Thanks to the DMCA production of this device would be patently illegal in the US
Not really; you're not cracking encryption or otherwise circumventing tech measures limiting access to copyrighted material; you're just copying it. There's no access-limiting technology there to begin with.
They're the ones standing to make money from the success of these anti-piracy measures; they should be the ones risking money. As a consumer, anti-piracy measures offer me no incentive to buy the product; if the price is higher but with no benefit for the consumer, sales will be lost.
P.S. Anti piracy measures? What/how? I can see them in the next generation of hardware - imagine every sector read from the DVD signed with Nintendo's 4096 bit private key, and the signature checked with every sector read (the console only knows the public key of course) - how can you run arbitrary code on that platform? But how can publishers add anti-piracy technology to the current generation of console software?
The reasons? Among others, more complex games and anti-piracy measures built into the media
Anti-piracy measures should increase revenue, not decrease it; otherwise, why use them at all? If anything, the prices should come down as a result of less piracy (I mean, isn't piracy forcing companies to raise prices? That's what I've always been told).
As for the increased complexity of games, shouldn't it - at least in part - be offset by code reuse? Developing a similar game or a sequel should be much easier than the initial title.
Remember how a few years ago every game had full motion video? Now that you can get decent results with real-time rendering, we don't need all these real-life actors, just voice talent.
Might be an urban legend but I seem to remember a code where you had to hold down all the directional and action buttons, the two top edge buttons and the trigger then move the little joystick to the left with your nose
That sounds highly unlikely - I'm not even sure the N64 hardware can report opposite directions on the d-pad held down at the same time.
If you want players to have access to these features, put them in a special, accessible menu! Normal "cheat" codes are bad enough, but when they try to make people watch the movie ( more than once?) to play the game that's just annoying. What if I'm a Hulk fan (I'm not) who for some reason can't see the movie at a theater? (maybe I have to take care of a disabled family member etc). What practical purpose does limiting access to these features have?
If you're going to talk about completing games without cheating etc, then saved games could contain a flag indicating whether a player's ever used any of the cheats.
Remember, some kids/people are not internet savvy enough to find the codes by themselves (yes, I know your 5 year old nephew is smarter than you, but that doesn't apply to 100% of kids, and some don't have internet access) and for them access to these features could mean the difference between being able to complete the game and being unable to complete it. Didn't you ever get stuck on a nasty end of level boss or whatever? Don't want to admit it? Fine, how about somebody you know?
These codes are starting to make me angry. And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
An article about licensing music in games and not a single mention of GTA?
Never mind that, how about Rob Zombie / Dragula? Remember 2-3 years ago when that track appeared in every other game?
In Soviet Japan, game soundtracks are big business, just like movie soundtrack - the best known example is the Final Fantasy series (dozens and dozens of CDs!).
My personal favorite: Xenogears/Xenosaga.
Check out, say, GameMusic.com for the original Japanese overpriced releases or find the China/HK knockoffs in any number of places.
Warning: Extremely geeky. You do NOT want your [potential] girlfriend to catch you with these CDs.
your PC list covers a much bigger time period than the others (in what I assume was an effort to pad your post and make your point) - anyone shopping for games today (in a CompUSA for example) wouldn't find half the games in that list.
Probably more like 80%. A pet peeve of mine is that classic games from,say, 5-10 years ago are nowhere to be found (except a certain auction site) even if they have no problem running on today's hardware. Want to buy an old game? Sorry, we don't have a way to sell it to you, just find a copy floating around on the net.
So, which are the bestest SW titles? I only have the Gamecube launch title and a dreamcast racing game with N64 graphics.
Oh, and did anybody ever see SW chess? What does it play like? What are the rules?
or are there waaay too many SW games to keep track of?
Playstation:
Star Wars Demolition Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace, The Star Wars: Dark Forces Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi Star Wars: Rebel Assault II
PS2: Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Star Wars: Galaxies Star Wars: Jango Fett Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter Star Wars: Racer Revenge Star Wars: Starfighter Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Gamecube: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Star Wars: Rebel Strike Star Wars: Rogue Leader Star Wars: The Clone Wars
PC: Star Trek: Dominion Wars Star Wars Chess Star Wars Episode I Insider's Guide Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace, The Star Wars Episode I: Racer Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Star Wars: Behind the Magic Star Wars: Dark Forces Star Wars: Droid Works Star Wars: Force Commander Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Clone Campaigns Star Wars: Galaxies Star Wars: Gungan Frontier Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars: Pit Droids Star Wars: Rebel Assault Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire Star Wars: Rebellion Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Star Wars: Starfighter Star Wars: TIE Fighter Star Wars: X-Wing Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter Star Wars: Yoda Stories
That's just the latest games; there are SW games for consoles as far back as the Atari 2600, and the original Arcade game in 1983.
