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Nintendo Game Cube On (Limited) Preview In 12 Cities
psxndc writes: "Nintendo has set up "Cube Clubs" at various US cities that allow you to go in and play (mainly first party) Game Cube games. Cube Clubs exist in Boston, San Francisco and Minneapolis, with plans to run in a total of 12 cities. I went to the Boston one today. Most games were disappointing, but Rogue Leader and suprisingly Luigi's Mansion were a lot of fun. More info on Cube.ign.com. A recap of the SF one is also there." Anyone else with first-hand reactions from this?
The only thing that I remember about the Sega consoles were the TV commericals that would end in the word "Sega" said very fast and in a distorted voice.
:)
Sig Return: 204 No Content
At least, I think there was one in Phoenix. My friend won some sort of GameCube tournament here and won a T-shirt. Sounds a lot like what this is talking about... could be the same thing.
I played a few of the games at the Mall of America on Friday night, and on the whole, it was impressive, if not mind-blowing.
Luigi's Mansion, the new Smash Bros. game, and Pikmin looked pretty decent, but far and away the most impressive game showing was Rogue Squadron. (There were a few games missing-- Zelda and Metroid aren't due out for awhile, so don't expect them in any of the other cities if you go.)
Unfortunately, even the ones there weren't marvelous. There's nothing on deck that I saw that would make me want to buy a GameCube come November 18th, even though it's a hundred bucks cheaper than Xbox or PS2. There's no flagship title yet-- it's missing a Metal Gear Solid 2 or a Halo.
Of course, Nintendo had everything running under the best possible conditions-- you have to wonder what the games will look like on regular televisions, instead of the HDTV screen they had up. The remarkable detail crammed into Rogue Squadron could easily get lost.
The controller was a bit less awkward than that of the N64, but it's not the kind of thing you'll get used to right away.
My affection for Nintendo left over from the original NES will probably lead me to pick up a Cube after the holidays. But even after an hour's worth of hands-on I'm not exactly dying to do so.
Nintendo will come up with another game prism
Just as long as they don't make it a sphere. I would hate to have it roll off the table and break.
"the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached to it." - Grandpa Simpson
This guy I know got his game cube early, (Lucky bastard developers...) Anyways, at his birthday party everyone was playing Monkey Ball, and I guess it kicks ass. So I dug up some info a IGN to see what its like.
IGN has a review with some screenshots, and the tv commercial
What I've heard about those Xbox units crashing is that, at least with Halo (a Bungie employee said as much), it's because the demo discs were accidentally built with an older video library. When that library looks for things that aren't there in a shipping Xbox, it goes on the fritz. Microsoft may have a rep for things that don't quite work properly, but at least here it's a one-off that shouldn't carry over to the final product. Oh, and about the Gamecube - I'm interested in that as well, but I already have a Dreamcast and a PS2. Even a third console would be a bit much!
What about the Okama GameSphere? It's better than a massive firefight!
I haven't been to one of the 'cube clubs' but I've had my cube (import) for over a month now, and I can assure everyone that it is a great (little) system. The visuals in all three of the japanese launch games (Luigi's Mansion, Waverace - bluestorm and Super Monkey Ball) are fantastic, Luigi's and Waverace are particularily impressive. From a hardware standpoint I'm pretty impressed, Nintendo, ATI and IBM have done a great job designing this system, the footprint is small, the graphics look sharp, from what I hear it is a dream to write for and the controllers are out of this world.
As far as the funfactor of the Games:
Luigi's:
Great fun, great visuals but kinda short, I beat it (without knowing any japanese) in a bit over 7 hours.
Waverace:
Really intense. Spectacular graphics, awesome wave physics and good difficulty. Split screened with friends on a bigscreen is really wild.
Monkey Ball:
This game alone justifies the purchase of the system. I don't think I've ever had as much fun playing a game (on a console) with friends as I have with this one. The premise is wierd, (you manuver a monkey trapped inside a plastic ball through courses) but insanely addicive. Buy the system and buy this game.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Andrew Murray
More specifically it's in Cambridge, right near Technology Square. It seems to be in some boiler-making company's building, very odd.
