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New Nintendo hardware confirmed.

Weren't the rumors before the DS "third pillar" (lol) launch that the next gameboy was put on hold because it was being crafted as a portable gamecube essentially? With all this talk of new tegra chips, im wondering why the hell nintendo would simply throw away years of work and design an efficient handheld around a new chip. Is this simply much easier to do than i think it is?
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Gamer @ Heart said:
Weren't the rumors before the DS "third pillar" (lol) launch that the next gameboy was put on hold because it was being crafted as a portable gamecube essentially? With all this talk of new tegra chips, im wondering why the hell nintendo would simply throw away years of work and design an efficient handheld around a new chip. Is this simply much easier to do than i think it is?

Tegra is an extension of the ARM processors used in the GameBoy and Nintendo DS systems, similar to how the chips powering the Wii are an extension of the GameCube's architecture. Tegra would be able to make the next Nintendo handheld backwards-compatible with existing DS and DSi games, barring some other drastic hardware change (no touch screen, etc.)

The DS was internally never a third pillar. The successor to the GameBoy Advance had the codename Iris but this eventually evolved into Nitro, which we know became the Nintendo DS. The third pillar talk is all but confirmed to have just been PR talk to keep GB sales going. DS was "it" for Nintendo.
 
Gamer @ Heart said:
Weren't the rumors before the DS "third pillar" (lol) launch that the next gameboy was put on hold because it was being crafted as a portable gamecube essentially? With all this talk of new tegra chips, im wondering why the hell nintendo would simply throw away years of work and design an efficient handheld around a new chip. Is this simply much easier to do than i think it is?
I don't think that there was much rumor past wishful thinking on the next gameboy. The DS was basically the next gameboy adapted into a dual screen affair and pushed out the door a year or two ahead of schedule. Whereas the GBA was originally slated for 1999 but was pushed back because Nintendo was making too much money on the GBC due to pokemon.
 
Gamer @ Heart said:
Ah. Thanks for the info.

If it had failed though, im sure the next gameboy would have been out within a year or two.
Maybe. Zigging (or zagging) while Sony plunged straight ahead seems to have paid off for Nintendo a couple of times now though. I'm not sure what would have happened to Nintendo if they hadn't so strongly hit upon things like Nintendogs and Brain Age. They probably would have just kept plugging along, but it's hard not to imagine that we might have had a completely different landscape.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Gamer @ Heart said:
Ah. Thanks for the info.

If it had failed though, im sure the next gameboy would have been out within a year or two.

Nah. Nintendo was really invested in the DS so at worst it would have been a handheld GameCube in terms of mind/marketshare. E.g., it still has all their fantastic first-party efforts.

But Pokemon guaranteed the DS wasn't going to fail that hard. We might have (worst-case scenario) seen the PSP and DS install base numbers switched, but ~50 mil is still pretty impressive. Heck it probably would be doing even better than that. They might have thought about bringing the GameBoy brand-name back for the successor, but that's dubious. They'd probably start from scratch on a new brand-name like SNES->N64->GC->Wii.

Whatever the case, they almost definitely wouldn't be abandoning the two screens/touch screen. But it's best not to dwell on the what-ifs.
 
Vizion28 said:
Nintendo registered the name Power Wii according to NintendoEverything.com

Could it be the name of a new console? Hmm


powerglove.jpg
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
selig said:
this is what bug me all the time, too. ram is rather cheap when you buy it for pc (even that new ddr5-ram was within my limit), and console manufacturers can buy that stuff in the numbers of millions, so it should be a lot cheaper for them. yet, it is where every one of the three hesitates to spend more money on.

Just regular system RAM verses VRAM makes a big difference in COST.

Still at this point I wonder if they even make anything with 256 VRAM that's not a handheld device. Even cheap HTPC cards have 512 on them though it might be the cheaper older VRAM variety.

It's less of an overall issue now because despite new VRAM because just in general costs have gone down dramatically mainly over the past 5 years aka since this console generation started.

