What happened to 187 Ride Or Die for the game cube. its

coming out for the ps2 and xbox but at gamespot it says TBA for the

GameCube. Is it still coming out. cause if it isn't that would suck one less

game for the gamecube.

I haven't heard of a GC version, but Ubisoft does sometimes release GC versions later. They may be waiting to see how the game sells on PS2 and Xbox before making the decision. It's getting pretty bad reviews, though.

Hello PGC Bagman!

After reading what Peter Molyneux said about The Rev controller, I literally got goosebumps. Then, I went to my bookshelf, busted out my copy of Game Over, read the line he was referring to and got goosebumps again! The actual line reads; "Howard Lincoln was correct: It would be a fatal mistake to underestimate Nintendo".

Don't get me wrong as I'm definitely psyched for the Revolution, but isn't this Molyneux character the same guy who said Fable was going to be the "Greatest RPG of all time"?

Also, this may sound strange, but I'm sure there are people out there who agree: Part of the fun of old games for me is the actual boxes, instruction manuals, and various inserts that came with the original games. I have a huge collection of NES, SNES, etc. games and I enjoy physically having them. Of course I love playing them too! Do you think when you download classic games on the Revolution, there will be options in the menus to view the original box art, instructions, and promotional material? I think that would be great! How else would any of us know that Dinosaur Planet is a level in the original SNES Starfox? It's in the instructions!

Keep it up! Absolutely loving the mailbag!!!

Yes, Molyneux worked on Fable and also Black & White. I haven't played much of either, but he is certainly a creative guy who likes to make high-concept games. If he's impressed by the Revolution controller, I'll take that as a good sign.

I think Nintendo will probably include digital versions of the original manuals and box art for downloaded games on Revolution.

What's up playa, my question has to deal with The Path

of Neo. It is not listed as coming out on the

Gamecube, but Gamepro.com has screenshots -which they

continuously update- of PoN on the Gamecube. Could

this be accurate or is that website just being

irresponsible?

I'm pretty sure this game is only for PS2, Xbox, and PC.

In the new release thingy they don’t have a date for Play Yan for America. (They also don’t have Lost in Blue or New Mario) Can I assume Nintendo will NOT release this in the states.

I just don’t understand Nintendo sometimes, while I don’t expect PSP to beat DS sales this year (Micro might sell great too) I think its stupid not to release this in the USA. PSP has outsold DS hardware for the months its out and having this released would only hurt PSP sales and help DS sales. Why not release it? A $149.99 bundle with Play-Yan would be great. I just don’t understand why they are releasing a second “micro” version of this when its not needed in Japan but not even releasing the first version here in USA.

Do you think we are ever getting Play Yan in USA or will this be like Panasonic Q all over again with a great idea that would help Nintendo gain sales but never released outside of Japan. -adolph vega

I'm checking with Konami about Lost in Blue; Nintendo has nothing to do with that game. I'm not surprised at all that NEW Super Mario Bros. will be coming out sometime in 2006. As for the Play-Yan, it's odd that NOA has not made any announcements about it since E3, where they were showing it off plenty, especially in conjunction with the GB Micro. It's certainly possible that they're going to announce its release date and price within a few weeks or months, or they may have decided that the device is not viable in North America. I sure hope it is coming out here, though.

I'm as bummed as anyone about the Zelda delay, but let's all get back to concentrating on what we should be focused on, at least for a while: Mario Kart DS. I have a few questions related to the title:

1. Nintendo has said they'll be releasing a USB wifi broadaster of sorts that converts your hardline connection to DS-friendly WiFi. Is this slated to be released alongside Mario Kart DS? And if not, are there any other products on the market currently available that can produce the same results?

2. Rumors are flying about the multiplayer modes - will battle mode in fact be online or no?

3. Has any sort of online ranking system been discussed/announced and I have just missed the memo?

4. This is a fairly trivial question, but any confirmation of a mirror mode? 32 tracks plus 32 more mirrored online sounds too good to be true.

Keep up the good work, you've propelled your mailbag well above the rest out there!

