Official Nintendo Fanboy Smugness & Gloating Thread

Alarm · Post by **Alarm** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:55 am 0

Wii Channel pics

Marius · Post by **Marius** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:00 am 0

I wonder if the cow sounded like Elvis.

My guess is that Mr. Minter is already packing his bags

fihu · Post by **fihu** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:12 am 0

http://www.psfk.com/2006/11/wii_vs_xbox_vs_.html - PSFK:

Just look at the smile on that woman's face. We went to the opening party of the Wired Holiday store in NYC and we think we can work out just by looking at these photos which game console is going to be the big hit on December 25.

Mark Fraunfelder, Boing Boing:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/16/wi ... ssion.html

Nintendo sent me a Wii last week. I'm not a big gamer, but I like playing the Gamecube and DS with my nine-year-old daughter, even though she always beats me. (I don't own a Playstation or XBox, and haven't really used either).

Nintendo games are marvelous â€” Super Mario Sunshine is my favorite. I love the world of Mario and his friends. My only problem with the games is the controller â€” I just can't make my fingers and thumbs move the right way, or fast enough, to be very good at most of the games, especially the competitive ones. My daughter beats the pants off me in Monkeyball. One time, after a particularly humiliating loss to her in MonkeyBall, she said, "I feel bad winning; it's like playing against a baby."

When the Wii arrived in its very Mac-like box, I didn't know what to make of the controller, other than to think that it looked like a big iPod Shuffle. I hooked the system up to the TV (which took all of 30 seconds) and realized that there was no cable to plug into the controller. It was wireless. If that wasn't cool enough, I soon learned that the way you moved the cursor on the TV screen was by waving the controller around. It was like using a laser pointer. What's more, the controller uses haptics (touch technology) to help you navigate. When the cursor goes over a button or icon, the controller produces a physical "bump" to help you navigate. It feels like magic. I love it.

The Wii cames with a sports game, and it makes great use of the controller. To play baseball, you hold the controller like a bat and swing it. A tiny speaker on the controller makes the sound of a ball hitting the bat, and the haptics let you feel the crack of the impact.

My favorite part of Wii Sports, though, is the boxing game. My daughter and I had created avatars that looked like us and we used these avatars to box with each other. We each held a controller in out fists and punched at the air, making our little avatars punch at the same time. When the bell rang, I started pummeling my daughter. Yes, it felt a little funny hitting a cute cartoon avatar of my daughter wearing glasses and pigtails, but after losing to her so many times in MonkeyBall, I wasn't going to let the fact that I was her father get in the way of my chance to get revenge. I pounded away furiously, sending a jab to her head that knocked her to the ground. The referee started counting, but she was out cold. I finally won a game against her! The simplicity and intuitiveness of the controller had leveled the playing field between my daughter and me. Her days of treating me like one of those TV commercial idiot dads were over.

"Hey, no fair!" she said. "You're bigger than me."

"Payback is a mother, honey," I said. "Wanna try again?"

Nice to read someone actually liking Wii Boxing.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:29 am 0

No game demos in the Wii VC store? That's not good.

fog · Post by **fog** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:51 am 0

HGFB wrote:No game demos in the Wii VC store? That's not good.

What ever? Surely VC games will have demos even if full price games don't?

That's one of the best things about XBox Live. Pretty much everything whether it's an XBLA title or full price title, is try before you buy.

Ennui · Post by **Ennui** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:24 am 0

There have been Wii and PS3 kiosks here for a little bit now and I can tell you that Excitetruck is extremely fun and the wiimote controls are great and better than analog sticks. The closest comparison I can give Excitetruck is to the original Waverace, not as much variety compared to those simulation borefest racers but you keep on playing it because the shit is fun to control and there are great courses. Alot of professional reviewers nowadays don't seem to like arcade racers anymore judging from some reviews of Outrun C2C where they make it seem it's a hollow shell of a racing game with little depth or replay value which I completely disagree with.