Back when MS was gonna launch with 256 all types of ram cost a ton more than they do now. Granted it'll keep costing alot if we keeping upping the amount companies think they need on their cards, but thankfully even a doubling of the 512 to 1gig is getting so common that the price is coming down really fast.
 

Firestorm

Member
selig said:
this is what bug me all the time, too. ram is rather cheap when you buy it for pc (even that new ddr5-ram was within my limit), and console manufacturers can buy that stuff in the numbers of millions, so it should be a lot cheaper for them. yet, it is where every one of the three hesitates to spend more money on.
Wasn't 512MB of RAM like $50 back in 2005?
 

DrGAKMAN

Banned
bmf said:
DrGAKMAN:

The chart is more of a general reference so that we have a common reference point. It intentionally ignores what sorts of new innovation they may supply as I don't believe that any of us really have an inkling of what Nintendo has next in store. The intention is that the first two items on the chart list what Nintendo might do to please a crowd that wants a little more with their Wii. The first one is just really a bugfix revision plus a little more. The second is what I think is Pachter's Wii+. The 3rd is Nintendo wanting more capability, but still going their own way. The 4th is them appealing to 3rd parties in the hopes of establishing themselves as a viable alternative for the PS360 crowd, and the 5th is a far off fantasy that only makes sense if they decide to ride the Wii until it's a decade old.

I personally think that the 4th one is the one that we'll see, and it will be at the 5 or 6 year mark. I hesitate to guess what 'innovative' features they may have as I personally have been playing games for too long to really be one with their philosophy. The original intent of the Wii remote didn't even include a nun-chuk. That's a concession they made for the core gamers when Retro said that they couldn't work with just the Wiimote.

I think that they might advance the Wiimote technically, but they won't add buttons that they don't need to. I rather think that they'll make the controller more feature rich without adding to it's complexity. How they go about that is anybody's guess.

Your #'s 1, 2 or 3 don't jive with Nintendo (Wii is not the DS), nor would it jive with me or the millions of people who've made WiiShop purchases who would not be able to transfer them to a new Wii bump. I think this is one of the reasons why NOA still hasn't released the black Wii yet here (if I'm not mistaken, they still haven't, even with Monster Hunter Tri...maybe they will with Metroid: Other M?) so as to offset backlash from the current Wii owners from buying a second Wii that they can't transfer their data to. That's why I suggested a couple months ago that they *might* have an HDMI upconverting box/cable to add a bit of post-processing filtering between the Wii and an HDTV...which was then quickly criticized because I suggested it.

I don't think Pachter is suggesting your # 3 really (maybe in 2008 he was?) but I think in his more defined "Wii+" here at NeoGAF he suggested it'd be on par with X360 for more shitty, watered down, featureless, months late ports of some of those games...which would be your # 4. Not that I don't think # 4 wouldn't be possible (in fact, I think it's the most likely) it's just that he's suggesting it would come in 2010 (and before then 2009...and before then 2008). Your #'s 4 or 5 will probably make the most sense for Nintendo to go for the next Wii, but I don't think they'd hit before 2012. So this means they'll have to make some kind of HDMI solution or ride the Wii as-is all the way to 2012 with no changes. If a special HDMI cable isn't introduced at E3 then I'll give up on that idea.

As far as Nintendo doing any move to garner more 3RD party support goes, I don't really think there's much they can do with most of them. There is a strong bias out there with built-in self-sabatoge, excuses & self-fulfilling prophecies that 3RD parties will use as a crutch to not properly support Nintendo platforms. Even if a theoretical next-gen Wii was on-par or beyond the X720 were to come out, EPIC would still NOT make games for it. Likewise if the next Wii is more powerful and has a higher user-base than PS4, Kojima will still not bring a MGS to it, he'd rather support iPhone or PSP before a Nintendo platform with his "masterpieces". Most 3RD parties are chasing Hollywood, Sony & MS better serve those needs, Nintendo isn't nor do I think they ever will...so, they should continue to do their own thing and maybe absorb Tecmo-Koei or something!

