Nintendo Japan newsbits...

[A Black Falcon]

http://cube.ign.com/articles/496/496799p1.html

Wow! An article!

March 05, 2004 - Japan's Nintendo Dream all-Nintendo publication contains in its monthly issues a Q&A corner in which many Nintendo-related topics are addressed. This month's edition was particularly loaded with interesting Nintendo related details.

Topics of merit include:

# Famicom Mini: Nintendo was apparently surprised by the success of the Famicom Mini series of classic NES titles for the Game Boy Advance. The company is of course considering adding more titles beyond the original ten. However, actually choosing the titles for the series is a difficult task, given the large variety of NES titles.

# Club Nintendo membership has gone up as a result of the Japanese release of Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green. Membership registration is currently running at 1.5 times that of the end of last year.

# Development on Mario Tennis GC is progressing well, but Nintendo is not at a point where it can discuss a release date.

# Nintendo does not have plans to unveil the successor to the GameCube at this year's E3.

# The Wireless Adapter that gives Game Boy Advance wireless link-up ability has quite a bit of functionality built into it. Nintendo is currently looking into ways to use the device, but as a start, the company will begin at the Pokemon Center some time around the end of February, a new service that makes use of the device.

# As previously confirmed, a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is currently in development. Also, while not officially confirmed, the company is working on a sequel to Animal Forest +, with the original's development staff stating "There's still a lot we want to do [with the game]." It's apparently just a matter of time before an official announcement takes place.

# Finally, some news for Japanese fans who want the Japanese version of the latest Treasure-developed title. Wario World is still coming out to the Japanese market. Nintendo is currently setting a time for the game's release.

Fans of Wind Waker, Animal Forest, Famicom Mini and the Wireless Adapter apparently have a lot to look forward to.

Oh and here's a shocking statement from Magicbox.

- Nintendo mentioned they do not plan to reveal any info on the successor of GameCube at E3 2004.

Oh and more shots of Homeland, that Japanese rpg-ish game we probably won't get...

http://www.the-magicbox.com/Mar04/game030104g.shtml

[Great Rumbler]

I want that game.

[geoboy]

I'll probably be shot for this, but I hope the sequel to Wind Waker <i>is</i> cel-shaded. I say this because... while a lot of people want a graphically realistic Zelda game for the Gamecube (boooring), I think that, with the direction the Zelda franchise has gone, cel-shading is just more...appropriate.

[A Black Falcon]

Homeworld? I want more information, but it looks interesting at least... but Nintendo seems to be against actually giving us many of these games... oh sure we're getting more games than 10 years ago but still it's absurd to see so many good looking games not come here...

Though, we are getting Donkey Konga. And it'll be $50 and include the drumset... and Wario Ware Cube... but we could make the list of games we want and didn't get again... Magical Vacation, Earthbound, Giftpia, this... they could surprise me and release one of them but I have my doubts at this point. Oh Homeworld isn't out yet but we haven't heard one word from NOA of the game...

[The Former DMiller]

I'll probably be shot for this, but I hope the sequel to Wind Waker <i>is</i> cel-shaded. I say this because... while a lot of people want a graphically realistic Zelda game for the Gamecube (boooring), I think that, with the direction the Zelda franchise has gone, cel-shading is just more...appropriate.

I totally agree with you. I hope they keep the cel-shading, but make the next game a little, or even a lot, harder.

[Dark Jaguar]

Certainly I agree. Jacking up the difficulty is a must for me. I enjoyed the cel shading, and even the modelling style once I found out exactly what it's intended to resemble. I still prefer the OOT look as far as the modelling style goes, but not by some great amount.

Perhaps the next one will have an adult version of Link, you know, just because that's how the pattern tends to go.

[OB1]

The WW successor is going to be cel-shaded. Miyamoto confirmed that. The style works great for Zelda and proved to be a huge success, and making an all-new engine would push the release of that game to 2006 instead of late 2004/early 2005. It's going to be like OoT and MM.

I wouldn't mind if someone like Silicon Knights were to make a darker, more realistic Zelda adventure just as long as EAD keeps doing what they feel is best for the main series.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, the cel-shading is okay... they just need better water and a much more challenging game. :)

[OB1]

Sure.

[Great Rumbler]

I think we actually are supposed to get Giftpia sometime this year.

