View Full Version : The Game Hardware News & Rumors Thread
Now that we have this shiny new forum for video game talk (making this old thread (http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=34955) irrelevant), I think a thread for game hardware news/speculation would be useful. :)
First up: a Wii prce drop to $149? (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/12/rumor-nintendo-dropping-wii-price-to-150-on-may-15th/) Sources say yes! And common sense agrees: the Xbox has been outselling the Wii for months now, and the Wii's 2009 price drop and 2010 Wii Sports Resort packing-in haven't turned the tides. Remote Plus or no, the Wii really should undercut the much more advanced Xbox in price.
I still think we're going to see a new Nintendo console this year. Nintendo's the only company that hasn't committed to a ten-year console cycle and they're the only company who's seeing their console sales "wind down." They've released a new console every five years like clockwork, after all, and by all appearances this is looking like 2006 all over again. New handheld in Q1, new console with new Zelda in Q4...
I think any "Wii HD" will use the same remotes, since the Wii Remote Plus just came out last fall. That way, people who already have four remotes/nunchucks/wheels/classic controllers can just switch out the box — assuming they have MotionPluses, of course. And it will support Nintendo's upcoming eShop platform — I don't think Nintendo's planning on having the 3DS have a better store experience for long. Thoughts?
I think any "Wii HD" will use the same remotes, since the Wii Remote Plus just came out last fall. That way, people who already have four remotes/nunchucks/wheels/classic controllers can just switch out the box — assuming they have MotionPluses, of course. And it will support Nintendo's upcoming eShop platform — I don't think Nintendo's planning on having the 3DS have a better store experience for long. Thoughts?
Does that really make sense though? Won't they want to sell you a whole new set of accessories?
Does that really make sense though? Won't they want to sell you a whole new set of accessories?
True, I mean this is Nintendo, but I think they might be more concerned about buy-in, at this point. They want to keep all the people with Wiis entrenched, which means jumping ship to a competing platform can't be just as cheap (or cheaper).
Any "Wii HD" will almost certainly be more expensive than an equally-HD Xbox, and possibly the same price as an Xbox and a Kinect. But if Casual Gamer Jill knows that her family won't have to buy all that plastic shit again with the Wii HD, they're more likely to stay in Nintendo's ecosystem.
And I'm sure Nintendo will come out with new accessories, like an official camera or something.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but Reason #1 I think Nintendo is up to something: what are their internal studios working on? Pretty much all of their recent/upcoming games are outsourced. Wii Party was developed by Nd Cube. FlingSmash was developed by Artoon. Kirby's Epic Yarn was developed by Good-Feel and HAL. Donkey Kong Country Returns was developed by Retro. Mario Sports Mix was developed by Square Enix. Pilotwings Resort was developed by Monster Games. Even OoT 3D is being developed by Grezzo. What's Nintendo EAD, NST, &c. up to? It has to be more than just Wii Play Motion and Skyward Sword. And Skyward Sword could end up being a Wii HD game, anyway...
Jeez (http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/14/wii-hd-rearing-long-rumored-head-at-e3-2011/) Robo, do you have a crystal ball or something? Your timing with these posts is impeccable, you seem to have a good grasp on the state of the industry (or industries, I should say).
Now there's a rumor (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/15/rumor-wii-2-codenamed-project-cafe-controller-includes-built-i/) that the Wii HD controller will be a 6" tablet. (Don't worry, it's got buttons.)
Even with a low-quality resistive screen, that sounds prohibitively expensive. But maybe Nintendo's making their own stand-alone tablet, and that can be used as a controller in some Wii HD games?
Also, Nintendo sold 400,000 3DSes in its first five days on the US market, and Sony has shipped 50 million PS3s. :)
kscherer
2011-04-15, 22:18
The Xbox 720 is due xmas 2034. Does that help? :)
The Xbox 720 is due xmas 2034. Does that help? :)
Try 2015. ;)
In unrelated news, Sony has officially canned the PSP go. It's pretty much their Game Boy micro, now. :(
Kotaku has an interesting take (http://kotaku.com/#!5794424/fresh-details-of-wii-2s-unusual-controller-and-why-it-wont-kill-the-wii-remote) on the next generation Nintendo console. They're reporting a controller that includes a 6.2" touch screen, which should be a big deal combined with some traditional tactile input - kind of the best of both worlds. They also suggest it may be optional and envision a usage scenario where one player uses the new fangled uber controller and another user plays with the Wii-mote. I'm kind of curious how much such a touch screen based controller would cost, ~$200? Might be pricy...
My bad, I didn't see your post about this above... :lol: *feels foolish*
My bad, I didn't see your post about this above... :lol: *feels foolish*
It's okay. I wasn't going to say anything. :p
I share the same reservations with everybody else...a 6.2" touchscreen? On the controller? Sounds expensive. But I could totally see Nintendo making a cheap and compact "game tablet," kind of like a Nook Color for games. (Project Cafe just sounds like a codename for a mobile device, not for something that stays in your living room.) Such a device could be used in conjunction with the Wii HD for some games.
One of the rumored "revolutionary" controllers for the original Wii, back in the "Revolution" days, was a touchscreen. Nintendo was later dismissive, saying that they considered touchscreen controllers — they had apparently promised revolutionary controllers before they were quite sure what they would be (!!!) — but abandoned them as too similar to the DS. It sounds like five years, 150 million DSes and three blockbuster touch Apple products later, what's old is new again.
Nintendo has confirmed (http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/25/nintendo-confirms-next-wii-in-2012-will-preview-it-at-e3/) that they are working on a new console for release in 2012, and that a playable version will be unveiled at E3 in June.
Nintendo's net sales of $12.4 billion for the period ending on March 31st 2011 was 29 percent less than it tallied during the previous year, while its $825 million of net profit was also a staggering 66 percent lower than it earned last year. The 3DS has sold well so far, reaching 3.61 million transactions worldwide, but the Wii is down to 15 million global sales, which marks a 25 percent contraction from its FY2009 total of 20 million.
Sounds like they could really use a new console now. But the earthquake probably threw a wrench in the works.