Going into next-gen I do believe Nintendo will feel it neccessary to tear down the wall between this whole "casual VS core" thing when it comes to possition, mindshare and support. That should calm the whiners in the industry about how Wii buyers only buy 3 games and hadlycores buy 10 games bla bla bla, plus it makes sense for Nintendo to go that dirrection to "swim upstream". Yes they will add more function to the next DS & WiiMote, but I don't think that will be at the sacrifice of traditional controls like you seem to be suggesting. I think you're *really* overstating the whole nunchuck thing...they still made it didn't they, Takeda still saw it as needed didn't he? I believe that Nintendo will make a WiiMote that will still play/feel like a WiiMote when held vertically, but will play/feel more like a traditional controller when held horizontally. I also think this more advanced WiiMote could come (for the current Wii) before the next Wii even launches maybe? And with the next DS they will add newer things like more touch-based and tilt controls, but it will still have buttons!
 
@GAKMAN

1, 2, and 3 are there because they are variations that have been talked about on these forums. It's just a reference in the hopes that we can have a better way of describing what Nintendo might do.

Pachter has always been a bit nebulous about what he means by WiiHD/Wii+. I tend to imagine that he means #3. Maybe he means #4. Maybe he means #2. I really don't know. It's not that important.

I absolutely don't think they're going to add more buttons to the Wiimote. Doing so would detract from it's simplicity. What they may do - and I think this is more likely - is add more inbuilt functionality. Make it more responsive and generally better. My exercise bike has heartrate sensors that work just by holding the handles. Maybe if they want to extend the functionality of the Wiimote they could build that into the casing. Depending on Sony's patents, maybe they could make the head of the next generation wiimote glow and stick a camera on the sensor bar. There are a bunch of things that they could do to improve the basic wiimote without making it more complex for the user.

What I do think they will do is improve on all the things that were really afterthoughts. I think we'll see a classic controller revision with a battery compartment and a bluetooth controller. I think the nunchuck will lose it's wire. I think WiiMotionPlus will get merged with the basic Wiimote and that Nintendo will make even more improvements to it's accuracy.

Once again, I hesitate to try and guess what their big innovative feature/gimmick/catch will be, but if they're trying to carry forward the ideas that they brought with the Wii in addition to whatever is new, then it isn't too hard to guess what improvements they might make.

As far as 3rd parties are concerned, I don't think there's a chance in hell that they'll garner things like MGS4 or Mass Effect or anything else exclusive on a large scale, but what I think they can do is make themselves a 3rd platform for all the new titles that are going to be multiplatform anyway. If they had a WiiHD out in September of last year, you can bet your britches that they would have gotten Modern Warfare 2, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Final Fantasy XIII, Assassin's Creed 2, Borderlands, Bad Company 2, Bioshcok 2, and any other big multiplatform game that you can think of that was released in Q4 2009 or Q1 2010. They can't take that crowd away from MS and Sony, but they can certainly still join that party.
 
Kirashi said:
ddr3 spec min at 800mhz....
DDR3 numbers are weird. I don't know what they all mean. They have a bus speed, a memory clock speed, and a couple of other numbers. It's probably something that which 3.2ghz in divisible by and was available in 2005.
 

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
Is it technically possible to built in the vitality sensor in the Condom and make it to emit light for camera tracking? Lets remember that the Wiimote is designed to be expandable.
 

evangd007

Member
Lonely1 said:
Is it technically possible to built in the vitality sensor in the Condom and make it to emit light for camera tracking? Lets remember that the Wiimote is designed to be expandable.

At first glance I thought you were suggesting a camera-tracked codpiece there.
 

