Messages

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Patents GBA Emulation

« on: April 30, 2004, 02:48:43 AM »

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PCs or consoles running them aren't affected.

Images included with the patent include a picture of someone playing a game on the PC with a gamepad.

Click on the drawings section, then skip to the third picture (Image 1C).  So, this patent is intended to cover PC emulation as well.  Of which there is plenty of prier art.

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TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Patents GBA Emulation

« on: April 29, 2004, 03:49:04 PM »

1) The USPTO is overworked and underfunded, and puts out patents it shouldn't all the time.

2) There are plenty of examples of prier art.   You can't patent something that's already been invented.  You also can't patent things which are obvious.  This patent would be overturned if brought to court.  That is if someone has the money to go up against Nintendo in court.

3) Reverse engineering is legal.  The courts have also upheld many times in the past that hardware emulation is legal. (Bleem as a recent example. http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/04/12/bleem_beats_sony/)



This will be overturned if it's ever brought to trial.  

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TalkBack / RE:Iwata Comments on Nintendo Next Generation

« on: January 13, 2004, 04:38:33 AM »

I keep getting more and more excited by this.

NES = brings arcade level games into the home.
SNES = refinement of 2d games.
N64 = brings games into 3d.
GC = refinement of 3d games.
N5 = , brings game control into 3d?

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TalkBack / RE:The Hobbit Soundtrack Available for Download

« on: January 03, 2004, 04:08:31 PM »

Cool.  Plus, if you use an FTP client to search the rest of the site you'll find more music for the Lord of the Rings game too.  There's probably more in there, I didn't search the files to throughly.

Between this and the link Beelzebud posted on Evil Avatar's site I'm going to have plenty of new music to listen to this weekend.

[BigJim]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 31, 2003, 06:53:05 AM »

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Originally posted by: BigJim
Late to add this, but:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-965830.html
"Analysts estimate that building the global network for Xbox Live will account for at least a quarter of the $2 billion Microsoft has said it intends to spend to establish its video game console."

It's a long-term expense plan, but they obviously don't expect to ever break even, much less make a profit, because even if there were 10 million Xbox Live users, it'd still take 50 years worth of subscriptions to break even without some other kind of revenue generated from it.

So it's not profitable. If these numbers don't make it obvious, absolutely nothing would convince 'em.

Nice link BigJim.  I guess I was wrong, Microsoft is losing money on Xbox live.  Your math is wrong though.  It would take one year of Ten Million Xbox live users to break even, ten years at one million users, and 20 years at the current 500 thousand subscriber level.

That 500 million probably also includes advertising and incentives to developers to include live support.   The costs are spread over 5 years.  Also, the majority of the costs are a one time fee.  A fee that will have to be paid at one time or another by anyone entering the on-line market.  This generation or next.  They're also building their own proprietary network, instead of using the existing infrastructure.  Which is more expensive then Sony's approach.  It also doesn't necessarily prove on-line is unprofitable.  It just shows Microsoft's on-line plan is unprofitable.  Microsoft's plans for the Xbox as a whole are unprofitable, so your argument would state that all games consoles are unprofitable.  

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 31, 2003, 06:00:43 AM »

