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[Sega]

I cropped it out from the best quality video i could find. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvnA0YUTjFI

Yikes. It looks like you used one of the early youtube trailer posts that had stuttering video as your source. Nice idea and cropping though. Thanks for putting that up. It's nice not to have that damn "frame DS".

Edit:
Check out the Kid Icarus clip to compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dh8tu0mrEk

 

[antonz]

Goddamn all this battery info really points out how little battery tech has progressed, can't we have batteries where it doesn't matter how much charge they have left, how often you charge them, how often you used them plugged in, etc.

That really is the biggest flaw in Handheld gaming especially for people who think a Portable PS3 or something would be totally awesome. Batteries have advanced at a snails pace. You can get 3rd party batteries for the DSi that offer more battery life but quality can be suspect so sometimes the batch of batteries are as advetrised and other times not near as advertised.

With the spec boost of the 3DS and everything if they are looking to try and match the DSi battery life it just goes to show how troublesome the advancing tech is when battery isnt keeping up. If it wasnt for the more power conservative hardware being designed battery life even on the 3DS would be shit.

Just imagine what the PSP2 is gonna be like if all these super spec talks are true.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Just imagine what the PSP2 is gonna be like if all these super spec talks are true.

Nintendo as they were back in the 90s?

 

[AceBandage]

I don't get how a Quad Core PSP2 will work with anything less than a 3 hour battery life.
But, eh, we'll see what Sony has cooking.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Goddamn all this battery info really points out how little battery tech has progressed, can't we have batteries where it doesn't matter how much charge they have left, how often you charge them, how often you used them plugged in, etc.

You just need a battery long enough to last all day (from 9AM to 11PM) at maximum usage and lasts 2-3 years of daily use before it declines. At that point, batteries are no longer a concern.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I don't get how a Quad Core PSP2 will work with anything less than a 3 hour battery life.
But, eh, we'll see what Sony has cooking.

a battery the size of an Ipad's?

 

[antonz]

I don't get how a Quad Core PSP2 will work with anything less than a 3 hour battery life.
But, eh, we'll see what Sony has cooking.

If the quad core is accurate based on what Marvell themselves say there really is nothing Sony can do but abandon the portable nature of the device. Maybe that would fwork or them and their target audience but I suspect it would just end up a disaster.

One things for sure if people think the 3DS price is awful shoving the PSP2 full of brand new quad core cpus etc is not gonna be cheap unless Sony tries to eat losses to sell cheaper which I dont see happening. At this point the PSP is still around because even though its not doing much its profitable for them.

 

[AceBandage]

a battery the size of an Ipad's?

Considering the iPad uses TWO batteries (each roughly the size of the 3DS system), this would destroy it being a portable.
Might as well just make it a console at that point.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Considering the iPad uses TWO batteries (each roughly the size of the 3DS system), this would destroy it being a portable.
Might as well just make it a console at that point.

or an Ipad competitor.

the Playstation Max

 

[Jin34]

You just need a battery long enough to last all day (from 9AM to 11PM) at maximum usage and lasts 2-3 years of daily use before it declines. At that point, batteries are no longer a concern.

I think my DS Lite is the closest thing to this, but since batteries haven't kept up with increased specs we are definitely getting less. But then people complain about the low clock speeds even in the face of the performance we have seen.

 

[Chet Rippo]

Not as long as we still use primitive liquids.
We need portable fission technology.

I don't think I'd be comfortable with holding a mini nuclear reactor in my hand.

 

[Dreamwriter]

That depends on how well the code is documented. I'm sure they can take a lot of the code from OoT and use it on another system. Since it's most likely C code, it's somewhat abstracted from the hardware and isn't entirely platform dependent (you'd have to change a lot of library calls) but most of the game logic can be reused. Porting code takes time, but fixing bugs takes longer. Since most of the old code has its bugs ironed out, wouldn't it be a huge waste of time to write new code and then debug it.

EDIT: they could even be using a more modern engine like the one used in twilight princess and skyward sword but have it tweaked a lot for the 3DS. the game will probably feel a lot like the newer console zeldas in terms of control and not like OoT.

I disagree that it's most likely all C code. The SNES was programmed entirely in Assembly, and Zelda was one of the very first projects Nintendo started on for the N64, with one of their most experienced teams. It's highly likely that they used Assembly for much of it, as those programmers wouldn't be experienced in using C. As for bugs, all projects have bugs. It's a fact of game programming. They aren't going to have any less bugs by ripping whatever bits of code here and there they can and putting them into an entirely new game engine (like they would have to do on the 3DS). However, doing so *would* make it a lot harder to fix those bugs, since the programmers would have to try and figure out exactly how that ancient code worked.

