Messages

11076

TalkBack / Re: Innex Announces 3-in-1 Retro Adapter for Wii

« on: May 16, 2009, 02:44:19 PM »

Cool, but how about an adaptor that lets you play GameCube games wirelessly without a Wavebird, just using a standard GCN controller?

11077

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 16, 2009, 02:28:53 AM »

Unfortunately, broodwars, your personal preference is a separate issue to that of Sony losing a lot of money and just the raw financial risk that is making PS3 exclusives.

I don't believe I ever said my gaming preferences were connected to the PS3's fortunes.  I was just refuting GoldenPhoenix's claim that I thought the Wii's library was "worthless."  I don't find it worthless, just largely unsatisfying and not really my cup of tea.

11078

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 16, 2009, 02:25:26 AM »

The PS3, obviously, does not have one.  So making exclusives for it is stupid.  I'd say it should be lucky to get what it has got, as some third parties would rather risk financial collapse than not make PS3 games, even beyond all rationality, whereas other companies in a similar position would have been dropped at the first sign of slight sales momentum loss.

The thing is, I think the PS3 does have that audience in those people who bought the PS2.  The problem is that Sony shot themselves in the foot when they removed backwards compatibility and put out such an expensive system, and the 360 has benefited from this monumental screw-up.  That's why I think the PS3 needs a price drop one way or another, be it a drop in the price of games or in the hardware itself.  We'll have to see what E3 brings, but I don't think the PS3 is dead yet.  It's certainly headed that way, so that's why I've been talking about things Sony can do to potentially save it.

11079

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 16, 2009, 01:52:25 AM »

Also the Wii statement is ridiculous at best, the Wii has been selling so well because it has games that expands the audience, just because broodwars doesn't like them doesn't make them worthless.

I've made no secret of the fact that the Wii's library just isn't for me outside a few key titles, and honestly I don't think it's for most people who grew up with games.  In the past I've tried to articulate exactly why this is, and I have been unsuccessful in putting together my thoughts in a coherent manner.  It wasn't until recently (oddly enough, while playing Dead Space) that I realized what the problem is: most Wii games are like candy.  They're fun and entertaining in short bursts, but when you get down to it there's little of substance there and the experience is over fairly quickly (plus, it's easy to develop Wiimote arthritus).  If you're into that sort of thing, good for you but they just don't have the length and depth of the kind of games I enjoy and come back to time and time again.  I have a massive backlog of PS2 games, and combined with my growing PS3 library it's likely that I'll never play them all to completion.  It's comforting, though, to know that I could pick any 2 or 3 of them and just game the hell out of a given day/weekend without growing bored or artificially tired from controller waggling.  I just don't get the same sort of satisfaction with Wii games, as they're developed for this completely different audience that finds comfort in mediocrity.  That's not to say there aren't good/great games in the Wii's library and there's sure to be more, which is why I still have my system (though it's out on loan at the moment).  It's that most Wii games are content to be 7-8 hour spastic waggle-thons and little more.  I just hope we have more games of substance on the horizon like Arc Rise Fantasia; Fragile; and (I hope) the Conduit.  Hopefully, E3 will be that (god I hate to use this cliche) beacon of light.

11080

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 16, 2009, 01:12:23 AM »

With the worldwide economy the way it is, convincing anyone to do major HD games exclusively for PS3 is almost a pipe dream. Few are going to want to jump on a sinking ship which PS3 is.

Well, I don't know about that.  The 360's days are numbered now, with nothing really of interest left that's exclusive to it.  Meanwhile, the PS3's powerful enough to have legs for quite a few more years yet, so it has longeavity.  Besides, if the Wii could sell the way it has with the library it has, I'll believe anything's possible.

11081

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 16, 2009, 12:48:20 AM »

There's just no way Sony will do both 1 and 2, taking more of a loss on the hardware and making less money on the one thing they make money on. They really need to do 3 regardless of whatever else they do.

Sony's biggest problem is that they don't have any exclusive games that are system sellers beyond maybe MGS4, and that's on the low end of that spectrum. They've got a decent group of games that are good and you'd buy if you had a PS3 but nothing to push people over the edge and make them buy the hardware.

Looking at the current lineup of games on the PS3 I don't think it would even be worth it to me to buy a hypothetical $300 model with backwards compatibility unless Sony has a spectacular E3.

