Yesterday's Nintendo press conference was probably the most subdued and honest of the three major events this week. While they didn't have anything really earth-shattering to offer up, the Gameboy Micro, the Revolution's game-downloading capabilities, and the new Zelda Trailer were all welcome news from a company that has been very quiet of late. Commentary, photos, and speculation available from:
Nintendo,
Engadget,
USAToday,
GamesIndustry.biz,
1up.com,
Gamespot,
Cube.IGN,
NYT,
BBC,
Gamasutra, and
CNN. Specific coverage on the new Gameboy Micro is available from
Gamasutra,
GamesIndustry.biz, and
CNN. My two cents about Nintendo's conference are available below.
Last night I took in G4's E3 coverage, and their discussion of the Nintendo press conference struck a chord with me. This last console cycle, with the Gamecube, Nintendo really missed the boat. The GC wasn't released until many months after the PS2 was already in homes lighting up screens, and their attempts to carve out a market share were always muddled by confusing choices. The most confusing choice of the current generation, by far, was their almost complete refusal to participate in online gaming. While the Xbox sailed by with the Live service and the PS2 limped into the arena with the broadband adapter, the GC quietly sailed on with only Phantasy Star to break up its lonely voyage. At last year's E3 Nintendo very specifically said that they were not going to miss the boat this time. They were going to release the next console right around the same time as the other two companies and make sure their name was out there.
I have high hopes for the Revolution, but to be honest Nintendo's press conference was very underwhelming. Even given that the PS3 isn't going to be on store shelves for another year, what Sony showed on Monday was literally jaw-dropping. Even if there was some liberal use of pre-rendered footage in the presentation, the press conference put on by Sony was designed to fire the imagination and get people excited about the possibilities of the next generation. Nintendo offered us Nintendogs. And a new Game Boy Advanced. Yes, I think that downloading old games onto your Revolution is a cool idea, but a...uh...friend of mine tells me that I can emulate those games on my PC for free.
Perhaps all this is just worrywortism. Nintendo has never failed to be innovative in the past, and their support of the DS and quirky games like Warioware is proof that not everything has to be same-old same-old in this ever more business-like industry. They have more than a year to get their ducks in a row, but I'm afraid that Sony and Microsoft may have already beaten them to the punch. In the end, it's not just about making fun games. You have to sell them too.
oh please (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, copyright infringement is soo much cheaper!
Re:oh please (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:oh please (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:oh please (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:oh please (Score:3, Informative)
The only exceptions to this are those odd old games for the NES and SNES that looked different. Tenge
Re:oh please (Score:2)
Pah... (Score:5, Funny)
My Phantom can do that, and so much more. Infact my phantom is so much better: only those truely 31007, such as myself, can see its golden case...
Re:Pah... (Score:5, Insightful)
The PS3 looks absolutely amazing (hardware specification wise - that controller looks like I could snap it in half in my hand), and it will appeal to those who want a powerful gaming experience. The XBox360 will as well. In fact, I imagine the market will be split into segments just like it was last time; RPG players on one console, everything else on the other, etc, etc. The sides may swap, but they're both going to have market share. And Nintendo will still be there, filling a certain special niche and filling it admirably. There's nothing wrong with that at all.
In fact, the only way I see Nintendo truly failing is if they try to be something they're not. Embracing their strengths and capitalizing on them is the best way for them to go right now.
Re:Pah... (Score:2)
I can't say I'm too happy about their decision to make the latest Zelda game darker, I don't know if Nintendo can pull something off.
Re:Pah... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Pah... (Score:2)
Re:Pah... (Score:3, Insightful)
By the time my PS2 loads a game, I've often gotten into the show on TV.
*Fast* load times, please?
Re:Pah... (Score:3, Insightful)
?
I'm 27, and I still like a lot of Gamecube games - F-Zero GX, Metroid, etc. F-Zero GX because it is pretty much the paragon of high-speed sci-fi racing games. Like Spock, the n
Re:Pah... (Score:2)
Re:Pah... (Score:2)
Re:Pah... (Score:2)
So you say you wanna revolution (Score:2, Interesting)
Actual Game? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't be so easy on them (Score:3, Interesting)
I think they're going the way of Sega and Atari. If they keep it up they won't be able to keep producing their own console.
