Fucking hell

[OB1]

Nintendo is so damn mean. From the ign interview:

IGNcube: Can you give us an update on Mario 128?

Shigeru Miyamoto: [Chuckles] I'm just really sorry. I think I've given people the wrong impression with Mario 128. With all the questions I'm getting about this, I really feel like I've done people a disservice. In regards to Mario 128, we're currently doing a lot of Mario experiments back in Kyoto. We are definitely going to have a new Mario for Revolution. Whether or not that's 128 or not, I can't really say. It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure. We're doing a lot of Mario tests right now for the Revolution.

[Great Rumbler]

Huh.

[Paco]

I'd be willing to buy another Mario Sunshine if they promise to make a better camera.

[Great Rumbler]

At least we're getting a new Mario platformer for the DS, but this is still very odd that they'd keep telling us about this and then it turns out to be...well..."nothing".

[OB1]

Mario Sunshine's camera is one of the best 3d platformer cameras out there. The only real problem is that it's pretty much completely manual, so the camera is only as good as the abilities of the player. I personally had no problems with it.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Huh... looks like ABF was right after all. Fuck beans. :(

I didn't have many problems with the camera in Sunshine either, btw. It wasn't perfect, as I recall, but it was effective.

[OB1]

Why did Reggie say that the game would be shown at E3 if it's still being experiemented with? Miyamoto is fucking with us, I just know it.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Why the fuck did Reggie say that the game would be shown at E3 if it's still being experiemented with? Miyamoto is fucking with us, I just know it.

I hope so. Either that, or Nintendo needs to get their shit together.

[OB1]

This is almost Duke Nukem Forever-bad.

[The Former DMiller]

Now that's going a little far. Give the game another half-decade and then we can compare it to Duke Nukem Forever. :)

[OB1]

Well I mean it's been talked about since the N64 days.

[OB1]

Ok so it looks like it wasn't Reggie's fault. Here's a summary of the recent live webcast with Reggie, courtest of GAF:

Revolution:

They want to be in the center of the competition and gaming, not have their own business, like they would if they would have something like Nintendo On, that Reggie commented.

More great info is to come, "at the right time".

They are waiting for everyone else showing all their cards and then stealing the show by showing the controller and the revolutionary features. He also again said stuff about others always stealing their ideas... and how they will blow everyone away when they reveal their stuff.

There will be new genres on the Revolution, and combination of old ones.

They are working hard to get 3rd party support for the Rev and much support for their main game series.

He says that next gen systems take 100+ person dev teams for years to make games, but in adittion to providing a platform for those devs, they also want to attract smaller developers with lower budjects.


GCN:

They are looking how long they can keep the GCN going.

There is a 3 hour line to the Zelda: TP demo booth... Zelda will be 60 hours long and an epic adventure.

They did not show Mario 128 because Miyamoto did not want to, even though he was the one who originally said that they would show it, and Reggie reported that info in the interview about it.


GBA:

Micro has a screen that is much crisper than on their other own handhelds, and it will be out probably in October.


He also commented on how he could not top last years entrance in the conference, so they decided that Iwata should have some fun on stage, and they are happy with the outcome.



EDIT: You can stream the interview for free from http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3live.html , at the bottom of the page... I would say in an hour. The last hour's section just came up, so I would think that this one will be up at around 1:20 PM.

Damn. Fucking hell. So Miyamoto told Reggie that they would show it, but yet again decided to pull it from the show. But when talking about, he acts as if it doesn't really exist. What the fuck??

[A Black Falcon]

IGNcube: Can you give us an update on Mario 128?

Shigeru Miyamoto: [Chuckles] I'm just really sorry. I think I've given people the wrong impression with Mario 128. With all the questions I'm getting about this, I really feel like I've done people a disservice. In regards to Mario 128, we're currently doing a lot of Mario experiments back in Kyoto. We are definitely going to have a new Mario for Revolution. Whether or not that's 128 or not, I can't really say. It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure. We're doing a lot of Mario tests right now for the Revolution.

Huh... looks like ABF was right after all. Fuck beans.

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I said. :)

Of course, it'd be nice to get two GC Mario platfromers. But, we're not... and I'm sure that Mario for Revolution will be out at launch or soon after, and I bet that they're a bit farther into it than they admit but don't want to say so...

[OB1]

Reggie said that we'd see Mario 128 at E3, but Miyamoto decided to pull it from the show again. The way he worded the above stuff makes it sound like 128 is still just an experiment, but if you keep in mind what Reggie said before and during E3, it becomes evident that Mario 128 is indeed a real game, probably something far along, but that the new Revolution game might not be Mario 128.

