Ooooh Revolution info!

[A Black Falcon]

Well, not really new, but ... um... yeah...

http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

- Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed the company's new plans on the next generation console and other development plans:

* Nintendo is planning to reveal the next generation console codenamed "Revolution" at E3 2005
* Iwata pointed out the downturn of the Japanese game market is due to too many sequels
* American game market also begins to suffer to a similar cause, the solution is innovation
* The concept of Nintendo DS is to allow people to have a wide range of new experiences, just like when Famicom was first launched in the market
* Nintendo is working on a new Mario Party title which does not require the use of controllers (which is rumored to be Nintendo's first title to work with a new EyeToy like camera for GameCube, known as Manebito/Camera and Ningen-Copy/Manebito
* Nintendo's next console will be able to hook up to both PC monitor and TV sets, the machine will more innovative ideas on hardware and software, which separate it from the competitors
* Nintendo may acquire more stocks from Bandai, to become a larger shareholder of the company.

Just wanted to say that built-in connections for a PC monitor would be really awesome.


Also from Magicbox, screenshots of the next GBA Fire Emblem...
http://www.the-magicbox.com/0406/game061104b.shtml

[Dark Jaguar]

Wouldn't be much of a thing in Japan really. While all we get here is component video, in Japan they actually use a moniter hookup on the newer TVs, and the GCN actually uses that same hookup in Japan. Japan has been moving towards making PC moniters the new TV standard for some time now. This is just the next logical step.

Some of that is just marketting. I honestly have a hard time believing the DS will allow for as many innovative and new experiences as the Famicom/NES. I mean, that's a LOT to put on a system.

[A Black Falcon]

Of course it's marketing, but they're not going to say that and do NOTHING. It means something... just what, or to what extent, we have no idea.

[Great Rumbler]

* Nintendo is working on a new Mario Party title which does not require the use of controllers (which is rumored to be Nintendo's first title to work with a new EyeToy like camera for GameCube, known as Manebito/Camera and Ningen-Copy/Manebito

OH HECK YEAH!!!

* Nintendo may acquire more stocks from Bandai, to become a larger shareholder of the company.

Bandai = Wholy owned Nintendo subsidiary? It could happen!!

[A Black Falcon]

Nintendo EyeToy! More Nintendo innovation at work? :)

[Great Rumbler]

Hey, they did the camera add-on first with the GB Camera! Sony just copied them!!

[OB1]

I want a Wario Ware eyetoy-thingy game.

[Great Rumbler]

Heh, that would be pretty cool, as would Wario Ware DS.

[A Black Falcon]

The GB Camera is just a camera, not a motion-capture game device... :)

[Great Rumbler]

But it is a camera that is attached to a console [in this case a handheld] and it used to do stuff with.

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Sony copied them and you know it!!

[OB1]

Actually Nintendo did come up with the Eyetoy idea first. Several years ago Nintendo unveiled a motion-capture camera device in Famitsu, long before the Eyetoy was even a twinkle in Sony's eyes. It was Nintendo's idea, but they foolishly did nothing with it and Sony made a huge success out of it, so I imagine they must have been kicking themselves when the Eyetoy was released.

[Great Rumbler]

See? I told you! Sony is always copying Nintendo!

[EdenMaster]

I don't care how well it sells of what games it comes out with. It's a gimmick. Nintendo putting a camera on their system would not be innovation anymore. That ship has sailed. The Eyetoy though, doesn't interest me. It's a cheap little camera that lets you use your hands and body in chinsy little minigames and other uninteresting games.

No thank you. I'll just expend the extra energy to push down buttons.

[Great Rumbler]

It was sort of fun to play it for a few minutes in Wal-Mart, but unless they release some super-awesome must have Eye-Toy game I don't think I'll be getting it.

[EdenMaster]

To be honest, I don't think that the Eye Toy has any killer apps on the horizon. If you ask me, It's going to go the way of the E-Reader: Cool at first with infinite potential, but ultimately a waste of money.

[Great Rumbler]

Or GBA connectivity...

[EdenMaster]

Perfect example, although scanning a million Hammer Suits into Mario 3 and sailing to the Animal Crossing island were great fun, they're no enough to warrant a purchase for a casual gamer, and part of what killed FF Crystal Chronicles was the ridiculous way every player HAD to use a GBA and link cable. Well, that, and it sucked.

Then there's true gamers like us who buy them all the same.

*hides E-Reader and GC-GBA cable sheepishly*

[OB1]

There are some new rumors going around that the Revolution will launch next summer in Japan and the U.S. and will not use controllers but an eyetoy-type thing instead. I call them both BS.

[Great Rumbler]

I really doubt that either of those are true, the later doubly so.

[big guy]

final fantasy CC rocked my socks right off and anyone who thinks it sucked sucks. so ha.

[Great Rumbler]

I still haven't got to play it very much, but what I have played was pretty fun.

[Dark Jaguar]

The e-reader never had potential really. There is a REASON why we stopped using punch cards in computers.

[EdenMaster]

final fantasy CC rocked my socks right off and anyone who thinks it sucked sucks. so ha.

