IGN Cube :
Question: How exactly does the "worlds" or "stages" work in Super Mario Sunshine? Is the island we see in the video essentially the "hub", while the stages are inside the buildings and pipes?
Matt: Yes, to my understanding, this is essentially the truth of it. There are other worlds. You will see videos of them next week.
Question: Recently a Canadian Nintendo representative "Confirmed" a second Zelda GCN game is in development, is this true?'
Matt: From what we've been hearing for months, this is true.
Question: Hey Matt. Any clue if Long Kingdoms will actually ship tomorrow?--If so, have you had a chance to play the final version--so much so that you may a review up for it very soon? Thanks.
Matt: Fran's handling Lost Kingdoms. I imagine it will ship on time this week, and Fran should have the review by Wednesday, or I will kick him in the knees.
Question: Does the return of Donkey Kong Racing and Kameo to Nintendo's GameCube list mean anything's changed with Rare?
Matt: on the Rare front: I don't believe that means anything, no. As we all know, Rare showed Kameo forever ago and for some reason has opted not to show it again this year. In fact, it only showed a single product at E3. Something is fishy, quite obviously.
Question: I was wondering if the jumping in Metroid seemed " stiff" ala Turok, as it was one of the few complaints I had heard of. Also, did you find jumping to be integral to the gameplay? Thanks
Matt: Not really stiff, I don't think. It's possible to use the ice beam to navigate some platforms, or to curl up into a ball -- third-person, and bomb one's way around them. It works nicely, trust me.
Question: Matt do you consider November 18th a "solid" release date for Metroid Prime?
Matt: Yes, November 18 is solid.
Matt: The major quest in Zelda is to save Link's sister, this is true. But there are plenty of sub-quests, from sneaking about a castle to sailing the ocean and jumping crates for points. I'm told that Link now sails from land to land in the new game, which rocks.
Question: As we know, according to recent Miyamoto interview, Metroid Prime is being developed by Metroid fans, which is great news. However, my only concern is the length of the game. Do you have any idea how long the gameplay will be in the final product?
Matt: Metroid Prime gameplay: Roughly seven hours, I'm told. A short, but sweet game.
Question: What?s up with the Zelda Compilation?
Matt: No news on Zelda compilation.
Question: what do you know about the way you travel from level to level in Mario Sunshine?
Matt: As far as Mario worlds go, I honestly don't know. Very secret.
Matt: The seven hours length is dependent upon the skill of the player, of course, but it's a good estimate, say sources.
Question: were there any big games that you saw behind closed doors that you can't tell us about, or was everything open?
Matt: Most of the games we saw were open to the public. No big secrets.
Question: How were the load times in the games? (Zelda, Metroid, Mario..)
Matt: The load times in Zelda were a bit longer than the usual -- meaning about three seconds when Link went through a door. But Metroid was polished -- loaded immediately. Mario was fairly good too.
Question: Any details on Gamecube's portable LCD screen by Nintendo??
Matt: The LCD screen rocks. No other details than that. It's the best one I've seen.
Question: matt, do you expect them to optimize a bit more and reduce those Zelda load times?
Matt: Yes, I do think Zelda's load times will be optimized. A lot of the IGN guys have a joke that goes, "Well, at least Nintendo still has a year and a half to work on Zelda." Basically, if this game ships this year -- in Japan, even -- I'd probably faint.
Question: What's happening with Rockstar, Fran said they were impressed with RE and might make some new announcements, are we getting anything besides mafia and smugglers run?
Matt: Rockstar is coming along. Smuggler's Run: Warzones looks very nice. No news on GTA-whatever, if that's what you're looking for, though.
Question: No release date for the LCD screen? What about the look, will it stay silver/chrome?
Matt: The look is supposed to be final. Not sure about the release date. IGN's gear editor did a big write-up on the screen. Check it out: gear.ign.com.
Question: Are you disappointed in the lack of surprises at E3?
Matt: I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of surprises at E3. I think the game publications, from online to magazine, are just covering the big three too well lately. Readers knew about everything beforehand.
Question: Do you believe that the second GCN Metroid has been handed out to a 3rd party, ala Starfox GC and F-Zero GC?
Matt: I asked Nintendo about it, and it was denied. Our source on the matter still insists that a second Metroid game is underway, however. No news, regardless.
Question: How long will it take to complete Star Fox Adventures?
Matt: It's gigantic. I believe Miyamoto once said that it could take more than 100 hours if the gamer completed everything.
Question: Matt, in Metroid, I heard you can use free camera for things, how is this so? Does a button activate it? Because as I've heard, the C-Stick changes your... Weapons, and the joystick moves you, do you have to stop and use the joystick in free camera?
