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Maybe it's also because Women's Games basically suck!

I don't know about you, but I'm not eagerly anticipating the release of Sheryl Swoops' WNBA Live 2003!

From wire.ign.com

"While the game was developed with a wide range of computer configurations in mind, only those users with NVIDIA hardware, specifically GeForce4 Ti GPUs, can experience unique visual effects and other optimisations exclusive to NVIDIA hardware."

So, a game is not optimised for the latest and greatest card on the marked(Radion 9700 PRO @ the moment). Is this a new thing? No, not so much. A lot of the games that have been released since the GF3 introduced pixelshaders, haven't supported them.

The new thing here is in the marketing department i believe, they are actually saving in a press release that "We will support the Nvidia way of doing pixel/vertex shaders". The real question right now is: Will they eventually support ATIs pixel/vertex shaders to?

Even if they do, the damage to ATI is already done. Final Fantasy fans with older hardware, will upgrade to a GF not a Radion.

Here, I've got three more:
Coming To Xbox.


Not that this presents much of an argument, but neither did you. You were just trying to
be glib, which, lets face it, doesn't really get you anywhere. Sorry.

Looking at the sales of consoles in Japan makes it pretty clear there is a PS2 version. The PS2 is outselling the GameCube 4:1 and outselling the xbox 20:1 (Most weeks the obsolete PS1 outsells the Xbox!) according to the magic box Actually the PS2 has more consoles sold in each market (Japan, US, Europe) than its combined compeditors do worldwide! Nintendo or MS would have to be doing some big behind the scene deals to keep it off the PS2.

Nihilistic (which just hired their 18th employee according to their webpage) only has PC experience. My guess is they're making a GameCube and Xfx-box version and having another company port it to the PS2. Development for the GC is almost as nice as Xbox development (My opinion, I've worked with both systems). Development on both systems in parallel is quite possible. The PS2 is a real pain to work with, a small studio like this won't have the resources for all three consoles IMHO. Heck I don't know if they could pull off a quality PS2 exclusive version that looks like other company's 2nd and 3rd gen products. Unless most of those 18 guys are programmers, or they've got one super programmer without a life outside of work.

And cube.ign.com covered the story in their GameCube and Xbox previews section, not in their PS2 section.

mini-preview for the project at IGN, here.

their partners in this venture, Nihilistic, seem fairly competent. Besides, one of the founders of Nihilistic was a former Blizz employee who worked on Starcraft (page 3 of the IGN preview). So this partnership should be about as successful as possible...

Okay, as much as I like the sound of this as the next guy, let's take a realistic look at this:

Your average NES game is between ~25k (very small game), and ~500k (only a few this big), with most clocking in around 128K of rom data.

Now, how much data do you reckon you can get from one of these cards?.. well, according to Pocket IGN ...The graphic and sound quality of the data from Card-Es isn't amazing by any means...the data strip can only hold 2K of memory on the horizontal strip, 1K on the vertical...

So, you're talking 3K per card. For a 25K game, (say, Tennis, or Donkey Kong) that's 9 cards (well, 8-and-a-third).. and if you want to play Kirby's Adventure - a whopping (by NES standards) 768K, then be prepared to scan in 256 cards!

Now maybe if they could find a way to use the WHOLE card, and both sides, at that, instead of just little strips across the edges - maybe then you'd get decent storage.. my guess is that way 25K-per-card should be easily achievable.. but as it stands now, the only NES related games you'll get are horribly stripped down subgame-esque versions.

However, there IS hope. Take a look at the GP32. Neat piece of handheld kit, more powerful (in many ways, less in others, but on the whole more..) than the GBA, it's aimed at homebrew developers - you can write your OWN code for it without any kind of dumbass linker setup, it uses smartmedia or CF (can't remember which) cards.. hell, there's even a DOOM port, a DivX player, and a NES emulator for it. What more d'ya want? :)

For the record: They are not embedding games onto cards. The cards just provide a key into the hardware of the eReader, which already has the contents of the games contained in it. This has been going on in Japan for some time now. The 'eye-opening' technology discussed here is the same as that used in grocery-store UPCs.
The specific use for this technology is a tie-in with the game 'Animal Crossing' for the GameCube. IGN's preview for the game discusses the full list of games available.

You can see it here

From my understanding the games either
A. span multiple cards
B. are built into the eReader and the cards have barcodes to unlock them

Also, the games ARE for the NES.

There still are some excellent and original games. One shining example is 'Rez' for the PlayStation 2. I suppose you could call it a shoot-em-up, but that's like calling Elite a space trader. This is a completely trip-like experience and one of the rare truly original games I've seen in the last few years. Check out the IGN review.

(Sorry for being an anonymous coward, but I'm not a slashdot regular.)

