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[GDGF]

Reggie kicks ass

 

[Brofist]

Man Nintendo must be loving the fact that people are eating this shit up

 

[Mason]

Man Nintendo must be loving the fact that people are eating this shit up

Are you insinuating that Reggie does not kick ass?!

 

[Brofist]

Are you insinuating that Reggie does not kick ass?!

haha, I wouldn't say that..but I'm just surprised about the reaction though....it's low on haters

 

[The Faceless Master]

eleven-year-olds spend half-day car trips in the back seat, playing game boy.
21-year-olds spend half-day car trips in the front seat, driving.

unless they live in NYC where they're in a cab/bus/train
i still want a DS more, though i want both

 

[Gahiggidy]

That man is a genius!

 

[Malakhov]

Man Nintendo must be loving the fact that people are eating this shit up

No shite and I wonder why, that thing is so lame.

"hello, my name is reggie…and i’m addicted to my blackberry. in fact, to me, it’s a crackberry.
(holds up blackberry)

Good god, someone put him out of his misery.

 

[Brofist]

"hello, my name is reggie…and i’m addicted to my blackberry. in fact, to me, it’s a crackberry.
(holds up blackberry…)

He probably really is a fucking crack addict making a few bucks off Nintendo to fuel his addiction.

 

[john tv]

I love this guy

 

[Bluemercury]

No shite and I wonder why, that thing is so lame.


Good god, someone put him out of his misery.

Lame?, out of his misery???, oh man you're already and you dont even know it.......

 

[----]

that doesn’t mean there isn’t a future in head-to-head play over long distances.
But what if you could do it with no wires at all? In the current vision of gamers…that ‘wow’ would be the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail according to the Reggielution.

We’re not at a point where multiple players can battle over realistic distances wirelessly.

I know Reggie doesn't think much of N-Gage, but that doesn't mean that you can pretend that N-Gage Arena doesn't already exist.

as we know, we’re still some time away from actually having wireless head-to-head play in any contemporary game sense.

Poor N-Gage, it's like Rodney Dangerfield.

 

[xsarien]

Okay, people. I went through this entire magilla of a speech and cleaned it up (for real). I corrected some transcription errors, placed a few commas and such where they belonged, capitalized proper names, and incorporated this new fangled thing that the Chicago Manual of Style coyly refers to as a "paragraph." Just between you and me, I think it may catch on.

Anyway, so this thing isn't giving me a headache anymore, and I can only assume the same for others out there who like me, are grammar Nazis of the highest order.

"Hello, my name is Reggie, and I’m addicted to my Blackberry. In fact, to me, it’s a “Crackberry.”

(Holds up Blackberry…)

Since I was given my first taste of the Blackberry, I haven’t been able to put it down. Sure, the constant email connection is a rush, but I also have to admit, when I first got it, i just loved the attention it generated. every time i pulled it out and explained what I was doing, people would say, “wow!” Now, I’m no techie poseur, but that reaction made me kind of feel like I belonged; for the moment, I was cool.

Then, not long ago, I was sitting in a meeting where everyone had their cell phones in front of them on the table, like cowboys displaying their pistols at a poker game. I thought that made me at least equally cool as everyone else until the guy who runs our European operation confessed that while we were discussing business…he was using his phone as a modem to connect his PDA online. While we all talked, assuming he was taking notes, he was simultaneously surfing the net. This time, it was my turn to say, “wow!”

And the experts say we’re on the cusp of seeing both those devices—the phone and the browser—being incorporated into one wireless package simple enough and affordable enough for the mass market. To that…again I say “wow!”

These moments matter to me, because like everyone else in our business, I live and die by the ability to generate that same reaction. We’re all looking for a way to make them say, “wow!”

Today I’d like to share a few thoughts on how Nintendo approaches that challenge…how our take might differ from those of our competitors…and finally, how this all applies to the upcoming introduction of two new handheld gaming devices: the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP.

Let me begin by returning to the Blackberry example. This is a wonderful device, but it did not invent email. What it did was to give me a new way to connect to my email. In the same sense, Apple’s iPod invented neither music nor even portable music play.

But it did revolutionize access because of how much music it transports, and because Apple figured out how to un-tie the legal knot between rights owners and music lovers. These two devices—the blackberry and the iPod—deserve their success and their hip status because their developers were both innovative and patient.

