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Sure its flamebait but its true. What would the pc have to offer if
consoles became just a little bit more powerful? Imagine if the x-box
at $199 was actually able to run windows or linux and their respective
applications. Imagine that in 3 years or so we will have HDTV's every
bit as high-res as that 21" sony monitor currently sitting on the desk.
Would we really be pluncking down the extra cash for the bomb diggity
processor and display when we could get 90% of the power at 10% of the
price?

I'm not sure, but consoles are gaining speed rapidly. The only reason I
use the computer for games right now is the increased resolution and the
ability to tweak my settings. Consoles get just a little more CPU speed
and America gets a few more HDTV's... the pc as we know it moves off the
desk and into the living room.

I can unequivocally say that my console games that display in
progressive scan look much better than any pc games at any resolution.
Take a look at on an HDTV and you will see what I mean.

After all how many people ran out and bought an X-box after seeing HALO

And how many will buy a LameCube after seeing Halo Starring Samus Aran?

Here is the official statement from Nintendo

they are also supposed to be released the second set of NES games in November with the first set of full Animal Crossing cards (I know I will be buying those!)

Take a look at the picture on http://www.nintendo.com/news/news_articles.jsp?art icleID=7318

Maybe it is the angle, but that e-reader looks about as big as the Gameboy Advanced itself.

Neat idea but I'm not so sure about the execution.

Additional e-Reader card packs will retail from $1.95 to $4.95.

According to the full press release on the nintendo site
"The e-Reader hardware has a one megabit flash ROM to store up to one video game for continued play

I suspect that the original NES and SNES games were bigger then 4K so you'll probably only get a stripped down version of a game.

(note for some reason the link generates a 404, but if you refresh, it comes up with the page)

I personally prefer David Crane's A Boy and His Blob

Oh yes, definitely the best David Crane game ever! :) Sadly though, 99% of my friends hated this game much like the Something Aweful author (who rated the game -48 out of 50.) I guess it takes all kinds.

For those of us that loved the game, apparently there will be a version for the Gameboy Advance as this was my first google result for the title of the game: Boy and his Blob

I would agree with you on your stereotype of "people", unfortunately, because it is very true. I was also an avid fan of the Metroid series, but see no reason why the game can not progress into a FP/3rd Person camera, isn't it partly about the innovation? If every game just carried over the "style" of the precursor, we would all be stuck playing pong with different color paddles and balls. And BTW, there is a side scrolling Metroid (Metroid Fusion coming out on GBA also, same release date as Metroid Prime.

If the average gamer went out and bought games based on pure gameplay, we'd get a 2D Sam and Max (which is the way it should be, the same applies to Metroid Prime, which looks nice, but just isn't Metroid).

If the average gamer went out and bought games based on pure gameplay, we'd get a 2D Sam and Max (which is the way it should be, the same applies to Metroid Prime, which looks nice, but just isn't Metroid).

Until we get higher res renderings I am sorry but 480 lines of detail is still to little

Except 480 lines of detail is all an NTSC television can do. (NTSC scans 525 lines 30 times a second, and roughly 45 of those lines are the vblank synchronization signals, closed captions, etc.) If you want more, you're going to have to buy a television with an HDTV tuner. The TV makers are fighting the FCC's mandate to bundle HDTV tuners. Or you can use a computer display with your console, but by then, if you've somehow plugged a VGA monitor into an XBox console, you might as well play PC games. You're just going to have to grin and bear the fact that you're not going to get Miyamoto and HDTV on the same console in the immediate future.

Besides, what's wrong with 240x160 pixels again?

[nintendo] can't make any money off of [old games] anyways.

Not even if Nintendo or Konami or Acclaim or Capcom or somebody ports old games to the new hardware? Besides, Nintendo still makes money off Mario(tm), Donkey Kong(tm), Kirby(tm), Zelda(tm), Pokemon(tm), Metroid(tm), Earthbound(tm), Star Fox(tm), F-Zero(tm) even if the new releases aren't exact ports of the old ones. (And those are just the franchises included in the first version of Super Smash Bros.)

eventually i WILL have every rom for nes,snes, gameboy or any other outdated system.

Game Boy is NOT outdated. Commercial software, virtually all of which is proprietary, is still being produced for the 8-bit Game Boy Color system and the 32-bit Game Boy Advance system.

i'm not hurting their business

The fact that you're playing Super Mario Bros. 2 on LoopyNES or FCE Ultra, or Super Mario All-Stars or Super Mario World on SNES9x, means that you're probably not buying copies of games in the Super Mario Advance series (which currently includes SMB1 for GBC and SMB2 and SMW for GBA; Yoshi's Island and SMB3 are coming soon).

