Messages

13451

General Chat / RE: Anti-Aliasing?

« on: February 23, 2004, 11:31:19 AM »

I find that graphics aren't the most important part of a game but they are still important.  It's important that I am drawn into a game so the graphics have to look reasonably good to do so.  I don't mean they have to look realistic they just have to fit the style the game is trying to convey.  Therefore the blocky design of Cubivore is acceptable because it's an intentional look.  Metroid Prime however has to have those high quality graphics to fit the style.  Naturally the importance of graphics is dependant on the hardware itself.  I'll tolerate blocky characters in an N64 game because of the hardware limitations.

Anyway since I feel that graphics must reflect the style of the game anti-aliasing is required when the graphic style calls for them and the hardware is perfectly capable of doing it.  If for some reason the designer intentionally wanted jaggies then anti-aliasing isn't needed.  In a PS2 game that's supposed to look like real life the lack of anti-aliasing would be a flaw in the graphics and thus a flaw on the rest of the game (though likely a minor one).

"Eh, anti-aliasing isn't a thing that is game-specific. Video cards today come equipped with the means to do it themselves, albeit with a performance hit."

It is game-specfic in console gaming where there is no option of having a different video card.  I assumed that's what he was talking about and since this is a console related site that was what I was talking about.

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TalkBack / RE: Student Fashions Bomb From Game Boy

« on: February 23, 2004, 10:32:21 AM »

"Seriously, though I'm just quoting a friend- I didn't come up with that joke."

That friend would be PGC since they made that exact joke in the news report itself.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Amazing Deals!

« on: February 23, 2004, 08:16:35 AM »

This isn't Cube related but it's still a good deal.

Future Shop (www.futureshop.ca) has lowered the price on nearly all of their PS1 games to only $10.  And that's in Canadian funds as well.  I just got Final Fantasy Tactics.  You can even get the GTA collector's pack thingy (with all three PS1 GTA games) for $10.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: SK developing next Zelda

« on: February 23, 2004, 07:26:45 AM »

"Zelda will never have anything more than an "E" rating...period...It just won't happen..."

I don't know.  Super Smash Bros. Melee got a 'T' rating for some reason.  Unless they stick with the Wind Waker style (and you know completely sabotage the future sales of their best franchise) I wouldn't be surprised if even an EAD Zelda would someday get a 'T' rating.  There's a lot of 'T' games out there that are tamer than Ocarina of Time which got an 'E' rating.

Unless Nintendo just pays the ESRB off which they may be doing already anyhow.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: New Final Fantasy Rumors

« on: February 23, 2004, 07:10:29 AM »

I really doubt that Square would remake any of their games on the Cube for a couple of reasons.

1. Ever since the merger with Enix they seem to be adapting more to the Enix policy of "market leader ONLY".  Their Cube enthusiasm has been pretty much non-existent since the merger.

2. Square has denied the potential release of any PS2 remakes because the old PSX games are still playable on one console.  Since every (traditional) FF game ever made except ff3 is playable on the PS2 I highly doubt they would suddenly release any of them on another console.  Their focus is to make old classics playable on current hardware.  They overall aren't very port happy since they haven't even ported their old games to the GBA which would be such an easy cash-in thing to do.  FFVII is playable on current hardware so thus no remake.

I'm not expecting any FF remakes on the Cube.  In fact I'm not expecting any more Square Enix games on the Cube period.  FFCC only exists so they can make GBA games.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: SK developing next Zelda

« on: February 23, 2004, 06:50:50 AM »

A mature Zelda made by SK would be interesting at the very least.  I don't know if I want part of the main Zelda series to be made by someone other than EAD but maybe if this was regarded as a spinoff that would be cool.  One thing that would be very interesting is how well this would sell compared to Wind Waker.  It would give Nintendo an indication of how popular their cartoon design really is.  And best of all with the Zelda name attached this would be a mature game that Nintendo would HAVE to market well.  There's no way they would let something with the Zelda name on it crash and burn.

