The Wii May Be the Bane of Roleplaying

[an_idol_mind]

Originally Posted by Catavarie
The Wii might become the greatest exercise equipment ever.

Bah, you've never played dance, dance, revolution. Now that's an interactive video game that will get you in shape...and anger your roommate in record time!

Believe it or not, my fiancée has lost over 100 pounds since February, largely through DDR. An average night on workout mode is the equivalent of running 2 or 3 miles.

 

[Chupacabra]

A rough timeline list of all the things that were supposedly going to kill off PnP RPGing:

The Personal Computer
Gaming Consoles (generation zero)
The Internet itself
LARPing
Gaming Consoles (N64 / Playstation)
Ultima Online
Everquest
Gaming Consoles (PS2, Game Cube, Xbox)
Next generation MMORPGs
NeverWinter Nights
DnD Online
Gaming Consoles (PS3, XboxLive...now Wii?)

Color me dubious that Wii will do more to dent this hobby's juggernaught than any of the above have.

 

[IcyCool]

Not quite. Earlier this year, I saw a holographic TV developed by IBM and some French partners. It showed moving, full colour holographic images. No special glasses or other equipment required. Quite impressive!

Link? (Color me skeptic)

 

[WizarDru]

I'm I right about this, or did I just not get enough practice?

Little of column A, little of column B. All the Wii Sports games are designed to be easy to play and very accessible...they aren't designed to be deep or full of subtle controls. Wii Boxing DOES have some finesse to it, but it is NO Fight Night. All five of the games are very stripped-down, by design. Notice how there's already a golf game for the Wii in the launch window, for example.

Different games will take better advantage of the control system over time....in the same fashion that controls for the DS got progressively better and more finesse. Zelda's controls, for example, feel quite natural. Excite Truck also features some fairly simple but responsive controls. Elebits is supposed to have excellent controls...but I won't know that until Gamestop ships it to me.

Overall, I think Nintendo's going to show that it's not a gimmick. It won't be the best controller for every situation, but it will be successful enough to prove the concept.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

For the Wii to be the death of tabletop RPGs, it would have to be *available*.

::still hasn't been able to get one::

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Whats that fry quote?

"I've found that happiness lies in things, not people."

 

[Dykstrav]

Whats that fry quote?

"I've found that happiness lies in things, not people."

You mean from the Futurama episode, A Fishful of Dollars?

"I've realized what I need to be happy and it's not people. It's thing!"

 

[BRP2]

I don't think it would kill RPGs, but a real DnD(or D20) Online would be nice.

A very loose playing field(probably using editable tokens on a 2d surface, easy to adapt to background maps), with dice roller, manual stat calculations (with could be macro'd for later use), long-term character/monster/campaign information holders, and voice-chat. Probably optional webcam feature for each of the players. To not be market suicide, it wouldn't contain any important information outside SRDs, however it would be possible to store an endless amount of personally typed up notes(which someone could just write up all their books on if they had the time/were sane enough to do it). All games would be played on servers, with nice little options like being able to save and stop mid-game, searching for groups or members, or ect.

Probably a 1-dollar fee for "Player" accounts which would come with the basic access to the game and maybe storage of characters from campaigns. A 10-12 dollar fee for "Dungeon Master" accounts which would include all the major data storage and game-holding stuff. If they really wanted to make money, they could include monthly online additions to Dragon and Dungeon magazine shaped just for this "game", stuff like macro'd stat calculations, (brief) notes, and maps all ready to go after download for an additional cost to the monthly(maybe 2-5 dollars each). While we are at it, do it for all modules and accessories. Maybe even open it up to 3rd party companies (for a cost to do so of course). More than likely less than a few players would be content with just a Player account and will upgrade to a Dungeon Master account. Hopefully the need for crunch/lore from physical books wouldn't be harmed through illegal means thanks to the note feature(which should be reason enough to keep it untouchable through 3rd party mod edits and not allow people to share DM notes within the game). If all went well, Wizards would be rich as hell.

Maybe Play by post would be hurt a lot ;p.

EDIT: Oh my, I should stay sort of on-topic...

So now I am asking myself, what do tabletop RPGs really have to offer me anymore?

If you have fun thinking of stories and/or creating complex but neat systems and doing it with friends, then there will always be a get incentive to play tabletop RPGs.

 

[Scribe Ineti]

So now I am asking myself, what do tabletop RPGs really have to offer me anymore?

My first response would be that you don't have to wait 20 hours in line for a tabletop RPG.

My second would be that every now and then, it's fun to imagine a setting than have it displayed in front of you.

 

[Ranger REG]

Sorry I prefer X-box and Playstation games.

A console that requires drive-by shooting and violence at the checkout line? Whatev.