Messages

726

TalkBack / RE: Metroid Pinball DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters Delayed

« on: February 11, 2005, 06:36:45 AM »

I remember, that as well as the cosmic mini game where you used samus's ship to shoot metroids and skree I believe.  Only issue I had with it was that sometimes the tables felt a little limited in what they could do, no doubt the cartridge size had something to do with that, which the DS won't have to deal with.
 

" I don't know why people keep dissing the controls in Mario 64 DS. I found using the thumb strap and touch screen as an analog input far more acurate and controlable then the stick."

I feel the same way, and really I believe it comes down to most people having an analog stick ingrained in their minds for so long they can't see any other way of doing it.  Yeah, I had a few kinks to work out with it also at the beginning of the game, but once I've adjusted to it it's became second nature.
 

727

Nintendo Gaming / RE:psp is online now wheres nintendos plan

« on: February 10, 2005, 05:06:23 PM »

To kind of follow up on what kennyb was saying, there's also something else that needs to potentially be considered here.  Microsoft lost that 2.4 while charging people.  If Nintendo wants their network to be as accessable as possible with little to no fees, chances are unless they come up with some miracle solution, they could stand to bleed even more than 2.4 billion.

728

Nintendo Gaming / RE:psp is online now wheres nintendos plan

« on: February 10, 2005, 05:50:12 AM »

"Games like Warcraft III and Starcraft cost Blizzard money to run but you don't see them complaining."

I guess so, Blizzard is primarily an online centered developer. Those games were made to be online from the ground up, they make QUALITY online games that are customizable and moddable so that the players themselves can make new games within the game, and there's more than enough of a fanbase buying it (more that what you'll ever see on a console, they've existed long before online and console were ever thought about in America) meaning they know that they'll get enough revenue coming in along with ads from various companies to help pay for it.  That and since it's not an MMO, nobodys having to pay for it which guarantees when someone else wants to join in it's as simple as getting the game and whatever updates that might be needed.

"Nor do you see Microsoft complaining about the cost of their online service. Why? Because next gen they're going to give Sony a run for their money."

Once again, it's Microsoft.  Have you forgotten that they probably have well over 4x the money of Nintendo?  Of course they can blow it on Live, they'll just pick up the slack elsewhere.  

729

Nintendo Gaming / RE:preferrend metroid input mode

« on: February 10, 2005, 05:30:26 AM »

That's your problem.  Stop thinking about it like an analog stick, that's not what control S represents.  It's way more akin to mouse-keyboard control.  I dunno, maybe it's because I draw, sketch, and design for a living or something, but there's NO way I'd use the thumbstrap for that game ever.  I feel it restricts your movement too much.   That and you can't beat the precision.

730

TalkBack / RE:Two Handheld Rayman Titles Shipping In March

« on: February 09, 2005, 06:02:06 PM »

Not unless they let you play the game with the control pad, in which case wouldn't even make much of a difference to me anyway given how the game controlled anyway.

But now, why are we blaming Nintendo for this game?  Who didn't know this was a port long time ago?  They were probably going to do this even if SM64DS wasn't announced, and why not?  It gives Ubisoft a good chance to see where they can do with the DS technically, it won't be as expensive as a full on endeavor, and it will probably sell good enough for them to justify making a new Rayman on the system.  Besides, like SM64DS, I haven't played it in a while and I wanna see it again.

731

Nintendo Gaming / RE:psp is online now wheres nintendos plan

« on: February 09, 2005, 04:41:07 PM »

That's kind of interesting, considering that I see them around here all the time on the shelves.

[we've had it for years in a much better form than all the console fanboys are wetting their pants over...]

732

Nintendo Gaming / RE:psp is online now wheres nintendos plan

« on: February 09, 2005, 09:55:54 AM »

"Metroid Prime 2 however has multiplayer and it didn't hurt the single player game at all. Some devs can do it some can't."

Yeah, but that game's multiplayer was an afterthought and the amount of time devoted to it could've been sent to the real reason we played that game to begin with, the main adventure itself.  

When are people gonna realize Nintendo is a GAME COMPANY.  A GAME COMPANY!  They are not Sony where they have an electronics division.  They are not Microsoft who has the funds from their OS and wherever else right now to get money.  Both of those companies are conglomerates with more assets than Nintendo probably ever had in the lifespan of the entire company.  Yeah, Sony and Microsoft can throw money into online and lose some here and there, yeah some shareholders might not be too happy about it, but who cares?  As long as something major doesn't go wrong anywhere else in the company they won't have much to worry about.  

"People say "nintendo needs online for the DS" but don't seem to realize that online entails more than importing a netcode library and throwing a few packets at it. Online requires a server network that can handle the load. Those are EXPENSIVE. If DS online bombed Nintendo would be stuck with a set of costy servers eating money with very little return."

