E3 - Nintendo Shows DS Details, Realistic Zelda 441
An anonymous reader writes "Following the earlier leak of Nintendo DS pictures, there are hands-on details regarding Nintendo's handheld console over at GameSpot - Cube-Europe also has a list of Nintendo's first-party DS games, including 'Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, a new Super Mario Bros game, Super Mario 64X4, and WarioWare Inc. DS'." Elsewhere, xDCDx writes "Nintendo just showed at their E3 conference a trailer of the new Zelda game for the Gamecube [there are also screenshots available], this time using a more mature visual look, rather than a cel-shaded one."
Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:2, Informative)
We didn't forget about it and neither did they. They've been working on it the whole time.
These screens are FROM that same game, and it's being released.
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:5, Insightful)
The reasons for the cell-shaded Zelda have been mentioned before....they wanted to play with the expressiveness of the characters. They did a good job with that, and now they're going in another direction. Hardly worthy of criticism.
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:2, Troll)
I've heard this argument before, and it doesn't hold water. There's a difference between making tech demos that obviously wouldn't make interesting games (the ping-pong ball XBox demo, for example) or tech demos that are of already-made games (the N64 FF6 demo) and tech demos that are indistinguishable from new game footage. There's also a difference between making a game that's only slightly different from the tech demo
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:2)
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:5, Insightful)
Rob
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:3, Informative)
As for there being no point in pre-r
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:2)
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:2)
You mean the teaser for SSB: Melee?
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm tired of the issue being polarized into two camps. Not everything Nintendo does is aimed expressly at children, and that certainly doesn't disqualify them from making a great game. But on the other hand, just because people want a more adult feel to their games doesn't mean everything needs to be blood and guts. Personally, I just don't want to be insulted by the game I'm playing, I don't want to strangle someone to death with his own intestines.
And that's the problem that I had, and I'm sure many other people had with Wind Waker. It was a good game; I don't think anyone who played it would say otherwise. But I grew up on Zelda. Ever since the NES days, I had envisioned Link as a hero, a champion; something I thought of as cool. Chubby children aren't cool. Their friends that have foot-long boogers hanging from their noses are even less cool.
I'm looking forward to this Zelda. I was so disgusted with the connectivity 'features' of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and the absolutely dismal game line-up on the GBA that I traded both in and bought Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and another year's subscription to Xbox Live. This Zelda just may redeem Nintendo in my eyes, because Mario 8614: Now He's Got a Vacuum Cleaner Ha, Look How 'Innovative' We Are sure isn't going to cut it.
Re:Nintendo changed zelda before (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember the original The Legend of Zelda, that game of amazingly well-hidden secrets, challenging gameplay, and second questing? I do.
Did you even give Wind Waker a chance? I've played through it twice so far, working on a third, and I have to say that it feels a lot more like Zelda than Ocarina of Time does.
To me, the thing that screams ZELDA is secrets. The original game had a few screens that didn't have a cave or staircase, either hidden or in the open, in them, but there weren't many. The idea of looking somewher that looks suspecious, expending a bomb or candle usage to see if something's there, and being pleasantly surprised... more than anything else, that's
Zelda, and Wind Waker was the first Zelda game since the original to play upon that.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no one old enough to play the old Zeldas, when they were new, hates the art style. This is why, contrary to popular perception, the Gamecube is not so much the console for kids (that's the PS2, in my book), but the console for Old Fogey gamers who remember things like gameplay.
And dammit I L-I-K-E the art style!
Only on Slashdot... (Score:3, Funny)
Nintendo stole the show thus far (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nintendo stole the show thus far (Score:3, Insightful)
I hope to God that isn't want they're doing. Screw the people, I'd rather have what Miyamoto wants. If I wanted what "the people" wanted I'd probably be waiting for the next Acclaim game.