Vinci

Danish
I have this bizarre feeling that Nintendo's big 'gimmick' next gen will be internet-based in some capacity. Then anti-Nintendo folks will cry, "But something similar, but not exactly the same, has been done before!" and yet the mainstream public will fully embrace what Nintendo does with it and never know the other options ever existed.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
Interesting reads. I'll go with my reasonable hopes:

Wii HD released two years from now with Xbox 360 level graphics but 1 gig of ram.

DS2 released within a year and having PSP level graphics.
 
Lonely1 said:
Is it technically possible that they can built the vitality sensor in the Condom and make it to emit light for camera tracking? Lets remember that the Wiimote is designed to be expandable.
It certainly is expandable, but we still run along the problem that all expansions have - they are not inclusive of the entire userbase. The way the current condom is build really does a lot diffuse LED light rather well, but unless they released one that actually took power from the Wiimote then it would be a no go. Additionally anything that plugs into the bottom makes the 1 and 2 buttons less accessible in siideways mode, which seems to be a rather popular mode for Nintendo with NSMBWii, Super Paper Mario, and Other M. I think the add-ons that Nintendo has released have helped keep the system interesting. I don't think that they're terribly convenient.
 

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
bmf said:
It certainly is expandable, but we still run along the problem that all expansions have - they are not inclusive of the entire userbase. The way the current condom is build really does a lot diffuse LED light rather well, but unless they released one that actually took power from the Wiimote then it would be a no go. Additionally anything that plugs into the bottom makes the 1 and 2 buttons less accessible in siideways mode, which seems to be a rather popular mode for Nintendo with NSMBWii, Super Paper Mario, and Other M. I think the add-ons that Nintendo has released have helped keep the system interesting. I don't think that they're terribly convenient.
I was hopping for a new wii-mote, along with an attachment, so the million of wiimotes in the market don't become obsolete. And yes, the condom would take power out of the wiimote.
 
Lonely1 said:
Is it technically possible to built in the vitality sensor in the Condom and make it to emit light for camera tracking? Lets remember that the Wiimote is designed to be expandable.
Well, that would be quite the innovation now wouldn't it.

Pulse sensor condom that also emits light so it can be traced by the Ubisoft(& Nintendo) Motion camera. If they revealed that at E3 I really wouldn't know what to say.
 

Vizion28

Banned
Vinci said:
I have this bizarre feeling that Nintendo's big 'gimmick' next gen will be internet-based in some capacity. Then anti-Nintendo folks will cry, "But something similar, but not exactly the same, has been done before!" and yet the mainstream public will fully embrace what Nintendo does with it and never know the other options ever existed.

I think Nintendo's next "gimmick" will have something to do with a intimately connecting your body and/or mind to the interface through biofeedback, brain wave patterns etc. Pushing the the idea of vitality sensor even further.
 
ITA84 said:
Could those numbers be latencies?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM#Modules

I'm pretty sure this is what I was looking at when looking at the numbers. I was thinking DDR3-1600 with the 800mhz I/O bus clock. Could just as easily be DDR3-800 or DDR3-1066.

I really haven't been into system building since the 90's, so i usually just go by what's recommended by the board manufacturer anymore.

I think this is the page where I read what someone thought the memory was on the 360.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_ps3_wii.asp

Not terribly helpful as 700mhz doesn't match up with any official specs.
 
Vizion28 said:
I think Nintendo's next "gimmick" will have something to do with a intimately connecting your body and/or mind to the interface through biofeedback, brain wave patterns etc. Pushing the the idea of vitality sensor even further.
Stick this one in your butt, this one in your mouth, and this one in your ear. Oh wait. I mixed those up.
 
blu said:
* it will not be an ultra-exotic architecture to program for. nintendo can afford to go rather exotic on the handhelds, but there power efficiency can go a long way justifying various exotic decisions. not so on a home console - nintendo learned all there was to learn about 'arcane architectures' with the N64. please note that by 'exotic' i mean 'wildly-asymmetric multi-processing, saturn/ps2/ps3-style exotic'. new control schemes - yes. new performance-targetting programming paradigms - no. or at least nothing beyond vanilla desktop/360-style SMP.

