Messages

1176

General Gaming / Roms MIGHT be slightly legal now... maybe...

« on: November 10, 2003, 02:09:18 AM »

Here's hoping I don't get booted for even bringing this up. But I think it looks interesting.

Apparently "circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works" is normally illegal, but the government just came up with some special exceptions that don't qualify for legal protection. One of them looks interesting.

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

Quote
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

I think basically it means that if the hardware needed to play your game isn't being made anymore, you're legally allowed to try and circumvent the technological measures that control access to your game, so you can play it on something else.

Like, they don't make TurboGrafx CD units anymore, so you're allowed to find ways to play your TGCD games on your computer.

I guess it depends on "interperetation", but I think it might apply to something like SNES games. Since new SNES units aren't being made anymore, and our units might kick the bucket any day now, and any preowned replacement units we buy might not be any more reliable (just pretend I'm not talking about Nintendo here ^_^;; ), we might be legally allowed to use something like an SNES game copier to upload our games to our PC's, so we can play them as ROMs.

I should probably point out that it doesn't look like anyone's allowed now to distribute ROMs or CD images to people over the internet because of this. You have to own your own game. And create the ROM by yourself.

But to some level, ROMs might be allowed to exist. And of course, once you have the games in ROM form, you can do stuff like add translation patches to them (like how you're allowed to use Game Genies and GameSharks). That's the part that interests me. It may now be legally possible to play Dragon Quest 5&6 in English. Just import the Japanese versions, and get yourself a Game Copier. Maybe. I think.


Does anyone else who maybe knows more about the law have any thoughts on this?  

1177

TalkBack / RE:New e-Reader Card Sets

« on: October 23, 2003, 01:54:37 PM »

The GameBoy Advance Forum is somewhat slow. So people don't usually check it all the time.

Anyways, I can probably answer your question.

The "Game and Watch" was an important piece of Nintendo (and videogames in general) history. Nintendo started off making their "electronic toys" by making arcade games like Donkey Kong, but then they realized that computers were more widespread than people thought. People with digital watches were carrying computers around on their wrists!

So Nintendo made a kind of big digital watch called a "Game and Watch". Instead of displaying a bunch of rectangles that made up passively changing numbers, it displayed interactive stick men and and enemies and obstacles.

They were portable, about the size of a GameBoy Advance, and they needed a controller that was small and cheap and worked well. So Nintendo invented (and perfected at the same time) the digital "crosskey" controller design for them.

They were the grandfather of the GameBoy Advance and GBA SP (I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the Game and Watch units had a flip-top design, like the GBA SP too). And Nintendo released a whole series of them, with games like Mario and Zelda on them.

I'm not entirely sure about Game and Watch e-cards though. But Nintendo could release the Game and Watch games as e-card programs you could play on your GameBoy Advance. They're certainly small enough. The original Game and Watch units are quite rare, and they've been mentioned lately thanks to things like Smash Bros Melee, so I'm sure a lot of people are curious to see what they're like.


Personally, I think they'll lose a big chunck of their appeal without the antique hardware that came with them (but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in them).

1178

TalkBack / RE:Nintendo iQue Announced for China

« on: September 26, 2003, 02:26:32 AM »

I want one of the kiosks.

[PGC NewsBot]

1179

TalkBack / RE:Nintendo Teleconference Transcript

« on: September 26, 2003, 02:16:38 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: PGC NewsBot
Finally, in the very near future, we're going to launch an umbrella marketing campaign that will have game players across the country looking at Nintendo in a whole new way.  You'll get the details on that in a matter of days.

Now I want a Nintendo umbrella, but I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant, so it means I'm not gonna get one!  

1180

TalkBack / RE:GameCube now $99

« on: September 24, 2003, 12:48:17 PM »

What I'd like to know.

Status of the free game/GameBoy Player.

Status of the bonus disk, or that newer Zelda bonus disk you reported on earlier.

1181

TalkBack / RE:Stan Lee Signs With Activision

« on: September 05, 2003, 11:14:00 PM »

Quote
Lee himself could not be more enthusiastic.