I was reading not long ago about a Sam and Max game that was slated for release on the X-Box, it was being developed by 'Infinite Machine', however their website hasn't been working for a long time, so perhaps they've gone under. In any case there was this article on ign about it, and this page about it on the unofficial website.

So is this game THIS game, or some other, completely unrelated Sam and Max game.

I'm betting that it's using work done on THAT game and expanding on it for this title.

In any case, I can't wait, I love the duo.

... by Infinite Machine, and is apparently coming out on PC AND X-box? Is Lucasarts Publishing this for Infinite, or is this a completely different project...?

I am also in favor of shipping all our garbage into space. I will rely on huge technology advancements in the future to help clean it all up.

All you need are mob connections.

Here's a review of TimeSplitters, and some news bits on TimeSplitters 2.

Here's a review of TimeSplitters, and some news bits on TimeSplitters 2.

Can't wait for the good modules to start being developed.

Finally a subject where I feel I can safely contribute. :)

I've spent a few years in the MMP (Massively Multi Player) arena so I think I know my way around. As founder and CEO of Nevrax, where I initiated the Ryzom RPG and the NeL technological platform, I've had plenty of time to reflect on the state of this industry.

First let me say that MMPs are an entirely different class of video games. The technology, the gameplay dynamics, almost everything is different. It just happened that the game industry got its hands on them first because it had the closest ties, but it could have been otherwise.

The most important thing to remember is that MMPs have a radically different business model.

In the traditional game industry you create a game, put it a box, then try to move as many boxes you can in the few month the public stays interested. It's a product oriented business.
The typical business plan for a studio is:

1- Convince publisher to finance the production of a game
2- Try to make a small profit in the process
3- Make some royalties (maybe) if the game is hugely successful
4- Start all over again

This is not very different from what goes on in the music business or in the movie business. Basically to make it simple, the author/studio gets a lousy deal from the publisher/distributor who gets to reap all the benefits.

The MMP industry could - it's not there yet, but it will eventually - be very different.
An MMP producer creates a virtual environment, then sells access to this environment. It's a service oriented business.
A simplified business plan for an MMP producer could be:

1- Create a Massively Multi Player Game
2- Make the client software as easily accessible as possible
3- Sell access to the MMP on a recurrent basis
4- Profits! ;)
5- Keep improving your MMP over time > expand user base > more profits!

This would be the equivalent of a musician cutting the middle man and selling his music straight on the Internet. With one enormous advantage: An MMP producer has no fear of having the client software copied since all that does is expand his potential user base. Whatever you do, you *have* to pay if you want to get the experience.
Which is, IMHO, the reason why so many people are whining about the subscription fees. It's not that it's too expensive (12$/month for 20H of entertainment time in average is cheap compared to say, movies), it's just that they can't freeload anymore. :)

My guess is, in the coming years, there will be a real distinction appearing between traditional studios (doing regular PC and console games) and companies building MMPs.

Now back to the current game industry.
The hardest part with the model I just described is making "step 1" happen while still retaining the control of your creation. That, from my painful experience, means avoiding to be financed by either game publishers or vulture capitalists, as they will find a way to wrest control from you. The problem, as it has been said before, is that making a professional MMPs is expensive.

Sure, they are ways to get the numbers down if you know the trade secrets, but it's still going to be expensive.

That's where Free Software can help.

My initial idea for Nevrax was that Free Software and MMPs were a perfect match.
You get all the benefits of Free Software, but keep a strong business model where you can avoid having a competitor piggyback on your work as you stay in control of all the "data" (art assets mostly).
One of the big cost associated to running an MMP is due to maintenance. Also, having a robust tech on launch helps a lot. Those are things that Free Software can help alleviate tremendously. This is why we created NeL. A Free Software engine for MMPs.

As an added benefit, now that I am starting a new company out of the hands of the VCs, I can freely reuse all the tech we did at Nevrax. My software development costs just got divided by a factor of 10. Imagine that...
And the best thing is: you can do it to! :)

One last thing I would like to say to people who think that Everquest & co are boring and ugly: you are right. But real communities formed around these games, and that's what is truly fascinating about MMPs. As time goes, you will see MMPs that are more and more geared towards fostering these online communities, and less and less "games" in the sense that we understand it today. Just because you don't see the point of playing today, doesn't mean that you won't see the point of playing tomorrow...

And I know I'll be working hard to make that happen ! ;)

And, The EA game was cancelled, I believe, since they were not going to make the deadline. Read it here

Sounds really good, MP3's even from flash would be awesome, and being able do the hardware hack to wire in an IDE Hard Drive would make this a winner. (And it's cheapcheap).

This review says it doesn't work with VBR MP3 -- is this still the case with the firmware hacks?

I think it may be time to pick up a Gamecube, especially with 3 old school classics getting a revamp(Metroid, Zelda, Starfox). Maybe then I can relive that joy from childhood.

