Official Wii Thread pt 2
#251
DVD Talk Godfather
Cool. I just figured we would be waiting a while for official announcements vs. confirmed by developers, that's why I was posting. I didn't know you updated the list.
All that matters is that we are both hyped for the system and expecting the best.
All that matters is that we are both hyped for the system and expecting the best.
#253
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by edytwinky
Are they still expecting the price to be around $200?
SNES launch: $199
N64 launch: $199
Gamecube launch: $199
Combine this history with Nintendo's comments about being cheaper, the budget hardware, and most people figure: $199.
#254
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Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
NES launch: $199
SNES launch: $199
N64 launch: $199
Gamecube launch: $199
Combine this history with Nintendo's comments about being cheaper, the budget hardware, and most people figure: $199.
SNES launch: $199
N64 launch: $199
Gamecube launch: $199
Combine this history with Nintendo's comments about being cheaper, the budget hardware, and most people figure: $199.
#256
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Well, I just got my 160GB USB external HD for $59. now I just need a Wii to go with it... I'm still convinced it will launch in October, so far far away.
Last edited by jeffdsmith; 05-07-06 at 05:11 PM.
#257
DVD Talk Hero
Time goes hands-on with the Wii. I don't know if this can be considered E3 spoilers, so read at your own risk. I cannot wait for Tuesday's press conference!
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new controller–but before I pick it up, Miyamoto suggests that I remove my jacket. That turns out to be a good idea. The first game I try–Miyamoto walks me through it, which to a gamer is the rough equivalent of getting to trade bons mots with Jerry Seinfeld–is a Warioware title (Wario being Mario’s shorter, fatter evil twin). It consists of dozens of manic five-second mini games in a row. They’re geared to the Japanese gaming sensibility, which has a zany, cartoonish, game-show bent. In one hot minute, I use the controller to swat a fly, do squat-thrusts as a weight lifter, turn a key in a lock, catch a fish, drive a car, sauté some vegetables, balance a broom on my outstretched hand, color in a circle and fence with a foil. And yes, dance the hula. Since very few people outside Nintendo have seen the new hardware, the room is watching me closely.
It’s a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It’s almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion–the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world–is powerful. And there’s an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you’re jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody’s having a good time.
After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo’s Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I’m Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a racket, and I’m smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice it for spin. At the end, I don’t so much put the controller down as have it pried from my hands.
John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for Nintendo’s new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur’s perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. “Our engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing,” he says. “‘Is that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?’ Everyone knows how to make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of throwing.” But consider the upside: you’re basically playing football in your living room. “To snap the ball, you ’snap’ the remote back toward your body, which hikes the ball,” Schappert says. “No buttons to press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball’s in the hands of the QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”
But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don’t listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal–they blog a lot–but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. “[Wii] was unimaginable for them,” Iwata says. “And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds.”
It’s a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It’s almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion–the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world–is powerful. And there’s an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you’re jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody’s having a good time.
After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo’s Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I’m Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a racket, and I’m smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice it for spin. At the end, I don’t so much put the controller down as have it pried from my hands.
John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for Nintendo’s new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur’s perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. “Our engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing,” he says. “‘Is that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?’ Everyone knows how to make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of throwing.” But consider the upside: you’re basically playing football in your living room. “To snap the ball, you ’snap’ the remote back toward your body, which hikes the ball,” Schappert says. “No buttons to press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball’s in the hands of the QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”
But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don’t listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal–they blog a lot–but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. “[Wii] was unimaginable for them,” Iwata says. “And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds.”
#259
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I can't recall; are the controller's sensors electronic or physical? I'm hoping they are heavy duty either way. I can see many hardcore tennis lessons or sword fights taking its toll on the controller.
#260
DVD Talk Legend
From this moment on, any time Nintendo does something that seems to not make sense, I can just tell myself: they're trying to surprise me. Their competitors listen to their customers? How dare them!
#261
DVD Talk Legend
That article sounds amazing. I love Warioware, and can't wait to get my hands on it. It's shaping up to be everything I had hoped for.
#262
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Originally Posted by Drexl
From this moment on, any time Nintendo does something that seems to not make sense, I can just tell myself: they're trying to surprise me. Their competitors listen to their customers? How dare them!
Nintendo has always been the company to push things forward to seek out new markets, and find ways to make the overall gaming market bigger. They often introduce things to gaming that are mimicked by other companies.
The stagnation we have now is a legacy of the PS2 era. I'm not knocking the console, I've had one since day one. But the endless stream of sequels with limited innovation has stagnated things. Hell, aside from the analog nature of all the buttons on the controllers, the PS2 dual shocks are the same as the PS1's. I thought there would be so much more done with that capability but there really hasn't been any.
Wii sure sounds like it will completely change things in a huge huge way.
#264
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Originally Posted by Qui Gon Jim
Wii sure sounds like it will completely change things in a huge huge way.
#265
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A new article in this week's Time Magazine gives a glimpse at the Wii, confirming a new Warioware title, sword fighting with the controller in the upcoming Zelda game, and a tennis title.
As far as the last one goes, just reading about how you can actually hit under the ball for lobs, slice at it for spins, etc. is just amazing.
As far as the last one goes, just reading about how you can actually hit under the ball for lobs, slice at it for spins, etc. is just amazing.
#266
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by DavePack
As far as the last one goes, just reading about how you can actually hit under the ball for lobs, slice at it for spins, etc. is just amazing.
#268
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Release list updated.
#270
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Is anyone else over the Wii name, already? I thought I truly hated it, but after sitting on it a week, I realized I don't care at all, as long as some of these games deliver on their promise.
#271
DVD Talk Hero
The name doesn't "sound" stupid when I write it, it still sounds stupid when I say it, especially since you have to repeat it and then explain it to everyone.
So as long as I don't have to say it out loud I'm fine with it.
So as long as I don't have to say it out loud I'm fine with it.
#272
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Originally Posted by tpc
Is anyone else over the Wii name, already? I thought I truly hated it, but after sitting on it a week, I realized I don't care at all, as long as some of these games deliver on their promise.
#274
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The Nintendo press conference officially kicks off on May 9 at 9:30am Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles, California. For those curious about when the show begins in your particular time zone, N-Sider has compiled a list of times and familiar cities for you to reference.
10:30am - Denver, Phoenix
11:30am - Mexico City, Dallas, Chicago
12:30pm - Detroit, Washington D.C., New York, Montreal
01:30pm - Caracas
02:30pm - Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro
05:30pm - Lisbon, London
06:30pm - Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin
07:30pm - Athens, Helsinki, Cairo, Beirut
08:30pm - Moscow, Kuwait
09:30pm - Baku, Abu Dhabi, Kabul
10:30pm - New Delhi
11:30pm - Colombo, Dhaka
12:30am - Jakarta, Bangkok
01:30am - Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore
02:30am - Tokyo, Seoul
03:30am - Sydney
05:30am - Aukland
07:30am - Honolulu
08:30am - Anchorage
Viewable here:
* GameTrailers.com
* GameSpot.com
* Nintendo.com
* E3Insider.com
#275
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Downhill Jam Screenshots. Def. running on GC hardware:
http://www.e3insider.com/images/?typ...eID=2QF45JF4HA
http://www.e3insider.com/images/?typ...eID=2QF45JF4HA