The Metroid Prime series was not always planned as a trilogy
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 1 Comment
The developers of the Metroid Prime series have revealed an interesting nugget of information about the Metroid Prime series in a recent developer’s voice interview. Believe it or not, Retro Studios wasn’t thinking about making three Prime titles when creating the first game. Rather, it was something that was planned later on.
“Trilogy was not planned as a trilogy from the beginning.” – Mike Wikan, Senior Game Designer
“When we finished the first game us and Retro, were really happy. And that was the first time we thought about making a trilogy.” – Kensuke Tanabe, Producer
This was probably the case due to the amount of doubt the first Prime title faced before release. There was much skepticism that Metroid Prime could handle a successful transition from 2D to 3D in a first-person view. That obviously wasn’t the case, however, and Retro Studios went on to make two more games – Both of which were received very well by fans.
Dark Samus or phazon could return in the future
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 3 Comments
We’ve been posting a bunch of information from the developer’s voice with the Metroid Prime team, and this is another snippet from that interview…
“Will you ever see Dark Samus or phazon again…Do you want to see Dark Samus or phazon again?” – Michael Kelbaugh, Executive Producer/President & CEO of Retro Studios
“It’s up to the fans.” – Risa Tabata, Assistant Producer
The Dark Samus and phazon story was pretty interesting, but I would like to see the next few Metroid games try something different for now. Still, it would be neat to see either of the two concepts return down the road.
50 most wanted sequels according to Famitsu readers
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, News, Wii | 4 Comments
1. Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) 267 votes
2. Shenmue 249 votes
3. Okami 204 votes
4. Gotchaforce 189 votes
5. Xenogears 185 votes
6. Breath of Fire 180 votes
7. Rockman Dash (aka Mega Man Legends) 176 votes
8. Ogre Battle 174 votes
9. Chikyuu Boueigun (aka Earth Defence Force) 162 votes
10. Kowloon’s Gate 151 votes
11. Shinobido 141 votes
12. Demon’s Souls 123 votes
13. Rockman X (aka Mega Man X) 110 votes
14. Chrono 107 votes
15. Z.O.E 94 votes
16. Mother 92 votes
17. Romancing SaGa 90 votes
18. Senjou no Valkyria (aka Valkyria Chronicles) 87 votes
19. Justice Gakuen 82 votes
20. Medarot 81 votes
21. Subarashiki Kono Sekai (aka The World Ends With You) 79 votes
22. Shadow Hearts 77 votes
23. Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke 75 votes
24. Panzer Dragoon 72 votes
25. Baten Kaitos 69 votes
26. Infinite Undiscovery 65 votes
27. Lost Odyssey 65 votes
28. Wild Arms 64 votes
29. OZ 60 votes
30. Jet Set Radio 59 votes
31. Dewprism 58 votes
32. Ougon no Taiyou (aka Golden Sun) 57 votes
33. Another Century’s Episode 56 votes
33. Estopolis Denki (aka Lufia) 56 votes
33. Fire Pro Wrestling Spike 56 votes
36. Biohazard Outbreak 55 votes
37. Eternal Arcadia (aka Skies of Arcadia) 54 votes
38. Shirokishi Monogatari: Inishie no Kodou (aka White Knight Chronicles) 51 votes
39. Panzer Front 50 votes
40. Seiken Densetsu 48 votes
41. Front Mission 46 votes
42. Grandia 43 votes
43. Arc The Lad 42 votes
44. Bullet Witch 41 votes
45. Racing Lagoon 39 votes
46. Drag-On Dragoon 37 votes
47. Panekit 36 votes
48. Metal Wolf Chaos 33 votes
49. Tokimeki Memorial 33 votes
50. Famicom Tantei Kurabu 30 votes
GameCube era made Miyamoto “very sad”
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
“There was an era when Nintendo was going in the direction of doing the same things other companies did. The more we competed with new companies entering the market, the more we started acting similar to them. But is being number one in that competition the same as being number one with the general public? That’s the question we had. Entertainment is something that you have to look at the world with a very wide eye as you create it. I always thought that, but there were a few years where I was unable to get off other people’s trends. It was a dilemma in my mind.
