Yeah, sure. Good luck fitting both of the DS's 256x192 displays onto the PSP's 480x272 screen (vertically too, exactly the way players and developers work with the DS in the first place), and accurately emulating the DS's touch screen.
Even if we're talking about a DS emulator for a desktop computer and not the PSP, it's just not going to be the same. Sure, you can sorta emulate the DS touch screen simply by displaying its screen on your monitor and interacting with it using the mouse, but it doesn't emulate the experience of actually "touching" and directly manipulating what you see within the game itself. With a mouse, you end up with extra layers between yourself and the game - moving a mouse to move a cursor to point at something, in addition to pressing/releasing a button to touch/untouch the screen. It just doesn't have the same natural feel of using an actual DS... doing things such as tossing a frisbee to a puppy in Nintendogs (via touching the frisbee and sorta "flicking it" with the stylus), or frantically going all over the screen sliding tiles up and down in Meteos, or quickly drawing different shapes in Pac-Pix.
Except the 64DD was an optional external add-on to the Nintendo 64, as opposed to an upgrade that's a required internal modification to the system itself in order to take advantage of any future titles that utilize a different format (and I imagine that the majority [if not all] of its future titles will be using HD-DVD media once Microsoft makes the switch, instead of sticking to standard DVDs). The N64/64DD deal is something entirely different.
"seriously. One of the best games I have ever played is Lumines, and it was the cheapest game for my PSP"
To each his own, but (on a slightly different tangent here) I myself just got a PSP two days ago with enough extra money to purchase at least 3 games. I picked up Wipeout Pure for $40 (I'm a big Wipeout fan), but... even as I have heard very great things about Lumines (and I extremely enjoy puzzle games, too), it's own $40 price tag is very hard to swallow for a puzzle game. I know it's a very fresh puzzle game with a lot of eye candy and music, but I can never seem to justify paying as much for a puzzle game for something so much more sophisticated (for any system, PSP or otherwise... and I suppose the same could be said for games that simply milk old un-innovative formulas a little too much). $40 is slightly below the usual all-around home console game $50 price-tag, and there's currently talk of pushing it to even $60, possibly within the next year.
I guess my pet peeve with video games is that they're just getting so expensive, that being based on the fact that the gameplay/"life" of each game seems to be growing shorter and shorter. I realize there are still plenty of games that will give you at least a good 15-20 hours of gameplay, but as of late I've been picking up too many $30-40 games that only seem to last me 4-6 hours tops... even as little as 2-3 in some cases.
Of course, I do acknowledge that I am well aware of the rising costs and longer development cycles for video games in general, as they grow more and more complicated to produce, and I'm not trying to whine and cry "foul!" at the industry, but as a hard core gamer (and collector) it truly is an expensive hobby. It's something I don't like, but it's the way it's gotta be to keep on kicking, I suppose.
Does Nintendo think many people with an original Gameboy Advanced is likely to purchase a GBA sp, or a Gameboy mirco?
To be honest, I've hardly seen anybody as of late carrying around an original Game Boy Advance, as opposed to those carrying around the newer GBA SP. Little kids and preteens, teens, and even adults... I see more GBA SP's out there now than I do original GBA's.
I myself do not own an SP, due to the fact that I just don't like the washed out front-lit screen (I always thought it looked a bit strange, though I had wanted to like it since the GBA's own screen was somewhat dull and dark), and absolutely hated the more compact set of controls to work with (more awkward to work with than the wider GBA, but that's just me). Though I do own a Nintendo DS and am quite happy with its backlit screen and ability to play at least GBA games in addition to its own DS games, I unfortunately cannot play any of my classic Game Boy or Game Boy Color games (I started collecting them since I was 7-8 years old, and I'm 23 now), nor do I have a link port available on it (not just for multiplayer, but also for playing things like Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on the Game Cube). As someone who would love to play all my past and current GB games on something brightly back-lit, comfortable, and not require me to pop in a set of 2-4 double or triple A batteries every 6-12 hours (bonus!), the Game Boy Micro definitely catches my interest.