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:5, Informative)
No, they won't be. They're a long way behind on the "make up random numbers for E3 based on peak FLOPs numbers that could never be achieved" performance curve, but they won't be far behind on the actual performance curve. C'mon. Give me a break. Sony and Microsoft are literally making numbers up here.
Microsoft and Sony were both sloppy in the previous generation when it came to console design, and both of them look to be quite sloppy this time. I mean, really: Xbox 360 has 6 front ends and the system has shared graphics memory. So it needs serious amounts of memory bandwidth (good chance one of those threads is going to evict a cache line) and it's sharing it with the graphics card? What?
Nintendo knows how to make consoles without blunt force. The games will look surprisingly similar to this generation in terms of who's better: Revolution will look pretty much the same, but maybe a *little* worse, PS3 will look the best on some, but worse on others (too high a developer learning curve), and the Xbox 360 will probably look about equivalent to the Revolution on most games, with maybe a few being better.
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:5, Insightful)
14:48] KraftBoy: Nintendo has been pushing this 'performance isnt everything' mantra
[14:48] KraftBoy: they say the Revolution will be 2 or 3 times as powerful as the gamecube
[14:49] KraftBoy: Sony says PS3 is 30 times the power of the PS2
[14:49] KraftBoy: MS says the Xbox360 is 15 times as powerful as the first xbox
[14:49] KraftBoy: if people dont dig the offering of Sony and/or MS, then Nintendo looks like a genius for purposefully underhyping the power of the console
[14:50] KraftBoy: I get the feeling that people are gunna be like, "Great, Halo 3, same game, better graphics"
[14:50] KraftBoy: or GTA: Mississagua, same game, better graphics
[14:51] KraftBoy: they come come away looking smart for realizing that the market is getting bored of bying the same game 4 times, each time with cosmetic upgrades
Nintendo is always bashed for recycling the same games. How can this be? They recycle the same *charcters*, but I can't think of too many Sony properties or franchises that have undergone the kind of radical transformations that the gameplay of Mario or Metroid titles have undergone. (GTA 1 wasn't much of a big seller, y'know.)
99% of the Mario platformers were awesome (tho Sunshine underwhelmed me.) Metroid? If you've played Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, nuff said. For those who havn't, the game was legendary in 2D, and the 3D first person (!) leap, if anything, *improved* the gameplay.
I think Nintendo is playing a strategy here. If performance meant anything, nobody would have bought a single PS2 after the day the GameCube was released. MARKETING is the operative strategy here. Just like Nintendo got too big for its britches, I think they realize that if they downplay performance, and Sony and MS can't live up to the "Its 30 times more powerful than the PS2" claim (which, as pointed out about, is a laugh to anybody with an once of BS detection in their bones), people might start realizing that it ain't the performance, its the games.
The games (and their time to market, of course) is what got the PS and the PS2 their place in history. Now that Sony and MS are pushing the performance advantage angle, I think Nintendo realizes it can do exactly what Sony did
Sheesh, its almost a mirror image from the PS/N64 situation - sexier technology != higher sales. Release dates aside (it practically looks like all companies WANT to release at the same time
Now, I realize there are tons of other ways Nintendo works against itself:
1. Not enough advertising. Their name is not household anymore with the 16-21 year old set, so heres to hoping they know this and plan to push the Revolution in TV, etc.
2. No shame in cozying up to the kiddie crowd. I think thats just a reality that disaffected cool teens will have to accept if they want access to the kind of graphical and gameplay orgasms that is Resident Evil 4, Eternal Darkness, etc.
All that said, Xbox outsold Gamecube, and who made a profit? Nintendo had to compete against a company that knew, neh, committed itself to ending up in the red, and they still managed a respectable share of the market place, and still turned a profit.
So really, all things being equal, what company is more impressive? The one that throws money away for the sake of getting their name in front of your eyes for every minute that you play video games, or the company that works on stuff it thinks is cool, and manages to make money off of it to boot?
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:3, Insightful)
People need to get off of this habit of being wowed by imaginary numbers before they even see the hardware. I'll bet th
Nintendo has a niche (Score:2)
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:2, Interesting)
MS comes out saying XB360 is "100 times more powerful" than XBox.
Sony comes out and says PS3 is "30 times more powerful" than PS2.
Nintendo comes out and says that Revolution is "5 times more powerful".
So therefore Nintendo is teh suck making cheapy machines.