The very short press release (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110425_4e.pdf) (PDF) notes that they're not including Wii 2 sales in their FY2011 figures, so that means no 3DS-style Q1 launch, either.
Nintendo has sold over 86 million Wiis to date, but their lead has been narrowing. It's interesting that this is the first generation in which all major consoles have shipped/sold over 50 million units. (Even in the SNES/Genesis days, with only two major entrants, the Genesis only sold about 40 million.) It's not like the last generation at all, where two consoles sold less than 25 million and the third sold 150 million and counting...all three modern platforms have been successful.
That's a lot of 3DSes for just a month (two in Japan) on the market, though. :eek: If it had been out for the holidays, Nintendo's FY2010 net profit might not be looking so bad right about now.
I was playing some Wii sports last night for the fist time in a long while. Nintendo's presumption that "HD doesn't matter" for the original Wii was a horrible one. While still fun, the graphics are laughable on my two-month old big screen. For Nintendo's sake, I hope this next system helps actually being them into the next-gen market.
It'll bring them into the this-gen market, until the PS4, &c. hit. Basically, Nintendo is rejecting the "pay twice as much for the console but it lasts twice as long" life-cycle Sony and MS claim to have moved to. They're taking half-steps, but they're going to take twice as many of them, so half the time they'll be a generation or so behind and half the time they'll be on par with the others. Maybe.
What I'm really looking for in a new Nintendo console is a better fucking online offering. It is ridiculous, in this day and age, that your purchases are tied to your system and not to an account. I'd love to build up a library of Virtual Console and "3D Classics" games, but there's no way I'm going to invest hundreds of dollars in digital content until I'm sure that I'll be able to transfer it all to new hardware. Hopefully Nintendo's upcoming eShop platform fixes this, once and for all — it's really inexcusable to tie purchases to individual hardware.
I should be able to buy a VC game once and play it on both the 3DS and the Wii 2. This isn't rocket science.
dmegatool
2011-04-25, 08:48
I wonder how they'll make people upgrade. I mean they sold shit load of Wiis to people like my parents, grand-parents, ... Theses people won't be upgrading for a wii HD or whatever new graphics it will bring. They bought the wii cause it was a new way to play video games. Not sure that new controller with a screen can appeal to such a market.
To save you all the trouble of braving Kotaku, they're reporting that this month's $149 Wii will include Mario Kart Wii, not Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, echoing a rumor I heard before. They're also reporting that Nintendo will at long last introduce a "Wii Select" line of budget re-releases for $20 a pop. The initial slate? Zelda: Twilight Princess (finally!), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (finally!), Mario Super Sluggers (huh?), and the original Wii Sports (since it will no longer be included with the system).
If we all cross our fingers and wish real hard, we might even see the original Mario Galaxy for $20 by years' end. :lol:
EDIT: It's official, with Animal Crossing: City Folk instead of SSBB as a budget "Nintendo Selects" title.
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/1_1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9_10_11_12_13_14_15_16_17_18_19_ 20_21_22_23_24_25_26_27_28_29_30_31_32_33_34_35_36 _37_38_39_40_41_42_43_44_45_46_47_48_49_50_51_52.j pg
Tacky box art is tacky.
Tacky box art is tacky.
Indeed. But my games live inside a drawer, unseen, anyway. I barely care about the box.
Any idea when the price drops are supposed to happen? I'd like to pick up Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing and [random PS3 game] used the next time Game Stop has a Buy 2 Get 1 sale.
torifile
2011-05-04, 08:30
Where did this meme start? [adjective] [noun] is [adjective]?
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-05-06, 08:43
Where did this meme start? [adjective] [noun] is [adjective]?
You mean like "dead cat is dead?"
Not sure, maybe it came along with lolcatz?
Where did this meme start? [adjective] [noun] is [adjective]?
The Simpsons, apparently.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/x-y-is-x-redundant-adjectives-are-redundant
torifile
2011-05-06, 10:03
The Simpsons, apparently.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/x-y-is-x-redundant-adjectives-are-redundant
Awesomesauce is awesome.
Wuh-oh.
Microsoft possibly developing new console for 2012 (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/06/rumor-new-microsoft-console-dev-kits-at-ea/)
Sounds like this might not be a ten-year cycle for the Xbox.
Wuh-oh.
Microsoft possibly developing new console for 2012 (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/06/rumor-new-microsoft-console-dev-kits-at-ea/)
Sounds like this might not be a ten-year cycle for the Xbox.
I don't remember where I read it, but MS came out yesterday and said those rumors were false. I would, however, find it hard to believe they don't have a plan for a new system but maybe the timing is off or something.
TT Games has announced that LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 will be available for the Xbox, Wii, PS33, DS, 3DS, PSP, and NGP this holiday season. This is the first confirmation we have that Sony's Next Generation Portable will be released (in North America, at least) this year.
Sony had previously stated that they hoped to launch the NGP in at least one region this holiday, but there's been conflicting reports since then on whether the disaster in Japan had caused delays. The PSP turns seven on December 12.
The NGP features a 5" QHD touchscreen, a quad-core processor, and two analog sticks. It ditches the UMD spinner for DS-style game cards, and at least some models will feature GPS and 3G cellular connectivity. A price has not been announced. ;)
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-05-19, 12:51
MS has announced a back to school sale with a free Xbox 360 with a >$699 PC purchase. Stores will take student IDs while online orders need to be connected to a .edu email account.
MS has announced a back to school sale with a free Xbox 360 with a >$699 PC purchase. Stores will take student IDs while online orders need to be connected to a .edu email account.
This is a strange promotion. How does MS benefit if I but a $700 Dell computer? Obviously they get some sort of kickback on the Windows license, but does that merit the value of the 360?
There's already a thread discussing the promotion in General Discussion. :)
This isn't news or rumors, only speculation, but I think the Wii successor will be called the...wait for it...Wii 2.
