23rd May 2003, 10:24 PM
http://www.gameforms.com/features/interviews/palomares/
Intresting interview on Gameforms... they ask some tough questions with a Nintendo rep. Read!
As for 'why in this thread', well there are about 15 decent candidates and this one is closest to the top of the thread list. :)
Intresting interview on Gameforms... they ask some tough questions with a Nintendo rep. Read!
As for 'why in this thread', well there are about 15 decent candidates and this one is closest to the top of the thread list. :)
Quote:During E3 2003, Gameforms' Kyle Buchanan sat down with Dan Palomares from Team Nintendo to get some details on Nintendo's latest big push, the connectivity feature between Gamecube and Game Boy Advance.
Gameforms: Two years ago, Nintendo came to E3 to push the Gamecube. Last year, Nintendo was pushing marquee titles like Mario and Zelda. Now that the Gamecube is in the middle of its run, how does that affect what you focus on at E3?
Palomares: This year, Mr. Miyamoto has focused on connectivity more than ever before, with titles like Pac-Man, where you have your friends controlling the ghosts [on the Gamecube], and someone controlling Pac-Man on the GBA. There’s also Four Swords, which is a great game in the style of A Link to the Past on the GBA, which I’ve played a lot. So I think there’s more focus from Nintendo - and more focus from Mr. Miyamoto - on connectivity, because it’s giving you an added feature that nobody else can give to you. We’re also focusing on third-party support. We obviously have great relationships with Konami, Capcom, Namco, Squaresoft. We’ve got all these great developers. So that’s what we’re focusing on this year.
Gameforms: Now about connectivity – it was mentioned at Nintendo’s conference as one of the things that hadn’t really caught on yet with gamers. How does Nintendo think that a bigger focus on that will make an impact, considering it hasn’t already?
Palomares: Well…I think overall, we feel that connectivity is something that can really enhance gameplay. You haven’t yet seen the tip of the iceberg on what connectivity can do. You know, Pac-Man is a great game, but I don’t think that’s the limits of connectivity. You think of a game like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, where you have the connectivity there, and it’s definitely not necessary but it evolves the actual experience of the game. And I think Nintendo feels if we don’t do something innovative on [connectivity], something that really gets other developers thinking, “How can we use it?”…that’s the end goal. You know, product developers like EA are doing a big thing about connectivity this year, too, with Nintendo Gamecube. And so we’re really focusing on that this year, and pushing it.
Gameforms: Pac-Man isn’t a very hard game to program. Isn’t that a game that could have been executed by linking four Game Boy Advances, rather than getting the Gamecube involved? What is it about that game that makes it necessary to use the Gamecube?
Palomares: [long pause] Well, that’s a question. I think definitely that if you have three ghosts, you have limited room to see on the screen, and so [on Gamecube] you can see where your partners are, so it’s more like a thing where you can connect with your friends when you’re the ghosts, and say, “OK, I’m over here, and Pac-Man’s right here.” And if you have your own screen [on GBA], or all the players have their own screen, then you can’t communicate very well or see well with them.
Gameforms: Why would each player’s game have to take up the whole GBA screen? I think the Game Boy Advance could handle split-screen Pac-Man without much difficulty.
Palomares: Right, right. Well, that’s a good point. Pac-Man, like you said, is a very, very basic design, one of the best designs ever. But I don’t know how much more they’re gonna add to the show’s version. It’s still the first look at Pac-Man. Miyamoto’s a brilliant guy, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see what he has planned.
Gameforms: Another thing that was mentioned at the press conference was that the Gamecube systems hadn’t sold through this past year according to projections. Won’t the push for connectivity only focus on a niche of players that have a Gamecube, a GBA, and friends with GBA’s, instead of bringing in new players that don’t have either system?
Palomares: Well, it’s definitely…I mean, connectivity is not the main road we are going to take. We’re still going to be focusing on games, and we’re always going to be looking to give an enhancement to the experience of playing games. Basically, I don’t feel like we’re alienating anybody by focusing on connectivity. If anything, we’re definitely pushing our product. You know, Game Boy Advance is obviously a very popular system. There’s a lot of people that still don’t have it, but I keep it with me all the time. The SP appeals to a more mature audience, the backlight is good…when you think about the Game Boy and the older demographic we’re talking about, who started playing games on the NES, you get the same quality of games as back then on a portable machine, or, if anything, with higher quality. You’ve got over a thousand titles on the Game Boy system. So I think people are going to start looking at that. It’s got a lot of RPG’s, a lot more coming out that should be good, and a lot of games that I think appeal to the older demographic. So I think it’s going to be something that will push more hardware.
Gameforms: You’re telling me that connectivity is like a bonus, something that’s not going to alienate anyone. But what about a title like Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, where the only way to play it in multiplayer mode is to round up a bunch of people with Game Boy Advances? Why isn’t that a game that can be played in multiplayer with Gamecube controllers?
