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Messages - evilnate

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1
Nintendo Gaming / RE:If Nintendo could replace Silicon Knights with any developer, who'd you pick?
« on: April 15, 2004, 07:42:03 AM »
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Originally posted by: Infernal Monkey
I demand a new Gunstar Heroes on GameCube, in sexy detailed 2D. C'mon Nintendo, get your cash out of your nose and throw some at Treasure.


Hot damn!  Something like this would easily make me forget all the ills that have plagued the GameCube.  I love Gunstar Heroes!  I even bought it in Hong Kong for the Game Gear, I love it so much!

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up
« on: April 14, 2004, 09:21:31 AM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Is there anything wrong with buying another system if you really desire a game?"

Uh, yeah.  It costs over $100 to buy another system not including the game itself.  It's a pretty big pain in the ass to have to pay that much for a game that a week ago I would assume would be released on the console I already own.  Not everyone can afford to buy multiple consoles.  Ideally most people want to buy one and hope that it will serve 90% of their needs.  That's why Sega's current multiplatform strategy sucks and that's why it's a big deal when a developer drops Cube support.  If Nintendo is doing their job I shouldn't have to buy another console.


That's exactly what I've been thinking.  Nintendo should be making every effort to make people not want or need another console.  That's whats been wrong with Nintendo this entire generation.  They have been positioning themselves not as the console to get, but as the second banana to the PS2 and the XBOX.  It's sort of like they're saying, "If you're only going to buy one console this generation, make it a PS2 or XBOX, but if you're going to buy two make one of them a Gamecube."


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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up
« on: April 13, 2004, 12:47:47 PM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"It's like when a psychologist tells a couple they should see other people for a while."

If a psychologist told me that I'd kick him in the nuts.  So I guess you could consider that a bad analogy.

"Nintendo's 'variety' is Nintendo and no one else"

I guess that depends on what you consider standard for Nintendo consoles.  I think of the NES, SNES, and Gameboy.  I considered the N64 an anomaly; a one time goof up on Nintendo's part.  Sadly the Cube has proven that theory wrong but I still desire the Nintendo that provided a console with a broad variety of titles from both first and third party fronts.  Therefore if Nintendo continues to fail to live up to this expectation I would consider it perfectly valid grounds for switching to another console brand.  I probably won't but I totally understand if others would.

Plus I associate SK with Nintendo since they were a second party.  Losing them is losing variety in Nintendo's lineup since Nintendo no longer provides the SK experience.  Losing Rare resulted in less variety as well.


You took my response.  Nintendo used to have the broadest variety of games.  Fighting games, platformers, action games, shooters, RPGs, heck, even sports games were well represented on Nintendo consoles.  Like Ian, I considered the N64 an anomaly, brought about by their reluctance to switch to a disc-based format.  With the cube, I think that they did everything right on the hardware front, but on the software front, not so much.  And it's this ever shrinking variety of software, a trend which has been going on with Nintendo consoles for eight years now, that throws my next console purchase into doubt.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up
« on: April 13, 2004, 12:00:10 PM »
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Originally posted by: Rhoq
This does not mean that I will not buy the next Nintendo console, what it does mean is that today’s news has made it quite clear…In this day and age, owning only one console system leaves you in the dark. When the next consoles are released, I think I might end-up with a N5/GCNext and an X-Box 2.


While I guess that I'm in an increasingly small minority, I just can't justify buying more than one console to my wife or daughter.  Nintendo has offered me enough variety to justify making their consoles my choice, and up until the middle of last year, it looked like the N5 would be my next console.  Now, with this and many other things that have been coming out of the Nintendo camp, I can't honestly say that.


5
Nintendo Gaming / RE:Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up
« on: April 13, 2004, 11:03:37 AM »
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Originally posted by: the_zombie_luke
I guess that is true about N-Space, Retro, and Kuju, Ian. But anyway, this might just be the final nail in the coffin. I was upset that Aonouma directed Wind Waker, that Sunshine wasn't nearly as good as Mario 64, that the B-button simply wore out, that Nintendo abandoned 2D for GameCube, that the director of Kirby departed, but I got over those. This is the most upsetting news in a while.


