Messages

76

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Releases Firmware Version 1.4 for DSi

« on: August 01, 2009, 10:31:33 PM »

Me too...

77

TalkBack / Re: Jimmy Page and Jack White Dismiss Music Games

« on: June 25, 2009, 02:32:38 AM »

What's your hobby (outside of gaming) and how would you feel to see it stripped down to its most basic component(IN the case of guitar hero and the like, rhythm)?  Would it really be the same when other people experience the most basic component only?  It's the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and orange soda.

I used to play Soccer.  You don't hear me complaining about FIFA or ProEvo.

I don't often see football players complain that playing a season of Madden isn't a suitable replacement for the real thing (no ****!).

Race car drivers don't bitch that Mario Kart and NFS are "cheapening" their profession.

Ninja Assassins don't spend their time decrying Tenchu.

Well, I'd say the big difference here is that music isn't a sport, it's an art.  Music is one of the things that gives us "culture".  I think rhythm games cheapen the experience in a similar way to paint by numbers.  Like Ian Sane has said though, we're past the point where people are claiming that its anywhere near the same.

I just hate seeing my little brother play Guitar hero, while his real guitar sits in the corner neglected.  It's important to get people (kids especially) into music, but more important to get them into making music.  I think that Nintendo's efforts at games like this are more in line with that.  Mario Paint wasn't a paint by numbers, you had to create, it was a free canvas.  Wii Music lets you improvise, let's you change the tempo, let's you make the music your own to a point.  If people don't get interested in making music, then new music doesn't get made.

But yeah, guitar hero is just a game.  I don't expect it to change the world.  But just as WoW can destroy some people's lives, Guitar Hero (and rock band) could destroy young future musicians.

78

TalkBack / Re: Jimmy Page and Jack White Dismiss Music Games

« on: June 23, 2009, 06:11:46 PM »

Fair enough.  And in three days you couldlearn to play a couple of tom petty songs, or dylan, or a lot of early classic rock songs for that matter.  And you don't have to practice, I never practice guitar I just play.

In the end it doesn't matter, to each his own.  I'm a firm believer that everyone should play an instrument.  And I'm sure some are firm believers that everyone should collect stamps.

79

TalkBack / Re: Jimmy Page and Jack White Dismiss Music Games

« on: June 23, 2009, 05:24:59 PM »

Rogue squadron isn't as good as flying a real X-wing, and which would you honestly rather do?  I'd rather fly a real X-wing, but that's an impossibility.  Wouldn't you rather play a real guitar?  You could be doing that within a few days.  I'm sure stamp collecting is rewarding in it's own right, and raising tarantuals could be a good deal of fun.

What's your hobby (outside of gaming) and how would you feel to see it stripped down to its most basic component(IN the case of guitar hero and the like, rhythm)?  Would it really be the same when other people experience the most basic component only?  It's the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and orange soda.

80

TalkBack / Re: Jimmy Page and Jack White Dismiss Music Games

« on: June 23, 2009, 03:57:08 PM »

Oh yeah I heard it.  Bonham is a beast, he's absolutely incredible.  You don't need two bass drums to get  bass rolls.  Actually, when I was in high school, the drummer in our jazz band was pretty good at getting bass drum rolls with one foot.  Good fun to watch!

Page's comment didn't seem like a complaint on the game, just more of a complaint on the general skill level of musicians today. 

SORRY JIMMY IM TRYING MY BEST OKAY

81

TalkBack / Re: Jimmy Page and Jack White Dismiss Music Games

« on: June 23, 2009, 03:48:24 PM »

I just listened to "Good Times, Bad Times" and that drum part is pretty insane.  Page's comment makes a little less sense.

I think White is pretty on target.  It is kind of sad that kids have to learn about music through plastic instruments and timed button prompts.  I learned about music in middle school, and high school by playing the trumpet.  There are venues for kids to learn music, we teach it in the school system, a great way to get more kids to learn about music would be to fund that better.  You learn a lot from actually playing a real instrument (patience, discipline, etc.)  and you learn none of that from the plastic ones.  There's a lot to music, and while music games can help you appreciate it a bit better, you can appreciate it so much more if you take the time to learn an instrument.    And to the people who complain "I have no musical talent".  Music isn't some innate ability, you've got to learn it, it's a different language, and you have to use an external "voice box" but you can learn it, it just takes a lot of time.  Listen to the early White Stripes albums, and then listen to the later ones.  You can hear Jack improve, Jack White doesn't just posses this ability, he is learning and crafting it.  Page didn't start out quite as awesome as he became, go listen to the Yardbirds.