Mouse, as I said before you and I may find it wrong (sorry Kyosho) that someone wouldn't buy a console because of it's color and shape, but that doesn't mean people don't.  It's a reality.  "Shouldn't" does not equal "Don't".   Just because you don't know anyone that thinks that way doesn't mean a large number of people don't.  How many 20+ friends do you have?  How many 30+ friends do you have?  How many married friends do you have?  I agree with you it shouldn't matter, but that doesn't change the fact that it does.  Take a look around your school, how many people there are concerned about their image.  I'd guess at 90% or better.  Are you saying that Nintendo should ignore 90% of the population?  Judging by your previous arguments I'd guess you'll say they shouldn't.  I would have happily bought a purple GameCube if that was my only choice, but luckily it wasn't.  I paid extra to import my spice cube from Japan, mainly because the purple and black ones released at launch in the US didn't appeal to me.  I would have gotten a platinum one if they had been available.  Just because I'm concerned with aesthetics does that make me shallow too.  You can disregard my comments if you want to because of it, but I've gone out of my way to not discount your comments as those of just a 15 year old kid.  But, like it or not, age does color ones opinion.  I'm over twice your age (33).  I've owned just about every game system from the original stand alone Pong up to a GameCube and PS2.  As they came out.  You can look back at the NES and SNES days and say in your "Editorial" that they didn't have crap games back then and the ones they did have floundered on the shelves.  Having lived through it I can say that's not true.  There's been plenty of crappy games on every console.  There were plenty of crappy games that sold tons of copies based on Image alone.  "E.T." for the Atari 2600 being just one famous example.  It's not a new phenomenon.  I think my age gives me a broader perspective then someone who has just been involved in this generation and the last.   That doesn't make me right and you wrong, but I think it does show that I'm basing my opinions on more experience then you.  I may disagree with you, but I don't think I have the right to disregard your opinions.  No matter how naive they may seem.  Just as you shouldn't disregard someone's opinion.  No matter how shallow it may seem.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 30, 2003, 12:42:34 PM »

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Actually, those were not load times. Yes, they did have the same side effect as loading would, but they weren't load times. I forget the technical details of it exactly, though- ask Shadow Fox if you want to know more about that.

It almost worked like GTA's streaming city.   It wouldn't load the whole map at once, it would only load the room you were in. Then the game would detect where you were going and start loading the next section.  This worked great for the most part, but sometimes if you'd quickly run accross a room, it didn't have time to load the next section, so you'd have to wait a moment for it to finish loading before the door would open.  The doors also masked the fact that there was nothing behind them until the game detected that's where you were going and loaded that area.  The elevators though were definately fancy loading screens.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 30, 2003, 12:03:12 PM »

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As MC mentioned there are the faster loading times, but there's also the piracy issue.  GC games are almost impossible to pirate, and any mainstream or even hardcore gamers isn't going to try it.  You need to have alot of money and a lot of time.  While I don't have had numbers, I can safley say that GC discs hold enough data.  Sure, the bigger discs hold more, but how much of that is actually taken up?

Yes there are benefits to the smaller disc size, but I'm trying to look at it from the point of view of a casual gamer.  They don't care about piracy.  They just want their graphics to be as clean as possible.

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The GC discs hold a large amount of data, which is more than enough for the average game.  MP had beautiful graphics and sound, had a huge map, had almost perfect 60 fps, and had zero loading times.  I'd like to see playstation 2 do that.

Actually MP did have load times, they were just cleverly hidden by the doors and elevators.  Did you ever run across a room to a door, and have to wait for it to open.  That's why.  That's not to take away from the skills of the programmers though.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 30, 2003, 11:32:31 AM »

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Have you read anything I've said? The numbers that show online gaming is NOT popular enough to support now! Nintendo may be a distant second, but everyone is compared to Sony, and Microsoft, the so called crusading hero of online gaming, is a VERY distant third. And that first loss ever was quickly rectified with a price drop that propelled American sales almost to the level of the PS2- Nintendo recognized the problem and fixed it. Are you trying to make a point here?

You havn't provided any proof that on-line isn't profitable.  500,000 * $50 = $25,000,000.  I highly doubt Microsoft has invested $25,000,000 into Live.  If you could show me some figures that say they have, maybe I'll start taking your claims seriously.

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I don't know a single person who decided not to buy a Gamecube because the "official" color was purple- not a single one. And the people that DID make such a decision aren't the people I want taking this industry into the next generation. It's not all about making the MOST money, Cowboy- morality plays a role as well.

They won't be taking it into the next generation, Nerds will.  Unless casual gamers start learning how to program.   They will be financing the next generation though.  Just like they did last generation, and this one.  Like it or not.  

Morality?  Where did that one come from!

