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Burnout 3 is not likely to come to the GC.

Bad move from EA. Just remember what happened to Acclaim when they decided to pull out Gamecube support ;)

(And yes, that's the reason they went bankrupt. It had nothing to do with the garbage games, stupid marketing campaigns, etc.)

1. "Computers are great for playing games. Why would anyone want to use them for anything else?"
   (Paraphrased from an unknown Mark)
   
   
2. And the game runs well on Linux with many versions of WineX/Cedega.
   

Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all.

My first thought was that they were going for an Australian Football League exclusive licence.
Yeah, but it'd be hard to make a version better than the one that appeared on the NES. And it'd hardly be exclusive given that Acclaim have created PS2 and Xbox versions (AFL Live 2004).

It was while standing in my first-ever ladies' room line at E3 2004 as I pondered the Playboy bunnies, the return of Leisure Suit Larry, and the slew of buxom virtual ladies headlining each booth that I questioned whether the industry had evolved at all.

As a devout Dead or Alive: Ultimate player, I can confidently say that...

No, no it hasn't.

I was comparing the graphics, sound, etc. The more technical aspects.

My three points:

1. "Good graphics" is relative. To me, good graphics doesn't mean cinematic presentation; it means clearly seeing what I have to do and where and when I have to do it. If I can see my men on the field in Tecmo Bowl, then I'm happy. If I can read the arrows in StepMania without spending too much effort (except in gimmicky songs such as "bag" and "MAX. (period)" that are supposed to be hard to read), then I'm happy. On the other hand, if a game has the graphics but lacks the play control *cough*Tetris Worlds*cough*, then it's a major turn-off.
2. You get what you pay for. People who must have cinematic adventure games of higher production values can pay the higher prices for cinematic adventure games of higher production values until the non-software Creative Commons manages to catch up to free software's 19-year head start (1984 founding of GNU vs. 2003 founding of CC).
3. I don't want to be restricted from usefully participating in the free software community just because some other author wants to distribute copies of proprietary works for a given platform.

The idea that some artist draws an interface that some programmer implements is so unrealistic, pig farmers could make feather beds from all the stock flying around their barn.
Yes, no artist without programming experience could ever come up with a concept and then work with engineers to create something popular.
If you look at many interface concepts, they typically are sketches, simple drawings, and high level summaries of the metaphors and how things relate.
The interface can be designed without a single line of code written. Artists already get consulted on design of peripherals and consumer electronic interfaces, program interfaces aren't really that different.

sorry but I played at least 12 different games that were blockbusters on my DS the day I got it.

Really? In this article I counted 11 launch titles, with one from Nintendo (I'm not counting Pictochat or the Metroid demo) and 10 from third party companies. I guess you could get 12 out of that, if you include Pictochat or the Metroid demo (or you live in Japan, I don't know about launch titles there), but that would mean that EVERY launch game is a "blockbuster", and that you either know a lot of people that have a DS, or you spent nearly $500 dollars on launch day, which doesn't seem reasonable for the average /.'er (or sane gamer).

DS + Movie Player = Better than PSP.

Huh?

The reports that many of Japan's larger department stores did not accept preorders for the PSP fearing shortages was widely reported, as was the fact this contributed to the long lines on the PSP's launch day. A few quick glances at google turn up:

Like many other major retailers in Japan, Yodobashi did not take PSP preorders. As a result, more than 1,200 hopeful game fans lined up throughout the long, cold night, some taking up their position as early as 3pm the previous day. .

Meanwhile, shortages of Sony's PlayStation Portable are already beginning to hit home in Japan, with the vast majority of retailers no longer able to take preorders ahead of Sunday's launch of the console."

It will be interesting to see what happens (in just over a week) when the PSP is launched in Japan. Retailers have not been accepting many preorders, and the device will be in short supply.

Sony's PSP preorder campaign was... practically nonexistent. There was no advance warning of preorders, which had most people checking in with shops on an almost daily basis trying to find out what was up. Of course, shopkeepers were completely in the dark as well.

