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BREAKING: Nintendo NDS conference at 2:30pm (Japan time)

A

AirBrian

Member
clipunderground said:
This thread is a Nintendo wet dream for me!


Recap:

Nintendo DS w/ Pictochat + Metroid Prime: Hunters = $150!!!!

Possible additions to Pictochat:

* Wireless Voice Mail Services
* Wireless Electronic Transmission of Voice Signals
* Online Videogame News and Hints
* Data Transfer
* Demo Downloads
* Message Boards


*faints*
Click to expand...
Thanks Clip. :)

Looks like this will be the first time I'll ever pre-order a console (or handheld).

EDIT: Just to clarify, Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is the packaged game.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/entertainment/2004-09-21-nintendo-ds-launch_x.htm
 
M

Memles

Member
I have to go to class, sadly...which means I'll miss out on the official American announcement (Where I'll assume that they'll clarify the Metroid issue). If it's simply the first level in single player and then 1-2 levels of multiplayer, it's still a nice little extra. Enough to get people to buy the full game a while later, and something for them to PLAY after they connect with PictoChat.

If it's the full game, the decision makes sense as well. Mario is more likely to sell on its own with everyone who buys the system, and packaging the game with the system gives the franchise a boost that Mario doesn't need.

I will be buying a Nintendo DS. It will likely not be until early next year, as I can't justify purchasing it at launch, but I will be purchasing one. This has sealed it. Hopefully my purchase might even coincide with the launch of the second run of 1st-Rate software.

Here's hoping the American announcement also has software pricing.
 
S

Soul4ger

Member
Memles said:
Here's hoping the American announcement also has software pricing.
Click to expand...

And some launch games. I'm real excited about the hardware, but I need to know what I'm going to be playing over Thanksgiving break.
 
A

aoi tsuki

Member
SantaCruZer said:
Nintendo has recently put a patent on some new functions that could quite possibly be added to PictoChat. The new patent helps to show what this program and the DS can really do. Below is the list of trademarked features:

* Wireless Voice Mail Services
* Wireless Electronic Transmission of Voice Signals
* Online Videogame News and Hints
* Data Transfer
* Demo Downloads
* Message Boards"

yay :D
Click to expand...
Don't get too excited about this just yet. i'd look at it more as an issue of Nintendo covering themselves than these features being included with PictoChat. Although i wonder if there's any non-volatile storage space that would allow the program to be upgraded.
 
S

Soul4ger

Member
JScott said:
Anyone taking reserves yet? If so, normal 50 dollar reserve price for a system?
Click to expand...

We've been taking them for $5 at EB, simply because there was no announced price for the hardware. Not sure what they're going to do now, but I'd assume it'll be $10 or $20, at the very most.
 
X

xsarien

daedsiluap
teiresias said:
$150 for subpar N64 tech, no thanks.
Click to expand...

Oh for the love of Pete, this argument is so tired. Yes, it's Nintendo 64-level technology; it's portable N64 technology. Not only that, but it's self-powered, and driving two screens one of which is touch sensitive, both of which are backlit. There are also two - count 'em - two wireless networking protocols, two cartridge interfaces, and to top it all off, there's embedded chat software.

Do you want a free Pocket Fisherman with the thing? All of that shit, especially in a portable form, costs money.
 
M

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Are you guys sure there's a switch for the wifi? it's just someone said it was at the bottom left of the unit, but assuming they're only going on pictures, that's the volume.

Maybe the guy had another source for the info.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
for those that missed the other thread, metroid prime: first hunt was confirmed as a demo of hunters with 4 player wireless play.

more neat stuff:
"since e3, ds buzz has been positive. demand's not gonna be a problem. previously announed 3.5 million worldwide shipped to retail by march '05. updated: will ship 4 million worldwide (maybe more) by end of fiscal year."

"launch budget will be biggest of any console or handheld nintendo has ever launched. $40 million to launch."

"media plan: print, TV, cinema, outdoor, 12,000 interactive retail kiosks. hands-on time is
critical to appreciate DS features"
Click to expand...

thanks to skip.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
snapty00 said:
Looks like Steven Kent was wrong again.

Is Metroid Prime: Hunter going to be a full game or just multiplayer?
Click to expand...
skip said:
"playable demo version of metroid prime hunters: first hunt, abbreviated version of MP: Hunter"

"demo will be wireless multiplayer enabled, up to 4 DS owners can play out of the box"
Click to expand...
i know that doesn't wholly answer your question, but it's the best i have. rumors have put the single-player game as kind of an Unreal Tournament.
 
