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From IGN:
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Well, since you want to get a feel of what we thought, here goes : Microsoft : The conference felt about the same as last year. Again we People are going to get fired over the Microsoft Conference. Mark my words. Sony: Again a lot like last year and like Microsoft but with ads. They Snore…………………………………. In general, they both acted like the wiimote didn’t exist and their Inside Industry-Land (which should also be confused with Fantasy Land), they are going, “Yeah! Yeah! Sony is where it is at. Go Move! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” as the Industry men do pelvic thrusts while high fiving one another. The name of the game is… games. What exactly is this compelling software for anyone to buy these controllers? Compelling software means fresh software. Not something we have already seen. Non-PS3 owners are not going to see the point at all. Why not just buy a Wii? You have not been listening to our Viral Marketer buddies. They are saying that Nintendo E3 2010 was ‘horrible’ and was like E3 2003. Poor viral marketers. They really have to work hard this E3. Reggie also sounded like he had a sore throat. It was probably because of all the rehearsals. I can imagine Reggie doing the rehearsal with the Nintendo babes over and over again. “This is so much fun! But we must practice it over and over again!” It is not everyday where a man gets to surround himself with babes. “One more rehearsal!” shouts Reggie. “This will be the last time. I swear!” You are wondering the same questions I am. They say the formula has changed. How has it changed? The simultaneous multiplayer will be very important. I’m glad DKC 4 will have it. DKC 4 is the game I am most excited for from Nintendo’s Conference. I don’t really have a good feeling about Wii Party and Mario Sports. Nah. Nintendo’s developer muscle is focused at the 3DS. The Wii will have only the ‘second parties’ from Nintendo and Zelda from now on. I wouldn’t think of Mickey as a side scrolling platformer. I am actually thinking of the game in more PC game terms (since Spector is a PC game developer). What Mickey will do very well is be about replayability. You can play the game multiple times and have different results. But I still do not understand the gameplay of the game. I fear the game may be too cerebral. But it is definitely a title to keep your eye on. I can’t believe there’s a new Mario and his Minis game. I feel like The little company that makes them has to do something. It is worse than that. If PSP 2 comes out next year, developers will be so used to the 3DS that Sony won’t have a chance. Iwata will not allow Nintendo to release a console a year after Sony does for that reason alone (especially with what happened with the Gamecube). For Paper Mario, well the company that does it has to do something. They wouldn’t be able to make a 2d Mario well though, especially not compared to NCL. Even at the best of its days, not even Sega could really rival 2d Mario. Vitality Sensor appears to be relegated to a more Japanese release. I doubt we’ll ever see it. Date and price are very important. Also, I want to know more about the OS of the device. I want to know about DSware. Certainly, they will continue DSware on the 3DS. |
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Sean, . .
My reaction to Nintendo’s press conference vis-a-vis Microsoft and Sony is one of pleasure and terror. It is like watching a great fighter or chess player take on an opponent who struggles desperately but just can’t keep hang with them. It is a pleasure to watch their mastery against their opponents, but also terrifying to see those opponents dominated so thoroughly.
. Think about Nintendo’s position going forward. They revealed the 3DS today with Wii-like levels of excitement. As you pointed out, they have checkmated Sony on both the move to 3D (mocking the use of glasses) and in the handheld market (the PSP is toast). Then, look at this line up of games in development. Wow! I have not had a handheld (not counting my iPhone) since my first Gameboy, but if this is as cool in my hands as people are reporting it will be, I will get the 3DS. It is going to be a heckuva launch. But there are two things that are going to make this absolutely kill going forward: (1) they did not announced a single game from any of their big 4 franchises yet. No new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or Pokemon. As they announce games in those franchises in years going forward they are going to be able to really push this hardware for a long time: Bam! Mario. Bam! Metroid. Bam! Bam! Bam! (2) The processing power of the 3DS is reported to be somewhere north of that of the Wii. So they can keep re-packaging Wii titles for that system to further add value for the people who buy it. But that’s not all…all of the publishers who make games for the HD twins will hop on board this system and release new games for the 3DS or remake Xbox or Playstation versions of their games for the handheld since they type of games they produce will be pretty close to what the 3DS will support. I mean, yikes!, there is the potential for avalanches of software being released on this thing for years and years.
