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Come the Revolution 165

Posted by Zonk from the up-against-the-wall dept.
GamesIndustry.biz has a piece looking at what game developers think will be required to ensure that Nintendo's Revolution doesn't go the way of the GameCube. From the article: "While this mutual exploitation between indies and Nintendo may grant the GameCube some stay of execution, the Kyoto giant's next home console will require a very different approach to marketing. Solid details about the Revolution remain sparse, yet Nintendo has stated it hopes to attract a different audience to the one being aggressively chased by Microsoft and Sony. This is the console that will support a back catalogue of twenty years' worth of Nintendo games, as well as new titles utilising the intriguing new controller."
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Come the Revolution More

Come the Revolution

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  • Older is better (Score:4, Interesting)

    by From A Far Away Land ( 930780 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:26PM (#14860463) Homepage Journal
    I'd actually consider buying a Nintendo platform that supports Gameboy and NES games as well as the new stuff. Either that, or gives owners a license to run an official NES emulator on their PC. Donkey Kong trumps new stuff any day.

    • Re:Older is better (Score:3, Interesting)

      by keyne9 ( 567528 )
      You mean like the Gameboy Player addition for the GCN? Given the Revolution's aim to be able to emulate many (or most) of the older games for their older systems, I suspect you won't have much of a problem with your desire.

      • You mean like the Gameboy Player addition for the GCN?

        Yeah, but you'll probably still have to leave your GameCube hooked up, as the Revolution isn't expected to have the GameCube High Speed Port through which the Game Boy Player sends input, video, and audio data. In addition, a lot of Game Boy titles don't work on the Game Boy Player; most notably, these include 8-bit games that use an external keyboard, 8-bit games that use the early 4-player adapter, those that use a tilt sensor, sun sensor in the Ga

    • From Nintendo:
      "Decades of Games
      Revolution will play all of your favorite Nintendo GameCube games, and deliver downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)."
      I would say that qualifies. Check it out at www.nintendo.com/revolution

  • Gamecube - premature death? (Score:4, Informative)

    by r_jensen11 ( 598210 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:28PM (#14860487)
    As far as I know, the game cube is far from dead. In fact, my roommate and my neighbors have been playing Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Tennis, Mario Party 4, and Super Smash Bros. until 3am a many of times....

    • Agree (Score:4, Insightful)

      by w.p.richardson ( 218394 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:31PM (#14860532) Homepage
      My kids love the gamecube, and I can lord it over them as a not so veiled threat.

      It's alive and kicking at my house. I do not plan to replace it anytime soon. We get a game maybe 2x per year. The games are fun for everyone to play, same as the older nintendo games.

      • I hear ya, my 5 1/2 and 3 year olds love it; SSX Tricky/3/Tour, Mario Double Dash, Mario Party 7, Mario DDR, and most recently Super Mario Strikers - that's a game the whole fam (all 4 of us) can play together, and it's still challenging enough for me to take on my 5 1/2 year old one on one! It's a blast, viva la Gamecube!

    • Re:Gamecube - premature death? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Fred Or Alive ( 738779 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:32PM (#14860542)
      Where are you?

      I'm in the UK, and the article is pretty accurate, the 'Cube has dissapeared from most retailer's shelves (partly pushed out by the PSP, and ironically, the DS), and it's pretty much relegated to small amounts of shelf space in specialist games shops. I'm sure people get lots of play out of their 'Cubes, but Nintendo will probably have trouble selling more games and consoles when they can't pursuade shops to actually sell them.

