Messages

101

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Virtual Console Changes...

« on: February 18, 2007, 03:04:57 PM »

BTW, I read a few posts somewhere about Kid Icarus locking up on the Virtual Console when you beat the game.  As of today, I can verify that this is NOT true.  

102

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Virtual Console Changes...

« on: February 18, 2007, 05:47:51 AM »

There were plenty of passwords for Kid Icarus that were placed in there by the programmers, like ICARUS FIGHTS MEDUSA ANGELS and PAKING PAKING PAKING PAKING that don't work on the VC version.  I don't know if the encoding or checksum scheme for "normal" passwords has changed or not.

103

TalkBack / RE: Super Smash Bros. Melee at Evolution 2007

« on: February 16, 2007, 12:29:47 PM »

You can't play only on Final Destination.  The completely flat arena gives some characters an advantage, those who can fight better side to side.  Just like other arenas give vertically-oriented characters an advantage.

You can't play without items, items are an essential part of the game.  I can see an argument for eliminating, say, the Bob-omb, since they add too much randomness.  But most items don't have this problem.  Using items, getting to them quickly, preventing your opponent from using them, defending against item attacks, these are all important skills in Melee.

I also don't have a problem with 4-player matches in a tournament setting.  Keeping a level head, taking opportunities as they come, and avoiding being juggled by 3 other players are, once again, important skills.  If I were to design a tournament, there would be 4-player matches and 1v1 matches, and your standings would depend on points scored in each match.

104

TalkBack / RE: Virtual Console Mondays: February 12

« on: February 13, 2007, 08:44:57 AM »

I bought Kid Icarus right away (heh, I typed KI, then realized that's more commonly used to refer to Killer Instinct), and loved it when it was out the first time.  I'd still classify it as "recommended for fans" because it's kicking my ass.  I would think most gamers would have difficulty completing the first level.

105

General Gaming / RE: VC Video Quality Improvements

« on: February 13, 2007, 08:39:39 AM »

The Gamecube has an excellent deflickering filter.  You can observe its effects directly if you own a copy of SSBM, go into the options and turn it on and off.  Some newer TVs are capable of displaying much more accurately than old TVs, meaning that your eyes will more easily notice the flickering present in an interlaced image.  Older TVs blur the adjacent scan lines a little, and the flicker isn't as noticeable.  You'll notice that this is exactly what the Gamecube's filter does -- the deflickered image is a little more blurry than the non-deflickered image.

Your "progressive" setting most likely enables some kind of deflickering filter on the TV if it is receiving an interlaced signal.

106

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Official "Virtual Console Mondays" Thread

« on: February 12, 2007, 02:54:09 AM »

Wow, three good titles in one day.  OK, so Ice Climbers isn't exactly AAA material, but it's at least up there with Donkey Kong.

[Jonnyboy117]

107

TalkBack / RE:EDITORIALS: The State of Nintendo Online

« on: February 11, 2007, 02:15:18 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Rick was quoting and replying to TYP, not you.  They know each other very well and are used to this kind of back-and-forth.

Yeah, it's cool.  It was a little confusing, but I think I see what he meant now.

Still, I'm a little surprised with all the negativity here lately.  The Wii has had the most units sold at launch of any console, ever.  People are still lining up when stores open to try and get their hands on one.  Lately, I can't even keep up with all the new title announcements, and interviews with companies like Activision planning to shift their focus more towards the Wii.

I realize that online support is an important factor in getting third party devs, which could have helped the N64 and Gamecube do better than they did.  It just seems strange to read gloomy posts about third-party support in the wake of Activision's announcement, and the recent article about devs getting online kits.

[RickPowers]

108

TalkBack / RE:EDITORIALS: The State of Nintendo Online

« on: February 10, 2007, 05:34:27 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: RickPowers
With all due respect, this is horsepocky.

This is exactly the same problem the GameCube had.  You had developers willing to put online features in their games, supporting them on their own, and all they needed from Nintendo is specs on how to talk to the network adapter.  Nintendo flatly REFUSED to give them they tools they needed.  Bear in mind, this wasn't a matter of the tools not existing, because Nintendo has released games with LAN functionality, and had given the info to at least one other company (Sega, for Phantasy Star Online).  Nintendo just didn't want to give the information to anyone else for reasons undisclosed.

Fast forward another five years and it's the exact same scenario, except that this time, it's not even an issue of support for a peripheral ... it's a standard feature of the goddamned system!  And again, developers are willing to add the features if Nintendo will just tell them how to talk to the device, and they won't divulge the information, and again, won't say why.

TYP is right that it's not that big a deal that we don't have online titles right out of the gate (though it certainly didn't hurt Microsoft that Live support is practically mandatory).  What is a big deal is that developing the titles takes time, and when you're already past launch and developers aren't being given the information on connecting to a standard piece of the hardware to make their games ...