[A Black Falcon]

I don't know about that...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well Zelda has always felt light-hearted serious, in an obviously oxymoronic sort of way, to me anyway. I was suggesting making Link an adult not for any sort of seriousness. He can be a kid and it's still all good. I'm saying just to continue the story, like it's years later and they finally find a land that seems perfect for New Hyrule, but there's something amiss... (as must be the case :D). It's just a common pattern to have the first game be child Link and the second be adult Link, with Zelda 2 kinda setting it, and every other Link sorta breaking it in it's own way (Oot and MM reversed it). No matter, it's just that, you know, both ages of Link have been seen many times, so hey, why not check out what adult Link would look like cel shaded? With exciting adult situations, like doing your taxes! ...no that's boring...

Eh, Zelda to me always has a serious tone, but also a light hearted tone. Indeed, the most alien situation I've encountered in Zelda is in MM when you find those beavers. They completely clashed with the Zelda world. I felt like I somehow teleported into Banjo~Kazooie land, and the mini-game felt Banjo-tastic as well. It was great fun though, and hey a few ridiculous demi-humans don't really do any harm. Warcraft does it too. I bring Pandamonium! Oddly enough, I felt WW had a deeper story in some respects that previuos Zeldas, showing that the look didn't really reflect any sort of childishness in the take on the story. I mean, Ganon's original motivation is revealed, and it's rather disturbing in a way.

Eh, anyway I'm sure the next game will end up fun, and I have a feeling it'll be adult Link this next time (why not?, not that it matters, but you know, something new...). However, to put it above OOT for me it'll have to be challenging. Make the puzzles harder Nintendo, and maybe lengthen it out a bit. I can wait! Delay it until the end of the GCN's life span if you have to!

[OB1]

Well Zelda has always felt light-hearted serious, in an obviously oxymoronic sort of way, to me anyway. I was suggesting making Link an adult not for any sort of seriousness. He can be a kid and it's still all good. I'm saying just to continue the story, like it's years later and they finally find a land that seems perfect for New Hyrule, but there's something amiss... (as must be the case ). It's just a common pattern to have the first game be child Link and the second be adult Link, with Zelda 2 kinda setting it, and every other Link sorta breaking it in it's own way (Oot and MM reversed it). No matter, it's just that, you know, both ages of Link have been seen many times, so hey, why not check out what adult Link would look like cel shaded? With exciting adult situations, like doing your taxes! ...no that's boring...

I wasn't responding to your suggestion that Link should be older in WW2, as I agree that it'd make sense for Link to be older in the next game since it'll probably take place after WW. I'd also like to see adult Link done in WW's style.

Eh, Zelda to me always has a serious tone, but also a light hearted tone. Indeed, the most alien situation I've encountered in Zelda is in MM when you find those beavers. They completely clashed with the Zelda world. I felt like I somehow teleported into Banjo~Kazooie land, and the mini-game felt Banjo-tastic as well. It was great fun though, and hey a few ridiculous demi-humans don't really do any harm. Warcraft does it too. I bring Pandamonium! Oddly enough, I felt WW had a deeper story in some respects that previuos Zeldas, showing that the look didn't really reflect any sort of childishness in the take on the story. I mean, Ganon's original motivation is revealed, and it's rather disturbing in a way.

Yes exactly, you can have a deeper and more serious story but still retain the light-heartedness and innocence of Zelda with the cel-shaded look.

Eh, anyway I'm sure the next game will end up fun, and I have a feeling it'll be adult Link this next time (why not?, not that it matters, but you know, something new...). However, to put it above OOT for me it'll have to be challenging. Make the puzzles harder Nintendo, and maybe lengthen it out a bit. I can wait! Delay it until the end of the GCN's life span if you have to!

It would be interesting to see the story take place several years after the new Hyrule has been built, with Link an adult.

[A Black Falcon]

WW does have more story but it's so easy you go through it really fast with less time to process it... like Warcraft III. Compared to OoT or Starcraft, respectively. :)

And yes after playing WW I agree, the look fits Zelda quite well. It just needs some touchups and challenge... and as a related thing less hand-holding. No giant targets for the hookshot, etc!

[OB1]

OoT had much more hand holding than WW did. Remember navi? "HEY!!!!! Press A!!!!!!!" every five damn seconds!

And yeah you're totally right, the deep story of OoT really needed a lot of time to process.

