376
Nintendo Gaming / RE:"Least I could Do" Discovers Twilight Princess
« on: November 12, 2007, 12:46:05 PM »Quote
What do you mean?
They seem like more than just roommates...
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They seem like more than just roommates...
377
Nintendo Gaming / RE:"Least I could Do" Discovers Twilight Princess
« on: November 12, 2007, 11:02:31 AM »Quote
LICD is an interesting comic: it started a while ago and the main character, Rayne, was a despicable womanizer, but over time, he's become more of an eccentric character and moved away from womanizing and into zaniness.
Womanizing...? Amazing... After reading through that story-line, I coulda sworn... Well, lemme just say that maybe it's not zaniness he moved into.
378
TalkBack / RE: NOA Release Dates Galore
« on: May 21, 2007, 04:00:28 AM »
M.P.3! Now I have to buy a wii!
Gee I hope there are some in stock by then...
Gee I hope there are some in stock by then...
379
TalkBack / RE: Nintendo Leaving Redmond Area?
« on: May 04, 2007, 02:23:19 PM »
Wow, after reading that my respect for Nintendo went up a bit (well I already respected Nintendo, but the US subsidiary always seemed a wee bit like the slightly dim kid brother).
The Bellevue/Redmond area is a really, really, awful place, a perfect example of generic soul-sapping sprawl and misguided development. Nintendo deserves to be in a real city (and given the sad state of U.S. culture there are very few in the country, really).
The Bellevue/Redmond area is a really, really, awful place, a perfect example of generic soul-sapping sprawl and misguided development. Nintendo deserves to be in a real city (and given the sad state of U.S. culture there are very few in the country, really).
380
Nintendo Gaming / RE: Miyamoto Co-signs my hypothesis
« on: October 04, 2006, 09:57:00 PM »
Geez, people, according to that story, he didn't say "it's just a GC with a new controller," he said that developers could use GC dev kits to make games for it; it also mentions "graphical improvements."
In other words, exactly what they've been saying all along: it's an evolutionary improvement over the GC, but not dramatically different, and shares most of the basic architure. They've almost certainly added a few cool features here and there
In other words, exactly what they've been saying all along: it's an evolutionary improvement over the GC, but not dramatically different, and shares most of the basic architure. They've almost certainly added a few cool features here and there
- .
It's sort of like the Intel core 2 duo is basically an evolution of the pentium iii -- you can easily develop for the piii architecture using old compilers and your programs will work fine on a core 2 duo, but there are most certainly improvements in the latter! Developing specifically for the newer processor will buy you even more. - My personal wish is for real programmable shaders of some sort, as they're a very important development in modern GPUs (the things you can do with them are quite insane), but perhaps that's too big a leap. Still, I'd hope for at least good normal mapping support; sure it's bling, but it's a particularly pretty sort of bling... :-)
381
TalkBack / RE: Wii Opera Browser Details
« on: September 26, 2006, 09:12:51 PM »
What would be completely amusing is if Nintendo ended up inadvertently capturing the fabled "home convergence" market somehow with the wii -- microsoft and sony have been frothing at the mouth in that direction for ages, but never seem to make any actual progress towards their goal, despite vast sums of money spent...
382
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Metroid Prime 3 Revolutionized
« on: June 22, 2006, 07:49:41 PM »
What do the controls have to do with motion sickness?
If you get it, it seems like you're simply screwed for playing any sort of game with an first persona viewpoint, unless it's a very slow game...
If you get it, it seems like you're simply screwed for playing any sort of game with an first persona viewpoint, unless it's a very slow game...
383
Nintendo Gaming / RE:All Wiis at E3 were really...GAMECUBES!!!
« on: May 17, 2006, 02:07:35 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: wandering
Ahaha. But I agree with Pale...Cube cases are actually larger than Wiis, so there's no reason to think the kits on the show floor were overly underpowered compared to the final versdions.
There's really no justification for "agreeing" with either side at this point -- so far everything said has been completely and utter guesswork with no apparent factual basis. The wii's graphics could be gamecube * 1.0001, they could be gamecube * 10.