Palomares: Well, at this point, I don’t know if that’s going to be the final version. I don’t know if it’s going to stay that way, or if they’re going to look at that and say, “You know…” Nintendo is all about feedback, and E3 is one of the things where we come out here to see what people’s reactions are. A lot of the games out here are still experimental. We’re kind of playing with the ideas, putting them out and seeing what people think, what the reaction is gonna be. So we don’t know that in the final version of Crystal Chronicles, you’ll have to play in multiplayer with a Game Boy Advance. One advantage of it is that you can switch weapons on the fly, you can move everything around. And I think a lot of the people who will be playing Final Fantasy own a Game Boy Advance, just because of the large library of RPG’s that it has.
Gameforms: Well, that’s the thing: I know I’ve got a Game Boy Advance, but most of my friends don’t. So if I want them to come over and play a Gamecube game with me, now they won’t be able to unless they’ve got a Game Boy Advance.
Palomares: Well, with [Crystal Chronicles], I don’t know if that’s going to be the final version, so it’s something we’ll look into and we’ll see what happens in the end.
Gameforms: I know that some Cube owners are concerned about what games are left to come out, now that so many of its marquee titles have arrived or are going to soon. You’ve got your Mario Sunshine, you’ve got your Zelda, your Mario Kart, your F-Zero, et cetera. Are there still going to be games coming out in any of Nintendo’s major franchises past next year?
Palomares: Well, there are definitely bigger titles in the works. You heard Mr. Kojima yesterday, talking about how this collaboration with Metal Gear: Twin Snakes is building a relationship. Squaresoft’s coming back – you’re going to see more of that. You’re going to see more Konami, more of Capcom. Nintendo does video games, and you’re definitely going to see things in the works. We have a really strong lineup right now. Like Geist - that’s a first person shooter, and everyone said, “Oh, Nintendo doesn’t do first-person shooters.” F-Zero, that’s going to be a strong title. Definitely Mario Kart. We have a whole bunch of great relationships, and we’re basically loaning out franchises, like Namco with Starfox, or Sega with F-Zero. We’ve also got stuff coming up with Squaresoft and Konami. Nintendo isn’t going to stop making great games.
Gameforms: I think that a lot of players have been thinking about the next system from Nintendo, especially because of Nintendo’s claim that they’re going to get this one out first to market. It’s early, and there are always delays, but do you have any idea what time period Nintendo is shooting for to release that system?
Palomares: I know it’s going to be earlier. Personally, as a gamer, I don’t buy into that hype of “Oh, we have to get the new system out, we have to be first.” What matters more to me is what games are out now, what I can play now, because I don’t want to worry about games that are coming out in 2005 or 2006, whenever the next system comes out. I don’t want to miss out on the great games that are coming out now. To me, new hardware is great, but there has to be something to play on it. The Gamecube is obviously a big improvement over the N64, and the new system will obviously be a big improvement over the Gamecube, but right now I’m focusing on the Gamecube because it’s got great titles.
Gameforms: I agree that software is the most important factor in the success of a system, but you’ve got to think about hardware and market reception because they both affect whether the system will have a long life or not. Do you think Nintendo has learned things in those areas from the launches of the N64 and Gamecube that are going to affect how they position the next system?
Palomares: Well, definitely. I mean, in developing the Gamecube, we start to see certain things we like about the Gamecube, certain things we like about connectivity. There’s a lot of potential. I think the guys we’ve got working on the new hardware, they’re out there. They know what’s hot, they know what people want, and they’ve got a lot of ideas. It’s also important to make it affordable.
Gameforms: But is it going to be purple? Sorry, I’ve gotta ask. Nintendo’s always been labeled a kids’ toy, so they release the first model of [the Gamecube] in purple? How does that help debunk that image?
Palomares: Well, there was purple and black. Two different colors. A lot of people don’t like purple, but the Gamecube is still a Gamecube. The hardware is the same, right? A lot of people are into some new colors. You know, when I saw the Cube with the mirrored look for the first time, I was all about that. "Hey, I want that one!"
Gameforms: Yeah, me too.
Palomares: I definitely feel that. But to me, it’s more important to have enough systems out there. So if Nintendo launches a system in one color just to get more systems out there, that’s more important to me than having multiple colors. I upgraded to a Platinum, but it’s still under my entertainment system, and I only ever look at it when I’m putting a game in. I don’t think color really makes a difference in the launch of a system. I think the fact that it’s portable makes it cooler.
Gameforms: All right, one last game question. Miyamoto has said once before that there may be a new Mario game in development that will provide the leap forward that maybe we didn’t get with Mario Sunshine. Can you confirm that there’s another Mario game in development for Gamecube?
Palomares: At this point, I know as much as you do about the new Mario. EAD is really secretive about software like Mario. It’s on a need-to-know basis, and right now I don’t need to know.
Gameforms: Nintendo is always so secretive about upcoming releases. Why can’t they come out and officially say there’s a new Mario game in development? Shouldn’t they be trying to build a buzz and help people feel that they’ve made a safe purchase in their system?
Palomares: That’s probably more of a marketing question than anything else. If you look at the market itself, Nintendo builds genres. You’ve got Zelda, you’ve got Mario 64, or Mario Kart…Nintendo definitely builds those genres. As soon as we put something out, people will try to do it. We don’t want to put things out there too early, and have competitors try to steal that idea. We definitely know that we are good at what we do, and we want to keep that edge.