:)
:P)
:P)
Panasonic was there with Nintendo, and provided about 15 HDTVs. They looked amazing, and the following games were there:
Madden 2002
Luigi's Mansion
Star Wars game (The name escapes me at the moment)
Monkeyball
Super Smash Bros Melee
WaveRacer
NBA game (dunno the name of this either)
Pikmin
There were also 2 small booths with larger HDTVs and surround sound, to enhance the experience. The two games on display in those were Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion.
I would have taken pictures, but my camera was confiscated at the door
My favorite game is a tie - Super Smash Bros Melee and Pikmin both rocked my world. The graphics on all the games were amazing - Madden 2002 looked like an actual TV broadcast of an NFL game (But there were 2 guys hogging it the entire time, playing a full game. The bastards.
Loud music, even a coulple "Booth Babes", and loads of free junk (Nintendo Power, foam cubes, tattoos, contests to enter...)
It was pretty cool, but I wish they had had SSX there, or some more killer multiplayer games. I urge anyone that can to check it out, it's at 275 Third Street, in Cambridge. That's right near the Kendall Square stop on the T, and sandwiched in between MIT and Harvard (as is everything in that city
Any questions, just reply, I'll be keeping an eye out!
-Luke
On this site it asks the question "What would yo do for a Nintendo GameCube? Eat slugs? Dive into a pile of Yoshi doo?" Hmm, no thanks, I think I'd just pay $200. ;-)
Men believe what they want. - Caesar
Okay, a standard television can do 640x480 interlaced (called 480i if you follow DTV specs). This is 60 fps interlaced, which is really 30 fps. Alternatively, you can do a 240p signal in the 480i system, which is what the original Nintendo system did. (IIRC)
:)
With a HDTV-ready system and a Gamecube, you can do 480p, which is 640x480 progressive, which can provide a true 60 fps signal.
Because of the size and shape of my living room, I have a standard size television, which is a 4:3 ratio. Some of the HDTVs are full-screen (4:3) and some are wide-screen (16:9). You can send a 16:9 signal to a 4:3 television and it letterboxes (or you swap the aspect ratio and get tall, thin people). You can send a 4:3 signal to a widescreen and reverse letterbox (on the sides) or stretch it and get short, fat people.
In supporting 480p, the Gamecube offers a true 60 fps, as the entire screen updates every frame. With a standard television, running at 480i, you will really only effectively get 30fps, as it takes 2 frames to draw a full image.
Interesting, the 1080i ration for HDTV (which can also carry a 540p signal) is interlaced. Interlaced is fine for things without that much movement, games and heavy movement systems benefit from progressive images. Computers have all but abandonned interlaced signals, and with HDTV, you'll have to find a TV/STB combo that does what you want. The 720p resolution will be amazing for HDTV and the "next" generation consoles after this crop.
Alex
Ordinary TV can't display 60 frames per second, only 60 fields. Interlacing means you see half of a frame for 1/60th, then the other half, then the first half of the next frame and so on. However, this doesn't preclude games rendering at 60Hz and using the output circuitry to downsample for anti-aliasing, and this is what the games do. They render to 640x448 at 60Hz and blend the scanlines together to give 640x224 at 60Hz which is the most the TV can handle. PS2 and XBox do exactly the same thing, by the way.
With HDTV you can output 640x480 progressive scan at 60Hz. It's identical to 60Hz VGA. It looks much nicer, but rest assured the games still look great on your ordinary TV set.
The nicest part of all of this is Nintendo are mandating all games to support HDTV. PS2 can't support this - Sony won't tell us how the VESA modes of the chip work. I don't know what XBox's capability and position is on this.
Graham
I have just started Pikmin, which is also amazing, visually and as far as gameplay is concerned. It really seems to be a new genre of game. I can't think of anything else to compare it to, except in small small ways to C&C. Not only are the ideas and goals innovative, but the controls are absolutely an innovation in gaming.
I am a little worried that Pikmin will be short and sweet as well, though. I've only had a few days with it, but I think I've made pretty good progress so far.
I am also worried in general about Nintendo's catalog and release schedule...Even months after the initial release, the software release schedule does not seem very complete.
What's a contemporary gaming console without a good golf game?!?
One more plus...I think the new controller is great; a great improvement over the N64 controller, and much better thay playstation/PS2. Probably the 1st controller I've felt comfortable holding and using since the NES.
