Late Night Consoling

Jim Merrick, director of marketing for Nintendo Europe, spoke with Spanish gaming site MeriStation regarding the company's upcoming DS wireless service and it's next-generation Revolution console. The interview has been translated and paraphrased by a few sites.

In regards to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, launching in just a couple weeks, Merrick confirmed that Europe will be receiving 25,000 free Nintendo-branded hotspots for DS owners; similar deals were recently announced in Japan and North America. Again, it was confirmed that the system can be used with any wi-fi access point, though of course secure ones will require a key. He also stated that Mario Kart DS, a launch title for the online service, will feature chat capability, though he did not note whether this will be text chat or voice chat (the latter seems unlikely).

In contrast to recent statements by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata that Revolution will have a simultaneous worldwide release, Merrick expects it to be more along the lines of a 14-week window. This is a much broader timeframe than Microsoft's approximately two-week Xbox 360 rollout, and much tighter than the traditional Sony launch schedules, which are often triple that. However, Merrick stated that the company would like to see a faster release if possible; 14 weeks is the maximum.

Though some studios have early Revolution development kits, no games will be publically shown in 2005. Design head Shigeru Miyamoto is apparently very opposed to showing unfinished games, and Nintendo wants to avoid releasing screenshots before games are playable with the unique Revolution hardware. Speaking of that unique hardware, Merrick noted that Nintendo does not expect all games to be pressured into using all of the features of the controller; he drew a parallel to Mario Kart DS, which uses some but not all of the DS features--the touch pad is not used for control, for example. Iwata as well recently stated that he expects many developers to simply use the classic-style "shell" controller in their games.

In regards to its competitors, Merrick claims that Revolution will be graphically in the same league as Xbox 360 and PS3. Most likely, he is not referring completely to specific hardware specs (though Nintendo does have a tendency to undersell its hardware's power) but to the end perception of graphics on a TV screen, particularly a non-HD screen. Nintendo has still not confirmed its final decision on HD compatibility; some developers report that 720p is covered in development spec sheets.

Intriguingly, it was confirmed that Revolution users will be able to play many multiplayer games online that they do not own, by downloading a limited temporary version of the game. This is similar to DS single-cart multiplayer, which requires only one player to be using a cartridge with compatible games. Merrick tipped his hat to Microsoft's online efforts, while confirming Nintendo's dedication to online play: "Xbox Live was a great step in online gaming, and we want to offer the next definitive one."

In regards to the system's legacy game support, Merrick noted that N64 games will play at a higher framerate than they did on the original machine, though there will not be any other inherent graphical improvements. Nintendo has stated in the past that the company might "touch up" older games on a case-by-case basis.

GameSpot is reporting on the latest issue of the Japanese publication Famitsu Xbox, which contains an interview with Yoshihiro Marayuma, Xbox chief of operations for Microsoft Japan. For some time now, it has been rumored and implied by Microsoft representatives that the Xbox 360 may end up with HD-DVD compatibility at some point down the line, though certainly not at launch. Japanese-developed games tend to use more pre-rendered CGI than Western-developed games, and several Japanese Xbox 360 developers have already complained that the standard DVD format has insufficient space considering all 360 content must be in high definition. From Software's Masanori Takeuchi notes that his studio's title [eM] -eNCHANT arM- (X360) already requires two discs and might end up needing three. He did not respond to allegations that it seems to require three hands to efficiently type the name of his game.

So, anyway, about that interview. Marayuma stated fairly conclusively that "If the Xbox 360 uses a next-generation DVD drive in the future, it will only be used for watching movies that run on next-generation DVDs. The format for games will remain as DVD. That's not going to change." Though this may frustrate certain developers, it should come as no surprise. It has been long assumed that Microsoft will not be further fracturing their possible Xbox 360 configurations by shipping certain games on a media format that is incompatible with some 360s, especially since there are already some games--such as MMOs--that will require a specific hardware configuration in the form of a hard drive.

After months of cagey answers, Microsoft has made some estimates as far as how many Xbox 360 units the company plans to ship. However, the time span for that estimate is rather broad. In the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell indicated that the manufacturer plans to ship between 4.5 million and 5.5 million units worldwide by June of next year. Though specific release months have not been revealed for either the Sony PS3 or the Nintendo Revolution, it seems clear that Microsoft plans to have that many 360s shipped by the time the two competitors hit the market. Company representatives such as J Allard have frequently cited a head start in the upcoming "console war" as a key strategic element.

In keeping with increasingly frequent warnings from Microsoft about conservative launch numbers, Liddell once again noted that the system will not necessarily have a particularly high-volume launch; rather, the above estimated shipment should be spaced out fairly evenly worldwide between now and the middle of next year.

Take-Two announced that developer Rockstar will be releasing two other games for PSP, following the system's recent release of GTA: Liberty City Stories. To nobody's great surprise, one will be another Grand Theft Auto game; the identity of the other is as yet unknown.

Well, if there was any remaining hope that Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (X360, PC) would make it to the Xbox 360's launch, there isn't any longer. The title has been pushed back to Take-Two's second fiscal quarter of 2006, which corresponds to the first calendar quarter of next year.

Ars Technica takes a comprehensive look at the next generation of consoles with Waiting on the Revolution, comparing technology, target markets, ease of development, and so on. (Note: a small point the author missed in his chart is that Revolution will support Bluetooth technology.)

For what I must assume are Halloweeny reasons, 1UP has compiled a list of the Scariest Games Ever.