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

Edition: 11-26-2005

Youre not going to believe this one. I know the column is like a week late, but there was this dog, you seehe, uhh, like attacked me and bit all of my fingers! I couldnt type a thing!! Ill get the next mailbag up on time though; I promise. In any case, be sure to send your questions, criticisms, commentary, feedback, praise, or rants to qa@n-sider.com.

In this edition we discuss, Mario Kart, Wi-Fi, Xbox 360, milking franchises, DS possibilities, and more!

PlayStation

Will the word "Nintendo" ever be synonomous with "video games" again?

- Garsh


Travis: Technically it still is. A lot of the younglings these days call the PS2 and Xbox nintendos. Probably because of their older brothers or sisters that used to have actual Nintendo systems. Its kind of like the situation with Disney and Dreamworks animation. Dreamworks is currently trying to edge out Disney with movies like Shrek and Madagascar, but every time I see a little kid talking about such a movie they think its from Disney. Same with some of the parents.

Now if youre asking me if Nintendo will ever be on top again then thats a different story. But I can say that Reggie certainly got me to believe such will be the case.

CSI for the DS?

Jeff,

Great collumn as always, nice to see updates again! On to the question..

With the apparent success of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (atleast, from what I've heard from lots of people), what are the chances of some company seeing the goldmine inherint in the idea of a CSI game for the DS? The show has an incredible following, the DS has an incredible following as well. With the DS's interface, it just makes sense, don't you think? That is, it'd have to be well done...but yeah!

- Jason


Jeff: Definitely. But it would have to be a lot better than the few CSI games I have seen. Id love to see a resurgence of the point-and-click genre for the DS. Games like Sam & Max, The Dig, and Monkey Island are still some of my favorites.

Travis: I agree entirely. I dont like CSI, but a crime investigation game using the DS is ingenious. I personally own Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Im quite in love with the game so any DS project bringing similar things to the table will please me immensely. Phoenix Wright contains some crime scene investigation, but a game designed just around such investigation could really take things to a whole new level.

It isn't a gimmick, it's the future!

I am wondering on how cross platform ports will work out for the next generation. I read that the revolution will be much more developer friendly than the XBox 360 and the PS3, but will the fundamental differences in the architecture of the development process with the XBox and PS mean that 3rd party developers would have to do alot of extra work when porting to the Revolution?

I'd also like to point out that while all the old controller designs only allowed us to interact with the game world, the revolution controller allows the game world to interact with our physical world. An example of that could be a sort of spin the bottle type game, where the game dictates our actions rather us dictating it. Maybe a bad example, but it could also result in a laser tag type game where we interact with another controller being used by someone else, so the game effects what happens in real life.

Finally, I'd like to talk about controller theory for a second. The first game pong only had one way to influence the game, movement, and was easily and intuitively controlled with a single joystick which could easily be controlled with one hand, and was simple, you move your hand up, the paddle goes up, you move your hand down, the paddle goes down, easy. Games like space invaders added another level of input, the action button, again, it was still easy and intuitive, one hand controls the movement via the joystick, and one hand controls the action via the button. For over a decade this mode of input worked fine because all our console games were in 2D, we only had 4 ways to move, so our hands weren't overloaded. Then first real 3D game with an explorable free form world hit the consoles with mario 64, and along with it introduced the big problem with 3D games, the camera. Now we needed to control 3 things at once, movement, action, and camera. Nintendo introduced the C-Buttons to control the camera, and that was adequate for games like mario 64 where you would change the camera, perform the action and then change the camera to suit the next situation, and even though we were doing 3 things with only 2 hands it wasn't overwhelming because we did not need to constantly adjust the camera. Now games are requiring us to control the camera continuously, everyone tried to remedy the input problem by tacking on another analog stick but now it has become overwhelming to control so many forms of input all at the same time for non hardcore gamers. The revolution isn't a divergence, but rather a logical next step in input design. Before we had to use 2 hands to do too much, but the revolution controller adds another way for us to influence the game, via the real world position of our arm and wrist. The reason why 3D games on computers are so much more intuitive is because the mouse is controlled by our arm and wrist, in addition to the keyboard and mouse buttons being controlled by out fingers. The revolution is not some weird idea, it's exactly where gaming is supposed to go. It isn't a gimmick, it's the future!

