Topics

51

Nintendo Gaming / Tired Of All The Wii Praise?

« on: March 23, 2007, 07:38:39 AM »

I'm not, at least not yet, but it's starting to get the point for me where it's like, O.K everyone is singing the praise of the system, developers are jumping ship left and right, so where are all the games I should be buying?

CNN has a very good article up about the Wii, where it talks about everything from the fact that old people play the system, to the fact that it outsold Microsoft and Sony's consoles in the months since it's release.

Really I wanted to just post the article, but it got me thinking, where is this really all leading? Is this going to lead to the Wii getting Final Fantasy XIV or Brain Age XIV?

I'm all for so called "non-games" but the Wii can do so much more than it's getting credit for. It's like the media is picking the off the leaves and leaving the apples. Sure the leaves are nice, but you can't eat them.  

52

General Gaming / Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 22, 2007, 01:03:26 AM »

Cnet has an article up about this, as does IGN but the Cnet article is better IMO.

I have been holding off getting an X360 so I can get a Wii first, but if this comes out before I get a Wii, I will be buying this.
If only the Wii were to come out in black, I'm going to have to buy a case for my Wii, but I digress.

New Features:
120GB HDD - Confirmed
It's Black - Confirmed
1080p Output - Confirmed
$479 - Unconfirmed
Built in WiFi - Unconfirmed
Built in HD DVD Drive - Unconfirmed

53

NWR Forums Discord / What Time Is It??

« on: March 18, 2007, 08:07:27 AM »

4:07 p.m  

54

General Gaming / Neural Interface Device (Mind Reading Headset)

« on: March 13, 2007, 01:13:53 AM »

IGN has a very interesting article about a new device by a company named Emotiv that can interpret brain functions. Here are the 3 main aspect of the device, taken from the article.

Quote
Emotive's technology is based upon a new manner of interpreting the electrical activity in the human brain via EEG that looks below the individually unique (and thus difficult to accurately analyze) outer cortex to deeper regions of the brain. Users wear an electrode studded headset that wirelessly interfaces with a receiver already no larger than a USB ram drive. In our closed door demo, Emotive displayed three aspects of how the technology will bring humans and technology much closer together.

The first aspect demonstrated was facial recognition. Without a camera of any sort, Emotiv's headset is able to detect a variety of facial expression. Smiles, frowns, open and closed mouth are detected in real time, as is the direction the wearer's eyes are looking. It even detects blinks and winks. Emotive representatives speculated upon a variety of uses for this aspect of the technology in entertainment, from instant messaging programs that allow users to see each other's expressions (no more fake lol's) to the ability of a game to know if a user is frustrated and angry or laughing and smiling.

Quote
The second aspect we saw was the headset's ability to judge states of excitement or calm. Running graphs on short and long term scales traced the status of an engineer present for the demo. Immediately upon being introduced the slightly self conscious engineer's graphs jerked upwards, and the following laugh from the audience in attendance jerked them up more. He calmed down shortly afterwards, until an audience member slyly launched a foam stress ball at his head. The surprise sent the graphs rocketing skyward, where they remained for a time. Emotiv's reps suggested a variety of gameplay elements that could be based upon this recognition, from mood-adaptive soundtracks to unlocking berserker modes in first person shooters on the basis of the player getting amp'ed up on real adrenaline. Survival horror games could know exactly how scared a player is and judge when to trigger surprises to engage a bored player or key the arrival of a boss when a player is already terrified.

Quote
The final aspect of the Emotive technology was even more impressive. By focusing upon physical movements, users are able to translate their thoughts into movement in a 3D virtual environment. Push, pull, slide, rotate, lift, drop, and six other motions can currently be detected by the Emotive tech. An engineer with some practice demonstrated the various motions by lifting stone columns from below the ground and manipulating them with pushes, rotations and lifts to build a Stonehenge replica. Visions of Yoda lifting Luke's X-Wing from the swamps of Dagobah filled our heads as the engineer focused his mind and raised an outstretched arm while moving the stones

Now I was a little unsure about where to put this extremely interesting and bursting with potential tidbit, but they are for right now focusing on using this device for gaming. They had a playable demo of a Harry Potter game where the device was used to cast spells.The author of the article called it a "telekenisis" spell, but we all know he was refering to Wingardium Leviosa, or Mobilicorpus if it was a person, there's another but I can't recall it right now. They also had a new game that used the headset to have two players face off against each other moving blocks around.

