Q&A Mailbag: 04-10-2005 / nsidr

N-Sider Q&A Mailbag
Column by Jeff Van Camp, Travis Woodside

Edition: 04-10-05

Yeah, the mailbag is pretty late. Sorry about that. Im likely going to be posting them over the weekends from here on in though, so its all good. Travis is also back this week, which is nice. I even had Glen stop by and answer a question. So yeah, there isnt much else to say so enjoy. Oh and remember to send your criticisms, commentary, feedback, praise, or rants to qa@n-sider.com.

In this edition, Glen talks Star Wars, I get a sense of humor, Travis tries to cure Wavebird woes, someone thinks 3D glasses is the wave of the future, and much much more.

I Get the Joke Now, Yay!

Dear Jeffrey,

How do you type with boxing gloves on?

Crapfully yours,

- Adam

Jeff: I posted this letter in last weeks mailbag. My response was With a larger keyboard. However, during a chat with Eric Jones, Senior News Editor, GameCube Caf, I was informed that it was actually a common letter sent to Strongbads weekly email segment at Home Star Runner. So I guess its kind of funny now and I apologize for calling Adam a jerk. Click here for a link.

Game Boy Evolution

Hi there, it sure was nice to see your annual April Fools Day getup as usual...

Anyways, I have a question concerning the product life of the DS and the Game Boy Evolution (As many people call it).

I think last year, I read a little blurb about the Game Boy Evolution on your site, n-sider.com, and the writers were thinking about a projected release of the next-gen Game Boy sometime in 2006. Now, knowing that the DS is not a Game Boy predecessor, but rather a gaming system on its own accord, how long to you think it will be until we see the next-gen Game Boy? I bring this up because I see no reason to upgrade the portable systems when one just got released.

In the same light as the question above: How long do you think the DS will be manufactured by Nintendo? Some game analysts are predicting that Sony will keep the PSP up for 10 years!

And just one more question: Has Nintendo actually confirmed "Project Evolution," or is it still a rumor being passed on by the Nintendo public?

Thank you for answering my questions once again!

- Carlito C.

P.S. It wouldn't be a bad idea to let Kenneth Kyle Wade do the Game Boy Evolution on The Rumor Mill... There hasn't been an update in over a year and I've been anxiously awaiting his next piece of Nintendo rumors.

Jeff: Yeah, April 21st of 2004 we posted up a strong rumor about potential next generation specs, which you can find here. The information is very dated at this point, as it would have represented Nintendos ever-shifting plans for the next generation of consoles and handhelds. Nintendo has confirmed that it is working on a successor to the Game Boy and that the DS is not a part of the Game Boy line on several occasions, but I doubt well be hearing about the Game Boy Evolution for some time. Sales of GBA SP and NDS are very strong so there is no reason for the company to jump the gun and announce a new system yet. Im sure well see the GBE pop-up in a few years time, but not before the market is ready for it. I think that if Nintendo plays its cards right the DS could have a very healthy lifespan, perhaps even surpassing five years. I highly doubt it will live for 10 years, but I dont doubt that is how long Sony wants the PSP to last. Simply put, its going to take Sony that long to even start making money on the hardware, which is going to hurt them in the long run.

Nevertheless, it is too soon to pass too much judgment on either the DS or PSP. What the Game Boy Evolution is and when it hits the market is going to be strongly correlated to how successful the Nintendo DS is.

As for the Rumor Mill, we feel you. We are currently searching for someone who has the time, ability, and motivation to bring the Rumor Mill back to life on a monthly or so basis. Kyle has a lot on his plate at the moment though, so I doubt it will be him.

Interviewing Warp Pipe

So first off I have to say great website, I love your interviews and articles. My question is that with that interview you did recently on Warp Pipe Technologies do you think that there would be a good chance that they would work with Nintendo on there idea? Also since you guys can do such great interviews what are the chances that you can do more with other companies associated with the gamming industry? Thanks for the great website I keep looking for updates everyday.