Sounds obvious, but Nintendo's never named a system like that before (and neither has any other console/handheld manufacturer except Sony*). I have several reasons for thinking this, but most are obvious and would take way too long to type so meh. Less obviously, Nintendo has deliberately avoided using "2" in any of the sequels to their Wii Series games. The sequel to Wii Fit was Wii Fit Plus. The sequel to Wii Sports was Wii Sports Resort. The sequel to Wii Play is Wii Play Motion. I think they're saving 2 for a matching line of sequels for their new system. They don't want them to be like Mario Party, where it's like, wait, which system was Mario Party 4 on?**
Also, Apple started numbering their products sequentially, and Nintendo likes to follow Apple. ;)
*) I'm not including 1978's Odyssey², which used an exponent, or 1997's Majesco-made Genesis 3, which was not a new console but merely the third major Genesis revision. So nyah. :p
**) Rhetorical question.
Virtual Super Wii Boy Cube 2 Entertainment System Lite. You heard it here first.
drewprops
2011-05-25, 07:32
Brad!!! Get the domain!!!
The DS Lite drops in price (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/31/ds-lite-drops-to-99-on-june-5/) to $99 on June 5, its first price drop in over five years on the market.
Also, pretty much all the Mario DS games will start coming in special red boxes. No price drops, though.
Wuh-oh.
Microsoft possibly developing new console for 2012 (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/06/rumor-new-microsoft-console-dev-kits-at-ea/)
Sounds like this might not be a ten-year cycle for the Xbox.
More rumors of a new Xbox in 2012 (http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/27/microsoft-to-unveil-new-xbox-at-e3-2012/)
I don't know what to think. Microsoft has stated, in the past, that they view the Xbox as having a ten-year-lifecycle, thanks in part to Kinect. And it's not like the Wii U is a generation ahead of the 360, or anything. But at the same time, it has been seven years, and they really wanted to be first out of the gate in 2005, too. I can see it not sitting well with them at all that Nintendo will be launching a new console three years before their next Xbox is set to hit. And they did announce the Xbox 360 and shipped it in the same year, no 18-month rollout there.
But still. Unless we start seeing tons more rumors about new Xbox hardware, I'm going to assume that some wires got crossed somewhere and that BGR's source is only partially correct — maybe Microsoft will be launching a smaller, Wii-fighting 360, and maybe they'll even rush out a new touchscreen controller of their own to match, but it wouldn't be an all-new platform. It'd be a redesign and an accessory, just like what we saw in 2010. (I wouldn't be surprised to see a redesigned, "actually slim" PS3 in 2012, either. 32nm Cell chips should be available right around that time, and neither Microsoft nor Sony is going to want their console to look passé next to the new, uh, hotness.)
-•••-
As for this year: A new model of the PS3, the CECH-3000, just started shipping in Japan. It's a minor revision, and it's mainly a cost-cutting measure: it's lighter and has a lower-rated power supply, though it doesn't seem to be using die-shrunk Cells or RSXs and it doesn't really use less power. The heatsink has also been redesigned, and the fan is smaller. Oh, and I'm not sure the buttons glow when you press them any more. So, yeah, cost-cutting all around. (Hard drive sizes remain unchanged.)
If history is any indication, we'll see this model announced for the NA/EU/AUS markets at Gamescom in August. I'm not sure we're about to see a $199 PS3, though. A $50 drop seems more realistic, but I could also see Sony just bundling the PS Move starter kits with all PS3s at $299 (instead of at $399 today). I mean, last year all they did was bump the HDD 40GB, so. (Admittedly, though, having only one PS3 SKU "with everything" could actually make the PS3 more attractive to holiday shoppers who will be facing an arsenal of five different Xbox SKUs. You can just picture the snarky Kevin Butler campaign, right?)
As for the Xbox, Microsoft has been historically very aggressive with pricing, and the hard-drive-less model has been at $199 since 2008 (though it's since been redesigned, gained WiFi, &c.). I could see Microsoft dropping the 4GB 360 to $149, matching the Wii, and the 250GB 360 to $249. That said, the $399 Gears of War bundle has already been announced and priced, which would seem to suggest no pricing changes for the Xbox this holiday (and it's the console that needs a boost the least, so).
If you're wondering what PS Vita game boxes will look like (am I the only one who cares about boxes?), they're the same size and shape as the PS3's Blu-ray cases. They're clear plastic but they don't have the big clear bar along the top, so the box art portion is taller. The idea is that you can place them on a shelf alongside PS3 boxes and they "match," including having the PSVITA / PS3 banners on the side lining up, which warms my obsessive compulsive heart. Yes, that's a large box for a tiny plastic chip, but so are DS boxes — the box has to be large enough for the manual, after all. From what I gather, the idea is to make ports easier by not requiring devs to completely redesign the manual for the awkwardly narrow PSP cases, this time. (I suspect that the way the narrower-than-DS cases caused retailer's PSP sections to appear smaller than the DS sections, even if they contained the same number of games, might have had something to do with it, too. Also: Vita games that come with soundtrack CDs and the like will no longer have to ship in a wider cardboard box.)
No pictures, sorry. :( I'm pretty sure this is technically still subject to change—I'm guessing they'll show off the retail boxes at Gamescom—but I have it on good authority that some people will be very upset and frantically redesigning said manuals if it does. :D
Oh, and the "theme color" of the PS Vita — the color of the stipe under the "PSVITA" banner, and the color of the accessory boxes, analogous to red on the PS3 and yellow on the PSP — is...light blue. So, if that was keeping you up at night, you can now rest easy.
Blue is so...expected. I was hoping for orange. :( But I guess they didn't want to have nothing but "warm" colors. And Microsoft has pretty much a corner on all the secondary colors, with Xbox's green, Live's orange, and Kinect's purple. All will be forgiven when the PS4's theme color is hot pink. ;)
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-07-11, 10:30
Games are still coming on physical media for the PSVita?
dmegatool
2011-07-11, 11:17
Cartridges... They're pretty similar to SD cards (Shape/Size).
torifile
2011-07-28, 10:56
Nintendo is dropping the price of the 3DS to $170 (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/3ds-price-drops-to-170-on-august-12/). That's almost 1/3 off in 4 months. Wow. This, along with EA's statement (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-ceo-consoles-now-only-40-of-games-industry/) that consoles are only "40% of the game industry" (what does that mean, exactly? Total sales, revenues, use or what?) really emphasizes the sea change we're seeing in the gaming market. It'll be interesting to see what's left of traditional gaming once this all shakes out.
dmegatool
2011-07-28, 11:15
Nintendo is doing terrible. From Kotaku :
Global DS sales are down from 3.1 million this time last year to 1.4 million this past quarter. Wii sales are down by 50% as well, from 3 million to 1.5 million sold. That would be OK if the new 3DS was doing a roaring trade, but in the past three months only 710,000 of the new handhelds have been sold. Worldwide.
