X
Xenon
Revolutionary Sequels
We take a look at four big franchises and detail how we'd like to see them
made better on Nintendo's next home console.
By Matt Casamassina and Juan Castro
December 15, 2004 - If the average life expectancy of a videogame console is
five years, Nintendo's GameCube will be on its last legs in 2005 and a full
six feet under the following year. But this will hardly signal the end of
the publisher's long stay in the home console arena. In May 2004, Nintendo
announced that it was well underway with the successor to GameCube. The
machine, which company president Satoru Iwata said would revolutionize the
way videogames are played, has been given a very fitting codename:
Revolution. According to recent comments from the publisher's US subsidiary,
Revolution will debut in 2006 and go toe-to-toe with Sony's forthcoming
PlayStation 3 console.
While details about Revolution are still scarce -- Nintendo is famous for
being one of the most closely guarded companies in the industry -- we've
been able to put together a shadow of the machine based on official Nintendo
comments and insider information. Gamers can expect a significantly more
powerful console than GameCube, but that's to be expected. On top of that,
Revolution is very likely to be a games-focused platform, just like its
predecessor.
It will also be fundamentally different from any other home console that
Nintendo has done before. Satoru Iwata drew parallels to the Nintendo DS
when speaking about Revolution at May 2004's Electronics Entertainment Expo.
In fact, he said that DS provides a hint behind the design philosophy for
the new console. It's difficult to know in what regard, but we can assume
that like the DS the Revolution will be unique and will be designed to
appeal to the mass-market audience, which Nintendo has said it hopes to
recapture. Click here for everything we know about Revolution so far.
Of course, as innovative as the Revolution hardware may prove to be, if all
goes as planned the software will take center stage and not the other way
around. It's with this in mind that we present readers with today's feature,
a list of franchises that we would like to see made all the better on
Revolution, and our ideas on how to do it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legend of Zelda Revolution
It hasn't been announced. It may not even be in the planning stages yet. But
sooner or later, it's going to happen. And when it does, Nintendo fans
everywhere will take notice. Readers needn't look beyond the massive amount
of hype already generated for the forthcoming GameCube Legend of Zelda game,
which is scheduled for a late 2005 release. The title, shown so far in video
form, looks to be the spiritual sequel to the N64 smash-hit Ocarina of Time.
As spectacular as this new installment in Nintendo's uber popular franchise
is sure to be, the inevitable Revolution update should be far superior
still, and for the following reasons:
Revolution is going to be dramatically more powerful. It will almost
certainly make use of larger discs. It will likely have some form of
advanced storage system; either a hard drive or a portable read/write media
such as an SD Card. And on top of everything else, the system will
undoubtedly be able to go online and connect with other players.
Advanced power means bigger, more detailed worlds, environments and
characters than ever before. Even now, the Xbox is capable of running a
highly competent, albeit slimmed-down version of Doom 3, and with a
respectable framerate. The next-generation of consoles, Revolution included,
will be capable of realizing far more atmospheric worlds and on a larger
scale. Hyrule could stretch as far as the eye could see and with no drop in
definition. Individual blades of weeds could sway with the wind. Link's
sword could reflect beams of sunlight. Torches could illuminate rounded cave
walls with bloom effects and projected shadows. And that's really just the
beginning. A technically advanced console would be able to display not only
more detail, but also more objects. In our vision of Zelda on Revolution,
Link is surrounded by 50 realistic, animated enemies as he circles back and
forth on horseback before finally charging defiantly ahead.
A larger disc medium could trigger a true revolution in presentation. From
high-resolution textures and pre-rendered sequences to fully orchestrated
music and realistic voice dialogue, the Zelda franchise could come to life
like it never has before. A matured storyline would of course be the very
backbone of this advanced presentation. And by mature, we don't necessarily
mean blood and guts, as neither have ever really been a selling point of the
franchise. What we mean is a true tale. Something more than saving Princess
Zelda from evil yet again. We would much prefer something that takes chances
and dares to shock. We see a tragic love story. Link, the protector of
Hyrule, embarks upon a quest forged in revenge after Gannon murders Zelda.