[A Black Falcon]

Maybe not, but like WC3 WW has a lot of story but you get it so fast... okay OoT has less but WW has more story than most any of the Zeldas before it... and you go through it faster. ... okay I haven't finished WW but you don't get any more story in the part I'm in... :) And it's just so dull that I don't have a whole lot of interest in finishing it soon.

[OB1]

You're sad. And dumb.

[A Black Falcon]

Do you understand my point or not? I might not be explaining it that well... it'd make more sense with WC3 vs SC but you haven't played them so you might not get it...

[Dark Jaguar]

I didn't think you were talking to me about my whole adult Link suggestion. I was actually more responding to the general idea of Zelda as completely unserious. In any case we have a general agreement.

Regarding ABF: Oh YES I hate those blatent "THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO SHOOT THE HOOKSHOT AT YOU MORON!" signs called the "hookshot targetting". They should also take that off the boomerang for that matter, so I could have figured out I could use it to cut down vines myself. In order for it to target multiple stuff a new interface would need to be done... I'm thinking press the targetting button while aiming the boomerang to target whatever you are pointing at (in other words, make a lot of stuff targetable, to be misleading :D), and then be able to move on and try other things in that fasion. It won't be quick that way though... Perhaps allowing it to autotarget enemies would do, but anything else must be manually aimed at.

[OB1]

Do you understand my point or not? I might not be explaining it that well... it'd make more sense with WC3 vs SC but you haven't played them so you might not get it...

I've played plenty of WC3 and SC. But your point is retarded. So more story is bad all of a sudden??

I didn't think you were talking to me about my whole adult Link suggestion. I was actually more responding to the general idea of Zelda as completely unserious. In any case we have a general agreement.

Oh... well it sounded like you were responding to my post.

[A Black Falcon]

Hookshot, boomerang, grappling hook, etc... get rid of it for all of them... though for the boomerang having a system for multiple hits would be okay. You're right though it'd need to work differently somehow, probably... having autotarget for enemies would be a very good idea.

As for my point what I mean is I like the story spaced out more, generally. With "content" between the story segments... oh WW has it but not enough. The game moves fast and it keeps throwing story at you... okay it's hardly a massive story but compared to previous Zelda games... yes, there is more of it, but it''s also more common with less in between the story parts... it's a complaint about easiness, to be precise. When a game is easy you progress fast and I'd rather you went slower and didn't have the story thrown at you at such a pace...

Oh, in SC if you beat each mission on the first try it'd be like SC in story speed but you generally don't do that. :D In WC3 that is possible most of the time so the game seems to move WAY faster.

[OB1]

I could understand that complaint with something like MGS, but WW??? There's more story compared to every other Zelda game but it's still pretty low on cinemas and plot. You're weird, ABF.

[A Black Falcon]

It was too easy! It was too easy and got dull. :)

Okay, there is some challenge in getting these stupid map pieces, and there are some sidequests I haven't finished I could do, but the 'getting map pieces' stuff is more annoying than fun!

As for the story that was more a complaint about WC3 than WW. :) My point wasn't that there was too much story but that you go through the game too fast because of how easy it was... it'd be much more fun with a OoT-level of difficulty. :)

As for MGS, I played halfway through MGS2 and it was okay. Oh, very story-heavy, but if you accept that the game is more about cinema than gameplay...

[OB1]

There's plenty of gameplay in MGS. Sure there's also tons of cinema, but there's also plenty of gameplay. It isn't Xenosaga.

[A Black Falcon]

I've heard the second half of Raiden's part of the game gets more and more story with less and less gameplay, though, and that's what I hadn't gotten to yet...

[OB1]

There's still lots of gameplay, just many breaks of cinemas.

[A Black Falcon]

Very long cinemas.

[OB1]

For you, yes. Especially since you consider WW to be story-heavy. But I've been hardened by the almighty Xenosaga! No other "game" tests your viewing patience as much as that one. I should really beat it though... I can't believe I bought it for $50.

[Great Rumbler]

I beat MGS2.

Otocon's confession about his past was REALLY weird.

[OB1]

What was it again?

No wait, don't tell me. I'll probably play through MGS2 again after I beat Twin Snakes.

[Dark Jaguar]

MGS2 I loved.