Re:Nintendo stole the show thus far (Score:5, Interesting)
The Sony conference really showed off some great games, and the power of the PSP. From short clips of games such as Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk, Twisted Metal, Spy Hunter, Gran Turismo, and a whole slew of EA Sports games, the PSP looks stocked software wise. It didn't stop there either. Sony went on to show the Spiderman 2 trailer playing on Sony's 4.5 inch widescreen display and then blew me away by showing a Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children trailer and telling the press that a UMD version of FF7 AC would be out alongside the DVD.
I think both new handheld's look awesome and hope that their competition really elevates the handheld market to the next level.
Nostalgia (Score:3, Insightful)
The PSP might be a good system but it won't play my ancient Gameboy games. Nintendo will stay dominate in this market as long as it remains backwards comparable.
If the internet has taught us anything, its that there is a market for old games with horrible graphics, heck even text based games are thriving online. Some exciting new handheld isnt going to remove are desire for nostalgia.
Now if the PSP released a bunch of old games from Atari, Sega, Intelevision, and NeoGeo they might have something.
As for L
Damn! (Score:5, Interesting)
I never got the cries of "mature Link" from folks out there.
But after that video - damn. It looks great (the castle looks a little blocky, but ah well), but the rest of it was, well, kick ass.
Will I still be able to play this game with my daughter? I think so. While there's still violence, it doesn't look like "blood and guts" - just the same kind of violence in other Zelda games, just now with better effects.
And that Balrog creature?
Here's hoping the next Zelda game is as long and wonderful as Ocarina of Time was.
Re:Damn! (Score:5, Interesting)
It was unconventional. It kept my attention. It pushed processors like they should be pushed every now and then -- with something different. When I was younger (read: 10-12) and played various cartoon games (Tiny Toon Adventures was a classic)... the ultimate goal of cartoon games was Wind Waker. It was finally playing in a cartoon you could interact with. For its sake I hoped it sold, and I think it did.
Re:Damn! (Score:2)
Show some respect for your new overlord, GANON!
Re:Damn! (Score:2)
Re:Damn! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Damn! (Score:4, Interesting)
My one concern? PLEASE let them up the difficulty (relative to Wind Waker). Please let me be in danger of dying throughout the game. I should be down to 1 heart before beating bosses, like in the original LOZ. Please have more dungeons, and throw in some real mind-benders (make them optional if you want, just make them difficult).
I'm sitting here waiting for this game to come out.
Still waiting.
Re:Damn! (Score:2, Funny)
Could that be because you normally build a castle out of stone blocks?
Just wondering...
Try Beyond Good and Evil (Score:3, Interesting)
Veering off topic,
I don't want to hear it. Not from you. (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, some of us have no problem dissociating the product being produced from the political motives of the people producing it. I'm not defending Disney's political agenda-- I hate infinite copyright as much as the next geek worth his NaCl-- but for the love of god, don't deny kids the chance to be kids just because you don't like who the producer voted for. If you're going to find something wrong with the Disney ouvre of work, look for it in the content and not in the context. Context changes and is subjective. Show me hard evidence that a Disney production-- not a law they endorsed, not a bill they lobbied for against, but an actual, released to the public (or not) work with the Disney name-- was harmful to the people at large and children in particular, and I'll immediately destroy anything of theirs I own. Till then, keep your psychotic viewpoint away from my cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Oh, and you should play Kingdom Hearts to promote one of the most [square-enix-usa.com] US-friendly [sqexm.com] video game producers today [square-enix-usa.com].
Mmmmmmmm (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mmmmmmmm (Score:3, Funny)
God dammit, that hurt my eyes to type....
Fool me once... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, those look damn smoooooth if I say so myself BUT are those in-game shots or the dreaded "let's show the incredibly breath taking cinematic art and make it LOOK in-game even though we will soon find out after dropping 50 bones that the in-game graphics are as bad as ET the Extra Terrestial on the Atari 2600!"
Re:Fool me once... (Score:3, Funny)
Honestly theres just no pleasing some people!
Re:Fool me once... (Score:4, Insightful)
Pretty much every nintendo game has cinematic art done in real time. So even if it was cinematic art, it was still all rendered real time.
