Slashdot Mirror
GameCube Really And Truly For Sale
Several readers have submitted the news that the GameCube is now officially for sale. With the GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off. On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.
I enjoy playing Pikmin on Mandrake gaming edition! I especially enjoy playing networked Super Monkey Ball on Mandrake gaming edition vs. people in the same room as me.
[o]_O
They've been on sale here in Japan for a while :)
:D
In fact, a few days ago I saw one for sale in a Circle K convenience store
I'm gonna have to import one from america to lil' ol New Zealand. Any good american retailers for exporting them?
$90 for a game that's like a year old? You'd actually prefer that? I'd hate to be somebody receiving an Xmas gift from you. What do you give them, old sweatsocks?
"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."
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
I got my hands on an xbox and halo and it is quite a nice system. The built in hd is great because you don't have to drop $$ on memory units, I did pick up the dolby digital adapter and halo and madden 2002 look and sound great (the crowd noise in madden is great).
Halo is a great game, although control IS definately a little harder without my aswd and mouse that I'm used to. Its a shame the network play isn't ready (for both xbox and halo/madden).
--"Karma is justice without the satisfaction"
I want something more fulfulling than the Pentium 4! Look at how poorly it stacks up to an Atari 2600!
tcd004
That shows your true colors. You'd rather have a version of an OS that only has a few decent games (yup, sorry) vs. a console that will have hundreds of games that all work and look great. Unless of course you're into XBill, which is probably your favorite game.
We, the readers of Slashdot, appreciate your candor in revealing what a brainwashed zealot you are, and will filter the news accordingly. Thanks for your honsety.
I cannot wait to see what this Game Cube can do.
I wonder when they are released in Europe ? I hope someone comes out with a 'hunt Osama' game for it, then I would be in heaven...
I personally don't see whats so great about packing a bunch of old systems into one. Im not much of a gammer but even if i were i won't spend $300 on the game cube.
Carpe meam simiam!
No one is going to care... Nintendo lost out on this one. They where on time with the N64 but I haven't heard of anyone sleeping over at a store to be the first to have one!!!
Sig you!
GameCubes were Really and Truely for sale starting Midnight :) I Know, I was there, I bought 3. It was Rather Scary, one person who had the wasn't there at 6 to get a voucher to turn in at midnight, Followed me and my friends out of walmart and to our car. Earlier someone got mugged in the parking lot for their voucher. I'm Sticking them on eBay soon as they are good and out of them and let the people who MUST have one get one. I Do have to say though that the Controler is nice. I'm not big on Consoles but if I could take this things controler and put it into my computer for PC Gaming, I would. Hell, I'm not a Console gaming person at all, but I really want to take one of these thgins out of the box and go buy a game for them. And what does having the GameBoy Advanced do when you plug it in? Can it act like another player or something?
(Score:0, Interesting)
"GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off."
Actually, in my mind at least, that's actually an indication of the problem(s) to come for hardware companies. The fact that high-powered systems are everywhere you look means the market will become saturated with "more of the same" at some point.
Already, PC hardware manufacturers are facing vanishingly small profit margins (except for Apple, which always makes it a point to sell their stuff at a price that actually makes some money). Yeah, I know all the stuff about various tech leaders making sweeping statements about "never needing more than 640K of memory" and such, but we really are headed for a "meaningful speed" cap on this.
The gaming market will probably be the last of the hardware sectors to really feel the crunch in this respect, because new games always drive hardware to the limits (unlike business apps, which run fine on my old P2-266). One could say that companies like Microsoft drive hardware with new (arguably bloated) OSes that require bigger & badder computers to run well, but even that has to stop at some point.
Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough", which will mean bad news for hardware manufacturers until the "Next Big Thing" emerges to max out even cutting-edge stuff. Will it be "true virtual reality"? Who knows? I for one will be interested to see...
Some guy came into my work (Einstein Bagles)... got some (you guessed it) bagles, and said "I gotta get energy for Sunday"... Sunday?? ... "Oh yea, the game cube is going on sale... I work for nintendo". Right then and there I wanted to say "Playstation kicks nintendo's ass!", but I was just in shock of meeting one of my idols...
Why would I need a specific OS for gaming when windows does gaming just fine, among other things. It's a bit of a pain to have to reboot to play games.
On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.
No you wouldn't. Come on, admit it.
I played the Xbox... didnt look or feel any different than my PS2.. and GT3 is a better game than gotham racing.
Sony has one helluva head start on the two newcomers... WE'll see where things lie next year....
