Messages

1

General Gaming / RE: XBOX360 questions

« on: December 19, 2006, 01:12:44 AM »

As far as the heat problems, I've had none so far.   Mine was manufactured in March of 2006 and is stuck inside an entertainment center with an open front and open back (no glass door).    It gets warm but the unit never gets hot and I've had no problems.

I agree that it sure seems like the 360 has had a large amount of problems in general.     One solution may be to purchase it somewhere that has a liberal return policy.   Like Walmart or Costco.   Costco will allow you to return the product at any time (any time - even after warranty has expired - even after they don't carry the product any longer).    The catch is that you have to keep up your membership (50 bucks a year) the whole time.

2

Nintendo Gaming / RE:DS Lite Cracks

« on: December 01, 2006, 12:57:07 AM »

Shecky,

I had similar damage but for a different reason.    My DS always had 2 stuck pixels but I could live with that.    It also had the slightly loose/spongy feeling touch display but could live with that.   After a month or so it developed a crack on one hinge.    Since I heard it was only cosmetic I didn't really bother to do anything about it.    Soon, the other hinge developed a fine crack.   Still, didn't bother to fix it.   One day when opening it up the darn hinge popped off.   Looked very similar to your photo.  

Was very disturbed because I was worried that Nintendo would think I had mistreated it.    I'm a 40 year old man with no kids.   I've treated this thing like a baby.    Also kept in a nice case and never dropped.   But there's no way to actually prove that, I suppose.

Anyway, Nintendo begrudgingly replaced the unit.    They said they didn't usually cover damage like this.   Oh well.     By the way, the replacement unit has a stuck pixel as well :-)    But I can live with it.     But if and when next hairline hinge crack appears, I'm sending it back immediately !

Oh, and I do have a second DS (my wife and I wanted our own) that I bought at launch as well and it has had zero problems ( knock on wood ).

Eric

3

Nintendo Gaming / RE:New Gamecubes - No progressive scan

« on: August 19, 2004, 03:58:20 AM »

>>  Which would mean that this only affects those 15-25 people who already bought Component Cables for their GameCubes. If/when their GameCubes break. And can't be repaired. And they don't want to upgrade to the Revolution.

Like you say, that's really one of my main concerns - how to either fix my hardware or get a new unit if this one breaks (one that supports progressive scan).    I had always hoped I could just buy a new one (I'd rather not have a refurbished one).  Maybe they will come out with that cable someday.

Probably nobody's going to agree with me on this, but if they wanted to remove a feature to save production costs I wish it had been the Gameboy advance connectivity crap.    For me, that whole thing is pretty useless and disappointing.  But I guess that's not an easy thing to remove like a A/V port.   I guess it just bugs me that they waste so much energy on Gameboy connectivity but somebody must be using it.

Also, just wondering, has it been confirmed that Revolution will be backward compatible (I have no idea) ?  

4

Nintendo Gaming / RE:New Gamecubes - No progressive scan

« on: August 18, 2004, 06:56:00 AM »

>>  AFAIK Nintendo vowed to replace any non-PS GCs with PS GCs

Yeah, and I agree that's a great thing.  I heard that it would be a refurbished unit, but it sure beats nothing.   I just hope that the next system doesn't start off with no progressive from the get-go.

Also, it's kind of strange that people who buy a cube today might buy a game published by Nintendo, read the game box and see progressive scan on there and then later find out that thier system could never support that feature.   With that said, I sure hope Nintendo continues to publish titles in the future that support progressive scan for the Gamecube !    I dunno, it just seems like a strange thing to start removing things from a product.  But it's probably happened before with some other Nintendo product.

Eric

5

Nintendo Gaming / New Gamecubes - No progressive scan

« on: August 18, 2004, 04:42:16 AM »

I'd like to hear everyone's take on this topic.    I apologize if this topic has been discussed earlier,  and it's probably old news but I did some looking around in this forum and didn't see anything on it.