* nintendo tend to respond to their design mistakes quickly. their next console will most likely not be resolution-bound. or shall i say, it will be resolution-flexible (before somebody said ps360 both are - they really arent, for different reasons, perhaps the 360 more so than the ps3). that means that higher FSAA would be effortlessly available with games lowering the framebuffer resolution. so if your title went SD, it'd get lush free, say, 16xFSAA, if it went 720p - it'd get 2x/4x at best. and by 'free' i mean DS-level free - you wouldn't gain anything by not using it, let alone having to reinvent your entire rendering backend to enable it *looks at 360*.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. In fact, here is what Miyamoto said during a investor Q&A last year.

Miyamoto said:
As long as my way of making games are concerned, all I am concerned about technologies is, we probably cannot swim against the tide. The customers' tastes will become more and more refined. Even today, many customers who have seen HD once say they cannot go back to SD. On the other hand, quite a few of us are accepting 5.1 channel even though they are not true 5.1 channel or embracing HD even though they are not true HD. In other words, when the majority of people around us say it is OK, we are content with the situation. I have to doubt how many of us can actually tell them apart. As long as graphics are concerned, it is comparatively easier to tell them apart. When they purchase a new TV, they change how the same programs are compared with other programs. So, if we try to intensify that portion, if we are simply intensifying what is actually SD to look like HD with the hardware support, it can be understood rather easily. So, development costs associated with HD graphics will have to further increase...

Regarding the question of SD or HD, it must depend on each software. For example, we have to ask ourselves if HD is really necessary to develop Wii Fit. Won't HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make. To Nintendo, our theme is how we can prepare the SDK library to cater to the needs of the developers, with which the developers can more easily develop their games. In fact, Nintendo has been working with such mission.

Source
 

Somnid

Member
I think much of the next system will be unifying a lot of the peripherals from the Wii into a single package. Nintendo already has a ton of successful input ideas but they aren't used in conjunction. Some thoughts:

I think the exercise machine style pulse-meter is a decent idea to implement that into the Wiimore but it's unclear that the vitality sensor is just that. But it seems like an idea worth looking into for Wii 2 provide it's popular on Wii.

Motion Plus definitely needs to go into the Wiimote. They could possibly do this with the current system.

I think the magnetometer would be useful too since that is where Move draws a lot of it's accuracy from and it helps get around line of sight restrictions.

Instead of a condom they could coat the remote in soft rubber.

Microphone built-in to Wiimote.

Change the extension architecture. Currently you can't really add feedback to an extension, it just passively reads control registers. It would be interesting to see what they can do with peripherals if they can provide special feedback.

On the same token, rumble in the nunchuk.

Build Wiispeak into the sensor bar.
 

ITA84

Member
bmf said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM#Modules

I'm pretty sure this is what I was looking at when looking at the numbers. I was thinking DDR3-1600 with the 800mhz I/O bus clock. Could just as easily be DDR3-800 or DDR3-1066.

I really haven't been into system building since the 90's, so i usually just go by what's recommended by the board manufacturer anymore.

I think this is the page where I read what someone thought the memory was on the 360.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_ps3_wii.asp

Not terribly helpful as 700mhz doesn't match up with any official specs.

Then maybe you were thinking GDDR3, which is different from DDR3.
 
Somnid said:
I think much of the next system will be unifying a lot of the peripherals from the Wii into a single package. Nintendo already has a ton of successful input ideas but they aren't used in conjunction. Some thoughts:

I think the exercise machine style pulse-meter is a decent idea to implement that into the Wiimore but it's unclear that the vitality sensor is just that. But it seems like an idea worth looking into for Wii 2 provide it's popular on Wii.

Motion Plus definitely needs to go into the Wiimote. They could possibly do this with the current system.

I think the magnetometer would be useful too since that is where Move draws a lot of it's accuracy from and it helps get around line of sight restrictions.

