Double Agent

Well, let's see what's new in the world this week.

Gaming news continues to parade in at a brisk clip. My personal fave of the week were the movies of Detonator Gauntlet, which combines strategy/RPG gameplay with giant robots and a Working Designs translation. Should be nifty.

In the "you've got to be kidding me" department, rumors are rampant that Nintendo intends to have only three third-party developers on board for Project Dolphin. I'm assuming that this is erroneous. Nintendo can't be that stupid. I mean, sure, they've got strong first-party development teams, but any system with a list of developers that strong is going the way of the Jaguar and the TG-16 right quick, Mario or no Mario.

In other news, I've got a new Deep Thought up, from Agent-pal Clyde Hudman, regarding methods to get video gaming further into the mainstream. It's only half-done, but I'm posting it up to get the feedback that he's asking for, and it will be updated when he provides additional material.

Personally, I think Clyde's proposal is too farfetched to be practical. While a single-format gaming industry could indeed be profitable, it would represent a radical shift in the electronics industry as we know it. The odds of Sega, Nintendo, and Sony all swallowing their pride and developing for one machine are pretty slim, especially in the case of Sony, who are making their console money through hardware, not software. They'd never survive as a pure software development company, and would also be unable to exercise much of their hardware-development muscle. Of the three, Sega's probably the most likely to back down from the hardware market, but that's due to consistent, recent losses more than anything else.

Then there's the issue of developing a single console format that would satisfy all parties involves, and the difficulty of upgrades. One of the key factors in the ongoing success of the VHS, audio CD, and other mass-media, accepted standard items is that they are relatively static in terms of quality. A CD from 1986 is the same as a CD from 1999. The players are very different, but the medium itself remains the same. A console is a different story. Electronics items are constantly in a state of upgrade, trying to be at the cutting edge, and making sure that all game development companies are okay with the "new system" that would need to be developed and marketed every few years, to go with the latest technological innovations, would be a mess and a half.

I really don't think it's a plausible solution for the systems wars, in short. Still, it's an intriguing idea, and I'd be curious to hear about methods of implementation.

New frontiers

Greetings Double Agent,

I was wondering a couple of things about the new-gen systems.

1) I heard that Sega is in a huge debt, is that true? Disappointing sales of the DC in the US will probably collapse them, right?

Sega's still making a pretty healthy profit from licensing and production of arcade titles. I don't know for certain, they wouldn't exactly admit it if this were true, but I doubt they're in debt too deeply, at least in Japan. Sega of Europe is likewise still healthy, to my knowledge. They even hired some very nice PR guys not long ago. The total disaster area that is Sega of America is another story. A DC failure in the US wouldn't collapse Sega as a whole, not by a longshot, but it would certainly signal a scaling back of the Sega of America franchise. They're busted too many times for SoJ to keep giving the thumbs-up for a massive presence. The worldwide standing of the DC would decide things from there - a total rout for the Dreamcast means, in all likelihood, a greater emphasis on arcade and software development by Sega. Worldwide success, but trouble in the US would likely lead to the US branch getting more into software development.

2) Sony developed PSX2 using millions of dollars, probably billions, they have the money, but Nintendo.. does Nintendo have as much capital as Sony?

Nope. Sony is a ludicrously powerful and expansive corporation, and has cash reserves that could probably buy a small country. Note, however, that they're not going to plunk all their reserves into video gaming. Nintendo, meanwhile, has a pretty respectable pool of profit to draw from, in the six to eight billion dollar range, post-Pokemon, which they're perfectly willing to sink into gaming. Sony has more capital, but Nintendo will, when their back is to the wall, be willing and able to sink more into the video game business.

3) Does "Dolphin" have "Emotion Engine"?

Nope. The odds of a high-performance chip co-produced by Sony seeing use in a new Nintendo machine are roughly zero.

4) How the hell did Nintendo do it anyway? ^^;;

Thanks ;)

- da breeze

Do it? Become a major success? Become the company most associated with video games, from the perspective of the average Joe? Basically, Nintendo's success all stretches back to the formula for success they used for the NES, continued with the SNES and Gameboy, and didn't quite pull off with the N64 - affordable games, pitched to a wide target audience, with a huge breadth of software from an army of third party developers, with top-notch marketing and licensing. Above all, they got the best software in the hands of consumers.

DVD-RAM price updates

DA..