      Nintendo fans shouldn't worry totally, the cash cows of the Game Boy and DS are doing far better.
    • Just because you continue to play old games on it, doesn't mean it isn't dead as a platform. There isn't much of anything being developed for the Gamecube at this time. Mine's been sitting the closet for over a year now. I'll probably bring it out to play the next Zelda, but that's about it. Double Dash came out 11/03 Mario Tennis came out 11/04 Mario Party 4 came out 10/02 Super Smash Bros came out 12/01 Saying the Gamecube is still alive is like saying the Atari 2600 is alive if I was still playing A
      • You should try Super Mario Strikers. It's a Mario soccer game and really easy to pick up and really intense. Very possibly the most intense Mario-themed game ever, IMHO.
      • Gee, I wasn't aware that there's been no good games released for the 'Cube since 2004. I guess that's because I'm currently enjoying Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Chibi-Robo, Killer 7, and Resident Evil 4 - all released within the last half year or so, give or take a few months in either direction.

        Is development for the Gamecube slowing down? No question - it's slowing down for EVERY current-gen system. Does the PS2 trump the 'Cube in software library size? Yes, it does. But I don't get people who act like

      • The Dreamcast still has new games coming out for it. You tellin' me it's not dead?
      • Incorrect, sorry. Check out 1up.com, the 10th game on their hottest games of the now list is for the GCN. Get deeper in the section and you'll find lots more preiews and release dates. Maybe not on the same scale as the PS2, but still not bad for an older system.
    • you and your roomies are part of the problem. People who buy the cube tend to do so to pick up nintendo 1st party titles and ignore everything else, leading 3rd party developers to abandon the platform, or only give it token support. Right now there's a serious gap between the release of good software on the cube...5-6 months or more for "A" list titles. That's good if you want to play super smash brothers melee ad nauseum, but bad if you're craving something new.
      • Sorry, but gaming is a hobby that used to be not so expensive, but it now is. Every actor on the market is to blame.
        There's one thing that I clamor for openly, and as a flashcart user : Nintendo needs to sell flash carts with a downloadable games system. Stick fifty games in the cart, no issue, put it in the GBA slot, and voilà. Nintendo's flashme system, with a nice, legal interface which would allow indies to develop tons of fun little games.

        Hey, Ninty! We also code HOMEBREWS THAT KICK ASS, so stop t

        • Nostalgia alert (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Manmademan ( 952354 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @04:37PM (#14861321)

          Gaming is just as expensive now as it's ever been. The atari 2600 launched at $3-400 in the seventies. SNES carts like FFIII, Chrono Trigger, and The Seventh Saga (which SUCKED) made their debut at 74.99 and STAYED there. The concept of "greatest hits" titles didn't show up until the psx era...the $19.99 game is a VERY new thing, relatively speaking.

          In regards to your "flash cart" idea..it's not bad but it's already being done one better. Xbox live arcade has good classic and independent games available for only a couple of bucks. You don't even need the hard drive, you can use the memory card. Nintendo is making their classic library available to download to the built in flash RAM on the Revolution. (prices haven't been announced but come on now, we're talking 15 year old ROM images here.)

          combine this with a booming used games market and you have nothing to complain about. There's a good case to be made that 2006 is a cheapass gamer's wet dream.

      • People who buy the cube tend to do so to pick up nintendo 1st party titles and ignore everything else

        That's because that's where Nintendo stands out. When I choose which platform to buy a game for I use basically two broad criteria. Cost and "experience" (platform fanboyism isn't one). If a game is cheaper for one of the platforms I'll get it for that one, unless it's significantly "less good" (such as no online). Cost being equal I'll then choose the game that gives me the best experience. This is s

    • "As far as I know, the game cube is far from dead. In fact, my roommate and my neighbors have been playing Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Tennis, Mario Party 4, and Super Smash Bros. until 3am a many of times...." And therein lies the problem. You are playing the same games over and over again. For the console to survive and grow, you need to purchase more games for the system. Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo and they have great games. The fact is, sports titles and yearly releases saved the other s
      • I owned both the PS2 and the GameCube, and actually bought the typical 3rd party games (mostly EA games oddly enough) for the GameCube because the system had much better graphics. When the game producers stopped releasing multi-platform games on the Cube I just stopped buying that kind of game.

