InvaderElmo

While many fans have claimed the Wii is the best console for the RTS genre, I read an interview with somebody (I don't remember who, but they made RTS games) who said that the lack of HD is a large drawback for RTS games as they need to display a lot of small units and information at the same time. On the other hand, a console capable of displaying HD does you no good if you don't own an HDTV.

I was just saying that even after the discussion is started there will still be people posting about other discussions that had been going on before, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there are a lot of off-topic posts and side conversations that clutter up those larger topics, making intelligent conversation about a newer rumor more difficult.

I don't see why all topics for a specific game are lumped into huge mega-topics. I know I would participate a lot more in discussions on Zelda:TP or Smash Bros Brawl if I didn't have to wade through the 1,000 to 2,500 posts. If these topics are so popular, why don't they each get their own mini-forum or something. Huge topics may make this place look popular, but they certainly turn me off from participating. I really don't want to read the literally hundreds of posts consisting of repeated information (because casual posters can't be bothered to read all the previous posts) and idle banter (such as who can kick whose butt in Smash Bros. Melee). While I post from time to time in the smaller topics, I would really like to see mini-forums for the more talked about upcoming Wii games. That way I could ignore the topics such as "is snaking a cheat or a feature" or "anyone who uses Marth sucks at Melee" and get to the new rumors or information about the game. For instance, a topic on destructible environments was recently closed in order to add it to the SSBB topic. I would have enjoyed discussing the pros and cons of destructible environments, but there is no way I'll look through topiczilla for a few pages just to find a couple of related comments. So, while I understand that going back through and breaking up the great pangaea topics into subtopics is too much of a bother for anyone to do, I would like you to consider not locking topics about a specific rumor/news tidbit just because that rumor/tidbit is about Zelda/SSBB/etc.

umm... the Wiimote has been confirmed NOT to have a mic. Just thought you'd like to know.

While I agree that an uninformed gamer can be a casual gamer, I think the real root of it all is not really wanting to devote that much energy/brainpower to gaming. I think that casual gamers like games in general but because the are "casual" about gaming they don't read gaming websites or game reviews. This could lead them to buy crappy games because of good marketing. It could also lead them to buy only games from certain series or genres or certain publishers. In other words, we're all right, but we're mostly describing the symptoms. Even among casual gamers there are often specific games or series that a gamer will be passionate about. These are titles like Halo, Final Fantasy, Tekken, etc. Everybody knows about them, including casual gamers, and even someone who doesn't own any game systems or know much about gaming current events will sit down for an all-day Halofest, or burn through a weekend playing Final Fantasy. So even casual gamers can spend hours playing games. Then there are the non-gamers, an extreme case of "casual." They can't even put forth the energy to learn a game unless it looks really fun and also really easy/intuitive. Perhaps they think gamers are drooling pimple-faced basement dwellers, or maybe they just don't want to look stupid in front of someone much better than they are. I think it is like sports fans: Hardcore- the ones who check the stats after every game, know each team's rosters, know about injured players, make calls before the refs do... Casual- generally like the sport, have a favorite team, will watch an important game if they aren't doing anything else or if their friends have it on... Non-fans- think the sport is boring/beneath them/confusing, can't sit through more than 15 minutes before getting frustrated or asking a hundred questions during really exciting moments, ask you to check what else is on during every time-out... The difference between gaming and sports is that gaming has much more diversity, so even if someone doesn't like a particular genre they can still be converted. With sports a non-fan will pretty much be a non-fan. Unless you get them very drunk and invoke mob mentality.

Perhaps another way to look at casual vs. hardcore is more in how they play rather than how often. I personally enjoy a good round of Smash Bros, but I don't care to know what "wave-dashing" or all those other things are. I like Mario Kart(s) but I don't know how to snake. I think that part of being a "casual" gamer has to do with the amount of energy you are willing to put into learning the game versus just playing the game. My wife is even more of a casual gamer than I am. On a PC game one of the first things she'll do is ask how to turn on God mode. That and a guide book are the only way she'd touch Morrowind. She likes Harvest Moon and other games for the GameCube, but she doesn't really care about if she is doing things inefficiently, she just wants to enjoy the gaming experience. In my mind this is the definition of casual gamers that Nintendo is trying to reach with Wii. People who think gaming looks more fun than TV, but aren't willing to restart the level six times in order to beat it. People who like God mode (or would if they knew it existed). People who don't think Super Princess Peach is "too easy." Casual gamers of this definition can definitely spend money, though. My wife and I both have DSes, and we have a good many party games for the Cube (as well as some Zelda, Harvest Moon, etc.). Many of these games were ones she wanted after I told her a little about them. I think that once Wii comes out Nintendo will reel these types in by the thousands with their commercials promoting fun, low commitment games that can pass the time in that hour gap between your favorite TV shows.

While the Wiimote helps make RTS more plausible on Wii, the non-HD output hurts. While this could be worked out with good game design, any RTS game made for Wii might look like a step backward from PC games. I am still holding out for a release of XCOM: UFO Defense, though.

Here's a little glimpse of Insider's reliability: From and E3 predictions thread As for Assassin's Creed coming to Wii: if it does it will in no way be the same game as for PS3/360. I find it highy unlikely.

...unless, of course, you plan to sell the game in Japan.

That's not entirely true. They could integrate it into the sensor bar since it does have to have line-of-sight with the controller and therefore your general direction.

Perhaps they will come out with something that fits into the GBA slot that can store a few games on it at a time. The only thing I see that might not work is the whole resolution thing which was discussed somewhere in the Wii forum.

It's kinda creepy that the fact that the girls' heads are too big for their bodies added to the innocent big-eyed look makes them seem like a cross between 4-year old girls and Dead or Alive playmates.

