Nintendo???

tman

Stalfos wrote:

Your obviously dont know the power that Zelda and Mario have.
I do agree that the N64 and Gamecube while having brilliant games have stroke out especially the gamecube and fingers crossed that the "revolution" will do well and have a good line up when it starts like a new Mario, SSBM or Mario Kart game not something new and weird that will confuse and turn gamer's away.

i'd sure as **** buy one for mario 256 (or whatever the hell we're up to now )

TerrorFirmer

I really hate Mario.

I love the old NES and SNES titles, and even playing Mario on my Advance on my DS, but the crossover to 3D, I truly despised.

I'm talking about now in todays world. Not years ago. Yes, the nes, snes, gameboy and n64 were great with a lot of innovation but what innovation have they had since? Those consoles had the innovation and were technically superior to their rivals apart from the retarded decission of using cardridges on the n64. It's the other manufacturers that have been providing inovation since then. Touch sensitive buttons, hard-drives, online play, dvd ect while Nintendo continues to live in the past. Now the next gen of consoles have some amazing specs. Sony with their cell processors and blue-ray discs and microsoft with their multi-core processors. Nintendo don't have something to rival this technically and judging from the last few gens they won't have the software to rival it apart from their own in house stuff. How useful is touchscreen on the DS tbh? The psp is a much more powerful handheld and a hell of a lot more practical and attractive than the DS with a lot more features. Dual screens belong in the 80's, Nintendo aren't inventing anymore, they are rehashing old ideas. That's just my opinion. I liked Nintendo for years but lately I really think they have lost the plot.

You were going good until you said Dual Screens belong in the 80's
Handheld market is not the same as the console one. I for one look for great innovation and playability on my DS - The psp has gone down the same path as you say sony always stick to - lets forget about innovation and just flog off as many unoriginal and previously released games as possible. I'm not particularly interested in forking out €50 for a game thats already out on the ps2 in some form or another.

Games like Advance Wars DS will really show what the DS is capable of. I played those original games for weeks on end, and would still consider then better then any game I've played on the ps2 or xbox strategy wise. Combined with the endless possiblities of the Dual and touch sceen, I'm willing to bet the PSP will be extremely hard pressed to produce a game that can even come close to rivalling it.

Who cares if the PSP is more powerful. The handheld market is about more then that. If you want power and specs, go to the next gen consoles.

And how is the PSP more practical? Because you can play music on it? Watch video clips? Tbh the N-Gage went down that road, sounds good on paper, but in practice, its just not really worth it and will soon be a fairly rarely used feature by majority of users.

Cake Fiend

koneko wrote:

And for the record, I think the Metroid games are overrated.

**HISSSSSSSS**

CiDeRmAn

Metroid games overrated? Which particular planet are you currently orbiting?
The Snes and GBA titles are some of the best games on the platforms, the greatest game on the PSone, Castlevania, symphony of the night, took elements from it wholesale.
The GC titles are now standards, creating a whole new genre form the stale FPS scene, the First Person Explorer.

And as for the DS, its easier to use than the PSP, games so far are more original, more playable and better for getting non-gamers involved in this great hobby of ours, the PSP, while having superior graphics feels fragile and is quite awkward to use, not very ergonomic at all.

Have had both and love both, room for the two in this world, lets not beat each other up, lets have some coming together against the weaklings of the world, Gizmondo and N-gage, can you just see the Rich kid on Christmas morning having filled his Santa list with his PSP and DS dreams, only to find that the Dolt has bought him a Gizmondo, Scarred for life man, Scarred for life!

koneko

Sico wrote:

**HISSSSSSSS**

Oh, shush you, or I'll come over there and give you a good smackin'!

RE*AC*TOR

koneko wrote:

Oh, shush you, or I'll come over there and give you a good smackin'!

me first!

Retr0gamer

All you metroid haters should be boiled in a vat of phazon while being forced to play SOF2 and watch somebody having fun playing Super Metroid.