        Basically I had the PS2 for the Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, and GTA franchises. The Cube is what I used for everything else.
        • I have a PS2 and a Gamecube, and there were a few multiplatform games that I got on the GC because the graphics are nicer, but for the most part I found myself picking up multiplatform titles for the PS2 because most games did not use the GC controller very well.
          I think that the Revolution will suffer from this even more than the GC did. The GC controller wasn't bad, and I think was the most comfortable of the controllers for this generation if you were playing a game designed for it, but it was just diff
    • I just picked up that Chibi-Robo game. It's a lot of fun, and well-made. I would put this game in my top-five list of games for the system, and it was just released like a month ago!

  • Go where? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Locdonan ( 804414 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:30PM (#14860510) Homepage Journal
    to ensure that Nintendo's Revolution doesn't go the way of the GameCube.

    You mean, make a profit from the start, build a good base of great games, and offer a wide range of stellar games? They make money, have a good base of people, and offer the best multiplayer on 1 system without falling short. Games are smooth are intriguing. I have no intention of buying a $400-500 system.

    My money is going to Nintendo, espically for castlavania, Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda, Golf, Baseball, and all the party games. Rock on Nintendo.

    • Re:Go where? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by tukkayoot ( 528280 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @04:02PM (#14860906) Homepage
      "The way of the GameCube" likely refers to the plumetting number of consoles sold. The NES sold 60 million units. SNES sold 49 million. N64 sold 32 million. The GameCube has sold about 21 million. Not a good trend for Nintendo, regardless of how profitable they are.

      If the Revolution sells fewer units than the GameCube, it's going to be hard for anybody, even Nintendo fanboys and Nintendo themselves to see that as anything but a failure. As the article explains, they need move beyond their niche appeal and break into the mainstream somehow if they don't want their home console business to sink into the abyss. If the rate of decline of sales in this generation doesn't improve from the last generation, the Revolution will barely sell more units than the Dreamcast.

      I personally think Nintendo will recover in this generation, though. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. The 360 launch debacle and the PS3 delay certainly can't hurt. Nintendo is in a position to pull off a huge upset if things fall into place.

      • Re:Go where? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MaineCoon ( 12585 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @05:04PM (#14861591) Homepage
        Those numbers, if correct, are somewhat interesting when you consider the competition each console was up against:

        NES - practically no competition. 60 million units
        SNES - competition was the Genesis, which did somewhat weakly. 49 million units, still not bad.
        N64 - up against the PSX. 32 million units is still pretty strong sales considering what it was up against
        GameCube - 21 million. Up against the PS2 and Xbox.

        While using the 60 million as a baseline for future sales is bad metrics, it puts things into perspective when you consider the competition each iteration of Nintendo hardware was up against. The N64 sells half as many units as the NES, but unlike the NES has strong competition to go against. GameCube has 2 strong consoles to compete against, and sells 1/3 as many units.

        • Re:Go where? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Darth ( 29071 )
          The problem is that the market wasnt static during that time. The market grew dramatically. And while the market's size was increasing, Nintendo's userbase was shrinking. They not only failed grow their segment of the market, their installed base was eaten away by their competitors.

          I'm not going to sound the death knell for Nintendo, but when your installed base decreases while your potential market increases, there's no way to make that look positive.
          • No way to make what look positive?

            That despite lower unit volume they're making a nice profit? That they're making a profit while one of their so-called "superior" competitors is hemmoraging money? That they're dominating the hand-held market?

            Yes, their console isn't numero-uno when it comes to marketshare - but what value is marketshare without profit? I ask that honestly - the goal of a business is to make money. If marketshare helps them do that, then great - but in the case of consoles, it seems like Ni
        • Not interesting, in fact it they show how Nintendo went from 1st to 3rd.

          Don't get me wrong, I am a Nintendo fanboy. But they don't sell as well as Sony or MS. That's a fact... the competition is there, but the same is true for the competition too.

