Points of Interest – 5/1/07
- GameTrailers and ScrewAttack.com delve into the vault once more to look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, a reworked Turtles in Time clone Konami made for the SEGA Genesis back when system-exclusive versions of a title were still more of a contractual big-deal nightmare.
Incidently, I always did want to beat up Tatsu, but never got to.
- Well, I’m a knucklehead. Despite my own reminders, I forgot to tune in to see the Miyamoto special on Spike TV’s Game Head.
Fortunately, GameTrailers saves the day!
- IGN has some new info regarding Capcom’s Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
Interestingly, it was going to be like Resident Evil 4, but they felt it was too difficult and complicated on the Wii.
If that’s the case, then what does that say about the Wii version of Resident Evil 4?
Go Nintendo offers a video interview with the developer here.
- Next Generation takes a look at XBox’s Elite, and what its pros and cons are from a business perspective.
“in the $300 and up range consumers tend to be a little more careful with their purchase. Consumers don’t want to spend $400 on a piece of hardware and be told they are not “elite” and only getting second best.”
- N-Philes offers up the intro to Super Mario Strikers Charged, along with the game’s online multiplayer menu.
Pretty wild stuff, with a rockin’ soundtrack. And am I the only one who’s happy to see that the Kremlings are involved somehow?
- Jingle bells? No.
Shotgun shells? You betcha’!
- The Adventures of Link.
Wow. I bet he wish he’d thought of that one when he was doing the cartoon.
Hmm, Link’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he?
- Go Nintendo plays Mario Kart: Double Dash!! again… for the first time.
I do agree, on its own merits, its quite a fun game. I never quite understood why MKDS was so loved and this was so reviled. Maybe RMC is on to something with the bit about overhyping…
- The PSP, in itself, is a good little system. However, from Slashdot, it could have been great.
In addition, Cnet via Wired asks, “where have all the video downloads gone?”
- Development is underway for a device that read your mind to operate toys and other electronics.
It’s a neat idea, and makes you wonder what the potential applications might be for games. Or who might be the first to try.
- Pfft, I’ve been saying this for years. The Sony one goes beyond just those four buttons as well, which makes sense, given the origins of the system.
- Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Blue Dragon and Final Fantasyalum, explains why he has no plans to work on the PS3 any time soon.
He’s not an MS fanboy, either. Guess it’s just a matter of finding the lesser of two (three?) evils.
- Kotaku shapes up Kaz Hirai’s chances of righting the ship that is PlayStation 3.
Can he do it? Can he save their world so we can play in it when we are not living in ours?
- So, what’s worse? Naming your kid after Yuji Naka, or naming your kid after Yuji Naka by making it all one word?
And amusingly, that’s the least disturbing thing on the list.
- Oh, so that’s what Beer Pong is.
Good to know. For… I dunno, reference. Or something.
- Hold it!!
A papercraft Phoenix Wright model?
No objections here.
- Mr. *deep breath* KENNEDAAAAAAAAY takes us into his mind as he looks at Kutaragi and Sony, and what went wrong.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”
May 1st, 2007 at 9:32 am
8. Yes! I’ve always thought Double Dash was an awesome game. However, I think the same phenomenon may have happened to me with Mario Kart 64. I hyped the game up so much that when I actually played it, I was disappointed, and it’s been hard for me to relate to people that regard it so highly. Maybe I just didn’t give it enough of a chance.
I was really into Double Dash, though. The course designs were fantastic. And call me crazy, but I liked the idea of having two characters per kart, even if I wasn’t heartbroken to see that feature go in Mario Kart DS. MKDS did get many of the best classic courses, but dammit, where’s my Dino Park?? I really liked that one from Double Dash…
10. I’ve seen mind-reading devices before, but this sounds like a cool progression of the old tech I remember. I have yet to find another person to confirm this, but when my mother was married to someone in the army (he played the tuba), we got to go in the army PX which was sort of a special shopping center for army people and their families. And in the electronics section, there was a “mind mouse” which was basically a hemisphere you placed your hand on, with a little spot for you to slip your finger in. It was supposed to read whether you were thinking of “left” or “right” and move something on-screen accordingly. It really seemed to work! It took some getting used to, but it helped to tie the thougths with physical movements (like blinking your left eye, or actually moving left).