I think they will release a rewamped bomberman too!
Happy, happy, joy, joy...

In other news :), the Lord of the Rings DVD is coming out on tuesday (or monday midnight for some stores).

Initial reviews are saying that it basically kicks all ass, and will be the new reference DVD for home theater-philes. And mind you this isn't the upcoming 4-disc extended version.

Star what? Attack of the what? :)

-Mani

Is anyone else getting weird defects when visiting NWVault in Mozilla? Yesterday any page I tried would load about 90%, then go to gray and start over. Today the pages load but I'm seeing black text on a black background.

Some settings info: no popups, no status bar scripting, no cookies from ign, no 3rd party images

NWN Vault at IGN

Tomb of Horrors is there as well as a nearly complete Against the Giants series.

Yes.

I'm afraid I don't know any specific URL's but there's a lot in the works.

Some maniacs are linking together a whole lot of servers to form the major parts of Faerûn. See Alandfaraway.net for more info. Sadly they're not taking player applications right now, so I haven't been able to try it out. Here's the mind-boggling server maps (click on a part of the map to see the server numbers).

Some other guys are implementing the city of Sigil with some planes as well.

And here's a module list on one of the largest fan sites. Most aren't D&D campaigns from "the books" but some might be.

Keep in mind that it's pretty time consuming to do large campaigns, but there *are* groups working on D&D adventures from the books while I type this.

Yes.

I'm afraid I don't know any specific URL's but there's a lot in the works.

Some maniacs are linking together a whole lot of servers to form the major parts of Faerûn. See Alandfaraway.net for more info. Sadly they're not taking player applications right now, so I haven't been able to try it out. Here's the mind-boggling server maps (click on a part of the map to see the server numbers).

Some other guys are implementing the city of Sigil with some planes as well.

And here's a module list on one of the largest fan sites. Most aren't D&D campaigns from "the books" but some might be.

Keep in mind that it's pretty time consuming to do large campaigns, but there *are* groups working on D&D adventures from the books while I type this.

another one

He's gonna have to wait for some serious violations of the laws of physics, as Turok 2 was released in December '98.

Are you a gamer?

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Do you eagerly await news on Bungee's newest projects?

Do you live for Warcraft 3?

Would you kill for a chance to play Doom III before it comes out?

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Some people seem to be concerned about how good a 3D app would be on such a small screen at a low resolution. I think the best idea is to look at the state of 3D games on the GBA. There are a mirid of them and many of them are great. One of the best examples is V Rally 3. While most of the other racers use a technique called Mode 7, this one is fully 3D in all aspects. Since the GBA at 240x160 on a small screen can look good in 3D, I wouldn't be concerned with the 3D not being acceptable on a cell phone...

This is a great discussion topic. I'm glad to find out about some of these new games.

Music Construction Set is replaced in modern time with the MTV Music Generator game for PSX (and PS2).

Remember Robot Wars? That was a wonderful Apple ][ game with rudimentary 2d graphics (overhead) that let you program virtual robots using assembler-type scripting. You could save your robots, then put them in arena matches against other robots. After a given number of battles, you would have statistics on which was the best robot design. You could mail your floppy disk with your robots in to the maker and each year they'd have a big tournament to see who had the best robot. Me and my Dad never competed in that, but we certainly had a rivalry going between ourselves.

I've been wondering for the past year or so if there was a modern equivalent to Robot Wars. As a lot of people are commenting, FPS mods and bots seem to have filled this space. It would be neat, though, if there were an FPS IDE that would output complete, standalone FPS games, in the same way that Music Construction Set or Pinball Construction Set do.

...is MTV Music Generator for PlayStation and PS2. It is really easy and fun to assemble scores using the built-in sound logic on the consoles. It is very flexible and very addictive. You can even make a video to go with it. I like it.

Hmm.. a quick google search found the answer

XBox / Bungie interview

Try searching google for bungie and microsoft and you'll see more then enough proof. And I dont think Microsoft really helped bungie much, if they did it was after the sale and it was help to port it to xbox..

Finally a Palm with a button layout that can be useful for games! This has taken too long!

That's like someone bemoaning the fact that a GameBoy does not ship with good software for organizing business contacts.

Red Jade lost funding and died in the big crash of 2000, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

I believe the Contra code was Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A...

Wasn't it?

Maybe it would help you if you had it on a t-shirt? No? Ok, here's all the codes for Contra. As if you cared :)

Here too

Her name was Gloria Foster, she passed last year at 64

http://nwvault.ign.com/features/previews/Asgard Trailers.shtml

I've tried it using every codec and video player I could find. Is WiMP on a PC the only thing that works?

The IGN article (didn't even look at the others) is a preview, not a review. Anyway, I'm too busy playing a much better game.

