NintendoLand Article - Food for thought

Food for thought
By: Vince Valdez

I have been reading this board for quite some time now, and in that time I have been here, I have read numerous articles ranging from Pokemon, to the forgotten Mario brother (Luigi, my hero), to which system is better and it seems to me that, while there are some decently written critiques on here, the vast majority of articles posted seem to focus on which system or game is better based on personal opinion alone. Granted, competition amongst competitors is healthy and consumers definitely have every right to post or voice their opinions to the world, especially on a public forum such as the web (and this WONDERFUL website (Thanks! webmaster's note) ). My point is, however, that when you write an article be sure you have your facts covered, and are not judging based on feelings alone, otherwise you lead to an inconcise story, comparable to a work of fiction. For example, lets take the (now) age old question of which system will come out on top in the next system war and make a logical comparison based on today's current systems (until October anyway when the PS2 is released... I have my copy reserved <G>).

Nintendo began as a small playing card company in 1889 in Japan and since then has blossomed into the video game super power of the entire free world. They are the foundation upon which ALL video game systems are based upon, Nintendo AND its competitors alike. In the Unites States, their success was mostly due to the video game "crash" of '84, a point in time in which investors and shareholders of certain companies (Atari) felt that the "fad" of video gaming was coming to its end. This caused the said investors and the like to panic, thus causing prices to drop dramatically in video game systems and the games themselves in the consumer market, to the point where the products were literally worthless. However, on the other side of the globe, the market for games was quite strong and when the NES was introduced in 1983 in Japan (under the name Famicom), the system sold very well, and the company decided to try its luck on the western forefront. Convincing a New York retailer to market the system as a test in '85, one year after people thought video games were dead and gone, the system took off in record numbers. Needless to say, with a little help from our favorite fat plumber and his even cooler brother, the rest was history. Since then, Nintendo has created various gaming systems, such as the Nintendo Gameboy(1988), the Super NES (in 1990), The Ill fated Virtual Boy (1995), the N64 (1996), and the Gameboy Color (1998), along with a PLETHORA of various games and "add ons" we have all come to know and love by name. Today Nintendo stands as one of the top and most respected companies (video game and otherwise) in the world.

... And in this corner we have Sony, the electronical juggernaut set out to annihilate the evil "N" and save the world from the likes of Bandicoot and his cohorts. Originally Sony was expected to work alongside the gurus of gaming to create a CD-based add on for the Super NES in early 1991. This system, Dubbed "Playstation", was supposed to be a 32-bit enhancement to take gamers above and beyond the "next-level" threat that opposed Nintendo at the time. However, due to certain internal affairs between Nintendo, Sony, and Phillips (Sony's main competitor), The project ended up on a shelf along with the rest of Nintendo's vaporware. Sony continued work on the project and eventually released the system in 1995, under their own name, and was an instant success. The usage of a CD-ROM format had been tried before but either due to technological restrictions or poor programming at the time, other systems had faltered where Sony truly shined. Up until that point no system was capable of rendering 3-D graphics as well as the Playstation, if at all (with the obvious exception of a PC but we wont even go there), and that is what attracted gamers to go out and stray from the straight and narrow path of Nintendo or Sega (although at this point in time Sega was quickly loosing its foothold as number two, but we'll get into that later on). Undaunted, Nintendo upped the ante with its long awaited "Project Reality" in 1996 which was later named Nintendo 64, or N 64 for short. This new system, although technologically superior to the year old Playstation, fell short in one key area: it failed to utilize a CD-ROM drive. Instead it was the same old tried and true cartridge format Nintendo had stuck with for the past 12 years. So although it was able to process graphics much, much better in comparison, no game to this day could be made for the N64 which could handle the complex design and length of a Playstation game without costing an arm and a leg, as MEG space is extremely expensive (although getting cheaper). This decision caused Nintendo to lose one of their most valuable developers, Squaresoft, whose Final Fantasy series (and the like) was the backbone of Nintendo's RPG department. To add insult to injury, Square jumped ship to none other than Sony where their Final Fantasy series has done nothing but increase sales of Playstation units around the globe, not to mention heighten the series status to a new plateau. With an enormous library of titles, close to half the market share, and their Playstation 2 due out in a matter of months, Sony is shaping up to be a worthy challenger to the throne.