Using such old code wouldn't save one hour of development time.

 

[loosus]

I would imagine Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 was almost entirely ASM -- at least the "engine," anyway. Maybe some of the events and dungeons and whatnot were in C or some proprietary language, but I'd be the game were almost entirely ASM. After all, it's a fucking feat that they got that game within 32 MB, and ASM was the best way to go back then.

Having said that, there's no reason you can't use essentially the same code in a higher-level language to make the game "feel" like the old game.

But, having said that, I'd imagine that Nintendo is going to fuck up the control scheme to some degree and make it feel twitchy like the newer Zelda games because Nintendo is Nintendo. I'd imagine it's going to feel essentially like Twilight Princess in Ocarina of Time's skin.

 

[ILikeFeet]

.

But, having said that, I'd imagine that Nintendo is going to fuck up the control scheme to some degree and make it feel twitchy like the newer Zelda games because Nintendo is Nintendo. I'd imagine it's going to feel essentially like Twilight Princess in Ocarina of Time's skin.

what company doesn't do that? :lol

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

wtf, twitchy? what does that even mean?

 

[GDGF]

I don't think I'd be comfortable with holding a mini nuclear reactor in my hand.

Should be fine as long as you don't cross the streams.

 

[Varjet]

wtf, twitchy? what does that even mean?

That it runs above 20fps.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

That it runs above 20fps.

:lol

HOW DARE THEY

 

[Portugeezer]

You know what would be crazy but cool for me as I will own a 3DS?

If the much begged for FFVII remake was on the 3DS :lol

We know Square loved remaking their old FF games on the DS, I kinda' think (and hope as I haven't played the original) they will do the same with the 3DS.

 

[Celine]

You know what would be crazy but cool for me as I will own a 3DS?

I would like it very much

Spoiler

for the bitter tears

.

BTW the N64 was the first Nintendo console to not use exclusively assembler language ( C ).

 

[Rich!]

Programming in ASM on the SNES is a bitch. I've used it when hacking Super Mario World and A Link to the Past. I'd say it's great once you know what you're doing, but even after implementing timebased weather effects in SMW for someone from scratch and re-arranging the HUD in ALTTP, I still don't have a clue what I'm doing. :lol

I was working on implementing some improvements to the sound engine in ALTTP after working on music for the Parallel Worlds hack, but I never got round to finishing it. Ah well.

 

[Portugeezer]

Did Nintendo say anything about demos? I would love if we could download game demos.

 

[defferoo]

Yikes. It looks like you used one of the early youtube trailer posts that had stuttering video as your source. Nice idea and cropping though. Thanks for putting that up. It's nice not to have that damn "frame DS".

Edit:
Check out the Kid Icarus clip to compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dh8tu0mrEk

haha, yeah. the kid icarus part is pretty terrible, but it gets smoother. i actually used a certain gawker site's viddler video. source is something like 1154x700. they had the least artifacting, but the first part stutters.

 

[antonz]

Did Nintendo say anything about demos? I would love if we could download game demos.

Honestly and its kinda strange they avoided most talk. We still have no clue how their "new" online system works. The only peek we have at the new OS is from a demo video of streetpass. Honestly outside of the price announcement and some details on the tag mode they havent told us shit

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Did Nintendo say anything about demos? I would love if we could download game demos.

Not sure. However, they already distribute DS demos through the Nintendo Channel on the Wii (with relatively regular updates, IIRC) and I could imagine them being keen to serve demos direct to 3DS owners.

Perhaps utilising SpotPass to deliver fresh demos would be an interesting way of introducing owners to new content? If you boot up your system and discover a new demo ready to go I'd guess you'd be more likely to try it than if you have to search out a demo store, browse for a game you might be interested in and download the demo. If they're looking for innovative ways to encourage game purchases, pushing demos like this would be one way to go...

 

[Portugeezer]

I see. Many questions remain.

Considering their online system will be distributing free 3D videos in the 3DS's early life, it's safe to say Nintendo could easily have a system to download demos.

 

[AceBandage]

Demos through Street Pass would be brilliant.
Though, I don't think that Street Pass downloads games automatically, just lets you know that free games are available.
Nintendo really needs to jump on that, it'll help increase sales (especially in Japan).

 

[Celine]

Did Nintendo say anything about demos? I would love if we could download game demos.