And oddly enough, he also can't be less enthusiastic.

There's something seriously wrong with that guy...

1182

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Playcube no longer available?

« on: August 31, 2003, 02:55:53 PM »

I'm pretty sure the PlayCube was just made, sold, and discontinued.

So online stores can't just order more of them whenever they get a request for one, like they do with some items. You have to find a store that actually went and bought some of them while they were available.

However, when it first came out, all the pictures I saw of it in the reviews looked like this:
http://www3.telus.net/ragnar14/playcube-01.jpg

When the GameBoy Player came out, a lot of people noticed that the PlayCube didn't work with it.

But then someone on these boards found a PlayCube, and it worked just fine.

Then I bumped into both the squared, purple one seen above, as well as this rounded, black one:
http://www3.telus.net/ragnar14/playcube-02.jpg

The black one works with the GameBoy Player.

I suspect that the black one was made more recently, although I'm not sure if it was specifically redesigned to work with the GBP.

So I think that sometime after the first PlayCube was discontinued, Nyko restarted, and then discontinued, another run of the PlayCube (and redesigned it too, while they were at it).  

[didn't]

1183

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Will GAmeCube Drop too 99 dollars?

« on: August 31, 2003, 02:38:05 PM »

I asked PGC about the Magic Box's story, and they say no, NOA didn't announce a September price cut.

I kind of thought that everyone else would have heard about it already if it really was official.

So I guess the Magic Box was just fooled by someone, or something like that.

1184

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Will GAmeCube Drop too 99 dollars?

« on: August 26, 2003, 09:23:51 PM »

Or maybe I'm wrong and it's more than a rumor.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/game081503.htm

According to the Magic Box, Nintendo of America announced that it'll be $99 by the end of September.

1185

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Will GAmeCube Drop too 99 dollars?

« on: August 24, 2003, 09:04:39 PM »

You're right. I just checked some E3 news reports, and it was only a $20 drop from both Sony and Microsoft (with Sony's one only applying to the older stock).

That's even more boring than I had remembered.

1186

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Will GAmeCube Drop too 99 dollars?

« on: August 24, 2003, 11:23:53 AM »

Just before the last E3 there were a lot of reports that said that all three current hardware makers were expecting a war of price-drops at E3, and that all three of them were ready to counter any competetor's price-drop announcements with their own price-drop announcements.

Sony (which had the PS2 at $200) kicked things off by announcing... that they were making a new version of the PS2. With like, a progressive scan DVD player, a quieter fan, and the network adaptor built-in. It would be $200. And so they dropped the price of the "old" PS2 by $50 just to clear them out.

Microsoft (with the $200 XBox) decided that the addition of extra features, and the clearout of some stock, wasn't really a $50 price drop, especially since the inclusion of the network adaptor was just a move to try and get more even with what the XBox normally offers. So they put out a simple $30 price drop (IIRC).

(I can't remember right now if either the PS2 or XBox are/were coming with free games at the standard MSRP.)

Nintendo had the GameCube at $150, coming with your choice of one of several great games, each with a MSRP of $50. But games always tend to get cheaper with time. So at E3, Nintendo expanded the selection you can choose from to include the $50 GameBoy Player. Since it's hardware, it quite unlikely to drop in price. So it's a more "real" $50 added value.


It basically comes down to almost nobody at E3 having had any "significant" price drops. But they were all ready for them. Which is why people are speculating that there are more looming on the horizon. And Nintendo offering to let people skip the $50 bonus item, and just take the $99 GameCube, is the most obvious idea.

It's like, people can say... that Sony should drop the price of the newer PS2 to match the XBox. But without deep knowledge of Sony's financial situation with the newer PS2, that opinion doesn't mean squat. Sure, a price cut is good for sales, but is it worth the tradeoff? How can you know unless you know exactly what the tradeoff is?

The $99 GameCube is a very simple idea right now. So everyone is expecting it.

1187

NWR Feedback / RE:There should be a way to tell the noobies from the oldies

« on: August 22, 2003, 05:46:50 PM »

I don't think there would really be much harm in having the "date joined" available in the "view users profile" thingy. I don't think people look in those very often anyways, or people already would be fighting for a bigger "score".

