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Gamecube Hits US Early
semaj writes "It looks like retailers are being told they can sell them as they come in instead of waiting for the November 18 offical release date. PlanetGameCube has the story. Go!" So, anyone want to get us a review unit or two?
I called Wal-mart, KayBee Toys, Media Play, and K-Mart, and they're all sticking to the November 18 date. Some retailers don't even know about the "early release" part.
:P
Shall we slashdot the stores that have them, in meatspace? Post one here and start a rush!
-- http://frobnosticate.com
Sure, I may get one of these newer consoles eventually. But who can deny the coolness of the Dreamcast. There is so much outside development going on for the little machine (emulation, linux, BSD, etc.) that there is still a lot going on for it. Before I buy any new consoles, I need to finish playing my 50+ Dreamcast games. Retail stores are closing out on Dreamcast software. Some of it is so/so, but most of it is great. There is something out there for all gamers and the prices are just right. It's too bad that little box didn't last, as the hardware abd games are still awesome. It's time for me to pick up a second machine for my computer desk.
And yes, I am a grown adult, and yes I did play Mario 64 all the way through, and I did love it.
This is the worst sig ever.
Check out the emulation scene on the dreamcast. Imagine ALL the old NES games on one disc.
www.dcemulation.com
- You can now hook up a USB ethernet/modem device to a PS2 and play Tony Hawk 3 online.
o duct.asp?pf_id=210436
- Sony's official modem/ethernet accessory and 40 GB hard drive are both out in Japan.
- You can get a Zip Drive for PS2
http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/categories/products/pr
Men believe what they want. - Caesar
You want the Panasonic version due out in a few months in Japan, and probably sometime next year in North America.
Here's how I look at it:
Games on the PC are easy to make - anyone with a graphics toolkit and a few thousand dollars can make one, and just because you have big names behind it (John Romero) doesn't mean it'll be any good (Daikatana).
Games on PC are also repetetive, for the most part. Once I'm bored of Quake III (which I never liked anyway), I can move on to Unreal Tournament, and then Wolfenstein 3D, and then..... But it's all the same! Sure, they're fun, but sometimes I want something different.
Games on Nintendo systems usually tend to be two things: well done, and fun. Maybe the graphics aren't killer (usually they're great if not awesome though), and maybe it's not eye candy, but at least it's not ONLY eye candy. Most of the other systems I've seen have awesome looking games that suck. The controls (game-side) are often totally pathetic, the games are repetetive, and they're just plain boring.
Nintendo is FUN. Mario Kart is FUN, Mario Brothers is FUN, Smash Brothers is FUN. And most of all, with a TV system, you can crowd people around and everyone can play/watch. You can have parties and people will play the GameCube, because it's a group activity. As another poster mentioned, you can't crowd 10 people around a 17" monitor, or a 21" for that matter.
Computers are a one-person thing. Two people is sometimes possible, but usually a stretch. Three is often nearly impossible. With a TV, this is no problem. Party entertainment, family entertainment, it all works.
And best of all, you won't have to buy $250 in new hardware every year and waste your time fixing driver installations just to keep the latest games playable.
That's how I see it, anyway.
--Dan
No, it's going to be settled by parents looking to buy a new video game system for their kids.
The Gamecube is almost half the price, has Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, and all the other standard kid's games. It's also brightly coloured. Believe it or not, parents have mentioned to me how "cute" the thing looks. I work in electronics at Walmart, so I know a teeny tiny bit about what parents are really looking for.
The X-box is almost double the price of the Gamecube and has absolutely no kid's games.Apparently, it also looks "ugly".
If you were a parent looking for a big christmas gift, which one would you get for your kids? Later on, maybe other factors will come into play, but the first round in this war will be won by parents looking to placate their kids. And if the Gamecube crushes the Xbox early on, which one do you think developers will flock to?
There's actually a lot of really good information in the article.
-no broken link
DC:
...
- Very cheap, lots of games already, hackable
- Good games: Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Grandia, Skies of Arcadia, Sega Sports, and many more
- Obsolete
- If you don't own one, go spend a few bucks just to have one
PS2:
- Overdue for a price break
- Coming on strong (it was really weak at launch)
- Good games: Gran Turismo 3, Grand Theft Auto 3, Tony Hawk PS 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, and a few more
XBox:
- Pricey
- DVD drive, but still need the DVD kit to play movies
- RJ45 out of the box
- HALO HALO HALO
- Good games: Halo, (not much else)
- Some decent exclusives: Dead or Alive 3, Panzer Dragoon Saga 2
- Microsoft isn't half the game developer that Nintendo, Sony, or Sega is.
Gamecube:
- Nice price
- No DVD (probably a piracy concern, so go with propriatary format)
- No network out of box (but should have something up and ready soon for PSO)
- Good games: SW Rogue Squadron, Pikmin, Wave Race
- Many hot titles next year: Zelda, Metroid,
I personally think DC had a great launch when it came out with Soul Calibur and Sonic, but the system never really took off. Gamecube and XBox only have 1 great title each (SW and Halo), but not much else. PS2 would be really impressive for $200, but $300 is still high for a 1 year old system.
It's a really tough call between XBox and the cube, right now I would say XBox is in a better position. But I think Nintendo is gonna do better in the long run, mainly because Nintendo has constantly turned out the best video games.
It'll be interesting to see who wins out this holiday season.
For Windows 2000, you can try the following:
10. COMPATIBILITY MODE: Service Pack 2 (SP2) includeS a compatibility mode that lets programs run as if they were on a Windows NT 4.0 SP5 or Windows 95 machine. To enable this interface, perform the following steps:
Start a Run box (Start, Run).
Enter the following command: "regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll"
Click OK.
Click OK to the confirmation.
Now if you right-click a shortcut and select Properties, you'll see a Compatibility tab that lets you select whether the program target should run under an NT 4.0 SP5 or Win95 compatibility layer.
I'm assuming it is similar to XP's emulation
You can even get a dreamcast for $100. At that price, why not?
Don't forget about dreamcast, its still a 128 bit system and is a lot cheaper than the otehrs. Many people see the the new systems as a new generation, but it is the same generation as the dreamcast.
As for the other games, you can play all those systems except the N64 on the dreamcast, so I don't doubt the x-box will have emulation software as well.
Besides, just because its cheaper doesn't mean its better. Sometimes you do get what you pay for.
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