I haven't seen either it or the XBox yet, but someone sent me a link to a demo (not playable, just video and audio) of the upcoming Super Mario game for the Cube. I don't usually care too much about the sound in console games, but it was pretty freaky. As far as the graphics, they weren't quite what I was expecting from what's supposed to be a state-of-the art console. Anyway, judge for yourself if you want at www.saegu.com/downloads/mario.swf (no, I don't know why they wrapped it in a Flash file).
I was at the Club in Boston on Friday and all the games looked great. Only one seem kind of DOA, it looked like a Resident Evil clone but it might take a bit to get into. WaveRace was its usual great on all accounts. I liked the idea of Pikmin and its look but I didn't get into it, it does have great promise. I didn't get around to playing Luigi's Mansion or Rogue Squadron but those 2 titles really make the system shine. They actually where able to turn the lame N64 version of Courtside to a good cube game, Courtside 2002. Madden was like someone else said, looked like a broadcast. Smash Brothers was Smash Brothers but a better system made it better also. If you don't want a gamecube that's one thing but it is far from lame. I only played Monkey Ball battle a little, but the game comes highly rated.
P.S. They gave out Nintendo Powers with a CD with demos of the first 10 games include an amazing demo of SSX. You could win one for just going so it is a win-win.
Euphemism, what is that a euphemism for something.
First, I definitely think XBox will be a 3rd place seller his Xmas. I personally think GameCube will get 50% of sales, PS2 will get 33%, and XBox will only get 17%.
However:
We need to also keep in mind Sony and Nintendo's weak spot: developers.
Developers are continuing to complain that PS2 is just too alien, and only a handful of developers are able to get the promised performance out of PS2.
Developers are also complaining that Nintendo's licensing and distribution is way too heavy.
In the long run, I think many developers will be woo'd by Xbox for the following reasons:
* They can make as much money due to higher margins.
* Microsoft understands developer relations far better than Sony and Nintendo.
* Half billion dollars of marketing muscle will definitely help.
* Also, NVidia's developer relations are a major asset.
* Microsoft will make it very cheap for PC game developers to port DirectX games to Xbox. Look for a proliferation of newly anointed "console" developers to expand the XBox library (albeit with a lot of crap, too)
Yes, XBox has a lot going against it too, but Microsoft's history of winning over the long haul (Browsers, handhelds, databases, etc) makes me really believe that Microsoft will win this battle, too.
"Now who can argue with that? I think we are all indebted to Gabby Johnson for clearly stating what needed to be said. I'm particularly glad that these lovely children are here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age."
-- Olson Johnson, Blazing Saddles
"No one's really gonna be free until nerd persecution ends" -- Gilbert, Revenge of the Nerds
I'd consider that more a harbinger - MS is now bringing "DLL hell" to your living room. Games are dynamically linked against system libraries in flash ROM on the system, so if they ever upgrade those libraries there's a very good change they'll break or introduce bugs to older games. Both Sony and Nintendo do 100% static linking of the OS and system libraries so they're immune to such hijinx.
This isn't entirely true. The GameCube always renders 60 FPS no matter what its hooked up to. If you're using a HDTV you get the full picture. If you're using a regular TV, you still get something that's better than 30 FPS. Regular TVs display an interlaced signal which means that it shows all the odd lines of the picture first, then the even lines afterward. It traces across the screen at 60 Hz but you need two traces to get a full picture. What the GameCube does is send all the odd lines from one frame to the TV, and then it sends all the even lines from the next frame. So it is sort of like 60 FPS even though the TV is only displaying 30 full frames per second. This results in some interesting still-frames, but in motion it looks good.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
And that's not counting the machines that pretended to have some use other than gaming, the "home computers".
What's one or two more? It's not like we can't shove them in milk crates and stack them in the back of a closet when we're not playing with them.
What's a contemporary gaming console without a good golf game?!?
Fun?
Of course, in Gamecube Resident Evil, you will have to fight the zombies by jumping onto their heads.
Which is suprising because, you know, none of the other Super Mario Bros. games were fun or anythng.
:-)
Seriously, he was suprised a Super Mario Bros. game was fun? Um..... okaaaay.
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
You can run into trouble if your game links against debug or devel versions of system libraries and you run on a home unit -- but that executable would never pass certification. The linker is very noisy about this.