As for continuing the current Game Boy line in its current state, despite having all these new, more powerful systems coming out (DS, PSP)... why not? Surely this little underpowered machine still has a lot of potential (and business!) in it to allow one to continue making great games for it... especially for something that's not even broken, and still has a much larger user base than any other system currently out... even Sony's own PlayStation 2. I think it would be a shame (and very foolish) to just stop supporting and developing for such a successful, working system. Heck, look at the support of the original PlayStation continued to receive (though it's on its last legs by now), even after the PS2 emerged, and coming soon the PS3...
As another poster has mentioned, Carl Hayden used to be a magnet program (I believe they were disbanded 5-7 years ago).
I'm not so sure about that. I myself am a Carl Hayden graduate (May 2000), and went there solely for the reason of taking advantage of its computer science magnet program (about 7 miles away from where I live). It was alive and well when I arrived in the fall of 1996, and still doing well when I left it four years later (and beyond, as my younger brother also attended Hayden for the same reason and graduated May 2003). I don't know how successful it is nowadays, but I know I came out with quite a bit after my CS run at Hayden, including some college credit.
I would've loved to go there but Carl Hayden is probably one of the ghettoest around
And ghetto? Dunno about that. Certainly the neighborhood around it isn't the best in the world, nor is the school as great as others in the Phoenix Union High School District, but it really isn't that bad. In fact, it has evolved quite a bit since my Senior year there up to this very day, with things remodeled all over campus, including a new two-story building completed my Senior year mainly for the computer science, marine biology (another Hayden magnet), math, and science departments.
Yeah, occasionally there was a gang fight every now and then, but honestly it wasn't all that common nor that large of a catastrophe when one occurred (I know of schools in the PUHSD that've had far worse records, with gunplay not being uncommon enough)... I never had a single incident with a gang member aside from having a stryofoam cup filled with ice thrown at the back of my head as a Freshman.
Your first paragraph aside, I agree with you 100%. Hayden still has its problems despite its evolutions and successes, much like the majority of schools in this country, but if only that funding where there... seeing that large 200-pound robot that could ram the crap out of me in motion that my brother and the rest of the robotics team in 2003 had built is evidence enough for me. It's amazing to see what a bunch of kids who mostly initially knew almost nothing about robots or computers (of any background) can do who if they're just given the right opportunities and chances.
The Nintendo DS seems to suffer from this same problem -- it's easily twice the size of a Gamebody Advance SP, which means it's half as portable. How much more size expansion will the "handheld" market tolerate?
I don't know... I've got a DS and it's weight and size is just fine to me (especially since it folds up). Certainly it doesn't fit in my pocket (though it'll slide into my jacket just fine), but... then again, something as small as my old Game Boy Color was a bit of a tight squeeze anyway (I'd be too afraid of damaging it from sitting or bumping into things, not to mention just looking dumb with this huge rectangular lump sticking out of my side). Plus if it did get any smaller by chance, I can't say it would be as great of an enjoyable experience if I ended up having to squint to see a screen any smaller than the Game Boy Color's (the DS' screens are just fine, I think) or having my two thumbs just a half or whole inch apart when it came to handling the controls.
Likewise though, yes... I believe having a portable gaming unit grow any larger or heavier does defeat the purpose of portable gaming (though I myself have not yet seen or held a PSP in person as of yet).
I know this will probably be modded down, but why geek rap? If your going to work in the medium, why go after such a small sub sector? Wouldnt you be able to make it way richer as a "white boy rapper" (assuming here, not a follower personally) talking about your hard upbringing, or busting caps in folks ass?
Well, why not? I'm only familiar with mc chris as the voice of MC Pee Pants from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (heck, I didn't even know his name was "mc chris" until reading this article, let alone listen to rap), but... I'd hate to think that riches and fame aught to be the main driver of his career, to deteur him from doing something something completely unique and original that he may actually enjoy doing (and not care that it's in the eyes and ears of a smaller audience) in exchange for becoming something that so many out there already want to copy and mimic.
