Slashdot Mirror

Will you personally buy a game cube? If you answer yes to this one you'll be the only one I know who will.

Get out a little more. They've sold a million of the things. By the way, great argument there. My dad can beat up yours.

I think I represent the average gamer and I want strategy games, fighting games, REALISTIC images, great audio.

Nah, the average gamer wants The Sims and Pokemon.

I want games to move me and scare me. I especially don't want Mario this or Luigi that.

Fair enough, but if you're going to speak for the average gamer, keep in mind that Nintendo sold about a billion dollars worth of software in 2000. Their closest competitor? EA, with under 500 million. Keep in mind that EA publishes games on all platforms and that Nintendo is restricted to their own. And in case you're wondering, those numbers don't include hardware, it's just the games. Doesn't sound like the average gamer is agreeing with you so far.

Game cube commercials are already touting a new Mario + friends mortal combat style fighting game. I truly think you need to be 11 to get a kick out of that.

Yeah, you definitely need to be eleven. Like last night, I was playing Smash Brothers with my roommate and two friends and it was so fun that we played for about two hours. Then I remembered that we're all over 24 so we threw that game out. I don't know what Gamespot was thinking when they put it in the top ten console games of the year, because I'm pretty sure their editors are over 11 (although sometimes it's a tough call). Good thing, we stopped playing, though, so we could move on to a game that lets you drive one of these armed cycles on some huge courses and blow your friends up.

But I'll admit that the Gamecube's graphics aren't that great, like that Rogue Leader game. I mean, did they really think anyone would want to play a game with graphics like this?

And in fighting games, we'll put aside the fact that you're superficial and clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I know Kirby and Pikachu are cute as all get out, but the fighting system in SSB is way more fun than DOA3's. And if that's not enough for you, Soul Calibur 2, successor to the real king of 3D fighters (OK, fine, Virtua Fighter rules, too), will be exclusive to the GameCube when it first arrives.

Speaking of realism, did you know that the water in Wave Race: Blue Storm, an amazingly addictive racing game with a tight control system, was so good, that Gamespot created a new category in their year end awards for it?

Oh, right, and you want to be scared. So, how about four Resident Evil games and Eternal Darkness? Is that enough blood for you, mister sophisticated mature gaming man?

I've got a GameCube, a Playstation 2, and a Dreamcast (which, as far as I'm concerned, still has the best catalog of games around), couldn't be happier.

Will you personally buy a game cube? If you answer yes to this one you'll be the only one I know who will.

Get out a little more. They've sold a million of the things. By the way, great argument there. My dad can beat up yours.

I think I represent the average gamer and I want strategy games, fighting games, REALISTIC images, great audio.

Nah, the average gamer wants The Sims and Pokemon.

I want games to move me and scare me. I especially don't want Mario this or Luigi that.

Fair enough, but if you're going to speak for the average gamer, keep in mind that Nintendo sold about a billion dollars worth of software in 2000. Their closest competitor? EA, with under 500 million. Keep in mind that EA publishes games on all platforms and that Nintendo is restricted to their own. And in case you're wondering, those numbers don't include hardware, it's just the games. Doesn't sound like the average gamer is agreeing with you so far.

Game cube commercials are already touting a new Mario + friends mortal combat style fighting game. I truly think you need to be 11 to get a kick out of that.

Yeah, you definitely need to be eleven. Like last night, I was playing Smash Brothers with my roommate and two friends and it was so fun that we played for about two hours. Then I remembered that we're all over 24 so we threw that game out. I don't know what Gamespot was thinking when they put it in the top ten console games of the year, because I'm pretty sure their editors are over 11 (although sometimes it's a tough call). Good thing, we stopped playing, though, so we could move on to a game that lets you drive one of these armed cycles on some huge courses and blow your friends up.

But I'll admit that the Gamecube's graphics aren't that great, like that Rogue Leader game. I mean, did they really think anyone would want to play a game with graphics like this?

And in fighting games, we'll put aside the fact that you're superficial and clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I know Kirby and Pikachu are cute as all get out, but the fighting system in SSB is way more fun than DOA3's. And if that's not enough for you, Soul Calibur 2, successor to the real king of 3D fighters (OK, fine, Virtua Fighter rules, too), will be exclusive to the GameCube when it first arrives.