We don't seem to have a problem with people being judged that particular way, so why not make another detail available? Just for those who are interested enough to look.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

[can't]

1188

TalkBack / RE:F-Zero Anime Revealed

« on: August 19, 2003, 11:34:26 PM »

Quote
...with 3D-rendered racing scenes comparable to those found in the F-Zero games.

That just can't be good news.

1189

TalkBack / RE:Nintendo of Europe Reward System Overhaul

« on: August 19, 2003, 08:30:59 PM »

Why does everyone seem to think that North America has never had a "rewards" system like Europe does.

Nintendo Power has been giving out $1 stamps for something like two decades now. You can use them on t-shirts and games, and Yoshi plushies and CDs and Zelda pens and all sorts of other crazy Nintendo stuff.

It's probably just because the European system is online and you have to register them, and stuff like that, while Nintendo Power and it's stamps are a physical thing.

Just because the virtual magazines can get information to you weeks before the real-life ones can, it doesn't mean Al Gore and the virual world invented stuff decades before reality caught on!


Ahhh, you people are all just computer programs designed to trick me anyways...

1190

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Nintendo changing the GB Player packing to DVD packing

« on: August 16, 2003, 12:17:02 AM »

Just to clarify, the link says that Nintendo's gonna change the packing on GBA games, to DVD cases, not the GameBoy Player's packing. You couldn't fit a GameBoy Player into a DVD case. So I guess technically this thread belongs on the GBA board, not the GCN board, but whatever.

I say "Ick" to this.

I'm already annoyed that NOA isn't using those miniature DVD cases for GameCube games that the Japanese gamers get (you may have seen one if you have the GameBoy Player). The "DVD cases" have no personality, and contain a lot of wasted internal space. Sticking a GBA cart into one? That's even worse.

And they aren't even DVD cases. Normal DVD cases don't have spaces inside them for GameCube-sized discs, or memory cards, or GameBoy carts. These are all being custom-made for Nintendo. And designed to look like DVD cases. What for? So you can stick them in the "DVD" section of your entertainment cabinet?

Will they increase the shelf space for sales of GBA games? There are already so much of a selection of GBA games out there that if the store had extra room, and thought it would help sales, they'd give the GBA some more. All this will do is crowd other GBA games off the shelves. Until maybe the plummeting GBA game sales force the stores to expand the section. Unless you put them on their side, which can already be done, but this would make them even harder to see than the sides of the current GBA boxes.

If they give you the spaces inside the case to store about a dozen GBA carts, that'd be pretty weird too. Since each case would have the box art and instructions of the game it came with. Keeping a pile of my GBA games inside the box for Mario Advance? That's just messed up. I'll just stick with a dedicated GBA game carrying case, thanks.


Now, if they're talking about the miniature DVD cases (like for the Japanese GameCube games), I could get used to that. It's pretty similar to the GBA's current case size, just that it's plastic.

1191

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 11, 2003, 05:34:42 PM »

Quote
About the analog stick calibration for the other games, it seems a bit dodgy. It seems to work fine as long as you're controlling something on screen but it becomes an issue when you try to stay still onscreen. It has a bad habit of continuing to move the onscreen object in the last direction you pushed the stick in which in turn will probably mean re-calibration. Funny thing is not all games do this, and from what i've seen the GBPlayer doesn't do this either.

Yeah, the PlayCube (either version) with a Dual Shock (I haven't tried the Dual Shock 2 much) seems really sensitive.

For me, I can have the analogs properly recalibrated at center, then I move forward, but when I let go of the stick it bounces back a little too far and I end up slowly moving backward. Then I can even try walking backward intentionally, and let go of the stick, and it bounces back too far again, and I find myself walking forward slowly. The Sony analogs just don't seem to center themselves when you're done as nicely as Nintendo ones do.

But, if you try to play the digital-control based GameBoy games on the GBP using the analog stick of the GameCube controller, you find that you have to move the stick a fair bit before it realizes that you moved it.

