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That's a pretty bold statement. I guess it's time for you to get eNGAGEd.

Check out gamespot and the screen shots.
http://www.gamespot.com/ds/strategy/blackwhite/scr eenindex.html

Yeah that will be cool.

Note the word "will" there.

No. TamagotchiDS is the new Tamagotchi, for the DS too!

Dying adventure genre? There haven't been as many new adventures out in years as in the past two years or so. I'd say the adventure genre is slowly coming back to us. Check out Adventure gamers, Just adventure, and Gamespot

Yeah, they were very under-the-radar for the most part, so I don't blame you for missing them. The only reason I remember is because a few guys on some forums I visit got interested in the MP2 one, which led to some discussion on the others.

It was nowhere near the level of ILoveBees. Really, the only people who knew about it were already plenty hyped for the game, so it had little or no effect. Here's a little piece about the campaign, which is about all the press it ever got.

It looks like you are going to be waiting a while. "Dungeon Keeper 3 Cancelled. A Bullfrog site update states that development has ceased on the strategy series' follow up".

I also believe that EA did away with bullfrog. If you go to bullfrog.com it forwards to europe.ea.com which isnt resolved. I guess the whole franchise is long forgotten. On a positive note, it may still ship before duke nukem forever.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/26/news_61320 59.html/ Well, you might just get Nintencats.

And the NFL decided to take it exclusive after Take Two started a price war with their $19.95 price point. Here's a link to the article. The other reason Take Two wanted non-exclusivity is because they couldn't afford it. That part of a contract is expensive. If they had wanted to get exclusivity take Two would have needed to raise its price back to the $50 range to cover costs. Then all the fanboys would have been screaming "See, once you get a lock - you gouge the price!" It would have been a fight with your customer base you will always lose. They never could have won the NFL contract, they never had enough juice.

Besides, the NFL is a business also. They like to make money and protect their property. They didn't like a pricing war being waged with their property at the center of it. Would you? They went with a solid standard that could pay the bills. When my company needs supplies, I don't always go for the lowest price, I also pay attention to quality. Take Two made a good game, I prefer it to Madden. In fact, I won't buy a Madden game, I'll just keep playing 2K5 and updating the rosters. But they did not have the track record that EA has with an NFL game. The 2K series started hot, then dropped, then rose from the grave. Not exactly what I look for when I need a steady eddie to handle my license.

it is not economically feasible for a couple guys in their garage to make a massively popular game

Well it might still be popular to make a moderately popular one. Here's a pretty good review.

A team of graphic artists creating textures and 3D models does not necessarily a good game make.

I don't know why people make such a big deal over MOO3. Sure, it wasn't as good as the other two, but I can think of a more disappointing game that came out in the same year, forget about "all-time."

Rob

So would ASC Games, makers of Sanitarium.

Sierra On-Line has prior art, as well: Phantasmagoria II had a main character who hallucinated and saw the walls bleed as he descended into madness.

Further proof software patents are stupid.

This might be a stupid patent, but neither of those seems to even be relevant. This patent is clearly for a system like the one in Eternal Darkness, which is clearly the game design they were trying to "protect" by filing the patent.

From TFA:

A character's sanity level is modified by an amount determined based on a character reaction to the occurrence such as taking a rest or slowing game progress and/or an amount of character preparation.

I don't remember either Sanitarium or Phantasmagoria II basing their "sanity" effects on a player's ("character" in the language of the patent) action. I'm not sure how well that language could really hold up though, since "character" doesn't necessarily mean it has to be an interactive element of the game.

http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/pc/call_of_cthulhu_da rk_corners_of_the_earth/preview/108608

Human minds are fragile, and when they see things that are too frightening, too ghastly, or too wrong, they can start coming unglued in unfunny ways. If the player beholds any unbalancing element, the screen distorts with a number of unique "sanity" effects that not only make everything look more enigmatic and threatening, they also erode the player's ability to coherently aim and properly move about. There will also be distracting auditory hallucinations, taking the form of voices in one's head. And we all know how troubling that can be. Um, right?

If sanity erodes too drastically, the ultimate debilitating penalty may result; if Walters is holding a loaded firearm, he's liable to summarily turn it on himself and blow his own head off from terror, despair, or whatnot. Game over.

