E3 Impressions: Nintendo
This is the second of three posts I will be doing. I will also be covering Sony tomorrow and have already covered Microsoft yesterday. Mind you, this is just my opinion on what was announced. I’ll also note that this, and Sony’s post may be longer than Microsoft’s. This is actually because I didn’t know that the Microsoft event happened before E3 started, and I’m following a Liveblog as I type this.
Right off the bat, a new Zelda game was announced. Had I not lost the Wii, this definitely would have been a game I would buy. I’m just a sucker for the Legend of Zelda series. It looks like they’ll be more precise in what you need to do when swinging your sword. An improvement over Twilight Princess’s “just move the Wiimote around” technique.
Nintendo has a Goldeneye re-release. While I’ll admit that I got chills hearing the 007 music and was hit with a nice dose of nostalgia, Street Fighter 2 HD Remix is a perfect example of how the past cannot be relived through a re-release. But one thing I really, really liked about Goldeneye is that as you upped your difficulty, not only did the enemies become a bit tougher, but you actually had MORE objectives to do, which required more exploration and enemies. I really wish games would do more of that. If this games goes multi-platform (and I expect it eventually will) I will still probably pick this game up.
Unfortunately, I’m not seeing anything really genuinely new in regards to the games they’re announcing. We have a new Zelda, Ninendogs/Cats, Dragon Quest, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Mario game. But outside of the Disney game, everything involves something from a previous franchise. Nintendo is in an interesting scenario. On one hand, they try new things with peripherals. On the other hand, all their games are from stuff that came out years ago.
To Nintendo’s credit though, they are showing a lot of what I want to see. Microsoft showcased Kinect – Nintendo is showing off games. And since Nintendo has been under decent criticism over the past for years for not coming out with new games for the Wii, these slew of new games should delight any Nintendo Wii owner.
The big draw for Nintendo is the 3DS. First off, I must give Nintendo credit for once again going a route that nobody has really gone before. 3D has been/is being done, but 3D without glasses on a mobile device hasn’t. While the issue with the glasses is actually dependent on the screen, going mobile with it isn’t. But, I don’t see how that’s going to revolutionize anything because it’s still a 3.5-inch screen. I can’t help but think I won’t be immersed in it like I would be if I were seeing it in front of a big screen. All things considered though – it’s still an impressive device and. Plus, the Kid Icarus game that was showcased – that looked like a Wii game – was actually for the 3DS. This means that the graphics may be equal to the Gamecube/Wii.
It also sounds like the 3DS is getting a lot of third-party support. (Update: Here’s a full list, courtesy of Joystiq) That spells out good news for Nintendo and anyone who will be buying a 3DS. But honestly, Nintendo, enough with the new models … isn’t this the fifth DS to come out in five years? A new model every year? That’s a bit ridiculous.
All things considered though, I think Nintendo pleased a lot of their fans. A new 3D portable system and a lot of games announced. While they may be from older series, (with the Disney game being an exception, and Kid Icarus being the first in about 20 years) those who pine for nostalgia will love this conference but it’s unfortunate that we aren’t going to see any new franchises being made within the next year. In the end, though, I’d argue that Nintendo will most likely leave with the most positive reviews once E3 is over with.
If you’re actually following my E3 opinions, look for my thoughts on Sony tomorrow morning as well as a E3 review early next week.
Back for a E3 review
Despite me taking a sabbatical for a indefinite amount of time, I felt that I should at least comment on my thoughts from the E3 expo that happened a few weeks back. Needless to say, I was interested in what was going to happen because I hold the personal opinion that we’re nearing the ceiling in terms of graphical enhancements. Outside of facial expressions and background details, I don’t think we can get much better than what we’re at now. The only real advancements we can make is to make it easier to make these pretty graphics for the developers. That being said, it’s not come down more on innovation, gameplay and creativeness for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
And it looks like Sony and Microsoft succeeded, and Nintendo fell on its face.
Article: Should Sony, Nintendo be scared?
Article: Games are serious business for Apple
Summary: Apple has already produced more titles on the iPhone/iPod Touch (which I’ll refer to from here on out as the iTouch) than the Nintendo DS. Apple is climbing the ranks of mobile gaming and maybe Nintendo and Sony should be prepared for a new competitor in the ranks.
Enough.
This is a very stupid and inaccurate article. And I’m going to prove it by two points and point out some hypocrisy with my third point. If you stop reading right here, then go away with this: Apple’s iPhone/iTouch games are nowhere near the equivalent of the gaming on the Nintendo DS or the PlayStation Portable.
Jobs: iPhone is the best handheld
At its seasonal hardware unveiling today Apple showed off expected new models for its agenda-setting music hardware the iPod – but it was games, not audio, which CEO Steve Jobs pushed to the forefront.
Jobs revealed that 100m applications have been downloaded from the AppStore, the area of iTunes which distributes software. There are 3,000 apps on the story – 600 of which are games titles, many of them free.
But “some of [the games] are getting pretty fantastic. There is something here for everyone”.
To prove it, he called Apple’s senior VP of product marketing to demonstrate three new iPod Touch/iPhone games, the Gameloft’s Real Soccer 2009 and the recently released Spore Origins and upcoming Need for Speed Undercover by EA.
The former ad the latter showed off almost cutting edge use of the touchscreen interface of the iPhone. Gameloft has programmed an on-screen d-pad into its game and has included gesture controls, while EA has transposed traditional racing game controls to the interface for its car racer.
Jobs summed up, claiming that Apple’s iPod Touch is no longer great for just music and video, but now games too.
“Now you can make a pretty good argument that it is the best portable device for playing games on – and a whole new class of games,” he said.
Jobs said that in a wider sense Apple had the best hardware line-up it has ever offered, which included also announced smaller iPod Nanos and higher capacity iPod Classics.
He also revealed details on the might of Apple’s place in the market as a digital distributor. iTunes was described as the “largest online content store in the world”, offering also 8.5m songs and 30,000 TV episodes for download. And there are 65m user accounts with registered credit cards on the service. All of this has “enabled us to slowly climb up to become the number one music distibutor in any format in the US,” ahead of traditional retailers like WalMart and Best Buy, said Jobs.
It seems as if when Steve Jobs isn’t telling people that giving an autograph would be rude, telling people that his health is no ones business, or forcing people to buy new products to support the new iTunes feature he’s telling people that the iPhone is the best portable gaming system – better than the Nintendo DS and better than the Sony PSP.