Honestly, this has the potential to have a far greater impact on the gaming industry than the Wii-mote did. However, they state in the article that they have no intentions of replacing a standard game pad. This seems like a shot at Nintendo IMO, and they take a much more blatant shot at Sony by saying that their device will cost "less than a PS3". I wonder if this device will be exclusive to one system,  I believe the PC will probably make use it first, then since it is apparently easy enough to share between Vista and the X360, the console will get it depending on consumer response which will likely be high if this is  constructed well. Of course I would hope that the Wii can make use of this in conjuction with the Wii-mote would be insane, however, since I plan on buying an X360 I'll be happy as long as one of the two systems get it.

I haven't even begun to think about the new ways in which this could be used, what do you guys think? Any ideas on how we're going to be playing video games in the future? The future is now btw, this is being released sometime next year, and you can bet it will be released along with a number of games.

55

General Gaming / Dishonest Developers

« on: March 08, 2007, 03:05:18 AM »

There's a pretty interesting article over at IGN about Midway dealing with dishonest developers, it's a really intereting read, and just goes to show that corruption infects every form of life.

This is the funniest part of the article IMO;

Quote
And sometimes publishers encounter outright deception from developers, Jacobson said. He told a story of a time he was visiting a studio to check on a game's progress. The developer supposedly had two teams working on the project. Midway saw team one in the morning, then went to lunch. After lunch they met team two -- made up of several members of team one wearing different clothes than they were that morning.

LoL. I can't even imagine the people who had to change their clothes in order to do this, what must've they been thinking when they were told what to do?

56

NWR Forums Discord / That stupid "Does Britney Look Better BALD?

« on: February 23, 2007, 11:18:03 AM »

 Does anyone else hate that stupid thing? I hate her too, and i never thought she was hot, just sort of appealing in her younger days like 18-19

57

NWR Forums Discord / Ass Itch

« on: February 18, 2007, 05:35:57 AM »

My butt itches and I was trying to think of why. There's no bug bite, there's no dust, nothing, it just itches...

possible causes?

[Fury]

58

Nintendo Gaming / Gamecock

« on: February 12, 2007, 01:51:07 PM »

IGN has an article up about new a new developer called Gamecock. They as of now have 5 games in the works. One is definitely going to be on the DS, two titles have the possibilty of being on the Wii with one of the two games possibly having a DS version. Another game is almost definitely going to be on the Wii.

Fury - a competitive MMOG Gamecock describes as what the love child of World of Warcraft and Unreal Tournament would look like. Developed by Auran Studios (Trainz, Battlestar Galactica), Fury is set to launch on PCs in the fourth quarter of 2007.


Hail to the Chimp - a party game from Wideload and Alex Seropian, founder of Bungie and maker of Stubbs the Zombie. Chimp pits players against each other in a battle for control of the animal kingdom. A team-up mechanic balances cooperation with competition.
Hail to the Chimp is scheduled to ship in spring 2008 for consoles

Hero - developed by FireFly, makers of Stronghold, Hero is a dungeon crawler/hack 'n slash that aims to fix the tedium that can often set in with these types of games. Gamecock describes Hero as a brutal yet comical romp through a medieval world. The game is headed to PCs and an as-yet-unnamed console in spring 2009.

Insecticide - a film-noir detective story starring insects. Developed by the new Crackpot Entertainment, made up of vets from Pixar and LucasArts, Insecticide is a third-person shooter in which players solve crimes and puzzles. The game will ship this holiday season on PCs and handhelds.

Mushroom Men - from Red Fly Studios, Mushroom Men drops players into a stylized world where mushrooms have been personified and are embroiled in a civil war. Look for this title to ship in spring 2008 for a console and handheld to be announced.

DS: Insecticide is definite as there are only two handheld systems, and game summation says handhelds.
Mushroom Men is the possibility of having a Wii version.

Wii: Hail to the chimp is likely going to be on all consoles, again the wording is consoles.
Hero has a possibility of coming to the Wii, but's it's more like going to be on the Xbox360 since it has a PC counterpart.
Mushroom Men: If I were starting a new company I would want to bet on the winning horse. The DS is trouncing the PSP like nobodies business, and the Wii is beating the PS3 like it stole something (like motion controls). I would hope that Gamecock thinks the same way and puts Mushroom Men on the Wii and DS. I really want to play as mushrooms fighting a civil war.

Fury reads good, and the screenshot looks really good also, not just how pretty it is, but it makes the gameplay looks appealing. If anyone has ever seen the anime Fate/Stay Night, the shot reminds me of the first fight with Hercules, with some obvious differences.

Anyway, let's hope that we see some of these games, I really like the use of the words "stylized world" in Mushroom Men, and hope I get to play it on the Wii.