It's all very confusing.

My theories are either of the following:

1) Mario 128 is a GC game, but Miyamoto decided not to show it at E3 because he didn't want it to overshadow Zelda. So it will be saved for Spaceworld (like Metroid Dread, perhaps?), and will be the Gamecube's last big game, not Zelda. Maybe a summer '06 release.

2) Mario 128 is a Revolution game, and since Nintendo decided not to show off any Rev games at the last second, naturally Mario 128 was not shown.

[A Black Falcon]

http://cube.ign.com/articles/617/617000p1.html

That's not the only part of that interview that will frusterate and annoy Nintendo fans, that's for sure...

[OB1]

yeah...

[Dark Jaguar]

Turns out ABF was dead on, and in restrospect his logic was sound as well.

[A Black Falcon]

My pessimistic nature at work, I guess, but sometimes it means you're right...

But really, when you read interviews like that one (and similar ones earlier, this one's really nothing new)... it doesn't make me pessimistic about Nintendo, but it makes me think that the Revolution will be no more successful commercially or with third parties than the GC is, that Nintendo still doesn't understand how to do good press work, and that really, they don't care about success. Oh, they care about money, but not about if they're in first, second, or third... at least, not in the US. Even though they make far more money in the US than they do in Japan.

But anyway, for this game... I don't know. But seeing absolutely nothing about the game, and hearing about potential "new Mario" ever since "Mario 64 2" (which, remember, wasn't Mario Sunshine, supposedly!), "100 Marios", "Mario 128"... it didn't exactly make me convinced that this is a real, in-progress work. Remember those comments (that got some people here mad) a few months back (or so) about testing out ideas for the next Mario game, that it wasn't set yet, etc? This is the same as that...

Really, I see two possibilities. Either Miyamoto is telling the truth and work on the next Mario game, while happening, is a long way from being in a showable form (and isn't tied down to a specific game model yet), or it's farther than he lets on but because of standard Nintendo paranoia about "stealing ideas" (and their poor understanding of marketing their games in a way that makes people actually know about them in advance...), he won't say anything. What I expect, really, is something between those two ends... the project isn't really in showable form, but they have some good ideas for what to do that they don't want to share for some time now.

All I can say is, I hope it's ready for Revolution launch... but this news isn't encouraging for that.

[Great Rumbler]

Nintendo of America's Perrin Kaplan, has talked about the E3 conference, and when more Revolution info will be revealed!

Vice president of corporate affairs, Perrin Kaplan addressed complaints from fans of how little there was shown of Revolution at E3, saying that "what [hardcore fans] want us to do is show everything on Revolution today and that just doesn't make sense [for Nintendo]" as she thought it better to "show a little bit and share enough for people to be excited about it", citing what we already know about the Revolution ("having access to nearly every Nintendo-created game over the past 20 years in something that's a really sleek box that's Wi-Fi-enabled") as "enough for now" and that though she knew people wanted more, it wasn't best for Nintendo as a business to reveal everything just yet.

So when will Nintendo fans find out more? The good news is that when she was asked whether Nintendo would premiere more Revolution news before E3 2006, Kaplan answered with a yes. But would Nintendo hold a SpaceWorld conference this summer to show more of the Revolution off? "We don't know yet," she replied, not denying the possibility. IGN have said this reiterates Shigeru Miyamoto's comments in a recent interview that more Revolution information would be forthcoming sooner rather than later, and that a new Space World is apparently under consideration.

As for when the Revolution will finally hit the shelves, she wasn't going to be more specific than a "2006" date, saying that unlike Sony they won't be held to a Spring 2006 launch purely for "Microsoft reasons".

Also of note is that the Revolution is apparently still a code-name, and isn't yet the confirmed final name for the console. Usually Nintendo changes the name before release (for example the "Dolphin" became the Cube, and most recently the "Oxy" became the GBA Micro). Yet, after much thought by Nintendo, the DS kept it's second code-name (its first was Nitro) for release, so the Revolution may yet end up being called... the Revolution.

Finally, when asked about new franchises for the next-gen, Kaplan said there would be "at least one" and promised it would be "brand new", as Pikmin was for the Cube. She also confirmed this mystery new franchise would be a launch title.

Interesting times lie ahead for Nintendo, keep it here on Cube-Europe to hear the latest Revolution news as it breaks.

Nothing much new there really, but she does confirm that the Revolution will have an entirely new franchise at launch, which is definitely a good thing.

