You haven't ever seen Nintendo Power before, have you?
It is interesting to note that their journalistic style has remaining almost totally stagnant from that SMB3 article to today. Every article is still along the lines of "OMG this is teh AMAZING GAME" and ends with something like "We are really looking forward to playing this game! Wow!"
Although lately they have been trying to hip it up by using the word "ass" here and there. That always catches me off guard, coming a page after the fan art of some six year old who drew Kirby in a Link hat.
Similarly, if a third party is making a title for both the DS and the PSP, why not figure out a way for them to play against each other, either wirelessly device-to-device or over the net? In a properly enabled home network, why not let the DS in the bedroom play against the Gamecube in the living room?
Well, you'll get some form of cooperation within the same company - IE, DS and Revolution, PSP and PS2. But seeing how quickly gamers stepped away from the GBA/GameCube connection, what incentive does anyone have to continue that? Four Swords Adventures is one of the best multiplayer GameCube games out there, but most gamers didn't have the capital to invest in it.
First of all, it's not easy, because all the consoles are going to have slightly different tech, I may be wrong on this, but I think the only reason you get Mac-PC multiplayer is because most of those Mac games are just emulating a PC and loading PC code. Am I right? So a multi-platform game would have to dumb down to the lowest common demoninator and have the PC emulate an Xbox or the Xbox emulate a PS2... and who really wants to encourage developers to make more LCD ports?
Sure, it's something you would like, and other gamers would like, but how does it increase sales? At this stage, it would help Nintendo more than anybody, so GameCube owners could get some use out of their broadband adapters... and why would Sony want to participate in that?
Why would any company want to encourage you playing with another company? Most companies prefer to imagine that their competition doesn't exist, especially if they're already the market leader. No one at Sony cares about "increasing the base of available players." The whole idea is to get you to keep your brand loyalty, so you become a zombie for one system and spend your days screaming up and down about how you're on the winning team and everyone else sucks. And so you stick around to buy their next system, instead of sampling the other guy and switching over.
And if you own more than one system, you have to either choose the one version of a game you want for the exclusive features (like Splinter Cell's multiplayer on Xbox vs. the GBA monitor screen on GameCube) or else buy them all so everybody gets their filthy lucre.
If you're impressed by paying only $150 for all of that, imagine what $50 can get you in Sega Genesis equipment!
Xbox has been a financial struggle for Microsoft since Day One. The $150 bundles are SOP for all the consoles once we get a few years into every generation.
Re:It was only a matter of time.
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MTV Games Launches
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Everybody wants to cash in on video game culture, but nobody wants to do it right. Everything I see on G4 is aimed squarely at the Disaffected Teen Male Who Likes To Explode Things demo. At least, unless G4 is running reruns of old shows where the hosts talk about how awesome Crash Bandicoot 3 will be. You don't see movie review shows running from 3 years ago, so why does G4 insist on filling out the day with 3 year old game review shows? Because they're fresh out of content for a 24 hour network since bagging everything that was good about TechTV.
There was a time when Adam Sessler did a good video game show, during the ZDTV days. It might be the rose colored glasses of memory talking, but I would swear that he actually talked intelligently about video games of all types, and not just the DOOM! HALO! BOOBS! SHOOTING! GOSH I'M QUIRKY! bullshit he is forced to do these days. G4 bought that guy's soul at some point, and I don't even believe in souls.
Why do expect that MTV will just offer up more of the same, except maybe with more piercings.
Re:My wife is already a gamer...
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10 Gateway Games
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· Score: 1
Yep, I forgot to designate FF:CC as GC+GBA. GBAs are required for multiplayer. If you don't already have at least one GBA, yeah, that does get expensive. But, if you pick up Four Swords Adventures (which my wife liked far better than Crystal Chronicles anyway) plus some GBA stuff you haven't tried yet, having two GBAs and a GameCube in the house is no bad thing.
Re:My wife is already a gamer...
on
10 Gateway Games
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· Score: 1
Also consider: LEGO Star Wars (PS2), X-Men Legends (GC, PS2), Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC + GBA), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC), and maybe Donkey Konga (GC) if you're up for buying two sets of bongos. All co-op but not truly competitive.
And about Cookies & Cream (PS2), at least the first half of the game is fine for neophyte gamers. My wife handled it fine until the second half, at which point I had to bring in my sister to finish the game with me. Lots of complicated timed jumping in the latter half.
This entire thread is the only one worth reading on this entire whiny, ill-informed discussion. Yes, Nintendo needs to protect their brand. Yes, Nintendo has not abandoned their old titles. Yes, those crappy all-in-on units should be shut down.
Everyone please copy/paste this thread for further use, so we don't have to endure all the other flag-wavers and rom-hackers crying out for attention.
