mario characters tending to jump a lot, basketball kind of fits.

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TalkBack / RE:Distinguished Donkey Kong Devotee Contest

« on: December 04, 2004, 05:58:51 AM »

I can't enter since I'm Canadian...

But I find this whole thing hilarious because my brother hates DK.  Even before seeing Samus blast DK away in the opening sequence of Super Smash Bros., my brother was a fan of Samus and for some reason believed that DK would be her nemesis because he's different in almost every possible way.  Though if DK was a real person, or ape, such unmotivated hate would be scary...

I liked the DKC games and I liked DK64 more than most people seemed to.  I could probably say how I really liked those games, at least.  

[nolimit19]

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TalkBack / RE:Washington Post Says GameCube is

« on: December 02, 2004, 12:55:16 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: nolimit19
it doesnt do any damage assuming it wasnt on the front page. people dont look to the washington post for gaming info. most people that read it probably dont own video games.

Actually, that's quite true.  That one single article probably won't do much "damage" at all, but it shows the mentality that's already there.

The sad truth is that most people will not even consider games that they might enjoy because of shallow, insecure concerns (too many colours, too cute, must be for the kids), or only buy a system because it appears to be the more popular, regardless of what games they do end up playing on it.  And while it's not the job of these idiots to do extensive research on upcoming games, and more the job of the marketing divisions of the various game companies to promote a certain image, oftentimes I still want to smack some shallow gamers upside the head anyway...  >_<

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TalkBack / RE:Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga on the DS

« on: December 02, 2004, 09:22:00 AM »

Baten Kaitos would be awesome.  I rented it last weekend and might do it again this weekend to finish it.  It seems like it'd fit well on the DS, a bottom screen for the cards and the top screen for the action.  It'd make it quicker to get to the cards you need by touching them (I've lost opportunities to continue a combo when I stall while thinking).

I suppose many other RPGs could be similarly designed, with the touch screen for issuing commands.  That's almost a given.  But the touch screen could also provide new ways to execute commands, like using it to fire slingshots (like with a pulling-back motion), swinging slings, targetting weak points, etc.

But Baten Kaitos is a very beautiful RPG, as often stated, the most beautiful GameCube made.  If they are going to make another game in the same vein on the DS then its visuals should try to equal it.

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TalkBack / RE:Washington Post Says GameCube is

« on: December 02, 2004, 08:37:24 AM »

You should've spelled "consoles" correctly, and Tales of Symphonia and Resident Evil 4 are not exclusive, but you bring up a good point.  Sending them an email might be more worth our time than complaining here...not much more, but better to show someone else your view instead of showing it to others who already share it.

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TalkBack / RE:Washington Post Says GameCube is

« on: December 02, 2004, 08:06:12 AM »

Well, being a Nintendo gamer, I'm obviously at least a little biased, but I also have a good PC, and I notice that more than half of the good games on the PS2 and Xbox end up on the PC anyway...so how can the GameCube be "obsolete" if there are still about two more years of actually-exclusive games yet to play?  Granted, for the next couple years I'm just assuming there will be some great games, since I'm thinking some surprise hits we haven't even heard of are being cooked up, and you know, The Legend Of Zelda is always worth the wait.  But this Christmas alone there are enough releases to keep me revisiting the local Blockbuster for the next few months (I only rent about twice a month)...games like Baten Kaitos, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Mario Power Tennis, Mega Man X: Command Mission, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, LotR: The Third Age, my brother wants to rent Amazing Island, there are even some older GameCube games I have left to play, even.

I think the number of titles on the PS2 and Xbox don't mean as much as people think they do.  At least for myself, a self-proclaimed "hardcore gamer", who will play most any genre and not care too much about if it's rated E or M, though there's a bias there.  I just think that if people didn't count the generic games, the games they would never touch, and the games that they didn't have time for, that would leave them with the same amount of game play time as GameCube owners.  My friends, PS2 and Xbox owners, keep bragging about the number of games they could have, but they play a lot less than I do, and I'm more than busy enough with my 'Cube.  And if the 'Cube can keep me and a lot of people busy, it can't be obsolete.  Certainly not at this point, while we're still in this generation of consoles, even if it is mostly downhill from here.

Plus, "obsolete" implies a technical view, like you could say the NES and Super NES were obsolete even if you still found them fun.  But the GameCube is in a few ways technically superior to the PS2, so if the PS2 isn't obsolete, how could the GameCube be?

