Topic: Nintendo Patent Reveals Potential Paradigm Shift in Design

[VixyNyan]

Greg says (19:51):
Also, I just read an interesting idea by Nintendo

Greg says (19:51):
http://kotaku.com/5127251/nintendo-patent-reveals-potential-paradigm-shift-in-design

Rebecca says (20:16):
Oh I read it this morning. It's actually a helpful way for other people to get into a game. ^^

Greg says (20:16):
I think it's a great idea actually

Rebecca says (20:16):
Other "gamers" doesn't agree, especially at Gonintendo

Rebecca says (20:17):
They want the game to be harder. XD

Rebecca says (20:17):
In before those Tier players

Greg says (20:17):
They're not paying attention then

Greg says (20:17):
This takes NOTHING away from the actual game

Rebecca says (20:17):
It doesn't

Greg says (20:17):
You don't have to use it.  The game can still be hard and challenging

Rebecca says (20:18):
I mean, I can just kick ass at it as much as I want, and if I show my accomplishments, someone else can benefit from it. It's win-win.

Greg says (20:18):
Exactly

Rebecca says (20:18):
^-^

Rebecca says (20:18):
Just like my game videos

Rebecca says (20:18):
And the Brawl replays

Rebecca says (20:18):
It shows that Nintendo has the technology

Greg says (20:18):
You're awesome Videos!

Rebecca says (20:18):
:3 meow

Greg says (20:19):
Go Nintendo Go!  XD

Rebecca says (20:20):
They are visual guides, something I ALWAYS wanted to make ever since I had the ability to create websites

Rebecca says (20:21):
Video recording wasn't as easy to get into as it is now.

Rebecca says (20:21):
Back in the 90's, you always had to go buy a strategy guide or wait for a special issue of a magazine to get tips and tricks and help.

Greg says (20:22):
Yep

Greg says (20:22):
I remember those days

Rebecca says (20:22):
But now, we can just plug our game systems into our PCs, and record a small session of gaming, and it shows things more clearly, step-by-step. XD

Rebecca says (20:23):
Anyway, I'll use this system as much as I can, for others

Greg says (20:23):
Hurray for Technology!  XD

Rebecca says (20:23):
Speaking of that technology, We already got those in Replay save data for games like Mario Kart. You could save "Ghost Data". :3

Rebecca says (20:24):
It shows how you can get a fast time on a course

Greg says (20:24):
Yeah, good point

Rebecca says (20:24):
That's how it all works really

Rebecca says (20:24):
It's "helping" the gamer

Rebecca says (20:24):
Not making things worse. They learn something from it.

[Acid]

Doesn't this... ruin the essence of a "game"?

[Protoman Blues]

Not really.  Again, you don't ever have to use it.  It just seems like an added option to those gamers who just can't seem to do it.  Almost like a included vid GameFaqs.

[Acid]

I still find it hard to see the point in this. But I bet my ass this is the first news on the new Zelda game. And I'd bet my entire ass.

[HyperSonicEXE]

Where was this when I had Final Fantasy IX?! I got so bored of Disc 3, I stopped playing.

Mario Kart DS; watched vids to learn how to Snake.
Mega Man 9; watched speed runs, and now my latest score on Special stage is 02:36:78.
Mario Kart Wii; how on Earth did these guys get some of these times? This'll show it.

And I'm sure this is useful for other games, as well. I know Super Mario Galaxy has a few Purple Coins that the average person would probably never find (or not have the patience to find).

Anyway, this is optional, so no loss.

[Protoman Blues]

I still find it hard to see the point in this. But I bet my ass this is the first news on the new Zelda game. And I'd bet my entire ass.

Your whole ass?  I'll take that bet!

[HyperSonicEXE]

This could also take the grinding out of RPGs, and make a character being a certain level canon.

[Acid]

They should name this project " STOP BUYING OUR GAMES AND WATCH THEM ON YOUTUBE".

[Solar]

This is interesting, no doubt, but I don't think I really get it x__x

[Alice in Entropy]

Bizzare. Yet also interesting. Trust Nintendo to create something this out-there.

But I bet my ass this is the first news on the new Zelda game.

Actually, that's pretty much what I thought.

[Saber]

They should name this project " STOP BUYING OUR GAMES AND WATCH THEM ON YOUTUBE".

Seriously, despite their quite remarkable and noble intentions, Nintendo somewhat begins to [acid burst] me off regarding their casual gamer politics since they launched the Wii. Innovations are good and all, but in my opinion, Nintendo should stop all this experimental stuff. Well, the Japanese will most likely love it, but it annoys me somewhat.

[Protoman Blues]

But it's making them a fuckton of money.  There's no reason for them to stop.

[Saber]

But it's making them a fuckton of money.  There's no reason for them to stop.

Which pisses me off even more.

[Protoman Blues]

Ahhh.  So the Wii Sports announcement a few days ago probably didn't help either.

[HyperSonicEXE]

Well, it's a potentially good idea. An immersive way for people to learn Expert tricks, or just cut out the bad parts of the game (say you bought a game, but it wasn't fun to you, just download a save, watch the game play itself out, take over for the final battle, voila. Done. Go trade it in for $$$).