Despite critical acclaim from the start, the iPod spent a year and a half in sales obscurity before it began to take off, and few people realize that the Blackberry line is already five years old. Well, they did succeed, but success inevitably breeds competition. As hot and dominant as these products are right now, there is no guarantee that they will stay that way. No more than Wang’s word processing program; or Texas Instrument’s portable calculator; or Netscape’s browser.

What is rare in the technology world is a product line than can maintain its dominance. If you do that for five years, it’s called amazing; if you succeed for a decade, it’s called unprecedented; but if you do it for 15 years, you can only call it one thing: Game Boy.

I say that not just because it makes me feel good, but also to draw a distinction. Game Boy has not succeeded because no one else cared about our multi-billion dollar global market. Not because people thought they couldn’t chip off a decent piece of our effective 100% market share over the years, we count nine serious contenders to our portable game line. None succeeded. They didn’t fail because they were undercapitalized, or unsophisticated or backed by unintelligent people. They were all playing for keeps. But one difference between Game Boy and those contenders was a differing perspective on what business we were in. Most of them saw themselves in the technology business, and competed accordingly.

We do not for a minute argue that Sega’s Game Gear in the 90’s wasn’t technically superior to our Game Boy, after all, it featured a color screen. Back then, Game Boy’s screen was color, too (as long as you didn’t want more than one color.) Recently Nokia married a game machine with a cell phone and other devices, clearly something Game Boy did not. But as yet, N-Gage has not made a ripple in the market.

In the near future, Sony’s Game Boy rival will also come to market with a better spec sheet, but the question of better market performance remains, at best, unproven. The distinction is this: while we’ve steadily improved the technology of Game Boy, Nintendo has never considered itself in the technology business. We are in the entertainment business.

The difference is telling, and I can use the recent history of Sony to illustrate the point. Over the last year or so they introduced two very different kinds of video game products. The first was the PSX in Japan, likely the most advanced game-based device ever devised. It promised video game play with a recordable DVD, a TV tuner, built-in Ethernet capability and a 120 gig hard drive. Believe me, the techies said, ‘wow!’ The second was a simple camera attachment for the Playstation called the Eyetoy, technology at least one serious reviewer unkindly referred to as ‘primitive’. Yet, the Eye Toy is a ‘wow’ product, and is having infinitely larger market impact because it’s far more entertaining.

What this again underscores for us at Nintendo is the eternal distinction between high performance and high entertainment. Technology should and will continue to improve over time. But alone, it’s no guarantee of success, whether your business is games or music players or wireless email.

Now, as I said, technology should and will continue to improve. Historically, the most notable technical advances in our business have come from on-screen graphics. What Donkey Kong Country did for 16 bit; what Super Mario 64 did to invent 3D graphics; what Madden football is doing right now blurring the distinction between video game and real game, all those things produced millions of ‘wows!” In fact, when asked to identify the most important advance in game play over the last 10 years, 90% of both PC and console players said graphics.

But in terms of onscreen display, consider where we now stand. In a business where artists and game designers were always forced to compromise, how many pixels to do this? How much shading can i afford for that? The compromises are all but gone. If you can see it or imagine it, you can probably put it on screen in convincing fashion. From this point forward, graphical advances may be far more theoretical than observable. Just like a consumer hooking up a progressive-scan DVD player to a non-progressive scan TV, better technology may be there, but you can’t see it.

And this isn’t lost on the players. Asked what they expect the most important advances of the next ten years to be, virtually none said graphics. But this maxing out of screen display doesn’t mean better technology doesn’t matter or won’t come into play. It will just evolve in a couple other important areas.

The first is interface, where consistent evolution has already occurred over the years but with substantially less fanfare than on screen imagery. In short, interface is how a player connects with his game. How can we make that better, more entertaining? Traditionally, this comes first from the controller. Nintendo is justifiably proud, i think, of the advances we’ve introduced here. The original cross pad; the ‘a’ and ‘b’ buttons; even the inclusion of a joystick right in the middle of a controller were all innovations available on the original NES home system two decades ago. So was the step-activated ‘Power Pad,’ a precursor to recent dance game peripherals.