I feel your pain.  While I haven't played Twin Snakes yet, Eternal Darkness had one of the most engrossing stories that I've experienced in a video game.  It brought back memories of the best of the Sierra point and click games.

You know, it's almost like Nintendo doesn't trust itself, or it's capabilities.  The Cube could be the swiss army knife of game consoles.  It's powerful, almost on par with the X-box.  It's got (or had) the ability to take partial advantage of HDTVs.  It's got a good controller, that works great for most games.  It's got online capability, both through broadband and dial-up.  It's got the only first-party wireless controller solution.  Through the GBP, it's backwards compatable with nearly all of the handheld games, back through to the original Game Boy.  Plus, because so many classic games have been ported to the GBA, it has them too.

Yet they can't seem to make the moves that would put them out there and better their image to mainstream gamers.  They can't come up with an online plan.  They can't hold exclusive games.  They can't hold onto developers.  They repeatedly make statements that make people think that they have no interest in advancing graphics or sound capabilities, or that they're only interested in making "simple" games.

Honestly, I think that Nintendo is a confused company.  They create, what is in my opinion, the best and most versitile console of this (or any) generation, yet expose a philosophy that suggests that they don't know how to take advantage of it.

This news isn't going to lessen my enjoyment of my cube or it's games right now, but I am going to have to take a good hard look at the next generation, because the way things are going, many of the games that I enjoy just aren't going to be around on Nintendo's next console.


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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Does the GC have a way to transport save files to/from the PC?
« on: April 13, 2004, 10:44:45 AM »
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Originally posted by: TAYREL713
How exactly does the GameSaves Memory Card Manager work?  And is it compatible wih the saves they have available over at gamefaqs?


Yes.  The Gamesaves device is actually a really good deal.  Not only does it allow you to transfer saves back and forth with your PC, but for $20 you also get a 64M memory card.


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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up
« on: April 13, 2004, 10:33:59 AM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"I also like how it's so evil for Microsoft to "gobble up" developers, but when Nintendo acquires studios, everyone cheers."

When Nintendo does it it's to create great games.  When MS does it it's to dominate the industry.  Nintendo grabs unproven developers and turns them into powerhouses while MS buys established developers so that the other consoles can't have them.  Big difference.



Heh, then after Nintendo turns them into powerhouses, they leave to get bought out by Microsoft.

At this rate, Nintendo's going to be lucky if Pokemon and Mario are N5 exclusives.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 25, 2004, 10:26:52 AM »
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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
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Originally posted by: evilnate
You're correct, but my point is that if a game is running at 60fps, the console has to render then entire frame, which contains all the information for two fields.

60fps = a refresh rate of 120hz (120 fields/60 frames per second)
30fps = a refresh rate of 60hz (60 fields/30 frames per second)

If the console was only rendering half of the image every 1/60th of a second, then it's actually running at 30fps, not 60, and you wouldn't get the added smoothness that a game running at 60fps provides.


No. Just plain No. There are games that run at 60FPS for the Cube, but thoe don't overclock your TV to 120Hz (which is dangerous). Those games deliver one frame per field. 60 half-images/sec appears smoother than 30 full images/sec because each frame of a movement is visible for less time.


I never said that the Cube would "overclock" your television.  I was refering to the refresh rate internally in the Gamecube.  You're right that an NTSC television can only display 30 frames per second (actually it's 29.97, but who's counting?  )  Anyway, my point is that rendering fields is not what the Gamecube or any other piece of computer hardware does.  It only renders whole frames (in the Cube's case, at a resolution of 640X480), which are then interlaced.  But there were still 60 original full information frames.  In the case of a game running at 60fps, yes, that does get downconverted to 30fps for an NTSC display, but that wasn't my original point.  My original point was that it takes exactly the same amount of graphics horsepower to render a game at 60 fps progressivly as it does interlaced, and therefore there is no performance hit if your running 480i or 480p.

