Burny

Ah, I see why Serious Sam doesn't count. This is one of those games that have about zero chance of showing up on German shelves unless they heavily cut it...

I won't get all fired up before there is more information on this. Replace per game friendcodes with a single account based one and remove the need to mutually register the codes to add someone and you almost have a perfectly acceptable system. If it's the current system again though - and "exchanging codes" implies at least mutual registration - than they really don't give a damn about a comfortable online system, do they?

A proper balloon battle mode - locally as well as online - should be a requirement for any Mario Kart. Directly followed by Block Plaza, of course!

It was actually quite skill based. A beginner had pretty much no chance, as all vehicles slowed down to a crawl when you hit something. Couple that with karts having an unexpected large turn radius (for heavy ones they were actually gigantic), bikes achieving overall higher average speed and most vehicles being useless compared to two or three superior ones and MK Wii is the Mario Kart I'm most reluctant to play with friends who are unfamiliar with it. The thing were MK Wii could be a real bitch, was when you were first and not much ahead of everyone else with 12 drivers in the game. With a bit of "luck" you got bombed into oblivion. :P For a party-racing game I'd say MK64 is the way to go. At least I have the impression that the vehicles are much more manageable there. Also MK64's balloon battle rocks. ^^ People without experience aren't any more likely to win there, but they're also more likely to be able to handle the vehicles. Even the heavy ones.

Wrote about the same thing in the OoT 3D thread, but here we go again: They're not designing the game from the beginning, but they will have to completely reprogram it. Decade-old code will hardly run on the 3DS. Don't know about the 3d models, but the textures will all have to be replaced with higher resolution ones (possibly added normal mapping and other fancy stuff?). It's less than a year since they first revealed the game at E3, so it might not be finished at the moment. On the other hand they announced that there would be a section in their download store for "classical games in 3d". Both Starfox 3D and OoT 3D fit perfectly into that, if you ask me. As we haven't heard much about the online system and the store, they might be even holding the game back if it is finished by now. That's pure speculation though. I don't know about the popularity of Starfox in Japan, but I know that Nintendogs and Layton are huge over there. I doubt an N64 remake would benefit from launching alongside those games...

It's "honoring" the title more than you think. I believe it looks brilliant today and that's saying something for a polygon count from two generations past - in a retro kind of way, of course. And nothing has to be significantly improved except for the fluidity, as OoT has aged a lot better than stuff like Goldeneye. Heck, a few posts above people are even complaining about the visual upgrade, which is already small enough. They have as many 3rd party big-hitters - remakes included - strewn throughout the year or announced, as pretty much any Nintendo console has seen in it's lifetime since the SNES (at least the stationary ones). Goes pretty much to show, that their communication with 3rd parties has been unparalleled so far. They have also Pilot Wings, Mario Kart, a revival of Kid Icarus and Paper Mario in the works. None of these games can have had much more than 1-1,5 years of development at this point which is to be expected for a new console. And on top of all this, they are able to throw in two 3d-makes of classic games. Which - by the way - aren't just "reskins", as decade old code won't be exactly runnable on the 3DS without emulation, but completely reprogrammed games. They even blow a lot of money on a public demo event showcasing the system and it's upcoming titles. Yes, they're totally unprepared. A lot of other software and hardware companies would be happy, if they were only half as "unprepared" for a launch in terms of software. You may have hoped for added bells and whistles from an OoT remake, but the only thing that could disappoint me about this remake, would be if it's a full price retail release. I just want to download it for 15 bucks and always have it on the SD card. There is one more thing with an OoT re-"imagining": Zelda's stories are atmospheric and moody, but pretty much paper thin. There is usually a triangle of characters - Zelda, Link and Ganondorf - and the very same premise: Ganondorf imprisons the princess - who had previously protected the realm - and starts to fuck everything up. Link - just your average youth at the beginning - happens to be the chosen one who gets to plow his way through 4-8 temples collecting artifacts granting him some sort of power, teams up with the princess at some point and together with her, dukes it out with Ganondorf in the end. In order to have some more powerful artifacts you must collect and to connect the characters some more, the triforce usually gets thrown in for good measure, too. Basically: a lot of the same bullshit that serves as excuse for you to puzzle your way through a couple of temples, collect some items and kick a couple of over sized bosses' butts. What defines the games are the puzzles and one basic mechanic around which the whole game world is constructed. That means instead of re-imagining OoT, which would result in a vastly different game with about the same thin story and the time travel mechanic they have already done, they can as well cash in with a remake that's far less development effort and start with a completely new Zelda anyway. Which they are probably doing by now.

Sorry, but that's not what a remake is in the same way 2010's Goldeneye isn't a remake. That doesn't make sense. They have got a ton of games in development.

