SEATTLE-On Friday, Oct. 24, I attended a press junket at Nintendo of America headquarters. Writers and editors from 23 student papers across the country were flown in at Nintendo’s expense. Lodging and food expenses were also provided by Nintendo.
The conference began with an introduction by Tom Harlin, assistant manager of public relations. Harlin gave us an overview of Nintendo’s operations and illustrated the differences between Nintendo and its two main rivals, Sony and Microsoft.
Harlin discussed the differences between Nintendo’s and its competitors’ publishing strategies. Nintendo is a major provider of games for its consoles. According to Harlin, it is the second largest game publisher in the world, just behind Electronic Arts.
Sony and Microsoft, on the other hand, rely primarily on third-party publishers for their games.
Harlin and David Young both confirmed that Nintendo is extending its support of third-party games. Young said that the recent return of Square (now Square-Enix) to the Nintendo platforms may be “personal.”
Harlin also answered questions about whether Nintendo stopped production of the GameCube. He said production never halted, but shipments to the United States had. Thanks to a recent price-drop, demand for the system rose and shipment resumed.
A meeting with the localization team followed a tour of headquarters. The team is responsible for modifying games sold in the Japanese market for Americans.
The team discussed some of their recent work-including “Animal Crossing,” “Mario and Luigi” and “Fire Emblem.”
Because of the differences between Japanese and American culture, the team does much more than just translate. They sometimes rewrite jokes and modify the plot.
After a tour of the DigiPen Institute of Technology, we returned to Nintendo headquarters and evaluated some unreleased games and some which are already on the market. I looked at “1080 Avalanche,” “Mario Kart: Double Dash,” “Fire Emblem” and “Viewtiful Joe.”
“1080 Avalanche” is a snowboarding game for GameCube and sequel to “1080 Snowboarding” for the Nintendo 64. It stresses realism in physics and technique over flashy or impossible moves.
Even so, the courses are “extreme.” Players snowboard through everything from woods to buildings to entire towns. LAN support is provided for up to eight players. I found the control system too tricky to easily get into the game. I didn’t play it much.
“Mario Kart: Double Dash” for GameCube is the game with which I had the most experience. It is the third game in the “Mario Kart” series.
The gameplay is similar to “Mario Kart 64”, with one major twist. Each kart carries two characters. One drives while the other uses items. The characters may switch seats at any time, allowing the player to store the item the former passenger carried and pick up a second with the former driver.
Both the driver and passenger may be controlled by a single player or they may be controlled by two players, giving the game a team feel. The game can support up to 16 players over a LAN.
Our playtesting included a “Double Dash” tournament in which the top two finishers received a GameBoy SP and “Super Mario Advance 4/Super Mario Brothers 3.” I placed first.
“Fire Emblem” is a turn based strategy/role-playing game for the GameBoy Advance. I didn’t play it for long, but the game was intriguing. It is similar to Square-Enix’s “Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance,” but represents a different school of thought in gameplay and story development.
The player’s character is never actually in battle but is instead a “master strategist.” Also, once a character dies in battle, they stay dead.
One the surface, “Viewtiful Joe” looks like a new twist on the classic side-scrolling format. The cel-shaded artwork is unique, but it looks good. I didn’t have time to get a good grasp on gameplay, though.
After the “Mario Kart: Double Dash” tournament, all student media members present were given a GameCube, two games and assorted other items, like a t-shirt and bag. We then enjoyed dinner at the Pyramid Ale House, courtesy of Nintendo.
To those who think that my ability to offer a dispassionate game review, I offer this: while college newspaper employees are almost never treated this well, the ire I earned from The Reflector staff for this trip makes up for any material gain I received during the trip.