I for one would rather listen to the work of mc chris over the likes of Eminem.
Because it's not every day you get to see a 100 mile long Tonka truck go boom... unlike a squirrel that hides nuts, four gallons of rainwater flowing past a bunch of rocks, or an elephant taking a giant poop (unless its load is the size of Montana).
Unfortunately, there is a very, very thick line inbetween the realms of computer programming/game design and true medicine. Good game or bad, one can only contribute what they're capable of giving. I for one, as much as I'd love to help find a real cure for specific diseases, know absolutely nothing about medicine. The best I can do is create something that would try to help comfort a patient's stay in that hosipital.
Just put a Nintendo 64 with "Hey You, Pikachu!" in each and every room and I'm sure patients will just be shooting out of their beds left and right in much better health. Cost effective, too! =)
Don't forget the sticks of pot and discount snack machine, so our fellow techies can mellow out after a stressful rush of fixing things in a hurry. (For medical reasons, I assure you.... honest!!)
Very true that a PC could indeed be easier to develop for (granted it has decent-enough hardware), whereas with a console you're forced to work with whatever you're given. But... in the case of this contest, the restrictions are more for the actual design and presentation of the game... restrictions like not being able to have animation within the game, overlapping sprites, and that only two colors (including black and white) can be displayed in the foreground at a time. Those are just rules to follow when creating the game... you can follow simple rules like that on any console or system, really... even on a good ol' Atari 2600 or Colecovision (as ugly as it may turn out).
The technical aspects of the contest I believe though, aside from the specifications of each of the different platforms to pick from (their CPU, graphical capabilities, etc.), are completely thrown out the window when it comes to the final size of your program, as the contest states in their rules that the final game can be as large in size as you like... allowing one on just about any console (especially with as powerful and capable the Sega Dreamcast is, a platform which can be used) to use as much bad, unoptimized, bloated code as they wish without hindering the performance of a simple LCD mock game.
It certainly doesn't sound much like a programming contest, as much as it does a contest of putting together an original classic-style LCD game that strives to look and play as much as a real LCD game would, but it certainly holds a lot of design challenges in itself in order to make it happen.
The whole point of the compo was to see who can make a good Game & Watch-styled game and not who can make the Next Best Thing(tm). Its all about seeing what you can do with what limitations are thrown at you. Developers have been doing that for a long time.
It's just too bad that this contest only allowed submitions that ran only on a given list of strictly video game-based consoles, as opposed to allowing one to actually submit a game that was designed to run on a computer... especially as I myself, despite knowing how to program, have never programmed for a game console before.
I mean, not to say that it's wrong for others to have submitted games that ran only on given consoles, that's perfectly fine, but what's the point of making the contest "consoles only" when the vast majority of people who end up playing them (including the judges themselves) will be using emulators to do so anyway? I could've made a really nice old-style LCD game in Macromedia Flash that would not only have a nice visual touch as it took advantage of vector graphics (no pixels), but it could've run just fine on any Windows, Linux, Macintosh system without a problem. Heck, even if it ran solely on only one or two of the three systems I just mentioned... I think this contest would've received a lot more submitions.
Either way, I guess I'm not bothered by it much, but it looks like it would've been a little fun to take part in. Maybe next time.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, Burgertime was made by Data East, not Namco.
Yeah, sure. Good luck fitting both of the DS's 256x192 displays onto the PSP's 480x272 screen (vertically too, exactly the way players and developers work with the DS in the first place), and accurately emulating the DS's touch screen.
Even if we're talking about a DS emulator for a desktop computer and not the PSP, it's just not going to be the same. Sure, you can sorta emulate the DS touch screen simply by displaying its screen on your monitor and interacting with it using the mouse, but it doesn't emulate the experience of actually "touching" and directly manipulating what you see within the game itself. With a mouse, you end up with extra layers between yourself and the game - moving a mouse to move a cursor to point at something, in addition to pressing/releasing a button to touch/untouch the screen. It just doesn't have the same natural feel of using an actual DS... doing things such as tossing a frisbee to a puppy in Nintendogs (via touching the frisbee and sorta "flicking it" with the stylus), or frantically going all over the screen sliding tiles up and down in Meteos, or quickly drawing different shapes in Pac-Pix.