Greg

1. The USB adapter will probably come out at the same time as Mario Kart, but we still don't know for sure. I've looked around online for similar products and haven't found anything that works in quite the same way, but perhaps someone reading this answer will be able to point us towards a good example.

2. At E3, the producer (Hideki Konno) told us that battle mode would probably be available online. But at the recent game show in Leipzig, it seems he changed his tune and now only races will be online.

3. I haven't heard about any kind of rankings for Mario Kart DS.

4. No confirmation that I know of, but past Mario Kart games have included a mirror mode. Seems likely that this one will too.

This is more of a question for your thoughts on nintendo games than a question with a solid answer. Looking back on this gen and specifically the cube games released, I feel like I have had a wonderous time with this system, but at the same time I wonder about the big franchises. I loved Sunshine and Wind Waker, but I can't help but wonder if both would have been better as new franchises rather than a new mario and zelda game. I could have easily seen Sunshine as a new franchise. It already had a practically original universe with a few mario elements thrown in. Also it seems to me that contrary to what some think, the visual style of windwaker was captivating, but at the same time it doesn't fit with how the fans have always seen the world of hyrule in their heads. I know the original games particularly Link to the Past had a cartoony look to it but I think that was overruled in some ways by the promotional art that has alwasy gone along with the series's earlier installments. It was always pretty realistic and a bit less colorful. I love the Wind Waker style and would love to see it continued perhaps into its own franchise, zelda related or not. The game was too beautiful not to. In the end they are both great games but I wonder how you feel they stack up in the Mario and Zelda lineage. Also are there any franchises that you would personally like to see reborn in the next gen. I would love to see Kid Icarus, and would be curious how a game like Star Tropics would translate into 3d. Or mayeb even Mach RIder (the SSBM trophy looked pretty cool).

Thanks

I think this current generation will be remembered as a period of Nintendo wildly experimenting with their major franchises. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Pokemon have all appeared on GameCube in much different forms than we expected. Some of these changes paid off, and some didn't. I'm glad Nintendo is taking a progressive stance with these series, and I hope they keep it up, but I also hope they'll take the development time to make sure the new games, no matter how different and weird, live up to the standards of quality we've come to expect from Nintendo's top franchises.

Hello, PGC

I followed that link provided for Tower SP, and I was confused. Is this game

being developed by Nintendo? I ask because it looks like a near-exact port

of Sim Tower! I'm not exaggerating when I say that the look of things like

the background city, the lobby, the condos, the office rooms, the hotel

rooms, the elevators, the guests, the way the guests turn pink or red

depnding on their frustration, the theater, the restaurants, parking spaces,

and almost everything else in Tower SP look EXACTLY the same as in Sim

Tower. I also watched the commercias and movie that were provided on the

site, and even the sound effects, like construction noises and the elevator

moving, all sounded EXACTLY like it was Sim Tower! The only differences that

I could spot are some interface differences, the notices you get when you

have roach infestations or a burglar on the loose, and when your tower gets

a new star. Do you know anything about the game and why it resembles Sim

Tower so much? Is it indeed a port of Sim Tower? Finally, be sure to tell

that person who wants this game to be released here to track down Sim Tower

for his/her PC, as it must be dirt cheap by now.

Yes, Tower SP seems to be a GBA port of Sim Tower. Several people wrote in to suggest that, since Sim Tower was developed and released in North America, that Tower SP will be too. I think the fact that it's been out in Japan since the spring and is still not on NOA's release schedule through the end of 2005 is a clear indication that this game is not coming stateside. If you really want to play it, take this reader's advice and look for the PC version.

Hello,

I sent this in a few weeks ago, just wanted to know if

you have heard whether or not the Revolution will

support headseats like on X Box live?

Thanks

Rich

No headset or voice chat support has been confirmed for Revolution, but I'd say it's likely considering that Nintendo is already experimenting with the feature on the DS.

With all the success of nintendogs in japan do you

think there's a good chance of nintendo making

"nintencats"???

Yep.

