Messages

1276

TalkBack / Industry Giants Behind UGE 2003

« on: March 20, 2003, 12:59:36 AM »

I recognize one of those names. Bernie Stolar.

Working Designs is supposed to have some sort of grudge against him that they never talk about these days.

Apparently, back in the 16-bit days, WD used to be "multiconsole", but they were partial to CD-based systems, because you had to risk less money developing for them. Of course, that meant their only options were the TurboGrafx and Sega CD systems.

Then Sony came out with the PSX and WD thought it was a great opportunity. They wanted to translate Arc the Lad, since SCEA said they weren't going to do it. But when they went to SCEA to get permission, Stolar told them that Sony "didn't need or want any damn RPGs" on the Playstation, and refused to give WD a developers permit.

Then Sony in Japan hooked up Square, and suddenly SCEA thought that RPGs were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that the PSX was "the RPG system". WD took it personally and moved into self-imposed exile on the Saturn.

A couple years later, Stolar left Sony and joined Sega, where he was supposed to turn the Saturn's fortunes around. But, instead of turning the Saturn around and making WD a pile of money, he signed it's cancellation papers, which did wonders for WD's over-budget "Magic Knight Rayearth", which ended up being the last game made for the Saturn in North America.

They decided that Bernie Stolar was the source of all their problems, and decided that their new console stance was that they'd develop for any CD-based console that Bernie Stolar wasn't involved with.

WD dropped Sega (and it's upcoming Stolar-launched Dreamcast) and signed up with Sony and the now Stolar-free PSX. They later got a chance to translate Arc the Lad 1 to 3 and release them as "Arc the Lad Collection".


It's funny because people tend to get WD's stance on Nintendo wrong because of all this. WD appeared to be "Sega exclusive", and then switched to become "Sony exclusive". But they were actually multiplatform, just dodging Stolar and the whole N64/SNES cart-based thing. They've said from the beginning that they're excited about the GameCube being disk-based, and that they're just waiting for the right GameCube game to go without a translator before they jump in and do their thing. And they've even warmed up to carts a little, and are willing to give the GBA a chance, if the right game comes along.


Anyways, that's just the rumors as I've heard them.

Please note though, that I don't intend to insult anyone with this. The last time I mentioned this stuff (on another board), some guys started arguing, saying I was an ignorant troll trying to falsely ruin the reputation of one of the fathers of our industry, blah blah Dreamcast legend blah...

I'm not saying anyone's evil or a bad person or anything. I just like odd rumors. Heck, I wouldn't know Bernie's name if it weren't for this rumor. People just don't have enough fueds these days. If we were really, like, at war or something, I'd have more important stuff to talk about. But we're not. Or at least I'm not. Because I'm Canadian and we're a bunch of wussies.

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Nintendo Gaming / More FF Games Coming ...?

« on: March 17, 2003, 12:09:53 AM »

I think I remember Square saying something a while back about also having another two or so exclusive games in development for the Cube, but that they couldn't make any official announcements.

IMO remakes of FF7 to 9 would be an easy fit on the Cube, since they'd likely be multi-platform, and the PS2 is supposedly only hard to port to/from when you're trying to squeeze a good deal of power out of the system (which ports/remakes don't usually do). And it's not like Sony would be as agressive to secure the exclusivity of "old PSX games" as they would something newer like FFXII.

1278

Nintendo Gaming / gamecube price drop??

« on: March 15, 2003, 04:59:35 PM »

Older brother.

GameCube just had it's first price drop in Europe. = Did you hear? The GameCube's getting killed by the XBox in Europe. Stores are giving them away for free if you buy a game now. This doesn't really seem fair because it's gonna hurt XBox sales and nobody is giving the XBox a fair chance to succeed.

The ammo I was suggesting using against these types of people is that this is the GameCube's first price drop in Europe since it's launch (unless I missed hearing about one).

1279

Nintendo Gaming / gamecube price drop??

« on: March 15, 2003, 12:15:48 PM »

Just a thought, but isn't this the first price drop on the Cube since it launched in Europe?

I remember it had one drop before it launched, but I don't think there have been any price drops since then, until now.

I guess we can toss that into the faces of any XBoxers who run around saying the GameCube is so dead in Europe that they're giving them away for free because nobody wants them anymore (my brother).

1280

Nintendo Gaming / Pokemon R/S/?

