Nintendo Wii

[supremespleen]

So my Wii will only have 'net connection while my CPU is on, and I don't leave my computer on over night.

What happens if people send me Miis and stuff, do they just float around in cyberspace until I get back online?

yes

cool

oh i added you btw

send some keen miis

[Bahamut]

So today a friend told me that you can use the d-pad on the remote to pitch to the left and/or right, which added a ton of fun to Wii baseball.

[WesPip]

So today a friend told me that you can use the d-pad on the remote to pitch to the left and/or right, which added a ton of fun to Wii baseball.

Up and down too, I think.

If not, it at least makes me THINK it's going higher or lower.

And that's just as good.

[Inimitable]

Up and down too

Yeah, it does. Don't they tell you that in the tutorial?

[WesPip]

Up and down too

Yeah, it does. Don't they tell you that in the tutorial?

Well, that's more than likely where I learned it from.

But I may have imagined it, 'cause when I played it, it was about 3 in the afternoon after camping out the previous night, and the night before that, I'd only managed three hours of sleep.

So...yeah. It could happen.

At the time, I couldn't even find the place to plug in the cube controllers.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Right, okay. I think I'm just resigned to the fact that, no matter how pretty the graphics get or how innovative the control design, good video games will always be basically the same, sharing common elements. It's like literature. You can change up the language, the style, the setting, the genre, but in the end anything worth reading will always approach the same topics and themes and attempt to convey the universal Truth. The Wii is like the step from Romanticism to realism. It's a brilliant, exhiliratingly fun step, but it doesn't change the core of gaming.

I agree. Nintendo Wii in itself, as revolutionary a system with the crazy controller is, it's merely a layer on top of the gaming thread. It's about the core games and all that.

Also, if they can sell the same game over and over again, it must be worth keeping alive (and bringing to those who never had it before--it's not like I'd buy Super Castlevania IV again on the next Nintendo console). I think it's far less a crime to do this, claiming nothing more than surviving a classic, than it would be to dress a less-than-stellar game in a fancy new package and sell that, as many developers will do these days.

Yeah, I wouldn't go as far as to say that the actual act in selling them is bad or that people shouldn't have access in such a way. There's some games in the past that I passed up because of their extremely steep pricing, and yet I can simply snatch them up for free by the minute now. That's going off the point a bit, but what I'm getting at with the whole "suspect" nature of reselling the same old game is that the gaming industry is still dominated by the same game franchises even 20 years ago. There's nothing wrong with that fact. There's nothing wrong with squeezing the money out of the gamers. It's like double exploitation. Gamers demand it constantly, and the publishers rake in the money.

It's just artistically, it's just a sad cycle of lesser known titles just getting trampled upon, not selling as well as they should and etcetera. I'm a Sega fan, and I'm just resigned to the fact that their games, no matter how good they were, just did not sell. Same could be said of a lot of great PC game subgenres that simply became extinct due to low sales. Sure, capitalism and the whole supply & demand thing is great. I'm actually all for it since I'm in the business myself.

It's sorta like how PC games naturally become shovelwares. Console games, to me, should go down a similar path. Selling games for something ludicrously cheap like a dollar or five bucks? Fine. TEN dollars, nowadays? I'm just feeling the capitalistic, game sequel-pushing, franchise touting more than anything. Again, I'm not saying this should become the fact or that everyone should feel the same way as I do. It's just my own perspective on it.

[KWarp]

Games seem to be re-released in a similar manner to how books get republished. It's nothing new.

[Bahamut]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

[I-n-j-i-n]

Games seem to be re-released in a similar manner to how books get republished. It's nothing new.

True. But books can't be serialized in the same way games can. If the author can't bring him/herself to make more sequels, it just can't happen. While the total opposite is true with games. Even Nintendo let Capcom develop some Zelda games before. They can even rent out the license of their franchises to make games for them and etcetera. And typically, look at most of the oldie titles being re-released, and they predictably have their modern sequels still out. I just see it as a part PR and part resale.

And unlike books, with each new releases and top 10 lists filled with fresh new material and sometimes even outright revelatory topics, you see the top 10 lists of games and you're almost certainly guaranteed to see most, if not all of them are sequels.

