This is similar to the reason that Miyamoto gave on using "toon shading" for Wind Waker. Giving Link the ability to visually emote wonder, pain, anger, frustration, happiness, and resolve really does pull the player into the game.
There was a scene early in the game where Link sets out with the pirates. As he was waving goodbye to his grandmother, I got choked up with tears. I actually felt like I was Link, waving goodbye to my grandmother. This is not only an example of a good video game, it's an example of good storytelling.
Contrast this with a failed example of emotions; In Final Fantasy VII, when Aeris gets killed, I was simply annoyed because I lost my best healer and not because a friend was now gone. There was just little emotional investment in the game.
It's good that developers want to inject more emotion into their games, but they need to do it correctly.
Every current console game has warnings in the manual for seizures and most have warnings for repetitve stress injuries. I can see blood clots being added to the list.
Microsoft also recommends some healthy gaming methods that should be followed.
I don't expect to see a surgeon general's warning on game boxes anytime soon.
Yes, but they mix it with orange juice. They are evil after all.
The logical thing for our paranoid society to do is:
1. Refuse to sell toothpaste or orange juice to minors. They never have any good intentions anyway.
2. Monitor anyone who buys toothpaste and orange juice at the same time. It wouldn't hurt to have a large database of people who just happened to buy one as they may buy the other later.
3. Impose large fines and jail time to those suspected of mixing these two products. We must set an example.
One handheld gaming system that should have been listed was the Game Boy Light. It was basically a Game Boy Pocket with a built in backlight. It failed because Nintendo released it around the same time as they released the Game Boy Color. The GBL was not capable of playing the newer "Color" games and gamers were forced to chose between being able to play the newer games or being able to easily see their older games.
Nintendo wisely decided to not release the GBL outside of Japan. Unfortunately, this blunder may have made them think that the public wasn't willing to spend money on a backlit portable; something that they held fast on until their release of the Gameboy Advance SP.
Offtopic... when the Gameboy and the Lynx were released, I chose the Lynx camp and still have three of the systems: A Lynx, a Lynx II, and my self-modified Turbo Lynx which is overclocked to 1.5 times normal speed. (playing Stun Runner on it is a blast) Personally, I've always believed that the Gameboy prevailed simply due to the Tetris license and Nintendo's foresight to include it as a pack-in. The Lynx had an early lineup that was wonderful (Blue Lightning, Chip's Challenge, Gates of Zendocon) and put the Gameboy's games to shame but it did not have Tetris. The rest is history.
After reading all four lists, I wondered why a few were left out. At least Panzer Dragoon Saga made the list but they did leave some important few out.
NiGHTS (Sega) - Ask anyone if this game should be remade and they'll either say "yes" or shrug and say they haven't heard of it. For being a "flying on rails" game that was timed, it gave you a very relaxing sense of freedom. Come on Sonic Team, release this as part of the new Sega Ages PS2 lineup.
Akumajo Dracula: Chi no Rondo (Konami) - This great game, better known as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is probably the most popular game on eBay. It's follow up, the famous Symphony of the Night, is a fan favorite and both games could use a combined re-issue. Why not call it Castlevania: The Richter Belmont Saga.
Blast Corps (Rare) - To me, Rare has always been a "me too" company releasing some very average games that followed proven formulas. There have been two Rare gems though: Conker's Bad Fur Day and Blast Corps. Conker is getting an Xbox update, why not just do them both? Why Blast Corps never succeeded in the mainstream market, I'll never know. It has megatons of destruction as players pilot vehicles around to destroy obstacles in the way of an out-of-control nuclear missle carrier or it will explode. You can even hop out and get into another vehicle much like GTA. Doesn't this just scream remake? Please Rare, just do me a favor and don't concentrate too much on that cursed dump turck.
M.U.L.E. (EA) - Already mentioned above, why doesn't someone take this simple concept and run with it?
Super Metroid (Nintendo) - With the popularity of Metroid recently, why hasn't this been given it's due re-issue?
Next are a few of my picks. Your mileage may vary. Some of these are sleeper hits due to being released at the end of a platforms life or on an already dead platform.