Oh and by "mature" I mean darker and more serious but not an 'M' rating.  A 'T' would be the ideal rating or else too many younger Zelda fans wouldn't get a chance to play it.

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TalkBack / RE:Student Fashions Bomb From Game Boy

« on: February 20, 2004, 12:12:17 PM »

If the boy wanted to disguise a bomb as a videogame he should have just brought this to school.

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TalkBack / RE: Future Console Predictions

« on: February 20, 2004, 12:06:08 PM »

Whoever did this research obviously doens't know DICK.  Like MC mentioned "early 2005" has never even been rumoured as a launch date.  2005 in general has been rumoured (though 2006 is now widely considered the certain year) but never EARLY 2005.  That's like what?  A year from now?  Not going to happen.

And also like MC said downloading will never become mainstream because most people want a hard copy.  I can't stand the idea of having something mess up during the download thus leaving me with a credit card bill and no game or that if a hard drive or memory card or whatever messes up and I lose entire games.  With physical copies I am for the most part responsible if the game is stolen or damaged.  That's not the case if it's all downloadable software.  I think downloading games will be a feature in the future (though technically it does exists just not legally) but it will never be the sole or even accepted way of purchasing titles.  I also think it's premature to assume this feature will be featured in this coming console generation.  The next gen will be about making games playable online.  Making them downloadable will be the next step.  If there's never a market for online console games then downloadable games isn't needed.

I also disagree with the home entertainment centre deal and not just because Nintendo won't go that route.  Odds are MS isn't even going to go that route this time, or at least it won't be the main focus.  Rumour has it that to ensure profits on their next console the "Xbox Next" won't even have a hard drive and the hardware will focus on overall performance and cost instead of raw power.  Basically MS is going to be copying Nintendo next time instead of Sony.  It makes sense since Nintendo has made a profit despite lower than expected sales.  Anyway this suggests to me that MS is going for a more games focused approach and any entertainment centre functionality will either be as add-ons only or won't exist period.

Really the only console maker of the three that is often rumoured to make their console an entertainment system or have downloadable games (one rumour suggests nothing but) is Sony.  I guess the logic with this study is that since the market leader is doing it then the industry will be going in that direction.  Personally I think that if Sony focuses too much about making the Playstation an entertainment device they're going to lose developers and thus users.  Just because they're the market leader doesn't mean their vision is the future.  Nintendo was the market leader in 1996 and their vision then certainly wasn't the future.

Oh and the f*cking Zodiac is mentioned alongside the PSP as competition for the Gameboy.  That alone totally kills the validity of the research.  At least they didn't mention the N-Gage.

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General Chat / RE: A hypothetical question about futuristic racing

« on: February 19, 2004, 06:24:04 AM »

In 2030 I'll be 48 and thus not at an age where real life light sabres would be of any use to me.  Considering that the youngest people on this board would be at least 40 by then it seems silly to get excited by it.  Plus it's likely impossible to actually "dual" with such things since unlike the movies the two blades would probably go right through each other.  There's also no force powers which to me would be the real appeal.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Couldn't a third party like Datel or Mad Catz create a harddrive for the GameCube?

« on: February 19, 2004, 06:14:56 AM »

Since it would only be used for storage there's no point.  Part of the advantage of the Xbox HD is that it allows for downloadable content and custom made soundtracks.  Those features are completely unavailable with a third party hard drive.  Plus considering how unreliable third party storage is I wouldn't want to save my games to it.  There are enough problems with losing saves on third party storage.

I would prefer something that lets you copy the contents of a memory card to a computer hard drive.  Not only would that be more reliable (and cheaper since nearly everyone who owns a Cube has a computer) but it would allow for saves to be traded online.  Actually I think this device might actually exist or has been announced.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Goldeneye to be used by EA for next Bond game

« on: February 18, 2004, 09:53:37 AM »

Here's  quote from IGN's Everything or Nothing review:
"After all, we definitely liked Bond being a first-person shooter, preferred it to a point, but it just wasn't working; EA wanted it to be more like the movies and fans expected it to be more like GoldenEye, which really doesn't cover the scope of what Bond films are."