My bets? Xbox goes the way the Jaguar went. It will die, but at least have better numbers than ATARI was possible of.
nintendo? I hope they can do it, although someone needs to beat the engineer that though not using a standard dvd was a good idea over the head with several SNES machines. what moron in engineering or management thought it was a good idea to not have a feature that everyone else has?
my first notice was the fact that the local stores still have Xboxes on the shelves.. funny, you couldnt get a PS2 for months after release, yet I could liesurely buy an Xbox.... anyone else notice this? or is it region specific?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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
It's definitely not the case in Northern Ohio. Both Gamecubes and XBoxen have sold out within the day and backorders for pre-orders are common.
:shrug:
PCs really took off when there became many different manufacturers. Wouldn't it be great if many manufacturers could make the same gaming console? Had to have the same specs and such, so all games would work, but it would definitly be very interesting never the less.
On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.
This is humping Linux for Linux' sake, but of course, it's FUD. Linux is not a gaming platform - we've seen a plethora of evidence for this. The Linux gaming companies can't turn sustained profits, games get released months (sometimes years) after their other-platform counterparts, and support is sketchy, at best.
Timothy saying he'd rather have M:GE instead of a GameCube would be like me saying I'd rather use my bicycle to travel from LA to Boston instead of taking a plane. Sure they both serve essentially the same function, but one is more practical in an exponentially more obvious way.
If you're going to parade Linux around, at least do so intelligently in markets where it actually has the edge.
I'm Sticking them on eBay soon as they are good and out of them and let the people who MUST have one get one.
No one must have a Gamecube, so don't pretend that you're pursuing a noble cause. Having said that I hope Nintendo absolutely swamps the market will millions, meaning that the most you'll ever get is retail (and it sounds like it will be like that as Nintendo has good production, meaning that I'd much rather pay retail than deal with the hassle of Ebay and some unknown person. I doubt anyone is going to profiteer off the Gamecube, or the Xbox for that matter. It was sweet after Christmas last year seeing hundreds of wankers trying to pawn PS2s at progressively lower prices, eventually taking a pretty heavy loss as the store prices dropped). The fact that scalpers such as yourself run and buy up all the stock just to rape families whose kids want a game to play really pisses me off, and I hope that you are left holding the bag on that.
Yeah, but can you run Linux on... oh, wait.
I heard from a guy who was poking around Toys "R" Us on his way home from work last week, looking into systems for Christmas. His report:
;)
Number of kids and adults crowded around the GameCube demo: 6
Number of people lining up to see the X-Box demo: 0
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
that's because you're an idiot
I didn't buy a nintendo 64. I purchased a playstation after it had been out for 3 years (my Sega CD kept me content until then). Although I have dozens of games, I don't really get around to playing them. I have arrived at the conclusion that I just don't have very much time anymore for the long, complex RPGs that used to eat up my time. Even though playstation 1/2 and X-box games might be more "mature" than N64 and gamecube games, I find myself having more fun with nintendo games in general.
Also, I've had too many troubles with hard drives in the past and don't wish to introduce another one into my life. Are hard drives the most failure-prone component in computer systems?
I got three games, a 3rd-pary controller, and a memory card.
- Luigi's Mansion - seems like fun, in the spirit of Super Mario 64, but just got it
- Super Monkey Ball - haven't unwrapped, but I wanted a 4-person multiplayer game
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron - This game has amazing graphic! The gameplay is similar to Rogue Squadron for the N64, but the grafx are much, much better, even in "Hi-res" N64 mode with the video memory pack.
I would say the GameCube is a no-brainer. Oh, and it's pretty easy to find XBox's in Austin, so I'm guessing XBox will flop. Only because I hate buying the "wrong" video game system. (Genesis vs SNES, N64 vs PS1, Dreamcast vs PS2)Tips and Tricks for Mozilla
The GameCube is almost everything I could ask for in a console; it's purple, and it's a cube. If only it had electicity arcing all over it and said "Warning: Incoming Game" when I turned it on, then it would be THE last word in console systems.
I love ReBoot by the way, maybe I shouldn't but maybe you should.
Leveling up builds character.
Eh, I don't really care about what is or isn't (considered) a "gaming platform" -- the Mandrake release sounds interesting because it would let me play with a computer game that looks sort of interesting (the Sims) without paying for either a new piece of hardware (console) or another OS (some variety of Windows). I've seen screenshots from the Sims, and I know a lot of people are fascinated by it, but I've never played, myself. Since I'm likely to buy a boxed Mandrake 8.1 anyhow, the price difference isn't much, making it much more tempting as an experiment.
... OK, that's your choice to make. Since Linux is for the moment at least my OS of choice, games that run under Linux have the edge in my one-person market.
:)
Re: "markets where it actually has the edge," I'm not saying that you should want to buy the Mandrake gaming edition, or anything else. I like fireworks, Honda Goldwings, and Korean food, among other things -- if you prefer to spend your money and attention on things I don't like, well
Maybe one day I'll care enough to buy a game console, but so far and for the most part the actual games leave me cold. Tastes vary, situations are complex, etc.