Seven years ago we brought the rumble pak to market to add some buzz to the controller interface, and two years ago we were credited with finally giving the industry a stable and reliable wireless controller with our Wavebird. No more wires to trip over? Everyone said ‘wow’ to that! And by the way, we’re not stopping. You’ll soon see a brand new kind of party game operated remotely: by bongo drums.

(Roll DK video from E3 sound up)

We believe these kind of advances—improving the way a player connects to his game—are at least as vital as enhanced on screen graphics because they make games play better, not just look better. And as I’ll explain in a minute, we think the new Nintendo DS amply expands on our legacy of interface innovation.

The other area where the industry will continue to see enhanced technical improvement can be roughly defined as interaction. In other words, not how a player connects to his game, but how players connect to each other. One of the signature breakthrough games of the last decade was Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64; it sold more than five million copies in America alone. For a time, its hold on late teens and early 20-somethings was so hypnotic that we received countless complaints from young women that their boyfriends and husbands were paying much less attention to them and much more to beating their buddies on four player Goldeneye. The James Bond license and excellent game design certainly didn’t hurt, but the key to success was Nintendo’s decision to put four controller ports right on the N64 console. That made four-player competition instantly availabe to all older Goldeneye gamers, just as it did for players of all ages with Mario Kart a short while later.

An equally interesting connection story is playing itself out right now with the advance of online gaming. its adherents are simply expanding the same dynamic that exploded with Goldeneye to unseen rivals in unseen locations. Nintendo has not been at the forefront of this push, I guess that’s putting it mildly; and the questions we and others have raised are well publicized:

• How much is online tied to broadband penetration?
• How much of an investment is needed to maintain and upgrade game worlds over time?
• And in the end, how many people prefer playing against strangers rather than friends or the computer console itself?

Some of those answers are updated with an ESA study released in June. First, among those who do play games online, there is an overwhelming preference to do so on their PCs as opposed to their game consoles; second, despite some rosy predictions, growth in online gaming is relatively flat year-on-year; third, the favorite genres are puzzle, board and trivia games, not action fare; and fourth, less than 8 percent are paying to play online.

While there is nothing terribly Earthshaking in these numbers, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a future in head-to-head play over long distances. But what if you could do it with no wires at all? In the current vision of gamers, that ‘wow’ would be the Holy Grail. Right now, some of the most popular names in massive multiplayer online games are available for wireless devices, but as yet, only as single player adventures. We’re not at a point where multiple players can battle over realistic distances wirelessly. As an industry, we’ll see small steps toward full wireless competition. and as I’ll discuss in a minute, we think Nintendo DS represents one of those important first steps.

But before I do that, allow me one more important point concerning Nintendo’s long history of using game technology to wow gamers. In short, technical advances tend not to grow and thrive in a vacuum. in order to prosper, game technology is always nurtured and nourished by the same thing: the presence of a great game.

Why did the original Game Boy succeed? Its incredible surge of acceptance was probably due to one factor over all others: the packaged Tetris game that came with virtually every one of those millions of initial game boy purchases. If we didn’t have Tetris then, we might not have Game Boy as we know it now. In 1998 we gave Game Boy a color screen and immediately recognized record system sales, but to credit the new screen for its sales explosion is to ignore the real reason for the leap, the worldwide introduction of Pokemon. Remember, Game Gear boasted a color display in 1990, but it didn’t have Pokemon to build the ‘wow.’

To bring this necessary association of hardware and software full circle, let me point out that so far in 2004, once again Game Boy is the world’s best selling video game system. And helping fuel those sales is the reintroduction of great NES classic games including Super Mario Brothers and Zelda and Excitebike and Pac-Man. For us in this room, they’re nostalgic, but for many other younger players, they are brand new thrills like reading Harry Potter or watching Star Wars for the first time.

Now, as always, software sells hardware, no matter what the hardware technology. That’s why Nintendo and all subsequent competitors came to the same conclusion about how they advertise their products. Technology is always dressed in the appeal of the latest hot game. I want to stop briefly to show you how we’re again showcasing the Nintendo Gamecube with great games this fall, and how we even wrap the dominant Game Boy in entertainment imagery…

(Roll GCN and Freeboy spots sot…)

So now, let me shift focus to the future, specifically to the upcoming hardware launches for Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP in particular. What is it from these machines that’s going to make players say, ‘wow’? In order to answer that, we at Nintendo believe there are four key questions that have to be answered, no matter who’s manufacturing the technology.

