11th January 2009, 8:37 AM
http://kotaku.com/5127251/nintendo-paten...-in-design
It seems that the step towards "casual friendly" involves embedded hint vidoes during gameplay, and a cinematic mode that plays the game FOR you until you want to jump in.
At first the gamer in me screamed "no this is aweful" but now I'm of a more supportive mindset. Here's why.
If done right, the hint mode can be disabled completely so you can wander around aimlessly for weeks like Cranky Kong intended. In other words, thinking further, this would mean that not only could you play the game without these incredibly obvious hints, this would also free up the team to make very hard puzzles without fear of shooing away the casuals. They get frustrated too quickly? They can use the hint mode.
As to the cinematic mode, from my perspective that basically is like including that great story you wanted to share with your non-gamer friends in movie form so they can just watch it that way.
So I'm actually cautiously optimistic about these features.
It seems that the step towards "casual friendly" involves embedded hint vidoes during gameplay, and a cinematic mode that plays the game FOR you until you want to jump in.
At first the gamer in me screamed "no this is aweful" but now I'm of a more supportive mindset. Here's why.
If done right, the hint mode can be disabled completely so you can wander around aimlessly for weeks like Cranky Kong intended. In other words, thinking further, this would mean that not only could you play the game without these incredibly obvious hints, this would also free up the team to make very hard puzzles without fear of shooing away the casuals. They get frustrated too quickly? They can use the hint mode.
As to the cinematic mode, from my perspective that basically is like including that great story you wanted to share with your non-gamer friends in movie form so they can just watch it that way.
So I'm actually cautiously optimistic about these features.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)