What you won't find if you look around, however, are reports that the 2005 shipment of PSPs sold out. The first day shipment of PSPs of 200,000 did mostly sell out (i saw a figure of 160,000-180,000 in the hands of consumers on day one, which would seem to imply it would have been sold out entirely in some areas), but by the end of the year there would have been many of the PSP's 2005 shipment of 500,000 available-- I cannot find total sales figures for the year but by December 26 only 360,000 PSP units had been sold, which would have meant nearly half of the PSPs sold were on the first day. Again, the illusion of PSP "shortages" appears to mostly be a result of low availability on the first day, and since such a large chunk of 2005's PSPs weren't sold it seems reasonable to say that even if Sony had had more GPUs, they would NOT have sold any more PSPs.

GS: Why did you choose to make the system region-free for games? MC: Technically, the PSP does have a region mechanism in it, but, for now we decided to have all region discs work on all systems. This is because people who travel around the world may want to pick up games in different territories. However, each game will only be tested for that specific region and the hardware available in that market, so, technically, not every game may work.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/05/news_61157 37.html

here's some linkage and here too...

...that I have immediate flashes of this game

Seriouisly though, I lived in New Orleans for 4 years (91-95) and it didn't really hit me as a tech receptive culture, though there's a party every night (that no one got the note to clean up after) and avg 100% Humidity. An excellent place to party, not so much to live.

Movies, maybe. There is a far greater impact for other areas. The number of pirated copies of Doom 3 was several tens of thousands before the game even came out (as in, it's certainly higher by now). The game has sold between 1 and 2 million copies based on this report which came soon after release. So I'd guess it's around 5% pirated, plus or minus a bit.

Would you mind if I stole $300 from you? That's probably about the same percent of your salary.

The author shows a complete misunderstanding of how businesses maintain corporate identity and branding when he launches into such brilliant ideas as suggesting Donkey Konga would have been better served with brand new characters instead of recycling Donkey Kong. Because we all know how the PS2's Taiko Drum Master is burning up the charts (another drum peripheral game, nearly identical to Konga, also developed by Namco) because people are just begging for new drum games featuring all new IP.

Umm, Taiko Drum Master (AKA "Taiko no Tatsujin") is a gigantic success in Japan. Six arcade versions and five home releases since it came out in 2001, and home sales in excess of 2 million or so units. It is easily one of the top three most profitable Namco series. Where do you think Nintendo got the idea for Donkey Konga, and why did they then ask Namco to make it? It isn't because the idea wasn't successful until an old franchise character was slapped on it!

Good understanding of "how businesses maintain corporate identity and branding" though!

(Here's a free clue: you need to create successful new brands sometimes.)

It's a German translation through Babblefish, which is why none of the page makes any sense. The original is here in case anyone wants to try a human translation of the article.

Anyway, since I'd never heard of True Fantasy Online before, I figured some people might find the GameSpot page on it useful.

Sounds... meh. Apparently it was aimed at the Japanese XBox market, which probably wasn't the best of ideas... Seems like it's another attempt to somehow "revolutionize" MMORPGs, but it sounds like it ultimately came out like any MMORPG when Microsoft axed it.

"[...]discs that act as ninja stars[...]

These videos are fake. The eject mechanism isn't strong enough to throw discs out."

So GameSpot is also in the conspiracy on this?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/17/news_61152 93.html

"[...]poorly placed buttons[...]

They all work correctly."
Which unfortunately isn't true for everyone.

Thanks to non-standard hardware, option menus you have to be hardcore to understand (remember having to edit your BIOS?)

But seriously, you must be relatively new to PC games. Things got *way* better when Windows 95 came out and games started supporting it. Back before that, you needed a plethora of boot disks (or a cleverly constructed boot disk menu system) setting up various types of extended memory managers, TSRs, sound drivers, etc. If you wanted networked games, it got worse as you threw packet drivers into the fray.

You want to play Descent with somebody over the Internet? Can't do it, unless you payed for Kali, which routes IPX over TCP/IP. Doom was fun, but it originally did network calls via broadcast packets -- killing the entire network if more than a few people were playing.

Even after Windows 95, then 98, etc., things still got tricky. Do you have a 3dfx card? Then you want Glide -- OpenGL may not work properly. But what if your game doesn't have a Glide mode? Or what if you don't have a 3dfx card, but your game only has Glide support? (A pity -- I really liked playing Dethkarz with my friends, but it's 3D is Glide only. I could set up an older computer to play it again, but can't expect my friends to do so too ...)

