Wigglers Nest – Nintendo pre-e3

Here is my lowdown on the recent actions of Nintendo Australia, and some pre-e3 opinions I would like to share. See you all in a week’s time for my e3 round-up from all the best nintendo news and revelations. Wiggler’s Nest by Lutomes

Recently I have noticed the game database at nintendo.com.au has had a minor update. Some games added and some release dates changed. Not all for the better unfortunately. As well as that this issue I will be briefly covering some pre-e3 issues, and what I want to see announced.

Now firstly this database shakeup at nintendo.com.au what disappoints me mostly is that only a few changes have been made. I would have liked to see a complete shakeup so I know all the dates are reliable. Depending on which retailer I talk to some say the new dates some say the old dates, and some have an entirely different set of release dates to go by. What makes this frustrating is its very hard to plan out your game purchasing not knowing when things are coming out. I might decide to purchase a not-quite so good racing game (Ridge Racer DS) because I know a good one (NFSU2) is not coming out for many months.

Furthermore most of the changes to the database have been delays. Great games we won’t see for an ever increasing amount of time. The solution I have adopted is just getting import copies either through a local retailer like www.dvdcrave.com.au or a foreign distributor like www.playasia.com. I don’t see a point in supporting a local game industry that is full of delays at the best of times, and unreleased games at the worst of times. While I am not saying to boycott Nintendo Australia, because I do want to support them as much as possible. It just comes down to the fact I can get my games much sooner and even cheaper than buying locally.

So far my list of imported games grows by the month. I have Pac-Pix and Puyo Pop on the way, and have had Yoshi Touch and Go, Ridge Racer, Zelda Four Swords (GCN) and Custom Robo for 2 months. Out of all the games only 1 of them is actually out here now, and I saved about $15 each on the DS games, and Zelda Four Swords only cost me $40. Having said that, importing doesn’t change the fact you can always find bargains locally. Most of my cube collection came in at around half retail price or lower. Heck I got Metroid Prime 2, Pokemon Colosseum, and Animal Crossing first day for $70 each. Most other first tier games I pick up after a month or two for under $50, all you have to do is look around and snap up the bargains when you see them.

Now before I talk about e3 I will let you know my viewpoint on events like this. In overall terms I cannot stand them, most of e3 is spent on hype and vapors. You get entire forums arguing about how Game X is either the coolest thing ever because of its graphics and game play or how that exact same Game X is terrible because of the exact same graphics and game play. Furthermore half the stuff you see at e3 and other gaming conferences never makes it to retail or does so in an entirely different form. Finally my last complaint is that too many companies show off products far too early in development, nobody cares about pre-alpha junk. Unless your game is getting released before the next e3 and preferably within 6 months I don’t want to see it.

As for this year, at e3 I only want to see two things myself. One is the DS online and the other is revolution details. Nintendo have now been quite open with their online plans, and have announced their partnership with IGN/Gamespy to form the backend of the network. What I want to see are the details fleshed out, do we have a game lobby, a chat service, some email or private message function. Are we able to choose who to play against or will it be random. Are they offering tournament, ladder or clan services. And finally how on earth do we get online – do we need stand alone hardware, or your average wireless router, and how does “”logging in work””. Dozens of questions that all need an answer before the games come online.

The revolution is also under much speculation. The controller is rumored to be as much as a touch sensitive stress ball with gyroscopes. We could be seeing online play, wireless access, connectivity with the DS or another device, backwards compatibility with the Gamecube. Who knows, but the latest rumor is “”The Revolution will use 12 cm optical discs and be about the size of three DVD cases stacked together.”” In amongst all this revolution talk is about the games, when will we see the next Legend of Zelda or the infamous Mario 128.

I conclude with my final comments on e3, as my last paragraphs have shown so many questions that can be answered at an event such as this. Now doubt your interests will differ from my own and you will be seeking all sorts of other information. Just remember if you fell into a coma for 4 weeks the world would be just how you left it, and by that time all the major hype would have died down and you would be left with pure informative news again.