Check this out: http://nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html#what%20ar e%20ROMs
These guys are nuts!
They claim all kinds of legal things are illegal.
From this website:
Are Game Copying Devices Illegal?
Yes. Game copiers enable users to illegally copy video game software onto floppy disks, writeable compact disks or the hard drive of a personal computer. They enable the user to make, play and distribute illegal copies of video game software which violates Nintendo's copyrights and trademarks. These devices also allow for the uploading and downloading of ROMs to and from the Internet. Based upon the functions of these devices, they are illegal.

Are they allowed to just lie like this? Pirating games is illegal, not making a backup.
Here's another good one:

Can I Download a Nintendo ROM from the Internet if I Already Own the Authentic Game?
There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic. Therefore, whether you have an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet.

If I have a copy of the original cartidge, I don't see where they would have any legal leg to stand on saying that I couldn't download my backup copy from the internet. What if I ripped the ROM image myself, move it to my website and download it back to my PC? Does anyone know if there is any actual ruling supporting this or is this just them trying to say that you can't use the word 'mario' without paying the the appropriate liscensing fees?
Copyright law needs to be changed so that, any work that is publicly availible not made publicly availible for sale becomes public domain in n years, where n is less than 75 frickin' years

Bundle it with an old-school NES controller that's been adapted to plug into the cube

I already know what NES-style controller Nintendo would use for emulating NES games on the Cube: Game Boy Advance with the GameCube Cable.

That is, if we could petition Nintendo to release such an emulation demo-disc for the Cube.

I don't think Nintendo would like this one bit. They state quite clearly that they are against ROMs, Emulators, and the like. I'm pretty positive Nintendo would come down hard on anyone who would try such a thing. I even know of "underground" ROM sites that don't put up any Nintendo ROMs for download for fear of being shut down by Nintendo. They're highly agressive with their IP.

--was a Pac-Man rip off. Nostalgia clouds your vision and is for old people. Halo, Panzer Dragoon,, Super Mario Sunshine,, X-Box, GameCube, PS2, and yes even the venerable Dreamcast. . .to hell with the past, I'd much rather have today's gameing world any day of the week!

Some people would disagree.

There is considerably more to the computing world than PCs. High-end 3D graphics don't get done on PCs, just the low-end stuff that makes it into games. Even here there's no monopoly - Sony has its take on gaming, as does Nintendo.

If you're suggesting that Microsoft offers the dominant 3D API for Microsoft platforms, well then yes - it does. But then where's the surprise in that? Sony offer the dominant API for Sony platforms, and Nintendo offer the dominant API for Nintendo platforms.

Don't be too quick to cry 'monopoly'. It devalues the term, and makes it lose impact for when it's really needed.

Cheers,
Ian

"Fans can track team members on a Web site with diary entries, photos, popularity polls and online chats."

Forget the rare beatings the average guy will suffer doing this, how about the even greater likelyhood of sexual harrassment? I wonder what they signed to get that $100.00 a day?

There you are. Start stalking.

Walking Video Game Class Action Suit Victory

The 13 surviving "walking video game" employees had a major victory in court today when Dr. Robert E. Burdick, medical expert witness for the class action suit showed that the flat panel screens used to display the games on the "walking video game" employees actually exposed its wearers to 800 times the amount of radiation as would typically be used in a dental x-ray.

Nintendo's defense panel had no comment, except to say that their medical expert would also be testifying as soon as his chemotherapy treatments permitted.

In other news, the goatse.cx troll is still actively spamming the slashdot comment boards.

That Denise Gonzalez Atlanta street team has to be the cutest one. Too bad the screen will cover her goodies whilst playing.

?sp

The Street Team's website can be found here. They have people in LA, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas.

My only question is Why?

Why waste your time getting linux to run on a Microsuck product?
Why waste time dealing with closed hardware?

Because it's there? :-)
Less flippantly, one of Linux's strong points is the ability to put otherwise wasted hardware to good use. I think that pretty much sums up the X-Box - why cripple a perfectly good PC to use as a game console when there are other purpose-built alternatives?

Remember The Goodies motto: "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime."

Nintendo has been around for More than a a century

The last time I checked, the Nintendo Gamecube was MIPS 5000-based, which is an enhancement of the 64-bit MIPS 4000 core.

I do not know what the main processor in the PS2 is derived from, but MIPS does ring a tiny bell.

The last time I checked, the Nintendo Gamecube was MIPS 5000-based, which is an enhancement of the 64-bit MIPS 4000 core.

I do not know what the main processor in the PS2 is derived from, but MIPS does ring a tiny bell.

The game mentioned in the article:

http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/gamepage_ma in.jsp?gameId=646&showMe=1

...looks very interesting and innovative, in both a gameplay and a graphics sense. No idea how downloadable NES games integrate into the "Animal Crossing" world though -- maybe the Animals all play old-school NES?