          PS2 sold 100 million consoles worldwide, and it had competitors. Why is it interesting the Cube sales? They aren't, and they sucked. Yeah, yeah, profit and all that, but you shouldn't talk about market share this way. Can't fool the numbers :)
        • The NES had practically no competition because they used illegal practices to keep players like the Sega Master System, Turbo Grafx 16, and the Atari 7800 from getting many third party titles. Nintendo had to give up those illegal practices and their marketshare has been slipping ever since. That is what I see when you show me those numbers.

      • First of all, the Cube sold 1/3 as well as the NES. That's a whole lot better than I expected.

        Second, does anyone know how long these consoles were available? I think the NES had a pretty long life, while the early introduction of the 360 makes the Cube's life rather short.

      • What you are basically saying is: "They need to succeed, or they will fail."

        No shit, Einstein ;)

        Considering the success of the DS, the Revolution is likely to break out of the profitable niche Nintendo is currently operating in. Yes, a profitable niche. You don't need to be #1 to make money, as proven by Nintendo and others, such as Apple. But I believe that the Revolution, like the DS, will attract new players, expanding the market, and making Nintendo truckloads of money on the process.

    • Re:Go where? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I love Nintendo games. Their back catalog is far and away the best of any developer. Their games weren't just good, they had a timeless quality. They are a top quality developer all the way to this day too. Still, you gotta be realistic here.

      Nintendo's real success has been in software, not hardware. In hardware they had a near monopoly 15 years ago and it has been in free fall decline. They've gone from first place by far to niche player in the market. The N64 and Gamecube both completely missed

      • Ok, the N64 I can understand since it didn't used CD-roms and where more expensive to release games for and therefor they lost third party titles. But the Gamecube? What is really wrong with it? It's better than the PS2 for a cheaper price, the controller feels good. What is wrong? Lack of DVD-player?
    • I must admit: I am rooting for Nintendo nowadays too. I was never a huge fan of Nintendo (although I enjoyed the original Metroid and Mario Brothers games). But I've jumped on their bandwagon.

      In fact, this past Christmas, I could've bought an Xbox 360 but instead I asked my wife for a Game Cube and Metroid Prime 2. I've been playing it since, am 90% through the game and I *love* it. And it only cost $120 (GC plus MP2) and came with another game. We have a few games for it that we all enjoy, bought An
    • Ok, I know about mario kart, smash brothers and mario party. But what more good games are there? Give a list.

      Metroid Prime I and II
      Zelda windwaker
      Prince of persia: The two thrones
      Worms 3D
      Super Mario Strikers ... ?

  • My $.02 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tekkou ( 944664 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:37PM (#14860599)
    My opinion on this latest generation of video game systems is that MS and Sony may be trying to cram too much into a system. These things are supposed to play games first, everything else 2nd. Yes it's nice that I could use my PS2 as a DVD player along with playing games, but it wasn't a great DVD player, and when I had the money I bought one to take that function's place.

    I'm very happy that Nintendo is willing to take a gamble and keep with their trend of making GAME systems. One only has to compare the DS with the PSP to find that a GAME system is what more people want. Yes there are people that like the PSP for all its media functionality, but should that be in a game system? Why not just buy a PDA for that? You'd have the ability to view a wider range of media in that case .

    When I first heard about how Nintendo was planning on this new controller idea, having the back catalog of games, and keeping it just a game system I knew I wanted one. Nintendo has always been more focused on gameplay I feel. I did own a GameCube, and the Nintendo franchise game validated the purchase. I only wish I still had it for the upcoming Zelda game.

    Personally I think that MS jumped the gun a bit with the 360. As has been mentioned countless times prior, it isn't much of an improvement over the previous XBox. I have a feeling that the PS3 might get pigeonholed into that same category (though I still will likely get one for Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, and other PS only series), but the Revolution is the one thing that I'm truly waiting for because it's the only one to promise doing something new and different.
    • The problem with the PSP is not the people who like it for its media functionality, it's all the people like me who are stuck with Sony's poor game lineup and only using their $300 PSP to play media.