Mental damage, like physical damage, is cumulative through a level -- and the only immediate "treatment" for mounting mental instability is to decisively banish, blast, or otherwise stomp some Cthulhoid horror's eldritch ass to death. The temporary (if ultimately empty) physical victory gives our hero a sense of accomplishment, a little world-reordering sanity to set his mind at ease.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/adventure/callofcthul hudarkcote/preview_6125712.html

We got to see some of the game's sanity effects as Walters starts to see the world through the eyes of his enemies, or starts to feel disoriented and dislocated. We were told that, if Walters gets too in over his head and loses all of his sanity, he may even involuntarily turn his weapons on himself. The sanity effects in the game are not governed by any onscreen meter, so it'll be up to players to try to see through Jack's mental issues.

I can't say I really miss Propeller Arena for the Dreamcast - I have a copy, it was leaked a long time ago (try those "backup" sellers or bittorrents). But still, it's sad that such an awesome game, even completed, was canned.

Having never heard of this game, and only going by the screenshots on that site, I wonder if you've played the Crimson Skies games? One on PC from 2000, much more flight sim-ish; one on Xbox from 2003 (with Live support), much more arcadey. Propeller Arena definitely looks similar, but maybe the similarity is only skin deep.

I can't say I really miss Propeller Arena for the Dreamcast - I have a copy, it was leaked a long time ago (try those "backup" sellers or bittorrents). But still, it's sad that such an awesome game, even completed, was canned.

Having never heard of this game, and only going by the screenshots on that site, I wonder if you've played the Crimson Skies games? One on PC from 2000, much more flight sim-ish; one on Xbox from 2003 (with Live support), much more arcadey. Propeller Arena definitely looks similar, but maybe the similarity is only skin deep.

Now don't get me wrong, hardware-wise PSP is very high quality - that company has got amazing engineers. Unfortunately, it also has a management that acts a lot like Microsoft's (bully on the block) when they're obviously not in that position.

As to Syndicate, I'd like to see a next gen successor to Shadowrun which I really liked on the Genesis, they sound sort of similar in concept.

I'm taking a wait and see attitude toward Bio-Shock, maybe Call of Cthuhlu:Dark Corners of the Earth will be better. Either way it won't fill the void left by the absence of my love, SHODAN.

Actually, this is a very good list, all games that look like good choices.

Try 2 million PSP sales to 6 million DS sales, with DS sales outpacing PSP sales by a factor of 2:1 in Japan since March. 1 million of those DS sales were in Europe, primarily the UK. Stats posted just under a month ago when last we got a peek at financials.

The DS outsold the PSP in ALL regions by a factor of 2:1 including the US. Worldwide it was 3:1. If the PSP manages to equal DS sales in Europe when it's released it will only narrow the lead down to 2:1. Titles on the PSP simply are not moving off shelves at any real pace. Swallow the pill already Sony fans.

according to http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/28/news_61282 95.html, it should debut in the US at $399, and cost around $494.

Not that Microsoft people read Slashdot, but in case one happens to...

That's just too much for a game system. I usually buy the new consoles when they come out (proud owner of a PS2, XBox, and Atari 2600), but these prices have pushed them out of the realm of game system and into the realm of major electronics investment. Even the so-called "core bundle" is as expensive than what I paid for my surround-sound system. More expensive bundles are pushing what I paid for my flat screen HDTV, which is the centerpiece of my whole entertainment system.

I know that Microsoft is trying to push the XBox 360 as a high-end electronics component, but the vast majority of people are going to just see it as a fancy game system. If you look at the official fact sheet, there is little to support anything more than that. A Windows Media Center extender? How many people do they think own Windows Media Center PCs anyway?

I guess what I'm saying is that while the XBox 360 looks like a really kick-ass game system, $600 to $700 is just too much money to pay to watch the Dead or Alive girls do their thing.

From this article dated 8/10/05: "Kawanishi is thinking of further improving the PSP's movie-viewing experience by adding a function to watch streaming videos. If that happens, users will be able to watch movies on the fly without having to save them on their Memory Sticks. Kawanishi also said that he plans to include Digital Rights Management functions in a future update, which will allow for paid content to be watched on the handheld."

The linked article also mentions an email client. It's just more crap to look for in firmware v3.0.

This is pretty depressing, really. By this time next year we'll have a USB laser cannon add-on, but no games. Well, unless you consider vaporizing pigeons a game, but I was speaking in the digital sense.