The difference occurs when the ports add in new content that can only be utilize with the DS's unique features. Like the stylus-based minigames of Mario 64DS, driving with your finger on Ridge Racer, or tracing plays with Madden. I'm not saying those are all grand, sweeping, vital gameplay changes... just the kind of stuff that makes people consider DS games a little better than simply "ports."
And did you notice the second screen? That also helps.
And WarioWare Touched is about as much of a port as Tomb Raider 2 is a port of Tomb Raider 1.
Re:Nintendo Cliches
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The Best Of GDC
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Anybody who's worked in a school at any point in the last five years will know that Nintendo games don't even register in the average kid's consciousness
That is absolute nonsense. Kids today are well aware of Mario, Pokemon, Kirby, etc. Please attempt to prove your anecdotal statement. Your article troll is centered around your personal beliefs on what kinds of games you prefer. Which is fine, but not in any way indicative of industry trends of what kids are buying.
Resident Evil 4 did a pretty good job of re-imagining the whole Survival Horror genre and in that respect, yes, it was genuinely innovative
What a surprise, the only Gamecube game you like is a dark, violent, "mature" one.
Well yeah, if you can get morons to continue to pay $3/month for something they no longer use, you're a success story no matter what the media.
Every game I've bought for a cell phone (we have a Motorola something or other and a Sidekick 2) has been a one time cost (or free). How many subscription-based cell phones games are out there?
I think it means they used games with pirates in them. Like Puzzle Pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sid Meier's Pirates, and the Merchant guy from Resident Evil 4.
but the X-Box version will no doubt look just as good.
Who says there will be an Xbox version of RE4?
there's never been a GTA3 game on the Cube
That has nothing to do with whether or not the GameCube is online. GTA on PS2 has no online capabilities. Similar controller layouts isn't the reason either. All three console controllers have two analog sticks, a d-pad and four primary buttons... all in mostly the same space, so what's your beef? Is your gripe with the GameCube's kidney-bean shaped X and Y buttons? Because it's really easy to go back and forth between X/Y/B/A and triangle/circle/X/square or yellow/blue/red/green. It's four buttons in more or less a boxlike configuration. Developers aren't abandoning GameCube versions simply because there's a bigger A button.
Your button count complaint is crazy. By my count, the PS2 has 10 buttons, the Xbox has 10 buttons, and the GameCube has 8. Hardly a dealbreaker. That's not including the click effect on GameCube shoulder buttons, the fact that very few games fully utilize the PS2's start/select (aside from a pause... because they're not really meant to be used as super-important in-game action buttons because they're not near any of your fingers), or the Xbox's preference for face buttons over shoulder buttons. If you want all systems to have identical controllers, stop buying more than one system.
Nintendo need to realise that the market can't be forced to follow their own, strange whims any more.
You mean like when they introduced the analog stick? Or the d-pad? Or the rumble pak? Online console gaming isn't a money-making venture yet, and that's why Nintendo hasn't bitten. Yes, they're going to have to get into it... but until online gaming is no longer a subset of a subset of a subset, it's difficult to blame them for not doing it sooner.
Nintendo are sure doing their best to scare people off the Cube.
Are you Canadian? Because in USD, the DS is $150, and the PSP is $185. That's $35 more.
I thought the PSP price was revealed at $250. That's $100 more. Did it drop when I wasn't looking, or are you still using 2004 Analyst Guesstimate numbers?
I see your point, but show me a current online game that isn't already filled with jackhole teens talking nonsense and abusing the gameworld. My rule for online gaming is, if I can't limit the players to solely people I know, I'm not playing.
I think a GTA-esque MMORPG would work better by dropping the first M, and making it team based for the majority of it. (Wasn't that how PSO and Monster Hunter worked?) That way, your team could participate in an engaging and evolving story without being hamstrung by a overworld catered to holding a million player-thugs at once.
And you brought up the "beating a hooker to death" meme. What is it with that and the GTA games? You can beat anybody to death, most will drop money. There's no direct line, zero sum $ in the game where you pick up a hooker and then kill her to get your money back. And if you continue to kill random pedestrians, it will not be long before the game sends cops after you. At which point you must stop and run and take your punsishment. Why does the general populace think GTA is nothing but some kind of hooker-killing sim?
You know, that isn't the first time I've heard someone say that. Is that what Nintendo's reputation has come to? People see anything vaguely cutesy and/or different and they assume it's a Nintendo product?
I suppose the ultimate irony is that the answer to your question is No, I don't think a GameCube version has been announced. Seems to be PS2 exclusive, although only for the utilitarian reason that oddball games have a better chance of selling on PS2 purely due to the higher installed user base.
But while we're making requests, how about a GBA or DS version?