      That should say a lot about the PSP to Sony, but they don't listen well. Instead we get more DRM enabling happiness and a web browser.
    • Apple did a good job with this by first positioning their video iPod as strictly an old-school ipod mp3 player, which just happened to play video - so that consumers didn't feel like they were buying something and paying for features they wouldn't need or for an audio/video player that did neither well. Now that people have seen how well playing video on the machine works, they should be fine if they want to release a media device targeted mainly towards video. On the other hand, Sony made a big deal about
    • Although I freely admit I'm an avid Nintendo fanboy, I must say I'm excited to see what games will be doing with the Cell processor on the PS3 a few years from now. That thing really does fly if you've got a dedicated enough (read: well-paid and not too rushed) development team. AFAIK, games on any platform still have yet to incorporate large-scale AI, the kind that would make vaguely realistic simulations of a downtown environment possible (no, GTA: Geographical Location still doesn't come close).

      That sa
      • It flies at churning through specially tuned, non-interactive demos. However, the Cell is a dog at GENERAL computing tasks (and it's DSPs don't have sufficient precision for it to be good at scientific tasks) It's running a stripped down POWER chip that's the equivalent of a 604e with a longer pipeline, it's overclocked 1995 technology. Nobody has yet to come up with a way to turn standard game code into 9-way SMP DSP code, and I'll wager that nobody will, given other limitations of the way the DSPs can
        • However, the Cell is a dog at GENERAL computing tasks

          Gee, good thing it's not a desktop CPU.

          Nobody has yet to come up with a way to turn standard game code into 9-way SMP DSP code.

          A) There's been no incentive to make "standard game code" run on an architecture like the Cell... because no previous consoles utilized such architectures.
          B) I'm not particularly even talking about "standard game code". I really don't care if FIFA '07 or CS: Binary or whatever runs well on the Cell. I'm excited by the pos
          • So what exactly do you want to do on a PS3? Zoom infinitely on dual 1080P displays on dynamically calculated Mandelbrot sets? Because that's about all the Cell can do better than anything else.

            When I said "Real World Applications" I meant Games. What are you expecting? That they next generation of Hardware is going facilitate some software revolution? That the games of 12-36 months from now are going to magically transform into programs that don't follow a standard game loop of

            while(GameIsRunnni

            • GetUserInput()
              Practically a no-op, in CPU terms.
              DoAI()
              Parallelism shines here for large-scale AI (i.e., many actors).
              UpdateWorldState()
              With AI out of the equation, this is essentially game logic and physics. Physics calculations are particularly well-suited for offloading to an SPU (or three). I expect the actual utilization here to be quite high, considering the emergence of specialized game physics libraries. Game logic is rarely CPU-intensive enough to warrant mention.
              PlaySound()
              PlayMusic()
              Ag
    • You misunderstand the Xbox 360. It isn't designed to be a game platform, it is designed to be a client for Microsoft Media Center that also plays games... sort of a stealth aproach to getting Microsoft into to livingroom so that MS controls your media experience. Likewise, the Cell processor in the PS3 is designed to be best at streaming audio and video, NOT for playing games. Both these boxes are designed for the coming "digital convergence" that will be happening, uh, "real soon now!" Oviously MS and Son
      • The 360 has media center functionality that works with the .01% of people who have working media center pcs.

        Dude, its a game console. Designed for games, not a media center.

        So far the games are pretty slick. Play Kameo for a half hour and you'll be hooked.
        • Windows XP can serve up media to a 360. But the full Media Center requires Windows MCE.

          Go to Best Buy/CompUSA/Etc. and try to buy a Windows computer that does NOT run MCE...

          It is far more than the .01% you quote.
      • Both these boxes are designed for the coming "digital convergence" that will be happening, uh, "real soon now!"

        Yeah, you may be right, but in that case they're competing with the Mac mini and the ipod. For digital convergance Apple is the one ahead of the game there.
        • Agreed. The new Mac Mini is also designed to play nicely as a set top box, although I beleive it requires an add-on converter for the video out.
    • The sad thing is that the DS (or even better the micro) equipped with a Play Yan cartridge beats out the PSP in terms of battery life, ruggedness and portability for video playback.

