I've played many female characters in games over the years. I most likely experienced my first video game cross gender experience with Ms. Pacman. Here's a list of games with female leads (or choice of) off of the top of my head that I've personally played:
Ms. Pacman
Choice of M/F - Labyrinth
Razor - Maniac Mansion
Alice - Alice in Wonderland (C64)
Princess Peach - Super Mario Bros. 2
Passionate Patty - Leisure Suit Larry 3
Princess Rosella - Kings Quest 4
Valkyrie - Gauntlet
Samus Aran - Metroid
Chung Li - Street Fighter
Sonya - Mortal Kombat
Jill Valentine - Resident Evil
Rebecca Chambers - Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil
Eternal Darkness
My first impression of the game was, oh great, they dropped the ball. After another 10 hours into the game, I think it's right on par with MK64. I belong to the camp that MK64 was better than the original.
There is a lot of talk that MKDD didn't push the game as far as it could have gone. That there were no significant updates to the game. And that it is nothing more than a rehash. My comment to that is, what did you expect? It's Mario Kart. It follows the Mario Kart formula. If it didn't, it wouldn't be Mario Kart. I even read one review that claimed it captured they magic of the previous MK titles, but then bashed it for being the same as the previous MK titles.
My friends and I played MK64 for 3 years in college. And even to this day, when I see those friends, we pull out the MK64. I've never played a game that had such a lasting value. I personally applaud Nintendo for making the changes they made while still sticking to the formula.
So if you are going to complain about it not being a big leap over the MK titles of the past, the least you could do is suggest what you would have liked put into the game. Complaining that it's just the same game is redundant at this point.
If it does come out and it's anything like the first two predator movies, it'll go a little something like this:
Predator goes around killing Aliens until one Alien rises to the occasion and kills the Predator. The End.
But seriously, didn't they allude to a winner in this hypothetical epic battle at the end of the second Predator movie? It's been years since I've seen it, but I could sware there was a trophy shrine with what looked like an Alien skull.
Under the Live paradigm, you'd just offer up the new stats/roster for download. If you want people to buy 2K4, you better have a more compelling reason than 'we need the cash.'
I'm not 100% positive. But I'm fairly certain EA has to pay a lot of money each year to the NFL to use the new stats and roster. If EA provided the new stats/roster for free, they would lose money.
EA doesn't make a penny from the XBox Live service. So EA couldn't even cover their upgrade costs if they wanted to.
(Yes, they only shipped 80,000 units worldwide between April 1 and June 30).
I know it's impossible to try to stop misinformation. But I'm going to give it the old college try, anyways.
The correct figure for Nintendo was 800,000 units shipped worldwide. Someone, somewhere made typo. And that false number is still floating all over the net.
Nintendo has a different solution to the 2.4 games problem. Profit on the hardware sold, everthing else is icing on the cake.
The problem with the Live service is that it can potentially slow the sales of other games buy extending play life of what people already own. Which is good for consumers. Not so good for the game companies.
Another point to consider is how much profit Nintendo and Microsoft makes from these top sellers. 1st and 2nd party games make much more money than 3rd party games.
Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Party 4 and Metroid prime are all 1st/2nd party Nintendo titles. Microsoft has Halo.
6. Their promotions are not "cool" - that is to say, PS2 and XBoX will promote to older teens' and adults' sensibilities, whereas Nintendo promotes to a younger crowd's
I went to the Nintendo Club Party in NYC last year. Do you know what they had on the 21+ nights? FREE BEER! That's right, Nintendo gave me FREE BEER! Now that's what I call great promotion of a product.:)
Nintendo's biggest problem isn't innovation or originality. They suffer from tainted image syndrome. Just like fashion or music, what once was incredibly popular can quickly shift to something percieved as extremely uncool. Right now, it's trendy to make fun of Nintendo. There are many false claims floating around the various console war discussion forms over the internet. Opponents easily get away regurgitating misinformation because it is widely accepted that Nintendo is standing on its last leg.
I certainly agree with you on a number of points. I think the three biggest factors for the success of the Playstation 2 were: DVD movies, Backwards compatibility and the killer app (GTA). I don't think DVD playback will be as important when the next gen consoles are released.
I also think there is some truth to Nintendo's logic about it not being a pure game machine. With a DVD player, consumers could then spend their money on movies as well as games, taking potential revenue away from Nintendo. Sony has a vested interest in selling DVDs. Using smaller media also allows the Cube to be much more portable, like a board game. That's a big plus for me. I take that thing everywhere. As for my Xbox, it has a permanent spot next to the TV. And I'm not sure if the smaller media is the reason for this, but the Cube, by far, has the fastest load times. Except in cases of unoptimized 3rd party games.