If there was ever a "wild card" or "loose cannon" in the video game industry, It would have to be Sega, hands down. Sega (which stands for SErvice and GAmes) established itself in the late 80s with the Master system, an 8 bit machine created to rival Nintendo. This system had some of the best games out there, such as the original Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Alex Kidd, and various others. However, considering Nintendo had already conquered the 8-bit market and showed no signs of letting go anytime soon, Sega abandoned their Master System and started working on a console that would rock the video gaming industry. The rewards of their labor produced a product seemingly from the almighty himself. The Sega Genesis was introduced in 1989 With the slogan "We got what Ninten-Don't". Along with the new "bad-ass" attitude, the system sported an extremely fast 16-bit graphics processor (Motorolla 68000, running at a speedy 23 MHz or so), an improved color palette over the NES (64 on screen colors as opposed to the NES's 32), a 3 button controller for added functions, and a spikey-headed speedster named Sonic as the company mascot (although he wasn't introduced until later in the game). Now, anyone with a little common sense and a fair amount of cash could see the obvious improvement over the aging NES, and immediately bought one of these suckers (I did), and so began the first world war. We need not go into specifics at this point as to what Nintendo came back with, we already know, but what is notable is that soon after both companies launched their 16 bit systems and were into the battle for number one, Sega apparently became too thirsty for control and started releasing product after product to the public. Some, like the Sega CD, showed promise but without a video upgrade, seemed pointless. Others, like the 32x seemed like a pathetic attempt to milk the life out of a by then dated system (the Genesis). Still Sega carried onward and in 1995 released their first true 32 bit system, The Sega Saturn. Graphically, this machine could produce 2-D images better than any 16 bit system out there, had CD quality sound, and was a perfect medium to bring Sega's impressive arcade titles home... all under 200 bucks. Betting on Sega's new "dream machine" was a gamble in the consumers eyes though, still spitting out the taste from consoles past. Many people weren't ready to be bitten by the Sega bug again and while there were lots of wonderful titles produced, the system never took off and was dead within 3 years of its release. Sony seemed to be the clear cut winner at the time, it had a stranglehold on the gaming market, tons of third party support and an enormous fan base. Even after the N64 was released, Sony still seemed to be ahead due to the fact that Nintendo had focused its games on young kids aged 7-13 (as usual) whereas Sony knew that the gamers of old were growing up and offered a more diverse selection of games to please them as well. that is until...

1999 - Sega Enterprises releases their much talked about Dreamcast system and it sells over 300,000 units during prebooking, an industry first. The system comes in at a hefty 128 bit machine, producing the most realistic images ever seen by a gaming system thusfar. Suddenly Sega has renewed themselves, and seems like a major contender once again. However, their supermachine is not without competition, as Sony announced their release date for their next-generation "entertainment system" (as they call it) the Playstation 2, or PS2 for short, due to ship out October 24th, 2000. Featuring a 128 bit "emotion engine" clocked at 300+ MHz, and a DVD drive which will play all old Playstation games as well, Sony seems intent on crushing any competition they may encounter, including cute little Pikachu himself. Speaking of the great gaming giant, Nintendo also has a system in the works. Dubbed "Dolphin" (rumor has it that it is officially called "Star Cube"), this new system by the same people who set the standard for video gaming is said to include an either 128 or a 256 bit engine and instant four player capability. Nintendo also claims to be expanding their horizons so to speak, as they have said they will create games that encompass a wider range of players, with one such game said to be a new Mario game. Probably the biggest news on this system is that Nintendo is finally straying from the cartridge media and going for a DVD format! Squaresoft has already said they would develop games for both the PS2 and the Dolphin so it could be anyone's game at that point.

The bottom line - While Sega started out strong as it had in the past, they need to think of something revolutionary to save themselves come go time, otherwise this may be Sega's last stand. As far as Nintendo and Sony goes, who knows, its up for grabs at this point. Sony has the advantage of knowing how to program CDs/DVDs whereas Nintendo is fairly new to the medium. However Nintendo has had a very high reputation when it comes to gaming, some (most actually) would consider their lead developer, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid series, the father of video gaming. So who will come out on top? Who will get the big "Game Over"? Nintendo faces its biggest threat ever, will it have the arsenal it needs to come out victorious once again or will there be a changing of the guard? Only in time will we be able to tell if the dolphin lives up to its reputation of being one of the smartest animals on earth.