RE*AC*TOR

Retr0gamer wrote:

All you metroid haters should be boiled in a vat of phazon while being forced to play SOF2 and watch somebody having fun playing Super Metroid.

Hey SOF2 is fun....... for 5 minutes

Retr0gamer

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Hey SOF2 is fun....... for 5 minutes

Agreed wholeheartily. Oh the merriment when you first get the shotgun only to realise thats as good as it gets for the rest of the game.

Rhyme

The metroid games were fun for about an hour and then when i realised i was lost for the 20th time... they dwindled, but they still rate among some of my top games on the old systems of yore. Metroid Prime is a very faithful reincarnation of the series and any disagreements shall be met with anger, opression and WHIPS!!

uberpixie

Retr0gamer wrote:

Agreed wholeheartily. Oh the merriment when you first get the shotgun only to realise thats as good as it gets for the rest of the game.

no nono. The jungle bit where the ai, who can't see you, yet still manage to throw grenades with pin point accuracy at your feet.

And you can't see the grenades because of the long grass. Ha ha ha it's great. Ha Ha.

Worst waste of €50 ever. Pc gamer gave it 96% at the time claiming it was great.

I knew at the time Pc gamer reviews were going down hill. I really knew after buying SOF2. *shudder

koneko

SOF2 is pretty damn woeful alright. Multiplayer it's fun for a few hours if you get some people together at a LAN or whatever (it's pretty simple though), but the singleplayer is just plain bad.

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

me first!

You want to hit Sico too? Sweet!
No, don't reply, don't go there. Shush you aswell.

Glipmac

I love my GC more than my own family, but there are not enougth shops selling GC games does any one else play PSO?

Glip

TerrorFirmer

Hey!

I play SOF2 online every single night for about 3 hours.

For the last 7 or 9 months.

Its a fantastic multiplayer game.

Single player isn't particularly great, but that said, it's great at what it does. I found it enjoyable and overall one of the few games I was satisfied to pay £40 on release.

Worst waste of €50 ever. Pc gamer gave it 96% at the time claiming it was great.

Most magazines with some credibility to their name gave it from good to great scores.

And is it just "lets all pick on one game cos theres a few other people who dont like it" time? Every game has flaws.

Retr0gamer

You get off without a flaming for having such a great sig.

TerrorFirmer

: D

Cake Fiend

Rhyme wrote:

Metroid Prime is a very faithful reincarnation of the series

Not only that, but I'm now convinced that 3D is the natural realm of Metroid. I rarely feel this about formerly 2D series.

Retr0gamer

I thought Super Metroid was better than the prime games but only just. I was amazed at how well Retro Studies kept the same atmosphere and feel of the 2D games in the Prime series.

Fysh

Much as I've loved pretty much every metroid game, I can't honestly hold them up as the best ever game series. Metroid 2 I loved (although many have criticised it), Super Metroid was breathtaking and Metroid Prime was nothing short of fantastic. Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission and Prime 2 felt a bit too much like more of the same though - fun and enjoyable more of the same, but after a while not really unique enough to stand out as much as the other titles did.

Of course, I still have fond memories of playing all those games, quite possibly some of my favourites ever.

BloodBath

And how is the PSP more practical? Because you can play music on it? Watch video clips? Tbh the N-Gage went down that road, sounds good on paper, but in practice, its just not really worth it and will soon be a fairly rarely used feature by majority of users.

It's a little more than video clips. Entire movies can be bought on those disks. Although the price atm is way too high. More than a dvd, come on. It's a more mature handheld which is probably why it appeals to me more than the DS does. The console market has grown up. Nintendo hasn't. I want more than just a few cutesy games. Having the ability to browse the net, listen to music, watch movies and play a hell of a lot more games, either online or with someone near you sounds a lot more appealing to me than a couple of innovative games that make use of the dual touch screen.