P.S. Is there any indication that Mario Party 8 might be a start up title for the revolution? It would be the perfect showcase for the controller and be relatively easy and fast to make.

P.P.S. When did apple INVENT white? There's no ipod style because the ipod lacks any style. It is simple and unobjectable.

- Tim Etler


Travis: I actually had a recent experience at a LAN party I went to. We were playing Halo 2 multiplayer (shut up, the games not bad, its just overrated) and this little kid wandered into our midst. He saw the fun shooting and obviously wanted to try playing. One of the older men next to me gave him the controller and explained all the buttons. This kid was about 8 or so Id say and let me tell you that he not once could control the game right. Now the Halo games are very simplified when compared to the rest of the First Person Shooter genre, but this little boy (a prime candidate to entice into gaming) could not understand using both analog sticks to move and look around while using another button to fire. Then there was a button to jump, a button for grenades, a button for melee attacks, etc.

Im notIm not doing this, said the boy. Its not . . . how do I do this?

He went on for about ten minutes likes this, determined to play, and eventually his parents made him go home.

I looked over to my girlfriend after this sight and with my mind I told her, Nintendo is brilliant. I later discussed it in the car because apparently she cant read my thoughts.

The point is that youre absolutely right. I can handle games like Halo just fine, many can. But even Halo is way too complicated for some and the Revolution controller will simplify that immensely. People can fathom moving the controller to move the camera in a game; they cant so much fathom handling another button.

Now as for your worry about portsits not a problem at all since the Revolution will be offering a standard control style shell. Now, many developers would probably want to use the Revolutions unique controller to the fullest, but third parties using that aspect probably wont do so for multiplatform titles if the console is not doing well in the console wars. Such a thing would probably be seen as a Quality Assurance hassle. Testing the effects a button has on a game will probably be a lot easier than testing a very precise controller that manipulates the game world with quick movements of the hand. I can tell you that I worked as a QA Tester at Activision recently and if I ever tested a Revolution title the first thing Id do is throw the controller to someone across the room and see if it breaks anything. In theory, there are a lot more variables that the controller creates and third parties will be less inclined to use the thing if it doesnt catch on. Of course, thats just my opinion on the matter. In short, port will happen but they may not always use the controller to the fullest. Which is kind of sad.

As for your question about Mario Party 8.well it could happen, but I certainly have no clue regarding the issue. Im willing to bet that if the Revolution comes out a good amount of time before the holidays next year that Mario Party 8 will be out before Christmas, but that it wont be a launch title.

Jeff: If Mario Party 8 is called Mario Party 8, I will kill someone. That whole series needs a serious facelift and injection of some novel ideas and concepts. Its felt stale to me since the second game. Judging by the declining sales of the series, Id say Im not alone. Then again, we are on the seventh installment. That pretty much moots anything I have to say.

Nintendo commercials suck Part 2

Hi, thanks for answering my last question. Today, I was just wondering why Nintendo commercials suck so much. Sure, midgets (or "little people") can be funny, but not the way that Nintendo portrays them. This topic has been brought up many times before, and yet Nintendo doesn't seem to realize that their commercials are perceived negatively among many in the gaming community. Just yesterday, I was watching an Xbox 360 commercial, it had nothing to do with games (kids playing with water balloons), all they showed was the 360 logo at the end, but for some reason, I found it effective. Why can't Nintendo do something like that? What worries me is the fact that Nintendo seems to remain indifferent to what people are saying. Can't they just switch ad agencies or something? SHEESH! I doubt that this letter will change anything, but at least I was able to say something. Well, thanks for your time.

