Stolen brazenly from the internets lol
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
LOS ANGELES—When Nintendo Co. introduced its new 3DS portable game system earlier this year, a glasses-free 3-D display became the major selling point for the new machine.
Reuters
Two people played with a Nintendo 3DS at a Tokyo shop last week.
However, a few months after a lukewarm debut for the 3DS, a lesser-known, social-networking feature packed into the device is generating more excitement among users and software developers.
The feature, called StreetPass, allows 3DS owners to automatically exchange profile information or game data. If game machines come within about 50 feet of each other, the swap of information can take place even if the devices are closed and buried deep inside a bag. The exchange of data happens between machines and doesn't require an Internet connection or a cellular service.
Videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said it plans to incorporate the feature into its upcoming "The Sims 3 Pets" for the 3DS. The game, which involves creating and controlling the lives of pets, will allow people to look at a passerby's dogs and cats and choose to download their pet.
"We actually found that aspect of it much more exciting than the 3-D," said Aaron Conners, a senior game designer at Electronic Arts, working on The Sims 3 Pets.
"To me, the StreetPass is the coolest part of it because it's about connectivity."
Social-networking touches are important for Nintendo's ongoing battle with smartphone and Web-based social games, both of which are threatening dedicated gaming devices for the time and attention of users.
View Full Image
Reuters
A man plays with the Nintendo 3DS portable game at an electronics shop in Tokyo June 6, 2011.
Nintendo also hoped lesser-known features could spark interest in the 3DS, a successor to the DS and the best-selling portable game system ever. The 3DS launched in late February, targeting sales of four million units by the end of March. Initial demand was weaker than expected, selling 3.61 million units.
Blending the "friending" aspects of Facebook with the features of a location-based service such as foursquare, StreetPass can also be built into games to add a social layer to 3DS titles in the mold of Zynga's Facebook games.
Each time a user opens their 3DS, they may discover up to 10 "tags," or information swaps, from people they passed. The tags are introduced with a conversation between cartoon avatars, or Miis, which are created by owners to resemble their faces and wear distinctive clothing or hats.
The "Mii" avatars exchange a short greeting (16 characters of less) and share mostly trivial information about each other such as where they are from, what games they are playing and what their hobbies are. The avatars then move to the Mii Plaza, a holding pen for all the new acquaintances. If a user tags the same person twice, they can personalize a greeting for the next encounter.
At last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry's annual tradeshow, many attendees gleefully checked and compared their Mii Plazas. Since the 3DS is new, E3 may have been the biggest gathering of 3DS owners in one place since the product's introduction.
Kyle Bue, an 18-year-old game-programming student, said not many people in his hometown own a 3DS yet, so he was really excited when he came across new tags at E3.
"People kept arriving on my 3DS, and it was really, really cool," Mr. Bue said.
His customized Mii greeting—"Hi, I'm out of gum"—is a nod to "Duke Nukem," a classic shooter game.
There are a few existing 3DS titles that build in StreetPass elements into the game.
In Capcom Co.'s head-to-head fighting game, "Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition," a player can play a side game using StreetPass. They can assemble a five-member team of figurines to compete against the teams of other Street Fighter players.
Statistics that measure the relative strengths and weaknesses of each figurine determine the winner. This fight takes place even if the machine is in sleep mode and the game cartridge isn't in the 3DS at the time. To check the results, however, one must turn on the game.
"Right now the 3DS developers are thinking long and hard about how to incorporate StreetPass into games," said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in a meeting with reporters.
Nintendo said it intentionally kept the greeting short and profile information superficial to prevent privacy and safety problems. There are also controls in place to turn off StreetPass for parents who don't want young children playing with the feature.
When asked whether Nintendo wanted to aggressively expand the functionality of StreetPass with Twitter or Facebook, Mr. Iwata struck a cautious tone.
"We know it could be potentially interesting, but at the same time, we need to be aware of the separate issue of how to prevent harassment and how to meet legal requirements," Mr. Iwata said.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... z1PJpJTiwN
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
LOS ANGELES—When Nintendo Co. introduced its new 3DS portable game system earlier this year, a glasses-free 3-D display became the major selling point for the new machine.
Reuters
Two people played with a Nintendo 3DS at a Tokyo shop last week.
However, a few months after a lukewarm debut for the 3DS, a lesser-known, social-networking feature packed into the device is generating more excitement among users and software developers.
The feature, called StreetPass, allows 3DS owners to automatically exchange profile information or game data. If game machines come within about 50 feet of each other, the swap of information can take place even if the devices are closed and buried deep inside a bag. The exchange of data happens between machines and doesn't require an Internet connection or a cellular service.
Videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said it plans to incorporate the feature into its upcoming "The Sims 3 Pets" for the 3DS. The game, which involves creating and controlling the lives of pets, will allow people to look at a passerby's dogs and cats and choose to download their pet.
"We actually found that aspect of it much more exciting than the 3-D," said Aaron Conners, a senior game designer at Electronic Arts, working on The Sims 3 Pets.
"To me, the StreetPass is the coolest part of it because it's about connectivity."
Social-networking touches are important for Nintendo's ongoing battle with smartphone and Web-based social games, both of which are threatening dedicated gaming devices for the time and attention of users.