« on: March 14, 2003, 02:31:16 PM »

"Actually, I'd recommend getting Ruby or Sapphire over any upcoming variant. If you have one of those, you'll only need to find someone with the other to catch them all. If you get "Emerald" or whatever comes out in the future, you'll have to trade with both Ruby and Sapphire owners."

That's not how it worked with R/B/Y (I'm not exactly sure about G/S/C, but I thought it was the same). Yellow had all of the "rare" Pokemon that were missing from either Red or Blue, but was missing it's own Pokemon that were previously thought to be common, because they had been in both Red and Blue.

So all you needed was access to two colors in the series, any two colors, and you had a chance to get all of the Pokemon.

If you're buying only one version, then I don't think it really matters much which one you get. If you're buying two, because you have friends willing to play Pokemon, but not willing to buy Pokemon, then I think it's a good idea to get one of the first two, and then hold out for the third one, because you tend to get a bit more "variety" in the gameplay and storyline that way.


"I have never played a single Pokemon handheld game (though I did rent the N64 ones and didn't like them, but those don't count). I also did not like traditional RPGs up until about 2 or 3 years ago, but now I love them. Would you recommend that a non-Pokemon fan pick up one of these? and which one would you recommend getting (though it probably doesn't matter too much)?"

Red and Blue are the originals. They started (so they predate and weren't "affected" by) "The Pokemon Craze". They're simply GameBoy RPGs (from the original black and green "GameBoy" days) that can be judged like any other RPGs. IMO, they're a bit dry, but extremely unique, which makes it easy to see how they kicked off their own "craze".

Yellow has more of an anime feel. Which either helps offset the dryness of the first two, or makes you run away screaming, and cursing the name of Pikachu. Considering that you were able to rent the N64 games, I'd guess you can handle it.

Gold and Silver have a very cool 7-day-a-week 24-hour clock thing. The early bird gets the worm, so if you want to catch one you're going to have to actually drag yourself out of bed at 6:00 AM on a Sunday morning and get out there to hunt one. And then there's the coolness factor of the "shiny" Pokemon that you have a 1-in-100,000 chance of finding.

Crystal is just G/S with the chance of playing as a girl (or so I've heard).

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General Chat / Anyone have the "updated" NES and/or SNES?

« on: March 12, 2003, 03:40:50 PM »

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As far as I know the SNES 2 has no advantages over the original design and aside from appearence is indentical.

It's missing the expansion ports on the bottom, which could be a minus if you ever get a chance to wander into Nintendo's vaults and borrow one of their CD-i compatible SNES CD prototypes for a few days to play those infamous Zelda games.

And it supposedly has a redesigned, more expensive, non-Sony sound chip that has some compatibility problems with some games.

1282

TalkBack / Wind Waker Most Pre-Ordered Game in History

« on: March 12, 2003, 02:46:09 PM »

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"..and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a killer application that will move hardware."

They know that games move hardware (it what they've always done for Nintendo).

They know that free games move hardware (their latest Metroid promo, and what those Sega games are doing for the XBox).

They know that free games will move games (Zelda preorders).


So if Nintendo wants to move more hardware, why aren't we seeing more free games?

I mean, we can't always expect them to give away $50 games like Metroid Prime for free, or they wouldn't make any money on them, but why aren't we seeing at least Wave Race: Blue Storm coming free with the GameCube? How much is Wave Race selling right now? If it was just packed into the GameCube box with a cardboard sleeve, I can't see it really adding more than $5 to the cost of the Cube.

I'll tell you why we aren't seeing this. Because if Nintendo was giving us free games, we'd be that much more entertained and content. And less likely to drop $50 for a new game (or $30 on the "outdated" stuff).


If Nintendo's really serious about getting rid of the idea that they aren't capable of pushing large amounts of hardware anymore (which at the moment I really think is just a harmful image legacy of the cart-based N64), they're going to have to get more serious about it and take on some more short-term risk.

Or they might just get lucky and Zelda:WW will do the job for them (although I'm not so confident that will happen).


At least that's my opinion right now.

1283

TalkBack / Metal Gear Solid on GameCube - CONFIRMED

« on: February 27, 2003, 09:44:10 PM »

What I want to see is a remake of Metal Gear Solid, with new remakes of the original MSX versions of "Metal Gear" and "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake" included as unlockable bonuses. Perhaps by way of the GCN/GBA link cable.

