Topics

26

General Chat / Happy ClockDay Everyone!

« on: August 15, 2003, 01:18:55 PM »

Well, ClockDay is here at last.    I have long been a fan of the Clock Crew, and I was just wondering which of today's movies you guys liked the best?

It might be stupid, but I think my favorite was Clock Day Strawberry by nbh_graphics.  It had a good soundtrack, and good timing.  That goes a long way in my books.

ClockClock of course did his usual shamelessly perfect Monty Python style humor, which I have to give a tie for 1st place.  It just seemed a little rushed to me, so I still prefer BananaBeardClock.  

Man, it's so hard to believe that our beloved B is already 2 years old.  *sniff*

27

General Chat / The Emode ad

« on: August 07, 2003, 10:22:16 AM »

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the ad extremely amusing?

Quote
You could be just her type

(or something to that effect)

I can just see it now... I click on the ad, and she is looking for a not too good looking dark skinned man with a Nintendo tattoo who is a biploar borderline psychopath, borderline suicidal schizophrenic, with obsessive compulsive disorder, a fear of people coupled with a love for electronics of all kinds, and a preference of hentai to real pr0n.  Yeah....  I am really going to be just the one she is looking for.

I am willing to bet without even looking that the rest of you geeks aren't going to be the one she is looking for either.  No offense, but being here really isn't a turnon to many girls in spite of what the ad might have you think.  If you click on the ad, that makes you likely to be even less her type.

I just love that ad.  It's even better than my beloved Sprite ad, which I never ever did get around to saving a copy of.  It's hilarious.  I haven't clicked on it, and I am likely not to, but I still think its funny.

28

General Chat / Scrapped Princess

« on: August 05, 2003, 09:40:18 AM »

Is anyone else here watching this anime?  If not, then get on it.    If you are, then I am sure that you are as addicted as I am to it.

The premise of it is really simple, and sounds extremely stupid if I just blurt it out, so I won't do that.  If you want to know what it's about, I'm afraid you are going to have to watch it yourself  Believe me, even if you are on dialup, watching this anime is a wise choice indeed.  I would call it the anime equivalent of Xenogears.

29

General Chat / Hippy Music!

« on: August 03, 2003, 10:48:09 AM »

I met my niece for the first time in like half a year yesterday.  We live in the same town, and even though we are on good terms, and we actually miss eachother, we just never really got in touch, and didn't know eachother's address or phone numbers.  (And we still don't).  But I was just finished shopping at Safeway when her and a car full of her friends drove up.  I got in and drove around with them for a while.  Ironically, I completely forgot to get her phone number, so I might just have to bump into her at some point.    It's all good though.

The point here is that her friends are a bunch of potheads, and I have smoked a joint with them on a number of occasions.  Neither me or my niece smoke it at the moment, her because it was ruining her life, and me because I intellectually know it's not good for me, coupled with the fact that I have a drug test in a month.  She and I have been through about the same amount of crap through our lives though, and we are both turning out fine.

But I was watching Old School today, and it just seems like all my old hippy instincts are kicking in again.  Although I wasn't around for the 60s, I really do like the period, and the mindset and the music of the era.  Somehow when I was collecting 60s music a while ago, I completely forgot Simon and Garfunkle, and I started to wonder what else it was that I might have missed...

So anyone have some good hippy music to give to me?  I already have a whole whack of The Beatles in case that's what you might think.

Think of it this way:  If you were going to make a music CD to give to Tommy Chong, then what would you put on it?    That's what I want.

EDIT:  Btw, does anyone have any obvious examples of the official "video" of the 60s might be?  I found the American Graffitti DVD in Future Shop the other day, and I was absolutely swept off my feet by that one.  I bought it of course, and it now graces my DVD collection.  I just need DVDs of Willow, THX-1138, and the Indiana Jones Trilogy, and my collection will be complete.  Anyways, my point is that American Graffitti is like the "official" movie of the 50s.  I was just wondering if there was anything other than Austin Powers for the 60s.  

30

General Chat / Am I a Dinosaur?