You're probably right about it being a bad marketing mistake. I'm sure Nintendo would have sold more units if it shipped with a DVD player. If the smaller media is used in future gameboys, maybe their mistakes of today will pay off tomorrow.
On the other hand, Nintendo isn't exactly hurting. Sony sold a gizillion times more Playstations this past fiscal year, yet Sony only profited twice as much as Nintendo.
GC is somehow BETTER because it doesn't have a DVD player in a console generation that coincides with DVDs becoming the most successfuly media ever launched;
I was complaining to an acquaintance of mine (who happens to work for microsoft) about the extra fee to unlock the DVD playback feature on the Xbox. He said the reason Micrsoft charges extra is because they have to pay a licensing fee to Sony for the DVD movie feature. It was a way for microsoft to lower the price of the XBox for those who didn't need the DVD playback function.
If Nintendo had included a DVD player, their system would cost more, and that extra cost would go to Sony.
Plus, I think Nintendo has future plans for their smaller media. Possibly for gameboys of the future.
I have a fairly descent sized Gamecube library. And I noticed something today after reading this article. More than half of my GC library consists of Nintendo 1st party games. Granted, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, through and through. But it got me thinking. Maybe one of the reasons 3rd party developers don't fair so well on the Cube is because (as a generalization), those who buy Nintendo consoles buy Nintendo produced games. Could it be that Nintendo games are so popular for the system, that they take away sales from 3rd party developers, contributing to the problem of having 3rd parties to stop developing for the cube?
You said: Since Reuters reported 80,000 Gamecube consoles SHIPPED, not sold, they were accurate.
This reuters article says: Japanese videogame maker Nintendo Co Ltd <7974.OS> said on Tuesday it SOLD 80,000 GameCube consoles worldwide in the latest quarter.
Reuters originally reported that 80,000 figure in early August. They left off a zero. They really sold 800,000.
To quote this article: "Amusingly though, it wasn't quite as bad for Cube owners as Reuters (and subsequently most of the Western world including the surely
journalistically watertight BBC) reported - with 800,000, rather than the reported figure of 80,000, Cubes shifted in the last quarter."
It amazes me how uninformed people are about the sales of the Nintendo Gamecube. I sware I think they just want to see the worst happen. Almost every article I read that says the Gamecube is in third place is referring to U.S. sales. World wide, Nintendo is selling slightly more than the XBox. But you never read about the demise of XBox.
What was the top selling game for the N64? Not Mario. Not even Zelda. It was Mario Kart. Back in my college days, I knew people who picked up an N64 just to play Mario Kart. Needless to say, this is my most anticipated for the Gamecube.
I own a Radio Baton. Dr. Schloss still refers to the instrument by it's original name, Radio Drum. Just to clarify, it was invented by Max Mathews, the person responsible for laying the foundations of computer/digital music.
I've walked past that same shop and played with the one they had on display. The guy try to sell it to me for $40, then took $5 more off when I said I was interested. Fact was, I was very interested, but had only a few dollars in my pocket.
As for the 200+ games, well, it's kind of misleading. Okay, seriously misleading. Most of the games were variants of a few core games, like Super Mario Bros. and Adventure Island. The the variations were stupid. Like the graphic of Mario would be slightly modifed, and that would be a whole new game.
It reminds me of the old super nintendo mortal Kombat game, where they took out the blood and people stayed away in droves, going for the Blood coded genesis version.
Having owned both of these versions, I actually preferred the Super Nintendo Mortal Kombat. I thought the fatalities were a lot more creative. And I feel the gameplay was little better.
----
kid: I think Mortal Kombat for Sega Genesis is the best game ever.
Billy Madison: Although Mortal Kombat is a very good game, I think Donkey Kong is the best game ever.
kid: Donkey Kong sucks!
Billy Madison: Yeah, well you suck!
It just proves the old axiom that the greatest technology can be destroyed by inept marketing or a much larger marketing campaign
Or by requiring 6 AA batteries that only lasted 4, maybe 5 hours. Which is the case of the Lynx. I owned a Lynx. It was awesome, but the battery life was a huge downfall of the device. That's why (besides the large game library) I've always preferred the GB product line.