Hi

With the gamecube controller ports currently available on the Revolution console, would it be possible for Revolution games (that don't require revolutionary controllers) to utilize the existing gamecube controllers instead? Thus eliminating the "alienation of third party support" that everyone is dreading.

Could third parties choose which controller they want to use?

Regards

Anonymous

Yes, probably. But we haven't seen the Revolution controller...it may have all the features and buttons of the GameCube controller, so there would be little need to play new games with an old controller. I also expect many specialized controllers to use a GameCube controller jack or one of the console's two USB ports instead of using the Revolution's standard wireless interface. That way you don't have to replace batteries in your DDR dance pad.

How frustrating is the infamous "voice recognition" on Nintendogs? Is it as

bad as Tycho suggests on Penny Arcade or tolerable?

I think it's pretty bad, though not necessarily due to the software being inadequate. The DS microphone is just really, really terrible. Nintendo needs to release a headset ASAP.

just to tell you that its not Oracle zelda games that have unlockable

feature if you put them in a GBA! its ZELDA link Awekning DX that have some

unlockable stuff!

sorry foir my poor english, i live in Québec (canada) and i speak french!

great site by the way :)

You're getting the Zelda games mixed up. When Link's Awakening DX was released, GBA was still three years from launching. Link's Awakening DX was a dual-mode game, meaning that it could be played in black and white on old Game Boys and in color on the Game Boy Color. There was also a bonus dungeon available on the GBC that focused on color-based puzzles. The Oracle games for GBC were released at the same time as the GBA, in 2001, and they had special areas unlocked if you played them on the GBA.

Hey Grand Ol' Bag,

First of all, great review of Geist. It was because of that review that I

went and picked this game up, and let me tell you it was money well spent.

Geist is a hell of alot of fun and i think it is under-rated in some of the

reviews out there(EGM). N-space did a fantastic job on their first REAL

game, and the unbelievable part is that Geist doesn't really borrow any

ideas from other popular games, it is truly unique and innovative. However,

I did notice that certain little things remind me of the game Eternal

Darkness; the way items that can be picked up glow, the way items that can

be posessed glow, the info screen when you pick up an item, but most

importantly how much the little blue fire spitting creatures sound exactly

like the Trappers from E.D.. I just started the game so thats all the

similarities Ive found. Do you think N-space borrowed these things from

Silicon Nights, or is it just an extreme coincidence? Play through both

games again and you'll see. Oh and also do you think we will see a sequel to

Geist if it sells well, because I can't get enough of the intense boss

fights.

Thanks,

Dru

I'll make sure that Mike Sklens (our reviewer for Geist) reads your letter. The traces of Eternal Darkness are probably due to a combination of some ED fans at n-Space and Shigeru Miyamoto's influence over both ED and Geist. I highly doubt that Geist will be a big seller, but that doesn't necessarily rule out a sequel.

Dear bag,

Amazon.co.uk claims that Zelda TP will be released on Febuary the 17th. This seems like a very exact date. Could this mean Zelda coming out earlier than next fiscal year as Kaplin said or is Amazon being weird.

regards,

Grumbler (infamous on other sites, new to planetgamecube)

I have no idea where Amazon got that date, but it certainly doesn't jive with Perrin Kaplan's firm pronouncement that Zelda will arrive in Nintendo's next fiscal year...which begins April 1, 2006. I'm actually expecting Zelda to arrive in May or June, but the exact timing may end up being tied in with the Revolution launch date.

Look I am a fan of the Resident Evil and I own all the Cube games (even re-releases).

I enjoy the series but how in the world can Capcom justify yet another release of the original game.

Let’s just count the other versions:

Resident Evil (PSX original)

Resident Evil: Directors Cut (PSX)

Resident Evil: Dual Shock (PSX)

Resident Evil (GAMECUBE)

And the never released Game Boy Color version and possibly more. Speaking of game boy color why not remake that Resident Evil game instead Gaiden I think its called. I never played it but I heard its a horrible game why not remake that game on DS to make it actually worth while? Now that remake makes sense but this makes no sense. How can Capcom do this to its fans? -adv2k1

Capcom does this all the time. At least we already know the DS version will have some new features, such as wiping blood from the screen, so there may be much more that we don't know about yet.

