NiGHTS 'My Dream' mode features real-time weather, poor graphics

by Scott Jon Siegel { Nov 5th 2007 at 11:56AM }

As previously reported, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams on the Wii will take real-time weather information from the Wii's forecast channel. Instead of using this feature in story mode, however, NiGHTS will only make use of real-time weather in the "My Dream" mode, a virtual pet environment separate from the main game.

1UP details the new "My Dream" mode, which will feature the same "A-Life" virtual pet system that's been featured in many Sonic Team games, from the original NiGHTS to the Sonic Adventure series. Now, however, the A-Life environment will pull data from the Wii's forecast channel, allowing you to raise adorable creatures in spaces that mimic the actual weather on your area. Pretty cool, right?

Less cool are the screenshots CVG presents along with this information, which "show off" the weather effects in action. All screens look pulled out of the N64 generation, with low-res textures, a sparse spattering of low-poly trees, and very little else.

1UP's preview states that the "My Dream" space starts out sparse, but becomes more robust as players progress. Still, things aren't looking so pretty in general, and the lack of objects certainly doesn't explain away the "low-def" feel of it all. With the US release of the title a little over a month away, here's hoping the special mode looks a lot better in action.

Read -- "NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Preview" [1UP]
Read -- "NiGHTS weathers screens - what went wrong?" [CVG]

Tags: nights, sega, sonic-team, sonicteam, weather, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Martin @ Nov 5th 2007 12:02PM

Right, I'm not usually one to care about graphics at all, but WTF? They didn't even TRY with this game? I'll bet the next Elf Bowling surpasses this!

smartguy1600 @ Nov 5th 2007 12:10PM

I think its important to note that this is just some pet simulation side game of the Nights experience, I don't think the actual game looks like this.

d-pad @ Nov 5th 2007 12:07PM

Those screens are terrible.

If I was a NiGHTS fan, I'd be pissed. After all, I'd like to think that we've evolved a LITTLE bit since the Dreamcast.

gonk @ Nov 5th 2007 12:07PM

weather from my area? I could just look out the window for that, it's cold and gray for the next 5 months

WiNG @ Nov 5th 2007 12:10PM

damn those screens are horrible.

the rest of the game better be awesome. But probably not if this is any indication. They should call it "my nightmare" or "my rushed development cycle"

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2007 2:18PM

Look over at the official site, gameplay videos look years better than this (some of the better graphics on the console period)

This does look bad, which is wierd, because Sonic Adventure's Chao Gardens didn't look this bad

IslandLife @ Nov 5th 2007 12:11PM

"All screens look pulled out of the N64 generation"
And Mr. Snowman looks as though he's definately fed up with this :(

Shockgamer @ Nov 5th 2007 12:13PM

Having just finished Metroid Prime, just a week from playing Mario Galaxy....

Those screens are heinous.

Zertoss @ Nov 5th 2007 12:14PM

I've seen better looking textures in pseudo-3D VESA DOS games.

Nintendo: "Graphics can't detract from gameplay! Just try and prove us wrong!"

Sega: "Okay!"

arrrgh @ Nov 5th 2007 1:45PM

HAHAHAHAHclassic

samfish @ Nov 5th 2007 12:16PM

I really don't see a problem with them besides the lousy trees.

Still...Sega had better not ruin this game. They'll have no one but themselves to blame if it sucks and fails. I really really wish they'd friggin' delay it and give it the polish it deserves..

Bluebrake @ Nov 5th 2007 1:23PM

Really? I thought the trees were the nicest part.

The sparse, utterly flat plane with a blurry texture crapped onto it is what gets to me.

Gangsta Smurf @ Nov 5th 2007 12:17PM

WHOA. By far the best graphics available on the Wii. PS360 am drooling.

Geist @ Nov 5th 2007 12:26PM

I get it. Because the Wii has bad graphics. Oh you sure made a funny there, smurf. Yup. Full of wit.

Gangsta Smurf @ Nov 5th 2007 12:44PM

I kid because I love.

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 5th 2007 12:17PM

Those screenshots are lame... why can't the developers be more proffesionals?

Look at this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3dmka_cruisn-first-video-revealed_videogames

... and the Midway wonders why they havent make a profit in all this years. They deserve it.

Why cant they learn from Nintendo? Zelda, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.

Imagine Nights with the Super Mario Galaxy engine... that will be awesome.

GRANTED @ Nov 5th 2007 3:36PM

cruisin looks like a flash game. when the car started flipping i couldn't watch anymore. what is wrong with these devs.

Leobebes @ Nov 5th 2007 12:52PM

Remember guys, gameplay...it is all about the gameplay. When we landed on the moon there was no color tv but in the end everyone saw that WE LANDED ON THE MOON. The Wii has slightly better graphics than the Dreamcast but it has Moon landing gameplay!

Night Elve @ Nov 5th 2007 1:11PM

Well we are not sure that we actually landed on the Moon.

d-pad @ Nov 5th 2007 1:16PM

Can.

Open.

Worms...everywhere.

Vigi @ Nov 5th 2007 10:20PM

Leobebes, your metaphor privileges are hereby revoked.