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Stop coming up with petty reasons- if you're going to make a case for Nintendo failing, you're going to have to do better than that. The people who decided on one console over another because of DVD playback obviously aren't into the games that much. And why the hell should justification matter at all? If I'm going to buy a console people shouldn't care WHY.

Why does justification matter?  Obviously you've never had to explain to your wife why you want to spend $200.  It goes a whole lot easier if you can make it look like she's getting something out of the deal too.

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Oh no, compressed cut scenes! Seriously, how long did you brood over all of these? I doubt any 3rd party denied the Gamecube support simply because the disc was a little too small. You know what that small disc offers? MUCH faster load times. So there's a balancing act going on.

I never said it cost us support from third parties, but it does come up in reviews that compare all three versions.  Effecting which version a person who owns multiple consoles buys.

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I consider LOSING Acclaim, Eidos, and Atari and GAINING incredible support from Sega, Namco, and Capcom a fairly even trade- actually, I'd say Nintendo got the better end of the stick, actually.

Again, it's not about what you or I want, It's about what casual gamers want.  They don't care about Viewtiful Joe, but they do want the best version of Enter the Matrix.

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That cel-shaded Zelda broke Vice City's record for the most preorders. I'll admit, though a lot of older gamers do see Nintendo themselves as being for a younger crowd, and Nintendo does need to step up their advertising (which they have been lately). I talk a LOT about this kind of stuff in my editorial, so I'll save myself the effort of retyping it for your convenience.

You and your editorial.  I hate to break it to you, but a reply to an editorial posted on an unrelated message board is hardly an editorial.  It's just another post.  Now if you've got a point to make, I hope you don't consider yourself so important that you can't make it again.  For us people that don't want to keep flipping back to a completely different post.  After all, you don't seem to mind repeating "on-line isn't profitable" over and over again.

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That's it, I'm convinced- you're a lunatic. How has telling a "chick" you're a gamer EVER worked? Can you explain that to me? From what I've noticed most girls seem to prefer Nintendo's games anyway, perhaps because they're not as worried about image? I NEVER want Nintendo lying or decieving to get sales, EVER. That's another major point of my editorial, which I'll again let you read on your own.

I never said telling a "chick" you're a gamer EVER worked.  I said people bought into that hype.  It's not lying saying that your console can push a huge number of polygons omiting that those are unlit, unshaded polygons.  That's good marketing.  It's bad marketing to release conservitive, in-game numbers when you competitors are doing the other.



It's not about what you and I want.  We're easy.  We'll buy any Nintendo console they put out, because we're already fans.  What Nintendo needs to do is bring in new fans, and they do that by doing the things I mentioned.

[Style:]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 30, 2003, 10:39:46 AM »

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No, Silks, I don't quite see your reasoning there. Maybe I would if the numbers were against Nintendo, but they're not.

What numbers are you talking about?  Their finacial numbers?  They reported their first ever loss.  Their percentage of the market?  They are a distant 2nd or 3rd.  Exactly what numbers show that Nintendo is currently a roaring success?

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And the Gamecube, to me, represented Nintendo recognizing the mistakes they made with the N64 and fixing them, and I think they've done a great job so far.

That's what they said, and that was the hope, let's take a look at it though:

Style: I don't care what the hardware looks like, you don't care what the hardware looks like, but casual fans do.  Most 12+ aged males do not want to look like a nerd.  They don't want a purple box in their room.  Sure, they also released a black one at launch, but that wasn't the one they featured in their promotions.  Either way, it's not a slick looking piece of hardware like the PS2.  You and I may find all this pathetic, but it's a fact of life, one Nintendo needs to recognize.  If the GBA SP is any indication, hopefully they have.

DVD playback:  This is probably the only generation where this will be a selling point.  Every one is/was switching over from VHS to DVD.  It's alot easier to justify the purchase to a parent or spouse if you're also getting a DVD player out of the deal.  By next generation everyone will already have a DVD player and stand alone units will be cheap.  Maybe you already had one, I did, but I know at least 3 people where this was a factor.