Released in June? http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/24/news_61210 32.html

Check it: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/23/news_61317 39.html

The Sega CD attempted realistic graphics, but failed because the result was unattractive and grainy.

Other games that made the Playstation a must-have console for mature gamers were Resident Evil and Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Both games were highly violent, but played with a depth that was previously unimagined in the age of side-scrollers.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Hmm, what does that remind me of? Oh yes, Sword of Vermillion or any of a dozen other RPGs from the age of sidescrollers:

Sword of Vermillion

Perhaps he's referring to the cheesy cut scenes?

But the Playstation made heavy use of polygons and its 3D capabilities, resulting in fighting, racing, and sports games that moved realistically and appealed to its new audience. A decrease in bubbly, colorful sprite graphics also meant the decline of what was once the lifeblood of a system: the videogame mascot.

Battle Arena Toshinden

Yes that was so much better and more mature than say, Eternal Champions or Street Fighter II.

I'm going to ignore his comments that cute, furry mascot characters are better when given a gritty edge and guns. (I exempt Conker, but because Conker was supposed to be a joke against the hypercute furry animal games. If they are all like that, then it isn't a joke anymore... or maybe it is, but a joke on the industry.)

Oh, but I remember why I didn't get the 3D version of Earthworm Jim the sadly departed Conker of the 16 Bit era. It was because they tried to change it into a "3D" game and the result sucked!

I'd be a large sum of money that:

1. They don't use Halo like Armor even thought it readily available. Like this armor.

2. And either way they'll have the star take off the mask after the first 5 minutes of the movie to show the star's useless mugg.

You know what... I don't care who plays master Chef, but it would make me feel better if they kept his helmet on during the majority of the movie.

'The 486 ran at 66 mHz and had the capability to create 3D texture maps. 16-bit consoles, which ran at 7 mHz, could not replicate a game as impressive-looking, innovative and as huge as Doom.' http://www.gamespot.com/snes/action/doom/index.htm l?q=doom

These sophisticated, visceral, video games which draw the player deep into street level violence and celebrate a gangster life-style are something new.

If by "something new" you mean 7 years old. You'd think it was the end of the world back then, what with crazy drivers running women and children down on the streets... you might even call it a "Carmageddon".

You might even go "Postal" to find out that the "run around town and kill innocent bystanders" idea has been around even longer.

I'm a bit befuddled as to why the story submitter considers Madden 2006's response to be "lukewarm".

Firstly, as mentioned by other posters, the rankings he linked to were for the PC version, the PS2 version got an 88% rating and the Xbox version an 87% rating, both respectable scores and hardly 'mediocre' (I would also argue that 79% is quite respectable).

I also am unsure of why the submitter is referring to Madden 2006 Xbox/PS2/PC as a "next-generation title"...

And as to the "what are players to do?" comment, it appears that they are running out in droves to buy this game. After all, they did sell 1.7 million copies in the first week alone...

I highly doubt that 79% rating on the PC version of Madden is going to assist in the rethinking of the exclusive NFL contract the Commision made with EA considering the game just had the largest opening weekend in franchise history.

Um, Mutant League Football was made by EA.

http://www.gamespot.com/genesis/sports/mutantleagu efootball/

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening. According to an article at Gamespot which can be found here, the game sold 1.7 million copies the week it was released. According to EA (so I suppose this can be taken with a grain of salt), it is their best since they started the Madden franchise.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening. According to an article at Gamespot which can be found here, the game sold 1.7 million copies the week it was released. According to EA (so I suppose this can be taken with a grain of salt), it is their best since they started the Madden franchise.

http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/quake3are na/review.html

And here we are. /. could also use a way to edit a post, so long as no one has replied to the post.

Erm, you ARE aware Quake III is already on the Dreamcast from id themselves right?

(www.gamespot.com)

im sure it will be tried at some point, somewhere... And claimed to be 'theraputic'.

They've been doing this for years

Couldn't find any cumulative numbers, though I did find this story which casts the Wikipedia numbers in severe doubt, since GTA:SA sold 5.1 million units in 2004 alone, and I think that's only a domestic figure.

Google yields plenty of stories citing the game as the fastest-selling game of all time, plus a couple from the UK and Australia talking about moving 1 million units in both places in the first week or so.

I admit that I've just heard the "#1 selling game of all time" line tossed around so much that I simply assumed it was true. It's possible that it's not.

> Watch the words, "doesn't cut it anymore." For its time, and for an arcade-only machine, Pong was quite a hit.