I believe it was confirmed for 3DSWare games.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Demos through Street Pass would be brilliant.
Though, I don't think that Street Pass downloads games automatically, just lets you know that free games are available.
Nintendo really needs to jump on that, it'll help increase sales (especially in Japan).

If they're looking for ways to lower the barrier to purchasing 3DSWare/DSiWare games, or even retail games, then I think presenting people with demos on a regular basis would be an interesting way to do it.

At the moment, if I'm looking for a DSiWare game I'll check the release PR and see if any games leap out at me. If I see something interesting, I'll go and check reviews and spend a bit of time reading up on it. Once I've made a decision I'll download the game, but up until then I'm relying entirely on the impressions of other people and I've got no way of reselling whatever I buy.

However, if Nintendo were to "push" demos to an allocated part of the internal storage on my 3DS when I pass a wireless point and present them to me each time I boot, I'd be far more likely to try a game I hadn't heard of or one I was hesitant about, and far, far more likely to make more purchases.

 

[antonz]

Nintendo did comment that their new store would be radically changed to make advertising games etc much easier. They acknolwedged the system on the Wii sucks for Selling games since previews etc are in a whole different channel from where you buy games etc.

So at the very least I would expect the new Nintendo App Store to have video previews etc all right alongside thr products themselves

 

[AceBandage]

Yeah, having it boot up with like "A demo for Pilot Wings 3DS is now available! Press A to download!" would be perfect.
Should be easier now, too, since they have a lot more storage space to work with.

 

[Portugeezer]

Yeah, having it boot up with like "A demo for Pilot Wings 3DS is now available! Press A to download!" would be perfect.
Should be easier now, too, since they have a lot more storage space to work with.

That would definitely help to get more people downloading demos and could boost game sales.

Space shouldn't be a problem, all SD now, and comes with a 2GB SD right? (a bit cheap from Nintendo, but more than enough for most people)

 

[Dreamwriter]

That would definitely help to get more people downloading demos and could boost game sales.

Space shouldn't be a problem, all SD now, and comes with a 2GB SD right? (a bit cheap from Nintendo, but more than enough for most people)

...until you realize that a demo of a full game could be a few hundred megabytes. Chances are demos will only be of downloadable (DSi-ware-quality) titles.

 

[antonz]

That would definitely help to get more people downloading demos and could boost game sales.

Space shouldn't be a problem, all SD now, and comes with a 2GB SD right? (a bit cheap from Nintendo, but more than enough for most people)

Space we really dont know what to expect yet. The 2GB card they are throwing in in their own words is for pictures. The big thing will be what kind of cap are we looking at on 3DSware. I would hope with this new system we could get 3DSware of substantial size allowed.

 

[ksamedi]

Demos through Street Pass would be brilliant.
Though, I don't think that Street Pass downloads games automatically, just lets you know that free games are available.
Nintendo really needs to jump on that, it'll help increase sales (especially in Japan).

What made you think that? My impression was that games were to be downloaded automatically, which would make much more sense.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Space we really dont know what to expect yet. The 2GB card they are throwing in in their own words is for pictures. The big thing will be what kind of cap are we looking at on 3DSware. I would hope with this new system we could get 3DSware of substantial size allowed.

and downloads. they specificly mention downloads as well (besides, pictures wouldn't even take up that much space

 

[AceBandage]

...until you realize that a demo of a full game could be a few hundred megabytes. Chances are demos will only be of downloadable (DSi-ware-quality) titles.

You really wouldn't need more than say 300MB for most demos.
Not like they'll have a lot of high quality audio or HD graphics.

What made you think that? My impression was that games were to be downloaded automatically, which would make much more sense.

The company states that it will only be the availability of free software that's sent to your 3DS, not the software itself, although the machine will be connected to the Internet and therefore able to download the free game or trial straight away.

Edit: And yes, you will be able to download (and run) games right off the SD card. Unlike the Wii.

 

[ksamedi]

You really wouldn't need more than say 300MB for most demos.
Not like they'll have a lot of high quality audio or HD graphics.



The company states that it will only be the availability of free software that's sent to your 3DS, not the software itself, although the machine will be connected to the Internet and therefore able to download the free game or trial straight away.

Edit: And yes, you will be able to download (and run) games right off the SD card. Unlike the Wii.

hmm.

pretty useless then.

 

[AceBandage]

Not useless at all, actually.
Rather than just bloating your storage with stuff, it'll alert you to things you could be interested in.

 

[ksamedi]

Not useless at all, actually.
Rather than just bloating your storage with stuff, it'll alert you to things you could be interested in.