This is due to the small discs that can't contain tons of movies.
Re:Fool me once... (Score:3, Insightful)
Irregardless of the reason, I much prefer cinematic art to be done in realtime. I find that it makes for much better visual continuity, a more consistent look throughout the game, and no disappointment of returning to blocky graphics after watching an amazing cutscene.
Perhaps Nintendo took this into con
Re:Fool me once... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah because Zelda has been a constant let-down, right?
VIEWTIFUL JOE 2!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Viewtiful Joe, Tales of Symphonia, and a few other games are enough to justify the purchase of a Gamecube. And now with VJ2 coming out, there's not reason not to get one.
Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:5, Interesting)
But Nintendo owned the show. The crowd went absolutely bonkers when they showed realistic Zelda. And the skepticism was thrown out when the DS was revealed - it looks great.
In short, E3 2004 won Nintendo is's respect back from many people who had given up on Nintendo (I am not among those people - always loved Big N). It's like that Simpsons episode, where bart lets lisa into his germ "bubble" to try and win the hearts of the students back... "Look... Isn't Nintendo! And it's winning us back!"
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:2)
I DO own a Game Cube (and like the games) but next time around I'll think twice before getting another Nintendo.
Indeed (Score:3, Interesting)
Four Swords may have required this staggering amount of hardware as part of the game - but it should have been optional on FF:CC.
I'm sure some people have that hardware (or know enough people with GameBoys) - but lots of us don't, and still want
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you don't like it, don't buy the game. It's that simple. They wanted to try something new, not to piss you off and force you to buy a GBA.
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:5, Interesting)
I refer you to some sage advice for dealing with it here [penny-arcade.com], although this [penny-arcade.com] *might* be more funny for you.
Sure, blame Nintendo for innovating a new way to play video games, that'll teach them to try anything new. In short, FF:CC is one of the most incredible multiplayer experiences I've ever had, and I cared not at all that it required GBAs to play. It's more than a video game; it's a social symphony for those who play.
Re:GameCube is the most expensive console (Score:4, Insightful)
Give me a fucking break. "The Gamecube is more expensive than PS2 if we throw in some randomly selected periphals on the GCN side". What in the hell does that prove?
By similar (il)logic: The PS2 costs $300.00. (PS2 + Final Fantasy XI with hard drive + EyeToy). After all, you need those peripherals to play a very few selected games, just like in the case of GBA + GCN connectivity.
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:3, Interesting)
This game is like Zelda: "Four Swords" except you can play single player, and you can play multiplayer with a standard GC controller. It replaces the GBA screen with an emulated GBA in the TV screen.
Yes, it's coming to US and EU.
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:2)
In addition, four years ago I never would have thought they would wind up buying Rare. That annoyed the hell out of me. Goldeneye is still my absolute favorite multi-player game of all time, not to mention all the other tremendous titles they created for Nintendo. Now they're tied to MS. Lame, lame, lame. Conker on Xbox seems so...weird.
Nintendo'a done this before (Score:2)
Nintendo has a lot of work cut out for them. They need to find a way to save their dwindling portion of the home console market, and they need to find a away to combat the PSP.
Re:Nintendo clearly won this year's E3... (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.the-magicbox.com/topten3.htm#US
and scroll down to US Hardware Sales. Then, for even more fun, go here:
http://www.the-magicbox.com/topten.htm
and look at the Japanese hardware numbers. Note that in Japan the XBox is competing with the Playstation *1*.
Have a sense of scale. A couple high profile games today don't mean as much in the long run.
I'm impressed... (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as there's third party support, I've got a feeling that the DS will succeed.
I got scared for a minute (Score:5, Funny)
For a moment, I thought Nintendo was still milking Mario like there's no tomorrow. I'm so glad they're moving on and producing entirely new fun games, like Zelda...
Re:I got scared for a minute (Score:5, Funny)
Uh, thanks for that visual image.