Think about it - the internal frame rate, i.e. the rate that each frame of the game is rendered at has to be independant of the actual display frame rate.  Otherwise, how could there have been games that ran faster than 30fps back in the N64 days or slower than 60fps on a progressive scan television?  How could we ever see a game have slowdown?  Next gen we could see games that actually run faster than 60fps internally but the displays will still be locked to 30fps for NTSC and 60fps for progressive scan.  The benifit is that even though we won't actually see every frame as it's being rendered internally, we'll see the benefits in the improved motion.

 

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:If you were making a new Rogue Squadron...
« on: March 25, 2004, 09:12:31 AM »
I think that there are only three good possibilities for a "continuation" of the Rogue Squadron series (although all are more like spin-offs), and all have been mentioned in this thread.

1) A game centered on the prequal trilogy:  Actually, they already did this with Battle for Naboo, but a natural follow-up to that game would be to cover episodes 2 and 3.  Plus, I would love to see Factor 5's take on the Battle of Geonosis.  I'll never forget the day that I first bought my Gamecube and Rogue Leader.  The Death Star level was impressive, but I'd seen it in the store.  The first jaw-dropping moment that I got from my Cube however, was when I started the Battle of Hoth level.  Never before in any movie-tie in game had I really felt like I was playing a scene from the movie.  The Battle of Hoth level did that, and I think that Factor 5 could do the same to the Battle of Geonosis (and what ever is in Episode III).

2) A "Tie Squadron" game, where you fly for the Empire.  Playing as the bad guys would be cool, something that "Tie Fighter" proved.  Interestingly, even though that's one of the most popular Star Wars games ever, no one has ever done a follow-up to it.  So just as the Rogue Squadron games are the "arcady" cousins to the X-Wing games, a "Tie Squadron" game could be the same for "Tie Fighter".  You'd have to stay away from most of the movie action scenes since the Rebels always win, but they could be more like the last level in Rogue Leader where the Empire "strikes back"

3) An online multiplayer game.  This was hinted at as something that Factor 5 would like to do in the EGM article about Rogue Squadron.  It could be a lot of fun, especially with voice chat.  Of course, as Ian has pointed out, this is something that might be best left for the next generation, but there's always room for surprises (such as this possible third party, online and free RPG "Homeland" that PGC just reported on).  I'm kind of thinking that this rumored "Battle Squadron" game might acually be this, and I really hope that it's not an X-box exclusive.

Anyway, that's my opinion.  The neat thing about Star Wars is that unlike most movie tie in games, that there's enough gameplay variations that really good games can be based on it.  I think though that we all agree that Factor 5 should stick to arcade flight!

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 24, 2004, 06:52:45 AM »
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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
If a game is running at 60 FPS (i.e. 60 images per second) that does not mean the TV displays two fields per game-frame. Displaying 120 fields per second would toast your TV. Keep in mind that FPS here means "images output by the game", not "full screens drawn by the TV". The framerate of the game can slow down under high load, the framerate of the TV is constant.


You're correct, but my point is that if a game is running at 60fps, the console has to render then entire frame, which contains all the information for two fields.

60fps = a refresh rate of 120hz (120 fields/60 frames per second)
30fps = a refresh rate of 60hz (60 fields/30 frames per second)

If the console was only rendering half of the image every 1/60th of a second, then it's actually running at 30fps, not 60, and you wouldn't get the added smoothness that a game running at 60fps provides.


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General Gaming / RE:High Definition Games
« on: March 24, 2004, 05:40:49 AM »
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Originally posted by: Bigworm2004
Does anyone know where I can find a list of XBOX games that support progressive scan and 720 and widescreen and a list of the gamecube games that support widescreen?  IGN said months back that they would compile a list, but don't see it anywhere.  There's gotta be a reliable web site that has a list of progressive scan and widescreen games.


