Strike911

I'm not saying Sonic 4 will be good or bad, I don't know... ... but changes in physics doesn't necessarily mean the game will be bad. I mean, look at the Smash Bros series. Same 2D style, but it changed drastically from each iteration (though admittedly, the change from Gamecube to Wii was subtle at best, not nearly as pronounced as the transition from N64 to Gamecube). The physics changed each time. I understand Sega has a proven track record, but the gameplay's control is all dependent on the level design. If it works it works, fact is, we just don't know if it will or not. There were subtle changes going from Sonic 1 to Sonic 2, but it worked. Who knows at this point until we play it? It's true that Sonic looks a little more floaty than in older Sonic iterations... does that mean a bad Sonic game? I don't know. It maybe won't feel the same as Sonic 3, or S&K, but then again, its a new Sonic game being outsourced by Sega, who has consistently put out craptacular Sonic games. *shrugs* Could be decent. If I were going to judge the Sonic series before playing Sonic 4, I'd do it by looking at Sega's track record for what an acceptable Sonic release is, not leaked pre-release footage. Games change a lot. It's all pretty up in the air at this point until we play it. Physics and gravity in modern game engines is like a single variable or two, fundamentally, so changing it wouldn't be difficult. That said, at this point in the game's development, physics settings are probably set in stone, since again, the overall level design for modern platformers DEPEND on gravity. Jump distances are all calculated and levels are designed accordingly. Messing around with gravity once levels look constructed is a slippery slope, because you don't know (without A LOT of testing) if the changes break something in the entire game. Gravity changes can be a delay inducing modification to decent sized games that rely on it heavily, again, a Sonic game that needs jumping would, unless they tweak jump acceleration, each spring's power, a lot of things have to be checked... which is also a possibility. Not saying change is impossible, but it's highly unlikely at this point. If people don't like the floaty Sonic feel (or in this case, the look of the feel), then they probably already know they won't like Sonic 4's gameplay. Easy as that. The possibilities of change are just as likely as the possibilities of the game staying the same as it is, since we just don't know what the team working on the game wants to do or accomplish. We don't know if newer market research indicates that people like the floaty feel... it is in New Super Mario Bros after all. It's in a lot of 3D games that go 2D. Maybe it doesn't feel right to the developers without it? ... I have no opinion of this game right now, myself (outside of missing the classic red blurred feet running animation). Yeah, the video footage looked like it had some bugs, but it was pre-release footage. It wasn't meant to be analyzed by hardcore fans this early in the ballgame. It'll have bugs until the game is ready for release. Is the floaty feeling a bug? Don't know. Running animation final? Don't know. Hell, we don't know if the snazzy title screen is final. None of us do. Yeah, the game looks a little different, but maybe that's what a modern Sonic game needs to sell... it's been a really long time since an old school Sonic game was released by Sega, and the market is different. Fact is, all us old school, hardcore Sonic fans are few and far between in the big scheme of things. Most people will buy a Sonic game because they played Sonic as a kid and want modernized neo-nostalgia. They won't be analyzing things like physics, drop speeds, and stuff because the game is being billed as a 2D Sonic in 3D. Will it feel the same? I don't know, probably not exactly. Will it be a good game? Again, I don't know. Let's not judge a book by it's early, leaked, unfinished second and third paragraphs... or snazzy cover. I don't have much hope for Sega's acceptable Sonic releases, so I'm taking a "wait and see" approach for the release. If it ends up being classic goodness I'll get it, but for me, all the previous Sonic history makes me hesitant to lay down any cash on a game that just has such a bad and consistently awful track record WITHOUT first playing a demo, or hearing glowing reviews everywhere. I think putting Sonic back in his 2D roots is a good decision on Sega's part but the game needs a lot more than a perspective change to get me to buy it at this point. I need proof from Sega... ... I still have Sonic Shuffle taste in my mouth, that's why.