Ah, who am I kidding? I want the crappy NES action game "Metal Gear 2: Snake's Revenge" tossed in there as well.

And Snatcher.

1284

Nintendo Gaming / Metal Gear Solid for GameCube

« on: February 27, 2003, 03:20:41 PM »

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once planetgamecube or nintendo.com announce it, i will believe it. i mena maybe u all took ur stupid pills today, but havent we seen things like this happen time and time again.

A number of smaller, mostly-reputable, European sites put up a rumor and everyone thinks it's real = We've seen it time and time again.

A number of smaller, mostly-reputable, European sites put up a rumor, then update saying they've all personally gotten verbal confirmation of it from Nintendo of Europe. Then even the Administrator of Konami's message boards pops up and says "Well, the secret's out of the bag now, so I might as well confirm it. It's true." = Not exactly common.

1285

Nintendo Gaming / Capcom and RE

« on: February 27, 2003, 12:56:08 PM »

It was Shinji Mikami, the series creator, who pushed Capcom to let him make his series exclusively for the GameCube, since he realized that the PS2 was a piece of crap. Albeit a great selling one, which a lot of people (including Mikami) have made good games for.

His bosses went along with the idea, but they decided that they would make RE Online and some other "spin-offs" exclusively for the PS2, without any input from Mikami, in order to keep Sony from getting upset with them (since Sony's practically a dictator right now).

1286

Nintendo Gaming / Metal Gear Solid for GameCube

« on: February 27, 2003, 02:01:22 AM »

Here's a link to Cube Europe saying they got confirmation on it from Nintendo of Europe.

http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=3758

1287

TalkBack / Analysts Recommend Nintendo Turn Third-Party

« on: February 25, 2003, 08:54:39 PM »

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Is Nintendo REALLY more profitable on the Gamecube than Sony is on the PS2? Because if it's true, shown with evidence, I'll drop my case entirely.

It's a safe bet that Rick's (most recent) info source would be the 600 page report mentioned in the other thread. But, considering our latest push to follow proper copyright laws, and that you apparently have to buy the report for $3000, I wouldn't hold your breath for Rick giving us any nice scans it. Or even precise numbers, for that matter.

Are there any particularly interesting numbers (or approximates) you can toss out, Rick?

1288

Nintendo Gaming / Question about Gameboy Player...

« on: February 25, 2003, 06:06:50 PM »

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With the GBA Player, can you link it up with other GBA's? (like 2-4 player co-op stuff).

Yes. The Player turns your GameCube into a fully-functional GameBoy Advance. It has a link port. It can use the e-reader. All that stuff. Although there are a few things that obviously won't work right. Like games like Kirby Tilt and Tumble might be a bit difficult to play. And games with built-in rumble might suffer too. But basically it just makes your GameCube and TV into an overweight GameBoy Advance.

Quote
And, will the GBA player be able to do anything that the regular GBA, or GBA SP can't do, like since its connected to the GC, will it be able to go online with a modem adapter, and the regular GBA and SP not?

Nintendo might be able to work out some sort of alternate GBA/GCN connection for people who don't have the link cable, but they most likey won't give it extra features that make the GBA look bad.

Quote
(and shouldn't this be in the Gameboy Advance area?)

The Player is a cross-breed. An outcast. It has no home in either world, so it sleeps under bridges.

[abysmal]

1289

Nintendo Gaming / Castlevania

« on: February 25, 2003, 05:50:30 PM »

I think we're all just upset with Konami's current attitudes. These are financial decisions to Konami, but they're games to us.

And it's even more personal than that. If you look at Konami's message boards, half the posts are from GameCube fans complaining about getting no respect. The usual response is "If you were a real gamer, you'd have a PS2." But can you see Konami making some GameCube games, and saying to the PS2 owners "If you were real gamers, you'd have GameCubes"? Hell no.

The problem is that Konami's GameCube support has been downright abysmal. Yeah sure, they don't have to give the GameCube a bunch of exclusive blockbusters, but when they don't give us anything, they're saying that they think GameCube owners are worthless. It's hard not to take that personally, and get a little bit upset with them. They treated even the N64 better, and it's pretty easy to see how they could make more money on the Cube.

Now then, there are rumors that Konami is going to start making more ports, and so their GameCube support is going to move up to "pathetic" when a bunch of ports get announced at E3, and there's also another rumor that Hideo Kojima is going to be making a GameCube version of his new light-sensitive GBA RPG "Our Sun", and that it'll be a big GameCube-exclusive blockbuster.

