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BoneStormer
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 Posted: Sun May 18, 2003 3:59 am
Post subject: Nintendo @ E3: Not that good... from IGN to G4. |
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I know people are sick of my Nintendo bashing (myself included), but this is from IGNCube Insider.... it's not all bad though. I think.
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Nintendo E3 in General:
Matt Casmassina:
Did Nintendo have a disappointing show? To me, relatively speaking, yes. I don't agree with the company's decision to stress GameCube/Game Boy Advance connectivity games like Pac-Man and The Four Swords overly purely next-generation product. Nintendo may not want to admit it, but gamers crave technology driven software. There's a reason everybody is still buzzing about Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Half-Life 2 and not Pac-Man for GameCube. Nor do I share the opinion that the GBA is the perfect companion to the GCN. This, as I see it, contradicts the entire point of buying a handheld, which is, of course, to play it on the go. Do I really want to step backward half a decade and give up my analog control and extra buttons in favor of a GBA? The fact that Nintendo hopes gamers will own and play with several GBAs on their GameCube for some of these titles niches the products all the more.
He called Pac-Man a few decades too late and said the StarFox demo felt more like Doom.
Peer Schneider:
Many of these titles are fun to play -- and more of something good is definitely not a bad thing. But where are the games that have me counting the days till their release? Where are the titles that explore new gameplay territory? Where's the original stuff? Where are the games that redefine existing Nintendo franchises, like, say, 3D versions of Pokemon or EarthBound? Am I the only one who is puzzled by the fact that the standout title in this lineup is developed by Amusement Vision, a Sega development team? I can't help but be disappointed that EAD didn't deliver at least one standout title that made me want to tell someone: "go get a GameCube".
Fran Mirabella:
I returned to E3 this year with high expectations for a solid GameCube showing. I was well aware of a good lot of games that were planned to be shown, and was seriously excited to get my hands on them. (...) After attending Nintendo's press conference and seeing its E3 2003 booth, my perspective was slightly shattered. I would use a few words to describe my perception of Nintendo at E3 2003. Predictable perfectly illustrates Nintendo's first-party showing. Alarming is the remark I'd use to express the third-party state of affairs.
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Mario Kart:
Matt Casamassina: extremely slow; the cars in the game seem to move along at a snail's pace compared to just about everything else on the market, including Mario Kart 64
Peer Schneider: Looks great in motion -- the screens don't do it justice. But the game feels oddly slow and it lacks the technical depth of the 64 version (left, right, left, right, boost!). And I played it before I tried out F-Zero, so my impression isn't tainted by AV's super-fast sci-fi racer.
Fran Mirabella: We managed to cut through the lines thanks to our good friends at Nintendo; the line was always long. Peer, Matt, and I played amongst five other gamers over LAN. I got Daisy and Yoshi for characters (I didn't have the option to choose). My initial impression was something like, "Has Nintendo replaced the motor with rodents on wheels?" It was sluggish. Very sluggish. Nintendo mentioned it was probably because I just played F-Zero, and that's partly to blame, but it's certainly not a good excuse. Mario Kart: Double Dash, although it is still entertaining, full of all that charm I love, needs work.
Cory D. Lewis: It's so hard not to love Mario Kart on any system, but this GameCube version just plays much too slowly in its current build. The eight-player LAN support is definitely nice, but unless Nintendo bumps up the speed and adds a healthy dose of zip to our racers, then there's just no way I could find myself addicted to this latest Nintendo kart racer -- and that makes me want to cry. Please Nintendo, don't let this happen.
These are G4's grades for E3. This is bad. But it's G4 so take it with a grain of salt. A BIG grain of salt.
Quote:
MS: A+
Loved Halo 2, Counter Strike, Xbox Live, etc.
Sony: A-
Loved Socom, EA games, online voice chatting
Nintendo: D-
"Why did they even come?"
Maybe it's true what they say, GC is just a nice but expensive add-on for GBA... Ok that was harsh. I still like you GC no matter what I seem to type......
