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GameCube (Games)

Nintendo's Early 2005 Strategy 63

Gamespot has an overview of Nintendo's strategy for the next few months. DS sales, female users, and penetration of the older market is up, while DS software sales are down owing to bundled software. The Big N is still trying to decide how much information to share about the Revolution at E3. From the article: "We want to receive some level of evaluation, but releasing too much information is also another issue. We don't have the slightest intention of making a machine that follows the same path as conventional game hardware."
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Nintendo's Early 2005 Strategy

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  • Could this be it? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dmauro ( 742353 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @04:44PM (#11566770)
    Someone found something of interest that could possibly be linked to the Revolution on the Penny Arcade Forums [penny-arcade.com]. It's probably not directly linked, but it may share similar technologies with the upcoming Revolution.
    • That video is SICK! When I was young and played with RC cars, I always thought of something like that...I didn't believe it would ever be possible.
    • The first reply to that thread may be one of the funniest things I have ever read about RealPlayer and sums up my attitude towards it perfectly. Where's the damn mpg, avi, or hell I'd even prefer wmv!
    • It's an old interview of a french company [t-immersion.com] working on new tech. It doesn't looks like it's linked to Nintendo, but why not...
      It was shown on the French/German TV, Arte [arte-tv.com], the 03 june 2004 [arte-tv.com]
      You can switch the language to German, if you understand better :)
      Warning: don't look at the "Arte" front page today if you don't want nude girls on your screen. There will be something about porn this evening. This is /. so I guess it's a reversed warning...
      • Oh, I should have posted this url: technical doc in english [t-immersion.com] about their stuff.
        It's available for PC, but it looks like they have no relationship with game makers, and they don't market it for games on their website.
        Nothing that big if you ask me, just an advanced eyetoy. But it looks great with all the real time reflection, real world interaction and stuff.
  • by the_skywise ( 189793 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @05:00PM (#11566978)
    "female users and penetration of new markets..."

    together like that?
  • Well, other than some info on the sales of the DS, that artical said nothing at all. I mean, the info on the Revolution was 'We are trying to decide how much info to tell you at some future date' Between this and that Metroid advertising story a while back, it seems Nintendo is managing to release a bunch of news that consists of saying 'we have information that you would enjoy hearing' and nothing else.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Sell me Zelda (Score:3, Insightful)

    by satanami69 ( 209636 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @05:09PM (#11567063) Homepage
    I only have a cube becuase of Zelda. Without that one game, I'd probably not have any consoles.
  • In other words... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @05:13PM (#11567108)
    [We haven't decided] whether we will show the real machine, videos, or unveil the concept. ... We want to receive some level of evaluation, but releasing too much information is also another issue. We don't have the slightest intention of making a machine that follows the same path as conventional game hardware. Right now, we are thinking of how we can accurately convey to people at E3 the different path that the Revolution will take and how it will change the way that games will be enjoyed."

    In other words : 'We're gonna wait and see what Sony and Microsoft do and say before we do or say anything. So far we're waiting for some definative information on whats going on between the DS and the PSP as well. Finally, the days of the D-pad are gone. Look forward to new and innovative controllers in the next generation of video games.'

    Or in a nutshell : 'We're playing it safe for now.'

  • .. Had better have this in blod accross the top as such:
    No More using outdated technologies (I.E. Cartridges) because we fear change.
    • of course bold would be acceptable as well... damn my human eyes!
    • I don't think Nintendo's decision to stick with carts in the past was based on "fear of change." Cartridges have next to zero loading times compared to optical media and can provide a seamless gameplay experience. Nintendo only moved to discs when the disc streaming technology had finally gotten to the point where you could enjoy the same level of seamless interaction as a cart. Personally, I love the fact that when I play Metroid Prime or Zelda that I never have to see a "Loading" screen. What's that you
      • Re:The plan.. (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There are plusses and minuses on both sides of the cartridge versus CD debate, and they've been used again and again in flame wars for a decade now. I don't think there's any reason to get into it again.

        The lack of loading screens in Nintendo's games is due in small part to the disc size and in large part to clever design. In Metroid Prime, doors simply don't open until the next room is loaded. In Zelda, the huge open ocean hid the loading times. There are some more technical tricks they can employ, to
        • In Metroid Prime, doors simply don't open until the next room is loaded and the horde of pireates raping you in the ass gets a few more hits in.