- Zak


Travis: I agree that Nintendos marketing has been almost terrible as of late, but you cant honestly praise those 360 commercials. Those are, by far, the worst commercials I have ever seen and I really enjoyed Xbox commercials. When a new consoles coming out they need to be showcasing some graphics, not throwing water balloons at some kids.

As for Nintendos ads improving . . . You might find this interesting.

Jeff: I think the balloon commercial is awesome, but only because it was freaking sweet when they dropped like 30 balloons out a third or fourth story window. Water balloons rock. As for the message, I guess it meant the 360 is online. Was kind of vague, like Nintendos Mario Kart DS Wi-Fi commercial. I get it, but Im not sure that others will.

You need broadband

dear you guys,

I'm having trouble understanding the whole nintendo wifi thing, do you need hi speed internet or does it not matter. I'm asking this because I have dial-up, and if it turns out that you have to have broadband than I'm screwed because that means I won't be able to play online. Wasn't this supposed to be easy to use and affordable for everybody? If you have to have hi speed internet to play the ds online or revolution online, is their anyway us dial-up users can find a way to play online, even without the expensive internet connections?

- sjr8495


Jeff: I answered this same question in the LAST mailbag. You sound like a nice guy, but come on; at least skim the last edition. All I have to say is that everyone needs broadband. Dial-up just doesnt compare.Travis, take this lad to school.

Travis: I hate to break it to you, Mr. Unpronouncable Name, but Nintendo WiFi Connection does indeed require a broadband internet connection. This is probably to make the system simpler for everybody. If a dial-upper hopped on a game of Mario Kart itd probably lag everyone out. The gaming aspect is just much simpler when dial-uppers are taken out of the equation.

Now I have some suggestions for you. Many McDonalds locations now have WiFi hotspots and they have partnered with Nintendo to allow the DS to go online with absolutely zero fuss. I have tested this myself at my local McDonalds and I had a very stable connection everywhere in the building. You could also go to any other wireless hotspot (provided it doesnt have security to block people out) and connect there. Many alternatives exist for people that cant get online at home. It may not be as convenient, but I dont think you want to get anyone in your house upset with you after youve tied up the phone line for hours playing Mario Kart DS.

Additionally, I have to tell you that broadband internet is really not as expensive as it used to be. I saw an ad on TV recently that stated a price of 14.95 a month. Thats really not much more than a dial-up connection.

Playing it Safe

OK, am I the only one getting sick of Nintendo overusing their franchises? Seriously. This year there's been about 4 Donkey Kong games (Jungle Beat, Konga2, DKC3, KingofSwing) , 2 Zeldas in the past year (Four Swords & Minish) 2 Metroids (Pinball and Prime 2) 2 Yoshi games (TopsyTurvey and Touch) 2 Kirby (Canvas and Mirror), 2 Fire Emblems, 2 Wario Wares, 2 Advance Wars (DS and Battalion) several Pokemon games, and about a dozen Mario games. I'm really getting sick of Nintendo whoring out their franchises like there's not tomorrow. There's barely any original games at all! Granted theres a few like Geist, Trace Memory, and Nintendogs, but that's very unbalanced. I wish they would release games as often, as say a Star Fox, ever couple of years, so we're still interested in the series but also not oversattured with that franchise. What's your thought? Is it OK because the quality of these games are high? Or should Nintendo slow down pumping out sequels?

- Tom Hanaway


Jeff: Ive had pretty strong views on this issue, as seen in my editorial last year. However, my views have changed quite a bit since then. Sure, I still get annoyed with the number of Mario and Co. games that come out, but Im more disgruntled with their lack of individual personality. Super Mario Strikers, for example, is the first Mario Sports game that has caught my interest in quite some time. The title seems to have some individuality to it. It doesnt look like Im playing with the exact same eight Mario character models Ive seen since Mario Party 4. It may turn out to be a perfect example of how to keep Mario Sports games relevant in the years to come.

