Okay, the Wii Vitality Sensor could be cool I’ll admit, but Nintendo’s newest patent seems even more… obscure. Take a look:
It seems to be some sort of horseback riding peripheral (or any other animal you could think of to ride) and it works by inserting the wiimote into the device and using the nunchuck to control on screen characters. At the moment I’m not sure what to think, so I’ll ask you guys. Does the device have potential?
Videos:
Wii:
–Madden NFL 10 – Superbowl Sizzle Video
–Guitar Hero 5 – Reveal Video
–The Beatles: Rock Band Video 2
–Daisy Fuentes Pilates Launch Video
–Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll – Teaser
–Cursed Mountain – BTS – The Himalyayas
–Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Swordplay
–Dead Space Extraction – Story Video
–Tony Hawk: RIDE – 1st Ride Video
DS:
–Imagine Soccer Captain Info Video
WiiWare:
–Rock N’ Roll Climber Info Video
–NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Info Video
Virtual Console:
–Super Star Wars Game Play Video
Other:
–Digest Video
DS Demos: (Expire 08/16)
–Mega Man Star Force 3
–Ant Nation
–MySims Racing
–Classic Word Games
–Personal Trainer: Cooking Mac & Cheese Demo
Cursed Mountain – Singleplayer: 82 (Controls: 78 | Graphics: 84 | Sound: 86)
+ absolutely no load-times during a chapter
+ high quality (german) localization
+ tight atmosphere
– “slow” pacing, sluggish controls
Rygar – The Battle of Argus Singleplayer: 58 (Controls: 68 | Graphics: 64 | Sound: 71)
+ nice weapon concept
– ancient tech
– little variety
– new packaging, old content
Dragon Quest IX – Multiplayer: 90 | Singleplayer: 90 (Controls: 88 | Graphics: 90 | Sound: 89)
+ beautiful anime-graphics
+ no random battles
+ interesting story
– user-created characters too interchangable
MOON – Singleplayer: 78 (Controls: 79 | Graphics: 89 | Sound: 82)
bottom line: sci-fi advanture with future-proof visuals, oldschool gameplay and just the right atmosphere
Wii Sports Resort – Multiplayer: 86 | Singleplayer: 68 (Controls: 68 | Graphics: 63 | Sound: 70)
+ easy to pick up, yet still some depth in gameplay
+ stamps are motivating
+ technically simplistic but fitting style
– only one game supports 4 players simultaneously
A recent post on a popular gaming forum has caused a bit of controversy regarding Nintendo newest Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The post claims that a collector’s edition of the game will be released and that it will contain exclusive characters.
“Stopped by GameStop this morning and was told that they are offering a free upgrade to the collector’s edition of New Super Mario Bros Wii when you pre-order the game. I asked what was in the collector’s edition and all they knew was that there was supposed to be some additional characters. Hope someone finds this useful.”
I’m not quite sure what to believe right now. This may simply be a misinterpretation of the employee’s words (perhaps by “characters” he meant figurines?) or maybe there truly are additional playable characters in the game. More updates as they come in.
“General marketing wisdom says that customers need to be segmented. For product planning, the target audience needs to be identified and narrowed down… The fact of the matter is, [Shigeru] Miyamoto is the head of one R&D division, which can only launch a few titles each year. To maximise the result, we have decided to counter the common marketing wisdom and go anti-segmentation if everyone else is segmenting everything. This is easier said than done. It is a huge challenge to make a game that will please and be fun for both veteran gamers with the expected depth and novice gamers who say ‘I don’t get it’ but provide them with particular depth that can lead them to deeper points just as they become eager to play longer. Nintendo would like to tackle this enormous challenge.” – Satoru Iwata
This is one thing that I think Nintendo is doing extraordinarily well. If you look at Mario Galaxy, it was clearly a core title, yet it was accessible and easy to play. You can even date back to the days of the original Mario Bros. and see that (even though they seem to flaunt it more-so now) Nintendo has always been making titles that are both accessible and hardcore, which is something very few developers have achieved in the past.
“I would say that particularly with digital download, you’re finding that there’s a sharp drop-off in the participation — particularly on console download that requires some kind of WiFi connection — by demographic. But at the same time, it would seem that the statistics of downloading Netflix videos on Xbox are pretty broad. And there’s a reason to believe that maybe it’s not the primary consumer in the household that sets up the WiFi, but that there is sort of a watershed sharing of that technology among all the consumers that might participate on it.” – Majesco EVP Gui Karyo
I couldn’t agree with this statement more, especially relating to the Wii. Setting my Wii up to get online was tedious enough, and I consider myself a very core gamer. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for some casual gamers to get online.
“Traditionally, great games has made people excited and stimulated. Wii Vitality Sensor has great potential for various applications like measuring how horrified a player is in a horror title. What we are trying to propose first is a video game with a theme of relaxation, which is completely opposite from traditional ones, to enrich the users’ lives. Especially among those who are constantly busy, I am sure you have experienced not being able to go to bed even when you are so tired after a busy day at work and coming home late at night… What if you were able to visualize how to unwind and relax, or check the condition of your automatic nerve by simply inserting your finger in the device once a day?
We are conducting some tests internally at Nintendo, and found some patterns among our employees, like improving automatic nerve condition as the weekend nears or vice versa. Seeing what their condition is actually like, they can “visualize” how they are looking forward to weekend. And see completely different patterns on each individual person. And I think you have all had an experience where you are not in tune with how your body is doing or aware of how exhausted you body may be in a busy, strained period, but if you can visibly measure your condition every day, you can start to see how you’re doing. It would be like stepping up on a scale every day and seeing the change of your weight. Our new challenge that is different from past software development is to make a video game by using the visible activities of your automatic nerve. Before Wii Fit launched, everyone doubted how well it could sell. As for Wii Vitality Sensor, I think it will face similar doubts as to whether such a product will sell well in the video game market. Of course no one can tell how people respond to it before the launch. We understand everyone wants to enjoy a vibrant lifestyle, so I believe if the product could support that desire, it would make a large impact in society.” – Satoru Iwata
I’m a bit disappointed, but not at all surprised at this statement. As much as I would’ve loved to see the peripheral used in more core titles, it looks like third parties will have to take over in that department. Regardless, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see what even Nintendo has in store for the little device.