Go to www.hdgames.net

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 24, 2004, 05:07:58 AM »
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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
30FPS might not be impacted by progscan, but 60FPS will clearly be. Since each frame would have to be only half of the lines, you don't need to render the other half, saving performance. Progscan would demand you to render the WHOLE picture every time, that might be a reason some games don't support it.


That's not accurate.  If you were rendering only half of the lines at 60fps, then you'd only be getting one field per frame and that doesn't work.  At 60fps you still have to render both fields (120 fields per second).  If you render one field per frame at 60fps, then it actually becomes 30fps.  Follow?  If the cube is running a game at 60fps, it's rendering 60fps which are then divided into 120 fields for display by an interlaced monitor.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 23, 2004, 08:29:56 AM »
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Originally posted by: thecubedcanuck
"Of course there isn't a true widescreen option when you're running in that mode either."

thats ok, the Toshiba I have has the BEST stretch modes available. TW1 stretch looks as if it were true widescreen.



I'm not sure if a stretch mode would help you with SCII.  720p is a widescreen format, but what Namco did was put black bars on either side of the 4:3 picture when you run in 720p.  So the XBOX is outputting a widescreen image, but is only having to render a 4:3 picture.  I think that it was a shortcut that Namco did because they couldn't get the game to run smoothly at 720p and 16X9.

Anyway, the reason that I don't think a stretch mode would work is that it's already a widescreen signal.  Maybe a zoom, but then you'd loose the top and bottom of the picture.

And that's about as off topic as we can get, I think!


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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 23, 2004, 08:05:02 AM »
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Originally posted by: thecubedcanuck
"720p and 1080i are higher resolutions, which is why in some XBOX games there is a performance hit when using these modes."

I have never noticed such a hit. I played MLB 2004 all night Saturday in 720P and played flawlessly smooth with a picture quality that blew everyone who was over away.


Well, I did say "some"!    Although a buddy of mine's got it for the XBOX, and he was playing it on 720p and I did notice some choppiness over my Cube version.  We bumped it down to 480p and voila - the framerate drops went away.  At least for that game it's a trade-off, it looks fantastic in 720p, but there are some hiccups, especially on throws to the plate from the outfield.  At least from what I saw.

OTOH, Soul Caliber 2 looked great and ran smoothly in 720p.  Of course there isn't a true widescreen option when you're running in that mode either.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 23, 2004, 06:44:51 AM »
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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
I'd guess it causes a severe performance impact (the only thing I can compare is Homeworld since there's no 480p equivalent in PAL). If your game is near the limit upping the res could kill the framerate.




Actually, I don't believe that there is a performance hit for 480p.  Say you have a game that runs at 30fps.  In 480i (which is interlaced - regular TV), each one of those frames is made up of two "fields", each containing exactly half of the frame, 240 lines of picture info.  However, the Cube renders all 480 lines of picture info in one shot, and then splits it in half for display.  In Progressive Scan mode, the Cube bypasses this step and simply displays all 480 lines of picture data at onces (hence the 480p).  480p isn't a higher resolution than 480i, but since the television is actually displaying all the information at once, you get brighter colors and fewer jaggies.

720p and 1080i are higher resolutions, which is why in some XBOX games there is a performance hit when using these modes.

I hope I made some sense here!  

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 22, 2004, 10:04:19 AM »
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Originally posted by: thecubedcanuck
Mouse,
The problem is this. My TV is a state of the art HD display device and has huge screen. It reproduces source material very, very accuratly. Crappy source = crappy picture, on a big screen this is really magnified. Games look great in 480P,  and look brilliant in 720P, but in 480i they look like chit, even when upconverted via the TV. So it does take away from the experience and makes the game less fun to play. Afterall, fun is what it is about, isnt it?


