Nintendo On: "I Want to Believe"

[jeffool]

1up.com has a new feature on the elaborate Nintendo On concept created by the 23 year-old art student Pablo Belmonte. The week before Nintendo was scheduled to unveil its new console to the world, Belmonte's video landed on the web like an asteroid, sending waves after tidal waves across blogs and message boards. Eager fans everywhere lapped up to the unheard-of virtual reality system (I admit, I dreamed "what if"), but sadly it wasn't to be.

Read about his reason (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141783) for making the fake promo video.
Belmonte claims to be tired of companies feigning to take risks, expressing disappointment in Nintendo's recent offerings in the hardware and software markets. "I am completely against companies selling their souls to commercial interests, and perhaps, this point is the most difficult to achieve," he says, "telling a multinational company that there are more important things than money is like telling the Pope [that] God doesn't exist.
Sure, maybe this is falling on deaf ears, but it's a hell of a gesture.

[president_fred]

That is pretty cool, as a protest I do think it worked somewhat whatever nintendo show now will never be as impressive as what he did thus taking some of the wind out of their sails. Its a small gesture but among those who frequent websites and so on not uneffective. I know my own expectations where raised perhaps unrationally as a result of the video.

[bapenguin]

Yeah...huge companies take risks in small packages....

[Rafer]

I was amazed when the video came out (the guy has made a pretty impressive demo reel for himself) but the whole VR headset thing just isn't that practical. It sure looks neat, but I remember the whole "virtual reality" headset hype from ten years ago and they were horrible to wear.

I've seen some pretty good improvements in 3d glasses (such as The Polar Express in 3d Imax), but I'm not aware of any technology that would make the Nintendo On practical.

[EGO]

People crack me up! All this "lost soul" nobility bullshit is funny. These companies HAVE ALWAYS been in it for the money. That's why they started the companies. If it services their need to make money to make things that cater to the "hardcore gamer" (ie: most people on-line and "old skool" gamers), then they will "regain their soul". But since the number of people who are "casual gamers" is FAR LARGER, they'll continue to do the games that sell to that demographic.

Nice demo reel the guy put together, but all this intense "down with corporate AMerikkka" fanboyism is sad.

[Heretic Machine]

Nintendo has -never- been a good company. At one time, they were basically a monopoly, using bullying techniques to keep their competition down. Then the PS1 hit the stage and beat the shit out of their n64. Since then, there has been this misconception that Nintendo was some noble entity that could one day turn gaming back into what it was, which I guess means side-scrolling fighters dominating the market.

Nintendo guided the market to where it is today. The only thing they are interested in is guiding back towards them to regain their spot at the top. I don't think they realize that even if they regained that title, they won't be able to force companies to be exclusive to Nintendo like they used to.

[*Legion*]

It sure looks neat, but I remember the whole "virtual reality" headset hype from ten years ago and they were horrible to wear.

A lot changes in 10 years.

I've seen some pretty good improvements in 3d glasses (such as The Polar Express in 3d Imax), but I'm not aware of any technology that would make the Nintendo On practical.

Much better technology than that exists. Technology to project images directly onto your retina existed in goggle form a few years ago. With that, you can have complete, true field of vision (as in, everything your eyes see is in the game world - not just a visible screen, but your entire peripheral vision).

I don't know that that technology is CHEAP yet, but it exists.

[bobbler]

Much better technology than that exists. Technology to project images directly onto your retina existed in goggle form a few years ago. With that, you can have complete, true field of vision (as in, everything your eyes see is in the game world - not just a visible screen, but your entire peripheral vision).

I don't know that that technology is CHEAP yet, but it exists.


That sounds like something that instantly gives you eye cancer.

No thanks!

I'll take my warm and happy cathode rays for now...

[mister_slim]

People crack me up! All this "lost soul" nobility bullshit is funny. These companies HAVE ALWAYS been in it for the money. That's why they started the companies. If it services their need to make money to make things that cater to the "hardcore gamer" (ie: most people on-line and "old skool" gamers), then they will "regain their soul". But since the number of people who are "casual gamers" is FAR LARGER, they'll continue to do the games that sell to that demographic.
You are correct, but I think you're also being rather cynical. Companies do have to make money, yes, but if simply making money was the goal everyone would be selling operating systems. The Xbox appears to have come about because some MS employees wanted to make games and they were able to persuade the higher-ups that it would complement the company strategy and be profitable. Look at Iwata's 'Heart of a Gamer' speech. He does care about games and the experiences they can provide. The people who are ultimately successful tend to not focus purely on profit. Well, except for EA.