« on: July 23, 2003, 06:30:49 AM »

I just feel incredibly old right now and totally out of my water.

I was just on another forum, where someone was complaining about the lack of really long RPGs these days, and missed the old days in the FF7 - 9 era when graphics weren't as important as gameplay.  I read that sentence about 5 times to make sure it meant what I thought it meant.  I started scrolling down, and the first responding post said basically the same thing, as the first guy had read the sentence 3 times...

But I am actually kind of affected by that statement, as insane as it might be.  I am reminded of music.

My parents are almost 40 years older than me.  They are from a forgotten generation, and the times often seem strange to them.  My Dad is hopeless, and he was left behind before he was born.  My Mom however, is another story.  All of her kids (including me), suspect that she was a hippy in the 60s.  She denies it completely, but we have pictures of her back in the day, and some of the things she says are sort of suspect...

But my Mom talks about the old days of Rock and Roll, when CCR was the greatest thing ever, and she doesn't listen to much modern music.  She likes a couple of modern Metallica and ACDC songs, but she's still happiest with CCR when Rock and Roll was new.

I am finding that I am talking the same as her...  When I talk about when gaming meant something, I talk about the SNES, which I think was the golden era of gaming.  But when the young pups start talking about the PSX like it was "back in the day"... I feel incredibly old.  I am STILL complaining about FF7 - 9, and let's not even start on 10 and 11.  I was there to play Final Fantasy 1 back in 4th grade.  I was there to play Final Fantasy 3 (US) when it first came out in Canada, and I fantasized about Chrono Trigger for years before I got it for my birthday, about a month after its release.  These memories are from back in the day, when games were good.  When someone talks about the piles of trash that are FF8 and FF9 like they were the good oldies... I feel about ready to throw up.  I feel like my Mom must feel when someone talks about the good old days of Nirvana and Megadeth...

I know that a lot of the people around here are older than me, or around my age, so I figured I could come here for someone to put this in perspective for me.  The thought of growing old terrifies me.  It's strange.  I don't fear or care about death.  I could die today without regret.  But I fear growing old more than anything.  I guess that speaks a lot about my future.

31

Nintendo Gaming / And the rumor mill flies....

« on: July 16, 2003, 11:11:12 PM »

Apparently, according to the latest rumors... Shinji Mikami will be leaving Capcom to start his own development studio.  How much you want to bet that that studio will become an integral part of Nintendo if it comes to pass?

Better yet, how much you want to bet that this rumor is complete BS?

Or what do you think might happen to Production Studio 4's games?  Or the Resident Evil franchise?  

32

NWR Feedback / NES's 20th birthday

« on: July 15, 2003, 03:29:04 PM »

I am just curious.  This is a Nintendo site above all, and it strikes me as sort of... wrong that PGC isn't celebrating the 20th birthday of the NES in any way.  Not even a mention on the main page other than the announcement of the limited edition GBA.  Even GameSpy is doing a tribute to the NES right now, and I am just curious why PGC isn't?

33

General Chat / Anyone know how to spot a pirate DVD?

« on: July 05, 2003, 12:01:26 PM »

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that at some point I will have to buy the Kenshin OVA DVDs, and most probably the soundtrack at some point.    So that has me turning to ebay as usual.  The problem arises from the simple problem that ebay is full of pirated stuff.  I want the real deal, and not some stolen chinese crap.

Does anyone know if this is a real release?  To this point, I had thought that the Kenshin OVAs were released in the US on 2 seperate DVDs, labelled Trust and Betrayal.  A packaged deal would be quite nice though, providing that it was the real thing.

34

General Chat / Build Your Own Sattelite.

« on: July 01, 2003, 03:42:01 PM »

Heh.  Just kidding.  It's actually a pretty cool flash demo.    You basically have a planet with a natural sattelite, and you can put artificial ones in orbit by setting their starting position and speed.

I have managed to keep 2 in a low orbit for the last 10 minutes, and I just added two more that seem to be doing quite well.    It's kind of fun and addicting.  Here's the link.