And really, it was an offhand (but truthful) statement of preference, not a demand that anyone else agree. Chill
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Is it just me, or is timothy getting irritating with his insulting the very content he posts? If it's such awful news, or so pointless, why post it? And if it's worth posting, why put snide remarks in for the "department" and throughout the post?
Leave the snide remarks to us visitors. :)
Mozilla's a nice operating system, but it needs a better browser.
It was lame and sad.
Besides making you look like an idiot, it also reminded everyone who reads the story, for no reason at all, that GNU\Linux is a joke of a game platform when compared to the GameCube.
"Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough", which will mean bad news for hardware manufacturers until the "Next Big Thing" emerges to max out even cutting-edge stuff. Will it be "true virtual reality"? Who knows? I for one will be interested to see..."
I'm waiting for real-time raytraced lighting, and some kind of equivalent for sound. (Wavetracing?) Oh, and forget texture mapping - I want every bobble of the carpet to be individually modelled, same as every fibre of cloth, for proper realism.
You may look at current systems and think things can't get much better, but there's still a huge amount of stuff that these systems can't even dream of handling. I remember looking at Doom and wondering how Quake could improve on it - doesn't that sound silly now?
Frankly, I believe we have years of meaningful speed increases to come. It's not time to worry yet.
BTW, Monkey Ball RULES!
My Blog Sucks.
Few people will buy something merely for it's specs. Most people require 1 or more "Killer APP" to buy these machines. Playstation had Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid. N64 had Zelda. What does mandrake have? I haven't seen anything for the X-box that would quilify either. All their games are simply standard genre peices with somewhat prettier effects. I don't think it will have much success unless it can grab a game like Final Fantasy.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Because it's true. Timothy's just spewing garbage about gaming with a Linux distro that comes packed with games that have been out for Winblows for months, if not years.
(note: i'm not a moderator)
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
Just think, a couple of
's and you could have made that whole mess readable.
[from the article]:
. jsp b and.jsp
"By contrast, both Sony and Microsoft are positioning their boxes as the foundation for home entertainment systems. The Xbox has a built-in hard drive and high-speed Internet port, and the PlayStation 2 will soon have both through external adapters... Nintendo wanted to keep the GameCube price low and keep the audience focused on the games, analysts said."
The Gamecube _does_ have add-on components for dial-up and broadband connectivity. I think it's smart to have these features as an add-on for everyone who may/not want a wired box. This has been announced for some time now:
modem adapter: http://www.nintendo.com/systems/gcn/gcn_acc_modem
broadband adapter: http://www.nintendo.com/systems/gcn/gcn_acc_broad
Did anyone else notice that of all those photos in the news of people lining up to buy the X-box they were all in _Seattle_?
Perhaps Microsoft told their minions to get out there and make lines to make it look like their was a big demand.(..and would re-emburse them later..?)
Just Wondering..
[ Fatbabies.com ] - If its vicious or true its there. . .
I don't want consoles with operating systems, dvd players, harddisks, web browsers. That's what PC's are for. When I fire up my PS1 or N64, I expect them to load the games quickly, without crashes.
;)
I think it's a good thing that the gamecube doesn't have these things. "Do one thing, and do it well".
And btw, Zelda 64 is the greatest game ever.
Can you hear me, Major Tom? I'm not the man they think I am at home...
A few observations:
- The console setup menus look a lot cooler than the PS2 (I've not seen the X-box's yet)
- If you've not yet held the controller, just let me warn you that it will be hard to put it down. It is the single-most ergonomically-pleasing controller I've ever held (maybe that is because I have average size hands, but it is way nice).
- Rogue Leader just flat out rocks, no two ways about it.
I am totally pleased I bought a 'Cube, now I can't wait for Super Smash Bros. Melee to come out for it.Compare:
"XBox Released" to "Blah, it just happened - who cares?"
and:
"GameCube Really And Truly For Sale" ... to "The day when our Lord and Savior shall return has come!"
Somehow, I get the impression that Slashdot is somewhat biased towards one of these systems =)
Anyway, I hope the console market will find a good direction too... and at least my sister will shut up when GC comes to Europe and she'll be able to get one =)
(And remember, verily, we shall speak like Shakespeare, for ever and ever...)
of course they're going to be biased...Xbox is made by Microsoft, and Microsoft can do no good, remember? Classic /. mentality. Personally, I think the GameCube is a pile of crap.
Oops!
It's kind of weird. The end of the first weekend it went on sale the GameCube was supposed to sell out. I went to a major retailer in Ikebukuro late Sunday evening and there was huge stack of the machines still available. Even weirder, only a few people were even bothering to look. Go figure. GameBoy Advance was hugely popular, however.
