What the--

http://www.gcadvanced.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2374

As insane as this idea sounds, if it's true it could be very awesome. Motion sensors added to a portable with two screens, one a touchpad... the possibilities seem endless. The cooking game could be extremely innovative if nothing else, something Nintendo seems very eager to achieve. I'm all for innovation and changing the way games are played, and if Nintendo can pull all of this off then I think we're in for a real treat.

... huh?

Great reply!

What?

I don't get it.

Me neither.

Motion sensors, huh? It's an interesting concept.

I knew games were going in this direction but I always thought it would happen with a controller on a console... not a hand held. But the significance of having a portable gaming system where you can use all your controls like on any Gameboy but now... use the entire system as a controller. Wow.

Imagine in Zelda (top down, 2-D) you're in a cramped space and there are blocks in front of you. You put on your Magnatic Iron Boots and hold the DS over your head (looking up), the blocks will fall towards the screen, letting you pass under them. You can then bring the DS back to your lap (looking down) and the blocks will fall back down to the ground.

In Zelda again, imagine being in a dungeon and seeing a large room with dozens of small platforms and a door on the other side. You can fall on to the first one, but there's no way to jump to the next one. You tilt the DS so that it's angled in the direction you want Link to be launched; And then you flick the bottom of the DS to launch him. The harder you flick the back of the DS, the higher and farther he goes. If you over shoot your target, just keep tilting the DS until you're lined up for a safe landing while you're falling through the air.

Oh wow, this is going to change everything. Imagine First Person Shooters! Holy shit! *brain explodes* I hope it's real!

Sounds like Kirby Tilt & Tumble.

Except Kirby Tilt & Tumble is more of a cheesey little gimmic. The motion sensing would be the DS's bread and butter, not just a one-time deal.

I really hate it how some people are saying "I smell another Virtual Boy" when talking about the DS. I believe whatever the DS delivers will be well thought out and given the good old Nintendo charm.

:violin:

I think the DS is going to be an awesome handheld.

It may not be a virtual boy. It all depends on how they do things. Fact is, it's intended to be the answer to the PSP, so they better do whatever they can to make it look as good as that. Question is, do people want to buy a super expensive portable game system? If they do, both will likely succeed, otherwise, both will fail.

Price is going to be a major selling point in that battle. I imagine the DS will be cheaper, but the PSP will have more features. So it comes down to what people would rather have in a handheld.

I think the perception of the handheld will completely change when the DS and PSP launch, and will no longer be looked at as just a cheapie 2D industry. Games will start to look almost as good as their home console brothers, and with the rising popularity of everything handheld (especially in Japan), I believe it could easily become the main video game market in less than a decade, probably replacing dedicated home consoles.

Well maybe not that extreme, but speculation is the most fun when you go all the way. :D

Well, I dunno, rather what people would want in a luxery edition handheld. There's still going to be the cheaper GB coming out.

Well we don't know that for certain. Nintendo said that they want to change the way games are played and that the DS will be the first sign of that, so if they stick to their word we may not see a standard successor to the GBA. But if the DS flops that's a different story.

OB1, we both know that that isn't going to happen... :)

It'll either become 'straight ports of existing games' (like the PSP seems to aspire to be) or 'underfunded games that could be better (excepting first party/Nintendo-published titles)'. Like usual.

Again with the non-facts. We know absolutely nothing about what developers are planning with the PSP, and we have yet to see one single piece of DS or even know how it's all going to work. Wait until E3, then see what you think of all this.

I'm just basing it on the historical reluctance of publishers to spend much on handheld projects, which goes right back to the beginning of handheld games... it's not just a temporary trend...

Yeah that's pretty much how I feel. I want this extrasensory feature to be real though. Ths possibilities are endless as to what you can do in the games. Couple that with a touch screen, drag and drop menus (maybe?) and possibly the ability to go online with the thing (through an AOL server :D) it could be the best thing to happen to hand helds since the Gameboy.