What these people miss, since they're clueless fanboys, is that those are made up out-of-their-ass numbers. Show me the math behind them?
Besides, for as accurate as a made up number goes, consider this. PS2 had
Re:Don't be so easy on them (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait and see... (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one, am taking a wait and see approach.
I've been a nintendo fan from the start with NES. Yes they lost a lot of the market when sony entered the game and gave them real competition, but they've consistantly showed inovation in the gaming industry
From what I've seen from the Sony footage, it looks absolutely amazing, and I'm sure the XBox360 will be great, too.... but I have a Tivo, I have my computer for browsing the internet... I want a game system (don't even get me started on XBox360's connectivity to the MediaCenterPC.... does anyone even own one?). I want new games. I don't want more FPS games. I want new genres... something different. I have faith that Nintendo will provide that something different. The DS (though akward and lacking) shows that they're not really afraid to try something new.
So, while Nintendo's press conference may have been underwhelming, I'm still excited for the Revolution.
Risky strategy (Score:2, Insightful)
However, it's not all good news. Less powerful hardware and a "different" control system is almost certainly going to have ramifications for cross-platform title
Re:Risky strategy (Score:5, Interesting)
What are you basing the "lower power" comment on? The specs i've seen show the Revolution being pretty much on par with the 360. (Four cores at a slightly lower speed vs. three cores at a slightly higher speed.)
Perhaps you're listening to the marketing-speak? Sony and Microsoft both claim their new consoles will be a jazillion times better than the old ones, while Nintendo only claims its will be two or three times better, but so far this exactly mirros the claims made by all three companies for the last generation. How many times can people be taken in by Microsoft and Sony's inflated figures before they get a clue?
Re:Risky strategy (Score:2)
Besides, I don't think many of them care much about the difference between pumping out flat triangles as fast as you can vs. rendering a textures and lighting while also calculating physics and AI. They just want which ever system they pick to have the highest sounding numbers possible, so they can justify the $400 they spent on it.
Re:Risky strategy (Score:2)
Smart? (Score:5, Interesting)
My question is if Nintendo and Sony are going to have U.S. launch dates at around the same time as Japan, or is the PS3 going to be out months and months before, like the PS2?
Nintendo never shows at E3 (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading too much into it, I think (Score:5, Interesting)
been a mild success, though the majority of Xbox owners don't use it, but PS2
online was a fizzle.
Honestly, I think Nintendo has been trying harder than anyone to innovate. The
DS lineup is really out there: Nintendogs, PacPix, Electroplankton. Weird,
wonderful stuff. But maybe the rest of the hardcore gaming market has gone too
much over the top, expecting desaturated military shooters, which is what
everyone is announcing at E3 this year.
People like to cite Nintendo as the loser of the current generation, but that's
far from true. They dominate the handheld market both in hardware and game
sales. And though the Game Cube is the third place console, the big games for
that console are all coming straight from Nintendo, with each one pulling in
awards and selling like crazy.
Personally, I think Nintendo's biggest difficulty is that they lean much too
hard on old franchises: Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Kirby, and so on. They were once
fresh, but no longer. Hopefully some of Nintendo's experimentation will result
in a brand new hit for them.
Re:Reading too much into it, I think (Score:2, Insightful)
Honestly, I think Nintendo has been trying harder than anyone to innovate.
This could be true, the problem is that the kind of innovation they're trying is really e
Re:Reading too much into it, I think (Score:3, Insightful)
hard on old franchises: Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Kirby, and so on.
Yah, I agree. Sony's much better. Those launch titles for the PS3? Tekken 6, Gran Turismo 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4.
None of those franchises dates to before the PS1. Some were only from the PS2.
On the other hand, the new Zelda game is the 7th Zelda game to come out for a Nintendo console (8th, if you count Four Swords Adventures). And this spans 4 gener
Re:Reading too much into it, I think (Score:2)
Except Metal Gear.