With the Cube, there were only three titles available as well.
But it's called the "Q" and it will only be available in Japan. The idea is that the Americans would be too confused if there was a DVD capable GameCube and one that was not...
Thanks Nintendo! Doh!
I'll be asking for one of these for Capitalistmas, but I decided to check out the local availability anyway (I also wanted to play with one).
I stopped at WalMart first since it was closest. They didn't appear to have any, except for the display. Small children were hudled around it, so I left. Next I went to Best Buy, and they didn't seem to have any either. Weird. Then again, this is a college town, so in addition to all the normal residents purchasing these sweet little packages, a few thousand college students were likely at it as well.
Console gaming is a good thing. While there have been many good computer games, I think I would prefer most of my gaming to be on an internet enabled console that rarely if ever requires upgrades. Don't have to worry about what video card I have, how fast my processor is, what drivers I am using, what OS version, configuration, etc. I know that all games for that console will work the first time, every time, no reboots or reinstalls to worry about. The most I might have to do is purchase an upgrade chip like the video ram upgrade for the N64. Game consoles are also a good way to avoid Windows. For many of you, games are the only thing keeping that windows partition on your hard drives. If you had a seperate box for gaming all together, thats one thing you don't have to reboot for. Even the Xbox is probably a better gaming experience than Windows, but hopefully one would move a bit further from Microsoft than that.
As for the DVD thing, I say its good. The proprietary mini DVD is, for now, much harder to pirate than the CDs and DVDs that the other consoles use. The disk is also smaller, which is good. They also don't have to put in all the stuff needed to play DVD video, which saves on cost. For those wanting a GameCube with DVD playback, there is that Panasonic Q thing. It might not come out in the US, but maybe it will. If you must have a GameCube with DVD playback, petition Panasonic. Or whoever it was, I think it was Panasonic anyway.
If people were paying attn to Nintendo, they might have known the systems, as the slashdot title suggests, were on sale a little earlier in some places. Two of my friends got one. One got one off of a voucher, found out they had extra since no one was asking, and told me and another friend. He got one, I'm gonna wait a little while when I can afford it.
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
Intra-Toilet duty
That's the abridged version.. the real one goes (sorry for the plagiarism)...
BillyGates: cool, get me Nvidia... Hello? Nvidia? I hear you make video cards. We gonna need one. We gonna need a mobo too. What you don't make those? U better get on it. What, you don't want to? Well there's bad news for you, we can no longer support your graphic cards in Windows. Oh, what's that, you have on your desk a piece of paper from R&D that says they're thinking of a motherboard design? Well you're going to have a mobo then? That's good!
Of course that's claiming nVidia were forced to make mobos. They really don't do they? They have a chipset coming out, and a reference motherboard to test the chipset on. Or are they really making mobos for Xbox? If so, were they really actually forced by MS?
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Hey! This isn't offtopic. This really is a copied and pasted comment from another thread (Thanks to the AC above who found this link). I had Deja Vu just reading this comment. This isn't the first time ekrout's done this either. Some moderators around here need a little clue-sticking...
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
I went to Media Play at 7 this morning. They told me that they would have 20 cubes and would open at 8. They opened at 9 and had 32 cubes. They didn't even sell them all at 9. Bought the system, luigi's mansion, and memory card. Going to buy smash bros. and another controller when the time comes.
Basically Luigi's mansion is great, it's very similar to all the 64 games like DK64, and Mario 64. The controller is great, the Z button is the only slight problem, but the L and R buttons make up for this in a big way. All analog buttons should be like that. Overall the cube kicks ass. It's really really small too. Incredibly convenient, powerful, I gotta go play some more of that. And uplink too.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Does it run Linux?!? Will it help me masturbate to pictures of Jodie Foster more efficiently?!?
Not only is this copied word for word from that post, it's also been posted to this thread higher up. So we have the same exact post 2x in this story, both providing little to the discussion. Nice.
my bad, wrong thread!...ARGH
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
imho the main problem is that games are not developed for linux, and without linux in mind. some of course are good and brilliant exceptions for this, but that doesnt change the point. a better question i think, is how is linux NOT a gaming platform? stable, good memory management, support for LOTS of hardware? what else do you want... companies just need to start developing games for linux from the start!
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
An interesting thing to note about the Gamecube, relating to those problems XBox was having with overheating in display stands: this thing doesn't get hot. I was playing for a good 4 hours straight the other day (one of my shorter stretches) and I went up and touched the Gamecube, out of curiosity, and all I could find was a slightly warm spot on the bottom. The huge vents in the side do their job well. To be fair, it was prettly close to a window, but it's still insane compared to my N64 or PSX. Anyway, yeah.