- Jeremy Tafoya

Jeff: I hate to be a stick in the pants, but they are not working with Nintendo. Nintendo is working on its own online network at the moment. Warp Pipe is looking for another big publisher to embrace its idea and really put the effort into making it happen. We will definitely look into providing more interview type articles in the future. Thanks for the compliments.

Factor 5 and Lucasarts

Recently I've been reading an awful lot about how Factor 5's current/future projects will likely come out on non-Nintendo systems. Much like with Silicon Knights, it is written in such a way as if this is expected because of what happened with the GameCube.

As we know, Lucasarts has basically decided to stop releasing games on the GameCube altogether. Apparently this decision was made based on the sales of the last Factor 5 released game. However, while those sales are referred to as "lackluster", I don't remember the numbers being terrible at all.

The strange thing about this is that, all in all, the GameCube has sold more copies of Star Wars games with less titles than the PS2 has. The ratio is obviously in favor of releasing these games on the GCN, but we're constantly told that they simply do not sell.

All of this is based on a game Factor 5 made? Ignoring the sales of other games, including the fact that Rogue Leader was one of the best (if not the best, I'm not positive) selling Star Wars games of recent memory? It especially irks me because it's not as if the last one was exactly pure quality, it had a multitude of gameplay problems.

I'm rambling, but I just don't understand how a lot of these sales conclusions are reached.

- Tony Jacobs

Jeff: Ive handed this question off to Glen since he is much more fluent in North American sales than I.

Glen: On its release alongside the launch of the GameCube, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader was the best selling third-party title and second overall best-selling game. Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike hit shelves in October 2003 and for that month, it was the 7th best selling console game in North America, edging out titles such as Viewtiful Joe, which came in at number 10 (despite the latter receiving better reviews and more praise).

But these sort of decisions are not always based solely on sales. Look at the announcement for example that Soul Calibur III will be exclusive to the PlayStation 2, despite the last Soul Calibur selling more on the GameCube. Money hats may be the ultimate reason why many of the Star Wars games haven't appeared on other consoles than the Xbox. Also, there's the rumored falling-out between Rogue Squadron developer Factor 5 and Nintendo which may have further exacerbated the link between Nintendo and LucasArts' Star Wars franchise. Anyways, here are sales for a few of the better selling Star Wars titles, according to the February NPD.

GCN SW Rogue Squadron II Rogue Leader - 876,796
GCN SW Rogue Squadron III Rebel Strike - 481,853
PS2 SW: Battlefront - 726,878
XBX SW: Battlefront - 586,454
XBX SW: Knights Republic II - 553,920
XBX SW: Obi-Wan - 390,334
XBX SW: Knights Republic - 1,060,244

Still More Wavebird Problems

Dear Jeff and Travis,

I am writing in regards to a letter in the last issue of Q&A mailbag. David asked about issues with his Wavebird "freaking out". I just wanted to say that I have had similar problems with my Wavebird too. While I haven't tried turning the controller on/off, instead I always waited a few moments and it usually clears up. This usually becomes a problem because my wife loves to use the Wavebird, but when it freaks out during a Mario Kart: Double Dash race, she blames me for making her drive off a cliff. Anyways, I assume the problem is cause by interference from some outside source like an older cordless phone (both are 900 MHz, no? I should ask my neighbors if they have one...). My controller has had this problem since the day I brought it home, so I know it has never been misused. Perhaps there are certain channels more prone to interference than others? I use channel 1 exclusively, what about you?

Thank you for the great site,

- Matt H.