Well, it's just Nintendo's own stubbornness shining through again.  Especially when you consider that Nintendo designs their systems to encourage innovation, and at the same time, stifles it by not giving developers everything they need to fully tap their creativity.

I'm sorry, but wasn't there an article on THIS SITE, YESTERDAY, saying that devs had online kits?  Oh look, it's right here!

You know, when a reader takes the time to organize their thoughts and post some feedback, it's probably best not to say that it's "horsepocky."  With all due respect?  Gee, thanks.

[oohhboy]

109

TalkBack / RE:Guitar Hero Wii in Activision's FY08 Plans

« on: February 09, 2007, 10:58:47 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: oohhboy
I suck so hard at this game that it makes my previous experience with piano lessons look like I was Mozart.

This game does not exist for me.

A friend of mine hated GH, and couldn't play if his life depended on it, he was getting like 75% on the first few songs on Easy difficulty.  But he has lots of female friends who love to play, and they were able to, ah, convince him to continue playing.  He quickly improved and started playing on his own, now he's finished Medium and is starting Hard.

GH is one of those games you have to give more than 15 minutes to see if you're going to like it or not.

110

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Guitar Hero coming to Wii?

« on: February 09, 2007, 08:35:26 PM »

I wasn't suggesting that the game not have all of the same tracks from GH1 and/or GH2.  But adding some classic videogame tracks would be a logical and awesome thing to do.

111

TalkBack / RE: EDITORIALS: The State of Nintendo Online

« on: February 09, 2007, 07:49:51 PM »

Nintendo obviously didn't need a robust online infrastructure at launch.  They're still selling as many consoles as they can produce, so what's the rush from their perspective?

One of the important aspects of online gaming is that it's only a must-have, deal-breaker feature for hardcore gamers.  Nintendo has made it very obvious that the Wii is NOT targeting hardcore gamers; they're trying to bring video games to a much wider audience than those who have enjoyed them in the past.  Online is therefore not their top priority.  We're only 3 months after launch, so all the "what's taking them so long" honestly sounds rather silly.

112

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Guitar Hero coming to Wii?

« on: February 09, 2007, 07:39:03 PM »

What a Nintendo Guitar Hero game really needs are songs from F-Zero.

113

TalkBack / RE: 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Announced

« on: February 08, 2007, 11:29:31 PM »

Well, here's one huge Nintendo fan who's not at all disappointed.  I see a lot of categories that Wii games just wouldn't be eligible for (online play, graphics engineering, etc.)

The Wii took home some very solid wins.  Outstanding innovation in gaming?  Possibly the most important category here.  Outstanding gameplay design?  Outstanding gameplay engineering?  C'mon, let's hear it for Wii Sports!

TP still picked up story and character development, and was nominated for three game of the year categories.  It lost all of them to Gears of War, but no one can deny GoW's excellence.  Nintendo has done an awesome job, and I'm glad that there are companies besides Nintendo capable of producing outstanding games, too.  More fun for me when I can eventually afford a 360.    

[BlackNMild2k1]

114

TalkBack / RE:REVIEWS: Wii Play

« on: February 08, 2007, 11:17:43 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: BlackNMild2k1

Quote
Final: 4.5
Wii Play would have been abysmal, had it been a full-priced game. Fortunately, it’s not. However, even if you are stoked on getting a remote, Wii Play can’t really be recommended. Having to fork out an extra $10 for the game is still a bit too much.

I think with the current (non)availability of controllers, an extra $10 for an extra controller, that you don't have to camp out/wait in line for and get a peice of software to let your new non-gaming gamer break up some Wii Sports action to see a little more of whats possible with the new controller that they've grown so fond of, isn't too much to ask is it?

If you need another controller, Wii Play is a pretty good buy.  But if you already have additional controllers, is it worth it?  I have two controllers, and two of my friends have Wiis with an extra controller each.  So if either of them are around, we already have 4 controllers.  If not, we still have 2 -- point being, I'm not looking to spend money on a 3rd controller, but I was looking forward to playing Wii Play.  I might reconsider after this review.

115

TalkBack / RE: Virtual Console Mondays: February 5

« on: February 06, 2007, 11:19:33 PM »

SMW is a great game, well-balanced, plenty of tricks to find, good production quality.  But really, the only thing it has over SMB3 is the aspect of finding secret exits to new levels.  SMB3 had more creativity and variance in its level design.  I really enjoyed how each world had its own theme.  If you use the warp whistles, you miss out on some of the best parts of the game.  Who has honestly played through the entire game without warping?  It's really a wonderful experience.  World 7 feels like it takes days to complete.  I'd be picking this one up on the VC if I didn't already have Super Mario All-Stars for my still-working-perfectly SNES.