I think that sums up why EA will never make a Bond game as universally enjoyed as Goldeneye.  They want their games to be as similar as possible to the movies.  That makes sense since EA has always been famous for simulating real life sports.  Therefore they want to make a James Bond sim.  However Rare did not make a Bond sim they made a Bond game.  Goldeneye didn't follow the movie exactly it just used the general storyline and a lot of the levels were influenced by scenes in the movie.  Anything that could be changed to add to the gameplay however was.  In the movie Bond parks a tank in front of the train and shoots it to stop it.  In the game he's on the train because that provides a better gameplay experience.  With Goldeneye it was gameplay first, license second and that's why people loved it.

If EA truly wants to make their Goldeneye as good as the original they have to think of it from a gameplay perspective first.  The first question should be "what sort of missions to we want to do?" and the second should be "how do we fit those ideas into the 007 universe?"  EA will never do that though.  Stuff like hiring a famous singer to perform the theme song gets higher priority.

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General Chat / RE: A hypothetical question about futuristic racing

« on: February 18, 2004, 06:38:47 AM »

Extreme-G makes the most sense since, like you mentioned, the bikes don't fly.  I highly doubt weapons will legally be allowed for this sort of thing.  Death sports is the sort of thing that usually isn't permitted.  It may still exist underground but the "official" circuit would be pure racing.  I prefer the pure racing approach of F-Zero anyway.

And I doubt that simple racing would get boring since they've never added weapons to current car racing and that seems to maintain a decent audience.  I find it boring as hell of course but the market exists.

The idea of anti-gravity cars for the future seems like at least in theory a decent idea since we really wouldn't need concrete roads anymore.  Mowed grass would be sufficient.  The only problem I see is if cars are designed to actually fly (as opposed to hovering a foot off the ground) you get 3D intersections and really bad accidents.  Of course even with just the hovering thing people will go "off road" everywhere and some nuts will likely mod their car to actually fly.  Maybe it's not that great of an idea after all.  Save the anti-gravity technology for planes only.

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General Gaming / RE: Arcade Legends Sega Genesis

« on: February 18, 2004, 06:29:17 AM »

From the article:
"The Sega Genesis was the dominant platform during the third generation of video games and Sonic was the number one game of that generation. We are thrilled to be able to partner with Sega Toys in offering such a high quality gaming experience in such an accessible format."

Yeah if Donkey Kong Country didn't exist.

Anyhoo I already have Sonic on Sonic Mega Collection.  I don't have a Genesis though so I may buy one of these if the games on it are good.  However I could probably buy a used Genesis for less than that price and thus have much more flexibility.  Like Bill said Gunstar Heroes likely wouldn't be on it (who owns that property? Sega or Treasure?) and I imagine other more obscure titles like Shining Force 2 or Herzog Zwei also won't be on it.  Odds are the titles included will be some of the easiest Genesis games to find used.

I'll just take a stab in the dark and predict the inclusion of the following titles:
Sonic the Hedgehog (this is confirmed)
Golden Axe
Altered Beast
Revenge of Shinobi
Super Hang-On
Columns
Streets of Rage

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: For those who didn't buy Beyond Good & Evil...

« on: February 18, 2004, 06:10:04 AM »

I haven't bought it for a few reasons.

1. When it came out there were other titles getting priority.  My birthday is in December so usually I get two games that month.  In this case I got Mario Kart for my birthday and Ikaruga for Christmas.  Even though these were gifts and I thus could easily afford to buy BG&E I just didn't have to time to budget three games in a month.  To me there's no point in buying a game if I'm currently playing something else.  It will just get ignored.  Timing continues to be a problem since I just got Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles so again a title like BG&E is going to take a back seat.

