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Originally posted by: zakkiel
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Originally posted by: Kairon
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Originally posted by: wandering
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Of course, you understand that the Rev could never become the platform for FPS'. Nintendo has virtually no tradition of competitive deathmatch FPS'
Goldeneye? Perfect Dark?
Rare? Rare? Microsoft?
~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com
...which has nothing to do with whether a Nintendo console could become the platform for FPS. Whether or not Nintendo can develop the games in house (which I think they should definitely attempt, but some strongly disagree) it can certainly offer far and away the best platform for FPSs in the console market and they can find a great second-party relationship to support that. I would like to see a version of Geist that actually fulfilled the promise of the premise, for instance. I think it could become a huge phenomenon if they moved away from Quake-like deathmatch and into more sophisticated modes.
Actually, since this is the "dream launch" thread, I'll elaborate a bit on that. Geist 2 should feature multiplayer modes that have you
a) Conduct a free-for-all in a war zone, starting as ghosts. Ghosts cannot see other ghosts. If you behave too suspiciously while possessing someone, you make soldiers on the same side as the guy you possessed suspicious, and they might open fire on you. As well, another player watching you would be alerted (you could tell what NPCs are possessed while in ghost mode, but not when you yourself are possessing someone). Players would thus have to focus their play on staying under cover while identifying possessed NPCs and managing enemy troops. You could figure out what NPCs are possessed by seeing strange behavior, by realizing that another ghost is trying to possess that NPC and waiting for it to be successful, or getting very close to the NPC(would set off a rumble pattern).
b) Somewhat like a), but now in a team game where you try to defeat the opposing army. You do not have to scare NPCs on your side in order to possess them, but you still have to for enemy NPCs. There could be a variety of victory conditions, depending on the level, such as take the position, capture the [object], etc.
c)Provide spectral support to an unsuspecting agent assaulting a fortress. We're all familiar with FPSs featuring the Lone Hero who takes on the Fortress of Evil and slaughters the bad guys. How he does this is left unexplained. Now, you and your teammates get to be the explanation, as you frantically race to possess and kill guards before they can overwhelm the hero on his suicidal mission.
d)Assassinate. One team tries to kill a selected NPC by possessing his guards, and the other tries to stop them. Both teams are ghosts. Ghosts cannot see ghosts from other teams. The defending team cannot possess anyone, but they can spot possessed guards and try to kill them with energy attacks. If they succeed before the possessing player can leave the body, then the defending team scores a point. If the attacking team succeeds in killing the critical guy, they score a point. Note that many of the guards would be spread out; some might be patrolling, while others would be providing sniper cover from a distance.
For all these modes except b) you have to scare the NPCs to possess them. This is a game I would love to see launch with the Rev (impossible, I know) or come out in the first six months after launch (also fantastically unlikely). The concept of Geist has so much multiplayer potential, and so little implementation.
I said that Nintendo has virtually no tradition for competitive deathmatch and you're forgetting that this is what modern FPS' are about. Halo 2, Half Life/Counter Strike, Quake, Unreal, these FPS kings are remembered today because of their simple unadulterated deathmatch mode.
The only Nintendo branded FPS' are Metroid Prime, which doesn't play AT ALL like an FPS and is instead a first person ADVENTURE title, and Geist, which borrows directly from FPS gameplay but plays more directly like a puzzle title itself. Neither of these games can truly be considered FPS' in the eyes of true hardcore FPS fans, it's ridiculous to even think so.
But anyways, let's assume that Nintendo even hopes to leverage these properties to pursue the FPS market. Metroid Prime 2 showed that Metroid Prime's FPA style gameplay can be converted to deathmatch form, but that it simply lacks the draw of real adrenaline-pumping FPS' like Halo. In fact, this is why as awesome as yoiur suggestions for Geist 2 are, I doubt that they'd have any impact on the market at all. Metroid 2 already offered a more complex version of PvP OTHER than deathmatches and King-of-the-hill and CTF and it simply never caught on: FPS players have spoken and they want hardcore, non-revolutionary deathmatches and team deathmatches. They want Halo 3 and then after that, more Halo 3.
And Geist..well... as much as I must credit N-Space for their work, Geist was a flawed game in terms of gameplay and game control that would pale in comparison to the same standards as today's top notch FPS'. Besides, Geist wasn't really designed as an FPS at all, it was a puzzle game first and foremost.
Simply put, Nintendo is stuck with Metroid, which has NEVER played like a FPS (in fact, we're still waiting for Hunters on the DS more than a year after the demo!), and they're stuck with N-Space, whose ability to create a title to compete with a Halo 3 quality game is highly suspect.
Even though the Revolution controller is perfect for the FPS genre, neither Nintendo nor their second parties has a chance to make any inroads in the genre either through lack of experience, lack of appropriate intellectual properties, or both.
Nintendo's only hope to make a name for itself in the FPS genre with the revolution is for a third party to come in and develop a FPS for the Rev exclusively. This generally does not happen unless that third party is bought up ala Bungie: no third party is going to pour Halo 3 type money into a game that will only be on the Revolution and cannot be ported to the PS3 and X360. I even doubt that there are any companies out there fit to compete in the top tiers of FPS development who aren't already competing, or gearing up to compete on their own without being so desperate as to seek Nintendo's backing.
I see no reason to be optimistic about FPS' on the Revolution at this point: this situation is completely at the mercy of third parties who have the ability and experience in this area that Nintendo lacks.
I say that instead of aiming to become established in the FPS genre off the bat, the Revolution should aim at establishing a name for itself within 6-12 months as the home for arcade-style Time Crisis-esque games. These games are basically slightly evolved versions of Duck Hunt, and their simplicity of concept and socially cooperative nature actually have a very broad appeal. I've watched my younger 10-12-14 year old cousins play Dino Crisis at arcades, and these were girls playing!
FPS games wouldn't be able to pull these people in beause of their innate hardore competitive nature that would repel casual players and beause of their need for complex, non-casual 3D spatial awareness and tactical thinking. But games like Duck Hunt, Dino Crisis and that-firefighting-game-sega-made could.
This is what the Revolution was built for after-all: pulling in the people who would play games except for the fact that the entire scene has become too hardcore for them. The entire FPS genre has already become hardcore and Nintendo would be facing a huge uphill battle against Halo 3 and whatever game Sony spends its money on. But corner the market on arcade-style easy-pickup Time Crisis type games and the Revolution actually has a good shot at establishing itself at something.
~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com 
Topic: Launch Titles: What must we have. (Read 29325 times)