Guitar Hero doesn't come anywhere close to a true musical experience.  When I play guitar with a group of people and we all click into a groove, and everybody is rocking full throttle, its a semi religious experience.  I get a high from it.  When I play guitar hero I'm just going through the motions.  There are better ways to bring music to kids, hell, there are better ways to bring music to everybody.

That block of text said, if this watered down version of ambrosia is the best people can get, then I guess thats something....

82

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 11, 2009, 08:49:52 PM »

ACTUALLY, its not.

If you download the password generator from the Metroid database and enter the parameters for the "Justin Bailey" you'll see that the random password it gives you is not "Justin Bailey"  Not to mention the variations of the "Justin Bailey" code lead this gamer to believe that this was some sort of bizarre in joke at the development team.  Similar to the pre-programmed codes in Metroid's sister game Kid Icarus.

The more you know....

However, if you read the same website's FAQ...

WHO IS JUSTIN BAILEY?!?!?!

    Although rumors have abounded over the years as to the identity of Justin Bailey -- ranging from some kid who beat the game to claims of "bailey" being a slang term for "swimsuit" (just in bailey, get it?), the truth is that the JUSTIN BAILEY password is a total fluke. If you play around with Metroid's password system something you can do with the Metroid Password Generator program, found in Fan Apps), you can come up with other names and words that work as passwords. The "Justin Bailey" code is one which was found early on and happened to work pretty well, so it became widely reported. In other words, there is no Justin Bailey who is associated with the Metroid universe and got his name made into a password.

...You see they say the password's existence is a fluke, a product of the password system.  It sounds to me like similar effects can be achieved by varying passwords, and this is one example.

KDR is right we can. The Metroid database has the source code for Metroid. And a quick search reveals that "justin bailey" is in the source code, ergo programmed into the game and not random.

So there, mystery solved.  I guess...

That's a very subjective way to look at it.  That's not the game's "true" source code, but rather that's more of an attempt to rebuild Metroid from the dump.  The reference "JustInBailey" used is just what the programmer calls Samus in Metroid without a suit, and by programmer, I mean SnowBro [Kent Hansen] <kentmhan@online.no>, btw.  He doesn't refer to it as a loaded password, but rather a "Status" of Samus, doesn't he?  That's clearly an attempt to rebuild the idea by it's most recognizable name, not something the original programmers annotated.

I still think its programmed in....but hey, there maybe a better way to find out!  If I recall, Kid Icarus's secret pre-programmed codes didn't work on the VC, so one would assume, that if "Justin Bailey" doesnt work on the VC  then it's programmed in.

Right?

83

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 11, 2009, 04:52:35 PM »

KDR is right we can. The Metroid database has the source code for Metroid. And a quick search reveals that "justin bailey" is in the source code, ergo programmed into the game and not random.

So there, mystery solved.  I guess...

84

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 11, 2009, 04:30:30 PM »

ACTUALLY, its not.

If you download the password generator from the Metroid database and enter the parameters for the "Justin Bailey" you'll see that the random password it gives you is not "Justin Bailey"  Not to mention the variations of the "Justin Bailey" code lead this gamer to believe that this was some sort of bizarre in joke at the development team.  Similar to the pre-programmed codes in Metroid's sister game Kid Icarus.

The more you know....

85

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 11, 2009, 03:01:10 PM »

I withhold judgment on this game until I see the requisite Justin Bailey. That is the true measure of any real Metroid game.

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but Justin Bailey is not the name of a person. The confusion arises from the NES password input screen, which has a space in between two sets of six characters. As described in Nintendo Power in response to a letter regarding the code, it is actually three words: just in bailey. A bailey is another name for a swimsuit, apparently.

For the record Bailey doesn't mean swimsuit.