~jeff

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....

Phantasy Star Online is being released in two separate games for the GameCube. Episode I, according to Nintendo, will be the combination of PSO v1 and 2 on the Dreamcast. Episode II will be an entirely new adventure. For more info check Nintendo

biut it doesn't matter you can STILL buy a n64

You can still buy lots of NES consoles on eBay. Nintendo has long used the existence of eBay against the "preservation" and "but piracy of no-longer-available software is fair use" defences. (I'd give you a link, but it appears to have disappeared in the 2001 redesign.)

emulating the c64 would be a wonderful use of new hardware... emulating the n64 would be piracy

Actually both would be piracy, unless you have specific license contracts that state that you may freely copy and redistribute software for the Commodore 64. Unlike patents, copyrights do not expire.

On the other hand, how did Nintendo 64 software developers develop and test their software? Emulation isn't piracy if you own the copyright on what you're emulating. Even Nintendo has recently realized that that highly substantial non-infringing uses for flash cartridges make the flash cartridges in and of themselves no longer illegal, and has removed the "emulators exist ONLY to play pirated games" language from its IP FAQ.

From the Mario description: Bask in cheery graphics
I was sure that said "cheesy graphics"

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

It literally took me 30 minutes to try and format that so Slashdot editor would even allow it.. It tries to block so much junk, even legit posts .. Here are the links Htmlized. Right-Click and "save as" ..

Metroid

Zelda

Mario

Wario

Star Fox

Metroid GBA

Zelda GBA Screenshots - Co-op Multiplayer!

*sigh*

"Nintendo is not moving into online gaming at all."

Then why the existence of 56K and broadband adapters on this page? Just because Nintendo hasn't formed a plan to dominate the world yet, doesn't mean they have no plans at all....

"Sorry, folks, but the mid-20s geeks who like violent and mature games are a minority. "

And you're using this as an argument why the XBox network WILL take off? When 99% of XBox games out right now are violent and/or mature? Something's wrong with this line of reasoning....

By that logic, when they get their online capabilities up and running, Nintendo should crush everyone with all the supposed "kiddie" games they have.

"...and force their competitors to follow suit or die."

Somehow I think Microsoft doesn't know what they're in for here...

First of all, Nintendo has been around as "Nintendo" for 52 years now, the basic company itself was formed before that about 110 years ago, and they've been selling and developing electronic games for around 30 years. As for Sony, from what I can find, they've had experience in selling electronics for around 50-60 years as well.

Now even with Microsoft's massive war chest, as you put it, how is that going to help against the massive mindshare and installed base(s) that Sony and Nintendo obviously have established? By example, even my mom still calls every game system I own a Playstation :P

This is a totally different situation than in the OS market, where Micro-borg can simply bully computer makers and users into using their products with threat of retaliation.

Try telling game producers stuff like that they MUST support the XBox exclusively for every game they make, or that buying a non-XBox system makes you tantamount to a criminal ala open-source, etc......Watch their stock and consumer loyalty drop like a lead weight once they start trying to bully people around.

Barring something insane like giving XBoxes away free or somesuch, I think Microsoft may have more than a little trouble dislodging the competition....They simply don't have the experience.

That is a foolish statement if I ever heard one.

Nintendo has been in business longer than Sony and Microsoft combined, started in 1889
Nintendo has two painfully profitable cards in it's hand, Poke'mon and the Game Boy series. The gameboy, by the way, is the best selling console in history, and the GBA's compatibility with the Gamecube along with it's excellent hardware and large set of successful games from the SNES ready to be ported in addition to new games isn't going to hurt it any.

Then consider their other franchises. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. These are some of the most profitable franchises of ANY company, and for good reason. Anyone who contests the creative genius that has gone into any in those series is a bitter, blind fan of mindless action games. Even if you didn't like, say, Mario64, you have to admit that it had easily some of the most creative web design ever to exist, even today.

It was said during the peak of the Sega Genesis that Sega would take over the market and Nintendo would die. Now Sega is Nintendo's bitch making games for their former competitor's consoles.

Even the Playstation, Sony's ultra successful system, was a spawn of Nintendo as it is based on the SNES CD-ROM drive that Nintendo never released after they saw how useless it was for Sega.
Don't count them out because of their lack of hype. Hype costs money, and while Sony and MS are quietly spending millions in a war, Nintendo is in the background raking in the dough.

That's not a Sega Game Gear, it's a Nomad. The Game Gear was an original system based off Sega's Master System hardware but with a better graphics subsystem (more colors). The Nomad was a complete Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) compressed into a handheld console. It played the original Genesis cartridges without any modification, giving it a library of hundreds of games right at its day of release.