Slashdot Mirror
I've played many female characters in games over the years. I most likely experienced my first video game cross gender experience with Ms. Pacman. Here's a list of games with female leads (or choice of) off of the top of my head that I've personally played:
Ms. Pacman
Choice of M/F - Labyrinth
Razor - Maniac Mansion
Alice - Alice in Wonderland (C64)
Princess Peach - Super Mario Bros. 2
Passionate Patty - Leisure Suit Larry 3
Princess Rosella - Kings Quest 4
Valkyrie - Gauntlet
Samus Aran - Metroid
Chung Li - Street Fighter
Sonya - Mortal Kombat
Jill Valentine - Resident Evil
Rebecca Chambers - Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil
Eternal Darkness
My first impression of the game was, oh great, they dropped the ball. After another 10 hours into the game, I think it's right on par with MK64. I belong to the camp that MK64 was better than the original.
There is a lot of talk that MKDD didn't push the game as far as it could have gone. That there were no significant updates to the game. And that it is nothing more than a rehash. My comment to that is, what did you expect? It's Mario Kart. It follows the Mario Kart formula. If it didn't, it wouldn't be Mario Kart. I even read one review that claimed it captured they magic of the previous MK titles, but then bashed it for being the same as the previous MK titles.
My friends and I played MK64 for 3 years in college. And even to this day, when I see those friends, we pull out the MK64. I've never played a game that had such a lasting value. I personally applaud Nintendo for making the changes they made while still sticking to the formula.
So if you are going to complain about it not being a big leap over the MK titles of the past, the least you could do is suggest what you would have liked put into the game. Complaining that it's just the same game is redundant at this point.
Block Fort was a great map, true. The others were just unplayable.
Untrue. In college, Skyscraper was our favorite for the 3 years we were playing MK64. We called it Deathscraper.
If it does come out and it's anything like the first two predator movies, it'll go a little something like this:
Predator goes around killing Aliens until one Alien rises to the occasion and kills the Predator. The End.
But seriously, didn't they allude to a winner in this hypothetical epic battle at the end of the second Predator movie? It's been years since I've seen it, but I could sware there was a trophy shrine with what looked like an Alien skull.
I predict Nintendo will make more money than Sony this fiscal year. How are my odds looking?
You've got the better of me. I had read the 800,000 in business wire many hours before it hit reuters.
Under the Live paradigm, you'd just offer up the new stats/roster for download. If you want people to buy 2K4, you better have a more compelling reason than 'we need the cash.'
I'm not 100% positive. But I'm fairly certain EA has to pay a lot of money each year to the NFL to use the new stats and roster. If EA provided the new stats/roster for free, they would lose money. EA doesn't make a penny from the XBox Live service. So EA couldn't even cover their upgrade costs if they wanted to.
(Yes, they only shipped 80,000 units worldwide between April 1 and June 30).
I know it's impossible to try to stop misinformation. But I'm going to give it the old college try, anyways.
The correct figure for Nintendo was 800,000 units shipped worldwide. Someone, somewhere made typo. And that false number is still floating all over the net.
Nintendo has a different solution to the 2.4 games problem. Profit on the hardware sold, everthing else is icing on the cake.
The problem with the Live service is that it can potentially slow the sales of other games buy extending play life of what people already own. Which is good for consumers. Not so good for the game companies.
I have Live. I doubt I'll renew my subscription.
Another point to consider is how much profit Nintendo and Microsoft makes from these top sellers. 1st and 2nd party games make much more money than 3rd party games.
Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Party 4 and Metroid prime are all 1st/2nd party Nintendo titles. Microsoft has Halo.
What would it take for Nintendo to get their Edge back?
6. Their promotions are not "cool" - that is to say, PS2 and XBoX will promote to older teens' and adults' sensibilities, whereas Nintendo promotes to a younger crowd's
:)
I went to the Nintendo Club Party in NYC last year. Do you know what they had on the 21+ nights? FREE BEER! That's right, Nintendo gave me FREE BEER! Now that's what I call great promotion of a product.
and then rip us for $15 for your stupid fucking cable.
The cable is only $5.
Nintendo's biggest problem isn't innovation or originality. They suffer from tainted image syndrome. Just like fashion or music, what once was incredibly popular can quickly shift to something percieved as extremely uncool. Right now, it's trendy to make fun of Nintendo. There are many false claims floating around the various console war discussion forms over the internet. Opponents easily get away regurgitating misinformation because it is widely accepted that Nintendo is standing on its last leg.
I certainly agree with you on a number of points. I think the three biggest factors for the success of the Playstation 2 were: DVD movies, Backwards compatibility and the killer app (GTA). I don't think DVD playback will be as important when the next gen consoles are released.
I also think there is some truth to Nintendo's logic about it not being a pure game machine. With a DVD player, consumers could then spend their money on movies as well as games, taking potential revenue away from Nintendo. Sony has a vested interest in selling DVDs. Using smaller media also allows the Cube to be much more portable, like a board game. That's a big plus for me. I take that thing everywhere. As for my Xbox, it has a permanent spot next to the TV. And I'm not sure if the smaller media is the reason for this, but the Cube, by far, has the fastest load times. Except in cases of unoptimized 3rd party games.