[lazyfatbum]

What did I miss? Mario 128 has always been an 'experiment' for the next Mario sequel. The term Mario 128 sprung out of an interview where Miyamoto was talking about the next possible Mario game on 'Dolphin' where Mario and Luigi were running around. You know that EAD and Miyamoto probably have 20 variations of gameplay designs circling the offices at all times of different Mario possibilities. Mario 128 was never a title of an actual game.

'Mario 128' is the idea of the true sequel to Mario 64, in other words, the next leap for Mario. As much of a difference as Super Mario World is to Mario 64. SMS was spawned on the idea of taking the Mario 64 engine and perfecting it while adding some new gameplay mechanics, the 'caps' replaced with the FLUDD which allows more possibilities. But, not the big sequel we're looking for.

Miyamoto then says that a new Mario game is in the works for Rev. This new Mario game will be that next leap we're looking for; a total overhaul. It wont be called Mario 128 because that title never existed, it's a code name for the next gen Mario. Which is without a doubt being shown right now to people with much bigger dicks than I and thus need to be beaten in public. The videos, the screens, the new games and the controller all laid out and played with by some high muckety-mucks in a hotel room somewhere out of the reach of the press while marketing execs cross fire with Nintendo about the right moment to strike and show it off to the world.

Even looking at exactly what Miyamoto said:

I'm just really sorry. I think I've given people the wrong impression with Mario 128. With all the questions I'm getting about this, I really feel like I've done people a disservice. In regards to Mario 128, we're currently doing a lot of Mario experiments back in Kyoto. We are definitely going to have a new Mario for Revolution. Whether or not that's 128 or not, I can't really say. It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure. We're doing a lot of Mario tests right now for the Revolution.

He says so right there that a new Mario game will be there, how it looks and the name it has was never in consideration as far as we're concerned, it's the idea that ever since Mario 64 launched, he has been working on mechanics and gameplay ideas to create it's sequel. Which ABF already pointed out, was not Mario Sunshine and directly quoting myself; 'is a tweaking and polishing of Mario 64'. That decision was probably made based on the simple fact that the game with the larger budget and the most R&D would go to Nintendo's next gen, while one of Miyamoto's "other experiments" is capped on to current gen. Mario Sunshine was also built off the Wind Waker engine, so everything falls in to place nicely for time constraints and budget. I'll bet my left nut that Miyamoto's vision of the true sequel to Mario 64 exists more on paper (or in his head) than it does in any concrete game form but that's always how he's worked. Mario 128 is not an actual game, it never has been and never will be. Mario 128 is probably 20 different games; some playable, some not.

They did not show Mario 128 because Miyamoto did not want to, even though he was the one who originally said that they would show it, and Reggie reported that info in the interview about it.

A few things I found interesting. 1.) Devs DO steal from Nintendo constantly. there's no denying it. Whether it's gameplay mechanics or hardware peripherals, everyone and their brother in this industry consistantly steals from Nintendo and I dont blame them. Anyone who owns an XBox or PS2 with a wireless controller can vouch for that. Who wants to play some Shrek/Sonic/Bandicoot Kart racing? Dont like those characters? I got ten thousand more I could list. Anybody play Metroid: Symphony of the Moon yet? How about Super Sly Cooper Bros. 8: Crash's Jak & Dexter Sonic Attack, I heard you get to use a jet pack that lets you hover in that one. If we're lucky we can play 'Insert Macot Here' Party! Only available for the PS1, PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast, and fucking cellphones! So yeah, Nintendo likes to stay tight lipped.

2.) Could it be possible that Miyamoto/N-Execs said that Mario 128 in its current form wouldn't live up to the hype? Could it be that Nintendo pulled it and is now trying to sweep it under the rug? We'll never know. All we know is that a Mario game is being planed for the Rev and we're expecting more than twice the sunshine.

3.) Miyamoto just totally admited that Mario 128 exists, is either in video or playable form and was planned for the show. EVERYTHING in this thread is now null and void. It was there, it got pulled, God knows why, deal.

So take your pick, line draws here. You make the story, I personally could give a shit less. All I know is that it will be awesome... and if they'd fucking show it I bet i'd be even more excited.

Interesting that the Mario 128 blurb is listed under GC development though. If you think about it logically, there's alot of space between Zelda: TTP and Rev. Enough space for a big game or two.

[OB1]

I know that it would never be called Mario 128, but it's been mentioned so many times over the years that I think this Miyamoto matter is simply his way of not talking about it. It's by what others at Nintendo say, like Reggie, that confirm that it is a real game, and this year much further along than ever before (obviously). I have no doubt that there are other Mario experiments being done at EAD, but I am certain that the game that has been referred to as 'Mario 128' definitely exists, and must be far in development.