BloodBath

TerrorFirmer

BloodBath wrote:

It's a little more than video clips. Entire movies can be bought on those disks. Although the price atm is way too high. More than a dvd, come on. It's a more mature handheld which is probably why it appeals to me more than the DS does. The console market has grown up. Nintendo hasn't. I want more than just a few cutesy games. Having the ability to browse the net, listen to music, watch movies and play a hell of a lot more games, either online or with someone near you sounds a lot more appealing to me than a couple of innovative games that make use of the dual touch screen.

So? The N-gage could hold seven or eight movies on one MMC which are readily available and relatively cheap, which is totally unlike the UMD format. Didn't do any good really. If you want to surf the net? Use your computer. Who wants to surf the net on a tiny screen when you could just do it at home on your own computer. Fair enough, you might be away - but for most users prob not enough to warrant using the net on your PSP, if not at all.

Yes, they are nice extras, but tbh I wouldnt even use them or notice them, apart from being to able to know they are there.

I still think the DS is superior, maybe not in terms of hardware but certainly in terms of the way forward for handheld entertainment.

The PSP might have more games but they are largely unoriginal and tbh not very exciting after a few plays. The DS launch selection is not great either but there are going to be some amazing games released that innovate on the dual and touch screen. The best you can hope for on a PSP is "wow, this is awesome....but it'd be better, or at least equal, on a ps2". At least the DS is something totally fresh and original, that provides a different experience to just the previously traditional handheld controls, and one that can't be experienced on a console at that.

The DS is technically a great step forward, and an innovative and exciting one at that that has great possibilites. The PSP is just another handheld with better graphics.

Which for most is not what preference is based on in this particular area.

Zombrex

MobileInfantry wrote:

The DS launch selection is not great either but there are going to be some amazing games released that innovate on the dual and touch screen.

Such as??

A console lives and dies by the quality and quantity of its games. So far the DS has a small selection of crap games. Not a good start.

Of course for a long time the GBA had a load of crap games and over time a few jems appeared amoung the mess. So hopefully the DS will start to get some quality titles. But there is nothing on the horizon that makes me sit up and think it was worth buying my DS on launch day.

BloodBath

The DS is technically a great step forward, and an innovative and exciting one at that that has great possibilites. The PSP is just another handheld with better graphics.

If you think dual touch screens is the way forward then good luck to you. Very very few games can take advantage of it. They are limiting developers in what the can do. These are simple facts. Having 1 big screen is much better than having 2 small screens. The same is true with it being touch screen. Seriously how is that the way forward? Apart from a few novelty games I really can't see any really good uses for touch screen. Developers aren't suddenly going to start changing the way they have been making games for years to accomodate dual touch screens. Nintendo are shunning third party development yet again and they will lose the majority market share yet again because of this. I'd sooner be playing ps2 remakes than n64 remakes tbh. Apparently N are working on a new handheld already because the psp is a lot more powerful than the DS. Despite initial good sales I think down the line the DS will be seen as another mistake from Nintendo. I'm not saying it's bad by any means, the same as the cube and n64 weren't bad. They just aren't the all conquering Nintendo like they used to be pulling in all th third party developers and having the best tech on the market.


BloodBath

TerrorFirmer

ACtually, currently, the DS is outselling the PSP in Japan.

And as regards to a good innovative game taking full use of the touch screen, look no further then Advance Wars DS. It will be the king of handheld games, and I bet that there will be absolutely nothing to rival it on the PSP.

Granted that Nintendo aren't doing the right thing with regards third party support but whereas I would never be really bothered playing a PSP, I would always love playing the DS for the sheer different experience of the touch screen and the originality if offers in terms of enjoyment and gameplay.

Fysh

MobileInfantry wrote:

So? The N-gage could hold seven or eight movies on one MMC which are readily available and relatively cheap, which is totally unlike the UMD format. Didn't do any good really. If you want to surf the net? Use your computer. Who wants to surf the net on a tiny screen when you could just do it at home on your own computer. Fair enough, you might be away - but for most users prob not enough to warrant using the net on your PSP, if not at all.