Again, I'm not saying sequels and franchises are bad. Because I play them and enjoy them. But creatively, the lesser known titles and those that doesn't have the name brand have a huge uphill climbing to do. Unless they can muster the hype train like Halo and Gears of War did. (again, not to say the hype in itself is bad. I'm a casual fan of Halo and I'm sure I'll enjoy GoW).

With things like reselling the same game "as is", I just think it's a part of the whole "sell the same game" aspect of videogaming.

[KWarp]

Agreed. Writing can't build on previously-produced components in the same way that software can. Speaking from a business perspective, a sequel to a successful game franchise makes perfect financial sense. Then again, what medium doesn't? The game industry in particular doesn't seem to encourage reinventing gameplay mechanics with original intellectual property, so sequelitis seems more apparent.

The movie industry has a similar problem using the same directing talent (Less so with actors. They tend to rotate in a 5 year cycle much like consoles.). How long has George Lucas been on top?

Original IP has always had a hard uphill climb to go. In my opinion, the most apparent example is in the music industry. I've never seen Top 10 music that didn't have a major record label attached to it. In that sense, PR made Gears of War and Halo big (in addition to being quality games of course, otherwise you end up with the 360 launch lineup). I personally believe a successful new franchise is one that offers something different from it's competition but retains marketing appeal. Strong word of mouth can also work as Trauma Center proved.

Anyway, someone's thoughts on the Virtual Console service:

Well, there seems to be a lot of talk and discussion on the virtual console as of late. Much of it probably due to the fact that the weekly updates will stop at the end of the month, and we are all crazing alot more VC games. (notably some big name titles)

I honestly think this past month was nothing more then a trial run on the Virtual console. I have no doubt in my mind that Nintendo will release VC games in much larger mass per month next year. However, I think the main issue is that the virtual console itself was and is still experimental. Obviously there are a few minor problems with it. Emulation can have bugs, there can be download issues, and the roms automiatically save state. So, there is plenty of room for error. So far, Nintendo has tested classic old school games, some moderate ones, and some heavy ones containing some Mode 7 SS and such. Same with Genesis and turbographix. I think they are more or less making sure everything is working properly to the best extent possible before releasing a whole bunch of big hits. They are being a little overly careful as always (that is Nintendo's style).

Keep in mind, we all saw that Nintendo submitted big hits like Super Metroid, Kirby Super Star DX, SMB:RPG, etc. to ESRB at the same time they submitted the currect VC releases. Potentially, Nintendo could have these games prepped for an early 2007 launch, and possibly even plan to release them soon. This would make sense when considering the current virtual console releases. Each game released so far (seemingly pretty random), probably has some kind of programming/graphic use that is different and makes it unique. It is like a stress test on the emulators to make sure they run all these different styles and types correctly before throwing a bunch of games out there that use several of these all at once.

I am trying to keep an open mind when it comes to the VC. I haven't been extensively pleased with the shallow number of releases, nor the choice of released games. I've downloaded a few so far, but I'm really holding out for some big releases and announcements. I have confidence that Nintendo will deliver, but I think it is important to understand the potential reason in which Nintendo has been taking the steps they have so far.

I'm probably more anxious to see more third-party titles released on the VC then first-party, despite the quality of first-party games, because I'd really like to see some gems from other companies get a VC release. Notably Chrono Trigger, Super Buster Bros., Smart Ball, U.N. Squadron, Sunset Riders, etc.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Carrots? Is my post too long for you lazies to read it?

~DJ Kirbs

[Bahamut]

Well, the music industry has been experiencing a shakeup in the past decade or so - for example, in Europe, some metal bands have been making the top few or so in sales, such as Nightwish reaching #1 with their 'Once' album. Hopefully the videogame industry experiences a shakeup of their own as well.

[Zeklan]

I, for one, support the VC Completely.

I searched for many a year for two games at a reasonable price.

All I wanted was TJ&E & Gunstar.

I never saw them anywhere in gameshops and places like EBAY were way over priced [like $35].

So if nintendo wants to give them to me for $8, I`ll take that deal in a heartbeat.