Matt: Free camera is activated with the R button, I believe. L trigger, meanwhile, locks onto targets and objects. The D-Pad plays a huge part in the Metroid game mechanics as it's used to scan everything -- and you have to do that a lot! If you walk up to a data panel and don't scan it, you won't gain access to the next room, or remove gravity, or whatever.
Question: matt, the strafing is only when you've locked onto an enemy right?
Matt: No, in Metroid you can strafe without being locked. You can't circle strafe, though. You know -- as in, strafe around a corner flawlessly. This is because, according to the designers, it's not a FPS. And the lock-on system allows players to strafe around enemies anyway. I played the hell out of it -- it works.
Question: It was just reported that Gamecube will be utilizing Gamespy's architecture, do you know of any games that will be the first to use this?
Matt: I know of a few planned online games, but I do not know if they will use the GameSpy architecture.
Question: in the unplugged right before E3 you said PD was going to make its debut at E3 and that you knew a secret about Nintendo that led you to believe that they would steal they show...Did you hear this stuff or just speculating?
Matt: I believe our mention of PD at E3 was pure speculation. The big secret didn't happen. I still know about it. You will like it.
Matt: On the secret front: Let's just say that the mature Link you once saw isn't entirely gone.
Question: From what you played at e3, do you like Mario sunshine or Zelda GC better?
Matt: I would rather play Mario Sunshine. I would rather watch Zelda. Do you understand?
Question: Someone wants to know which looks better: Halo or Metroid?
Matt: Funny -- the IGN guys stopped by my house post-E3 and we watched a ton of Metroid footage running in DPLII. Then, after they left, I played Halo. To answer your question, Halo's a great game, and Metroid is going to own it.
Question: Will Mario Sunshine include the tropical and catchy music we all loved in the trailer? As in will the soundtrack have a tropical and catchy beat?
Matt: I didn't hear the music from the trailer, but the music in the game is definitely tropical.
Question: what about square? Any new plans?
Matt: No news on the Square front. Obviously the RPG is still very much in the works.
Matt: We have a lot of great footage to show you guys over the next couple months. 45 minutes of Zelda. 30 minutes of Mario. And tons of Metroid. You'll be able to gauge them all for yourself. You will not find better Metroid footage anywhere, either.
Question: any rumblings bout Namco/Starfox?
Matt: Nothing on Namco Star Fox. Ridge Racer was shown on video. Looks interesting.
Question: Which will be shipping first, Phantasy Star Online, or the Gamecube GameShark? And if the Gameshark does ship first, do you think Sega is willing to program a GS Block into PSO to prevent cheating on the GC version?
Matt: Not sure about Phantasy Star versus GameShark, sorry.
Question: How long until Zelda and square secrets are revealed?
Matt: Square secrets aren't terribly far off, I think. Not sure about Zelda.
Question: Will Metroid Prime have extra modes when you beat the game a-la Resident Evil?
Matt: Not sure about extra modes. Obviously the game will have tons of old-school mechanics in it, though. Ridley, by the way, was spotted in the demo.
Question: Will the Metroid videos be direct feed?
Matt:
Question: any news on when Virtua Fighter Quest will be shown?
Matt: VF Quest: Not sure. Space World is a good guess, though. It's apparently moving along.
Matt: Everything we heard about Rare was reported in our Rumor Report. I asked around at E3 and everyone I talked to reiterated the status. Something is up. Even Nintendo dodged questions about its relationship. I saw on another site that Nintendo confirmed Rare was exclusive -- that's BS. Nintendo said nothing of the sort.
Question: Anything on Capcom's Glass Rose?
Matt: Capcom's Glass Rose was absent, unfortunately.
Question: what are your impressions of the game eye? Any big games that are going to feature its use?
Matt: Game Eye is cool. We have some great footage of Franjo Mirabella running around with Luigi and Yamauchi, thanks to that thing. We'll post it soon.
Question: Can you please clear up once and for all the Soul Caliber 2 situation Matt?
Matt: SC2 is coming to GameCube.
Question: What happened to Pichu Bros. Party Panic? I didn't hear a WORD about the game from E3...
Matt: I don't know what happened to Pichu Bros. to be honest.
Matt: CHAT WILL WRAP UP IN THREE MINUTES.
Question: Rare, with the lack of any official announcement, are you still as confident in your sources that Rare is going multiplatform?
Matt: Yes, I am confident that Rare will make games for other platforms.
Question: You just hinted about a mature Zelda, will this be a remake with SW2000 graphics or completely new?
Matt: I didn't hint that a mature Zelda was underway. I hinted that mature Link is not totally gone.
Question: Any more you can elaborate on that?