"Shining in the Darkness" and "Shining the Holy Ark" (Sega, Camelot Software Planning) and "Legend of Oasis" (Ancient)
"Ristar" (Sega, Sonic Team) and "Gaurdian Heroes" (Treasure)
"Radiant Silvergun" (Treasure), "Lifeforce" (aka Salamander) (Konami), and "The Guardian Legend" (Compile)
"Snatcher" and "Policenauts" (Konami) - These have actually been updated a few times, no one outside of Japan gets to see them.
the remake of Pirates! is currently under development by Firaxis Games. It should see a release later this year.
You might want to contact Toys for Bob for an update for Archon as well as the (mentioned below) Mail Order Monsters as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III may be able to help there. They were the ones who released their Star Control II to us as the somewhat updated Ur Quan Masters.
Nintendo has broadband (Ethernet) adapters for sale here at their online store. They don't have them listed as backordered like some of their other items so they should be in stock.
For anyone who is thinking that the GC is useless running Linux without a hard drive, I would like to point out the SD flash RAM adapter and Mini DVD-R discs. While these aren't necessarily supported by the project at the moment, it's not too big of a stretch to imagine that they may be.
It's important for developers to remember that challenge does not equal fun. I personally think that difficulty levels should default to the easiest level possible and gamers looking for a challenge could manually set them higher.
That's not to say that ADD couldn't be implemented properly. One of the best examples of this I have seen is in "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racconus" for PS2. If a player died multiple times on a given level, they would be given a lucky horseshoe that would allow them an extra hit before dying. It made the game much more enjoyable for my casual gaming friends.
On the flip side, "Mario Kart 64" (N64) had the worst ADD as enemies would always be a few mistakes behind you. It didn't matter if you performed average or godlike, a few slip ups and you would be overtaken. I referred to this as "cheating opponents" and will not even think about buying MK:Double Dash until I know that this "feature" isn't in the game.
If Auto-Dynamic Difficulty can prevent frustration, then it is good. If it causes frustration, then it should be left out.
FYI, the PSP will not be backwards compatible. It will not have a DC/DVD drive to read current Playstation media. Sorry.
Nintendo has also said that this will not be a successor for the Gameboy. Hence, it will probably also not be compatible with existing GB(A) games. I would refrain from calling the DS the GBA2.
I would count on it being able to interface with the Gamecube and possibly the GBA. I expect the DS to use a similar control layout as the Gamecube with dual analog sticks, but that's just being speculative, if this is the case, it could be used more as a perepheral to the GC which happens to play it's own games much like Sega's VMU.
I'm starting to warm up to this DS idea personally. Can you imagine a tank simulation where one screen shows a driver's view and the other screen shows the gunner's? How about an adventure game where the map is displayed on screen at all times? Consider the uses for any sports game.
It could also be seen as a major tactical step in thwarting Sony's PSP before it gets off the ground. I think that Nintendo has a pretty good shot if they play it right.
You should realize that the GCN discs are 1.5GB (that's gigabytes) while the specs you have quoted from the Magic Box for the new DS clearly say 1Gbit which would equate to 128MB.
Also, when it comes to media capacity, I can understand with discs as it would be determined by how precise the reader is. With solid state, however, it's more of a "how much addressing space" they allow for in the design. To me, saying 128MB, or in Nintendo's case 1Gb, is arbitrary.
Since they are using flash RAM for some, if not all, of the media, 128MB worth will run them at least $10 with prices more akin to $25 - $30. This would be just for the media and would not include development or other production costs. I am really not looking for another N64 priced product line with games being $60.
I had been hoping for either a portable Gamecube or possibly some sort of VR/holographic wonder thingy that Satoru Iwata was teasing us with. This is just confusing... maybe once I see an actual product, I'll understand.
Heck, I thought they were going to use the 8cm discs in thier newer products and for it to be a "de facto standard". Looks like they are sticking with solid state.
My first thoughts on the dual screens is so that the device can be closed with the screens touching, thus being protected. However, there may also be other reasons... observe:
* Playing Battleship the way it was meant to be played. One screen has your ships and the other has where you fired.