Of course, any Zelda would feature an epic single-player quest unparalleled
by any other action-adventure on the market. But the Revolution sequel would
function hand-in-hand with a flexible online component sure to offer
significant improvements. As Link travels through Hyrule, he visits
different towns, each with its own variety of shops that sell all kinds of
valuable goods. Whenever Link enters one of these shops, the game connects
online to a Nintendo-updated server full of recently added items. Using
rupees acquired in the single-player adventure, Link is able to buy new
weapons, more horses for his stable, and even such magical creatures as
dragons, all of which can then be used to enhance his abilities in the game.
These items are stored on the Revolution-included hard drive or memory card.
Moreover, the single-player quest is continually extended as Nintendo
continues to build Hyrule. Each month, a new dungeon/temple is added to
Nintendo's server. Only players who have amassed enough rupees to buy the
dungeon, however, will be able to download it, at which point it is
automatically integrated into the land and fully playable.
Many of these new, downloadable dungeons/temples are designed around the
online component and the ability to play with other gamers. When Link enters
the new dungeons/temples, Revolution contacts Nintendo's server, at which
point players can choose to team up with up to three of their friends. If
they have none, three other gamers are chosen at random. In an obvious
homage to the title Legend of Zelda Four Swords, these dungeons/temples
enable four different colored Links to work side-by-side to defeat enemies
and solve puzzles, all online.
____________________________________________________________________________
the other two thirds of the article is here:
http://cube.ign.com/articles/573/573633p1.html
as good as 'Zelda 2005' on Gamecube looks, 'Zelda Revolution' is gonna look
sooooooo much better if not more..... largely thanks to the tech wizards at
ATI (and IBM) and the programming, art and design wizards at EAD....
gameplay and graphics taken to new heights. too bad it's gonna be a long,
long, long, long wait for Zelda on Revolution. I'm thinking like 4 years
We take a look at four big franchises and detail how we'd like to see them
made better on Nintendo's next home console.
By Matt Casamassina and Juan Castro
December 15, 2004 - If the average life expectancy of a videogame console is
five years, Nintendo's GameCube will be on its last legs in 2005 and a full
six feet under the following year. But this will hardly signal the end of
the publisher's long stay in the home console arena. In May 2004, Nintendo
announced that it was well underway with the successor to GameCube. The
machine, which company president Satoru Iwata said would revolutionize the
way videogames are played, has been given a very fitting codename:
Revolution. According to recent comments from the publisher's US subsidiary,
Revolution will debut in 2006 and go toe-to-toe with Sony's forthcoming
PlayStation 3 console.
While details about Revolution are still scarce -- Nintendo is famous for
being one of the most closely guarded companies in the industry -- we've
been able to put together a shadow of the machine based on official Nintendo
comments and insider information. Gamers can expect a significantly more
powerful console than GameCube, but that's to be expected. On top of that,
Revolution is very likely to be a games-focused platform, just like its
predecessor.
It will also be fundamentally different from any other home console that
Nintendo has done before. Satoru Iwata drew parallels to the Nintendo DS
when speaking about Revolution at May 2004's Electronics Entertainment Expo.
In fact, he said that DS provides a hint behind the design philosophy for
the new console. It's difficult to know in what regard, but we can assume
that like the DS the Revolution will be unique and will be designed to
appeal to the mass-market audience, which Nintendo has said it hopes to
recapture. Click here for everything we know about Revolution so far.
Of course, as innovative as the Revolution hardware may prove to be, if all
goes as planned the software will take center stage and not the other way
around. It's with this in mind that we present readers with today's feature,
a list of franchises that we would like to see made all the better on
Revolution, and our ideas on how to do it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legend of Zelda Revolution
It hasn't been announced. It may not even be in the planning stages yet. But
sooner or later, it's going to happen. And when it does, Nintendo fans
everywhere will take notice. Readers needn't look beyond the massive amount
of hype already generated for the forthcoming GameCube Legend of Zelda game,
which is scheduled for a late 2005 release. The title, shown so far in video
form, looks to be the spiritual sequel to the N64 smash-hit Ocarina of Time.
