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What does a "truly next-generation" Nintendo game look like?

S

Speevy

Banned
With all the talk of these PC-like games besting one another in various ways, the point is rarely argued that Nintendo possesses neither the desire nor the current lineup that proves the company even warrants placement in this argument.

Whether the Revolution is 2x, 5x, or 90x more powerful is irrelevant. What is Nintendo going to do? A Zelda game that looks technically on par with Gears of War? Or will Nintendo's next-generation controller transcend these silly arguments? I think it's likely that at least on the technical side, the current generation Xbox would accomodate Nintendo's technical ambition for next generation.

This isn't an insult to the company at all, as I think some of Nintendo's game this generation are among the finest in the industry. Pikmin 2, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Metroid Prime, and the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, to name a handful. However, with the companies' priorities on wireless play and this new download service, what can we realistically expect from the company's graphics?
 
Whether the Revolution is 2x, 5x, or 90x more powerful is irrelevant. What is Nintendo going to do? A Zelda game that looks technically on par with Gears of War? Or will Nintendo's next-generation controller transcend these silly arguments? I think it's likely that at least on the technical side, the current generation Xbox would accomodate Nintendo's technical ambition for next generation.
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Prediction: Despite having adequate hardware Nintendo will release games with old assets slightly updated, with very few games looking next-gen. Nintendo over time has become more cost concious, I don't see that changing.
 
smbfireballs.gif

With the Revolutionary Nintendo "direct" download system :lol
 
2 to 3 times better looking!

Granted you put a lot of thought into it, but speculation without specs is useless.
 
Pedigree Chum said:
iwata1db.jpg


:lol

I love your avatar. Where is it from BTW?
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Well, I took a quick screencap from the E3 Nintendo Conference... it was too good of avatar material to waste. :)
 
So we're already past speculating about the power of the Revolution to speculating about how Nintendo will or won't take advantage of the power of the Revolution? Isn't this awfully premature?

In any event, this thread will not end well at all.
 
Jared Goodwin said:
So we're already past speculating about the power of the Revolution to speculating about how Nintendo will or won't take advantage of the power of the Revolution? Isn't this awfully premature?

In any event, this thread will not end well at all.
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It's Speevy.
 
Jared Goodwin said:
So we're already past speculating about the power of the Revolution to speculating about how Nintendo will or won't take advantage of the power of the Revolution? Isn't this awfully premature?
.
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Looking at God of War, Ninja Gaiden, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess side-by-side, I'd say the thread is a generation in the making.
 
Hell, I don't think nintendo styled games could look much better after anti aliasing. That would practically perfect them.
 
Next mario should look like The Incredibles in style, or cel shaded with insane draw distance, 60 fps, Particle effects up tha wazoo.
 
Iamthegamer said:
Hell, I don't think nintendo styled games could look much better after anti aliasing. That would practically perfect them.
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Sure they can, some hi-rez tecturing, more dynamic lighting and and AA would do wonders.
 
It will have more graphical bells and whistles.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Or on GAF, get 2 pages of stupid answers.
 
Open Source said:
Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.
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The question was grounded in a genuine curiosity about Nintendo's ambition and ability.

Think about how many next-generation screenshot threads have been met with "Xbox 1.5" or "That's the current Xbox, right?"

If these technically ambitious developers are having trouble getting it right, what of a company which is currently behind the technology of this generation? And does it really matter? To me, good Nintendo games are fun no matter what. But you have to wonder where Nintendo is going from here.
 
Speevy said:
The question was grounded in a genuine curiosity about Nintendo's ambition and ability.

Think about how many next-generation screenshot threads have been met with "Xbox 1.5" or "That's the current Xbox, right?"

If these technically ambitious developers are having trouble getting it right, what of a company which is currently behind the technology of this generation? And does it really matter? To me, good Nintendo games are fun no matter what. But you have to wonder where Nintendo is going from here.
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Stop wondering and start waiting. We will know when they reveal something.
 
In all honesty I think that people will be satisfied with what Nintendo does. I expect that their games will be even more stylized in the next generation, which will make the slight technical issues a non-problem if they happen do exist. I actually expect their software to look really good early on since the API is similar to the GC's--they aren't starting from scratch.
 
Speevy said:
Whether the Revolution is 2x, 5x, or 90x more powerful is irrelevant. What is Nintendo going to do? A Zelda game that looks technically on par with Gears of War? Or will Nintendo's next-generation controller transcend these silly arguments? I think it's likely that at least on the technical side, the current generation Xbox would accomodate Nintendo's technical ambition for next generation.
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i think you're probably wrong in that regard. I imagine a next gen zelda game will probably fall somewhere between oblivion and Kameo, or depending on when it is released, maybe better looking than either... Mario won't be as drastic as others because the art style is almost maxed out already, but metroid and zelda should continue to be pretty amazing to look at . This is obviously pure speculation on my part, but i don't see any sign that they are going to stop improving graphicly... maybe they won't take their system specs as far as microsoft and sony, but i expect they will take them far enough to make impressive looking games.