86

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 06, 2009, 12:03:16 PM »

Yeah...but zero mission was also a remake, to turn it into chunks would be insulting to the original game.  And yes it worked fine, but they added the chozo statues that would tell you very clearly where to go.  Also Sakamoto did work on Zero Mission.  According to Wikipedia he directed it.  Maybe him and the team realized that such a direct boss, such as Adam in fusion, was a little too much. 

I'm not advocating the bit sized exploration nuggets, just saying why I thought they were there.  I hope Other M has more freedom, but being more story based I doubt it.  Either way Metroid is the only Nintendo story I care about, because it has a lot of mythos and samus is cute.., so I don't mind a story,as long as it's well done.  I thought fusion's was interesting, so I have faith in the team.

87

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 06, 2009, 08:53:28 AM »

I always figured the bite sized exploration nuggets in fusion, and the ever present bossy computer were there because it's a handheld game.  YOu get your small bit of exploring a location, and you take a break because your bus has stopped.  When you pick it back up on your lunch break, it's easy to remember what to do because somebody tells you.  It also made sense in terms of the story, in that it was a space station designed with different ecosystems to test stuff.

I liked fusion, it has some of the best "desperation I'm completely alone" feelings in the whole series.  Samus is weaker than she's ever been, and being chased by a soul-less copy of herself from when she was the strongest.  Every time the SA-X Samus popped up it was scary stuff.  And the only thing that talked to you was a soul less computer AI, which I guess is something, but makes Samus lonelier because its based on her old commander's habits.

I wouldn't think that this Metroid is going to have the same exploration "problems" that fusion had, simply because it's not on a handheld.  The team probably feels that it's okay to have longer exploratory sections because they assume that you'll be sitting longer.

88

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Best of DSiWare

« on: June 06, 2009, 01:45:51 AM »

Flip champs is really great.  It's surprisingly challenging, much harder than I imagined,when you figure it out you get that great "eureka" moment.  The art style is good, and the music is fantastic.

Overall I give it a  , you should buy it!

89

TalkBack / Re: IMPRESSIONS: Wii Sports Resort

« on: June 04, 2009, 08:17:55 PM »

I've gone from zero interest, to wanting this very badly.  The demos at the conference really sold this for me.

I can't wait!

90

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Tatsunoko vs Capcom confirmed for Wii

« on: June 03, 2009, 04:20:47 AM »

Then, there's always the Samurai Pizza Cats.....

Don't say such things, they make my pants feel funny, and I know it won't happen

91

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Other M

« on: June 02, 2009, 03:51:49 PM »

It looks like a prequel.  With a younger, rowdier, shoot-yer-brains out samus.  I like the mythos of the Metroid universe, the Prime games had A LOT of story, but you didn't have to pay attention to it.  I don't mind some of the story being more upfront, as long as it's done well.  Retro put the "upfront" story in Prime 3 fairly poorly, with a blank samus just staring while characters talked to her.  Samus can talk, she talked at the end of Fusion, and Zero Mission.  She knows words, I can tell from all the reading she did.

Anyways, story is okay, because I adore the universe.  Those screens look awesome, remind me of the original metroid. I see ambience in those backgrounds, just enough to let your imagination fill in the blanks.

It could switch perspective based on the situation, not pre-scripted points.  I'm exploring this long tunnel (2-D) OMG BAD GUYS COMING FROM THOSE BUSHES! (3-D)  I need to shoot that enemy in a specific point (THE BRAINS) (1rst person).

Day 1 purchase.

92

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The "What DS game should I get thread?"...thread

« on: May 28, 2009, 03:53:52 AM »

My RPG picks, trying to avoid the obvious ones.
 
Super Robot Taisen Og Saga:Endless frontier  Just picked this up myself, is very awesome so far.  The battle system is very unique, and hard to explain, it's almost a fighting game, it's very similar to the paper mario games, but more awesome.  So far the story is pretty interesting, has Stargate-esque portals, and lots of fanservice BREASTS

Contact  One of my favorite DS games, maybe you've overlooked it.  It's an action RPG sort of, plays like an MMO almost.  You get different costumes, which means different skill sets, an active sort of leveling up system (if you get hit your defense goes up, use swords and you sword skill gets better, etc.).  Has, in my opinion, one of the best stories in a video game ever.  It's a Grasshopper Studios game, with a story written by Suda 51, and great music.  It's short (maybe 12 hours your first time), but It's pretty cheap used these days I think.  I've played it every year since its release (So twice I guess...)