View Full Image
Reuters
A man plays with the Nintendo 3DS portable game at an electronics shop in Tokyo June 6, 2011.
Nintendo also hoped lesser-known features could spark interest in the 3DS, a successor to the DS and the best-selling portable game system ever. The 3DS launched in late February, targeting sales of four million units by the end of March. Initial demand was weaker than expected, selling 3.61 million units.
Blending the "friending" aspects of Facebook with the features of a location-based service such as foursquare, StreetPass can also be built into games to add a social layer to 3DS titles in the mold of Zynga's Facebook games.
Each time a user opens their 3DS, they may discover up to 10 "tags," or information swaps, from people they passed. The tags are introduced with a conversation between cartoon avatars, or Miis, which are created by owners to resemble their faces and wear distinctive clothing or hats.
The "Mii" avatars exchange a short greeting (16 characters of less) and share mostly trivial information about each other such as where they are from, what games they are playing and what their hobbies are. The avatars then move to the Mii Plaza, a holding pen for all the new acquaintances. If a user tags the same person twice, they can personalize a greeting for the next encounter.
At last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry's annual tradeshow, many attendees gleefully checked and compared their Mii Plazas. Since the 3DS is new, E3 may have been the biggest gathering of 3DS owners in one place since the product's introduction.
Kyle Bue, an 18-year-old game-programming student, said not many people in his hometown own a 3DS yet, so he was really excited when he came across new tags at E3.
"People kept arriving on my 3DS, and it was really, really cool," Mr. Bue said.
His customized Mii greeting—"Hi, I'm out of gum"—is a nod to "Duke Nukem," a classic shooter game.
There are a few existing 3DS titles that build in StreetPass elements into the game.
In Capcom Co.'s head-to-head fighting game, "Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition," a player can play a side game using StreetPass. They can assemble a five-member team of figurines to compete against the teams of other Street Fighter players.
Statistics that measure the relative strengths and weaknesses of each figurine determine the winner. This fight takes place even if the machine is in sleep mode and the game cartridge isn't in the 3DS at the time. To check the results, however, one must turn on the game.
"Right now the 3DS developers are thinking long and hard about how to incorporate StreetPass into games," said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in a meeting with reporters.
Nintendo said it intentionally kept the greeting short and profile information superficial to prevent privacy and safety problems. There are also controls in place to turn off StreetPass for parents who don't want young children playing with the feature.
When asked whether Nintendo wanted to aggressively expand the functionality of StreetPass with Twitter or Facebook, Mr. Iwata struck a cautious tone.
"We know it could be potentially interesting, but at the same time, we need to be aware of the separate issue of how to prevent harassment and how to meet legal requirements," Mr. Iwata said.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... z1PJpJTiwN
well that answers it then, doesn't surprise after reading this quote from an upcoming article re aaron's interview in a german magazine,
Quote from aaron's interview,
Personally, I’m done with casual games. It was a frustrating and disappointing experience. Not only was the audience not ready for our types of games, they expect a ton of quality for a low price so you can’t sell the games for very much money, and the distributors (like Big Fish and Gamehouse) take the lion’s share of the revenue, so you have to have a HUGE hit to be profitable.
Quote from aaron's interview,
Personally, I’m done with casual games. It was a frustrating and disappointing experience. Not only was the audience not ready for our types of games, they expect a ton of quality for a low price so you can’t sell the games for very much money, and the distributors (like Big Fish and Gamehouse) take the lion’s share of the revenue, so you have to have a HUGE hit to be profitable.
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
tex murphy is back in town
This topic interestingly fits into one I spy over at Big Finish Games... http://www.bigfinishgames.com/3d-way-to-be
Tell me what you think.
Tell me what you think.
I have been playingthe mstery case files also, 13th skull is the latest. I like the video scenes after each chapter. These games although they are only hudden object they are fun to play.Gunslinger wrote:I didn't realize Big Fish took a huge chunk of the profits. My wife and I have been playing Mystery Case Files: The 13th Skull and both of us exclaimed "This could so easily be adapted to Tex Murphy". It absolutely had to be inspired by the Tex Murphy franchise with the way it is designed. It's a shame that Chris & Aaron couldn't have used the Mystery Case Files engine to make a Tex game. It would be a much quicker development cycle. It wouldn't quite be to the same level as the classic Tex but would "fill the void" well enough.
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
tex murphy is back in town
I like that Mystery Case Files has stepped up and used inventory items and live actors. As far as Big Finish goes I'd rather them make adventure games, even if it's Amazon quality. I just think they have a revenue problem. It may be just AC but he's 50%. How are they going to get money now if they're slowing down the casual games?
I kind of agree. I thought the story was pretty entertaining, but the game play was somewhat lacking. As a device for telling a story, I thought it worked well, but it worked less well as a straight-on game.freepizza wrote:I'm not to upset that they won't be visiting the casual games again. 3cards just wasn't that much fun.
<peanut gallery>If those Big Finish games had been on a mobile platform such as iOS or Android, things would be different. That's where casual gaming is nowadays, especially with the rise of the tablet, and it's got no distribution issues. 3 Cards would have been ideal for a tablet. With the mobile platforms, if you have a really good software outfit, you'd be looking at sure success. If people can make a living churning out iFart apps out the wazoo, many of them free, I expect Conners and company would be doing just fine.</peanut gallery>