D

Dagon

Member
As for GoldenEye, I would imagine that since it's coming from EA, that it's just a port of the upcoming console GoldenEye game.

Oh, and I just saw a Nintendo DS teaser commercial here in Japan. Not sure if it's new or not, but I hadn't seen it before. It just has a DS on a table and a woman looks at it, and then the commerical ends mentioning a winter release (IIRC).
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Dagon said:
As for GoldenEye, I would imagine that since it's coming from EA, that it's just a port of the upcoming console GoldenEye game.

Oh, and I just saw a Nintendo DS teaser commercial here in Japan. Not sure if it's new or not, but I hadn't seen it before. It just has a DS on a table and a woman looks at it, and then the commerical ends mentioning a winter release (IIRC).
Click to expand...
It was posted a few days ago, that gal was Utada Hikaru, I believe (link here)

As for GoldenEye, well, let's wait and see. I wouldn't be surprised either way.
 
T

Trevelyon

Member
Um, I wonder when the media campaign will kick off? we've already seen teasers for the DS in Japan and it launches a few weeks after the US, so its gotta be close.
 
S

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
gamestop has been selling pre-orders for 25$ deposit.

hey guys. You won't hear anything on final launch games, possible online, "teh secret of teh hole" or anything else untill the october conference. This was purely to keep your mouth watering, anounce price and launch date (because ocotber is too late for that) and to have something to go along the PSP "news" and PS2 redesign info.

Did PSP price and date really "remain secret"? did nintendo have anything to do with that? I imagine sony had a good idea of its price etc. because we did, I can't imagine them being caught off guard.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
skip said:
q - chris kohler - it's possible for DS to recognize GBA games. any plans to have GBA titles that have some DS functionality built-in?

reggie - all historical GBA games will be able to play in single-player mode in the DS. no features or unlockable thing that will happen. in the future, there are a lot of opportunities in the future for this sort of thing. nothing planned right now that takes advantage of that

q - DFS - backwards compatibility. GBC and original GB titles, or just GBA games?
reggie - only gba.
Click to expand...
no word on 802.11, conf is over.
 
I

ironichaos

Member
The DS is being supported by a $40 million marketing campaign?

Wow, go Reggie!

Approximations:

SNES - $25 million
Virtual Boy - $20 million
PlayStation - $40 million
Nintendo 64 - $54 million
Dreamcast - $100 million
Game Boy Advance - $25 million
GameCube - $75 million

And you add GameCube and GBA SP to that equation...Nintendo is gonna be throwing out the money this year.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
yeeeeoOOOrrrrr

once again us australians get shafted! ... however i'll be in NYC as of the 7th of december so i can get myself some sweettt sweeeeeeeeeeeet ohhh that's raspberry *dribble*
 
K

Kobun Heat

Member
BuddyChrist83 said:
i know that doesn't wholly answer your question, but it's the best i have. rumors have put the single-player game as kind of an Unreal Tournament.
Click to expand...
The single-player version that was shown at E3 was just the multiplayer map with, you know, what are they called... Zoomers and Skrees or whatever, running around for you to shoot. Clearly just a demo.

My thoughts are that MP Hunters is not gonna happen at launch. It was called an "eventual" title. I'd imagine there's a LOT of work that has to be done on it yet. But packing in the demo is a great, great idea, no question.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
Zeenbor said:
$150 is pretty steep for the level of tech in the DS. There better be some damn good games to justify a purchase like that. Nothing on DS has impressed me yet.
Click to expand...
Compared to the GBA that's over twice the resolution (half touch-sensitive), twice the speakers, twice the face buttons, games that can hold well over twice as much data, well over twice the graphical capability, at less than twice the price.

Crazymoogle said:
Maybe I'm just imagining things now, but I swear at some point I read it being 256x224...
Click to expand...
Eh? Each screen has been 256x192 since they first announced any specs. For a brief while some of us thought it had gone wider, but that was just an image of the screen at an angle. 256x224 is probably in your head from the NES and SNES main resolution.

Lost Weekend said:
Same reason the N64 was announced at $250 then dropped to $200 right before launch I guess :)
Click to expand...
Well, in that case the Saturn and PS1 had dropped to $200 in the meantime.
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
Yeah, well, given the form factor of the screen I was obviously dreaming about the res. Anyways:

Kobun Heat said:
But packing in the demo is a great, great idea, no question.
Click to expand...

The two big points I hear from other developers (and lord only knows how this will actually turn out):

-Cost on DS carts is way, way lower than with the GBA. Nintendo can afford to mess around with demo carts this time. However, there is concern about the software price points being too high (making it irrelevant to the home consoles) or too low (killing any profit gain on manufacturing).