BTW, Rogue Leader is the shizzy iznit. It's the closest game yet to put you right in the movies. A lot of the cool effects are pretty subtle, but then there's the whole strafing a Star Destroyer and being shot at by a bazillion turbolasers while being chased by what must be an entire squadron of TIEs (like 6 groups of 3 or 4). It's a Star Wars nerd dream come true.
Blather blather stop.
Actually, what it reminded me was that people are making progressively better and better attempts at getting Linux suited for gaming.
I love how people complain now and say "Bah, Linux sucks, I'm gonna use {PS2, Winders, the bathroom} instead". What they don't realize is that the rate of improvement is exponential.
Just because Linux gaming may suck right now, doesn't mean it will always suck.
The only way it will always suck is if we give up on it. And we won't.
I know this is offtopic, but the Gamecube is powered by a PowerPC (derivative), and is the closest thing that anyone else is making to Apple's machine. This may curb losses in the PPC desktop space and spur development on a next-generation high end desktop PPC, bringing back the heady days of three different PPCs being developed at once (603/604/620). The register's rumour-mongering aside, the Gamecube2 and Apple's G5 might have more in common than Apple would rather have us know.
I found myself at my local CompUSA this morning looking for inkjet cartridges when it opened .... they were handing out numbers at the door nd when they ran out people were pissed ....
- Mega Super Mario
- Mega Super Mario II
- Mega Super Mario III
- Mega Super Mario Collection
- Mega Super Mario IV: The Adventures of Toad
- Mega Super Pokemon
- Mega Super Pokemon II
- Mega Super Pokemon III: Together with Mega Super Mario
- Mega Super Mario Party
- Mega Super Mario Party II
- Mega Super Mario Party III: Pokemon Edition
- Mega Super Zelda
- Mega Super Zelda II: The Quest for Pokemon
- Mega Super Mario Kart
- Mega Super Mario Kart II: The Quest for Zelda
- Mega Super Mario V: We're Running Out of Ideas
- Super Mario Classic
- Mario Classic Collection
- Zelda Classic Collection
- Pokemon Classic Collection
Oh yeah, and one or two 3rd party games, but that's about it.No thanks, I'll be buying an XBox with real games and real creativity. I'm not blowing my money on another worthless, technologically inferior Nintendo product.
First of all, [off-topic] if you're going to go cross country on a bike, I hope you have the sensibility to do it on a good touring road bike and have a support crew ready; I'd love to do an epic ride, but I don't have the constitution or the bike for it, and I certainly wouldn't do it alone (a century [100 mile] sounds like a horribly long stretch to me, and my bike is an urban assault hardtail).
Secondly, on the matter of your preference vs. ours, realize that as a Slashdot editor, what you say (opinion or otherwise) gets taken at a higher level than what other people post here. If it's your opinion, delineate it as such (which you did, in this case) and be prepared for people to take strong disagreement with what you say.
Also, realize that your comparison is sort of apples to oranges. Maybe not to you, but to most people, there's a huge distinction between GameCube and Square-Boxy-Linux-Running-Computer.
To put it in bike terms, it's like comparing Lance Armstrong's 15-pound Trek OCLV road bike to Leigh Donovan's 45-pound Intense downhill rig. =)
Ah, but he stuck quotation marks at the beginning and end of his post making it just fine :)
Thanks for buying an Xbox, and not a GameCube...
- game cube buyer.
Is the mnadrake gaming edition different from the regular versionf of the Sims? I.e, does Mandrake 8 Gaming Edition =
1. Mandrake + Ordinary Version of Sims + Transgaming WineX
2. Mandrake + WienX Winelib compiled version of the Sims?
I've heard reports that 2 is the case. If so can I play this version of the Sims on other distros? Can I obtain it seperately from Mandake?
I've heard a Nintendo PR person comment on the issue of exclusion of DVD. She stated that since the movie industry was in direct competition (?!) with the gaming industry, it would be foolish to include a DVD player. Perhaps they want people playing and buying more games and watching and buying fewer movies.
The truth is, I haven't taken any rides over 20 miles, myself -- so going cross country (in the U.S.) is a bit of a pipedream right now :) If I do it, I would try to stay in a lot of towns across the country, by no means would I try to set any speed records!
...
:)
On a recumbent bike though, I think this could be a good way to travel the country, especially once there's unmetered medium-bandwidth Internet service through Low-Earth-Orbit satellites. A low-powered laptop, a trickle-charger, enough clothes to get between towns, and some high-calorie food
As far as the comparison I made being Apples-to-Oranges, it might even be more like horses-to-snowboards. But unless context makes it illegal, immoral, dangerous or fattening, there's nothing wrong with a good Apples-Oranges comparison, IMO. I generally like the texture and flavor of oranges better than apples, but if sliced and baked into a crust, I'd prefer apples
Cheers,
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
I bought my next console system and portable gaming device yesterday. A Nintendo 64 (+ 2nd controller and game) for A$20 and a Sega Game Gear (+ 3 games) for A$10. I've now got a whole new couple of platforms to find interesting titles for. And heck, down here in Australia the N64 is Nintendo's current offering through to the first half of next year some time. (When I can start hitting the bargain bins.)