I thought that a while back I heard that it would be possible to hook-up the revolution on a computer monitor like you would hook it up to a TV. Is this true as far as anyone knows, or is it just some crazy rumor?

thanks for the daily updates.

Juno500

Monitor support was, strangely, one of the first features announced for Revolution by Mr. Iwata. But there was no mention of it at this year's E3. It shouldn't be a big deal to implement though, as even the GameCube can output to a monitor with a customized VGA cable. Microsoft is selling a first-party version of such a cable for the Xbox 360, and Nintendo could certainly do the same.

Is Electroplankton a good import? Is there a lot of Japanese text?

Any hope for an Ice Climbers sequel? Any old franchises you hope to see revived?

Dan Bloodworth's "non-review" of Electroplankton should answer any question you have about the game. I just glanced through the article again, and he says all the menus have both Japanese and English text. An Ice Climbers sequel seems unlikely, given the relative obscurity of those characters. I'd love to play a new Startropics game, but it suffers from the same problem.

I was reading about the play-yan and the Gba Movie player on your website

but I noticed there wasn't any mention on if the software that's provided on

the discs that are included with each system if they'll work on a Apple

Computer. Now I just got a New Imac and have been interested in both of

these of these items but I'd like to know if you by chance know if they are

compatible with Macs. Thanx for the Help. Great Site!!

Vic

Lik-Sang's product forums tend to have some good technical info on this type of thing, so I snooped around over there to find an answer for you. From what I can tell, the GBA Movie Player is not really compatible with Macs because it plays special file formats, and the converter programs to create those formats is only for Windows. The Play-Yan plays standard audio/video formats such as MP3 and MP4, so it should work just fine on a Mac. In fact, Macs are probably better suited to encoding these formats.

I was wondering since the DS and Revolution will connect with each other by wi-fi-what is the chance that perhaps the ds is actually the revolutionary controller that nintendo is talking?

Daryl

Standard $130 controllers? That would be market suicide.

Hi there!

I have been a fan of Nintendo for a very long time... and this revolution craziness is taking over my life. But I have been pondering Nintendo's approach to their gaming hardware. It's obvious that they always try to be different, but with technology advancing as fast as it is, I am starting to find sense in their reasoning that graphics alone isn't enough. Lets take handhelds. The DS is not as powerful as the PSP - for sure... but how long will it take for mobile phones to catch up to the PSP in terms of graphics horsepower? If a mobile phone can match the PSP in lets say, 3 years, where will that leave it? And the fact that the PSP has other features integrated into itself - e.g. music player, movie player etc... what is to stop other devices from integrating gaming into themselves? The iPOD might have the abilty to play games one day (though I doubt it) Palm PCs have the potential to slaughter the PSP, if you can play yr normal PC games on them.

Now, with the Revolution... I think that high end PCs will be able to achieve the same level of graphics as the next generation of home consoles. I could be wrong, and if I am, PC's can't be too far off. If that is the case, what is going to set the XBOX 360 and PS3 apart from PCs. All the multimedia features possible of these two machines are already way better developed on your PC. What does it offer that your home PC doesn't? And who's to say your TV won't have similar features built in one day? Or your fridge? Or your DVD player?

Nintendo is obviously doing something different with the revolution. Now just with the controller, but with the console itself... it has a docking bay... Are they trying to make their hardware something so completely unique that the experiences you have on it will not be possible anywhere else? I think so, and I do think it's the right approach. You won't ever be able to play a DS game on a mobile phone, the same can not be said for a PSP game. The revolution will be the same.

I think Nintendo understand the core of game play better than anyone else, any company that can make Zelda 64 has to know what they're doing, so I really think they will pull this off. At least I hope so.