59

Nintendo Gaming / Cnet made a funny.

« on: February 02, 2007, 02:55:08 AM »

From their top 10 must-have gadget list.

Quote
All the consoles are in, and our editors have posted a final score in the next-gen gaming war. According to our three-way battle, Sony's PlayStation 3 is the gaming machine to beat. With high-def games and Blu-ray movies, backward compatibility with prior PS2 and PS1 games, a great UI, and HDMI output, it's the most well-rounded of the new machines. But its price is a definite barrier: $600 for the Wi-Fi-enabled 60GB version. The $250 Nintendo Wii is a great buy for the budget-minded, while the Xbox 360 has more great games and excellent online play

There are two ways to look at this.

1. The people are idiots because the Wii is obviously destroying the PS3 at every turn. Though they do make a fair point about the X360, it has more games, and very good online play there is no denying that.

2. They're looking at it from a technology point of view, the PS3 has more technology packed into though it lacks innovation, and thus is the winner.

The strange thing is that is on their top 5 most wanted gadgets, which I have to assume is user submitted, the Wii is second to the iPhone with the PS3 in third. You would think that would give them a hint as to want people want more, so this must be about the technology, which they make mention of.

Of course money hats couldv'e been passed.

Edit: Link   Oh and the DS somehow manages to be 7th despite the fact that it's broken just about every video game record besides the ones held by the GBA that can only be beaten with time.

60

Nintendo Gaming / Nunchuck

« on: January 30, 2007, 01:47:31 PM »

I was just wondering what people's general impressions have been of this device. It's been kicked around and discussed and many different threads, but here's a chance to localize it all.

What actually got me thinking is reading IGN's eyes-on with the upcoming game Heatseeker, that I for one have been excited about since it was announced, mainly because it involves fighter jets, which I love, but haven't seen a decent game for in a long long long time. The game uses the nunchuck as the "joystick" (if you will allow the term) of the fighter jet that you're piloting, and you use it exactly as how you would if you were sitting in a cockpit. The article also mentions the fact that EA will also be making use of Nunchuck controls for SSX Blur. If you've played Zelda:TP you've also used the Nunchuck for controls such as spin attack, I forget what the "upgraded" spin attack is called, and shield thrust in WiiSports boxing, the Nunchuck works just as well as the Wii-Remote, and although that isn't saying much for the game, it says a lot for the Nunchuck itself.

When I first saw the Nunchuck some may remember I was disappointed because I wanted (and still want actually) games that utilize only the Wii-Remote (like Dragon Quest) to play them. However after spending some quality time with the Nunchuck in Zelda, and Madden, I have a new found appreciation of the little bastard child of the Wii, and I'm wondering what you guys think of it, and what possibilities it holds.

61

NWR Forums Discord / FLAME ME!

« on: January 29, 2007, 12:16:10 PM »

Go ahead take your best shot!

I can take it.

62

General Chat / Bittorrent Help

« on: January 29, 2007, 02:15:05 AM »

I've been using Azureus for awhile, and even though I have Norton Anti-Virus, I have the firewall fully open to allow Azureus to work, and usually it does. It never gets the green smiley face, always yellow, but now I can't download anything. I tried changing ports and that worked for a little while, but it not got beyond 1.3kb/s. Even that has stopped working, I've tried everything listed on the azureus wiki pages and nothing works. Here's my general situation.

I have Verizon DSL no router.
Norton Internet Security 2006
A Westell model 6100 modem.
Windows firewall is turned off.
I'm running Windows XP Media Edition
As I mentioned above Azureus has worked in the past although not to top performance.

I'm quite perplexed and thinking of just trying a re-install, but the setting for Azureus in Norton are fully opened, and enable it to make every connection it needs to, so I don't think re-installing, and re-setting the rules would do anything.

[require]

63

Nintendo Gaming / A New Wii Remote?

« on: January 25, 2007, 08:35:30 AM »

The possibilty of a new and improved Wii Remote has been churning in the rumor mills for awhile now. This is exciting but also possibly detrimental. There are people who already have 4 "standard" Wii Remotes and would be seriously displaced by the need to purchase a new controller.

So, I would hope that new remote wasn't substantially different that it's purchase would be required, but at the same time, if that were true why make it in the first place?
1. Perhaps they've figured out a way to improve the accuracy, which may also require a new sensor bar.

2. It could even be just making it more ergonomic, yeah remotes have a natural feel to them, but I've never held a remote in my hand for more   than 1 minute, except the initial programming of it to work with all components of a home theatre system.

