I love the original NiGHTS game and its spin-off Christmas NiGHTS. I will regularly hook up the Saturn and give it a good play through because it is that good of a game. Years ago I would've loved to have a sequel/remake on a newer system.
However Sega has done such a bang up job at destroying practically every one of their franchises that I have very little hope for this game. I would love it if I'm wrong but I'm going to be reading many reviews before I even attampt to play this game let alone buy it. Sega has broken my heart too many times recently.
For those Blizzards fans smart enough to stay away from WoW, I'll let you know that they also appear in the Uldaman dungeon as dwarves.
Baelog, Olaf, and Eric the Swift are all in the game. If you are Alliance you can talk to them and if you are Horde you can kill them and loot interesting things like Olaf's shield that gives you the ability to slow your fall.
Someone got the idea that 2D fighters (along with 2D everything else) was unpopular. Everyone started clamoring to make their own 3D fighting game with mixed results. Some good, some not so much. 2D fighters also suffered a period of "Madden"ing where a new game would come out once a year with the big upgrade being the roster. Fortunately a roster change was a much bigger deal because it added whole new playstyles to the game, but it didn't help the public image.
Nothing really destroyed the Street Fighter franchise. Capcom could, and will, release a new SF game and the fans will buy it. The problem is garnering new fans to expand the franchise. I commend them for their (3D) Street Fighter EX which while not being that great of a game, kept true to the playstyle of the 2D games.
Mortal Kombat did have a "story driven side scroller" game that tanked pretty bad. It was a complete departure to the style of play of the other games. MK also made the jump from 2D to 3D prematurely and unfortunately lost many things that fans liked about the series such as the digitized characters and the sheer manicness of the gameplay. The game evolved over the years to be better but it never received as much attention that it did when it was 2D. The franchise isn't dead, it's just not as popular as before.
2D fighters aren't dead. There are still Guilty Gear and a few others. One could argue that Super Smash Bros. is the current leader in the 2D fighting arena despite the fact that everything is 3D and Brawl is only the third game in the series.
Please note that this new story driven mode will be in addition to the standard fighting modes. For people that liked the other two games, this will be just another diversion that you can try once you're bored of kicking your friends' off of the arena.
Quick review for those thinking about buying it from someone who feels that they got their $50 worth out of the game.
Red Steel is mediocre. The graphics are so 5 years ago, the story is silly, the control can be somewhat flaky at times. The enemies' AI is terrible and they shout the most odd things sometimes. But there is some fun to be had. It's a good "first attempt" game and reminds me of Codename: Eagle.
The limited multiplayer has the potential for quite a bit of fun too. Honestly, a friend and I played it for over four hours straight and were still having a good time.
Apple represented it as running "True OS X". They even mentioned it supporting Cocoa. Why the hell would you talk about the programming interface if you don't intend to give your developers access?
For some strange reason the Sega Dreamcast popped into my mind with its Windows CE sticker right on the front. Since only licensed developers were allowed to make software for the system, it really didn't matter what the API was. Basically it was about as much useful marketing speak as "blast processing".
As I understand it, Apple wants to treat the iPhone (and iPod for that matter) in the same way that video game manufacturers treat their consoles. They are closed systems which run signed binaries which only a few elite people are allowed to make. You'll probably see a few third party apps pop up for the iPhone in less than a year, but it will be very tightly controlled.
Wouldn't this be another example of turnabout == fair play? I imagine that in order to beat the RIAA at their own lawyering game, you have to overcharge and then settle on a less, but still significantly high, price.
Just like the RIAA was trying to "charge" people $150,000 per violation which usually gets whittled down to $5,000 per, these lawyers were likely knowingly overcharging.
Here is a thought, in order to prevent the RIAA from continuing to use the copyright violations as a very lucrative revenue stream, only grant them actual damages plus reasonable court charges.
This shouldn't be an issue if you're doing things the "correct" way according to Apple. The keyboard should have a USB hub built-in and include two ports. One USB port is to be used by the mouse and the other is free for temporary USB usage such as flash drives.
I believe this has been the case since back when USB was made standard on the original gumdrop iMacs.
OSX is more reliable, easier to support...and run IE and a couple of other specialty apps alongside my OSX apps
A system that is running OS X and Windows apps is more difficult to secure and administer than a system just running Windows. Running Windows either through a VM or directly on the metal gives you all of the security and administration disadvantages of running Windows! A Mac requires its own, albeit smaller, administrative duties but bringing them into the equation causes more overhead, not less.