Yes, because carrying around a laptop (or even a desktop!) is clearly no inconvenience at all if you want to browse the web. I mean, really, what a silly idea. By your own logic, if you really wanted to enjoy gaming you'd do it at home on your own console connected to a tv...

MobileInfantry wrote:

Yes, they are nice extras, but tbh I wouldnt even use them or notice them, apart from being to able to know they are there.

The same could be argued of the PS2's ability to play DVD films. It's certainly not a requirement for a gamer, but if you own a PS2 you don't need a separate DVD player. If, like me, you own a GC instead, you do. The same basic argument could be made about mobile phones, but these days the top of the range ones include blackberry functionality, FM radio tuner, mp3 compatibility, a low end digital camera, WAP or even full HTML web browsers....multifunctionality appeals to people and sells.

MobileInfantry wrote:

I still think the DS is superior, maybe not in terms of hardware but certainly in terms of the way forward for handheld entertainment.

The PSP might have more games but they are largely unoriginal and tbh not very exciting after a few plays. The DS launch selection is not great either but there are going to be some amazing games released that innovate on the dual and touch screen. The best you can hope for on a PSP is "wow, this is awesome....but it'd be better, or at least equal, on a ps2". At least the DS is something totally fresh and original, that provides a different experience to just the previously traditional handheld controls, and one that can't be experienced on a console at that.

We shall see. As has already been discussed in another thread and alluded to here, a lot of people are getting bored of Nintendo's tendency to alienate 3rd party developers - I don't see this changing particularly much because, well, revolutionary as having two screens might be, it's not going to change the face of gaming as we know it. Harsh words, I know, but really. A touchscreen interface really isn't going to be that amazing - the GUIs will basically end up the same as what would be used for a mouse interface. Maybe that's fresh and new for portable gaming, but, well, whoop de do. And sure, there's possibilities opened up by having two simultaneous screens. But there's only so much you can have going on on both screens before people lose the ability to keep track of them.

Frankly, I'll be doing the same as I did with the GBA on this one - sitting it out, waiting to see what the games are like and most likely eventually deciding I couldn't be arsed spending the money involved.

I think that the strength of the PSP is that it's not just trying to be a portable console, it's going for the portable entertainment centre thing - and as rather amusingly evidenced by Playboy's recent announcement that they're making PSP-oriented galleries available, it seems that content developers are taking it seriously in that respect, so I can't really see it being a flop.

CiDeRmAn

Ah look, if you own a PSP you must be finding the launch titles to be getting a tad long in the tooth, only really playing Ridge Racer any more, Wipeout is just kinda, wipeout, and the rest are just puzzlers and stuff we have seen time and time again on other formats, Mercury was set to be the show off title and then they left out the tilt sensor, still like the game but not quite the revolution it was supposed to be.

The DS range, while not up to the graphical standard of the sony machine, are its better in terms of gameplay and innovation.
We shall have to wait to see what both Nintendo and third-parties make of the Dual screen but from what I have played I think it could be very cool.
The Nintedo is a far friendlier console, easier to use and more robust, I hope the Irish consumer, blinded by all things Sony branded, will have the good sense to see Nintendo have a console worth their consideration.

And Sony, whats with the Analogue Stick on the PSP? What a piece of crap, impossible to use comfortably on anything except Mercury so far.

Fysh

Actually I don't own either because frankly my portable gaming needs, such as they are, can still be addressed by my old Gameboy (break it down oldschool 1989-style! Yeah! or something...).

My point is that while I'm willing to shell out for games, if I'm going for a portable system I'd prefer something that does more over something that does less. Others may differ, but that's my perspective, and I suspect that for the casual gamer the same would hold true, unless Nintendo pull off a serious marketing coup (which may yet be the case) or get some seriously good titles out there soon.

The innovations available on the DS have so far failed to make me wet myself with excitement so there's not much point in reiterating that "OMG! It has like, a dual screen and stuff!", and for every person saying that the PSP launch games were crap there's another person saying they're bored of most if not all of their DS games after a couple of weeks play. I can't see myself buying either, but the arguments for the DS are for me weaker than the arguments for the PSP.

