This is a response to the reader who asked if the USB WiFi adapter

would be Mac compatible, and if the DS/Revolution will be able to

connect 'through a mac'. I would be willing to guarantee that unless

it requires installing special software, there should be no problem

plugging it into a USB port on a Mac. As for his other question, the

DS and Revolution should have no trouble accessing a standard

wireless network, whether it has Macs, Linux, or Windows computers

running on it, because the wireless router does all of the

interpretation of WiFi signals. So even without details on the Rev,

if it's WiFi, then it should be able to connect to any 802.11b, and

maybe even any 802.11g, wireless network.

-- Kharon the Hunter

Thanks for the info.

Hello,

In your last mailbag (8/17/05) you wrote that "Nintendo has said that the media is capable of being produced in much larger capacities, up to 1GB." But are you sure you didn't mean 1Gb, as in 1 Gigabit? As there are only 8 bits in a byte, which would give a total capacity of ~ 128MB.

Thanks,

Steve

You're probably right. It's pretty hard to keep these sizes straight, because they are usually abbreviated, and the only difference in the abbreviations is whether the "b" is capitalized or not, and that capitalization rule is not even consistently followed among different publishers and media. Nintendo is pretty much the only hardware company that uses the large "bit" terms, and they do it precisely because it's easy to get them mixed up with the larger, more common sizes.

This is a response to Zer0's letter, the reader with the dying Cube.

Though it would be worth it to spend $99 on a brand new system that

will last you, as opposed to $50 on a repair of questionable

reliability, factor in the following:

- How long will you wait before buying a Revolution, since it plays

all Cube games? Will it matter if your repaired unit only lasts you

another year or two if you'll have a Rev by then, or do you want one

for the long haul?

- Do you own an HDTV or a VGA Box? The newer units *do not* come with

the component-in port. You'd have to get an old used unit to get that

port.

- Are you averse to eBay? You could sell your dying cube on eBay for a

serious discount, because there are actually some people out there who

buy broken or breaking systems (take a look at the auctions for "PS2 -

Not Working" and such), and if you buy a spanking new Cube and auction

off the packed-in Super Smash Bros (since you own it already). You

could potentially then make $40 bucks back, maybe even $50, thus

netting you a brand new Cube for the same $50 you would have paid to

repair it. It takes patience and a bit of work, of course.

I'd say it's always better to buy something brand new, but this late

in the game, you might benefit waiting for the backwards-compatible

Revolution, or a price drop, etc. and just pony up the lesser $50 for

the repair.

-a

--

:: Sir Chlupe ::

Those all seem like pretty good options for owners of broken GameCubes. Another route you could try is to buy a brand new laser rig for your GameCube and install it yourself (only if you have wiring experience!) or send it to an unofficial repair center. Off the top of my head, I know you can order a spare laser kit or general repair service from Ahead Games. (I have no affiliation with AG nor endorse their products or services. They may or may not suck, but it's out there if you want to give it a shot.)

Hey!

I have always been a Nintendo fan but I just cant help but wonder what would

happen if the Revolution flopped. I have heard rumors that this could be

Nintendo's last home console. I was wondering whether or not Nintendo could

survive if the Revolution flopped?

Also, I was wondering just how exactly delaying Twilight Princess' would

help its sales. I mean, by the time it comes out it will have a lot of

competition between the new Xbox's fresh titles, and even games like Final

Fantasy XII.

Thanks, keep up the great work!

It's hard to say what might happen to Nintendo if the Revolution is a quick failure. The company is in little jeopardy of going bankrupt, but the situation might force them to take a very hard look at their business model, yes. Nintendo has enough cash on hand and stability in the handheld market (despite serious new competition) to support the middling console division for a long time, but the board of directors might decide that more money could be made by releasing games for other systems or shifting manpower over to the new film division, for instance. I'm inclined to think that even if Revolution is a disaster, Nintendo will try at least one more time with a radically different console to see if the market will forgive and forget. As for the Zelda delay, I think it will hurt sales more than help them, but Nintendo may be serious in using quality as a primary motive for the delay, or they may have other reasons for the decision with increased quality as a believable public explanation.

