Marek

At your service. New previews here and here. I just look at what other people link to on different industry forums.

Photos from the presentation. Edit: and here. I'm pretty much owned by those screens of the creature construction tool.

From CGTalk:

The guy who wrote it just posted in a web forum somewhere that you can in fact sort of scale back and forth fluidly. So the different stages are more connected and mixed together than his writeup suggested. I'm paraphrasing here since I just closed the window and can't be bothered to look it up again

Read this.

Holy crap that sounds like the Godzilla of game concepts. I'd laugh very hard if this were announced by Peter Molyneux, and I'd be at least super skeptical if any other game designer announced it, but Will Wright is definitely the one big exception. If anyone can pull it off, it's him.

Ah yes, I had forgotten about the analog stick. Still, the fluid FPS gameplay seems unique to the DS. That combined with a touchscreen that can double as analog stick and which can be used for quircky puzzle games is pretty much what sold me. The system has got a pretty amazing versatility.

I think you may be staring yourself blind on the quircky stylus games (Project Rub, Warioware, Nintendogs, et al). Yeah, they're not exactly hardcore material. I like them, but you might not. Okay, point made. But can you name one handheld system that allows me to control a 3D platformer as fluidly as Mario 64 DS does? Or a handheld OR console system that allows me to control an FPS (or action-adventure if you insist) as well as Metroid Prime: Hunters? That's not gimmick territory. I mean, having PC-like control over an FPS game on a tiny handheld device is 100% valid hardware innovation, not just a trick to woo people temporarily.

I skipped this whole thread but wooooo we have our first flamewar! (maybe?) And it's Nintendo related! Anyway I have a DS in my hand right now and I couldn't be more pleased. Holy crap Metroid Prime: Hunters has fucking smooth controls. It feels almost as good as strafe+mouselook. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Okay, the Nintendo makes you gay thing is retarded. That stigma exists and it shouldn't. But the "Nintendo will fail at everything, ever" attitude is one you must not buy into. A lot of people have that attitude for the wrong reason, so be skeptical whenever someone starts talking like that. Also I think we can agree that nearly all game store clerks accross the globe are idiots. Nick: are you getting your DS in the morning or after work? I'm thinking of getting my preorder tomorrow morning, hoping that my boss will think of me playing on the DS all day as "research".

There is one in the making.

Infected and Advent Shadow, both published by Majesco. Other than that, I don't know any games that don't fall in the remake/sports/port category.

I'm bringing the topic trilogy to completion with the following question: which games you know are so obscure that they've been mostly forgotten about, but were in fact quite enjoyable? I nominate: Fantavision. A Playstation 2 launch title, I believe. Not sure how obscure this one is, because I wasn't paying much attention to console gaming around 2000, but I've rarely (if ever) heard about it. It's a game about fireworks. You have to link up different colors to let them explode. It's pretty!

So the Creative Assembly, makers of the exquisite PC game Rome: Total War, have just been taken over by SEGA. Good for them! When I read the press release I also saw they were announcing a new game. At first glance I thought "Yay! It's Spartan: Total War, the sequel to Rome!". Then I looked closer and saw it was for consoles only. Then I looked even closer and noticed the "Warrior" bit, and that you'd only play as one soldier. So I thought, "Great! This will be this epic thing, like Rome: Total War, except from the perspective of one soldier! Too bad I can't play it on my PC." Then I read that the new game won't necessarily be historical at all, and will include fantasy elements such as "mythical beasts and legendary monsters". What the fuck? Why bother associating a totally different and new franchise with the Total War brand at all? Talk about watering down your excellent brand. I'm really dissapointed that Spartan: Total Warrior is the complete opposite of what I wanted it to be when I first saw its name. I mean, an the one hand you have a game where you play a general, in an epic strategic war, which combines RTS and TBS elements, is historical ("realistic"), and is played on the PC. And on the other hand you have a game where you play some soldier dude, in epic tactical battles, is an action/combat game, is not historical, and is played on the consoles. Heinz pickles anyone? If I were Scott Miller, this would be the point where I'd rant about Spartan: Total Warrior being a classic case of poor line extension. I'm just smelling a C&C Renegades here. That doesn't rule out the game will actually be good, but it's still a shitty move. There, I'm done.

What the hell, again with the "Nintendo will probably fail" schtick? Is hating Nintendo some kind of requirement for loving it? The DS is selling three or four times the number of units as the PSP. Yeah, I bet they'll fail. This reminds me of when the DS came out and everyone was like "LOL HAHAHA TWO SCREENS HILARIOUS, I'll get my Photoshop and make a picture ROFL!" I was skeptical too, but it seemed the Nintendo "fans" had already proclaimed the thing a disaster of Virtual Boy proportions before we even knew anything about it. And now that it's actually selling pretty well, people are still expecting it to fail. Isn't there a place for both the DS and the PSP on the marketplace? Why do people constantly have to rip on Nintendo purely based on anecdotal evidence, when they're actually doing just fine? P.S. Saying the PSP is cooler to kids because it has got Square Enix games is possibly the wrongest thing ever, as Square Enix has announced six games for the DS, and announced no games on the PSP (just their next movie on UMD). Also, Mistwalker Studios of former Square Enix fame are doing a strategy game for the DS. Clearly, PSP will be playing the big Square Enix card P.P.S. I don't hate the PSP. I think it's a slick, nice device, and I'm looking forward to Infected and Advent Shadow. I just don't think the platform will be as awesome as the DS in the long term. I'm not going to buy it for that reason... one new handheld (that also plays GBA games) is more than enough.

Mind you, my problem is not in Spartan being a console title. That's fine. The PC line of strategy games will also be continued. What bothers me is that they confuse their fanbase by needlessly tacking a console action title onto a PC strategy franchise.

I ordered my Nintendo DS this morning. (I'm in Europe.) I'll probably buy Warioware and Mario 64. When I'm done with those, I'll buy Feel the Magic/Project Rub and maaaaybe Zoo Keeper. I think the slightly corny industrial design and the low number of games at the moment are the only things going against the DS. I think in the long run people will realize it actually offers unique games that aren't possible or even wanted on the PSP. I'm merrily anticipating Another Code, Electroplankton, Age of Empires DS, Caduceus, Animal Crossing, FF: Crystal Chronicles, Lost in Blue, Metroid Prime: Hunters and Puppy Times (because it's widely known that cute puppies get you chicks). Oh, and of course the new Super Mario Bros for the DS, which oughta be good.

I'm excited by this, as apparently George Clooney will play the role of Mr. Smith.

A new DS game, with a cool name. [official site]

Another interesting title that isn't a Nintendo franchise title is Lost in Blue. Seems fun. Why are these obscure DS games hidden all over the internet? Sounds vaguely like ICO in terms of gameplay (it looks a bit standard though).

Majesco will publish an Age of Empires game for the DS. A Commander & Conquer: Red Alert game for the DS is rumored, but not yet confirmed... The DS lends itself well to typical PC genres. Another example is Another Code, which is a point-and-click adventure game. And Metroid Prime: Hunters has a control method that from what I've seen gets pretty damn close to the fluidity of mouselook+strafe.

Another Code, Electroplankton, Nintendogs and Caduceus definitely seem like titles that really couldn't have been made for another platform. The only bad things about the DS are its somewhat subpar industrial design, and its weak launch lineup. Everything else about the DS has got me extremely super excited and I'm buying one the day it comes out here in Europe.

Thanks for linking that! I had seen some of those images at an event a while ago but didn't know their origin. They're very good.

Umm, ICO got an 8.5 at GameSpot...