* Flip the screen around and use it for two player games. The unit may even have a second controller for this purpose.
* Hook up to special headgear that would position device right in front of eyes to recreate Virtual Boy experience. (my favorite)
* Plug two Pokemon cartridges (1 screen for each game) into device to trade Pokemon back and forth. It is all about the Pokemon after all.
These are just a few unique gaming concepts I can think of at the moment. Anyone else care to speculate?
Back to the Future for the NES gets an honorable mention for worst game. In an era where movie licensed games sucked, LJN was renown for their crappy license games. BttF had a 7 second audio clip that played over and over until you turned the game off. Torturous for the player and anyone else in the room.
But the winner(s) would have to be Link: Faces of Evil and it's sister game Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. The CDi had more than it's share of failures *cough* Alien Gate *cough*, but aquiring the rights to a well known and respected franchise and releasing this upon the world deserves a stupidity award. Gameplay is rudimentory and very choppy, and when your reward for completing objectives is another bouncy cartoon that makes you want to jab pointy things into your eyes, you will understand why this earns the title.
There have been quite a few games that haven't been bad, per se, they've just been disappointing. These games are what really makes me sad. Notable titles include:
Sonic Adventure/Heroes series - You would think that by the third game that problems like the camera being the biggest enemy in the game and players die by being "clipped" through the solid floor would be fixed. Nope.
Kingdom Hearts - Yet another license snafu. It has wonderful graphics, cinemas, music, and humor. Everything that an Epic Disney/Final Fantasy game should have but it falls flat on playability. Gameplay consists of pressing the X button lots of times while battling the evil camera system. Platforming elements are boiled down to a chore. Computer controlled allies try to waste as much magic/items as possible. It's simply not fun, and with so many things going for the game, it's a real shame.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Igarashi saying that Castlevania should not be in 3D is fine but why does he have to prove his point by making this forgettable game? Someone should tell all of those developers working on "Devil May Cry" clones that DMC wasn't really that great. C:LoI has players haphazardly fighting recurring monsters in rooms that, while finely detailed, tend to look all the same. To quote from Zork: "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".
These games and more aren't really terrible, they just could be better if more thought/time was put into them. As Shigeru Miyamoto said: "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever".
After reading this, I went and watched some of my old Stunts replays. Thanks. It really made my day.
Cars nudging into each other, exploding, and then being sent flying in random directions. Speed glitching in the F1 car, crashing into a small wall, and being sent high into the air for half a minute. Doing ten or so loops (on a single loop piece) and finally driving off upside down.
How could you not like a game with so many humorous bugs?
I've found the Adaptoid to be a very useful product. It's simply a Nintendo 64 controller to USB adapter, but it is the best of any console controller USB adapter out there.
There are drivers for it for Windows at it's original manufaturer's site but they are only needed if you wish to use functions such as memory pak backup and force feedback. It is a standard HID compliant device and will work under Linux. It should also work with a USB enabled Mac, but I have not tested this personally.
If you are using it as a standard HID joystick, it's simple to setup. It will be detected as a 14(!) button analog joystick. The joystick functions can be swapped between the D-pad and the analog stick by holding L+R+Z and pressing up 3 times on whatever control you wish to use as default. The other control will become buttons 11-14. This function is performed by the adapter and requires no special drivers.
The unique setup of the N64 controller is great for many classic games and even allows easy playing of dual controller games like Robotron by using the analog stick with your right hand. With all of the extra buttons, you can map insert coin, start, service, and whatever else you like to the controller if you're just too lazy to reach for the keyboard. Finally, it's 6 face buttons (A, B, and the four C buttons make for an excellent Street Fighter style setup. I guess I should also add that most N64 emulators natively support it.
I strongly recommend it... and no, I have nothing to do with the sales of it or anything... I'm just a satisfied customer.
I'm not so sure about that. I was able to buy an Archos Jukebox with a 6GB Toshiba drive for about $260. Are you telling me that wither the 5GB drives cost more than 6GB, or that Archos was taking a $140 loss on every sale?
