This Isn't Dumb, Trust Me

Hey, don't give me that look.

No, seriously.  Stop it. 

Just....just hear me out on this one.

So, alright.  I've been feeling kind of bad because the last two posts in a row were me just whining and grumbling about things instead of being enthusiastic and/or excited about something.  Or just interested in something.  Or just being positive whatsoever about something.  All that negativity isn't good, it's not healthy nor is it fun and personally I like fun.  So I was trying to find something out there on the interwebs that made me feel a pang of interest, of hopefulness, or -something- positive that I could work off of, and honestly nothing really came up initially.  I doubled back to Joystiq for the fourth time in hopes that I had missed something, or there'd be some late, great piece of news and eventually came across the image you see above and the post associated with it.  To be honest, I took a look at it and didn't really know what to think, so I did what I always do when I come to that cross-roads which is absolutely 100% not the smart thing to do - I read the comments.

All in all, it's about a 50/50 split between people saying 'it looks fucking stupid' and 'it's copying the Wii' which are both amazingly hilarious when you put them together and, as usual, it made me sigh and rub my head a little bit.  There was, however, a little useful tidbit to be gleaned from the mess, and it is the fact that the image, while indeed a patent image, is a tech patent and not a design one.  So take the look, whether you think it's stupid or simply a little strange and don't worry about it because that's not the actual design of anything.  It's a technological theory conveyed in an image in the easiest way to understand.  That's pretty much exactly what a tech patent is, since its whole goal is to give you something to wrap your mind around and the theory that this idea invokes is a rather fantastic one to me and it is the only reason why I dare speak of it in a positive light.

If you look at the two split controller designs we have now, the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo and the Move/Nav combo, you can see two attempts at a theory with their own faults and their own good points.  Nintendo's minimalist design is accessible, the accelerometer in the nunchuck makes it a viable motion tool, the actual motion control (with Motion+) is serviceable and it can technically be used multi-functionally (Not just a pointer, basically, but I refer to New Super Mario Bros.' twist controller to spin jump mechanic).  On the downside, however, being that Motion+ was an add-on that was barely imple it saw limited usage, it still wasn't totally precise and the overall lack of buttons hampered more 'advanced' ideas.  Sony's more ergonomic design was more comfortable and placed more buttons in the right areas, had the benefit of better tracking overall and had more potential from the thought-out tech.  It suffered from the poor choice in not putting an accelerometer in the Nav controller, offering less buttons overall than a controller, thus limiting its conformity and barely saw and proper implementation.

The issue both controllers suffered from was the fact that they were both not full controllers in their own right.  One analog stick per pair (while motion control all but replaced the need for a second stick, this did not factor in for usage of the second stick as a button, as some games use) less triggers (as standard seems to be two bumpers, two triggers now) and neither option offered you the ability to have a full experience without both 'component' controllers.  Essentially, neither option could offer you a full controller experience because both options are hampered by their own 'sub' controllers if you will.  (The Nunchuck and the Nav)  This, this is where the beauty of the idea, the theory, the image indicates comes in.  Imagine a Dualshock controller.  Now cut it in half.  Now imagine both halves are motion controllers.  Now imagine that you can take it apart/put it back together at your leisure because it serves as a regular controller and a motion controller at the same time.

That right there is the elegance and the actual smart area of the design.  It's forward progress in the space where nobody has been -able- to make it and it's the best of both worlds.  Let me spell it out in terms of an actual game application, though, instead of just saying "trust me, it's smart" because, well, that works better.  Let's use Skyrim as a reference despite the hilarious ineptitude Bethesda has displayed with the game and the add-on content of it, because I'm just using the core mechanics.  The 'big thing' in Skyrim is the ability, nay, the impetus to dual-wield things to destroy your enemies.  Any combination of weapons, spells or shields can be wielded together to whatever effect and the key ideal is that you are using both hands to their best effects. 

Now apply the split controller, the literal split motion controller to the idea.  You have the left portion of the Dualshock in your left hand that has you moving around, you have the right portion for menu controls like normal and when combat comes in, you can either attack as normal or you can use the motion controllers as intended and control things like that.  Prepare two different spells and fire at two different enemies at the same time because you just have to point and attack.  Bring the controllers together to merge the magic for the stronger cast while aiming at whatever it is.  Or bring up the menu with the buttons, switch to two swords or what have you and just swing and bash at whatever's near while using the analog stick to still move around as normal.  All this without a technical loss of functionality because you still have all the standard controls right there.