There are already a couple of DS games based directly on mobile phone games, though a few extra features were added for the DS versions. Your points are all reasonable and are pretty much what Nintendo execs have been saying for a couple of years now, but there are some holes in the logic. For instance, differentiating the Revolution may spur a few developers to really get crazy with their game designs, but it might also scare away a lot of third-party publishers who don't want to spend a lot of extra money adding things to the Revolution version of a game that is already complete for other platforms. Nintendo will have to find a way to mitigate this effect. As I've said before, developers may love the system, but it's publishers who finance projects and ultimately put games on the shelves. The system has to appeal to publishers, and I think "just being different" could have the opposite effect. Nintendo will have to lure in third-party publishers the old fashioned way: with low royalties, a strong userbase, and moneyhats.

Hi.

In response to the guy who asked about the Pink DS, There is this question on the FAQ section of the Nintendogs site:

"What’s up with Brielle’s pink Nintendo DS?"

"The pink Nintendo DS system you see Brielle using is not currently available in North America, but if you want to see this color come to the US. you should let us know. Voice your opinion at www.NintendoKennelClub.com or forums.nintendo.com."

I don't know if pestering Nintendo about the Pink (and Black, and Red, and Green, and Purple with yellow dots) DS versions is going to work, but it's worth the shot.

Vitor Oliveira

São Paulo, Brazil

The pink DS was just announced for Europe. I think a North American release is inevitable, but you might be able to speed it up by contacting NOA at those websites. Another surefire line of communication to NOA lackeys is nintendo@noa.nintendo.com. Remember that individually written letters are always more effective than online petitions.

IGN has a nice little write up about mock up controller sketches. This has to be my absolute favorite so far of any I have seen anywhere.

Revolution Controller Mock-Up at IGN

That controller would be totally awesome. I'd never even consider the slightest possibility of getting a PS3 or a 360 with a contoller like that. It fits everything that Nintendo says they want the Revolution contoller to be.

James Baxter

I like that idea, but Nintendo has already said that the Rev controller won't have a touch screen. The one-handed hold reminds me of an RPG controller for SNES that was designed to let you draw dungeon maps in one hand while playing the game with the other hand.

Sheesh can't anyone take a joke! I was the guy

that wrote in first about Superman64 and a better

framerate...but I was only kidding! Everyone

assumed I liked Superman64 and wanted to see it

improved. NOOOO. never, oh please if you are

Nintendo do not even allow that game to be

downloaded.

Now Carmageddon64...there's a hidden gem of a

game ;)

Anyway, on to the question: I finally broke down

and bought Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and it has

been one of the most fun games I have ever

played. Do you think that maybe Nintendo will

release a sequel for Revolution?? I mean, they

did a sequel to Pikmin, and that didnt sell well.

Also: though I probably know the answer I will

ask anyway: Is there any hope for NCAA 06 to

come to the cube???

I would love a sequel for DK Jungle Beat, but it sold very, very poorly in the U.S. Pikmin was actually a big hit and has sold well over a million copies. Pikmin 2 sort of flopped in the U.S., but it did great numbers in Japan. If you're referring to NCAA Football 2006 from EA, no. They didn't make a GameCube version this year.

Hi Bag,

This is in response to the questions about the Revolution's "power consumption".

I only speak from knowledge of building PCs (and I manage to screw

that up sometimes so, uh, what do I know...) but I would agree with

what you said that one of the benefits of the low power consumption

would be to keep the console small. Matt from IGN also touched on this

a little but didn't elaborate for readers who didn't quite understand.

Without getting into electrical engineering, higher-end computer parts

tend to generate more heat. For instance, a computer chip at 1GHz will

run cooler than one at 3GHz for the simple reason that electric pulses

are running through that 3GHz chip on a more frequent basis (EEs,

please correct me if I'm wrong). All that electricity running through

will generate more heat. How does this relate to power? Well, in order

to provide enough voltage for these things to run, you'd need a better

power source. (If you're into building computers, you know that the

latest high-end graphics cards require you to actually plug in your

power supply to the card as well to provide extra juice, something

that didn't happen until just a few years ago.) Though low power

consumption is a benefit in and of itself, it's also the result of a

machine's components not *needing* to drain that much power. In turn,

they likely don't generate as much heat.

What does this low heat and power output have to do with size? Well,

if the parts are generating a low-enough level of heat, then the

cooling mechanism for the machine don't have to be as hardcore.

