Messages

3251

TalkBack / RE:Namco Ships Pac'N Roll

« on: August 24, 2005, 07:37:36 AM »

Yeah, I'm interested in both this and Pac Pix, but it seems kind of like Namco's stretching the series too thin...I mean, I'm not a huge Pac-man fan in the first place, and although I'd like both of these games, I'll be lucky to get one.  If they'd found a way to combine them into one game, I'd have made it a definite purchase...assuming Pac n' Roll is an above-average game.

3252

Nintendo Gaming / RE:More Revolution details soon?

« on: August 24, 2005, 06:18:41 AM »

Moving to a new time slot is usually bad for a show instead of good, at least in my opinion.  See Family Guy, Titus...basically every comedy Fox debuted on Sunday and then moved to a different night (except maybe Bernie Mac).  Seinfeld gained from moving to Thursday nights because people were already watching NBC on Thursday nights.  As far as I can tell, Sunday is already Fox's biggest night...it's definitely the biggest night for comedies.  

Oh well, that's off-topic anyway.

An MTV launch may tick off hardcore gamers, but I ask you: what dedicated Nintendo fan is going to change his mind about buying a Revolution because it debuted on MTV?  If Nintendo gives us good sequels to certain games, that's all it will take to sell practically every person here on Revolution.  Having said that, a "real" debut followed shortly by an MTV debut would be an equally good or better idea.  I also agree that Nintendo could screw it up and look out of touch, but I think all you need is Reggie and a focus on the T and M rated games to look in touch.

3253

Nintendo Gaming / RE: More Revolution details soon?

« on: August 23, 2005, 08:45:39 AM »

I'm guessing Nintendo will not announce anything at PAX, but maybe it's bigger than I think.

I hate to say this, but what Nintendo needs is a launch on MTV.  Show more games and more interesting stuff than the XBox 360 MTV launch, but otherwise, yeah, go for it.  Whore some celebrities with no clue, talk about polygons and other stupid crap, but mostly, show off what makes the system unique.  The point is to reach the casual crowd...while still delivering the goods that the hardcore crowd has been watiing for.

Of course the most likely scenario is that Nintendo will go to some already large gaming event, or will announce a big press conference, and then show us what's going on.  That personally suits my tastes way more than a cheesy MTV launch, but I  think that Microsoft had the right idea and the wrong execution.

Edit: summarized thoughts.

3254

Nintendo Gaming / RE: SSX4 featuring Mario, Luigi and Peach!

« on: August 23, 2005, 07:41:30 AM »

Oh man, just when I was thinking of getting SSX3 cheap.

I continue to agree that Mario's being overused, but since I'm already a fan of this series, this is one cameo that might convince me to buy the game.

3255

TalkBack / RE: Peter Molyneux Comments on Revolution

« on: August 22, 2005, 08:22:28 AM »

This is a nice comment to hear, but a lot of developers were really high on GameCube when it was coming out and while I love my Cube very much, those nice comments from developers didn't translate into actual games...that's what I really want.

3256

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Sigma Star Saga (and Shantae Advance) Hype Thread

« on: August 22, 2005, 07:51:22 AM »

Well, I didn't wait for reviews after all.  I picked up Sigma Star Saga last week, thinking it might be hard to find soon, and it's definitely cool.

Bad: I'm not happy with the story so far.  In particular, the characters are not very likeable.  They all have too much attitude, and the main character's reactions often seem out of character.  One minute he hates someone, the next minute he has the hots for her.  Still, the plot offers some intrigue, so it's not all bad.

Good: The gameplay is fun and unique.  The land sections remind me a lot of Secret of Mana, not quite as sharp as Zelda, but still good.  The shooter sections are what really spices things up.  I was disappointed in the controls in the first shooter section of the game, they seemed pretty sluggish, but the current ships I'm using seem better and this being an RPG, I bet/hope that the ships will become even faster as I earn experience.