That, my friends, is an exciting prospect.  Unfortunately, its entire usefulness rests in whether or not Sony will adopt it as the 'standard' controller since, as both the Move and Nintendo themselves proved, providing something as an add-on or an accessory means you cannot count on it being actually used, thus defeating its entire purpose.  If, like Sixaxis, this functionality was built into the controller from the start, then it's there for developers to use as they would desire.  Yes, some will shoe-horn it in, and some will ignore it completely in lieu of going "Well, it's a normal controller", but the people that truly use it will prove that it is something of actual value.  This generation was a proof-of-concept and going forward with this idea would be a true statement of going 'next gen', since it would be a natural refinement.  We'll just have to see if they run with it, and I genuinely hope they will.  If nothing else, that is your PS4 hook right there, and if the PS4 will need anything, it will definitely be a hook.

The Mini Wii is Dumb

I wish we lived in a world where I could sit down and say "The Mini Wii is dumb" and list off its features and have the collective read it and go "Oh yeah, that is kind of dumb" without going into detail.  Because it would be so easy and this really doesn't need the kind of elaboration that I'll have to put into this post.  It is honestly baffling that this thing exists and I really don't think there's a way to actually hand-wave it whatsoever.  Don't get me wrong, it -will- be, and when pressed, such arguments will go nowhere and fast, but the important thing to realize is that there is really just no leg here to stand on.  Even from an unbiased stance, which I am clearly not unbiased, but I can see things as such, there are some major issues here and it's less about what it is than what it honestly could mean, or be implied.  If taken as a statement, which everything that isn't Nintendo yet is released to people who play games is apparently a statement of intent, then this is just yet another moment of Nintendo waving their arms frantically with no clear direction.

The easiest place to start is with the feature list of the Mini Wii so that whatever I say afterwards is in context and not me just blah blahing about how terrible shit is.  (Shit is terrible.)  As you can tell, the Mini Wii is...well, smaller.  The exact size, I don't know, but the already smaller Wii (at least, I think the latest Non-BC models were smaller) is now even smaller and I can't help but look at the picture above and suspect it's around the size of a PS3 Game Case, though perhaps a little thicker.  I'm probably way off, but the Wii is already small, so imagine that smaller and you're good to go.  Everything else, aside, it -does- look pretty neat, but I'm a sucker for Black and Red, so that would be the reason why for that.  It seems like the power and eject(?) buttons are the only buttons it has and I can't help but think that it opens from the top.  I could look it up, but honestly, it doesn't matter a whit, as that's all purely cosmetic and that really doesn't determine whether a thing is dumb or not.

Now, being as small as it is, you're probably wondering how it has the stuff that the Wii itself has, like USB Ports, a Wi-Fi receiver (but no ethernet port because whyyyyyyy), storage and the like, and if you weren't, you probably are now.  It's a valid thing to wonder about, and absolutely none of that is known to the public because why would we need to know that when it comes out in two weeks, except the whole Wi-Fi situation.  You see, the Mini Wii cannot connect to the internet.  At all.  For any reason.  Reasons that are emblazoned on Nintendo's Official Wii Page.  Reasons like....online multi-player (like with Animal Crossing:  City Folk that came bundled with Wii Speak so you could talk to your friends while you played Animal Crossing online) or watching Netflix or similar services (which is currently being touted....what, everywhere?) or even buying/downloading Virtual Console games.  You know, the games from the past that are apparently the golden days of gaming and everything was sugar and rainbows and Nintendo games were so good we have so much nostalgia for them to this day?  The games people got really excited to be able to play again in an entirely legal way?  Yeah.  Those games.  Not on the Mini Wii.

So, alright, that's....that's fine, I guess, because it's probably really cheap, right?  Right?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, because the Wii is pretty cheap already so long as you're not buying all sorts of goddamn accessories for it that are vital for only one game here and there, but no, because it's $99.  Now, I was under the impression that the Wii itself, like the (new) basic one that you can go out anywhere and buy one of because everybody wanted one for a while there but not so much anymore, was selling for $99.  I was....not wrong, but the thing is, you cannot find just a Wii by itself for sale first-hand.  Every Wii for sale out there is bundled with at least a game for around $120-$130.  So take out the cost of the game, and you're basically looking at $99 for the starter kit for the Wii which is exactly what's bundled with the Mini Wii.  A Sensor Bar (which isn't optional), a Wiimote Plus (as in a Wii Remote that has Motion+ built into it already for all of five games that support it without paying the extra $20) and a Nunchuck, plus the cables that are standard which you kind of have to include unless it's the 3DS XL in places that aren't America which means that I guess they are not standard to Nintendo.

