Nintendo Talks DS, Zelda, PSP Threat

Thanks to IGN Cube for its interview with Nintendo VP of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan, as she comments on the Nintendo DS' backwards compatibility ("I think the initial appeal the DS gives you is that you can start with a library of 500 games"), on the new realistic-looking Zelda title ("We knew that people were going to say, 'Oh, is the new Zelda because you made a mistake with Wind Waker?' You don't make a mistake when you sell something in the millions and millions"), on the battery life of Nintendo's forthcoming handheld ("Very similar to the [Game Boy Advance] SP and I think very different from the PSP. I'm not quite sure why Sony said "Two to 10 hours" [for PSP's battery life]. That must mean that it's two hours"), and on rivalry with Sony's PSP ("I think Sony has developed a very nice looking screen. I think that having a system with claims to all the multi-functionality is a big question in our minds. Pricing is a huge question.")

Rock on, Nintendo

[redfiveneo]

Battery life is the most important aspect of a handheld/portable device. I applaud Nintendo for trying hard to match the SPs battery capacity. IIRC, the SP is 10hrs with the backlight on, 18hrs with it off.

Compared to an estimated 2-10hrs for the PSP, the DS is looking good.

New Zelda look a Let Down

[I_Love_Pocky!]

I don't understand why a "realistic" Zelda game is a good idea. Wind Waker was awesome because it looked and felt like a cartoon. I'm still going to buy it when it comes out, because Nintendo doesn't make bad Zelda games. Despite the down grade in graphics, I'm sure the game play will be top notch as always.

On the plus side, fighting from the horse seems like an awesome idea.

Re:Rock on, Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

This concerns me as a potential buyer, since game playback will probably use more power than movie decoding and playback. DVD-level MPEG's pretty easy to do nowadays, especially at low-res, but random game disc seeking and dynamically-loading 3d graphics with effects are going to eat battery time for lunch. I think 1 1/2-2 hours is going to be the upper limit for gaming battery life since 2 1/2 hours is the max that they claim for movies, unless they're really simple games.

I'm all set to buy a Nintendo DS (already got a few hundies earmarked for the DS launch later this year, hopefully that will bag me a bunh of games in addition to the system), but I'm going to play the waiting game with the PSP, especially at what it's going to cost for the system alone and that it's never going to offer any new kind of gameplay options like the DS. Graphics look good though. The Metal Gear game looks like something between PS and PS2 level, jaggies and all. Hopefully the framerate is not bad on PSP games, otherwise I might expect dizziness issues from the movement on the small (compared to a monitor or TV) screen. I'm one of those guys that gets sick from jerky low framerate FPS games.

Zelda

[Cuthalion]

I think it's a sad reflection of the state of the games industry when people immediately conclude "Windwaker was a mistake" from "We're not doing it exactly the same this time".

Re:PSP a threat?

[hords]

"It's silly to talk about watching movies anywhere anytime; you want to concentrate"

Agreed. How are you going to watch movies on this thing anyway? It's not like a DVD will fit in it. Are they going to release movies in this disc format? It seems a little silly. Buy a movie and all you can watch it on is a portable gaming device. You couldn't even watch two average length movies on one full battery charge since they claim that it can only run for 2 1/2 hours during video playback.

Re:Do you mean DS has an _unfamiliar_ control syst

[MilenCent]

The obvious use of the touch-sensitive screen is to provide a point-and-click interface to RPGs. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance have a very convoluted menu system. An actual GUI could make those games substantially more accessable to new players.

Real-time strategy games could also benefit greatly from a point-and-click interface, and arguably a screen and stylus solution is easier to use than even a mouse + monitor once you're used to it.

Also, games could rather easily add customization options, where a player could draw an image to be mapped on the hood of his car, or paint his spaceship, or come up with a crest for his kingdom, or draw a character portrain 1st Edition D&D character sheet style.

And naturally, creative software like Mario Paint also seem like a natural -- indeed, a Mario Paint-like app with an export function, making use of wireless connectivity to save images to a computer's filesystem, could be *extremely* cool, and could make it possible to use a DS for -- dare I say it?? -- real work.

I'd pay real money for a Palm-like productivity card for the DS if it was also filled with fun Gameboy Camera-style features, and with its generous default feature-set it almost looks as useful as a PDA. And imagine using Animal Crossing DS with the wireless connection to send *real* e-mail, to people in other towns? Or visiting other towns, over the internet, and actually meeting the people living there in-game?

why a realistic Zelda is important for Nintendo

[Syncdata]

The sole reason I was pleased when I heard that nintendo was releasing a "realistic" Zelda was because that was what the consumer base was clearly demanding.

I loved Wind Waker, and I anticipate seeing a new generation of cell shading from nintendo, regardless of franchise, but it was clear that the cell shaded zelda was a point of contention amongst the fanbase.

The customer may be many things, but even if your last name is Miyamoto, you must concede the customer is always right. Because even if he's wrong, he's still not buying your product.

Re:PSP a threat?

[NeMon'ess]

Y e s, sony obviously considered releasing movies for the format. the screen is 480 x 272. that's a bit better than VHS. the video will easily fit into 1.8GB. how many people will want to watch more than one movie in a row? most laptops can't do two movies in a row either.

Seems to me the way to market movies for it is price them at $8 and people will buy both it and the DVD copy. People will buy their favorites to take with them travelling.

Re:Rock on, Nintendo

[buffer-overflowed]

I'm just curious, as the AC(who probably isn't visible) who also replied is as well, how precisely they're going to get 8 hours of gaming when they can only display 2 1/2 hours of video.

Either something besides the LCD/optical drive is drawing almost 4 times more power than the rest of the device or they're lying about gaming battery life.

This battle has happened before

[sdhankin]

Doesn't anyone recall? Nintendo had dominance in the market. Sony released a more expensive system, which differed from Nintendo's in that it had games on a medium which gave them far more impressive impact, due to the inclusion of cut scenes and pre-rendered video. Nintendo stuck with smaller cartridges with less capacity.

The average buyer looked at both, and preferred the system that had the cooler looking games. I suspect history is about to repeat itself.

---
In the beginning, there was nothing, then God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a lot better.