Just in case you were worried that the delay of Kinect Star Wars (and its awesome R2D2 bundle) until 2012 would mean that there would only be five separate Xbox 360 SKUs this holiday season, have no fear! There's going to be a special Modern Warfare 3 bundle (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/02/modern-warfare-3-xbox-360-bundle-coming-includes-bluetooth-head/) to replace it.
I don't know. I think it might be competing with the identically spec'd and priced Gears of War 3 bundle for the hearts of Xbox 360 Shoppers Who Like Tacky Grungy Consoles Based On Macho Shooter Sequels. But this is grungy grey, with a lightning bolt, while the GoW3 console is grungy red, with a skull. So maybe they're differentiated enough.
Both consoles are $399 and include a 320GB hard drive, two matching controllers featuring the new adjustable d-pad, and a copy of their respective titles.
If you don't like these bundles, there's four other SKUs, from $199 to $399, with every possible combination of "have/have not Kinect" and "have/have not 250GB hard drive." They're all matte black, now. Microsoft is phasing out the glossy ones. So there's, you know, that.
Oh, and unsolicited prediction: Next Xbox console is called "Xbox 8," announced at E3 2012, and launched holiday 2013.
torifile
2011-09-04, 19:23
8 years for the 360? That would be impressive.
8 years for the 360? That would be impressive.
Yeah, that's twice as long as the active life of the original Xbox. It's pretty crazy if you think about it like that.
This generation is longer than normal for everybody: Nintendo normally releases a console every five years and this time they're going six, and Sony normally releases a console every six years and this time I think they'll go seven (meaning I'm expecting a 2013 launch for the PS4, too).
But even though the Xbox is the oldest of the current-gen consoles, and even though Microsoft announced both previous Xboxes the same year they shipped them, I don't think there's any chance of a 2012 launch for the next Xbox. Halo 4 is coming out for the Xbox 360 in 2012; they're not going to put that up against a new console. But 2013 is actually a really good year for an Xbox launch, because it's otherwise an "off year" for Microsoft: both the Halo and Gears of War series are on three-year development cycles, and that means that there will be no new installment in either series in 2013, meaning Microsoft can focus their marketing efforts almost entirely on the new console.
So Halo 4 comes out fall 2012, as a "last hurrah" for the Xbox 360 (as Halo 2 was for the original Xbox). The next Xbox launches a year later (as the Xbox 360 did), with the start of a new Gears trilogy one year after launch (as with Gears 1) and Halo 5 two years after launch (as with Halo 3). Microsoft runs these series like clockwork.
They'll announce the 2013 Xbox at E3 2012, though, because they'll want everybody to wait on buying a Wii U and buy the new Xbox instead. Plus, they won't have as much stuff for the Xbox 360 left to announce* — it'll be Halo 4's big coming out party, but that's not exactly new. And it'll be too soon to really show off a lot of the next-gen stuff. So it'll be a more platform-focused show, I think, with the next-gen Xbox hardware reveal as well as lots of talk of Windows 8's Xbox Live integration and possibly an Xbox-branded Nokia phone.
*) One Xbox 360 game I think they will announce is Kinect Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, for 1H 2013 release. I'm assuming they're co-developing both games back-to-back, as they did with Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports Season 2. I'm assuming this because the only reason I can think of why they would adapt the prequel trilogy first is because they were saving the more desirable trilogy for an already-in-development sequel.
An artist-specific Dance Central game, with Lady Gaga Dance Central being the obvious choice, would also make sense for holiday 2012 and would be in keeping with Harmonix's past release patterns. If this happens, expect Lady Gaga to make an appearance at Microsoft's E3 presser, because Microsoft always spends huge gobs of money on their keynote.
---
The difference between Microsoft and Sony:
Xbox 360 limited editions
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/09/mw392.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26616034/xbox-gears-of-war-3-console.jpg
PS3 Ni no Kuni limited edition
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26616034/2132459560.jpg
First week DXHR sales for three platforms:
PC - 80,780
360 - 348,236
PS3 - 228,711
I'm going to be very interested in seeing the breakdowns for BF3 and MW3 later this year.
First week DXHR sales for three platforms:
PC - 80,780
360 - 348,236
PS3 - 228,711
For what is (let's face it) essentially a new IP to most gamers, that's not bad at all.
It's apparently going to be $35 at Toys R Us next week, but $20 price drops after two weeks on the market aren't unusual these days.
Eugene's post got me thinking; has anyone recently seen any article recapping the state of PC gaming? Kind of a "state of the Union" type article addressing the challenges increased console ownership poses to PC gaming? Historically has the distribution between PC & console always favored consoles? Is the PC gaming market healthy? I'm interested in these types of questions but having abandoned PC gaming sometime in high school I don't really know what the state of the industry is.
I suspect some of you guys are intimately involved in the gaming industry, and others of you seem to have great grasp of the industry from an outsider's perspective - would anyone care to share their thoughts about the future of PC gaming?
(Perhaps this type of discussion is worthy of its own thread if interest is sufficient?)
More (as of yet) Japan-only special edition goodness, this time for Uncharted 3:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2011/09/ucpad1.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2011/09/ucpad2.jpg
Note that Sony made a special edition product that wasn't just making it look grungy and splashing on a huge logo! In fact, there's no logo, just a kakhi-colored map. It's obviously not for everyone, and I think the picture of Drake's ring is out of place and unnecessary, but there's some nice details here, like the compass rose around the d-pad and the subtly recolored baltic blue of the Sony logo and Select/Start labels. It fits Uncharted without screaming UNCARTED®3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION™. Microsoft should take note.
