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[Hangedman]

Sandboxes

[Gimym TILBERT]

open world

[DavidCaruso]

Thought the name was just "free-roaming?" Like you'd have a free-roaming 3D platformer or action game or w/e. I always thought the "sandbox" term always applied to games where there weren't any real clear preset goals, e.g. Minecraft, and the player has to "make his own fun."

[SirNiko]

I tend to apply sandbox to games that present the play with lots of mechanics they can throw together, in an attempt to create new situations possibly unintended by the developers. That's independent of exploration, but you can mix them.

Shadow of the Colossus had exploration, a tremendous world to explore with lots of little nooks and crannies to see but there wasn't much in the way of mechanics to play with - the world was mostly empty. LA Noir has a huge world like GTA and even features some exploratory side quests (film canisters, badge pursuit) but there's not as much to play with. Without weapons or world-impacting sidequests the sandbox elements are extremely muted.

By contrast you can have a game like Line Rider or Souptoys that gives the player things to play with and throw together, like toys in a sandbox. hence the name "Sandbox" game. Generally the game tries to derive longevity from the player mixing and matching things and seeing what they do. Webtoys are sandbox games without any objectives. There's nothing to explore in these games, though, except to see the interactions between the objects. It lacks a world to tour, and generally all the objects are made immediately available without searching them out in the wild.

GTA and inFamous are combination games that mix both these concepts - you have a huge world to explore and also many sandbox elements to play with. Or at least, that's how I'd go about defining them.

[Gimym TILBERT]

[Headless Man]

If the Wii U controller has a stand you could probably actually use it as a Kinect variant because of the camera.  Wonder if they have something like that in mind.

[Rm88~]

I doubt it, the camera must be really low-quality, like the one in the 3DS.

[Headless Man]

All three or the 3DS cameras are 640 x 480 - same as the Kinect camera.  I don't know what hz they are (I don't know what hz is) but Kinect is 30 hz - which doesn't sound like anything extraordinary.  I imagine the 3Ds/weewoo cameras would be decent enough if they can do AR.

[halken]

People who don't like Nintendo love predicting Nintendo's death.

I certainly hope you're not painting me with that assumption.

Considering how I was talking about that guy just wanting an excuse to bash Mario/Metroid/Zelda, no. I wasn't talking about you, but people who love predicting Nintendo's death since the N64 days.

I thought you were being suggestive, so never mind.

Which games don't? Games with really long opening scenes? Games with unending tutorials? Because even games which take literally years for people to become really good at them (like Virtua Fighter) can be played for "instant gratification". You don't need to understand the "metagame" to enjoy most games that are deemed too hardcore, I've seen people play Tekken or Killzone like they're playing Mario Party. And then you have people breaking world records in freaking Mario Kart.

I never said any particular game doesn't but rather what type of game satiates what type of player. I'm not even remotely talking about metagaming.

[SirNiko]

Nintendo's stock has been in a pretty steady decline since announcing the WiiU. Last I read, they're down 10-15% from their price just prior to the E3 announcement. Looks like the investors aren't really pleased with Nintendo's new offering.

[JoeInky]

Happens every time a new console is announced from what I've heard.

New console announcement = decrease in current console sales = decrease in stock value

[C.A. Sinner]

@Gil: Not so sure about the "awesome graphics" part. The Wii was "semi-next-gen" hardware-wise and it looks like the Wii U could be too. So far, Nintendo's attempts to get the hardcore market back seem pretty half-assed, but we'll see.

[JoeInky]

Apparently the devkits developers have got currently are underclocked, and they'll be getting new ones in july, so the graphics we see might improve alot, or not, it is supposed to be 50% more powerful than the PS3 anyway, which I don't see with the current games and tech demos.

Also:

There’s a cost issue. Technically, it is possible for the Wii U to support multiple Wii U Controllers. We’re not planning on asking our customers to buy multiple Wii U Controllers.

That last part is just such complete bullshit if the console can support more than one controller, why wouldn't you let it? If people want to play multiplayer they'll buy more controllers, or their friends will bring theirs when they come over, there's no point completely removing the feature just because you think some mums will think the console is too expensive if they have like 2 kids or something.

[SirNiko]

Who said it is technically possible to link multiple WiiU remotes to one console? Your quote isn't linked to a comment and doesn't provide a reference link.

It's also an issue for Nintendo, which needs to provide a source for buying those tablets. Nintendo will have to manufacture, price, and sell tablets above their console manufacture rates to support even one multi-tablet game. Even if it bombs Nintendo can't take it back after. On the other hand, initially restricting multi-tablet games and releasing them later is a possibility.

The research (or lack thereof) performed to defend this decision is known only to Nintendo. Perhaps they'll relent later when the performance of the console is better known.

[C.A. Sinner]

Who said it is technically possible to link multiple WiiU remotes to one console? Your quote isn't linked to a comment and doesn't provide a reference link.

A quick Google search reveals it's Iwata who said it. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/06/multiple-wii-u-controllers-are-a-cost-issue/

Seems legit.