Nintendo recently unveiled their new flagship system the Game Cube. It has met with mixed reviews especially with the actual design of the system and its controller. I am here to address these points. The design of the system is something very unique. It is not a perfect cube but it comes close enough to justify the name. The dimensions are 6 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches. On the debut the colors of the system ranged from gold, silver, and black to purple and hot pink. Hopefully the latter won't be launch colors since I seriously doubt they would sell many of those colors. The design is step in a brand new direction as most systems have been rectangular and relatively low to the ground, the Game Cube towers over the competition. It is an interesting change of pace when compared to that VCR, I mean PS2. The controllers are probably the one thing that garnered the most heat from reviewers as it looks like a mix between the origingal SNES controller and a flimsy toy.(You can notice that I said it did not look similar to the PSX Dualshock because we all know that the PSX controller is a cheap knockoff off the SNES controller). It does look a little crappy in my opinion, mostly becuase the A button is really big and clumsy looking, while all the other buttons seems to hang around. It doesn't seem to well suited for fighting games and sports games either. The other gripe I have about the controller is the D-pad. It looks as though it is in an extremely uncomfortable position. But I won't make any final judgements until I get to handle it. We all know how everyone thought the N64 controller looked like a piece of junk when in fact it is the most comfortable controller out. The storage medium of the Game Cube was also very controversial. It offers many pros and cons. It combats piracy extremely well because I believe that the Game Cube can only physically hold the special 3 inch propriety DVD. Plus it is about 1.5 gigs which is a lot of space when compared to cartridges. The cons are very noticeable as it is pretty much confirmed that the Game Cube won't play regular DVD's. Another noticeable downfall is that the proproety DVD can only hold 1.5 gigs when compared to the 4.7 gig capacity of regular DVD's. This could have a negative effect on third party developers who won't want to conform to Nintendo's standards. I seriously doubt it will effect any companies though, as 1.5 gigs is a huge amount of space. The demos of the games shown at Spaceworld were truly awesome. They were smooth and showed no signs of the dreaded jaggies. The games rivaled anything Sony has produced graphically speaking. One point I hope Nintendo focuses on is the selling price. If the Game Cube can stay at the $150-$200 price range then it will be a guranteed success. The PS2 is nearly $300 and that will make any gamer stop to think if it is worth the price. Until next time, late. If you have any suggestions or comments just e-mail me with them.
School's startin pretty soon for me and that's getting me kind of cranky, more so than usual. I have decided to vent some of my attitude into the article so bear with it. Spaceworld is extremely close and although there will not be any playable demos, Nintendo will announce a multitude of information. One aspect of the Dolphin that I feel will effect it, although it is overlooked by many people, is the software medium for the Dolphin. The single reason the N64 was not as successful as the Playstation was the cartridge issue. It created a ripple effect in the sense that cartridges offered one pro, nearly impossible to pirate versus a multitude of cons i.e. limited space and high prices. Even cartridges are easily pirated by a handy little device that copies the games to zip disks. That's for another article though. Back to my main subject, the Nintendo 64 was extremely unforgiving because the developer had to conform to a smaller game size and a more expensive development cost. Thus smaller companies with great games could not create games for the N64, and larger companies (Sqaure) would flat out refuse to make games. Now coming to the future, Nintendo is at a crossroads, because the decision of going with a propriety based DVD could have adverse effects. Propriety based DVD's would be Nintendo exclusive because they would be somewhat different from regular DVD's, probably more encryption. This, in my view, could be a mistake if the Dolphin will only hold the propriety DVD's, Nintendo could run into the same problem with developers who would not want to change for the Dolphin. Piracy is an inevitable part of the gaming industry. Look at the Dreamcast; Sega touted it as piracy proof and now just over nine months later Dreamcast games are being distributed over the internet at a blazing pace. Nintendo should opt for a more widely universal medium and garner more devlopers. But because propriety DVD's are so similar to regular DVD's chances are that Nintendo will not exactly duplicate the blunder they made with the Nintendo to such a great extent. Granted, Nintendo will lose some developers but hopefully the lack of presence from these devlopers will not be greatly felt. All that we can do now is wait until Spaceworld and see what Nintendo has got in terms of the Dolphin.