3. Other upgrades that wouldn't neccesarily require a purchase would a shortening or lengthening of the controller. My hands are pretty    big, so in the baseball game for WiiSPorts I can't actually hold the controller with both hands, I can get both on there but with little grip, so      I've never actually tried swinging with both hands on it, so in that sense lengthening it would make sense.

4. Shortening it slightly might be good to bring the 1 and 2 buttong closer to rest of the buttons.

5. A nice improvement would be to give the remote USB rechargeable batteries, but I like the weight of the remote, rechargeable batteries     would likely make it lighter, I'm not sure how that would efffect gameplay.

6. More colors, would be very nice for distinction purposes.

If the remote is so different that games would be tailor made to fit the upgrades what would it be?

1. A microphone. I personally would like to see this implemented, since when I'm listening to music while playing with a Wii I often find myself screaming (i wouldn't really call it singing lol) into the top of the remote while holding it like a microphone. It feels really natural. Perhaps like WiiPlay the first Nintendo game to use the Mic would have it included.

2. A better rumble motor, and accelerometers, wouldn't exactly be a neccesity, but they would more warrant the purchase of a new controller more than anything listed in the first paragraph, as long as they didn't consume the battery anymore than the current model does.

I can't really think of anything else that they could do, maybe because I'm really hoping they don't do too much, I would actually rather they dd nothing because as I said before some people would be alienated, but if the changes are minor they could offer some sort of trade for the old remotes and improve (essentially rebuild) them and resell them.

64

NWR Forums Discord / HD Porn!

« on: January 25, 2007, 12:37:33 AM »

You can see razor burn!!??!!

The future is now people, the future is now!

65

Nintendo Gaming / Original VC content

« on: January 18, 2007, 04:33:40 AM »

Where is it?

I haven't heard anything about this Since pre-release.

It was something I was  really looking forward to now it's another waiting game.

Are there even any rumors about this?  

66

Nintendo Gaming / DSphone?

« on: January 16, 2007, 12:05:44 PM »

Unfortunately it isn't made by Nintendo, but the concept is the same. It has two screens, and one is a touch screen.

Here's the link

I also like the phone that produces smell. Where will it end?

67

General Chat / CES 2007

« on: January 13, 2007, 12:47:23 PM »

Did anyone else catch G4's coverage of this amazing event?

There were a lot of cool things there. The new alienware laptop with 2 Core 2 Duo proccessors (essentially it has 4 processors) that they hope to release for under $2000 makes me glad I waited to before buying my laptop.

The new Verizon/LG phone that has Vcast (live T.V.) only available in NYC for now, but that means it'll leak to part of N.J close enough to the city like Clifton where I live, and even more probable, Jersey City where I work.

So many companies had 100"+ plasma's and LCD's. There was a new kind of HDTV not SED, it was called like Ilia or something(that's not the name but I just remember it sounded close to the character in Zelda, that I'm still trying to save). In one of the final segments, G4 actually had on Matt from IGN and he said he went to a closed door event where a company showed off a plasma HDTV that would poop on SED which is supposed to be the best ever.

A really thin sheet of something that could charge low consumption devices, for travellers so if you go international you wouldn't have to bring a hundred adapters + convertors.

Asimo, the Honda robot has been vastly improved. It can run now, which looks kind of creepy IMO, but the advancement is cool.

There's a laptop that has a small LCD screen on the front (ala a flip cell phone) that provides access to basic functions, like music without using the main battery of the laptop - this IMHO will be the thing we will be seeing most reproduced (along with portable T.V's that use Vcast and other such yet unnanounced services)

There were a lot of cool things there, and you can either go to g4tv or cnet to check out all the cool stuff that will be permeating homes across the country in the upcoming year. IGN also has coverage, but I personally prefer the other two sites I mentioned.

68

Nintendo Gaming / Zelda Pronunciations

« on: January 03, 2007, 11:06:35 AM »

Recently a friend and I got into a disagreement about the way to say the different names in Zelda, like Hyrule, Hylia, Goron, Epona, and others to name a few I'm going to list the way I say them, and want to know how you guys say them, or know how they are supposed to be pronounced, add others I don't remember.

Epona - E (as in saying the vowel itself) po (like the poet edgar allen) and na (like nah)
Hyrule Hy(high) rule(how else do you say rule?)
Hylia Hy(as in his) li (as in the martial artist bruce) and a(like saying the word not the vowel itself)
Goron - Gor (as in the politician who couldn't beat bush to get elected) on (like the opposite of off)

those were the big four we argued about, the others were trivial, and i can't even remember them.