	Food for thought By: Vince Valdez I have been reading this board for quite some time now, and in that time I have been here, I have read numerous articles ranging from Pokemon, to the forgotten Mario brother (Luigi, my hero), to which system is better and it seems to me that, while there are some decently written critiques on here, the vast majority of articles posted seem to focus on which system or game is better based on personal opinion alone. Granted, competition amongst competitors is healthy and consumers definitely have every right to post or voice their opinions to the world, especially on a public forum such as the web (and this WONDERFUL website (Thanks! webmaster's note) ). My point is, however, that when you write an article be sure you have your facts covered, and are not judging based on feelings alone, otherwise you lead to an inconcise story, comparable to a work of fiction. For example, lets take the (now) age old question of which system will come out on top in the next system war and make a logical comparison based on today's current systems (until October anyway when the PS2 is released... I have my copy reserved <G>). Nintendo began as a small playing card company in 1889 in Japan and since then has blossomed into the video game super power of the entire free world. They are the foundation upon which ALL video game systems are based upon, Nintendo AND its competitors alike. In the Unites States, their success was mostly due to the video game "crash" of '84, a point in time in which investors and shareholders of certain companies (Atari) felt that the "fad" of video gaming was coming to its end. This caused the said investors and the like to panic, thus causing prices to drop dramatically in video game systems and the games themselves in the consumer market, to the point where the products were literally worthless. However, on the other side of the globe, the market for games was quite strong and when the NES was introduced in 1983 in Japan (under the name Famicom), the system sold very well, and the company decided to try its luck on the western forefront. Convincing a New York retailer to market the system as a test in '85, one year after people thought video games were dead and gone, the system took off in record numbers. Needless to say, with a little help from our favorite fat plumber and his even cooler brother, the rest was history. Since then, Nintendo has created various gaming systems, such as the Nintendo Gameboy(1988), the Super NES (in 1990), The Ill fated Virtual Boy (1995), the N64 (1996), and the Gameboy Color (1998), along with a PLETHORA of various games and "add ons" we have all come to know and love by name. Today Nintendo stands as one of the top and most respected companies (video game and otherwise) in the world. ... And in this corner we have Sony, the electronical juggernaut set out to annihilate the evil "N" and save the world from the likes of Bandicoot and his cohorts. Originally Sony was expected to work alongside the gurus of gaming to create a CD-based add on for the Super NES in early 1991. This system, Dubbed "Playstation", was supposed to be a 32-bit enhancement to take gamers above and beyond the "next-level" threat that opposed Nintendo at the time. However, due to certain internal affairs between Nintendo, Sony, and Phillips (Sony's main competitor), The project ended up on a shelf along with the rest of Nintendo's vaporware. Sony continued work on the project and eventually released the system in 1995, under their own name, and was an instant success. The usage of a CD-ROM format had been tried before but either due to technological restrictions or poor programming at the time, other systems had faltered where Sony truly shined. Up until that point no system was capable of rendering 3-D graphics as well as the Playstation, if at all (with the obvious exception of a PC but we wont even go there), and that is what attracted gamers to go out and stray from the straight and narrow path of Nintendo or Sega (although at this point in time Sega was quickly loosing its foothold as number two, but we'll get into that later on). Undaunted, Nintendo upped the ante with its long awaited "Project Reality" in 1996 which was later named Nintendo 64, or N 64 for short. This new system, although technologically superior to the year old Playstation, fell short in one key area: it failed to utilize a CD-ROM drive. Instead it was the same old tried and true cartridge format Nintendo had stuck with for the past 12 years. So although it was able to process graphics much, much better in comparison, no game to this day could be made for the N64 which could handle the complex design and length of a Playstation game without costing an arm and a leg, as MEG space is extremely expensive (although getting cheaper). This decision caused Nintendo to lose one of their most valuable developers, Squaresoft, whose Final Fantasy series (and the like) was the backbone of Nintendo's RPG department. To add insult to injury, Square jumped ship to none other than Sony where their Final Fantasy series has done nothing but increase sales of Playstation units around the globe, not to mention heighten the series status to a new plateau. With an enormous library of titles, close to half the market share, and their Playstation 2 due out in a matter of months, Sony is shaping up to be a worthy challenger to the throne. If there was ever a "wild card" or "loose cannon" in