Nintendo has been in the gaming business for a long while. Recently though, Nintendo has been dethroned from its reign as video game king by Sony. To many gamers the Playstation is better then the Nintendo 64 hands down. Sony has been able to flood the market and become the single dominant force in the gaming industry. The casual gamer has become increasingly brainwashed into thinking that Nintendo has become a system meant only for children. This has become Nintendo's biggest threat. Nintendo's greatest enemy is itself in the sense that if the Dolphin will be similar to the SNES i.e. lots of games that appeal to a large demographic that contain good graphics. Nintendo is a very shrewd company. Everything they do has a purpose. For example, as a way to compete with the latter systems, the Nintendo 64 contains the RAM expansion which has helped Nintendo 64 games compete when compared to Dreamcast and Playstation 2 games. Only Nintendo would be smart enough to incorporate such a feature into their system. Getting back on track though, Nintendo has dug itself into a hole in the sense that it has somewhat established itself as a company that caters mostly to the younger majority with kiddy games. I have talked to many people who own Nintendo 64s that have became disillusioned with Nintendo in general and have vowed to purchase a Playstation 2. I can understand their position because Nintendo seemingly has dedicated at least 60% of their games to the 10 and younger audience. I may be exaggerating but the lack of games that appeal to a larger audience is annoying. Nintendo has successfully become the video game comapny for kids. If this image can be fixed, Nintendo will become the driving force in video gaming. Sony, Sega, and even Microsoft pose no real threat to Nintendo if they can fix their image and try to cater to the more casual gamer. Nintendo's biggest enemy is itself and its current gaming image. Hopefully, this is an easy problem to remedy but only time will tell if it comes true.
Since the introduction of the Playstation, Sony has become the single most dominant force in video gaming, even dethroning the king of gaming, Nintendo. Sony won its' top dog spot through a combination of shrewd business decisions of its' own and mistakes on Nintendo's part. The largest factor was that Sony used a CD medium which allowed for developers to create games at a much lower price while allowing more space for Full Motion Video and enhanced sound. Cartridges on the other hand, were expensive and were very limited on space thus making it impossible for good sound effects and FMV to be instituted in games. Since the Sega Saturn was nearly extinct after it had felt the full force of the PSX, no system really stood in Sony's way. Nintendo blundered by staying with the cartridge medium and payed dearly for it by loosing many third-party supporters, mainly Squaresoft. Also, small companies were uninterested in the prospect of producing for the N64 when games could easily be produced for the PSX with a great chance of earning profits. Thus Nintendo was only left with Rare and itsself to produce quality games. I will give Nintendo and Rare credit for producing many excellent games that rivalled even the Playstation but it was too little to compete against the Sony powerhouse. Eidos, Capcom, Squaresoft, and 989 Studios were creating too many games that were of extremely high quality. Finally, some comapnies are flocking to the N64 but it is too little too late as the N64 is almost dead, but that's not to say it won't go out with a bang. A new Zelda game and Conke'rs Bad Fur Day are almost reaady to be release (Zelda is out in Japan currently). Through the use of CD's which led to increased company support, Sony was able to make video games extremely mainstream. This unrivalled success is a one time deal because the PSX2, Dolphin, and X-Box all deal with similar mediums to cost won't be an issue. Neither Nintendo nor Sony will dominate the video gaming market, Sony and Nintendo will hold large shares of the market with Microsoft in a somewhat close third. The Dreamcast will almost probably be stuck at fourth unless it can deliver flawless online play coupled with ground breaking games. Basically the industry leader will be the company that can deliver low cost gaming, consistent online gameplay, and groundbreaking games. Hopefully, since I'm a Nintendo fanatic, the Dolphin will do this and more.
Recently, IGN64.com did an article concerning the Dolphin. Everything from development kits to controllers were discussed. If you have not read the article please go to IGN64.com to view their informative article. IGN64 did an extremely well written article but I fear that it may cause a lot of fears over the speculation of the Dolphin. The issues I want to address of the article is the polygon count of the Dolphin and PSX2, DVD abilities, and controller styles. The polygon count of the Dolphin seems to be a big concern for many Dolphin fans as the article implies that the PSX2 is more powerful then the Dolphin. This is false, as the Dolphin is going to easily outpace the PSX2 even when full visuals are on. Check out the system comparison page on my site. This is obvious since the Dolphin is not out not even out yet while the PSX2 is. DVD compatibility was another issue that I feel is very vital. Nintendo is most probably going with propriety DVD roms that will be smaller in size and will be harder to pirate. In my opinion, this is not exactly the best move since many companies will pass on the Dolphin due to the added costs of producing for a special medium. Hopefully, Nintendo will allow for both regular DVD's and propriety DVD's to be played on the Dolphin. Also relating to the DVD problem is that people are concerned with the amount of storage available on the propriety medium. It could be in the 2 gig range. This is not too big of a deal as a majority of games now are still on CDs. Finally, the controller setups that IGN64 created were, to me, a complete joke. Both controllers were pretty weak. The N64 has a decent controller except for the c buttons which were extremely annoying because of their size. They were made with the Mario game in mind, not anything else really. Also in the mockups was that the D-pad was noticably missing. To me this is extremely unfortunate if Nintendo is heading down this path. The D-pad is much better then the joystick in fighting games and still comes in handy. If Nintendo decides to go on the two prong design it is understandable since the three prong design was somewhat intimidating to the casual gamer. Hopefully, the Dolphin's controllers will have the same number of buttons as the current N-64 controller because going a step down will not suffice with today's games. The IGN64 article was extremely well written and did display some factual information but hopefully Nintendo does not go with all of the ideas that were apparent in the article.