Speaking of realism, did you know that the water in Wave Race: Blue Storm, an amazingly addictive racing game with a tight control system, was so good, that Gamespot created a new category in their year end awards for it?

Oh, right, and you want to be scared. So, how about four Resident Evil games and Eternal Darkness? Is that enough blood for you, mister sophisticated mature gaming man?

I've got a GameCube, a Playstation 2, and a Dreamcast (which, as far as I'm concerned, still has the best catalog of games around), couldn't be happier.

Games matter. Instead of wasting time, I suggest you go to www.gamespot.com and take a good long look at the list(s) of games of each console, read the unbiased reviews, stare at pictures and movies, and then decide which console is coolest.

You're right, games domatter. However, I disagree with your suggestion for Gamespot as a useful source of information. They are very much biased towards the Playstation 2, to the detriment of both the Gamecube and the XBox. Yes, I know that pretty much any site is going to be biased, but Gamespot takes it to an extreme, to the point where their XBox reviews consistently rate 1.5-3 points lower than reviews on other web sites. Maybe they're just "telling it how it is", but when the reader reviews on Gamespot actually line up well with the editorial reviews of other web sites, you get a little suspicious ...

Sadly, I can't really recommend any better place, as most of the major gaming networks have gone the way of the dodo, or at least made most of their content subscription-only. What I do is keep my eye on Blue's News, which is mainly PC gaming but covers console gaming as well. Typically, you'll find links to better reviews than Gamespot reviews at Blue's. Otherwise, go to your local Blockbuster, rent a console and a couple games. Give it a spin for a week for $20 (console and a couple games), see if it's worth spending $300+.

Is anyone else tired of /. posting every single console hardware review? It doesnt really matter anyway, how many polygons each machine can pump.

Games matter. Instead of wasting time, I suggest you go to www.gamespot.com and take a good long look at the list(s) of games of each console, read the unbiased reviews, stare at pictures and movies, and then decide which console is coolest.

People have been throwing around comments regarding Quake. Well, Doom has already been ported to GBA, so why not Quake?

And as for Bluetooth, sure, being able to play Advance Wars against some snot-nosed kid in Outer Mongolia is wonderful, but IMO the most practical use of this is setting up a network in your house, so you can play against your friends without being confined to a short length of semi-flexible cord.

You mean like this?

;)

DennyK

Gamespot's, because I almost always agree with them.

purposely crippling their public servers by forcing people to wait in queue in order to "encourage" use of the Personal Servers

and some more, including a review.

This move to "reclassify" (ie. censor) a whole stack of games right before Christmas, when demand for such games is at its highest, reaks of not only ignorance but a certain sense of mean-spiritedness. And this isn't the first time that the Australian government has tried to ban games it didn't like. First up was an FMV-driven graphical adventure by the name of Phantasmagoria because it contained very violent scenes and was thought to have contained a possible scene of sexual violence. Next in the firing line was Carmageddon, which the government attempted to ban on the laughable premise that it would encourage people to run each other over (interestingly enough, the sequel, which contained more realistic graphics than the first, passed through without dissent). The game Postal also came into the firing line, although I'm not sure if it was banned or not (I think it was). What strikes me as even more odd this time around is that the first two GTA games passed through practically untouched, while this game was allowed to be released and is now being recalled right before the busy and lucrative Christmas holiday period. Furthermore, the basis on which the game is being banned ("sexual violence") is extremely tenuous because the act of killing a prostitute after (and not before or during) sex shouldn't qualify as sexual violence. The term "sexual violence" refers to violence that is being committed during the act of sex (eg. rape or killing someone during sex), which is not the case here. Yes, the game does allow you to kill a prostitute after you have sex with her, but the two acts as described are not mutually exclusive (ie. you can do one or the other as well as both) and are not necessary to win or advance in the game itself. Yes, the possibility of committing the described acts may offend your sensibilities but you do have the democratic freedom in this country to not perform the acts in-game or, even better, not buy the game altogether. This recent move to remove all the games from stores effectively removes that democratic freedom. Controlling what you see, do, read, write and say should be your responisibility and not that of your government. Same goes for parents with children. If you continue to abdicate such a right (this responsibility is also one of the fundamental democractic rights of my nation, Australia) to government then you lose the right to complain when things don't go the way you want them to or when the government starts to take more than they're entitled to.