You Missed A Couple Things (Score:5, Informative)
Starfox [nintendo.com] quicktime movie?
Advance Wars: Under Fire [etoychest.org] screens?
DS high res renders [etoychest.org]?
WarioWare DS & Super Mario 64x4 screens [etoychest.org]? Metroid Prime: Hunters & PictoChat screens [etoychest.org]?
EToychest [etoychest.org]... Good times.
Holy hannah! (Score:4, Insightful)
There is no way in hell anyone's going to look at this new game (assuming those aren't pre-rendered shots) and say, "That's for kids! I don't want to play THAT!"
Thunder, then Lightning? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Thunder, then Lightning? (Score:3, Funny)
Wow the surprises were nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wow the surprises were nice (Score:2)
That was fast... (Score:3, Funny)
yay (Score:2)
I'd buy one just to have linux installed on it
VGCats. (Score:3, Funny)
Screens of DS Titles (Score:5, Informative)
I'm still stumpted as to why DS would be able to play GBA games if it's an entirely different system, but whatever. IGN seems pleased. [ign.com]
Re:Screens of DS Titles (Score:2)
Yay - at last a reason to buy the cube! (Score:2)
I haven't been compelled to buy a cube though -
Windwaker nearly pushed me over the edge, and F-Zero is amazing - but this Zelda is the one that is finally going to get me to buy!
Yay for Nintendo for getting this Zelda right!
Re:Yay - at last a reason to buy the cube! (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't played Majora's Mask, but I've completed the Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker. The core gameplay, for the most part, is the same. The biggest difference is cosmetic, and the changes in gameplay were rather minor (which isn't a bad thing... the Ocarina of Time was a genuinely fun game, and there haven't been very many similar games that have come close to the same level of quality). They improved the "battle engine" a bit by giving Link a fe
The new Zelda looks fantastic! (Score:4, Insightful)
Another Nintendo to buy? (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay I was aware that it was coming but surely allowing a product to mature (much like what has been done with the playstation) would be a bit more beneficial?
So far I've got a GameCube, GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Advance SP and to total off the collection I guess I'll be getting the DS now but there appears to be alot of potential in the current platforms that is being ignored.
For example, broadband on the GameCube could be pushed further to actually selling the adaptors and membership as retail. Why not sell Games and online memberships (and top up kits) for connecting to online servers? Games set you back ~$99AU an online gaming pack could sell for around $40AU for something like 40 hours of gaming or more.
A company recently released a GPS connector for the GBA SP, okay it looks a bit cheesy driving around with a GBA on your dashboard but how about a more slimline, perhaps mature, design?
Wireless connections are a big thing with Nintendo (Wavebird wireless controller and GBA wireless) imagine being able to link up your GBA with the BroadBand adaptor then downloading games to your GameCube memory card for transfer to your GBA; perhaps make blank GBA Paks available for downloading cartoons or tv shows via the GameCube?
So early next year or there abouts we will have the GameCube NEXT platform (or whatever they plan on calling it) pretty much leaving people with a pile of 2-3 year old Nintendo consoles that may never be looked at again. Any ideas on what to do with them???
Re:Another Nintendo to buy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Keep playing them? Just because there is new hardware doesn't mean the old stuff suddenly stops working. I still play my SNES as much as my Gamecube, and the old Gameboy games still get a good amount of playtime, albeit on the GBA:SP due to backlighting issues.
Goblin
Re:Another Nintendo to buy? (Score:3, Interesting)
There's yet to be proven that online games make any money. You're paying maybe $20 a month to access a server for a game, how much do you think the people maintaining the servers are making an hour? Only companies like Sony and Microsoft which can bleed money are able to support something like online gaming in its infancy.
Outside of MMORPG's, I've yet to see any value added to being
This thing could sell like crazy (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe I'm missing something...but (Score:5, Funny)
They need to come up with some better suspense building taglines to go along with their cool looking game. Seriously.