  • The elephant in the room (Score:5, Funny)

    by Thad Boyd ( 880932 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @03:58PM (#14860857) Homepage
    Titles such as Black, TOCA Race Driver 3 and FIFA Street 2 should ensure the Xbox and PlayStation 2 remain comfortable under consumers' TV sets for the rest of the year. At least, that's the case for the two leaders of the pack - but a browse around retail outlets will reveal little in the way of software or hardware support for Nintendo's GameCube.
    Seems like Nintendo had some kind of game coming in the fall though...jeez, what was it called? The Legend of something or other.
    • And what's coming out in the next six months that'll keep what little shelf space the Gamecube has left in the UK? Apart from Zelda, the release schedule seems rather barren.
      • "Oh noes, there aren't any GameCubes for sale in a market that rejected even the NES! Netcraft confirms!"

        Aside from the UK being the boondocks of the console game market, Brits haven't been very keen on buying Nintendo (ever). Why should they follow Microsoft's example in Japan when there are plenty of people in other markets more than happy to buy Nintendo hardware and software?
    • Seems like Nintendo had some kind of game coming in the fall though...jeez, what was it called? The Legend of something or other.

      That was my initial thought as well, but guess what else is scheduled for a fall release? That's right, the Nintendo Revolution. So the Twilight Princess isn't exactly going to be the game that is going to hold us over until the release of the Revolution. If anything it may be the first game we play on the Revolution. It's the GameCube's swan song, or the Revolution's fanfar

    • Faulty logic in the article, too:
      Titles such as Black, TOCA Race Driver 3 and FIFA Street 2 should ensure the Xbox and PlayStation 2 remain comfortable under consumers' TV sets for the rest of the year.
      No, TOCA Race Driver 3 and FIFA Street 2 will only last you 6-8 months. In order to keep those PS2s and Xboxes humming, you need to release TOCA Race Driver 4 and FIFA Street 3 before next Christmas.
  • The one feature of the Revolution I'm looking forward to is the back catalog / download ability that (if done correctly) should be like xbox live arcade on crack.

    Yes, my xbox can play every NES, SNES, Gameboy, and N64 game. I hate that the only options I have to play a lot of these games is to buy the system / games used on eBay which in no way rewards the original developers.

    Plus it would be cool if they add online functionality to games. Anyone up for an online game of Goldeneye?

  • Money Talks. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ucaledek ( 887701 )
    Let's not forget in the midst of all this next-gen marketing: Not everyone has HD. I don't care how much saturation of the market people expect hi-def to get in the next 5 years. Plenty of people still can't use this feature that Sony and Microsoft have as an "edge" over Nintendo. It's been said before, but if you're not a person salivating over the latest HDTV's to come out, you're probably not going to want drop $1000 for a new console and enough games to make it worthwile (and only 10 games or so for
    • "meaning even worse losses for Sony and Microsoft"
      The cost to manufacture consoles goes down more rapidly than the retail price cuts you will see.
    • I agree that HD shouldn't be considered a huge selling point, because a huge number of perfectly ordinary TV sets are out there. However, I think it would be a huge mistake to ignore it, as well. The same people that buy HDTVs tend to also have a great deal of disposable income as well, and are probably more likely to go out and buy the system.

