goku21 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 C3: Having your ear to the ground, have you heard any interesting rumblings related to the videogame Industry recently, especially on the Nintendo side? Perhaps from any of your ex-Electronic Arts colleagues? BB: You mean the whole Stereoscopic Revolution speculation wasn’t enough for you?!?! http://brokensaints.com/blog/?p=48 When I posted this almost a year ago, based purely on personal speculation and some industry detective work and whisperings, the reaction was overwhelming…and not all in a good way. Our server was slammed. The site crashed several times. A malicious code-kid hacked our PHP forums – with over 100,000 personal and poetic posts from the previous four years – and wiped them out. And when Nintendo failed to tip their hand at 2005’s E3 with confirmation either way? Well…I was more than a little vilified by the hardcore loyalists, and was accused of making the post for a short-term boost in traffic, and teaming with an anonymous wanker named ‘Aries’ to stir the pot and stretch our ‘15 minutes’. So let me state unequivocally – all of it’s bullshit. No-one can be held responsible for being linked by major game and news sites because of a relatively innocuous blog post. I certainly did the best digging I could with respect to my journalistic background. The connections between the graphics, film, and display industries were all there…and it doesn’t take a time machine to jump back ten years and remember that stereoscopic 3D has been something the Big N has been playing with seriously for a LONG time (Virtual Boy, anyone?). And seriously, kids - if the happiness of your collective futures hinge on the nature of ANYTHING in the entertainment industry – a movie, a band, a comic, a game, porn, Broadway musicals, etc - well, you really need to pause and reflect on the emotional and spiritual ramifications of such a focus. Dangerous and frightening stuff…because you are destined to be disappointed. Now…with that finally said, I do still keep my ear to the ground, and continue to chat with industry pals of varying rank and title from across the publisher spectrum. I like to hear how excited artists are to work on a new franchise with amazing raw assets. It’s a joy getting anecdotes from SEs who are coding for new machines, and bitching how the ‘official specs’ are so inflated, they put government spin to shame (we’re looking at you, 360!). And I absolutely love hearing the straight poop from R and D folk who are playing around with new hardware, tools, and engines, and trying to milk them for everything they’re worth…and often being surprised by the results. As for Nintendo? Well…I’ve heard it from both sides, really. A couple of tech director peers have certainly whined that the Rev architecture is exactly as stated – merely twice as powerful as the ‘Cube – and that Nintendo’s out of touch with this generation, and will join Sega in the software-only game in the NEXT next-gen. Of course, I’m of the camp that it’s all about DESIGN…you know, like that old story of Miyamoto and the EAD teams playing around with game mechanics using a dot on a screen, and if it’s fun with a dot, then it’ll be fun with snazzy visuals? Remember that wacky old philosophy…the diametric opposite to American publishers, who cram as many A/V distractions and ‘back of the box’ features into a build between Alpha and Beta…and then struggle during the final months, desperately trying to figure out how to make the damn thing ‘fun’? I’ve got friends working on using the Rev’ controller for all sorts of things. Flying/navigation (oh…and you can bet we’ll see the new Pilotwings in limited playable form at E3). Music titles (Taiko drums, anyone?). Unconventional sports (remember that Rockstar table tennis announcement? That’s something I proposed back in the EA days!). Shooters (DUCK HUNT 2006!!!) Even survival horror using the controller as a flashlight/knife combo! I think a lot of you are going to be VERY surprised at what is shown for Rev’ in a few weeks…and that’s on TOP of the Zelda: Twilight Princess sword and magic mechanics. C3: What games have you been playing when you get spare time? And are there any specific ones you are keeping an eye on for the future? BB: Though I’ve been pretty swamped developing the next project and planting Saints-related seeds in other mediums, I actually shook off the controller rust and got back into games in the last year. Shadow of the Colossus was dope – I’m a total boss man, myself God of War kicked my ass…but again, it clearly axed some bosses during the dev cycle, and would’ve been an absolute 10 had they been included. Fight Night 3 is cool, as I’m currently boxing to stay in shape, and the play mechanics are tight – nice work, EA Chicago. Indigo Prophecy’s [ Fahrenheit here in Europe ] mood and mechanics most certainly left an impression…even on the current BS game design. And I would be remiss if I didn’t give special mention to my personal favourite title since Ocarina of Time…Resident Evil 4. I rarely – repeat, rarely – play through a game twice. Not only did I unplug the phone, crank the surround, and burn through it in two days…but the mechanics were so good, the mood so perfectly captured, and the narrative arc so well ramped…man, I had to dive right back in for all the extra goodies. Gaming at its finest. As for what I’m looking forward to? Quite the potpourri, actually: Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, Superman Returns (the 64 atrocity must be righted!), Okami, God of War 2, Gears of War, the DC Comics Online game, Resident Evil 5, Zelda:TP, New Super Mario Bros, the Brain Games, an Ice Blue DS… Oh yeah…and playing Turbo Graphix-16 and Genesis [ MegaDrive ] titles on a freakin’ NINTENDO console!!! C3: What are your thoughts on the gaming scene at the moment? Do you see Nintendo managing to break out and claim victory in this upcoming generation? Or is there anything from the Sony or Microsoft camp that you think stands above everything else? BB: I honestly see the industry being severely split between a ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ philosophy of hardware and game design during this generation. The ‘yang’, or traditional aggressive approach, is to whip it out and see whose is bigger and better. This is essentially Microsoft’s and Sony’s strategy for the next 5+ years – more power, more gloss, more polys, more effects, more features, more techie, and more $. It’s seriously like waging war…let’s do a shock and awe campaign, bomb the shit out of the hardcore players so they can impress their friends and paid dates with their big HD screen and 7.1 Surround, which certainly attracts media attention and sales in the short run…but does little to change the state of the ‘world’ for the better in the long run. (in this case, the gaming world – not the Middle East!). Does Microsoft impress me? Only their online network could truly be called a ‘success’, and this comes from years of ‘experience’ in that field. Their hardware is overrated, glitchy, expensive to produce, and still unappealing to the Eastern market. Sony? They’ve got the raw specs and brand buzz, to be sure…but their arrogance might come back to bite them in the ass this gen’. See any killer apps for the PSP yet? Remember Kutaragi’s cockiness about PSP design flaws and PS3 pricing? How do you expect to reach the mass consumer with a machine that is looking to clock in for at least $400US out of the gate, and will likely offer only basic feature and A/V upgrades in the first round of software? Boggling, if you ask me. Whereas, I think Nintendo is trying to take a ‘yin’, or inclusive approach. Those crafty Yamauchi-bots (let’s hunt down his cloning factory and break a real industry secret!) have always known how to make money – what’s their war chest at now, like 8 billion? – so they’re using a completely different strategy in an attempt to expand the market and make gaming as ubiquitous as TV itself. Steps like taking a risk with a three-prong approach and creating a completely novel experience in the DS – a platform that has more women and adults playing than in recent memory. Or putting Wi-Fi networks everywhere and making them dirt simple to use, effectively establishing a Trojan horse scenario for the Revolution community, and the easy transfer of games, data, email, and more via handheld. I honestly think Nintendo sees which way the wind is blowing…it’s just a matter for the rest of us to catch up and take notice. And as long as N and Namco have plans to do a Rev’ riff on Soul Calibur by early 2008, I’ll keep waving the Mario flag. C3: What do you think of the Virtual Console scheme for Nintendo’s Revolution? And has its unique control system sparked any ideas in your head - how best could it used for any certain franchise? BB: As I blurbed above, the news just came down from GDC that they secured sizable chunks of the Genesis and TG-16 libraries for the Virtual Console. Combined with the 8, 16, and 64-bit libraries, this is crazy good news. I’m not worried about controller schematics or download issues or storage or licensing – I have faith that Nintendo will work most of these niggling issues out. But the key to making the VC scheme work will be in the pricing – period. I’m a sucker for intense childhood/teen nostalgia as much as the next geek, but if I have to pay 19.99 per month on top of my gas, electric, cable, and phone bills just to play Kid Icarus, Street Fighter II, and Goldeneye, then it ain’t that appealing to me. However, if they make it possible to earn games as part of a Revolution Rewards™ system, or create a no-frills annual credit/debit scenario, then I think it could be a HUGE success. And hey…wouldn’t it be neat if indy designers and garage teams could upload their own emulated content for evaluation and user-based competition? So many possibilities…I’m starting to froth. Finally, when it comes to the ‘Rev Remote’, I teased a couple of ideas above – things that were already being bandied about by developers and designers that confab with regularly. Personally, I can’t wait to skulk through a subterranean cavern in the new Metroid and leap around the living room like a spaz during a heated boss battle. Fighting games (boxing with two controllers, anything with swords that allowed for slash, stab, and parry, etc) would really turn my crank, too. Racket sports spring to mind almost immediately (putting spin on a tennis smash!), as do shooters like Time Crisis and Virtual Cop, where some real innovation could happen with targeting and movement via the nav pod. Most importantly, I remember being mesmerized by attendees at several comic and anime conventions over the last year – folks gathering in heated throngs to play Guitar Heroes and other ‘participatory’ games with their own signature style and personal fan followings – and I remembered fondly of enticing an ex-girlfriend to get over her aversion to complex controllers and play Mario Party with me. It was a real breakthrough for her – she loved the creativity and the immediacy and the simplicity of it all – and, after getting really good it, she soon traded up to more challenging experiences (eventually dumping me for a hardcore DDR and Everquest habit LOL). You see…the future of gaming truly is about being inclusive, because it’s no longer just about ‘winning’ or ‘killing’ or ‘solving’ or ‘completing’ – it’s becoming about expression - individual expression, through the exploration and control of a digital, man-made world of colour, sound, and sensation. Starting to sound like art, isn’t it? And that, my friend, is where we’re headed.
Nintendork Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Aww man, I hadn't even begun to think about table tennis.. I'll read the rest of it later. Need food.
ShadowV7 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Wow good read that,good opinions and views,good find their goku21.
DCK Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 That's a nice read. Good to see he's got a clear view on the things going on. I definetely agree with him on the 'bigger is better' strategy of Microsoft and Sony versus Nintendo's strategy. Especially Sony might lose big-time this generation.
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