This is a super long post, I apologize, but if you have any input it will be greatly appreciated. As a few of you may know, I dabble in very amateur game design in my free time. Mostly side scrolling shooter prototypes and proof-of-concepts, but as of late I've been working on a Turn-Based Fighting prototype that combines the strategy of a tactics game except on much more personal level (away from giant armies or squads). Again, it's more a proof of concept prototype than a real game at this point, but I'm making a lot of progress. On occasion though, I run into speed bumps that, because there are so few games similar to what I'm trying to do, cause me headaches when trying to figure out the rules for the game. I've written down pages of pen and paper rules to each turn, and I've got a decent start, but there are a few areas that need a lot of work, and in all honesty, I don't even know that this type of system would even be fun to play. It's merely a system I think has potential and I want to see if its possible to even develop such a thing. Again, I have a working prototype on my computer that works decently enough (it's basic don't get me wrong, with only a prototype combat mechanic in place) but there are a few little hiccups in my system that could use solving and the only way I've been able to is by analyzing both rules in video game RPGs and pencil paper RPGs. Analyzing how much better professional game developers solved a problem helps me 10 times over, and analyzing gameplay from various RPGs (both video game and pencil/paper) have already helped me on my way. You don't control armies or squads like you would in a turn based tactics-RPG, but you control the methods of an individual's attack and movement in a 1 on 1 scenario, including leaving yourself open to attack, opting for quick attacks, choosing to make risky moves, evading, counters, etc. I've been looking around the internet for various turn-based combat games in this vein to research how they handle their combat system, but I just cannot for the life of me find anything OTHER than 3 titles. Tactics RPGs on the other hand are EVERYWHERE, but are not what I'm looking for. What I've learned is that they focus mainly on movement. Attacking is secondary to that. There's no strategy to actually attacking (unless you include order of attacking). You just attack once your guys are in position. Most of the strategy relies on how you position your army of units (occasionally healing them, or producing more). Army based, squad based tactical RPGs are little too wide in scope for what I'm aiming for. Fire Emblem, FF tactics, and Advance Wars would be included as games that are not what I'm looking for. There are typically no defensive responses in these games that the player can decide on. Valkyria Chronicles, allows defensive attacks, but they're automated if I remember correctly. Also not what I'm looking for. Combat should flow freely between each person. Defensive tactics should be inputted by both individuals fighting. So one person would go into a robust defensive mode when the other is attacking, and vice versa. There must be games out there like this, I just can't find them. So I started this exploration into the vast crevasses of the internet (it got scary), and I can only find 2 or 3 games even remotely similar to a turn based fighter, where micro level decisions are made by the player in regards to how to fight: 1. Hybrid Heaven (Konami, N64) 2. Toribash (Indy, freeware) http://www.toribash.com/ 3. Rose&Camellia (flash game, http://nigoro.jp/game/rosecamellia/rosecamellia.php) Hybrid Heaven is VERY close to my proof of concept. It plays like a regular menu-based RPG except with movement which allows you to choose melee attacks, or move to a strategic melee location. Again, it feels more like a regular old RPG with a movement system, and attacks you can do are limited to melee attacks, largely. What makes it unique is that you can target different limbs and limit your enemy's potential attacks by disabling their good arm/leg/etc. It's as close of a system as I've been able to find that actually mimics the strategy required in a fight. It uses a particularly clunky menu system though, which my prototype is trying to avoid. Still, Hybrid Heaven's mixing of genres is the closet I've come to finding a true, turn based fighter. Toribash is a little out there and is kind of obscure the way fights are handled and play out. It's more of a systematic physics game than a turnbased fighter, or tactical RPG. You pretty much control a ragdoll to smack people in ridiculous ways as you fall. Strategy is involved ( I think ), but not really the strategy I'm aiming for. Still, the game demonstrates the ability to react to enemy attacks dynamically. Toribash is a little TOO in depth in that you control joints and joint movement to a degree far more complex than merely choosing when to punch or kick. And again, fights are... silly at best. Really, Toribash is a joint movement sim where people just move the joints to kill each other, but you can still react in a timed way. Again, not exactly what I'm aiming for, but the timing structure is cool for reference. Rose and Camellia also demonstrates something similar, albeit MUCH simpler. where you can choose to attack. You can always evade, but based on how well you're doing, evasion gets increasingly harder to do. Similarly, on occasion you can react to an enemy attack by an instanced counter option. This ebb and flow of fighting is similar to the system I'm trying to develop, though again, much simpler. Good starting place though. What these games have in common is the ability to react to an enemy's attack. A single attack has ramifications that must be dealt with a turn or two later (position of enemy, status of their arm, etc.). These games (particularly Hybrid Heaven and Rose&Camellia) are very similar to the prototype I've developed. Combat is a little more natural in my system though, and outside the confines of a typical RPG menu system, yet still turn based and strategic. So my question is this... Are there any more games like these? I'm looking for games similar to Hybrid Heaven, where the focus of turn based combat at the level of actually fighting. Again, in most regular turnbased RPGs you just choose your attack (Final Fantasy, Pokemon). Hybrid Heaven is unique in that the fight actually feels like a real fight. There are consequences for choosing to punch. Does a punch leave you open to another attack? I'm looking for games similar to these, and with the massive amounts of flash games that are available, one has to assume SOMEONE has come up with some kind of system that is similar to these. (I hope I've worded this correctly. It's very difficult to explain this without being wordy or just straight up messing up the explanation merely because games in this kind of genre are few and far between. You see instances of it in a few action games, but a real system is rarely utilized, outside of QTEs, which don't really count. EA's FightNight has a system where you can counter, but its at its core a fighting game, and again, its an instance where that one counter mechanism is similar to what I'm trying to do, but still not exactly the execution I'm looking for. There must be a better way...) Anyway, if you can give me some turn-based fighting game names, I would appreciate it. I hope I was clear enough in my explanation. Thank you for reading all the way down here... (and also, sorry for over analyzing simple RPG rule structures and writing about them in an overly wordy "written diarrhea" form, haha.)