In my subject I said I dunno.... (or I don't know if your a grammer slut). I can't comment too much on it since I have never seen much of it.
Also, don't fool yourself....the X-Box demo units are probably pretty damn close to final units. Also, they have PROOF about some of the screenshots a while ago being faked and things like that.
I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have. X-box has to compete with several game units that have established games that will be on them....GameCube has (or will Have) Mario, F-zero, and several other games while PS2 has Crash Bandicoot, and several others also. What does X-box have? Oddworld? Halo (which does look cool from what I have seen of it)? What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?
Game consoles better freakin wake up and do it soon, otherwise these things are going to put them under. Of all of the new stuff, the GameCube looks like it may be more of a immediate hit then even the PS2 because Nintendo has some kick butt games that will be coming out on the machine and they are playing everything real close to the vest (I heard more about the PS2 then the gamecube....). I know the Luigi game looks real cool, but something keeps me thinking that Nintendo has some surprises. Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc. Nintendo never said that the GameCube would be anything but a game machine. Maybe this will be why it will do better, but still, Nintendo needs to revamp even some of it's new products (like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?) before they will do better.
Keep this in mind when you read this post....I don't follow console games that much. I will look at them cuz, hey everyone needs a break. I refuse to be a gamer geek because it seems so pointless. If the game is fun to play who cares what the performance of it is as long as it the performance doesn't hinder the game play! Heck I loved playing Atari and we know how crappy it looked (when compared to todays stuff). My point is is games are supposed to be fun and those who harp on every little thing about a game, to me, take away that fun. This is why I buy the games I want to buy and never read a review.....let me decide if the game sucks (a game sucks if it's not fun).
On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two? My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.
Gorkman
So does it crash as much as the Xbox? I'm guessing it doesn't...
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
How is this flamebait??? I guess if I praised the X-box it would not be? If I really wanted to flame on I would say that is look like an 8 bit! :) Now now now it didn't look THAT bad, but it did look terrible, to me IMNSHO. Seriously though, I am tired of seeing the same dang things turned out over and over again, but with pretty graphics. Let me see a new game concept like Fantavision on the PS2. That's a puzzle game and I liked it! Wait! I am supposed to hate puzzle games! Why did I like it? Because there's nothing like it. You really can't compare it too much to any other puzzle game. If I had to say it looked like anything, I'd say it looked like a upside down Gem stacker game, but it doesn't really. It's definitely a refreshing change from Madden 2002 and other EA drivel coming out. I mean I know it's been out a while, but still, it's pretty darn nifty and fun.
Gorkman
Interesting, the 1080i ration for HDTV (which can also carry a 540p signal) is interlaced.
(Disclosure: the company I work for has a broadcast integration arm, so I'm always hearing people yak yak yak about the latest TV technology. And we also play with HDTV a lot in our lab.)
Interlacing provides one very imporant feature that you didn't mention: flicker reduction.
I don't have science to back this up, but it seems that a 60 Hz progressive display-- one in which every scan line is redrawn 60 times per second-- has a noticable flicker to most people. (Set your computer monitor to 60 Hz and see. No, really. Go ahead. I'll wait.)
A 60-Hz interlaced display, however, flickers less, because only *half* the scan lines are being redrawn at any given time. Your eye perceives a clean, flicker-free image, although admittedly this can result in some tearing or blurring when the scene moves quickly.
We've known for years and years that refresh rate is more important than frame rate for visually pleasing, flicker-free pictures. Analog film is projected at 24 frames per second, which is a really low frame rate by digital standards. We get away with it because the film projector gates (that is, projects on the screen) each frame twice, meaning the screen flashes 48 times per second. Less flicker for the same frame rate.
Interlacing uses the same principle but in a different way. Instead of refreshing the screen faster than we update it, we only update half the scan lines each time through the raster, leaving the other half lit. This works because phosphors on TV tubes continue to glow after they've been excited, so we basically get half of our scan lines for free every refresh.
My point here is that you might find a 60 Hz progressive scan display more pleasing than 60 Hz interlaced scan in some cases, but it's not universally true to say that progressive is always better than interlaced.
OK, first of all, as an avid Nintendo supporter and GameCube fan, I take offense to this:
Most games were disappointing, but Rogue Leader and suprisingly Luigi's Mansion were a lot of fun.
