After having some time to digest the Wii U launch, I still find myself with a huge list of things I wish Nintendo had done better at E3.

10. Called the system something other than “Wii U”

In the week leading up to E3, the name of the PS Vita leaked. [See kotaku's story, for example] Everyone made fun of the name. Obviously Nintendo had already solidified the name of Wii U by this point – but if they hadn’t, coming out with a new console with a cool name would have been a great way to upstage the competition.

Instead, they launched with the Wii U name… possibly the only name on earth that makes “Vita” look brilliant. Even a code name would have been preferable to using the actual name.

9. Explained the concept of a “base station” and a “controller”

It’s true that anyone watching E3 should have realized that the Wii U controller wasn’t actually the console. Even so, it’s a bad sign when long-time gamers have to ask themselves “so wait… does that thing run off the Wii? Or does it run on its own?” In the Nintendo link at the top of the story, Satoru Iwata himself says:

“We haven’t made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller. The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible.”

If you’ve seen pictures of the console itself, you’ll realize it’s not exactly “invisible.” Still, since the hardware at the base station is a lot more important than the controller (since the controller is really just a screen with buttons and sensors), Nintendo was crazy to not talk about the base at all during their E3 presentation.

8. Show us something only the Wii U can do (besides play Nintendo franchise games, of course)

The vast majority of the Wii U presentation was spent showing us ways to play games that already exist, and support for games we can already play on other devices.

• “It has a giant touchscreen!” So does an iPad. So does my phone. So does the PS Vita.
• “It has dual analog sticks!” So does every other console controller… besides the Wii, anyway.
• “It has cameras!” See above.
• “It has gyroscopes!” (yawn)

Then there are the games. Many of the big launch titles – Arkham City, Darksiders II, Metro: Last Light – are already available on all other consoles and PC. Super Smash Bros. 4 was a good announcement, but we didn’t see any gameplay footage. Lego City Stories looks cute, but Lego-branded games are already everywhere.

A compelling console launch needs to explain why you, the consumer, need this console. Whether it’s because of a truly unique control mechanism, cutting-edge graphics, huge exclusives, doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the console sets itself apart from the competition.  The one thing Nintendo consoles always have – Nintendo franchise games – barely made an appearance in the Wii U presentation.

The Wii U launch was surprisingly short on surprises.

7. Announce DVD support

I wanted to add “and Blu-ray support,” but let’s keep things slightly realistic. Nintendo has clearly stated (post-E3) that the Wii U will not play DVDs or Blu-rays. The official reason?

“The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn’t warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies.”

I find this reasoning a little bizarre. First, licensing technologies for DVD playback is cheap. Dirt cheap. If Wal-Mart can sell a 1080p upconverting DVD player – with HDMI – for $24 USD (at the time of this writing) the licensing technology is not expensive.

As if that statement weren’t bizarre enough, there’s the observation that “enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray.” This makes even less sense. By this logic, cell phone manufacturers should not include the ability to play music or browse the web or play games. After all – people already have lots of devices that can do this. Does anyone really believe that more people would have bought PS3s if Sony turned off Blu-ray playback and cut the console price by $10? Or that Microsoft would have sold more 360′s if they removed DVD playback and cut the price by $5?

Additionally, one of the major benefits of having a controller capable of streaming video from a base console would be the ability to watch DVDs – a form of physical media – on a controller without an attached drive.

Nintendo really blew this one. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the Wii U would be much more tempting if it had full DVD playback and streaming support.

6. Announce some kind of DSi/3DS and Wii U interaction capabilities

It seems extremely odd that Nintendo would release a home console with a big emphasis on “a controller with a screen”without mentioning their handheld devices. After all, Nintendo is no stranger to interaction between a handheld device and a console. They’ve been experimenting with that technology since the N64 days.

If a 3DS – with its dual cameras, touchscreen, gyroscopes, and wireless card – or even a DSi could be used in place of a Wii U controller (or alongside it), I imagine a lot more people would be interested in purchasing a Wii U.

Instead, Sony was the only console manufacturer to discuss console/handheld interaction. Hard to believe Nintendo had nothing to say about this.

5. Give concrete details on the Wii U’s online capabilities

In a lot of ways, the Wii U looks to be the most antisocial console in history. (Besides possibly the Virtual Boy.)