-3D support is kind of a joke, it makes a lot more sense to do killer 2D than the half-assed 3D this system seems to be capable of.
 
B

Bluemercury

Member
Crazymoogle said:
Yeah, well, given the form factor of the screen I was obviously dreaming about the res. Anyways:



The two big points I hear from other developers (and lord only knows how this will actually turn out):

-Cost on DS carts is way, way lower than with the GBA. Nintendo can afford to mess around with demo carts this time. However, there is concern about the software price points being too high (making it irrelevant to the home consoles) or too low (killing any profit gain on manufacturing).

-3D support is kind of a joke, it makes a lot more sense to do killer 2D than the half-assed 3D this system seems to be capable of.
Click to expand...


Well i wouldnt call PS1/N64 3d graphics half-assed but whatever.....
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Bluemercury said:
why?i liked many ps1/n64 games and graphics at that time, and now on a portable im sure they´re still going to try to impress us.
Click to expand...
Because you're arguing with a developer regarding the 3D support of the console. Keep in mind that 3D support doesn't mean capabilities, rather it's what they're able to do thus far with the tools they have been given. I'm sure in time we'll see some nifty 3D stuff, especially considering what we've seen on GBA, but for right now, 2D development is much better documented.
 
All Hail C-Webb

All Hail C-Webb

Hailing from the Chill-Web
BuddyChrist83 said:
This, this is amusing.
Click to expand...

Mario Kart DS and Mario 64x4 both looked pretty good, better than their respective N64 versions. If the DS will eventually be able to run games like Conker, and PD, then it will be more than adequate. I really dislike the lack of control stick though, they could even have one of those "add on" sticks like they use on some PC gamepads.
 
D

deadhorse32

Bad Art ™
From a coding POV :

DS = GBA with better processor (+ copro for DIV and SQRT) and some hardwired 3D functions (matrix operations, cellshading, ...) + more memory

All the 2D stuff are identical to the GBA. So if you can code GBA, you can start coding DS immediately.
 
V

Vark

Member
"Mario Kart DS and Mario 64x4 both looked pretty good, better than their respective N64 versions. If the DS will eventually be able to run games like Conker, and PD, then it will be more than adequate. I really dislike the lack of control stick though, they could even have one of those "add on" sticks like they use on some PC gamepads."

I wish it had a stick too but honestly I think the d-pad will be fine. It's like the original Playstation, I never used the analog stick on it because it was so loose and half assed, all the 3d games played just fine with the d-pad.
 
F

Falch

Member
About that WiFi capability. Is that Bluetooth? In other words, can I use a Bluetooth USB adapter to connect the DS to the PC, and thus the internet? And what's the DS range?
 
S

StrikerObi

Member
Falch said:
About that WiFi capability. Is that Bluetooth? In other words, can I use a Bluetooth USB adapter to connect the DS to the PC, and thus the internet? And what's the DS range?
Click to expand...

No, it's an 802.11 standard, so it's probably 802.11g. As far as the propritary format, it's propritary.
 
P

Priz

Member
One thing I can't get out of my head is pictochat's ability to "link up to 16 DS's..." and E3 2005 being the greatest stress test pictochat will ever see.

You know that on the show floor and even probably at the press conference, there'll be a few hundred around and we'll all be either annoyed to hell of that DS sound (which we heard at E32k4 in the DS promo video) by the end of E32k5, or we'll see what it's limits are... :)

I can see a group of friends, half standing in line for whatever line there is for Nintendo stuff, the other half standing in line for the Sony booth's line (or something similar) and instead of the groups talking among themselves, all engrossed in pictochat so the whole group can talk across the aisle.

Maybe if the "game" that comes with the system is a type of demo disc, they might come up with some sort of ram cart thing to get demos of other stuff in the future from retailers (drm via digital signature) and then have some cool things to download directly at the show. Who knows... (don't they have something like this in Japan already to buy games/dump them onto a cart for one of the older systems at digicube stations or something?)
 
T

TekunoRobby

Tag of Excellence
Priz said:
One thing I can't get out of my head is pictochat's ability to "link up to 16 DS's..." and E3 2005 being the greatest stress test pictochat will ever see.
Click to expand...
It's official, if you see a "FUCK YOU FROM TR" and a smiley face over and over and over you'll know it's me. I'll be spamming all of you bastards at E3. Either I'll be mauled to death or I'll randomly say fuck you to someone high up at Nintendo, either result will be worth it.
 
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