The reason for all this madness when it comes to the classification of video is that the Liberal government (which has just won its thoroughly undeserved second term by successfully tapping into the nation's xenophobic tendancies over the Tampa incident and illegal immigrants in general) is notoriously conservative and ignorant when it comes to matters of new technology. For instance, they banned online gambing in Australia, effectively giving the world market a huge headstart, because a moratorium was needed to "assess the risks of online gambing" when in reality the government had allowed, even promoted, the installation of poker machines in pubs and clubs with willful ignorance of the social consequences. They also tried to remove "offensive content" from the Internet (ie. net censorship), which merely made it hell for companies to host content locally for fear of being shut down by an anonymous person who was offended and forced ISPs to do the technically impossible and monitor their services for such "offensive content" (a term which was not even properly defined and hence gave the bill a DMCA-like level of scope). However, this bill was necessary to gain the support of Independent senator Brian Harradine, whose vote was needed to swing the balance of power towards the government so the "wonderful" GST could be passed (which the government screwed up in spectacular fashion by creating mountains of red tape through increased business paperwork and "exceptions" fiascos, when they would have been better off by taxing everything and giving income tax cuts). So what starts out as beeing a possibly good idea becomes a complete pain in the ass. Furthermore, the little surplus (which was collected by slashing budgets across the board, especially in the areas of health, R & D, the arts, science and education - now university costs a packet and we're behind in pretty much everything), often derisively called the "election battle chest", was used to offer all kinds of expensive gifts to the electorate to lure their votes in the election. Now that they've spent it, the only way they can get more money to actually do something useful is to raise taxes or cut spending (usually the latter). Wonderful.

So as you can see, this kind of inconsistent, ignorant, poorly-implemented crap, I mean policies, (ironically the only consistency in government policy is it has all these properties) happens all the time. The sad part is we're used to it, even expecting it to happen.

You're confusing this with VII and VIII. Amano returned for IX. Read here. Nomura worked on FFVII and FFVIII, as shown here.

Well, gameboy advance version is NOT rated M. it is rated Teen [warning warning shockwave intro]

Unless you find green blood realistic.

But how are they going to solve the halflife port. That had a lot of blood in it!

Personally, I do not like RPGs at all, from Zelda through the latest Final Fantasy, just not my thing.

But! Rad Racer is still one of my favorite games.

Considering the very limited processors in game consoles back then compared to the computer power in todays gaming consoles, the programmers back in those days were true Code Poets. I mean, they did some amazing things with their limited resources.

Hmmmmmm.... Leather-clad Dominatrix Nazi Babes.... Can I freeze frame that bit...

Hmmmmmm.... Leather-clad Dominatrix Nazi Babes.... Can I freeze frame that bit...

Hmmmmmm.... Leather-clad Dominatrix Nazi Babes.... Can I freeze frame that bit...

First off - theres no 10.

He probably meant Ultima Online 2. I realize that UO/UO2 don't really belong in the same class with the single-player series, but UO2 was highly anticipated, much hyped, and then quietly taken out back and shot by its masters. Not a good way to build customer confidence.

Frequency is a great game. The objective is to move around inside a 8-sided tunnel. Each side is a track and in single-player mode, every two sets played (you tap the correct button on the controller when a note passes) it auto-plays the rest of the track for that section. Ultimatly the entire song gets played. It's much harder than it seems so don't think that this is easy. In multiplayer you battle eachother on hitting as many notes while getting as many points and trying to steal or disable your opponent. Don't even get me started on remixing the songs. This is a sure buy for PS2 owners who love music.

Ratings: GameSpot gives it a 8.7 and IGN gives it a 9.

It's been mentioned before, but Return to Wolfenstein looks amazing, and the multiplayer demo is a blast. I will refrain from recapping what has already been said about this cool looking game.

I was watching TechTV's Extended Play recently on my TiVo and they had a Holiday Gift Guide show on games for the holidays. It discussed the PC, as well as PS2, GameCube, and XBox and made recommendations on games for all of them.

I just got Spy Hunter and it's a blast.

