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Shacknews Holiday Game Guide
rosewood writes "Shacknews' Jason Bergman, aka loonyboi has his 'Holiday Buying Guide 2002' up and ready to read. PC, Gamecube, PS2, Xbox, and Gameboy Advance and over 70 games are covered! You can also look up how other games have rated each game at Shackreviews."
Not every game is touched on in-depth, but it's a great resource to narrow down the choices for that special gamer in your life.
Yes they do.
Although, I'm a bit disappointed that they don't have Angband.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Check out Game Rankings for some overviews of scores only. This can help weed out the trash on each system, and highlight some great buys.
I'm a Nintendo fan myself so here are some resoucres I have found helpful:
Planet Gamecube - Great news, reviews, and info
IGN Cube - lots of Insider-only material, but decent reviews.
N-Sider - They update very infrequently, but their reviews and editorials are insightful and some of the best I have seen.
My own GC picks (in no order):
Metroid Prime
Timesplitters 2
Super Mario Sunshine (you should have this already!)
Super Smash Brothers: Melee (same here)
Super Monkey Ball 2
Eternal Darkness (although it was released a while ago)
Pikmin (this one as well)
Animal Crossing
Sonic Mega Collection
But if you don't have one yet, buy a Gamboy Advance! It has many, many excellent titles, and is portable!
That means Mac users are less likely to waste money on games of the "quality" of Daitakana.
In other words, we don't need a guide. If the game is worth owning it's been ported, because PC users have already separated the wheat from the chaff for us. ^_^
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Advance Wars
Metroid Fusion
Golden Sun
Tactics Ogre
Eye of the Beholder - if you like throwback games, it's really similar to the old D&D Gold Box game.
The GBA is a great system, IF you can get enough light to it. On a plane, the little overhead lights work great for lighting up the screen. If you're willing to modify your GBA you can install the Afterburner backlight mod.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
I agree, go with the GameCube.
Now that the GameCube is really getting its base together over the last two months, it looks like it's going to be a great system. The controller is great and perfectly responsive, the sound is top-notch and the graphics..the graphics is really the debating point.
Some people think that the X-Box has better graphics than the GameCube. It certainly can push out more polygonss...but is it just me or do X-Box games lack a certain charm? Most of the ones I've seen have looked pretty..but not amazing. Lots of polygons but no light sourcing, reflections, etc. The type of little effects that make you go ooooohhhh. Mere polygons don't do that for me:(. The GameCube and its Flipper chip pump out the lighting effects in shades..and it makes a wonderful difference. Check out Mario Sunshine if you don't believe me. The reflective effects and shadows in it are so nice. Especially when you start getting some shines and the cloud cover starts leaving. It feels too natural.
If all three game consoles are maxed out..it's all about gameplay. Unfortunately, the X-Box is being left behind in that catagory. Splinter Cell looks good but that's about it.
And Diablo II doesn't run under OS-X
Actually it does. For Starcraft and Diablo II there are patches that upgrade the original MacOS version to MacOS X. Warcraft III shipped with MacOS X support.
I've been playing a strategic FPS game for the last couple of months.... America's Army. Unlike most FPS games, this one requires team strategy to win. And another cool factor: It's totally free! (You can pay to order the CD, but you can download the full game online). And roughly on a monthly basis they release new maps and new weapons and such. It's an amazingly fun game.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
Check out metacritic, it's similar to Game Rankings, and it has a really nice interface. In addition, it provides "meta-reviews" of other things like music, videos, etc.
-jc
is Mario Party 4. Yes, it recieved ho-hum reviews, but man is it a blast to play with friends (and family)... the kind of game anyone can play, because the controls are simple.
I went to a house party last night and the main entertainment among us mid-twenty year old's was Mario Party.
The "Domination" mini-game is a blast for rapid fire button mashers. I watched someone last night score 142!