I know Sony dropping their license fees in particular is extremely unlikely, but consider that Sony needs to give developers an incentive to develop exclusively on their platform, or at the very least develop on their platform at all.  Allowing them to sell more units at a lower price could do that, especially since buying exclusives isn't really practical anymore.  At the very least, Sony needs to do this because I think the PS3 can stay at the price it is at if gamers can be shown that there are savings and value in the PS3 experience.

11082

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: May 15, 2009, 05:59:28 PM »

I purchased a PS3 (as GoldenPhoenix well knows) almost 2 months ago, and honestly I have very few problems with it.  I waited through GDC to see if the price would drop, and when they didn't I purchased a refurbashed one off Ebay (which works great, by the way) with backwards compatibility for (when you put together the added accessories of the Blu-Ray Remote; the HDMI cord; an extra controller; and a PS2 memory card transfer unit) not much more than it would have cost me to buy a new PS3 with no backwards compatibility, and it would have been less if I had forgoed the accessories.  That's money Sony didn't get from me because they dropped backwards compatibility and wouldn't drop the price of the system.  Time and time again we see that dropping the price on things increases sales, and I just don't see how Sony can afford to operate like this with the economy what it is.

The thing about the PS3 price, though, is that I can see Sony's point of view on the thing: I paid just a little over $400 combined for the full experience, and I still feel like I got a good value.  Hell, it's certainly been a better value that I've had with the Wii over the past few years, with (in my opinion) its relative handful of excellent but short and usually-shallow games.  It's just hard to sell people on the PS3's value when you have $60 games, most of which are available on the cheaper 360 for the same price if not cheaper (360 games seem to drop in price a lot quicker for some reason) and negligible graphical/audio differences.  I've lucked out that with proper planning and strategic use of store credit I've yet to pay more than $40 for any of my games, but to me that tag stings more than the hardware cost.

This may sound like a bizarre and unreasonable idea, but what if Sony did the following:

1.  Bite the bullet and do a $100 price cut on the PS3 main model.  Release a model at the existing price as well that has PS2 backwards compatibility for those that want it (unfortunately, I don't think complete software emulation of the PS2 will work as it does for the PS1).

2.  Work out a deal with developers for the PS3 that will relax the licensing fees for developing games on the platform.  I think Sony could make some real headway if they could undercut Microsoft with $50-$55 games, especially since the two have a lot of multiplatform releases as it is.  The higher sales of those games would counterbalance the lost revenue from the licensing fees.

3.  Sony needs to stop being so arrogant.  They're not Number 1 anymore, and they're not going to be anytime soon.  Compared to Nintendo and even to an extent Microsoft, Sony comes off as cold and unfriendly, which doesn't endear themselves to customers or developers.

Ugh...I can feel myself rambling without a point in sight.  Damn 14-hour work days...and it's only going to get worse very soon.  Basically, the PS3's a great system that Sony has allowed to get overshadowed by its price through truly terrible Public Relations and Marketing.  Until Sony changes its attitude and business strategy, that's not going to change.

11083

TalkBack / Re: Han Solo to be Playable in Indiana Jones Video Game

« on: May 14, 2009, 12:52:00 PM »

Is there a Lando skin?

LANDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It isn't his fault he's not in the game.  They told him they fixed it!

11084

TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Release Date Revealed

« on: May 13, 2009, 10:21:18 PM »

Ah, did not know that.  Well, that makes it more complicated.  Too bad they can't offer the first WiiWare episode for free.

Nonsense, of course they could.  But then that would make that first episode pretty much a demo, and we all know Nintendo's stance on downloadable demos so that nixes that.  Honestly, if they pull that same "9 separate installments for max money" thing on WiiWare they can kiss my purchase goodbye.  It's bad enough I have to deal with the Square Tax whenever I want to buy one of their retail games, so I'm not going to put up with it here.

11085

TalkBack / Re: NIS America Announces Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love for Wii

« on: May 10, 2009, 10:29:54 PM »

With the mixed reception I hear for Chrono Cross, I imagine that some fans are a bit wary of another sequel.

It's actually a good game (I just played it for the first time about a year ago), just a really bad sequel to Chrono Trigger with a very bizarre story and poorly fleshed-out world. Music kicked ass, though...though I thought that Trigger had more memorable themes.

11086

TalkBack / Re: NIS America Announces Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love for Wii

« on: May 10, 2009, 10:03:56 PM »

Famitsu revealed the Top 50 most wanted sequels in the Weekly Famitsu magazine, voted by its readers in Japan. Here are the top 20 games.

