N-Sider Q&A Mailbag

Edition: 03-15-2005

And we're baack...with another fruitful edition of the mailbag. This is the third week in a row I've updated. I have yet to recieve a letter of congratulation. Ah well. One thing you might notice is that Travis has taken a larger role in answering questions this week. You'll probably see more of that in the future, which is nice. We got some great letters this week, but I think we could do even better. Definitely a fun mailbag though. In any case, send your criticisms, commentary, feedback, praise, or rants to qa@n-sider.com. By the way, Travis is still waiting for a single letter referring to him as either handsome or debonaire (or both). He remains sorely disappointed in each and every one of you.

In this edition, everyone is all worried about the upcoming Zelda game, the DS gets some attention after an impressive showing during Mr. Iwata's GDC speech, we talk Revolution launch and E3 plans, some guy dreams of analog face buttons, another guy doesn't know how to NOT capitalize everything, and much more.

z to the e to the l to th...screw it

What do you think the chances are that the new Zelda will surpass Ocarina of Time in quality?

- Alan

Jeffrey: Well that is a difficult question to answer. Comparing the upcoming Legend of Zelda to Ocarina of Time can be done from a visual standpoint (and we know who'd win), but comparing the two on a gameplay level is impossible at this point in time. Furthermore, Ocarina of Time was the first 3D Zelda game for a lot of people. Fun memories tend to increase in vagueness, but increase in pure emotion as time goes on, so a lot of gamers have elevated the game and their expectations to nearly unnattainable levels. I do find it kind of funny how everyone is so quick to compare this game to Ocarina of Time. From what I've seen, this game has a darker theme and art style than Ocarina ever had.

I personally hope that the game doesn't get so wrapped up in a darker theme that it leaves behind the human emotion that was present in Wind Waker, which remains one of my favorite legends of Zelda.

A word of advice: stop thinking about Ocarina of Time. That game was released seven years ago. If you go into this game with a critical attitude or expecting it to be better than you could ever imagine, you'll probably end up dissapointed and will have missed out on the entire point of the game. It is a Zelda game, so you know it can't be bad. At best it can be amazing, at worse better than average. Nintendo has been making lofty claims about it, so they obviously feel it is something special. Immerse yourself in the game, become Link, take your time, and go on his adventure. I think you'll have a lot more fun that way.

Travis: Exactly, it depends on what you mean by quality. Do you mean graphical quality? If so TWW surpassed OoT a while ago. Do you mean story quality? TWW surpassed it there too with its actual cutscenes and powerful story elements. Do you mean gameplay quality? Nintendo's constantly touching up Zelda so it's a good bet it'll control and feel a lot better than OoT. Do you mean overall quality? If so then probably not. OoT, as a collective whole, is so good it feels like an accident. The new Zelda will be great but it has a lot to live up to.

Mario's Torn

So as far as I understand the next Mario title has been in development for years. I'm sure im in the same boat as everyone and can't wait for the release, but I dont understand why there are all these questions as too which system the game should be released for, be it Gamecube of NextGen. For me it would only make sense to release a game that was in production in one systems life cycle to be released for that platform. I dont think it would be a waste releasing it near the end of the systems life cycle because it could very well become a natural progression in thinking towards revolution. I'm questioning how impressive a dated game will look if released on new hardware.

one more question: any ideas if nintendo is planning to make another Donkey Kong Jungle Beat? The game seems to be getting rave reviews across Europe/Asia and I think it would be great idea to expanded upon seeing that Third parties (with the exception of Namco) are so standoffish to release any games utilizing the bongos.

- Ali

Travis: To an extent I agree with you about Mario, especially considering the Revolution will be backwards compatible. However, for some it's the principle of the matter. The GameCube was the only Nintendo system to launch without a Mario title at launch. There's just something magical about a Mario game at launch and for that reason alone people want it there. However, I would be interested to see if Nintendo released the game for the Cube with some....built in enhancements that would come into play if you played it on the Revolution.

I haven't heard anything about a sequel to Jungle Beat. It is certainly a possibility though. They've already pumped out three Donkey Konga games...

Karaoke Revolution (with Mario)

With the announcement of Dance Dance Revolution on its way to the Nintendo Gamecube, Do you think its possible that Konami will bring the Karaoke Revolution series to the Cube?

With music games growing in popularity on the Gamecube (With games like Donkey Konga, and Dance Dance Revolution), you would think that the Karaoke Revolution games would be a smart step in the same direction.