The first is multifunctionality. I don’t know any fellow Blackberry owner who doesn’t love his machine for what it does, and most of them say they’d love it more if it could do more; specifically, if it could also replace their cell phone. Well, new Blackberries do combine wireless text and voice functions, but you don’t often see someone holding his Blackberry up to his ear and talking into it. I’m not smart enough to know exactly why, but you can bet there are a lot of interested people at Blackberry trying to find out the answer. And so are their rivals.

Sometimes technology just doesn’t belong together. You could manufacture a combined toaster and espresso machine, but I don’t know how many people would pay to have that in their kitchen. For Nintendo and Sony and every other player in the handheld wireless world, this issue is central: What technologies belong together, how do we make them work together, and what will people pay for it? The second issue is content transportability. For whatever reason, there is no history of hit software maintaining its popularity once it leaves its native technology. A few quick examples: I imagine there might be someone out there who once-upon-a-time after a few too many beers dropped a few too many quarters in Pac-Man and Pong machines in a local watering hole. But those same games never significantly drove sales of any home game system. Why does flight simulator seem to work on PC but have little or no value anywhere else? Tetris was a phenomenal success on Game Boy…but a lesser success elsewhere.

What this says to manufacturers of new game devices is that it’s terribly risky hoping that hits from any existing system will help establish a new one. Native technology seems to demand native content. That doesn’t mean the games can’t have familiar names, but that character or challenge has to be presented in a fresh and compelling way.

Third, there is the issue of the older demographic. Everyone understands that over the years, the largest demographic of Game Boy users has been younger players. Sony has been very gentlemanly in saying that they don’t intend to compete for that audience, that their sights are set on players from the older teen years and up. And in fact, we aim to have the DS markedly increase the average player age when compared to the traditional Game Boy. But the key question is this: what do those older players want from a portable game machine if, indeed, they want a portable game machine at all? We believe Sony is choosing to hedge its bets with the inclusion of video and music playback in the PSP, a ‘game’ machine, perhaps, for those who really aren’t that much into games. But to be clear, I’m not implying that that approach doesn’t make sense.

On the other hand, if we are talking about a hard core 20-something gamer, the question of consumer desire becomes more pertinent: just what, exactly, does that avid player want? The initial thought is pretty obvious—if they love Grand Theft Auto on their Playstations, they should love it just as much on the PSP, right? Well, leaving aside the issue of specific content not jumping platforms very well, game developers have to consider how these older consumers will play.

The vast majority of older hard-core players have made a leisure time commitment to gaming. Your mother may play solitaire or hearts for ten minutes at a time; your most passionate gaming buddies probably play for entire nights or weekends at a time, because that’s what they love. Now, consider those games they play to immersion: Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Madden, Zelda, and ask yourself this: are they away from home for sufficient blocks of uninterrupted free time to repeat that immersion on a handheld device? How many 20-year-olds really take regularly three-hour plane flights? Eleven-year-olds spend half-day car trips in the back seat playing Game Boy, 21-year-olds spend half-day car trips in the front seat, driving. Even if those blocks of time were available to them, how many older gamers wouldn’t really rather wait and play those games at home, lying on the couch, blasting away on their big screens?

The less obvious answer here—but perhaps the more accurate one—is that older gamers may well expect and accept a different kind of game experience on their portable. Probably games that offer limited but still exciting play sessions and ones that don’t pretend to match the environment of their high tech living room setups. We call this ‘inter’-tainment, action occupying short bursts of time between other activities, which leads to the final issue: the ‘wow’ factor itself.

If history is any teacher, no matter how the crowds at E3 reacted to the double screens of the DS or the design of the PSP, once they’ve had those devices at home for more than a day, the enduring thrills are going to come only from the games.

(pause)

With this preamble then, let me explain how Nintendo is approaching our future with DS. On the issue of multifunctionality, our intent is to market the DS clearly as a portable game-playing device, just as we have done with Game Boy. But there will be one important distinction this time, and that difference is the socialization factor. The DS will be equipped to wirelessly connect 16 players in close proximity to a single game. This, to us, marries the same excitement of competing side by side with your friends in Goldeneye—but expands it fourfold. It’s such a good idea, in fact, that even Sony has paid it the sincerest form of flattery.