Except the 64DD was an optional external add-on to the Nintendo 64, as opposed to an upgrade that's a required internal modification to the system itself in order to take advantage of any future titles that utilize a different format (and I imagine that the majority [if not all] of its future titles will be using HD-DVD media once Microsoft makes the switch, instead of sticking to standard DVDs). The N64/64DD deal is something entirely different.
"seriously. One of the best games I have ever played is Lumines, and it was the cheapest game for my PSP"
To each his own, but (on a slightly different tangent here) I myself just got a PSP two days ago with enough extra money to purchase at least 3 games. I picked up Wipeout Pure for $40 (I'm a big Wipeout fan), but... even as I have heard very great things about Lumines (and I extremely enjoy puzzle games, too), it's own $40 price tag is very hard to swallow for a puzzle game. I know it's a very fresh puzzle game with a lot of eye candy and music, but I can never seem to justify paying as much for a puzzle game for something so much more sophisticated (for any system, PSP or otherwise... and I suppose the same could be said for games that simply milk old un-innovative formulas a little too much). $40 is slightly below the usual all-around home console game $50 price-tag, and there's currently talk of pushing it to even $60, possibly within the next year.
I guess my pet peeve with video games is that they're just getting so expensive, that being based on the fact that the gameplay/"life" of each game seems to be growing shorter and shorter. I realize there are still plenty of games that will give you at least a good 15-20 hours of gameplay, but as of late I've been picking up too many $30-40 games that only seem to last me 4-6 hours tops... even as little as 2-3 in some cases.
Of course, I do acknowledge that I am well aware of the rising costs and longer development cycles for video games in general, as they grow more and more complicated to produce, and I'm not trying to whine and cry "foul!" at the industry, but as a hard core gamer (and collector) it truly is an expensive hobby. It's something I don't like, but it's the way it's gotta be to keep on kicking, I suppose.
Does Nintendo think many people with an original Gameboy Advanced is likely to purchase a GBA sp, or a Gameboy mirco?
To be honest, I've hardly seen anybody as of late carrying around an original Game Boy Advance, as opposed to those carrying around the newer GBA SP. Little kids and preteens, teens, and even adults... I see more GBA SP's out there now than I do original GBA's.
I myself do not own an SP, due to the fact that I just don't like the washed out front-lit screen (I always thought it looked a bit strange, though I had wanted to like it since the GBA's own screen was somewhat dull and dark), and absolutely hated the more compact set of controls to work with (more awkward to work with than the wider GBA, but that's just me). Though I do own a Nintendo DS and am quite happy with its backlit screen and ability to play at least GBA games in addition to its own DS games, I unfortunately cannot play any of my classic Game Boy or Game Boy Color games (I started collecting them since I was 7-8 years old, and I'm 23 now), nor do I have a link port available on it (not just for multiplayer, but also for playing things like Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on the Game Cube). As someone who would love to play all my past and current GB games on something brightly back-lit, comfortable, and not require me to pop in a set of 2-4 double or triple A batteries every 6-12 hours (bonus!), the Game Boy Micro definitely catches my interest.
As for continuing the current Game Boy line in its current state, despite having all these new, more powerful systems coming out (DS, PSP)... why not? Surely this little underpowered machine still has a lot of potential (and business!) in it to allow one to continue making great games for it... especially for something that's not even broken, and still has a much larger user base than any other system currently out... even Sony's own PlayStation 2. I think it would be a shame (and very foolish) to just stop supporting and developing for such a successful, working system. Heck, look at the support of the original PlayStation continued to receive (though it's on its last legs by now), even after the PS2 emerged, and coming soon the PS3...
Do I have enough blood to boot Longhorn, or should I wait for the Service Pack?