384
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Oh my damn...
« on: May 08, 2006, 04:10:19 PM »Quote
And Tokyo is probably worse than Manhattan or Chicago.
Actually, considering its density, I think Tokyo is a fair bit quieter than Manhattan or Chicago, largely because there's much less car traffic (of course there's a lot, but not compared to the population, and it tends to move very slowly), a wider distribution of busy areas (there's not just one "city center", but rather many across the city) and most importantly, a very mixed character -- quiet residential areas are mixed right in with the shopping districts.
Of course this doesn't apply if you happen to be standing next to a shop which has decided upon a massive loudspeaker advertising campaign...
385
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Flight sims for gamecube?
« on: December 17, 2005, 02:16:33 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Flight simulators are rare on consoles since you'd need a lot more buttons for a proper simulation.
I'd like something that emphasizes flying for its own sake and attempts to give some of the sensation of real flying; e.g. the N64 version of Pilot Wings (which apparently had a pretty good model). It's OK if I can't control every piece of equipment on the plane.
386
Nintendo Gaming / RE:2-3 Times as powerful as GC true, sez IGN
« on: December 11, 2005, 06:50:06 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: nemo_83
This cross shows that the image doesn't have to be of low quality.
It's a nice picture, but it's very low-res (the faces are only 125x125)! It works reasonably well as an environment map because it is so low-res -- at any kind of realistic viewing angle the pixels become entirely blurred out:
Florentine donut
Notice that the reflection looks great but the background is completely "out of focus". For some purposes that's fine (and even makes it look sorta artsy), but I'm not sure it's reasonable for the "VR" kind of experience I thought you were suggesting. For the background to be sharp and non-pixellated, I'd think you'd need something like 2048 x 2048 textures (for each face, or a 6144 x 8192 "cross"!!).
387
Nintendo Gaming / RE:2-3 Times as powerful as GC true, sez IGN
« on: December 11, 2005, 01:37:58 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: nemo_83
Cube mapping is used to create 3D reflections, a bubble for example; if the technique were reversed placing the camera inside it would be as if the player where inside a virtual imax theatre and with the use of motion capture headgear the player could look around putting an end to tunnel vision.
Commonly used for that purpose too, and it doesn't even really require any new technology (that's one of the advantages of cube mapping). However because of the angles involved (at typical viewing angles, only a small area of the background is visible), the resolution of textures used in a a cube-mapped environment is much more noticeable, so you have to either use huge textures or blur the background pretty drastically. In reflections the size is usually reduced enough that you don't see the same problems.
Here's a pic I made with a cube-mapped background:
Alien disco donut
The background is 6 800x800 textures. Notice that in the background the pixels are fairly obvious despite interpolation, whereas the reflection of the same background looks "clean".
388
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Must read editorial
« on: December 11, 2005, 03:38:48 AM »Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
the Rev's graphics won't be drastically worse at all. Someone brought up a Dreamcast/PS2 comparison as an example of what they would be like, but honestly, I don't think we'll see that big of a gap. On a standard def set, there might be a marginal increase at best.
But only with the PS2 will you get Kutaragi's Giant Head.
389
Nintendo Gaming / RE:2-3 Times as powerful as GC true, sez IGN
« on: December 05, 2005, 04:56:42 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
Either way, it's become apparent that the "Revolution" won't just be the controller, but probably also a mass-market price right out of the door.
That would be very interesting -- if Nintendo can crack the "oh why not" price barrier, the Rev will probably become ubiquitous.
As they've shown with the DS (vs PSP), it's not always raw horsepower that wins. A Rev that hits a sweet spot of lowish (but not lowest) price and good (but not best) graphics, combined with a controller thath gets people interested (it doesn't really have to be perfect, just enough to make people take a 2nd look), would look awfully similar in approach to the DS...
For a company like Nintendo (who though rich can't drop quite the bundles of cash their competitors can) that seems a pretty intelligent strategy.
390
TalkBack / RE:Revolution Controller Still Has Secrets
« on: December 02, 2005, 11:00:41 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: ruby_onix
Shiggy's new-franchise game will come with "that other kind" of cigarettes, to enhance the functionality even further.