Oh, and it can't play GameCube games.  But that's not new.  You....you knew about that, right?  That Wiis made in the last year or so don't have GC backwards compatibility.  Because they don't.  I wasn't sure if you heard.  BC is kind of a sticky point for people in other cases.  Apparently not with Nintendo, I guess, but I suppose this is just me being petty at this point.

If, for whatever reason, you really really want a Mini Wii because you hate Online things and don't currently own a Wii or something, then you'll have to wait until December 7th when it launches exclusively in Canada.  Oh, I didn't mention that?  Yeah, it's Canada exclusive through the 'holiday season', so you can't buy it anywhere else.  If you'd even want to.  I mean, personally, I think you'd be better off buying a Wii that is the same cost and has a game and can connect to the internet, or even a Wii U that plays Virtual Console games and won't upscale Wii games at all or anything and you still have to play them with the Wiimote, and possibly not play them online either?  Okay, so maybe you're just better off buying a regular Wii.  If you really really want to play Wii games with the firm knowledge that you can play it online if the game supports it (protip:  it probably won't), or you just want to jump on the Virtual Console and don't want to shell out for a Wii U, then there you go.  But I guess if you want to support Nintendo completely and totally giving the finger to Online after just releasing a system that is supposed to be super-duper online friendly and don't worry that that's really conflicting signals at all then, hey.  Go for it.

Epic Mickey 2 is Finally a Real Thing

It's been rumored and leaked and talked about openly as a factual product for a while now, but Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (now with title!) is an announced commodity.  The interesting thing here is that while its predecessor was a Wii-Exclusive title, the Sequel will find itself on the Playstation 3, XBox 360 and, of course, the Wii, spreading the magic of Disney into even more living rooms than before.  Or....something to that effect, I'm sure.  Having not played the first title, for the reason mentioned, that it was on a console that I simply don't have the leisure to play, I find that I'm really lacking reasons as to how I find this in the least interesting.  It's certainly the biggest story of the day, however, at least what I could find, so I thought I -had- to at least touch on it a little bit.

Of course, that's not the only Epic Mickey story that's been in the news lately, as word has been tossed about of a possible 3DS version of the Sequel or at least some iteration of the series itself.  If it's not the sequel, it's possible that the game might have the tagline of "Power of Illusion" which seems to allude to a series of Mickey games from years past, way back to the days where Console Wars meant yelling at your friends that the Sega Genesis (Or Mega Drive) was better because of the games and such, and/or yelling at your friends that the SNES was better because of the games and such.  We didn't really have a lot, back then, looking back on it.  Just mostly the first-party line-up and the general differences between the consoles themselves, which had better graphics and which had better sound and the like.  That link also offers you a more thorough look into the storied history of Epic Mickey 2's long-foreshadowed existence that I'm simply not too inclined to overly detail here.

Something I am admittedly curious about with the reveal that Epic Mickey 2 will be on the PS3 and 360 is just how it will look and control.  One would think that, to achieve the best look on all three platforms, the way to go is to design for one of the HD consoles first (It would be better to lead on PS3, since it's pretty much simpler to port to 360 from it, rather than the other way around) and then port from there.  The Wii version obviously can't push the same graphics, but with a little care and a good art style (which I do believe Epic Mickey has), it won't look bad on it.  Of course, how I expect it to go is that development will lead on the Wii, since the assets (that will likely be reused to cut costs) were designed for it and then it's probably not that hard a matter to up-res for the PS3/360, which, again, if the art style holds up, will not result in bad looking graphics.  Not the best, but not awful.