The DS will also be equipped to allow long distance connections via wireless Internet browser, but as we know, we’re still some time away from actually having wireless head-to-head play in any contemporary game sense. So, our answer on multifunctionality is pretty simple: it’s designed to expand the sole function of playing games in compelling new ways.

On the issue of native content, many of you know we recently released the list of more than 60 Nintendo DS games in development from more than two-dozen companies in Japan, and today we’re issuing a companion list for games underway here in the western hemisphere. Among more than 75 games in total, there are familiar names: Final Fantasy and Madden and Castlevania and Harvest Moon, and familiar genres: sports and racing and role-playing and adventure.

But what isn’t represented in those lists are the novel ways in which those games will play on Nintendo DS. Fresh approaches owe to the way these games are reinvented by the technical innovations of DS. Because the interface is altered by the inclusion of two screens, one of them a touch screen, and wireless multiplayer, and the possibility of voice command, that means that you can literally experience these adventures like never before, no matter how long you’ve been playing games.

Developers feel like they’ve been given a new canvas to paint on. They’re jazzed. And if they’re saying ‘wow’ right now, gamers will be doing the same thing very soon. On the issue of older gamers, we’re aiming squarely at those who clearly put game play first, those who are most hungry for a new approach. The earliest adopters for DS will be those who are also the freest thinkers. The trendsetters. The same people, I guess you could say, who were first to snap up their Blackberries and iPods.

On the last issue—games—I’d like to give you a sneak preview of the great things that are already in store for our DS launch this year. But hey, I’ve got bills to pay too! Thus, I regret to inform you that you’re just going to have to wait a little longer for a full preview of DS software. But with more than 75 games in development worldwide, with brand new player interface and brand new player interaction, I can promise you you’ll see things you’ve never seen before.

A recent online poll by gamefaqs.com puts buying intent for Nintendo DS at twice that for our new rival. But like the upcoming election, it’s still too soon to make any firm predictions.

What I can tell you is this: For the next fifteen years, just like the last 15, handheld gaming will be known by one name: Nintendo, because Nintendo has always made handheld players say the same thing, ‘wow!’

Thanks so much for your attention.

 

[Brofist]

Reggie is Nintendo's damage control bot...does he really think that the PSP wont put a dent in Nintendo's market.. Sure maybe not at first, but it will...as well as the inevitable MS handheld.

 

[xsarien]

Reggie is Nintendo's damage control bot...does he really think that the PSP wont put a dent in Nintendo's market.. Sure maybe not at first, but it will...as well as the inevitable MS handheld.

You see, it usually works like this: You read, then reply.

What is rare in the technology world is a product line than can maintain its dominance. If you do that for five years, it’s called amazing; if you succeed for a decade, it’s called unprecedented; but if you do it for 15 years, you can only call it one thing: Game Boy.

I say that not just because it makes me feel good, but also to draw a distinction. Game Boy has not succeeded because no one else cared about our multi-billion dollar global market. Not because people thought they couldn’t chip off a decent piece of our effective 100% market share over the years, we count nine serious contenders to our portable game line. None succeeded. They didn’t fail because they were undercapitalized, or unsophisticated or backed by unintelligent people. They were all playing for keeps. But one difference between Game Boy and those contenders was a differing perspective on what business we were in. Most of them saw themselves in the technology business, and competed accordingly.

We do not for a minute argue that Sega’s Game Gear in the 90’s wasn’t technically superior to our Game Boy, after all, it featured a color screen. Back then, Game Boy’s screen was color, too (as long as you didn’t want more than one color.) Recently Nokia married a game machine with a cell phone and other devices, clearly something Game Boy did not. But as yet, N-Gage has not made a ripple in the market.

In the near future, Sony’s Game Boy rival will also come to market with a better spec sheet, but the question of better market performance remains, at best, unproven. The distinction is this: while we’ve steadily improved the technology of Game Boy, Nintendo has never considered itself in the technology business. We are in the entertainment business.

It's their market to lose to Sony, and if the track record is any indication, the Vegas odds are in Nintendo's favor.

 

[explodet]

Thus, I regret to inform you that you’re just going to have to wait a little longer for a full preview of DS software.

