Frozen Bubble? The screenshots look almost exactly like Bust-A-Move. I have to wonder just how bad the Linux gaming scene is if the best it has to offer is an unlicensed copy of an old console series.
It's not that the camera is worse, it's that the levels are more complex. There's buildings to jump on, catwalks above the buildings, fencing to climb on or under, hover jumps or rocket jumps or yoshi jumps... SM64 didn't have nearly as many things in one place. Because of this complexity, the game has no way of knowing if it should zoom in the camera so you can jump on an enemy, or if it should zoom out the camera so you can rocket to that ledge way up there, or if it should do something else entirely. So it gives you control of the camera.
Now, I've heard your complaint from several of people. But I also know a lot of people, myself included, had no problem with the camera. It would seem that some people don't find it natural to control the camera as much as you ought to.
I had a lot of trouble controlling Mario in 3D when I first got SM64. I couldn't cross even wide bridges any anything near full speed. But I kept practicing and got over it. If you can't or won't learn to control the camera in Sunshine... well, too bad for you.
Personally, I thought the utter lack of difficulty was a larger problem than having to watch a screen for a few seconds if you ever managed to die. I think I might have died once, but I don't really remember.
I do hate load times, so I can sympathize with you... it's just not a problem I ran into while playing.
Anyone ever play Xenogears? It's loading times were rather high, but it hid them using a cool zoom-in effect, so they weren't too noticable.
You think that two or three second pauses followed by two or three seconds of pixelated SNES-quality zoom is "not too noticeable"? You ought to try playing a Nintendo game sometime...
Xenogears is one of my favorite games ever, but the load times are horrible. Any worse, and I probably wouldn't have played long enough to get into it. (The slow, unskippable, unfastfowardable text didn't exactly help, either.)
I predict you will get +5 Informative for having a medium-sized, properly formatted post at the top of the comments, despite only saying what Famitsu is and summarizing the article.
You're right, though, it is a beautifully written article.
As for reviewing games... what really matters is being able to express what the game is like, not just giving it a number. Personally, I despise load times, I place a lot of emphasis on sound, I enjoy exploring and collecting things, I like a challenge, and I love surreal themes - these are preferences which I probably won't have in common with any given reviewer, but which will greatly affect my experience with a game. I think the best kind of reviewer is one who is good at seeing what a game is trying to do, and how well it accomplishes it.
How about plain old non-voters? You know, the ones who don't want you or me to be ruled by any king/president/parliament/[person]/[group of people]? The ones who don't want to take any of your money, the ones who just want to live in peace?
When I got Myst, it was HARD. I was younger then, and it took me a long time to complete. I was overjoyed just to find my way off the first island. Eventually, I managed to beat the game, and I could remember all the fun I'd had along the way.
When I got Riven, it was also hard. I was older, knew more of what to expect, and was able to get past the beginning areas a lot faster - but quickly ran into areas that gave me trouble. The largest puzzles were harder than anything in the first game, and it took me a long time to beat them. When I did beat the game, it was after spending a lot of time with it and getting to know it well, and as with the first I felt I'd accomplished something.
I got Exile at a time when I hadn't thought about the Myst series for a while. I started playing it in the morning, eager for another Myst adventure. I was older and smarter by then, and I figured that was why I was getting past the puzzles so easily...
On the afternoon of that same day, I finished the game. I watched the ending, the credits started rolling, and the game crashed. Gee... that doesn't seem very quality. And all those puzzles were pretty simple and straightforward; none gave me serious pause and there weren't any overarching puzzles. There weren't hidden things that took me a long time to notice. Plus that was pretty tiny... there were only three real islands. Y'know, it was kinda fun while it lasted, but it's hardly on the level of the first two games. It didn't even take me a full day to complete!
I uninstalled it then, and haven't had any desire to look at it again.
Analogue stick for moving forwards/backwards and turning, yellow C-buttons for looking up/down and strafing...
I've never been able to understand this... I much prefer having looking (both vertically and horizontally) on the (primary) analogue stick, and moving (forward, back, and sideways) on the C-buttons or secondary analogue. One control for looking, one control for moving - simplicity itself.
