Many of the games shown in this video are shown too briefly to make any kind of substantive observations. Let's see how it goes.
2008
DSi: Slimmer, SD card slow, internal flash memory, bigger screens, internet browser, DS online store, and 2 cameras. Over the past few years, I've faced several road blocks when designing software fore the DS because it lacked many of these key features. Once again, Nintendo supplies the hardware/features that I need to design my innovative games freely.
The fashion game: Looks to have very high production values considering the detailed customization and the 3D graphics.
Nintendo Pedometer & Wii Fit for my pocket? Sign me up. I loved my Pokemon Pikachu with its built in pedometer when I was in middle school, and I look forward to this next step. Nintendo had to find a way to put Mii's on the DS. They're the best tool Nintendo has to make games personal and accessible to the broadest audience.
The Kirby game looks just as colorful as other games in the same series.
The Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Trigger, and the Shiren The Wanderer look very traditional in their core RPG design. Let's hope at least 2 of these 3 have some tricks up their sleeve.
The Soccer game looks slick. It appears that many developers have figured out how to make nice looking 3D DS games. The implementation of the Mii's fits, and the game appears to support a range of detailed stats.
Sooo many RPGs. I guess they come with the territory.
Professor Layton looks as dashing as ever. In other words, it looks like more of the same.
2009
The Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto Mii's are charming. I'm not sure what kind of game/software they're in.
Mario & Luigi look like they're control with the touch screen for battles. Interesting change.
Wario Paint/Ware: Looks like Mario Paint. Plays like Wario Ware. Perhaps everyone makes micro games and shares them for content that's always unique. Either way, this game has piqued my interests.
3D picross. I liked 2D picross. Hopefully they'll find an intuitive way to manipulate the camera. The rubik cube DS game's camera controls are pretty complicated and finicky.
More RPGs. Such is Japan.
Much of the Wii game footage is too short to deduce anything. There's a lot to look forward to this fall and next year from the Wii. The games shown in the video run the full gamut of "casual" to "hardcore" games and from familiar to new IPs. There'es something for everyone.
These are sad times for the video game industry (at least for some developers). These are sad times because someone like Jonathan Blow felt compelled to present a talk attempting to explain/teach developers that they should look carefully at their games as they build them and push themselves to be more creative. While listening to this talk I couldn't help but think nearly everything that Blow said was common sense and/or instinctual for the good developers. But because there are so many bad games made by bad, supposedly clueless developers Blow had to adress these issues. It's times like this that make me feel like the video games industry is still in a period of nonage, and insightful individuals like Blow have to father us by telling us to brush our teeth and to use soap. The gaming industry has sprung up all of a sudden it seems. We're all relatively new to the medium that we're defining as we go along, and it doesn't help that we anre't well supported by a...
Behold the Novint Falcon! You can find out all about this nifty peripheral in the video. And you can read about it at the Level Up blog here . The device is quite expensive, and in order for a gameplay prioritizing gamer such as myself to deem the product worthy of purchase, games that implement the unique features of the Novint Falcon must be created. I don't think a more visceral force feedback experience slapped on to an FPS is enough. And let's face it, the PC market is saturated with FPSs, RTSs, and RPGs of various types. Without reworking these genres from the ground up to use the Novint Falcon, these genres are likely to poorly implement the technology much like the motion controls in the Sixaxis controller for the PS3. I can't help but think that all the software that utilizes this controller will use it as as nothing more than a glorified rumble pack. Perhaps it's time for the PC market to revisit some of their less popular genres, like puzzle games. Where'...
Just a few points to wrap things up. Simultaneous multiplayer. The core Smash design has the flexibility to support up to four players simultaneously. All of the mechanics, dynamics, and interplay possibilities are increased with each additional player. Some of the possible combinations for matches are team play (2v2), 3 for all (1v1v1), 4 for all (1v1v1v1), and even lopsided combinations like (2v1v1) and (3v1). By turning on team attack (friendly fire) in a 2v2 teams match, teammates must carefully coordinate their attacks as to avoid hitting each other. Because teammates can hit each other, players can also save each other from situations with attacks. If a Jigglypuff teammate is sleeping after using a rest attack, a teammate can step in and wake her with with a light, nonlethal "love tap." The highest levels of team play in Smash are the best the core design has to offer. I had to 2v1 pretty hard at the end. Stock. Another feature that is fairly unique to Smash is stoc...
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