Considering Sony and MS gauge their success based on revenue generated from hype, they have to release a new console every three years just to keep the attention of the public.
Except, of course, it's been more than three years since the release of the PS2. The only difference in this console cycle from previous ones is that Nintendo and Microsoft may launch their next consoles a bit early (4 years instead of 5) to go from being behind Sony last time to being ahead this time. The PS3 will probably be 6 years behind the PS2.
Considering Nintendo managed to make the SNES last for what? Nine years?
Five years. Pretty much the standard. NES was released (in North America) in 1985, then the SNES in 1991, the N64 in 1996, and the GameCube in 2001.
It's not stated outright, but that sounds like they do record all that information
The TiVo has been hacked, and the information it sends analyzed. According to the hackers no such information is ever sent to TiVo. Or such was the case some time ago when I last heard about it anyway.
Of course only MS knows what is really going to be in the x-box2. If they are really removing the HD I hope for their suckers^H^H^H^H^H^H^users they got something to replace its function.
Wilder speculation: what if they replace it with Xbox Live? Send any save data across the network and store it on their machines. Obviously it'd be a lot slower, but it should be quick enough generally. No more caching stuff on the hard drive or downloading patches, and it'd make a broadband connection and Live needed instead of an optional extra, but it possibly could work. I think.
More recently, interactive fiction (a fancy phrase for text adventure) has evolved to produce some amazingly emotional games as of late.
Not just of late, though perhaps the new ones are better. I've seen Infocom's old Planetfall cited many times in similar discussions as having a very emotional scene.
Well, SSBM isn't your traditional fighting game (which is part of its appeal). But even switching between two gets boring. There were probably a dozen fighters for the SNES, and at least half a dozen for the 64.
There's at least half a dozen for the GC as well: SSBM, Soul Calibur II, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and X-Men: Next Dimenision.
Which means that if I want to play a different fighting game, well, I can't.
While I get your point, I think that's a terrible example. The GameCube has Soul Calibur 2 and Super Smash Brothers Melee, probably the two most popular fighting games for any current console.
"Namco is also another third party that Nintendo should try working with more. If Nintendo springs the cash, Namco could possibly give the Cube an exclusive Soul Calibur."
Or maybe they should do what they did with Sega on F-Zero GX, and get Namco to develop a game for an already established Nintendo brand. Like, for example, Star Fox. And, while there at it, they should announce it at E3. But not this year's E3, because they'll be talking about the DS. Do it at last year's E3. That'll get the fanboys excited.
only to find them ruined by classic hardware restrictions?
Actually, I believe someone demonstrated that the Atari 2600 hardware was capable of running an perfect port of the arcade version of Pac-Man by writing one for it. The problem was with the original programmers, not the hardware.
Oh, forgot to add, SJG got $250,000 in damages from the government for its ill-treatment. $50,000 compensation (subject to taxation as income) and $200,000 for the lawyers. Who really won in this case?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation. They were the lawyers in said case, which was their first. Hardly a bad result.
Does that matter? As far as I can tell from the article, it's a replacement for the corresponding features on your controller. So I'd assume it acts like a standard PS2 (or whatever) controller, just bigger and funnier looking, and as such doesn't need specially designed games.
It doesn't *need* them, it just doesn't have a chance of actually being fun without them, IMO.
Dance Dance Revolution is designed around the exercise - you can't just add it to any old game and expect it to be as fun as it was with the controller it was designed for.
Nintendo had this, it was called the power pad. It was a flop. What has changed in today's world that will make it successful?
The power pad is nearly identical to the Dance Dance Revolution pads, which are quite succesful. The difference is not the hardware, it's the software.
This product will almost certainly flop, because it doesn't have any games designed for it, so there almost certaintly won't be any games that are more fun using it. As well as being much too expensive.
That's a division of a third-party developer, not a third-party developer. Lots of companies don't make all their games for the GameCube, and that's all this is.
Atari
Nope, they just dropped GameCube from two titles, Driv3r and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Acclaim (not creating any new titles, but as you point out titles already under production are not being cancelled)
No, that's what was originally reported. The later clarification was that was false, all they are doing is not making every game for every console, instead evaluating each title individually. Worms 3D was announced *today* for the GameCube as well as the others.
and likely Midway
Any reason? Didn't think so.
not a comprehensive list, and not a very long one either
Nor a very accurate one.
losing a handful of big name publishers means fewer titles, and fewer easy royalty profits.