I should have said for me its pretty useless. I can only see this function being useful to people who don't have a wireless internet connection. At least they can get notified of downloadable content. It will probably help sales of downloadable titles.

 

[ILikeFeet]

hopefully they will push downloadables more. since they are catering to the 3rd parties with this, demos should almost be a given. it wouldn't be too bad since there is a bundled card. and if you run out of room you can buy a bigger card. it's like the 360, but without the bullshit proprietary drives

 

[phisheep]

I disagree that it's most likely all C code. The SNES was programmed entirely in Assembly, and Zelda was one of the very first projects Nintendo started on for the N64, with one of their most experienced teams. It's highly likely that they used Assembly for much of it, as those programmers wouldn't be experienced in using C. As for bugs, all projects have bugs. It's a fact of game programming. They aren't going to have any less bugs by ripping whatever bits of code here and there they can and putting them into an entirely new game engine (like they would have to do on the 3DS). However, doing so *would* make it a lot harder to fix those bugs, since the programmers would have to try and figure out exactly how that ancient code worked.

Using such old code wouldn't save one hour of development time.

I hasten to disagree there. I've worked on several systems where the original code was set up in 1965 or 1968 and the vast bulk of the coding that's still there (of course, in different languages - now three iterations from the original) is derived from the old code rather than from the old specifications. Sure, the old code may be hard to read, and you may need to hire the odd expert, but at least you KNOW IT WORKS. Unlike the specification documents, which however nicely written or whatever colour paper they were printed on (our originals were pink), were never necessarily accurate, weren't version controlled, weren't updated with legislative changes.

In my long ago young and naive days I did try to reconstruct one of the fundamental bits of one of these systems from the specifications. It wasn't possible. Too many questions that you'd have to ask the guy about. Guy now dead. Can't be done.

Old code is good. Gotta use it.

 

[Provider]

Edit: And yes, you will be able to download (and run) games right off the SD card. Unlike the Wii.

You must mean DSi, Wii Shop Games can be downloaded and run from SD card (if you have some space in the Wii's internal Memory).

 

[TestOfTide]

You just need a battery long enough to last all day (from 9AM to 11PM) at maximum usage and lasts 2-3 years of daily use before it declines. At that point, batteries are no longer a concern.

From the looks of the arguing that went on days ago in this topic, Nintendo needed a battery that was small enough that there could be room for an analog stick. So yes, batteries are still somewhat of a concern.

 

[Gospel]

You must mean DSi, Wii Shop Games can be downloaded and run from SD card (if you have some space in the Wii's internal Memory).

Actually if I'm not mistaken, the Wii actually temporarily moves games on the SD Card to internal storage and runs them from there. It's masked and an indelicate way of handling SD loading.

edit: Oh, you edited

 

[ILikeFeet]

You must mean DSi, Wii Shop Games can be downloaded and run from SD card (if you have some space in the Wii's internal Memory).

except the 3DS runs directly off of the SD card. no moving to internal space. unless that isn't what you were talking about. I'm having a hard time understanding you post. I need food :\

 

[Gomu Gomu]

The Results Of A Nintendo 3DS Price Survey In Japan

Japanese site Getnews.jp recently conducted a user survey of around 1,000 Internet users as to their thoughts on the cost of Nintendo’s 3DS in Japan, which was recently announced with a retail price of 25,000 yen (approximately $300 USD) attached to it.



Participants weighed in with their opinions, too. Here are some choice quotes that Getnews mention:



“On launch date, I hesitate to buy it.”



“After seeing the specs, I think the performance for a mobile device over 20,000 yen is a little high.”



“For a device that plays MP4 videos, 25,000 yen I can comprehend; for a standalone game machine I think it’s high.”



“A little high, but I think it’s in within a tolerable range. I really wanted Kid Icarus and Mega Man Legends 3.



“I think it’s expensive in comparison to the functions of an iPod Touch 8G.”



“The Super Famicom had a regular price of 25,000 yen.”



“A little high. I’ll wait and see for the first price cut.”



“It isn’t a suitable price for a children’s toy.”

 

[Jackano]

Not a surprising survey results. Iwata explained that, Nintendo doesn't care because they know there are people out there who are ready to pay that price for it. And Nintendo can't product an infite number of 3DS for launch.

By the way, the question of the survey is oriented, because they start to ask "is it expensive?". This isn't a professionnal survey, they should have ask something like "What to you think about the 3DS pricing?" or something more neutral.