Well, maybe on Slashdot anyway.
Ba-dum-bum-tshhhh!!
At least it's not a dupe. =)
As another poster has mentioned, Carl Hayden used to be a magnet program (I believe they were disbanded 5-7 years ago).
I'm not so sure about that. I myself am a Carl Hayden graduate (May 2000), and went there solely for the reason of taking advantage of its computer science magnet program (about 7 miles away from where I live). It was alive and well when I arrived in the fall of 1996, and still doing well when I left it four years later (and beyond, as my younger brother also attended Hayden for the same reason and graduated May 2003). I don't know how successful it is nowadays, but I know I came out with quite a bit after my CS run at Hayden, including some college credit.
I would've loved to go there but Carl Hayden is probably one of the ghettoest around
And ghetto? Dunno about that. Certainly the neighborhood around it isn't the best in the world, nor is the school as great as others in the Phoenix Union High School District, but it really isn't that bad. In fact, it has evolved quite a bit since my Senior year there up to this very day, with things remodeled all over campus, including a new two-story building completed my Senior year mainly for the computer science, marine biology (another Hayden magnet), math, and science departments.
Yeah, occasionally there was a gang fight every now and then, but honestly it wasn't all that common nor that large of a catastrophe when one occurred (I know of schools in the PUHSD that've had far worse records, with gunplay not being uncommon enough)... I never had a single incident with a gang member aside from having a stryofoam cup filled with ice thrown at the back of my head as a Freshman.
Your first paragraph aside, I agree with you 100%. Hayden still has its problems despite its evolutions and successes, much like the majority of schools in this country, but if only that funding where there... seeing that large 200-pound robot that could ram the crap out of me in motion that my brother and the rest of the robotics team in 2003 had built is evidence enough for me. It's amazing to see what a bunch of kids who mostly initially knew almost nothing about robots or computers (of any background) can do who if they're just given the right opportunities and chances.
The Nintendo DS seems to suffer from this same problem -- it's easily twice the size of a Gamebody Advance SP, which means it's half as portable. How much more size expansion will the "handheld" market tolerate?
I don't know... I've got a DS and it's weight and size is just fine to me (especially since it folds up). Certainly it doesn't fit in my pocket (though it'll slide into my jacket just fine), but... then again, something as small as my old Game Boy Color was a bit of a tight squeeze anyway (I'd be too afraid of damaging it from sitting or bumping into things, not to mention just looking dumb with this huge rectangular lump sticking out of my side). Plus if it did get any smaller by chance, I can't say it would be as great of an enjoyable experience if I ended up having to squint to see a screen any smaller than the Game Boy Color's (the DS' screens are just fine, I think) or having my two thumbs just a half or whole inch apart when it came to handling the controls.
Likewise though, yes... I believe having a portable gaming unit grow any larger or heavier does defeat the purpose of portable gaming (though I myself have not yet seen or held a PSP in person as of yet).
I know this will probably be modded down, but why geek rap? If your going to work in the medium, why go after such a small sub sector? Wouldnt you be able to make it way richer as a "white boy rapper" (assuming here, not a follower personally) talking about your hard upbringing, or busting caps in folks ass?
Well, why not? I'm only familiar with mc chris as the voice of MC Pee Pants from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (heck, I didn't even know his name was "mc chris" until reading this article, let alone listen to rap), but... I'd hate to think that riches and fame aught to be the main driver of his career, to deteur him from doing something something completely unique and original that he may actually enjoy doing (and not care that it's in the eyes and ears of a smaller audience) in exchange for becoming something that so many out there already want to copy and mimic.
I for one would rather listen to the work of mc chris over the likes of Eminem.
Because it's not every day you get to see a 100 mile long Tonka truck go boom... unlike a squirrel that hides nuts, four gallons of rainwater flowing past a bunch of rocks, or an elephant taking a giant poop (unless its load is the size of Montana).
Oh no, someone call the Superfriends!
Don't get your hopes up too high when someone asks you for your size.