I was endlessly fascinated with 3D worlds, but what with all the issues I had to tinker with in terms of rendering and processing speed, it got to the point where I didn’t know who was making the games any longer.
This is a job where you have a plan and you polish it endlessly while getting help from others. If Nintendo’s games fail to stand out as games that aren’t made that way proliferate, then it shows that the creation process is for nothing, which made me very sad. That was especially obvious during the GameCube era; Nintendo titles were hardly even discussed by the [non-gaming] general public back then.” – Shigeru Miyamoto
The GameCube era wasn’t actually too terrible in terms of quality content and innovation. Chibi Robo, Geist, and Pikmin were all created during that the console’s lifecycle. In terms of originality, we haven’t seen too many cult classics from Nintendo like we did during the GameCube era.
EDGE – Top 100 games to play today
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, News, Wii | 2 Comments
This information comes from the latest edition of EDGE:
100 – R4:? ?Ridge Racer Type? ?4
99 – Far Cry
98 – Star Fox 64
97 – Resident Evil
96 – The Legend of Zelda:? ?Twilight Princess
95 – Football Manager? ?2009
94 – Space Giraffe
93 – The Sims 2
92 – Animal Crossing:? ?City Folk
91 – Splinter Cell:? ?Chaos Theory
90 – Braid
Peach’s Castle GameCube tech demo
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
Back in 2002, Nintendo had sent out an interactive tech demo featuring Peach’s Castle to certain developers. Essentially, the point of the demo was to display the graphical capabilities of the GameCube. In each room, a different graphical effect is present.
Metroid Prime comparison video: Wii vs. GameCube
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 6 Comments
Nintendo Voice Chat podcast summary
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, News, Wii | 1 Comment
Handhelds
– Article up going through all of the Nintendo handhelds
– Nintendo been updating handhelds every 1-2 years
– GBA and DS were supposed to coexist but that didn’t happen
– Bozon feels more could have been done with GBA before moving on to the DS
– TMNT game that came out on consoles wasn’t good but one on GBA was a lot of fun
Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
– An average but fun game for Wii
– Had to cut a lot of corners to put it on Wii
– Cut out the ability to use camera
– Daemon still has fun mowing down zombies
– Average but totally average and playable game
– Short game – under 10 hours
– Will probably be a rental for most people
– When you use certain weapons zombies just wait to be killed
– Game is really easy – might have scaled back the difficulty
– The point: Daemon had fun playing it, could have been a lot worse, could have been a lot better
– Zombies pop up out of nowhere
– Using the RE4 engine but doesn’t look as good as RE4
– Craig thinks it’s strange to use the RE engine for Dead Rising – different kinds of designs
Gamers playing PS2 more than 360, PS3, Wii
Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 2 Comments
According to 2008 data from the Nielsen Company, the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii are not the most used console in terms of usage minutes. Sony’s PS2 actually leads the way and commands 31.7% of total minutes spent. Strangely, only about 38% sessions are spent on next-gen systems.
Two other relatively old systems – the Xbox and PS3 – are hanging in as well. The GameCube stands at the end of the pack with 4.6% of usage minutes, but the original Xbox stands at 9.7% which is a bit more than the PS3.
The complete standings are as follows: PlayStation 2 (31.7%), Xbox 360 (17.2%), Wii (13.4%), Xbox (9.7%), PlayStation 3 (7.3%), GameCube (4.6%), Other (16.2%).
Some of this data might be related to the number of consoles sold. The PS2 commands the majority yet isn’t really considered a next-gen system. One possible case could relate to the install base behind the console. The same goes for Wii – There’s a good chance that most casual gamers own the Wii, so they’re probably not going to sink their teeth into a huge adventure like Zelda or Super Mario Galaxy. Of course, none of these assumptions/guesses have been proven to be correct.