Travis: I have no problem with it because all the games you mention are across multiple platforms. If theres are two Zelda games in one year, but theyre on the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube then I have absolutely no problem. Now if I got two incredibly long epic Zeldas on the GameCube in the vein of Ocarina of Time and another one was said to be on the way Id have some problems. I dont want Zelda to be rehashed, I want it to be good. The situation you describe does not involve any rehashing that I know of (DKC 3 being a port of the SNES game on the GBA does not constitute as a rehash in my eyes, but as a great game that is now conveniently portable).

I would, however, prefer more original properties in games, yes.

Also Advance Wars DS and Battalion Wars are technically in two separate gaming universes. They just have similar styles.

Four FPSs from Ubisoft

According to rumours, Ubisoft are developing Killing Day, King Kong, and 2 other FPS's for the Revolution, and at least 1 will be exclusive. Does it sound at all feasible to you that 1 company would develop 4 first person shooters for the same console, no matter how awesome or groundbreaking the controller happened to be?

- James Cook


Travis: Yes. I can tell you, though, that King Kong wont be happening. Thats a movie tie-in game and theres very little point in releasing a Revolution release when the Revolution might not even come out until the next holiday season.

Jeff: If the Revolution controller makes first-person controls simpler than a mouse and keyboard, then absolutely. It may get quite a few FPS games. I somehow doubt they will all be good or all make it to release, but Im glad they exist, nonetheless.

Rub my buttons

before nintendo released the revo's controller there were rumors that the buttons were touch sensitive(like rubbing the buttons). After the announcement I heard the buttons felt like rubber. Can you tell me what IS true about the controller?

- a daily reader (Daniel Farhner)


Travis: You may want to consult our Revolution FAQ for the answers you need. Off the top of my head though, the controller will allow manipulation of the game environment based on the movements of the controller. Everything else you hear about it is just speculation. The rubbery feel of the buttons some members of the gaming media have commented on are probably just to give the buttons a comfortable feeling.

Jeff: If were speculating, I think Nintendo will put a microphone near the end of the controller so that it can be held like amicrophone in certain games. At the very least, I think there will be a mic somewhere on the device.

New controls to reduce piracy?

Hey Guys,

I'm a huge Nintendo fan and am extremely excited with the possibilites of the Revolution and the line-up of excellent DS games coming in the near future. With that said, part of me wonders if the only real reason Nintendo is coming up with these innovations is to reduce bootlegging and copyright infringment. By utilizing a touchscreen with the DS and the unique features of the Revolution's controller, Nintendo is making it near impossible for games to be emulated on other medium. What do you guys think about Nintendo's strategy in that regard?

Or do you think this was on Nintendo's mind at all when creating these new systems?

- Mr. Eric Oliver


Jeff: Im sure that line of thought crept into Nintendos collective brain at one point or another, but I think theyre more concerned with increasing sales and the best way they see to do that is to cause a shift in the industry. They did this with the NES and again with the N64. They are also aiming to reduce piracy by allowing gamers to legitimately download classic Nintendo games on the Revolution.

Travis: Im sure that Nintendo was focused more on innovating gameplay than whether or not their games were pirated. No matter the medium, it can eventually be pirated because eventually, if people like the Revolution, the system will become standard and piracy can happen easily again.

Also, dont pirate, kids. Pirates smell bad.

Mario Kart expansion

Dear Travis, Corey, and Jeff,

I got Mario Kart DS, and despite that fact that living out in the boonies offers me an Internet connection of no more than 28.8 Kbps and thus no Wifi Connection, the game is most pleasing. My question: If Nintendo were to release an expansion on a GBA cart (similar to what they did for Jam with the Band), what would you like to see most on it. Also, do you think Nintendo could or would release an expansion cart so I (and others, cause I'm not selfish) could play games like Meteos and Advance Wars: DS online.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Peace,

- Pierce


Travis: I would love to play Advance Wars DS online. Heck, Id love to play a lot of older DS games online, but I do not foresee it as happening. Now if there was a Mario Kart DS expansion (which I admittedly do not expect) I would want more tracks and some better net code so I can play with up to 8 players online.

Jeff: Haha, you spelled Corys name wrong. Hell kill you for that kind of insolence. But yeah, Id want the ability to play Battle Mode online and choose whom Im playing against.

