Halo is very different from what it was first supposed to be: a third-person action game (a la Syphon Filter for the Playstation). Maybe it would have been more successful among computer gamers if it were something different, not simply another FPS among tons of them?
> giving away the source code to ET > will only create great mods
Indeed... you can find some ROM hacks of ET on AtariAge [ http://www.atariage.com/ ]. But even those can never change the fact that it was one of the most awful games for good old 2600.
Once, Sega had a very successful console, the Genesis. Then, they released two expansions: the SegaCD, and later the 32X; neither was very successful. Sega could not support them properly, so most of their games were released for the Genesis anyway. People who believed these expansions would actually be the "next level" were obviously pissed off.
When the Saturn - the real "next level" - arrived, people no longer trusted Sega. They were known for not supporting their systems properly. But the problem was... they had too many systems to support.
Sega's damnation began when they decided to release those new systems without phasing out the previous one. They had too many systems at the same time. And this might happen to Nintendo as well.
If this "DS" portable is not to replace the GBA, it will ultimately be its rival. Keep in mind that developement resources are not infinite. Can Nintendo afford to develop for two portables and a home console? Three systems to support at the same time?
People will buy the one that has more games; developers will see a bigger installed base and make more games for that; again, people will buy that because it has more games. If Nintendo releases a new portable without phasing out the previous one, they will be shooting themselves in the foot, with a bazooka.
It's been eight years since [Sonic] Heroes director [Takashi] Iizuka created Nights: Into Dreams, a Sega Saturn title that's legendary among hardcore gamers. Will its purple harlequin star ever return? 'I know that there are very strong, loyal Nights fans out there,' says Iizuka. 'I promise that as long as I'm with Sega, I will create Nights again...the more I hear from the fans about their love for the game, the more reasons I have to consider it as my next project.'
Voice commentary on Kid Chameleon? Funny, I don't recall any. But the graphics were pretty good, and it had around a hundred levels. Pretty hard game, that one.
Maybe this "magic" is nothing but nostalgia, and the problem is not that the games are bad, it's just that you're seeing the past through rose-colored glasses.
The original Mario was certainly a fine game, back in its day. But Super Mario World is much better. Not simply for looking better on a new machine, but because, for me, it is more fun - more polished, more complex, and less frustrating (gotta LOVE battery saving!).
An example of a wasted opportunity: Phantasy Star Collection for the Gameboy Advance. They kept the notoriously awful translations, didn't port the sound correctly, let some nasty bugs slip in, and - what the hell - didn't include Phantasy Star 4.
Maybe to compensate for the Genesis' crappy cardboard boxes, and SegaCD's and Saturn's monster-sized cases, Sega Dreamcast games went absolutely no-frills: the same jewel cases on which you'd put audio CDs, with the insert as a manual. This made storing your games much easier than old "hardcore packages".
The article says: "the era of specialty sizes of boxes is long past." But why should we care? I have a bunch of computer game boxes into my closet, they're too nice-looking to throw away, but ultimately useless, as I keep all my games in CD jewel cases.
Unless the game comes with extra hardware (like Seaman, NiGHTS, or Steel Commander), a CD jewel box or even a DVD case is a much better solution than any fancy box.
> with Marathon, they tried releasing it > before it was ready (when it was still > just Pathways into Darkness II)
In this event you mention, they have not tried releasing Marathon before it was done, they just showed an early version at a Macworld and, yes, that got slammed because it was "just another PiD". The "Marathon Trilogy Box Set" has that and other pre-release versions - some of them were so bad, you needed Macsbug!
Much later, they indeed had to delay the game a few months because they lost a looooong time fine-tuning the multiplayer levels... nearly to the point they had to recreate all those levels from scratch!
That was stupid, I have to agree. The plot was really good for a shmup, indeed. But to say it was the "best console game storyline in years" is a bit too much! There are many games with better stories - Grandia 2, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia.
Also, it was just a few lines of text. You can read at: - http://www.shmups.com/reviews/ikaruga/index.html
In case he or someone from Atari/Infogrames is reading this...
Mr. Bonnell: your company, in association with Treasure Inc., has brought Ikaruga to the Gamecube. That was one of the best shoot-em-ups ever. It was nice to know that westerners would have a chance to know this masterpiece. Since thas was a successful partnership, why don't you do it again? Someone should bring its Saturn predecessor, Radiant Silvergun, to the Gamecube as well; I think it would sell at least as well as Ikaruga.
And since I'm just daydreaming anyway, Alien Soldier also could use the 128bit treatment...
> it was released for the Nintendo Super Famicom console.
Not only that. According to GameFAQs, Parodius games were released for (alphabetically): arcades, Gameboy, MSX, NES, Playstation, Saturn, SNES, TurboGrafx16.
Slashdot Mirror
Halo is very different from what it was first supposed to be: a third-person action game (a la Syphon Filter for the Playstation). Maybe it would have been more successful among computer gamers if it were something different, not simply another FPS among tons of them?
mac games:
- www.ambrosiasw.com
- www.freeverse.com
- www.victoly.com/~adam/
- www.insidemacgames.com
- www.macgamefiles.com
emulation:
- mac.emuscene.com
- www.emulation.net
- www.mameroms.com
- www.planetemu.net
> giving away the source code to ET
> will only create great mods
Indeed... you can find some ROM hacks of ET on AtariAge [ http://www.atariage.com/ ]. But even those can never change the fact that it was one of the most awful games for good old 2600.