Zach S @ Nov 5th 2007 1:08PM

No. just NO! These are some of the worst graphics I think I've seen, seriously - crappy textures (look at the sled), only ONE shadow (bizarre), little trianglely shrub things, no footprints, and the most tired-looking sky and snow textures EVER. Really, this thing looks like a bad screensaver from Windows 95 days...

harusame @ Nov 5th 2007 1:10PM

There was no moon landing. It was all special effects.

I hate it how the developers use the "Wii philosophy" as an excuse to make lazy-ass games. Hopefully the consumers vote with their wallets and we'll eventually start getting some decent Wii-games from 3rd parties.

hegemonyhog @ Nov 5th 2007 1:21PM

This seems to be rapidly dovetailing into a rental game...

The issue is never graphical horsepower. The issue is artistic direction. This game seems to have around about none.

Neon Jebus @ Nov 5th 2007 1:27PM

So I'm not a Wii owner anymore but I have a question? With the real-time weather feature. Does the forcast channel update situations more often than it once did?

I know that usually my most recent weather update at 4:30pm might at times be from an update at 11:30am.

I mean, here in Indiana it rains one second and sunny skies the next. I just wonder if the updates come fast enough to reflect those changes within the game.

Martez @ Nov 5th 2007 1:28PM

Oh my. That screenshot looks like a bad Bryce 3D render. Do not want!

Sean @ Nov 5th 2007 1:33PM

MY Dream is that there were more than a handful of buyable games on this little white bawks. At least there is SMG next week.

Grant @ Nov 5th 2007 1:38PM

This is coming out for Dreamcast too, right?

License to ill @ Nov 5th 2007 2:17PM

Looking good....

If this was 1998.

Daran @ Nov 5th 2007 2:24PM

I think they're trying to save money so they decided they're gonna use the Sonic Adventure 1 engine.

B1gC72 @ Nov 5th 2007 2:24PM

this game has almost slipped completely off my radar. not because i'm not excited by another NiGHTS but for the fact that i'm almost certain SEGA will screw it up and disappoint us all. and this article is slowly starting to confirm my beliefs.

developers are so lazy. my Wii might not have anywhere near as much horsepower as my PS3 does, but that doesnt mean the Wii isnt capable of great graphics. its all about making the most of what you have. Okami is a great example of this, dont have alot of graphical power? alter your art direction to reflect that.

now this probably in now way reflects the graphics of the main game but either way, this game is at most a rental for me right now.

this ugly crap is making my eyes bleed...

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2007 2:27PM

Gotta love the haters tromping all around here

Yeah, this looks bad, but the actual gameplay vids look amazing, check 'em out
http://www.sega.com/gamesite/nights/

This is probably the feature that really got hit by the "rush job" because the game looks beautiful outside of this

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 2:28PM

-throws up all over the keyboard-

If the "realtime weather effects feature" was sexually arousing in the past, consider my penis flaccid after these news.

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 2:29PM

-throws up all over the keyboard-

If the "realtime weather effects feature" was sexually arousing in the past, consider my penis flaccid after these news.

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 2:30PM

Triple-posting an apology ftw

Wolfrider @ Nov 5th 2007 2:30PM

If my N64 ever produced graphics like that I'd sh*t my pants.

NGC era perhaps, but are you forgetting the "Holy crap is there something wrong with my eyes?" look of 64 games?

Chilly Willy @ Nov 5th 2007 2:48PM

Two of what I consider to be the best games EVER are Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI (3 in the states) for the SNES. This is not nostalgia talking since I recently replayed both of them. They are phenomenal games not because of the graphics (completely dated by today's standards), but because they were FUN to play and engaged me in the storyline. I say all this because NiGHTS' graphics mean absolutely nothing to me if the game is FUN to play. I will gladly put those low-res textures up on my 46" Sony Bravia HDTV and smile the whole way through the game if it is a FUN game to play. Peace.

Zach S @ Nov 5th 2007 3:39PM

I think that the issue here is not JUST that the graphics are dated, but that they're BUTT UGLY. As jagged and muddy as N64 era games were, at least they had some DETAIL and STYLE! This screenshot shows a game mode devoid of both, and personally, for me to enjoy a game, I have to able to actually LOOK AT IT!

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2007 4:11PM

Yeah, since Wii can't wish for bleeding-edge tech fantasies fulfilled, all we wish for is good art, which, as you said, is clearly lacking in this mode

They have to have put a seperate team on this mode, since the main game oozes art style out of every orifice

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 5:22PM

Actually, 2D sprites since the SNES are pretty much always acceptable and very often pretty, while 3D can look buttugly (FF7, yuck). Chrono Trigger kicks the shit out of these screens any day.

Chilly Willy @ Nov 5th 2007 7:18PM

Slaizman:
Maybe I'm showing my age a bit here, but when FF7 first came out, it's graphics were AMAZING and I don't hold it against the game for having dated graphics since the game is what, 10 years old now! Give the bad boy (FF7) a bit of a break! It's old, it can't help that it's graphics looked dated by today's standards.