Of course, that Epic Mickey utilized the Wiimote begs the question of whether or not it will do the same for the Sequel, which will then implement the Move and Kinect, or if it will eschew that for more 'traditional' controls to placate the majority of the people that will play it?  I'm going to level with you here, I have -very little knowledge- of how Epic Mickey played, so how simple a task, or how difficult, I have absolutely no idea.  I am pretty sure that it played a heavy part in it, something like painting the world back into existence or something, but I could be wrong.  Regardless, the only way I'll be interested in this is if we get an HD port of the original since, as I believe I've stated here several times, I hate jumping into a game's story unaware and will just straight-up refuse to play a game if I can't first play the story that came before.  Still, like I said, it's news!

Update!:  It's a minor one but apparently Epic Mickey 2 will support Move but not Kinect.  I guess it was a little far-fetched to think that they could make it work with the controller and Kinect, because so far, only a couple games have said functionality announced.  (One of them being Steel Battalion, I believe.)

Update 2!:  So, when it rains, it pours, I guess.  Thanks to a Nintendo Power cover, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for the 3DS has been confirmed as well.

Localization News Ahoy!

So, there have been various tongues a-waggin' about Xenoblade Chronicles ever since it saw a PAL-only launch (aside the Japanese launch) a few months back and they were all saying roughly the same thing:  "This is a great damn game."  And for those of us who are usually the bearers of such news to the PAL-Land folks, this was a really, really terrible feeling, since Nintendo of America refused to acknowledge that the game was going to come out here.  Now, we all sort of figured it would, especially after the whole Operation:  Rainfall scenario (which has two games yet to have localized before they're 'done') played out, but it was always one of those things that could have just not happened, especially with the surprising amount of silence surrounding the whole thing.

Now, I only have a tenuous (at best) connection to the game in that the 'Xeno-' prefix brings up good (and less good) memories of Xenogears and Xenosaga (respectively) which only the latter were made by the same team (Monolith Soft) which gives me even more pause.  Xenosaga Episode 1 was fine enough, and I've heard several good things about 3 (and would be willing to put in a few of those good things, though I haven't played all of it), but Episode 2 was just.....just awful.  Really, really bad.  And it's such a shame, too, because that series could've been amazing, especially if they went with the original plan and had it spaced out over the original amount of games they wanted (I believe it was six with rumblings of a possible 're-telling' of Xenogears for one of the episodes), but they caved to entirely too much pressure by the 'fans' and ended up with a terrible product as a result.  While there's something to be said for a team that will do what they can to please their fans, there's also something to be said about keeping true to your original vision, which I highly doubt they did.

As I've said time and time again, I'm really not a Wii person.  If anything, I'll pick up a few titles (to complement the two games I own for the system:  Madworld and Animal Crossing:  City Folk) when and if I grab a Wii-U, so long as backwards compatibility keeps and play them then, so this news doesn't bring a whole lot of excitement to me.  I'm glad that the game didn't get stuck in Europe and Japan to never see the shores of people who spell 'armor' without a u, but I can't be super hyped about it because I can't really play it and even if I could....I probably wouldn't.  I have far too many games as it is, as we all know, and working through them will be what I'm most concerned with.  But I can be happy for something that doesn't directly impact me and I am, quite so.

However, speaking on something that does directly impact me, and very much so, there's a bit of a clarification that I think I need to make about the whole "International Version" of Final Fantasy Type-0 I brought up the other day.  While at the Penny Arcade forums, I lamented the fact that it was labeled as an International Version and grumbled about what that meant, where I was then told that it was called an "overseas version" in the interview that Andriasang reported on and it is, in fact, typed as such.  I'm guessing this means that the possibility of the game coming to America shot from "Good" to "Gonna happen" just like that, but I'm personally not going to let my hype meter go up until I get something more official.  Still, it is probably happening, but as to the way, the when and the how, that's all up in the air for now.

And that's really the hardest thing to figure on, so far as Type-0 goes because it's pretty much a given that it won't set the sales charts on fire; at least, not initially.  People don't -buy- PSP games enough, apparently, (outside of Japan, at least) so it'll come over to tepid sales at best, which means they have to be thinking about the best level of 'control' over the sales and profits.  That would, logically enough, make me think that they would do a PSN-only release of the game, so that, yes, people will still pirate the hell out of it, but at the same time, they're not paying to manufacture the UMDs (two per game, remember), the manuals (though they'll still have to be translated for the digital version), cases and sleeves for every copy of the game, yet still selling it for $40.  (You know they will).  But this is Squeenix we're talking about, and to say their support of PSN has been consistently good is....well, just a flat-out lie.  They're getting better about it, but there are still glaring examples of their games just not on the PS Store.

