New DS info; online, + new games; AOE, GoldenEye

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-21 12:30am

Okay, first the good news, then the maybe bad maybe good news.

The good news is that they've announced a lot of new games for the DS, including a number of RPG's, a Pac-Man game, and Katamari Damancy DS.

The second good news is they've released screenshots for Age of Empires DS and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (which apparently plays like Metroid Prime). They use the term Wi-Fi with AOE DS (Wi-Fi is used elsewhere in the article to mean Internet play, and the other games are said to have "wireless multiplay", not Wi-Fi), which likely means online.

The third good news, Nintendo promises the online play will be free and seamless, and easy to stick into games that already have wireless support so we may be seeing a lot more DS online games.

Now the maybe good maybe bad news.

The first maybe news is...Age of Empires DS is loosely based on AOE2, but instead of being RTS, its now a "fast-paced turn-based strategy game". It seems to be trying to emulate Advance Wars. There goes Microsoft and their innovation.

This could be good or bad.

The second maybe news is...guess who's providing the online play?
The devil itself (no wait, that's M$)...GameSpy.

Now, GameSpy Arcade sucks because the INTERFACE sucks and the program is incredibly buggy. Their servers are good, so hopefully this will run good, (also, UT2k4 and Battlefield and Battlefront all used embedded versions of GS, and they're not terrible) but if it ends up like GSA...oh please NO!

Here's the article with all the games listed and screenshots:

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4590

All you Nintendo fans chanting "Where are the DS games?", well, Nintendo, Namco, and EA have heard your cries!

In the next Nintendo Power, Nintendo will reveal many new games, including Baten Kaitos DS, Xenosaga DS, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, Age of Empires DS, Pac'n Roll, Shogun Warriors DS, and what might be most exciting, Katamari Damacy DS!

But there's more! EA's next DS offering, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, will feature wireless multiplay for you, and 7 other players. Age of Empires will also feature Wi-Fi play for four players at a time.

And who is responsible for DS online? It has been confirmed to be GameSpy. GameSpy and Nintendo promise seamless, free online.

Also, "according to Iwata, developers currently working on short-range wireless games should be able to easily expand many of their projects to include wireless internet play." So, perhaps we'll be seeing more online DS games than we thought we would.

GameSpy will also deliver development kits to qualified developers before E3, for online play, of course. Hopefully we'll finally be seeing more Wi-Fi DS games soon.

And now, for those who want to see Age of Empires and GoldenEye screens, see below. I'm sure you can tell the difference.

More news on Goldeneye: Rogue Agent!

The Nintendo DS's touchscreen will be used to track ammunition levels,hack electronic devices, decode security systems, amongst other things. And, as of right now, the game does NOT look to be online. Sorry kiddos, for now, Animal Crossing will have to do...

More news on Age of Empires DS!

AoE DS will be a remake of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Apparently, it will now be a "fast-paced" turn-based strategy game. There will be at least 5 civilizations to choose from, at least 15 different types of buildings, and more than 50 unit types. A combat advisor will help you with tactics for battle during your campaign.

Source: Nintendo Power

The full, now revised list of upcoming Nintendo DS games (very, very big):
http://www.gamesarefun.com/gamesdb/plat ... tformid=84

Nintendo is certainly making up for the sucky launch games, and their new strategy with focusing on third parties is sure working! w00t!

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-03-21 02:45am

thanks for the info. Hopefully the online gaming will rock and come available very soon.

about the opening games: Asphalt: Urban GT is pretty good

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-21 03:03am

Yeah, the 60 FPS framerate is smooth as butter on that one

And check this out:
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/ecvg/shop/de ... pno=514154

Nintendo DS for $129...
Don't know if Metroid Prime is included though.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-03-21 03:06am

all so cheap

Why does it always have to be so much more expensive in europe

150€ for a DS here and 40-45€ for a game

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-21 04:04am

WHERE IS THE INTERNET BROWSER, N00BS!

*ahem*. Asphalt actually looks worse on the back of the box. I played it for a bit at the store: I was pretty surprised how cool it looked. Popup, though.