-Erwos
Re:Reading too much into it, I think (Score:2)
There's some common characters between the Gamecube's flag
Here's how Nintendo can be number ONE next-gen (Score:5, Insightful)
With a sucessful marketing campaign, imagine the outcome. Imagine the NES generation, now in their 20s and 30s, with disposable income to spend a mere $200 on, and showing them with Super Mario 3 in their homes. And... here's where I think the MAJOR innovation and system-seller will make Rev sell like wild-fire: combine the internet Wi-Fi with the old-school games. You could play Dr. Mario head-to-head with your old next-door neighbor, even if she now lives in Seattle. You wanna get some Street Fighter II action on? Pop it in. Still remember Up, Up, Down, Down, L, R, L, R, (select) start? Then now you can play through 8 levels of Contra with your college roommate. And as with the great NES games, we often loved watching others play them. Well, if a "spectator mode" is installed, your elementary school/camp buddy/cousin is only a wi-fi connection away, and you can watch him pound away at Bald Bull, King Hippo and Super Macho Man.
The nostalgia market is enourmous. It's more than a Mario-All Stars rehash like the GBA games. This could be the console that Nintendo was sorta going for (but never quite even made much of a dent) with their "Who Are You?" campaign. This sort of strategy will send the message to non-gamers that Nintendo is synonymous with fun. Synonymous with their childhood, and that feeling you had when you first got to World 8 in Super Mario 3. And... perhaps their own 5 year-olds that they now have? Get them in with these games. Then... they'll try that Mario 64 they might have heard their girlfriend's 18 year-old younger brother talk about. Then, they'll try the new Mario 128. Like that? Well, in the Nintendo Online startup screen, here's a frontpage:
"Welcome BTWR! Your collection includes Metroid (NES), Super Mario Bros 2 (NES), Tetris DX (Gameboy Color), Super Mario RPG (SNES) and Street Fighter II (SNES). Might we recommend Super Smash Bros (N64), Tetris Attack (SNES) or Metroid Prime (Gamecube)? Also, look for Metroid: Mission X coming next month for Nintendo Revolution and The Legend of Zelda: World of Hyrule for the Nintendo DS. Press A to pre-order it now on your NintendoAccount and get a 60-minute FreePlay of Super Metroid (SNES) and one (1) free downloadable NES 'Players-Choice' game you wish"
The possibilities are endless...
Re:Here's how Nintendo can be number ONE next-gen (Score:2)
Ok, you got me all the way up to here.
The first two boat-maps (if i remember correctly) in that world were the biggest torture ever ! :D
Re:Here's how Nintendo can be number ONE next-gen (Score:2)
For contra at least.
Re:Here's how Nintendo can be number ONE next-gen (Score:2)
Is it just me... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
The new form factor is to compete with cell phones and the games that come with them.
The "new" handheld is the DS. Nintendo doesn't need another new handheld, except to keep up with current market conditions, which this new form factor accomplishes.
-Adam
Re:Is it just me... (Score:3, Insightful)
To be honest, I've hardly seen anybody as of late carrying around an original Game Boy Advance, as opposed to those carrying around the newer GBA SP. Little kids and preteens, teens, and even adults... I see more GBA SP's out there now than I do original GBA's.
I myself do not own an SP, due to the fact that I just don't like the washed out front-lit screen (I always thought it looked a bi
Prerendered v. Live Gameplay (Score:2)
I mean, seriously, half the G4 coverage w.r.t. the PS2 last night addressed that issue. Then I thought about what I'd seen. In the PS3 "ducky" demo, there was that bald SCEE VP allegedly tweaking the duck's movement. Was it live, or was it Memorex? We've no idea. We have to take the presenters at their word until somebody can lay their hands on a demo, which at this point, will not be the final hardware, or the game's engine isn't properly tweaked, or something.
Besides which, so w
Nintendo On (Score:3, Interesting)
if you check out NintendoOn.com [nintendoon.com] it points mysteriously to an IGN article [ign.com] containing a link to a video that it calls a hoax. However, we know that IGN is in cahoots with Nintendo (Gamespy being the online content provider for DS and presumably Revolution). Also, if you check out the video, it's got amazingly high production values for a hoax.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Mod the Editor Up (Score:2, Insightful)
Disclosure: the editor is on my friends list, yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he's doing Something Right.
Go Nintendo (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Portability: The light weight and small form factor of the GC allows it to be toted around to a friends' house if you want to, or for it to be brought with you for weekend trips.
2. Load Times: The GC has much better load times then both PS2 and XBox. So much less that many games appear to have no load times at all.
3. Lower Price: A new GC can be had for 100 $CDN right now. XBox still costs around 200 $CDN, which is about double the price.
