If you look at the list, there are a LOT of composers there who aren't linked to Nintendo games. Yuzo Koshiro, of ActRaiser and Streets of Rage? Does that mean we can play as Axel Stone in the game?
Note that pretty much all the composers on the list have done a lot more work then just what is listed. Yuzo Koshiro could be in for the work he did on the 8-bit Sonic games, or Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. But most likely it's because, as Wikipedia says, "Yuzo Koshiro arranged music from New Super Mario Bros. for the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany on August 22 2007"
Also, Akihiro Honda is clearly in to do music for Snake, so it makes sense to think at least one or two others are there to do music from one of their games.
Most people who buy the game aren't going to recognize Chrono or any of the random early Final Fantasy characters and there's zero incentive for Nintendo to include them. You don't include a random early Final Fantasy character - you include someone like Black Mage. Iconic of the series and recognized by most video game fans. He's already shown up in the Square developed Mario Hoops. That would boost sales and increase interest.
I'd suggest getting a TI-83+ (or 84+), and then buying Zoom Algebra. (Disclaimer: I work for them.) The TI-83 is allowed on more tests than any other calculator, and Zoom Algebra makes it far easier to use and more powerful. Most notably, it can do algebra, and show steps for any problem it can solve. Doesn't change the low-res monochrome screen, but it uses it a lot better - it can show fraction, exponents, and square roots much like they look in a text book. Also, it doesn't use an asterisk for the multiplication symbol.
Have you ever played Katamari Damacy? There are a full thirteen buttons on the PS2 controller which Katamari Damacy ignores.
Next time you play, try doing the introductory level where it teaches you the controls, because Katamari doesn't even come close to ignoring all the buttons. Of the thirteen buttons, R3 and L3 are pretty fundamental to the game, as together they switch your direction 180 degrees. R1 and L1 are both used for looking around in different ways. Start pauses, as it does in every game. Select turns on and off vibration. The analog "button" is ignored by every PlayStation game, so Katamari gets no credit there. The face buttons are mostly ignored, but they do use X and Triangle in the level select portion and X and Circle in "Camera Prince" mode (according to the rules, anyway - I never noticed this playing the game). Square, R2 and L2 are also used to see comets, though that is extremely minor.
Not to mention that wiggling the joysticks back and forth to change, and charging farther the faster you manage to do it, is probably the least natural control I've ever experienced outside a fighting game.
The forced transition to 3D and the denial of 2D games is another instance. Still to this day the "sleeper" hits are always some form of 2D gameplay, yet no game maker wants to admit this and produce 2D games.
Katamari Damacy was not "some form of 2D gameplay".
I also really don't understand what is so special about game retailing that makes it special vs. existing underage restrictions on porn, booze, tobacco and R movies.
Those restrictions are quite different - porn, booze, and tobacco are restricted by law, but R movies are only restricted voluntarily by the movie industry. The video game industry is arguing games should be treated like movies, though it's self-enforcement policies are not yet working as well as the movie industry's.
Having a robot that called balls and strikes correctly instead of an ump would not reduce the "human factor" in baseball. It would merely make the pitcher who throws the ball the human determining the outcome, rather than the ump. How is that bad?
Sony has to learn that single party closed standards won't exist for long. We won't see an open standard, but at least a consortium of different markets offers multiple profit-oriented groups some debate.
They did that. From the FAQ at Blu-ray.com the board of directors of the Blu-Ray Disc Association is:
Apple Computer, Inc. Dell Inc. Hewlett Packard Company Hitachi, Ltd. LG Electronics Inc. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Pioneer Corporation Royal Philips Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Sharp Corporation Sony Corporation TDK Corporation Thomson Multimedia Twentieth Century Fox Walt Disney Pictures
Sony, of course, gained major kudos for the addition, showing up Nintendo, which never made its consoles backward compatible (though it reversed that trend with GBA).
Nintendo made the GameBoy Color backwards compatible long before the PS2.
Yes, please... make the primary function the ability to be verbally abused while playing games and the primary upgrade the fact they will be able to flip me off in video as well.
Another upgrade is the ability to set your "gamerzone" to Family, which is supposed to have a kid-friendly environment.
So I can spend $35 on a 4-year-old game for the PS, or $20 for a 1-year-old game for the PC.