. I also think something happened with the Wii today that should make Sony and Microsoft green with envy. The announced a lot of titles that are going to be solid for the Wii. Following up on Mario 5′s dominance, they announced to very good looking 2D platformers Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country 4. Golden Eye is going to attract plenty of people for sentimental reasons. Epic Mickey looks to have Nintendo levels of quality. Metroid: Other M is starting too look strong, if you ask me (lots of focus on action in the new trailers), and Zelda: Skyward Sword is going to be a strong game, even if it has it’s problems. People will buy Wii Party and that new Mario Sports game. Take this all these titles together and there is a ton of software that is going to sell. And then consider this: the Wii is a cheap machine to produce, they could drop the price quite a bit further and still make money. This machine has legs baby! It is going to keep selling units and software for a good while yet. Nintendo can keep collecting coin with this thing as it prepares to (and even after) it drops the next bomb.
. Good golly, it looks good to be Nintendo today.
. There is no such thing as a ‘strong’ position in the game market. Sony looked like it was in a ‘strong’ position prior to the launch of the PSP and PS3, and we know how that turned out. The Wii looked ‘very strong’ being still sold out in 2008 until UGC type games came out and then in 2009 the Wii had a price cut. The game market can turn very sharply. . What I am most interested in is ‘Revolution momentum’ which is best characterized as to when the Wii launched. It created such an obsession and social phenomena. The DS had that but only in Japan. The 3DS is being well received by gamers, but I do not see it having that ‘Revolution momentum’ at this point. N64 fans will be delighted over Ocarina of Time 3DS, but people outside that sphere will not be. . On the large list of 3DS games, there are no ‘expanded audience’ games. I’ve seen the videos on Nintendo website where that guy with the bizarre piercing (or something) on his upper lip calls Nintendogs an ‘Expanded Audience’ game. This is incorrect. Nintendogs is only an Expanded Audience game on the DS. On the 3DS, it is a Core Market game. The Core Market changes over time. When the Gameboy launched, what was the Expanded Market game and the Core Market games? Well, the Core Market games would be games to attract NES players. These would include games like Super Mario Land and Baseball. The Expanded Market game for Gameboy was Tetris. Tetris is very interesting because it defied the pattern of video games back then. The game didn’t scroll. There were no characters or mascots in it. And it was just simple blocks. But Tetris attracted a new audience that previous games could not reach. And they bought the Gameboy. And they bought Tetris when it came out on the NES. The generation after, Tetris became a Core Market game. Wii Sports is an Expanded Market… this generaton on the Wii. But on Wii’s successor, Wii Sports will become a Core Market game. Mario 5 is actually an Expanded Market game on the Wii. On Wii’s successor, 2d Mario will become a Core Market game. Now, the DS originally did not launch with any Expanded Market games. Mario 64 DS was a Core Market game. It took some time before Expanded Market games like Nintendogs came out. Do not mistake that the Nintendo software for the 3DS is going to keep being geared to the Core Audience. At e3 2011, we should begin seeing software for Nintendo to expand some more. But at launch, it appears Nintendo’s priority is to shift the DS audience to 3DS before they begin their expansionary plans. This is perhaps why 3DS will not have ‘Revolution Momentum’. Wii launched with its expanded audience game of Wii Sports. If Wii launched without Wii Sports but had only Twilight Princess and Excite Truck from Nintendo, Wii still would have sold but there is no way the console would have been sold out for as long. While 3DS has a solid software lineup, it could be much stronger with some expanded audience games. In the eighth generation, Nintendogs and Brain Age and Wii Sports will be Core Market games. Nintendo’s Core Market has changed. |
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Where was the push for Motion Plus this E3? Nintendo’s been trying to get Motion Plus into as many homes as possible, with the colored Wiimote M bundles and the Wii Sports Resort system bundles, but they’re not following up with any software. We aren’t even getting Zelda SS this year. Why are they dropping Motion Plus like a rock? How Nintendo’s development works is that the handheld and home console have a space of two to three years when they are launched. Once a new Nintendo system is launched, it is Nintendo’s priority to make sure they are putting out first party software in order to drive the install base. Then, they let third party companies take over and let the Nintendo second party companies continue on that system while Nintendo’s developer muscle focuses on the next launched system. All of Nintendo’s developer muscle is going to the 3DS right now. Outside of Zelda, we will not see any more major Nintendo support for the Wii. It is all 3DS right now. When Wii launched, it was all Wii software while Nintendo let DS momentum continue by third parties (and the DS Zeldas). So you can see why I was upset by ‘Wii Music’ of 2008 and ‘Mario Galaxy 2′ and ‘Other m’ of 2009. That’s it. That is all the major first party Wii software we are going to get aside from Zelda. Nintendo didn’t seem to understand that motion controlled gaming was the reason why people were buying their system and for future motion controlled software. With ‘Wii Music’, Nintendo said, “We are not interested in creating compelling content.” With Mario Galaxy 2 and Other M, not only did they not really use motion controls or were about the values of the Wii, they made a sequel to 3d Mario (which was already on the Wii) and to Metroid (already on the Wii). The Wii did not need more 3d Mario and Metroid. This is why you do not see any momentum increase with Mario Galaxy 2 being released. Mario 5, of course, was a different story altogether. That type of game hasn’t been represented on a Nintendo console in 18 years and has never been represented on a Microsoft or Sony console. An explosion of momentum resulted when the game came out. E3 2011 will be 3DS centric. No doubt about it. However, this is a most unusual generation. It takes around two years for software to hatch. Nintendo only knew consumers wanted Motion Plus back in fall 2009. So if any motion plus software was started then, we would see it ‘hatching’ at E3 2011. Nintendo’s hardware cycle depends on Sony’s actions. If Sony makes a new home console, Nintendo will be putting out a new console pronto. But Sony appears determined to drag out their PS3 which means Wii will likely have a longer life than the usual console. |
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Hey sean! what’s up? I know you have lots of mails about this E3 and you must be sick of them. I0ll be short. In a conversation about E3 many were saying that the 3DS could disrupt the Wii making Nintendo to ditch the Wii and focus only on the 3DS. I hope not. I think the wii just scratched the surface for home consoles and I won’t like them to stop making them. What do you think? do you think that’s possible? a good or bad idea? Anyway, thanks for your attention. I don’t think it is possible for any handheld to disrupt the Wii. The Wii is performing new jobs that home consoles have been unable to do. Handheld gaming will never, ever be able to perform motion control gameplay. There will never be a ‘handheld’ version of Wii Sports. (Can you imagine that? You’re waiting to get on the bus and the guy next to you is playing ‘wii baseball’ in the public.) Handheld multiplayer gaming is somewhat like PC multiplayer gaming where everyone is at their own screen and device, isolated but near one another. With the Wii, everyone is looking at each other’s face and are not isolated. While people may not believe it, in a couple of decades we will be able to see handhelds have PS3 type hardware. Hell, you are about to play Ocarina of Time on a handheld. I bet you didn’t imagine that back a decade or so ago. But the jobs the Wii performs is ‘disruption proof’ from handhelds. One day, you will be able to play Killzone 3 from a handheld. But you will never be able to play Wii Sports Resort from a handheld. |
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Hey Malstrom,I love your articles,your website inspired me to get out of the time-consuming activity that is lurking stupid gaming message forums and get working in a video game(I have been working on the concept art!even!) and it also opened my view on many other things.Anyway,I just wanted to comment this http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/109/1097928/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-20100615103801204_640w.jpg Did you see the artwork for the new Link?the Link in this artworks captured me since(besides the beautiful look of it,I mean,just look at those watercolors!) you can spot a bit of a “young hero”air in him.If you look at the oldest artworks,link always seemed to have a bit of a cartoonist look in him,and this new link looks like a mix between that and the twilight Link. Oh,and there was a part in the DS3 trailer(the one in with Miyamoto,Reggie and company are sucked in the 3DS)were it looked like a 2d-3d mario(A la wii sports plus marathon).I think Miyamoto and Iwata were being chased by a Bowser in a typical Bowser castle…Could we see a new Mario 3d type of game in the 3ds? Despite 3DS, the market will respond stronger to a 2d Mario game on the 3DS than a 3d Mario. There is too much overwhelming sales data to support this from the DS and Wii. Nintendo is at a N64 fork in the road. With the N64, Nintendo felt they had to make every game 3d because their hardware could do 3d. Sony went so far as to not allow 2d games because they wanted the hardware to be utilized. If Nintendo decides to make every 3DS game as ’3d’ just because the system is about 3d display, the 3DS will be missing out on many consumers especially for a handheld. NSMB games were 3d anyway but in 2d form so a new 2d Mario would still work very nicely on the 3DS. If Nintendo decides to stop making 2d Mario at this point, they are stupider than rocks. I think 3DS will be very important for obtaining games like Monster Hunter. Nintendo wants that series badly onto their handheld. As for the artstyle of Zelda, I don’t have any issue with it except for Link’s cargo pants. Those need to go. |
