Nintendo working on new console

[Isildur´s Heir]

It all started with the rumors about a new Nintendo portable being in the works (NDS 2?), and to feature HD graphics and motion control.
We all know that Nvidia is working with Nintendo in the making of a new portable.
Iwata promptly denied it.
Then, last week, a new rumor started:

An industry insider has some information about something very special Nintendo might announce at this year's Game Developers Conference, and here's what he had to say:

"Just heard a rumour that you may be interested in: Nintendo are going to announce a new platform at GDC. Some devs have already started work on it."

Now, it looks like confirmation came by Shigeru Miyamoto, last Saturday, at the Annual Japan Media Arts Festival (no word on GDC).

So, what can it be?
I don´t believe that they are going to release a second portable, that would be stupid, so, it can only the sucessor of the DS.
But it doesn´t make much sense to announced a new a "DS2" when DS XL is still waiting to arrive in the west.
The only way i see it is if the XL is not released in the west (t´s not like the US and Europe are missing much).
But maybe is a new home console, the Wii 2.
I don´t believe it is, knowing Nintendo and by what Iwata said, the Wii 2 is only going to be released when something there is somekind evolution.

So, my call, it´s a Wii upgrade, a Wii 1.5 if you want.
With Natal and Playstation "Arc" waiting to be released, my best guess is the long waited Wii HD.

 

[Soapy]

So your best guess directly contradicts what Satoru Iwata said?

Given the abysmal failure of the PSP Go this idea seems kind of silly, but the only thing I could think of is some kind of download only device where you could download all DS, Game Boy, and Virtual Console games.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

So your best guess directly contradicts what Satoru Iwata said?

Not at all, because a Wii HD would not be a next generation console, but an upgrade on the Wii, much like you have on portables.
To tell you the truth, i still believe that there will an upgraded Xbox 360 this year, with better CPU and GPU and directX 11 (the fact that Natal will not have a CPU like was previously announced, backs my theory; that, and talks about foward compability back in 08), so, why wouldn´t Nintendo do the same thing?

Given the abysmal failure of the PSP Go this idea seems kind of silly, but the only thing I could think of is some kind of download only device where you could download all DS, Game Boy, and Virtual Console games.

Talking about the PSP Go, there was the rumor that Sony is going to relaunch it.
I say that the PSP 2 is going to be released this year, which can mean that Nintendo might release the DS 2 this year aswell.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I'm thinking it'll be a DS successor. And Nintendo should include a Game Boy Virtual Console service with it.

 

[Soapy]

That would most likely guarantee a purchase from me.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I'm thinking it'll be a DS successor. And Nintendo should include a Game Boy Virtual Console service with it.

Everyone is waiting for a GB VC on the DS, but i guess we´ll have to wait for the next generation of portables for it.

As for the DS2.....
It´s a possibility i´ve already addressed, and since last year´s E3, i´ve been saying that the next generation starts this year....in portables.
IMO, the PSP 2 is a given to be released in the fall, so, i can see the DS2 coming around too.
More even when Nvidia announced they are working on a new portable with Nintendo, and all the rumors about the next portables to have HD graphics and motion control.

But i still guess is something Wii related, with all the fuss about Natal and Playstation "Arc", so, i say it´s the Wii HD.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Sony better add in a UMD drive in the PSP2.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Sony better add in a UMD drive in the PSP2.

 

[Soapy]

No, what Sony should do is offer you a free or significantly discounted download of the games you own physically.

 

[hippie_hunter]

So your best guess directly contradicts what Satoru Iwata said?

Given the abysmal failure of the PSP Go this idea seems kind of silly, but the only thing I could think of is some kind of download only device where you could download all DS, Game Boy, and Virtual Console games.

Nintendo has it right when it comes to downloadable titles. The games on WiiWare and DSiWare are very small like the iPod Touch/iPhone games and therefore justify the need to it to be downloadable only. And most of the time when you're on the go, you just want to play a small game. And for the games on the Virtual Console, they're cartridge based games that obviously don't work on the Wii.

Sony on the other hand had the ******ed idea that all games no matter what size, should be downloadable on the PSP Go. I'm sorry but I don't want to download LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Gran Turismo, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. I'd rather download God of War: Betrayal, Kingdom Hearts: Mobile, Ratchet and Clank: Going Mobile, Metal Gear Solid Mobile, you know, small games.

 

[hippie_hunter]

No, what Sony should do is offer you a free or significantly discounted download of the games you own physically.