Both the mentioned games are about a year old. Every console has a Greatest Hits program that sells hit games for $20 (in the U.S., this article is about the European version) about a year after they are first released.
No sources, this is slashdot, but check the prices of just about every 2004 FPS.
Unreal Tournament 2004 has hit $20, the cheapest I've seen Doom 3 is $30, and Half-Life 2 $40.
No no no. Having a need to blow into Nintendo 8bit systems to play any games, that's a flaw. These other problems are minor defects that can be fixed with a next generation PSP 2.0 or something.
The need to blow on NES games to get them to play was fixed with the top loading NES.
As I understand, console manufacturers lose some cash on console hardware sales, and try to recoup their losses with game sales and licensing. So wouldn't a free licensing strategy undercut Nintendo's main revenue stream?
Not really. Reportedly Nintendo makes a profit on it's consoles, unlike Sony and Microsoft. Also, Nintendo is the #2 game publishing company in the world, behind only EA; I don't think hardware is their main revenue stream.
Its never a good idea to buy them when they are first out as within 6 months normaly the price will half.
That's a huge exaggeration. The GameCube dropped to $100 on September 25th, 2003, the Xbox hit $150 on March 29th, 2004, and the PlayStation 2 waited till May 11th, 2004. So roughly 2 to 4 years, not within 6 months.
The best numbers I can find say Katamari Damacy has sold 275k, actually. Though in my opinion it sold because it's a great game, and not because it's innovative.
While various blockbuster sequels have sold an order of magnitude more, I'm willing to bet Katamari Damacy cost at least an order of magnitude less to make.
See a pattern? Sequels sell lots.
While there are many sequels that have sold lots, it's only a pattern because you only mention those. Many sequels have done poorly. Final Fantasy XI, for example, barely did better than Katamari Damacy. Many non-sequels have done far better than Katamari - the Sims is still the best-selling PC game of all time, and Myst was the prior game to hold that title.
And yet for all you may diss their games, Nintendo are the only company that ever remotely innovates with hardware.
Nope. The bongos you cite as a Nintendo innovation are obviously inspired by Konami's various musical instrument controllers and their associated Bemani games, Dance Dance Revolution being the best known.
Sony's EyeToy was also very clearly innovative. Essentially every game Nintendo had made that required a specific controller has failed, from the R.O.B. to the Super Scope - they gave up on them and produced none for the N64. The only reason they're trying again now is because Sony and Konami showed them it could succeed when done right.
I'm very happy with GreenCine. Much better selection than NetFlix when I joined (NetFlix may have improved by now) - particularly in anime and foreign films. They have every anime title I've ever looked for, while NetFlix had holes in most series I looked at, and I rented Hero and Shaolin Soccer from them before their official US releases.
They have nice forums and member lists, which is how I found out about Hero and Shaolin Soccer. Their customer service has been fine - I've got a quick, satisfactory reply anytime I had an issue.
However, their only distribution center is in San Francisco. Delivery time is only two days for me in Los Angeles, but I heard it's 3-5 days or so for people on the east coast. Interestingly, for me it's not two business days, just two days. They don't send or recieve on Sunday (obviously), but anything sent Saturday arrives Monday. (And, unlike NetFlix, they do ship on Saturdays.)
Re:Tivo box after TIVO exits
on
Can TiVo be Saved?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Not to sound pessimistic, but what happens to all the Tivo boxes if the subscription Tivo relies on goes away? Can they be converted to work with other schedulers? Would they at least maintain a basic 'dumb' disk-based VCR like capability?
Series 1 boxes stay as 'dumb' VCRs. Series 2 boxes, apparently not.
However, the TiVo is very hackable, and people (reportedly) know how to add guide data. Such hacks are unreleased now out of respect for TiVo, but if they go out of business they'll probably be available.
Slashdot Mirror
If you look at the list, there are a LOT of composers there who aren't linked to Nintendo games. Yuzo Koshiro, of ActRaiser and Streets of Rage? Does that mean we can play as Axel Stone in the game?