They haven't lost a single big name publisher. In fact, they've gained at least Square-Enix.
third party developers (who've been announcing they're no longer making GC games in no small number).
In very, very small number, actually. Eidos has done so. I'm pretty sure that's it. Acclaim was reportedly dropping support, but later clarified they were not and a quick glance at their website shows they still make GameCube games.
and you should know which games are the most anticipated: doom 3, half-life 2, halo 2 (three fps, and three sequels also), final-fantasy XII (no comments), etc.,
With reason. Gamers pretty much know what a sequel will be like, and almost everyone who likes a game will anticipate its sequel. There's generally no reason to anticipate an innovative game.
the greatest Nintendo games for the cube are sequels (Mario, Zelda, Kart and Melee are based on tried-and-true formulas.
You're unfairly ignoring Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, and Kirby Air Ride. Also, the greatest games for a Nintendo (or any other) console being sequels is nothing new - Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES, A Link to the Past for the SNES, Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time for the N64, Final Fantasy VII for the PS, Final Fantasy X and GTA3 for the PS2, and Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast. Halo on the Xbox wasn't, but that's hardly a shining example of innovation.
It's pretty simple - you can almost always make a better game when you have experience with that type of game.
My guess about the new Nintendo device? a little dev-kit for the gamecube, in which you can modify your games, create levels/characters, program a little variation into multiplayer-games like you can do in a PC, but made real easy, so everybody can do it.
Nintendo has been taking their hand at this for long (remember DD device for N64, and that F-Zero 64DD had a level editor? I also remember some "creator" games announced, but never released for the N64, which allowed the player to create 3D models for use with other games). This also could cut in development, although I'm not sure if this business model would work in consoles.
Intriguing guess. I've thought they should have something like this after both Animal Crossing and F-Zero GX had the ability to make small custom drawings, and how much neater it would have been if they had used the same drawing utility and you could trade between games. A new verion of the Game Boy camera could also be included, I know they were plans at one point to let picture from that be imported into games.
It'd probably make sense to release some classic games with new level/model/sprite/music editing features.
Another announced but never (AFAIK) released product that might work with this is the SD-Digicard adapter (over 2 year old preview at IGN). Ideally there'd also be an adapter for the GBA.
Anybody else noting a trend in almost everyone's responses?
THEY'RE ALL SEQUELS! They all end in a freakin' number. Looks like '04 is shaping up to be the year of rehashing and revamping. =/
That's not an indication of what games will be released, or even what games will be well-liked, it's an indication of what games people are looking forward to. Generally, most people who like a game will look forward to the sequel. The only reason to look forward to a non-sequel is if it's a developer you like, or they have a lot of hype.
Tired of the lack of decent domestic films, I've recently filled my Nexflix queue with foreign films.
You might prefer GreenCine to Netflix. They claim to have a wider selection of non-mainstream stuff than Netflix. I haven't looked at the foreign films, but their anime selection is pretty much perfect - I have yet to look for an anime title and not find it.
Okay, the terrible paint jobs are a matter of opinion, and while I disagree, I can see why others wouldn't.
But easily broken? A guy ran over Tordek with his car and only the base broke. You have to work at it to break them.
As for the fact that the miniatures are mostly bent, you can fix that by putting them in hot water. Microwave a cup of water for about a minute or two, put the miniature in, watch it unbend, then pull it out and dry it off. The bending is still annoying, but it's not that bad.
But now every single god-damned franchise out there has a game that uses roughly the same system, and comes with the same prepainted miniatures on the little click bases.
Star Wars is not on the "little click bases". WizKids makes all the clicky-base games. Star Wars is being made by Wizards of the Coast, and like their recently released D&D miniatures game has a plain base.
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone remember the game Sonic and Knuckles? I'd love to play that game again (mine was stolen ):
It's included in Sonic Mega Collection for the GameCube. Playing as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and 3 is included as easily unlockable bonuses.
Considering Sony and MS gauge their success based on revenue generated from hype, they have to release a new console every three years just to keep the attention of the public.
Except, of course, it's been more than three years since the release of the PS2. The only difference in this console cycle from previous ones is that Nintendo and Microsoft may launch their next consoles a bit early (4 years instead of 5) to go from being behind Sony last time to being ahead this time. The PS3 will probably be 6 years behind the PS2.