I’ve also seen things on TV that let you use your mind to move a cursor, but those were super huge pieces of expensive equipment. That was a while ago, though, so it’d be interesting to see it implemented in consumer electronics!
11. Isn’t Nintendo known for its innovations in gaming that eventually get ripped off by everyone? People pointed out they created the D-pad, something I had no idea about until somewhat recently. Then here we have the SNES pad with the four face buttons and shoulder buttons… And later the N64, with the analog stick, which seemed kind of “huh?” back then, but seems almost essential now.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
8) I’d so love for there to be an “ultimate” Mario Kart. All the tracks, all the karts, all the racers, all the battle mode stages, all the items (preferably with some toggles, so we can ditch the blue shell if need be), in one big game with WiFi.
11) Pretty much. Don’t forget rumble, either. Select and Start came from Big N as well.
The original PS1 bad was nothing but an SNES controller with harder-to-remember face buttons and two additional shoulder buttons. And what some would argue is a less-effective control pad.
Which is to be expected, as noted, considering that the PlayStation project was originally made to work with the Super NES.
What’s funny is the way that Sony America had this adamant thing about 3-D games being the future, and 2-D being the past (thus not wanting a lot of 2-D games on there), yet their controller was generally (not entirely) ill-fit for 3-D gaming as we’ve come to know it, much as many people who try to play Super Mario 64 DS will tell you.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”
May 4th, 2007 at 7:39 am
I remember reading an interview ages ago in which it was said that the Playstation controller was just the SNES controller but they added two extra shoulder buttons to help navigate 3D environments better. (dunno how that works) And because of that addition, they then added the handles to make it more stable/comfortable.
Really I will just never forgive Sony for introducing analog buttons.
I think both Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash are underwhelming. The courses are too wide. There is no skill except for cheap snaking. Yes, the idea of having two people per kart is a great idea. The designs in the game are good. But the gameplay was meaningless. I would definitely take Double Dash over MK64 though because like I said, it’s nice and shiny and it has class even though it has no gameplay.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:03 am
8. I’d love to see an “ultimate” Mario Kart, too. I was disappointed to see some tracks from Double Dash omitted in MKDS, until I realized some of the new tracks were extensions of the same ideas (Wario’s track in DD becoming Waluigi’s Pinball, for example). Still, there was no equivalent of Dino Park that I could see. And yeah, an item toggle would be cool, and how about all the racers, including the scrapped Magikoopa?
Still, I’d like to just see a home version of the Mario Kart arcade game…
When I first played Mario Kart 64, I felt it was an unnecessary jump to 3D, with some poor gimmicks. I remember getting stopped by the train in that one level thinking, “Okay, this isn’t fun. It’s just frustrating.” Like I said, maybe I didn’t give the game enough of a chance… But in Double Dash, what really sold me was the courses. It wasn’t just “Can you find the shortcut?” like it was in the SNES games… You had these hills and sharp turns and crazy obstacles that made driving interesting, almost like a roller coaster. I saw the same traits in the courses in MKDS, though, so I was happy.
11. Ah yes, I remember that rumble pack. I still like rumble, even if I feel like I won’t die without it. In the beginning it felt dumb and gimmicky, but after a while I started seeing some smart usage of the rumble that just made me think, “Huh… that’s kind cool.” I guess, like with a lot of new technology, people just need to get used to it to figure out the best uses.
One innovation I think Nintendo may not have invented, though, was probably the mini-system as a controller for a regular system (makes me think of Transformers). Dreamcast had the VMU, and I know the PSX had some Japan-only device (PocketStation?), but it was a while before we saw the GBA-GameCube link cable. I’m really excited about the DS-Wii link, though… Finally, no damn wires!!