And internet play for a turn-based game? I doubt it, I really do. Course, once the damn PDA cart comes out WITH A BROWSER one could simply use web servers to tunnel out to any pda function like mail etc. Which would be GOOD and sell, in my circle of friends alone, more than two dozen DSs instantly.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2005-03-21 07:56am

And here I was thinking Goldeneye meant the original ass kicking one, not EA's mediocre game. I guess any FPS would be good.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-21 12:26pm

Stark wrote:WHERE IS THE INTERNET BROWSER, N00BS!

*ahem*. Asphalt actually looks worse on the back of the box. I played it for a bit at the store: I was pretty surprised how cool it looked. Popup, though.

And internet play for a turn-based game? I doubt it, I really do. Course, once the damn PDA cart comes out WITH A BROWSER one could simply use web servers to tunnel out to any pda function like mail etc. Which would be GOOD and sell, in my circle of friends alone, more than two dozen DSs instantly.

dslinux.org

I'm waiting on that

They're trying to get Linux running on the DS by E3, to beat any PDA software Nintendo may release (they're rumored to be working with Palm on a PalmOS port, which might actually be true since Palm's use ARM9 processors just like the DS).

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-21 04:29pm

Actually since dslinux appears to require extra hardware (that sticks out in a very 'lets break it off by accident' fashion) I'm hoping Nintendo doesn't release a Little Timmy PDA Soft cart, and does a PROPER job. I'm not confident.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-21 06:00pm

Stark wrote:Actually since dslinux appears to require extra hardware (that sticks out in a very 'lets break it off by accident' fashion) I'm hoping Nintendo doesn't release a Little Timmy PDA Soft cart, and does a PROPER job. I'm not confident.

If you're referring to PassMe, that's just what they're doing to test the code initially.

The final version could run off a GBA cart and wireless multiboot.

Ryoga · Post by **Ryoga** » 2005-03-22 10:55pm

Wait, wait, wait....back up.

Katamari Damacy DS?

HELL FUCKIN' YEAH!

I wonder if it'll have multiplayer. I love rolling up my friends and their pathetic little katamaris into my collective....

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-23 12:23am

If Katamari Damancy for PS2 has multiplayer (never played more than the demo), I'm sure the DS version would, what with wireless and all...

The more important question is; will it have online?

Personally, I'm waiting for a MegaMan Zero DS. ENOUGH WITH THE GBA VERSIONS! Zero 1, 2, 3, and the upcoming 4 are all for GBA, and are all basicly the same game on the same engine with one new weapon in each game and different levels.

Give us a 2.5D or 2D w/3d effects Zero game, please!

Battle Network DS will be fun, too...

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2005-03-23 01:25pm

Aww, I thought it would be the real GoldenEye. And if it hadn't been for Microshit buying up Rare, it probably would have been too

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-23 06:43pm

I dunno, MS is letting Majesco do Age of Empires II, and a GoldenEye game.

And MS has made statements about how they think the PSP is a stupid idea and Sony are a bunch of morons for challenging one with a 90% share (sound familiar?

) in the handheld market, and think the Nintendo DS is gonna win. They were probably doing that as a hint to Linux and Mac users

But MS seems to be behind the DS if they make any handheld games.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-24 05:45am

Praxis wrote:If you're referring to PassMe, that's just what they're doing to test the code initially.

The final version could run off a GBA cart and wireless multiboot.

You can DO that?

So long as there's a MAME port, I'll be happy!

I've heard you can use the GBA slot with a cardreader: Nintendo is so stupid they'll never think of making a DS cart with full PDA functionality and using the GBA slot for media, thus instantly selling literally THOUSANDS of DSs just in Brisbane. I could personally sell one to everyone in the Boeing and Mincom buildings. All it'd need is text, pdf, and web: media would be a largely useless extra. But they won't: they'll make a 'PDA soft' with a scratch pad. No appointments, no contact sync, no contact with PCs or phones or PDAs at all, no external media. You know, those things that people use when they're NOT playing games. Sigh.

