A Revolution for adventure games?

Sorry, but playing adventure games with a glorified light gun doesn't strike me fancy. There's a couple of problems here. There are clear problems with precise control since basically your hand is unsupported which also would cause problems holding the pointer steady. Also the notion of Nintendo helping renew the adventure games genre sounds way out there for at least two reasons: First, Nintendo's market share is steadily diminishing. Second, consoles have never been all that big on adventure games, least of all Nintendo.

Oh, and if you're going to play Myst in the first place, PC is the way to go.

Yoshi, first of all, welcome. Secondly, I too was a nay-sayer of the controller before looking into it. Now, I'm actually excited for it. I, also, very much think this is a great thing for adventure games, if not moreso than any other genre. Think of directing a hand to pick up and object with the infared pointer. Or slowly dragging an object across a board through obstacles. It just seems that it would really make puzzles much more "hands-on" and definitely improve the feel of being in the adventure.

Everyone should give this a look-see

~Keck

Crowley wrote:Sorry, but playing adventure games with a glorified light gun doesn't strike me fancy. There's a couple of problems here. There are clear problems with precise control since basically your hand is unsupported which also would cause problems holding the pointer steady. Also the notion of Nintendo helping renew the adventure games genre sounds way out there for at least two reasons: First, Nintendo's market share is steadily diminishing. Second, consoles have never been all that big on adventure games, least of all Nintendo.

Oh, and if you're going to play Myst in the first place, PC is the way to go.

The journalists who were invited to try the controller at the Tokyo Game Show were impressed. It is VERY accurate, and you can rest your arms and move the controller with rather small movements I believe.

You are correct that consoles haven't had many big adventure games, but things do tend to change in this world. Just because something hasn't been available or popular before doesn't mean it never will.

I believe we should all applaud Nintendo for trying to bring something new to the world of gaming. Sony's and Microsoft's new consoles bring nothing new - except the same old games with improved graphics.

My lil two cents can be summed up as this ...

The controller to me, looks like a blaspehmous, contorted, unweildy thing. And I think that's precisly why I think it will surprise the heck out of me. Let me explain.

Nintendo, in my experience, has done a lot of things business wise, and otherwise lately that I just flat out thought was stupid. When they told me Wind Waker was going to be a cartoonish version of Link, when they had the ability to do so much more (especially after seeing that adult version of him being touted all over the place before the announcement, using the gamecube engine ...), I completely lost it, and thought the game would be utter crap. I ended up loving it.

The same thing happened with the DS. A portable with two screens? What in the heck for? As it turned out, I didn't buy it, but I did get my hands on a friends DS, and it really is a fine piece of machinery.

I could come up with a whole list of stuff I didn't think would make it, or would end up being the stupidest thing ever released, and when nintendo released it, it ended up being revolutionary, and fun. Animal Crossing was one of those games... I remember before they released it I was asking myself ... So .. you run around, and make friends, and go to birthday parties and stuff. How could this be a game? I loved it too.

In short, I've come to trust nintendo to produce excellent quality hardware, and software, regardless of how stupid it sounds before it's release. Have faith in nintendo, because right now, they're the only company willing to try and do something completely different, not just updated graphics.

Whether the controller will be a revolution for adventure games? I would say no, myself at this point, but Nintendo has a track record of proving me wrong.

I would definitely be surprised if Nintendo released an adventure game that would resurrect the genre in the fashion which we all would want. I feel like the closest we could get on a console would be like Max Payne--an excellent game, but not what I think when I think "adventure game".

As for Myst on X-Box, I think Myst is one of the all time worst adventure games, because of its total static-ness (staticity?). Yes, the frames are beautifully rendered and the stories can be interesting, but as far as gameplay is concerned, it's just boring to me. I need people to interrogate and items to use, but that's just me.

Well Indigo Prohpecy could easily be released on consoles (if it's not being already).