How am I even supposed to figure out which ones are worth buying?
This is more ridiculous than the street fighter games.
Actually, the complete NES romset is over a gig uncompressed.
Delete all those pirate multi-carts that contain copies of other titles in different combinations. If you're still over 512MB delete unofficial graphics hacks (like nekkid super mario bros). Do you really translations to German? Do you need the partial translations if the full translation is available? Etc etc. On the other hand, you probably didn't count hobbyist RPG translations typically not included in the goodtools list and available only as patches.
It would be interesting to see a unit like this come with some simple card reader (similar to the GBA eCard reader) so that new games could be written for the platform. I mean, at $20 people will buy it. Downloads would be printed and scanned in.
What would be really kew is classic consoles with a compactflash reader. Copy every game ever made to an 8 MB card (if you can still find them), then do something clever with page switching or whatever to read and run the relevant title, probably after displaying a menu of available titles.
OK, a NES would probably need around 512MB for every title ever made; a Sega Master System probably more like 64/128MB. Less if you don't care for alternate versions of the same title.
Maybe you can somehow connect Genesis/SNES to an Archos MP3 player/USB drive that can easily contain the 3-4 GB or so of (compressed) data required for each.
I'm sure 100s of./ers would buy them for whatever console you can make them
Intellivision Lives has the entire history of the console, official CDs with the roms and bundled PC/Mac emulators, and several games available for free download. The site is maintained by some of the original Intellivision developers.
I visited n-gage.com, but couldn't find the pages with the game screenshots.
Could you help me find them? Thank you.
I am very excited about the names of the forthcoming titles. As many as two or three of them I could not recognize from my gamestop GBA section. I am sure they will be excellent, and even the games that do exist for the gameboy will be much better for the n-gage.
P.S. Last week I saw a really hot chick and I think I might have had a chance with her, but she saw my gameboy SP and ran away. If possible, can you send me an early copy of the n-gage or even a mockup so that I can score the next time I see her?
Dreamcast: Le mans 24 hours (you could actually play it in real time!), San Francisco Rush 2049, Wacky Races (cartoon fun). Some people swear by metropolis street racer or tokyo xtreme racer.
Note: vehicular mayhem games (crazy taxi) and xtreme games (dave mirra) don't count as racing games.
Biggest racing disaster of all time: Spirit of speed 1937 (dreamcast). It seems the cars of 1937 always kept spinning out of control with no provocation from the driver.
Or were they the ones that went "diggity-diggity - hello Dr. Theopolis"?
You mean "BIDI-BIDI-BIDI <obvious comment>, Buck!".
By the 25th century, medical knowledge will have advanced so much that humans will no longer have speech impediments. OTOH, comp sci advances will make robots so humanlike they'll start developing them.
How does a bug like that get out of QA without being caught? Should the vendor be sued? Can a patch be issued? Is Twiki running windows 2491?
Now, between this sequel and catching the other half of that Buck Rogers 2-parter I missed when it first aired things are looking up in the esoteric 80's sci-fi TV department. Now I just need Automan, Manimal, and The Phoenix, and I'm all set.
I simply can't afford to spend enough to learn all the moves in a fighting game, or where to sit to avoid the bosses bullets in the latest shoot 'em up... especially when I can play games that are just as good at home.
With fighting game the idea seems to be buying the console version, playing it at home and learning the moves and techniques, then going to the arcade and playing it against other people. Most fighter fans only think of the 1-player mode as a training mission anyway.
Leave it to Nintendo to take a potentially perfect system and give it a near fatal flaw.
Look, if you really need it, there's at least one company manufacturing headphones with an integrated convertor thingy so all you need is the SP and those headphones.
Yes, it's stupid and annoying, and they should have caught it, but it's a small price to pay for actually being able to see something when playing the castlevania games.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks to the DMCA production of this device would be patently illegal in the US
Not really; you're not cracking encryption or otherwise circumventing tech measures limiting access to copyrighted material; you're just copying it. There's no access-limiting technology there to begin with.
Why would anyone even want a GB let alone play GB games on a home computer??? Now that is lame.
I don't know... because some people get some sense of enjoyment out of playing games?
Why would anyone ever want to play GB games on a console? Nintendo's releasing a gamecube peripheral to let you do just that in a few days.
They're the ones standing to make money from the success of these anti-piracy measures; they should be the ones risking money. As a consumer, anti-piracy measures offer me no incentive to buy the product; if the price is higher but with no benefit for the consumer, sales will be lost.
