With all the buzz about DS-to-Wii connectivity, do you think Nintendo will provide some way for GBA-Gamecube connected titles such as Wind Waker and Pokemon Colosseum to be played with the DS and Wii as a combo? As it stands, I still have to hold on to my GBA to play Four Swords Adventures with friends; doing it on the cord-free Wii with my DS this fall would be spectacular. Is it possible?

Nope. It wouldn't work for the same reason you can't play multiplayer GBA games on the DS, even though the DS is backward compatible and has wireless connectivity between systems. By inserting a GameCube game into the Wii, you're telling the hardware to look for controllers connected to the GC controller ports. Therefore, you're going to need to hold onto to that Game Boy Advance and GC-GBA link cable so you can plug it in to the Wii and connect it to the GBA link port on the other end.

Hi PGC staff. I have a few nintendo related questions in which I am seeking to gain answers for. Firstly, I have noticed that Mr Kawhatevers brain training game for nintendo DS, requires the player to tilt the DS on its side for a few of the games- if thats what i should call them. Anyway, being left-handed, I naturally am not as strong in my right hand, and it appears that the vertically tilted Brain trainging challanges on the game are built for right handers. I am wondering if there is an option for lefties? If there isnt, I guess thats one game I wont be purchasing unless I find it in a bargain bin for a few shillings. Secondly, is there any chance of nintendo remaking Super Mario Land 1 and 2 into like Super Mario Advance 5/6, for GBA or NDS? These are capital games and are my personal favourite mario games of all time (probably because they were the first mario games i played), I would really love to play these games in colour and updated graphics, and Im sure theyd be an instant seller, to those who lived in the original Gameboy era, and to the younger generations who have yet to play such masterpieces.

Finally, for my concluding question, would rareware ever create the DK lands for GBA as they did for the DK Countrys? I know DKL 2 and 3 are quite similar to their Country counter-parts, but DKL 1 is entirely different. Just put a word into rareware game studios that there are fans who would like to see the game updated and on gba.

Well thanks mailbag, and untill next time.

Yours Sincerly, PGC fan

Nintendo figured that there are a lot of lefties out there. In Brain Age, they include the option to flip the screen around if you prefer to write with your left hand, so don't worry about that. Many DS stylus games offer this option, actually.

The Super Mario Land games were favorites of many people, yours truly included. I think remakes are a possibility, but I think they won't happen. The Super Mario Advance games were all console games first, which were ported to the GBA. The SML games can be played on the GBA (provided you can find a copy to do so) with no porting required. I would rule out a handheld remake for that reason. However, I think there's a chance that the black-and-white Game Boy library could show up on Virtual Console. If that happens, Super Mario Land and its sequel will surely be among the choices. (Also, bunny-rabbit Mario rocks.)

For the reasons mentioned for Mario Land, don't expect to see the Game Boy Donkey Kong games again unless you track down the originals. I'm sure Rare is much more busy with DS and Xbox 360 development to go back to the GBA at this point, anyway.

Hi,

I noticed you questioned what would happen when you press the eject button, on the Wii, whether it would reset the system or simply act like popping the lid on the GC. Obviously, if it reset the system then the Freeloader would be useless; however, you failed to apply correct logic to this situation, I'm afraid. The simple fact is, there are several GC games on multiple discs, Resident Evil 4 being the prime example, so for them to work on the Wii it has to recognise when the game tells you to open the disc cover. As long as the code in the Freeloader replicates that system, then there should be no reason why you cannot eject the Freeloader disc and then insert a disc from another region.

What is more likely, however, is that the Wii could contain the ability to recognise the Freeloader disc and refuse to run it; alternatively, Nintendo will change the routines that check for region coding, thus making the Freeloader's bypass of existing region checking useless. It's hard to gauge Nintendo's opinion of the Freeloader, I'm sure they were unhappy about the minor loss of control over territory lockouts, but at the same time it probably helped avoid encouraging piracy on the Gamecube.

Yours

Adam Gurney

I should have known about those two-disc GameCube games, having gone through a pair of them myself. (RE4 and the ridiculously long and awesome Tales of Symphonia, for the curious.) My bad on that one. So yeah, the Wii will probably handle GameCube disc changing gracefully, Freeloader included.

I doubt the Wii can lock out GameCube boot discs, though. The GC is supposed to ignore anything that isn't a real GC game, yet somehow Datel got a non-standard disc to boot on the system. Even if changes are made for GC backwards compatibility on Wii, the company will figure out some way around it and continue to straddle the line of legality. I would think Nintendo doesn't mind too much of the Freeloader, because if someone runs into a problem using it they can just say the user voided their warranty by using a non-licensed peripheral. It'll probably work on the new hardware, but if it does something unexpected and wrecks a system, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

hi I was wandering are we every going to here anything about the other hardware functions of the nintendo wii besides what we already know. Like for example we know that the wii will have backwards compatiability. but are there any other hidden fuctions that the wii can do like play Music CD or ever burned music CD's that would be awesome. Thanks Kyle

I seriously doubt Wii will play music CDs, and am beyond certain it will spit out anything on burned media, DVD-R movies included. If a game system can read recordable discs, it can play pirated copies of games. Nintendo isn't a fan of piracy, and takes every measure it can to prevent it.

Back to the original question, I think we've come to the point where Nintendo has told us about everything the Wii hardware is capable of in terms of features. What they still need to do is to better explain them. For instance, we know DVD movie playback is available with a dongle of some sort, but how exactly will that work? What's the price? Adding storage via USB is confirmed too, but how will users go about managing that?