I guess we'll just have to see how it works out.  Either way, UMD version or PSN only (or both, but if there's a UMD version, it will be mine) I'm going to grab it and hopefully be able to passport it onto my Vita (since it'll likely be out by then) and have some fun with it.  Because after all the things I've seen and specifically pointed out here about the game, I can't see how you could not have fun, which is something I find strange to be able to say about a Squeenix game again.  It's been a while, honestly, but I'm glad that there's still genuine good talent in Squeenix, even if I'd be more willing to bet a Perfect Storm situation happened than good planning.  Still, the results are what counts here and the result is that Type-0 looks fantastic.

Nintendo Announces the Wii U.....'s controller.

So, for everyone that was awake and watching Nintendo's conference at whatever ungodly hour it was on (I'm kidding, of course, 9 AM PDT isn't bad), you got the first look at the new controller for Project Cafe', revealed today to be the "Wii U".  The idea behind the name is that "we" got our chance to play together at parties and such, and this next one is just for "you".  Or something to that effect.  Anyways, Nintendo went around this in a bit of an odd way, as they really did only show off the controller.  And while that's all well and good, when we see This, and are told it's actually the console behind the controller, we're only left to wonder why.  Is it not finished?  It certainly looks a little sterile and....not 'generic', but you know what I'm driving at here, which, let's face it, that's how the Wii looked as well, so it could very well be the final design. 

But that's not really important.  What's important is what the Wii U can do and, by proxy, what the controller can do.  Because apparently the controller's screen is capable of outputting the exact same images as the Wii U can put on the TV.  Because a main selling point is that when someone else wants to use the TV, you get to say, "SURE, OKAY, LET ME JUST SWITCH THIS AND" BAM, you're playing your game, but on the controller.  Like...not only -with- the controller, but -on- it.  Like Remote Play, but Nintendo has assured us it will have no latency issues.  Pardon me if I'm a bit skeptical on that, though, Nintendo.

While the Wii U touts complete backwards compatibility with the Wii, I can't help but be left wondering how.  Especially using the controller.  Will you even be able to?  Like, are you going to be able to play a Wii game on the controller?  If so, are you expected to replace the Wiimote's pointing with the stylus? What does this say for the controller style of the Wii U; have they abandoned the Wiimote as a pointer, or will some games still default to Mote-Chucking?

None of these questions were answered.  None of any of the questions were answered, for that matter.  Releases sometime in 2012.  No price.  No specs given (in the keynote, there is a site up now) and nothing much else beyond "Here's what this looks like.  Cool, right?  Alright, see you next year."  Which is a little disappointing, considering how good it honestly could be.  So what we're left with is a good step forward, rather than a leap into the now, and the 'better-than'.

Nintendo pushed a lot of good buttons with this one, and while I'm excited for it, I'm nowhere near as excited as I should be.  So while this wasn't, by far, Nintendo's entire E3 show, this should have been the thing that put it in writing that Nintendo had the best E3 showing, and it didn't.  Still good, but only second place good, for me.

House of the Dead: Overkill announced for PS3

Pictured:  Improper Aiming Priorities.

In a not-so-surprising move, Sega has announced that House of the Dead:  Overkill will be the latest game to join the ranks of "Formerly Wii Exclusive" titles, in an attempt to capitalize on the invent of Move.  As Joystiq and Siliconera report, the up-port, in addition to featuring obviously better graphics and the almost obligatory 3D TV option, the game will come with two new scenarios made exclusively for the Extended Edition, which, well, makes sense given the title.  So, come October, Move owners will be able to shoot things and hear the word 'Fuck' said so many times, it loses all meaning.  Apparently.

Honestly, I'm not too excited; House of the Dead games haven't really had an impact on me at all as I only recall playing it once in one of those gigantic, awesome arcade units with the foot pedal to take cover and the giant red and blue guns attached to a cord way too small.  Which, admittedly, was fun, but not something that I necessarily need in a home setting, especially on my own.  Although I have to admit, Overkill looks like a bit of fun from what I remember after seeing a bit of it Livestreamed a while back....but maybe I'm forgetting or misremembering.

