OMG Nintendo

The ever-nearing US release of the DSi has been a mixture of Good News and Bad News to those who pay close attention to Nintendo hardware.

The Good News is that they will still be able to play their old DS games, since the DSi isn't really an upgrade in that fashion. They will also have a whole new library of games with DSiWare to look forward to, as well as a host of multi-media functions.

The Bad News is that, with the GBA slot gone, they will be losing a very well-loved library entirely, as well as losing features on DS games that give special bonuses when interacting with specific games in the GBA slot. (Pokemon fans in particular may be miffed by this, since they won't be able to bring their older Pokemon with them to the new games).

Of course, they could always hold onto their DS Lites for as long as possible, but if something happens where the systems break down and/or get lost, there is the fear of not being able to get a replacement.

For the moment, the DS Lite isn't going anywhere but there is the very real possibility of it being phased out once the DSi really gets going. When asked about the potential for the DS Lite being phased out in time, Nintendo rep David Yarton would only say:

We'll let the market decide. We expect some people will upgrade, but we also anticipate that we'll win over people who were still undecided on DS — the extra features will help convince them. There's an extra incentive.

Will the camera, DSiWare and multi-media functions really convince enough people to "upgrade" away from some of their older, beloved games, as well as convince Pokemon fans they don't really need their Emerald Pokemon in Saphire?

What do you think?

Given how the DSi has added features beyond its ability to play DS games (such as the very prominant camera and some of the less prominant other multi-media functions) it almost seems that Nintendo has grown concerned over mobile gaming available through cellphones and I-Pods/Phones. The theory behind this line of thinking is that if Nintendo wasn't concerned, they wouldn't be adding features that would make people who can afford one but not both go "Well, I'd like the DS, but with that I-Pod/Phone/Whatever I can have games and music and websurfing and whatnot all at once."

The questions about this theory have been brought to the attention of some of the higher-ups at Nintendo from time to time and it seems as if at least one man has had a response ready for them.

So, I'm still playing Moon, heading into what I think is the game's last dungeon. Like I said last time I wrote about Moon, this is a good if somewhat inexplicable game... but it succumbs to one heartbreaking flaw. I'm not calling Renegade Kid out for this especially hard, because a lot of really great games have embraced this idiotic design flaw, too.

I'm talking about the Mandatory Racing Sequence, where a game's standard play - which is not racing - briefly stops. You are then forced to play some sort of racing game if you want to proceed.  The idea behind the Mandatory Racing Sequence seems to be that developers are concerned that players will get bored just doing one thing (even if it's what a player bought the game to do). The race is meant to be a little change-up in gameplay that will keep players interested.

Problem: these racing sequences are almost always a thousand times worse than anything else the game has to offer. Either the developers didn't have time to build a proper engine for the racing sequence and the controls are awkward, or whatever they did build is too unpolished to be any fun. What was meant as a fun distraction becomes a hateful chore.

So the game I'm working my way through now is Renegade Kid's Moon, published by Mastiff. As a technical achievement it's marvelous, one of the few true N64-quality titles to come out of third parties on DS. It's been a busy week so I'm only about halfway through it, even though the game isn't especially long. 

Now, Moon is an FPS. Not the first on the DS, but by far one of the more successful and original efforts ever to grace the system. I'm having fun with it, but I have to say: I keep wondering why this game exists, and who was supposed to want it so bad they'd run out and buy it the first day it was out. Moon is a beautiful, thoughtfully made game, but one where I can't begin to imagine who would really want to play it.

The Smash Bros. Brawl Dojo updated recently with a guide to the All-Star Mode you unlock by getting all of the characters. Stephen Totilo at MTV Multiplayer noticed something rather strange about a few paragraphs toward the end of the page, presumably written by Masahiro Sakurai.

When theyre all lined up like this, it becomes obvious that there is roughly 6-year blank before and after Pikmin. While there have been big series since then like "Animal Crossing," "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day," and "Wii Sports" it does seem that coming up with a completely new character-driven series has gotten more difficult recently.

Is it really difficulty cutting back on the number of major new characters, though? While it is certainly difficult to come up with a truly memorable face given how saturated gaming is with nostalgic icons, is it more likely that people aren't doing this because there's just not money in it anymore?

It's a slow news day, so it's time for another essay. This time I want to address some of the absolutely shocked reactions I got in public and in private when people found out about the utterly cavalier way I was using my Gold Hammers in Brawl.

See, you get a total of five Gold Hammers in Brawl. If you want to unlock everything, some of the later challenge requests are brutally difficult, or simply require you to do things you'd probably never want to do in the course of just playing through what the game has to offer. People who were really serious about doing all of the unlocks would never, ever use the Gold Hammers the way I have.

Of course, I keep stating "I don't really want to unlock everything, I just want all the stuff that makes Brawls more fun." Characters, stages, Assist Trophies, that's pretty much it. Somehow this doesn't sink in, and I keep getting advice on unlocking things I don't actually want.

At what point did it become an obligation for gamers to complete every optional goal in a game?

I'm sure for some of you this is like asking "Are awesome things awesome?" but bear with me. See, Kotaku dug up something else interesting in the giant blat of EA presentation images that yielded up the Nerf Blaster Controller pic: a chart of comparative 2007 average review scores by publisher, as tabulated by EA from Metacritic scores.

Obviously EA is mostly interested in their own score, but there's all kinds of interesting conclusions to draw from this thing. What draws my interest is how high Nintendo's average review score is, even given that 2007 was the year of such first-party disasters as Mario Party 8.

I wonder: is this score deserved, or is it the result of selection bias among reviewers? If you're in this business you were probably a kid during the NES or SNES revolutions, and Nintendo has probably more brand-oriented fansites publisher reviews than anyone else. Are Nintendo's games really the best, or are we as life-long gamers inclined to believe they are?

Few people would argue that the Nintendo DS is the best portable on the market now, and the people who would are basically insane. Now, would you argue that the Nintendo DS is the best portable ever? How about that it's the only system called a portable that's really fit the name? That's a bigger argument, but mighty guest blogger and web comic guy John Hurst has decided to make it. Check behind the cut to get readin'.

It's hard to say Masaya Matsuura doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to music games. So when he criticizes music gameplay driven by hits like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's time to listen. At a Friday morning speech at last week's DICE summit in Las Vegas, he did exactly that.

"The recent success of music games in the US has been based on licensed music," he said. "It is necessary to move beyond this."

"We're wasting our use of music," he said.

"The contents of a game are passion and energy," said Matsuura. "If they become subordinate to other factors, it is game over."

He also denounced all uses of violence as a gameplay mechanic, claiming that violent games hurt and embarrass the industry.

"It may be one of the most straightforward ways to design a game, but I don't think the future is bright for our industry if we have games that motivate the player to use physical attacks as a way of establishing superiority," he said.

He told a room full of people to stop making almost all of the games they were working on because they were intrinsically terrible. Hardcore.