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2005-03-24 10:16am

Praxis wrote:And MS has made statements about how they think the PSP is a stupid idea and Sony are a bunch of morons for challenging one with a 90% share (sound familiar? ) in the handheld market

So, it's idiotic to take on someone with a 90% handheld market share, but not at all stupid to take on someone with a 70% console market share (Sony)?

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2005-03-24 12:47pm

Praxis wrote:I dunno, MS is letting Majesco do Age of Empires II, and a GoldenEye game.

And MS has made statements about how they think the PSP is a stupid idea and Sony are a bunch of morons for challenging one with a 90% share (sound familiar? ) in the handheld market, and think the Nintendo DS is gonna win. They were probably doing that as a hint to Linux and Mac users But MS seems to be behind the DS if they make any handheld games.

Well we can only hope I guess. But then maybe EA would try to sue them for using their copyrighted name or something...
And since MS apparently want to buy Nintendo, I think it would be unwise for them to do anything but be behind them, especially in a market were MS has no share of its own...

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-24 01:54pm

Stark wrote:
Praxis wrote:If you're referring to PassMe, that's just what they're doing to test the code initially.

The final version could run off a GBA cart and wireless multiboot.
You can DO that? So long as there's a MAME port, I'll be happy!

I've heard you can use the GBA slot with a cardreader: Nintendo is so stupid they'll never think of making a DS cart with full PDA functionality and using the GBA slot for media, thus instantly selling literally THOUSANDS of DSs just in Brisbane. I could personally sell one to everyone in the Boeing and Mincom buildings. All it'd need is text, pdf, and web: media would be a largely useless extra. But they won't: they'll make a 'PDA soft' with a scratch pad. No appointments, no contact sync, no contact with PCs or phones or PDAs at all, no external media. You know, those things that people use when they're NOT playing games. Sigh.

No, not a card reader, you can buy flash carts that go in the GBA slot.

They're a tad expensive, but as it is now, you can already put emulators, videos, and music on them, and slap them in your GBA or DS.

You can already put text and media and emulators and roms in them. No PDF and web though.

I'm hoping the rumors are true and they're making a full Palm port. Palm, after all, already uses ARM9 processors, just like the ones in the DS.

Loner · Post by **Loner** » 2005-03-26 01:39am

Praxis wrote:No, not a card reader, you can buy flash carts that go in the GBA slot.

They're a tad expensive, but as it is now, you can already put emulators, videos, and music on them, and slap them in your GBA or DS.

You can already put text and media and emulators and roms in them. No PDF and web though.

You know what'd be insane? If someone were to emulate PSP games, put it on a one of those flash cards and play it off the DS.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-26 02:57am

Except the PSP hardware is better and the discs are enourmous by flash standards.

A MAME emulator would be excellent, however.

I didn't know you could buy GBA-flash cards. That's a good sign.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-26 03:44am

Loner wrote:
Praxis wrote:No, not a card reader, you can buy flash carts that go in the GBA slot.

They're a tad expensive, but as it is now, you can already put emulators, videos, and music on them, and slap them in your GBA or DS.

You can already put text and media and emulators and roms in them. No PDF and web though.
You know what'd be insane? If someone were to emulate PSP games, put it on a one of those flash cards and play it off the DS.

Uhhhh. Your system generally has to be about 10 times more powerful than the system you're emulating, not 0.5 times as fast.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-26 04:07am

http://www.gamercentric.com/index.php?p ... ws&id=3225

GamerCentric claims the Nintendo V-Pocket trademark is a PalmOS port for the Nintendo DS, and that we'll see it at E3. This actually makes sense since Palm's use the same type of processor as the DS.

And a more reliable summary of the V-pocket rumors:
http://gba.n64europe.com/feature.php?id=3206

Loner · Post by **Loner** » 2005-03-26 10:51am

Praxis wrote:
Uhhhh. Your system generally has to be about 10 times more powerful than the system you're emulating, not 0.5 times as fast.

Yeah, I know. That's why NES, SNES, Genesis, and GBA games can be played on virtually anything today.