Luigi's Mansion? Please! Apparently the author must have not felt like standing in some of the longer lines to play the really cool games. I agree with his comment on Rogue Leader, it was most impressive.
Anyway, as to what I thought, I really enjoyed the preview. I have a cube on preorder along with a few games and I can't wait to get mine. The controller is really nice, unlike the N64 they really made a controller that "fits" your hand this time. The response of the controls is also very nice, unlike PS2 or Xbox, you really get a feel for the game, as soon as you move, it moves.
*My favorite game was Star Wars... I've been a big Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember and this game is about as close as you can get to actually flying around in futuristic space and fighting the evil empire.
*I also really liked Madden 2002, although I was a little dissapointed at the way it seemed to be just a carbon copy of the PS2 version. There were a few differences and I'm sure once my copy arrives I'll notice them better.
*Another really fun game was Super Smash Brothers. They had 4 controllers set up and it was a blast using Samus to whoop some teenager ass. That game is hilarious, all out fun and it's surprisingly cool to fight with all the classic Nintendo Characters.
*The new version of WaveRace was stunning. I really liked the N64 version but this new one delivers on every graphical aspect of the gamecube. You can actually see individual fish under the water as you're speeding by.
*There was also a basketball game there, I don't remember the title but it wasn't EA Sports, and it also wasn't very good. The graphics were nice but it seemed to me to move too slowly, but I'm not a big basketball fan anyway.
Well, that's what I thought about the games I played while I was there. I didn't play any others so I'm not going to talk about them, although I saw a long line for this Resident Evil type game. Anyway, only a few more weeks!
~ now you know
of course there are flagship titles - Luigi's Mansion, Zelda, and Pikmin are all flagship titles. The next Pokemon will be too.
It's just that the Gamecube's flagships are aimed at the Gamecube's audience - kids who play Pokemon. MGS2 and Halo are very nice, but not Nintendo's style at all...it's not a lack of a flagship, but rather a whole different gaming ethos to the 20-30 year old FPS fan demographic that MS and Sony would like to have.
Pikmin, for example, imho will be huuuuuuge. But huge in a Nintendo way - cartoon spinoffs, mechandising, the whole Pokemon lot...and with in this will be massively more succesful than MGS2. Whether as a game it sells more is irrelevent.
Then again, as the games are clearly targeted at a young audience, they may appeal more to kids than me.
What are you talking about? Did you play Star Wars? How about Madden 2002? Resident Evil? Wave Racer? Yes there were some kiddie games, but why is that such a bad thing? Kids have to have fun too. Pikimin was good? Are you on crack? Star Wars was the Killer App, hands down.
Graphics on par with PS2. In spite of specs that don't look as good on paper as ps2 ('cept RAM, I guess), the EA games (NBA and Madden) looked every bit as good as the ps2 versions.
Ummm, well.. hmmm, maybe you haven't seen the specs, but if you go to cube.ign.com I'm sure you can find some. The Gamecube is the leader in all areas except clock speed, which in reality doesn't matter because it has the highest processing power, it just takes less clock cycles to produce it. It runs off of a PowerPC-type RISC chip that was designed specifically for gaming (not watching DVD's). The most important areas are PPS (polygons per second) and Colors, and the GameCube has the lead in each of those categories. Anyway, all the stats in the world don't matter, PS2 has what feels like a 2 second delay between your movements and the game's reaction where the GameCube flows right along with your input, and that's the most important thing to me.
~ now you know
From a hacker's standpoint, the systems breakdown in "potential hackability":
- XBox
- Playstation 2
- GameCube
XBox is actually looking suprisingly promising. I mean, com'on: built-in hard drive, DVD drive, ethernet, digital out, NVidia components. This is a hacker's wet dream. While the GameCube has proprietary components that, at best, will be as difficult to port Linux to as has been the PlayStation 2 (which many Sony fanboys continue to deny).
Personally, if I have the extra money, I'm going to purchase an XBox. Whether or not it's going to stay an XBox for long is debatable. I would say that "the system with the best games will win the war", but as we saw with Sega, even having really cool, innovative games is sometimes not enough to beat established marketing machines.
Geez, another kiddy-kiddy game box from the kiddy-kiddy game company.