The PC market is healthier than its ever been thanks to console gaming. I don't have a chart handy, but the amount of money put into the industry by AAA developers has increased by the billions in the past decade.
Also it's not like traditional console makers will rule forever. The console market will eventually suffer the same fate as the PC market. Services like OnLive have proven that hardware doesn't really matter anymore. Eventually (sooner than we think) most games will be played on generic boxes running within a common operating environment.
Well, the good news for Nintendo is that they're getting Monster Hunter Tri G for the 3DS, which is a significant exclusive.
The neutral news — and the reason this is in the hardware thread — is because to make it work on the 3DS (the original Tri was a Wii Classic Controller game, after all), they're making a special 3DS cradle that adds a second analog stick, extra shoulder buttons, and a lot of thickness to the 3DS.
There's no reason to assume that this cradle is anything other than an accessory for one game, like countless DS lite add-ons before it. But the bad news is that people on NeoGAF are freaking out, acting like a redesign of the system to incorporate the extra features is somehow inevitable, talking about how Nintendo betrayed early adopters and posting threads like "WILL THE 3DS GET CAPACITIVE SCREENS IN THE RELAUNCH?!?!" NeoGAF overreacting to things is hardly new, but it's rare for the entire forum to enter full-on carnival of stupid territory.
This is largely due to...
...01net, a French rumor site that rose to notoriety by correctly predicting the Wii U's unique controller (they got info the from the also-French Ubisoft). They recently ran a feature in which they would leak new Nintendo inside information every day for a week, and one of the things they leaked was a "second stick" attachment (with no shoulder buttons) for the 3DS. They claimed it would be a "clip" that stuck onto the bottom right corner of the 3DS, rather than a cradle, and they claimed it would be required for not one but many future games, and would be as such would be sold separately for $10 (as opposed to being bundled with Monster Hunter) and then eventually built into a redesigned unit. The reason 01net gave for Nintendo making the clip/cradle were different too—rather than making a cradle to allow play of one popular Wii Classic Controller game, 01net claimed that Nintendo wanted to do a do-over because they felt threatened by the PS Vita. In fact, 01net's "leak" suggests, Nintendo is preparing to relaunch the system entirely—with a new name!
Needless to say, 01net's "leak" doesn't quite seem to match up with reality, but because they predicted a second stick attachment and the 3DS is getting a second stick attachment, people are now acting like everything 01net "leaked" is absolute truth, and they're ignoring all the parts that don't fit reality, such as the nature of the attachment, its purpose, and how it is going to be sold.
What's worse is that people are now assuming that all the other leaks 01net posted in that "week of scoops" are true. And those leaks are even more suspect than the rebranding/relaunch one. Most notably, they claim that Satoru Iwata is on an "ejector seat" and that the board was trying to oust him. Most doubted that 01net, which has never been shown to have any sources inside Nintendo, would have a source high up enough within the organization to be aware of any organized plot to oust the CEO. But apparently that's now "proven" to be absolute truth!
Their other "leaks" included the scoop that Nintendo's critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy series was (shocker!) based on a purchased prototype, as if all Nintendo did was slap in Mario and take all the credit. It just came across as mud-slinging and sort of unaware of how game design works. Also, the day after Jobs left Apple, 01net's "leak" just happened to be a rant about how Nintendo can't compete with Apple. It didn't leak any new information at all. Was the whole week of leaks trolling for hits and/or publicity for an 01net editor's book about, you guessed it, the inside story of Nintendo? I report, you decide.
But everyone's acting like their 100% accurate now, because of the second-stick attachment thing, even though what 01net predicted was totally different from what actually happened. Predicting that Nintendo will make a cradle for one popular game is completely different from saying that Nintendo will make a second-stick clip that's designed for Vita feature parity and will be a major part of the console's strategy going forward, including a redesign, relaunch and rebranding.
The worst part is that Monster Hunter Tri G, an enhanced re-release of the Wii's Monster Hunter Tri, was already heavily rumored at the time of 01net's article. The Monster Hunter series is popular enough in Japan to warrant special hardware (the Classic Controller "Pro" was made for—and bundled with—Monster Hunter Tri), the single-stick PSP installments had infamously poor controls, and the 3DS would need expanded control options to support any port of the Wii game. Taking this into account, a special cradle for Monster Hunter Tri G isn't that surprising at all.Off-topic part summarized: A hack site took a fairly obviously true rumor, still got a bunch of details wrong, added a whole bunch of crazy, and now everybody is acting like all the crazy far-out parts are true because they got the obviously-true part right. Even though they really didn't!*
*) The clip they described couldn't possibly contain additional shoulder buttons, like the real cradle does. Due to its thickness, I also wouldn't be very surprised if it also soon comes to light that the cradle contains an extended-life battery, another fact that would be impossible to square with 01net's leak of a small clip. (Battery life is the chief criticism of the 3DS hardware and Monster Hunter players are very hardcore; the special Monster Hunter PSP also came with an extended-life battery.) Whoa, did I just make a not-that-bold prediction? I guess I get to claim all sorts of crazy stuff now, which will all be proven true if the cradle has a battery!
There's still no factual support for 01net's much larger claims of an upcoming 3DS relaunch/redesign/rebranding, so my own prediction hasn't changed at all: the only "redesign" in the near future will be the addition of a 3DS XL model, likely toward the end of Q1 2012. If this model includes the newer lenticular 3D screen technology, it's possible Nintendo will also release a CTR-101 model of the existing 3DS featuring the same tech, but this would mainly be a cost-cutting measure: by using the newer screen they can use much weaker backlighting, extending the battery life of the unit as a result. This would potentially enable them to remove the charging dock from the package, greatly reducing the size of the box. (It's worth noting that the current 3DS package, with its included dock and metal stylus, was conceived as a $249 product; now that it's $169 there may be some cutting to do.)
Anyway, here's a picture of the cradle/grip/thing. I'm not sure if magazine scans are "legal" on AppleNova, so if the thought of seeing a picture of a page of an only-available-in-Japan magazine offends you, don't click this:
http://storage.siliconera.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/3DS_analog_addon_thumb.jpg
don't ban me plzSpoiler alert: It's fugly. (via the excellent Siliconera (http://www.siliconera.com/))
dmegatool
2011-09-07, 08:48
I was coming just to post about this. Nintendo just lost it... Seriously. That reinforce my idea that they got lucky with the wii and the DS. It's like if all common sense is gone in that company.