Well, screw you too, Reggie!

 

[hirokazu]

i dunno, but then blackberry things look pretty darn fat and useless to me... that and i've never heard of them till now.

 

[Brofist]

You see, it usually works like this: You read, then reply.



It's their market to lose to Sony, and if the track record is any indication, the Vegas odds are in Nintendo's favor.

I didn't say they would lose the market, they will be leading in handheld sales for a while I'm sure...mainly because of the GBA not the DS

If you think for a sec that the PSP will go the way of the Game Gear, Turbo Express, Nomad, etc..etc.. you will be in for a surprise.

 

[AniHawk]

I didn't say they would lose the market, they will be leading in handheld sales for a while I'm sure...mainly because of the GBA not the DS

If you think for a sec that the PSP will go the way of the Game Gear, Turbo Express, Nomad, etc..etc.. you will be in for a surprise.

You're right. Prolly more like N-Gage.

 

[Brofist]

haha..pretty good. you got that "Reggie" brand of humor going I can see

 

[AniHawk]

...

 

[Brofist]

something too hard to understand there for ya?

 

[Vargas]

Stop with the humor and get back to arguing dammit!

 

[AniHawk]

something too hard to understand there for ya?

No, I had written something else, and decided against it. So since I can't delete, I put an elipses there.

 

[Brofist]

hehe anyway was just kidding...I'm not to be taken seriously..ever.

 

[Deg]

Reggie is great.

 

[Brofist]

I need a Reggie hater tag Make it so..

 

[AniHawk]

I need a Reggie hater tag Make it so..

As a mod, I refuse your request.

 

[Deg]

I need a Reggie hater tag Make it so..

Insert= Reggie luver

 

[evil ways]

Shit, I thought this retarded Reggie fad was over, but it's like a bad fart on a sealed room.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Reggie is my HERO

This guy is what Nintendo needed!

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Bah, just like I've been ranting at this jackass in these threads before...they've continually backed away from offering any sort of expansive or interesting online multiplayer with this device. At least they pulled out the liar to put the brakes on the speculation. F the DS.

 

[Mr_Furious]

Can someone post a Cliff's Notes version of Reggie's long winded speech? I started snoozing around paragraph 4. Damn you ADD!

 

[Vieo]

The fact of the matter is, I don't see how anyone can give DS a thumbsdown and still call themselves a gamer. If you're not a handheld gamer, fine. If you don't think any of the titles announced for DS interest you thus far, fine. But as it is, DS is might make good on it's claims and deliver a new fun and exciting way to experience games; and if that happens, everyone is a winner.

BTW, can we get some pictures of Reggie? =)

 

[Mike]

Okay, people. I went through this entire magilla of a speech and cleaned it up (for real).

You're a better man than I.

*salutes xsarien*

 

[Greekboy]

I had to LMAO @ this:

a recent online poll by gamefaqs-dot-com puts buying intent for nintendo d-s at twice that for the our new rival…but like the upcoming election, it’s still too soon to make any firm predictions.

We all know that gamefaqs speaks for everybody...lol.

 

[Drinky Crow]

I love handhelds, I'm twice the gamer you are, and I think the DS is a pile.

 

[TekunoRobby]

We all know that gamefaqs speaks for everybody...lol.

Seriously, I second that.

Well atleast we know what the 20,000 SquareEnix fans think.

EDIT: I've been playing handhelds for 35+ years and the DS is the biggest joke in the history of handheld gaming. It's such a huge joke that it's even called the DS, see Nintendo is even in on it.

 

[AniHawk]

I love handhelds, I'm twice the gamer you are, and I think the DS is a pile.

Oh yeah? Well I'm twice the gamer you are, and I think the DS is a pile.

 

[Drinky Crow]

You, sir, are a SERIOUS GAMER.

 

[AniHawk]

You, sir, are a SERIOUS GAMER.

I NO!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Seriously, that first bit made my day. I mean, it's common enough to find people making joking comments about things being so great they deserve to be equated with crack... but when's the last time this came from a spokesman for a game console provider?

 

[nubbe]

Reggie knows wow

 

[GDGF]

Seriously, Reggie is brilliant. He's the right man at the right time, and he recognizes the fact. Reggie is the new pimp hand.