3257

TalkBack / RE:Game Boy Micro Australian Details

« on: August 19, 2005, 10:45:52 AM »

Is Rose Lappin Perrin Kaplan's evil Australian doppleganger?  Or maybe....Perrin Kaplan is the evil one!!

The Micro should be priced about the same as the SP everywhere, as far as I'm concerned.  It's just not a good deal.  Maybe Nintendo's plan is to see how things work out when it overprices something and tries to market it as "chic".  It's not like they stand to lose too much on the Micro.

3258

Nintendo Gaming / RE: What on Gods earth is this maddness?

« on: August 19, 2005, 07:58:35 AM »

Ian's right about Nintendo marketing this to the wrong group.  If traditional gamers are interested, they'll see other commercials and pick the game up.

Maybe the problem is that Nintendo of America is at odds with the Non-gamer plans of NCL?  I think the marketing GENIUSES at NOA have a pre-made excuse if this game fails, though: it's just not geared toward the North American market.  If Super Mario Bros came out and sold 2 million in Japan and then did terribly in North America, then Nintendo might finally get the message about the marketing.

Cutesy is better than this, at least that was honest.  What Nintendo really ought to try is plain.  Show us cute puppies!  Maybe show us real life cute puppies sniffing at DS's with puppies on them.  The game is about cute puppies!

3259

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Official GCN Sales Thread

« on: August 19, 2005, 07:36:28 AM »

I think Nintendo still gave Capcom a lot of free Marketing, NP covered the game very favourably, and that's the main pipeline for free Nintendo marketing.  Even so, I'd say probably choice (a) was the worst, with (b) very close behind.  I don't think (c) had a big effect at all, it's not like they delayed it to a time when there were any major GameCube releases to compete with - don't know about the PS2, though.

3260

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Something important to know about the Revolution

« on: August 19, 2005, 07:28:09 AM »

Oh man, Matt had to go and discredit his own screenshot before I could form my master theory:
The Nintendo Excorcism will allow us to possess our TV sets and thus truly experience the game...in HDTV widescreen!! You'll feel 16:9 times as fat as usual, but everyone watching you play will be happy to get the true HDTV "experience" and the system even comes with Nintendo branded barf-bags in case your Nintendo Excorsism goes haywire and starts spinning around and puking while you play.

3261

Nintendo Gaming / RE: UbiSoft announce Nintendo Revolution support

« on: August 19, 2005, 07:08:02 AM »

If Capcom really hasn't seen the interface and Sega has (I haven't actually heard about Capcom not seeing it until now, and Naka's comments tell us nothing) I would guess it's because Sega showed more interest, or Nintendo wants to partner up with Sega more than Capcom.

I think it's very possible Sega is more interested than Capcom, because Sega was very big into innovation and risk-taking during the Dreamcast era, and even now it's still doing a bit of that with games like Feel the Magic.  Capcom, on the other hand, has always been about developing a new franchise and then milking it like there's no tomorrow.   Viewtiful Joe 2 didn't even sell very well, yet there are two new games being released this year!  Don't get me wrong though, I like both of them.

3262

General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 Price Announced

« on: August 19, 2005, 06:41:21 AM »

This one really bothered me:

Quote
"The PC model is the example, giving gamers the experience they are happy to pay for. Xbox 360 actually beats the PC as there's a common high-quality 3D baseline, so you can only go upwards. I hope Microsoft enjoys the experience from this strategy and truly opens up the model for Xbox 720.  Meaning if I choose to add extra features or enhance features, I can do that.  (Faster hard drives, more texture memory, physics chips etc.) Fingers crossed.

The reason I don't play a lot of PC games is because I don't like upgrading my PC.  I like how console gaming is as simple as plugging it into the TV, plugging it into the wall, popping in a game, and pressing "Power".  I don't want to have to own components x, y and z to play a certain game.  (That's why Nintendo usually takes the smart step of including accessories like the Bongos and the Mic with key games).