As was indicated in EGM Magazine a while back and on IGN this week, Gamecubes manufactured after May, 2004 will no longer support progressive scan.   The digital A/V port will not be a part of new Gamecubes.  

I suppose this has to be a cost saving measure from Nintendo but I'm not too happy with the decision.  Apparently, only a small percentage of Gamecube owners actually use it anyway.  But even if you don't currently use it,  the next TV you purchase might support it.

Anyway, If you have an interest in this feature and would like to see it in the next gen. console I encourage you to call Nintendo and ask that they log your request/wish (1-800-255-3700).    

If you are going to purchase a new Gamecube and want to make sure the hardware supports progressive scan, please refer to the following Nintendo document:  

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/nintendogamecube/component_faq.jsp

Eric

6

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Is progressive scan worth it?

« on: September 15, 2003, 04:25:51 AM »

>>  Oh, one more question.. right now I don't have the component cables, but just for giggles I tried holding B on startup to see if it would ask for progressives can mode - and it didn't. Do I need the cables for that to work?

I don't think I ever tried to enable progressive before I purchased the component cables, but I think you do need to have the cable before it will let you do that.  Also, even though you do have to initially hold B down at boot up to enable progressive scan, games will often prompt you from then on (with a "Do you wish to enable progressive scan ?" prompt at boot up).

If you have the dough, you might as well get those cables.  Otherwise you may always wonder if you're missing out.

7

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Is progressive scan worth it?

« on: September 13, 2003, 06:20:58 PM »

popkorn1,

Hopefully, someone will correct me if I'm wrong here but here's my experience.  My move was from using composite on an old TV to component on a newer TV.   I think you indicated that your TV has a line doubler.   So, you've already improved on the picture a great deal (no vertical shaking anymore).   Like the others have said, your moving from s-video to component cables would improve your color quality (more vibrant colors and less bleeding, I think).

In my own experience, upgrading to an HDTV and using component cables made a huge difference (very very noticeable).  Extremely vibrant colors, clear and no vertical shakes from interlacing.    You do have to tell the gamecube to display in progressive scan mode - and it's possible to have the gamecube transmitting the normal (non progressive, by not pressing B at boot up) signal through the component cables.  Sometimes I run the games in progressive; other times not.  To be honest, I can't tell one bit of difference in the two (both ways using component cables, mind you).   Don't know if this is due to the line doubler or not or simply that the gamecube really isn't taking advantage of the higher vertical resolutions of HDTV.   For instance, Metroid Prime looks exactly the same either way.  I thought that at least the game would appear smoother due to the effective frame rate doubling, but I can't tell a difference there either.

But in your case, you already have s-video and your TV has a line doubler.  So, I'm guessing that the only difference you will get with upgrading to component is improved colors (and possibly a little clearer ?).

8

Nintendo Gaming / Nintendo should pull out of the consol race.

« on: April 09, 2003, 04:29:04 AM »

An overwhelming number of gamecube owners complain about malfunctioning hardware ?  Overwhelming ??  Sigh..

And bringing out an improved version of the gameboy advance is unethical ?  Prior to the inception of the gameboy SP you were happy with the old gameboy (I'm assuming this because you say the SP offered minimum improvements, so you personally must have had no problem seeing the screen with the original gameboy advance).

Then Nintendo releases the SP.  A product that you are not forced to purchase.  A product that does not make any game released for the prior gameboy advance obsolete.  It will affect you in no way.   And it makes Nintendo unethical (borderline unethical, you say) ?  

I much much prefer using the gameboy SP over the earlier model.  It's a big improvement.  Yes, it's basically the same thing but with aesthetic and functional improvements.   Worth every penny.  I'd much rather have the option to purchase an improved model rather than Nintendo not releasing it because they fear they may offend the existing user base (which really has nothing to lose just because the SP is released).

Please choose your words better (or please provide further explanation) because your choice of 'overwhelming' and 'unethical' are way out of line.

9

Nintendo Gaming / Nintendo should pull out of the consol race.

« on: April 08, 2003, 09:02:00 AM »

>>  Well if the only reason you support Nintendo is because they're the underdog that's pretty weird.