If you turn it up, you can hear what Sonic 4's music sounds like, and the see the level names. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177976 Sounds like they're using classic sonic sounding synth collection for the soundtrack. The snare, most of all, reminds me of my childhood.

haha, yes, thank you, Gollgagh.

Honestly though, tiny-text and resolution issues aside, I kind of feel like new games developed for HD look more realistic in SD since all the detail gets obscured by the limitations of the resolution. It gives the appearance of the image having MORE detail than it would on a console developed to utilize 480p. Hideo Kojima said something similar years ago when HD was just a novelty and MGS4 was still in production. Of course Heavy Rain will be playable in SD, but like Zipp said, their is so much detail in the graphics, you just can't fully appreciate all the details unless you view it in HD. The game will stellar regardless of resolution, clearly. I wouldn't trade my HD capability for anything, in fact, playing anything in SD just feels awkward and (I REALLY hate to use this term) "last-gen." I've been spoiled with HD gaming and movies for so long now, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. Playing my Wii just is weird sometimes after watching TV or playing a game in HD because of the loss in quality and sharpness.

Thanks man. I may go ahead and try to add a few more parts here and there... it is abysmally short, you're right... hmm...

These two games never get old for me: 1. StarFox 64 2. Sin and Punishment (Wii/N64 Virtual Console) 3. Einhander Oddly enough, two of those N64 titles with very similar on-rails gameplay. *shrugs* Damn they're all crazy fun!! And I think it's the fact that each level is quick enough to enjoy as "bite sized snacks." I don't have to wade through cutscenes and stuff to play. I just jump in, and we're good! Sidenote: That's why I'm super excited for Sin and Punishment 2... supposed to be out pretty soon and the core gameplay looks fantastic! It looks like it might become one of those fun stand-by games that I can just pop in and have fun with. EDIT: THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! HEY-O! Also it just occurred to me that I posted pretty much the same thing 2.5 years ago in the same freakin' thread.... damn it. >_< Oh how time flies. also: *makes fist* *rotates forearm upward* Jamm Stunna... StarFox solidarity bro. That game is just too much fun.

awesome stuff man. Killer.

Don't get me wrong, I want to own the game (and I will) but I'm just not as enthusiastic about it as I was after playing the demo. Some of these scenes in the demo were really cool, but the walking is clumsy for as cinematic as the game is aiming to be. Moreover, the voice acting doesn't really match up with the facial expressions (non-verbal emotions) of the characters at times, particularly the woman in the first demo stage, which broke the immersion for me at times. The voice acting didn't feel on the button at all times, either. In all these instances, it broke the immersion for me since the game tries so damn hard to looking real. It looks great, but small details really stick out when they don't look natural, and I guess that's just the uncanny valley for you. I see how this game could have a really interesting story-based experience (the story is what this game is about after all) but it just feels like it's missing some of the polish I've become used to AAA games, merely because its trying to be so realistic. Again, every time I had to make my character walk I lost the immersion... I had to try and make the walking look natural on my end by using the controller, which honestly isn't my responsibility as the player. I hate to make film comparisons but the demo almost felt like an indie art film. I enjoyed the demo all in all, but it definitely lacks polish in a few small areas. Still will be a day one purchase for me. Hell, if those are the only flaws then I can deal, since the rest of the experience was stellar. The game offered a lot of intense situations that were really compelling to play through. At the end of the demo, I wanted to know more, which is the mark of an interesting story. EDIT: Maybe my loss of immersion can be solved by playing the game longer lengths. Maybe I'm just not used to the way the game works yet... its definitely not traditional (in a good way: it's a breath of fresh air). I don't want to come across like I didn't enjoy the game, but I noticed (after the fact) that my post was mostly negative words. So no hate, here!