 Get out, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you! I'll give you 'til three. One! |
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nbrid
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2003 1:44 am
Post subject: Re: Nintendo @ E3: Not that good... from IGN to G4. |
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yep.
Ive got plenty of games on my pallete this year. No big surprises but Im satisfied...well not SATISFIED, but it was pretty good. |
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BoneStormer
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2003 2:24 am
Post subject: Re: Nintendo @ E3: Not that good... from IGN to G4. |
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You're gonna hate me for saying this, but I swear I mean it in a good way. Again Nintendo's lineup is solid, but lacks the big blockbusers, but when that's why I have a GC, it hurts.
I think maybe it's just my taste in gaming has shifted slightly away from Nintendo. (Not in any lame kiddy crap argument way.) I could care less about the GBA, but I want to play online. I'd like to play more FPS, RPG, action/stealth, sports, fighters, whatever then what's on GC.
So sure it's not bad. I just think personally, it's just not for me. (Well not as a whole. I wouldn't give up my GC because I do want MKDD, Viewtiful Joe, and SC2 with Link./)
Get out, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you! I'll give you 'til three. One! Edited by: BoneStormer  at: 5/24/03 1:39:53 pm
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nbrid
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2003 4:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Nintendo @ E3: Not that good... from IGN to G4. |
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| Why would I hate you for saying that? Now maybe if you said that Nintendo might as well have not even shown up at E3...THAT I could start getting irritated with. Tastes change. This I know. I used to have it in my head that I hated RPG's and FPS's but my opinion changed with Perfect Dark and Paper Mario. Hell, I think by now everyone knows that I didnt like the Zelda series until OOT. And in closing Im only the slightest bit interested in kirby's air ride. |
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BoneStormer
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MrGameBoyTom
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2003 7:33 pm
Post subject: Yeah...cool!! |
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Seeing how Ive only owned my GC for a short time, there is STILL plenty of games that I need to get, [prime, sunshine, animal crossing,Eternal Darkness..I could go on], and although Nintendo really didnt any surprises...did anyone else?? Everyone and there mom KNEW there was going to be a Half-life 2, a Playstation hand held unit, Metal Gear Solid 3. To me E3 didnt seem as 'big' as it usually is. Even if Nintendo didnt have any surprises, there is still a ton of future Gamecube's that still interest me...Viewtiful Joe, Soul Calibur 2, Double Dash, Pikmin 2, etc. Was I personally disappointed that Nintendo didnt have any surprises? No. As long as Nintendo keep pumping out awesome games....I shall be Happy  |
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Reokon
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nbrid
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 1:34 am
Post subject: Re: Yeah...cool!! |
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Well to change things up a bit, why don't we all go to www.gamerfeed.com and read their E3 wrap up. Im not sure if they plan on doing a more extensive one, but what they had to say was quite interesting.
Biggest Announcement: Sony PSP and XSN.
Best overall Booth: Nintendo (by far). Well one guy said Midway.
Best Game of the Show: they...didn't name one...?
I think a company that was clearly the most popular booth at E3 (as they said) couldn't be too bad afterall. Read the whole thing at www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?ftrid=82 |
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BoneStormer
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BoneStormer
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MrGameBoyTom
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 11:22 am
Post subject: thanks for the link, Bone... |
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| Yes, that was a good read, although a bit underwhelming, I just keep getting more, and more excited to play Viewtiful Joe with everthing positive I read about it! What about the negative side of Viewtiful Joe...wait, no one has said anything negative...Sweeet. |
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BoneStormer
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 2:18 am
Post subject: Man... I OWN this board lately... |
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For those who need to feel better about their Nintendo and GC in light of its iminent death, here is IGN's Fanboyism, err, Cubism #34. Enjoy!
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Have you been panicking about Nintendo? Have you been worrying that maybe great game makers like Shigeru Miyamoto do suddenly get old and lose touch with their audience just like most big-time musicians? I was like you at one point, but E3 2003 changed me.