4. Better Controllers: While this is a matter of taste, I believe the controllers are much better on the GC. The buttons are much better laid out, allow easy movement between the buttons, and allowing the buttons to be easily located. One exception is that stupid z button.
I think the GC is one of the most underrated systems of all time. It lost out because people are afraid to buy something that looks kiddie, even though it is anything but. I hope Nintendo grabs more market with the Revolution. I also don't think that the Revolution will scare away 3rd party developers with some weird control scheme. Remeber, it is going to be backwards compatible with GC.
Re:Go Nintendo (Score:2)
Re:Go Nintendo (Score:2)
Price also does matter very much for some people. I got my GC for $120 CDN with 2 controllers and a good game. XBox is $220 with 1 controller and 1 game which they can't sell anyway.
To me PS2 is the worst system it offers not
Re:Go Nintendo (Score:2)
Nintendo not going the way of Sega (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, the fact is that the console war is not a winner-takes-all game. At least Nintendo is not playing it that way. They are profitable, and very much so, by being third.
Also, the PSP is not killing the DS "shock horror how can... etc.". They have sold about the same.
Finally, the fact that the Revolution is not 100 times more powerful than the GC doesn't mean a thing. The graphic capabilities of the GC were already quite good, and of course, a little improvement doesn't hurt, but how much more power do games really need? Many games are perfectly enjoyable on systems like the Mega Drive already. The hardware capabilities of the game consoles of today are very close to just how much you need, because the human eye has it's own, physiological, treshold. Exceeding it is meaningless (except for penis-lenght battles, i.e. my penis has 8 cell processors - yeah, but my penis can do 2 teraflops and has 1 GBYTE of UBGRAM).
Re:Nintendo not going the way of Sega (Score:2)
But the fact is that current hardware is nowhere close to the physiological limits of our eyes. First, nothing shown at 320x200 resolution is going to threaten the limits of our vision. Even if it was Uber-Hi-Def, we are still a long way from running into physical barriers. The FF Movie wasn't there by any stretch, and the only reason it looked as good as it did was that there was a director and animators maki
Some more coverage (Score:2)
Anyone notice this tidbit? (Score:3, Interesting)
nintendo may be the only game maker who gets it (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:nintendo may be the only game maker who gets it (Score:2)
Take a look at the software library for PS2, Xbox, and GC.
If anyone should be worried about third party software support it's nintendo not sony or MS. There is only so far metroid and mario kart will carry you.
Please stop discussing "nothing" (Score:5, Insightful)
The buzz on most gaming sites is, expectedly, represented by two extremes. On one side, Nintendo fans and some "undecideds", praise the looks of the Revolution, and it's legacy game download feature.
On the other side, statements that have a stinky ting of "BSD is Dead" come in the following shapes and flavors (paraphrasing):
- "What a weak showing, Nintendo is going to hell, gonna get trounced, dead meat"
- "Legacy gaming?! Some revolution!"
- "PS3 and Xbox are going to smoke the Revolution."
- "Nintendo has made a huge mistake, and it's going to pay for it."
Let's clarify some facts:
- Nintendo made profit on the N64 and the Gamecube, both on consoles sales (they didn't sell at a loss), and games sales. So Nintendo did not lose this generation's "war". It made a profit, and that's always more important than being "first". (Yes Sony also made an overall profit with PS2, if we count games).
Nintendo will almost definitely make profit on the Revolution, so even if it's third, Nintendo won't "die".
- Nintendo did NOT intend to show anything important about the Revolution at this E3. They said it before the conference. So what is everyone whining about?
We also know (if we read the news from these months) that the console isn't finished, and that includes the controller. Why is that so difficult to understand? Even the Iwata should, is not the final version. It will be ready in a few months, and he invited user participation to make suggestions on things like color, etc...
Furthermore, they consider they have very revolutionary ideas, and hence don't want those copied early in the game.
So what was Nintendo supposed to show? Some freaky , wacky, OMFG graphics. NO, once again, you're not listening. "It's not about the graphics anymore (Nintendo)".
In conclusion, Nintendo is right on track, and when it's ready it will show it's console. When that happens, you can all open the floodgates of opinion and commentary, but until then read up on Nintendo before making uninformed comments.
Re:Please stop discussing "nothing" (Score:2)
You don't have to be number one in sales to make a good product. You don't have to own a market to make good games. And anyone already ma
Re:Please stop discussing "nothing" (Score:5, Insightful)
It strikes me that people are just missing the point:
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Revolution \Rev`o*lu"tion\, n. [F. r['e]volution, L. revolutio.