Instead of a condom they could coat the remote in soft rubber.

Microphone built-in to Wiimote.

Change the extension architecture. Currently you can't really add feedback to an extension, it just passively reads control registers. It would be interesting to see what they can do with peripherals if they can provide special feedback.

On the same token, rumble in the nunchuk.

Build Wiispeak into the sensor bar.
Thank you. You get it.
 
Somnid said:
I think much of the next system will be unifying a lot of the peripherals from the Wii into a single package. Nintendo already has a ton of successful input ideas but they aren't used in conjunction. Some thoughts:

I think the exercise machine style pulse-meter is a decent idea to implement that into the Wiimore but it's unclear that the vitality sensor is just that. But it seems like an idea worth looking into for Wii 2 provide it's popular on Wii.

Motion Plus definitely needs to go into the Wiimote. They could possibly do this with the current system.

I think the magnetometer would be useful too since that is where Move draws a lot of it's accuracy from and it helps get around line of sight restrictions.

Instead of a condom they could coat the remote in soft rubber.

Microphone built-in to Wiimote.

Change the extension architecture. Currently you can't really add feedback to an extension, it just passively reads control registers. It would be interesting to see what they can do with peripherals if they can provide special feedback.

On the same token, rumble in the nunchuk.

Build Wiispeak into the sensor bar.

I would also add more memory in the Wiimote itself so that you can carry more than just Miis, but character/save data for actual games too.
I wouldn't be against a microSD slot in the wiimote to make that happen.
 

DrGAKMAN

Banned
Here's a couple of ideas off the top of my head:

-obviously a more advanced WiiMote and sensor bar (w/ WiiSpeak & camera) with more features included/integrated of course (one or both of these could be released on the current Wii even?)

-make the next WiiMote's large "A" button even larger and put a small screen in it for VMU like display/games

-add pressure sensitivity to the "skin" of the next WiiMote so you can hold tighter to throw harder pitches or punches, grip your sword or gun tighter, hold onto ledges or ladders to climb up faster, etc. (this really is doable, but it's more my idea and I dunno if Nintendo would really add it)

-laser lights attached to the top of the sensor bar to shine within the room for ambiance, visuals beyond just the TV, to shine at players to distract them, to add scary elements to horror games, to add a sense of "light speed" to racing/flying games, etc. (this would probably only work best in the dark)

-"WiiTag" the camera-based laser tag game in where your TV is your window to someone elses living room battle arena...use furniture for cover, use AR (augmented reality) to hide items in your living room, use the WiiMote as your gun

-make the new nunchuck wireless with rumble and add pointer/tracking functionality to it as well and give it the ability to connect to the bottom of the WiiMote (once horrizontally held) so as to make the WiiMote a more complete classic controller w/ analog

-head-tracking perspective-based games using the camera (no headset required as Miyamoto has suggested they wouldn't do any type of headset or visor)
 
neo2046 said:
your power-glove pic reminds me this :lol
(taken from a anime called "baka to test to shokanju")


http://item.slide.com/r/1/94/i/yA0Try_Hvz_wTbFmAzFvlAEWp0hpn8QR/[IMG][/QUOTE]
Darn it. I've been avoiding watching new anime.
 
Vinci said:
I have this bizarre feeling that Nintendo's big 'gimmick' next gen will be internet-based in some capacity. Then anti-Nintendo folks will cry, "But something similar, but not exactly the same, has been done before!" and yet the mainstream public will fully embrace what Nintendo does with it and never know the other options ever existed.

WiiHome.
 