So why talk about it?  Clearly, I usually only bring up announcement of titles here that fill me with something resembling excitement, so if I don't care about the game, why even show it off?  Well, the answer is fairly simple.  I'm hoping that this title is a precursor to a similar port of Sega's other over-the-top-violent game, sent out as an attempt to make the Wii more than the 'cutesy, family console' that, honestly, probably didn't go over too well.  (Not that I'm saying the Wii is only good for family titles, of course.  Just stating one of those general stereotypes for this gen that just won't go away.)

Yes, I'm talking about Madworld.  (Clearly, I mean, the box art is right there.)  While most people will tell you that it's a bad game I tell you....well, that I don't know.  As I've stated several times, my Wii-time is and has been limited, so even though I purchased a copy f Madworld a while back, I've only really played the first level, which pleasantly surprised me.  You just don't see the Extreme gore and humor combination much these days, so, for me at least, it's a bit refreshing when it comes about again.  And hey, Bender is one of the announcers.  (Okay, not Bender, but John Di Maggio all the same)

Even though my experience with the title is limited, I'd almost assuredly buy Madworld HD on sight, if just to enjoy trapping a man with a tire, impaling him with a street sign, and then throwing him against a wall of spikes in the comfort of a seated position, rather than the standing one afforded by our Wii placement.  (Not that I couldn't bring over a chair but, hey, Effort.)  So, here's hoping.

Speaking of Sega getting off their asses and giving us stuff to buy, Where's Valkyria Chronicles 3?

Jerks.

More Chrono Trigger Stuff

 So while we all found out last month that the second best version of Chrono Trigger will be playable on the PS3 and PSP at the tentative date of 'Sometime', which is now, 'Sometime in the future' given the PSN outage, it was only earlier this month that we found out the Top Best version of Chrono Trigger was heading to the Virtual Console.  I hadn't mentioned it before now, but hey, there it is.  And it's release date is less 'Sometime' and more 'Monday, May 16th.'.

That's a lot of links.

Anyway, as for most of my posts about Chrono Trigger, I feel the need to do a little explaining.  I'm not usually much of a gaming snob in the least, so for me to say that one version of a game is great and another is poor because of some of the content in it, is a little out of my way.  But we all have that one game or so that we just can't help but be picky about.  I'm sure for a lot of people, that game would be Final Fantasy 7, for others, possibly Ico (Given that there were a ton of people on the edge of their seats to find out whether the version of Ico included in the Ico/SotC Collection would be the NA or PAL Version.  It's PAL, btw.) or some other game.  We just can't help it.  These games were formative games in relations to our enjoyment or our actually stepping into this hobby.  So we want everything to be perfect for when they're inevitably retouched for the unknowing masses of a later age.

But regardless, the version of Chrono Trigger that will go up on the Wii's Virtual Console will be the classic SNES version, untouched by the new age, and fit for the highest nostalgia-factor for those of us who would know the feeling.  If you've got a Wii, got some space and some Wii Points, and you like good things, well, this is a no-brainer.

Welp, That Tastes Like Egg on my Face.

So, remember that time when I was vehement in my assertion that I didn't think a new Nintendo Console was in-bound (More because of the rumors about the power), but then open to the possibilities the rumors created?  Well, now it's time for us to see about those rumors, since Nintendo wants to make me look like a dick.  (Not really.)

To whom it may concern:

Re: Wii's successor system

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.

We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Sales of this new system have not been included in the financial forecasts announced today for the fiscal term ending March 2012.

So, now we know that this is a thing that is happening.  But still, I haven't been proven completely wrong on my assertions, as nothing aside from the codename and the release window has been put out there.  Still, after being so wrong on the very idea that they'd put out a console so close to their new portable, it's hard telling what else I'm wrong about.  But I'm totally prepared to say that I was wrong here, since I'm assuredly excited by the prospects if every rumor is true.

As for why I didn't think they'd release the Next Console so close to the 3DS, that much is obvious, but now that, well, we know it's happening, I'm going to figure the reason why is because of a planned parity between the two things.  Sort of like the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, which were both released in the same year.  As we know, certain games had connectivity things between their portable and console versions (The Harvest Moon games are all that come to mind), not to mention the Multiplayer aspect having Four Swords Adventure and friends with GBAs offered.  (I believe this was with a few other games as well.  I skipped a lot of GameCube and GBA stuff, unfortunately and quick research isn't paying very nice dividends.)