the video game industry, It would have to be Sega, hands down. Sega (which stands for SErvice and GAmes) established itself in the late 80s with the Master system, an 8 bit machine created to rival Nintendo. This system had some of the best games out there, such as the original Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Alex Kidd, and various others. However, considering Nintendo had already conquered the 8-bit market and showed no signs of letting go anytime soon, Sega abandoned their Master System and started working on a console that would rock the video gaming industry. The rewards of their labor produced a product seemingly from the almighty himself. The Sega Genesis was introduced in 1989 With the slogan "We got what Ninten-Don't". Along with the new "bad-ass" attitude, the system sported an extremely fast 16-bit graphics processor (Motorolla 68000, running at a speedy 23 MHz or so), an improved color palette over the NES (64 on screen colors as opposed to the NES's 32), a 3 button controller for added functions, and a spikey-headed speedster named Sonic as the company mascot (although he wasn't introduced until later in the game). Now, anyone with a little common sense and a fair amount of cash could see the obvious improvement over the aging NES, and immediately bought one of these suckers (I did), and so began the first world war. We need not go into specifics at this point as to what Nintendo came back with, we already know, but what is notable is that soon after both companies launched their 16 bit systems and were into the battle for number one, Sega apparently became too thirsty for control and started releasing product after product to the public. Some, like the Sega CD, showed promise but without a video upgrade, seemed pointless. Others, like the 32x seemed like a pathetic attempt to milk the life out of a by then dated system (the Genesis). Still Sega carried onward and in 1995 released their first true 32 bit system, The Sega Saturn. Graphically, this machine could produce 2-D images better than any 16 bit system out there, had CD quality sound, and was a perfect medium to bring Sega's impressive arcade titles home... all under 200 bucks. Betting on Sega's new "dream machine" was a gamble in the consumers eyes though, still spitting out the taste from consoles past. Many people weren't ready to be bitten by the Sega bug again and while there were lots of wonderful titles produced, the system never took off and was dead within 3 years of its release. Sony seemed to be the clear cut winner at the time, it had a stranglehold on the gaming market, tons of third party support and an enormous fan base. Even after the N64 was released, Sony still seemed to be ahead due to the fact that Nintendo had focused its games on young kids aged 7-13 (as usual) whereas Sony knew that the gamers of old were growing up and offered a more diverse selection of games to please them as well. that is until... 1999 - Sega Enterprises releases their much talked about Dreamcast system and it sells over 300,000 units during prebooking, an industry first. The system comes in at a hefty 128 bit machine, producing the most realistic images ever seen by a gaming system thusfar. Suddenly Sega has renewed themselves, and seems like a major contender once again. However, their supermachine is not without competition, as Sony announced their release date for their next-generation "entertainment system" (as they call it) the Playstation 2, or PS2 for short, due to ship out October 24th, 2000. Featuring a 128 bit "emotion engine" clocked at 300+ MHz, and a DVD drive which will play all old Playstation games as well, Sony seems intent on crushing any competition they may encounter, including cute little Pikachu himself. Speaking of the great gaming giant, Nintendo also has a system in the works. Dubbed "Dolphin" (rumor has it that it is officially called "Star Cube"), this new system by the same people who set the standard for video gaming is said to include an either 128 or a 256 bit engine and instant four player capability. Nintendo also claims to be expanding their horizons so to speak, as they have said they will create games that encompass a wider range of players, with one such game said to be a new Mario game. Probably the biggest news on this system is that Nintendo is finally straying from the cartridge media and going for a DVD format! Squaresoft has already said they would develop games for both the PS2 and the Dolphin so it could be anyone's game at that point. The bottom line - While Sega started out strong as it had in the past, they need to think of something revolutionary to save themselves come go time, otherwise this may be Sega's last stand. As far as Nintendo and Sony goes, who knows, its up for grabs at this point. Sony has the advantage of knowing how to program CDs/DVDs whereas Nintendo is fairly new to the medium. However Nintendo has had a very high reputation when it comes to gaming, some (most actually) would consider their lead developer, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid series, the father of video gaming. So who will come out on top? Who will get the big "Game Over"? Nintendo faces its biggest threat ever, will it have the arsenal it needs to come out victorious once again or will there be a changing of the guard? Only in time will we be able to tell if the dolphin lives up to its reputation of being one of the smartest animals on earth.