It was an interesting read.  It brought up a point a couple of posters here have made: if games are supposed to be developed with non-hard drive owners in mind, the hard drive becomes a glorified memory card.  So this choice will either render the hard drive pointless for creating new gaming experiences or it will force non-hard drive users to buy a ton of memory cards.  Maybe both.  

3263

TalkBack / RE:Madden 06 is a Hot Seller

« on: August 19, 2005, 06:03:39 AM »

If Sega purchased exclusive rights to the NFL (and every other major American football league) yes I would be ticked off.  Not as much as I am with EA, but that's because Sega hasn't been using money to outbid other companies for hot franchises (TimeSplitters, Burnout) and to buy up big chunks of other major gaming companies (Maxis, Ubisoft).  EA is very anti-competitive and spends more time taking control of products that are already popular in the market than adding worthwhile new products to the market.

In spite of that, I agree that there's a bias against EA that isn't totally fair, but that's the price of being on top.  I also agree Madden may be better than ESPN, but I wouldn't know as I don't play football games much.

3264

Nintendo Gaming / RE: More Revolution details soon?

« on: August 18, 2005, 11:07:06 AM »

Sweet.  If IGN knows anything, we should also be encouraged, because Matt made it clear he'd be twice the b*tch he usually is if he didn't like how it was shaping up.

3265

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Now DS Games from Rare

« on: August 18, 2005, 10:41:21 AM »

I'd love to see Perfect Dark ported, I think it could work well on the DS.  The system is great for FPSs.  DK64 could still happen, Rare has been porting the DKC games for Nintendo on the GBA even though they're working for Microsoft, so why not?  However, who really wants to play DK64 again?  I mean, I personally liked it, but even I thought there was too much collecting in there.  Maybe if they tweaked the collecting a bit and made it easier to swap characters.

But what I'd really like are NEW games!  Rare is one of those developers that I believe cuold come up with some really outstanding ideas for the DS's extra features.

3266

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was Hunters Delayed?

« on: August 18, 2005, 10:30:07 AM »

I'm in favour of delaying it for online.  My bet is the game wasn't going to make it's August release, and then Nintendo started to realize how it would look if the game was launched alongside Mario Kart and Animal Crossing - without online.  Personally, I don't know anyone that owns a DS, so without online or a serious single player mode, this game isn't going to cut it for me.

As with Twighlight Princess, I'm glad to see that Nintendo has started delaying products in the name of quality again.  I agree the system needs new games badly, but it needs games badly right now, not in October.  By that time North America will have about 15-20 new games including Mario Kart, Nintendogs, and Castlevania.

[PGC NewsBot]

3267

TalkBack / RE:NDL and Emergent Game Technologies Merge

« on: August 18, 2005, 10:14:01 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: PGC NewsBot
Developers using NDL's Gamebryo can spend their time making Microsoft Windows®, Xbox®, the Xbox 360® platform, PlayStation®2, PLAYSTATION®3 and GameCube® games look great and play well, saving time and money in the process.

My first thought was, "look great and play well?  That's kind of underwhelming.  But on second thought NDL should get some credit for being honest...there's no way quality graphics tools are going to make a game play any better.

I don't know much about either company, but they don't belong to EA yet, so I wish them well.

3268

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

« on: August 18, 2005, 07:29:41 AM »

On the crowded marketplace: I'm sure Nintendo will take care of it, even the NPCs in Super Mario Sunshine had quite a bit to say.

3269

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Official GCN Sales Thread

« on: August 18, 2005, 07:21:34 AM »

I'll agree on the poor job of marketing and sharing info on the game, but frankly I think the weirdness has a lot to do with it.  People like me don't know what to expect so we're not putting the money down.