http://www.strike911.net/Strike911-FunkyFresh.mp3 OKAY, let me preface EVERYTHING ELSE by saying this was inspired by a few choice songs from Sonic 1-3S&K, but after the fact the mix took a mind of its own. There was a lot of chatter about Sonic in the general board, and I starting remembering how great the music was, and while this isn't nearly as awesome as the music from those games, it originally started as something trying to emulate the funky style of a few tracks, particularly Mystic Cave, Chrome Gadget, and a Hydrocity. You'll never hear it in the track, but they were my inspirations. Again, the mix ended up as something a little different, and I'm glad for that, but I don't even know what genre to classify it as. Anyhoo, I hope you people dig some funkiness. I don't know that the track even resembles a Sonic track at all now, but... I'm cool with that. Still a WIP, so if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate it. I had a difficult time picking synths for a few parts, so hopefully that doesn't show. >_<

That is awesome. Insta-fave.

Yeah, the guitar is not real... 100% without a doubt (I've been trying to emulate an electronic guitar through VSTs and get that similar sound... the waveforms have the same start every time on each different sound). ... that said, the guitar sounds decent for it not being the real thing, and the mix itself is pretty sweet. I had never heard any of these, so thanks for posting. sidenote... I wish I could make rock tracks. :_(

I saw this a while ago also, and while the tech is certainly cool, its just a stepping stone to see it in a practical device, same with the Ipad. I'm not a fan of the ipad, but if it can ride its hype train long enough then it could very well revolutionize the handheld computer market by making it an accessible non-niche device. Still... its just a stepping stone. SixthSense is cool, but personally, I'm not wearing an ugly ass necklace like that to hold the projector... just won't. Put it on a watch or a some kind of interesting ear piece, OR something not so blatantly gaudy and maybe I'd be willing to bite. I know his version was just a prototype but still... impressive, but not really to a stage where the mainstream would be willing to use it. Same with the ipad and its quality control. That said, I like the fact that its open-source. If it gets a good community behind it (looks like it does already) then real-world applications (and innovations) can start popping up with the tech. Other companies will start integrating this technology into phones and things... it'll naturally progress with our phones because that's what we're used to... right now having a neat little projector with vision detection is cool, but its nothing more than extraneous at this point. Love the phone numbers on the hand though... and the pinching files to your computer and vice versa... and the extra book information. There's a lot of really cool possibilities.

Hell, even if this goes nowhere, we should do a fun and quick Sonic-inspired yet original community album, because this thread has really made me want to make a track in the style of Sonic music...

would be SUPER awesome if this happened... for realsies.

What I always find interesting about news reports like these is that the games they always nitpick often leave all controversial choices up to the player. If Mom and Dad raised little Billy right, then maybe he wouldn't be trying to get secret PG-13 romance scenes, much less tricking his parents into buying him a Mature title.. It's not like the game forces you to do anything controversial if you don't want to. In all cases you have to pursue whatever you want, be it being a racist space bigot or pursuing a relationship. They even ask you blatantly if you want to go through with it. "You want a relationship?" "Good Cop, or Bad Cop?" The game specifically asks you want to do. The story in the game becomes a machination of the player's choices. You can be a Mr. Goody Twoshoes if you really wanted to, and VOILA, you get a salute instead of a love scene. HELL! This is not news, and I'm sick of seeing people overreacting about video games targeted at adults. Yeah, FOX News wants everyone to be married 5 years before they even know what sex is, much less think about it. Ironically, they're the leading network in hiring attractive ditzes to get more viewers. Messed up, no? There are worse things going on in Mass Effect 2 than relationships. All that stuff in the previous post mentions it... racism, genocide, mass murder, choosing to kill for your own agenda, and unlawful/violent interrogation tactics .... oh wait, right, FOXNews might like that last one... yeah and for all the xenophobic themes going on in Mass Effect 2, you'd think FOX would love this game. ... would it help if I made Female Shepherd look like Sarah Palin? She'd get gun (NRA political message, clearly) and she'd get to kill people that look different from her! /rant EDIT : JUST ONCE I'D LOVE TO SEE SOMEONE REPORT ON STUPID PARENTS THAT LET THEIR CHILDREN PLAY MATURE TITLES. HELL, REPORT ABOUT STORES LETTING KIDS BUY THE GAME... the medium isn't what's wrong here. At all. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 2... played through it 3 times.