      There are some HDTVs that can display a low resolution picture and it looks just fine, but there are also some HDTVs (LCD) that are at a set resolution. Have you ever

  • go way of the gamecube? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Frag-A-Muffin ( 5490 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @04:12PM (#14861011)
    ... required to ensure that Nintendo's Revolution doesn't go the way of the GameCube ...

    ummm what would that be? out selling the xbox 360? :) In japan anyways :)

    I'm not even joking or pulling numbers out of my arse or anything, just look here [dsfanboy.com] and see for yourself. The GameCube is outselling the xbox360 in Japan.
    • Seeing as this article is talking about the UK, I wonder if the Xbox 360 is outselling the Gamecube here. :-)

      Although the Gamecube hasn't done as badly as the Xbox did in Japan, it kinda ran out of steam a couple of years ago, and has been in a decline ever since.
    • Nintendo has a pretty strong brand in Japan. I'm not sure thats a great example of it beating out its competition on merits alone.
      • But at the same time, the XBOX 360 is about 4 months old, whereas the GameCube is 4 (or is it 5) YEARS old.

    • So is... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by FluffyWithTeeth ( 890188 )
      Dude, dead ferrets are outselling the Xbox in Japan. That's not even live ferrets! Well, the ferret trade is reasonably steady, actually. But nonetheless...

      I had a point somewhere...

      Well.. uh.. the GPX2 is probably outselling the Xbox as well..

  • Nintedo Dojo (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Brothernone ( 928252 )
    You know what.. i'd like to see any other platform IN HISTORY have the love and memmories of as many gamers as Nintendo. They were there from the start, they continued to kick ass, and here is is 2k6 and they're still whompin tall and proud. Is there a person on the planet that doesn't remember playing a zelda game for the first time... i can even tell you who the freinds were that helped me figure it out as we all went through it. All this talk of Nintendo being in trouble is sad. I'll sum it up with a cha

    • Re:Nintedo Dojo (Score:1, Interesting)

      by radish ( 98371 )
      Is there a person on the planet that doesn't remember playing a zelda game for the first time

      I'm 30 years old, I've been gaming for over 20 of those years, I own every current (xbox360) and previous generation console (NGC, PS2, Xbox) and I've never played a Zelda game. Ever. I'm sure they're great, and lots of people seem to love them, which is nice, but they just don't appeal to me. When I was younger I didn't have a NES or SNES - in fact, Nintendo seemed to have very little penetration in my locale - ev
      • There's also more than a little positive feedback happening, as Slashdot is probably the most pro-Nintendo gaming forums on the entire internet, unless Nintendo.com happens to have forums.

        For the record, the only Zelda game I could get into was Zelda II. Zelda I, and maybe I'm a total wuss, didn't ramp up the difficulty smoothly... it seemed like I was doing pretty good then I get to a part and bam, dead, bam, dead. (Of course the end castle in Zelda II is about the hardest thing EVER, but other than that

  • Marketing the Revolution (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lpangelrob ( 714473 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @05:05PM (#14861596)
    You know, that was a pretty good article. We could use more of those every day. Something that doesn't give the same old "The Revolution will rule!" or "OMG the controller!" takes.

    That said, I can kind of see the marketing problems that Nintendo will have to overcome, but I don't think it'll be that bad. One TV, one Revolution hooked up to the Internet, one or two controllers. Demo three launch games that make the most use of the fact that the controller is the way it is (I dunno, Pilotwings, Zelda and Super Duper Duck Hunt come to mind) and demo 10 downloadable games from past generations. Then stick a sign next to it saying you can play all 2,000 Nintendo games... ever.

    Then make it look pretty. Can't be that hard, but you are relying on the open-mindedness of the consumer to this whole concept. Alternatively, open up Nintendo Stores, a la the Apple Store concept of three (or so) years ago... (keeping in mind that Sony [sonystyle.com] has already done it, to less effect)

  • My take on it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by danpsmith ( 922127 ) on Monday March 06, 2006 @05:11PM (#14861664)

    What's funny is I bought an N64 years ago, and I was pretty thoroughly disatisfied with the quality of the games for my age group. At the time I guess I was really into violent games and what have you. I loved Goldeneye and Zelda and Mario 64 but the rest just seemed too kiddish for me. I also didn't like how staying with cartridges seemed to chase out some third parties.