Surely with Konami working with Nintendo to bring DDR to GC, they could also bring Karaoke Revolution over too. We already have the mic from Mario party 6. Lets put the mic to work in some more games! Maybe even have some of nintendos mascots as playable characters in the game or something.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Also, I was wondering; What is the best way to get nintendos and konami's attention with something like this? How do we let them know that "WE WANT THIS GAME!"?? Is there really any good way to do this? Or do we just have to sit quietly and hope that someone has the insight to bring the series over? Its frustrating to not have any way to help things like this along.

I must say that I love the site! Keep up the great work

Thank you

- Blakepro

Jeffrey: Never say never. I think it may depend on how well Dance Dance Revolution with Mario sells on GameCube. If sales are swift then I would definitely bet on further support from Konami. More Dance Dance Revolution titles and quite possibly something like Karaoke Revolution would be considered. Really the best way you can tell Konami to bring more games Cube-side is to make sure you and your friends buy DDR when it makes its way to the States.

Walking the Talk

In a recent (early March) interview with IGN, Reggie said that Nintendo had learned many lessons with Gamecube. One of these lessons was that you have to have a strong launch if you expect to do well with a console. I agree with this stance completely, but I'm confused. The DS launch in America has seen a dismal amount of software, and it looks like the good titles won't hit until the holidays. Now, I understand that Ninty wanted to get the DS out by Christmas '04, and it's sold through an amazing amount of units, but I can't help but feel that Reggie is lying. Do you think that what Reggie said is true? Will the Revolution have a good, strong launch? Is the poor DS launch due to Nintendo really not viewing the PSP as a competitor?

- Joel "BeardedSwede" Ludlam

Jeffrey: Shhh. You weren't supposed to think about that! But yeah, you are right. The Nintendo DS is only now starting to come into its own. However, Nintendo held a good 90% of the handheld market when it released the DS. When you consider the fact that the DS was made completely as a reactionary system to Sony's announcement of the PSP, it isn't that bad of a launch. Nintendo successfully designed and launched a very unique system in the course of a single year (though the DS is based off an older handheld design from the Nintendo 64 era). In the console arena, Nintendo is in a tight situation. It knows that in launching this console it is going to have to pull out all the stops if it hopes to gain marketshare against the Xbox 2 and PS3. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Revolution launches with a completely original Mario title and a strong supporting lineup. Then again, it's very difficult to predict much being that we don't even know what the "Revolution" is all about. So we'll talk about all this after E3 in May.

The Heart of a Gamer

Ok, is it just me, or Mr Iwata rocks?

ok in all seriousness, that was a very interesting and encouragin speech. I was a bit puzzled about what nintendo was thinking and doing to get on the road and kick the competition's ass, but now I have a very clear idea.

Mr Iwata's Speech was interesting and important for two main reasons. First, he showed how much nintendo cares about their consumers, and second, he showed what is nintendo doing to give the consumers a better experience, and what their plans are for the future.

But now onto my question. Right now, practically every hardcore nintendo fan has seen the new zelda trailer. The game looks AWESOME, yes, but besides the obvious fact that the game will center on fighting while riding animals and the awesome graphics, what new, exiting system will the new zelda bring to this new installment?

I'm very exited about it, but Ive been wonderig about this because over all, I want more quality gameplay on top of those gorgeous graphics. I didn't see any instrument being played so I guess the whole instrument manipulation has been taken out. What do you think, do you know something we don't?

- Michael Molina

Jeffrey: If anyone has read the GDC thread in the N-Forums, you've likely already heard this from me. I don't believe that we should all be so obsessed with knowing what the upcoming game's supposed "theme" is. Who says that a Zelda game even has to have a "theme"? Who set that requirement? Aside from an ocean setting, Wind Waker didn't have much of a theme. A theme is not what makes a Zelda game great. In fact, making each game with a theme in mind could end up ruining the series. You cannot peg the fun level of a game to a single "innovation" or unique item. Gameplay, story, setting, care, and polish are the traits that set the Legend of Zelda series apart from so many others for me and none of those traits can be defined by a mask, ocarina, or sailboat. They can only be defined by the memorable experience I have when I boot each game up.

We've only seen around than 3 or 4 minutes of footage. From what I've seen, the game has already thrown a lot of new elements into the mix. I'm excited to play it. I'm actually going to try and keep myself from watching too many videos of it. I'd like it to be a very fresh experience when I play it for the first time. Still, I do feel compelled to say that the game probably has some kind of instrument in it. If it doesn't, that in itself will separate it from every other 3D installment of the series. I just hope it is a bit less lame than the Wind Waker Wand (a less fun ocarina).