Travis: Since I was on vacation last week I was not able to help Matt with the Q&A so I'll now state my theory for the two of you fellows. I have to emphasize, though, that this is a theory. I have used the Wavebird before, but I don't own any. I enjoy the rumble feature of a standard controller and would feel as if I lost a piece of a game's experience if I were to play without it. I have, however, spent many hours working on my home's wireless network (something that drives me crazy now and then). Needless to say I think your theory of interference to your Wavebird signal is spot on. If that's the case then changing the controller's channel should fix it. Cordless phones tend to operate on a specific channel signal and, of course, if you have a wireless network at home you don't want your controller's signal to be on the same channel as it either. Furthermore, microwaves and, possibly, cell phones will interfere with the Wavebird's signal. If changing the Wavebird's channel does not work, however, then I highly suggest trying with Nintendo tech support. They really do have outstanding customer service.

At any rate I'm sure David will be glad to know his problem isn't exclusive.

GameCube in Japan

I am a die hard Nintendo fan when it comes to consoles. If it contains Mario, Link, Samus, etc. I will play it even if it is not a game I would normally play. Why? Because Nintendo and their trade mark characters always have a way to make even the most boring concept fun. But due to the lack of any exciting releases for the Gamecube the last few months I decided to begin looking to import games for something new and this is where I began to become very concerned about Nintendo's console future. After searching the internet and struggling with the translation of many Japanese web sites, I came to a very scary realization. I realized that while developers continue to cancel many North American releases for the Gamecube due to its 3rd place in hardware sales, there is not many releases in Japan for the Gamecube as well. Looking over the lists of Japanese released and scheduled to be released games, I can find only maybe 25 or so games that either were not released in the U.S. or have no plans to be released state side. If Nintendo is running a strong second in Japan as I have been led to believe, how is this possible that developers are still not developing many games for it in Japan? Could Nintendo's hype over the Revolution system be their last ditch effort to win back developers and gamers both in Japan and North America? What are your thoughts on why even in Japan, Nintendo is not seeing many releases from third party developers?

- C.J. Charles

Jeff: Well, I think youve been led to believe wrong. The GameCube is not running a strong second in Japan by any means. For the majority of this generation the PlayStation 2 has dominated the Japanese home console market. The only system that has put up a decent fight is the Game Boy Advance and GBA SP, which has held a comparable portion of the market. The GameCube has been relegated to a tiny 2% 5% of the market for years now, with the Xbox selling so few units that its not even worthy of a percentage. Recently the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP have begun to stir up the market though, so its hard to say where things will head from here. In any case, the GameCube is not doing well in Japan.

Wallpaper Woes

Hi, its the first time that I visit your website and I must say that I love it really much and I don't know how I survive before ;) I wonder if the artwork in the header are available in any format (wallpaper ? :D) because they are awesome!

Thanks for answering me back :)

- Francois A.

Jeff: Hah, most of the current top-art for the site was done by Matthew Musselman, who was with us for quite a few years, but recently had to leave for personal reasons. Well certainly be seeing more of his art in the future though, so dont fret and well definitely look into the possibility of providing things like desktop wallpaper in the future. Stay tuned.

Polarium the Next Tetris?

With all this talk of Polarium being the next Tetris, do you think Nintendo execs are hinting at it being a pack-in for the DS?

- GJM

Jeff: From what Ive seen and read, Polarium does look like it will be a whole lot of fun. Im sure it will gain a decent following. Will it be a pack-in with the DS? It could happen. It would certainly be a very strong candidate, I will give you that. I think it will all depend on whether Nintendo needs an added promotion to sell DSs come late this year. In any case though, the game is set to hit shelves very soon, so we shall see if it is the next Tetris or not very shortly.

Crazy Fun 3D Glasses

Hey I was reading some stuff recently about the future of cinema in 3D. Peter Jackson, James Cameron, George Lucas seem very excited about that technology. What if the Revolutionary aspect of Revolution would be game in 3D with those glasses. Wouldn't it be amazing if Nintendo found to do that? Is that even possible on a regular TV set? Imagine Zelda or Metroid (any game for that matter) with enemies jumping to your glasses... Amazingly cool. What do you think?