“Do other people want to watch a show? Don’t join in – instead, keep doing what you’re doing on the console!”

“Want multiplayer? Too bad! We’ve only planned for one Wii U controller per console!”

The messaging is bizarre. I really hoped Nintendo would announce great online features to make up for the antisocial nature of the Wii U controller, but what happened instead? Brief statements like this, from Katsuya Eguchi:

“I can’t go into details… We’re trying to find new experiences… In looking at the approaches on the Xbox and PlayStation – what they’ve done and what people have responded really well to – we’ve definitely considered including those kinds of experiences, and we think that our third parties also want those as well… but there are also things Nintendo does and other companies haven’t. We need to balance out what exactly what we need to bring to the user to bring the best experience possible.” [source - kotaku]

That’s an awful lot of words… that tell us nothing about the online capabilities.

A few days later, during a call with investors, President Iwata gave this longer explanation:

To start, I’ll have to say that I don’t have any materials with me today that can illustrate precisely what our online environment will be like, but I can speak generally about the direction that we are moving in.

I think, in general, the online environment is changing quite rapidly.

So, what I have come to feel lately is that the idea of saying, “we are going to create this style of online structure and that we would like you, the developers, to fit into the online structure that we are creating” is perhaps already out-of-date.

I think that Nintendo’s past console business has often included this idea of a set and fixed online structure. So, I think that, going forward, the question is really to what degree Nintendo can create a more flexible system for its consoles.

And, what we found at this point is that, as we discuss the online structure with different publishers, the things that the different publishers want to do are in fact seemingly rather different.

Our current direction is how we can take the desires of the third parties and create a system that’s flexible enough to enable them to do the types of things that they might want to do.

So, for example with the question of VoIP, I think then what we would like to do is work with them on how to enable them to do that. But, what we’re not going to do is to consider as prerequisite conditions that every game includes features like that because obviously there are some developers who may not want to do that.

As for social networks, after examining the penetration and adoption rate of social networking services like Facebook, etc., we’ve come to the conclusion that we are no longer in a period where we cannot have any connection at all with social networking services.

Rather, I think we’ve come to an era where it’s important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform.

So, once we get to a point where we’re able to talk more concretely about our online plans, I think that once you hear what we’ll have to say, you’ll feel that Nintendo has a policy of adapting itself to changes in the network environment in a flexible fashion rather than the one of sticking to a rigid mechanism, or perhaps you’ll notice that we have found ways to take advantage of these types of features like VoIP and social networking, where our systems have been seen as being weak in the past. However, unfortunately, we won’t be able to share anything concrete today.” [source - andriasang]

Confused yet? I know I am. All those words tell us basically three things:

• Nintendo “can’t afford to have no connection” to social networking services. (no kidding)
• Nintendo is considering optional VoIP services.
• Nintendo still isn’t sure what the Wii U’s online services will include.

Being this far into the console’s development and having nothing concrete to say about the online capabilities is concerning.

4. Announce a late 2011 launch date

I think most gamers are excited about the Wii U sharing in great exclusives like Battlefield 3 and Arkham City. However, these games are launching in 2011. The Wii U won’t launch until 2012. That means that if you want to play any of the year’s biggest multi-platform launches on the Wii U, you will have to wait a year (or more!) after the game’s release on other platforms.

Are a lot of gamers really going to purchase an additional copy of Battlefield 3 just to play it on the Wii U? I doubt it. Sharing a multi-platform library with the PS3 and 360 is awesome, but not if major games release a year late.

3. Announce support for achievements/trophies

Some gamers don’t care about achievements and trophies, but I think most care at least a little. After all – when even Minecraft adds achievements, there must be a market for it. True cross-platform support means not just releasing the same games, but releasing the same games with the same features. If the Wii U doesn’t include support for some kind of achievements/trophies, that’s one more reason to purchase them on another platform.

2. More actual Wii U gameplay footage

The announcement that the Wii U game montage was all 360 and PS3 footage wasn’t surprising, but it was disappointing. Anyone who has played Bayonetta or Bioshock on PS3 or Final Fantasy XIII on 360 knows that “multi-platform” does not necessarily mean “equal experience on all devices.” Even if two systems share relative hardware parity – like the 360 and PS3 – individual developers are still capable of releasing vastly different ports. A lot of PS3 ports in particular were not developed by the original game company, but outsourced to someone else (like the aforementioned games, and others like Orange Box).