See {Revolve}.]
2. Return to a point before occupied, or to a point
relatively the same; a rolling back; return; as,
revolution in an ellipse or spiral.
[1913 Webster]
Maybe it's not that it's supposed to be 'revolutionary', but that it's coming full circle with new and retro games.
And maybe that's already been mentioned before and I just missed it.
The controllers (Score:2)
On Nintendo (Score:5, Interesting)
The PSP and the DS do not exactly target the same market. The DS has two primary purposes - as a special controller for Revolution and as a handheld console for people who don't normally play games. That's why a lot of the upcoming titles are puzzle games and things like Animal Crossing.
Online capability: strange, even though X-box has Live, that didn't stop Gamecube from completely owning it in terms of worldwide sales... and Microsoft just started to turn a profit on X-Box???
Remember that Gamecube's primary customers are parents looking for family-friendly games. What if pedophiles started hanging out in Pokemon Online? The American media would eat it up and Big N would be dead in the water in a month. Definitely not something to be rushed into.
And as for those saying that Nintendo will stop making hardware: have you ever played with a Gamecube? Ergonomic controllers. Next to no load time. Sharp graphics. All in a small, light, durable box. $99 CDN. Sony and Microsoft wouldn't know how to pull that off, even if they had any interest in doing so.
If I want to play Ultimate Online Gorefest 2005 (complete with five-minute load screens before each level) I'll go play on my computer. However if I have some friends over and want to jump right into a really fun game, nothing beats Nintendo.
Nintendo is dying, Nintendo is teh suck... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo announced yesterday that the DS has outsold the PSP in japan 3 to 1.
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:2)
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:2)
I think it's a little early to say that the PSP is taking any kind of lead in the handheld market at the moment. If you survey most kids as to what handheld they own I'm certain you'll recieve "Gameboy" as the prevalent answer.
And as for Nintendo needing three out of the park homerun titles on their next platform in order to compete how about:
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:5, Interesting)
Newsflash: They also don't have an NES, Sega Master System, SNES, Genesis, Playstation, PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox, any form of a Game Boy, or a DS. As far as Nintendo's concerned, they're either small children with very deep pockets, or people who probably weren't buying a game system in the first place.
They still have a commanding lead, as the opposition is new to the market, has no previously existing game library to fall back to, and designed a system focused on delivering the complete home console experience to your handheld, slow loading times and all. (Really, look at Wipeout. It's abysmally slow to load tracks, and that's just suicide on a handheld.)
Sure, I have a PSP. I even play games on it. But it feels more like I bought Lumines, and a PSP for it, than when I bought my GBA, and Castlevania, Metroid, and a few other titles for that. The handheld experience I'm used to, including a lightning-fast startup and seconds-to-gameplay, just aren't there, and as a result, it's going to take some truly spectacular titles to make the whole thing worth the wait between levels.
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:3, Insightful)
Yah. Blew it completely to hell, 64,247 units to 38,778 in Japan last week.
Oh wait... the DS is the one leading the PSP. My bad. And when you consider that the GBA SP is still selling 10K-15K units/week, Nintendo owns 67% of the handheld units sold last week in Japan.
Overall the DS has outsold the PSP 2.2M units to 1.2M units. They aren't losing. And when the GB Micro enters the fray, things w
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:2)
They used to own 100% of the market. If my company's main product had just lost 33% market share, I'd be wetting myself.
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:2)
Sold , not existing. In terms of existing units, Nintendo has something like 87% of the market.
Re:If PSP was eating my lunch, I'd be quiet too (Score:2)
I wouldn't base the entire state of the handheld console market on anecdotal evidence from four of your friends.
As another reply mentioned, the DS is outselling the PSP in Japan by a factor of three to one. Add in Nintendo's three version of the GBA hardware, and it
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, assuming you can get one that'll actually still play decently and consistently. The last NES I played would periodically replace chunks of graphics with random characters. And while controlling an @ instead of a Mario was novel at first, it gets annoying eventually. Even my SNES(es) are a bit worn - sometimes it takes several tries to get a cartridge to load.
I agree that $20 a game is ridiculous, but if they lowered it to, say, $3-5 or several for $20, I'd snap one up and collect them all.