"What's with Mr. Jobs and the cubes, cubes, cubes anyway?"
He's just jealous of Ballmer's "Developers, Developers, Developers"?
Unfortunately, there is a very, very thick line inbetween the realms of computer programming/game design and true medicine. Good game or bad, one can only contribute what they're capable of giving. I for one, as much as I'd love to help find a real cure for specific diseases, know absolutely nothing about medicine. The best I can do is create something that would try to help comfort a patient's stay in that hosipital.
Just put a Nintendo 64 with "Hey You, Pikachu!" in each and every room and I'm sure patients will just be shooting out of their beds left and right in much better health. Cost effective, too! =)
Don't forget the sticks of pot and discount snack machine, so our fellow techies can mellow out after a stressful rush of fixing things in a hurry. (For medical reasons, I assure you.... honest!!)
No, because the minimum specs for DOOM 3 require you have a computer, not a toy.
Actually it doesn't because the minimum memory for DOOM 3 is 384M and this one only has 256.
Aww, c'mon... a 128 MB upgrade and your kids will have the best of nightmares for years to come! =)
"FIRST POST!!"
Very true that a PC could indeed be easier to develop for (granted it has decent-enough hardware), whereas with a console you're forced to work with whatever you're given. But... in the case of this contest, the restrictions are more for the actual design and presentation of the game... restrictions like not being able to have animation within the game, overlapping sprites, and that only two colors (including black and white) can be displayed in the foreground at a time. Those are just rules to follow when creating the game... you can follow simple rules like that on any console or system, really... even on a good ol' Atari 2600 or Colecovision (as ugly as it may turn out).
The technical aspects of the contest I believe though, aside from the specifications of each of the different platforms to pick from (their CPU, graphical capabilities, etc.), are completely thrown out the window when it comes to the final size of your program, as the contest states in their rules that the final game can be as large in size as you like... allowing one on just about any console (especially with as powerful and capable the Sega Dreamcast is, a platform which can be used) to use as much bad, unoptimized, bloated code as they wish without hindering the performance of a simple LCD mock game.
It certainly doesn't sound much like a programming contest, as much as it does a contest of putting together an original classic-style LCD game that strives to look and play as much as a real LCD game would, but it certainly holds a lot of design challenges in itself in order to make it happen.
The whole point of the compo was to see who can make a good Game & Watch-styled game and not who can make the Next Best Thing(tm). Its all about seeing what you can do with what limitations are thrown at you. Developers have been doing that for a long time.
It's just too bad that this contest only allowed submitions that ran only on a given list of strictly video game-based consoles, as opposed to allowing one to actually submit a game that was designed to run on a computer... especially as I myself, despite knowing how to program, have never programmed for a game console before.
I mean, not to say that it's wrong for others to have submitted games that ran only on given consoles, that's perfectly fine, but what's the point of making the contest "consoles only" when the vast majority of people who end up playing them (including the judges themselves) will be using emulators to do so anyway? I could've made a really nice old-style LCD game in Macromedia Flash that would not only have a nice visual touch as it took advantage of vector graphics (no pixels), but it could've run just fine on any Windows, Linux, Macintosh system without a problem. Heck, even if it ran solely on only one or two of the three systems I just mentioned... I think this contest would've received a lot more submitions.
Either way, I guess I'm not bothered by it much, but it looks like it would've been a little fun to take part in. Maybe next time.
Matrix Reloaded Extended Version - New Cut With 55 Minutes Of New Footage Inserted Back Into The Film
34 minutes of which will probably be an extension to the original "Dance Party Zion".
*long shudder*
"It appears to be that the U.S. house of Reps. want to classify Pentium 4 and above CPUs as weapons."
But only if you ship them with free copies of Microsoft Windows.
AIMGod7412: OMG WTF AOL?!?! DON'T STEAL MY LIFE STREAAMM!!11one1!1!!
::kicks AOL in teh pants::
BasementGuy312: Noooooooooooooo!!
jUsTiNlUvEr: rotflmao @ U!!!