Legitim and plausibel

Do you think it is legitim or plausibel to call 360 a next generation system when games like Resident Evil 4 on N-Cube exist? the visual leap seems to be underwhelming!Resi4 was the last game I purchased almost a year ago and since there arent't any games that caught my attention lately I wonder what happened to the industry cause I used to play a lot.Games like:Metroid Prime,Resi4,a link to the past,Mario Bros,Golden Eye,Shadow Man,Street fighter,Monkey Island,Day of the tentacle etc.. back then there was always a classic around the corner, something you could really look forward to but nowadays if I take a look at the 360 launch lineup it just feels like been there done that - there is nothing new or exciting.And when I ask myself if it has something to do with the fact that i am getting older memories of Metoid Prime infiltrate my mind and I come to the conclusion that it is their fault it has nothing to do with my age!they have not succeded with their approach!360 3d games are still not hollywood!there is still some blurry textures!normal mapping still isn't Jurassic Park it's more like Toy Story!the truth is that with 360 3d games still don't look as good as they should!And that was Microsofts attempt!that was their goal but they failed!If we take a look at the lifespan of xbox or more specifically if we compare first generation titles like Halo1 with second or third gen. titles like Halo2 the graphical leap between them is marginal!no way around it!same thing with other games!They won't get that much more out of 360 meaning that the games won't look two or three times better than what you see now even if it has some unused core or something. Actually they said similar things about the PS2 back then! 2d still looks more believebale than 3d if you ask me and 360 did not deliver!at least Nintendo is back on track with what seems to be the most reasonable direction to go by changing the fundamentels.People want new expiriences and not the same old crap albeit shinier!People tend to rely too much on tried and true things and are not open for innovation or perhaps too lazy to use their imagination!I am not saying that the Revolution controller is a safe bet or the denitive way to go and I am still sceptical how it will turn out at the end but simultaneously I can see the potential of this approach and that it could deliver...

- Sassi


Jeff: First off, you came off as very crazed, rabid, loony, etc in this letter. Might want to consider using periods once in a while instead of an exclamation point and one exclamation point instead of two or three. And its called spell check, Sassi. Theres a thing called spell check.

To answer your question though, the visual leap from this generation to the next wont be quite as visible to the average consumer as the leap from 2D to 3D or N64 to GCN. The games will look better, but instead of going from rough to smooth were moving from smooth to smoother. It can be compared to the difference between Toy Story and The Incredibles. The Incredibles is technically much better than Toy Story, but they both still look good, so its not as readily apparent. The Xbox 360, PS3, and Rev will undoubtedly have just as high a ratio of increased power over the Xbox, PS2, and GCN as those systems did over their predecessors, if not more. If you take a look at the trailers for Gears of War (360) or Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3), youll see some pretty impressive visuals.

Travis: It is PLAUSIBLE to call the Xbox 360 a next-generation console because thats what it technically is. Its the next console from Microsoft, its their next-generation of gaming. Whether its good or not doesnt really matter. I agree that the graphical leap isnt as good, but such leaps will continue to diminish. Its all about physics and (hopefully) AI these days.

Correcshon

definetive not denitive
formal error excuse me!

- Sassi


Jeff: . . .

Travis: . . .

Letter of the Freaking YEAR

Hello N-Sider,

I have some concerns about Nintendos online service. Since DS is now online, Im taking the DS online experience as a preface to Revolutions online service capabilities. Ive been reading about MKDS online and I found out that you cannot actually choose the friends that you want to play with. Instead, you are randomly paired with 3 of your friends on your buddy list. This is very disturbing to me. Why is this so?

Another problem that I have with MKDS online is that, in my opinion, they have left out the better half of multiplayer. I am of course talking about Battle Mode. This is not to say that Grand Prix is bad, I just feel that Nintendo has produced an uncompleted game. To me this is very uncharacteristic of Nintendo. In the past and even today they will delay games to make them better. I understand that space is limited on the DS cartridges, but Nintendo could still produce a MKDS online with just the battle mode portion. Is there another reason why Nintendo didnt include the Battle Mode as an online option?