I had to jump into this..my uncle just bought one for 900 dollars...and while it is a pain in the ass with the blanks (One of these guys yesterday said they cost 100 bucks a piece...they don't..they cost right at 30 bucks...but hell 30 bucks for 5 gigs..heh you find me a HD cheaper then that :P ) And I'll tell ya one thing..if anybody has money to blow in that amount I suggest picking one up. The one my uncle has works a bit slower then my Cd-rw. But in exchange for the extra storage space it's worth it I think..I can't wait till later this year/next year when these things get affordable. :)

Robert


Nine hundred dollars? To blow? Heh. That'll be the day. In the event that I actually have a need for five gigs of portable HD space, though, I'll consider it. :)

Setting the record straight

This is an old quote from the former psxpower.com. I'm sick of peoplesaying that Nintendo "wanted Square, but they jumped ship" because it isentirely untrue.

Read it, and -then- say it again.

-Brad Williams

>From PSX Power

--

E3: Two Harrisons Collide

Nintendo and Sony fans are always squabbling about the merits of their respective systems. But it's not often you see senior Nintendo and Sony *execs* exchanging flames.

So here we were at a public discussion group just off the main drag of E3. George Harrison of Nintendo and Phil Harrison of Sony are part of the panel. Dismayingly, the talk turns to disks versus carts - a conversation which has kept Usenet and other forums alive with trite debate for months.

George contended that disks are a pain because of all that waiting around. Why choose a disk which offers delays, when you can have a cart which is immediate? But Phil was not about to let that slide. He played the Big Card. Final Fantasy VII.

Sony had evidently worked out that, given the extraordinary cost of cartridges and their storage space problems, it would have cost a Nintendo 64 owner hundreds of dollars to get Final Fantasy VII. Brilliantly or churlishly (depending on where you stand with this argument) George contended that he was happy no Nintendo owners had been afflicted with (and we paraphrase) such a slow-paced and tedious game.

It's good to see that Nintendo and Sony are willing and able to entertain us with such lively and colorful debate.

I remember reading about this article, back in the day. Funny how it re-emerges now. But yes, Square began development for Sony for a number of reasons, and Nintendo didn't exactly trip over themselves to keep them aboard. There was no Big Betrayal. Square just decided the CD medium was what they wanted for their new games. So they went.

Help?

i was just wondering if it's legal, technically, to have japanese gamesfor rent at a video store. the game in question is poket monster stadium2, for n64. given the fact that NO child under 8 has a chance of playingthe game successfully, and that parents will think that the game will bein english(and believe me i used to work there), i know it's not a goodidea. hell, i'm one of like 10 people in town that can understand enoughjapanese to play the game. if the above doesn't make any sense, pleaseedit as you see fit, as i'm hallucinating. . . again. in advance, thankyou.

juno reactor

JR here is also wondering who did the character designs for Resident Evil: Nemesis. I haven't the foggiest notion, and anyone who can help us both wins a gold star.

As for Japanese games for rent, it seems to me that it's legal. Granted, all my Japanese games have FOR SALE AND USE IN JAPAN ONLY written on the boxes, but hell, I bought most of those from US-based import companies. I bought my copy of Final Fantasy V from a local video store. I hope someone more familiar with US and Japanese trade laws can iron out what those disclaimers are for, but in the meantime, I don't think there's any legal problem with renting a Japanese game in the US. It's a little mean to not explicitly label the game as being in Japanese, but I don't think there's anything legally wrong here.

Death to Final Fantasy!

I think that we may need to quit on the Final Fantasy series.

Why? Well, at the rate that we're going, Final Fantasy will bore us to death in the next few installments. I mean, look at Final Fantasy VIII. Before it was even released there was talk of part IX. How are we supposed to enjoy and savor the current product for what it is and what it achieves when we are already wishing we had the next title down the line? It's like swallowing your food without chewing it, and trying to stuff more in at the same time. You know what happens eventually? You choke on that food (that was a pretty good metaphor, huh?).

You could easily say that "at least Square doesn't go the Capcom route," rehashing games miserably like they do, but I can't really praise them (Square) either. And I don't know if it bothers anyone else, but I kind of don't like the fact that every new Fantasy game is completely different--nothing connects them to past events, places, or people from other/past games, except cliches like Cid/Sid. It might succeed in keeping the series fresh, yeah, but who wouldn't like to know what happened to the true heroes from Final Fantasy, VI?

Please don't kill me, I'm only human.

HypeSpider.

I think the only thing Square has to gain from ending the Final Fantasy series is one of cutting down expectations. The longer the series last, the greater and more stringent the expectations the wants of the fans become, until it reaches the point that the new ones are written off by many gamers, without having bothered to play them. Some people want it to go back to sprites. Some people expect it to be in a Tolkienesque high fantasy setting. Some expect there to be links with previous games. And so forth.