I guess Ubisoft was right when they signed on to Nintendo's strategy early on. I don't remember exactly where, but I remember one of the Ubi guys talking about how they were the only studio to make a new exclusive third party franchise for Wii and that the others would be at least a year behind them. I'm glad Take-Two is finally coming around, but have a little faith guys! I thought it was obvious that Wii was going to do well but maybe that's just the fanboy in me.

I was reading the patent (yeah, I was bored) and I noticed that it also covers an instant messenger service that could be used with a game emulator that would run on a PC/Mac or PDA (this part is at the very bottom). What would be very interesting is if Nintendo sold a Wii emulator for the PC/Mac during the first few months when consoles will be very hard to find. This would let people buy/experience games even if the Wii is sold out. Later those people could get a discount on the console if they brought in their emulator. I imagine the emulator would require a USB key to be plugged into the PC in order to work, since the DVD drive would obviously be occupied with the game disc. They could include bluetooth in the USB key so that people could still use the same controllers when they got a console. In order to encourage people to "upgrade" to the console Nintendo could eventually phase out online support for people using the emulator, or they could just hope that people would want to play on their TV and would naturally pick up the console. Now I realize that this is a pretty bizarre idea, but I think it would be pretty cool. I guess they would still have to have the sensor bar, too, but a USB version could be included with the software and USB key. I'm not saying this is going to happen, but it would help sell more software during that initial craze, and if it were a good deal cheaper it could convince a few fence sitters.

I think it will be more like one code per controller, since there could be more than one person using a console. They seem to be focusing on each person having their own controller and it saving your profile in its built-in memory. I think it would only make sense if they include a code/username in that memory.

While I doubt the "Virgin" rumor, I think it would be cool if Apple did some partnering with Nintendo. While it is one of those holy grail of fanboy kinds of dreams, it is true that Apple partnered up with Nike for a cool workout tracking function that works with the iPod. Partnering with Apple would be a brilliant move for Nintendo. It would definitely add to the different things they could offer as downloads- tracks from video games (including old ones). Apple also has a good place for movie trailer downloads, which would be more fun to watch on a TV screen than on a PC (or Mac). If Apple allowed Nintendo to use a system similar to their coveted iTunes Music Store for games and other content this would be pretty darn huge. Plus Apple's DRM is one of the few that people don't complain about. Anyway, as much as this would be totally awesome I don't see why the folks at Virgin would also know about Apple and Google being in on this. Nintendo would much more likely just send them the information that they need to know. Especially in memos that get printed and end up on the desks of the accounting department.

I thought that we would be done with all of the 3D crazy talk after E3. If Nintendo had anything like what these attention-hungry bloggers are posting they would have revealed to in time to encourage third party developers to make launch titles for Wii. This kind of speculation makes me wish it were November already so that we could just focus on how cool the system really is.

This has GOT to be fake. Nintendo has been stressing the ease of programming this entire time. Why would they give out near final hardware that doesn't include cameras, the PPU, and the "graphics solution?" This would require devs to completely change the way their game is coded in order to take advantage of these features. It sounds like one of those "Wii will really be a lot better than we saw at E3" things that Matt Cassamassina was complaining about.

I don't think the image of the "dock of some kind" is actually a dock. It says it is a wireless transceiver on the page. It also lacks anywhere to put a power cable. It looks as if an early concept of the FHC contained the wireless capability in an add-on rather than in the remote itself. That would be my best guess, though I am still hoping for rechargable batteries and a charging dock (that holds 4 FHC).

After looking up Bleach DS (to relieve myself of Bleach Noobyism) I noticed that most of the characters fought with swords or sword-like objects. Perhaps the sword movement will be incorporated into the FHC while punches and kicks use the nunchuck? Of course we all thought we would have total sword control in Red Steel and look how that turned out.

Sorry if I sound noobiesque, but what genre is this Bleach game going to be?

About video games being better than board games "in every way," I think that is like saying movies or e-Books are better than books in every way... which isn't true. While video games can do much more, a video game of a board game is not as good as the board game itself. While it may be time consuming, setting up all those pieces in Risk or Axis and Allies just adds to the anticipation and excitement of the game (or maybe I'm just weird). Board games also give the players a lot more freedom to adjust the rules/play mechanics of the game. About the comments in general, there will always be people who consider video games to be childish, a waste of time, etc. Nintendo doesn't expect these people to just change their way of thinking based on an article in a magazine or some TV commercial, they just hope that these people have friends that aren't so closed-minded and that those friends convince/invite them over to see what all the fuss is about. Playing = Believing.

I don't know if I am a casual gamer or not, but as an older type (married with kids) I don't really have that many friends into gaming, so I really wouldn't have any use for the elaborateness that is Xbox Live. As long as there is a ton of stat-tracking I'm fine with it. I think most girl gamers or older gamers who might actually play online would feel the same way as I do, so I am glad that it is free. I think that Nintendo is trying to make sure everything comes with the system and there is nothing to do put plug it in and turn it on- no memberships to sign up for, wireless internet out of the box, no mics (if there is one in the FHC) or other accessories to purchase separately, built in memory or use your own SD cards, etc. Sure there will be cool controllers/add-ons/shells you can buy too, but all games should play with what comes in the box.

Maybe they were worried that all the hype surrounding E3 wiped out the attention they were getting during the previous lull of gaming news. Now that we're back into a lull they want us to stroke their egos again. We'll see next week, but like most readers I put these guys on my "We just want our 15 minutes of fame"/vaporware list. Do they get extra credit for having 3 vaporware games at the same time?

Maybe they could integrate it with the sensor bar since that has to have line of sight with the controller. It would be nice to have as few peripherals as possible. This would also fit with the whole new Apple-y side of Nintendo since Apple integrated cameras into all of their computers.