Also, I would love to see Sunset Riders on the VC, especially if it was the 4 player version.

[Fire in the Hole]

You know, these jackass spammers are really starting to bug me.

Anyway, anyone else find it sad that it's been left in the laps of the end user to integrate tabbed browsing through possibly insecure and scrupulous websites, because Opera was, apparently, too damn lazy to put it in themselves? Seriously, it's becoming almost a cottage industry, trying to make the best, easiest to use tabbed portal.

I'm pretty sure it's been speculated all over that given this is the trial version of the browser, the final version will include tabbed browsing. Possibly even support for pop-ups.

[Neo Samus]

Have any of you have noticed, R-Type for the TG-16 is 800 Wii points. Why is this? Can anyone explain this to me?

I actually called Nintendo and asked the question and they didn't even know!! Didn't Reggie (or Nintendo) say that all of "X" system would be "X" amount of Wii points? Does anyone have an insight to this?

If I had to guess, I thought it might be either a) a licensing issue or a rarity issue. Thing is, I have no proof to support my claims. Anyone got a clue?

[zylance]

Just got my Wii.... It's awesome, but you already know that.

I haven't heard anyone talk about Trauma Center yet, do you like it on the Wii? I did not get to play it on the DS, but it's freaking great on the Wii.

[sephfire]

Never got my hands on the DS version, but Trauma Center Wii rocks. It's one of my favorite three so far along with Twilight Princess and Wii Sports.

And although Elebits may not be the greatest game ever, I adore the music. Must find soundtrack...

[atmuh]

Have any of you have noticed, R-Type for the TG-16 is 800 Wii points. Why is this? Can anyone explain this to me?

I actually called Nintendo and asked the question and they didn't even know!! Didn't Reggie (or Nintendo) say that all of "X" system would be "X" amount of Wii points? Does anyone have an insight to this?

If I had to guess, I thought it might be either a) a licensing issue or a rarity issue. Thing is, I have no proof to support my claims. Anyone got a clue?

They said STARTING at X amount of points.

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/17-11-2006-4096.html

[parasoul]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

In many gamers' eyes, Zelda OoT is still the standard.

[Bahamut]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

In many gamers' eyes, Zelda OoT is still the standard.

I sure hope not, because OoT was still lacking for even its day.

[Dhsu]

NICE TROLL.

[Steben]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

In many gamers' eyes, Zelda OoT is still the standard.

I sure hope not, because OoT was still lacking for even its day.

Which begs the question, is there any game which is not lacking in some respect? The only real way to make sure you've covered all your bases in creating a game is to make it short and linear - and then you have a problem with people complaining about its length.

Besides, Majora's Mask was a much better game than Ocarina - we should compare everything to that.

[Ruth Loose]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

In many gamers' eyes, Zelda Link's Awakening is still the standard.

On a lighter note: Does anyone know if the Virtual Console controller will be playable on certain Wii titles? I would hate to spend $20 a piece on these beauties only to not be able to use them on Smash Bros. Brawl.

EDIT: The controllers do work on certain games such as SSB:B and DBZ:Tenkaichi 2

[Cyanide cr MK]

Which begs the question, is there any game which is not lacking in some respect?

Yes there is. Street Fighter 3:Third Strike

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I think gaming has a long ways to go still, in terms of how developers approach a game. Just take Twilight Princess for example - it is just chock full of stuff, but even it seems to have more to go. Compare that to most of the games you see around. Even awesome games like Gears of War seem to be lacking in comparison. In fact, people tend to compare Twilight Princess only to the other Zelda games. Shouldn't we be holding all games to the same standard, and not just certain franchises?

In many gamers' eyes, Zelda OoT is still the standard.

I sure hope not, because OoT was still lacking for even its day.

Your mom was lacking.

Oot, however, was not.

[SenPi]

Ok question. Dunno if anybody has tried this yet or not but, can you download a game from the VC, put it on an SD card and delete it from Wii memory, and still play it?

like could you keep it on your sd card untill you wanted to play it, and then just transfer it to your wii memory. Would it still work? I just dont wanna risk deleting it from my wii memory, only to have it not work later on.

anybody know?