I'd suffered the Nintendo panic during the last year -- worrying about the company's disinterest in online and its focus on Game Boy-GameCube connectivity. Metroid Prime and Wind Waker chased away those concerns, but they were back in my mind and in the opinions of nearly everyone I talked to at E3 this year. I myself sat baffled as I attended an after-hours E3 panel featuring Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima and Denis Dyack and heard Miyamoto respond to a question about why he wanted Metal Gear on the GameCube not with the expected reply about delivering a hit that appeals to the Nintendo-neglected "mature" gamer but with a jovial comment about adding GBA connectivity (you didn't have to wait for the translator for that word to hit the pit of your stomach). Cue the panic.
But something happened to me as E3 went on. I began the show distressed about Nintendo's E3 showing but walked out entirely fed up with the many who felt jilted by the company. Sure it was surprising that Miyamoto, as jolly a man and reliable a force for delivering winter cheer as St. Nick, was not offering a blockbuster for Holiday 2003. But I saw things on the Nintendo floor that amazed me, that gave me hope for Nintendo's future and that led me to think that Nintendo was far better off "losing" this year's E3 than they were "winning" the previous two. Winning E3 hadn't helped Nintendo during 2001 and 2002. The company fell further behind Sony each year. Winning May's E3 with a couple of mega-title debuts proved as effectual as Sammy Sosa winning home run derbies at the All-Star game in July. One game company and one man can drop jaws with a few amazing solo efforts. But when the end of the year rolls around, it's the console with the broadest array of titles -- the competitor with the best teammates -- that wins the crown.
Nintendo played E3 like a home run derby during the last two years, with a few big shots and a severe lack of back-up. At E3 2001 the company headlined with the exclusives Super Smash Brothers: Melee, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Star Wars, Monkey Ball, Wave Race, Star Fox Adventures, NBA Courtside, 1080, Kameo and Eternal Darkness. E3 2001 is remembered as a great show for Nintendo, despite the complete lack of support from major developers like Square, Konami and Namco, and only a token showing from Capcom. Half of the Nintendo exclusives haven't held up all that well. One year later, Star Fox, 1080 and Eternal Darkness returned to E3. At the 2002 show we got Animal Crossing, Monkey Ball 2. Mario, Metroid, Zelda, an early build of Wario World and somewhat improved Capcom exclusives, but still no Square and nothing significant from Konami (unless you like Disney sports titles). Again, a few big hits and not much else.
The top titles at E3 2001 were developed by eight houses: Nintendo Japan (EAD), Nintendo America (NST), Rare, Sega's Amusement Vision, Hal, Silicon Knights, Retro (Metroid on video only) and Left Field. The 2002 line-up had 10, with a number of asterisks. The 10 included the departing Rare and the Disney-only Konami. It lacked Left Field and Hal but added Hudson (Mario Party), Capcom (Resident Evil and Disney), and Treasure (on Wario, though no one was admitting it)
This year, we saw the work of 16 development houses. Every company from the 2002 roster except Rare returned, with better support from Capcom and Konami, a fleshed-out effort by Treasure and new GCN developers Square, Namco, Noise (Custom Robo), N-Space (Geist), Camelot (Mario Golf), Genius Sonority (Pokemon), and Hal (Kirby). Nintendo boasted more exclusives this year -- from Mario Kart to Final Fantasy to Billy Hatcher to the maligned connectivity trifecta of Four Swords, Tetra's Trackers and Pac-Man -- than they did over the last two E3's combined. And unlike the last two years, all the developers brought solid stuff to the show. Very few of the exclusives don't seem like they can be fantastic games by the time they launch. The quality of support was there, but so was a quantity that Nintendo has never before had at an E3.