Not that I'm saying my way is what everyone should use, but I don't know how anyone came up with the control scheme you describe, let alone why people use it.
I agree, a wee bit too contrived. The best 4/1 jokes slip right past you. I think over the years we have all learned to become hyper critical of stories posted on 4/1 thus making it harder and harder to slip one by.
It's funny you two should say that, for two reasons...
First, this isn't the first 4/1 joke. The poll and the Gmail story must have slipped by you.
Second, this isn't a joke. I downloaded it and I'm playing it right now.
If you're the kind of collector who would have enough junk to warrant a special storage solution, you probably value owning the solid physical objects that the game was originally packaged on and with. Keeping everything on a hard drive wouldn't appeal to a serious collector.
I'm far from a serious collector, but I'm proud of what I do own - I wouldn't want to part with the physical pieces of my collection, especially the more valuable games like Sin & Punishment and Bangai-O (N64 version). Having the roms of those games just wouldn't be the same as owning the actual thing.
We've come a long way since the inanity of Pong (face it, it didn't expand your mind at all)
I daresay that, among those whose first introduction to games was Pong, there were many who could not previously grasp the concept of being able to control the actions of something on a TV screen by pressing buttons. So I'd have to disagree with your assertation - maybe Pong didn't have riveting social commentary, but it did expand people's minds.
Have you seen the latest movies? The game looks great to me, it looks like it'll be worthy of the name Metroid. Also, the control is quite different from your average FPS. It has an autotargeting system, so the emphasis is more on exploration and less on aiming. The controls, from what I hear, are pretty similar to the N64 Zeldas. It really doesn't seem like it'll be much like any FPS I've ever played.
And if you really want 2D, there's still Metroid Fusion.
Actually, the SNES sequel Mother 2 *was* Earthbound. It was Mother 1, for the NES, that was never released in the US. It was translated, however, and the English ROM can be found on emulation sites.
Yes, people who have video games heavily restricted are very likely to go overboard when the restrictions are removed.
A while ago, I was a student at a small boarding school with about 200 students. Due to some unusual circumstances, I ended up with the biggest dorm room (4 person), and no roommates. What to do? Set up a LAN, of course.
We had a fun time playing games on this LAN. Until it got shut down. Why did it get shut down? Because of students overusing it. Specifically, a group of middle schoolers who were playing all weekend one time when most of the students were away on a trip.
The students who got it shut down were not students who had computers. The students who could play video games whenever they wanted didn't let the video games interfere with their other responsibilities. The only students who went overboard were those who normally could not play video games.
So yes, restricting violent video games, especially with that broad a definition of "violent", will cause kids to go overboard when they do get their hands on video games.
Also, kids who can't legally buy games will simply pirate them, thus hurting the video game makers.
You wanna know what the fastest way to take the RIAA out of the internet radio scene is? LET then charge excessive prices for their music. Sure, some stations may die, but many of them will simply switch to broadcasting indie music. Result? Less internet radio stations, but much more indie music. Sure, RIAA will start up their own stations, but most everyone will be listening to indie music by then.
If the RIAA want to kill themselves, I say let them. Forcing them to charge lower prices will just keep them around longer.
But I credit my soul with enough intelligence to follow the transmission to wherever the copy of my body is, and take control of the copy. It would probably hurt a lot, but it wouldn't kill me.
Teleporting (Star Trek style) is okay, but I usually prefer to tesser:)
It really depends on how much you want to read. I'm a very avid reader, so I've been reading anything I could get my hands on since I was two. My first SF books were E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman series, which I read when I was 5 or 7 or so, and I've read many more since then. I've only read the first Harry Potter book, but they look interesting and I would definitely enjoy reading more.
Slashdot Mirror
I have around 1500 (mp3/ogg/flac/mpc/mod/spc) files in my playlist, and Winamp still handles perfectly. My system isn't exactly bleeding-edge, either.
So, you think we're all cells in the RIAA's body?
Frozen Bubble? The screenshots look almost exactly like Bust-A-Move. I have to wonder just how bad the Linux gaming scene is if the best it has to offer is an unlicensed copy of an old console series.