The GameBoy Player ignores most of the sensitivity levels of the analogs, and treats them like digital. So the Dual Shock analogs are fine with the GameBoy Player, and don't cause a problem, unless they're horribly mis-calibrated.


By the way, I've tried a third party "dual analog" style PSX controller on the GBP with the PlayCube, and it works just like the Sony-brand ones. Aside from the natural suckyness of most third party products.

So if you don't have a PSOne, and are thinking about getting the PlayCube now, but you're afraid of the still-high prices of the official Dual Shocks (or you just don't want to support Sony), you can feel free to pick up that $0.99 PSX controller in that bargain bin that you're looking at. Just make sure that it has analog, and doesn't look like it'll give you muscle cramps.

1192

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 11, 2003, 05:01:33 PM »

You do have what I'm calling the "PlayCube 2" design (the black, rounded one), right?

I hope so, because if you've got the "PlayCube 1" (the squared one with the purple rectanglular thingy in the middle), then trying to figure out which ones work will get a lot more complicated...  

1193

General Gaming / RE:Final Fantasy's Final Fantasy

« on: August 11, 2003, 12:21:03 PM »

Quote
"Final Fantasy was named how it was because it was a "last ditch" effort. After that, Square just gave up on having any "integrity" in the name, and just turned it into an endless sequel-generating brand name."

dragon quest is almost like the same thing as final fantasy- all the games in that series share the same title mostly for name recognition

True, Dragon Quest is an endless sequel-generator too (it's what almost every game tries to be), but I think the main point of the first post was more about the "meaning" behind the title.

Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior) was about a hero taking on the "Dragonlord".

Dragon Quest 2 and 3 weren't exactly about fighting dragons, but they were a direct sequel and prequel to Dragon Quest, so the names "Dragon Quest 2" and "Dragon Quest 3" would still be appropriate (although "DQ Zero" might have been better for #3).

Dragon Quest 4 (and 5 and 6, so I've heard) was about a world where dragons were gods, and the hero was a half-dragon. It adds a different meaning to "Dragon Warrior", but it still has a solid meaning.

I'm not sure about DQ7 yet. But I wouldn't be surprised if they kept some "meaning" in the title.


"Final Fantasy X-2" is just one giant oxymoron. It'll hopefully be a great game, but it's name is almost a joke.

1194

General Gaming / RE:Final Fantasy's Final Fantasy

« on: August 10, 2003, 09:43:26 PM »

Officially, Final Fantasy was named how it was because it was a "last ditch" effort. After that, Square just gave up on having any "integrity" in the name, and just turned it into an endless sequel-generating brand name.

But yeah, I see your point. Each Final Fantasy was an "epic" battle to save the world. For the characters in those games, each game was their own "Final" quest.

FFX (which now has a sequel) and FFXI (being an open-ended, no real plot, MMORPG) aren't. Which kills off that version of "integrity" in the Final Fantasy name.

But, it was an "unofficial" reasoning from the beginning, so it's not surprising that it didn't hold water. Square put no stock into it. Don't worry about it.

[darknight06]

1195

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 10, 2003, 08:19:28 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: darknight06
Keep in mind that most cube games do use the analog sticks, which is probably why the original pads don't work with it.

Except that the Hori Pad (the SNES replica looking GameCube controller) apparently works perfectly on the GameBoy Player, and has no analog sticks or buttons.

Which was why I was hoping that the old non-analog PSX controllers could somehow be made to work with the GameBoy Player.

But, as I just mentioned, you have to turn on the analog on the Dual Shock before anything works (at least with mine), which is really weird, but is probably why the non-analog won't work.

[another]

1196

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 10, 2003, 08:12:07 PM »

I can't believe my luck. Today I found another Nyko PlayCube, and it's completely different in design.

This second one does appear to work perfectly with the GameBoy Player!

Here, I'll go into detail.

This is the first PlayCube I found.

I doesn't seem to work with the GBP at all (although I haven't gotten my hands on my brother's early-model Dual Shock yet, but I don't think that'll matter anymore).

