Late Night Consoling

43
I'm sad to see that Fox is almost certainly going to ditch Arrested Development. It's amazing to me that an average viewer base of 4 million people is considered a big failure, but I admit I really have no idea how this stuff works. Hopefully Showtime or ABC manages to pick up the rights--I really don't care who gets it, personally, as long as they keep releasing DVDs.
  • Revolution to Arrive Before Thanksgiving

    [nintendo]

    After constantly giving the vague release date of "2006" for its upcoming Revolution console, Nintendo has finally given a slightly more defined release target: "by Thanksgiving" in the US. "We have no plans to miss out on the year-end sales battle," said company president Satoru Iwata, speaking to Japanese publication Sankei Shinbun. "As for North America, we need to release it by Thanksgiving, or otherwise we won't receive support from the retail industry. So the Revolution will be released prior to that period." Iwata also noted that it would be impossible to sell the Revolution for a price of upwards of 50,000 yen (~$433). In case that upper limit sounds a bit worrying, Nintendo marketing man Reggie Fils-Aime once again confirmed today that the system will sell for less than $300.

    In their respective interviews, both Iwata and Fils-Aime confirmed that Revolution would be present in playable form at E3. Fils-Aime said that the company will be showing "a lot of titles" at the expo, including the games from the system's launch lineup.

  • Geometry Wars: "Halo" For Live Arcade

    [xbox360]

    For many Xbox 360 owners, the best thing about their expensive next-gen console, whether they admit it or not, is Xbox Live Arcade. It sure is for me. And I don't mean that as a veiled slam to the rest of the console, it's just that Live Arcade does exactly what it needs to do: present a bunch of really fun games for only a few dollars each. After spending those hundreds of dollars, your wallet thanks you when only having to shell out $5 or $10 for untold hours of gameplay.

    It seems that there are many, many gamers who agree. Live Arcade group manager Greg Canessa said to MTV News that Bizarre Creations' "'Geometry Wars' has been our 'Halo.'" While that's perhaps a bit exaggerated, the game has done incredibly well, racking up 200,000 downloads and 45,000 purchases Not bad considering that at its roots, the game stems from decades-old gameplay principles.

    IGN has the top 10 selling Live Arcade games, and of course Geometry Wars tops the list. It's followed by Gauntlet, Smash TV, Bejeweled II, Zuma, Bankshot Billiards, Outpost Kaloki, Mutant Storm Reloaded, Joust, and Wik: Fable of Souls, demonstrating a healthy blend of arcade classics and current casual and independent games.

  • PS3 Launch Lineup Not Revealed

    [ps3]

    Many sites today reported on what was apparently an official Sony announcement of first party launch titles for PS3, including The Eye of Judgment, Genji 2, Angel Rings, Monster Carnival, a Hot Shots Golf game, and, most notably, a new Gran Turismo game. However, more competent translations of the page later determined that these are by no means launch titles; each has a shipping date of "undecided," and furthermore these games have already all been announced, meaning that there really isn't any new information of any kind on the page at all. It'll be some time before we get a solid lineup, given the console has still yet to be fully unveiled.

  • Nintendo's GDC Showing

    [nintendo] [ds]

    The official Game Developers Conference website has been updated to include two sessions held by Nintendo speakers. The first, a lecture given by Animal Crossing series director Katsuya Eguchi, will focus on transforming a console franchise to fit a portable platform, while touching on the DS' particular input methods and the online component of Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS).

    Much more relevant to gamers in general, however, will be Takao Ohara's talk on Nitnendo's Wi-Fi Connection online service for the DS. He will discuss the successes and failures of the project, and most importantly he will discuss what can be done with the company's implementation of the service on Revolution, and how the lessons learned from the DS implementation will affect it.

    There is not yet any indication that any Nintendo executives will present a keynote address at this year's event. At GDC 2005, company president Satoru Iwata delivered a keynote entitled "Heart of a Gamer," in which he discusses his and Nintendo's philosophies with respect to gaming, and also shed some light on the company's then-even-more-mysterious Revolution.

  • Capcom Producer Speaks of Revolution

    [nintendo]

    Geez, we don't hear anything about Revolution for ages, then occasionally we get these news days when there's nothing but Nintendo news and speculation. Minoru Nakai, producer on the upcoming Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (DS), spoke about the possibility of the Resident Evil franchise on Revolution. Capcom has still given no indication that Resident Evil 5 (PS3, X360) will ship for Nintendo's upcoming machine, and Nakai indicates that the Revolution's unique controller demands a type of gameplay more tuned to it. Certainly, the deliberately and successfully restrictive controls of Resident Evil 4 (PS2, GCN) would seem a bit at odds with the deliberately freeform nature of the Revolution controller. Nakai wants to first make a non-Resident Evil game for Revolution before bringing that franchise to the console.