Lacking an UMD drive is one of the reasons why the PSP Go is considered a failure. People want physical copies of larger games.

 

[Soapy]

Nintendo has it right when it comes to downloadable titles. The games on WiiWare and DSiWare are very small like the iPod Touch/iPhone games and therefore justify the need to it to be downloadable only. And most of the time when you're on the go, you just want to play a small game. And for the games on the Virtual Console, they're cartridge based games that obviously don't work on the Wii.

Sony on the other hand had the ******ed idea that all games no matter what size, should be downloadable on the PSP Go. I'm sorry but I don't want to download LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Gran Turismo, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. I'd rather download God of War: Betrayal, Kingdom Hearts: Mobile, Ratchet and Clank: Going Mobile, Metal Gear Solid Mobile, you know, small games.

I don't disagree that portable games should be more bite-size experiences especially for adults who don't typically have many opportunites to play them, but you also have to consider that adults are absolutely not the target demographic for portable game systems; That's where kids of a pre-driving age come in. And I don't think they care about how big their portable games are because they have a lot of time for them. On the bus, between classes, in the car with mom, etc. At least that's how it was when I was in school.

Lacking an UMD drive is one of the reasons why the PSP Go is considered a failure. People want physical copies of larger games.

I really don't have a response to that except to say that people need to get their heads out of their asses with this stuff because digital distribution is the way of the future for most games. Certainly not all, but most.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I don't disagree that portable games should be more bite-size experiences especially for adults who don't typically have many opportunites to play them, but you also have to consider that adults are absolutely not the target demographic for portable game systems; That's where kids of a pre-driving age come in. And I don't think they care about how big their portable games are because they have a lot of time for them. On the bus, between classes, in the car with mom, etc. At least that's how it was when I was in school.

Except the PSP is not targeted towards children.

The Nintendo DS for sure with the classic Nintendo franchises that everyone of every age can enjoy but littered with Disney, Nickelodeon, Bratz, and other younger aged titles.

The PSP on the other hand is targeted for adults when the most heavily promoted games are of the Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, etc. Games that are oriented to older audiences.

The PSP needs to be the best of both worlds in order to succeed. Just like Nintendo. The larger games should be on UMDs while the smaller ones should be digital based copies only.

I really don't have a response to that except to say that people need to get their heads out of their asses with this stuff because digital distribution is the way of the future for most games. Certainly not all, but most.

I think that while digital distribution is a part of the future of video games. I don't think that it's the only future for it. The failure of the PSP Go is proof that digital distribution is not as far as some people would like to think. Video games aren't small files like music. Hell, they're even way bigger than movies.

But when you're seeing games getting bigger and bigger where you have 3 DVDs or an entire blu-ray disk filled up (I'm looking at you Final Fantasy XIII), I don't want to download games that take up almost 50GB of memory when I have an 80/120/160 GB hard drive. Add in the smaller games like Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty, DLC, etc. that I download from the PSN Store and my hard drive would be filled up far too quickly.

Or hell, I'll even use the PSP Go as an example which has 16GB of flash memory. Even if Sony allowed me to download all my old PSP games onto the system. I'll have to download Daxter (1.04 GB), Final Fantasy (not on the PSN Store), God of War: Chains of Olympus (1.29 GB), Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (1.2 GB), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (1.6 GB), Medievil: Resurrection (881 MB), Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (804 MB), Metal Gear Ac!d (not on PSN Store), Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (not on PSN store), Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (619 MB), Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (762 MB), and Secret Agent Clank (1.17 GB) and already I would have 9.366 GB already taken up.

Half of my space would already be taken out and that's not counting games that I want.

Downloadable titles should be the size of the PSP Minis which the largest I have seen is 75.2 MB and the smallest is 5 MB (there is also a 100 MB cap on them). Not hundreds of MB to almost 2 GB.

Frankly the future of media is not purely physical or purely digital. It will be a hybrid of digital and physical co-existing with one another.

 

[Batspider77]

hopefully its the DS 2....

http://uk.wii.gamespy.com/articles/106/1068235p1.html

 

[hippie_hunter]

Nintendo Everything is saying that it's the DS2.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Well, if it is the DS2, once again i was right.
Since last year i´ve been saying that the new generation would start in 2010, with new portables....

 

[hippie_hunter]

The rumoured DS2 development kits are in the hands of select developers in Japan - and include a motion-sensing function, CVG can reveal.