Lunar Knights  ARPG, A very fun spiritual sequel to Boktai.  Has two characters, a melee weapons fighter, and a gun slinger.  The story is a little saturday morning, but the isometric dungeon crawling is very fun.

93

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Gamecube Revisited

« on: May 06, 2009, 11:07:37 PM »

No I meant the ass shaking is just an incredible beautiful thing in PN 03

Fix'd 

94

General Gaming / Re: Well, here's another take on why hardcore games are bad business

« on: May 06, 2009, 01:02:18 PM »

And I'll add that I also haven't been too keen on the DS' lineup since most of the "good" games are in genres that I'm not a big fan of (I'm unlikely to be first in line to buy the Dragon Quest remake or Contra 4, for instance)

This is what I was getting at.  DS games tend to drop in price fairly quick (first party excluded), so it's pretty easy for me to spend $10 on Away shuffle dragon, even if it got bad reviews, because the concept sounded interesting.  Or $20 on moon, because it had a lot of heart (I still need to beat that one).  Or $15 on Bangai-o spirits, even if I suck at shooters, because that game is great.  Or $20 on Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie bar-b-q, or $15 on Barnyard blast.

I just don't understand how anybody could say the DS doesn't have compelling software (not that you are) because there's an abundance of software.  There's niche stuff like Super dodgeball, and there's mainstream stuff like Zelda or GTA.  Nintendo doesn't need to produce "teh harcorez" because the third parties are FINALLY backing Nintendo up, and doing it themselves!  Nintendo can make all these downstream games, and not worry about the upstream push, because the upstream is THERE on the DS.  The Wii is a different story.

I say to this article:  It is on the gamers to follow the rules (DON'T PIRATE JERKS) and they should because spending money in the industry is what keep the industry alive.  And I think gamers should try games they wouldn't normally, because original ideas is what will sustain the industry.

What am I getting at?  Gamers can kill the industry by being idiots.

95

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Virtual Console Mondays Thread

« on: May 06, 2009, 12:41:18 PM »

the alarm can use your town's song. this means that DSiWare games can talk to DS games. Pre-existing DS games, not just ones that are designed for that.

Actually, I think that you can only program in a "town song", with presumably that same frog interface. 

96

General Gaming / Re: Anybody know how to replace NES cart batteries?

« on: May 04, 2009, 03:28:07 AM »

I need to do this to my copy of the GB donkey kong.  And inevitably my Game boy camera, which still has photos I need to unload.

Pro-tip, something in the game boy pocket makes it drain the cartridge batteries if you leave the cartridge in while its off.  So be careful out there!

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General Gaming / Re: Well, here's another take on why hardcore games are bad business

« on: May 03, 2009, 11:58:27 PM »

Your doing it wrong mikintosh.  The Wii and the DS have taught me to branch out, and play stuff I wouldn't normally.  And to find the games to play, because they aren't gonna find me.  I own the most games for my DS than any other system ever.

Also, as far as the topic goes, I got maybe two pages into the farticle and couldn't stomach it.  It was pretty bad

you see what i did there?

98

General Gaming / Re: Well, here's another take on why hardcore games are bad business

« on: May 02, 2009, 01:50:31 PM »

Metroid prime pinball was cited as a hardcore game....

My grandma plays pinball. MY GRANDMA IS  TEH HARDCORE!!!!!

99

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Excitebots:Trick Racing!

« on: April 28, 2009, 11:33:59 PM »

Seriously?

That's kinda silly....

100

General Gaming / Re: Marvel vs Capcom 2 coming out for PS3 and XBOX360

« on: April 27, 2009, 10:55:30 AM »

It's really just a matter of what your used to.  Lots of people were playing street fighter on the SNES or the genesis, where an analog stick wasn't even in the picture.  If you learn on a dpad you'd probably stick with it.


To which you reply, "I was one of those guys who learned with the d-pad, I just know how to get out of the stone age"