20 years ago, Spy Hunter was a sprite-based top-down scrolling shooter. Your little car sprite would shoot the other little car sprites, or drop oil slicks in front of them. Sometimes you would drive a little boat sprite. You drove on an endless scrolling road (or sometimes river). (With Shockwave, you can play a version of the original Spy Hunter here.)

Now, on the PlayStation 2, Spy Hunter is a 3D game. The camera is just above and behind your car. There are 14 levels to play, with multiple objectives per level. It plays a lot like Hydro Thunder, but with weapons.

Drive into water, and the car morphs to a boat. Drive the boat up onto land it and morphs back to car. When the car takes too much damage, lots of parts explode off it and what's left morphs to an armored motorcycle! Even cooler, drive the motorcycle into the water and it morphs into an armored jet-ski! When you are driving the car/jetski, you don't have the full special abilities of the car, and you have reduced firepower, but you can play the level anyway; it's just tougher. Dock with the weapons van (or weapons boat) for a full repair of all damage and full ammo load.

If you like Hydro Thunder you should like this too. I haven't had it long, but I don't think I will get tired of it, just as I'm not tired of Hydro Thunder. The gameplay is somewhat repetitive: you drive around shooting bad guys, you try to find the ramps that let you make the jumps, etc. But the level design is fun, and I don't seem to get tired of locking guided missiles on enemies and blowing them away.

I have only two complaints about the game. 0) Most of the cinematic cutscenes are pretty boring (just a shot of your car making the getaway after finishing the level). 1) If you are a good player, it will probably take you 20 hours or less to finish all the levels. But as I said there is a lot of replay value even just playing the same levels over and over, plus it will take you many plays to find all the secrets and accomplish all the objectives. Once you have found all secrets and accomplished all objectives, that level unlocks for 2-player mode; in 2-player mode you both play, split-screen, at the same time. I haven't tried 2-player yet but it looks like a blast.

The music is great. The rocking "Spy Hunter" soundtrack the "Peter Gunn Theme" by Henry Mancini, but remixed and with variations. I like the soundtrack so much that if they sell a CD of just the music, I'll probably buy it.

GameSpot has a review. They like it but not quite as much as I like it.

Recommended.

steveha

I'm picking up playstation games now that are only 1 year or less out of date and having a wicked time. Everyone knows what the best games are, so you're guaranteed to get something good, and they don't cost more than $20 usually. Here are my picks:

NHL 2001
Driver (obviously)
Ape Escape (a crazy 3D platform game, amazing design)
Grand Turismo

If you're looking at getting laid off like me, you can pick up a playstation super cheap and get games galore for nothing. Look into it.

I'm picking up playstation games now that are only 1 year or less out of date and having a wicked time. Everyone knows what the best games are, so you're guaranteed to get something good, and they don't cost more than $20 usually. Here are my picks:

NHL 2001
Driver (obviously)
Ape Escape (a crazy 3D platform game, amazing design)
Grand Turismo

If you're looking at getting laid off like me, you can pick up a playstation super cheap and get games galore for nothing. Look into it.

I'm picking up playstation games now that are only 1 year or less out of date and having a wicked time. Everyone knows what the best games are, so you're guaranteed to get something good, and they don't cost more than $20 usually. Here are my picks:

NHL 2001
Driver (obviously)
Ape Escape (a crazy 3D platform game, amazing design)
Grand Turismo

If you're looking at getting laid off like me, you can pick up a playstation super cheap and get games galore for nothing. Look into it.

I'm picking up playstation games now that are only 1 year or less out of date and having a wicked time. Everyone knows what the best games are, so you're guaranteed to get something good, and they don't cost more than $20 usually. Here are my picks:

NHL 2001
Driver (obviously)
Ape Escape (a crazy 3D platform game, amazing design)
Grand Turismo

If you're looking at getting laid off like me, you can pick up a playstation super cheap and get games galore for nothing. Look into it.

Hehe, I love inside jokes as much as the next guy, but this one deserves to be shared.

According to Gamespot [gamespot.com] "Despite the announcement, the developer plans to release the Dungeons & Dragons game on schedule in early 2002." Still, I'm a bit worried. I think NWN has a huge potential, as it allows players to both play a fun MMORPG and allow the more hardcore players to create and play their own D&D adventure - like these [www.nwdl.net] people. I think a NWN Dragonlance will be great, so I really hope Bioware can finish it.