Now that's how you win the console war...
391
TalkBack / RE:Revolution Controller Still Has Secrets
« on: December 02, 2005, 10:33:29 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: ruby_onix
Shiggy's new-franchise game will come with "that other kind" of cigarettes, to enhance the functionality even further.
Now that's how you win the console war...
392
General Gaming / RE:Nice impressions of PDZ
« on: November 26, 2005, 10:43:59 AM »Quote
Originally posted by: nemo_83
why can't Halo, PDZ, and Kameo operate from a key world. We're not playing with the N64 or PSX anymore. Games are nolonger linear. PDZ would have been better with a free roaming three dimensional city like GTA.
I think the answer is: Developers are lazy, and users are stupid.
The more freedom allowed the user, the more work the developers have to put into pushing technology, adding content, and making sure users can't get themselves into odd situations. The more things are kept on rails, the less effort required -- and after the long horrid reign of the PSX, users were used to things being on rails to some degree (fixed cameras, static backgrounds, etc).
GTA may be a embarrassingly low-brow game, but it's an important jolt to the industry. Let's hope they draw the right conclusions -- more freedom for users. [No doubt there are some developers who think the secret is more games based on 50-cent and drab pavement-filled landscapes.]
393
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Revolution Output?
« on: November 24, 2005, 03:41:09 AM »Quote
Originally posted by: ruby_onix
It's not my fault if practically all the news we've heard about the Rev has been bad.
It certainly is your fault that you've taken a lot of positive things we've heard about the rev and made a (very) crude attempt to cast them as negatives.
As for HD, well, meh. I've played the 360, and its use of HD is not particularly compelling.
394
General Gaming / RE:The bananarang will be the controller
« on: November 21, 2005, 02:22:06 AM »Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
So they're actually going with it? Wow..
Is it a surprise? Kutaragi went insane years ago.
395
General Gaming / RE:Nice impressions of PDZ
« on: November 18, 2005, 04:54:33 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
I like the cartoony look of these games, personally. I find realism boring.
You're certainly right that "cartoony" is often a good thing, if done well. The problem is that Rare sucks at it. Rare cannot do creative character designs, everything they try comes out looking dorky and boring (the cringefully stupid-looking main character in Kameo is a good example).
So for a company like Rare that can't do cartoony right, I'd say it's safer to stick to "realistic" -- at least that depends more on technical prowess, which is their strong point.
396
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Gamecube four years on: Dissapointments
« on: November 13, 2005, 11:40:16 AM »
I don't think most of these 3rd parties are really evil or anything, but it's clear they approach the GC at best rather half-heartedly, and devote few resources towards developing for it.
Anyway, the result is that they make crappy or simply too-weird-for-the-mainstream games, and then scream with horror when they don't sell well; I mean, what do they expect??? Even when they make good games, they seem to screw things up, like with Capcom's moronic decision to announce the PS2 port of the previously "exclusive" RE4 -- before the GC version was on sale! What kind of idiot made that decision?!? Even if they felt they needed a PS2 version to recoup their costs, simply waiting a while before announcing it would have made the GC version sell far better, and helped Nintendo quite a bit, and would have given capcom a much better return on the money they invested in developing the GC version.
To some degree, this attitude is understandable: the PS2 is the main system these days, so they can make their money there, and anything else is at best just a sideline or hedge for the future.
What doesn't make much sense is 3rd parties' apparent slavish devotion to the xbox -- especially in Japan, where only about 5 xboxes have been sold. This behavior I can only attribute to greedy (and clueless) management being dazzled by MS's monopoly position in the computer world, and randomly flinging money about as a result.
Anyway, the result is that they make crappy or simply too-weird-for-the-mainstream games, and then scream with horror when they don't sell well; I mean, what do they expect??? Even when they make good games, they seem to screw things up, like with Capcom's moronic decision to announce the PS2 port of the previously "exclusive" RE4 -- before the GC version was on sale! What kind of idiot made that decision?!? Even if they felt they needed a PS2 version to recoup their costs, simply waiting a while before announcing it would have made the GC version sell far better, and helped Nintendo quite a bit, and would have given capcom a much better return on the money they invested in developing the GC version.
