The Nintendo Revolution

[TwistedBishop]

I think the most likely costs are: $400 PS3, $300 Xbox360, $200 Revolution.

Personally I could never justify buying multiple consoles at launch. The price is just too high, and the games you want to play too few. I'd get the console I wanted most, and then wait a couple years for my second choice. I imagine I'll be getting the Xbox360 at launch, and then the Revolution in 2008. That's what happened this past generation, where I got an Xbox in 2002 and held off on a Cube until RE4 was released. While I like the Playstation on principle, my experience with the PS2 was so vile that I'm going to skip them from now on.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Yeah, most likely I'll eventually get all three. Depending on the launch titles I might pick up the Revolution when it comes out.

Of the big two, I'm definately leaning towards the XBox 360 however. Perfect Dark, DoA 4, and Elder Scrolls IV all at launch, wow.

 

[Welverin]

Since it seems that PS3 and XBox360 will both be over $300 each at launch, and the Revolution being closer to the $200 range, I can't afford to buy all 3, plus controllers, memory cards, and games for each. Maybe some of you can, and more power to ya, but not I.

There's no reason you have to buy all of them at launch, the closest I ever came was the Genesis and I only got that for Christmas the year it came out.

If you wait you can get them much cheaper, presently none of the present systems is more than $150, all of them are half their original price.

 

[Arnwyn]

No quote says they would be all of the previous games. Many games required peripherals such as the Light Zapper to be used, so they wouldn't make much sense anyway.

Indeed. But that's not my point. It's the logistics of this downloading scheme that I'm curious about. Like I said - I'll remain skeptical until I see it in action. (Sure sounds great on paper, though.)

And you're so eloquent about it.

Thanks!

More seriously though, what is this "accessible" you're referring to? No one else here has said that, so your complaint seems to lose something.

"Lose something", hmmm? No, no one here did say that - I'm quoting Nintendo (good ol' Perrin and Reggie!). It seems that Nintendo wants to make their games accessible to the 'wider' audience and not necessarily the 'hardcore gamer' (whatever that may be).

And allow me to enlighten you on (at least part of) Nintendo's game philosophy: there's more to games that just raw technological power.

Thanks for the "enlightenment", but I knew that already. No idea why you thought I was talking specifically about "raw technological power". Weird.

 

[Alzrius]

Thanks!

Anytime.

"Lose something", hmmm? No, no one here did say that - I'm quoting Nintendo (good ol' Perrin and Reggie!). It seems that Nintendo wants to make their games accessible to the 'wider' audience and not necessarily the 'hardcore gamer' (whatever that may be).

That part seemed clear to me, I have some friends who are quite up to date on what's coming out when, for what, by whom; they follow game sequels, characters, crossovers, etc. Those are the hardcore gamers. Then there's everyone else who just plays for fun. It's something to that effect (since everyone will have their own take on the terms).

Thanks for the "enlightenment", but I knew that already. No idea why you thought I was talking specifically about "raw technological power". Weird.

It wasn't that I thought that you were talking about that, it's that you said you didn't know what their game philosophy was. I was informing you.

 

[snarfoogle]

I'm definitely getting me a Revolution. My Gamecube has stopped working, so I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of the backwards compatibility. I'm leaning towards the PS3 over Xbox 360 -- even though Perfect Dark looked really tempting in EGM's August issue.

 

[Kanegrundar]

The more I hear about the new Nintendo system, the more I like it. Even though Nintendo has been losing in the overall title count since the N64 came out, they have always had more quality titles than any of the other systems, IMO. I don't see that changing in the future.

Not sure if I'll be able to get one when it comes out, but I'm sure I'll own one not long after.

Kane

 

[ohGr]

Good news on the whole downloading old games issue:

http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36071&subsectionid=1587

Amid the loud roars and beating chests of Sony and Microsoft last week, you'd be forgiven for forgetting about Nintendo completely.

Nintendo - the once dominating force of videogames - sat quietly in the corner, all alone and looking at its watch every five minutes, while its rivals danced and cheered the night away, full of satisfaction and optimism.

But Nintendo hasn't given up. The lack of any next-gen gameplay footage and the omission of the 'revolutionary' controller at the pre-E3 Nintendo conference may have been a disappointment, but Nintendo does have a plan up its sleeve.

In a recent interview with US website GameSpot, Nintendo of America vice president George Harrison answered some burning questions, finally giving some kind of clue as to how Nintendo plans to play this generation.

Beginning by referring to Nintendo's next-gen chances, Harrison confidently claimed, "Revolution will have no real problem standing up to [PS3 and Xbox 360]," keenly pointing out that, while Sony and Microsoft have laid their cards on the table, Nintendo is yet to actually reveal its final specs, regardless of what has been said by the press.

Harrison then explained that getting developers on board is key to the Revolution strategy, and Nintendo is working hard to ensure Revolution is both easy and cheap to develop for.

As far as what makes the console revolutionary, Harrison was coy regarding the controller, instead focusing on Nintendo's online plans and downloadable games service.

"People sort of picked on us for not prematurely jumping into online or internet gaming," he mused, going on to point out that now the company has more to offer besides online gaming. Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.

This is a clever move by Nintendo: regardless of the final power of Revolution and the frequency of new titles, Nintendo knows that its loyal fans will cry tears of joy over a free service that lets them download previous Nintendo classics straight out of the box.

Third-party developers could charge for the privilege to download though. Or, alternatively, they could offer downloadable classics as an incentive to buy their next-gen full price releases. Either way, classic Nintendo titles such as Castlevania and MegaMan may not be immediately accessible.

A similar model applies to online gaming. Playing Nintendo titles across the internet will be free, whereas third-party publishers will be able to charge whatever subscription rates they wish.

Still, with a massive back-catalogue of titles and some key franchises that gamers have been wanting to play online for some time - Mario Kart, to name but one - it's unlikely the occasional fee for a third-party offering will spoil Nintendo's idea too much.

Every single Nintendo-made NES/SNES/N64 game downloadable for free? Excellent.[/Mr. Burns]

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Good news indeed but I think I'll wait to see what the third party will charge until I let out a cheer.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Good news indeed but I think I'll wait to see what the third party will charge until I let out a cheer.

My thoughts exactly.

Its great to hear the the Nintendo-made games will be free, but its the third party ones that will make or break this one for me.