QA: 06-23-2003

Come on now, first you skip the month of April and now when you publish May only the top 10 were shown. Honestly i find the sale charts for N America fun to look at and i was really excited when you showed the top 100 in March......otherwise keep up the good work.
-Jason

Josh: Sorry for any inconvenience we might have caused you, Jason; as I do not update the N-Ticker, I couldn't tell you why the charts you wanted weren't there (hopefully Glen or Jeff will chime in here with an answer for you), but I do know that whenever we have that sort of information, we always give it to you guys. I'm sure there must've been some good reason for the missed charts.

F-Zero and Soul Calibur: competitors?

Is there any chance that F-Zero GX or Soul Calibur II will have their respective release dates changed seeing as how they come out within two days of each other. It gonna be hard on most GCN gamers to plop down $100 bucks for two great games at the same time. Not to mention the sales of Soul Calibur II will probably be hurt on the GCN because of this. Which will hurt nintendo in the long haul w/third party support. What do you think?
-Jumoka Cobbs

Josh: Because the titles are from two completely different genres, I honestly don't see this being much of a problem. Perhaps a few sales from either one or the other title could be missing due to cost-conscious gamers having to select one, but I'm sure that anyone with an interest in either of these spectacular-looking games will pick them up eventually, even if they don't have the money for it at the time. If both titles were of the racing or fighting genre, on the other hand, I'm quite sure Nintendo would toy with the release schedule a bit; the company has already demonstrated in the past that they've no qualms about such things, whether it's two similar games being released too closely or the strategic spacing of releases during times of slow software releases.

Anthony P: As i'm sure you are; i'm looking forward to both titles with great fever. Alas such is the way of life (and coach route planners), that you can stand around all day waiting for a bus and then suddenly along come a fleet. If you step back and take a good look at the untimely release of the two AAA products from a different perspective, it's really not that big of a deal. Nothing is stopping anybody from buying one title and then purchasing the other later on. High quality titles tend to sell steadily over a period of time before dipping because of this. The only "quirk" is that strong advertising needs to be there long after the game's launch to remind gamers to buy that "other AAA game" that was left on the shelf.

Mario 128

Hello my fellow gamers,
So this Mario128 speculation seems to be tickling the fancy of many N-thusiastics lately and needless to say forums are probably exploding with active imaginations left and right. Thus I will try to keep my questions and comments grounded and sane with relevance to this potential ground-breaker. I say ground-breaker because if the term "killer app." didn't apply to Metroid Prime or The Wind Waker, then we can pretty much rest assured that no game will be a saving grace to the bruised image the Gamecube presents to the uneducated masses.

I'm going to forego the "If this game is so earth-shatteringly innovative then why not save it for the next Nintendo console and start with a bang instead of risking not getting the attention that it would rightly deserve by releasing it on our beloved Cube of games?" argument. You and I both know that Nintendo can pull off ridiculous gameplay. Knowing this, no matter how Mario 128 looks in the visual department, Nintendo knows that you and I will purchase it. However, with today's audience being larger, hungrier and stupider (I know it's not a real word) there has never been a better time to adjust to the market, and what better way than with your franchise money man, Mario.

Make Mario 128 a visually stunning event. The gameplay will be there, it pretty much always has been, but if you impress the sheep with pretty pictures, they're bound to take more notice. You are never going to say..."Geez if Mario 128's graphics weren't so flashy and impressive, it would be a better game."

There's a fine line between having your integrity--believing that graphics aren't everything, and adapting yourself to what sells, what is most attractive, and what can only make your game better. Nintendo needs to cross that line. What do you guys think about Mario 128 and the many questions it raises? Oh and by the way, Sider haus rules!..N that is.
-Cill Blinton-

Josh: On the graphics front, which is primarily what your comment seems to be addressing, I'm not holding my breath. For whatever reason, Nintendo first-party games have just not been all that spectacular graphically this generation (with the obvious exception of Zelda). They certainly haven't been poor in that department by any means, but we haven't really seen anything in a first-party effort rivaling some of the spiffy tricks some more able second and third parties have been pulling off (Metroid Prime, Rogue Leader, F-Zero GX, Starfox Adventures, etc.). I'm sure Mario 128 will continue this tradition by being a nice, clean-looking game, but most likely nothing to stop the presses about. I'd love to be proven wrong, obviously.

As for the gameplay, it's really anyone's guess at this point...although rumours have been flying that a build of the game was deliberately withheld from E3 due to Nintendo's suspicion that their innovative ideas would be stolen. Take that as you will. Also, stay tuned to N-Sider in the very near future, as we'll be running a feature that may address some of your questions...

James: Ahh! I'm very glad to be reading this email. You don't see me here in the Q&A very often, but this email is particularly relevant to something that N-Sider is planning at the moment.

Remember the Sun Baking articles, which fuelled the speculation surrounding Super Mario Sunshine? Well, I'm planning something similar with a team of staff at this very moment. However, as we have nothing to work with (no firm details about Mario 128), we'll be taking a slightly different approach this time. So, I hope that N-Sider can kick off Mario 128 speculation in a big way. Hopefully we'll have the first edition of this new series published soon.

In terms of your question specifically, I'm not sure what to expect from Mario 128. The word is that this game has been in development for a longer period of time than even Super Mario Sunshine. If that is indeed the case, we might find that Mario 128 ups the bar significantly in the visual department. In any case, the upcoming features that I just mentioned are going to primarily look at in-game visuals. At least, that's how it'll start. Nintendo might surprise us with some details about Mario 128 sooner than we expect (I can hope, right?)

The Nintendo Nexus?!

Is this nintendo nexus thing the real deal? or has it just been made up?
-Chris Lawler

Josh: If you're referring to a tentative name for Nintendo's next console, no, it's not real. Nearly all information you hear regarding the next Nintendo machine at this point should be treated as strictly rumour. When we hear something we can verify, you'll be the first to know as long as you keep up with our N-Ticker

Q&A By: Josh Righter.

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