2. It just wasn't available in my area.  I swear I never saw a physical Gamecube copy of this game until about two weeks ago.

3. It's supposedly quite short so why should I bother to buy it when if I rent it for a week I can probably beat it.

4. The assumption is made that since it's sort of like Zelda and we Nintendo fans love Zelda that naturally we should love BG&E as well.  Well that's sort of true but it's not like we play nothing but these games.  I find that when I buy third party games I usually buy ones that are different from anything Nintendo makes.  If it's anything like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or Pokemon the "real deal" is getting priority.  Since Wind Waker came out earlier in the year I'm not really in the mood to play another adventure title so soon after.  If one was released this April then I probably would try it.  Plus Ubisoft themselves released PoP around the same time and not only is it a similar type of game but it's arguably superior.  There's a reason why Mario and Donkey Kong games aren't released at the same time.  Ubisoft basically created their own competition by releasing two similar playing titles at the same time.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Goldeneye to be used by EA for next Bond game

« on: February 17, 2004, 06:01:36 AM »

"Gamespot says the new bond game may be the best bond game ever, BETTER THAN GOLDENEYE! Review was 8.8 out of 10"

Yet they gave Goldeneye a 9.8, a full point higher.  Does that make any sense?

"Also unlike alot of other shooters out there including the more recent ones was that the stun time for the ememies was fairly long compared to any other shooter out there. "

That's something I really like about Goldeneye that I never really thought too much about before.  In most games if I sneak up behind someone and shoot him in the head all it does is alert him to my presence and he blows me away.  In Goldeneye if I snuck up on anyone and shot them anywhere unless they're with more guys they were pretty much f*cked.  Either I killed them in one shot or they were stunned long enough for me to finish them off.  That's the way it should be in any sort of stealth game.

Makes you wonder why so many of today's FPS games are so fast-paced.  Did people complain that Goldeneye was too slow or too easy?

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Iwata and Yamamuchi Interview

« on: February 16, 2004, 08:01:02 AM »

"it means that if you do not purchase the ds on the day is comes out you not only hate nintendo, you hate japan."

Hey it's up to Nintendo to make me purchase the DS at launch.  They have to give me some launch games I cannot possibly be without.  Ie: Another Luigi's Mansion won't cut it.  The price has to be good too.  If it's too expensive it deserves to fail.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Goldeneye to be used by EA for next Bond game

« on: February 16, 2004, 06:22:03 AM »

Next in line to get its legacy pissed on: Goldeneye!

It seems to me that EA has absolutely no clue why their Bond games have never been as successful as Goldeneye.  Thus they've come to the conclusion that not enough Goldeneye fans have bought the new games so thus if they make a NEW Goldeneye they can attract more of those fans.  Of course EA doesn't realize that the specific Goldeneye license is not the reason the first game was so successful.  Goldeneye was successful because it was really REALLY good and the EA Bond games despite having superior hardware on their side are not as good.

I think this new Goldeneye might become the best selling EA Bond game because of the name but it's not going to sell better than the original because it's just going to be the same not-as-good Bond game EA has been making for years but with the title "Goldeneye" slapped on the cover.

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General Chat / RE: Is it money or software thats the root to success

« on: February 16, 2004, 06:01:08 AM »

Games are always key.  You know why the PS2 is number one?  It's not because it's cool or is marketed well.  It's because it has the most exclusive games and the most variety.  If you own a PS2 odds are you can find at least one game you really like.  It's not that way on the Cube or Xbox.

However money can BUY games, so money CAN be an important factor.  MS has been on a buying spree since they started working on the Xbox and as a result Bungie, Oddworld Inhabitants, Rare, etc are all Xbox exclusive.  A whole whack of exclusive Sega games have been made for the Xbox as well likely due to payoffs since none of those titles have sold very well.

In the end games are ultimately what decides the console wars.  How said games are made available on a console is not important to gamers.