    Now I'm a bit older, and as I play most new games I'm starting to realize they are striving for graphics over gameplay, and that the control design isn't even on their mind anymore. A FPS controlled with both thumbs at the same time isn't my idea of fun or interesting design. Consoles have come to be FPS machines as much as computers, except with mouselook it's easier to control. And the day I buy a mouse and keyboard for a console game is the day I stop playing console games.

    Nintendo, doesn't seem to be focused on gearing things to adults. Which, at times can make you feel like a stupid man playing a kid's game. However, at least they try to innovate. Sony was more than happy to have everyone controlling 3d games using a d-pad until the N64 came out. Some of the best strategies for controlling 3d on a console were developed by Nintendo.

    And now, I find myself looking at a market gone haywire. I skipped the xbox, PS2, and gamecube generation of consoles because I felt I had been burned so badly on having to buy both N64 and playstation to get my fix. And now, the price of consoles has gone up to an exorbant amount and every console maker seems intent on making a living room computer instead of a gaming system that would be fun to play with friends. But I already have a computer. I don't want to spend 500 bucks on something that plays FPS already played better on my computer. I want a console that will be fun, innovative, with games that look and feel different from the last 5 years of gaming. In short, I want a change from this MS/Sony norm, I want revolution.

    While the other console makers are busy putting in every last doodad, into what will still simply be a game console to the public, and charging 5000 bucks for it. Nintendo slides in with a unique design, promises innovation and a developer platform for 1000, console at 150, you have to love that.

    After all these years I'm thinking of doing what I thought I would never do again. I'm thinking of going back to the land from which classic console games came...Go revolution!

    • The problem with the N64 wasn't lack of focus on adult titles, it was lack of support in general. The cartridge format wasn't embraced by the development community and, although the N64 was the easier console to code for of it's generation, it was the most expensive to publish for and had relatively low revenue because the console wasn't supported because the format wasn't embraced, violent circle, etc. etc.

      The Gamecube, IMO, largely fixed this problem. There were kid games, there were adult games, and th

    • Re:My take on it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by G-funk ( 22712 ) <josh@gfunk007.com> on Monday March 06, 2006 @07:24PM (#14862734) Homepage Journal
      Nintendo is interested in selling games to adults. And kids. And girls.

      The only people who are worried about only playing "mature adult games" are 17 year old boys. Now the 17 year old boy market isn't going to disappear, as there'll always be more of them. But they're all going to grow up, and some of them are even going to get married and have kids. Then they'll be shopping for games one day at the age of 25, and realise "Madden 2008" and "Super dethkill 7" are kinda... boring. And they'll pick up a Revolution. Nintendo will make a profit on every one sold, Joe six-pack will get games he can play with his family, and he'll have an extra $200 to spend on beer / his kids / buying his missus the $50 present once a year on valentine's day for a little play.

      Sony and Microsoft will continue to "have the most successful consoles", and be super-1337, and losing money hand-over-fist. Who cares?

      I'll be at home playing Zelda.
      • and realise "Madden 2008" and "Super dethkill 7" are kinda... boring

        The Madden series is generally a solid buy if you're a big football fan. If you play it a lot, it's worth spending $50 yearly to get roster updates and whatever other incremental improvements.

        And Super Dethkill 7 was a good evolution of the series, which further refined the art of online Dethkilling.
  • Because, as we all know, having really cool games that are fun to play is less important than having 200 versions of football games which simulate raindrops spattering off the helmets of the football players and audio surround-sound of their breathing.

    After all, it's always true that following the true path:

    1. make FPS or Sport Game with little or no story line
    2. put it on a console that you lose money on
    3. expect people to buy lots of games, like say Final Fantasy I to XII.
    4. Profit! ... now if I could onl

  • Let me put it this way (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SpaghettiPattern ( 609814 ) on Tuesday March 07, 2006 @07:08AM (#14865363)
    I disliked the purple color of the Gamecube because IMO it was childish and ugly. It's only out of supply reasons that I got a purple one.

    Then I played on it ... and boy do I like the Nintendo games.

    Now I hope the Revolution comes in purple.

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