 

[evilromero]

So we can conclude from Reggie

Older players play shorter periods of time
=> experience has to be more intensive and impressive for the short time

PSP battery life will not allow epic games for sessions of several hours
=> games of shorter sessions are optimal for PSP

With this logic, PSP would be more likely to get the sort of experiences Reggie suggest are best for the market?

He is saying the PSP will be getting games aligned more with console gaming, specifically ports of the PS2 titles or just ports of upcoming console titles. This doesn't lend itself well to portable gaming (according to him) and will not translate well to this market.

 

[gofreak]

He hit a good few nails on the head, imo. I am was especially pleased that he first discussed interface in relation to future advances..I'm glad they're not back-pedalling on that, so hopefully they're building toward something great for Revolution.

So, are we still due new game unveilings/media sometime in the next day or so?

 

[----]

So basically this was a very long winded speech just to tell us that DS won't be able to play online games over WiFi like PSP, but will have a web browser instead???

And with that Microsoft enters the portable game market. Seriously MS is gonna be pissed if DS is as successful as Gameboy and it's got an internet browser that is not IE.

If PSP is capable of online play that is a huge advantage over DS. I don't even see the point of DS having WiFi if you can't play games online. And what are the chances that anyone especially an adult will ever run into 15 other people with a DS playing the same exact game as they are?

The DS will also be equipped to allow long distance connections via wireless Internet browser, but as we know, we’re still some time away from actually having wireless head-to-head play in any contemporary game sense. So, our answer on multifunctionality is pretty simple: it’s designed to expand the sole function of playing games in compelling new ways.

What??!? How does an internet browser's multifunctionality add to the sole function of playing games?!? Someone please explain this to me because Reggie is making about as much sense to me as the Iraqi information minister.

No, you know what would really add multifunctionality for the sole function of playing games? The thing you just said the DS won't have, the ability to play games online.

A recent online poll by gamefaqs.com puts buying intent for Nintendo DS at twice that for our new rival.

That's a real "wow!" statement right there. Nintendo is relying on internet polls. If you went by Gamefaqs.com polls then the Gamecube would have outsold the Xbox ten times over.


The explanation Reggie gave for why 20-something and older gamers will not play portable games sounded like the type of explanation Nintendo would have given during the early to mid-90s to explain why 20-something and older gamers would never play home console video games. I think what Nintendo doesn't get is that people will play PSP in their living rooms, in their dorm rooms, and generally gravitate towards WiFi enabled areas to play PSP games online.

older gamers may well expect and accept a different kind of game experience on their portable. Probably games that offer limited but still exciting play sessions and ones that don’t pretend to match the environment of their high tech living room setups. We call this ‘inter’-tainment, action occupying short bursts of time between other activities,

I think people are going to want to play the same exact type of games on a handheld that they want to play at home. Considering most games like RPGs and Adventures let you save your progress at any point I don't think it will be a problem. People are not going to give up Final Fantasy for Wario Ware, that's just not a realistic assessment of what gamers primarily want to play.

 

[gofreak]

I think people are going to want to play the same exact type of games on a handheld that they want to play at home. Considering most games like RPGs and Adventures let you save your progress at any point I don't think it will be a problem. People are not going to give up Final Fantasy for Wario Ware, that's just not a realistic assessment of what gamers primarily want to play.

Whatever about your other points, I don't agree with this one at all. I've thought about this myself a lot, and I'm glad Reggie brought it up. I don' t want to play certain types of game on a portable..certain games require your total concentration and immersion, something that is difficult on the go. You can't really "get into" a game if you're on the move in the same way as you can at home. Portable games should definitely offer quick gratification, although that can be in the context of big "epic" game imo. You should just be able to play for 5 minutes, or less even, and feel entertained. That's hard in a lot of home console games. Wario Ware is an example of the perfect handheld game from this perspective, imo.

I don't know about you, but I don't really play my GBA at home a whole lot ::shrugs::. I do a little, but most of my GBA playtime is on the train. If you're going to play your handhelds at home, you'd really want to be able to output the videosignal to a TV or such (especially if you've got graphics of PSP-quality), but none of the handhelds do. Which is a pity, because if the PSP did give you the option to play on your TV, you could almost get rid of your PS2 (once the catalog caught up, of course ). But for now, and for me, I think the game mechanic on handhelds should be clearly different than on a home system.

