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Episode 18: The Wii Press Event Retrospective

by Evan Burchfield - September 18, 2006, 11:03 pm EDT
Total comments: 21

Jonathan Metts, Daniel Bloodworth, and Mike Gamin all join the Podcast for this special "Wii News" edition.

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Here I go, on my own again.

I believe we have a treat for you, loyal listeners. This Special Edition Podcast features two staffers heretofore never heard on Radio Free Nintendo's airwaves, specifically content editor Daniel Bloodworth and staff writer (and Nintendo Press Event attendee) Mike Gamin. Also along for the ride is podcast veteran and site director Jonathan Metts, and I, Evan Burchfield, am your host. This really is a special podcast and I hope you take the time to listen to it.

You can also listen to the podcast on .


Last week's Megaton of Wii news kept all of us short of sleep, but in the analysis we see both highs and lows to Nintendo's announcements. On this special edition podcast we discuss controversial topics like the pricing of the system and controllers, the Legend of Zelda on Wii, and Super Paper Mario's recent delay. We also talk a bit about Super Monkey Ball, Rayman Raving Rabbids, a lot about Wii Sports, and Virtual Console. Think that's not enough? Mike Gamin actually admits that Elebits isn't good. Yeah, I know.

We covet your comments here at Radio Free Nintendo, so please let us know what you think. There are three ways to do this! One is to leave a message in the talkback thread, another is to e-mail us at our podcast address. Lastly, you can really help us out by reviewing us (honestly) on iTunes. Your opinions could end up on air, so please contribute!

And thanks for listening.

Talkback

PryopizmStan Ferguson, Staff AlumnusSeptember 18, 2006

Best. RFN. Ever.

Enjoyable!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

CericSeptember 19, 2006

Yeah considering we're getting 2 Million and I can walk into any store that sale DSLite and pick up about 20 any color, well Walmart. The point is there is a huge stock of DSLites unlike Japan. I don't know if 2 Mil will really sell out by the end of the year. Personally I don't mind. We have a longer saling season by almost a month. It might work out.

Oh also. Pale should review the GCN version of Zelda. face-icon-small-wink.gif

If you are buying Super Monkey Ball for Mini-Games then its a lost. In fact if the emphasis isn't the main game its a lost. The controller could really fix my gripes about the first controls.

As I said in the RRR thread its Feel the Magic. Just replace the girl with bunnies. It's multiconsole because they already said it would be. I have to say Rayman 3 was really pretty.

MUA I'll have to wait for the review but I'll probably pick it up.

Gamefly for the Win.

Spongebob? Spongebob? You lost my respect.

But the Wii has no Bongos...

How was the GCN Kameo?

Super Paper Mario is a great lost. Plus how in the world would it really benefit from the WiiPointer? You brought it up...

Really like Four-Swords it was the whole idea that you had to have a GBA to play it that hurt it.

Though this time the move should be a little smoother because you don't have to recode the core Sound and Graphics totally.

Good podcast.

CalibanSeptember 19, 2006

I think the nunchuk cost $20(US) because it still has that motion sensor, don't you think?

Also, how about taking a look at the controller's size in regards to what it has inside? You guys know that the more it does and the more compact it is, a piece of technology will always be expensive, just look at cell phones when bought without a contract or some other deal.

The controller would be alot cheaper if it was just one controller altogether which would be much easier and cheaper to manufacture, but that's not the case.

I wonder how much one of those sparkling innovations from Sony is going to cost, remember it doesn't have rumble.

Massmarket? Need I say iPod...look at how much their 1st generation pieces of trash cost, yet they were still flying off the shelves.

I think VC prices are just fine, I just want to know what are the Canadian prices, officially released prices, no conversions please.

ShyGuySeptember 19, 2006

Yeah, yeah, we all hate the $60 for an additional controller, Gamecube 1.5 hurrrr. Bloodworth was reasonable throughout though face-icon-small-wink.gif

I think the big difference between the non-game stuff that Nintendo offers vs what Microsoft and Sony offer is motivation. Microsoft will lose billions in its quest to get a MS OS on all your major electronic devices, games are secondary. Sony will leverage it's game consoles to further it's proprietary media formats and multi-media devices, games are second.

With Nintendo, the purpose of their Wii channels, etc, is to lure in non-gamers and get them to be gamers. Games come first.

Yeah Shyguy, the Wii channels aren't there as an alternative use of the Wii really (unlike the PSP's multimedia functions), they're there in order to make the Wii approachable by anyone in the household, to make them curious about the system, and to lure them into games that way.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

ZiebornSeptember 19, 2006

Joust isn't worth $5 because you'll be bored with it in five minutes? That is impossible. Of course, I don't play the NES version, so maybe it blows compared to the 7800 or arcade version.

mantidorSeptember 19, 2006

I think four swords also didn't sell as well because 2D in consoles doesn't have a strong following, I don't know of a single 2D game that has sold well.

