Having finally gotten my hands on 5th Cell's much-hyped Scribblenauts, I have to say that I'm not disappointed.
The control issues that everyone's been talking about are there -- no argument. But it'd be difficult to make the controls much better with the level of freedom allowed in this game.
I've spent much more time working through the puzzles than messing around with random objects (although solving the puzzles certainly involves some creative thinking). Currently I've had enough time to make it roughly halfway through World 3. And I've gotta say, the stage that required reuniting a sheep with its brethren was the most difficult I've faced so far.
Haven't run into too many of the glitches that others have seen. The strangest one was seeing a chef and a doctor fight over possession of a clump of dough.
In any case, based on what I've seen so far, Scribblenauts delivers on its premise. Highly recommended!
| Comments (0) |
Iwata Asks is one of Nintendo's greatest features these days. These articles give us so much insight into the company's inner workings that it's amazing their competitors don't seem to have enough information to start competing with Nintendo on a level playing field.
The latest Iwata Asks is an interview with some of the DSi's engineers. Although you see many sites reporting some of the nifty little factoids contained within the discussion, few have pointed out the underlying ideas behind the new DS's hardware design.
The most interesting part of this episode, to me, is that it doesn't mention anything about the DSi's significantly increased hardware specs. In spite of the fact that it sports a doubled processor speed and quadrupled RAM, you don't see these things anywhere in the interview. You know that if Microsoft or Sony were in Nintendo's position, they would spend half the article talking about what developers can do with those features to make portable games with better graphics.
The reason Iwata and the engineers don't talk about the upgraded performance is that, to Nintendo, that aspect is probably the least significant addition to the DSi. From a hardware standpoint, you could almost consider the DSi a full successor/replacement to the DS. But Iwata even notes during the interview that they didn't want people to feel as though the new handheld is leaving the DS or DS Lite in the dust.
This is an interesting attitude to take since companies who deal with technology thrive on sales of new products. But the upgrades discussed in Iwata Asks seem more geared to catch the DS up with the Wii in terms of blue ocean appeal. You have the cameras, you have the new image and audio capabilities, you have DSiWare and the SD card slot. You no longer have to power off the hardware to make it recognize that you've changed the game cartridge.
Of course, another reason to play down the importance of the DSi's greater power is that most game developers won't be able to take advantage of that power until there is a significant installed base who can buy those games. (From all we've heard so far, games that use these upgrades won't be able to run at all on an older DS, even in a "graceful degrade" scenario.)
I look forward to seeing how the DSi performs outside of Japan. The DS Lite will surely continue to see great sales due to its lower price, but how quickly will consumers adopt its successor? Will most people wait for a price drop (which would likely accompany the permanent departure of the Lite), or will they jump to upgrade as soon as possible?
| Comments (0) |
One thing about Satoru Iwata - listening to him is rarely dull. The guy's a gaming business dynamo, and the latest financial results briefing transcript is a great look into the insightful mind of Nintendo's top executive. In any case, Iwata has a lot to say about the DSi. Here's an excerpt:
This time, considering the current foreign currency exchange rates, there is no possibility of selling DSi overseas with the same price as DS Lite at all. There will have to be a difference in price. With this price difference, I think that the DS Lite and DSi will be sold side by side in the Americas and in Europe, but I will not be able to comment on their ratio today as we have not announced the prices and we will have to see how people react to the announcement.
It's no surprise that the DSi will be sold at a higher price than the DS Lite. The hardware takes a substantial leap in capability, and Nintendo followed the same strategy in Japan, stocking both the old and new portable machines on store shelves. Iwata doesn't specify a price for the DSi, but if it's comparable to the Japanese version, you should be able to score a unit for $150-160.
| Comments (0) |
WiiWare World reports that Nintendo is preparing its launch lineup for DSiWare, set for release on December 24th. This is exciting news for DSi owners, most of which reside in Japan at this point. Of particular interest, it appears we'll see a couple Art Style games, as well as a portable version of Dr. Mario. Here's the full lineup below:
* A Little Brain Age: Logic Version (800 DSi Points)
* A Little Brain Age: Word Version (800 DSi Points)
* A Little Magic Tournament (200 DSi Points)
* Art Style Aquario (500 DSi Points)
* Art Style Decode (500 DSi Points)
* Bird and Beans (200 DSi Points)
* Dr. Mario (500 DSi Points)
* Moving Memo Book (Free)
* Paper Airplane (200 DSi Points)
* Simple Trumps (500 DSi Points)
* Utsusu Made in Wario (500 DSi Points)
Via WiiWare World
Update: Vooks has compiled a number of screenshots of these titles from Nintendo's Japanese DSiWare site.
| Comments (1) |
Although you can import a DSi right now if you're the impatient type, it's inevitable that Nintendo's latest handheld revision will hit US shores in an official capacity some time next year. But there are a lot of days in the year 2009 - can we narrow it down a bit?
Well, we've seen a few conflicting reports from Nintendo representatives, but the latest scuttlebutt from IGN is that they'll "wait until at least March of 2009" to launch the camera-enabled device over here. That speculation is most likely based on Satoru Iwata's recent interview with Reuters, in which he indicates that he doesn't want to wait until the end of 2009 for a US release.
We can be reasonably certain that early Q1 is out of the question, because Nintendo of America has been pretty clear about keeping the DS Lite around a while longer. By also ruling out Q4 based on Iwata's statements, we logically conclude that the launch will be after March, but before October.
There are still a lot of days left in that half-year time frame, but that's about the best we can do for now.
Via Kotaku
| Comments (0) |
As a lover of all things gadget, I noticed a post on Engadget yesterday which quotes Apple's John Geleynse as stating that "the iPhone is a gaming console." This subject has been coming up more and more lately. We've seen recent reports of a handful of casual iPhone games becoming megahits, and the next thing you know, the media is asking, "does this mean the end of the DS's reign as king of handheld gaming?"
In short, no. The iPhone might become a competitor to the DS/DSi at some point, but for now, it's not anywhere close. Why not?
First, you can't ignore that it's a bit silly to assign the label "gaming console" to a device primarily intended as a telephone. Don't underestimate the importance of what the iPhone branding means to the general public: no one will buy an iPhone just to play games on it.
Second, gaming is a side purpose for Apple's hardware, and the lack of physical buttons proves it. If you thought playing Sonic the Hedgehog on your old Nokia flip phone was a pain, try doing it with nothing more than a touchscreen and an accelerometer. Sure, there are going to be some great games that are perfectly suited for the iPhone's idiosyncrasies, but you will never see the diversity of the Nintendo DS library on that platform.
People already associate the DS with handheld gaming, and while no device will be 100% secure in its position at the top of the food chain, there is nothing about the iPhone that compels people to switch - and that this point, that's what you'd have to do, since you probably already own a DS if you're a gamer of any kind.
In closing, if you're looking for the product that can disrupt the success of Nintendo's handheld device, you'll have to keep looking. The iPhone isn't it (and never will be in its current form).
| Comments (0) |
In news that really shouldn't shock anyone, the month of November saw Japanese sales of the DSi over the 500,000 mark. That's what we call consumer dedication. These numbers fall just short of the DS Lite's first month.
As Nintendo's money machine closes in on 25 million units sold, we must wonder again: when will it ever stop? Will it ever stop?
Only time will tell.
Via Kotaku
| Comments (0) |