True, it would be weird.  But it's not the only reason at all.  I love it because of the games and like you say the quality of Nintendo's work.

But, the topic was really what if the games were on other systems and how would you feel about that / why would that be a bad thing.  And what I meant was that for me, really the only reason I can think of why I would care if Nintendo went 3'rd party would be for the reasons I discussed.  As long as I can play the games I want then it doesn't matter too much, but I admit there is a small part of me that likes being in the elite.

I have an Xbox and it's a good console but basically it doesn't have many games that I really want.  But if there's a game for a competing system that you really want, get it.  

>>  My beef with them ever going third party isn't really that they won't make hardware anymore but rather that their games might be spread across multiple consoles and I don't like the idea of buying two systems to play the games I used to be able to get with one.

I guess I always assumed that if this happened Nintendo would put Mario on all the consoles and not do something like put Mario only on Sony and Smash Brothers only on the Xbox.  So, yeah that would suck if they started doing exclusives like that.

10

Nintendo Gaming / Nintendo should pull out of the consol race.

« on: April 08, 2003, 04:19:13 AM »

One question:  What is it about the idea of Nintendo selling games on other systems that would 'ruin the user base' and 'piss people off' ?

I think it would upset me too.  I have a hard time putting it into words.  For one, I like the Nintendo hardware.  I guess I'm just loyal to Nintendo right now.  The hardware is smaller and more appealing in my opinion.  I always hate those elitist snobs who always gravitate to some hardware niche, acting like everyone else is clueless for not using the same hardware - all the while kind of hoping not too many people start using that hardware because then the snob wouldn't be unique/in the know.  Kind of like Apple Macintosh users are often perceived.

I think maybe I'm a snob like that.  On the one hand, I would like Nintendo to be as successful as possible (and they are financially successful, thank God, just not ubiquitous).  On the other hand, if Nintendo consoles got as popular as Sony is right now would I still feel the same about Nintendo ?   I think that maybe I wouldn't as much.  I'd still enjoy the quality games, but there is a part of me that likes being a little different than the other part of the market that seems to gladly consume sub-par games in huge quantities.

By the way, I used to feel similar back in the stone ages when I purchased my Amiga computer and maybe a tad bit when I purchased my 3DO.

Am I a bastard for being like this or does anyone else feel the same ?

11

Nintendo Gaming / Metroid Prime in Progressive Scan.....wow!

« on: March 07, 2003, 06:44:43 AM »

>>  Trippy Pancakes can you give links to those cheap HDTVs on bestbuy, Ive never used it and couldnt find those TVs you meant.

Samsung 32" DynaFlat HDTV Monitor

Samsung Tantus 27" HDTV Monitor with DynaFlat Flat Picture Tube

12

Nintendo Gaming / Metroid Prime in Progressive Scan.....wow!

« on: March 07, 2003, 02:21:11 AM »

>>  Anyway, the best buy I've seen for a prog. scan TV was $1000.00 for a 26".

Sean, go to www.BestBuy.com and Search for Samsung TVs (HDTVs).  The 27" is $699.00 and the 32" is on sale for $899.00.

13

Nintendo Gaming / Metroid Prime in Progressive Scan.....wow!

« on: March 06, 2003, 02:16:59 AM »

>> Is it true that you start to notice alot more jaggies though on an hdtv, becuase you can now notice them with all the clarity?

In my experience, yes.  For instance, in Metroid Prime when you stand completely still for a few seconds Samus starts swaying ever so slightly to and fro.  Due to the slow motion/drifting in this instance, some of the lines are effectively being drawn at a very slow frame rate and it becomes noticeable.  It's not horrible, but it can be annoying (and in some of the areas it's not as noticeable).  If you turn the sharpness down on the TV it helps.

14

General Gaming / Could someone explain to me what "bits" are?

« on: February 24, 2003, 02:58:09 AM »

I know I'm a little late, but if you want even more info on bits, try going to either of these links:

Whatis.com  -  bit

How Boolean Logic Works