Seriously, ignoring blips like requiring Steam (and an Internet connection) to play games like HL2, PC games are easier to get running right now than they have since they started requiring more than 640k of RAM and better than CGA graphics, and had to actually be *installed* on the hard drive. And as much as I enjoy bashing Microsoft, I also know that much of this `ease' is thanks to Microsoft and the semi-standardized APIs that Windows provides.

Well here's the Guy Game website,
and here's the Gamespot pics,
and here's PS2 pics,
and here's XBOX pics,
and here's XBOX videos,
and here's PS2 videos.

Can anyone figure out who's the girl in question? Or I guess we can just download it all, and then see what pics and vids mysteriously vanish from the websites in the next day or two. heh.

-

I can tell you that I, for one, will not be buying ANY EA sports titles for the next 5 years. Furthermore, if I receive any as a gift, I will return them.

I simply refuse to support these strong-armed tactics from EA. That corporation is rife with slimeballs. Just take a look at what they're doing to their employees - they're going to be sued over some of their practices. http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/11/news_61129 98.html If they can't be trusted to treat their own employees with respect, I certainly don't think you can expect them to do so with their consumers.

The next 5 years looks like a very dark time for football games. My only hope is that the Sega/ESPN franchise works around this problem by allowing players to swap player created rosters online.

EA officials say that development of Madden won't stangnate, but I say that's bull. Why bother to innovate when all you have to do is release the same game with updated rosters every year? Honestly its like they're being allowed to exclusively lease a money printing machine.

I'll be purchasing alternative products, and I encourage others to do the same. Don't support these monopolistic tactics.

It's not really lies. Actually, EA admitted that it lobbied for a few YEARS before the NFL decided. So in essence, it was a really long sales pitch. They jsut finally gave in.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/13/news_61149 77.html

Not that I agree the NFL buckled ... they simply went after the easy money now.

Might I also mention it was the only basketball game I ever owned? But it had the best halftime shows...

OSS will seize the gaming market in the same way student films will crush Hollywood.

Most games are done with teams of about 50 people working long hours for 2-3 years to complete. Approximate budget for next-gen titles is between $6 and $20 million. Also, most gamers play on stock consoles, where OSS isn't possible.

Agreed, that is absolutely pompous. Though not as pompous as when they said that their reviews are mostly fact and not opinion. Quoth the FAQ:

"'Wait, reviews are just opinions. Right?'

"Actually, we don't think so. We make no excuses for our verdicts about games and believe our reviews stand for themselves. While our reviews, of course, do contain an element of subjectivity to them, we see the process of reviewing games as one that primarily involves the reporting of facts."

I think Gamespot has a few reviews that have nice dose of opinion in them, but that's just my opinion.

Agreed, that is absolutely pompous. Though not as pompous as when they said that their reviews are mostly fact and not opinion. Quoth the FAQ:

"'Wait, reviews are just opinions. Right?'

"Actually, we don't think so. We make no excuses for our verdicts about games and believe our reviews stand for themselves. While our reviews, of course, do contain an element of subjectivity to them, we see the process of reviewing games as one that primarily involves the reporting of facts."

I think Gamespot has a few reviews that have nice dose of opinion in them, but that's just my opinion.

Agreed, that is absolutely pompous. Though not as pompous as when they said that their reviews are mostly fact and not opinion. Quoth the FAQ:

"'Wait, reviews are just opinions. Right?'

"Actually, we don't think so. We make no excuses for our verdicts about games and believe our reviews stand for themselves. While our reviews, of course, do contain an element of subjectivity to them, we see the process of reviewing games as one that primarily involves the reporting of facts."

I think Gamespot has a few reviews that have nice dose of opinion in them, but that's just my opinion.

Agreed, that is absolutely pompous. Though not as pompous as when they said that their reviews are mostly fact and not opinion. Quoth the FAQ:

"'Wait, reviews are just opinions. Right?'

"Actually, we don't think so. We make no excuses for our verdicts about games and believe our reviews stand for themselves. While our reviews, of course, do contain an element of subjectivity to them, we see the process of reviewing games as one that primarily involves the reporting of facts."

I think Gamespot has a few reviews that have nice dose of opinion in them, but that's just my opinion.

Maybe the game spin-off (of this game spin-off) will be really cool, just like all the other times they've done that.