If Nintendo has anymore hardware surprises in store for us, I'll be...uh, surprised. With three months to go (at most) until every last Wii detail is revealed for sure, who knows?

Hello,

I remember hearing about a year or two ago that Nintendo was interested in entering the animation business. Do they still plan on doing this or have they changed plans? They could definately make a lot of money so what's stopping them? I would love to see a full CG Zelda movie!

Thank You

(For those that have forgotten about Nintendo's animation plans, refresh your memories here and here.)

Nintendo did say that whatever kind of movie they were working on would be ready to go by 2006. We're halfway through this year, and Nintendo hasn't said a thing about it since those announcements in 2004. I'm sure the film is still in production, but how far along it is, or even what it's about, is unknown. I would think it isn't going to be based on any of Nintendo's super franchise characters, though, so no Zelda movie for you. Maybe we'll hear more about it toward the end of the year.

hi PGC.....I'm a constant viewer of your sight. I heard that Nintendo wants Lucas Arts to create a First- Person- Saber game, with of course light sabers. That'll be great, but you know what will be greater? A PODRACING GAME! The wii-mote could be used as the right lever and the nun-chuk as the left lever. Just like in the film you push both forward to boost and pull back to brake. To turn right pull the wii-mote back and the nun-chuk back for left. I love podracing!, so I ask you PGC do you think it is possible for my dream to come true? Is it possible for this game to be made?

Sincerely,

Wally wonder

Good idea, but the nunchaku controller doesn't work in quite the same way as the remote. The analog stick half only has tilt sensors and accelerometers, which aren't position-sensitive like the IR-assisted Wiimote. Only half of the steering would really be analog sensitive unless you used the analog stick on the 'chuck half. I suppose a pod racing game would work best with holding remote on its side, as in Excite Truck or Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.

Hey PGC...great site! I was thinking about how Sony is currently in a very similiar position to Nintendo before the House of Mario fell out of video game dominance and into second and then third place. I was wondering what you guys thought about this.

I mean, PS3 is selling for $600, and Sony Europe smugly said it would sell 5 million even if it had no games. I got the feeling that Sony didn't really feel like they needed to do anything impressive at the E3, but rather that they had everything 'in the bag.' Also the PS3 is completely staked on the success of Blu-Ray, which may or may not catch on with the public, and they're more interested in pushing the technology than selling systems. I even read an article today about how Sony isn't worried at all that they lost an exclusive GTA to Microsoft. Sony seems like they are number one and can use their clout to do whatever they want in the industry, similiar to Nintendo in the SNES days.

I think the PS3's price tag is the biggest turnoff, and I really see Nintendo's low price and innovative ideas potentially taking back the number one spot. Nintendo seems to be attracting the interest of lots of third-party companies with their fresh ideas, and their 'touch generations' line seems to be successful in its goal of attracting new gamers. So what do you all think?

-Stephen

I whole heartedly agree. In my opinion, Sony has bitten off more than they can chew with the PS3. They're banking the console's success almost completely on Blu-Ray winning the format wars against HD-DVD. If it can't, people are going to be buying a system that uses a proprietary format that only works on Sony machines, which is what the flop that is UMD is becoming on the PSP.

It's almost a catch-22. Sony wants to leverage the PlayStation brand name so people can buy a $500-600 Blu-Ray player that also plays PS3 games. It's going to turn out to be a very inexpensive Blu-Ray player, but as a game console it's horridly overpriced. As such, only the hardest of the hardcore gamer and the group that wants a cheap Blu-Ray player are going to get a PS3 initially, and not the mass-market consumer that relates to the PlayStation brand. However, Sony wants to get Blu-Ray into the hands of the mass-market consumer... how are they going to do that when you're asking them to pay $500 for a new game system? On top of that, they've got Microsoft to worry about, and it's looking as if PS3 games won't be that much different than Xbox 360 games.

Aside from the uncertainty of Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, Sony is being very arrogant and cocky about the PS3. It's alright to be confident about the chance of success for new hardware, but not for $600 hardware that uses a proprietary disc format that may not be the standard in two years. It reminds me a lot of the time leading up to the N64 launch, where everyone, Nintendo included, thought there would be no problem getting rid of the nuisance upstart that was the Sony PlayStation. Well, we all know how that turned out.

Nintendo has the best opportunity to recapture market share that any console manufacturer has ever had. It's going to launch at a dirt-cheap price and get a two or three year head-start on the general consumer market while Microsoft and Sony need to wait for that long to drop the prices of their systems to more reasonable levels. The majority of people buy game systems, when the price is $200 or less; the PS2 built its primary userbase while the console was that price or lower. I can't imagine the advantage Nintendo will have when they launch at the price in which the most consoles are sold.

Unless the Wii launch is a total disaster, Nintendo will have great success with the console. It's going to be hard to screw it up, though, with Zelda and Metroid for gamers like us, and WiiSports for your mom and dad. If they can market it properly and stay out of the PS3 hype, Nintendo could control its own destiny, a luxury Sony doesn't really have at this stage of the game.

That'll wrap up another PGC Mailbag, the only mail service that delivers on Sundays! Remember kiddies, I get all the email you send me, but I only answer the correspondence that's the best (and aren't repeats of questions already answered). Seriously, check all the back issues for the past few months before you send something my way. I don't like not answering everyone's queries, but sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles, you know? If you've got something on your mind, send a Q to the email at the bottom of the page, and don't forget to include your name/nickname and (optionally) where you're from so we can let everyone know what a cool question-asker you are. See y'all next week.