  • Godfather Arriving Late on 360 and PSP

    [xbox360] [psp]

    Following up on yesterday's news that EA's The Godfather (PS2, Xbox, X360, PSP, PC) would be hitting stores in March on PS2, Xbox, and PC, IGN has confirmed that the little-mentioned Xbox 360 and PSP versions are still in fact in development. They will hopefully be launching some time in the late summer, according to an EA representative, but a more specific date was not given.

  • Misc. Q&As/Features

    Gamasutra's audience speculates on what company might be able to bring a third successful handheld gaming console to market.

    GameSpot has a designer diary for SCEA's Pursuit Force (PSP).

    1UP lets you know what you can do with your 360 power brick. Don't feel like you need to click on that or anything, I'm just sayin'.

Misc. Media/Previews

PS2

Screenshots: State of Emergency 2 (PS2, also PSP).

Movies: Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (PS2).

Xbox/X360

GameSpot goes hands on with the Xbox 360 version of Criterion's Burnout Revenge (X360, also PS2, Xbox). Game Informer checks out Pseudo Interactive's Full Auto (X360, also PS3).

Screenshots: College Hoops 2K6 (X360, also PS2, Xbox).

Portable

Screenshots: Top Spin 2 (DS, GBA, also X360). IGN previews Interactive Vision's head-scratching Top Gun (DS). Neopets Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing (PSP). 1UP looks at Sony Online Entertainment's Untold Legends: Warrior's Code (PSP).

Movies: Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (DS).

Multi

Movies: EA Sports Arena Football (PS2, Xbox).

Console Game Of The Evening [Submit Yours!]

Super Turrican 2 for the Super Nintendo. "Years after reading about it, I found that the reviews were correct: Beautiful, amazing, creative, and damn near impossible (even with emulator freeze states!)" (submitted by Swivel Master)

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 18, 2006 8:43 PM

    There are very few amazing moments in my life involving gaming that I can recall, even now, with crystal clear clarity. And most of them involve Nintendo.

    I stupidly have so much faith in the Revolution that I will buy it on opening day and be absolutely convinced that when I go home I will be completely and utterly entranced by the experience presented to me.

    Nintendo hasn't failed me yet. :P

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 8:49 PM

      Preach on. When I think of favorite gaming moments, over 75% is comprised of Nintendo. I cannot WAIT for the Revolution!

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 8:50 PM

      Yeah, the confidence I hold for it is pretty high also. Like the gamecube i'll have that puppy at launch.

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 9:03 PM

      Mine are spread around on lots of platforms, but the vast majority are on Nintendo platforms, starting with Super Mario Brothers, and ending with the first reward sequence in The Wind Waker.

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 9:23 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        January 18, 2006 9:33 PM

        Mario? Metroid? Zelda? Do none of those do anything for you? :P

      • reply
        January 18, 2006 10:07 PM

        looks like you're in the minority..in this thread at least :]

      • reply
        January 18, 2006 10:46 PM

        When has nintendo "failed you"?

        • reply
          January 19, 2006 12:06 AM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            January 19, 2006 12:21 AM

            Nintendo consoles were always child-friendly, I don't see how the N64 was moreso than its predecessors. It even had stuff like GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Conker. You wouldn't have found games like that on NES and SNES, at least not in the form they took on N64. I mean the farther you go back chronologically, the more hard-assed Nintendo was with decency standards.

            As far as online gaming goes, yeah they definitely dropped the ball on that one. Are you going to hold it against them now that they're getting their ass in gear with it though? That's a genuine question, because I've noticed some people tend to hold really long grudges with Nintendo based on things the company did in their past while ignoring really shitty things their competitors have done.

            Also, it pains me to see people who dislike the Wind Waker look. Man it's so gorgeous I'm still not even close to being over it.

            • reply
              January 19, 2006 12:25 AM

              Well, I'm sure some people would hate Grave of Fireflies just because it's "a cartoon" (i.e. anime). Some people just are like that.

              I enjoyed Wind Waker, but I am looking forward to Twilight Princess and the return of the "old" graphics style. I don't regret playing Wind Waker the slightest though...

              • reply
                January 19, 2006 12:27 AM

                I'm still kind of disappointed they're not sticking with the Wind Waker style, but I'm sure the game will turn out very well.

                • reply
                  January 19, 2006 4:45 AM

                  Same here, I had slight issues with WW's look initially, but once seeing it in motion... wow, I'm sad they're moving away from that... it's beautiful.