They have. The Deku village has the atmospheric fog in the distance (which indicates that there will be fog where they intend it to be) and on the Dodongo boss screenshots the scene is dominated by red light. I see what you people mean with those fog complaints - the boss rooms lack it on screenshots. But seriously, complaining about the lack of foggy boss rooms due to clearer visuals in a remake of OoT? I get the impression there is the gaming equivalent of the Princess and the Pea around. :p

There is a massive investment in development behind the simple "All they have to do is copy XBL". All those features aren't exactly scientifically challenging, but you need a fairly competent team of software engineers and they won't just do it over the week end. After Nintendo's success with the Wii and the DS though, I would expect them to be able and to make that investment. At least in terms of "videos and demos, online store" there is pretty much clarity, that the 3DS will have them (although I suspect this video to be a mockup): In terms of friendlists... If they'll again try to justify friend codes, online gaming on their next system will be another still birth. If they have at least an account based system, not all is lost.

1. Bad news. 2. No that relevant to UK. 3. Really? I haven't seen anything that tells me much more about what it will be like to use the system. 4. Fairly bad news. 5. Not that much new being shown about functionality of the system. Fairly. Probably. Look ! Could be much worse. The stuff still in development is pretty impressive. It's about showing the demos to people who haven't been able to see them themselves, not for pumping out news. For that purpose, the event is pretty damn impressive. Overall, I find the lack of actual news a bit disappointing, too. But for it's purpose the event seems well planned and executed. Any doubts wether the overall OS and online system can deliver are justified though.

The hole friend code bs. in its current form is unacceptable in the future. When you actually get to play with somebody you know, it's like sitting on the sofa next to them without ever speaking a word until one of you quits the game and walks out. Not worth your precious gaming time in the evening when everyone else offers a better system or you could just play a single player game. Nintendo alone might get off with it because they're usually that good at everything else, but some 3rd parties have to rely on Nintendo's system, too. Not everybody in the business can just offer an online system of their own like CoD:BO and (I believe) MH3 on the Wii do. That's also not desirable on a closed system like the consoles because in the end, you'll again have different IDs for the same people in different games. Nintendo seems not completely immune to reason in that respect though. CoD:BO can be patched (basic requirement for successful games with heavy online functionality and long time player base) and Monster Hunter was a massive online effort that at least tried to incorporate basic online features you know from other systems. By now, the message that this stuff isn't luxury should have arrived at Nintendo. Beyond the fact that Nintendo's system is inconvenient and useless as hell, there are also issues with a larger financial impact. Without an account based online system Nintendo isn't able to lock out people who opt to not pay for their games (and cheaters).

If opening the 3DS alone will invalidate any guaranty claims again, larger batteries might be hard to sell. 3-5 hours straight gaming is still quite a long time. Again, concerning stuff to ask when someone pins down a Nintendo exec and grills them on stuff, why not ask these questions if things are still open: Is there finally an account based online system (If not, please kick that exec into the balls and kindly ask him to convey the message to Iwata ) If there is an account based system: Will you be able to redownload purchased games in the online store if you buy a new system? If there is an account based system: What about a universal friendlist for the account that can be used by games with online functionality? What means of ingame and OS communication are there (with people in a friendlist)? Cross game communication? Will savegames again be written to some flash memory within the game modules or to somewhere on the SD card? Will there be means of patching games? Is there a possibility for DLC? Will the virtual handheld eventually be extended to GBA games? Are the OoT / Lylat Wars remakes retail or download games?

Thing is, we already can answer that question with "yes". What mobile device - including Nintendo's handhelds - hasn't had a revision during a two year period since its launch? The more interesting question would be: will Nintendo wait two years before they launch the first revision?

Pokemon Black/White of course!

Well, the online system was no focus at all in that video, but I hope the 3DS's OS isn't as static as the Wii's, so it might be extended with features during it's lifetime. With Street Fighter in the launch lineup though, some information about the system should be due by now. If anything, they will want to be able to lock out flash cards with updates. If their new online system will be as fucked up as their current ones though... If it's the friendcode bullshit with no means of communication all over again, they can honestly stick their new Mario Kart wherever they want to. There is one thing about that OS video I linked above, that I can't remember seeing anywhere else and cannot interpret. At There is a table on the upper screen showing information / medals (crowns ?) for different "channels". Anyone an idea what this is about?

Mh, a new Layton, a 3d-make of a highly popular brawler and an the next iteration of a highly successful expanded audience game. Doesn't sound particularly bad. The converted prices seem astronomical however. Were DS games an japan always that much more expensive than in the US and they just slapped on another 1000 yen? Not seeing all the high profile stuff announced so far in that list will be a good thing in the long run, I think. Some of the games already announced can't have been in development much more than a year and if they released alongside the 3DS, they'd be rushed badly. Oh, can anyone understand what they're saying in this OS trailer? A lot of it is self explanatory, but is there anything new?

Always. For better or for worse! The only thing achievements can actually ruin is the story. There are often achievements that are only there to reflect how far you've come in the story. So, if achievement for chapter 5 says "you were betrayed by <some ingame character>, but took revenge", it can spoil things. Even that is accounted for however, as such achievements can be hidden (at least on PSN and Steam) until you get them. If you're actively browsing through achievement list online and get spoiled, then that's really your fault.

