Nintendo Announces Raft of New Games, 3DS Details 240
A major theme for Nintendo's presentation was the arrival of classic franchises on new systems. This includes a new Kirby game for the Wii, entitled Kirby's Epic Yarn. It's a sidescrolling platformer with a new art style based on a yarn theme, and it's due out this fall. In sharp contrast to Kirby's cartoony graphics was Nintendo's next presentation on Metroid: Other M, which had visuals in the same vein as other popular shooters, showing Samus fighting her way through intricate 3D stages to fight some nasty-looking alien monsters. Other M was given a release date of August 31. Just in case that wasn't enough nostalgia for you, they next showed a new project from Retro Studios: Donkey Kong Country Returns. It's (another) platformer, but with its own unique style and feel, and it's planned for the holiday season.
From there, Nintendo shifted its focus to the upcoming revision to their portable console, the 3DS. Since it's impossible to show the 3D effect on stage, they contented themselves with showing off software and features, but they also brought a massive amount of test consoles, so you can expect to see hands-on reports coming out in a day or two. The 3DS has a slightly larger screen on top — 3.5" instead of 3" — and the bottom screen is a touchscreen. There's an analog nub, an internal gyro-sensor, and a 3D slider, which will control the level of depth you see on screen. You can turn it to maximum, turn it off, or anywhere moderate level of depth in between. There are two camera lenses on the back, which will allow you to take photos in 3D. In addition to the 3D effect, they've also made more standard improvements to the graphics hardware, which has apparently impressed some of the developers working on games for the 3DS. They also briefly touched on the 3DS's communications capabilities. Apparently it will silently look for updates, new maps, ghost data, rankings, and more regardless of what game you're playing, communicating over Wi-Fi or through connections with other nearby consoles.
Headlining the software side of the 3DS was the announcement of Kid Icarus: Uprising, another return to a very popular franchise of old. Granted, it's tough to judge a game by its trailer, but the graphics looked extremely good for a portable system. Nintendo said that in addition to games, the 3DS would play 3D movies as well, though details are sparse as to what will be available and how. But their real concern was the perception that the system would have too few games to interest customers, so they went out of their way to list a bunch of developers and game projects that are targeting the new system. The list is really, really impressive: Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, Metal Gear Solid, DJ Hero, Saint's Row, Madden, FIFA Soccer, Nintendogs + Cats, Ridge Racer, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Mario Kart, Star Fox, and more.
But I'm lazy..... (Score:3, Insightful)
>>>"you hold the Wii Remote and Nunchuck like a sword and shield, and swing naturally at enemies. "
Can't I just hold my controller and tap a button, like I did with Zelda Twilight Princess?
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:5, Insightful)
But I would feel a little silly as a grown man playing a Mario or Kirby game.
Why?
Re:The 3D effect is disappointing. (Score:1, Insightful)
Read the whole article. His own words, at the very bottom, sum it up: "It's Astounding".
Keep in mind you are looking at a product that is literally months away from hitting retail, possibly even a year. Same thing with the games. If you expect it to be perfect upon its initial unveiling...
Re:But I'm lazy..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Kinesophobes need exactly two control options: take the plunge or don't play. Motion is the way forward for gaming: a better experience in every single respect.
Nintendo Still Rules (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a reason Nintendo is still in the video game industry 25 years after releasing the NES.
Microsoft: We have a camera, like the EyeToy, but newer! And a quieter console! And a copy of WiiSports and some other games.
Nintendo: New system! New DonkyKong! Pilotwings! Metroid! Kid Icarus! Nintendogs! GoldenEye! Massive 3rd party support! Zelda! Mario Sports! Kirby!
As I type this, Sony is just getting their conference started. If they had any hopes of getting some thunder, they're in deep trouble. Short of announcing some really compelling games for the Move and an introductory bundle price of $40 (not going to happen), they won't top Nintendo.
PS: That PSP Sony keeps claiming isn't dead? The one the PSP Go was supposed to show was "still in the game"? If the 3DS isn't the final nail in it's coffin, nothing will be.
I watched the ArsTechnica live coverage. Just about everything they announced, I wanted. The one exception was WiiParty, but I'm sure there are tons of people who will buy it.
Re:But I'm lazy..... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:The 3D effect is disappointing. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not like you look from the side while playing a handheld for fucks sake. It's a one-person experience, and simply relaxing your hands naturally will give you the right position.
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:3, Insightful)
Some of the best games are "kiddie" games.
I don't own a Wii, but I still dust-off my old Mario64 or Banjo-Kazooie or Skies of Arcadia games, and play them from time-to-time. I'd rather play those than play something "realistic" but boring.
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
But I would feel a little silly as a grown man playing a Mario or Kirby game.
Heh.
There was a brief period where I felt insecure about playing video games with bright colors and only cartoon violence.
Then I grew up.
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
Because I'm a grown up. There are games that are targeted at kids and games that are targeted at adults.
And there are games that are targeted at all ages. You're missing a category.
And Nintendo have strongly favored (not exclusively, but strongly) the former.
No, they haven't. They favor the E-for-everybody. There's a big difference and that's why Nintendo has been enormously successful. The sad thing is, the things that make a game more 'adult' are the things that mostly appeal to the crowd that cannot really be called an adult yet. "I spent all night running over hookers!"
Re:Wait... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:3, Insightful)
I think some of these games are more like Pixar films: designed to be kid friendly, but entertaining for all ages.