I was going to correct him until I saw your post. Nice to see that somebody else realized his mistake. However, it is sad to see that this guy converted a Sega Nomad and not a Game Gear. The Nomad really was one of the best portables I've ever played. I purchased one new for $150 after the first christmas they were out, and sold my Game Gear the next day. I already had a Genesis and 4 times as many games for it as my Game Gear. Plus, the Nomad used the same power adapter and RF adapter that the Genesis used, and included a second controller port (really only useful when hooked up to the TV as the built-in screen wasn't meant for two people to view it) so I didn't have to buy any extra peripherals. The only complaint I ever had about the thing was the horrible battery life. I think the most I ever got from the thing was like 3 hours on a set of batteries. This is of course because of the wonderful color, back-lit screen in the Nomad. And despite what others may think, I would never have traded off that great screen for better battery life.

That said, I still can't believe this guy hacked up a Nomad to build this thing. The Nomad is a relatively rare piece of hardware and can still command a decent price. I sold mine a couple of years ago for ~$100. That's not much depreciation for the video game world. Then again, mine was still in pristine condition, complete with orgianl packaging, including twist ties and plastic bags, and the original receipt of purchase. I take care of my stuff. But I digress...

In fact, I'm not even sure what the purpose of this post was...

For the most part, remember, CPU speed isn't the big bottleneck that it used to be

That's true on a big fat GameCube, PortBox, or Athlon PC with 1000 Mflops, but on a 16.78 MHz ARM7TDMI processor, you really need to make every cycle count if you want to keep up with the 59.7 Hz retrace. Most of the tricks that applied on the 486 still apply on the Game Boy Advance.

I've played them all and I still think the PS2 is the best, with the N64 a close second. I realize that better graphics and sound enhance game-play, but it's really about playability. I still think Mario Kart 64 is one of the best games out, I love GT3 for the graphics, but Mario Kart 64 is still a killer game.

Same could be said for many of the N64 games.

Successfull consoles have a 5+ year life. You can still find new SNS systems being solld in the 3rd world. And GameBoy has been around for 12 years and sold 120 million. Nintendo History

I was into it for the most part but for two major points.

1) I am just not interested in playing any more games about 12-year-olds. I can't play Illusion of Gaia anymore for that very reason. I similarly shied away from FF9 because the the would-be womanizing first character looked about 13, and, well, I don't find the prospect of directing or even bearing witness to a character's poorly written, barely-pubescent escapades very appealing. If you are going to put female characters in tight outfits, at least make *some* effort to reduce the head-body ratio. They look *far* younger from the neck up than they do from the neck down. I understand that's a general anime convention, but I don't think the formula translates comfortably into 3D.

2) The Disney part. If after such a fantastically vivid and surreal dream, I found myself on a giant stained-glass picture of Snow White, I would consider my imagination a loss. [This dream brought to you by Disney...eucch] Some things just don't belong in my subconscious, and Disney iconography is counted among those things.

"Game Boy" has a space between the 'e' and the 'B'. Plz fx, thnx.

I am appalled. Is nothing sacred ?!

Well you could probably fit this broadband adaper in if you wanted really fast access.

Or you could fit a standard modem in if you didn't have broadband access.

But I guess the real quesion you should have been asking is, what would you connect the console to ?

It is relatively easy to provide hardware support to enable a machine to play games over the internet. It is much much harder to provide exciting online games, and communities that make people want to spend their money playing games online, and it is this that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are tryin to figure out now.

Indeed the Xbox which shipped with a broadband adapter still doesn't have any games that really use it, despite the online play being one of the 'unique' features of the xbox, because no-ones figured out how to make online games exciting enough and make money (apart from MMRPG)

So when wil you be able to play GameCube games online ? probably when Phantasy Star Online is released for the GC (it is an 'Online' game) and that is meant to be out in quarter 2, 2002, which means less than 3 months.

Well you could probably fit this broadband adaper in if you wanted really fast access.

Or you could fit a standard modem in if you didn't have broadband access.

But I guess the real quesion you should have been asking is, what would you connect the console to ?

It is relatively easy to provide hardware support to enable a machine to play games over the internet. It is much much harder to provide exciting online games, and communities that make people want to spend their money playing games online, and it is this that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are tryin to figure out now.

Indeed the Xbox which shipped with a broadband adapter still doesn't have any games that really use it, despite the online play being one of the 'unique' features of the xbox, because no-ones figured out how to make online games exciting enough and make money (apart from MMRPG)

So when wil you be able to play GameCube games online ? probably when Phantasy Star Online is released for the GC (it is an 'Online' game) and that is meant to be out in quarter 2, 2002, which means less than 3 months.