Makes me wonder if All-Stars will ever be released for the Virtual Console.  It would certainly be cheaper than spending 1500 Wii Points on SMB1-3, plus it comes with The Lost Levels, and it has improved graphics and music (transparency + parallax backgrounds FTW), AND you can save your games!  IMO they could charge 1000 or 1200 points for this title and it would be a steal, but I doubt it will ever be available at all.

116

TalkBack / RE: Virtual Console Mondays: February 5

« on: February 05, 2007, 06:48:37 PM »

The classic controller is a must for SNES gaming on the Virtual Console.  The button layout is perfect, and the cube controller absolutely won't do the old games justice, with any button mapping.  The D-Pad alone kills it.

117

TalkBack / RE: Nintendo 3Q Consolidated Financial Results

« on: January 25, 2007, 10:29:48 AM »

By the wording, it sounds like these numbers are "shipped" and not "sold-through to customers," which could explain the seemingly high tie-in ratio.  There are a lot more Wii software titles sitting on store shelves than there are Wii hardware units (the hardware is sold out virtually everywhere, but I'm sure a lot of the games aren't).

1.4 million Wiis online and 1.5 million Virtual Console games sold is huge.  HUGE.  And that's not counting sales of LttP.  

[KDR_11k]

118

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Memory Block conversion tool

« on: January 24, 2007, 02:49:17 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
IMO, it's just as easy to understand "200 MB free" as it is to understand "1562 blocks free".

And then you have people wondering why it doesn't add up. Blocks make more sense because the system actually thinks in blocks. The system doesn't care if a file takes 1kB or 20, a block is a block and all those numbers do is add confusion for the user who's wondering why he managed to fill megabytes with a few 1kB files.

Simple, the smallest a file can be is the size of one block.  You wouldn't be filling up megabytes with a few 1 kB files, you'd be filling them up with 128 kB files.  

119

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Memory Block conversion tool

« on: January 24, 2007, 05:17:57 AM »

IMO, it's just as easy to understand "200 MB free" as it is to understand "1562 blocks free".  I liked the PS2 memory cards that just told you bytes, and didn't do any of this block nonsense.  It would also eliminate the confusion of Gamecube blocks and Wii blocks being different sizes.

[the entire game]

120

TalkBack / RE:REVIEWS: Elebits

« on: January 15, 2007, 11:56:21 PM »

1 block on the Gamecube = 8 kB
1 block on the Wii = 128 kB

So TP is taking 32 kB, and Elebits is taking 14 MB.  Super Mario 64 -- the entire game -- doesn't consume that much space.  It's not such a big deal if you're saving levels that you've created, but I'm saying it shouldn't use such a huge chunk of space just to save your progress in the game.  It always bothers me when developers are lazy on space, and this is a pretty good example.

121

TalkBack / RE: REVIEWS: Elebits

« on: January 15, 2007, 10:23:43 AM »

The problem I have with the level editor is that it makes the game consume a huge amount of the Wii's flash memory, even if you haven't actually created any levels.  Twilight Princess is a big game, and it uses 1 block.  Elebits uses 109.

Anyway, I think the review hit the nail on the head.  It's like a new twist on Katamari, and it's fun, but it could've been a lot better.  I think a lot of the challenges put forth to the player were more annoying than fun, for example trying not to break things or make too much noise.  C'mon, you can't make noise in the house when your parents are gone anyway?  I also was frustrated by having to play levels twice, and this started happening much earlier in the game than it should have.  And the "stuck in geometry" bug is not fun when you've spent 20+ minutes trying to complete a level and then ruin a good run.

Well, here's looking forward to Elebits 2, but I'll look for a review that says it's improved on all these things before I make a trip to the store.  

122

TalkBack / RE: Virtual Console Mondays: January 8

« on: January 09, 2007, 05:47:29 AM »

Sweet, Gradius.

And it's SHMUP.  SHoot-eM-UP.

123

TalkBack / RE: Virtual Console Mondays: January 1

« on: January 01, 2007, 01:52:34 PM »

Urban Champion?  Seriously?  Why are they even wasting the 5 minutes it takes to add this title to the VC database?

This is becoming absurd.  Nintendo is randomly pushing buttons on a money-printing machine and not realizing that it isn't plugged in.  I got a Wii Points card and two classic controllers for Christmas, and there's nothing I want to use them for.

124

TalkBack / RE: Christmas VC Games Revealed

« on: December 21, 2006, 06:33:34 AM »

This at least shows that we're going to get some nice games, although we may have to wait a while to get a lot of them.

You know what they need, is the Game Genie.

I'm pretty sure SF2 doesn't include the boss characters as playable.  SF2 Turbo does, and Super Street Fighter 2 obviously.

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TalkBack / RE: Sega Announces Alien Syndrome for Wii

« on: December 12, 2006, 09:31:54 PM »

I thought the screens looked pretty decent myself, if you pay attention to the art.  Honestly, to me it looks better than Red Steel, though I admit that's not saying much.