If your long term goal was to migrate from Windows to Mac then you may see an eventual payoff but if the goal is just to run both environments concurrently then you must support both environments concurrently.
Your access point is likely broadcasting an ESSID and its integrated DHCP will also likely hand out IP addresses automatically to anyone who comes in range.
This is akin to having a welcome sign that not only tells visitors to come in your house but gives them keys and directions as well.
As for the "who is at fault over copyright violations" question, it still doesn't change a thing, but it is an attractive nuisance, even if it's not legally declared as such; you should be aware of that fact.
Welcome to/. where false information can sadly get you a +5 informative moderation.
WoW has always been multithreaded on both Mac and PC. It was only with the 2.0.1 patch that Multithreaded OpenGL support was added, and then only to the Intel Mac client. There is no Direct3D equivalent, and from this technote, likely no equivalent from DirectX 9.
It is true that the PC version is faster than the Mac version on similar hardware in certain situations. Most of these involve video driver issues; think Vista driver problems but with the video card companies in less of a rush to get better drivers out.
Go here for some more video information by both blues and greens.
I sincerely apologize for Quicktime on Windows. I'll admit that it is a horrible piece of coding that has made many users scream in agony when opening a.MOV file. Quicktime for Mac is only slightly better but we don't have a choice. It's as integrated into the OS as much as IE is in Windows.
I want you to realize that I am not directly responsible for the application but I used to recommend.MOV as an alternative to people using (Win only, we mean it!).WMA or (God help us!).RM when those were the only choices given to us users by the majority of web outlets. It's almost like voting between a giant douche, a turd sandwich, and some other thing.
I'm not going to apologize for iTunes for Windows. It wasn't my fault that you people went and bought iPods in droves. It's technically your fault that Apple Computer changed their name to Apple Inc. Don't go telling me that it was because you couldn't wait for the Zune.
On the plus side, at least full screen playing of Quicktime files is going to be in Leopard without paying an additional $29. Maybe someday this amazing, new, and wonderful technological advancement could find its way over to your platform as well.
Actually, they will have at least 3 seperate versions not even including the educational discounts or other such promotions. This is based on the current 10.4 prices.
OS X Leopard 10.5 - $129 OS X Leopard 10.5 Family Pack - $199 OS X Server 10.5 - $499 and up
They could prove me wrong and implement all of the server niceities into the consumer version and grant a new license that allows you to install on any systems you own but I seriously doubt that will happen. I'm fairly certain that when I upgrade to the Ultimate version that it will cost more than $129.
Re:Already tried complaing... :(
on
GPLv2 Vs. GPLv3
·
· Score: 1
Complaining to nVidia does no good. Never buying their hardware again and trying to tell others about their business practices is the best most of us can do.
Russel T Davies has been involved in producing three simultaneous shows as well as behind the scenes work on Doctor Who Confidential and Totally Doctor Who. Sure there have been other simultaneous series run by the same creative teams; Star Trek and the Angel/Buffy/Firefly shows being examples but they suffered quality problems due to the team being stretched thin. Look at Buffy S6-7 and Angel S3-4 and tell me that quality wasn't waning even though they were still fine shows.
The Doctor Who shows have had continuous quality and the staff have paid the price for it. I'm not even going to say that this news is true, I mean it is from the Sun, but if it is then it won't be that surprising.
Honestly, I just "watched" an episode of Good Eats (cheap plug) that TiVo recorded for me a few hours ago. I had seen it many times before but I just have it run as background noise. The few times I actually looked at the TV were some moments that I remembered as funny, and to fast forward through the commercials.
Yes, The commercials would come on and I would watch the screen while fast forwarding and once they were over and the show was back, I would go back to what I was doing.
Although I was watching the commercials at skipped speeds, I do remember a few of them, in fact, there was a Terminex ad that was shown at the first and third commercial break. Who knows if my subconcious mind will remember more. I'd say that their ad campaign worked. That's not even mentioning some of the commercials that I will actually rewind and watch.
The point is, take away people's ability to fast forward and they will go an alternative route. There is plenty of media that can be viewed without commercials, some of it at no cost to the viewer. Wouldn't it be tragic if we all just got up and went outside once in a while?
Where I used to work, we hosted an employee's personal site (approved my his manager) that would use hardly any bandwidth at least most of the time.