Disc size:  Sure it has larger capacity and is cheaper than a catridge, but it's still smaller than what everyone else is offering.  This leads to compressed cut scenes for the GameCube version.

Third party:  This is about 50/50.  They've been losing a lot of third rate third parties, but have been strengthening their ties with the biggies.  The problem is that you and I might not be interested in Atari's, Eidos's, and Acclaim's games, but casual gamers are.  Who do you think keeps buying all that licensed crap?

Kiddie image:  Nintendo has done very little to address this.  Sure there are 2nd party games like Metroid and Eternal Darkness, but most casual gamers don't know about them because Nintendo failed to aggressively market them.  The look of the console adds to this.  cel-shading Zelda didn't help.

Hype:  Would it kill Nintendo to exagerate every once in a while?  They release realistic, maybe even slightly lowered specs, while Sony and Microsoft make it sound like they're console is the second coming, and will help you score with the chicks.  Give the developers the real numbers, but give the masses something they can brag about.


I hate to sound all doom and gloom because it's not, but those are a few misteps that Nintendo has continued into this generation.  You might not care about casual gamers, but their the ones that keep a console manufacture afloat.  Without them Nintendo is sunk.  If you're truly concerned about Nintendo staying profitable so they can keep making games, then you should be concerned with those above things.

[BigJim]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 28, 2003, 04:11:03 PM »

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Originally posted by: BigJim

That particular item they crammed into the press release falls under "I'll believe it when I see it." If their subscription penetration jumped from 5% to 25% just over the holiday as they tried to imply, I will donate myself to the clean gene pool efforts and castrate myself.

I think what they were saying is that 25% of their users have tried the service.  The xbox comes with 2 free months of live after all.  After trying it 500,000 of them felt it was worth subscribing to at $50 a year.  At least that's the impression I got.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 28, 2003, 02:16:20 PM »

and 25% of the Xbox's user base have gone on-line.  

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 28, 2003, 01:41:17 PM »

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Personally, I like the little extras connectivity has offered, while I'm quite put off by online gaming.

Hence why you think it's OK for Nintendo to throw money at connectivity, but not at on-line gaming.  As long as they're catering to your wants it's cool, and you call me selfish.  


Unless you can show me proof that connectivity increases sales, I'm going to go on believing that connectivity is a cool little extra but it didn't sell one more copy of Animal Crossing.  While if it had been on-line and let you vist other people's towns over the internet, send and receive in game e-mail, allowed you to download other user created images and songs, maybe even user created furniture, it would have increased sales.  and more importantly to me, it would have made the game even more fun then it was.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 28, 2003, 04:52:22 AM »

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As for Nintendo supporting connectivity instead, it's more popular, more accessible, and best all much cheaper

Could you please provide some proof for this statement.  Please forgive me for not just taking your word for it.  I'd love to know the percentage of people who own a GBA GameCube link cable.  I'd doubt it was very high for the GameCube, and I'd be willing to bet it was less then 5% of the people who own a GBA.  According to your logic, Nintendo is ripping those people off, and anyone who wants connectivity is just being selfish.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 27, 2003, 04:05:06 PM »

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Cowboy, YOU tell ME how to set up an online network that is guaranteed to make a hefty profit, that costs little to nothing to set up or run. Do it!

Ask the people over at the warp pipe, they could explain it a lot better.  They're proving it can be done, except for the hefty profit part that is. (They're happy to just break even)  I'm not just making this up.  They're proving it can be done.  Now if you could please provide a link that shows it would be prohibitively expensive and disputes the facts on the table, that would be nice.

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It becomes a matter of practicality- why should Nintendo spend the time, effort, and money to set up an online system soley for less than 5% of it's user basde? Would you release a product that you KNEW no more than 5% of your users would actually support? Would you? STOP thinking about yourself for one minute, will you? Apparently 95% of console gamers, maybe even more, don't want to play games online, so why should that 5% or less get the attention? That's why you're being selfish. Online support is not practical right now- get over it.