Face it, the iPod was higher priced like all of Apple's products. You may get what you pay for, but it's still more expensive.
American cars don't sell well here because they (historically) are huge, have bad mileage, and break down a lot.
The Xbox is huge, and from my personal experience breaks down a lot. As far as mileage goes, my Gamecube travels with me to my casual gaming friends because it is smaller with a handle, and it has bettermultiplayergames.
I checked on Gamefaqs for Japanese release dates and found nearly all of my favorite Xbox games have been released in Japan. Unfortunately, most of them didn't sell well in the US either.
You may be referring to Gamespot's Xbox game of the year Star Wars: KOTOR which hasn't been released there, but this topic is about top selling games of 2003 and both of Gamespot's GC and PS2 games of the year came out in Japan in 2002.
Wario Ware is a fast paced collection of super simple games for the GBA (and soon GC). It's not only original, it can be played for a few minutes at a time, great for a portable system like the GBA. It should also be noted that it contains the wonderful new Pyoro games as unlockables. These are some of the best homages to classic arcade games I've seen recently.
Wario World is a less than steller platform game for the GC. It's the one made by Treasure but that doesn't mean that it's good; it's actually quite mediocre. I love Treasure for games like "Mischief Makers", "Radiant Silvergun", and "Gaurdian Heroes" but this was a letdown.
Slashdot Mirror
The machine also will have about 256 megabytes of dynamic random access memory. But Microsoft will upgrade that to 512 gigabytes if Sony puts in more.
Let's say when this thing launches, RAM is $30 for a GB in quantities. That sounds fair enough. The RAM in each console would cost MS $15,360.
I don't even want to think of how much heat it would give off.
Yes, we all know it's a typo, but it's a typo in a rumor which is even more fun.
This is similar to the reason that Miyamoto gave on using "toon shading" for Wind Waker. Giving Link the ability to visually emote wonder, pain, anger, frustration, happiness, and resolve really does pull the player into the game.
There was a scene early in the game where Link sets out with the pirates. As he was waving goodbye to his grandmother, I got choked up with tears. I actually felt like I was Link, waving goodbye to my grandmother. This is not only an example of a good video game, it's an example of good storytelling.
Contrast this with a failed example of emotions; In Final Fantasy VII, when Aeris gets killed, I was simply annoyed because I lost my best healer and not because a friend was now gone. There was just little emotional investment in the game.
It's good that developers want to inject more emotion into their games, but they need to do it correctly.
Every current console game has warnings in the manual for seizures and most have warnings for repetitve stress injuries. I can see blood clots being added to the list.
Microsoft also recommends some healthy gaming methods that should be followed.
I don't expect to see a surgeon general's warning on game boxes anytime soon.
Evil spammers probably also use toothpaste
Yes, but they mix it with orange juice. They are evil after all.
The logical thing for our paranoid society to do is:
1. Refuse to sell toothpaste or orange juice to minors. They never have any good intentions anyway.
2. Monitor anyone who buys toothpaste and orange juice at the same time. It wouldn't hurt to have a large database of people who just happened to buy one as they may buy the other later.
3. Impose large fines and jail time to those suspected of mixing these two products. We must set an example.
One handheld gaming system that should have been listed was the Game Boy Light. It was basically a Game Boy Pocket with a built in backlight. It failed because Nintendo released it around the same time as they released the Game Boy Color. The GBL was not capable of playing the newer "Color" games and gamers were forced to chose between being able to play the newer games or being able to easily see their older games.
Nintendo wisely decided to not release the GBL outside of Japan. Unfortunately, this blunder may have made them think that the public wasn't willing to spend money on a backlit portable; something that they held fast on until their release of the Gameboy Advance SP.
Offtopic... when the Gameboy and the Lynx were released, I chose the Lynx camp and still have three of the systems: A Lynx, a Lynx II, and my self-modified Turbo Lynx which is overclocked to 1.5 times normal speed. (playing Stun Runner on it is a blast) Personally, I've always believed that the Gameboy prevailed simply due to the Tetris license and Nintendo's foresight to include it as a pack-in. The Lynx had an early lineup that was wonderful (Blue Lightning, Chip's Challenge, Gates of Zendocon) and put the Gameboy's games to shame but it did not have Tetris. The rest is history.