I'm asking this out of curiosity. What do you think about the idea of Nintendo releasing Twilight Princess in the spring when it's finished and then have it bundled with the Revolution? After all, the Revolution is backward compatible with the Gamecube. Current Gamecube owners will definitely buy Twilight Princess but I just don't see how people would be willing to purchase a Gamecube to play it when the Revolution will be out a few months down the road.

Todd

Bundling a GameCube game with the new Revolution system might be too confusing for some consumers, and it would hurt sales of actual Revolution launch titles. But Nintendo could definitely put a sticker on the Zelda box noting that it plays just fine on Revolution...maybe even with some special Rev-only features unlocked. I agree that Nintendo would be making a mistake to convince people to buy a GameCube for the first time to play Zelda when the Revolution is coming out around the same time or not long afterwards. That's why I'm starting to think that Zelda will not be released alongside any kind of special gold GameCube.

In your last mailbag you mentioned that you expect

Nintendo to release a smaller and sleeker version of

the DS. I definitley agree that it needs a revision.

IN the Metroid Prime First Hunt demo the stylus is fun

to use but I just yearn to hold the unit with both

hands as the no-touchscreen controls let you do.

However the no-touchscreen controls are too herky

jerky.

Seems to there is a comprise there somewhere that can

be made down the road. They should really extend the

touchscreen to the right edge of the unit so your

thumb can be used more easily in fps games. OR better

yet, let that little chunk of real estate on the DS

that holds the 4 buttons fold down 90 degrees (the

pivot point is the edge of the touchscreen.) This

would let the base of your thumb sit right against the

touchscreen while playing FPS games and it would be so

much easier to control and so natural.

I like the stylus and see the touchscreen's potential,

but at the same time it's awkward to hold the unit

while using it.

What are your thoughts on things to fix with the next

DS?

Sincerely, trip1eX

This is probably how I would do it:

Think you can do better? Make your own and send it in (compress it to make a smaller file!), and I'll post one or two of the coolest ones. You can attach your drawing this time as long as it's a JPEG or something similarly compressed. Hint: I just did a screen capture (Ctrl + Print Screen) and pasted into Paint, then added the text and saved as a JPEG.

There has been a lot of talk about downloading 3rd party games (ala Perfect Dark). My question is in the same vein, but I'm wanting one game more than any other 3rd party game EVER RELEASED. Of course, I'm talking about the only good wrestling series ever made: WWF No Mercy and/or WWF Wrestlemainia 2000. If I had only 1 game that I could ever download and it was one of those two, I would still be happy with the D/l service.

Now, my question, how Possible (or Impossible) would that game be to produce? I know that there are wrestlers names and even licenced music (if I remember correctly) so even with the 3rd party support would it even be an option? I know I'm asking this with hope that you won't tell me what I think I already know, but I thought it was worth a shot.

Thanks

Chris White

I really doubt these licensed wrestling games would be possible to redistribute. The licensing process for wrestling games is very complex and fluid. Some wrestlers own their own characters, so they have to be licensed independently of the larger WWE (which now includes WCW) licensing process.

If you look in the PDF for Nintendo's 2001 finalcials (posted on

nintendo.com), you'll see this little nugget.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/rubyonix/misc/nintendo-2001-pdf.png

It's a list of what Nintendo owned (there's more, but I cut it down).

If you notice, there were at least five different companies called "Rare"

and Nintendo owned four of them outright (the fifth one being the

Stamper-owned second party).

The one on the left called "Rare Limited" was a bank account set up by

Nintendo to publish Rare games, the point being that if Rare games sold

well, they would have clear justification to ask for bigger advertising

budgets.

While some Rare games claim to have been "published by Rareware" (which is

the name of the well-known second party), the US Patent Office website

(which updated long ago) used to say that those games were owned by "Rare

Limited". They were basically published by Nintendo, wearing a "Rare" mask.

Also, Diddy Kong Racing was among the games that were "published by

Rareware".