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TalkBack / RE: Japanese Developers Discuss Nintendo DS

« on: February 13, 2004, 07:43:13 PM »

"But I'm willing to bet that EA will just write it off and just focus on the PSP. If EA releases Madden and the rest of their sports lineup on PSP, its over."

It may be over in the US but not in Japan.  Madden is a non-factor in Japan.  Even if the DS only has Japanese support it should still be able to stay alive.  Naturally it would do well in Japan and Japanese games sell better over here than American games over there.  I think sports game fans aren't really the target demographic for the DS anyway.  The DS is really more for hardcore game enthusiasts and Nintendo fans, neither of which would be turned off by the lack of Madden.

Besides knowing EA they wouldl port over Madden anyway to make a quick buck.  It's not like they would even have to use the second screen.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: News article assessing Nintendo future, reveals possible hidden agenda of gaming media

« on: February 13, 2004, 07:37:23 PM »

"Wow, that was a completely moronic thing to say. Instead of writing it off solely because of it's genre, try not being so narrow-minded. I'm sure all of those GOTY awards it recieved were unjustified..."

MC responded to the above comment with:

"Actually, yeah they were- name one thing Halo did that no other FPS has? You can't, can you? That's because Halo didn't do anything new, it just did the same old things better. Don't get me wrong, that's nothing to scoff at, but certainly nothing to praise, either."

That's the point I was making with my "moronic" statement.  I wasn't bashing the game or the genre.  I was stating that Microsoft's big title is not very innovative.  Most Microsoft published Xbox games have very safe proven-formula designs.

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TalkBack / RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed

« on: February 13, 2004, 01:51:45 PM »

True but it is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering which is what I would put the toon shading under.  And even if you consider that innovative enough why is SSX3 in that group?  I'm not trying to bash that game or anything I seriously don't know what innovation that title has.

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General Chat / RE: Meat a Posionous Product

« on: February 13, 2004, 12:30:02 PM »

Why don't ya get yer haircut ya hippie!

I imagine you get that a lot.  I myself get "why don't ya shave ya bum!"

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TalkBack / RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed

« on: February 13, 2004, 11:56:17 AM »

I'm betting on Knights of the Old Rebublic taking home the console crown.  Why?  Because two years in a row the big hyped Xbox game of the year has won that prize over arguably better deserving games (Halo over GTA3; Splinter Cell over Metroid Prime).

I have to question the nominees for the innovative category.  Aside from the Eye Toy how are ANY of those other titles that innovative?  They're good games but they fail to really break any new ground.  I mean SSX3?!  How different is this from SSX Tricky?  And as much as I love Wind Waker from a gameplay perspective it's Ocarina of Time with cartoon graphics.  Where the hell is Warioware which is virtually entirely unique?

I got to say that either this was the year of generic "me too" game design or these awards are total horsesh!t.

And why do people always lump Zelda with platformers?  There's NO JUMP BUTTON!  It's NOT a platformer.

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TalkBack / RE: Japanese Developers Discuss Nintendo DS

« on: February 13, 2004, 11:49:36 AM »

I still am unsure how financially successful the DS will be but at the very least I like the potential support.  This is the ultimate system for innovative game designers.  In the end I think the lineup will be very hardcore which likely will hurt overall sales but it's going to get a lot of the really good developers working with Nintendo, which of course will benefit future Nintendo systems.

If this thing takes off I think you're going to start to see a real split between the elite and the average game designers as well as Japanese and American companies.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: News article assessing Nintendo future, reveals possible hidden agenda of gaming media

« on: February 13, 2004, 11:29:59 AM »

"IMO NIN isnt flashy enough for the mainstream, and the result isnt a bias as much as it is an ignoring."

That's a pretty good choice of words.  "Ignoring" Nintendo is exactly what the mainstream media does and what a lot of rental stores and game stores do.

With the gaming media though I think it's more of a bias.  I mean you can't write about games for a living and ignore a major player like Nintendo.  You have to choose to ignore them.