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:2)
That constant income stream would be nice to have.
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:2)
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:2)
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Games are targetted towards an older demographic
2. The thing costs $250 for a unit with no games.
Sony's counting on that older audience to keep the PSP afloat. The fact that it's missing its targets probably shows that the reason the GBA has done so well is that it targets kids as well as teens/adults.
The PSP is going after the gadget/gamer c
Re:Oh yay...BLAH (Score:2)
You need to shop at better stores. I've never seen the NES Classics series selling for much more than $15, and frankly I think the manufacturing and distribution costs are the only reason why the retail price wasn't even lower.
Also... NESticle? Did it revert to 1998 when I wasn't looking? There are much better NES emu's available now.
Nesticle sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
I can download Nesticle
Nesticle was good for its time, but compared to current emulators, it's an inaccurate P.O.S. In fact, an NES program can detect Nesticle with just four instructions [everything2.com]. Use Nintendulator instead, especially if you're developing your own NES programs.
and a couple hundred ROMS
Now that Nintendo is renting ROMs online, the fair use argument for abandonware largely evaporates. Are you prepared to pay statutory damages if you're caught?
Flimsy feature? I think not. (Score:2, Insightful)
Having an huge (legal) library of old games is a great feature. If it is such a flimsy feature, why is it that so many of the homebrew apps for the other consoles are emus. Nintendo saw that their competitor's consles could play t
Re:happy w/ my psp (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:happy w/ my psp (Score:2)
And yet you're HAPPY with the PSP and all the PSX title rehashes in its software lineup?
Obviously Nintendo isn't going to release a new console that JUST plays older games. Having a 20-year library of classic games available is of course A selling point for the Revolution, bu it's foolish to assume that it will be a PRIMARY selling point. Like you said, why not if it's cheap and gives the user another reason to love their product.
It's a selling point to lawyers (Score:3, Insightful)
Playing antique games is a novelty, NOT a major selling point!
It's not a selling point to the public. It's a selling point to Nintendo's legal counsel, who can neatly bust through the fair use defenses that some of the abandonware(z) sites have been trying now that Nintendo is dealing in the works in question once again.
Re:happy w/ my psp (Score:2)
What if you wanted a camera, and also had use for an MP3 player? This is not a 'novelty.' The Micro is, essentially by Nintendo's own admission, a novelty. But I would consider such backwards compatibility quite the feature. Assuming everything pans out, I WILL be buying a Revolution, and I WILL be using it to play old games.
You use the word 'antique' as if the games aren't fun anymore
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2)
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2)
Right now a lot of the specula
Gamecube was not underpowered (Score:3, Informative)
This system looks to come out last, and be much less powerful
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes? Then of course you don't want a Micro. The only real draw is the screen, unless you feel that you'd be happier with a smaller GBA.
No? Well, here's the top of the line model. Properly backlit screen, fits in your pocket, plays all your favorite games. If you don't want it now, you probably never did, and therefore, Nintendo hasn't lost anything.
The thing that people forget is that there's room for more than one console these days. Many people have at least two of the three big
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2, Insightful)
That's like saying the iPod is in trouble because they've come out with four revisions of it. You need to understand that the Gameboy is at such a point of market saturation that they can be constantly revamping and updating their handheld and this is what works for them and has worked for them in the past decade.
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2)
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2)
Re:It's the REVOLUTIONARY new GBA... (Score:2)
Re:would be nice (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:would be nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Nintendo makes games with the WTF factor that you can throw down with some friends of varying skill levels and all have a blast. Warioware is another perfect example of this. "This looks lame" quickly makes way for "This game is awesome", despite the lack of plot or "mature" content.
Revolution, just like anything else, is going to be dependent on games before system specs, and if Nintendo keeps on innovating we will all be around to do this again at their next launch.
Donkey Konga (Score:3, Interesting)
I just got both of those last night. Holy crap what fun. Super monkey ball is a lot of fun too.
I'm outside their target demographic at 33 though I bet.
Re:Donkey Konga (Score:3, Funny)
Re:would be nice (Score:3, Insightful)
And for the Love of God, would you people stop picking on Mario. Yes, there's dozens and dozens of games with Mario in them. But amongst those games, there's dozens and dozens of entirely different types of gameplay, all of consistently high quality, and tied together by an extremely