[Artimus]

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TalkBack / RE:Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga on the DS

« on: December 01, 2004, 01:35:41 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
I'm talking about FF non-CC and not a remake. Duh?

Yeah, even though the Final Fantasy series isn't exactly going uphill, I still do like the more traditional turn-based FFs.  I've played like 60 hours of FF:CC, but still...  Either way, a new Final Fantasy, like it or not, would certainly be a huge selling point.

I love Baten Kaitos (gotta rent it again next weekend to finish it off), and Xeno- seems to have its fans, but mention FF and all the casual gamers and still quite a few of the hardcore gamers have got to turn their heads in the direction of the DS.  

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Touts Big Holiday Hardware Sells

« on: December 01, 2004, 05:21:47 AM »

The various Game Boys always seem to sell like hot cakes, and the DS might as easily follow.  Well, except that I haven't heard of any recent hot cakes sales numbers...

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TalkBack / RE:Console Sales on the Decline

« on: December 01, 2004, 05:07:51 AM »

Do we need a fancy, official report to tell us that console sales are slowing down?  When Nintendo's system releases in North America are always five years apart, and others' consoles about the same, after three years, of course sales are down.  I'm guessing that a good deal of consoles that are still actually being sold are for people who want a second or third console or a replacement.

I've always heard that the GameCube and Xbox are really close in sales, or with the GameCube slightly leading, but the reason why you always hear about the Xbox is because of all those people who ask "PlayStation or Xbox?"  I believe there was another thread about that.  I think that several of my friends (we're in our mid-twenties) appeared to be casual gamers and never even considered the GameCube when it first came out, but I know for a fact that a few of them do have one now but never talk about it, as if they shamefully don't want to admit more often than necessary that they have what they once considered childish.  But if you hear a lot about the Xbox, and the GameCube is able to compete, then SOMEbody's got to be buying them up.

I think it's stupid that they think they can just tack on sequential numbers to things...Xbox 2, GameCube 2...

[TheYoungerPlumber]

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Film Studio is a Go

« on: November 30, 2004, 12:54:32 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: TheYoungerPlumber
To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if half of this new team's time went towards cut-scenes for Nintendo games.  Miyamoto has never been big on prerendered cut-scenes for games in which he has a more significant role, but Super Smash Bros. Melee shows that Nintendo as a whole is not against FMV.

Well, the opening sequence was tasty, as were those in Namco's Soul Calibur II, Tales Of Symphonia, and Baten Kaitos.  The James Bond game Everything Or Nothing had a sweet opening sequence too, and Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0.  Ah, yes, and SSBM's "Special Movie".  (My brother made a "Special Movie 2" featuring the hidden characters which can be seen on VGMaps.com, but I digress, as I always seem to do.)  But I haven't yet seen too many large FMV cutscenes in-game in a game for a Nintendo system, though they tend to create this annoying shift of reminding you that you're just playing a game.  That is, if it's a prerendered cutscene that doesn't use the in-game engine.  Still, either way, a more cinematic approach helps the story-driven games, though I can understand Miyamoto's hesitance for using cut-scenes when he likes to keep games simple.  When playing something like Xenosaga or MGS2, it's kind of like, "let me put my controller down and make dinner and come back to actually playing after I've eaten".

The most FMV seen in a Nintendo game seems to be F-Zero GX, which is by Sega, actually.  It may be blacklisted as one of the few games I can't finish, but the Story Mode's story sequences worked well.  And it's a racing game, the last kind of game you'd expect to have a story.

I imagine that the media for the next Nintendo console will have lots more space to spare, meaning that FMVs won't take up an obscene percentage of space, so they'd be more common.  So more games, including Nintendo-made games, will have them, and more of them, so why not make them of high quality, with a studio devoted to such a thing?

[Dasmos]

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Film Studio is a Go

« on: November 30, 2004, 05:13:11 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Dasmos
I could see a donkey kong cartoon working but i guess it's just hopeful thinking

Yeah, the DK Country cartoon wasn't the hottest.  I guess at the time it was still groundbreaking to use CG in a TV show but nowadays CG animation is all over the place, and many major animated films are that way too.  ReBoot was the biggest, though, where's my Season V?  Or did Nintendo kick them in the crotch because they were using purple "Game Cubes"?