35

General Gaming / I'm speechless.

« on: June 30, 2003, 12:34:11 PM »

I am not saying I am entirely opposed to this, but it's seriously the lamest idea I have heard since Final Fantasy X-3.  Is this what we want video games to become?  

36

General Chat / TLF does it again!

« on: June 26, 2003, 03:23:31 PM »

I just realized when watching this that TLF and The Legendary Frog are one and the same.    The Cloud artwork, and one of the voices tipped me off.  I can't believe I never noticed it before... I guess it was because I watched 8-bit theatre long before watching The One Ring...

Anyways, this is part 3 of the greatest flash series ever.  I have only seen it once, and with crappy sound, so I didn't get the full benefit of it, but I have been waiting for this one for MONTHS.  I just found it got released yesterday, and I immediately had to watch it.

Don't forget to check out The Void while you are at it.  

37

General Chat / Drug Tests, and other things.

« on: June 26, 2003, 03:01:27 PM »

Woo hoo!!!  I finally got a really good job offer.    I got a job as a computer person at an oil company, and I get all kinds of different benefits and a really good salary for 8 months.  

The problem starts that I only get the job once I pass a drug and alcohol test....  I assume that if I don't show up drunk, I pass the alcohol test... but I am a little concerned about the drug test.  Does anyone know how long THC stays in your system in detectable amounts?  It's kind of embarrassing to be a Canadian and not know that, but I have never had to take a drug test before, and to tell the truth, it kind of took me by surprise.

I really can't wait for this job... the only problem is that it doesn't start until Sep. 11, and I have to fend for myself in the meantime.  I guess I am not taking classes next semester, which I have mixed feelings about.  I was looking forward to my Japanese, Computer Architecture, and Programming Languages classes... but I was dreading the inevitable File Systems class...  I guess I can teach myself assembly, and some more game programming in my free time for the year, but I am going to kind of miss school in the meantime.

It seems that I did manage to get a job at a convenience store/bottle depot close to where I live though for the summer though, so hopefully I can go off my "Can't afford to eat anything but ramen" diet pretty soon.    It also seems that I have a good chance at landing a job at a pizza place opening up soon, so I might work 2 jobs for the rest of the summer.

Anyways, I am quite pleased with recent events, and I thought I would ask about the THC thing, and generally glow about it here.  

38

General Gaming / Silent Hill Music

« on: June 22, 2003, 10:49:41 PM »

I know that I am likely the only one on these forums who likes this franchise... (one of the drawbacks of being on a Nintendo board...), but I FINALLY found a good trailer for Silent Hill 3 (it's near the top), which inspired me to go hunting down some of the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack.  

I found an interesting thing though...  I found this remix of the first version of "Theme of Laura" from the trailer of Silent Hill 2.  It's VERY good, and I thought I would share.  Even if you don't like the game, you have to like the music.  It's just too damn cool.    I always thought that the first version of The Theme of Laura was the best one, but it only appeared in final form on the OST, leaving us all with only a trailer for the original version.    I was very pleased to see it in incomplete form at the end of the PC version of Silent Hill 2 though.    They added an extra credits section for the PC version, and they played the first version.

Anyways, I just discovered when I was looking for a track I realized I was missing from the first Silent Hill game... that PSMplay would play the audio tracks from the first Silent Hill... and here I was waiting for the PSFs.    The song that plays when you go into the antique shop kicks ass, and there's actually an updated version of it on the Silent Hill 3 trailer that I posted above.  

PS:  If anyone else was looking for the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack, it can be found here.

Damn... I am going to have to come back tomorrow with a CD... I only have 3 floppies with me right now.    Gotta pick the best of the litter I suppose.

39

General Gaming / Xbox 2 in 2006

« on: June 20, 2003, 05:59:10 AM »

So now that Microsoft has officially announced that the Xbox 2 is launching in 2006, do you think it's finally time to breathe a sigh of relief at Microsoft's passing?