Looking at my own patterns of play on a GBA, it usually revolves around very short bursts that are interrupted temporarily or more permanently (i.e. if I stop to answer my phone, or stop to get out of someones way on the train (temporary) versus stopping when I get to my station (more permanent)). I think most people playing in such situations would see a similar pattern. Games for handhelds should be designed around such patterns imo. Handhelds are not designed to be played sitting in the comfort of your own home.

 

[Acosta]

In the near future, Sony’s Game Boy rival will also come to market with a better spec sheet, but the question of better market performance remains, at best, unproven. The distinction is this: while we’ve steadily improved the technology of Game Boy, Nintendo has never considered itself in the technology business. We are in the entertainment business.

I specially like this quote, it´s classic Nintendo philosohpy in a very clear and neat way of exposing it.

I like this guy, knows what he says (through you may be agree or not with some ideas of him).

But to be clear, I’m not implying that that approach doesn’t make sense.

And I really appreciate he doen´t want some idiotics piss compaign Yamauchi style.

 

[----]

I don't know about you, but I don't really play my GBA at home a whole lot ::shrugs::. I do a little, but most of my GBA playtime is on the train. If you're going to play your handhelds at home, you'd really want to be able to output the videosignal to a TV or such (especially if you've got graphics of PSP-quality), but none of the handhelds do. Which is a pity, because if the PSP did give you the option to play on your TV, you could almost get rid of your PS2 (once the catalog caught up, of course ). But for now, and for me, I think the game mechanic on handhelds should be clearly different than on a home system.

Actually at home was the only place I ever did play my GBA. A consistent bright light source was the only way I could see, but that wasn't the only reason. Sony said at E3 the exact opposite, that portable gamers primarily played games at home. If you're going to be playing games online on WiFi then you're going to need to not be mobile.

I don't think the market that Sony is looking to create would be interested in small arcade or puzzle games. Arcade gameplay is seen as having little value over epic adventure/RPG games. Especially since Nintendo and Sony are looking to charge $50 a game for PSP and DS I don't think people will be willing to accept arcadey or puzzle experiences at that price. I think gamers are gamers and will want to play the same types of games that they already like to play. The game mechanics for handheld games shouldn't be different and that's why the games coming out for PSP, DS, and GBA are primarily just cousins of existing home console games. And for people constantly on the go there isn't any reason why you can't play an epic RPG, Action or Adventure game for 5-15 minute intervals and save your progress. I think the idea that the average handheld gamer will only play for 5 minutes at a time is a bad assessment to begin with though.

The quality of the PSP screen is better than any television I have in my home so I certainly would not want to tether it to my tv sets. 16:9, HD quality visuals, and built in WiFi online play, most people don't have this yet for their home console experience.

 

[gofreak]

If I wanted to play my GBA at home, I would have got a GBA Player.

If you're creating a handheld to be played at home...I don't know why you're creating a handheld. Focus on your home hardware.

Short-term gratification can be incorporated into more than just "arcadey and puzzle games". There are some rules that you just need to apply when dealing with a handheld game, imo. One, for example, would be that you shouldn't require the players sole attention. The player should be able to lookup, do something else briefly, and then come right back into the game. This would manifest itself by not forcing the player to remember a lot of information for long periods or force them to "pick up the threads" of the game in the same way that you have to in a lot of home games.

But who's to say that PSP game designers won't take these things into account? I'm not sure if Sony's philosophy significantly differs from Nintendo's in relation to this..not to mention third parties.

I do know, however, that if I played my handhelds at home the majority of the time, I would forever wish that I could be playing them with my home setup. I do have a good setup, so maybe that makes a difference. At least with GBA you can get a GBA player...with DS, I guess it'd be harder to translate the experience onto a TV. On the other hand, if PSP is designed to be played at home, as you claim, then it's quite simply silly to restrict play to the unit. There's nothing in terms of how games are played on a PSP that would prevent you from using a TV. However I am sure Sony is not intending the PSP will be played primarily at home. If they are, then that's just confusing, and I can't understand why they're making a handheld (particularly one who's play experience could be replicated perfectly in a home setup).

Question - if you play all your handheld games at home, will you be buying the PSP or PS2 version of GT4?