Why should they bother with GBA/GameCube connectivity then?  How many people do you think actually took advantage of that?  How many people do you think will ever use the LAN feature in Mario Kart?  Why put out the GBA SP when the original GBA is still selling like hotcakes.  Why even develop and release a game like pikmin at all?  Why should Nintendo do anything that isn't guaranteed to make them huge piles of cash?  I thought they wanted to be innovative.  I thought they wanted to reinvigorate the industry.  I didn't realize they just wanted to play it safe and maximize their profit margin.  I thought they made games, not money.  I still don't know why wanting a game to be on-line because I think [gasp] it would make the game more fun is being selfish.  

[mouse_clicker]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 27, 2003, 09:05:53 AM »

mouse_clicker, do you think the people at warp pipe are paying millions and millions of dollars to provide their service?  Yet they're managing to do it, without any help from Nintendo, and they're doing it for free.  Maybe, just maybe, it doesn't cost millions to do this.  PC game makers have been providing this service free for years.  PC games traditionaly sell fewer copies, are harder to program due to the many different PC configurations, and cost more to support then on consoles.  Now if it costs millions and millions of dollars to put a game on-line, do you think they'd just give that service away?

I'm being pretentious, arrogant, and self-centered huh?  How exactly does providing on-line play to the people who want it, stop the people who don't want to use it from not using it?

I think the low user base for on-line has more to do with Microsoft charging $50 a year for their service, and Sony/Nintendo charging $50 for their Broadband adapters then people not being interested in it.

[mouse_clicker]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 27, 2003, 05:21:45 AM »

mouse_clicker, They don't have to pour money into it.  It doesn't cost a ton of money to run a match-making service that points two or more gamecubes at each other.  They probably could do it with the existing resources at nintendo.com.  If they really need to cover any extra expenses they could charge an extra five dollars per on-line capable game.

I agree, Mario Kart co-op is a blast.  It's even more fun when you have a large group of actual human beings controling all the characters.  Unfortuantly Nintendo wants the only way you can play that way to be if you have 2 GameCubes ($100 each), 2 copies of Mario Kart ($50 each), 2 Broadband adapters ($50 each), 8 controlers ($25 each), and 2 TVs (hopefully you already have these ).  That's a grand total of $550.  Good for Nintendo sure, but bad for you.  Actually it's bad for Nintendo too, because in the above senario, no one is going to buy the Broadband adapters to do all this.  Not that they make it easy to get one as it is.

Silks and nolimit19, I don't think a monthly fee service will ever work in the long term.  No one is going to pay ten dollars a month to Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.  That would be thirty dollars a month, $360 dollars a year.  At best they'd have to choose one.  Which would still be $120 a year.

Hostile Creation, great you're not interested in on-line games.  In case you hadn't noticed, lots of people are interested in on-line games.  I guess none of those people matter because they're not you.  

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 26, 2003, 03:47:02 AM »

Deguello, the reason Mario Kart gets bashed for not including online play is because they went to all the trouble of developing, testing, balancing, and implementing a LAN feature that could very easily have been used for online play.  It would be a great selling point.  It would have added a lot of fun to the game and it would have cost them next to nothing to do.  Look at the Warp Pipe Project.  It doesn't cost a ton of money to have a game online.  It's sad that fans have to do it on their own.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube’s Mid-Term Report Card

« on: December 24, 2003, 12:53:51 PM »

My computer's been on-line for 10 years now.  The PC industry has some how managed to pull a profit in those ten years.  There's no reason at all why the GameCube can't.  The problem isn't that it costs too much to make on-line games, it's  that Nintendo hasn't figured out a way to profitably sell internet access.  They want to have an xbox live type of solution.   So they can control the content and, most importantly, sell access to it.  They view on-line as another revenue stream.  That will never work.  I already pay Comcast a lot of money to have internet access, there's no reason I should pay even more money to Nintendo or Microsoft just so I can play their console on-line.  PC game companies have been making a profit using the existing internet up until now, there's no reason why Nintendo can't buy a couple of servers, optimize they're LAN code, and pop out an on-line version of Mario Kart.  The PS2 has the best on-line stratagy so far.