Yeah, the English translation is pretty bad. I was reading a guy's blog that spoke Japanese and he said that the English translation is bare minimum, and you can tell even if you don't speak Japanese just by how short the text is. Furthermore, the character's personalities are completely devoid of emotion. The Japanese voice acting is highly emotional and personality filled, but that just doesn't come across in the poorly written translation. It's frustrating to think that a better translation could have made an already great game that much greater... I loved every minute of Muramasa. I bought it back when it first came out. Went through and got all the swords and secrets. It was one of the few games as of late that I felt compelled to complete 100%, and that's really rare as of late for me. The art style is great and the music is fantastic. If you don't own it, you should. :]

Uh-oh! Mighty Kong has woken from his slumber! Well class it looks like it's time for a pop quiz... ... but don't worry because apparently I'm grading on a curve.

Yeah, I vaguely remember reading that also back in the day. Still, if they're never going to actually give us real timeline information in the games, I wish they'd just come out and say it officially that each game is a reboot with nods to the old games.

I don't necessarily know that more background information necessarily means the game will be better though. Shadow of the Colossus and Ico did a great job giving us minimal information with a game that actually worked, with plenty of travel and puzzles like Zelda, except the game emphasized solitude and the overall lonesome ambiance rather than dialogue. What makes Zelda frustrating is the fact that they give us A LOT of info in the game through NPCs that is veiled as story information, but in the big scheme of things, all that information did was point us in a direction for the next dungeon... which is okay. Each game hints at previous history... that's okay. It's after playing a franchise for 15-20 years and realizing that a lot of the dialogue and story elements generally lack meaning, that gets frustrating. Nothing really affects anything, outside of each game... which still is minimal. And that in itself is okay, I guess; we're all alive, but the storytelling is just really getting formulaic. All story elements generally occur 4 times in a typical Zelda game. Right at the start of the game, after the first 3 dungeons, before the last boss, and at the end of the game. Every time. I mean, mixing up the storyline isn't hard in comparison to actually hiring programmers to code the game. ... I mean, Twilight Princess, after the first 3 dungeons were complete, and you get into the meat of what's going on, I was on the edge of my seat... "Oh shiii-" you know? Then right after that, it went back into the same old Zelda formula... with the bare minimum of story information being conveyed until you get near the end of the game. Nothing really changes in the Zelda series, honestly. The gameplay has always been great and a few choice characters are interesting, but the story always lags behind. I think the fans get frustrated after finishing a Zelda title since the gameplay and the story doesn't function in tandem, feeding off each other so the player feels as if they're accomplishing something real in the world, rather than mission hunting. I hate to say it, because I'm such a fan, but the stories in each game (with a few choice exceptions) largely feel tacked on to allot for the spaces between dungeons instead of actually having real meaning. I don't want to say that the dialogue is meaningless, but practically speaking, it might as well be. I would love to see Ganon respond to Link's dungeon crawling in the context of the story, rather than just waiting around for Link to show up and kill him at the end... because that's what Zelda's starting to feel like now. Nintendo has been adding new bad guys to take Ganon's place in a few games, but the structure is always the same. Just give me Ganon with some foresight to prepare against Link, rather than waiting around for him. Don't get me wrong, I love the games, but I'm very anxious to see what Nintendo will do on this new title... hearing that they're going to mix it up does make me feel good. So here's hoping. There were some great things accomplished in TP, and OoT in its day was amazing. I want to see a new Zelda wow me the way LttP and OoT did. I know its asking a lot, but that's the price Nintendo pays for setting the bar.