          Fixed.

        • Yep. Pluses and minuses both ways. I think the N64 cartridge format wasn't the best design, but it worked pretty dang well. As for GTA not on the cube because of the huge game world, I don't know. 3D models take up space depending on their complexity, not physical size. Take a look at Metroid Prime 2 and you will see a hell of a lot of complex rooms and graphics. Far more than the entirity of GTA, which has a very low polygon count and detail level.

          What *could* be a factor is the massive amount of au
    • Looking at DS media vs PSP media, maybe Sony should have feared change a little more. DS chips don't fly out of the console.
  • Bundled Software? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dragoon412 ( 648209 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @05:26PM (#11567239)
    Bundled software my ass...

    DS sales are going down because there's been all of like 3 games released since the already-weak list of launch titles.
    • IMO, this is not very different from what we saw when the GBA came out. At the US launch no third party released anything worth noting, while Nintendo was only offering ports (Some old mario game and Game & Watch gallery IIRC). If Nintendo expected huge sales while their flagship title is a N64 port, they must be dellusional. If Metroid Hunters or the new 2D Mario DS were launch titles, then we'd have seen good sales.

    • by fwitness ( 195565 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @07:11PM (#11568115)
      Yes, and this is really beginning to piss off this Nintendo customer. I RTFA and I couldn't help thinking "What bundled software? Oh, the *demo*?" Yeah, it was great but 20 minutes later you need a game.

      It's been well over a month since I got my DS and I've been dying to buy a game for it, but there are none. I've been thinking of buying Mr. Driller for lack of good stuff. Maybe animal keeper or whatever it's called but it was overpriced.
      • Yeah, Mr. Driller's not bad - it's at least entertaining for a while (just try not to listen to the voice acting). It would have been much better if you could play multi-player with a single card.

        At this point you might as well just wait a couple more weeks for the next wave of software to hit.
      • Jesus, did you even bother to look at all for reasons to own a DS before you bought it? Its more than just a geek sex symbol you know. Well, at least it should be. Turns out none of the good games will be available until at least March, and even then, there's nothing definitively good. I'll give it a second look when Metroid and DS Wars are out, or maybe if that dslinux stuff pans out. Till then, I'll just let my money sit in the bank and earn interest, let the DS hardware depriciate on the shelf, and conti
      • Wario ware comes out on the 15th I believe, thats a must have. I only own Mario 64 for my DS, other than that I play gba games on it (which look great by the way) Go pick up a good gba game for rather cheap like Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls which is on sale at Circuit City this week I believe.
  • by AzraelKans ( 697974 ) on Thursday February 03, 2005 @05:56PM (#11567531) Homepage
    From the article:The Big N is still trying to decide on information to reveal on the e3

    Translation: They are weighting if they should let their fans know about the GBA Evolution so they dont buy PSP's OR let the sales for the DS rise a bit more first (they're aparently taking option b) .

    p.s. Please notice no new titles for the DS other than those already produced (metroid, puppies) were mentioned. The talk immediately went to the new rehash for the GBA instead.
    • I think I'll stick with the PSP in any case. As powerful as the PSP is, it seems to me that most of the games available for PSX and possibly some PS2 games can be ported as easily as buring the game data to the UMD format. The controller isn't terribly different (one analog stick rather than two, and one L and R shoulder button rather than two - I have a few PSX games that don't use the missing buttons in any way). So, just a gut reaction, but I think the game support for PSP is going to far outpace the
  • If I were to release a game console, I'd get the already tried-true game ports out there ASAP.
    You know, things like ports of Tetris, Columns, possibly Bejeweled. Release smaller games in packs for a dirt cheap price.

    Then move onto the card, gambling games, and maybe some board games(chess, checkers, etc).

    Then get licensing for the classic game ports(Atari, Namco, bunch of arcade ports, etc).

    Why? These games are (mostly) already made. No need to spend tons of $ on actors, writers, etc. Nintendo has done
  • The Nintendo Gamecube, true, is not doing as well as the other two systems, but I and many others will buy nintendo systems unless they go bankrupt, along with the rich people. Plus, if you drop an XBox or old PS2 on your head, you'll get a worse cuncussion than with a Gamecube. The PS2 7000 is weak.

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