Comments like this have been amusing to watch for the last ten years. The pattern is kids love Nintendo, and make their parents buy games like crazy. Then, when they think they've outgrown kiddie stuff, they start badmouthing Nintendo as being crap for the kiddies. Gotta love it.
I spent months trying to understand the tech before making a purchase. I then spent months trying to understand how to best use it after I made a purchase.
:) Hell, anyone, regardless of background, should be able to find information if they dig deep enough.
I appreciate that I don't fully understand it, but I won't apologize. You guys that work with the technology would be really helpful if you provided information (like this post did) instead of just telling us that we are wrong.
Sit on some of the home theatre boards. The HDTV engineers on them disdain people that don't understand things as well.
It shouldn't require 4 years as an engineer at an HDTV firm to understand what you are buying... My four year MIT EECS degree should be fine...
I find your arguement that interlaced is more pleasing fascinating. However, I would still rather the information be transmitted at 480p. 480p is twice the data as 480i.
The reason that I find 1080i interesting is that it is quoted as an interlaced spec. Many people think that 1080i is better than 720p for this reason. This is blatantly false. A 720p image has more data.
Ideally, you want to get as much data as possible into your system. Once it is in your system, you want to be able to customize how it displays based upon your preferences...
For example, I may want everything to display at NTSC levels through my VCR, but I still want the most data reaching my house. I (through my equipment) should be able to do what I want to display it best, but I still want the most data in.
My output is at best what I get in. GIGO...
Alex
Actually that sounds like it would be more fun than the original Resident Evil.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Remember, however, a cartridge means instantly playing -- no load screens
Not necessarily. You could have compressed data, which takes time (that feels like "loading") to decompress. You could have coprocessors that cannot read the cartridge but instead interact over a slow bus with the CPU; this caused the 1-second loading pauses on Super NES games whenever a game changed the background music. However, given the speed of the disc drive (130 ms access time, transfer rates equivalent to at least a 15x CD) (source), most of the loading will occur before the game begins, behind legal screens that they have to put up anyway; in-game loading shouldn't take more than 2 seconds (like FFVII room-change) if developers write their disc code carefully. Did Half-Life's loading really bother you?
Will I retire or break 10K?
I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have.
Here, Nintendo may be stepping on its own toes, as the name "Pikmin" is confusingly similar to the name of Nintendo's rooster sports[1] simulation "Pokemon".
What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?
One Xbox can split-screen four players for $600 ($300 plus the price of a sufficiently large TV set), as opposed for $2000 for four PCs.
like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?
A Pelican cover-light helps greatly and costs what? 10 USD?
Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc.
DVDs are also proprietary discs under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and foreign counterparts. Rumor has it that the "proprietary discs" are physically DVDs but formatted a different way (i.e. not udf).
On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two?
Can you give me a control map with only six keys (Up, Down, Left, Right, B, and A) that would let me excel at Descent or any other first-person shooter?
My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.
But weren't the 8-bit sports games (especially wrestling and TnF) mostly just button mashing?
[1] "Rooster sports" is a euphemism for cockfighting.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Of the upcoming machines left in the console wars (Playstation 2, XBox, and GameCube), GameCube appears to be the "least hackable",
The Game Boy Advance, on the other hand, is the most hackable. All you need is GCC and a $50 cable, and you can connect your PC (running Linux or Windows) to a GBA through the parallel port and send short programs to the GBA's 256 KB of RAM. You can even program flash cartridges through the cable if you develop a larger program that you have tested on an emulator such as VisualBoy Advance.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Actually, the reverse is true. Interlaced images almost always flicker MORE than progressive images.
While it's true that a VGA monitor at 60 Hz does flicker a little, 72+ Hz refresh eliminates this for most people. Video is transmitted at 60 fields per second, but each scanline in the full frame is transmitted at only 30 frames per second.
The result of this is more flicker, not less. Especially if you have sharp horizontal lines in your image, the interlacing flicker can be appalling. This can be reduced by reducing contrast between scanlines - softening the picture will help, but decreases detail. Long persistance phosphors will help too, but cause streaking and trails on moving objects.
For a still image with comparable detail and phosphors, progressive will always look better than interlaced.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
Full 1080i output is also possible, though I don't know if MS are mandating games to support this or not. This will work on an HDTV or (AFAIK) a large VGA monitor too.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?