3270

General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 Price Announced

« on: August 18, 2005, 06:54:27 AM »

Will people pay $500 for a new console in Canada?  I won't say no.  That's only $50 more than the Xbox and PS2 were when they were new, and I'm willing to bet a few retailers were charging $500 or more for the PS2 when it was brand-new.  Not to mention that it comes with a couple of things the Xbox didn't have - a headset and the DVD remote.  Early adopters will still snap it up, but it will be interesting to see if sales remain strong in 2006.

If the Canadian dollar was as weak as it was when the original Xbox came out, we might be paying about $450 and $600 for the systems, and I think that would definitely slow down sales.

3271

General Gaming / RE:Sony may delay PS3

« on: August 18, 2005, 06:34:14 AM »

Well, I meant to emphasize the word "maybe" in my last post.  I know it's unlikely that MS will sell 10 million or more in a year, but even a 6 million system lead should be taken seriously.  It's also about momentum: if the others launch at the end of next year, Microsoft will have more than enough systems to meet demand while the others will be in limited supply, and Microsoft will probably have around 100 games to choose from while the others will have around 20-30.  That's going to make an impression.

I think the difference between Xbox 360 and Dreamcast is that Microsoft has lots of cash.  Sega did not.  I still totally agree that coming out early could kill the Xbox 360, but it's kind of a wild card.

In fact, I think this whole upcoming generation is full of wild cards.  How will Microsoft's early launch change things?  What's the secret behind Nintendo's "revolutionary" interface?  Will PS3 really overpower the other systems by a wide margin, and will it really cost that much more than the other systems?  Exciting times!

3272

Nintendo Gaming / RE: More Revolution details soon?

« on: August 17, 2005, 12:59:15 PM »

ChaNoKin: Nintendo used to have a show like that called Spaceworld, but it hasn't held the Spaceworld event for a couple of years, and it hasn't announced a Spaceworld show for this year either.  I'm guessing it's too late to announce the show at this point unless Nintendo wants to hold it later than usual.

3273

Nintendo Gaming / RE: More Revolution details soon?

« on: August 17, 2005, 10:44:51 AM »

Now I'm getting excited.  I agree that nothing Nintendo does is going to live up to the hype...I just want to learn what it is and see some pretty graphics.

3274

General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 Price Announced

« on: August 17, 2005, 10:37:40 AM »

Those sound like pretty good predictions BlackNMild, though I'd add that if the PS3 is expensive enough, I won't be surprised if MS skips the price drop.

Good point, Ian.  Personally, I don't think selling the hard drive separately will hurt Microsoft that much, but I guess it's hard to say.  Unlike the PS2 hard drive, Xbox owners are already used to having a hard drive, Microsoft is offering the Xbox 360 hard drive right at launch, it sells a console bundle that includes the hard drive, and Microsoft and some third parties have released bonus content using the hard drive in the past.  I think it will be a much hotter item than the PS2 hard drive.

It's still a tough outcome to predict though.  Nobody has ever launched a major console along with an expensive peripheral that might be required to play certain games before.  Some consoles had peripherals you could add, but most of them came out later and were even more expensive than this hard drive.

Edit: I think the NES also came in more than one version.  I think some versions included the Light Gun and, for a short while, R.O.B., while others were more straightforward.

3275

General Gaming / RE: Sony may delay PS3

« on: August 17, 2005, 10:17:05 AM »

I still don't think Sony is going to drop back to 2007, but I guess we'll see.  We've already seen examples of games in development, from E3 to the holiday season, there's almost two years to work with... I can see how the company might not make an early 2006 release, but I say PS3 will be available in Japan and North America by the end of 2006.

And yes, I do think both Nintendo Sony should have been ready to launch almost any time in 2006.  Microsoft has been telling people for over a year that Xbox 360 would launch in 2005, Sony should have taken that seriously.  I know that at this point its too late for Sony to change the launch of PS3 by more than a few months, but it should have been ready.  Maybe it won't matter, I've heard a lot of negative opinions about Xbox 360, but then again, maybe Microsoft will grab up 10 or 20 million users by the time Sony and Nintendo launch next year.