CAPSLOCK

NOW THAT THE GDC IS OVER AND MICROSOFT HAS SHED LIGHT OF THE XBOX2 WITH THE 3 CORE 3GHZ PROCESSER AND PS3 WITH THE CELL RUNNING MORE THAN 4.6 GHZ, DO YOU STILL THINK THAT NINTENDO WILL GO WITH THE Dual 1.8 Ghz IBM G5 PowerPC processors OR THE 2.7 Ghz PowerPC G5 Processor THAT WAS RUMMORED OR WILL THEY BEEF IT UP?

- Blitz1130

Jeffrey: Now this is great. I love letters like this. What's even better is that the only area of the letter that isn't stuck in capslock is the part that you copy pasted from a spec sheet on some website. Seriously, if you can't withhold your urge to capitalize every frigging letter, then please try and withhold your urge to hit the send button. Pretty sad dude.

now, to answer your letter, i haven't heard any statistics on how fast the cell processor actually runs, but i havent been looking very hard either, so i really dont know, but nintendo knows that it needs to have a console that compares visually, the gamecube was a very powerful system so i see no reason why the revolution wouldnt have comparable stats, youre missing the whole point of everything though because you cant get your mind off stats

"Pressure Sensitive" ...

Jeffery (or anyone on the staff that can answer this!),

Much to my distress, Nintendo's own controllers do not feature "pressure sensitive" action buttons. I define the "A", "B", "Y" and "X" buttons as the action buttons. I recently purchased a Madcatz Microcon controller. Their advertising promised "fully analog pressure sensitive action buttons". Not so much. The "R" and "L" buttons are pressure sensitive as are the joysticks. Not the action buttons.

My question is: Are there any controllers released for the Gamecube with pressure sensitive action buttons? I ask this because for racing games, I like to use the "A" and "B" buttons for gas and brake respectively. I use the "R" and "L" for gear changes. This is the setup I am used to from the Gran Turismo series on PS2 and their Dualshock. I am in the military, and the Gamecube is my "travel" system and I am currently away from home playing R Racing Evolution and find this to be somewhat frustrating. Thanks for your time.

BTW, if you don't want to post this in your mailbag section, please answer directly if you can, thanks!

Sincerely,

- Jon Hulse

Jeffrey: Oh snap. You did NOT just spell my name wrong! And, to top it off, you try and rush me! I'm going to pretend that didn't just HAPPEN.

The GameCube controller was designed with digital face buttons, much like just about any controller besides the PS2. I really don't understand the problem. You hold down the A button and your car will go faster, let off and it slows down. Man up and learn to play with digital face buttons. Even if you found a GameCube controller (3rd party) that has face buttons with analog functionality, no Cube games are built to support such a function. They are all built around the specifications of Nintendo's controller design. Just go buy a Wavebird. I'd rather have the best wireless controller on the market than a few analog action buttons.

(Travis just informed me that the Xbox has analog face buttons too, though I still don't see the point.)

Nintendo Revolution at E3?

I was reading Iwata's itinerary for 2005 given at the GDC and he said that the Nintendo Revolution would not their main focus at the upcoming E3. Instead, he said that the company would only hint at it during the press conference and show tidbits of the layout in a special "back-room" presentation. My question: Will Nintendo actually be showing the system at E3?

Another question: If Nintendo is holding a "back-room" presentation, will be there?

~Thank you.

- Carlito C.

Jeffrey: Nor should it be their focus for this E3. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo is not launching the Revolution this year, so there is no real need for too much to be shown of it. I expect a full unveiling and some demonstrations and a few short clips, but that's about it. I doubt we'll see the system hit shelves until late 2006 so E3 2006 (or an event around that time) is likely where Nintendo will pull out all the stops with playable games and such. The only upcoming console you will see being heavily pushed as a centerpiece is the Xbox 2 (aka Xenon, Xbox 360, etc). As far as the "black room" I'm sure that Nintendo will let selected members of the press/industry delve a bit deeper into the Revolution in private. There's nothing wrong with that.

In all honesty, Nintendo's presence at the Game Developer's Conference has gotten me very excited about many DS games like Nintendogs and ElectroPlankton. I am also very glad that the GameCube will remain a focus at E3. The system is only three years old and has a lot of life left in it.