If both Playstation 3 and Nintendo's next system launch in early 2005 as planned, then I don't think that Microsoft has a hope in hell next generation.  Launching a year later is going to cause a serious deficit in games in their console once again, and it will give Sony and Nintendo a year's head start.  I seriously think that this could be Microsoft's last mistake in this market.

Time will tell of course, and it's entirely possible that Sony and Nintendo's consoles could be pushed back, but I think it likely that Nintendo means to debut at the same time as the PS3 whether they are ready or not.

40

NWR Feedback / Signature length

« on: June 20, 2003, 05:51:21 AM »

I am just curious if we can have a few more characters to work with on our signatures?  Maybe reduce the maximum size of our avatars by 1kb, and increase the amount of characters our signatures can have by about 300?  I realize that we don't want a lot of garbage in our sigs, and if they are too big they are an eyesore, but I just find that 250 characters is really limiting if we have hyperlinks in our sigs rather than just plain text.

41

Reader Reviews / Phantasy Star Online Request

« on: June 19, 2003, 10:56:17 AM »

I read Rick's review, but I really want a second opinion on this.  I can pretty much guarantee that I will be buying the game at some point regardless, but I just really want an idea of what I have to look forward to.  A summary of what makes the game so enjoyable would be great.  

42

Nintendo Gaming / This is why I like synthesized music.

« on: June 19, 2003, 06:51:04 AM »

Red Book audio... I really don't get what the big deal is.  I constantly hear people complaining about Nintendo's insistence on using sequenced audio rather than redbook, and I personally just DON'T GET IT.

I was playing Wind Waker last night though.  I was sailing the Great Sea aimlessly (a favorite activity of mine.  ), and I decided to stop so that I could make a recording of the sailing music or something.  I just noticed when I did that that a couple of the instruments faded out when I stopped, and resumed when I started going again.  Hell, that might be the cause of my love for sailing in the game right there!  There's just something... fantastic about getting the wind behind your sail and heading out to the sea.  The music might have a lot to do with that.  The extra oomph that the sequenced audio gives makes it all the more thrilling as well.

I know a few people that whine and complain about the poor samples, or whatever have you.  I am not a musician, so I could really care less.  I just know that it sounds great to me, and the game works with the music to an extreme level.  The sailing theme isn't the only music that's changed in real time, and it all just goes together SO well.

43

General Chat / Xenogears Fan Thread.

« on: June 19, 2003, 06:39:18 AM »

Alrighty... this one is going to be a bit of a story.

I was coding my game last night, same as always, but I had a problem that I just couldn't solve.  My backgrounds kept on messing up, and I didn't know why.  I fought with it for a few hours, then I eventually gave up and played some Secret of Mana.  That didn't last too long before I got the urge to code some more.  So, I put on the Conan: The Barbarian soundtrack, and got to work.

this is the result.  Instructions are included in the zip file.  I would actually appreciate it if someone had the guts to run it, as it's been a REALLY long night for me, and I recently discovered an annoying timing bug in it.  Not really surprising, as my timing code is precisely one line, and not very inspired, but I am curious about how it runs on other computers.  If it runs like crap, I can fix it later and release a second version.

I have been meaning to write this for a while, but I just never really got around to it before.  It wasn't that hard, but it took a while, as I had to learn Win32 programming all over again.    I have been using SDL for a while, and it was hard to figure out how everything worked without a wrapper.

44

General Chat / US government wants to destroy your computer?

« on: June 17, 2003, 03:19:58 PM »

Nice to know tax dollars are being put to good use, and the taxpayers are being listened to.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030617/ap_on_hi_te/downloading_music

If my computer gets destroyed for downloading some music that's sold at hugely inflated prices in stores, I am going to make sure that this guy can never use a computer again.

45

General Gaming / GTA III To be Released in Japan.

« on: June 16, 2003, 01:33:21 PM »

Ok, I am just way curious on this one.  Here's the link.  GTA 3 was never released in Japan because it's gameplay and design are not very appealing to the general Japanese gamer.  I like to think that the Japanese have a little too much taste, so I am thinking it will bomb and bomb badly.