But while we're here sitting in our "Wait for E3" modes, hoping Konami will shift up, at least to "pathetic" like the rumors say, Konami announces another big Blockbuster series for the PS2. "Wait for E3? Nah. It's too crowded there. There'd be no room for it in the Konami PS2 booth at E3. We've got too much other PS2 stuff planned."

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Nintendo Gaming / Question about Gameboy Player...

« on: February 25, 2003, 04:59:15 PM »

The GameBoy Player basically turns your GameCube into a GBA. In the future, it might be able to be used to provide an alternative method of GBA/GCN connectivity, but for now, and for games like Metroid Prime and Fusion that have already been made, you still need a GameCube, a GBA, and a link cable.

For your situation, this is probably the best solution:

Get a GameBoy Player.

Play Metroid Fusion on the TV to your hearts content.

Beat Metroid Fusion.

Get your hands on a GameBoy Advance and a link cable.

Put Fusion into the GBA, and Prime into the GameCube.

Spend about 2 seconds worrying that you're not getting the light just perfect to see the menus on the GBA screen perfectly.

Unlock stuff.

Give the GBA back to your friend, or put it back in the closet, or whatever.

Play around with bonus stuff in Prime, or put Fusion back into your Cube and play it more.

1291

Nintendo Gaming / Wind Waker Commercial

« on: February 23, 2003, 10:53:44 PM »

Quote
Also, Famitsu gave it the fourth perfect score (40/40) in the history of the magazine, and it was EGM's Game of the Month in the latest issue, garnering two 10s and a 9.5.

And "GMR", an EB-exclusive magazine made by the guys who make EGM, said that Zelda WW was the 18th most exciting game coming out this year, only behind Halo 2, Doom 3, Soul Calibur 2, Xenosaga, Deus Ex 2, Fable, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Starcraft:Ghost, Unreal 2, Final Fantasy XI, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles, Psychonauts, Final Fantasy X-2, NBA Street Vol 2, and B.C.

And they were wondering how they managed to get flamed after only their first issue...

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Nintendo Gaming / Wind Waker Commercial

« on: February 23, 2003, 10:16:24 PM »

I'm pretty sure I've seen two different versions of the commercial. One with an old guy doing the narraration, and one with Zelda (or whoever the young girl is supposed to be) doing the narraration.

And to the guy who said this thread should be moved to the Zelda Board, you should read the "Let the Mods do their jobs" thread in the Forum Announcements Board.

Oh wait. I'm doing the same thing. Now I'm gonna have to go and read that thread again now too. See what you started!

1293

Nintendo Gaming / Game's that Lost Money?

« on: February 20, 2003, 02:10:07 PM »

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I haven't heard of really any title that hasn't at least pulled its weight.

ET for the Atari 2600?

1294

Nintendo Gaming / Square/EA is gone now.

« on: February 20, 2003, 02:10:49 AM »

I called this one on the same day that the news of the Square/Enix merger hit the net.

They were saying that the Square/Enix merger would help them compete with companies like EA in particular, but I didn't see how that would've been possible if they were still linked to EA.


http://cube.ign.com/articles/386/386607p1.html

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2911168,00.html


It doesn't really make sense to me that Enix of America was dissolved to go join the half-dozen people who make up "Square of America" as they move out of their EA offices.

I mean, Enix was saying they wanted Square's "North American strength", but all Square had was EA (and Eidos before that, and Sony before that). Enix at least had an intact company. All Square has is their name. They could have just changed the sign of Enix of America easily enough. But no, they have to try and move an entire company from Seattle to Los Angeles and accidentally lose 1/4 of their personell to companies like Microsoft (and hopefully NOA) because they like Seattle and don't want to move.


Anyways... I figure this HAS to impact any Square games coming out in America for the next while. PS2 owning RPG fans are probably gonna feel it (if they haven't already *looks at FF11*). Nintendo might be lucky because FF:CC and FFTA are published by Nintendo in Japan. It increases the chances that NOA might publish them in the US. Of course, if NOA doesn't pick them up, we might be screwed too.

[this year]

1295

General Gaming / Total Xbox Losses?

« on: February 19, 2003, 08:12:03 PM »

$350,000,000 a year and climbing.