As for the Revolution controller, I'm kinda in the same field as Thomas Malloy. Nintendo have a track record of trying new things. They've been doing this since their first console. The power glove comes to mind. Like most risks, not all of them have worked well. The power glove comes to mind. So does the virtual boy.

The one thing though is they keep trying and when you do have a games industry that seems to be as repetitive and stagnant as it seems these days, radical change can only be a good thing, even if it doesn't work out.

Personally i think the controller has some very interesting possibilities. I also like the fact that it can be inserted into a special gamecube controller and the controller can be used. That ensues that their new system doesn't scare away 3rd party developers, even though imo, Nintendo's best games have always been made by themselves.

Looks interesting. Especially like the bit with the sword fighting But for certain things it might be easier just pressing a button, like constant/repetitive jumping in platform games flicking your wrist constantly might get tiresome. As long as you're giving an option to do either though depending on what you feel like doing, that's fine.

With Sony Playstation, it sounds like they might be utilising camera technology. If they develop technology like their Eye Toy up some notches, we might not need a controller at all I guess.

Dr. Richard Marx, the inventor of EyeToy, was on hand to show off the PS3's wireless HD IP Camera. The demo recalled rumors that the machine will have Minority Report-esque motion-sensing capabilities. Marx held two small cup-like objects in his hands, which moved the cups on the screen in real time.

And apparently they're making a "wand" for it. But really I don't know what plans there are for this technology and I haven't used the Eye Toy before.

I haven't been keeping up with all the next generation console stuff. Check out this comic though

This kind of technology might improve puzzles in adventure games but I don't know how much it'd improve other navigation aspects. Naturally it'd make things smoother but other than that I don't know. Probably games requiring a lot of movement or precision will be at the forefront.

I was watching both 'The Incredibles' and 'Monsters Inc.' yesterday, and was picturing some of the scenes at cutscenes in an animated-style adventure game (obviously a comedy style like Sam & Max)... and I thought "Why not!".

It does not take a lot of computer/console power to play some well crafter animated cutscenes, and it does not take much these days to create rich environments visible from a first person perspective.

It IS very expernsive to do, and it is a big risk, but sometimes the most sucessful people are risk takers. I am very certain that if you bring the adventure game scene to the console world and do it WELL, you will have many people loving the idea that they are playing a rich adventure on their televisions.

PC is the wrong way to go nowadays becuase familys no longer want to crowd around the computer like they did when PC's were being discovered as the wonderful machines they were in the mid 90's. If you want to get people together and into the adventure game scene I feel that consoles are the way to go.

-Cub. =o)

I agree with you completely, Cub. Consoles are getting a huge push nowadays and that's indeed the way to go. PC-games is mostly for one-person gaming and to some extent network gaming whereas consoles can assemble the family or friends for some multiplayer-action and that's what's popular these days.

I know this isn't exactly about adventure-games, but for me I have much more fun these days with my Playstation 2 rather than my PC. Why you may ask? Well - first of all I don't always feel like sitting by the computer and play a game which mostly is a one-person game. Examples of games I have installed right now are The Moment Of Silence, Hotel Giant (loved Transport Tycoon, Theme Hospital and Theme Park so had to see what this was), Tiger Woods 2005 and both C64- and Amiga-emulators with games for that just for the nostalgia

Anyway - these days I mostly enjoy playing on my Playstation 2 and there are many reasons for that:

1. It's hooked up to my 29" TV in the living room which gives a great gaming-experience
2. The use of virtual surround sound in my TV makes the sound-experience a lot better as well.
3. I can play while sitting on the couch in which I relax a lot more than sitting on an office chair by the computer desk.
4. It's easier for people to assemple on the 2 couches in the living room than assempling by the computer desk thus making the experience a lot more cosy and fun.
5. There are better ways of multiplayer-gaming with the PS2 as you can buy a 4-player adapter and play 4 people at once should you want that. Also 2 people can play at all times given you have 2 controllers and a game that has 2 player options.

I have an intention of showing all Tex-games to my girlfriend sometime. We began gaming UAKM 2 weeks ago, but since that day we haven't had much time to continue and I think it could be one of 2 reasons for that. Either...