Nope, it was Crystalis, laterported faithfully to the Game Boy Color.

*blink* *blink*
Methinks the "lack" of GC games is rather exaggerated. Quote the following from GameSpot:

By the end of the year, the GameCube will have 22 games in its library.

Not too bad moi?

Well, I have the windows version of Return to Castle Wolfnestein. My only minor gripe is that I can't run my firewall when playing multiplayer or it crashes because I have a Voodoo 5 card. Other than that, the game is amazing. Here's a review on the Windows version from Gamespot.

just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3

It catches my attention too.

just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3

It catches my attention too.

just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3

It catches my attention too.

just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3

It catches my attention too.

just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3

It catches my attention too.

Spashdown

Splashdown is the name of it
Mpeg1
Spashdown Trailer

Movie 2 Spashdown movie

Spashdown

Splashdown is the name of it
Mpeg1
Spashdown Trailer

Movie 2 Spashdown movie

Spashdown

Splashdown is the name of it
Mpeg1
Spashdown Trailer

Movie 2 Spashdown movie

It actually is a good piece. If Sony Inc. actually spent ten million dollars against the developers, bullied vendors into not selling bleem products, and pressured vendors to remove other items they didn't like, that puts them in league with Microsoft, correct?

Over the past few years I spent about $300 on Sony-related items. It's nice to know that every dollar I gave them and then some went to pummel someone else to the ground. At least we don't hear about Microsoft suing the competition; I suspect that they're buying them up instead.

To conclude: big companies carry big sticks. Watch out, small competition.

That's right, the Ethernet controller is like my gall bladder - it's useless. It does nothing. There is no reason for its existence.

but I haven't heard of anyone sleeping over at a store to be the first to have one!!!

Consider yourself informed; about 30 people (including me) were camped out last night.

Let's not forget that Nintendo has been doing this a while. They're not going to roll over and die, they're going to roll their sleeves up and show the industry a thing or two.

Do not expect the first XBOX games to really push the system. I've played both HALO and Munch's Odyssey on the XBOX and I agree that the graphics fall short of breathtaking. The first PS2 games were pretty pathetic, too - wait, most PS2 games are STILL pathetic. Check back in a few months when Sega starts releasing some of vast collection of excellent titles. Of course, Sega also has Shenmue 1/2, Crazy Taxi 2, Sonic 2, Ferrari F351, not to mention their sports games like NFL2K2 which beat the crap out of EA's PS2 counterparts.

If you do want to see breathtaking, take a look at screenshots for Double Steal here or here.

If the XBOX needs a "killer app" to survive, I have my money on Jet Set Future (video preview and official page). Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast is considered to be a masterpiece among console games (in graphics _and_ gameplay). Even if were a mirror copy of the DC version, it would be a huge hit, but Smilebit is adding multiplayer and much larger worlds to move around in.

STratoHAK

Except it isn't progressive which kinda defeats the whole comparision.

Here's a few links to other and may be more objective reviews

Zdnet
Gamespy
Gamespot
FiringSquad
TeamXBox
Yahoo 2 3

--
"Can I run a linux cluster of those?"

Here's some other links in case you guys want some more balanced takes on the xbox.

Firing Squad's coverage

Game Spot's coverage

ZDNet's stuff

Providing a little balance to the Michael's rantings and ravings.

Sony seems to think the xbox is going to force them to abandon PS2 sooner than they anticipated....and roll out the PS3...check it out here.

Full Story

--GuntherAEPi
"

I guess you'll be getting the XBOX then.

On the other hand, PS2 has some incredible graphic, violent, adult games like Resident Evil: Codename Veronica and Silent Hill II. I have no interest at all in even considering a GameCube.

In that case, you're going to be pissed - Capcom signed an exclusivity deal with Nintendo that will see all future RE titles as Cube-exclusive. They're starting by redoing all the existing RE games for the Cube.

Ninetendo is going to be ditching the all kiddie image with this console. In fact they started down that path when they allowed Rare to release Conker's Bad Fur Day for N64.

But to directly address your comment, Resident Evil is being remade for the GameCube.

• Rogue Leader: 9.4 [Superb]
  
• Super Monkey Ball: 8.8 [Great]
  

• Rogue Leader: 9.4 [Superb]
  
• Super Monkey Ball: 8.8 [Great]