yea my question is about mario games and why they take so long to make. seriously they take a long time to make and they say that they want it perfect or something like that. but, look at it from my point of view jak 1,2 and 3 and rachet & clank 1,2 and 3 were all rleased in three years but, they all have been rated 8 or better by overall game sites. why can't mario put games out like that? remember though super mario world yoshi's island came out just monthes before super mario 64.

Well, the Jak and Ratchet games are pretty much the same every year, just new levels and a few new features. Most Mario games are completely different from one another, and Nintendo seems intent on maintaining that tradition. The relative sales failure of Super Mario Sunshine must also being weighing heavily on Nintendo's progress with the next big Mario game; they'll want to be sure that what they create will appeal both to old and new fans. By the way, don't count out NEW Super Mario Bros. for DS; it's really cool and is definitely a brand new Mario platformer that plays sort of like Super Mario World but with a lot of new elements and co-op added.

Hey 'Bag,

Every time I watch the credits in a Nintendo game, I always see "Super Mario Club" in the credits, and I've always wondered what exactly that is. I assume it's some kind of refferal to the guys who supervise the games, or something like that, given as to how it's in every Nintendo game I've played. But I'm sure someone at PGC can prove me wrong.

Also, are you guys as miffed as I am about Pokemon XD? First of all, the name-the friggin' name-has an emoticon in it. Aside from that, it takes place in Orre, which means Shadow Pokemon, and it seems obvious to me, that with a franchise whose catchphrase is "Gotta' Catch Em' All", not letting the player catch em' all seems like a bad idea.

And should I be worried about Nintendo letting other companies develop their big franchises, (Minish Cap, SF: Assault)? Is it possible that in the future, I might see a Zelda made by EA? Is Nintendo short on funds to make the games, or are they short on staff? Or are they just trying to make friends?

-Yours truly,

Anonymous

The Super Mario Club is NCL's testing department. They make sure the games are fun and bug-free. As for XD, it's too bad that it's basically the same as Colosseum, but what do you expect from this series? NCL's strategy of farming out franchises has worked well in some cases and poorly in other cases. It depends on the developer and the franchise, of course. The motive seems to be a combination of wanting to build inter-company relationships (which so far has failed to produce many big games other than the ones Nintendo specifically funds) and to take a load off Nintendo's internal teams, giving them the freedom to work on new series. I think it's a viable strategy, but Nintendo has to have the final say on quality. Star Fox Assault should have never have seen a release in its current condition.

Hey Guys!

I really appreciate the daily mailbags, so Kudos to you! Keep it up guys!

My question is about the "Nintendo Home" towers that are supposed to

connect all the Revolutions locally. Any idea when these might start to go

up? If we live in a smaller town (Even if it is the LARGEST town in our

state) are we gonna' own the new Smash Bros game, and only be able to play

with others if they come to my house? Or should they be up before the

release?

-A guy from Alaska

If you're referring to the WiFi stations Nintendo is setting up around Japan, those are primarily intended for DS games, since the stations are being built in public places like convenience stores and train stations. There are currently no known plans for such an infrastructure outside of Japan, and I doubt one will ever be built in the U.S. Japan is a very compact nation, so it's more feasible to build such a network of wireless hotspots. For Revolution, you will need wireless access in your home, which means some kind of wireless router connected to your PC or directly to your broadband outlet. I fully expect Nintendo to sell a small, inexpensive wireless adaptor for this purpose, since they seem resolute in not including an ethernet jack on the Revolution.

What do you think the odds are that the logo for the Revolution is going to

change? It's really, really bad.

-Egore

The logo from this past E3 was designed to hammer home the backwards compatibility feature. I expect it to change before the system launches.

Dear Nintendo,

How easy it to unlock more dogs in Nintendogs? I ask because While Lab has

superior box art, Dachshund has superior starting dogs. Do I have to come

in contact with like 80 people with the game before I can unlock the other

dogs or something crazy like that? I would prefer getting the game with

better box art, and simply unlocking the superior starting roster of

Dachshund.

PS: Please make Kid Icarus 64

Hugs and kisses,

BucchabesuLover

I'm not Nintendo, but I can tell you that from what Nintendogs importers have told me, you do NOT have to connect with other Nintendogs players to unlock other breeds in your version. All the breeds eventually become available through normal playing, but you have to earn enough money to buy more dogs. However, you can apparently speed up the unlocking process by connecting to players with other versions of the game. Note that all of this is subject to change in the U.S. version, but it probably won't.

P.S. No prob! Check your mail next week.

Hey, great job on the continuing mailbags.

I was wondering about the current talent at Sega. Every now and then,

since the Sammy "takeover," I would hear that one great mind after

another cut their ties with Sega. As far as I know, Yuji Naka/Sonic

Team is still intact, but what about the others... Hitmaker? Smilebit?

Also, didn't most of the studios get restructured after the merger? I

was/am a huge Dreamcast supporter, but many of Sega's latest software

offerings have been questionable, regardless of the console. Does

this shift in quality come from talent leaving, management decisions,

or what? I'd like to hear your take on it.

Thanks for reading!

Sonic Team is quite large, so I doubt they're ever "intact" for very long, but Naka-san is at least still there. I'm not so sure about Hitmaker or Smilebit. The various Sega studios have merged and split and re-merged so many times that it's hard to keep track of them all, and I'm sure the frequent reorganizations have contributed to the impact on Sega games' overall quality.

Nice job with the mailbag, and some good questions from the readers.

Here's one that has bothered me for a while. I was under the impression that

each of the DS's screens got output from just one of it's processors at a

time, and that it could switch this in-game instantly. This made sense since

you never see 3D done on both screens at the same time. But then I saw

screens of Pac 'n Roll and it appears that there is 3D on both screens at

the same time. So my question is: Is the ARM9 capable of 3D output on both

screens simultaneously, or is it the ARM7 doing the (fairly detailed) 3D on

the touch screen in Pac 'n Roll?

-matt

The DS can produce 3D graphics on either or both screens simultaneously. Some developers have devoted one screen to 2D and the other to 3D in order to save processing power for more impressive 3D graphics, but that's their choice. The two processors in the DS work in tandem and are not necessarily tied to 2D, 3D, or either screen at any given time. My understanding is that each processor may be generating output on both screens at any given time. Of course, there's also a lot to running a game that has nothing to do with screen output. But the answer to your question is no, there isn't one chip per screen or one chip for 2D and one for 3D.

Hey PGC,

Like others have said, love the daily mailbag.

I'm probably one of the few people that don't care or

don't want to see the controller of the Rev right now.

People are just building up way too much hype on it so

that even if it was a friggin' Minority Report glove

set-up, people would still be dissapointed. I'd just

like to see some games for it or even artwork and when

games are ready to be shown in action, then show the

controller and how it makes a 'rev' in gameplay.

I just wish that I could play Zelda:TP right now.

Oh one question, do you think that Nintendo will offer

Japanese titles (Nintendo-published) that weren't

released in the US for fans (like those puzzle games I

keep hearing about)? But in English...

Thanks,

Dave

I was just thinking about that yesterday. I don't think Nintendo would want to devote localization resources to those old games, but maybe they could let groups of fans translate the games and then have someone in the Treehouse look over the translation and approve it so that everyone can enjoy games like Devil World.

Whew! Get yo' mind right by sending in your question or comment today!