- Alex

Travis: Nintendo wouldn't need to find out how to do that. It's called "virtual reality" and has been around for years. The trick would be for Nintendo to do it cheaply and in a way that does not require a system larger than the Xbox. I'll tell you right now, though, if Nintendo makes me put on VR goggles for every game I'm going to be a bit annoyed. At the most I would expect a goggle/glove attachment that comes with a hit game (think of Donkey Konga coming with bongos). Trust me; whatever Nintendo's got cooking for the Revolution is going to be more innovative than an idea that has been around forever.

OH MAN OH MAN

SAY WHAT?!? Is that true? Is Uwe Boll making the Metroid movie? or was it just a bad april's joke? I REALLY hope it was an april's joke because the guy BLOWS at making videogames adaptations. I bet he'll make a shooter-fest of it, maybe including zombies somewhere(as thats all the guy knows to do) with a lame plot and production. I wanna know who gave the rights for making the movie to him so I can send him a few C4s. OH MAN OH MAN MY POOR SAMUS!!!!!! :"(

- Michael Molina

Travis: It's okay, Mr. Molina. I feel your pain, but keep strong! Uwe Boll does not have the rights to a Metroid movie. Currently John Woo has the rights and he seems to be doing absolutely nothing with them. This sort of thing happens all of the time actually. Many studios buy the rights to games and never do anything. This is why there have been rumors about a Doom movie for years only to have one finally in production almost ten years later. My theory is that Woo's rights to Metroid will expire without him having done a single thing (he seems busy with a Spyhunter movie) and then they'll go back to Nintendo, a Nintendo that just might have their animation studio up and running

Lawsuit Please

Hey, I just saw some stupid "StriVectin- SD" ad on television (its some kind of lotion or whatever), and I swear its music was a total rip off of the zelda music used in the GBA Link to the Past ads. Not similar to, but IDENTICAL TO. It was the exact same zelda themed music. In the master quest GC promo disc, there's a section with nintendo ads, and the one with GBA Link to the Past has that music. Anywho, I was wondering if anyone has been sued yet.

smelling blood,

- Mark Hatherly

Travis: Are you secretly a dog? I sure can't smell blood. Maybe I'm just not around it enough, but then what does that say about you?

As for your question, I haven't heard anything about Nintendo suing anyone over this, nor have I actually seen the commercial! If the said commercial was made without having the rights to the music than I can guarantee they will be sued at some point, however. It's only a matter of time before Nintendo finds out, that is if the commercial uses the music illegally at all.

Letter of the Week

Thanks for being one of the few Nintendo sites that updates the mailbag on a regular basis. I think yours is probably one of the most insightful Nintendo sites on the Net and your in-depth articles are awesome!

I have sent this letter to 5 other sites but none printed it, so I'm hoping you guys will, especially since you've said recently you're not getting enough mail and that you answer every piece of mail you do receive.

My comment/question is regarding the launch of Revolution. We all know Nintendo has stated repeatedly they learned from their mistakes in this generation and that they will absolutely NOT launch behind the competition, but around the same time. Despite the certainty with which Nintendo claims this, it just does not seem very likely, if even possible. Here's why:

1) They are ALREADY behind both Sony and especially Microsoft (even if they only consider Sony as their main competitor). Sony and Microsoft have had dev kits out for a while and will surely reveal much more about their machines and games at E3. This is not only because Nintendo is more secretive, but because put simply: they are more far along in development and have more to show. For Nintendo it's way too early.

With Nintendo's track record, it doesn't seem likely they will be able to catch up, so if they are 4 to 6 months behind as it is, my guess is that they will be 4 to 6 months behind at launch. Most worrying of all to me is Iwata's remark after the GDC to BUSINESS WEEK that they haven't even finalized the design, stating that not even the interface (a critical factor for developing software I would think) has been chosen. Shouldn't this have been finalized a long, long, looooong time ago?