69

Nintendo Gaming / It's Such A Wonderful Feeling

« on: January 01, 2007, 01:26:17 PM »

I don't know how many of you out there are like me, during  the GC days I was isolated, everyone had a Playstation or Xbox, and I was left with my magically little box with no one to play with but myself. Every once in awhile I would bring my GC over to a friends house, and we would play have a lot of fun, and I would never be able to convince them to buy a GC so that I would have real life people to share the joy of discovery with in games.

Enter the Wii.

As of now, only one of my friends (and his two brothers who I'm also friends with) have Wii's, and it's so cool when I go over to his house to discuss the various places in Zelda:TP we are all playing in and discussing the various accomplishments we have achieved, and where we've found heart pieces, and just sharing the joy of such a wonderful game, then playing WiiSports together and just having great time, while sipping a few beers, and a few other things.

Not that I don't like coming here and doing the same thing, but it's so much better when it's real life people that I've known for awhile.

Now only if I could get his hot sister to play with my Wii, the dream would be complete.  

70

NWR Forums Discord / Going To The Magic Mushroom Kingdom

« on: December 15, 2006, 10:25:26 AM »

For the first time ever in my life I will be taking a trip to Magic Mushroom Kingdom. Wish me luck, I'm not so stable in the head and I heard that can ruin the travel, so let's see what happens, hopefully I won't come back thinking that I'm  a small table.  

Edit: Dang I'm totally in the wrong section, I meant to put this in the Grrl only forum, aka the funhouse.

71

General Chat / Terminator T.V

« on: December 09, 2006, 11:16:10 AM »

I was watching Attack of the Show on G4, and The Feed on the bottom of the screen (kind of like the bottom line on sportscenter and ESPNews) said that Fox is airing a new Terminator show. It also mentioned something about "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" but I'm not sure of the relation.

Strangely enough the show is going to pick up where T2 left off... I guess they're aren't planning on the series last too long... because if it did it would eventually run into T3's story line, and then what. And what about T4 with The Rock? We'll have to see what happens I guess.

72

General Chat / Now That The Wii Is Actually Here

« on: December 06, 2006, 09:28:18 AM »

So few topics are of interest to me in these boards. Spoilers galore, and a lot of nothing.

I'm getting depressed coming to these boards. Especially with the lack of new Wii news also. Hopefully things will pick up again when the game releases pick up too.

[5]

73

Nintendo Gaming / Most Popular Games According to Yahoo!

« on: November 28, 2006, 10:31:38 AM »

In this list 5 are Wii games the top 3 are Wii games. The other 5 games, are 1 for DS, 1 for PS3, 1, for PC, 1 for X360, and 1 for PS2(which actually outranks the PS3 game).

I assume these rankings are determined by how often (perhaps how many using ISP addresses) people search for these particular games. Which speaks well for the potential success of the Wii, especially when one of those games is WiiSports. I would list the games, but don't be lazy, click on the link and see for yourself.

Personally I think when the game that isn't yet released and yet #1 on the list, is released, it could take over the DS's record as the largest sales of a non-release week for a console. Or would it take over the record, since the DS is a portable system?

I was being fairly pessimistic about the potential success of the Wii in other threads, but it's hard to ignore all the good things coming it's way. Besides all the idiots who are throwing their Wii-motes around with all the strength they can muster.

***FUN FACT: THE HUMAN BODY CAN PRODUCE MORE FORCE THAN A PIECE OF NYLON CAN WITHSTAND!!!***

74

General Chat / NintendWorldReport

« on: November 19, 2006, 08:49:11 AM »

My thoughts:

1. Cool how it sort of looks like a Wii
2. Bad how you can't scroll through pictures... what's up with that?
3. NWR is a pretty cool looking abbreviation
4. NWR doesn't flow quite as well as PGC, and neither does the full name
5. Job medium-well done. An improvement, definitely, could be better though.

[MaryJane]

75

Nintendo Gaming / My Prayers Have Been Answered!

« on: November 03, 2006, 12:54:02 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane

That's my point, the main controller is SUPPOSED to be the ONLY the Wii-Mote, no offense to how you see it, but Nintendo didn't say the controller is both, or like you said they would come together. If the Wii-mote is sold by itself, and supposed to be the main controller, prove it! That's all I'm saying.

As you can see here there IS a Wii game that ONLY uses the Wii-mote, proving it's merit as a stand alone controller.

And guess what? What?

It's an RPG (of sorts)! Dragon Quest too!!

If you didn't know RPG's are my fav game type. (long live Zelda!) So this is doubly satisfying. Although not specifically what I wanted in terms of controlling the character I still think this is a step in the right direction.