Several properties have been tried on the small screen...

-Captain N: The Game Master, featuring various NES heroes, including a few non-Nintendo ones, and later, the Game Boy was a character
-Super Mario Bros. Super Show, with The Legend Of Zelda on Fridays
--also followed up with Super Mario Bros. 3 and the probably short-lived Super Mario World cartoons
-Donkey Kong Country
-Pokémon, still going, enjoying the most sucess of all of these shows
-Kirby: Right Back At Ya!
-F-Zero: GP Legend

And then there's the craptacular Super Mario Bros. movie, seven or so Pokémon movies, and the oft-fuzzy Metroid movie possibility.

So several hundred hours on non-interactive Nintendo entertainment have been made already (a good deal of it being Pokémon).  It might take a bit more effort to do it all on its own and a lot more marketing to get non-Pokémon type franchises to the big screen, but it doesn't seem like a HUGE stretch for Nintendo.  And hey, I doubt Nintendo would anytime soon shift its focus so majorly, if whatever they put out bombs, they're not going to continue and stick with just the games.

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Ships Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

« on: November 29, 2004, 10:40:12 AM »

If it were up to me, I would've released FF (I), II, & III on a single GBA cartridge (a Final Fantasy Trilogy?) and FF IV, V, and VI on a DS card (a Final Fantasy Second Trilogy?).

I guess Square Enix would probably do rereleases however they feel like it and whenever it seems like it would be profitable, but I think that separating the Famicom/Super Famicom trilogies this way not only makes sense, but also would allow oldskool Final Fantasy fans to carry the first six games wherever they go.

I heard that Final Fantasy III is making its North American debut on the DS.  Which seems kind of odd to me.  Would it come with IV?  Would they boost the graphics on both and make them about even?  The DS can handle N64 ports, apprently, so why should anyone be looking forward to one of the more obscure Final Fantasies from the Famicom?  It's not even the Super Famicom/Super NES.  Not that there isn't room for old games, but the GBA could easily handle it and if released sometime in the near future, probably sell better.

But I digress.  This thread is about (I) & II.  However, I still think III should've come with it (and the Super Famicom/Super NES ones all together on the DS).

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TalkBack / RE:Majesco Brings Disney Shows to GBA Video

« on: November 29, 2004, 10:30:39 AM »

Hooray?  More GBA Video?

One of these days, I'm sure they'll move onto "DS Video" or something similar.  While the DS demographic is supposed to be older, I don't see why they wouldn't try such a thing with cartoon shows, or even movies, once the DS user base becomes significant.  The touch screen of the DS seems almost ideal for VCR controls and/or DVD-style chapter menus.

[xOsirisx]

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TalkBack / RE:FamilyFun.com Announces Game Of Year Award Winners

« on: November 18, 2004, 05:54:15 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: xOsirisx
Although, we have to keep in mind that a fair amount of Gamecube's profit probably comes from these games. I say the more they sell, the better; that's more money they can spend on the first party power players (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Etc.).  These games aren't important as far as thier impact on quality gaming per se, but market share is market share.

I guess in this world it's too much to ask that good games should be bought more and honored more while crappy games aren't.

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TalkBack / RE:Celebrities Like the DS

« on: November 18, 2004, 05:48:15 AM »

Cuba Gooding Jr., Orlando Jones, Jerry Bruckheimer, Pink, Nelly.

Everyone else, I have no idea.  

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TalkBack / RE:FamilyFun.com Announces Game Of Year Award Winners

« on: November 17, 2004, 10:03:22 AM »

LeafGreen?  I thought FireRed was the more popular one...not that it makes a huge difference...

[t]

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TalkBack / RE:Official Mario 64 DS Webpage Launches

« on: November 16, 2004, 02:23:18 PM »

Am I the only one who noticed that the web page was made for Nintento, as opposed to Nintendo?

Boy, am I nitpicky.  Other that that little thing, this is one of the best Nintendo web site designs I remember ever seeing.

EDIT: Never mind, they fixed it.  Not that anyone cared but me.

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TalkBack / RE:Reggie Speaks

« on: November 07, 2004, 04:08:52 PM »

Quote
The ad is titled “Iron Woman” and begins with a tall, blonde model walking down the street. As she walks, bits of metal appear from off the screen and fly onto her body. This goes on for several seconds, as the metal accumulates and eventually forms her suit of armor. Samus then holds out her cannon arm and fires at something in the distance. The ad finishes with a few seconds of gameplay footage.