Yeah, Nintendo's gone insane. They're done, in my book. The Wii is the last Nintendo product I'll ever buy, and I don't even use it.
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-09-07, 09:27
Yeah, Nintendo's gone insane. They're done, in my book. The Wii is the last Nintendo product I'll ever buy, and I don't even use it.
Agree. bought my son a Wii for Xmas last year and he's shown no interest in it. The only time it gets used is if one of his friends brings over a Wii game (rare).
In other news, if I was still heavily into PC gaming like I was in the 90s I'd definitely take a look at this beast:
http://www.laptopspec.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Razer-Blade-Gaming-Laptop-03.jpg
The Razer Blade, less than an inch thick gaming laptop with i7 2.8GHz and some super duper video card. One of the coolest parts though is the LCD display/trackpad and button setup on the righthand side of the keyboard.
Yeah, Nintendo's gone insane.
Nintendo's always been insane. If anything, their problem of late is they they haven't been insane enough; they're largely doing the same things that worked for the DS and Wii even though those things worked (in part) because nobody had done them before.
From 2005 to 2008, Nintendo was making a bunch of new games. Brain Age. Nintendogs. Wii Sports. Wii Fit. Even New Super Mario Bros. sort of counts. These were the series that reached new gamers, especially in Japan. But then they stopped. Rather than continuing to make new series they started making sequels to these breakout hits, but these sequels didn't expand the audience the same way there predecessors did.
They have to find their next Nintendogs or Wii Sports. It's not going to be Nintendogs + Cats or Wii U Sports. It'll be something new.
The way things are now, it looks like DS : 3DS :: NES : SNES. The NES made all the tropes and the SNES refined them. And that's great, but the SNES didn't sell as well as the NES. It was in a fierce rivalry with the Genesis/Mega Drive in the West and the PC Engine in Japan, just as the 3DS looks to be in a fierce rivalry with the PS Vita, at least in Japan. The "console war" is back, and competition is always good for gamers.
So yes, the grip/cradle thing is fugly. But the 3DS getting the next Monster Hunter is a huge coup--it would be like if the PS Vita got Pokémon, somehow. It's the type of thing that wouldn't happen if you didn't have two companies who were willing to do anything to succeed.
It's an exciting time to be a gamer. :)
Sony has seemingly unlearned a lot of the "lessons" they learned with the PS3, so that's nice. The PS Vita is supposed to be easy and cheap to develop for, and that matters, especially in Japan (it's the reason portable gaming overtook consoles there). But I'm not sure if Sony is as hungry. Just look at the PS3 and 360.
It'll be an interesting holiday to watch.
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-09-07, 10:11
Robo,
Commenting on your PS3/360 comment, I find myself more and more willing to buy non-exclusive titles on the PS3 simply because new 360 games are going to multiple discs due to storage limitations. I hate being told "Please insert disc x to continue".
If I had known LA Noire was 3 discs for the 360 I would've sacrificed the epeen points ;) and snagged the PS3 version.
Oh, no doubt. I prefer the PS3's hardware (Blu-ray!), even though it's more limited than the 360 in some ways (RAM!).
But Microsoft has been way more aggressive in courting exclusives. It's not PlayStation Move Star Wars.
dmegatool
2011-09-07, 10:29
Seems like a lot of games are going multi disc on the 360 lately. Surprising we didn't see that much until now. But it's definitely a trend or something. Rumors pointed that Battlefield 3 is a 2 discs game... shame if it's true.
dmegatool
2011-09-07, 10:32
But Microsoft has been way more aggressive in courting exclusives. It's not PlayStation Move Star Wars.
I don't miss a lot of 360 exclusives. The only one I would really like to play is Aban Hawkins And The Thousand Spikes... Live market title. If you never heard of it, check it out. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpGLPZmmf8)
bassplayinMacFiend
2011-09-07, 10:42
Seems like a lot of games are going multi disc on the 360 lately. Surprising we didn't see that much until now. But it's definitely a trend or something. Rumors pointed that Battlefield 3 is a 2 discs game... shame if it's true.
Not a rumor, it is happening: http://gamer.blorge.com/2011/09/07/is-battlefield-3-on-two-xbox-360-discs-a-deal-breaker/
Yeah... I'm not really playing my Wii any more. Nintendo has really gone downhill since the gamecube, which IMO was still a pretty good system. But the N64 was just about the best of all.
Right now in my living room I have my PS3 and N64 hooked up to my TV, but not my Wii. That's sort of telling.
(...)
The Razer Blade, less than an inch thick gaming laptop with i7 2.8GHz and some super duper video card. One of the coolest parts though is the LCD display/trackpad and button setup on the righthand side of the keyboard.
Very nice indeed. If only the other PC manufacturers had the same gusto then perhaps they wouldn't all be bugging out of the personal computer business. Razer really deserves some sweet sales for that machine.
:)
Very nice indeed. If only the other PC manufacturers had the same gusto then perhaps they wouldn't all be bugging out of the personal computer business. Razer really deserves some sweet sales for that machine.
Agreed. I'm not sure if they'll get "sweet sales" at $2,799, but they actually tried to compete with Apple on design, and that deserves to be rewarded. Apple neds a Nikon, &c.
The problem with any potential Apple-rivals is that Apple has been for so long the only computer maker to take design seriously that everybody is loyal to them. (This was probably what doomed the Zune HD and webOS — the market for people who prioritize a well-designed experience but don't want an Apple product is pretty small.) There's also the issue of operating system. But I think Razer is smart to be targeting the Blade at gamers—they're a group that wants Windows, even if they feel OS X is better designed, because Windows is where the games are. Gamers have also been shown to be willing to pay a premium for high-end gear and bragging rights.
I really liked Razer's Switchblade concept from CES — it's basically an 11" version of the Blade, and the entire keyboard has screen-keys. I suppose that the Blade is the sort of the final product of that concept, but I think it'd be a shame if we never saw a more compact Blade with a full screen-board.