It's true that the lost confidence many publishers have in the system won't be apparent until E3 2004 (many of 2003's titles were begun well before a company may have gotten cold feet and decided to make no more new titles for GameCube). But Nintendo seems to have repaired so many relationships, brought back so many developers who will probably now give Nintendo support from the start next generation, strengthened its second party support so much (losing Rare but solidifying Silicon Knights, Retro and the others), done enough smart things like re-color the GameCube and back-light its Game Boy, that the list of what Nintendo is doing wrong, laughably long at the supposedly great E3's of 2001 and 2002, has gotten awfully short. In fact that's where I think a lot of the frustration comes from: Nintendo is so close to righting their ship that people want to seem them just get it done with already and go full steam ahead.
Which brings me back to Miyamoto and the idea that the great man might be losing steam. I can't blame anyone who watched the Pac-Man demo on video or only read a description of Tetra's Trackers for thinking that. I too thought the whole connectivity thing was a scam.
But then I actually played Pac-Man and was left thinking: I went to the E3 this year where Miyamoto re-invented multi-player gaming. Where did everyone else go?
Playing Pac-Man was like no gaming experience I have ever had. I have played muti-player on a console plenty of times, but my friends always had the same controllers and the same on-screen interface as me. It never even occurred to me that it might be fun to play a 3-on-1 death-match (essentially what Pac-Man is, so think Doom or GoldenEye if you just can't stand the idea of thinking Pac-Man) in which one player actually gets his own private view of the entire arena and is free to hunt his buddies down or flee from them with his privileged viewpoint, until one of his friends kills him and gets the god-view for themselves. I started as a ghost, playing against three strangers, and I do believe my most fun experience of E3 came when I caught that guy at the end playing as Pac-Man and forced him to fork over the GBA. Suddenly, as Pac-Man, I could see everything. I ate my pellets, ran roughshod over the other three until I made one wrong turn and had to pass the GBA on to someone else.
The Pac-Man concept is fantastic, as is the one behind Tetra's Trackers, which demonstrates yet another re-working of multi-player, in this case by using the TV screen to depict the equivalent of an old Dungeons and Dragons game-master that orders around the players looking at the action on their GBA's.
The problem with Miyamoto's ideas is that they continue to be presented in visual styles that turn off many of the people who would enjoy them most. This is a problem I expect non-Nintendo fans to still have with Miyamoto, and it is a problem I hope to see Nintendo rectify so that his ideas can once again get the attention they deserve. But what hasn't changed is that Miyamoto's ideas about games are profound. It's no accident that he thought of things to do in Pac-Man that no one else ever executed in the decades that game has been around.
I ended my time at E3 impressed with Nintendo, which seemed to put me in the minority. From what I saw Nintendo finally stopped playing for the meaningless E3 homerun derby and showed some long-overdue seriousness about its team game. Miyamoto took a back seat this year, which sure seemed odd, but to people who were paying attention, Miyamoto delivered on his promise to follow up a year of sequels with a spate of fresh ideas. For the first time since the days of the SNES, he has a capable array of teammates ready to back him up with some quality hits. Good show.
NEXT WEEK: How playing the games transformed my opinions - not always for the better -- on Star Wars, Final Fantasy and the Rare titles that would have come to Nintendo but landed on the Xbox.
Get out, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you! I'll give you 'til three. One! |
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nbrid
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 6:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Man... I OWN this board lately... |
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| Well I skimmed some chunks of it and, like I said on day 1 of this year's E3, there are more games Im interested in this year than last year. As for "increased Konami support," that's kind of a load because...well there's like one game and its developed by Silicon Knights WITH the help of Miyamoto. Sure Konami is working directly on the project, but...its just not quite a 3rd party game. Other than that, this year does show more 3rd party support for GC, but still not as much as PS2 or even Xbox. |
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BoneStormer
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MrGameBoyTom
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 5:08 pm
Post subject: What??? |
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They made those horrible Mary Kate and Ashley games??? OMG!!!! What the hell!!!! *runs off*
Is controlling SC2 with the GC controller really that bad? I have Bloody Roar, and it plays rather well. |
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