Instead of using several loud fans and/or big bulky heatsinks, the

Revolution for example could get by with smaller heatsinks and a

single fan in the back. The Xbox360 apparently runs on _water-cooling_

technology (lots of tubes and water blocks), which would make it run

deathly silent but is also probably part of the reason that the thing

is still huge.

The side effect of being able to cut down on the cooling mechanism is

also silence. Less fans = less noise. (Put an old PS2 - 1 fan - and

the new slim PS2 - no fans - next to each other and listen to the

difference.) This would explain why Miyamoto-sama mentioned "quiet"

along with low power-consumption.

For those of you worrying over the fact that these parts won't

generate as much heat or need as much power means that the Revolution

is "less powerful" than the Xbox 360 or PS3, continue to worry because

that is very likely, it makes sense, and is in line with what everyone

at Nintendo is saying. (Personally, as long as it runs great games, I

don't care.)

Also, low power consumption = less of a need for a more powerful

(read: more expensive!) power supply, thus cutting more costs.

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse.

-MrCHUPON

--

:: Sir Chlupe ::

LOL, you wrote "Miyamoto-sama". Nice analysis, though.

Hey, I was wondering if you know anything about how to unlock Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda in Animal Crossing. Obviously this can be done with the Action Replay, but has Nintendo commented about an official way to unlock these? I figured they just forgot or don't care anymore because many people have them now anyway, but maybe they're waiting for a special time to do it (Twilight Princess preorder perhaps). Thanks, and keep up the great work on the mailbag!

- LinkMaster207

Ben Kosmina says: "No, Nintendo has not released any legitimate way to get these games. You'll need an Action Replay to get them."

Yo, Bagg-o

I'm sure you've heard the Revolution rumors that claim

the system's graphics card will be optimized for

NURBS-based instead of the standard polygon-based

graphics. I wonder if that rumor would conflict with

Nintendo's statement that Revolution development kits

would be similar to those of the Gamecube (something

that Nintendo said would expedite the development of

Revo games).

I don't know much about 3D rendering, but wouldn't a

shift from polygons to NURBS drastically change how

Revo games are developed compared with the Gamecube?

And wouldn't that make the rumor seem all the more

fishy? (not that it wasn't fishy enough coming from

what, an obscure french article?) Unless of course

there's some "NURB Paint" GUI that makes everything

simple and transitions seamless... again, I'm no

expert.

But of course, that is why I come to you, oh great

mailbag. Because, relative to me at least, you're much

more, uh, experter. And you seem to have some sort of

connection with Charlie Murphy.

-Jet

Rick Powers says: "NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines ... a fancy way of saying "curves instead of polygons) have been a touted as a "rumored feature" of every

Nintendo console back to the N64 ... including Revolution. There have been no announcements that Revolution will support NURBS.

NURBS would certainly make it possible to have characters and objects that are more lifelike in nature, but it would take a very unique graphic architecture to make rendering NURBS in realtime. Given that Revolution will be using an ATI graphics solution (probably based on the upcoming R520 technology), it's highly unlikely that they'll be able to support NURBS in hardware.

As for the development process, A developer could certainly use pretty much any software they want to render their models, but they'd need to convert the models to standard polygons. Transitioning to NURBS in hardware would make it easier on these developers, but I beleive there are very few (if any) working with NURBS at this point. But to answer your question, yes ... a switch to NURBS would be a drastic change for the developers that work with the graphics hardware."

With Nintendo building GameCube and Revolution so that they consume

little power, do you find it likely that Nintendo is looking toward

the future, and the possibility that the future of the GameBoy line

could be portable versions of the GameCube and Revolution?

Mike

It may be a while before the technology is ready and affordable, but I've long thought the next Game Boy system could use existing GameCube technology. That would make it a bit more powerful than PSP, and it could be backwards-compatible with your entire GC library while also encouraging publishers to keep releasing games in this format, which would now be playable on three different Nintendo systems.

I couldn't fit everything on one page, so be sure to read part two!