Sony promised customers and Square that they would support the HDD with a "Virtual Jukebox" at the very least. You know... so people wouldn't spend the extra $50 for the PS2 version for nothing. Sony didn't make any games for it, didn't keep any of their promises for it, and decided it wasn't worth supporting.

Square stepped up to the plate for the HDD. Sony kicked them in the nuts and ran away. That's enough to make a "gaffe of 2004" without even considering the consumer.

If you ever wonder why Square can't seem to complete Final Fantasy XII and are buddies with Nintendo again, this may be the reason, at least in part.

I think my favorite sports game to this day remains Neo-Geo Baseball Stars 2, which is anything but realistic, allthough I'm kinda looking forward to Mario Baseball.

Unfortunately, EA also has an exclusive on College Football for at least next year. EA also has exclusive on NASCAR and PGA. Sega has exclusive on College Basketball.

Sega voluntarily decided not to continue their college football games for the 2003-4 and 2004-5 seasons after sales for the 2002-3 season (Sega NCAA Football 2K3). Sega has made excellent NCAA football games in the past (though not as good as EA's NCAA Football line in my opinion) but their NFL line has excellent play mechanics, and they already have a lot of the college info digitized (digital stadiums, fight songs, mascots, etc. from 2K3) so now's a phenomenal time to get back into the college football market. The NCAA is smart with their money (read that as "money grubbing whores"), so they're not dumb about creating rediculous monopolies and limiting the amount of licenses they give out. Now an exclusive with the BCS would be one thing, but let's remember that Sega/ESPN's game was the only one that had the Rose Bowl licensed back in 2002 [the other 3 BCS bowls were only licensed to EA].

EA does have an exclusive with NASCAR, but honestly sales of NASCAR 2005 aren't nearly up there with the level of the pro football games. And we all know about the Tiger Woods games, but honestly the PGA license isn't even remotely required to have a successful golf game. For proof just see the excellent Links for the Xbox and Mario Golf for the GBA and GameCube.

Oh, and Sega does not have an exclusive on college basketball. EA's March Madness series and 989's NCAA Final Four have been going strong for years, though ESPN's College Hoops 2K5 is the best of the bunch in my opinion. And like somebody else commented before, no NCAA games are allowed to have player names in them, since such an act would constitute an endorsement for which the player would have to be compensated - thus making them a professional and violating NCAA amateur rules. Ever wonder why last year's best player is always the cover boy of the new NCAA game for this year? [Carson Palmer, Josh Childress, Drew Brees, Eric Crouch, to name a few from years past].

I seem to recall a Sega Genesis game that covered this kind of territory

That would be Mutant League Football, which is an EA property (based on the Madden engine of the time). This exclusive deal won't bring back MLF, and I wouldn't put it past EA to try to litigate anyone who attempts to do something similar.

Personally, I preferred Base Wars (sorry for the bad link, feel free to Google for it).

I seem to recall a Sega Genesis game that covered this kind of territory

That would be Mutant League Football, which is an EA property (based on the Madden engine of the time). This exclusive deal won't bring back MLF, and I wouldn't put it past EA to try to litigate anyone who attempts to do something similar.

Personally, I preferred Base Wars (sorry for the bad link, feel free to Google for it).

IGN was trying to take a potshot at GameSpot with that statement, for their revealing test that showed that the PSP lasted for as little as 90 minutes when playing Ridge Racers, when in single-player mode only. Playing in multiplayer mode _lessens_ that number.

I agree with you; this is what I'd be using the PSP for, if I bought one - playing games on the go for as long as my trips last. And it seems that the PSP's battery life is just too poor when you're playing the pretty-ish games that people might actually care about, as opposed to "Mahjongg Load Time," "Mahjongg Chest Pain," "Minna no Mahjongg," "Card Game Acid," or any of the other similar PSP gems.

And when the reported failures of the first measly 200,000 units start to surface, you know there's something wrong compared to Nintendo's problem-free DS launch (where they even cut off any doubts of build quality when they preemptively announced their no-tolerance dead-pixel guarantee program).

Based on our estimates and a few battery-draining tests, Ridge Racers seems to last somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours.

You want media battery tests?

As little as 90 minute battery life for Ridge Racers on the PSP, less if playing multiplayer. That's not a direct quote, so read the rest of that fanboy article to see that, as much as the authors would like to claim otherwise, all those "pretty games" really do kill the PSP's battery life dead. The PSP, if one purchases one, is not for portable gaming. It's for paying at home, near a power outlet at all times.