Just because the Wii U may have comparable hardware – something we don’t actually know for certain – does not mean it will deliver a comparable experience to existing consoles, in the same way that PS3 ports of 360 games have often seen significant drops in quality.

This means that the only actual footage we have of Wii U is a simple, relatively underwhelming tech demo. Tech demos have never been indicative of actual hardware capabilities. Remember the FF7 tech demo for PS3? How many PS3 games have actually looked that good? When the game system doesn’t have to process AI, or user-controlled movement, or positional audio, or pre-loading of true open world environments, you can make very pretty graphics. Add in any of those other things – all of which are required for an actual game, and all of which require horsepower – and you have less power left for graphics.

When announcing a new console, a company needs more than just a single tech demo on display.

1. Announce a price

It’s clear that Nintendo has a price point in mind for the Wii U. I don’t blame them for waiting to announce it – after all, a lot could change by its launch in 2012. The PS3 and 360 are both likely to receive price drops between now and then, and their respective motion-control add-ons (Move and Kinect) will probably see price drops too. Nintendo must be waiting for that to happen before announcing a Wii U price.

That said, leaving people to speculate for a year isn’t a great idea either. We do know that it will cost more than the Wii. No surprise there. But if the 360 and PS3 both receive price drops, that means that Nintendo’s new console – which has similar graphical capabilities, but can’t do things like play DVDs or Blu-ray – is going to cost more money. We also don’t know what games are going to cost. We don’t know what the controller will cost. We don’t know if online will be free.

The PS Vita price announcement was very well received. Nintendo could have stolen its thunder with a great price announcement of its own. Instead, we’re left to wonder what the price might be – and while everyone is hoping for a price like $299 USD, the launch price could easily be $349 or $399. Unlike the Wii, the Wii U doesn’t look like it’ll be a “bargain console.”

Conclusion

The Wii U could be a very interesting addition to the console landscape, but so far its launch has been rough. As a Nintendo fan, I really hope they do a better job with Wii U development than they have done with Wii U marketing.

Otherwise, I’ll probably save my excitement for the Xbox 720 and PS4.

(NOTE: as of February 26th, 2009, version 2.0 of this code is available here.)

Whether working on an old-school RPG or a state-of-the-art FPS, every game programmer needs to be able to generate a fast, cool fire effect at some point in his/her career.  In this example, I’ve opted for a straightforward and easy-to-understand method for generating real-time flames.  No pre-built images or palettes are used, making the code quite small and easy to reuse.  Coloring and flame generation is done using only math and a little cleverness.  :)

To simplify the code, I’ve used SetPixelV for drawing the fire.  This slows the demo down significantly, but DIB sections could easily be dropped into place if speed is a major factor for you.

A shot of the physics demo in action

The demo has a pretty simple premise – use the arrow keys to fly a spaceship (taken from the classic game Raptor) in all 4 directions and use spacebar to fire two “lasers.”  As always, the included VB6 source code is very carefully organized and commented.

Also, for any VB-haters out there, it’s worth noting that if the demo’s frame rate limitation box is unchecked, the code will easily run 500+ FPS on any modern machine.  Still think VB6 isn’t a viable choice for game programming?

As a bonus, the demo also includes the code for drawing an animated star field.

Along those lines, I’m very excited about the new Pew Internet Project paper that came out today.  A PDF of the report – titled “Teens, Video Games, and Civics” – is available at:

http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Games_and_Civics_Report_FINAL.pdf

(For those who don’t know, the Pew Internet Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that examines the impact of the internet on American life.)

Here are two of its most interesting revelations, IMO:

97% of teens (ages 12-17), including 99% of boys and 94% of girls, play video games

This statistic should be a wake-up call to all the idiots looking to ban and/or strictly legislate video game usage.  Take note: this art medium is here to stay.  You can’t uninvent games or pretend they doesn’t exist.  Your kids – whether you want them to or not – are probably playing a video game at least once a week.  So instead of trying to eliminate games in general, let’s examine constructive ways to utilize this modern medium.