Considering Nintendo managed to make the SNES last for what? Nine years?
Five years. Pretty much the standard. NES was released (in North America) in 1985, then the SNES in 1991, the N64 in 1996, and the GameCube in 2001.
NES debuted in North America in what, 1984? Followed by the SNES in 1993 I think? 9 years or so between the two.
On the contrary, it was 6 years. 1985 for the NES, 1991 for the SNES.
It's not stated outright, but that sounds like they do record all that information
The TiVo has been hacked, and the information it sends analyzed. According to the hackers no such information is ever sent to TiVo. Or such was the case some time ago when I last heard about it anyway.
Of course only MS knows what is really going to be in the x-box2. If they are really removing the HD I hope for their suckers^H^H^H^H^H^H^users they got something to replace its function.
Wilder speculation: what if they replace it with Xbox Live? Send any save data across the network and store it on their machines. Obviously it'd be a lot slower, but it should be quick enough generally. No more caching stuff on the hard drive or downloading patches, and it'd make a broadband connection and Live needed instead of an optional extra, but it possibly could work. I think.
More recently, interactive fiction (a fancy phrase for text adventure) has evolved to produce some amazingly emotional games as of late.
Not just of late, though perhaps the new ones are better. I've seen Infocom's old Planetfall cited many times in similar discussions as having a very emotional scene.
Yeah so I can get an XBox for 99, the good games are still 50$....
Halo is $30, actually.
The article is about exclusive games FROM NINTENDO.
No, it's not. It specifically mentions F-Zero GX from Sega and says they should try and get more exclusive games from them and Namco.
Well, SSBM isn't your traditional fighting game (which is part of its appeal). But even switching between two gets boring. There were probably a dozen fighters for the SNES, and at least half a dozen for the 64.
There's at least half a dozen for the GC as well: SSBM, Soul Calibur II, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and X-Men: Next Dimenision.
Which means that if I want to play a different fighting game, well, I can't.
While I get your point, I think that's a terrible example. The GameCube has Soul Calibur 2 and Super Smash Brothers Melee, probably the two most popular fighting games for any current console.
From the article:
"Namco is also another third party that Nintendo should try working with more. If Nintendo springs the cash, Namco could possibly give the Cube an exclusive Soul Calibur."
Or maybe they should do what they did with Sega on F-Zero GX, and get Namco to develop a game for an already established Nintendo brand. Like, for example, Star Fox. And, while there at it, they should announce it at E3. But not this year's E3, because they'll be talking about the DS. Do it at last year's E3. That'll get the fanboys excited.
Unless they totally forget about it, of course.
only to find them ruined by classic hardware restrictions?
Actually, I believe someone demonstrated that the Atari 2600 hardware was capable of running an perfect port of the arcade version of Pac-Man by writing one for it. The problem was with the original programmers, not the hardware.
If it's designed so two people can play at once, one screen (& processor) per player, then it's cool hardware.
Otherwise, I'll wait for the cool software.
Oh, forgot to add, SJG got $250,000 in damages from the government for its ill-treatment. $50,000 compensation (subject to taxation as income) and $200,000 for the lawyers. Who really won in this case?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation. They were the lawyers in said case, which was their first. Hardly a bad result.
Does that matter? As far as I can tell from the article, it's a replacement for the corresponding features on your controller. So I'd assume it acts like a standard PS2 (or whatever) controller, just bigger and funnier looking, and as such doesn't need specially designed games.
It doesn't *need* them, it just doesn't have a chance of actually being fun without them, IMO.
Dance Dance Revolution is designed around the exercise - you can't just add it to any old game and expect it to be as fun as it was with the controller it was designed for.
Nintendo had this, it was called the power pad. It was a flop. What has changed in today's world that will make it successful?
The power pad is nearly identical to the Dance Dance Revolution pads, which are quite succesful. The difference is not the hardware, it's the software.
This product will almost certainly flop, because it doesn't have any games designed for it, so there almost certaintly won't be any games that are more fun using it. As well as being much too expensive.
Eidos
Yes.
Sega Sports
That's a division of a third-party developer, not a third-party developer. Lots of companies don't make all their games for the GameCube, and that's all this is.