Note that pretty much all the composers on the list have done a lot more work then just what is listed. Yuzo Koshiro could be in for the work he did on the 8-bit Sonic games, or Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. But most likely it's because, as Wikipedia says, "Yuzo Koshiro arranged music from New Super Mario Bros. for the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany on August 22 2007"
Also, Akihiro Honda is clearly in to do music for Snake, so it makes sense to think at least one or two others are there to do music from one of their games.
Most people who buy the game aren't going to recognize Chrono or any of the random early Final Fantasy characters and there's zero incentive for Nintendo to include them.
You don't include a random early Final Fantasy character - you include someone like Black Mage. Iconic of the series and recognized by most video game fans. He's already shown up in the Square developed Mario Hoops. That would boost sales and increase interest.
I'd suggest getting a TI-83+ (or 84+), and then buying Zoom Algebra. (Disclaimer: I work for them.) The TI-83 is allowed on more tests than any other calculator, and Zoom Algebra makes it far easier to use and more powerful. Most notably, it can do algebra, and show steps for any problem it can solve. Doesn't change the low-res monochrome screen, but it uses it a lot better - it can show fraction, exponents, and square roots much like they look in a text book. Also, it doesn't use an asterisk for the multiplication symbol.
Microsoft isn't going to let Mass Effect or Jade Empire appear on Nintendo.
Since being bought by Microsoft, Rare has made more games for Nintendo handhelds than for Microsoft's consoles. Why would this be any different?
Only a surprise if you didn't notice them do almost exactly the same thing with the DS.
Have you ever played Katamari Damacy? There are a full thirteen buttons on the PS2 controller which Katamari Damacy ignores.
Next time you play, try doing the introductory level where it teaches you the controls, because Katamari doesn't even come close to ignoring all the buttons. Of the thirteen buttons, R3 and L3 are pretty fundamental to the game, as together they switch your direction 180 degrees. R1 and L1 are both used for looking around in different ways. Start pauses, as it does in every game. Select turns on and off vibration. The analog "button" is ignored by every PlayStation game, so Katamari gets no credit there. The face buttons are mostly ignored, but they do use X and Triangle in the level select portion and X and Circle in "Camera Prince" mode (according to the rules, anyway - I never noticed this playing the game). Square, R2 and L2 are also used to see comets, though that is extremely minor.
Not to mention that wiggling the joysticks back and forth to change, and charging farther the faster you manage to do it, is probably the least natural control I've ever experienced outside a fighting game.
I never said that *all* 3D is bad
No, but you did say "'sleeper' hits are always some form of 2D gameplay". Katamari Damacy proves the statement wrong.
The forced transition to 3D and the denial of 2D games is another instance. Still to this day the "sleeper" hits are always some form of 2D gameplay, yet no game maker wants to admit this and produce 2D games.
Katamari Damacy was not "some form of 2D gameplay".
I also really don't understand what is so special about game retailing that makes it special vs. existing underage restrictions on porn, booze, tobacco and R movies.
Those restrictions are quite different - porn, booze, and tobacco are restricted by law, but R movies are only restricted voluntarily by the movie industry. The video game industry is arguing games should be treated like movies, though it's self-enforcement policies are not yet working as well as the movie industry's.
Having a robot that called balls and strikes correctly instead of an ump would not reduce the "human factor" in baseball. It would merely make the pitcher who throws the ball the human determining the outcome, rather than the ump. How is that bad?
Sony has to learn that single party closed standards won't exist for long. We won't see an open standard, but at least a consortium of different markets offers multiple profit-oriented groups some debate.
They did that. From the FAQ at Blu-ray.com the board of directors of the Blu-Ray Disc Association is:
Apple Computer, Inc.
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard Company
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
TDK Corporation
Thomson Multimedia
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney Pictures
From the article:
Sony, of course, gained major kudos for the addition, showing up Nintendo, which never made its consoles backward compatible (though it reversed that trend with GBA).
Nintendo made the GameBoy Color backwards compatible long before the PS2.
The Gamecube had one outstanding game (Rogue Leader) at launch, and then THREE MONTHS OF NOTHING until Super Smash Bros Melee
Since when is December 3rd THREE MONTHS after November 18th? Check your facts before you spout off.
And, its parent "The Sims" was the highest selling game ever
No, it was the highest selling computer game ever.
Yes, please... make the primary function the ability to be verbally abused while playing games and the primary upgrade the fact they will be able to flip me off in video as well.