Precisely, and once again yeah Nintendo is  a game company, rich or no.  Right now console online gaming is still the endeavor of a minority of the gaming populace.  Didn't we just hear not that long ago that X-Box live just broke a million?  A million out of how many total owners?  12mil? 13mil?  Once again, Microsoft can afford the blow of $2.4+ billion on it.  Now if Nintendo were to do something similar (which btw is what most devs have gone on the record saying they would want them to do this), get approx the same count of online gamers out of total system owners, and lose the same amount of money off it,  all I'll say is that the doom and gloom arguments you're seeing from the media now would be compliments compared to the armageddon that they'll probably start spewing then.  Now also keep in mind that they want this to be as accessable to as many as possible, probably wanting to either make it extremely low cost or free.  If after that we're still looking at a minority of gamers online, unless they have somekind of miracle solution that will probably screw them up in ways that will affect the rest of the company's operations.  And the last thing I want to see is a compromise in game or hardware development because a few people couldn't live without their online Mario Kart.

"No, no. Online is the past. And it's a very unremarkable past at that. We don't just have it now, we've had it for years in a much better form than all the console fanboys are wetting their pants over..."

So true, and this alone is one of the things I personally don't like about the current online gaming situation on a console.  Most console online games had died for me because after playing the initial multiplayer aspect of them to death, they got boring and there was really nothing else to really mess with.  This might be my PC online gaming experience talking here, but the ability to mod was what kept most titles going long after you got tired of the original multiplayer games.  People being able to make their own games within games.  Tides of Blood in Warcraft 3 is an example of this as well as many other mods that have been done in various other games.  

With that said, Nintendo WILL eventually go online, I don't have a single doubt about that.  All the rumors about Square-Enix and the rumblings at IGN (yeah, I know...) all hint at it.  Not to mention the fact they put 802.11b WiFi hardware and a jack for a headset on the system.  I seriously doubt that they'll neglect it considering that everybody had to pay for that hardware, unlike with the GC modem and broadband adapters.  

733

TalkBack / RE:Capcom Teases New Compilations

« on: February 04, 2005, 10:32:11 AM »

Yeah, Capcom AT LEAST made Street Fighter Anniversary Collection instead of handing it off to a group that couldn't do the games justice.
 

734

TalkBack / RE:Capcom Teases New Compilations

« on: February 04, 2005, 08:50:06 AM »

Don't let atomic planet port it,  don't let atomic planet port it, don't let atomic planet port it....

735

General Gaming / RE:PS3 Graphics Indistinguishable from Movies!!

« on: February 03, 2005, 11:46:21 AM »

So for them I guess this means mandatory full-scene anti-aliasing on every game, cuz that's the only way I can see them even coming somewhat close to movie quality game graphics.  My big concern here is how many more consolidations are we going to see next gen in order to compensate for the inevitable rise of game production?  How many more companies are going to either get taken over or cave in?  Especially considering that you're supposedly going to have 5 major players out there, 3 with Next-Gen tech, 1 at N64 level, and one that supposedly at current gen level.  

[Mortal Kombat: Deception]

736

TalkBack / RE:AIAS Award Winners

« on: February 03, 2005, 10:55:15 AM »

Fighting Game of the Year
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Mortal Kombat: Deception

So much for the credibility of these awards.  As much as I can't stand Capcom Fighting Evolution, I'd have put that leagues ahead of Mortal Krap- I mean Kombat Deception or any of them for that matter.  SvC Chaos as broke as it was is even better.  Budokai 3 actually had a decent engine this time, and Def Jam in no way is worse than MK anything!  MK hasn't had a passable game since the second and Deception is a joke.  I've seen more people play that game for the chess game than anything else.    

737

TalkBack / RE: Beastie Boys Join NBA Street V3

« on: January 22, 2005, 12:26:10 PM »

I remember Street Vol. 2 did this as well if you turned it on in the options, otherwise you just got the instrumental with no lyrics or commentary.  

738

Nintendo Gaming / RE: oooooh new pics!

« on: January 22, 2005, 10:51:05 AM »

Speaking of new pics, supposedly someone has a scan of the new Nintendo Power cover with a Need For Speed Underground Rivals pic on it.  I don't know if this is completely legitimate, but if it is, wow! Outside of a couple things this looks a lot like the PSP one.  Also, they say that you can draw out your own custom art for the cars as well.    

739

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Soul Calibur DS CONFIRMED!

« on: January 10, 2005, 08:59:40 AM »

I dunno, personally I thought Soul Calibur 1 had the better music.  Had more of an epic feeling to me, more emotion.  Same with the voice acting.  Then again, despite certain character changes, I thought the first one had a better engine as well.  

740

Nintendo Gaming / RE:First Castlevania DS screens and info

« on: January 02, 2005, 04:44:58 PM »

"The GBA obviously matches the PSX in terms of sprites. Though we cannot judge animation."

Not true, PS1 could do sprites with a higher color palette.  Now that I think about it though, PS1 didn't even really do sprites a whole lot except for backgrounds.  Most on screen characters were "emulated" sprites using polygons to try and get around the RAM limitation.  Alucard's shadows were actually done with gouraud shading.