P.S. Anti piracy measures? What/how? I can see them in the next generation of hardware - imagine every sector read from the DVD signed with Nintendo's 4096 bit private key, and the signature checked with every sector read (the console only knows the public key of course) - how can you run arbitrary code on that platform? But how can publishers add anti-piracy technology to the current generation of console software?
The reasons? Among others, more complex games and anti-piracy measures built into the media
Anti-piracy measures should increase revenue, not decrease it; otherwise, why use them at all? If anything, the prices should come down as a result of less piracy (I mean, isn't piracy forcing companies to raise prices? That's what I've always been told).
As for the increased complexity of games, shouldn't it - at least in part - be offset by code reuse? Developing a similar game or a sequel should be much easier than the initial title.
Remember how a few years ago every game had full motion video? Now that you can get decent results with real-time rendering, we don't need all these real-life actors, just voice talent.
Might be an urban legend but I seem to remember a code where you had to hold down all the directional and action buttons, the two top edge buttons and the trigger then move the little joystick to the left with your nose
That sounds highly unlikely - I'm not even sure the N64 hardware can report opposite directions on the d-pad held down at the same time.
You don't NEED to use these codes. AFAIK they're just add-ons and specials, like getting the gray hulk. They're not required to beat the game
GMMSKIN - Invincibility
FLSHWND - Regenerator
GRNCHTR - Unlimited Continues
HLTHDSE - Double Hulk HP
MMMYHLP - Half Enemies' HP
TRUBLVR - Level Select
You don't NEED to use these codes. Some people may.
The Hulk's real identity is Bruce Banner.
Now you don't need to see the movie at all.
Damn right I don't! I hate those annoying banners!
If you want players to have access to these features, put them in a special, accessible menu! Normal "cheat" codes are bad enough, but when they try to make people watch the movie ( more than once?) to play the game that's just annoying. What if I'm a Hulk fan (I'm not) who for some reason can't see the movie at a theater? (maybe I have to take care of a disabled family member etc). What practical purpose does limiting access to these features have?
If you're going to talk about completing games without cheating etc, then saved games could contain a flag indicating whether a player's ever used any of the cheats.
Remember, some kids/people are not internet savvy enough to find the codes by themselves (yes, I know your 5 year old nephew is smarter than you, but that doesn't apply to 100% of kids, and some don't have internet access) and for them access to these features could mean the difference between being able to complete the game and being unable to complete it. Didn't you ever get stuck on a nasty end of level boss or whatever? Don't want to admit it? Fine, how about somebody you know?
These codes are starting to make me angry. And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
An article about licensing music in games and not a single mention of GTA?
Never mind that, how about Rob Zombie / Dragula? Remember 2-3 years ago when that track appeared in every other game?
In Soviet Japan, game soundtracks are big business, just like movie soundtrack - the best known example is the Final Fantasy series (dozens and dozens of CDs!).
My personal favorite: Xenogears/Xenosaga.
Check out, say, GameMusic.com for the original Japanese overpriced releases or find the China/HK knockoffs in any number of places.
Warning: Extremely geeky. You do NOT want your [potential] girlfriend to catch you with these CDs.
Included a star TREK game by mistake. I really should remember to only post while in the depressive stage.
your PC list covers a much bigger time period than the others (in what I assume was an effort to pad your post and make your point) - anyone shopping for games today (in a CompUSA for example) wouldn't find half the games in that list.
Probably more like 80%.
A pet peeve of mine is that classic games from,say, 5-10 years ago are nowhere to be found (except a certain auction site) even if they have no problem running on today's hardware. Want to buy an old game? Sorry, we don't have a way to sell it to you, just find a copy floating around on the net.
So, which are the bestest SW titles? I only have the Gamecube launch title and a dreamcast racing game with N64 graphics.
Oh, and did anybody ever see SW chess? What does it play like? What are the rules?
or are there waaay too many SW games to keep track of?
Playstation:
Star Wars Demolition
Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles
Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace, The
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi
Star Wars: Rebel Assault II
PS2:
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Star Wars: Galaxies
Star Wars: Jango Fett
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
Star Wars: Racer Revenge
Star Wars: Starfighter
Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Gamecube:
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Star Wars: Rebel Strike
Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
PC:
Star Trek: Dominion Wars
Star Wars Chess
Star Wars Episode I Insider's Guide
Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo
Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace, The
Star Wars Episode I: Racer
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Behind the Magic
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Droid Works
Star Wars: Force Commander
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Clone Campaigns
Star Wars: Galaxies
Star Wars: Gungan Frontier
Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II
Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Pit Droids
Star Wars: Rebel Assault
Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire
Star Wars: Rebellion
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Star Wars: Starfighter
Star Wars: TIE Fighter
Star Wars: X-Wing
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
Star Wars: Yoda Stories
That's just the latest games; there are SW games for consoles as far back as the Atari 2600, and the original Arcade game in 1983.
