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Ok, you're a developer, and the 16 bit era is coming up. Nintendo have a new console in production, as do Sony and Sega.
Sony release their console specs, and they're very impressive- centered about 3D gaming, with Tekken demos to show off.
But you've got th be sceptical- Sony are the new boys on the block. However, saying that, they have excellent dev kits, with huge libraries of pre-made code to use and some top development support teams. Sony will even fund small developers to get games on their console, and have special publishing deals if you develop solely for them.
But still- best to wait till Ninty come out... they're the biggest after all...
And then, the head of Ninty finally announces development details! WOO HOO! "At first, only Nintendo will be allowed to make and sell games for the console, with more developers following later". Oh. Even the head of Nintendo America said this was a stupid, stupid idea!!
Not only that, but Ninty don't release dev kits- only they are allowed to make games for the console at first... Oh! and the console is Cart based, with Ninty charging huge premiums for having the "privilage" to publish games on their console.
Even when developers get dev kits, they have poor libraries... meaning big development costs. Add to that, Ninty even had the ordacity to shun many developers- like Square!- saying that because they weren't on Ninty's list they couldn't have dev kits. (This was clearly something to do with Ninty not wanting competition).
And so, many developers went for the PSX- especially smaller developers who couldn't afford Ninty's premiums.
Add to that, sony had a great market strategy and proper release plan- Ninty wouldn't comment on the console's release and assumed everyone would buy it anyway!
So, that's the story!
Thankfully, Ninty have done good with the GC, bringing back old friends like Capcom and EA onto the platform :)
Sonic
Sony release their console specs, and they're very impressive- centered about 3D gaming, with Tekken demos to show off.
But you've got th be sceptical- Sony are the new boys on the block. However, saying that, they have excellent dev kits, with huge libraries of pre-made code to use and some top development support teams. Sony will even fund small developers to get games on their console, and have special publishing deals if you develop solely for them.
But still- best to wait till Ninty come out... they're the biggest after all...
And then, the head of Ninty finally announces development details! WOO HOO! "At first, only Nintendo will be allowed to make and sell games for the console, with more developers following later". Oh. Even the head of Nintendo America said this was a stupid, stupid idea!!
Not only that, but Ninty don't release dev kits- only they are allowed to make games for the console at first... Oh! and the console is Cart based, with Ninty charging huge premiums for having the "privilage" to publish games on their console.
Even when developers get dev kits, they have poor libraries... meaning big development costs. Add to that, Ninty even had the ordacity to shun many developers- like Square!- saying that because they weren't on Ninty's list they couldn't have dev kits. (This was clearly something to do with Ninty not wanting competition).
And so, many developers went for the PSX- especially smaller developers who couldn't afford Ninty's premiums.
Add to that, sony had a great market strategy and proper release plan- Ninty wouldn't comment on the console's release and assumed everyone would buy it anyway!
So, that's the story!
Thankfully, Ninty have done good with the GC, bringing back old friends like Capcom and EA onto the platform :)
Sonic
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wow... Capcom made a limitted number of titles...
But the point is that the N64 had a HUGE lack of third party game. While capcom made a couple of N64 games, they made dozens for the PS... and the same is true of most of the big publishers.
Sonic
But the point is that the N64 had a HUGE lack of third party game. While capcom made a couple of N64 games, they made dozens for the PS... and the same is true of most of the big publishers.
Sonic
EA did release games for the N64, in fact all major companies released games for Nintendo other than those with exclusivity deals with Sony. Even Capcom released Mega Man 64 in America and Japan. Apart from Square who had a disagreement with Nintendo over cartridges vs CDs, who didn't release games for the N64?
exactly what I was saying in my prime topic...
Mario 64 was a HUGE revolution in gaming...it was the first truely 3d game.
On the GC, Ninty have given most of their big licences away (Metroid, Smash Bros, Strafox), and you'd think that would give them time to make some huge launch game... but they didn't! What have they been doing with their time?!??!
Sonic
Mario 64 was a HUGE revolution in gaming...it was the first truely 3d game.
On the GC, Ninty have given most of their big licences away (Metroid, Smash Bros, Strafox), and you'd think that would give them time to make some huge launch game... but they didn't! What have they been doing with their time?!??!
Sonic
I think that was supposed to be luigi's mansion, only it doesn't seem too revolutionary and desirable, unlike mario 64, for example.
Indeed...
However, like I said in my Prime topic in the original post (which is no longer the subject of conversation!) is that Ninty haven't pulled out a big AAA title at launch... which is something that would have really helped in the face of the PS2 AND Xbox!
Sonic
However, like I said in my Prime topic in the original post (which is no longer the subject of conversation!) is that Ninty haven't pulled out a big AAA title at launch... which is something that would have really helped in the face of the PS2 AND Xbox!