My Wii is quite literally a collecting dust since I just don't bother to mess with it ... (outside of playing Muramasa a couple months ago, and Sin and Punishment 1 a few months before that), but I'm still excited for Other M, the new Zelda, and Sin & Punishment 2. (S&P2 I'm really excited for.) This will be a good year for hardcore Wii owners. I know their ranks are few these days. These rumors about Zelda... could be cool. Don't get me wrong, I loved Twilight Princess, but looking back on it, I'm really getting tired of the same Zelda formula over and over again. I really love the memorable characters though that have started appearing in the recent games... Tetra, Midna, Linebeck, Zelda from Spirit Tracks, and Byrne from Spirit tracks. They were all interesting characters which a lot of older Zelda games just didn't have much of... so I'm expecting a lot from a new Zelda. I think we all are expecting a lot, and rightfully so, because the reality is, the big, flagship console Zelda titles have been steadily becoming more stale to me... I guess it's hard to improve upon each successive game. One trend I'm particularly annoyed by is how the latest Zelda installments start out wonderfully and originally, with a fresh story and style... but they've boiled back down to the old go to X number of Temples formula with minimal story until the end... which honestly, is the same story we've had for 20 years. I love the Zelda series, and with that fondness of the series, I want to see this new Zelda bring something new the to table. If the rumors are true, which they may or may not be, then things will be cool. Still, even if they repackaged LttP and sold it for 50 bucks in a Wii case with a special art book accessory, HELL, I would buy it in a heartbeat.. so maybe I'm a hypocrite. STILL, there is one thing I've become more and more appreciative of from the newer Zeldas... and its the writing. Not for its story, its more or less the same most adventures, but the dialogue is always fun and it seems to be improving in my opinion. Especially with Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass... I don't want to say Zelda is a bastion of writing perfection, but the characterizations of some of these newer characters I find myself really enjoying. So I'm excited about that aspect, since I can quite literally see that trend of more interesting NPCs occurring as newer Zelda games get released. Also, the dungeon designs in Twilight Princess were great... the possibilities of a new Zelda are exciting to think about. I mean, at its core, the Zelda gameplay has been great and steadily improving, its just the small things that Nintendo leaves out that smaller, crappier companies don't that annoys most Zelda fans. Dungeon designs have been great, gameplay has been good as well, but the small details like the mere premise for entering a dungeon is little changed from the late 1980s. A breath of fresh air would be nice, and no, Link's cross bow training doesn't count. teehee. In my opinion, the Yeti House Dungeon from Twilight Princess is a great example of a dungeon that both feels fresh but similar to the old Zelda formula. Needs more Yeti. That's what I say... metaphorically speaking. 2010... I'm happy its here, but I'll be happy to see a new Zelda at the end of it too.

http://www.strike911.net/Sonic%203%20-%20%20Eurobeat%20Boss%20Party.mp3 EDIT: Don't let the URL name fool you, this is from Sonic and Knuckles. Was playing around with some Sonic music and I got this very short little remix going on... I think I've been listening to too much Eurobeat. What do you think? Certainly is a work in progress... more of a framework than anything else, but I'm kind of digging the groove.

Okay, I've seen 2 Sonata Arctica shows in Dallas. They. Are. Incredible. If you are free May 1st, then you better go see them! Seriously. I wish I could go... :_( And its Freakin' powerglove. Seriously. Seriously. Seriously. ... SERIOUSLY.

Go Dallas! Still for the last few years they've been -really- inconsistent, with only a few pockets of good playing. So while I'm quietly rooting for Dallas, I'm concerned their inconsistency will pop back up like usual. That said, last few games have been great.

I love my DS, but there are a few things I would love to have in a DS2. What I REALLY want is the option to download games digitally in addition to whatever physical media the device uses. I don't want to have to carry multiple game carts with me anymore, unless I REALLY want to. I'd prefer to have some kind of memory option to save multiple games on the device all at once because it's just so much more convenient. And it would be really nice if my Wii Virtual console could be transferred over to the new device. The new graphics chip definitely wouldn't have a lack of power to play these kinds of games. Instant buy at that point. If I could play N64 games, like Sin and Punishment and play it on the go, that's all I would want, but I'd be happy for even just being able to play SNES games. I could buy old games that I can't be bothered to play at home (because of all the distractions from modern consoles), and play them on the go. The PSP can run old Playstation 1 games, which is fantastic... The DS2 should have this feature. I know people with homebrew applications can run emulators on the system, but a legitimate option is really appealing to me... and i would instantly pay a lot of money for that alone. That's what I really want, and honestly, I don't think its THAT much to ask for, especially when you consider what Sony has been doing with the Playstation Store and the PSPs interoperability. Then again, this is Nintendo, and they have their own way of doing things that never really makes sense to the rest of us...