I wouldn't say it's got less cinema than Xenosaga, but then again I haven't beaten it yet myself. I'm apparently near the end according to my friend. Really, the problem is just how SHORT the game is. Lots of story, but the game is linear and short. Bad combo. Xenogears packed an ENTIRE story, a long one, into one game, and that was just one chapter of it's tale. It was a full length adventure and was more open. Xenosaga not only forced you to go wherever it wanted you to, but you couldn't back track. Well, you could pseudo back track via the environmental simulator, but that's just not the same... Also, the AGWS are completely useless. If you take the time to summon them for their SMALL increase in power, and sometimes they are actually weaker, then the enemy will KILL you. I was looking forward to a game of the same length as Xenogears, and that's why I assumed the graphics weren't exactly show stopping, because they were spending more time on the game itself. RAther, I was presented with a CHAPTER of the game. It seems they intend on milking the thing by selling what should be one game piece by piece. In conclusion, while the battle system IS very nice (aside from the AGWS), the game for variuos reasons just won't add up to the greatness of Xenogears.

[OB1]

There are no cinemas in MGS2 that last over two hours long. Xenosaga has what, over eight hours of cinemas or something like that? MGS2 is dwarfed by comparison.

[Great Rumbler]

What was it again?

No wait, don't tell me. I'll probably play through MGS2 again after I beat Twin Snakes.

It's not exactly something you'd look forward to when playing it again. :D

[OB1]

What was it?

[Great Rumbler]

[A Black Falcon]

Umm... yeah...

And OB1, if you don't get what I said I've just about given up on you.

Look, of course compared to MGS2 WW has a comparitively small amount of story. But for a Zelda game it's probably got the most ever...

Oh and it's not like I've never played a game with lots of story. I finished Torment... 100,000 lines of dialogue are in that game... :)

[OB1]

Saying that WW has the "most story ever" for a Zelda game is like saying that my kitten has the fiercest growl ever for a kitten. It doesn't say much.

[A Black Falcon]

... true ...

But that doesn't change the fact that the game would be more fun (and better paced) with harder gameplay. :)

Oh I played it for like half an hour (WW)... got two maps. Haven't bought them from Tingle yet though... I've bought 2 and have 6 more to go from him (with 2 in my posession now) and have 1900 rupees. Is that enough or will I spend time collecting...

[OB1]

Taking three month breaks in between tasks will make it seem poorly paced, Brian.

[A Black Falcon]

Games being too hard can of course get me to quit playing, but too easy is a problem as well, as this game shows... most of the game is easy. Some puzzles are tough, true, and I did quit playing a few times because of hard puzzles... but still I have only died once in the game, and that says a lot about the challenge level... if I played it consistently it wouldn't have taken that long. :)

Like as I said I got LttP a few days back and now I've beaten the first three dungeons (gotten the pendants and now to get the Master Sword) and I've probably died like 10 times... I did beat the third pendant dungeon without dying, but that was with the help of a red potion and two faries. :)

The one time I died in WW it was at a boss after I accidentally wasted my farie.

[Dark Jaguar]

I've heard the number of hours in reviews, but to be honest I have yet to encounter that length of cinema scenes playing the game. Maybe it's all compressed into the ending cinema, but well, the average cinema length, while long, I guess didn't stand out as much as the length of quite a number in MGS2.

Oh well, let's just say it's about even.

[OB1]

Xenosaga and MGS2? Xeno has around 6-8 hours of cinemas while MGS2 is closer to 2-3.

[A Black Falcon]

It depends if you just mean CG cinemas or all of the parts of the game where you watch while things happen onscreen...

[OB1]

Yeah I'm talking about all of the non-playing bits.

[A Black Falcon]

MGS2 has a massive amount of it.

[OB1]

Yes, but not even half as much as Xenosaga.

[A Black Falcon]

Way more than 2 or 3 hours is my point. Way, way more. :)

[Great Rumbler]

I didn't really mind the cinemas in MGS2.

[OB1]

Way more than 2 or 3 hours is my point. Way, way more.

You didn't even play the game! I beat MGS2 in 11 hours on my first try, and there's roughly 70% gameplay, 30% non-gameplay. And by non-gameplay I mean not actually controlling your character, so that includes using your codec real quick to talk to someone. In terms of cinemas there's maybe two hours worth. Xenosaga has 6-8 hours of cinemas! And that's not including all of the talking with people and stuff.

[Great Rumbler]

That's about how long it took me to beat MGS2. I didn't really think it had too many cinemas as the game itself was very fun.