Atari
Nope, they just dropped GameCube from two titles, Driv3r and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Acclaim (not creating any new titles, but as you point out titles already under production are not being cancelled)
No, that's what was originally reported. The later clarification was that was false, all they are doing is not making every game for every console, instead evaluating each title individually. Worms 3D was announced *today* for the GameCube as well as the others.
and likely Midway
Any reason? Didn't think so.
not a comprehensive list, and not a very long one either
Nor a very accurate one.
losing a handful of big name publishers means fewer titles, and fewer easy royalty profits.
They haven't lost a single big name publisher. In fact, they've gained at least Square-Enix.
third party developers (who've been announcing they're no longer making GC games in no small number).
In very, very small number, actually. Eidos has done so. I'm pretty sure that's it. Acclaim was reportedly dropping support, but later clarified they were not and a quick glance at their website shows they still make GameCube games.
and you should know which games are the most anticipated: doom 3, half-life 2, halo 2 (three fps, and three sequels also), final-fantasy XII (no comments), etc.,
With reason. Gamers pretty much know what a sequel will be like, and almost everyone who likes a game will anticipate its sequel. There's generally no reason to anticipate an innovative game.
the greatest Nintendo games for the cube are sequels (Mario, Zelda, Kart and Melee are based on tried-and-true formulas.
You're unfairly ignoring Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, and Kirby Air Ride. Also, the greatest games for a Nintendo (or any other) console being sequels is nothing new - Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES, A Link to the Past for the SNES, Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time for the N64, Final Fantasy VII for the PS, Final Fantasy X and GTA3 for the PS2, and Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast. Halo on the Xbox wasn't, but that's hardly a shining example of innovation.
It's pretty simple - you can almost always make a better game when you have experience with that type of game.
My guess about the new Nintendo device? a little dev-kit for the gamecube, in which you can modify your games, create levels/characters, program a little variation into multiplayer-games like you can do in a PC, but made real easy, so everybody can do it.
Nintendo has been taking their hand at this for long (remember DD device for N64, and that F-Zero 64DD had a level editor? I also remember some "creator" games announced, but never released for the N64, which allowed the player to create 3D models for use with other games). This also could cut in development, although I'm not sure if this business model would work in consoles.
Intriguing guess. I've thought they should have something like this after both Animal Crossing and F-Zero GX had the ability to make small custom drawings, and how much neater it would have been if they had used the same drawing utility and you could trade between games. A new verion of the Game Boy camera could also be included, I know they were plans at one point to let picture from that be imported into games.
It'd probably make sense to release some classic games with new level/model/sprite/music editing features.
Another announced but never (AFAIK) released product that might work with this is the SD-Digicard adapter (over 2 year old preview at IGN).
Ideally there'd also be an adapter for the GBA.
Anybody else noting a trend in almost everyone's responses?
THEY'RE ALL SEQUELS! They all end in a freakin' number. Looks like '04 is shaping up to be the year of rehashing and revamping. =/
That's not an indication of what games will be released, or even what games will be well-liked, it's an indication of what games people are looking forward to. Generally, most people who like a game will look forward to the sequel. The only reason to look forward to a non-sequel is if it's a developer you like, or they have a lot of hype.
Tired of the lack of decent domestic films, I've recently filled my Nexflix queue with foreign films.
You might prefer GreenCine to Netflix. They claim to have a wider selection of non-mainstream stuff than Netflix. I haven't looked at the foreign films, but their anime selection is pretty much perfect - I have yet to look for an anime title and not find it.
Personally, I did it because I wanted to be able to burn DVD's of what I watch/record.
I did too, so I paid $70 for a network card for my TiVo so I can copy shows to my computer.
There's a good page about the game at http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf.html. Has the rules and links to other pages about the game.
Okay, the terrible paint jobs are a matter of opinion, and while I disagree, I can see why others wouldn't.
But easily broken? A guy ran over Tordek with his car and only the base broke. You have to work at it to break them.
As for the fact that the miniatures are mostly bent, you can fix that by putting them in hot water. Microwave a cup of water for about a minute or two, put the miniature in, watch it unbend, then pull it out and dry it off. The bending is still annoying, but it's not that bad.
But now every single god-damned franchise out there has a game that uses roughly the same system, and comes with the same prepainted miniatures on the little click bases.
Star Wars is not on the "little click bases". WizKids makes all the clicky-base games. Star Wars is being made by Wizards of the Coast, and like their recently released D&D miniatures game has a plain base.