It's not that the camera is worse, it's that the levels are more complex. There's buildings to jump on, catwalks above the buildings, fencing to climb on or under, hover jumps or rocket jumps or yoshi jumps... SM64 didn't have nearly as many things in one place. Because of this complexity, the game has no way of knowing if it should zoom in the camera so you can jump on an enemy, or if it should zoom out the camera so you can rocket to that ledge way up there, or if it should do something else entirely. So it gives you control of the camera.
Now, I've heard your complaint from several of people. But I also know a lot of people, myself included, had no problem with the camera. It would seem that some people don't find it natural to control the camera as much as you ought to.
I had a lot of trouble controlling Mario in 3D when I first got SM64. I couldn't cross even wide bridges any anything near full speed. But I kept practicing and got over it. If you can't or won't learn to control the camera in Sunshine... well, too bad for you.
Personally, I thought the utter lack of difficulty was a larger problem than having to watch a screen for a few seconds if you ever managed to die. I think I might have died once, but I don't really remember.
I do hate load times, so I can sympathize with you... it's just not a problem I ran into while playing.
Anyone ever play Xenogears? It's loading times were rather high, but it hid them using a cool zoom-in effect, so they weren't too noticable.
You think that two or three second pauses followed by two or three seconds of pixelated SNES-quality zoom is "not too noticeable"? You ought to try playing a Nintendo game sometime...
Xenogears is one of my favorite games ever, but the load times are horrible. Any worse, and I probably wouldn't have played long enough to get into it. (The slow, unskippable, unfastfowardable text didn't exactly help, either.)
I predict you will get +5 Informative for having a medium-sized, properly formatted post at the top of the comments, despite only saying what Famitsu is and summarizing the article.
You're right, though, it is a beautifully written article.
As for reviewing games... what really matters is being able to express what the game is like, not just giving it a number. Personally, I despise load times, I place a lot of emphasis on sound, I enjoy exploring and collecting things, I like a challenge, and I love surreal themes - these are preferences which I probably won't have in common with any given reviewer, but which will greatly affect my experience with a game. I think the best kind of reviewer is one who is good at seeing what a game is trying to do, and how well it accomplishes it.
How about plain old non-voters? You know, the ones who don't want you or me to be ruled by any king/president/parliament/[person]/[group of people]? The ones who don't want to take any of your money, the ones who just want to live in peace?
- Your friendly neighbourhood anarchist.
I didn't like Exile much either...
When I got Myst, it was HARD. I was younger then, and it took me a long time to complete. I was overjoyed just to find my way off the first island. Eventually, I managed to beat the game, and I could remember all the fun I'd had along the way.
When I got Riven, it was also hard. I was older, knew more of what to expect, and was able to get past the beginning areas a lot faster - but quickly ran into areas that gave me trouble. The largest puzzles were harder than anything in the first game, and it took me a long time to beat them. When I did beat the game, it was after spending a lot of time with it and getting to know it well, and as with the first I felt I'd accomplished something.
I got Exile at a time when I hadn't thought about the Myst series for a while. I started playing it in the morning, eager for another Myst adventure. I was older and smarter by then, and I figured that was why I was getting past the puzzles so easily...
On the afternoon of that same day, I finished the game. I watched the ending, the credits started rolling, and the game crashed. Gee... that doesn't seem very quality. And all those puzzles were pretty simple and straightforward; none gave me serious pause and there weren't any overarching puzzles. There weren't hidden things that took me a long time to notice. Plus that was pretty tiny... there were only three real islands. Y'know, it was kinda fun while it lasted, but it's hardly on the level of the first two games. It didn't even take me a full day to complete!
I uninstalled it then, and haven't had any desire to look at it again.
Analogue stick for moving forwards/backwards and turning, yellow C-buttons for looking up/down and strafing...
I've never been able to understand this... I much prefer having looking (both vertically and horizontally) on the (primary) analogue stick, and moving (forward, back, and sideways) on the C-buttons or secondary analogue. One control for looking, one control for moving - simplicity itself.
Not that I'm saying my way is what everyone should use, but I don't know how anyone came up with the control scheme you describe, let alone why people use it.
It all depends on who you ask. Paper Mario is my favorite out of the three, and Mario RPG is my least favorite.
not a very good start for April Fools.