Once, Sega had a very successful console, the Genesis. Then, they released two expansions: the SegaCD, and later the 32X; neither was very successful. Sega could not support them properly, so most of their games were released for the Genesis anyway. People who believed these expansions would actually be the "next level" were obviously pissed off.
When the Saturn - the real "next level" - arrived, people no longer trusted Sega. They were known for not supporting their systems properly. But the problem was... they had too many systems to support.
Sega's damnation began when they decided to release those new systems without phasing out the previous one. They had too many systems at the same time. And this might happen to Nintendo as well.
If this "DS" portable is not to replace the GBA, it will ultimately be its rival. Keep in mind that developement resources are not infinite. Can Nintendo afford to develop for two portables and a home console? Three systems to support at the same time?
People will buy the one that has more games; developers will see a bigger installed base and make more games for that; again, people will buy that because it has more games. If Nintendo releases a new portable without phasing out the previous one, they will be shooting themselves in the foot, with a bazooka.
Hello, Virtual Boy 2... -_-''
From EGM:
Will Nights Fly Again?
It's been eight years since [Sonic] Heroes director [Takashi] Iizuka created Nights: Into Dreams, a Sega Saturn title that's legendary among hardcore gamers. Will its purple harlequin star ever return? 'I know that there are very strong, loyal Nights fans out there,' says Iizuka. 'I promise that as long as I'm with Sega, I will create Nights again...the more I hear from the fans about their love for the game, the more reasons I have to consider it as my next project.'
Voice commentary on Kid Chameleon? Funny, I don't recall any. But the graphics were pretty good, and it had around a hundred levels. Pretty hard game, that one.
Maybe this "magic" is nothing but nostalgia, and the problem is not that the games are bad, it's just that you're seeing the past through rose-colored glasses.
The original Mario was certainly a fine game, back in its day. But Super Mario World is much better. Not simply for looking better on a new machine, but because, for me, it is more fun - more polished, more complex, and less frustrating (gotta LOVE battery saving!).
An example of a wasted opportunity: Phantasy Star Collection for the Gameboy Advance. They kept the notoriously awful translations, didn't port the sound correctly, let some nasty bugs slip in, and - what the hell - didn't include Phantasy Star 4.
Maybe to compensate for the Genesis' crappy cardboard boxes, and SegaCD's and Saturn's monster-sized cases, Sega Dreamcast games went absolutely no-frills: the same jewel cases on which you'd put audio CDs, with the insert as a manual. This made storing your games much easier than old "hardcore packages".
The article says: "the era of specialty sizes of boxes is long past." But why should we care? I have a bunch of computer game boxes into my closet, they're too nice-looking to throw away, but ultimately useless, as I keep all my games in CD jewel cases.
Unless the game comes with extra hardware (like Seaman, NiGHTS, or Steel Commander), a CD jewel box or even a DVD case is a much better solution than any fancy box.
Well, yeah, but Tomb Raider had been an awful game since the very first one... -_-''
Actually, a three-wheel car did exist - R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion - although it was never mass-marketed. [http://www.retrofuture.com/bucky.htm]
It's 3DO, not 3D0. (letter O, not number zero)
> with Marathon, they tried releasing it
> before it was ready (when it was still
> just Pathways into Darkness II)
In this event you mention, they have not tried releasing Marathon before it was done, they just showed an early version at a Macworld and, yes, that got slammed because it was "just another PiD". The "Marathon Trilogy Box Set" has that and other pre-release versions - some of them were so bad, you needed Macsbug!
Much later, they indeed had to delay the game a few months because they lost a looooong time fine-tuning the multiplayer levels... nearly to the point they had to recreate all those levels from scratch!
The spelling nazi attacks! Heil Webster!
Wait, isn't that "ebonics"? :P
But also consider this: $30 cartridge versus $0 ROM... ;-)
Two of these games, rRootage and Noiz2SA, were ported to MacOS. Find them at: ( http://www.victoly.com/~adam/ )
Psyvariar 2: The Will to Fabricatea r2/ )
( http://www.success-corp.co.jp/software/dc/psyvari
Now, let's hope the rumor about Castle of Shikigami 2 is confirmed as well! ^_^
Does it mean having a pirated copy of the Dreamcast version is legal too? :P
That was stupid, I have to agree. The plot was really good for a shmup, indeed. But to say it was the "best console game storyline in years" is a bit too much! There are many games with better stories - Grandia 2, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia.
Also, it was just a few lines of text. You can read at:
- http://www.shmups.com/reviews/ikaruga/index.html
In case he or someone from Atari/Infogrames is reading this...
Mr. Bonnell: your company, in association with Treasure Inc., has brought Ikaruga to the Gamecube. That was one of the best shoot-em-ups ever. It was nice to know that westerners would have a chance to know this masterpiece. Since thas was a successful partnership, why don't you do it again? Someone should bring its Saturn predecessor, Radiant Silvergun, to the Gamecube as well; I think it would sell at least as well as Ikaruga.
And since I'm just daydreaming anyway, Alien Soldier also could use the 128bit treatment...
How long until we get a Macintosh version? :P
> it was released for the Nintendo Super Famicom console.
Not only that. According to GameFAQs, Parodius games were released for (alphabetically): arcades, Gameboy, MSX, NES, Playstation, Saturn, SNES, TurboGrafx16.
Seems you're mixing New Zealand and Australia... :P
*checks urbandictionary.com for MOTA*
Eh... what do you mean, a functional relationship with MARIJUANA? weird...