As spectacular as this new installment in Nintendo's uber popular franchise
is sure to be, the inevitable Revolution update should be far superior
still, and for the following reasons:
Revolution is going to be dramatically more powerful. It will almost
certainly make use of larger discs. It will likely have some form of
advanced storage system; either a hard drive or a portable read/write media
such as an SD Card. And on top of everything else, the system will
undoubtedly be able to go online and connect with other players.
Advanced power means bigger, more detailed worlds, environments and
characters than ever before. Even now, the Xbox is capable of running a
highly competent, albeit slimmed-down version of Doom 3, and with a
respectable framerate. The next-generation of consoles, Revolution included,
will be capable of realizing far more atmospheric worlds and on a larger
scale. Hyrule could stretch as far as the eye could see and with no drop in
definition. Individual blades of weeds could sway with the wind. Link's
sword could reflect beams of sunlight. Torches could illuminate rounded cave
walls with bloom effects and projected shadows. And that's really just the
beginning. A technically advanced console would be able to display not only
more detail, but also more objects. In our vision of Zelda on Revolution,
Link is surrounded by 50 realistic, animated enemies as he circles back and
forth on horseback before finally charging defiantly ahead.
A larger disc medium could trigger a true revolution in presentation. From
high-resolution textures and pre-rendered sequences to fully orchestrated
music and realistic voice dialogue, the Zelda franchise could come to life
like it never has before. A matured storyline would of course be the very
backbone of this advanced presentation. And by mature, we don't necessarily
mean blood and guts, as neither have ever really been a selling point of the
franchise. What we mean is a true tale. Something more than saving Princess
Zelda from evil yet again. We would much prefer something that takes chances
and dares to shock. We see a tragic love story. Link, the protector of
Hyrule, embarks upon a quest forged in revenge after Gannon murders Zelda.
Of course, any Zelda would feature an epic single-player quest unparalleled
by any other action-adventure on the market. But the Revolution sequel would
function hand-in-hand with a flexible online component sure to offer
significant improvements. As Link travels through Hyrule, he visits
different towns, each with its own variety of shops that sell all kinds of
valuable goods. Whenever Link enters one of these shops, the game connects
online to a Nintendo-updated server full of recently added items. Using
rupees acquired in the single-player adventure, Link is able to buy new
weapons, more horses for his stable, and even such magical creatures as
dragons, all of which can then be used to enhance his abilities in the game.
These items are stored on the Revolution-included hard drive or memory card.
Moreover, the single-player quest is continually extended as Nintendo
continues to build Hyrule. Each month, a new dungeon/temple is added to
Nintendo's server. Only players who have amassed enough rupees to buy the
dungeon, however, will be able to download it, at which point it is
automatically integrated into the land and fully playable.
Many of these new, downloadable dungeons/temples are designed around the
online component and the ability to play with other gamers. When Link enters
the new dungeons/temples, Revolution contacts Nintendo's server, at which
point players can choose to team up with up to three of their friends. If
they have none, three other gamers are chosen at random. In an obvious
homage to the title Legend of Zelda Four Swords, these dungeons/temples
enable four different colored Links to work side-by-side to defeat enemies
and solve puzzles, all online.
____________________________________________________________________________
the other two thirds of the article is here:
http://cube.ign.com/articles/573/573633p1.html
as good as 'Zelda 2005' on Gamecube looks, 'Zelda Revolution' is gonna look
sooooooo much better if not more..... largely thanks to the tech wizards at
ATI (and IBM) and the programming, art and design wizards at EAD....
gameplay and graphics taken to new heights. too bad it's gonna be a long,
long, long, long wait for Zelda on Revolution. I'm thinking like 4 years