TerrorFirmer

Yes, because carrying around a laptop (or even a desktop!) is clearly no inconvenience at all if you want to browse the web. I mean, really, what a silly idea. By your own logic, if you really wanted to enjoy gaming you'd do it at home on your own console connected to a tv...

Not really. I'm far more likely to want to play a game on a bus then browse the web, and I'm sure most people would be the same. The web can wait, generally speaking, so as long as I had access on my home computer, PSP web compatibility wouldnt be an issue for me. How often are you on the bus and say "Man, I wish I had a game to play", as opposed to "Man, I wish I could browse the web right now...."

multifunctionality appeals to people and sells.

Yes, that is very true, but I'm just saying like the N-Gage, on paper it sounds so much more appealing then it actually is in practice. What are the odds that after a few months, the majority of non technical minded users will use it for mainly pure gaming? And whats the deal with UMD discs? What a flop of an idea.....as if anyone is going to spend full price on a movie that can be viewed solely (for the moment) on a PSP.

Memory stick is a great thing though, the DS could gain from one admitadly.

a lot of people are getting bored of Nintendo's tendency to alienate 3rd party developers

Yes, I find them lacking in that regard as much as the next person but really, there will always be a decent collection available and unless that really changes I dont particularly care. It may not getalot of the popular multiformats, or some of the big hits, but at least with Nintendo, you are guaranteed a certain amount of top quality games for the machine in question, certainly enough to keep your active interest.

In fairness, it really depends on what you look for in handheld gaming, there is never going to be a definative conclusion on which machine is better in the overall scheme of things.

The same could be argued of the PS2's ability to play DVD films. It's certainly not a requirement for a gamer, but if you own a PS2 you don't need a separate DVD player.

Not really. In the home enviroment you'd watch alot of movies really, but how many times are you honestly going to watch a movie on your PSP? What you are saying is true, its a great feature, but not as important to the PSP as DVD playback is to the Ps2.

On that topic, the cube minidiscs are one of the most horrible implemation into a new nintendo age. What were they thinking, after the defeat that cartidge use laid at their door..... :rolleyes:

Their new console seriously needs to go a tad more mainstream or else they'll be the new Sega.

petes

BloodBath wrote:

If you think dual touch screens is the way forward then good luck to you. Very very few games can take advantage of it. They are limiting developers in what the can do. These are simple facts. Having 1 big screen is much better than having 2 small screens. The same is true with it being touch screen. Seriously how is that the way forward? Apart from a few novelty games I really can't see any really good uses for touch screen. Developers aren't suddenly going to start changing the way they have been making games for years to accomodate dual touch screens. Nintendo are shunning third party development yet again and they will lose the majority market share yet again because of this. I'd sooner be playing ps2 remakes than n64 remakes tbh. Apparently N are working on a new handheld already because the psp is a lot more powerful than the DS. Despite initial good sales I think down the line the DS will be seen as another mistake from Nintendo. I'm not saying it's bad by any means, the same as the cube and n64 weren't bad. They just aren't the all conquering Nintendo like they used to be pulling in all th third party developers and having the best tech on the market.


BloodBath

"Many games wont be able to take advantage ot dual screens. Developers arent going to change the way they make games." Surely it should be up to the developers to think about new ways to make games for dual screen instead of releasing the same old drivel as before. This would be the way forward. Innovative thinking is what is required. They are not limiting developers to what they can do. They want them to do something different. And as far as I can remember the ds wasnt supposed to take on the psp anyway. It was as you said what they are working on at the minute. Nintendos clutch on the handheld market was never about graphics or the like. Anyone remember the game gear which flopped next to the game boy. If there wasnt a Nintendo out there releasing new ideas and not just regurgitating old ideas , we'd be fooked playing the same ****e over and over again.

TerrorFirmer

Anyone remember the game gear which flopped next to the game boy.

In fairness, if the PSP used 6 AA batteries a day, I have a slight feeling it'd flop next to the DS or even GBA as well....