Why can't anyone release a quality movie anymore?

Blade II, Spider Man, Episode II, Minority Report ... They're all junk compared to UHF.

BTW, is Al still around? What about his Polka-produicng father, Frankie?

If you mised this masterpiece the first time around, here's a review...

Review of UHF

I don't trust USB completely. I've had problems with hubs deciding not to supply power, and the bandwidth is too narrow. From what I've heard about USB CD recorders, I'm not alone.

When I burned my first couple of cd's I was careful not to use the machine (laptop, PIII 750) for fear of swamping the USB's bandwidth... I've got a USB keyboard, USB mouse, USB compact flash reader and a USB cable for my PDA.

However, I'm happy to report, everything seems to work just fine and dandy when using other USB devices. Granted, I haven't tried using everything at the exact same time... but, I'm pleasantly surprised by the performance.

Maybe tonight I'll try my hardest at making a coaster... </evilgrin>

Anyway, I've also been thinking about getting a USB sound device... either the Stereo-Link or Extigy. I like the Extigy because it's got a lot of "stuff" (sparing the details). But, I also like the Stereo-Link because it's not Creative's product. I haven't quite decided, yet... here are some reviews:

• Extigy: 1, 2, 3;
• Stereo-Link: 1, 2, 3.

a littleSamba de Amigo for a full workout.

Take a deep breath and relax...

When they say ``download full classic NES games to the Game Boy Advance'' they mean ``Download a port of an NES or SNES game from the GameCube Animal Crossing game to the GBA''. This has been covered in most of the console gaming publications, print and web.

• link here
  
• link here
  

Nintendo is not shipping a general NES emulator for the GBA. They are producing GC games that can use the GBA as an intelligent peripheral capable of disconnected use. Animal Crossing isn't the first game with this type of GC/GBA connectivity

So unless taco is planning on playing through the GC version of Animal Crossing, he will
have to go blind the old fashioned way....

And what about fastforwarding through the previews and commercials on videos and DVDs? Are they going to try and put anti-fast-forwarding technology in them?

They are already trying it, unfortunately.

Disney's "Tarzan" DVD places ads in the FBI warning track, which prevents a user from fast-forwarding through them. You have to watch the ads every time you put the DVD on. And while they can be skipped, you can't jump directly to the menu, you have to skip through them one at a time. The "High Fidelity" DVD does this too.

Who knows, maybe if they keep doing things like this, more people will get pissed off at them. You'd think it would be in their best interests to not piss off the very people who earn them their money.

IGN has some video material on the Steel Battalion control centre.

IGN has some video material on the Steel Battalion control centre.

Here is the GameCube keyboard.
http://cubemedia.ign.com/media/news/tgs2001/contro ller.jpg
http://www.planetgamecube.com/media/thhw009203971. jpg
http://www.planetgamecube.com/media/hw009203951.jp g

pretty: http://www.gamespy.com/e32002/image.asp?/e32002/xb ox/sb/7.jpg

non-pretty: http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_ id=1513230&object_id=481366&channel_id=73&page_tit le=E3+2002%3A+Steel+Battalion&adtag=network%3Dign% 26pagetype%3Darticle%26site%3Dxboxviewer&return_ur l=http%3A%2F%2Fxbox.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F481%2F4813 66.html


I love the self destruct button, encased in a little clear plastic box, Spaceballs style.

I thought it was interesting that Acclaim unvieled a console game with full frontal nudity, Dave Mirra: XXX. No nude screen shots (unfortunately), but IGN has a story about it. Here's the link. As far as I know this is a first, but can anybody fill me in as to past console games with nudity (at least, North American games)?

Tribes Fast Attack is coming.. a lot of people didn't like how Tribes 2 took the series towards more of a strategy RPG feel. Fast Attack might be what you are looking for. Check it out here. (dont mind the ad, just click through to get the interview.)

There's a great collection of screenshots and videos up on the ign website.

Personally I can't wait for Mario Sunshine.. Mario64 was easily one of the most entertaining games I've ever played and it can only get better from there :-)

I hope a GBA Zelda is in the works

You'll find Miyamoto demonstrating one here. It's multiplayer, even.

--Jeremy

Aaah, it depends on which IGN report you read. In the first article I read Kelly Sumner says "The fact that the PlayStation 2 will be the only home entertainment system on which one can enjoy Grand Theft Auto titles is a great statement for the platform overal", and I took the rather careful phrase to mean he was explicitly avoiding the presence of GTA games on platforms other than "home entertainment system"s. In the other one IGN themselves say "Grand Theft Auto 3 and all future titles in the GTA franchise will be exclusive to PlayStation 2 until October 2004, SCEA announced today at its E3 press conference", but I still see the same quote from Sumner, so we have no direct evidence that they have really said no more PC GTA games for the next 2 and a half years.