Matt: Sorry, I cannot elaborate further on the Link mystery. You will know more in the near future. It's a cool thing, trust me.
Question: Can we expect to hear something about Silicon Knight's "Too Human" at Spaceworld?
Matt: Too Human at Space World could definitely happen. Right now SK is working on finishing Eternal Darkness, of course. Denis Dyack was unable to attend E3 because he was helping finish the game back in Canada.
Matt: ONE MINUTE LEFT.
Question: Any word on a Pikmin 2? | God say yes Matt, at least HINT AT IT
Matt: No word at all on Pikmin 2. Getting information out of EAD isn't easy.
Matt: One last question.
Question: Can you talk about marionette
Matt: If I knew something about it...
Matt: All right everyone. Thanks for stopping in. Tune into IGNCube next week for much more.
Plus d'infos sur la durée de vie de Metroid:
understand that my cohort in crime Matt Casamassina has reportedly noted that we heard Metroid Prime is around 7 hours.
That's true, but the details are quite sketchy and anything but confirmed. I see he stated it rather matter-of-factly, but that's definitley not the case.
We don't know Metroid Prime's game length, and I spoke to someone on the showfloor who expected it to definitely be longer than that.
Anyhow, if you want my guess Metroid Prime will be 15-20 hours the first time through. But, it can no doubt be beaten in 5 hours or shorter.
This is Metroid. It's never been a 40 hour game -- doesn't need to be. If you want to whine about that, then you may want to reconsider you interest in the franchise.
The first level alone is bound to take most people 30 minutes if you spend time scanning everything. Continue at that pace throughout the entire game, and I imagine Metroid Prime will be very lengthy. And, so as to preempt any other negative comments, no I do not think Metroid Prime will be broken up into levels. The first level, escaping, is always set apart from the rest. Hopefully all loading will take place at save points or map uploads, making for a seamless experience.
So, stop worrying. Wise up. Or I'll think your brain power depleted by a Metroid.
Affaire Rare, Nintendo & Activision episod #45451212544512211
According to my sources the status now is:
Joel Hochberg holds 51% of Rare shares
Nintendo 30-40%
The two Stamper brothers: 10-20%
Joel wanted to leave the videogame business and offered his shares. Activision got them.
Now they are battling about the copyrights of rare games with Nintendo. Nintendo is forcing Rare to a) complete the announced games and b) do not create games for PS2 or Xbox. If Rare would start Xbox or PS2 games, Nintendo wanted to reject their license to develop GC and GBA games. That would mean 2-3 years of developement for nothing...
On the other hand Starfox is under strict Nintendo control since they changed it from Dinosaur Planet to STARFOX Adventures. Rare can't change the direction the game goes now (Is that good or bad? You decide).
First it was planned to announce the Activision 51% shares deal on a seperate show during E3 outside the E3 buildings. But the legal problems between Rare and Nintendo about licenses and game-copyrights are still ongoing. So it will take some more time until we see the offical announcement.
Rare employees, even Tim Stamper are worried that the direction Activision is giving in future will kill their creativity. They even want Java Coders now to create cell-phone games...
Let's hope it will not turn out all that bad as it sounds now. Nintendo is the laughting one in this deal. They will get their game licencing fees the one way or the other.
Sorry for my bad english, it's late and english is not my native language.
Source : PF
source http://www.xboxplorer.com
Officiel: pas de Square sur Xbox
C'est un bien triste jour pour tous les fans des productions SquareSoft. M. Yoichi Wada, directeur de Squaresoft depuis un an, vient de confirmer dans une conférence de presse au Japon qu'aucun développement de la firme japonaise ne verra le jour sur Xbox. Square vient en effet de présenter ses résultats financiers en nette progression par rapport à ceux de l'excercice fiscal intermédiaire de l'année dernière. Même si Final Fantasy XI sera lancé sur PC en 2003, la franchise reste une exclusivité PlayStation 2. Quand à la GameCube, Square envisage de réaliser des jeux propres à l'audience de la console sans toutefois apporter des précisions sur la nature des jeux ni leurs dates de commercialisation.
D'après certaines rumeurs, Sonic Adventure 3 serait développé sur GameCube comme sur Xbox. C'est M. Naka qui en personne aurait révélé aux personnes dans la confidence le projet sous forme de vidéo. Tous les protagonistes de la célèbre franchise seraient au rendez-vous. Le level Design serait construit autour de personnages prioritaires (Sonic, Shadow) mais d'autres personnages secondaires tels que Tails and Knuckles emprunteront les mêmes niveaux mais avec des voies d'accès différents. Un nouveau système de caméra dynamique devrait être crée pour l'occasion. Informations à prendre avec des pincettes..."