After reading all four lists, I wondered why a few were left out. At least Panzer Dragoon Saga made the list but they did leave some important few out.
NiGHTS (Sega) - Ask anyone if this game should be remade and they'll either say "yes" or shrug and say they haven't heard of it. For being a "flying on rails" game that was timed, it gave you a very relaxing sense of freedom. Come on Sonic Team, release this as part of the new Sega Ages PS2 lineup.
Akumajo Dracula: Chi no Rondo (Konami) - This great game, better known as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is probably the most popular game on eBay. It's follow up, the famous Symphony of the Night, is a fan favorite and both games could use a combined re-issue. Why not call it Castlevania: The Richter Belmont Saga.
Blast Corps (Rare) - To me, Rare has always been a "me too" company releasing some very average games that followed proven formulas. There have been two Rare gems though: Conker's Bad Fur Day and Blast Corps. Conker is getting an Xbox update, why not just do them both? Why Blast Corps never succeeded in the mainstream market, I'll never know. It has megatons of destruction as players pilot vehicles around to destroy obstacles in the way of an out-of-control nuclear missle carrier or it will explode. You can even hop out and get into another vehicle much like GTA. Doesn't this just scream remake? Please Rare, just do me a favor and don't concentrate too much on that cursed dump turck.
M.U.L.E. (EA) - Already mentioned above, why doesn't someone take this simple concept and run with it?
Super Metroid (Nintendo) - With the popularity of Metroid recently, why hasn't this been given it's due re-issue?
Next are a few of my picks. Your mileage may vary. Some of these are sleeper hits due to being released at the end of a platforms life or on an already dead platform.
"Shining in the Darkness" and "Shining the Holy Ark" (Sega, Camelot Software Planning) and "Legend of Oasis" (Ancient)
"Ristar" (Sega, Sonic Team) and "Gaurdian Heroes" (Treasure)
"Radiant Silvergun" (Treasure), "Lifeforce" (aka Salamander) (Konami), and "The Guardian Legend" (Compile)
"Snatcher" and "Policenauts" (Konami) - These have actually been updated a few times, no one outside of Japan gets to see them.
I'd like to see a Mars Patrol game where you guide rovers through troublesome landings and flash RAM and software glitches to take pictures of the (possible) life on mars ala Pokemon Snap.
The game could degenerate into shooting martians and hopping over holes pretty quick and it would still be good.
the remake of Pirates! is currently under development by Firaxis Games. It should see a release later this year.
You might want to contact Toys for Bob for an update for Archon as well as the (mentioned below) Mail Order Monsters as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III may be able to help there. They were the ones who released their Star Control II to us as the somewhat updated Ur Quan Masters.
Nintendo has broadband (Ethernet) adapters for sale here at their online store. They don't have them listed as backordered like some of their other items so they should be in stock.
For anyone who is thinking that the GC is useless running Linux without a hard drive, I would like to point out the SD flash RAM adapter and Mini DVD-R discs. While these aren't necessarily supported by the project at the moment, it's not too big of a stretch to imagine that they may be.
It's important for developers to remember that challenge does not equal fun. I personally think that difficulty levels should default to the easiest level possible and gamers looking for a challenge could manually set them higher.
That's not to say that ADD couldn't be implemented properly. One of the best examples of this I have seen is in "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racconus" for PS2. If a player died multiple times on a given level, they would be given a lucky horseshoe that would allow them an extra hit before dying. It made the game much more enjoyable for my casual gaming friends.
On the flip side, "Mario Kart 64" (N64) had the worst ADD as enemies would always be a few mistakes behind you. It didn't matter if you performed average or godlike, a few slip ups and you would be overtaken. I referred to this as "cheating opponents" and will not even think about buying MK:Double Dash until I know that this "feature" isn't in the game.
If Auto-Dynamic Difficulty can prevent frustration, then it is good. If it causes frustration, then it should be left out.
FYI, the PSP will not be backwards compatible. It will not have a DC/DVD drive to read current Playstation media. Sorry.