Make sure your sharpness is turned all the way down when you're playing a 480i game.  I had the same problem, and turning the sharpness to 0 really helped.  They still don't look as good as a game in 480p, but at least they're playable, instead of being a pixilated mess.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 22, 2004, 09:37:39 AM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane<brProgressive Scan is an essential feature.  Why?  Because the other consoles have it and therefore the Cube should have it too.  I wouldn't say that it's required for a good game but I would consider it a requirement for a good console.  And this is different than not including a feature.  It's REMOVING a feature which is much worse.

I would say that yes good games are more important than compatibility with high end equipment.  But there's NO EXCUSE to not have both.  Right now we have both and it's pretty sweet.



Exactly.  I can't speak for anyone else, but IMO, this whole thing is entirely Nintendo's fault.  They claim that only 1% of the user base uses the digitial out and component cables (which is something that I find hard to believe).  The thing is, how many people would be using them if they had been available on store racks, not just on some hard to find page on their web site?  So rather than making the cables more widely available, in order to get more people to use the cables, they cut the port altogether, to save what?  A quarter on every Gamecube produced?

It extends beyond that as well.  If there isn't going to be a component cable option available in the US, and the recent comments by NOA don't give me any reason to think otherwise, then I'm willing to bet that third party support for the option will dry up.  And, if Metriod Prime 2 or Wind Walker 2 aren't Prog Scan compatable, I will be very pissed.  As a next-gen console, the Gamecube (and it's games) should support as many next-gen features as possible.  One of the reasons I decided to buy an HDTV in the first place was to allow my games to look as good as they could.  The Gamecube has allowed this, so far...

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan
« on: March 21, 2004, 07:52:08 AM »
Here's my take on this, and I think others might agree.  With a wife and kid to take care of, I only have the money for one system and games for that system.  I chose Nintendo, partially because I enjoy their games, and partially because I know that I'll get visuals and audio comparable to the other systems.  I know that I'll get a decent selection of third party games, even if it's not as good a selection as other systems.

That being said, I'm beginning to agree with those which say that this might be my last Nintendo console, if this "cost cutting measure" is any indication of Nintendo's direction.  It's not just this one thing, it's this in connection with statements out of Japan about how "good graphics aren't important" or people "want simpler games with simpler gameplay".  This all may be true - to a certain extent.  As much as I love a simple game, "Luigi's Mansion" for example, I also want to play a complex fighting game, or a good sports game, or even a sim-type game.  I want variety, and I want good graphics and sound.  I used to be confident that I'd get that from a Nintendo console, but now...?

The thing about this announcement, is that it's one more reason for third parties to give the Cube lackluster support, or at best poor ports.  "We wanted our game to be graphically superior", game developers will say, "That's why we chose not to support the Gamecube, with it's lack of Progressive scan."  It might be a lame or flimsy excuse, but you know it will be used.

The thing is, despite this being billed as a "cost-cutting measure", it may end up costing Nintendo far more than they save.  High definition is here to stay, heck, I just bought one three months ago!  If people - meaning here, in America - see that Nintendo's console doesn't support their shiny new HDTV, while the Playstation 2 (or 3) and the Xbox (2) does, which way do you think they'll lean?  I'm thinking of leaning the same way myself.  I'll miss Mario and Metroid, but at this point that may not be enough.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:MVP 2004 tip
« on: March 11, 2004, 06:30:18 AM »
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Originally posted by: PaleZer0
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Originally posted by: evilnate
used the pants down


uhmmmm =D


LOL!

In my defense, what I meant was that there are three settings for the socks and pants and it should have read: "I used the "pant legs down to the shoe tops option".

However, it sure looks like I made a whopper of a Freudian slip, doesn't it!