Then, of course, it could be bad. Posted on YouTube, this could really spoil a ton of things, and result in a loss of sales.

We'll see.

EDIT: Oh, Wii Sports wouldn't have "sold" as many as it did if it weren't bundled with the Wii console. Yeah, SMB was bundled with the NES at times, but that game actually would have been bought, whereas Wii Sports would be nowhere if it weren't bundled with the console. Remember this when Wii Sports Resort comes around and doesn't sell.

[VixyNyan]

As if Tutorials wasn't enough. ^^;

[Saber]

Ahhh.  So the Wii Sports announcement a few days ago probably didn't help either.

I think I've made myself rather clear numberous times that I STILL oppose the Wii Remote and Nintendo's attract-people-who-would-never-play-videogames politics. Chances of me buying a Wii would have been far above 50% if that damn thing had a regular controller like all over consoles do. I may be quite ignorant on this, but I want to play my games the way I always did and I don't give a damn that you can play Smash Brothers with a GameCube controller, it's just ONE game.

[Acid]

Isn't the Wii a console that relies on "doing it yourself"? I mean that's the entire philosophy behind the wiimote. Now making this is like cutting your own throat.

[VixyNyan]

The only saving grace so far is the Virtual Console, and some core Wii and WiiWare games.

[HyperSonicEXE]

and some core Wii [...] games.

And MarioKart Wii isn't one of them.

*hides the sales charts*

BACK! BACK FOUL DEMONS! MARIO KART WII SUCKS!

[Protoman Blues]

Again, this whole vid thing is simply an option to view during the game.  An option.  It means you don't have to use it.  I don't see how adding options is ever a bad thing.  Nor trying to expand on ideas and innovation.

[HyperSonicEXE]

Again, this whole vid thing is simply an option to view during the game.  An option.  It means you don't have to use it.  I don't see how adding options is ever a bad thing.  Nor trying to expand on ideas and innovation.

Seconded.

[Jericho]

Two things, one Vixy, you've opened Pandora's [tornado fang]ing Box posting this one.

I would have done it but only after I got the full story on the whole thing. Secondly:

Seriously, despite their quite remarkable and noble intentions, Nintendo somewhat begins to [acid burst] me off regarding their casual gamer politics since they launched the Wii. Innovations are good and all, but in my opinion, Nintendo should stop all this experimental stuff. Well, the Japanese will most likely love it, but it annoys me somewhat.

[NeoGAF Pro-Nintendo Logic Activate!]
Not to single you out, but what it sounds like you're proposing is to basically forget this whole segment of the market who have never touched a game before in their lives and have proven themselves to be open to all different kinds of experiences "casual", "mainstream", or "hardcore" in order to pander to the niche and incredibly finicky  hardcore gamers hand and foot. Mind you, this is how the Gamecube failed (granted it still brought in a good profit, it almost completely evaporated Nintendo's mind share to the public). You also have to keep in mind that now, more than ever, turning a profit takes a massive priority. I have a few qualms with this mindset myself, but hey what can you do? You also speak of their experiments as if it isn't in Nintendo's history to experiment and come up with some crazy [parasitic bomb] (i.e. "Ultra 64", SNES CD which led to the Playstation's birth by extension, [tornado fang]ing Donkey Kong which saved gaming period in the 80s, etc.). I'll wait before casting any judgements.
[/rant]

[gamer]
Still, for what little I understand of this patent, it seems like Nintendo is really creating one hell of a risky design choice with this experiment. Now instead of figuring out things by ourselves, the meat & core reason most of us play games, there's going to be a system of worldwide replays for a certain game spoiling how something might be tackled.
[/gamer]

But hell, all of this doesn't mean [parasitic bomb] to me if the games are great.

[Protoman Blues]

[gamer]
Still, for what little I understand of this patent, it seems like Nintendo is really creating one hell of a risky design choice with this experiment. Now instead of figuring out things by ourselves, the meat & core reason most of us play games, there's going to be a system of worldwide replays for a certain game spoiling how something might be tackled.
[/gamer]

But hell, all of this doesn't mean [parasitic bomb] to me if the games are great.

But how is it going to be spoiling it?  You simply don't look. 

[Protodude]

Further NeoGaf speculation brings up some interesting possibilities:

There seem to be 3 main modes:

Game -- Play through the game normally. Hint system is available but not forced. So hardcore gamers could just play the game regularly and enjoy the challenge while more casual gamers can get hints if they get really stuck

Digest -- The game goes through important scenes (both movie and gameplay) in order. Essentially the game plays itself in this mode if you will. But you have the option of stopping the digest at any time and playing from that exact point. Plus when you choose to take control you are given the appropriate equipment and stats for that part of the game. No saving though, but it seems to be unneeded

Scenes -- essentially playthrough any puzzle or scene again. Like digest you are given the appropriate equipment and such.

What Nintendo is planning on doing is pretty insane and far more ambitious than some of you realize yet. This just might be the "gateway game" that gamers, casuals and non-gamers could all enjoy.