Gaming is a surprisingly social activity

65% of game-playing teens play with other people who are in the room with them, while 27% play games with people who they connect with through the internet.  Only 11% of teens play video games solely by themselves.  (I also hope this statistic is a wake-up call to game developers.  Co-op modes are a HUGE selling point for casual gamers!)

In conclusion

This latest Pew report is very interesting, and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the modern dynamics of video games.  The section on civic gaming experiences was surprising, as were the numbers on parental involvement in gaming.

And to anyone who bashes guys like me for enjoying games – you’d better watch out now that I have hard statistics to back up my hobby…  8)

From http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168827:

1UP: Last week, Final Fantasy Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura said that he’s hard at work adding new scenes to the FFVII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray release. Can you give us any update on that project?

SH: You can look forward to the upcoming invite-only fan event DKS3713 [taking place in Tokyo on August 2 and 3], where we’ll have a major announcement that will shock the fans in attendance.

A major FFVII announcement that will “shock the fans in attendance?”  Unless they’re announcing “Dance Dance Revolution: Final Fantasy mix” or something equally lame, you can bet this will be good.  After all, fans can only take so many spin-offs…

9. To compensate for FFXIII going to XBox 360

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WZiOS5DMMc

Many a blog entry has been written about the FFXIII for XBox 360 announcement; some has been terrifyingly idiotic (see here: http://kotaku.com/5026918/this-guy-needs-a-heaping-helping-of-get-a-grip) while others have been even-handed and logical.  Overwhelming evidence points towards this being solely a monitary decision – after all, the installed base of the 360 is impressive in North America, and Square-Enix could stand to make quite a bit of money off 360 versions of their flagship product.  Though Sony diehards are understandably disappointed, it’s important to remember that more money in Square’s hands can only be good for fans of the series.

Anyway, it’s reasonable to assume that another Sony-fan-pleasing announcement is in place to counteract the fallout from E3.  PS3-exclusive FFVII remake…?

8. Compilation of FFVII and the 20-year mark

From http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2006/1287.html (dated 24 May 2006):

As previously reported, Fabula Nova Crystallis is indeed planned as the company’s second major polymorphic content franchise after the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII… While Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Portable was generally believed the be the final installment of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Wada thinks the Final Fantasy VII franchise will be alive for two decades, meaning ten more years.

Assuming this was intended as an estimated timeframe – not a firm deadline – there’s good reason to believe that more FFVII content is imminent.  (Please not another spinoff, please not another spinoff…)

7. Square could use the money

Games are expensive to product, especially high-profile ones like the FF series.  Square-Enix (who employees almost 3,000 people) has had some up-and-down years money-wise, and it’s no secret that FFXIII is doomed to go wayyy over budget.  Hours of CG movies, four-CD sountracks, and constantly pushing the limits of console technology don’t come cheap.  What better way to make some quick money then by remaking your best-selling game of all time?  Think about it: an FFVII remake would require new graphics, remixed music (but the really tricky part – the original composition – is already done), new voice-acting, new CG scenes (and most of the 3D modeling is already done, thank you Advent Children), and a minimum of design work to make sure that the old gameplay elements work well in this new system.  Remaking FFVII is markedly cheaper than producing a new game from scratch, and FFVII’s unbelievable sales record almost guarantees a massive return.

6. They remade and/or re-released 1-6, so why stop now?

Why on earth would Square remake/re-release the first 6 FF games and then stop at their crown jewel?  It just doesn’t make sense.  Contrary to public opinion, Square is actually one of the best video game companies for re-releases (how many other companies have re-released that many titles?) – it’s just taken them awhile to get around to the one most gamers REALLY want to see.

5. They’ve already announced it…kinda

From July 2002 and quoting an official Square-Enix press conference (referenced at http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147017):

After a lengthy silence, Square has revealed its development plans during a management press conference that featured a number of significant announcements. Foremost among the announcements was the company’s confirmation of 23 games currently under development, eleven of which are remakes. Among these remakes are every game in the Final Fantasy series to this date, and some of the plans for these titles come as a bit of a surprise.