The biggest of the firms working with the device is The Pokemon Company, which CVG understands was the first business to be offered the dev kit.

A CVG insider at a third-party studio currently toying with DS2 said he was aware that "a handful" of other developers had been given the hardware on a trial basis.

However, Nintendo informed him that it was merely the first version of what will become the finished product. The platform holder is asking those trialling the hardware for feedback - but our man is certainly impressed.

"It's genuinely the best thing I think I've ever worked with," he said. "I can tell you that it's got a 'tilt' function that's not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more. We know that The Pokemon Company are getting special attention with it."

However, before our source went tight-lipped, he said he didn't expect the hardware to be shown at GDC.

"Any kind of March announcement wouldn't fit with the timeline I understand the second DS to be on," he added.

He wouldn't tell us any more for fear of being rumbled, but we'll keep digging.

So there you are folks, a motion-sensing handheld with definite Pokemon goodies on the way.

Unsurprisingly, a Nintendo rep told CVG today that they wouldn't comment on "rumour or speculation".

Fingers crossed for E3...

 

[Havok83]

Sony better add in a UMD drive in the PSP2.

I dont see why they should or would. UMDs are a thing of the past. They will ride them out while the current PSP is in production but expect it to be phased out and non-existant with their next handheld.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I dont see why they should or would. UMDs are a thing of the past. They will ride them out while the current PSP is in production but expect it to be phased out and non-existant with their next handheld.

Because most games that are sold on UMDs are just too damn big for downloads and handheld devices (PSP Go, iPod Touch/iPhone, Nintendo DSi) just don't have enough memory for them.

What makes iTunes Apps and DSiWare work and be massively successful is that they are incredibly small. The full fledged PSP games on the PlayStation Store are too big.

Sony has been criticized for a lack of a UMD drive in the PSP Go and the massive failure of the PSP Go while the PSP-3000 is selling very well should be the telling sign that the PSP2 should have:

A. A freaking UMD drive for the bigger games like Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Heats, Final Fantasy, God of War, and Grand Theft Auto.

B. Keep the 16GB flash drive to allow the PSP to compete with iTunes and DSiWare (which is something that Sony wants to do). PlayStation owners would love to play updated versions of cell phone games from the God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts series. And casual gamers would love to play smaller games.

C. A second joystick.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I just bought a DSi for Christmas

 

[Havok83]

Because most games that are sold on UMDs are just too damn big for downloads and handheld devices (PSP Go, iPod Touch/iPhone, Nintendo DSi) just don't have enough memory for them.

What makes iTunes Apps and DSiWare work and be massively successful is that they are incredibly small. The full fledged PSP games on the PlayStation Store are too big.

Sony has been criticized for a lack of a UMD drive in the PSP Go and the massive failure of the PSP Go while the PSP-3000 is selling very well should be the telling sign that the PSP2 should have:

A. A freaking UMD drive for the bigger games like Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Heats, Final Fantasy, God of War, and Grand Theft Auto.

B. Keep the 16GB flash drive to allow the PSP to compete with iTunes and DSiWare (which is something that Sony wants to do). PlayStation owners would love to play updated versions of cell phone games from the God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts series. And casual gamers would love to play smaller games.

C. A second joystick.

The average game is around 600-800 mb. I wouldnt say thats too big. Especially with technology changing so fast and things getting cheaper, by the time the PSP2 ever is released, it wont seem as huge. The complaints about the Go are LARGELY from PSP-3000 and earlier owners b-tching bc their games werent compatible. For a new owner, its a non-issue. I dont recall coming across many if any at all complaints about it being UMD-less bc one would have to download the games. For a PSP2, Sony will not have to worry about any valid complaints from anyone about that bc they will be starting from scratch.

UMDs are counterproductive for a handheld console. The system of carrying around game is very dated in todays market and technology. They are relatively big, take up alot of space, very cheap feeling. Keeping it out of the next version will help to keep loading times down as well as improve the charge time of the battery as theres quite a bit of power linked to using the thing.

Besides just bc they remove a UMD drive, does not mean they cant still sell games in store. They could have memory sticks with games on them. That would be a much cheaper, and space efficient option. I thought that was the route they were going with the Go, but they didnt. I see that as a more practical way to go rather than continue on with a soon to be obsolete media

 

[hippie_hunter]

The average game is around 600-800 mb.

Hence why half the games I have are over 1GB and most of the games I do want will certainly be over 1GB. And we're now seeing PSP games have DLC.

