Joe

Shaggi,

Your repeated mantra about how Wii controls are a "gimmick" shows myopic vision more than anything else. Just because some technology is new and threatening, doesn't mean it's a gimmick. I'm sure some people who were used to Pong controllers or the Ms. Pacman joystick thought the D-pad was a "gimmick" and wow, look at the gimmicky industry that sprung up from that. I'd suggest that controllers before the Wiimote were just unintuitive, bad abstractions that designers bought into and created games around. So, relatively, the controls seem "normal" or "hardcore." But what makes more sense? Pressing and holding A + UP + RIGHT or just simply flicking your wiimote up-right in physical space? I kind of think of it this way: imagine we all drove cars, but instead of using a steering wheel, we used a voice-activated system and a joystick to handle co-ordinates, angles, and other variables. All vehicles and entire transportation infrastructures would be built around this, and it would seem "normal," or "hardcore." And then one day someone introduces this thing called a "steering wheel." Because the point of reference is only everything that came before, the steering wheel would be seen as a "gimmick," despite it a) being more intuitive and b) simply making more sense.

I also don't buy into your implication that somehow being a hardcore gamer and a Wii owner are mutually exclusive. If anything, hardcore gamers should love the Wii because it offers NEW and DIFFERENT gameplay experiences -- basically all the conventions that have been recycled for the quarter century.

While I think there is definitely still a place for traditional controls, Nintendo is on the vanguard of something that might change the cultural landscape, the definition of what it means to be a gamer. And you seem to be afraid of that.

For the love of god, EUCHRE local/online multiplayer. I'd say goodbye to my social life for weeeeeeks.

The original Metroid. Coming off of Super Mario Bros., this was like being given a Rubik's Cube and told to solve it in 60 seconds with a gun pointed to my head. No strategy guides, no Internet FAQs, no helpful game pointers telling you what to do or where to go next. Jumping off of frozen enemies like stairs to go to higher areas was a joy, and discovering the bomb pop up bomb pop up bomb pop up pattern on my own was like the videogame equivalent of coming up with E = MC2.

Yo yo yo. My homeboy Nas tells everyone in Canada to wait until this Saturday June 17th cuz Toys R Us is having a promotion for a DS Lite and you get New Super Mario Bros for $5 extra. I aint sho if this offer is available in the US of A too, but check on it yo. This deal brings all the boyz to tha yard!

Worst. Showing. Ever. And copying Nintendo with your half-assed controller was tacky and trashy. Ooh, it tilts. Big "innovation" from your "gimmick" competitors. I've definitely lost respect for Sony. I hope the negative internet buzz and pricepoint ($600!!! #@$%#@$%) kills them. Tell all your friends what BITERS Sony are.

Worst. Showing. Ever. And copying Nintendo with your half-assed controller was tacky and trashy. Ooh, it tilts. Big "innovation" from your "gimmick" competitors. I've definitely lost respect for Sony. I hope the negative internet buzz and pricepoint ($600!!! #@$%#@$%) kills them. Tell all your friends what BITERS Sony are.

No one cares. Late breaking news from Nintendo:

Introducing... pOOp.

As in "poop"

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, pOOp represents the answer.

pOOp will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

pOOp will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

pOOp sounds like "troop" which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

pOOp can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Everybody poops.


pOOp has a distinctive "OO" spelling that symbolizes the shape left in the chairs after playing.

And pOOp, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd...a bad smell.

So that's pOOp, But now Nintendo needs to pEE.

Because, it's really not about pOOp or pEE.

Only pOOp.

And pOOp will change everything.

No one cares. Late breaking news from Nintendo:

Introducing... pOOp.

As in "poop"

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, pOOp represents the answer.

pOOp will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

pOOp will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

pOOp sounds like "troop" which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

pOOp can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Everybody poops.


pOOp has a distinctive "OO" spelling that symbolizes the shape left in the chairs after playing.

And pOOp, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd...a bad smell.

So that's pOOp, But now Nintendo needs to pEE.

Because, it's really not about pOOp or pEE.

Only pOOp.

And pOOp will change everything.

No one cares. Late breaking news from Nintendo:

Introducing... pOOp.

As in "poop"

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, pOOp represents the answer.

pOOp will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

pOOp will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

pOOp sounds like "troop" which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

pOOp can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Everybody poops.


pOOp has a distinctive "OO" spelling that symbolizes the shape left in the chairs after playing.

And pOOp, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd...a bad smell.

So that's pOOp, But now Nintendo needs to pEE.

Because, it's really not about pOOp or pEE.

Only pOOp.

And pOOp will change everything.

I think what we need to understand is that Nintendo isn't targetting the hardcore gamer with SLI 7900 GTXs or whatever. I don't think grandma Jane playing her revolution cooking game is really going to care that the smoke coming from the wok isn't on par with the smoke in F.E.A.R. The new demographic that Ninty aims at will see only a gradation between the graphics of RE4 and say, Unreal 2007. And if we can't have fun with a new input device and visual that are as good or better than RE4, then we've really turned into graphics whores. Personally, I still buy into the theory that Nintendo has opted out of HD support and high-end GPUs, instead choosing to upgrade and recycle dirt cheap Gamecube parts, because all that money is going into its strategy for its display -- TV optional. I think that is the 2nd half of the revolution equation. Anyways, enough speculation... bring on E3!