This site was for listing up-to-the-minute stats and choices for the NFL draft, something that only happens once a year. During the draft this site was our biggest bandwidth consumer and if it wasn't throttled it easily would impact our customer's sites. This taught us the need to plan for peak usage and not just average usage when designing infrastructure. I'm pretty sure that Intuit's problem was very similar
I have a friend who used to do sysadmin work for an acounting firm. He would disappear from the face of the earth around tax time sometimes sleeping at the office. Any technical problem they had needed to be fixed just before it occured. If Intuit can't have their network up and running for the mid April deadline then they need to find someone who will, or their customers will.
This is no different from web stores on black Friday.
I agree with your statement. Some people still don't realize that you can configure every modern OS to switch between keyboard layouts quite easily. Others think that they need to view the keys to learn the layout.
When I learned, I did the silly thing of moving keycaps around to create a cheap Dvorak keyboard. I found a problem with this almost immediately; the F and J keys have the index finger guides and if they are moved then it makes it very difficult to touch type.
I personally would still like to have a Dvorak keyboard just because it would help when I am not touch typing. Now I routinely switch between layouts because I simply cannot type single handed unless I use a QWERTY layout. I don't know where the characters are so I need to have both hands free to actually type on the Dvorak layout.
While everyone is focusing on TMNT, probably because of the new TMNT movie, we shouldn't forget that it is a less than steller game with the cheapest end boss ever. Shredder can one shot kill your turtles.
Yes I've played it. Yes I've beat it. Yes, I regret it. It certainly isn't worth $6 ($1 more than most NES games).
Instead put your $6 on Dragon's Curse which is almost the exact same game as Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for the SMS. Some consider it to be the best SMS game ever made and this version is basically the same only graphically enhanced and all of the Wonder Boy references removed.
So if you must purchase a VC game, grab Dragon's Curse.
At least when these systems are on they have fans running to remove the heat. Try running a Wii with Wiiconnect24 mode on for a while.
The "standby" mode of the Wii is really nice for downloading news and stuff while you're not using the system but the trade off is a really hot Wii that has warped the bottom of the plastic and cooks discs left in the system. I've turned mine off until I can get a response from Nintendo about it. It still plays games with no problems but the plastic case has been damaged from the heat.
Since they are focusing on including binary drivers from nVidia with the distro and that company has no desire to produce any PowerPC support, Canonical pretty much has no choice than to not support PowerPC as well.
To me, it's sad on a few levels. I still use PowerPC and lament another distro stoping support and also because Canonical is taking the perceived easier path and kowtowing to the video card manufacturer's "inability" to release information on their hardware.
Linux means different things to different people. Ubuntu is looking to be the premere free-as-in-beer desktop OS replacement for MS Windows. Unfortunately this doesn't directly help me. I'll still recommend Ubuntu to my less tech-savvy friends for the time being but I'm personally moving on.
I know that the comment you made is supposed to be a joke but thanks to Nvida shipping binary x86 drivers instead of source, using a 3D accelerated desktop on a PowerPC based system is impossible.
A Castlevania geek speaking... Chi no Rondo is my favorite game in the series. Having played the PC Engine game to death and still not being tired of it, I'm excited by this news.
I have been wanting to see a rerelease of it for years now. I watched the video and it looks like they redid the entire game in 3D but kept the game the same. If it plays identical to the original(s) then I will be sure to pick it up... once it comes out on a system that I own. Hey Konami, Wii version please.
BTW, the video shows the path to 2' (alternate first stage exit) first then rewinds and shows the main path. It also looks as if the sound effects/music is missing when it does the newly added cinematic cuts. Other than that, looks good. Really good.
Skies of Arcadia is a wonderful game. Seriously. I bought the GC version even after I owned the DC version just to show support for the game. A sequel may be ill advised though.
After looking at Sega's recent track record of whoring Sonic out for crappy game after crappy game and other mediocre sequels like Phantasy Star Universe and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, I just don't think that today's Sega is capable of producing a great game let alone one that is worthy of the SoA name. Hell, judging from Sonic Genesis on the GBA and the Sega Ages line for the PS2 I'd even be afriad of a remake.
On that note, NiGHTS is one of my favorite game; well deserving of a (good) sequel. I am certainly not hoping for Sega to annouonce that they are working on it though.
Slashdot Mirror
NiGHTS Journey of Dreams is on the list.