What do you guys think?  Hit or miss?

46

Nintendo Gaming / *sigh* GameCube finally hacked.

« on: June 16, 2003, 08:17:38 AM »

Well, the GameCube had a good run didn't it?  A year and a half without anyone being able to read the games reliably with an optical medium is quite an achievement.  Nintendo should be proud.

I saw this one coming though.  A freeware GCN dev kit was released recently, and someone had managed to get homebrew code running on a GameCube, although nobody is talking about HOW it was done yet.  Supposedly though, I will need to buy a broadband adaptor soon.

The problem is that with every good comes the bad.  Piracy is finally going to rear it's ugly head on the GameCube.  It will sell lots more consoles I am sure, but I am afraid that in many 3rd world countries, this is going to be like opening the flood gates.

Anyways, I trust that you all will continue to buy your games legally?

PS:  Forgot the link

47

Nintendo Gaming / Julian Eggebrecht Interview

« on: June 13, 2003, 11:14:52 PM »

I am once again, seriously impressed with PGC.  PGC always seems to have the scoop on even the pay sites like IGN, and the latest interview with Julian Eggebrecht is no exception.  

I will tell you right now why you should own the game:

Quote
Rebel Strike is the first opportunity for Star Wars fans to see many favorite scenes from the original trilogy in a digital video format

'nuff said.  30 minutes of footage from the Original Star Wars Trilogy in DVD quality is well worth the money it will cost you to buy the game.  Anything on top of that is simply bonus material.  And the bonus material is pretty much guaranteed to be the best Star Wars game ever made.

I am very happy with this interview, and Factor 5 continues to impress.  

Thank you PGC!

48

Nintendo Gaming / Nintendo and Microsoft to cooperate on the next console.

« on: June 13, 2003, 04:35:25 PM »

LMFAO!!!!  For those just tuning in, my stance on this is that this is complete BS.  Here's the evidence anyways.  I was immediately reminded of the Saemus Blackley interview where he said that the media loves to blow these things out of proportion.  I think this is about as likely as hell freezing over, but I thought I would share it with you guys for a laugh if nothing else.

49

Nintendo Gaming / Let's hear it for Namco!

« on: June 03, 2003, 11:17:47 AM »

Watching the drama unfold with Acclaim has gotten me thinking.  There was a time when I really didn't care about Namco any more than I cared about Acclaim.  I was thinking of all the Namco games I have played in my life, and why all of a sudden I was so pleased with them.  I mean, I am not really a hardcore Pacman fan, although I have played the game.  I think the only Namco game I played between Tekken 3 and Pacman was a few hours of Tales of Phantasia.

However, they all of a sudden popped up and are really starting to gain my interest pretty damn fast.  I am not really sure if they are making better games than they used to, or I am just noticing them now, but they make some pretty fine games.  Soul Calibur II, Star Fox, I-Ninja, Tales of Symphonia, Tekken 4, etc.

Is it just me, or have they really gotten good all of a sudden?

50

Nintendo Gaming / *sob* My GBA just died...

« on: June 01, 2003, 08:18:49 PM »

I was getting ready for bed last night.  I had just traded some Pokemon with a friend, so my GBA was lying on it.  I picked it up and put it in its usual place atop my GameCube, but I was a little clumsy that late at night, and it dropped on the floor.  I was a little concerned, as that was how my $100 calculator died on me years back (I cracked the screen), but a quick check of the screen assured me that it was fine.  I went to bed worry free.

This afternoon however, I went to play a bit of Pokemon, and I discovered that the screen wasn't displaying properly...  I am getting light and dark patches where particularly dark images should be, the screen is a little darker, but not enough to even see what I am doing.  It doesn't work with either GB or GBA games, and when I shake it, there's a slight rattle.  I don't ever remember a rattle.

I cannot currently afford shipping prices (or repair costs for that matter) to send it to Nintendo for repair.  I would like ot fix it myself if possible.  Does anyone have any experience with a problem such as this, and if so, what are the chances I can do it myself?  I am a little troubled about voiding my warranty by opening it.