Realistic Zelda (Score:3, Funny)
The DS looks rather like an old Game & Watch. (Score:4, Interesting)
This isn't the first time Nintendo has used the over-under screen combination for a portable game. In fact, the first time this layout was used was in 1982 in one of the old Game & Watch [everything2.org] games [gameandwatch.com]. Amusingly, a version of Zelda [gameandwatch.com] was even released in this configuration.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that a multi-screen G&W was also the first Nintendo system to debut the d-pad [gameandwatch.com], the little cross-shaped directional control that replaces an un-thumbable joystick. More than 20 years later it has been copied by everybody and is still used on every console you can buy at SuperTarget.
"Maturity" and the new Zelda (Score:5, Insightful)
I've watched the new Zelda video about three times, and I firmly believe that Wind Waker looks more "realistic" than this new Zelda. What I mean is this: watch the trailer for Wind Waker and if you didn't know any better you'd swear it's an animated feature. There is little difference in Wind Waker's presentation, if any at all, and a well drawn cartoon. Watch the new Zelda trailer, the "realistic" Zelda, and there's little realism. You can tell, immediately, even from a screenshot that this is a video game. Sure, the graphics are fantastic. But the bar to which you're holding it too, reality, is much higher than that of the animated Wind Waker. Miyamato is well aware of this, and cited this in defense of Wind Waker. I am curious what he thinks of this new design.
What's more is that the graphics in the new Zelda are not stylized. They're generic, to be frank. It's a guy in green riding on a horse out of a generic look fantasy castle. This is a scene that could've dropped straight out of the ass of LOTR, with its trolls and army of orcs with clubs, massing on poorly textured hills. In fact, until you see Link up close, this may very well have come from any number of E3 firstlook videos. Even the vaporware Fable has more style than this Zelda.
I suppose this is closer in style, perhaps, to Ocarina of time. But technology was what limited Ocarina, and Nintendo bravely sidestepped that ever present technological limitation with Wind Waker by animating it. This is a step in the wrong direction for the Zelda franchise. Will it sell more? Sure. Is it more creative? Based on this trailer, no.
Mark my words: this Link will have collision detection problems. You'll spin the camera and see the inside of something else. Because this new world is trying to look realistic, when something happens that defies realism, a box falling awkwardly, or enemies disappearing, or whatever number of usual video game annoyances, it will break the spell. We're used to it because it's video games. But that rarely happened in Wind Waker, and that's part of what made it so great. When enemies disappeared in Wind Waker, for example, it was acceptable and perhaps even more dramatic that they disappeared in a puff of dark evil smoke. Why? Because it was not a "real" world, the animation style created a sense of surreality. I may be too harsh on an early video here, but I see not even a sliver of the emotion in "realistic" Link that I saw in Wind Waker's "Link." The graphics are unquestionably impressive. However, this new Zelda has no character, no style, no color, and no artistic focus to it.
And I take offense to the original poster claiming that this is more "mature." It isn't. Animation does not equal immaturity and (perceived) realism does not equal maturity. In fact, Wind Waker was one of the most emotionally jarring and touching games I've played in a long, long time, and I would argue was far more "mature" than GTA3 and its derivatives. The ability to connect through the television screen and the beyond the controller, to transcend the game on an emotional level, demonstrates far more maturity than better graphics. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.
Re:"Maturity" and the new Zelda (Score:4, Insightful)
To a 14 year old killing zombies and Ninjas while racing out of a burning building (which takes an unrealistic amount of time to burn down) complete with lots of blood and preferably guts is mature. DoA XTreme Beach volleyball also counts as mature.
A 30 year old sees something like Majora's Mask as a very dark game (whereas the 14 year old does not because you're playing as a kid) and would prefer deep plots instead of flash.
Now these aren't totally true; I've known 16 year olds to be very intelligent in their tastes, and 30 year olds who act like horny kids. Perhaps in 20 years the videogame industry will truely grow up, but then looking at the big blockbuster movies and bestselling novels these days, my hopes aren't that high.