When you turn on the GameCube with the GBP and a Dual Shock attached through this one, the "analog" light turns on instantly, but when you get to the "GameBoy Player" screen (right before your GBA game boots up), the light shuts off. You can turn it back on if you like, but it won't do you any good. Nothing at all works.

The light doesn't shut off if you're playing an average GameCube game, and it works on them just fine, in case anyone was wondering.

This is the second PlayCube I found.

When you turn the GameCube on with a Dual Shock and this PlayCube, the light on your Dual Shock will be off. And it won't turn on automatically. And none of the buttons work (analog or digital).

When you do turn on the analog, the sticks are completely miscalibrated. All of the digital functions work, but the analog stuff messes with your controls. This seems to be a problem localized in the PlayCube, because when I unplug the Dual Shock from the PlayCube "in-game", Samus keeps running around in circles. She stops abruptly if you unplug a normal GCN controller while you're playing. So it's gotta be the PlayCube itself that's still sending signals.

You can fix this by simply recalibrating the analogs. Press down X, Y, and Start (or rather, Triangle, Circle, and Start, since you should be using a Dual Shock), and hold them down for at least three seconds.

Once you do that, this PlayCube works perfectly. On a GameCube game, or the GameBoy Player.


By the way, it seems that sometimes when you turn on the GameCube with the "PlayCube #2", the Dual Shock's light will turn on instantly, and it will remember your analog recalibration. This doesn't seem to be a problem, and the light won't turn off when you hit the GameBoy Player screen. I'm not enough of a techie to know why that is or what it means, or why the "PlayCube #1" doesn't work, but it might be of some use to someone.


Or at least, that's how it's working for me. Any feedback from anyone else about what type of PlayCube they have, or if anyone has gotten anything else like the "Cube JoyBox" to work would probably be a good idea.

1197

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 09, 2003, 12:46:28 PM »

Quote
Do you have a launch Gamecube or one of the newer ones?

I think I got mine right after the first price cut. "Near launch" compared to ones coming out now, but not exactly the first batch. I got my GameBoy Player at launch though.

Quote
I can tell you from experience though that non-analog PSX controller does not work with the PlayCube at all.

That's weird. I'd think that less features would give it less to conflict with.

It makes me think that it could be just one particular run of the Dual Shock controllers that's working. My "PSX" Dual Shock is one of the grey ones from shortly before the switch to the "PSOne" design (after Sony removed that port on the back of the PSX), and my "PSOne" Dual Shock is the white controller that came with the PSOne, which I got shortly after it launched.

I know where I can borrow a really early model Dual Shock, so I'll try that one too.

1198

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Official Game Boy Player Discussion

« on: August 09, 2003, 12:22:41 AM »

Well, that was enough to get me to finally give in and get a PlayCube. And I lucked out and actually found one of the Nyko brand ones for only $10 Canadian locally, just this afternoon.

Although I tried it with a PSX Dual Shock, and a PSOne Dual Shock, and even a crappy third party PSX analog controller, and none of them worked with the GameBoy Player. I'm hoping to try it with one of those old official non-analog PSX controllers by tomorrow. I guess trying the PS2 controller would probably be pointless.

You didn't have to do anything special to get it to work?

And/or, were you using the original Nyko brand PlayCube, or one of the others, like the "Cube JoyBox"?

1199

TalkBack / RE:Nintendo announces new games, rewards

« on: August 08, 2003, 12:11:47 PM »

Quote
Advance Wars and Golden Sun will follow hopefully someday!

Actually, it would be "GameCube Wars" if it was on the GameCube.

1200

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Tactics Ogre official site

« on: August 08, 2003, 12:06:09 PM »

Quest and the Ogre Battle Team used to be very pro-Nintendo, but they weren't entirely "exclusive" (they did port the first two games to the PSX, and they made an Ogre Battle side story for the Neo Geo Pocket Color).

But Square bought up Quest about a year ago, and set the Ogre Battle Team to work making Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

So Square owns Ogre Battle now, and could make it for any system they wanted. But I'm thinking they'll most likely just stick to FFT games (since they like their own brand better). And the Ogre Battle Team might just be part of an unnoficial new "Nintendo Division" inside Square. But we really don't know what will happen.