As it is, it goes totally my minimalist tendencies, but I actually sort of like the 11" Alienware. *shame* It's compact for a gaming machine, and there's a part of me that would like being able to make my keyboard and speaker grilles grow a bunch of crazy colors. :D
I keep getting tempted to pick up a 3DS + game used for ~$160 on craigslist, it seems like these sorts of 'deals' keep appearing as people bought the thing excitedly only to quickly realize they really didn't care for it(or they beat Zelda and got bored).
But then I realize... that'll probably happen to me too.
Ocarina 3D *is* really awesome when you get the 3D working just right, it does an exemplary job of recapturing at least some of the, for lack of a better word, sense of magic that the original game had when I was 12. But beyond that, none of the other available games look all that great. Mario Kart will probably be fun, Mario Land will probably be fun. Starfox will be fun if you have a couple of friends to play against. If a Final Fantasy VI remake was announced I'd be all over it. But beyond that, it is hard to imagine this system becoming too prolific or receiving of too many interesting games.
Ocarina 3D *is* really awesome when you get the 3D working just right, it does an exemplary job of recapturing at least some of the, for lack of a better word, sense of magic that the original game had when I was 12..
I agree completely. It gives the game a real sense of, idunno, space? Like, the 3D makes it feel more like you're actually in a real world. It's not like "stuff is flying out if the screen at you" like most 3D movies try to be, it's more subtle than that, but I really like it. Every once in a while I'll turn the effect off, and it just seems like it's missing something without it.
But beyond that, it is hard to imagine this system becoming too prolific or receiving of too many interesting games.
I have three 3DS games: OoT, nintendogs + cats, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked. I have one more on pre-order, the 3D rerelease of Tales of the Abyss. I'm not really worried about there being a lack of content in the future, what with tons of support from Square Enix (Theatrythm Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts 3D, even a new Chocobo Racing) and Level-5 (Professor Layton 5, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, Fantasy Life, Time Travelers, Inazuma Eleven Go...). And, of course, Nintendo. And Capcom, with Monster Hunter Tri G.
And there's no reason to think that Square Enix's series of 3D Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest remakes won't continue on the 3DS. Actually, heavily rumored right now is a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, which would make a lot of people happy.
Obviously, all that is stuff that's coming in the future. Like any new platform, there's not a huge amount of stuff out now (note to Nintendo: don't release systems in fucking February). But I think all the "3DS am doomed" talk will look pretty stupid after this holiday season. People are comparing it to the DS when it was at its peak, but the first months of the original DS's life were even worse for software (and if you discount the bump of its first holiday season, even worse for hardware sales, too).
Nintendo did everything wrong with regards to the launch timing, pricing, and advertising, and they've still sold over five million* of the things without a holiday season and without much software on the market. Microsoft sold six million Xbox 360s in their first year on the market. XBOX 360 AM BOMBA, amirite? (Microsoft wanted a ten million unit lead by the time the PS3 launched in all territories. They didn't get it, but I think Nintendo will by the time the PS Vita launches in all territories.)
People were expecting the 3DS to do "DS 2007" numbers at launch. But people buy systems for games, and no console launches with three years' worth of hits. The 3DS is doing "DS 2005" numbers, actually a bit better. And the DS exploded at holiday 2005.
Every system walks before it can run. The only exception has been the Wii, and that petered out halfway through the generation. Motion controls weren't a fad, but the Wii sort of...was.
*) Not including any Western sales in August — you know, the month of the huge price drop — so the real total is obviously higher. Expect Nintendo to trot out more accurate numbers at their 9/13 presser.
In other news, if I was still heavily into PC gaming like I was in the 90s I'd definitely take a look at this beast:
http://www.laptopspec.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Razer-Blade-Gaming-Laptop-03.jpg
The Razer Blade, less than an inch thick gaming laptop with i7 2.8GHz and some super duper video card. One of the coolest parts though is the LCD display/trackpad and button setup on the righthand side of the keyboard.
I would instead buy a top of the line PC desktop for $1300, and then use the rest to buy an upgraded 11" MacBook Air.
Even a MacBook Pro 17" is better considering you get two more processor cores while giving up very little in the GPU department.
dmegatool
2011-09-09, 07:40
So that's where Nintendo put it's energy, a new DSi XL color.
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/vip/~3/aVINopFYd3E/nintendo-launching-new-dsi-xl-color
So that's where Nintendo put it's energy, a new DSi XL color.
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/vip/~3/aVINopFYd3E/nintendo-launching-new-dsi-xl-color
You could say what you said about virtually any company. "So that's where Apple puts its energy, a new iPhone 4 color." Apple should have instead had all those paint engineers work on making the Apple TV a more compelling product, amirite?
In the last month, Nintendo has dropped the price of the 3DS, rolled out a totally revamped marketing campaign in all territories, and announced that they had acquired Japan's single most important third party franchise as a 3DS exclusive. Do those things count as Nintendo putting its energy into the 3DS? They're releasing at least one major first party 3DS exclusive per month for the rest of the year, starting today. Does that count as putting energy into the 3DS?
Remember when Nintendo was going to exit the console market after the slow-selling Gamecube? Or when the PSP was going to totally kill the DS, just like the PS1 killed the N64, which would leave Nintendo with absolutely nothing and force them to go third party? Remember that?
Nintendo has been "doomed" since 1889. It's really not unlike how certain analysts still treat Apple's success as a fluke and act like the company is going to head back to the mid-'90s days of 2% market share, which is I guess why it's disappointing to read the same tired Nintendo media narrative here.
Yes, Nintendo had their first-ever quarterly operating loss. Even Steve Jobs's Apple had one quarterly loss, too (Q1 2001). We all know that Apple never recovered from that one.