Great podcast, I had forgotten all the rare and silicon knights games that got ported over the next console just to fail, which was sad. But I think it was in part Nintendo's own doing, since Super Paper Mario is their own game it might not meet the same destiny, but I do agree that from a control's perspective it makes little sense, unless the rehaul the whole game to make proper use of the remote.

ShyGuySeptember 19, 2006

Animal Crossing failed because it was ported from N64.

ZiebornSeptember 19, 2006

A few exceptions exist to every rule. I mean, is Kameo really that good? Is Starfox Adventures really that good? Besides, do you think Animal Crossing wouldn't have done well on the N64, a system with more owners than the Gamecube, when the game basically looks and controls like an N64 game anyway?

ZiebornSeptember 19, 2006

I'm just glad to finally see someone else who thinks moving the last two good Gamecube games to the Wii is stupid. Bad enough we should wait a year for Zelda and then have to wait another 3 weeks all for the Wii version's sake, but Super Paper Mario and Bongo blast aren't exactly going to sell systems or anything. They would, however, have made the wait for the Wii more bareable in the face of the overall Gamecube draught.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorSeptember 19, 2006

To us, as followers of the industry, it seems like a stupid decision. I do see where Nintendo is coming from though. Regardless of the backwards compatibility of Wii, new casual players won't even look to buy games from the GameCube section of the store. Sticking Super Paper Mario and Bongo Blast in the Wii section makes the Wii look that much more successful.

ShyGuySeptember 19, 2006

I think we can see this philosophy at work right here:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=5725

DK Bongo Blast on Wii could still allow you to use the GameCube bongos. Of course, I expect it to also use the Wii controller like drumsticks as an alternate control method.

Animal Crossing was not ported to GameCube. The GC version is a sequel to the N64 version, which was released only in Japan. It was a big hit there, so no surprise that the GC version did well in Japan too. I was only surprised (and still am) that it did so well in North America.

Another game that moved to a new generation and failed miserably is Resident Evil Zero. It was originally in development for N64 and looked amazing for that system. I actually got to play it at E3 2000, although I didn't like it much because I don't like the pre-RE4 gameplay.

ArbokSeptember 19, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: ShyGuy
I think we can see this philosophy at work right here:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=5725


Speaking of, nice to see from that picture that Square-Enix still bones people on their hand held game prices. -_- I mean, I only got Kingdom Hearts for the GBA this year as I refused to pay the near $40 it went for before it dropped down to $20 for the release of the new PS2 game.

CericSeptember 19, 2006

Trust me Arbok that was $20 to much.

IceColdSeptember 19, 2006

What the hell happened to this thread?

ZiebornSeptember 20, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
DK Bongo Blast on Wii could still allow you to use the GameCube bongos. Of course, I expect it to also use the Wii controller like drumsticks as an alternate control method.



So they won't be using clapping then? Alternatively, with the sticks I guess they could ask you to press the trigger or something, but that's like using the Gamecube controller for the first Konga games (i.e. not appealing). Using the controller for a game originally developed with a physical drum in mind might not ead to really intuitive gameplay. I think it's a poor fit. They're most likely to end up with a game that's best with the bongo drums, which means that they'll have this system being pushed on its fancy new control scheme, but for this game you'll basically need another perephrial anyway. Once again, I think they'd be better off just leaving the games on the Cube, where they're supposed to be. I know I'd certainly be a lot happier while waiting for the Wii with a new Konga game to tide me over. Right now I'm trying to figure out if I should buy a PS2 in the interim (it'll likely be Februrary before I can afford a Wii, and I haven't played a new Cube game since Chibi-Robo).

TrueNerdSeptember 21, 2006

Four person podcasts FTW. I also think Metts should be more of a regular contributor to these podcasts. He's always a good addition no matter who he's grouped up with. I also like disagreeing with him, like right now!

If Super Paper Mario were to be released on the GC, it would sell like sh*t because it would be lost in the sea of PS3/Wii/Zelda/Gears of War hype. I actually think it has a better chance to sell better on the Wii six months from now when people will know it exists. It still may sell poorly. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't kinda thing.

Thanks, TrueNerd. As for SPM, it was originally due for release before the flood of Christmas games, so it had a good chance for success if Nintendo promoted it well. I agree that if it had been delayed until November, it would have been killed by all the next-gen games.

ZiebornSeptember 22, 2006

All I know is thta, for me, it's really hurting my liking of Nintendo that they are releasing it on the Wii. I can only speak from how I feel about it myself, and I feel like they've basically, for a second generation in a row, said "screw you for your support, we're on to bigger and better things". For me personally, that's a big deal, and I find myself feeling less supportive of the company in general.

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