Nintendo has also said that this will not be a successor for the Gameboy. Hence, it will probably also not be compatible with existing GB(A) games. I would refrain from calling the DS the GBA2.
I would count on it being able to interface with the Gamecube and possibly the GBA. I expect the DS to use a similar control layout as the Gamecube with dual analog sticks, but that's just being speculative, if this is the case, it could be used more as a perepheral to the GC which happens to play it's own games much like Sega's VMU.
I'm starting to warm up to this DS idea personally. Can you imagine a tank simulation where one screen shows a driver's view and the other screen shows the gunner's? How about an adventure game where the map is displayed on screen at all times? Consider the uses for any sports game.
It could also be seen as a major tactical step in thwarting Sony's PSP before it gets off the ground. I think that Nintendo has a pretty good shot if they play it right.
You should realize that the GCN discs are 1.5GB (that's gigabytes) while the specs you have quoted from the Magic Box for the new DS clearly say 1Gbit which would equate to 128MB.
Also, when it comes to media capacity, I can understand with discs as it would be determined by how precise the reader is. With solid state, however, it's more of a "how much addressing space" they allow for in the design. To me, saying 128MB, or in Nintendo's case 1Gb, is arbitrary.
Since they are using flash RAM for some, if not all, of the media, 128MB worth will run them at least $10 with prices more akin to $25 - $30. This would be just for the media and would not include development or other production costs. I am really not looking for another N64 priced product line with games being $60.
...like odd memory card replacements? CompactFlash adapter? IDE adapter? SCSI RAID adapter?...
Or maybe even an SD Card adapter.
I had been hoping for either a portable Gamecube or possibly some sort of VR/holographic wonder thingy that Satoru Iwata was teasing us with. This is just confusing... maybe once I see an actual product, I'll understand.
Heck, I thought they were going to use the 8cm discs in thier newer products and for it to be a "de facto standard". Looks like they are sticking with solid state.
My first thoughts on the dual screens is so that the device can be closed with the screens touching, thus being protected. However, there may also be other reasons... observe:
* Playing Battleship the way it was meant to be played. One screen has your ships and the other has where you fired.
* Flip the screen around and use it for two player games. The unit may even have a second controller for this purpose.
* Hook up to special headgear that would position device right in front of eyes to recreate Virtual Boy experience. (my favorite)
* Plug two Pokemon cartridges (1 screen for each game) into device to trade Pokemon back and forth. It is all about the Pokemon after all.
These are just a few unique gaming concepts I can think of at the moment. Anyone else care to speculate?
Wow, I forgot about Hydlide. It's truly a bad game.
For those not in the know, Hydlide's combat consisted of running into enemies to kill them, but if you touched an enemy, you would get killed.
Read that line again and try to wrap your mind around it. Gameplay is honestly like that.
What's sad is that that type of haphazard combat has been done successfully with Falcom's "Ys Book I and II".
Back to the Future for the NES gets an honorable mention for worst game. In an era where movie licensed games sucked, LJN was renown for their crappy license games. BttF had a 7 second audio clip that played over and over until you turned the game off. Torturous for the player and anyone else in the room.
But the winner(s) would have to be Link: Faces of Evil and it's sister game Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. The CDi had more than it's share of failures *cough* Alien Gate *cough*, but aquiring the rights to a well known and respected franchise and releasing this upon the world deserves a stupidity award. Gameplay is rudimentory and very choppy, and when your reward for completing objectives is another bouncy cartoon that makes you want to jab pointy things into your eyes, you will understand why this earns the title.
There have been quite a few games that haven't been bad, per se, they've just been disappointing. These games are what really makes me sad. Notable titles include:
Sonic Adventure/Heroes series - You would think that by the third game that problems like the camera being the biggest enemy in the game and players die by being "clipped" through the solid floor would be fixed. Nope.