Another upgrade is the ability to set your "gamerzone" to Family, which is supposed to have a kid-friendly environment.
So I can spend $35 on a 4-year-old game for the PS, or $20 for a 1-year-old game for the PC.
Both the mentioned games are about a year old. Every console has a Greatest Hits program that sells hit games for $20 (in the U.S., this article is about the European version) about a year after they are first released.
No sources, this is slashdot, but check the prices of just about every 2004 FPS.
Unreal Tournament 2004 has hit $20, the cheapest I've seen Doom 3 is $30, and Half-Life 2 $40.
No no no. Having a need to blow into Nintendo 8bit systems to play any games, that's a flaw. These other problems are minor defects that can be fixed with a next generation PSP 2.0 or something.
The need to blow on NES games to get them to play was fixed with the top loading NES.
As I understand, console manufacturers lose some cash on console hardware sales, and try to recoup their losses with game sales and licensing. So wouldn't a free licensing strategy undercut Nintendo's main revenue stream?
Not really. Reportedly Nintendo makes a profit on it's consoles, unlike Sony and Microsoft. Also, Nintendo is the #2 game publishing company in the world, behind only EA; I don't think hardware is their main revenue stream.
Its never a good idea to buy them when they are first out as within 6 months normaly the price will half.
That's a huge exaggeration. The GameCube dropped to $100 on September 25th, 2003, the Xbox hit $150 on March 29th, 2004, and the PlayStation 2 waited till May 11th, 2004. So roughly 2 to 4 years, not within 6 months.
You and maybe 50k other people bought that game.
The best numbers I can find say Katamari Damacy has sold 275k, actually. Though in my opinion it sold because it's a great game, and not because it's innovative.
While various blockbuster sequels have sold an order of magnitude more, I'm willing to bet Katamari Damacy cost at least an order of magnitude less to make.
See a pattern? Sequels sell lots.
While there are many sequels that have sold lots, it's only a pattern because you only mention those. Many sequels have done poorly. Final Fantasy XI, for example, barely did better than Katamari Damacy. Many non-sequels have done far better than Katamari - the Sims is still the best-selling PC game of all time, and Myst was the prior game to hold that title.
And yet for all you may diss their games, Nintendo are the only company that ever remotely innovates with hardware.
Nope. The bongos you cite as a Nintendo innovation are obviously inspired by Konami's various musical instrument controllers and their associated Bemani games, Dance Dance Revolution being the best known.
Sony's EyeToy was also very clearly innovative. Essentially every game Nintendo had made that required a specific controller has failed, from the R.O.B. to the Super Scope - they gave up on them and produced none for the N64. The only reason they're trying again now is because Sony and Konami showed them it could succeed when done right.
I'm very happy with GreenCine. Much better selection than NetFlix when I joined (NetFlix may have improved by now) - particularly in anime and foreign films. They have every anime title I've ever looked for, while NetFlix had holes in most series I looked at, and I rented Hero and Shaolin Soccer from them before their official US releases.
They have nice forums and member lists, which is how I found out about Hero and Shaolin Soccer. Their customer service has been fine - I've got a quick, satisfactory reply anytime I had an issue.
However, their only distribution center is in San Francisco. Delivery time is only two days for me in Los Angeles, but I heard it's 3-5 days or so for people on the east coast. Interestingly, for me it's not two business days, just two days. They don't send or recieve on Sunday (obviously), but anything sent Saturday arrives Monday. (And, unlike NetFlix, they do ship on Saturdays.)
Not to sound pessimistic, but what happens to all the Tivo boxes if the subscription Tivo relies on goes away? Can they be converted to work with other schedulers? Would they at least maintain a basic 'dumb' disk-based VCR like capability?
Series 1 boxes stay as 'dumb' VCRs. Series 2 boxes, apparently not.
However, the TiVo is very hackable, and people (reportedly) know how to add guide data. Such hacks are unreleased now out of respect for TiVo, but if they go out of business they'll probably be available.
Weren't they the company that offered to pay for someone's tombstone if you place a refrence to shadowman?
That was Acclaim. They're bankrupt.
We get a Mario 64 port. OK, decent - but like 99% of the world has played it.
It's not just a port. It's got new levels and four distinct playable characters.