Well yeah, but look at the crappy popup and overall low quality graphics. Particularly when you're in a plane. I love the game, but it sacrifices graphical fortitude for sheer size. Not that that is a bad thing, just that it makes your argument misleading.
The Metal Gear series is really good. Most dialogue is taken straight from the game (they're doing the PS1 original/Twin Snakes storyline now), and they've gone to great pains to keep the art reminiscent of the series actual concept art, all stylized and sketchy. I'm hoping they keep going and do Sons of Liberty (and beyond), because I would like being able to read/see the storyline in the nice digestible visual chunk format that comics provide.
Remind me not to use the phrase "nice digestible visual chunk" ever again.
The hell with free ammo, where's the code to get past that damned Supply Lines mission? Or a code to make any airplane-based activity in the game not suck?
I think he's pointing out that the art direction for Sly is complete and immersive, but with a distinctive style - cartoony, slanted buildings, etc. Amplitude, Rez and DDR definitely have style, but it's more abstract... pop art, if you will. Which is fine and cool, but really doesn't require the forethought and work that goes into creating a visual world like Sly's. I love Amplitude and DDR, but I get the feeling the designers are just throwing up whatever visuals they feel like. Sly is cohesive and structured, yet looks free-form and natural.
But Splinter Cell? That one is just a big Tom Clancy rubber stamp.
RE: Dead Aim took place on a boat and an island. Dead Aim was the only light gun-based RE that was worth a damn, and that's not saying much. I liked it better than Outbreak though.
Slashdot Mirror
It is interesting to note that their journalistic style has remaining almost totally stagnant from that SMB3 article to today. Every article is still along the lines of "OMG this is teh AMAZING GAME" and ends with something like "We are really looking forward to playing this game! Wow!"
Although lately they have been trying to hip it up by using the word "ass" here and there. That always catches me off guard, coming a page after the fan art of some six year old who drew Kirby in a Link hat.
This November! Thanks for the link man, consider yourself the winner of a free Cabin Series Armchair this fall.
Well, you'll get some form of cooperation within the same company - IE, DS and Revolution, PSP and PS2. But seeing how quickly gamers stepped away from the GBA/GameCube connection, what incentive does anyone have to continue that? Four Swords Adventures is one of the best multiplayer GameCube games out there, but most gamers didn't have the capital to invest in it.
First of all, it's not easy, because all the consoles are going to have slightly different tech, I may be wrong on this, but I think the only reason you get Mac-PC multiplayer is because most of those Mac games are just emulating a PC and loading PC code. Am I right? So a multi-platform game would have to dumb down to the lowest common demoninator and have the PC emulate an Xbox or the Xbox emulate a PS2... and who really wants to encourage developers to make more LCD ports?
Sure, it's something you would like, and other gamers would like, but how does it increase sales? At this stage, it would help Nintendo more than anybody, so GameCube owners could get some use out of their broadband adapters... and why would Sony want to participate in that?
Why would any company want to encourage you playing with another company? Most companies prefer to imagine that their competition doesn't exist, especially if they're already the market leader. No one at Sony cares about "increasing the base of available players." The whole idea is to get you to keep your brand loyalty, so you become a zombie for one system and spend your days screaming up and down about how you're on the winning team and everyone else sucks. And so you stick around to buy their next system, instead of sampling the other guy and switching over.
And if you own more than one system, you have to either choose the one version of a game you want for the exclusive features (like Splinter Cell's multiplayer on Xbox vs. the GBA monitor screen on GameCube) or else buy them all so everybody gets their filthy lucre.
Just freaking tell us when Animal Crossing DS will ship already. It's been a DS killer app since Day One, and still no word on when it hits.
They're talking wireless online connection, not just wireless controllers. Hopefully ALL the next gen consoles will have both.
Xbox has been a financial struggle for Microsoft since Day One. The $150 bundles are SOP for all the consoles once we get a few years into every generation.
There was a time when Adam Sessler did a good video game show, during the ZDTV days. It might be the rose colored glasses of memory talking, but I would swear that he actually talked intelligently about video games of all types, and not just the DOOM! HALO! BOOBS! SHOOTING! GOSH I'M QUIRKY! bullshit he is forced to do these days. G4 bought that guy's soul at some point, and I don't even believe in souls.
Why do expect that MTV will just offer up more of the same, except maybe with more piercings.
Yep, I forgot to designate FF:CC as GC+GBA. GBAs are required for multiplayer. If you don't already have at least one GBA, yeah, that does get expensive. But, if you pick up Four Swords Adventures (which my wife liked far better than Crystal Chronicles anyway) plus some GBA stuff you haven't tried yet, having two GBAs and a GameCube in the house is no bad thing.
And about Cookies & Cream (PS2), at least the first half of the game is fine for neophyte gamers. My wife handled it fine until the second half, at which point I had to bring in my sister to finish the game with me. Lots of complicated timed jumping in the latter half.