To be honest, the 3DS price drop was probably the most Jobs-like, or at least Silicon-Valley-like, move that Nintendo has made in memory. Iwata told investors that they dropped the price of the 3DS because it "felt right;" he explained that they didn't drop the price when it felt right with the Gamecube and he felt they paid for that. This sort of intuition and "gut feeling" is valued in Silicon Valley, where the idea is that if you take time to analyze things you'll be too slow to react, but acting on it is almost unheard of in a large Japanese company. Nintendo could have hobbled along without a price drop until the holidays, when Mario Kart and Mario 3D Land and Pokémon and Monster Hunter would have helped the handheld reach critical mass. But they would have risked losing developer support in the meantime. So they instead slashed the price in the middle of the doldrums of summer, to give hardware sales an immediate boost (it worked), boost sales of their existing software (it worked), and send a clear signal that they were willing to do anything to make the 3DS meet their high expectations.
The 3DS often gets compared to the PS3, another overpriced successor to a massively popular system that got a slow start. But in my mind their situations couldn't be more different. Sony seems content to remain in third place, as long as the system is profitable not losing more money. (The ludicrously over-engineered PS3 wiped out all the profits of the dominant PS1 and PS2.) But Nintendo's willing to going for broke. Imagine if, after six months of slow sales, Sony dropped the price of the PS3 to not that of the Xbox 360, but that of the PS2. Sony couldn't do that, because they were losing hundreds of dollars on each PS3 sold, even at $599. But Nintendo can, because they built a high profit margin into the 3DS price. And that's what they did. The 3DS sells for the same price as the DSi or DSi XL, depending on the territory.
The easy media narrative is that nobody was buying 3DSes because dedicated handheld gaming devices are dead, everybody's playing Angry Birds now. But if you look at the actual numbers, that's just not true. In the months before the price drop announcement, the DS was the best-selling system in the US. (In Japan it was the PSP, another dedicated handheld gaming device.) Nintendo's problem wasn't that nobody was buying DSes or 3DSes, it was that people weren't buying 3DSes because they were buying DSes. There could be a dozen reasons why — a lack of willingness to pay more for future potential; perhaps some consumers thought the 3DS was just a DSi revision — and instead of trying to sort them all out, Nintendo took one quick slash at the Gordian knot and cut the price. Now, the theory goes, it doesn't matter if a consumer thinks the 3DS is just a DSi revision, because it's priced like a DSi.
This seems to have worked. And if it doesn't, they'll try something else. This is Nintendo. When they saturated the market for single-game home systems, they released single-game handheld systems. And when they saturated the market for those, they released the first programmable home system that was a worldwide success, even though Atari had just killed that market dead. And in 1989, when the first competition for their home system arrived, they released the first successful programmable handheld system. And in 1998, when Bandai and NeoGeo released (Japan-only) competitors for that, they released a color version. And in 2004, when for the first time a stronger competitor launched a serious rival to their decades-dominant handheld brand, they killed it themselves and made something entirely new. And in 2006, when they were all but forced out of the console business...well, you get the idea.
More rumored bad news for Nintendo from the same guys who originally reported the monstrous 3DS add-on analog stick:
Nintendo Having Serious Problems Getting the Wii U Working? (http://kotaku.com/5838206/nintendo-having-serious-problems-getting-the-wii-u-working)
According to 01Net's report, the hardware powering the Wii U simply isn't up to scratch to do what Nintendo needs it to: Namely, run not just the console, but beam data to its fancy touch-screen controller as well. Apparently developers working on the console are having to use "tethers" to ensure serviceable communication between the Wii U and its controller, but even then things still aren't working that well, and progress is reportedly halted daily with repeated software updates for the pad.
:lol: The full-screen video on the controller was the one piece of the whole Wii U announcement that my coworkers and I were most skeptical of and technically curious about. It comes as zero surprise to me that Nintendo may be having trouble pulling it off.
More rumored bad news for Nintendo from the same guys who originally reported the monstrous 3DS add-on analog stick:
Nintendo Having Serious Problems Getting the Wii U Working? (http://kotaku.com/5838206/nintendo-having-serious-problems-getting-the-wii-u-working)
:lol: The full-screen video on the controller was the one piece of the whole Wii U announcement that my coworkers and I were most skeptical of and technically curious about. It comes as zero surprise to me that Nintendo may be having trouble pulling it off.
WiDi, AirPlay — that sort of streaming isn't exactly uncharted territory, no? Knowing Nintendo, any problems they're having are caused by trying to engineer around patents, because they're notorious cheapasses with their hardware.
That said, I listed my (many) qualms about 01net as a source on the last page. Not saying that it couldn't be true — problems are certainly not uncommon for development kits of still-in-development hardware — just saying that I'm not convinced it's true just because 01net says it is. (Though since that leak could have come from a third party, and not directly from Nintendo, it's perhaps more plausible.)
I'm quite sure the Wii U is still over a year away from hitting shelves, so it's not like they don't have time to get any issues ironed out.
I'm still a little weirded out by the emphasis on the 3DS frankenpad. Is it ugly? Sure, but I think it's overshadowing the real story, which is the next Monster Hunter being on the 3DS. For people who aren't familiar with the Japanese market: It would be like if Sony announced that the PS3 would be the exclusive home of Modern Warfare 3, and also introduced a monstrously ugly approximation of the 360 controller for people who were used to the 360 to (optionally) play it with, and everybody focused on the awfulness of the new 360-style controller and not, y'know, that Modern Warfare 3 was going to be exclusive to the PS3.
As a 3DS owner, if making that pad was what it took to get Monster Hunter Tri G exclusive to the 3DS, then I'm glad Nintendo did it. Monster Hunter is a huge franchise, and it hitting the 3DS — and hitting the 3DS this year — is only good for the 3DS ecosystem.
There's no indication that Nintendo intends for it to be anything more than a "Classic Controller" for the 3DS. In fact, at this point, a better analogy might be the Wii Balance Board. Sure, the Balance Board isn't technically a controller just for Wii Fit, but come on.
Even Monster Hunter Tri G doesn't require the frankenpad.
dmegatool
2011-09-10, 07:41
Yeah the Wii U is still pretty far. But at the same time, with it annonunced, they can't rely on the Wii for too long. Plus, it seems like every third party stopped to care about it. It's not like if it is a big surprise that 2012 won't be a great Wii year...
As for the rumor, they should make it work asap. They need third party to jump on the bandwagon now to get decent titles early when the U comes out.
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