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
Uh yeah, because being intolerable to cartoony graphics makes you appear oh so much more sophisticated.
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
Rob (Pull your pants up, your fanboyism is showing)
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
No, it doesn't. But not being able to appreciate good gameplay OVER graphics which you dislike, is clearly a hallmark of inferiority
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
Rob
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
Sam and Max: Hit the Road
Day of the Tentacle
There's a difference between hand-drawn sprites and cel-shading. One is ugly; the other isn't. Though I admit that some cel-shaded games don't look completely awful (e.g. Robotech Battlecry).
Rob (I'll have to assume that the "hipster" comment was sarcasm)
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:4, Insightful)
Look at the instruction manual for Zelda 1. It's got pictures of every enemy in the game. There's the in game picture, and the "what it really looks like" picture. The later picture looks exactly like the Wind Waker art.
Re:Zelda the way it should be? (Score:2)
I refer you to the reply I made to buffer-overflowed.
Rob
Re:dupey (Score:2)
previous article only showed one picture of the DS
this has screenshots for zelda (WOW!), a trailer for for a new mario game, and an initial game list for the DS, plus more I probably missed.
Just because it's on the same topic doesn't mean its a dupe. This article has way more info than the 1st.
MODS: quit calling this guy interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Tons of people (myself included) lived the look of Wind Waker, and besides, the game isn't about the graphics, its about the fucking GAME.
Re:MODS: quit calling this guy interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
Please actually make an attempt to understand the post before bitching next time.
Re:MODS: quit calling this guy interesting (Score:2)
Re:MODS: quit calling this guy interesting (Score:2)
It shouldn't, but when a game's graphics are so offensive to the senses that they hamper your enjoyment of the game, it does.
Rob
MODS: quit calling this guy insightful (sailor) (Score:2)
collected all those maps yet? sail over to tinkel to get them decoded. oh, don't have enough rupees because you assumed that like all other zelda games you have more than enough already? sail somewhere to get more, sail back to find out that the price has increased so you need to sail around to get more rupees repeat
got the maps decoded? goo
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:5, Insightful)
Compare the visual style of Zelda I, Zelda LTP, and even the N64 versions to Celda.
Now compare it to Real Zelda.
Yeah the first batch were cartoony, not realistic. So the realistic version is going to be trying something different.
Me personally remembers the storylines and gameplay of previous zeldas before I think of graphics. That's what I like about my franchises, continued excellence in the game, not the graphics.
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:5, Interesting)
Erm. And you're going to tell me next that Ocarina of Time is exactly how the average gamer remembered Zelda from the 8/16 bit generations. Ocarina of Time was a radical change from previous Zelda games, and it didn't do poorly at all.
That was a tech demo, not necessarily a game in development, as mentioned elsewhere.
And, as sibling comment stated, it's the gameplay, stupid. Wind Waker, as far as game engine went, was VERY similar to Ocarina of Time. For some inexplicable reason, though, people took one look at the game and decided it was bad BEFORE ACTUALLY PLAYING IT.
I, personally, disliked Wind Waker, but NOT because of the graphics. I personally rather enjoyed the graphical style. However, Wind Waker eventually devolved into endless sailing and one gigantic fetch quest with really nothing original about it.
You make the baseless assumption that Wind Waker hurt Gamecube sales. What makes you think this? And what makes you think that Ocarina of Time-style Zelda is more "realistic" and less likely to garner the same complaints of "kiddy" that idiots and fanboys spew about Gamecube games of all description?
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:2)
Because, in the early days people were looking for a "killer app" of sorts that would get them to buy the system. Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Super Monkey Ball, all great games, but not blockbusters(in terms of s
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:3, Insightful)
in the early days people were looking for a "killer app"
three words: rogue fuckin' leader
Re:Too bad they didn't come out with this zelda ga (Score:2)
Yeah, then we'd only have one game to play. Bummer.