Q: How long does the PSP's battery last?

A: The short answer is that it depends on what you're doing. The longer answer is that Sony has stated that the battery should last around six hours. With simpler-looking games, like Lumines or Mahjong Fight Club, that definitely seems to be the case. But with more graphically intensive games, like Ridge Racers, the battery doesn't last quite as long. Based on our estimates and a few battery-draining tests, Ridge Racers seems to last somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours. Playing with the wireless networking switch flipped on will also further reduce your battery life. The system has an auto-sleep function that stops the wireless drain, but that switch is there for a reason. Turn it off when you're not using it.

Of course Gamespot says the battery life is a bit more variable than that.

For those not playing at home IGN has had some incredibly biased coverage in this recent round of handheld launches going so far as to "talk down" about the Nintendo DS on the actual DS portion of IGN. While both portable gaming systems kick ass, they do it in different ways, the rampant fanboyism at IGN is somewhat sickening, especially given than when it was first started, way back as Next Generation and even before then when the site was run off a college server it was known to being one of the first gaming sites to push honest opinions.

Apparently depending on the game, the battery life can be HORRID. Simply grahic games can go for 5 or so hours with no WiFi turned on... more graphically intense games? Ridge Racers goes for 90 mins-3 hours, depending on screen brightness and speaker use.

90 minutes!!! Next Sony will be selling protable generators to carry on your back when taking your PSP and graphically intesnive games around with you (Metal Gear Ac!d, Gran Turismo, Ridge Racers, etc.).

[sarcasm]Yep, looks like IGN is right, as always...[/sarcasm]

Repeat after me...it's not a game!

http://www.gamespot.com/psp/rpg/finalfantasyviiadv entchildren/index.html?q=advent+children

...give the developers a lego kit. They seem to have failed to grasp the basic mechanics of "Lego legs". They do NOT allow for any sort of twisting motion whatsoever. Furthermore, their feet are not flexible since they are made of hard plastic. What is the point in making a "Lego game" if you don't follow the rules of Lego? http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/legostarwars/sc reens_6114511.html?page=2

I didn't know that funcoland actually did game previews. Maybe the poster meant Gamespot. Of course, that is what editors are for..

are we allowed to kill the lego jar-jar?
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/legostarwars/sc reens_6114511.html?page=3

The preview is actually from GameSpot and not GameStop, which happens to be a completely different gaming site.

The preview is actually from GameSpot and not GameStop, which happens to be a completely different gaming site.

Q: How long does the PSP's battery last?

A: The short answer is that it depends on what you're doing. The longer answer is that Sony has stated that the battery should last around six hours. With simpler-looking games like Lumines or Mahjong Fight Club, that definitely seems to be the case. But with more graphically intensive games, like Ridge Racers, the battery doesn't last quite as long. Based on our estimates and a few battery-draining tests, Ridge Racers seems to last somewhere between 90 minutes and three hours. Playing with the wireless networking switch flipped on will also further reduce your battery life.

Ridge Racer on DS is NOT a port of the N64 game. It features a new control scheme, and is an entirely new Ridge Racer game with tracks from previous games.

N64 was the big console of the era.

I have no interest in PSP because (as I've repeated already several times), it has no games of interest, the hardware seems fragile, the battery life is absurdly short, and the price is way too high. These are not characteristics of good engineering.

lol.

If the burgler had just played Thief...

Nope. But it is a pain in the ass to be forced to recharge every 2-3 hours when you're supposed to be able to take the damn thing with you whenever you want. And different genres are going to be affected in different ways, but I think most games will be noticably less fun for it.

One Example:

Imagine playing a 3D RPG, ala FFX (or, less theoretically, how about Ys VI), and having to recharge every 3 hours. For a 25 hour game, you'd recharge the thing 8 times. Now, I don't know about you, but I can easily imagine worrying more about my PSP's battery life than where my last save point is before that big boss battle. Heck, I've had boss battles in RPGs that have lasted 2 hours (and I've got my Proof of Omega to prove it!), to give the extreme example.

Anyways--I see your point, but in sum, the whole idea of buying a 'portable' is to not be tethered to an outlet.