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Nintendo Gaming / MVP 2004 tip
« on: March 11, 2004, 06:00:07 AM »
I know that there was a lot of talk about how Bonds isn't in the game, but after I picked up my copy last night, I played around with "Jon Dowd" and got a reasonable version of Bonds.  I don't recall my exact settings, but I used Sheffield's batting stance, turned shin guards on, used the pants down, and elbow guard #2.  Anyway, the surprise for me was that if you change his name to Barry Bonds, the announcers will actually say his name (such as "Bonds is stepping to the plate" or whatnot).  I wasn't expecting that at all, and it is pretty cool.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Does Anyone think...
« on: February 12, 2004, 07:12:09 AM »
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Originally posted by: Metaphysical Spirit
It's a good idea, to an extent. A lot of people already complain that Nintendo doesn't use anything new. For them to just pack up a lot of games into one CD would just be a media tarket for Sony and MS. It would be considered a money maker, not a game set. Kingvudu was right about the GBA though, a lot of older SNES and NES have came out for the GBA, so why have that for the gamecube. I guess if you really want that though, you get a GBA Player for your GC and play those games from there on. Animal Crossing also had NES games you could play. If Sega were to that now, I think it would come out on all systems and not just GC either.


I'm all for having collections of older arcade and console games come out for the newer systems.  I don't really want to have 15 consoles stashed away somewhere (or a bazillion emulators that may or may not work) so that I can get a bit of classic gaming goodness.  I love things like the Activision Anthology, or Sonic Mega Collection.  As for what system they should come out for (GC or GBA), I really don't care.  With my GBP, I pretty much consider them one and the same.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Accessories for the GC?
« on: February 10, 2004, 11:22:42 AM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Well I think I can safely say that online GBA games is not going to happen.  Nintendo doesn't even want to make online Cube titles.  Why would they make online GBA titles that can only be used with the GB Player?


I wasn't thinking that they'd make "online only" GBA games.  Rather, they could take games such as Four Swords or Advance Wars that require multipak gaming and make them playable across the internet, using either the modem or BBA and the GBP.


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Nintendo Gaming / RE:METROID PRIME 2
« on: February 10, 2004, 10:33:21 AM »
While I'm sure that Metroid Prime 2 will be an awesome game, I'm hoping that Super Metroid will be an unlockable feature!

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Accessories for the GC?
« on: February 10, 2004, 10:29:39 AM »
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Originally posted by: manunited4eva22
Optical/Coax:  Sorry to burst your bubble, but the serial port does not send enough bandwith or receive enough information from the apu to make that work.


I didn't think so, but one can hope, right?

As for some of the other suggestions, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that any new accessories are not in the Donkey Konga vein.  While that game might be fun, I want to see devices that could be useful for as wide a variety of games as possible, ya know?

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Nintendo Gaming / Accessories for the GC?
« on: February 10, 2004, 08:48:51 AM »
Now that the dust has settled on this whole rumor issue, and we now know that there are several new add-ons in development for the Gamecube, what would everyone like to see?  I've come up with a few ideas that I think might work, not only from a gameplay standpoint, but from a buisness standpoint as well.  Some are more far-fetched than others, however...

1) A Headset:  With the rumors of new online-capable games swirling around (such as Splinter Cell 2), this seems like a possibility.  Not only could a headset provide voice chat capability online, but voice recognition in single player games.  This would have to come as a pack-in with a killer app, but it's worked before (just look at the rumble pack that came with Starfox 64)

2) Online Gameboy Games:  While I'm not entirely sure on this, but from everything that I've read, the GBP can access all of the GC's internal hardware, including the modem/BBA.  So wouldn't be a simple matter of releasing a new GBP disc that would allow the BBA to act as a substitue link cable?  You'd have to have some sort of ISP seach function to find other players wanting to play the same game as you, but given the software that's out there (as well as new games that could be created), this might be very popular.  A side benefit:  this could be a way to get a ton of GCs online - thus making online gaming more attractive to third parties.  Pack the new GBP disc in with the BBA and you might have a winner.

3) A Hard Drive:  While I'm not so sure about the benefits of this, if they do want to push an online strategy, then a hard drive might be a nice addition.

4) An Optical/Coax DD 5.1 output:  I'm not certain if the bandwidth of the other Serial Port could handle this, but it would certaintly complement my nice, new component cables nicely.

So what would everyone like to see?  While Nintendo has had many failed add-ons, they've had a few sucessful one, more than most other companies can claim!

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