As a novelty. But Pong doesn't have the lasting appeal of something like Space War, which I believe came out even earlier.

> But the fact remains that Pong is more accessable to people who've never played a video game before than GTA games, and there are still many more such people than gamers.

More accessible, yes. More appreciable to the masses on either merits or aesthetics? I doubt it.

> Well, it could still be done I think without wrecking the tone.

I really don't see how.

> those kits aren't exactly realistic either, though in a different way.

Quite true.

> Care to elaborate upon the storytelling in [God Of War]?

Well, the spoiler-free answer is that in their particular spin on Greek mythology, Ares is leading a massive assault on Athens, but the gods are forbidden to directly interfere with the affairs of other gods, so Athena and others are forced to recruit an extremely evil human being (your character) with former ties to Ares and guide him toward how to grant himself the power to kill Ares outright. There are some interesting turns to the story, despite the fact that many of them are predictable -- and in that respect it's much like the rest of the game, which is a collection of extremely well-polished and well-executed clichés.

Oh, I enjoyed the story in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, too. A fantastic game with characters that you actually cared about.

First off, if you don't think your bank account isn't virtual money, then what the heck is it? Try demanding the value in gold bars from your bank. Not going to happen. If you have enough money in your account: try asking for it in paper money and see how far you get. It would be impossible to get my bank account rendered in cold hard cash (and an attempt to do so would probably trigger an investigation in a heartbeat). To me that means my money is virtual. Sure, it is *regulated* virtual money, but anyone who lived through the savings and loan scandal is quite aware that "virtual acid crept into the vault" is a perfectly plausible situation... and the liability for giving you back your entire account isn't there: you only get back the portion that the FDIC insures.

I think that the point is that we are starting to see the development of virtual environments that have a total trade value that exceeds the gross domestic product of the poorer nations on our planet. From one article recently, the GDP of virtual worlds is near that of Jamaica. (That was a year ago, an article in a more recent magazine pegged the online trade in "virtual goods" at about three times what it was when this article was posted).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3570224.stm

So you are certainly right that at the moment the games are unregulated and loss of "virtual property" is not going to see the same level of accountability as a bank (which as discussed above, isn't as much as I think you believe it is). However, the original poster was claiming that virtual theft through an exploit wasn't a crime. Well, I'm pretty sure it isn't on the books, but to suggest that these virtual economies won't become regulated and have legal ramifications is hiding your head in the sand: virtual property already exceeds the GDP of entire nations, surely that won't be ignored for long. The movement of companies like Sony to permit buying and sale of goods and previously companies that run "free to play but you buy virtual goods for real-as-it-gets money" games like Project Entropia mean that companies *are* going to be held liable for loss of goods sooner at later. It's going to be hard to argue from a judge that "well, we took his $26,500 and then promptly allowed the goods he bought to be lost to an exploit. Sorry!".

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/projectentropia/new s_6118160.html

And no, I'm not suggesting that all this is a good thing... but I don't think this trend is going to reverse itself either.

Playstation 3 will allow users to use standard memory like SD/Compact Flash/MemoryStick (Sony has learned from their mistakes)

I doupt that very much.
They LOVE to sell peripherals, and there's plenty of time yet to change their minds and require an official memory card.

It's already been announced that Sony will come with standard memory slots:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3
# Memory Stick standard/Duo and standard/mini slots
# CompactFlash Type I and II slot
# SD slot

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1985-x-x-x


The PlayStation 3 comes with an array of data storage and transfer features. Whereas the PlayStation 2 only supported a memory card and the optional hard drive attachment (for a brief time), the PlayStation 3 supports numerous forms of portable media. The PlayStation 3 has 6 USB 2.0 ports, a memory stick slot, an SD slot, and, in stark contrast to many of Sony's other consumer electronics products, the system actually supports compact flash. Sony even saved a space for a removable 2.5" hard drive.

Ethernet (RJ45), 6 USB 2.0, CF Slot (Type I, II), SD Slot (Regular, Compact), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, 1 x Optical Audio

Have you guys seen this article at GameSpot??

So, for $99, you can buy the hard drive seperately? Uh... NO. That's a $30 profit, easy, not even buying in bulk!

The wireless networking adapter is another $99? Uh, looks like I'd be going wired for this version of the XBox.