I love the original NiGHTS game and its spin-off Christmas NiGHTS. I will regularly hook up the Saturn and give it a good play through because it is that good of a game. Years ago I would've loved to have a sequel/remake on a newer system.
However Sega has done such a bang up job at destroying practically every one of their franchises that I have very little hope for this game. I would love it if I'm wrong but I'm going to be reading many reviews before I even attampt to play this game let alone buy it. Sega has broken my heart too many times recently.
For those Blizzards fans smart enough to stay away from WoW, I'll let you know that they also appear in the Uldaman dungeon as dwarves.
Baelog, Olaf, and Eric the Swift are all in the game. If you are Alliance you can talk to them and if you are Horde you can kill them and loot interesting things like Olaf's shield that gives you the ability to slow your fall.
Someone got the idea that 2D fighters (along with 2D everything else) was unpopular. Everyone started clamoring to make their own 3D fighting game with mixed results. Some good, some not so much. 2D fighters also suffered a period of "Madden"ing where a new game would come out once a year with the big upgrade being the roster. Fortunately a roster change was a much bigger deal because it added whole new playstyles to the game, but it didn't help the public image.
Nothing really destroyed the Street Fighter franchise. Capcom could, and will, release a new SF game and the fans will buy it. The problem is garnering new fans to expand the franchise. I commend them for their (3D) Street Fighter EX which while not being that great of a game, kept true to the playstyle of the 2D games.
Mortal Kombat did have a "story driven side scroller" game that tanked pretty bad. It was a complete departure to the style of play of the other games. MK also made the jump from 2D to 3D prematurely and unfortunately lost many things that fans liked about the series such as the digitized characters and the sheer manicness of the gameplay. The game evolved over the years to be better but it never received as much attention that it did when it was 2D. The franchise isn't dead, it's just not as popular as before.
2D fighters aren't dead. There are still Guilty Gear and a few others. One could argue that Super Smash Bros. is the current leader in the 2D fighting arena despite the fact that everything is 3D and Brawl is only the third game in the series.
Please note that this new story driven mode will be in addition to the standard fighting modes. For people that liked the other two games, this will be just another diversion that you can try once you're bored of kicking your friends' off of the arena.
Quick review for those thinking about buying it from someone who feels that they got their $50 worth out of the game.
Red Steel is mediocre. The graphics are so 5 years ago, the story is silly, the control can be somewhat flaky at times. The enemies' AI is terrible and they shout the most odd things sometimes. But there is some fun to be had. It's a good "first attempt" game and reminds me of Codename: Eagle.
The limited multiplayer has the potential for quite a bit of fun too. Honestly, a friend and I played it for over four hours straight and were still having a good time.
Apple represented it as running "True OS X". They even mentioned it supporting Cocoa. Why the hell would you talk about the programming interface if you don't intend to give your developers access?
For some strange reason the Sega Dreamcast popped into my mind with its Windows CE sticker right on the front. Since only licensed developers were allowed to make software for the system, it really didn't matter what the API was. Basically it was about as much useful marketing speak as "blast processing".
As I understand it, Apple wants to treat the iPhone (and iPod for that matter) in the same way that video game manufacturers treat their consoles. They are closed systems which run signed binaries which only a few elite people are allowed to make. You'll probably see a few third party apps pop up for the iPhone in less than a year, but it will be very tightly controlled.
Wouldn't this be another example of turnabout == fair play? I imagine that in order to beat the RIAA at their own lawyering game, you have to overcharge and then settle on a less, but still significantly high, price.
Just like the RIAA was trying to "charge" people $150,000 per violation which usually gets whittled down to $5,000 per, these lawyers were likely knowingly overcharging.
Here is a thought, in order to prevent the RIAA from continuing to use the copyright violations as a very lucrative revenue stream, only grant them actual damages plus reasonable court charges.
This shouldn't be an issue if you're doing things the "correct" way according to Apple. The keyboard should have a USB hub built-in and include two ports. One USB port is to be used by the mouse and the other is free for temporary USB usage such as flash drives.
I believe this has been the case since back when USB was made standard on the original gumdrop iMacs.
OSX is more reliable, easier to support...and run IE and a couple of other specialty apps alongside my OSX apps
A system that is running OS X and Windows apps is more difficult to secure and administer than a system just running Windows. Running Windows either through a VM or directly on the metal gives you all of the security and administration disadvantages of running Windows! A Mac requires its own, albeit smaller, administrative duties but bringing them into the equation causes more overhead, not less.