The idea that this new controller for the new console is going to have a screen, motion sensors and, well, buttons, lends itself well to the theory that 3DS units will possibly be able to have the almost exact same function with this new Console, if not something more advanced.  In fact, I'd really put a lot of weight behind the idea that there's going to be a lot of inter-connectivity, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing.  I like it in all the ways it's been done with the PS3/PSP, even though some of them have been, well, fairly minimal, so it's a proven concept as far as I think.

Time will tell, I guess.  E3 can't come fast enough, now.

On Motion Gaming: Waggling with the Best of Them

So, between the new(?) rumors that the new Nintendo console's remote will have touchscreen, motion controls (Which....isn't news?  I mean, the first was talked about and the second is a given.  You're slipping, Joystiq.  Just because Kotaku shot themselves in the gut doesn't mean you can get lazy now.) and the announcement of the Razer Hydra PC Motion Controller with a Portal 2 bundle, the topic of motion controls is fairly fresh in the mindset of the news-minded gamer.

So first off, let's address something that bugged me from the moment I read about the Razer in the headline.  This thing is basically launching with this thing, yet, Portal 2 will not (er, does not yet, but, y'know, won't) support Move.  Come on, Valve, I was massively warming up to you; let's do something about this, yeah?  I want to like you more.  Anyways, that's just a little bit of a side-track.

Motion gaming is a thing.  Clearly, if it's even penetrated the PC market so seamlessly (ignoring all the Kinect hacks from months ago, since, well, I'm talking about controller-based motion gaming) then it's not going anywhere.  Despite the vocal out-cry against it, I imagine the support of Valve will speak volumes for it's place in the market and certainly solidify it as a staple, at least for now.  So now the question isn't "When is Motion Gaming going to die?", but more, "Well, what are we going to do with Motion Gaming now that it's around?"  Which is clearly the rub, here.

Besides some fairly creative uses, (I'm sure there are more, obviously) a fair bit of the actual usages of the respective Motion wands have been for shooting things.  Granted, while it makes it easier and more engrossing (I imagine), feeding the FPS overlords should likely be secondary at this point.  There's plenty of them.  There's going to be plenty more, and that much being given is a little, well, not disappointing or anything, it's just a thing.  Even when you consider, well, like Portal 2, that's still just an FPS game, though you're shooting portals instead of bullets.  (There's obviously more differences, but I'm talking in the context of motion gaming here.)

I'll be the first to admit I was nowhere near a champion of motion gaming when it was up-and-coming (Nor would I say that I am now, but I do see it as a thing that can be good) but after handling it a bit between the Wii and my Playstation Move, I'm more than willing to say that it is a viable platform to deliver something good, despite the stigma attached.  It's just something different.  Not better, not worse, really not even the same thing, hence, different.  I would even imagine the next gen, whenever it may be, will bring more and more to the table as it becomes a more accepted approach.

So, with all the focus on controller-assisted motion gaming, where does that leave Kinect?  Obviously it's not going anywhere, given the sales juggernaut it's been, but many, many would argue that it offers a fun experience (which could be argued is the only point that matters), it might not offer quite the best technical experience just yet.  Broad strokes, rather than detailed touches, if you will.  Which is not a damning statement of it, of course, but to say that it doesn't need to change anything for a future incarnation would be a flat-out lie, unless you simply just don't -want- it to evolve.

Honestly, I'm sure on some level, we all want what Kinect is supposed to be (insert JPEG of Minority Report here), and if it could deliver on that, it'd be accepted far more than it has been.  But it's just not -there- yet, which is sort of a shame, given the actual implementations such a thing could hold, but then again, it just gives us the hope for the future.  Though I'll go out on a limb and say that I just don't believe Kinect or any interface without a direct input (read: buttons) can get to as fine-tuned as necessary for practical gaming usage anytime soon, which is why I envision the next series of Motion Controllers being a hybrid of what we have now.  While they all have some degree of body tracking, Kinect's is by far the best, but for precision would obviously go to Move/Wii.  Having the best of both worlds just seems like a natural next step.

With any luck, we'll start seeing more and more varied usage of the motion gaming as it grows and extends its grip beyond its current borders, to PC, portable devices (touch controls as well), and to say we haven't yet is a lie, but seeing people excited for it for games other than point-and-shoot types would be a nice sight to become more and more common.