2) Developing for a completely new generation takes more time because of the learning curve involved and particularly in the case of Revolution if it is truly "revolutionary". As you have pointed out, developers don't even have dev kits yet, although hopefully most will have pre-dev kits by E3. My guess is that if it would take at the very least a year, but more than likely a year and a half to churn out a half-decent first generation game for Revolution, then the first third-party games for the machine won't be coming out until the end of 2006 or early 2007.

I also realize in-house development teams and 2nd parties probably do have some form of dev kits and have been working on "something", but if Nintendo plans to launch with only a handful of games and keep new games to a trickle for the first six-months to a year while third parties catch up, then I'm not so sure they REALLY learned from past mistakes.

3) I'm not sure if Sony has announced a launch date yet, but I would think they will launch around next year's E3. It only makes sense. I guess Nintendo could do the same, but if this is the case, then it is almost a given that either: a) Nintendo would have to rush to market (which I think they have never done) and is probably not advisable, b) Their launch line-up will be comparable to that of the N64 or GameCube in quantity relying almost entirely in first and second-party games, or c) If they have lots of second and third-party games, the fact that they're rushed first generation games will be clearly evident.

If I had to put money on it, I would bet on Revolution launching in the fourth quarter 2006 at the earliest, in time for the all-important holiday season. As a die-hard Nintendo gamer, Nintendo could choose not to launch this decade, and I will still wait for them.

What are your thoughts on all this?

- Joe

P.S.: Please print this letter even if it is 20,000 words over your usual limit. I am sure this is on the minds of most Nintendo gamers, and I have not seen the issue addressed properly in any publication.

Travis: I'll let Jeff go through your letter by the numbers (since it seems he has a fetish at doing such). I will just say that it seems like you assume that some competing systems will be shipping this fall and you must remember that this is all rumor. Is it possible that the Xbox 2 and PS3 could be ready for such a launch? Sure, after all, we don't know that much about them. However, though I could be wrong, I honestly don't see any system launching before the fourth quarter of 2006. Given that, Nintendo certainly has plenty of time to put together a nice launch for the time its competitors will be shipping.

One last thing, the interface not being finalized for the Revolution is not as much of a problem as you think. For one, they probably know enough to tell developers (like how many buttons will be on a controller). For two, the GameCube controller wasn't finalized very long before the Cube's launch. Originally the Z button was missing from it, it had no D-Pad, and the B button was bean shaped like the X/Y buttons.

Jeff: 1. Sure, Nintendo is behind Microsoft, but MS is planning on launching its system in 2005. Sony, on the other hand, is not very far ahead, if at all. It enjoys pretending it is ahead, just as it enjoys touting how its systems will be able to recreate God in full clarity and vibrancy. The comment Iwata made about the interface not yet being finalized is nothing to worry about either. The Revolution could very well have a series of small innovations much like the DS. Nintendo was going to include a camera in the DS, but chose to remove it in the end. When you are introducing something new, it is always about compromise. Sony and Microsoft dont have this problem because neither are likely to change their controller design much at all.

2. Both the Revolution and PS3 will hit shelves in late 2006. That is my prediction. As such, both companies are likely on track to meet this date. However, if the PS2 launch taught us anything its that having 30 games at release means little if they all suck. That didnt stop the PS2 from selling millions, but it also launched a year before the GameCube and Xbox. If Nintendo and Microsoft have some stellar content out there Sony will have to ramp up their efforts with the PS3. I guess I am optimistic, but I believe Nintendo is fully preparing to have a solid launch line-up for the Revolution. Again though, Ill be better able to throw around predictions once I actually know what Nintendo has up its sleeves (E3).

3. With the beefy technology in the PS3, Sony will be losing a lot of money (or charging a lot of money) on each system sold. CELL processors and fancy Blu-Ray drives dont come cheap. I wouldnt count on them launching until late 2006. As for your Revolution launch predictions, dont forget about option d) Nintendo comes out with a strong, innovative, and varied launch line-up and strong marketing campaign. The next generation wars then commence, and a fair and interesting war they will be.