If your long term goal was to migrate from Windows to Mac then you may see an eventual payoff but if the goal is just to run both environments concurrently then you must support both environments concurrently.
Your access point is likely broadcasting an ESSID and its integrated DHCP will also likely hand out IP addresses automatically to anyone who comes in range.
This is akin to having a welcome sign that not only tells visitors to come in your house but gives them keys and directions as well.
As for the "who is at fault over copyright violations" question, it still doesn't change a thing, but it is an attractive nuisance, even if it's not legally declared as such; you should be aware of that fact.
Welcome to /. where false information can sadly get you a +5 informative moderation.
WoW has always been multithreaded on both Mac and PC. It was only with the 2.0.1 patch that Multithreaded OpenGL support was added, and then only to the Intel Mac client. There is no Direct3D equivalent, and from this technote, likely no equivalent from DirectX 9.
It is true that the PC version is faster than the Mac version on similar hardware in certain situations. Most of these involve video driver issues; think Vista driver problems but with the video card companies in less of a rush to get better drivers out.
Go here for some more video information by both blues and greens.
Dear non-Mac user,
.MOV file. Quicktime for Mac is only slightly better but we don't have a choice. It's as integrated into the OS as much as IE is in Windows.
.MOV as an alternative to people using (Win only, we mean it!) .WMA or (God help us!) .RM when those were the only choices given to us users by the majority of web outlets. It's almost like voting between a giant douche, a turd sandwich, and some other thing.
I sincerely apologize for Quicktime on Windows. I'll admit that it is a horrible piece of coding that has made many users scream in agony when opening a
I want you to realize that I am not directly responsible for the application but I used to recommend
I'm not going to apologize for iTunes for Windows. It wasn't my fault that you people went and bought iPods in droves. It's technically your fault that Apple Computer changed their name to Apple Inc. Don't go telling me that it was because you couldn't wait for the Zune.
On the plus side, at least full screen playing of Quicktime files is going to be in Leopard without paying an additional $29. Maybe someday this amazing, new, and wonderful technological advancement could find its way over to your platform as well.
Actually, they will have at least 3 seperate versions not even including the educational discounts or other such promotions. This is based on the current 10.4 prices.
OS X Leopard 10.5 - $129
OS X Leopard 10.5 Family Pack - $199
OS X Server 10.5 - $499 and up
They could prove me wrong and implement all of the server niceities into the consumer version and grant a new license that allows you to install on any systems you own but I seriously doubt that will happen. I'm fairly certain that when I upgrade to the Ultimate version that it will cost more than $129.
Complaining to nVidia does no good. Never buying their hardware again and trying to tell others about their business practices is the best most of us can do.
Russel T Davies has been involved in producing three simultaneous shows as well as behind the scenes work on Doctor Who Confidential and Totally Doctor Who. Sure there have been other simultaneous series run by the same creative teams; Star Trek and the Angel/Buffy/Firefly shows being examples but they suffered quality problems due to the team being stretched thin. Look at Buffy S6-7 and Angel S3-4 and tell me that quality wasn't waning even though they were still fine shows.
The Doctor Who shows have had continuous quality and the staff have paid the price for it. I'm not even going to say that this news is true, I mean it is from the Sun, but if it is then it won't be that surprising.
Honestly, I just "watched" an episode of Good Eats (cheap plug) that TiVo recorded for me a few hours ago. I had seen it many times before but I just have it run as background noise. The few times I actually looked at the TV were some moments that I remembered as funny, and to fast forward through the commercials.
Yes, The commercials would come on and I would watch the screen while fast forwarding and once they were over and the show was back, I would go back to what I was doing.
Although I was watching the commercials at skipped speeds, I do remember a few of them, in fact, there was a Terminex ad that was shown at the first and third commercial break. Who knows if my subconcious mind will remember more. I'd say that their ad campaign worked. That's not even mentioning some of the commercials that I will actually rewind and watch.
The point is, take away people's ability to fast forward and they will go an alternative route. There is plenty of media that can be viewed without commercials, some of it at no cost to the viewer. Wouldn't it be tragic if we all just got up and went outside once in a while?
Where I used to work, we hosted an employee's personal site (approved my his manager) that would use hardly any bandwidth at least most of the time.
