A couple of times each year, some no-name “study” comes along heralding video games as a trojan horse for brain development.
Some of the more common headlines: Video games increase hand-eye coordination, video games give you ninja fast reflexes, and most recently, video games augment decision making.
They’re all lies, of course. (more…)
As most of you have no doubt read, Nintendo President Satoru Iawta is concerned that the Wii is in an unhealthy state, and that it is urgent for Nintendo to recover sales momentum. This statement, coupled with recent numbers confirming this sales drop, has left many to point the finger at Nintendo’s Blue Ocean Strategy, which disrupted the video game market by bringing a wider audience into gaming with casual titles, as the cause of this drop. They suggest that Nintendo needs to move away from this strategy and focus more on games for the core gamer to regain sales momentum.
I think that a shift away from the Blue Ocean Strategy of developing games for new audiences would be a mistake on Nintendo’s part. The decline in Wii’s sales does not prove that Nintendo’s Blue Ocean Strategy has failed. Rather, it illustrates how Blue Ocean requires constant innovation following the initial market disruption.
If Nintendo wants to see the return of explosive sales for the Wii, it needs to refocus the platform so that it is once again the home of innovative fresh titles that draw in the broader audience.
Countless developers have cited the system’s inherent weaknesses, rather than their own effort, as the catalyst for poor Wii graphics.
When footage like this comes along, one can’t help but wonder.
Mined by the folks at Unseen 64, this tech demo was used in a May 2001 software development kit for the Nintendo GameCube. It hosts a virtual tour of eight rooms in Princess Peach’s Castle, each of which showcases an effect or feature possible with GameCube hardware.
Room two, for example, features large textures and mipmaps. Room three uses a massive spiral staircase to highlight specular, bump and shadow mapping. Antialiasing, texture projection, local lighting and more then-advanced graphics features are also showcased.
Features, I might add, you’re to believe Wii just can’t handle.
Months had passed since I last used my DS for personal gaming.
It certainly isn’t because I’ve lost interest in the handheld. Recent releases just hadn’t sparked my interest the way older games did.
Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise changed that, and I haven’t been able to put down my DS because of it.
I received the game from the good folks at THQ to review for another site, and I immediately fell in love with its beautiful visuals and addictive gameplay. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is the best game Rare has made since leaving Nintendo.
For those who care about superficial review scores as opposed to the full text, I gave the game an 8.5 out of 10. Not trying to pimp my wares, I simply want to spread the word about this great game.
If you’re also neglecting your handheld, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise might help you rekindle your love affair with the Nintendo DS.
Probably more than William Shakespeare thought! Little did the famous playwright realize that his now immortal lines “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet†would take on a totally new perspective in today’s world of gaming and its associated community. When Nintendo announced the Wii, there was a great deal of speculation behind the eccentric name – while some thought it had a Japanese meaning, others pondered over the pronunciation. After all, there is bound to be a certain amount of gossip when the most-awaited game of the year changes its name from a sedate Revolution to the more flamboyant Wii.
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