Without having played the game I won't agree or disagree. That said, if the "waggle" is comparable to the "waggle" in NSMBW, then I doubt this is a "major" fault. There is potential for false recognition when the WiiMote is flicked, so it may be an issue, but if time attacks on youtube are an indication, than it's definitely not "major". Those runs are absolutely precise and the posters don't seem to whine about how "waggle" made their life difficult, although their constantly using it in order to achieve those times.

He used the words interchangeably, so its fine. And that's were this discussion ensues. There are differences between the games. Your memories of the original trilogy make you call them faults, but the wildly different reception of these differences are a clear indication, that these aren't faults per se.

Absolutely. It's not like you are even able to put them off, when you played the games early in your gaming life. And that's exactly the point. You've been playing the games for half your life and as they're excellent games, what impressions you got a decade ago remain to you. Those memories are the rose tinted glasses you'll never be able to put of. But someone starting out gaming with DKCR or even long time gamers who have never played the old games and are getting into DK with DKCR, will never get the impressions you got as a child.

Lots of rose tinted nostalgia glasses I'd say. Sadly, the longer you play games, the more dull you become towards new games. You will always evaluate a new entry of a series against the others you've played. This only gets worse if you were young and easily impressed at the time you started playing games. The longer a series is around, the more you get that from fans. Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy, it doesn't matter. Without having played DKCR (and no intention to do so at this point), if there is no "soul" in such details: ...then I don't know were "soul" is supposed to be. A slightly different "soul" than you had in the old games, but that's what you get from a different developer a decade later. When devs aren't allowed anymore to change things the way they think will help the game, then what creativity is left in developing sequels to a game is pretty much gone and they could as well get into general software developing.

Or pretty much any game that unlocks something for ingame feats. But those aren't achievements in the XBox/PS3/Steam sense. In many of the games on XBox/PS3/Steam you have game content to unlock aside from achievements. Yes, I know what you mean, and no, not every game has them. As I said, aside from something telling explicitly you have gotten the achievement and what you had to do for it, it's the community aspect that makes the achievements. As long as they're tied to the game and not somehow visible for other players in your general profile, that extra incentive they give to some people is not there. In the best case, they are the reason people play a game longer/harder or waste more time shaking virtual hands. I just don't think they generally add much to games in their current form. On Steam/PSN even the community aspect manifests merely in the trophy level a player has and the ability to browse through a friend's achievements and compare them to yours. Unless you actively look, you won't know what achievement other people have recently gotten. Don't know if there's more to it on the XBox. But they don't save bad games and don't break good games either way. That's why I find it unlikely that we'll see Nintendo just copying them. Something like facebook's activity log, that shows you what people on your friends list have been up to in their playtime (including some sort of achievements), could be much more useful, I think. It should be the very first thing you see when you fire up the system and it might contain information like: "Player XY has raped everyone in Mario Kart yesterday evening and then went on to kick some ass in Smash Brothers." Or stuff like: "Player XY now owns Cave Story from the download store", "Player XY rated Cave Story 5/5. How would you rate it?".

In Metroid Prime (+ Echoes) stuff was unlocked depending on your completion rate. In Metroid Prime 3 and the Trilogy, the system was replaced with different kind of points you could collect during play, which were used in the menu to unlock soundtrack, artwork, a screenshot tool and dioramas. Some points have to be sent to people on your Wii's friend list with a Metroid Prime 3 save, so you can only get them from somebody else who has the game. With the Wii's incredible ( ) friendcode system, you can figure how popular that feature turned out. In a way it was less than XBox/PS3/Steam achievements, as nobody actually saw what you had done in the game. On the other hand, being used to unlock stuff, these points had actually a use. Wii Sports Resort pretty much has an achievement system. Your Mii can unlock clover leaf medals for different feats. They serve no purpose except for being there and telling you, that you have managed to not miss a single shot etc.. Add the community aspect and a level that increases as you accumulate them, and you have achievements.

Not that I know of. The only hint at something achievement related was the interview with this guy on their e3 website. As Nintendo haven't confirmed anything at all in this direction, it's rather unclear if he just went overboard with assumptions. There is no official information about what information player accounts on the 3DS will contain and what other players will be able to see. So far I'm interpreting this lack of information as "no achievements". I might be wrong and they're just not flat out going to admit, that they finally copied achievements, though. Edit: As those interviews are staged by Nintendo and they overlayed "achievements" there is likely going to be something in this direction on the 3DS. Without any information on what form this will take, I just wouldn't hold my breath yet.

In MS-Land, the console controls you! Incidentally, achievements are one thing I can't see Nintendo copying. At least not in their current form as mere meta-medals. It's a possibility, but I think it's unlikely, unless they wanted to make their next "home" console portable. The technical maximum for the 3DS cartridges is rumored to be 8 GB with the initial maximum at 2GB, but it might be years into the machine's lifetime until cartridges this large are available or even required. In case of cartridges they would also have to give up on backwards compatibility to Wii games.