$50 for a controller? Are they out of their skulls? Controllers, even near LAUNCH, retail at $35, best! The S controller is $25 for the XBox!

$20 for a headset that's $5 for the regular XBox? $30 to $40 for cables that should be half that, at best?

Hell, even the memory card is $40. You've got to be kidding me!

Well, it ain't a rumor. If you don't believe the submitted link, maybe you'll believe GameSpot?

From my link:

Today, Microsoft laid down new facts about its upcoming console at the Games Convention in Leipzig, and they sounded awfully familiar to analyst predictions and forum posters' speculations.

Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will be released in two SKUs, the "Xbox 360 Core System" and the "Xbox 360." The two products will be sold at $299 and $399, respectively. The two systems break down as follows:

Xbox 360 Core System - $299 (299 Euros, 209 GBP)
Xbox 360 console
Wired controller
Detachable faceplate
Xbox Live Silver membership
Standard AV cables

Xbox 360 - $399 (399 Euros, 279 GBP)
Xbox 360 console
20GB detachable hard drive
Wireless controller
Wireless Xbox Live headset
High-definition AV cables
Ethernet cable
Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)
Detachable faceplate
Xbox Live Silver membership

Gee, sounds like more than a "rumor" to me.

Yes, I do realize that. You seem to have overreacted though. I didn't say people didn't want graphics at all, I just said that awesome graphics is not the #1 reason to buy a game on a Nintendo console.

If I had a choice between TP on the GCN, and TP on the NRV, exactly the same but with higher res textures, more polygons, which also means more npc's on the screen at once, more particles etc etc, I would choose the NRV version.

Good for you. However, not every GCN owner will purchase a NRV when it comes out. Making the game a NRV exclusive might not sell as many copies as making it a GCN game that can still play on the NRV. Publishers didn't stop releasing games for the PS1 the day the PS2 came out. Actually, Gamespot reports over 140 games that have been released for the original PlayStation since 2002. I guess if they keep releasing them, it's because people are buying them.

Also, I like how you dodged the last bit of what you quoted, the part about supporting whatever revolution the Revolution has.

No matter what console, there will always be games that will not use every single feature that the console has. Not every Xbox games uses Live, not every PS2 game uses the 10 buttons, 2 analog sticks and D-Pad the controller has, etc. Even EA has released Madden NFL 2005 on the original PlayStation... clearly that game doesn't use everything the PS2 has to offer.

Just because a game doesn't make full use of the hardware it is playing on doesn't mean people will get bitching and whining about it.

"After much discussion, the Zelda development team has requested extra time to add new levels, more depth and even higher quality to Zelda: Twilight Princess. Consequently, we're announcing a new global launch in 2006," stated Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president of Marketing and Corporate Affairs.

Are there any games that actually got the AO rating? I just did a search on the Gamespot finder for all recent consoles (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, DS and PSP), of all games rated AO, and the only game that popped up was GTA:SA.

Does GameSpot simply never review an AO game or do none actually exist?

Sure I can.
Ofcause if you want it to be the same quality as Logitech og Microsoft I suppose you could clue som cardbord onto the side so you'r fingers will rest in an uncomftable position.
Copperback will most likely be better then or at the very least as good as the G5/7's.

Pictures of the g5 mouse

And guess what, it's shaped for right handers only. You'd think that it'd be possible to invert the casing, and produce a mirrored device for the 15-20% or so of the target market who can't use a right-handed gaming mouse. (I can handle it for general use, but I need my primary hand for precision work)

Still, looks like I'll be buying the new razer copperhead when it comes out shortly, similar features but suitable for lefties.

You might try Laser Squad Nemesis

It's made by the same guys who did X-Com.

Well based on the gamespot review, more people than me think it's not enough to charge full game price for what gets updated. Especially in the 2006 version of madden.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/maddennfl2006/r eview.html

The most memorable Native American action figure I've ever seen was Turok. The game was good and used the culture and beliefs of various American Indian tribes to make the storyline interesting and original. There was also a character in an X-Men game named Forge who was Native American. And there will be a new game by 3d Realms starring a Native American. Minorities can be a good thing in this industry, we have stories and history that are foreign, and therefor interesting, to most gamers.

This makes me wonder if in about 5 to 10 years there will be a descent emulator for X-box or PS2

Descent ran on the PS1, and it more than likely runs on the PS2 without any emulation.

God damn, this is old news. Gamespot had this story on Tuesday.