   8. Ogre Battle (Square Enix) - 174
  14. Chrono (Square Enix) - 107 votes
  16. Mother (Nintendo) - 92 votes
  18. Senjou no Valkyria [Valkyria Chronicles] (Sega) - 87 votes

Wow, I had no idea that Ogre Battle was that popular in Japan.  I agree wholeheartedly with these 4 games.  I'm just amazed that Chrono is as far down that list as it is.

11087

TalkBack / Re: NIS America Announces Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love for Wii

« on: May 09, 2009, 11:24:52 PM »

This sounds exciting and all, but does anyone know if this game was actually any good when it came out way back when in Japan?

11088

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Gold and Silver being remade for DS

« on: May 08, 2009, 09:10:41 PM »

If only Nintendo would combine the addicting collection aspects of Pokemon with the strategic elements of Fire Emblem or Disgaea...oh, what a spin-off that would be.

While we're at it, how about ditching the story for say...something OTHER than being an 8-12 year-old charged by a (probably pedophiliac) old man to go around documenting all the Pokemon in the world (something that despite being a renowned scientist he just can't be bothered to have done any research on himself), while both repeatedly battling your hometown rival and ruining some grand Snidely Whiplash plot revolving around taking over/remaking the world with Pokemon?

11089

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Gold and Silver being remade for DS

« on: May 08, 2009, 02:49:00 PM »

Pokemon is like this super awesome game that any hardcore gamer should go nuts over, but it's marketed to rubes that fall for the same con again and again.  Can you think of ANY series like this where you have this absolute gem hidden under all sorts of rip-offs, rehashes and spinoff junk?

Final Fantasy's getting there, but it's not there yet.

11090

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Gold and Silver being remade for DS

« on: May 08, 2009, 01:57:29 PM »

Why would you want MORE movie style?

Whether you like this style or not is not the issue.  The issue was whether the genre had changed over the years, and it has.

11091

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Gold and Silver being remade for DS

« on: May 08, 2009, 12:39:44 PM »

And I thought you were a J-RPG fan...

Are your feelings speaking from a global perspective of gaming or just within your perspective of the genre?

For all the flak the J-RPG genre (fairly) gets for its stories and writing, the genre gameplay has changed radically over the years.  I'm playing FF9 right now (it's been in my backlog for years), and it's amazing just looking at where the genre was just 10 years ago compared to the more action-oriented, cinematic style it is right now.  I don't see a great deal of traditional turn-based battle systems with simple menus; low-frame animations; and low-grade music/sound effects anymore.  Unless you're talking about Dragon Quest and Pokemon, which irritatingly still play like their original incarnations and don't really take advantage of the platforms they're on.

11092

TalkBack / Re: Valhalla Knights Coming to Wii

« on: May 08, 2009, 12:28:32 PM »

Oh, Wii, for some reason I thought this was a DS game...

Sadly, it originally being on the PSP does not preclude it from coming to the Wii.  The Wii after all, is barely more powerful than the Sony handheld.

Note: If you can't read the sarcasm there, you need glasses.

11093

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Gold and Silver being remade for DS

« on: May 08, 2009, 12:15:51 PM »

Would it be bad for me to wish that this entire release completely bombed and caused the Pokemon license to go into a Metroid-style hibernation for 8-10 years or so?  Yeah I know, maybe while that's going on Satan can set up an Ice Cream stand in Hell. 

I used to be a huge fan of the franchise (Blue, Yellow, LeafGreen, Pearl) and I did enjoy my time with Pokemon Pearl, but the core gameplay and presentation was still pretty much identical to that in the original game on the GameBoy, just with dual battles and equipable items.  This is Nintendo's version of Dragon Quest, and do we really need another series of Pokemon remakes when the series core gameplay and presentation has barely changed much since the original games?

As long as people keep buying this crap, Nintendo is never going to advance this series forward into something new and interesting.  Really, when you strip away the excess minigames and whatnot, what part of these games not only couldn't be done on the original GameBoy but WASN'T done on the original GameBoy?  These will probably be good games, as they've all been good if basic RPGs.  They're just completely unnecessary, and only further my extreme disinterest in the license.

11094

General Gaming / Re: The Uncanny Valley

« on: May 07, 2009, 07:22:32 PM »

Those lectures are all really well-done.  Highly recommended, and thanks for the link.

11095

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: May 06, 2009, 11:48:51 PM »

Modern FPS gameplay of robotic GI Joes that run zigzag circles at full speed in ANY STUPID DIRECTION THAT WOULD MAKE REAL PEOPLE TRIP AND FALL are a big turn off.