You're probably right about it being a bad marketing mistake. I'm sure Nintendo would have sold more units if it shipped with a DVD player. If the smaller media is used in future gameboys, maybe their mistakes of today will pay off tomorrow.
On the other hand, Nintendo isn't exactly hurting. Sony sold a gizillion times more Playstations this past fiscal year, yet Sony only profited twice as much as Nintendo.
GC is somehow BETTER because it doesn't have a DVD player in a console generation that coincides with DVDs becoming the most successfuly media ever launched;
I was complaining to an acquaintance of mine (who happens to work for microsoft) about the extra fee to unlock the DVD playback feature on the Xbox. He said the reason Micrsoft charges extra is because they have to pay a licensing fee to Sony for the DVD movie feature. It was a way for microsoft to lower the price of the XBox for those who didn't need the DVD playback function.
If Nintendo had included a DVD player, their system would cost more, and that extra cost would go to Sony.
Plus, I think Nintendo has future plans for their smaller media. Possibly for gameboys of the future.
I have a fairly descent sized Gamecube library. And I noticed something today after reading this article. More than half of my GC library consists of Nintendo 1st party games. Granted, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, through and through. But it got me thinking. Maybe one of the reasons 3rd party developers don't fair so well on the Cube is because (as a generalization), those who buy Nintendo consoles buy Nintendo produced games. Could it be that Nintendo games are so popular for the system, that they take away sales from 3rd party developers, contributing to the problem of having 3rd parties to stop developing for the cube?
You are misinformed.
You said: Since Reuters reported 80,000 Gamecube consoles SHIPPED , not sold, they were accurate.
This reuters article says: Japanese videogame maker Nintendo Co Ltd <7974.OS> said on Tuesday it SOLD 80,000 GameCube consoles worldwide in the latest quarter.
Do your homework next time.
Reuters originally reported that 80,000 figure in early August. They left off a zero. They really sold 800,000.
To quote this article: "Amusingly though, it wasn't quite as bad for Cube owners as Reuters (and subsequently most of the Western world including the surely journalistically watertight BBC) reported - with 800,000, rather than the reported figure of 80,000, Cubes shifted in the last quarter."
It amazes me how uninformed people are about the sales of the Nintendo Gamecube. I sware I think they just want to see the worst happen. Almost every article I read that says the Gamecube is in third place is referring to U.S. sales. World wide, Nintendo is selling slightly more than the XBox. But you never read about the demise of XBox.
What was the top selling game for the N64? Not Mario. Not even Zelda. It was Mario Kart. Back in my college days, I knew people who picked up an N64 just to play Mario Kart. Needless to say, this is my most anticipated for the Gamecube.
I own a Radio Baton. Dr. Schloss still refers to the instrument by it's original name, Radio Drum. Just to clarify, it was invented by Max Mathews, the person responsible for laying the foundations of computer/digital music.
I've walked past that same shop and played with the one they had on display. The guy try to sell it to me for $40, then took $5 more off when I said I was interested. Fact was, I was very interested, but had only a few dollars in my pocket.
As for the 200+ games, well, it's kind of misleading. Okay, seriously misleading. Most of the games were variants of a few core games, like Super Mario Bros. and Adventure Island. The the variations were stupid. Like the graphic of Mario would be slightly modifed, and that would be a whole new game.
Talk about your all time bootlegged hardware.
I'm 27 and I play my SP in public. I'm not the only one. I see other adults playing them regularly on the subway.
You should check out Nintendo's campaign in Europe. Young attractive couples half naked in bed playing gameboy. (possibly not safe for work)
It reminds me of the old super nintendo mortal Kombat game, where they took out the blood and people stayed away in droves, going for the Blood coded genesis version.
Having owned both of these versions, I actually preferred the Super Nintendo Mortal Kombat. I thought the fatalities were a lot more creative. And I feel the gameplay was little better.
----
kid: I think Mortal Kombat for Sega Genesis is the best game ever.
Billy Madison: Although Mortal Kombat is a very good game, I think Donkey Kong is the best game ever.
kid: Donkey Kong sucks!
Billy Madison: Yeah, well you suck!
It just proves the old axiom that the greatest technology can be destroyed by inept marketing or a much larger marketing campaign
Or by requiring 6 AA batteries that only lasted 4, maybe 5 hours. Which is the case of the Lynx. I owned a Lynx. It was awesome, but the battery life was a huge downfall of the device. That's why (besides the large game library) I've always preferred the GB product line.