To some degree, this attitude is understandable: the PS2 is the main system these days, so they can make their money there, and anything else is at best just a sideline or hedge for the future.
What doesn't make much sense is 3rd parties' apparent slavish devotion to the xbox -- especially in Japan, where only about 5 xboxes have been sold. This behavior I can only attribute to greedy (and clueless) management being dazzled by MS's monopoly position in the computer world, and randomly flinging money about as a result.
397
General Gaming / RE:Play 360 at walmart....RIGHT NOW
« on: November 04, 2005, 08:56:28 PM »
I stopped by the Tokyo "xbox 360 cafe" (in Aoyama/Omotesando) today. The experience was pretty underwhelming after hearing all the hype.
Most of the games looked pretty much like xbox games. The most impressive visually was Kameo, and that was largely due to the super high-resolution textures and nice lighting, but there was a sort of "high-res shimmer" to everything, like they weren't doing any anti-aliasing at all. Kameo itself was extemely "Rare", technically very impressive, but weird twitchy control and an annoyingly generic feel to the characters and gameplay -- it felt almost exactly like starfox adventures! [One very noticeable thing was that Rare went crazy with the normal-maps, just about every surface had that bumpy 3d look.]
The 360 controller was alright, the sticks felt good, but the button placement and feel sucked. As someone mentioned, the controller body felt kinda flimsy and cheap, not very nice on an expensive system.
So I donno, it's not bad really, but hardly seems worth the high cost (or the hype).
Most of the games looked pretty much like xbox games. The most impressive visually was Kameo, and that was largely due to the super high-resolution textures and nice lighting, but there was a sort of "high-res shimmer" to everything, like they weren't doing any anti-aliasing at all. Kameo itself was extemely "Rare", technically very impressive, but weird twitchy control and an annoyingly generic feel to the characters and gameplay -- it felt almost exactly like starfox adventures! [One very noticeable thing was that Rare went crazy with the normal-maps, just about every surface had that bumpy 3d look.]
The 360 controller was alright, the sticks felt good, but the button placement and feel sucked. As someone mentioned, the controller body felt kinda flimsy and cheap, not very nice on an expensive system.
So I donno, it's not bad really, but hardly seems worth the high cost (or the hype).
398
TalkBack / RE:Activision Touts Authenticism in True Crime
« on: July 15, 2005, 01:35:56 AM »
Well I realize the game will suck, but I think that's a pretty effective press release -- it makes the game sound actually fun...
399
General Gaming / RE:Kutaragi has lost his mind. (possibly)
« on: June 14, 2005, 08:45:27 PM »
Kutaragi is not eccentric and he's not insane. He's a traditional American-style type-A marketing guy who has at best a vague idea of the technical details. But he knows how to sell it, and much of that involves screaming loudly.
He's notable mostly because American-style type-A "if you can still think I'm not screaming loudly enough" marketing guys are pretty rare at Sony...
He's notable mostly because American-style type-A "if you can still think I'm not screaming loudly enough" marketing guys are pretty rare at Sony...
400
Nintendo Gaming / RE:No Hi-def resolution, Nintendo's cost benefit analysis
« on: June 11, 2005, 05:33:46 PM »Quote
Originally posted by: thepoga
Has anyone here watched an HDTV? I saw friggin Animal Planet and it was amazing to watch. The squirrels man, the squirrels.
HDTV is definitely amazing (though arguably less so for games because of the limitations of the source artwork) -- everything looks real and you suddenly realize the conventional TV you thought looked great a minute earlier actually looks like crap.
It's very disturbing watching something like an interview on HDTV though. Every zit and pore becomes very obvious, as does poorly applied makeup! It's much worse than reality because of such practices as intense lighting and facial closeups (which I guess to some degree are intended to work around the drawbacks of conventional television). When they go for one of those ultra-closeups (super popular on Japanese TV) I cringe...
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