Hypothetical of course;
If the family dog urinates on your X-box because you forgot to let him out, would it be proper to call it an XP box?
(SEG)
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.
I hope you're joking. Of course, on slashtrash it's "in" to pro-linux troll.
As someone who's ridden their fare share of bicycles; a Giant TCR, Jamis Komodo, BikeE, KHS downhill bike. I can honestly say the worst of those bikes next to the downhill bike to do a xcountry tour on would be the bikeE. They'd be fine over the great plains and whatnot but once you hit the Rocky or Appalachian Mountains you'd better hope you packed a good touring or road bike in your saddle bags. The hills on recumbents on a painful experience second only to kidney stones and childbirth, and going uphill on a downhill bike. If you want to go xcountry get yourself a good touring bike and forget about recumbents. They're for urban flatland cruising only.
cheese logs keep my wang warm at night.
Did it occur to you that maybe a lot of people learned their lesson with the Playstation 2 and PRE-PURCHASED the machines?
:eyeroll:
I didn't have to camp out because I put my money down back in May, and they held it for me.
Also, they placed restrictions on the machines that weren't around for PS2. For example: 1 per customer. 1 Memory Card per customer. Etc. *remembers stories about how some idiot bought 8 PS2 memory cards at launch.
There have been rumors floating around that Nintendo's next portable system may be a handheld version of the Game Cube. Given the size of the optical media, I'd say it'd lend itself very well to that.
Take this rumor with a grain of salt, there's no validty to it. Just thought it was worth mentioning that the size of the media opens some interesting doors.
It's also worth noting that the size of the disk is an anti-piracy measure. In theory nobody can replicate the media needed to copy games for it. (we'll see how that goes)
I'm extremely happy with my system. I've had a lot of fun playing Rogue Squadron (mindblowing!) and Monkeyball so far!
The XBOX looks ok. I think it's specs are just fine. But GC totally blows away the XBOX in terms of new and original games. I don't care how pretty or complex Halo is, it's still another shootem up game and I have no limit to those on the PC.
WinME creates problems with DOS games, being that it tries so hard to hide DOS from the user--even going so far as to have Autoexec.bat and Config.sys do nothing, while the "real" files were changed. Plus, all that System Restore crap that eats resources and space--there are ways to turn it off and reclaim your space, but why bother with that bloated cruft anyway?
If you simply HAVE to have WinME, at least install it with 98lite from http://www.98lite.net --it will let you keep Syetm Restore, Web Folders, and a thousand other pieces of bloat from ever getting installed. Despite some complainers who probably used it wrong, I have never had a problem with 98lite, and I use Windows in some very stressing ways.
However, for most things--especially gaming, particularly if you want to run DOS games--Win98SE is better than WinME. WinME has more recent drivers, but any self-respecting computer user downloads the latest drivers for all their hardware from the vendors' websites anyway. Again, installed with 98lite, you can remove a lot of the unnecessary crap, making it more stable and dependable.
I have no loyalty to Bill. I disapprove strongly of Microsoft's business practices. But I also am practical enough to use the right tool for the job, and if you want to game on PCs, that tool is Win9x. That will eventually change when newer games support only the Win2k/XP family, but for now, Win98SE or WinME (properly installed) are ideal. This is why I boot into Win98 for gaming, and have chosen Win98SE as the platform I'm going to use when I build an arcade machine a la MAME, but of course with multiple other non-MAME games available. My Win98SE machine can play all the newest PC titles, a few of which I actually have, almost all of the older PC titles going all the way back to early DOS, a lot of which I have (some of the oldest need a CPU slowdown program, but still run perfectly), most of the unique Mac games from the 68k days thanks to Basilisk II booting OS 8(B2 is also available primarily for Linux, but Linux won't run all those Windoze games, soo...), all the unique Linux games not requiring 3d acceleration thanks to VMware booting Linux Mandrake, all the unique BeOS games not requiring 3d acceleration thanks again to VMWare booting Be, most of the popular and many of the unpopular Playstaion 1 titles thanks to ePSXe and Bleem!, most of the best n64 games, SNES, NES, Genesis, 2600, etc. etc. games thanks to various good emulators, and of course the ubiquitous MAME for many many great arcade titles.