Re:Yay originality! (Score:4, Insightful)
The games are good, and that's what matters most in the end. Don't like them? Don't buy the system. It's as simple as that.
Re:Yay originality! (Score:2)
GTA wouldn't have been possible without Zelda.
Re:Yay originality! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Yay originality! (Score:2)
Rob (Slashdot, land of the Nintendo fanboys)
Re:Yay originality! (Score:5, Insightful)
But anyway, the point being.... an existing franchise can still be the basis for very innovative games.
As much as people complain about all the sequels, the reality is, it is infinitely easier to sell a game, new ideas or not, if it builds on a franchise people already like. Just as with movies, when you have a built-in fanbase, it makes sense to use it. As unfortunate as it is, it becomes a lot more difficult to be successful with a wildly new game if the characters and setting and world are completely known..... certainly not impossible, but it IS more difficult.
If it means that Nintendo develops some very cool new game but puts Mario in it, rather than some unknown character, in order to help make sure it does well, I say more power to them.
-Tom
Re:music (Score:3, Insightful)
At any rate, the game isn't due out until 2005 sometime, so I wouldn't worry much
Re:Oh (Score:5, Insightful)
For months prior to this E3, there has been constant speculation about how crappy the DS will be, and how stupid the designers were/are for including two screens. "How can they do that without making it look stupid?" people asked. Over and over and over again.
Then everyone sees it and realizes Nintendo isn't staffed by a bunch of total morons. Then, in the space of one web page, it goes from "Sony will win. Give it up. Gamecube sucks. Blah blah blah" to "wow, the DS is cool. Zelda isn't cel-shaded any more, so that's also cool, and the PSP is a giant pile of crap."
Over the next week, the game media and technology pundits will also, grudgingly, realize that Nintendo, like Apple for PCs, is the market leader in video games. Sony succeeds with volume. Nintendo succeeds with innovation.
By the way, I have 9000 karma.
Re:Oh (Score:4, Funny)
Umm.... there are games for Apple? Since when??
Re:Oh (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is cool and all. And Nintendo puts out quality products (if they didn't, they likely wouldn't have aforementioned rabid fanbase). But, having played and owning both the PS2 and GameCube, I think it's a bit disingenious to suggest that Sony can't do innovation (or, for that matter, that Nintendo can't do volume: case-in-point, the GBA).
Plus, just as a completely personal observation, I've tended to see more of what I would call truly innovative games for the PS2 than the GameCube, but I can't tell if that's simply because I tend to see more games, period, for the PS2. For my record, it's not innovation, per se, that's Nintendo's strongest point, so much as, like Apple, an ability to produce a good solid product, even if it's not the most overwhelmingly original thing on the market. Which is just as important, I should think.
Re:Nintendo is like Apple? Since when? (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean Nintendo, the champion of online connectivity?
Also the only one who's done it right with the Nintendo DS? Nintendo has said for a long time that they have their own strategy for online gaming. Who wants a keyboard while you're in the middle of playing a game?
The first one that jumped to optical media?
And optical media is better than solid state? Optical media is only cheaper (more capacity is cheaper).
And who could forget how fast they made a color portable with a backlight.
Which is still more expensive and more costly than the portable they still sell without a backlight, and still has shorter battery life.
Don't forget that they're the first company with a system that did full 3D graphics and analog control with force feedback (with pixel shaders and anti-aliasing to boot), with 4 controller ports. And the company that set the standard for 3D third person games with Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The first system to offer 1st party wireless control. And did optical storage right with fast load times. Hell, even the Dreamcast has far better load times than the PS2. And the 3DO has significantly better load times and far better audio than the PSX (SF2 for the 3DO lets you start a fight within 30 seconds of turning it on. PSX takes two minutes). Sony can't learn from their mistakes. How useful is two joysticks compared to analog L and R buttons, which started with the Dreamcast?
You can't develop everything; every feature has a trade-off. At least when Nintendo brings something to market, they do it right.