BigTac Posted November 27, 2005 Posted November 27, 2005 http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3145949 Some of the comments will also show light on some of Nintendo's decisions on what they are doing with the Revolution. Here are just a few of the statments: Randy Pitchford (Gearbox): The controller has various configurations, so I can imagine that you can do just about anything we're doing now on the new system. I think that the interesting new thing is that we're going to be able to make a game that can be controlled with one hand. We'll also see some interesting things with two fisted control -- a device in each hand. Right now, we waste so many of our ten fingers just holding a controller... Karthik Bala (Vicarious Visions): I don't think the scope or length of games will be any different than Xbox 360 or PS3 titles. The play length sessions or logical break points in the design might be different depending on the use of the controller. Many people initially saw the DS as a gimmicky control scheme and didn't feel the software library was going to hold up over time. But look at the refreshingly original titles and unique game experiences that have come out this fall! Even established franchises are getting their unique spin on the DS that is setting them apart from the other platforms. I think what Nintendo is going after is giving players new kinds of game experiences -- not just the same old with better graphics. Geremy Mustard (Chair): The Revolution will be much more powerful than the GameCube. I think people will be surprised at how many games will continue to be made across all three consoles. Game developers are becoming better at making their engines scalable, so that they can easily downsize textures, reformat audio, etc, so games can still be made to look pretty on some systems yet still play well on less capable ones. Geremy Mustard (Chair): It seems to me that it wouldn't be too hard or expensive for Nintendo to support HDTV output. That would at least allow the developers to make up their own minds about whether their game can support it or not. Many games do not support HDTV because it takes up so much memory for the display buffer and z buffer, not to mention other buffers that may be needed for special screen effects. The simplest games need 4 bytes per pixel, so 480p = 640x480x4, which is about 1.2 MB. 1080i = 1920x1080x4 = 7.9 MB. Many games require multiple screen buffers for various effects, which can easily quadruple these numbers. 24 megabytes just for the screen? That's more memory than the GameCube even had! But some games could easily support that because they use less memory overall. It should be the choice of the developer, though, and Nintendo should support HDTV output on the Revolution.
Pit-Jr Posted November 27, 2005 Posted November 27, 2005 I think maybe they're burning their boats on the shore -- for a reason. Designing it to be so different can't have been an accident. It doesn't seem like it would have been impossible to design a controller with the new functionality and the old in one...they've chosen this path deliberately. As a multiplatform developer, adding new functionality to the familiarity of the old pad is what I would have preferred. The bottom line is that the controller layout doesn't support the way you'd play many existing games -- so if you want to run a game on the Nintendo box, developers are now forced to re-imagine their control systems. They want to make it as hard as possible for 3rd parties to muck up the Rev library. I would even say they planned to have weaker graphics capabilities and lack of HD to make sure of that. They are underhandedly saying, 'create something new or fuck off'. The developers that do will probably find success there. The ones who dont will find enough success on PS3 and 360 to not bother with Nintendo. My point is, if Nintendo has a totally different library , it will be the default second console and could possibly get the most sales because of it.
Maverick Posted November 27, 2005 Posted November 27, 2005 FPS couldn't be done properly on a console because it didn't have a mouse and keyboard. Halo changed the mainstream perception of that. Errrrrr no goldeneye is what proved that it was possible. Quite a good read a lot of people are intrested although im sure at least one of the people they was talking to have an alpha kit or whatever they are called.
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