Yeah, well anybody who thinks that it didn't suck sucks even more than someone who sucks because they thought the sucky game sucked more than any game ever sucked.

So you suck.

[Dark Jaguar]

Did you only play it for a few minutes? Perhaps you were playing it alone instead of with friends? Maybe you went in with the attitude that "I'll only play it long enough to find out that it sucks, which I already know, but I wanna prove it to myself"? Maybe you are the type who simply can't stand this type of game at all? Honestly, among these types of games, FFCC, to me, is completely superior to all others.

[EdenMaster]

I played with a friend, for hours, over a course of days, no less. Trust me, I gave it due time to impress me, it failed to. My friend too, apparently, since it was his copy and he sold it :).

I hated having to stay with a tiny area. I hated the real-time battles. I hated the way the characters looked. I hated the idiotic "Must use GBA as controller" setup.

My final analysis: It sucked.

[OB1]

Well it's certainly nowhere near as good as FSA.

[Dark Jaguar]

All the games in that genre require you to stay with the group in a tiny area (what with just one TV screen there and all!), and all of them have real time battles. The look is all a matter of artistic tastes (I liked it). In general, it would seem that one of my theories was right, you just can't stand the genre at all.

[EdenMaster]

What particular genre might you classify that under, DJ?

[Private Hudson]

How the hell could anyone not enjoy the EyeToy? The thing is frickin' hilarious, particularly with friends over. And particularly with girls. Not only do they enjoy it, but they suck at it.

..Sorry DJ. ;) Non-gamer girls, perhaps.

I also thoroughly recommend a drunken EyeToy session.

[Dark Jaguar]

The multiplayer slash and bash adventure/rpg split into many stages. It's an entire genre at this point, but it doesn't have a name really. Other games that are in this genre include Dungeons and Dragons Heroes, and the Gauntlet series. If you thought this sucked, then you would HATE every other game in the genre with a passion.

[EdenMaster]

Sorry to disappoint you, DJ, but I own Gauntlet: Dark Legacy and enjoy it.

I like adventure games, I like fighting games, I like strategy games, and you should know that I especially like RPGs. This game kind of melded them all into one and even though I should like it, considering what it is...I just don't.

I'll also correct you by stating that I didn't HATE the game, per se, I had some fun with it, but ultimately it didn't interest me enough to hold my attention.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah, well when you say you think it totally sucked, it kinda leads one to believe you hated it :D. So you are basically saying it was a let down? Well, perhaps you had already played that sort of game and this didn't offer enough new stuff to keep your interest... It's kinda odd that the things you specifically stated you hated about it apply to every game in the genre, which is why I thought this was the first you had played. I mean, ALL of them force you to stay in a limited area, the screen. This one just gives you a reason, but at the same time you are still ABLE to step outside the barrier and actually wander around aimlessly in the miasma. They all have real time battle, so I don't see what the problem is there... Anyway, your opinion is obviously different than mine, so we'll leave it at that. We have Megaman in common after all.

I will say that whereas I hated these types of games before, FFCC was the first I truly enjoyed. It actually had a nice full world to explore and everything, instead of just a "warp hub" or every level just directly connected to the next. It was fun to be able to explore a nice peaceful town between areas. As for the combat, it was very enjoyable to me. Normally, in these types of games, I just find myself bashing things until they stop moving without much strategy. However, here I actually have to move around the enemy and dodge their attacks while using timed combos, which actually makes it more actiony than most games in the genre, and considering it's pure action combat anyway, this sort of thing is just plain needed to keep it fun. Magic attacks I also find great, especially having to work with team members to get powered up magic as well as spell infused special attacks. Then there's the standard strategy helped by all this, of one member running up and smacking the creature to distract it while another uses the time to hit it with magic and another sits back and cures everyone, and yet another will do all 3 going back and forth. One other thing, of all the games in this genre, this one is the only one that actually got to me with the artistic style. The rest just seem so bland, but this one is actually just so full of LIFE and VIGOR, except the mist part. Essentially, every single characteristic of everything is emphasized and exxagerated, and I LOVE that style. It allows one to convey a lot more than just a pure realistic style. I wouldn't even be able to make out my character's face if the head wasn't blown up and the eyes huge. They purposefully made the most important parts of the characters (hands, feet, head, and facial features) huge, and shrunk down the rest, in order to be able to show as much expression as possible. It fits the mood of the game, and I'm honestly sick of every single American fantasy game using the exact same bland artistic style (Yes, not ALL of them, Warcraft comes to mind for example when it comes to great artwork).

That's just me though, I suppose I can see how someone might instead just see a bunch of alien heads or something... Honestly though, you didn't find the environments simply BREATHTAKING, not even a little?

[EdenMaster]

All right, you've got me there, some of the environments were quite good to look at. The characters are what I didn't like.

[A Black Falcon]

D&D Heroes, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (1 and 2), Fallout: BoS, Gauntlet Legends/Dark Legacy, Zelda: FSA, FFCC... all in the same action-focused "RPG" genre.

Gauntlet is awesome fun. BGDA is okay but not great. And I want FSA but not FFCC... I don't know, it just doesn't sound as good. And HAVING to use the GBA as the controller is a major negative.