jb

Uhh, I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but does it make any sense at all that this guy's visor is located DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HIS MOUTH? Apparently designers of the overcrowded power-suited-space-marine genre are really getting desperate to make their designs stand out. I thought the suit from Dead Space, with the view slots everywhere but where the guy's eyes would be, and the one from DarkVoid, with the glowing line down the middle of the guy's face were weird enough, but this one takes the cake for me. I'm bettin' we'll see a new game with the visor on the back of the helmet soon.

You know what I'd like? To see an analyst call for better third party Wii games.

The response from the game industry would be very entertaining.

I think an interesting name for Nintendo's next console would be "Duu" (rhymes with "do"). Not only does it stay three letters long with similarly quirky spelling, it's very similar to "duo" or "double", and even rhymes with "two", fitting for the sequel to the Wii. It would also enable some really *ahem* unique advertising taglines.

I can see it now:

"Introducing Duu™, from Nintendo. Wii was the first step in the revolution, get ready for number 2."

or alternately,

"Are you ready for number 2?"

=)

I really doubt anybody in their right mind has ever claimed hell was "just under the ground". Also, the idea of hell was around long before Dante Alighieri came along, and as for the claim that nobody believes it's a real place, what's this guy talking about?

I've been cutting back on spending, but wanted to give the developers something for their work, so I paid $6.50. Thing is, I'm actually a bit disappointed. While the game shows polish and creativity, it has some downsides, such as very limited toolsets for stages that limit replay value, a weird and confusing story that promises big revelations and turns out to be a total dud, and music that's trying hard for drama but just ends up annoying and borderline depressing. It seems the developers were really trying to make the game seem grand and epic, but it's just not. It's a quirky puzzle game with silly, disposable characters, kinda like lemmings, and IMO the attempts at drama/grandeur come across as pretentious and forced. Personally, I think the first section -the one in the free demo- is the best part of the game.

I think having control options is a good thing, and I especially understand Nintendo making an NES-like scheme available for Punch-Out Purists. The problem here isn't that motion control's not mandatory, but that the motion control in this game is lame. If you read the full press release, there's a line that reads "you can control hooks and jabs by combining motion control with control-stick movement". That means instead of pressing the 1 or 2 button to punch, you shake the Wiimote or Nunchuck, and use the control stick as a modifier. How is this supposed to be impressive? They could have done this (using a two-piece NES controller containing a couple simple mechanical switches) for dirt cheap over 20 years ago!

This isn't new, Wii music uses similar controls, and it seems almost an admission from Nintendo that the Wii's motion control (not to say IR pointing or tilt steering) is broken. Before Wii came out, ads showed things like immersive swordfighting that proved to be impossible with the Wiimote, since with only linear accelerometers and no accurate rotation sensing, it's missing half the tech needed for full-fledged motion control. Nintendo knew this, but decided to leave out gyroscopic tech until it was cheap enough for their desired profit margin. This may have boosted profits, but it also gave rise to "waggle", or just shaking the remote like crazy to do stuff because it can't recognize actions properly, and has given some people a low opinion of motion control.

Fortunately, Motion Plus looks to largely fix the problem, and will hopefully encourage innovation and give MoCon more of the respect it deserves, but it's crummy to see it coming years late and adding cost to an already overpriced system. Nintendo really needs to introduce a "Wii Remote Plus™" and make Motion Plus tech the new standard.

One last thing, a lot of people have called motion control (along with a touch screen) a gimmick, and there's truth in that. Thing is though, the word "gimmick" can also mean an ingenious innovation, as well as something done just to get attention, and I think the difference is in how well someone makes use of it. On the whole, I see it as more of the "ingenious innovation", and would be willing to bet that every future console will support it in some capacity.

I haven't bought a DS yet, and was waiting till this launched, but almost $200?!, I think I'll get a Lite.

Besides the seemingly experimental cameras, the main advantage of this system is the promise of downloadable content, but if Wiiware is anything to go by, it will likely be mostly mediocre. Add to that the shorter battery life and lack of GBA slot, and the Lite is looking like the better choice to me.

Shoot, except for the cheapy cameras, this basically just adds crippled versions of media features the PSP already has, and it will cost more, despite the fact that it's technically inferior in almost every way. I applaud Nintendo on their success, but Sony and Microsoft really need to get off their duffs and give them some decent competition. I'm not too fond of their new business strategy of charging inflated prices for old technology.

Just kidding with that, never really understood the whole "first" thing. =)

Anyway, my version of the DS would be a lot like the DSi, since besides the cameras, memory and new software it's received a lot of nice little tweaks (matte finish, slightly larger screens, hot-swapping of games, volume buttons, etc.), and I have an SP, so while a GBA slot's a nice feature, I'm okay without it. There are a couple other things I'd change though.

First, I'd include a higher capacity battery (the DSi only has an 840mah battery vs. 1000mah in the DS lite). I figure this is because the new battery's smaller size allows the system to be a touch thinner, but I'd prefer not taking a hit on battery life.

Second, I'd replace the shoulder buttons with small trigger buttons located on system's back bottom edge (kind of like the triggers on the Virtual boy, the N64's Z button or the Wiimote's B button.), they would be in a more natural position for your fingers, and would allow your index finger to support the system while playing games using both the D-pad and stylus, reducing hand strain.

Third, in a day when you can pick up a 1 Gigabyte USB drive for $9 at the checkout at Walmart, 256 Megs of memory is pathetic, I'd want at least a couple Gigabytes built-in, and an SD slot that's actually usable.

Last, I know it's a small thing, but I'd bring back the twin rectangle logo from the lite, tweak some of the system's lines and clean up some of the markings for buttons and lights. The DSi is attractive, but its look is a bit utilitarian and not quite as cohesive as the lite's. (on a side note, I also hope they release one in gray)

I've got some more ideas, but mostly they would be more fundamental changes more suited to a next-generation system.

Second!!!

@aj,

You bring up some good points there, and I also appreciate actually owning physical media, but there are ways of adressing the issues you brought up.

(A) WiFi connections are becoming more and more common in places like coffee shops and various other kinds of businesses. In addition to that, retail stores could and should provide in-store download kiosks where customers can purchase and download content at the same location where they would traditionally purchase physical media. That way, it won't matter if you don't have a broadband connection yourself, as you can just go to the store.

(B) As networks improve, bandwidth concerns may lessen, and direct store downloads could possibly help remedy this problem, as retailers could have special deals with service providers to handle the bandwidth.

(C) You definitely don't have to constantly re-download content, as games could be stored on (increasingly inexpensive) memory cards, but as those are known to have a limited life-span, maybe people could be allowed to make backup copies to their computers, as is the case with songs bought on online music stores.

(D) I've read that some music albums sold on iTunes will come with digital versions of the album booklets starting late this year, so this is definitely doable.

In the case of PSP games, though, getting rid of UMD doesn't doesn't necessarily mean getting rid of physical media. Memory chip prices have continued to go down, and it's conceivable that the successor to PSP could use memory cards with capacities similar to UMD.

I think digital distribution definitely has some cool uses and features, but just because it's coming more into the spotlight, it doesn't mean traditional media has to die off, and personally I hope it won't.