It was also a little bit of a surprise finding out how horribly boring Motorstorm is since I thought it was going to be a fun game. The strangest thing is that while I can obviously see the technical graphics superiority of Motorstorm over Excitetruck, Excitetruck still looks better to me.

grue · Post by **grue** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:41 am 0

Ennui wrote: The strangest thing is that while I can obviously see the technical graphics superiority of Motorstorm over Excitetruck, Excitetruck still looks better to me.

I think that you mean "easier on the eyes". Bright colours, simple(r) shapes and clean simple textures. I feel the same way with Monkey Ball's graphics, I m quite tired of ultra realism in games.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:49 am 0

fog wrote:
HGFB wrote:No game demos in the Wii VC store? That's not good.
What ever? Surely VC games will have demos even if full price games don't?

That's one of the best things about XBox Live. Pretty much everything whether it's an XBLA title or full price title, is try before you buy.

I'm going off the screenshots posted above that have no "Download demo" link on them.

Yak · Post by **Yak** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:55 am 0

I guess with VC games demos don't matter so much? I mean with the arcade-emulation stuff on XBLA the demos have been close to useless (play just the first zone in Scramble then stop suddenly? the first few times that happened I thought it was b0rken) and anyway you pretty much know what the original was like and you can always give yourself a demo on the PC via emulation if you absolutely must.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:57 am 0

What about the new gamers who've never had one of the old consoles or computers before? They don't know what all the old games are. Hell. We've got students who've never played on a NES or SNES.

arbster · Post by **arbster** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:06 pm 0

HGFB wrote:What about the new gamers who've never had one of the old consoles or computers before? They don't know what all the old games are. Hell. We've got students who've never played on a NES or SNES.

I agree with you there. And there is laso the it-isn't-as-good-as-I-recall scenario too. Surely they could just implement a 10-15 minute try-it-out session. I know I can try them out via emulation on my PC... but that is not an option for many - if it was, I doubt VC titles would become a success.

D.J.Fudge · Post by **D.J.Fudge** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:34 pm 0

Owners of the Nintendo DS will soon be able to enjoy more than just games from their favourite handheld console with the Nintendo MP3 Player.

Launching across Europe on December 8 2006, the Nintendo MP3 Player lets fans use their handheld console as a fully-fledged, high quality MP3 player.

With this addition, gamers now only have to carry one device to enjoy two of their favourite pastimes â€“ gaming and music. This simple, easy to use accessory allows Nintendo fans to enjoy around 150 of their selected songs with a 512MB SD memory card*, while on the move. Each songâ€™s title information will be clearly listed on the Nintendo DS screen so songs can be selected easily.

The Nintendo MP3 Player doesnâ€™t just work with the Nintendo DS though, it is also fully compatible with the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro as the cartridge will slot into the Game Boy Advance port on all the Nintendo handheld consoles.

The Nintendo MP3 Player launches across Europe on December 8 2006 at the estimated retail price of around Â£20 (â‚¬30).

* MP3 files are transferred via a PC onto an SD card. The card reader and the SD memory card are to be purchased separately. The SD card is then inserted into the Nintendo MP3 Player cartridge.

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:38 pm 0

Got one already on me Supercard thanks very much

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:41 pm 0

D.J.Fudge wrote:The Nintendo MP3 Player doesnâ€™t just work with the Nintendo DS though, it is also fully compatible with the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro as the cartridge will slot into the Game Boy Advance port on all the Nintendo handheld consoles.

A GBA cart? That means it'll look like arse on a DS Lite.

Atty · Post by **Atty** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:48 pm 0

It'll be interesting to see if there are any demos for Wii VC stuff. It's not even really been made clear if that VC channell will be home to anything other than the older 'classic' consoles games.

I guess it's a bit of a pain in the arse going back and making a demo for a 15 year old game you didn't even make in the first place, but for stuff like Mario World and Mario 64, a simple one-level demo mode would be nice. It'd also be cool if, for whatever reason they didn't have a demo, they had a little rolling video of the game in action, so you could atleast get a feel for the sort of game it is.

Still, assuming demos are missing, there's always a chance they might be added later. We'll have to wait and see, I suppose.