Sounds awesome.

And I just finished reading some neato stuff about the DS here:
Nintendo DS Online Capabilities

So between that and the good points from Reggie, my optimism continues about the DS, and Nintendo in general.

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TalkBack / RE:PGC Seeks Applications for Staff Writer Position

« on: November 03, 2004, 02:25:36 PM »

Perfectionism isn't said to be a requirement, but I've got that, now that I think about it.  If only being able to spell "weird" correctly, differentiate between "your" and "you're", and not use an apostrophe for most plural nouns were prerequisites, I'd definitely go for it.  I mean, I'm three steps above most of the people on the Internet already!

Most of my bosses and supervisors don't have those points, and I wonder what kind of world we live in if someone like myself, a university graduate, has to take orders from people who didn't pay attention in ELEMENTARY.

But I digress.  Good luck to everyone going for it.

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TalkBack / RE:PGC Seeks Applications for Staff Writer Position

« on: November 02, 2004, 01:56:18 PM »

Shoot.  I'm Canadian and was hoping to get paid.  >_<

On that note, kudos to you volunteers that currently write!  This is a web site that I check at least once each day, and I'm often surprised that there are somehow Nintendo-related news almost every day.

Seeing as how my five-month temp job might be over at the end of this week, I guess I'll have time...I wish being Canadian wasn't such a stigma, though...  

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TalkBack / RE:EA Developing Games Based on Batman Begins

« on: October 26, 2004, 07:05:41 PM »

From what I hear, Batman Begins is going to be VERY cool.  Though after the last couple Batman movies it's easy to say it'll be better.  But really, if the hype machine has truth to it, and the movie rocks, then let's hope the game adaptation is good.

There's always been an issue with movie-to-game translations, but EA has been doing pretty good.  At least with stuff like 007, Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings.  I generally have a preference for Japanese games but EA (and EA Sports Big, and I don't even like sports!) has been getting more of my attention lately.

I'm not saying that the movie wll necessarily be good or that the game would necessarily be faithful, but I'm sure there have been worse movies and worse adaptations.

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Tells Players

« on: October 26, 2004, 07:01:20 PM »

I think the print ad, featured in Maxim and FHM and Stuff-type magazines, is very fitting.  It's appropriate in its context.  And I think that works.

I'd have no problem with commercials like Super Mario Sunshine's "Clean is better than dirty" if they were airing in the appropriate time slot.  Like maybe during Kirby: Right Back At Ya! or the Pokémon (the show), where their likely viewers would be younger gamers or die-hard Nintendo fans.  For the more shallow and casual gamers, "Clean is better than dirty" on a prime time sitcom is not going to make Nintendo seem all that cool.  If there were commercials for Resident Evil 4 or Metroid Prime 2: Echoes on prime time shows, that would fit.

It's all about context.  Like context-sensitive action buttons in various games, ads should be context-sensitive.  If you want to get a different demographic (or "psychographic", as I think Reggie Fils-Aime once said), like those of young men, you want ads in magazines like Maxim, and also look like they belong in Maxim.  And this ad looks like it would.

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TalkBack / RE:Editorial: PlayStation or Xbox?

« on: October 26, 2004, 04:13:26 PM »

That question irks me a lot too.

I own a GameCube (well, who here doesn't?) and a PC (again, who here doesn't?).  What I find amazing is that several of the best PS2 and Xbox games I don't miss out on, because a good deal of them also come out for the PC.  And who, in this day and age, doesn't have a PC?  Whether or not it's a gaming PC doesn't matter, if you can wait - in a few years any default PC would be able to play today's games.  It may not play tomorrow's games, but there's the absolute guarantee that anyone in a few years can play SW: KOTOR, GTA III, GTA: Vice City, MGS2 Substance, etc. etc. etc.  Given the fact that the overrated Final Fantasy VII never seems to leave people's minds, people aren't averse to playing something one generation back, and why not on a piece of hardware that's inevitably going to be in your home?  The most logical choice in my mind is, get a GameCube for exclusive games you can't get anywhere else, use your PC for the Xbox and PS2 games.