Sonic
At least Nintendo have (seemingly) learnt from their mistakes. They now are helping out the small developers (no doubt in exchange for a few exclusives/ debuts) and they've got all of those top multi-format games that they thought didn't matter before.
Strafex wrote:
"Actually, it was Square who ditched Nintendo. (in an argument over who got what profits in a joint game)"
Well, I think it was both of them really...
Ninty said they were the only ones who would be allowed to make games on the N64 to begin with... which clearly annoyed Square. Nintendo refused to give anyone other than in house coders game dev kits.
Square then, as you said, dissed Ninty's policy in public. Meanwhile, Sony offered Square everything they needed for PSX development, and (If I remember correctly) paid them for exclusive rights to games. Not only that, they even lowered publishing costs for Square.
"Now Nintendo hate Squaresoft who are suffering because they've been denied permission to make games on the Gameboy Advance - a platform which would quickly return the fortune they lost making the failing movie."
AH, but the fact is that Square have just had a big chunk of the company bought by Sony, after losing money for the FF film. The chance of Square developing for Ninty again look slim, and the GBA thing isn't so bad- Square will get back the film loss when the get another FF game out! Add to that, they're developing for the Wonderswan, which is doing v well in Japan!
Sonic
"Actually, it was Square who ditched Nintendo. (in an argument over who got what profits in a joint game)"
Well, I think it was both of them really...
Ninty said they were the only ones who would be allowed to make games on the N64 to begin with... which clearly annoyed Square. Nintendo refused to give anyone other than in house coders game dev kits.
Square then, as you said, dissed Ninty's policy in public. Meanwhile, Sony offered Square everything they needed for PSX development, and (If I remember correctly) paid them for exclusive rights to games. Not only that, they even lowered publishing costs for Square.
"Now Nintendo hate Squaresoft who are suffering because they've been denied permission to make games on the Gameboy Advance - a platform which would quickly return the fortune they lost making the failing movie."
AH, but the fact is that Square have just had a big chunk of the company bought by Sony, after losing money for the FF film. The chance of Square developing for Ninty again look slim, and the GBA thing isn't so bad- Square will get back the film loss when the get another FF game out! Add to that, they're developing for the Wonderswan, which is doing v well in Japan!
Sonic
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
Ninty even had the
> ordacity to shun many developers- like Square!- saying that because they weren't
> on Ninty's list they couldn't have dev kits. (This was clearly something to do
> with Ninty not wanting competition).
Actually, it was Square who ditched Nintendo. (in an argument over who got what profits in a joint game)
Ninty didn't really mind until Square started openly slagging them off and bringing even more devellopers away from Nintendo.
Now Nintendo hate Squaresoft who are suffering because they've been denied permission to make games on the Gameboy Advance - a platform which would quickly return the fortune they lost making the failing movie.
Ninty even had the
> ordacity to shun many developers- like Square!- saying that because they weren't
> on Ninty's list they couldn't have dev kits. (This was clearly something to do
> with Ninty not wanting competition).
Actually, it was Square who ditched Nintendo. (in an argument over who got what profits in a joint game)
Ninty didn't really mind until Square started openly slagging them off and bringing even more devellopers away from Nintendo.
Now Nintendo hate Squaresoft who are suffering because they've been denied permission to make games on the Gameboy Advance - a platform which would quickly return the fortune they lost making the failing movie.
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Ok, you're a developer, and the 16 bit era is coming up. Nintendo have a new
> console in production, as do Sony and Sega.
er... The 16 bit era is coming up? I think you mean the 32 bit era my friend...
Anyway... the rest of the post was quite good... but shouldn't you be away ruling over FOG for your 666th day or something?
;-)
> Ok, you're a developer, and the 16 bit era is coming up. Nintendo have a new
> console in production, as do Sony and Sega.
er... The 16 bit era is coming up? I think you mean the 32 bit era my friend...
Anyway... the rest of the post was quite good... but shouldn't you be away ruling over FOG for your 666th day or something?
;-)
Yeah, sure those companies probably had a resounding effect on the demise of the Nintendo 64, but the one thing people have seem to have overlooked, is the fact that the Nintendo 64 simply wasn't versatile enough.
All the games used a similar graphical build since the Nintendo 64 was based primarily on SGI engines. About 90% of the games looked like they'd been created on SGI workstations. Now, whilst that's okay it quickly got old. Yeah, we had the gems like Zelda, Mario etc. But what then after that?
They needed variation with the look of the titles on the console and for me, it didn't happen.
All the games used a similar graphical build since the Nintendo 64 was based primarily on SGI engines. About 90% of the games looked like they'd been created on SGI workstations. Now, whilst that's okay it quickly got old. Yeah, we had the gems like Zelda, Mario etc. But what then after that?
They needed variation with the look of the titles on the console and for me, it didn't happen.
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