Everyone please copy/paste this thread for further use, so we don't have to endure all the other flag-wavers and rom-hackers crying out for attention.
And did you notice the second screen? That also helps.
And WarioWare Touched is about as much of a port as Tomb Raider 2 is a port of Tomb Raider 1.
That is absolute nonsense. Kids today are well aware of Mario, Pokemon, Kirby, etc. Please attempt to prove your anecdotal statement. Your article troll is centered around your personal beliefs on what kinds of games you prefer. Which is fine, but not in any way indicative of industry trends of what kids are buying.
Resident Evil 4 did a pretty good job of re-imagining the whole Survival Horror genre and in that respect, yes, it was genuinely innovative
What a surprise, the only Gamecube game you like is a dark, violent, "mature" one.
Every game I've bought for a cell phone (we have a Motorola something or other and a Sidekick 2) has been a one time cost (or free). How many subscription-based cell phones games are out there?
Or, maybe, if you intend to go somewhere and kill people, walking and shooting are pretty much your only options?
I always thought video games got the idea to walk and shoot from real life. Now I know better! Thanks, MSNBC!
I think it means they used games with pirates in them. Like Puzzle Pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sid Meier's Pirates, and the Merchant guy from Resident Evil 4.
Do you only have one finger? Because I do, and it's flipping you off.
Your opinions are poorly formed and poorly expressed. Exactly what button(s) are you having trouble reaching?
Who says there will be an Xbox version of RE4?
there's never been a GTA3 game on the Cube
That has nothing to do with whether or not the GameCube is online. GTA on PS2 has no online capabilities. Similar controller layouts isn't the reason either. All three console controllers have two analog sticks, a d-pad and four primary buttons... all in mostly the same space, so what's your beef? Is your gripe with the GameCube's kidney-bean shaped X and Y buttons? Because it's really easy to go back and forth between X/Y/B/A and triangle/circle/X/square or yellow/blue/red/green. It's four buttons in more or less a boxlike configuration. Developers aren't abandoning GameCube versions simply because there's a bigger A button.
Your button count complaint is crazy. By my count, the PS2 has 10 buttons, the Xbox has 10 buttons, and the GameCube has 8. Hardly a dealbreaker. That's not including the click effect on GameCube shoulder buttons, the fact that very few games fully utilize the PS2's start/select (aside from a pause... because they're not really meant to be used as super-important in-game action buttons because they're not near any of your fingers), or the Xbox's preference for face buttons over shoulder buttons. If you want all systems to have identical controllers, stop buying more than one system.
Nintendo need to realise that the market can't be forced to follow their own, strange whims any more.
You mean like when they introduced the analog stick? Or the d-pad? Or the rumble pak? Online console gaming isn't a money-making venture yet, and that's why Nintendo hasn't bitten. Yes, they're going to have to get into it... but until online gaming is no longer a subset of a subset of a subset, it's difficult to blame them for not doing it sooner.
Nintendo are sure doing their best to scare people off the Cube.
No, you are.
I thought the PSP price was revealed at $250. That's $100 more. Did it drop when I wasn't looking, or are you still using 2004 Analyst Guesstimate numbers?
I think a GTA-esque MMORPG would work better by dropping the first M, and making it team based for the majority of it. (Wasn't that how PSO and Monster Hunter worked?) That way, your team could participate in an engaging and evolving story without being hamstrung by a overworld catered to holding a million player-thugs at once.
And you brought up the "beating a hooker to death" meme. What is it with that and the GTA games? You can beat anybody to death, most will drop money. There's no direct line, zero sum $ in the game where you pick up a hooker and then kill her to get your money back. And if you continue to kill random pedestrians, it will not be long before the game sends cops after you. At which point you must stop and run and take your punsishment. Why does the general populace think GTA is nothing but some kind of hooker-killing sim?
I suppose the ultimate irony is that the answer to your question is No, I don't think a GameCube version has been announced. Seems to be PS2 exclusive, although only for the utilitarian reason that oddball games have a better chance of selling on PS2 purely due to the higher installed user base.
But while we're making requests, how about a GBA or DS version?
Well yeah, but look at the crappy popup and overall low quality graphics. Particularly when you're in a plane. I love the game, but it sacrifices graphical fortitude for sheer size. Not that that is a bad thing, just that it makes your argument misleading.
Remind me not to use the phrase "nice digestible visual chunk" ever again.
The hell with free ammo, where's the code to get past that damned Supply Lines mission? Or a code to make any airplane-based activity in the game not suck?
But Splinter Cell? That one is just a big Tom Clancy rubber stamp.
RE: Dead Aim took place on a boat and an island. Dead Aim was the only light gun-based RE that was worth a damn, and that's not saying much. I liked it better than Outbreak though.