I agree, a wee bit too contrived. The best 4/1 jokes slip right past you. I think over the years we have all learned to become hyper critical of stories posted on 4/1 thus making it harder and harder to slip one by.
It's funny you two should say that, for two reasons...
First, this isn't the first 4/1 joke. The poll and the Gmail story must have slipped by you.
Second, this isn't a joke. I downloaded it and I'm playing it right now.
If you're the kind of collector who would have enough junk to warrant a special storage solution, you probably value owning the solid physical objects that the game was originally packaged on and with. Keeping everything on a hard drive wouldn't appeal to a serious collector.
I'm far from a serious collector, but I'm proud of what I do own - I wouldn't want to part with the physical pieces of my collection, especially the more valuable games like Sin & Punishment and Bangai-O (N64 version). Having the roms of those games just wouldn't be the same as owning the actual thing.
We've come a long way since the inanity of Pong (face it, it didn't expand your mind at all)
I daresay that, among those whose first introduction to games was Pong, there were many who could not previously grasp the concept of being able to control the actions of something on a TV screen by pressing buttons. So I'd have to disagree with your assertation - maybe Pong didn't have riveting social commentary, but it did expand people's minds.
"That's some new terrorist trick," said Ramzi Rahman, a Manhattan cab driver. "The bad guys act like patriots to get into this country, right?"
And here I thought that these were supposed to be quotes from people who weren't well-informed about the Patriot Act?
Have you seen the latest movies? The game looks great to me, it looks like it'll be worthy of the name Metroid. Also, the control is quite different from your average FPS. It has an autotargeting system, so the emphasis is more on exploration and less on aiming. The controls, from what I hear, are pretty similar to the N64 Zeldas. It really doesn't seem like it'll be much like any FPS I've ever played.
And if you really want 2D, there's still Metroid Fusion.
Actually, the SNES sequel Mother 2 *was* Earthbound. It was Mother 1, for the NES, that was never released in the US. It was translated, however, and the English ROM can be found on emulation sites.
Yes, people who have video games heavily restricted are very likely to go overboard when the restrictions are removed.
A while ago, I was a student at a small boarding school with about 200 students. Due to some unusual circumstances, I ended up with the biggest dorm room (4 person), and no roommates. What to do? Set up a LAN, of course.
We had a fun time playing games on this LAN. Until it got shut down. Why did it get shut down? Because of students overusing it. Specifically, a group of middle schoolers who were playing all weekend one time when most of the students were away on a trip.
The students who got it shut down were not students who had computers. The students who could play video games whenever they wanted didn't let the video games interfere with their other responsibilities. The only students who went overboard were those who normally could not play video games.
So yes, restricting violent video games, especially with that broad a definition of "violent", will cause kids to go overboard when they do get their hands on video games.
Also, kids who can't legally buy games will simply pirate them, thus hurting the video game makers.
the girl with no social skills and glasses thicker than yours
That's pretty much the only kind of girl I'm interested in. I don't care for "hot" or "popular" girls. So there.
Nothing would ever pass congress.
Personally, I think this would be a great improvement over the current system.
Better yet, patent a method of demonstrating the inefficiency of the US patent office by submitting a patent for a common device or procedure.
Why the hell is this flamebait?!?!??!
You wanna know what the fastest way to take the RIAA out of the internet radio scene is? LET then charge excessive prices for their music. Sure, some stations may die, but many of them will simply switch to broadcasting indie music. Result? Less internet radio stations, but much more indie music. Sure, RIAA will start up their own stations, but most everyone will be listening to indie music by then.
If the RIAA want to kill themselves, I say let them. Forcing them to charge lower prices will just keep them around longer.
Score:1, Funny
;)
That says it all
Maybe so...
:)
But I credit my soul with enough intelligence to follow the transmission to wherever the copy of my body is, and take control of the copy. It would probably hurt a lot, but it wouldn't kill me.
Teleporting (Star Trek style) is okay, but I usually prefer to tesser
It really depends on how much you want to read. I'm a very avid reader, so I've been reading anything I could get my hands on since I was two. My first SF books were E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman series, which I read when I was 5 or 7 or so, and I've read many more since then. I've only read the first Harry Potter book, but they look interesting and I would definitely enjoy reading more.