With current controls, the choice is between robotic GI Joes and just plain robots.  Realistic FPS games remind me of what it must be like to remotely pilot a deep sea submersible, except the sub can randomly die with no warning.  I'll happily accept more realism once I can plug into the matrix, but until then I don't want to have to deal with managing my character's bodily functions in between shooting bad guys.

Vulnerability is another issue, but I think level design and technology have a ways to go before dying from one shot could feel fair.  Technology needs to advance to the point that enemy line of sight, suitability of environmental objects for cover, and whether or not bullets can penetrate certain objects are all intuitively obvious.  Level design in the "realistic" games I've played hasn't been set up to be playable, but to look good.  There are nice big open areas to show off the draw distance, but you can't go out there because it's a death trap, but the whole map is like that so you have to, so you're killed by a sniper and have to wait twenty minutes for the rest of your team to get killed by snipers before they can even see the objective, either.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. The potential for such a game is huge.

No radar. No HUD. Straight up kill or be killed intensity. Count your bullets and make everyone count. Sneak around like a ninja with a silencer and knife, or kick in the door wavin' the four four.

Allow me to introduce you to Condemned: Criminal Origins.  That game had a lot of problems, but the combat was pretty close to that in how it dealt with firearms.

11096

TalkBack / Re: Wii and DS Versions of Ghostbusters Delayed in Europe and Australia

« on: May 06, 2009, 05:45:48 PM »

Well, it's definitely a shrewd move by Sony, but I can't help but wonder..."why Europe and the PAL regions"?  Why not go for the jugular by securing an exclusivity deal for the North American release date?

11097

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: May 06, 2009, 05:32:06 PM »

The problem is: developers seem to think that there are only two ways to make a FPS. Either like Halo or CoD4.

One is just over the top hysteria, and the other is realistic. There hasn't been a comfortable inbetween.

Well, occasionally you get a game that goes against that grain like Bioshock or (from what I've heard) Portal, but yeah that does seem to be the trend.

11098

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Indiana Jones Staff of Kings for Wii

« on: May 05, 2009, 11:50:36 PM »

Man... X-Wing and those logos on the manual pages... those were the days.

I have to say, that was one pretty damn effective anti-piracy protection.  If you lost that manual (or didn't get one because you didn't have a legit copy) you were completely screwed because you had to enter a password (or in the case of Atlantis, arrange the Sun; Moon; and Earth discs on the dais) every time you wanted to play the game, and every time you got the sequence wrong it chose a new random code you had to enter. I managed to get in on X-Wing a few times just spamming random Star Wars planet names after I lost the manual, but that was really rare.  I own the game on PC now, and unfortunately unlike the original version it doesn't have mouse support.  Boo!

11099

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: May 05, 2009, 11:45:21 PM »

The only two weapons I saw in that multi was shotty and machine gun. neeed moree.

Indeed.  Honestly, I found IGN's multiplayer videos to be extremely dull.  Just a bunch of guys running around shooting the same damn machine guns at each other with the occasional firework tossed at each other (I refuse to call those grenades).  Those videos were so profoundly generic that if a few character skins were swapped out I would have thought they were playing Call of Duty.  I don't know if IGN was allowed to take videos of more interesting areas and weaponry, but they really could have done better than that.

11100

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Indiana Jones Staff of Kings for Wii

« on: May 05, 2009, 11:34:15 PM »

Hmm...the game sounds interesting enough in the IGN Preview, and lord knows Fate of Atlantis alone is worth that price tag (provided it's the voiced version, as it damn well should be).  Just one thing that bothered me, and it's the sort of thing that would bother some people and not others: they're apparently not going to be referring to the Germans in the game as Nazis, and their emblem won't be in the game.  Bull...fracking...****!  This game takes place in 1939!  They're Nazis!  In the films they're Nazis!  If you're going to have an Indiana Jones game in the 1930s that has German antagonists, it's just pointless and cowardly to hide from calling them what they were: Nazis.  I thought we were past pointless self-censorship like this ages ago!

Incidentally, Fate of Atlantis has the rather amusing honor of being the oldest game in my gaming backlog.  I played it for PC way back not too long after it came out (I had both it and X-Wing), and I got up to a particular point on all 3 paths before being completely stuck.  Unfortunately, by the time I figured out the solution I no longer had the game (it wasn't exactly a legal version and our photocopied manual got lost, and in those days they put the keycodes for entering the game on the pages of the manual).  It has been bothering me for literally almost 2 decades now that I never beat Atlantis, because I really loved that game.  Ah, to finally be able to remove that game from my backlog!  Pure bliss.