Kingdom Hearts - Yet another license snafu. It has wonderful graphics, cinemas, music, and humor. Everything that an Epic Disney/Final Fantasy game should have but it falls flat on playability. Gameplay consists of pressing the X button lots of times while battling the evil camera system. Platforming elements are boiled down to a chore. Computer controlled allies try to waste as much magic/items as possible. It's simply not fun, and with so many things going for the game, it's a real shame.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Igarashi saying that Castlevania should not be in 3D is fine but why does he have to prove his point by making this forgettable game? Someone should tell all of those developers working on "Devil May Cry" clones that DMC wasn't really that great. C:LoI has players haphazardly fighting recurring monsters in rooms that, while finely detailed, tend to look all the same. To quote from Zork: "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".
These games and more aren't really terrible, they just could be better if more thought/time was put into them. As Shigeru Miyamoto said: "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever".
After reading this, I went and watched some of my old Stunts replays. Thanks. It really made my day.
Cars nudging into each other, exploding, and then being sent flying in random directions. Speed glitching in the F1 car, crashing into a small wall, and being sent high into the air for half a minute. Doing ten or so loops (on a single loop piece) and finally driving off upside down.
How could you not like a game with so many humorous bugs?
Everytime I go into a Radio Shack there's always a woman in there. Unfortunately it's because I went in there.
I've found the Adaptoid to be a very useful product. It's simply a Nintendo 64 controller to USB adapter, but it is the best of any console controller USB adapter out there.
There are drivers for it for Windows at it's original manufaturer's site but they are only needed if you wish to use functions such as memory pak backup and force feedback. It is a standard HID compliant device and will work under Linux. It should also work with a USB enabled Mac, but I have not tested this personally.
If you are using it as a standard HID joystick, it's simple to setup. It will be detected as a 14(!) button analog joystick. The joystick functions can be swapped between the D-pad and the analog stick by holding L+R+Z and pressing up 3 times on whatever control you wish to use as default. The other control will become buttons 11-14. This function is performed by the adapter and requires no special drivers.
The unique setup of the N64 controller is great for many classic games and even allows easy playing of dual controller games like Robotron by using the analog stick with your right hand. With all of the extra buttons, you can map insert coin, start, service, and whatever else you like to the controller if you're just too lazy to reach for the keyboard. Finally, it's 6 face buttons (A, B, and the four C buttons make for an excellent Street Fighter style setup. I guess I should also add that most N64 emulators natively support it.
I strongly recommend it... and no, I have nothing to do with the sales of it or anything... I'm just a satisfied customer.
...and here I thought all these messages were from people using MS Outlook with voice recognition turned on.
Mmmmm.... parrot.
It looks like MS Office has found a way to spread it's /.
gibberish by posting as an AC to
I'm surprised I hadn't noticed earlier.
I'm not so sure about that. I was able to buy an Archos Jukebox with a 6GB Toshiba drive for about $260. Are you telling me that wither the 5GB drives cost more than 6GB, or that Archos was taking a $140 loss on every sale?
Face it, the iPod was higher priced like all of Apple's products. You may get what you pay for, but it's still more expensive.
American cars don't sell well here because they (historically) are huge, have bad mileage, and break down a lot.
The Xbox is huge, and from my personal experience breaks down a lot. As far as mileage goes, my Gamecube travels with me to my casual gaming friends because it is smaller with a handle, and it has better multi player games.
I checked on Gamefaqs for Japanese release dates and found nearly all of my favorite Xbox games have been released in Japan. Unfortunately, most of them didn't sell well in the US either.
You may be referring to Gamespot's Xbox game of the year Star Wars: KOTOR which hasn't been released there, but this topic is about top selling games of 2003 and both of Gamespot's GC and PS2 games of the year came out in Japan in 2002.
Wario Ware is a fast paced collection of super simple games for the GBA (and soon GC). It's not only original, it can be played for a few minutes at a time, great for a portable system like the GBA. It should also be noted that it contains the wonderful new Pyoro games as unlockables. These are some of the best homages to classic arcade games I've seen recently.
Wario World is a less than steller platform game for the GC. It's the one made by Treasure but that doesn't mean that it's good; it's actually quite mediocre. I love Treasure for games like "Mischief Makers", "Radiant Silvergun", and "Gaurdian Heroes" but this was a letdown.