"Even Castlevania DS looks like a first generation SNES"

Wow, you just said SoTN looked first gen SNES....  SoTN did run at 256 x 224 resolution, exactly the same as an SNES and only 32 pixels more vertically than the DS which isn't a whole lot of a difference at all.  However, that doesn't mean jack as far as graphical capability, SoTN proved this.  This new game could easily look better than the PS1 classic, not to mention the fact that it's already world's beyond the GBA CVs.  AoS looked pretty good on the GBA, but you can't deny the fact that this one looks way more detailed. (for pete's sake, IMO...  SOMA FINALLY LOOKS MAIN EVENT)   Plus when you consider that this game won't be held back by the PS1's 2MB RAM, I'm positive that they'll be able to do more here than they ever could've done earlier.  

741

Nintendo Gaming / RE: DS clock question

« on: November 28, 2004, 09:56:27 AM »

24 hour clock, though on the main screen it also has a clock with the hour, minute, and second hands.

742

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Your Impressions of the Nintendo DS Demo

« on: November 17, 2004, 07:05:05 AM »

Yesterday was the first day I was able to take the DS for a spin.  My impressions:

Boot up was minimal, but good enough.  DS logo on top, health warnings on bottom for whatever reason.  Tap the touch screen, off to the main menu.  The menu itself was pretty straightforward, clean, pretty easy to navigate with the exception of finding the small "x" in the top corner of Pictochat, and quite friendly in appearance if not very Mac like. I thought it worked pretty well given the "touching is good" theme they've been promoting.

Pictochat was a lot of fun to try out.  Apparently, each chat room can hold about 6 people at a time and there were about 5 visible rooms from what I've seen.  Hen-pecking with the stylus actually seemed pretty solid, I didn't find myself hitting the wrong letters, and I was able to type and send messages reasonably quick.  However, I think the show stealer here was the pen tool.  While all I can recall being able to do with it was one color drawings, the stylus actually worked well enough to actually pull off some decent cartoon drawings.  I can't say for sure that I'd find myself using it often, but at the same time you'll never know.

The Metroid Prime Hunters demo was in one word, fantastic.  I would say it took me all of 5 minutes to get to know the default control scheme before I was jumping, 180 quick turning and morph balling all around without a hitch.  Shoulder buttons work very well for shooting and IMO is better than L and R on the SP.  The three demo levels were pretty much standard demo fare and did their job accordingly,  however the morph ball part of Regulation was actually quite interesting since you can use the stylus to kinda draw your way through the maze.  Multiplayer was great, it was fast and furious with stages that seem to lend themselves pretty well to decent level strategies.  Not once did the framerate stutter, and there was no lag to be seen.  Setting up multiplayer was quick and foolproof, and the stages loaded up near instantly.  Graphically, the game looks stunning.  Solid framerate without any drops, good textures, great looking effects (especially the explosions and the smoke coming from the barrel of the cannon), very nice sound which seemed to be like something you'd hear from a two speaker virtual surround sound system in miniature form.  For anyone still wondering, IMO this has got to be beyond N64 level tech.

Overall, I give it two thumbs up.  It's a great start and I can't wait to see what they do with the DS later on.

743

TalkBack / RE: NPD Group Releases Study on Online Gaming

« on: August 16, 2004, 06:44:28 PM »

Sounds about right...

744

General Gaming / RE: Sonic Mega Collection Plus for Xbox

« on: August 13, 2004, 05:21:41 AM »

Ok, I stand corrected then.  I remember Sonic Team saying something around the lines of "we'd have to reprogram the entire game if it was to be emulated." They said it had nothing to do with storage space, so I'm guessing that they haven't found a truly efficient way of handling it.

745

General Gaming / RE: Sonic Mega Collection Plus for Xbox

« on: August 12, 2004, 10:24:40 AM »

Whoa, I originally thought it was just Sony that was getting this.  Well, I take it Sega found a way to emulate Sonic CD cuz it appears to be included in this release.

746

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Zelda: Wind Waker was it a let down?

« on: July 23, 2004, 06:04:49 PM »

The ONLY thing WW ever really did wrong for me was the difficulty.  I mean, when Gannon goes down on the FIRST TRY of all things, something's not quite right and it left me a little empty afterwards.  I remember actually applauding a boss when I actually lost 2 hearts off of one of it's attacks. It's kind of sad to me though, because otherwise this would've been the epitome of Zelda IMO.  

747

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Possible to use Gamecube controllers on PS2 at all?

« on: July 17, 2004, 07:06:08 AM »

" Ah well, I'm glad someone likes the Cube controller for fighters- no harm in that."

Personally, for a fighter I'd use it because it manages to hit diagonals way better than a good portion of the controllers out there.  Especially for any continuous motion move like the spinning pile driver.  

748

Nintendo Gaming / RE: "The Trouble With Nintendo"

« on: July 11, 2004, 07:39:17 PM »

I must say, that was perfectly stated.  Couldn't have said it better.

749

Nintendo Gaming / RE: New Zelda Game's Rating

« on: July 11, 2004, 08:20:29 AM »

An M rating, I doubt.  However a T rating is quite plausible given it's look and the atmosphere it may be going for.

750

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Tingle....

« on: July 11, 2004, 02:49:10 AM »

I dunno, it's kinda fun to beat him to force gems in FS and hear him groan to himself in disgust while leaving.  Almost always gets a laugh out of me, especially if I let him just nearly get it.