Of course, no matter how RATIONAL or FACTUAL I can outline my opinions about Nintendo or any other thing for that matter, a lot of people go with what's "cool".  If you can make a useless gizmo look cool, people would want that over the most equipped Swiss Army Knife.  That's just the sad thing about this world.  No one likes to think.  And moreso, everyone's too concerned about their image.  Super Mario games may be fun, Pokemon games may be deep and involving, Zelda may have well-crafted worlds, but since they're too colourful, I know several people that are averse to playing those games.

People are hypocritical sometimes when it comes to "cool" stuff.  They want a PS2 because it's the most popular, but then when the GameCube has almost always been ahead of Xbox sales worldwide, they want an Xbox.  If what's "popular" is "cool", then the GameCube should be "cooler" than the Xbox.  Hypocrites.

Nintendo CAN be cool.  It starts with the marketing.  And, unfortunately now, it means one-upping Sony (and Microsoft).  Of the people I know, it seems like a lot of people fell out of gaming in the 16-bit days (a shame, those were some of the best times I had).  This would be late junior high/early high school for me, when people have the greatest insecurities and gaming was still nerdy.  When they saw how "cool" gaming could be at the start of the 3D era, when the PSX became "cool", I think they felt that Nintendo couldn't keep up as well, and most of those casual gamers have a preference for the PlayStation consoles and seem resistant to Nintendo becoming cool again.  It's like if they were the first to say, "Hey, Nintendo's cool again", people would think they were out of step.  So no one's the first to bravely say that Nintendo's cool, and it never could be because no one seems to say so.  I have no doubt in my mind that some of those who did play games before remember a time when Nintendo was cool, and I've noticed that they're actually the ones who adamantly seem to be the most against Nintendo.  As if they cling to the PlayStation name to assert that they're cool.  Sheesh.

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TalkBack / RE:Experts Sound Off On DS vs. PSP

« on: August 19, 2004, 03:04:40 PM »

I've always just thought of the whole "third pillar" thing as being redundant as well, and perhaps a failsafe way of writing it off (if it were to not do very well) without killing the Game Boy line (as if that were possible).

I've often heard people complaining about the constant redesigns of the Game Boy, even if in actuality there have only really been the GB, GBC, and GBA.  Sure, there's the Pocket, Advance SP, and multiple colors and special editions of each, but it's not like there is a truly new one each year like some people seem to imply.  However, the time gap between the GB, GBC, GBA, GBA SP, and the DS seems to be smaller each time if I remember correctly, so if this were a new Game Boy, anyone even thinking that the Game Boy is redesigned too often is going to be hesitant about purchasing something new right from the start if they think something even better is going to come soon enough...

However, it IS a portable, and it CAN play GBA games...what I think will happen if the DS is even moderately successful is that the GBA software will still continue to roll out (tens of millions of GBA owners can't be wrong!) but the GBA hardware will slow down until there's a large enough number of people with DSes to be able to close off the Game Boy line, if Nintendo really wanted to, at least to reduce unnecessary segmentation.

But this is about the DS vs. the PSP, not vs. the GBA.

What I wonder about the PSP is when it'll come out.  As already mentioned, it's PS2 games on the go for much, much, more.  Why pay much more to play games on a tinier screen, no surround sound, etc.  I'm guessing a PSTwo redesign is on its way, which could make it cheaper, and judging by the expected timeline, if people hesitate and don't pick up the PSP right at launch, I'm sure the hype for the PS3 will be building up and people will be saving for that.  I'm just speculating at this point, but wouldn't the PSP and PS3 sell for about the same?  Which would make the PSP, if only essentially a "portable PS2", less worth buying.

At least the DS is more interesting with its features, and whether or not they will be fully utilized often, it seems like developers like it more to give it a more varied library of titles earlier on and maybe even onward.  

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TalkBack / RE:Reggie On Nintendo's Handheld Approach

« on: August 13, 2004, 04:16:46 PM »

Long read, but a very nice one.

If everything he said was true, and plays out in Nintendo's favour, the DS should be a success, even if it takes a while.  I had similar concerns about the PSP - about technologies "belonging" together and the type of games on it.  When I saw previews of Death Jr., Metal Gear Ac!d, and images of GT4, I was like, wow - but would any gamer spend money on the same kind of games they could play at home?  And the whole time and attention span factor - I'm not going to want to be caught in the middle of some huge long Xenosaga-type cut scene when I'm trying to transfer between buses, etc.