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NWR Feedback / RE:Slot machine ad

« on: September 09, 2003, 06:29:42 AM »

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions.  I've tried a couple things and hopefully they'll work.

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NWR Feedback / RE:Slot machine ad

« on: September 06, 2003, 03:41:39 PM »

Why visit PGC? Are you serious?  Because it's the best Nintendo site on the web!  That doesn't mean it couldn't be better.  That's all I was trying to acomplish with my post.  Sorry if I gave you the impression my world was coming to some kind of horrific end.  Just a nuisance I wanted to address.  

Obviuosly, I can turn my sound down.  Since this is the only site I have this problem with from the thirty sites or so I visit everyday, I don't always remember that I have to turn down the sound until after the page has loaded and this ad starts blaring it's little song.  If we don't stand up against this type of stuff, it's only a matter of time before every banner ad has a blaring little song.  Can you imagine every ad on a page all blaring their annoying little songs one on top of another?  No one will be able to have their sound turned on ever.  I don't mind ads.  I understand that's how sites like this manage to stay open.  If they're advertising something I'm interested in I'll even click on them.  I don't want to be hit over the head by them though, and I'll never click on an ad that does, even if it's advertising something I desperately need at an unbelivably good price.

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NWR Feedback / RE:Slot machine ad

« on: September 06, 2003, 07:48:03 AM »

mouse_clicker, there are mail, im, and other programs that use sounds to let you know that something happened in the background.  So it's not like there's no reason to have your sound on.


KDR_11k, I tried opera around two or three years ago and wasn't too impressed with it.  There seemed to be a lot of page compatability problems.  I'll have to give them another shot.


PIAC, I was afraid of that.  Still, they could complain to the company that supplies the ads, or switch to a different company.  Better yet, they could follow the Penny Arcade or Anime on DVD model and only place ads with companies they truly support, write them up a little bit in the news section to encourage us to visit them, and probably get a much better click through rate then with one of these ad providers, have less ads, be able to control the content of the ads, and build a sense of community between the fans and retailers.


Anyway, it's not like I'm going to stop visiting the site because of this.  They still are, by far, the best Nintendo site on the net.  I was just hoping.  

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NWR Feedback / RE:Slot machine ad

« on: September 05, 2003, 06:51:31 AM »

ps - it's on the main site, I never come to the forums.  I just thought this would be the best place to bring this to their attention.

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NWR Feedback / RE:Slot machine ad

« on: September 05, 2003, 06:47:17 AM »

I don't think you sound like a "meanie", but as I said in my original post I shouldn't have to turn off my sound when surfing the site.   A lot of times sites don't relize some things are a problem.  I was just trying to bring to their attention that this type of thing bothers me.  Right now it's just one ad, but in the future it could be possible to have two or more ads come up with sound all competeing over top of each other.  It's unnecessary.  I can't imagine any one saying "Wow, I've got to click on that ad that's playing that loud, repetitive, annoying music.  It must be a great site!".  I think it would be wiser for PGC to just set a standard that banner ads are mute.  If they want to have the click through ads have sound, at a reasonable volume, fine.  I'm not saying that they have to remove the ad or I'm never coming back here again.  I'm just saying that it's annoying, and I hope they take my feelings (and many others I'm sure) into consideration.

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NWR Feedback / Slot machine ad

« on: September 04, 2003, 06:04:15 AM »

Hi, long time reader, first time poster.  What could bring me out of lurker status?  It's that annoying slot machine banner ad.  I don't mind you guys having ads on your site.  I don't even mind the click through ads. (ok maybe those a little) That slot machine banner ad drives me insane though.  It blares this obnoxious slot machine music that is at a much louder volume than anything else on my computer.  It's annoying during the day, but it's really agravating at night when other people in the house are trying to sleep and that thing comes on.  Please only except banner ads that are mute.  I shouldn't have to turn off my sound when surfing your site.