It seems that each successive trilogy is being remade for a separate system. The Playstation installments in the series, namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX, only recently released, are all being redone for the Playstation2. Square confirmed Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III will appear on the Wonderswan Color, where Final Fantasy I was recently released to resounding success. The three titles that appeared on the Super Nintendo (Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI), will be remade for handhelds. The question is, which handheld system will see the games? Hironobu Sakaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy series and Square’s Vice President, has admitted it would likely be impossible to do the games for the Wonderswan, and stated he would prefer to see them on the Game Boy Advance, if possible. As relations between Square and Nintendo have been somewhat strained in recent years, this is the first official announcement of interest in developing for Nintendo since Square jumped ship for the Playstation. It looks, however, as though Square is willing to put their differences aside; Square CEO Hisashi Suzuki said that “We are doing whatever effort is needed, in order to release the games on it.”

Everything in this statement (and the rest of the article, all of it is worth reading!) has come true so far…except the 7, 8, 9 remake.  But this was certainly planned at one point – and since FF6 was released for GameBoy Advance last February (June in Europe), it’s obvious which game would be next in line.

4. Advent Children

A movie like “Advent Children” isn’t cheap to make.  I don’t have specific budget numbers for AC, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had a budget of over $130 million dollars.  Even with a conservative estimate that AC’s was only half this, you’d have to sell an awful lot of DVDs to recoup those kind of development costs.  Square learned from FF:TSW that 3D moviemaking is an expensive venture – so why repeat it with AC?

Here’s one explanation.

Square knew they would need the same 3D character models (CG) for at least two games – Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core.  So why not take those same models, which you’re going to have to create anyway, and use them to make a direct-to-DVD movie?  This would allow them to use stuff they already had to produce in another media form, thus bringing in some cash without having to create a whole bunch of new 3D work.

But Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core were never meant to be bestsellers of the likes of the core FF series.  After all, Crisis Core was released for PSP – which a lot of die-hard FF fans don’t own – and DoC wasn’t an RPG.  So is there another project that Square is saving all that expensive 3D design work for?  Can you say “FFVII remake”…?

3. The fans want it

Final Fantasy has the most loyal (read: rabid) fanbase of any video game franchise in history.  Yes, people love Halo and Super Mario Brothers and Pokemon, but only Final Fantasy has managed to retain fans despite the fact that every game has unique characters, unique gameplay, and completely different storylines.  The name “Final Fantasy” carries tremendous weight among fans and Square knows this.

So why not please all the people begging for an FFVII remake?  I’m not sure what the current count is on the FF7 Remake Petition, but the mere fact that such a petition exists at all is witness to the game’s power.

Square isn’t stupid.  They know there’s a lot of money to be made in pleasing fans.  I wager they’ve only been waiting for the right moment.  How’s DKS3713 sound?

2. Two more obscure and equally tantalizing quotes:

(Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me track these down!)

From the August 2007 Final Fantasy VII: 10th Anniversary Gallery in Tokyo, we get the following (from http://kotaku.com/gaming/regarding-ffvii/kaz-hirai-says-the-best-is-yet-to-come-295395.php):

To celebrate ten years of Final Fantasy VII and stir longings for a FFVII remake, Square Enix held a Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Gallery in Tokyo. The exhibition is on display until September 2nd in the Spiral Garden and features original art and illustrations for Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs. Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai was also in appearance and wrote an English note on the message board (above), which reads:

Congratulations on 10 fantastic years! The best is yet to come.

And from Hajime Tabata, the director of Crisis Core (in an interview with 1UP – http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2767.html):

1UP: Does Crisis Core mark the finale for the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series?

Hajime Tabata: No, it does not. The Compilation’s finale will take some other form.

I don’t know about you, but for me the only legitimate way to end an FFVII compilation is right back where you started: FFVII itself.  “The best is yet to come!”

1. Because it’s about damn time.

Let’s face it: FF7 fans have waited long enough.  It’s been 11 long years since we first stood in line to buy FF7.  We’re sick of enduring rumor after rumor after rumor.  We don’t want another mediocre spin-off.

There’s a lot of evidence pointing towards an FF7 remake – and although Square can’t start on it right away because their development teams are still plowing through FFXIII, why not at least announce it?  Then follow it up with an announcement that you’re sticking a playable demo on the FFXIII disc – a million people would buy XIII just for that.

*     *     *

Got any other reasons to add to the list?  Let me know!

(Note: I realize that most of this information points only at an FFVII remake, not at the announcement of an FFVII remake at DKS3713 like most of us would like.  Oh well.  :)  Let’s just hope that’s as good a time as any for making a “shocking” formal FF7 remake announcement…)