This site was for listing up-to-the-minute stats and choices for the NFL draft, something that only happens once a year. During the draft this site was our biggest bandwidth consumer and if it wasn't throttled it easily would impact our customer's sites. This taught us the need to plan for peak usage and not just average usage when designing infrastructure. I'm pretty sure that Intuit's problem was very similar
I have a friend who used to do sysadmin work for an acounting firm. He would disappear from the face of the earth around tax time sometimes sleeping at the office. Any technical problem they had needed to be fixed just before it occured. If Intuit can't have their network up and running for the mid April deadline then they need to find someone who will, or their customers will.
This is no different from web stores on black Friday.
I agree with your statement. Some people still don't realize that you can configure every modern OS to switch between keyboard layouts quite easily. Others think that they need to view the keys to learn the layout.
When I learned, I did the silly thing of moving keycaps around to create a cheap Dvorak keyboard. I found a problem with this almost immediately; the F and J keys have the index finger guides and if they are moved then it makes it very difficult to touch type.
I personally would still like to have a Dvorak keyboard just because it would help when I am not touch typing. Now I routinely switch between layouts because I simply cannot type single handed unless I use a QWERTY layout. I don't know where the characters are so I need to have both hands free to actually type on the Dvorak layout.
While everyone is focusing on TMNT, probably because of the new TMNT movie, we shouldn't forget that it is a less than steller game with the cheapest end boss ever. Shredder can one shot kill your turtles.
Yes I've played it. Yes I've beat it. Yes, I regret it. It certainly isn't worth $6 ($1 more than most NES games).
Instead put your $6 on Dragon's Curse which is almost the exact same game as Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for the SMS. Some consider it to be the best SMS game ever made and this version is basically the same only graphically enhanced and all of the Wonder Boy references removed.
So if you must purchase a VC game, grab Dragon's Curse.
This could never happen, right?
I mean the broadcasting industry has many safeguards preventing this from happening, right?
For only 15 dollars a month, you too can play the hottest game around. World of Wordcraft!
Please remember to feed your search mutt regularly or his loyalty will drop and he will start giving you less useful results.
At least when these systems are on they have fans running to remove the heat. Try running a Wii with Wiiconnect24 mode on for a while.
The "standby" mode of the Wii is really nice for downloading news and stuff while you're not using the system but the trade off is a really hot Wii that has warped the bottom of the plastic and cooks discs left in the system. I've turned mine off until I can get a response from Nintendo about it. It still plays games with no problems but the plastic case has been damaged from the heat.
Here is a link to an overheated Wii story.
Since they are focusing on including binary drivers from nVidia with the distro and that company has no desire to produce any PowerPC support, Canonical pretty much has no choice than to not support PowerPC as well.
To me, it's sad on a few levels. I still use PowerPC and lament another distro stoping support and also because Canonical is taking the perceived easier path and kowtowing to the video card manufacturer's "inability" to release information on their hardware.
Linux means different things to different people. Ubuntu is looking to be the premere free-as-in-beer desktop OS replacement for MS Windows. Unfortunately this doesn't directly help me. I'll still recommend Ubuntu to my less tech-savvy friends for the time being but I'm personally moving on.
I know that the comment you made is supposed to be a joke but thanks to Nvida shipping binary x86 drivers instead of source, using a 3D accelerated desktop on a PowerPC based system is impossible.
They won't even release binary PowerPC drivers.
A Castlevania geek speaking... Chi no Rondo is my favorite game in the series. Having played the PC Engine game to death and still not being tired of it, I'm excited by this news.
I have been wanting to see a rerelease of it for years now. I watched the video and it looks like they redid the entire game in 3D but kept the game the same. If it plays identical to the original(s) then I will be sure to pick it up... once it comes out on a system that I own. Hey Konami, Wii version please.
BTW, the video shows the path to 2' (alternate first stage exit) first then rewinds and shows the main path. It also looks as if the sound effects/music is missing when it does the newly added cinematic cuts. Other than that, looks good. Really good.
Skies of Arcadia is a wonderful game. Seriously. I bought the GC version even after I owned the DC version just to show support for the game. A sequel may be ill advised though.
After looking at Sega's recent track record of whoring Sonic out for crappy game after crappy game and other mediocre sequels like Phantasy Star Universe and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, I just don't think that today's Sega is capable of producing a great game let alone one that is worthy of the SoA name. Hell, judging from Sonic Genesis on the GBA and the Sega Ages line for the PS2 I'd even be afriad of a remake.
On that note, NiGHTS is one of my favorite game; well deserving of a (good) sequel. I am certainly not hoping for Sega to annouonce that they are working on it though.