To put it bluntly from the very start, the Nintendo 64 is a disappointment to me. Fromthe very start I had mixed feelings about the systems success. Nintendo's decision to go with cartridge based games proved to be their downfall as it severly hindered their ability to produce games with full motion video, low prices, and excellent sounds. I own a Nintendo 64 and have been dissappointed with the quality and quantity of most of the games. There are some real winners such as Goldeneye, Zelda, and Perfect Dark but these games are somwhat far and few. Now Nintendo is starting to produce better games, such as Conkers Bad Fur Day, Resident Evil Zero, and Eternal Darkness. The Nintendo 64 s also flawed in becasue of the lack of games. As I look at a GamePro for August 2000, I see only 3 games reviewed. This is pathetic as the Playstation and Dreamcast are pumping out games by the boatload. Sure, the PSX and Dreamcast have theuir share of losers out of those games but they also have a greater number of better games. Hopefully, Nintendo can shape up and do a better job on the Dolphin.
Well Nintendo's been keeping quiet on their new system but if they want it to be successful against the Playstation 2, Nintendo will have to shape up. Currently, Nintendo is starting to annoy me. They are coming out with games with excellent gameplay and graphics bu the lack of storyline of each game is pathetic. I am getting tired of Donkey Kong/ Banjo Kazooie story lines. How about soemthing a little more mature? I don't mean it has to be high tech, I just mean stay away from animals right now. For the Dolphin to be successful, Nintendo has to come out with a strong start. They will be relasing their system last in the systme wars so they should take advantage of this. The rumored prices of the Dolphin at its' debut are supposed ranging from $99 to $150. If this is true the Dolphin can be a sure winner. The PSX2 is overpriced at nearly $400. This price is much too high and an inexpensive but powerful gaming machine is just what the public has been clamoring for. Nintendo has stated they are willing to lose some money on the system since they can make it up on games. If this is true I would not give it a second thought to purchase a Dolphin at a mere $100. This would blow away the competition. But along with a good system, good games are needed. Or should I say mroe games. Nintendo's policy of quality not quantity has been a doulbe sided sword. They have produced some excellent games but the lack of games is annoying. This was especially annoying at the debut of the system. Having only two games at the release of a system is pathetic. Nintendo should release at least 5 games and continue with a large stream of games throughtout the first couple of months. And I don't mean crap games; Nintendo should release the best games possible at this time. Finally, if Nintendo wishes to become the dominating force in video games they have to hype up their system. This could be dangerous but Nintendo always delivers on its promises. People need to know about the Dolpihn well in advance. Sega was able to effectively market the Dreamcast and they walked away with huge opening day sales. If Nintendo does follow these points to a certain extent the Dolphin can quite possibley become the most successful system in history.
Nintendo's new system is slated for release in 2001 so I've been thinking about one of the types of games that has received the least amount of attention. Role playing games and racers have been seemingly set aside by Nintendo and it's starting to annoy me. First of all, RPG's on the N64 are kind of weak. The only good RPG is Zelda and that's not even a true RPG(Its more of an action game with some RPG elements). There's no excuse for this even though Square does make the best RPG's it doesn't take much to make an entertaining RPG (Storyline and graphics). Some company should take advantage of this and release seom decent RPG's for the N64. After RPG's, there comes racers. Sure Nintendo has its share of great racing type games (Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing) but none that can even compare to Gran Turismo. This game singlehandedly set the standard for good racers on the PSX and no game has come close to matching it. Racers in general may seem boring at first but when a good game comes out i.e. Gran Turismo, the whole genre is revived and made mainstream. I am positive that Nintendo can do better becasue if the Dolphin is everything people think it is, it should be the single greatest system to hit the market. Although, these two types of games are not as popular as adventure games, they should not be overlooked because they are extremely entertaining and at times very profitable.
I have picked on Nintendo in my writing for soem time now and I feel that it is the right time to tell everyone of Nintendo's greatest strength. Multiplayer games are Nintendo's best bet in winning the system wars. On the N64, multiplayer gaming was revolutionized by the four controller ports and all of the multiplayer games. I still play Goldeney, Mario Kart, and Mario Party with friends because the games never get old. Even though they have been out for quite some time, the multiplayer apsect makes them enjoyable each and every time. Sony made a blunder in the PSX2 when it released it with only two ports. Like the Dreamcast it will have online capabilities which will totally change the way games are played. Once the idea is perfected, games that offer online playability will have an unlimited longevity. Nintendo will easily accomplish this in my mind due to their amazing track record at making multiplayer games. If Nintendo can do this with the Dolphin it will probably tip the scale in their balance because I cannot wait to play their new Mario Kart game with 10 other people on a full screen instead of sharing it. PLaying a game would never get old. Hopefully, Nintendo can perfect this and become a dominant force in the online/multiplayer apsects of video games.