When NOT to Announce You're Porting RE4

Why did Capcom announce a port of RE4 to the PS2 before the GC version was released? Why did they announce the port period? Why does Capcom port everything from GC even if it sells terribly on PS2(see VJ1&2) yet not port games like DMC to GC? What are your thoughts on the RE4 situation and what people should focus on in times like these?

Sincerely,

- Vert1

Travis: You have to remember that Capcom is a business and businesses can do dumb things in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Was it wise or fair to announct the PS2 port of Resident Evil 4 before the "GCN exclusive" made it to store shelves? Absolutly not, but Capcom made the announcement to satisfy investors and other reasons we'll probably never understand. It's all business in the long run. I actually hear that Shinji Mikami (the amazing man behind RE4) was upset that a PS2 port is being made at all. I respect him a lot for being concerned with great games and not solely with business.

As for why the GCN never seems to get ports from other systems...well it's all business again. Companies go by the numbers and, going by the numbers, there are a whole lot more PS2 owners than Cube. Add that to the traditional fact that ports always seem to sell bit worse on GCN than the other two systems and you can see why we tend to get the shaft. This is why, more often than not, all the GCN's third party titles are from simultaneous releases across all systems where no game is technically a port, but merely a counterpart. Meanwhile, GameCube hits seem to get ported to other systems because 3rd party games, in general sell better in Sonyville. Porting to the larger potential market of the PS2 is often a good financial move.

Trust me, business sucks. You'll have a lot more fun if you pretend everything is related to the mafia in some way. Nothing personal, just business.

tEh k1ddiE!!!

Nintendo always claims that it makes games for all ages but if this statement is true why doesn't Nintendo release games with contents that appeal to mature audiences just as much as they release games that appeal to kids like Pokemon and Kirby?

- Sassi

Travis: Metroid Prime.

Letter of the Week

Hey everyone, thanks for keeping up such an awesome site.

In anticipation of the Revolution, I'm looking to the DS and wondering what the next Nintendo entertainment system will really turn out to be. I bought a DS with Mario and Feel the Magic at launch. Four months later, the DS is really starting to intrigue me. As much as I enjoyed Mario64 from day one(I don't mind the emulated analog at all), it's obvious that the system wasn't really made for ports of 3D console games. That was a bit of a letdown at first. Still, Feel the Magic, the other game I bought at launch, felt like a perfect fit. It quickly became one of my favorite games. Since then, the way-too-slow trickle of releases has been another letdown, but all of a sudden I'm faced with a completely different problem--not a lack of games, but so many must-buys that I don't know what to do. Warioware, Another Code, Pac-Pix, Meteos, Polarium, Band Brothers, Nintendogs, Yoshi Touch & Go, ElectroPlanktonThats a total of 9 must-haves(nearly 300 bucks-_-;), all being released within a couple months of each other(in Japan, anyways). Seriously, Ive never had this problem before. There's usually just one game in about five months that really speaks to me--I have peculiar taste. This is crazy. Theres no way I can afford all of this.

My point--if Revolution follows suit and becomes a platform for one-of-a-kind, innovative and easily approachable software, gamers like me, few though we may be, are gonna find ourselves in bliss. Nintendo will have a new niche audience, and many of its members may end up being people who were no part of the gaming community before. If Nintendo succeeds in this while at the same time creating awesome software for the hardcore gaming community, they could find a great deal of success, I think. In any case, the DS is(finally) making me really happy, and ever more anxious to experience the Revolution.

- Nicholas Rumas

Jeffrey: You know you make a good point. I too have begun to grow excited about some of the games the DS has coming out. I'm doubtful that we'll see US releases for Band Brothers and ElectroPlankton, but one can hope. The DS has yet to really have an original "killer-app" per say, but it is certainly building up an impressive library of highly original and innovative games. Perhaps collectively, these types of games will begin to attract a new following. The DS may actually become a system where the best ideas shine over the biggest budgets, as Mr. Iwata said a few days ago. Over the course of just a few minutes of demonstration during the GDC speech, I went from not caring about at all about Nintendogs, to believing it could be a really huge success. The true test is going to be whether or not Nintendo can effectively market the unique features in these new games. I wouldn't have said this a few weeks ago, but the DS may have a very bright future ahead of it if this is just a taste of what's ahead.

I agree completely with your thoughts on the Revolution. Nintendo needs to hit that magic balance and support its current fanbase while also reaching out to those interested in these new types of games. It's a very exciting time. I myself find my head buzzing with ideas for DS games alone. I'm very optimistic about the Revolution.