Re:Nintendo Still Rules (Score:3, Insightful)
The primary difference is that, overall, there are FAR more people that are FAR more nostalgic about NES franchises than Xbox franchises.
Do not ignore the power of nostalgia or childhood experiences, especially when the topic is gaming.
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
No, we'd feel just as silly, but a different kind of silly. At that point you'd be a grown man impersonating his teens instead of a grown man impersonating his childhood.
All I was doing is joining in the poking fun of a big grown hairy man playing the cutest pink blob in the video game world. It does tend to imasculate a grown man. In the same way playing Gears of Halo Duty makes you feel like a bigot who screams fag at the TV anytime you die.
Despite what some people may have told you, there ARE games out there that are more geared towards adults, that don't fall into either of the two categories you described. Both Colourful and serious, some even with adult oriented content
*COUGHHACKWHEEZESNEEZEMASSEFFECT*
Re:Nintendo Still Rules (Score:4, Insightful)
That was not my intent. My intent was "Microsoft is releasing a copy of what Nintendo did 4 years ago, Nintendo is releasing new games (based on old friends)."
It was meant to imply a lack of innovation and big exclusive releases. I don't mind that Nintendo uses the same characters over and over, because they tend to make each game it's own, special. They don't do a ton of "add a new map, +1 the number, sell a ton." They add some innovation and do it once a console cycle.
As a 360 owner, I'm not excited by Natal/Kinetic. I don't have a ton of space for dancing around on camera, and I'm not interested in paying $150 for the ability to do so. If there was one or two big games that really showed what it could do, then I might be interested. As it is, they seem more like the EyeToy demo "games" that were released. It's fine if MS can prove me wrong, but I would have wanted to see that at the press conference. Basically, they don't seem to have shown much more than they did a few months ago.
If I was making the "Microsoft is just releasing old games again" thing, I would have made a comment like "What, no Halo 14?".
Nintendo is going their own way. Sony and MS seem to be aiming at where Nintendo was 2+ years ago.
Re:The 3D effect is disappointing. (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do I get the feeling Nintendo fans and Apple fans have a lot in common?
Because you disagree with him but can't quite get a bearing on how to phrase that?
Re:But I'm lazy..... (Score:4, Insightful)
My mouse doesn't have haptic feedback on whether I've moved the cursor to the right spot, my eyes tell me that.
Besides, even with a standard controller hitting a button is no guarantee for a specific result, many games require proper timing on button presses and if you mess that up you also get a crap result.
Re:Nintendo Still Rules (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think nostalgia has much to do with it as this point. I loved the NES/SNES and still own both, but I look at nintendo's newest stuff I don't see much in common other than it's great for casual game play. There will always be more casual gamers than hardcore gamers, so nintendo will always come out ahead. There's a reason MS and Sony are trying so hard to compete with the Wii, because they have the hardcore gamers and there's no where for them to go now.
the playstation was released in 1994, and I don't see nostalgia helping the PS3 any.
Re:But I'm lazy..... (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish I could mod you up. The feedback on the wii controllers really makes the system useful. I sort of thought it was a gimic but it really does make it feel like you're more in control. natal/kinect just feels like you're flailing about wildly.
I expect Sony's system will outperform Kinect for precisely this reason.
Re:But I'm lazy..... (Score:2, Insightful)
How asinine is that scenario? Why don't you also include one where someone breaks both of their thumbs?
If motion control is bad, in your opinion, you don't need to invent stupid scenarios like that to illustrate your point. If that's the best argument against them that you can come up with, then maybe your opinion isn't very well-formed.
--Jeremy
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:2, Insightful)
Mario doesn't require you to relate to its characters, unlike Sponge Bob. What Mario does is gameplay and going by review averages he does it better than anybody else. With a movie the story and characters are the important elements but with a game they can be completely irrelevant, what's important is how you interact with the game and Mario games deliver challenges that are appropriate for adults (in fact some called Galaxy 2 TOO hard). No, there's no adult story in there but the lead producer made sure nothing like that went into the game, it's a barely interrupted stream of great creative gameplay experiences and story would only have bogged it down.
Now Kirby could be below your level as an adult, while there's practically zero story to Kirby games they are designed for gaming newbies and often have very low difficulty, considering someone visiting Slashdot Games probably has significant gaming experience under his belt the low difficulty would leave us bored.
Re:I'll give it to Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
A real man doesn't give a shit about what other people think about his hobbies, and doesn't need to play games with a lame, predictable story and some "adult situations" to feel like a grown-up.
--Jeremy
Re:No just rehashes of old shit again? (Score:3, Insightful)
> That's just marketing speak for "We're way too pathetic to have the balls to go with something new
So I take it you have never seen Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 & 3, Super Mario Land, Super Mario World, Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Galaxy 2? That, or you are just making shit up to be righteous.
Re:No just rehashes of old shit again? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you believe that - then argue the point, seriously!
I didn't really feel the need to, the point had already been made.
I just really question the logic there.
Okay, fine, I'll tell you the bit you need to hear again: "So I take it you have never seen Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 & 3, Super Mario Land, Super Mario World, Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Galaxy 2?" Seriously, that's the winning phrase. The only thing I'd add to his point is to suggest you play the first 3 Sonic games then play the first three Mario games. Heck, play Mario 64, then Mario Galaxy, then play GTA3, then GTA4. The Mario games are similar only on a superficial level. You're always going to be confused about that until you sit down and play the games.