            • reply
              January 19, 2006 12:47 AM

              [deleted]

          • reply
            January 19, 2006 12:34 AM

            -- N64 - I do believe 3rd party developers did this. Nintendo stuck to the game style and demographic (everyone) that they were doing on the SNES. Sure they drove 3rd party developers away in droves (but theres another man at the helm today) but their games were fantastic - Mario 64, Goldene Eye

            -- DD64 - When has an attachment to a console ever succeeded well?

            -- Zelda - Dude, its a beautiful game. It fit the story and world perfectly, that game could not have been done any other way and retained its virtue.

            -- Sunshine - Why? The water cannon? Did you object when Mario got a cape? What about a raccoon costume? Granted the game was not perfect, and it definately shows that it was brought over from the N64 late in development, but it was still fun.

            -- Online - What do you call the DS' internet offerings? The truth is Nintendo has always been a company that moves when they believe the time is right. They never claimed that online gaming was a no-go, just that the market wasn't ready for it yet. Microsoft had a fantastic online service, and pushed hard for the concept to be a common idea in the market. They had good success with it, but up until Halo2 less than 10% of the Xboxes sold had an active Live! subscription.

            • reply
              January 19, 2006 12:37 AM

              whoops, first bit ended a little soon.

              Mario, Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, etc. is what it should have been.

              • reply
                January 19, 2006 12:43 AM

                [deleted]

              • reply
                January 19, 2006 12:48 AM

                1) ya the biggest problem with the N64 (other then being cartridge based) was how all the best 3rd party companies like square and capcom jumped ship to the PS1, so in that regards I can see how he could say Nintendo let him down because it was partly Nintendo's fault losing all that 3rd party support

                2)Ya it's true it probably wouldn't have been a success but they did promise it and did promise all those cool abilities with it. It never came true so you can criticise them for it

                3)See my post about Zelda

                4)Sunshine was just a below average Mario game. I beat it the week it came out but it was a major step below Mario64. Disapointing in that regard

                5)Online play, ya they're doing it now which is great but they should get criticised for not doing it with the Gamecube. We all wantd Mario Kart:DD online and how awesome would the newly released Mario Strikers be with friends/shackers if it had online play and voice chat? It be awesome but instead we have to wait until the Revo. The DS does offer online play but it's pretty bottom of the barrel http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=11424880 and I could list half a dozen other things it does wrong.


                Note: This isn't me ragging on Nintendo just being objective. Go through my post history and I'm pretty positive towards Nintendo but even if you think they're the greatest thing since discovering vagina in high school you can still be critical of their mistakes in the past like losing 3rd party support on the N64 and the mistakes with the DS's online play missing things we had with online services in the mid 90's.

                I <3 Nintendo but they make mistakes just like any other company

                • reply
                  January 19, 2006 12:54 AM

                  [deleted]

                  • reply
                    January 19, 2006 1:00 AM

                    I was disapointed to. I remember Nintendo pimping how you could write to it. They had all these crazy promises about writing to the disk and how that was going to change how you played games because previously all games were read only.

                    They're an awesome company though and do more good then bad (how I try to look at things)

                    • reply
                      January 19, 2006 1:07 AM

                      I guess I just have a different perspective since I'm not a longtime Nintendo fan. They're a completely different company now--different management, different business approach, different focus with development, etc.--and I don't really care what they didn't live up to in the past as long as they're delivering now.

                      It works the other way too. I really liked Sony in the PS1 generation; they did great things for developer relations that Nintendo wasn't doing and had a really good machine overall. However, just because that's what they did 10 years ago doesn't mean I'm going to keep giving them the benefit of the doubt. I have heard from many developers how shitty it is to work with Sony, both from a business and a technical perspective, and they have sort of this ham-fisted arrogance that doesn't really come off well to me. Of course, I'm not going to hold that against their games, as PS2 has some fantastic stuff on it.

                      But my point is I'm just not going to let my opinion of a company rest on practices from years past. Like I said before, EVERY company in this business has done shit that's stupid or reprehensible, so there's no reason not to just judge each produt and game as they come. Again, my perspective may be different since I didn't really grow up with Nintendo like many gamers did. Still, though, I've noticed a lot of people seem to bear undue grudges against the company for things that they've either fixed long ago or are clearly in the process of fixing.

                      • reply
                        January 19, 2006 1:13 AM

                        [deleted]

                        • reply
                          January 19, 2006 1:18 AM

                          Gamecube did suffer from lack of 3rd party support just like the N64 and I have no doubt that it's part of the reason they're 3rd in marketshare.