Also i disagree with your Zelda, GOW, NG comparison... the new zelda, considering the scope and size of the world is just as impressive as those other titles... Some of the ground textures suffer in screen shots, but in motion, and when you take into account the massive size of the environments, i think it is technicly pretty damn impressive, and it looks great. Also, when simply talking about "pretty" games, wind waker is one of the best looking games this gen. the metroid games are also among the best looking current gen games... i see no reason to infer that nintendo's next gen games won't be graphicly impressive. they are one of the biggest (tbe biggest?) developers in the world, they have the money and resources and even though they don't talk up graphics, their games are generaly very good looking and certainly aren't "ugly" by todays standards. If their next gen games don't look much better than anything on the current xbox, then that would represent an even more drastic philosophy change than they've suggested.
 
i think nintendo is well aware how important is for them to produce games like zelda and metroid and have them be on the cutting edge graphically. however, as a developer and publisher, it wouldn't be smart for them to put huge budgets behind EVERY game they publish so that they all look that amazing.

in all honesty, most companies that are pushing the envelope put out a game every year to a year and half. how many titles does nintendo publish a year that they paid for the development of? it wouldn't be good business for them to try and have every one be a 'blockbuster'.

i expect to see a nice mix from nintendo next gen. there will be titles like metroid that are beautiful and then there will be games like mario and pikmin--games that aren't bad looking, but they won't win any awards.

either way, i'm looking forward to revolution. now give me another av-developed f-zero for launch!
 
I imagine cartoonie graphics(that doesn't require much polygons) and huge worlds..... kids don't require that 'real' look... look at morning day cartoons.... so a mario like in mario sunshine but with a huge world to explore....
 
For those that were unaware, it's long since been confirmed that the 2-3 times as powerful thing was completely false. It's still unknown how powerful the Revolution really is, but I bet it's at least as powerful as the XBox 360. Next-gen Pikmin will be amazing in its scope, I can pretty much guarantee that.
 
Krowley and ={<SMOKE>}= have said it well.

Nintendo has maxed out GC when they needed to, producing amazing results. they'll do the same with Revolution.
 
I think it's likely that at least on the technical side, the current generation Xbox would accomodate Nintendo's technical ambition for next generation.
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This is in all likelihood is the most ignorant & uninformed statement & that I've ever read regarding the Revolution's potential specs, as well as being disguised flamebait regardless of what you say. You obviously aren't well acquainted with the GC's architecture, any developer can benefit from enhanced power & functionality, your bias is so very transparent. A few internal titles that would benefit greatly from the technical jump:

1.) LOZ
2.) Pikmin
3.) Waverace
4.) F-Zero
5.) Mario
6.) Starfox
7.) Fire Emblem
8. Metroid Prime

To name but a few, not to mention how it would greatly benefit 3rd party software developers.
 
It's simple really, very clear. What you need in order to impress with graphics technically is a game with something that resembles real-life or strives for some sort of realism. I don't think Mario or Zelda will cut it, since they usually don't go for the realistic look. The Metroid Prime series on the other hand, would be perfect...and I'm expecting Metroid Prime 3 to look ace in that regard.
 
Iamthegamer said:
Hell, I don't think nintendo styled games could look much better after anti aliasing. That would practically perfect them.
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They looked MUCH better with componnent cables, and they looked FUCKING AWESOME with Pro.Scan..

REV will be more than enough for Nintendo games, and I'll have my PS3 for my graphics fix..

just imagine Zelda TP x3 or something... that would be awesome
 
Kiriku said:
It's simple really, very clear. What you need in order to impress with graphics technically is a game with something that resembles real-life or strives for some sort of realism.
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Or alternately, goes for the exact opposite. Okami isn't impressive, graphically?

okami063yt.jpg


Monsters, Inc. wasn't impressive on a technical level? IMO there's still a lot of things artists and programmers can do with cartoony or otherwise non-photorealistic settings. I think what's necessary (to "impress") is not striving for realism per-se, so much as trying to express the richness of the real world in other ways, in order to keep the un-real visually interesting and compelling.
 
I'm expecting flawless framerate, better textures, less load times, better collision detection and longer draw distances. Stuff like that. Nintendo cant compete with Sony on a technical level, so why should they really try?
 
Speevy said:
The question was grounded in a genuine curiosity about Nintendo's ambition and ability.

Think about how many next-generation screenshot threads have been met with "Xbox 1.5" or "That's the current Xbox, right?"

If these technically ambitious developers are having trouble getting it right, what of a company which is currently behind the technology of this generation? And does it really matter? To me, good Nintendo games are fun no matter what. But you have to wonder where Nintendo is going from here.
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If you are referring to PS2 which is the only company currently behind in that sense this generation. I think they'll be ok. specially seeing the last few blockbusters come out for it and actually pull off some great graphics for it being as you say behind. :)
 
Metroid Prime 2 is easily one of the best looking games of this gen. It doesn't have the technical prowess that say, Halo 2 does, but artistically and visually it looks amazing (and in my opinion, much, much better.)

Same with Pikmin 2; the game looks incredible. Waverace, a GCN launch game, has some of the best looking water this gen. And Wind Waker is my favourite looking game of all time.

Nintendo has some extremely talented artists, and with the power of the Revolution and the GCN-like development kits, I am expecting some seriously impressive looking games.

To say Nintendo doesn't care about graphics is just stupid.
 
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