How am I even supposed to figure out which ones are worth buying?
This is more ridiculous than the street fighter games.
Actually, the complete NES romset is over a gig uncompressed.
Delete all those pirate multi-carts that contain copies of other titles in different combinations. If you're still over 512MB delete unofficial graphics hacks (like nekkid super mario bros). Do you really translations to German? Do you need the partial translations if the full translation is available? Etc etc. On the other hand, you probably didn't count hobbyist RPG translations typically not included in the goodtools list and available only as patches.
It would be interesting to see a unit like this come with some simple card reader (similar to the GBA eCard reader) so that new games could be written for the platform. I mean, at $20 people will buy it. Downloads would be printed and scanned in.
./ers would buy them for whatever console you can make them
What would be really kew is classic consoles with a compactflash reader. Copy every game ever made to an 8 MB card (if you can still find them), then do something clever with page switching or whatever to read and run the relevant title, probably after displaying a menu of available titles.
OK, a NES would probably need around 512MB for every title ever made; a Sega Master System probably more like 64/128MB. Less if you don't care for alternate versions of the same title.
Maybe you can somehow connect Genesis/SNES to an Archos MP3 player/USB drive that can easily contain the 3-4 GB or so of (compressed) data required for each.
I'm sure 100s of
Intellivision Lives has the entire history of the console, official CDs with the roms and bundled PC/Mac emulators, and several games available for free download. The site is maintained by some of the original Intellivision developers.
I visited n-gage.com, but couldn't find the pages with the game screenshots.
Could you help me find them? Thank you.
I am very excited about the names of the forthcoming titles. As many as two or three of them I could not recognize from my gamestop GBA section. I am sure they will be excellent, and even the games that do exist for the gameboy will be much better for the n-gage.
P.S. Last week I saw a really hot chick and I think I might have had a chance with her, but she saw my gameboy SP and ran away. If possible, can you send me an early copy of the n-gage or even a mockup so that I can score the next time I see her?
SNES / GBA: Mario Kart, F-zero
Genesis: Outrun
Saturn: Daaaaaaaytooooooooona!
Playstation: Gran Turismo, wipeout, CTR
Dreamcast:
Le mans 24 hours (you could actually play it in real time!), San Francisco Rush 2049, Wacky Races (cartoon fun). Some people swear by metropolis street racer or tokyo xtreme racer.
Note: vehicular mayhem games (crazy taxi) and xtreme games (dave mirra) don't count as racing games.
Biggest racing disaster of all time: Spirit of speed 1937 (dreamcast). It seems the cars of 1937 always kept spinning out of control with no provocation from the driver.
Overrated? How can the only moderation done to parent be "overrated" if it's never been rated before? "offtopic" perhaps, but "overrated"?
Feature request for slash: the first moderation to a comment can't be "overrated" or "underrated".
Well, obviously it's "underrated" now. "funny" is also an acceptable answer. Help me rebuild my karma rating or I'll never be able to get a loan.
Oh, macros, one "s". Gotcha.
Or were they the ones that went "diggity-diggity - hello Dr. Theopolis"?
You mean "BIDI-BIDI-BIDI <obvious comment>, Buck!".
By the 25th century, medical knowledge will have advanced so much that humans will no longer have speech impediments. OTOH, comp sci advances will make robots so humanlike they'll start developing them.
How does a bug like that get out of QA without being caught? Should the vendor be sued? Can a patch be issued? Is Twiki running windows 2491?
I thought they'd call it "W"..
Either that or V++.
Now, between this sequel and catching the other half of that Buck Rogers 2-parter I missed when it first aired things are looking up in the esoteric 80's sci-fi TV department. Now I just need Automan, Manimal, and The Phoenix, and I'm all set.
the move will make consumers play pirated games instead of imported ones.
I don't think so. Have gamecube titles been pirated yet?
If Nintendo doesn't want us as customers, Sony and Microsoft might.
I simply can't afford to spend enough to learn all the moves in a fighting game, or where to sit to avoid the bosses bullets in the latest shoot 'em up... especially when I can play games that are just as good at home.
With fighting game the idea seems to be buying the console version, playing it at home and learning the moves and techniques, then going to the arcade and playing it against other people. Most fighter fans only think of the 1-player mode as a training mission anyway.
Leave it to Nintendo to take a potentially perfect system and give it a near fatal flaw.
Look, if you really need it, there's at least one company manufacturing headphones with an integrated convertor thingy so all you need is the SP and those headphones.
Yes, it's stupid and annoying, and they should have caught it, but it's a small price to pay for actually being able to see something when playing the castlevania games.