Win98SE is the most versatile solution for gaming. Linux's Win32 compatibility layer will never be perfct, and thus the majority of Windows games will never be playable on Linux, whether a Gaming Edition or not. IMHO, unless someone goes in the opposite direction and finds a way to run Windows' actual Win32 layer on top of Linux, with hardware accelerated drivers and all, it's just throwing dust into the wind to expend effort on getting Windows games to run on Linux.
If you hate Microsoft, pirate their OS for your gaming needs and have the best of all possible worlds--have the most compatible possible gaming machine, while not paying Microsoft anything, while having Linux for your real work. By all means, buy Linux games when and where available, to support gaming on Linux and try to help it become more viable and widespread. But don't deny yourself the world of games that will never play on Linux, even under emulation. You can if you want--but not me.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
Has anyone hooked up the gameboy advance to the game cube? Can that be done yet?
Timothy saying he'd rather have M:GE instead of a GameCube would be like me saying I'd rather use my bicycle to travel from LA to Boston instead of taking a plane.
Mandrake Gaming Edition on the laptop a fellow already owns takes up less physical space than a GameCube console and a TV. It also costs less than a GameCube console and a TV.
(I bought a GameCube because I'm not as space-constrained as some college students.)
Will I retire or break 10K?
went to FAO Schwarz... they said the "50" units they had were sold out. No demo unit on display.
went to CompUSA... they had some number locked up in the storeroom. No demo unit on display. Checked out a boxed unit. Smaller and heavier than I expected.
Wish I could say more...
Steve Roberts does pretty well on recumbents on all sorts of terrain ... (of course, that's far from a normal case, and he has 108 or some other ridiculously high number of gears).
:)
You're sure right that they're not easy to ride on hills, though, but if I were to ride x-country, I might just want to walk up (or hitch from drivers with pickups) the big hills
What I like about recumbents is in large part what they're not, which is hunch-inducing crotch-wedges.
Tim
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Went looking for early Gamecubes on Sat and did not have any luck. Heard a lot about XBox though.
Saw a number of display areas with Xbox turned way up, and PS2 off. Go figure.
Target had them opening day (of course) they handed out numbers so people would know if they were getting one or not. 45 people in line for Gamecube avg. age 20 something sales person told me there were about 8 for Xbox. Could be the neighborhood, but on Sat, there were many Xbox units for sale.
Target was giving away free game seats with your Gamecube purchase. They had the Xbox logo on them.
Blogging because I can...
No DVD makes sense. Do the math. $200 for a GC and $150 for a decent Sony DVD player = 350
300 for PS2 + 20-30 for controller = hobbled DVD player + PS2 for 325
300 for XBox and 30 for DVD add on = 330
for an extra $20, i will take a separate dvd player any day. And plus, it will be harder to pirate games for the GC, and Nintendo will guarantee that nobody uses their system just as a DVD player. They were using their heads....
Metroid Prime looks amazing. I have always been a fan of all three of the Metroid games. Metroid 4 - looks to have environments from the older generation games in a new 3D world. The story line looks interesting as well. This may be one reason enough for me to purchase the GameCube. Provided is a link of some short videos on it.
e di a/0,11100,447244,00.html
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/m
30% off web hosting. Coupon code "SLASHDOT".
Remember that Supply/Demand is a ratio with 2 variables. If XBOX is sold out, it doesnt necesarrily mean that the demand was greater. It could mean that the supply was not enough, and from the reports I've heard, they did not make enough XBOX's by a long shot (something like 300,000?). Nintendo, on the other hand, is planning to ship 1.1 million units by the year's end.
As an example: I was in both XBOX and GC overnight lines. The XBOX sold out, with 21 or so people who had camped out. The GC did NOT sell out, but had ~35 people camped out.
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
WARNING
LAMER DETECTED
Warning
Lamer Detected
Though I dislike the limited set of control options, I've played a hundred or so DVD's now on the PS2 and had only one problem - Gladiator seemed to have the audio get out of sync with the video.
I restrted the PS2, and it worked fine after that - ever since then I always restart the PS2 after I inster a disc and have yet to have another issue. That was with the original launch drivers, I only recently got the remote and updated PS2 drivers.
One of the DVD's I've played was X-Men - what sort of problems did you see?
Apart from that issue, I agree with your assesment of the wisdom in selecting the non-standard format. I think $100 less is quite a huge advantage, and as you say most people buying consoles probably already have DVD players (though buying the PS2 allowed me to give mine to a relative who was without).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
the noiggest flaw in the x-box (other than Bloatware microsoft) is puting a harddrive in a gaming machine... one good bump can cause em to develope errors or crash...
domt buy one if who ever is gonna play it is rough with game machines(like kids), cause it will break pretty easy.. game developers complaned a lot about there prototype machine crashing a lot..
No matter how advanced linux is, you can't lay down on your couch, grab a couple controlers, shove in a game, and play with friends while drinking and eating.
