Seriously?

This is some serious bullshit! Why didn't Downcast get a pre-launch 3DS? Pretty much every other gaming site got one! Even Tiny Cartridge got one!

Here at Downcast we are SERIOUS about video game journalism. We have committed countless minutes to seriously hyping the 3DS and being total absolute fanboys about it. And by we I mean I.

I can guarantee at least one sale has come from our hyping (mine is already preordered).

So, Reggie, if you're reading this, drop me a line so I can send you my address and your models can come over (might want to send dudes because the wife will probably be here) with that nifty box and all that software and stuff and we can all just forget about this huge misunderstanding.

Review: Dance Central

Yesterday I had the chance to try (for a few hours) another one of Kinect's flagship titles, Dance Central. Now, I've already about written my opinion on this whole Kinect business, and before I go on, I'll say my opinion remains unchanged; Kinect is stupid.

Now that I've made myself clear, let me tell you, Dance Central was LOTS of fun, and I hate dancing. If I had the money, I'd buy this game (and an Xbox360… and a Kinect, I guess…) right away. The game has a very neat selection of music with songs of most danceable genres from the 70s up to recent hits. Besides that, the dance moves, themselves, were fun. I always played on easy mode, but I suspect even on harder modes there won't be any moves that'll require you to be a professional dancer or gymnast. The graphics were pretty, the menus intuitive. And well… That's it, there isn't much to say, I mean, c'mon, it's just a dance game. I don't think it is possible to lose at that game, though. Your performance is always perfect, OK, or something in between.

I also found navigating the menus a lot better. That the horrid Kinect Adventures. Rather than having you awkwardly reach for the mirror reflection of a button, you just extend your right arm. Point it upwards or downwards to scroll, and swipe left to accept. Swiping your left arm cancels the selection.

Now, you may be wondering how is it that I enjoyed the game so much even when I hate Kinect. Ah, well, it's simple. With Dance Central, you kind of forget the Kinect is (mis)reading your movements. You're having too much fun flailing and gyrating to reverse-engineer it. I did observe it, and I reckon the miss/hit ratio is around 3 out of 10. Meaning, three out of ten times, you'll just flail and it'll still acknowledge that as a successful move. So as long as you keep dancing to the catchy beat you should get a decent score.

Instead of forcing an avatar to mimic your movements, the game features pre-designed characters with different costumes and even voice acting performing a flawless choreography. Little icons, or flags, come up to tell you wish move comes next, and the only indicator you're doing wrong is that sometimes the character's arms, legs or hips are highlighted in red. A small "mirror" shows your silhouette making an ass out of itself. The whole thing is on rails, so if you fail, it's not as if you missed dodging a missile. You do your little jig one step at a time and in about half a second, it adds the corresponding points to your score, accompanied by a comment by the announcer and a flashy visual effect. How much flair depends on how close you were to the dummy, but you never really fail. It is because of this repetitive and predictive dynamic, that Kinect's slow response does not affect your enjoyment of the game.

In conclusion, the game is good. Get it of you can, and definitely play it with friends. Just be aware that the Kinect peripheral is going to be useless for any other kind of game.

Killer Apps

Compared with our past products, we have largely enriched the pre-installed software for Nintendo 3DS. As we were internally discussing how we could overcome the hurdle that the 3D viewing of Nintendo 3DS without a need for special glasses can be only appreciated through the users' actual hands–on experience, we made the decision to allocate some of our own development resources to the pre-installed software. - Nintendo's CEO, Satoru Iwata

Lately I've been having second thoughts as of whether I should buy the 3DS at launch or wait. The biggest reason being the minuscule software selection at launch. Wherever I went for information people agreed that the console had been rushed, and developers were not given enough time to come up with the mandatory Mario game. Instead, all we get is a bunch of ports of games that already existed in other platforms.

The people demand a killer app for their brand new machine. Have they forgotten Nintendo is the king of killer apps? Let me bring forth a couple of examples:

Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt.

In the days of the NES, when we said "let's play Nintendo" we meant "let's play SMB until our thumbs bleed". This game changed the way video games were thought of. Suddenly there was so much that could be done! When you can run, jump, and stomp on enemies, you've got yourself a solid game. But when you can break brick walls, shoot fireballs, climb vines into the clouds, kick turtle shells around, and freaking SWIM as well… you've got a killer app. SMB fueled the imaginations of this generation, and until recently, most videogames were based on that formula.

Super Mario World

Sure, we had played SMB and its sequels, we knew what could and could not be done in a videogame (because we hadn't seen Yoshi yet), but nothing could prepare us for the beauty of 16-bit graphics. To this day I find the music in SMW glorious, and I seriously believe there is no way you could improve its graphics. Finally, there were so many secrets hidden within the game it kept us going back again and again…

Tetris

Dude, Tetris, c'mon! Only, like the best handheld game ever! Most people who owned Game Boys only owned Tetris, and it was all they needed.

Wii Sports

Just like SMB, when you hear someone say "let's play Wii" you know they probably mean Wii Sports, and just like Tetris, many Wii owners only own Wii Sports. When the console was launched, they had something nobody else had: the motion controls, and the only way to sell this new concept to the masses was to include a game that brilliantly utilized all of these new features, and to make it fun to share. Then they launched the "Wii would like to play" campaign to encourage players to share with their friends and families. My mother owns a Wii. She had never played a video game before and, trust me, we tried.

Did you notice a trend there? Yes, all these games came packed-in with the consoles. The disk or cartridge was in the same box as the hardware. They were one. These games not only DEFINED the system, they SOLD it.

When you're considering the 3DS' launch lineup, don't forget the pack-ins (actually pre-installed this time). You see, it's hard to sell the 3DS to someone who hasn't held it physically because you can't show the 3d effect on print or TV. They need the selling power of the pack-ins more than ever! You will notice each piece of software pre-installed on the 3DS is by itself a "trick" you'd want to show your friends. 3D camera and AR cards show off the 3D cameras, Face Raiders showcases the motion controls, Activity Log highlights active gaming, and the Mii maker and SpotPass games highlight the social gaming aspect. From what I've heard, these games are actually pretty neat, although I don't think they have a lot of long-term replay value.

Don't let fanboy speculation lead you to believe Nintendo is slacking off and relying on third parties for premium software. It's not that the games are late; it's that the console was early. They need the public to be exposed to the hardware so we "understand it" by the time they start stacking software on the shelves. Over the next few weeks after launch, Nintendo will start releasing updates for the system, like the E-shop and web browser, after that the possibilities will be endless.

A secondary effect of this approach is that third-party developers will get more shelf space during launch, increasing sales and increasing third-party support over the life of the system.

So. What am I trying to say with this post? Well, if you're not sure whether you should get a 3DS now or wait, consider these options:

1. If you're a Nintendo fan and you trust them, go ahead and preorder the 3DS, the pack-ins will keep you entertained until the good software starts coming out (if none of the earlier launch titles appeals to you). You get to be the first kid on the block to put an AR card in your grandma's coffee table, thus participating in Nintendo's brilliant marketing plan: the fate of this system relies entirely on the early adopter crowd.
   
2. If you're absolutely positive the preinstalled software is crap, I suggest you wait until a game you really want comes out. In the meantime, keep an eye on the media and talk to your friends; I'm pretty sure one of them already owns a 3DS and is dying to show it to you.