Woah... imagine a game like F-Zero on the DS. You can rotate the DS like a steering wheel to steer but the screen always stays centered like a gyroscope, all it would have to do is rotate the camera in the opposite direction of the DS's movement. Or you could steer with the D-pad and lean/power slide by rotating the DS. Smack in to other cars by quickly tilting it or sliding it left to right, use a boost by smacking it, nose up or down during a jump by holding the DS up or down! Hahaha, oh shit, it's way too good to be true. You could play a fishing game where you actually have to go through all the motions of actually casting a line and reeling it in, oh my gentle jesus whether or not the DS has it, I hope the next gen controllers have it for consoles!

It's certainly something that's been played with before, as I said with Kirby. To be honest, thinking about it yes it does seem like the future. Another time they played with it was the Power Glove, but wow did that not work. It's certainly got potential, but the important thing is for the mechanism to be VERY durable and VERY accurate.

Also, there's just one thing you need to remember lazy. The average gamer has played their games holding the controller or system in every possible position. When this is installed, the player will be forced to hold it in very certain ways. No more getting comfortable while still playing the game, and dropping the controller could REALLY screw you up. While a great concept, it is really going to be something that totally ruins a LOT of gamer's comfort levels. I myself tend to hold my controller upside down because I'm laying down and my hands are also upside down (same thing with the GB), but I can't do that after this unless it adapts to it. Also, even if there's an option to invert the controls, you'll still need to hold it totally flat whichever way. Having to realign it constantly as you adjust your position while gaming (you know, the whole "dangit, I totally suck, maybe if I sit up I'll do better, no wait, I should lay down, THEN I'm comfortable" thing) can get annoying.

Again, you are right, this could very well be an intuitive controller, but it'll have to get around the way the average gamer plays, that is, they play in the most comfortable position they can get in, and attempt to avoid cramping up their hands. Also, there are a number of gamers who want the real world to have as little an effect on their digital experience as possible. When games start requiring sunlight and gravity, to them, it seems sorta cheap. Now, I'll have to say that sunlight game IS just a gimic. This thing could really be a nice system, but it does depend on gravity and movement to work as opposed to PURE input (imagine just a slight accidental flick of your hand accidently throwing everything off, having to actually keep a steady hand, rather than easily being able to just NOT push a button or touch a control stick or hold something in place), whatever that is, so it can put some people off. The nerds they are, they shall ask "what if I play this in space?" or something stupid like that. I dunno, it's something that part of me loves as a concept, but the other part of me sees a LOT of comfort issues with, as well as having a sense of LOST control since it will depend on the user's ability to keep steady.

I thought about that and it comes to this (I think).

It would have to have the ability to switch off. Every game made for the system would have to have the option of playing it "Sensory Enhanced" mode or "Normal" mode. not a big deal really since the system will have ample controls for infinite set ups. All the above examples I posted could be easily translated in to controller setups, but not nearly as fun.

Also, it could work like an anal-log controller. Get the position you want to play the system, and then turn it on; whatever angle the system is at would then become it's center point, allowing you to play normal while playing at an angle in more comfy positions

That would work, an auto alignment based on where it's at when you turn it on I suppose. The important thing I think actually, thinking about it, would just be a way to easily realign it at the press of a button, a somewhat hard to accidently press button that is.

I think if the DS had a "sensory off" mode, less developers would take advantage of the sensory feature, which is probably not what Nintendo wants.

Well of COURSE it can be turned off just by NOT designing the software to look for it.

Yeah. And the Gameboy is discrete and often calming. Like before a job interview, while standing in line, during a lunch break, while at school and during car trips.

I cant see as how people wiggling and flailing their arms about while playing the DS as discrete. So it should have an option to turn off the GUVALTING oh LADY with the SENSORS and the Z-AXIS and THE EMBARESSING LOOKS OY the MERCURY SWITCHING makes the people look at ME FROIN LAVEN

There were a few PC gamepads years back that worked like Kirby Tilt n Tumble... never had one, but like that you'd tilt it in a direction and you'd turn that way. Microsoft had one... worked best with motorcycle racing games, I think.

If I stop peddling I'll die but it sure beats CONTINENTAL AIR! GLAAAAIVEN!