Liquid Gaming - Your daily dose of gaming news
Simply putting quotes around something is not sufficient.
To avoid plagarism, one must also give proper credit to the author by clearly displaying his name.
gosh, if you idiots hate windows so much, why do all your window managers look like windows? Why do you want to run windows programs in linux? why do you want to play windows games in linux? instead of going through all the bullshit, just install windows. You make no sense, all hating windows, then you run linux, and want windows compatibility. WINE, vmware, etc. If you're going to run unix on the desktop, then run unix software. I guess its just that windows games/programs are just that much better huh. Linux isn't a desktop yet, and is far from it.
servers, on the other hand.....
dont waste time with flames, i dont plan to read this anyore, but i know you amd linux fan boys out there can't hold back...
Remember that most parents wouldn't let their children wait outside a game store at 5am with 300 odd bucks in their pocket...
X-BOX sucks, the controler sucks, the hardware sucks, the idea sucks. It is not a console, it is a commodity PC running windows. I do not see this game machine wannabe beating PS2 or game cube as they are real consoles.
I prefer to play Return of wolfstein on my Geforce3 than these kids games.
More likely the $100 difference is from no hard drive and no Ethernet.
This isn't a bad thing: the XBox hard drive seems to me like it could be the source of all kinds of problems when it a) gets filled up b) gets fragmented c) fails or gets corrupted d) gets used to patch games that were released broken. I couild be wrong, but I'm certainly waiting to see before I buy.
Ethernet would have been cool, but OTOH, I have the Ethernet card for my Dreamcast and have never hooked it up.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
that was so sad. I bet it made you feel 13yrs old again.
I picked up a GameCube and am loving it so far. I need to get a component video cable though. Anyway, the GameCube is the best of the three because it supports OpenGL. The PS/2 uses some Sony-specific API and the X-Box uses a Microsoft-specific API (Direct3D). OpenGL == more games for Linux and OS X.
Will Tom's Hardware (_PLEASE_) do a round-up of the three... I'd liek to seee head-to heads and specs on all three...
It'd take hours to do the research on your own.... maybe I'm just lazy though. *sigh*
Well, I got one and damn it kicks serious ass. Very happy with it. When I got the PS2, I was happy because the graphics were pretty nice, but I wasn't too pleased with the games. Not too exciting. The Gamecube on the other hand - I bought two games - Luigi's Mansion and Star Wars - Rogue Squadron 2, and both of the games are instant classics for me.
SWRS2 - My fave so far. Drop dead gorgeous. It sounds funny, this game really puts you in the Star Wars atmosphere. The details are incredible, and the sound is awesome. Most of the game looks as good or better than the movies!
Luigi's Mansion - The kid's and wife's favorite, I love it though too. It's in that Mario-esque atmosphere, and is another terrific game. I wish I was playing it now. Extremely addictive. Lots of puzzles and good humor. This is one damn good game.
There's a theme here though - Nintendo's secret to success isn't in hardware - it's in producing top quality games. I don't give a damn about whose system has more horsepower than whose. I just want good games. Sadly, I have to say the only game in my PS2 library that I really really enjoy is Gran Turismo 3 and well maybe the Star Wars Star Fighter I rented... But at release, the PS2 kinda had a less than stellar software lineup. Only now are the hot games coming and it's been quite awhile. FF10 and Metal Gear Solid 2 I have high hopes for, but I have to say I may be digging into my pocket more for the Gamecube games if the PS2 lineup doesn't get better. I must say though - it is extremely handy having an extra DVD player around. Don't get me wrong - I think it still is a great box - it just needs some games. On the other hand, Luigi and SWRS2 are awesome release games for the Gamecube. 5 out 5 stars.
One last note - I had NO idea how *small* the Gamecube is! I'm very impressed. And the controllers are great. They took a lesson from Sony and did them even better.
Chris
Timothy is a hero. I'm glad he doesn't cheer when proprietary systems like this one comes along. Until all of the software on the game cube is free, it's going to be ugly.
I just recently started collecting consoles. All kinds I wanna get them all. I have 64, genesis, snes, nes, GMB, 3do, dreamcast. There are so many more out there. if you have one of them and are willing to sell please contact me.
We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
never underestimate the power of denial. he "likes" holding the xbox's contoller like i would "like" to hold a plethra of hot coals. he "enjoys" the pretty textures as i would "enjoy" the texture of sandpaper on my rubbing against my testicles. yeah, the xbox, it's pretty creative... in the same way MS BOB was. oh wow, a p3 733! what's that you say, nvidia? i'm pretty impressed.. because my computer can't do that?! hey it's not that gamecube is a proprietary machine designed specifically for gaming and not running on top of some bug-ridden os... oh no wait... you know, it's funny because i always thought a game spawned a series because it was... what's the word... successful.