1. We are too tired in the evening when we come home from work/school to sit down and play or...

2. It's just plain simpler to crash on the couch and play a PS2-game or watch TV rather than sit down by the computer and play.

Also - I have in mind to show my girlfriend the Monkey Island series which by far is one of my favourite adventure game-series of all time along with Tex. The first 3 Monkey Island games are all on PC which may take a while to complete seeing as how we spend so little time in front of it But I'm sure that when we put on Escape From Monkey Island (4th game in the series which we have on PS2) we will take much less time to complete it because we find the PS2 more entertaining in our view. Not that it should sound like I'm abandoning the PC when playing games - not at all - I'm just saying that in my real life situation we find the PS2 more fun than the PC.
Believe it or not - I have gone through Commodore 64, Amiga 500, the first 486 SX 25MHz PC to the new modern PCs and now the PS2. I've tried an enormous bunch of games for all platforms and I've enjoyed each and every one of them. I still love to play old Commodore 64 games and Amiga games on my emulators just to bring back a lot of great memories and that's what makes it all fun for me. Even though I've tried games for all platforms, adventure games are still the ones that made the biggest impression in my case. The 90s were filled with awesome adventure-games from Lucasarts and Sierra and I think I've played most of them. It's sad to see they don't make so many adventure games anymore - that the world is suddenly fill of requests for first person shooters which frankly I can't see the big fuss about. Every game in that genre is the same - what makes one game different from another? I really can't see it. That's why I enjoyed seeing games like The Moment Of Silence, Still Life and now Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) come to our attention and I sure hope a lot more of that genre is coming along.

Anyway - to make a long story short (too late? ) - I would also like to see more adventure-games on the consoles seeing as how more and more people tend to buy consoles in order to play the "cool" games. I actually thought that Monkey Island 4 was enjoyable on PS2, so more games like that would be nice

/// NetRoam

Looking at the control, I have a hard time visualizing how the games are played. It's like they felt the DS wasn't radical enough. The bigger question in mind is this:

The Revolution is supposed to play all Nintendo console games, from the NES to the Gamecube. With such a controller, how do you play gamecube games? Or even N64? Or SNES?

vracar, go watch a video about the controller, and I think it will calm your worries. How do you play NES games? turn the remote on its side and it is virtually an new controller. If you want to play gamecube style, buy the add on and it is virtually a gamecube controller. The controller seems to be really thought out. So, we'll just have to hope games take full use of it and that it doesn't create a sense of irritiation but rather a feeling of being more into the game.

~Keck

Vracar wrote:Looking at the control, I have a hard time visualizing how the games are played. It's like they felt the DS wasn't radical enough. The bigger question in mind is this:

The Revolution is supposed to play all Nintendo console games, from the NES to the Gamecube. With such a controller, how do you play gamecube games? Or even N64? Or SNES?

If you turn the controller 90 degrees anti clockwise it looks pretty much like a NES controller. You can still use the old GameCube controllers, and you'll also be able to plug the new controller in a shell that resembles the GC controller. Then you'll have a classic controller with all the new "3D-functions".

I dunno how many of you read Penny Arcade but they linked to this article that i think sums up what Nintendo are trying to do with their new controller.

http://lostgarden.com/2005/09/nintendos ... ategy.html

And yeah, i think consoles have become a standard in gaming because of features like comfort and their multiplayer capability. I love playing adventure games and RPGs on my PC, but i'd love it even more if i could lean back on a comfy couch and play them on a huge screen.

LANing is fun but i much prefer playing something like Mario Party, Soul Caliber or Smash Bros with a bunch of friends, again on a comfy couch with a huge screen.

It's weird like that. At the moment the main game i'm playing on my PC is "Beyond Good and Evil", and i love it to death, but i kinda wish i had been able to find a console version.

Oh god. Lost in a maze of peripherals.

"Oh, I'd so love to play this game, but I can only afford three out of four adjoining pieces of the controller!"