                          Nintendo did pay Capcom to make RE an exclusive on the GC this generation but other then that it offered no unique 3rd party exclusive games and unfortunantly for Nintendo RE4 came out near the end of the GC's lifecycle and was ported to PS2 later on anyways when the contract ended.

                          GC did have awesome first party titles though. Mario Sunshine was a disapointment but my friends and I played Super Smash Bros for a solid year and that shit was just awesome. Paper Mario 2 was great, Pikmen was good stuff, Eternal Darkness was good and I know I'm missing others.

                      • reply
                        January 19, 2006 1:14 AM

                        I totally agree. I remember getting mad at shackers when Nintendo announced DS online capabilities and people said "to late Nintendo" and i was like WTF if they didn't do it you would complain they still weren't doing online play. That mentality is stupid.

                        It's no doubt a different company now and I think they've done some great things (again more good then bad) and I think my post history shows that :) I was just adding a different perspective to Burning Eye's post because I can understand how he might have felt burned by Nintendo in the past. If you owned a NES/SNES and then purchased a N64 assuming it would be the same you would feel burned. We all do this, how many of us (including myself) assume the Revo will be good because the DS is good? We haven't even seen one single screenshot or real game demo (the stuff we criticise Sony for) yet all the DS owners anxiously await the Revo heh.

                        People do hold unique grudges though and I guess it's human nature. Personally I try to be positive and recognize that really if you think about it all the systems can give us fun video game times and isn't that the point of video games? To have fun. Yeah we get burned from time to time but for every burn there are some fun games to play and that's the stuff I think we should all focus on.

          • reply
            January 19, 2006 12:38 AM

            Zelda:WW is an awesome looking game to me. It has great animation and such a good personality about it with all the facial expressions. Great art style all around imo

            The game itself is pretty average Zelda affair and definitely a drop off from Ocarina/Link to the Past quality in my opinion. I still enjoyed going through it though except collecting the final triforce shards...ugh At least the final boss fight was awesome

          • reply
            January 19, 2006 1:28 PM

            [i]letting the n64 turn into the ultimate childrens gaming machin/i]
            How is that? The game I played most on my N64 was goldeneye, which is hardley a children's game. If you weren't a fan of Mario kart, while "animated" and kid-friendly, then there's a real issue.

            You missed the BIG problem with the N64, which was no RPGs. It had everythign else in spades.

            [i]i was actually looking forward to the DD64[/i]
            Not doing the DD64 was one thing that helped save nintendo. You say it would have been great, but it was too far ahead of its time, AND was an addon. It would have not sold, only been used by like 3 games, and you would be pissed off that you spent $100+ on it.

            [i]turning zelda cellshade/i]
            I regard that as a success. I was skeptical, much as I was with metroid going FPS, but both of those changes were good in most people's eyes.

            [i]mario sunshin/i]
            Agreed, but a single crappy game does not deserve the amount of angst you have :)

            [i]refusing to acknowledge online gamin/i]
            I used to agree with you, but after doing online gaming on my PS2, I'd rather Sony have done like nintendo (waited until NEXT generation) than fuck it up royally this generation. PS2's online experience can't even compete with the dreamcast's dialup experience.

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 9:35 PM

      For console gaming, Nintendo has pretty much exclusively provided me with the most memorable momements. I too have faith in the Revolution.

    • reply
      January 18, 2006 9:36 PM

      Agreed. I can't wait to see what Nintendo's software houses come up with with the Revo controller. That shit is mine day1

      • reply
        January 18, 2006 9:47 PM

        although I should add some of my favorite moments on Nintendo systems are by 3rd party companies. Contra on SNES, Gradius on NES, RE4 on GC, Castlevania on NES/DS and dozens of others. KOTOR wasn't awesome because it was on xbox/pc it was awesome because Bioware is the shit at making games. Nintendo themselves though, they make some of my favorite games every generation.

        3rd party support is very important and I hope the Revo get's a lot of it

        now I have the urge to play Paper Mario 2 again


    • reply
      January 19, 2006 2:30 AM

      I stupidly have so much faith in the Revolution that I will try to buy it on opening day and, by my 10th shop visit, be absolutely pissed off that all three console manufacturers still cannot meet demand at launch. :)

    • reply
      January 19, 2006 4:28 AM

      Buying it the first day is all going to depend on price for me... there's no way I'm paying anywhere near 300 dollars for the thing.

      • reply
        January 19, 2006 4:46 AM

        Same here... If it's 150 or so, I'll snap that up in a heartbeat. If 300 it'll be a while... =P

      • reply
        January 19, 2006 5:31 AM

        Im guessing $199 for a launch price

Hello, Meet Lola