Realistically, it's a ludicrous proposition to end the FF series - it's waaaay too much of a cash cow to cut down. But if Square took the Treasure route and only released standalone games, the expectations of what each game Is Supposed To Be would be cut down dramatically. Nobody was bitching that Xenogears wasn't supposed to have high technology in it. If the FF series was ended, we'd finally hear an end to high-handed edicts of what the series must be like. That'd be nice.

Marxism

Heyya Double A, I was just wondering, did you fabricate Katrina Marx? I could maybe see decendants of my main man Karl, but I could also see you simply being a liar. Anyway, if there really *IS* a fox out there directly decended from one of the greatest future thinkers of this century, you better tell us where to find a family photo of some kind.

(Please don't be kidding, please don't be kidding!!)

I swear I did not make this up. There was a photo of her on the cover of my local newspaper earlier this week, in fact. I'll find it this weekend, scan it, and Drew can post it up in my absence, so all of you can gaze at her glory.

Dragona's retort

I see that I've caused a bit of a stir with my untimely letter. Here is my reply....

To the Gentleman from the May 19th column:

I never claimed that a 400mhz chip ran TWICE as fast as a 200mhz. My point was merely that you couldn't take th average of the two chips. And as for Nintendo using a "32-bit" chip as you wrote, this isn't true. Nintendo's "Gekko" chip is a highly modified version of the IBM 64-bit Power PC chip. In fact the chip hasn't been fully designed as of yet, and has been said to be in all likely-hood 128 bits, if not higher.

Not that bittage really matters anymore. The DC for instance, is only 64-bit, although since it can do 128 bit calculations, it's considered so. It's mainly a marketing ploy that's being used to sell the system.

Hell, Nintendo could even pull using an inferior chip but adding so many features (such as NURB support,) that their games would look better than PS2, with less actual power. This scenario has already been put to rest though, thank the Dragon Gods.

As for hardship in development, you stated that PS2 development would be easy. Not as true as you reasoned. How will you track lighting, water, etc? You can't just get the machine to do that. The PS2 dev kits, (as for as I have been told) do NOT have these features included. Therefore programmer will have to create the Procedures beforehand, making it a pain for development, and longer devlopment times...

As for the whole problem of development time stemming from graphics, I tend to agree. As games become more graphics intensive, then either games will take longer to develop or important things (ie. storylines) will become neglected.

Ah you mentioned the demos... But that's exactly what they were... demos. Not an actual game. Demos don't take that long to create, and the companies that made these are working very closely with Sony on this project, so they were already familliar with the format that the PS2 is using... they helped design the damn thing. So yes, they would be able to make those in record time.

I also seem to recall that the demos were running off PSX archetecture, not the actual PS2 hardware. How close is this to the PS2 archetecture? Just a question.

As for me knowing about Nintendo's dev kits, I believe it was IGN 64 I read it from, if not opn2000.com. Nintendo has made it clear that they are making the Dolphin as easy as possible for 3rd party people to develop for.

And yes I know that PSX has many more games that the 64 but I meant in proportion to PSX, not literally.

I didn't want to quibble with you either, and you had great points as well, but I suppose I'm a debater at heart.

With respect,

Dragona Akehi.

(I'm female damn it!)

I felt it was only fair to give Dragona a chance to respond to criticism and rebuttal of her letter. And as for referring to you as a male, I can only say oops. Sorry.

Still, I find it sort of pointless to debate and discuss the pros and cons of what the PSX2 and Project Dolphin development kits do and don't contain. The amount of reliable information on each is pretty slim. A few weeks or months from now, when we begin to see actual game titles announced, and we hear discussion of their development tracks, we can certainly discuss all this, but 99% of the information about these development kits consists of stuff we heard somewhere. Trust not in hearsay.


Closing comments

More letters came in regarding Metal Marines, so I'll be taking some time out to hunt down this elusive title this weekend. I'll have a report by Monday, with a little luck.

A few people commented that they thought the banners were implemented very nicely, for which we thank them. Nash wrote in and blasted me for them going up, which sort of annoyed me, but hell, I explained why they're up yesterday. I wish we didn't have to put them up, but we really have to. Sorry they piss you off so much, Nash, but them's the breaks.

Eggman (remember him?) wrote in another gem of a letter that I'm forwarding to Drew, to see if he wants a crack at it. It's the same old bullshit rhetoric that he vomited out last time, all gamers are losers, I'm a hypocrite, yadda yadda yadda.

And lastly, everyone remember that Drew's on for the next two days, after a five days of updates week from me! Hooray! Back on track, bay-bee!

- Allan Milligan

 
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Step into the Wayback machine with Mister Peabody
Deep Thoughts
Clyde Hudman on mainstreaming gaming
Good morning, Drew. This is your mother. Tell me everything.