Here's a link:
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2910097,00.html

As for some speculation, the XBox is supposed to lose about $100 per unit, and last I heard I think they were saying they were up to 8 million units sold worldwide. But console makers are supposed to make about $10 on each game sold, and the XBox game sale ratio is about 5:1, so they might make about $50 a unit on the software.

So that averages them out to losing maybe $50 (American, of course) on each XBox. Meaning $400 million in losses on the XBox so far. But that $350 million figure above was for just this year. Reportedly Microsoft is hiding other money losses inside the XBox's department. The rumor is that they're making big cash payouts to help keep a secret "well known major Japanese developer" (most likely Sega) afloat.

[Dr Synthetic]

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Nintendo Gaming / Rumour: Chrono Trigger 2 & Chrono Break?

« on: February 14, 2003, 07:23:07 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Dr Synthetic
What the rumor is OBVIOUSLY trying to say is that this game would follow the further adventures of Crono, Marle, Lucca and friends rather than starting off with another new batch of characters.

They still have to find Crono's mom and his cat(s).

Quote
Originally posted by: Dr Synthetic
Ogre Battle games *always* debut on Nintendo systems... the only OB games on non-Nintendo systems, as far as I'm aware, are the two on PSX... and those were SNES ports.

Ogre Battle Gaiden for the Neo Geo Pocket.

1297

Nintendo Gaming / Rumour: Chrono Trigger 2 & Chrono Break?

« on: February 14, 2003, 07:14:26 PM »

I think the biggest problem with this rumor is that, while people HAVE to believe that the words "Square" and "Nintendo" without the word "history" can be said in the same sentance these days, everyone still refuses to believe that "Square" "Nintendo" and "good" can be seen together.

I mean, FF:CC? It's a sucky game with Square pimping out the FF name (which they've done before and will do again).

A numbered FF? Perish the thought. The integrity of the numbered line is important. It's what Square is made of. They'd never cheapen it.

Parasite Eve Rebirth? Some of us MIGHT believe that one, but only because PE is a B-class series and/or it's just a remake and/or it's just a port and the PS2 will be getting the same game with better FMV.

Something in the SaGa series? Who cares because it's a C-class series that only went anywhere on the GameBoy because of Square pimping out the FF name.


My opinion? Square is making Nintendo games again. They stand as much chance of being great as any other Square games do. They also have as much chance of Square trying to cash in on previous successes (like borrowing the name of Chrono Trigger) as any other Square games do.

I don't believe every rumor, but I don't think anyone saying "it can't happen" has much weight to their statement either.

I'll just wait and see.



And I'll cling to some fun rumors because I like them. Did you hear that Square's making their own PS2/GBA link cable?

[Marcus Arillius]

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Nintendo Gaming / Is FF12 coming to GameCube? (discussion/debate)

« on: February 11, 2003, 01:35:07 PM »

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Originally posted by: Marcus Arillius

no no no.  vewy vewy wong.  If you are speaking of the U.S releases then I think FF2 was the best game in the whole series.  Its the one that got me hooked.  Now, 4 (psx) and 2 (snes) are the same game in U.S. releases so you can't say one was good and one sucked.

He's most likely referring to the FF2 and 3 that you haven't seen. The originals. Not the FF4 and 6 that were renamed 2 and 3 by Square USA back in the SNES days.

The original FF2 will hit the PSX in a few weeks. You can judge it for yourself shortly.

[EggyToast]

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Nintendo Gaming / online gaming

« on: February 11, 2003, 01:17:47 PM »

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Originally posted by: EggyToast
Ironically, Xbox's push to emphasize the voice capabilities of Live could be a downside, as I know quite a few people who DON'T like to talk to people while playing games, let alone people they're playing against, and it could certainly be a deterent for females.  Girls playing most online games can simply not make a note of their gender, since there's no way to really find out, but online where you need to talk to people?  You KNOW every guy is going to hit on her, regardless of her playing skills.

You're assuming there are any (real) females left in the XBox world.

[ruby_onix]

1300

Nintendo Gaming / Are any Breath of Fire games schedualed for GC

« on: February 11, 2003, 01:09:46 PM »

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Originally posted by: ruby_onix
Now BoF: Dragon Quarter is coming out for the PS2 and the PC apparently.

Whoops. Just re-checked and it's BoF 4 that was just announced to be hitting the PC (in Japan), not BoF: Dragon Quarter.