DrGAKMAN said:
Here's a couple of ideas off the top of my head:
I'm going to poke at these.
DrGAKMAN said:
-obviously a more advanced WiiMote and sensor bar (w/ WiiSpeak & camera) with more features included/integrated of course (one or both of these could be released on the current Wii even?)
Yes.
DrGAKMAN said:
-make the next WiiMote's large "A" button even larger and put a small screen in it for VMU like display/games
Varying the size of the button is a matter of ergonomics. The screen seems like it would be of limited utility. Even less than the speaker on the Wiimote.
DrGAKMAN said:
-add pressure sensitivity to the "skin" of the next WiiMote so you can hold tighter to throw harder pitches or punches, grip your sword or gun tighter, hold onto ledges or ladders to climb up faster, etc. (this really is doable, but it's more my idea and I dunno if Nintendo would really add it)
I like this. It could also be used to supplement the vitality sensor. Read tension.
DrGAKMAN said:
-laser lights attached to the top of the sensor bar to shine within the room for ambiance, visuals beyond just the TV, to shine at players to distract them, to add scary elements to horror games, to add a sense of "light speed" to racing/flying games, etc. (this would probably only work best in the dark)
This is weird.
DrGAKMAN said:
-"WiiTag" the camera-based laser tag game in where your TV is your window to someone elses living room battle arena...use furniture for cover, use AR (augmented reality) to hide items in your living room, use the WiiMote as your gun
Sounds like a tech demo. Would probably be very neat. Could be a built-in game or part of WiiHD sports.
DrGAKMAN said:
-make the new nunchuck wireless with rumble and add pointer/tracking functionality to it as well and give it the ability to connect to the bottom of the WiiMote (once horrizontally held) so as to make the WiiMote a more complete classic controller w/ analog
Meh. I still think they should just offer a separate classic controller, but make it more advanced. What you're suggesting sounds clunky.
DrGAKMAN said:
-head-tracking perspective-based games using the camera (no headset required as Miyamoto has suggested they wouldn't do any type of headset or visor)
If they have a camera, then head tracking becomes easy. Just a headband with a couple of LEDs.
 

Vinci

Danish
travisbickle said:

Perhaps something similar. No clue.

That said, I've always wanted them to use Animal Crossing not as a game in and of itself, but as part of the system menu. Your Mii runs around - each house in the village representing people on your Friends List - and you can go into their homes and look at their Trophies (or something similar) from various games, or meet with them while running around the village and doing stuff, then play a game together.

You'd still get to look for fossils and fish and other such standard AC activities, but it would be the foundation for how people interact with the system.
 

DrGAKMAN

Banned
Vinci said:
Perhaps something similar. No clue.

That said, I've always wanted them to use Animal Crossing not as a game in and of itself, but as part of the system menu. Your Mii runs around - each house in the village representing people on your Friends List - and you can go into their homes and look at their Trophies (or something similar) from various games, or meet with them while running around the village and doing stuff, then play a game together.

You'd still get to look for fossils and fish and other such standard AC activities, but it would be the foundation for how people interact with the system.

EXACTLY what I think. Integrations of Wii no ma, the Nintendo Channel, Wii Menu, Mii's, Message Board & Animal Crossing altogether...there ya go.

bmf...
Maybe the laser light show or button/screen ideas seem weird to you, but so was the WiiMote's speaker...something Nintendo thought was cool enough to add. You can't really judge it without seeing it. I think these would be very unique Nintendo-esque features that would add a lot to games made for them. "WiiTag" may seem like a "tech demo" in a way...or a way to sell a WiiCamera like WiiFit was to the Balance Board or WiiSports to the WiiMote, eh?
 
DrGAKMAN said:
bmf...
Maybe the laser light show or button/screen ideas seem weird to you, but so was the WiiMote's speaker...something Nintendo thought was cool enough to add. You can't really judge it without seeing it. I think these would be very unique Nintendo-esque features that would add a lot to games made for them. "WiiTag" may seem like a "tech demo" in a way...or a way to sell a WiiCamera like WiiFit was to the Balance Board or WiiSports to the WiiMote, eh?
There are lots of problems with the laser light show as I see it. It really only produces dots.. and sometimes lines if the proper type of mirror is used. The mechanical controls to point the lasers are expensive and fragile, and since the system is controlling the lasers, they will get sued the moment someone has eye problems after playing the system for a while. Those messages warning against prolonged exposure every time you start up a Nintendo system anymore? Those are part of a settlement because of some kid with epilepsy who played video games for 8-12 hours a day.

