N-Sider Q&A
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October 2nd, 2000
hi i got a quick question for you. do u know if nintendo is interested in buying other companies to increase its number of 2nd party company?i mean a company like Quest or treasure. that's all. thanks.-drian
Pete: Well, Nintendo already has a very large family of second party teams. I think Quest or Treasure would make great second party teams, but it seems Treasure prefers to work for different publishers (Nintendo being only one of them). As for Quest, that would definitely be a good pick up, as the company is quite adept at making great tactic RPG titles. In either case, you can check out a recent N-Sider special on the topic right here.
okay...Sony has stated that the lack of PS2's at launch (500,000) is not going to hurt it in the long run. But, it looks like to me this could be a serious problem. For all the people who pre-ordered PS2's, and aren't going to get them any time soon.....a Dreamcast (or Zelda and Eternal Darkness for N64) might start to look tempting. And anyways....by the time Sony gets supply in line with demand.....there will be two much better consoles on the horizon for consumers to get their greedy hands on. This could be VERY good for Nintendo. What do you guys think?? Oh yah....will Sony be ripping off Nintendo by making PS2 and Wonderswan interconnected? thanks for your time.
roger_the_shrubber13
Pete: It's a bit of a break for Nintendo if true, and a huge break for Sega. I don't know the specifics on how quickly Sony might be able to ramp up PS2 production, so I doubt Nintendo is "underestimating" the PS2 just yet. I suspect the PS2/Wonderswan linkup capabilities will be there, but I don't expect them to be a main part of Sony's strategy. As for Nintendo, we already know the Gamecube/GBA linkup is huge.
Being a Nintendo fanatic, I check about a dozen Nintendo sites every day. And I just want to say that your article "All in the Family" was one of the best articles I've read in a long time. That was a perfect, comprehensive listing of all Nintendo's aces, their projects, and relationship with Nintendo. I think I knew most of it already, but it was really nice to have it all spelled out concisely. Then in the same day, you came up with the awesome article about the SD cards. I've seen a few articles about the SD cards before, but in my opinion, yours offered the best take on what the SD cards have to offer. Please keep up the excellent work here.
-Pete C.
p.s. Maybe a similar article about third parties could be possible?
Pete: You're going to want to thank Jeton for that great SD Card profile and Anthony for that excellent All in the Family special. We'll get to work on a third-party feature just as soon as Nintendo distributes kits to the bulk of the 3rd party community (this month, we hope).
Hey N-Sider, I have not seen this posted anywhere before, but take a look at this photo provided by Ign64. Now look at the car demo video. Notice a couple of the cars look exactly like the ones on this guys desk? Hmm... :) Could the car demo be more than a "demo"? Could this be a first look at the cars from "Thunder Rally"? :)
-Jarr
Pete: There's an interesting story behind that picture. That picture, as it turns out was first brought to light by none other than Fran while he was writing for Dolphin Cove, which was the predecessor to N-Sider. Is it a game? I'm not sure, but I would hope so-- that demo looked fantastic.
1.What are your estimates on the price of the gamecube games (the DVDs), and do you think they will be more or less expensive than the DC and PS2?
2. Do you think the era of console games being shipped in boxes is over? I personally love the box art on many N64 boxes (Goldeneye, Shadowman etc.) and think thta there will hardly be any room for art on DVD cases (if they're CD size).
3.Do you think NGC will ship with a game (presumably Mario 128) or will Nintendo pull another N64?
Thanks men, love the site.
-Skwidman
Pete:
1.) The NGC games should be in the $39.99 US to $49.99 US categorey, just like standard DC and PSX game titles.
2.) I think Nintendo will come up with some very nifty packaging for the Gamecube titles and try to emphasize how small the medium is (something that I think will go over well in Japan). Perhaps a small "cube" casing for the games?
3.) Expect something similar to the N64. One controller and A/V wires. I think Nintendo is very aware that most people will buy Mario seperately regardless. That said, I wouldn't be entirely shocked if Mario or one of the NGC launch titles ships with one of those Panasonic 64MB SD Cards.
What's up N-Sider. Awsome site. The opening logo looks awsome. The Question: I hear from all kinds of sites including yours that the Star Wars demo shown at SW was the next Rogue Squadron. I have also heard that the demo was accually the next Shadows of the Empire from EGM and videogames.com. So which one is it?
-Nate
Pete: Thanks for the comments, Nate. Seeing as how the demo was done by Factor 5 (who had nothing to do with Shadows of the Empire), I think it's safe to assume that it's a sequel to Rogue Squadron. However, it's entirely possible that Factor 5/LucasArts may change the name and the nature of the title before it's released.
Has anyody actually held the GAMECUBE controller in their hand to tell how it feels like? If you have, how is it?
-TommyD.
Pete: I'm not even sure if Fran or Matt from IGN have had a chance to hold the controller yet (I might be wrong). I am told that it is very comfortable-- much more so than the N64 pad, which I always thought was very nice. Expect it to be Nintendo's best controller yet, as far as comfort and feel goes (kind of a no-brainer, but worth mentioning anyway).
Another N-Sider Q&A comes to an end, but we're already accepting questions for next week. Send them here.