Another thing that I wish MKDS had, but I understand why they couldnt have it, is the ability to drag an item behind your kart. Ive read that the reason they couldnt do this was because of the lag it would create, understandable. However, this concern of mine translates to the Revolution. When Smash Bros. Revolution goes online I want 4 vs. 4 melee. I will become disgruntled if this is not so. With Nintendo having to take away item dragging in MKDS because of lag, I am having concerns about Revolution and lag. Since we all know Revolution isnt going to be a powerhouse machine, I worry that Smash online with 4 vs. 4 will have lag. Smash Bros. Melee lags when you play 4 players and Poke balls on very high. Also, with this new news that MKDS online is listed as having instability this only increases my worries. Do you think this lag problem is possible with the Revolution?

I am right to worry about these problems happening with Revolution or am I just being a whiny bitch about the faults, in my opinion, of MKDS?

Thanks,

- David Treado


Jeff: Im pretty unhappy about the lack of an online Battle Mode myself and hope that future iterations will not have such a glaring omission. Battle Mode has long been the heart of my Mario Kart experience. Im probably in the minority on that front though. Ive never been a huge racing fan, but I love most every aspect of Mario Kart.

Cory: Believe me, I share many of your concerns. When I originally found out about how limited the online mode was in Mario Kart DS, my thoughts immediately turned to what horrors I would wreak upon Nintendo if they nerfed the online modes in the new Smash Brothers game. An online SSB game has been at the top of my list of dream games for a very long time, and the thought if it being fundamentally flawed in the one area I'm anticipating the most makes me sick to my stomach.

So first off, why the limitations in MK:DS? I can think of two possibilities. One, the online was added late in the development of the title. As far as I remember, the game wasn't originally supposed to have online functionality. As such, a late addition could've resulted in a slightly gimped implementation due to a lack of development time. Two, Nintendo could have been using a purposeful "simple" implementation to A) ease people into the whole Nintendo-online-gaming things, and to B) make the fastest and least complicated system possible since the system is portable, and designed for quick play sessions.

That said, I'm really hoping that won't be the case on the Revolution Smash Bros game. Nintendo Wi-Fi will have been around for a while by then, so first-game-jitters should be out of their system. Also, since it's designed as a console game, any handheld-spawned "simplicity" shouldn't be necessary. There are rumblings that while Nintendo Wi-Fi is free on the DS, it won't be entirely free on the Revolution. A pay-service, however cheap it may be, would likely prompt a more feature-rich experience.

Lastly, I don't expect the supposed lack of power under the hood of the Revolution to have any impact on the lag you may or may not experience during online play. The system horsepower may determine whether or not the engine can display certain things with relative ease, but lag is dependent largely upon the quality of your internet connection, and the ping response time that your ISP sees fit to bless you with. So no worries - a potentially underpowered system doesn't necessarily mean a higher possibility of lag. Internet lag and in-game slowdown are caused by completely different factors. Besides, the "instability" found in online Mario Kart at this stage is likely just a result of brand new servers and infrastructures being hit heavily for the first time. It should all be worked out relatively quickly.

Travis: I dont see anything to worry about. This is Nintendos first online game and Im just happy they cut corners where they did to ensure a relatively lag free experience. Now if all future gamers were as limited as Mario Kart DS wed have problems, but as it is Im quite happy with it.

As Cory touched on, I also believe that the forced simplicities with not being able to choose which friends you play with and such are because the game is on the Nintendo DS. Its a handheld system, the majority of people are going to want to flip the system open, play a quick grand prix, and flip it closed. Theyre not going to wait for a while to orchestrate a game with specific people and get every last option right. Would it be great if these intricate options were available to those who wanted them? Yes it would, but again, this is Nintendos first online game. I understand completely why such options are not in the game.

Metroid Prime: Hunters will be the test to see how well Nintendo can evolve their online system across titles.