It seems very likely that Nintendo had the Rare situation rigged so that

they were always in control. But Nintendo parted with Rare willingly, and on

good terms (which they still are, as evidenced by Rare's continued relations

with Nintendo), so Nintendo divided the properties in a way that was even

and fair, as much as it might pain some Nintendo loyalists to hear that

there may have been some shreds that Nintendo could've clung on to.

ruby_onix

Ah yes, this was the stuff I was thinking of when I said that Rare's publishing deals were more tied in with Nintendo than you might believe. I had forgotten the details and didn't bother looking for them after someone mentioned Nintendo's distribution rights. Well, clearly there was a complex business relationship between the two companies...but regardless of the situation during the N64 years, it seems that Nintendo sold back all the rights and properties to Rare, which then turned around and sold it all to Microsoft. So the end result is the same, that Perfect Dark is now a Microsoft property and won't be available for download on Revolution unless Microsoft allows it.

Dear bag,

It's me again, I just discovered a really intersting conversion of Metroid

Prime into 2D. You can view the project at http://www.mp2d.co.uk . They have

lots of backgrounds, music, sound effects, and other resources up. Also, the

frigate demo (the opening sequence of Metroid Prime) is going to be released

"soon" hopefully. Also, I was wondering; given that Nintendo recently shut

down a homebrew Super Smash Bros. DS game before it had even barely begun,

why haven't they targeted this? This project has been around for a while,

was featured in EGM, and has a pretty large community. Is it because these

guys make up their own resources? Or is it because Nintendo has no plans to

make a 2D version of Metroid Prime?

-Kramer

That's another very cool project. I really don't know why Nintendo attempts to shut down some of these projects and not others, but it may well be related to the use of existing game resources or that some homebrew projects are created for proprietary hardware such as the DS, while this Metroid Prime 2D project seems to be for PCs only with all original art, music, etc.

I have a comment/question about the new GB Micro. Do you think the

$99 pricetag for the miniscule yet outdated portable is too high? I

don't really understand Nintendo's goal for the Micro is. Should

they really be flooding the portable market with several out-dates

and flashy systems rather than concentrate on a new generation to

target the PSP. How well do you think the Micro will do?

Thanks!

BTW, I love the frequent mailbags here at Planet GameCube!

Baz

Yeah, I think it's too high. Definitely more than I as a gamer would pay, and I think probably more than the system's casual target audience will pay. Isn't the DS targeted towards older, hipper players than the GBA? Then aren't the DS and the Micro now competing for more or less the same people? And doesn't the DS play the same games as the Micro, plus a lot more, for thirty bucks extra? I guess the Micro's pricing asks, "How much would you pay for fashion?" Nintendo is betting that many people won't mind paying a premium for this old technology, as long as it looks cool and is tiny. I guess we'll see what happens soon enough, but I am skeptical of the system's chances at that price point.

First off, thanks for the reporting.

My questions involve the two new harvest moons (Poem of happiness and DS). Have you heard anything in the way of release dates and/or gameplay. I was real disappointed by A wonderful life but still got plenty of enjoyment out of it. Is poem of happiness going to be a more traditional harvest moon or is it going to continue with gameplay changes (i.e. calendar changes, time passing changes, landscaping of the town being different, etc.).

Thanks

Daniel Bloodworth says:

"They’ve both been out in Japan for a while, but since Natsume just released the girl’s versions of the last two games, I wouldn’t expect these to be out until next year sometime. http://www.hmotaku.net/ has some info on the latest GameCube game, and the Japanese site for the series is http://www.bokumono.com/series/"

You had that dude that was bitching about you not updating the mailbag

enough, but i just wanted to say thank you for the updates. And to say

that they are appreciated, whenever they come out. I fully understand

that they must take a ridiculous amount of work. I for one can barely

manage to update a blog once a week, so for you to put that much work

into a regular feature on a site for which you do not get paid for, i

must thank you.

sam

Hey, I appreciate that. Everyone has been really supportive of the mailbag. I even understand where that other guy is coming from...when you get used to reading something everyday, it's upsetting when it's gone for a few days. The mailbag is just one of many things I do at PGC, and I tend to do it last, at the very end of my day, so there are times when I just don't have the energy. I had a different excuse yesterday: my Internet access was down. Thankfully I've worked around that problem now.

I've still got some backlog to go through for the next bag, so don't pout if your letter wasn't printed...I may not have gotten to it yet. Or maybe I have, and it sucked. Try, try again!