I wouldnt say thats too big.

When it's a 16GB flash drive, yes it is.

Especially with technology changing so fast and things getting cheaper, by the time the PSP2 ever is released, it wont seem as huge. The complaints about the Go are LARGELY from PSP-3000 and earlier owners b-tching bc their games werent compatible.

Dick move by Sony.

For a new owner, its a non-issue. I dont recall coming across many if any at all complaints about it being UMD-less bc one would have to download the games.

Until their flash drive gets filled up because the games are too damn big and the flash drive is too damn small.

For a PSP2, Sony will not have to worry about any valid complaints from anyone about that bc they will be starting from scratch.

I don't want to start from scratch.

UMDs are counterproductive for a handheld console. The system of carrying around game is very dated in todays market and technology. They are relatively big, take up alot of space, very cheap feeling. Keeping it out of the next version will help to keep loading times down as well as improve the charge time of the battery as theres quite a bit of power linked to using the thing.

UMDs are stupid for movies, but excellent for games. As graphics improve and games are getting bigger, they're going to take up more data space. UMDs would have accommodated for that while flash drives don't.

Besides just bc they remove a UMD drive, does not mean they cant still sell games in store. They could have memory sticks with games on them. That would be a much cheaper, and space efficient option. I thought that was the route they were going with the Go, but they didnt. I see that as a more practical way to go rather than continue on with a soon to be obsolete media

That would make more sense than going exclusively digital.

 

[Havok83]

Hence why half the games I have are over 1GB and most of the games I do want will certainly be over 1GB. And we're now seeing PSP games have DLC.


When it's a 16GB flash drive, yes it is.

Thats why the system has a memory stick drive for an infinite amount of storage. You get a 4 or 8gb stick and you can fit several UMD worth of games on that. You can carry as many of them as you want. Besides memory is always getting cheaper and prices are going down faster now than years ago. I remember my first ipod was a 20gb for the lower end model and now 120gb is what is standard. I expect the space in the PSP2 to be alot more than simply 16gb

Dick move by Sony.

Maybe which is why if and when the PSP2 comes out, they will most likely not have a UMD at all rather than removing it for a future revision in the middle of the system's life cycle

Until their flash drive gets filled up because the games are too damn big and the flash drive is too damn small.

Again, buy a memory stick. It takes care of that problem

I don't want to start from scratch.

thats a personal problem. When a company comes out with a new console, they shouldnt have to have it compatible with everything that came along with their older. The PSP2 will be their chance to start off with a blank slate

UMDs are stupid for movies, but excellent for games. As graphics improve and games are getting bigger, they're going to take up more data space. UMDs would have accommodated for that while flash drives don't.

I dont think they see it as a viable media. They were expecting it to be a revolution for the handheld market and it bombed with the movie stuff they were going. The iPhone has surprsingly snuck up as an actual contender. Its all about portability and the UMD limits that. And again, keeping the UMD is more cost efficeint, not only in producing hardware but the software as well

That would make more sense than going exclusively digital.

at least we can agree on something.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Maybe which is why if and when the PSP2 comes out, they will most likely not have a UMD at all rather than removing it for a future revision in the middle of the system's life cycle.

It will have a UMD drive, at least, that´s what i´ve read, that Sony said that the Go! was an experiment and the next portable will have a UMD once again.

Besides, if the PSP2 doesn´t have a UMD, no retail store will sell it.
That´s why a lot of retailers all over the world boycotted the Go!, because they couldn´t sell games for it.
Like Microsoft said about the Go!; it´s a good idea to make an all downloadable platform, but not feasable at this point.

Downloadable games, when not on the PC, have to be made progressivly, not create an all downloadable platform out of the blue.
That move by Sony was just stupid, and i believe they know it.

 

[Havok83]

It will have a UMD drive, at least, that´s what i´ve read, that Sony said that the Go! was an experiment and the next portable will have a UMD once again.

Besides, if the PSP2 doesn´t have a UMD, no retail store will sell it.
That´s why a lot of retailers all over the world boycotted the Go!, because they couldn´t sell games for it.
Like Microsoft said about the Go!; it´s a good idea to make an all downloadable platform, but not feasable at this point.

Downloadable games, when not on the PC, have to be made progressivly, not create an all downloadable platform out of the blue.
That move by Sony was just stupid, and i believe they know it.

retailers can and do sell PSP games for the Go. That hasnt changed anything