I think that Nintendo should probably pack as much tech into the new system as they can, and that includes a sensor bar camera. If such a thing is part of the new system, then something like WiiTag would seem like an appropriate thing to include.... although I worry a bit because of the chatroulette effect. I'd hate to try and play against random strangers in any game that involved a camera. I'm dreadfully afraid that the first thing I'd run up against would be some dude choking his chicken.
 

Vizion28

Banned
If Microsoft and Sony are successful with their motion controlled gimmicks then I believe Nintendo is going to try to give people an entirely different experience next generation instead of improving the experiences they have given people with the Wiimote and peripherals.

Nintendo didn't want another round of the hardware power arms race and I really doubt they would want to get into the motion control arms race with the two giants. Nintendo doesn't want to pick a fight.
 

evangd007

Member
Vizion28 said:
If Microsoft and Sony are successful with their motion controlled gimmicks then I believe Nintendo is going to try to give people an entirely different experience next generation instead of improving the experiences they have given people with the Wiimote and peripherals.

Nintendo didn't want another round of the hardware power arms race and I really doubt they would want to get into the motion control arms race with the two giants. Nintendo doesn't want to pick a fight.

Extension of emotive feedback will differentiate Nintendo from the rest. Think Vitality Sensor but less obtrusive and more advanced. They already are laying the groundwork for it with the Vitality Sensor, much as Sony and MS are laying the groundwork for their motion control. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo forgoes a camera, simply because everyone else is doing it and not doing it allows them to not be shackled to the technology. Of course this will likely cause the same problem with third parties that they are experiencing now.
 

Doorman

Member
bmf said:
I think that Nintendo should probably pack as much tech into the new system as they can, and that includes a sensor bar camera. If such a thing is part of the new system, then something like WiiTag would seem like an appropriate thing to include.... although I worry a bit because of the chatroulette effect. I'd hate to try and play against random strangers in any game that involved a camera. I'm dreadfully afraid that the first thing I'd run up against would be some dude choking his chicken.
bmf put it into a more colorful example than I probably would have used, but reasons like that are precisely why something like Wii Tag will never exist, at least certainly not on a Nintendo system. Nintendo has been hard-pressed this generation to make games that allow for any extensive communications or interactions with other people, even people you knowingly put onto your "accepted" list via friend codes. They have been averse to the social stigmas of the internet for this long, I heavily doubt that they would ever give you a visual window into a stranger's house. Plus, while a cool idea to show off the augmented reality tech, a game like that would be horribly unbalanced to actually play. :lol Could you imagine some kid in a barren dorm room trying to match cover with someone who normally plays on a massive couch?

There are a lot of cool ideas being tossed around, but for all of these dreams of new technology I think it's important to keep in mind that Nintendo has founded a lot of this Wii success on simplicity. Designing the Wii Remote to look like a TV remote, using the motion control ideas in the first place, creating something like the Balance Board where you can perform activities using only your balance and no controllers at all. It has all been a deliberate move to make gaming less intimidating to the mass audience. If you start getting into measurements of how tightly you grip the controller factoring into the game experience, you run the risk of making things just as complicated as the old-style controllers, just in a different way. If you can find a way to implement it without potentially intimidating the non-gamer, that's when you can start talking about real viability.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
evangd007 said:
Extension of emotive feedback will differentiate Nintendo from the rest. Think Vitality Sensor but less obtrusive and more advanced. They already are laying the groundwork for it with the Vitality Sensor, much as Sony and MS are laying the groundwork for their motion control. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo forgoes a camera, simply because everyone else is doing it and not doing it allows them to not be shackled to the technology. Of course this will likely cause the same problem with third parties that they are experiencing now.


Did you forget the part where Natal is as much about the player's response, verbal, facial and emotive input?
 
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