SilverStar
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Posts posted by SilverStar
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Opera Browser final release is out.
About damn time. *yoinks*
Firmware is also updated to 2.2, FWIW. Be nice if Nintendo started offering new goodies with their firmware updates, instead of just invisible fixes. Or a list of what it might have improved, somewhere..
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http://www.nintendorevolution.ca/04112007/16/nintendo_wii_smokes_ps3_3rd_biggest_week_since_launch
So.. looks like Wii, that 6 month old fad of a system, managed to outsell even the great monster that is the PS3, during easter week, in the UK. By close to 50%.
And I really don't think Sony can blame it on lack of units, this time.
Really, it must hurt to be a realist, in Sony HQ. At least they still have their movies to make money on!
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Super Paper Mario is by far one of the greatest things I've played in a while. While it doesn't match Twilight Princess' sheer awesome factor, it more than makes up for it in a higher quantity of pure fun. I cannot stop laughing at so much of the dialogue and quirks in this game. The ratio of time I spend laughing to not is almost on par with the best episodes of The Office (UK or US).
To whoever said it's nothing that couldn't have been done on the N64 or SNES, bullshit. If it were tried, it wouldn't be half the game it is. The Wiimote is used to point at objects in order to investigate them, get hints and even find hidden things like doors, and it's a completely natural move to switch from normal sideways control to pointing and back. I find myself doing this frequently just for the hell of it, to see if I'm missing anything (much lke the feature flip maneuver itself). Then there are action moments like shaking the Wiimote to get out of being frozen, which is by far more enjoyable than, say, repeatedly pushing a button. Plus, this game looks bloody amazing in context of the artistic style. The colors are extremely vibrant and fluid and there's even some decent texture work put in to the landspaces. And yes, the music is superb (although the stuff in Chapter 1's desert is starting to grate after sitting on for five minutes straight).
Anyone who does not pick this up is missing out.
Problem is, it was originally designed to be for the Gamecube, so any pointer/motion controls in there, were in fact tacked on at a later date, meaning that everything else in the game itself, could quite easily and readily be done on the SNES. The game itself doesn't actually try to do anything particularly amazing, graphics wise.
There's nothing in the graphics, the sound, the AI, or pretty much everything else, that couldn't have been done on the SNES. But, again, this is -not- a bad thing.
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It's kinda funny, just how amazingly high the reviews are for this game. Everything I've seen for it have shown that, honestly, it's nothing that couldn't have been done on the N64.. perhaps even as early as the SNES. Yet it's standing toe to toe with anything Sony and MS are throwing out, as their AAA quality titles.
This makes me happy.
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Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Star Fox, F-Zero, maybe a new Kirby title, Pikmin...I have a feeling all of those will be Wii titles for '08, as well as the yearly Mario Party and Mario Golf/Tennis/Whatever games...
...that's most of their big IPs, so what does '09 have to offer? A revival of Kid Icarus is pretty likely, at this point...Punch-Out, maybe?
I have a feeling that '09 is going to be a bit of a drought for the Wii, myself, as far as first party titles go. Just a weird feeling, I guess. Hopefully though, we'll see a ton of awesome third party stuff out then.
Maybe for '09, we'll see sequels to first-gen Wii titles, from Nintndo? A new Metroid game, outside the Prime saga, maybe Super Paper Mario World, then we have another Zelda game to look forward to..
For some reason, I actually want to see sequels of good games, on Wii. There's no real reason to only have one installment of a major franchise, if they can actually make it good.
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I put my order in through Blockbuster, on thursday. Since their shipments only come in on wednesday or thursday, I'll have to wait until then to get my game.
Damn the game industry for not pre-shipping more of their titles.
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Don't forget.. it's also Easter Monday. a lot of places don't do shit today, because they take it as an excuse to have a 4 day weekend.
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One thing is for sure: Nintendo can't go back to regular controllers and have PS3-like graphics on their next console.
If there's even gonna be one.
Like you say, they'll have to keep innovating to stay in the market. Which worries me.
I wouldn't mind getting a Wii 2 if it's like what we have now but with the powerful graphics.
They don't even need expensive hardware for that; look at what Cube could do for games like Metroid and from what I keep hearing RE4, just to name 2.
Personally I don't see a great future for the game industry. At least not a future I'd want to be part of. As far as I'm concerned this will be the last generation of games I'll play.
Of course at this point such a statement is a bit silly; we'll see what happens in the next 5 years.
Nintendo's next console will be Wii++. It'll have a lot more power, it'll have all the features people expect, and it'll be a refinement to near perfection on the Wii control method. It won't be the ON, but it should easily rival the PS3 on every front, on top of having its own special goodies.
There's not really any major technology revolution coming over the next 10 years, so there's nothing Nintendo will have to really worry about working in. In 15 years, we might have plasma holographics to contend with, which may become a viable alternative to video displays of current, but otherwise that's when we'll see the next major shift in gaming, no matter who it's led by.
Look back on the industry. It's always been about incrementing the existing, and trying something new every 2 generations or so. With a standard gaming generation being ~5 years, we have one more after this one for them to work out all the bugs(As it is, MS is in the lead, because they came late and started early with theirs, improving the Live service to an incredible amount on the 360). Next generation won't be anything really major, but after that we'll see the next big shift. Which, if it doesn't happen before then, should be an all-digital event. No more hard media, no more sold-out titles, and no more inaccurate sales data for software. We'll see everything working purely online, with our consoles acting as a gateway, instead of as a hub, or a unit.
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But if you think about, in a couple years, to match the graphics of the PS3 or 360 will probably be cheaper to achieve. I mean, I bought myself an X800 XL video card maybe a year and a half ago for $150. I just recently purchased a Radeon X1950 Pro for the same price, and it very much more powerful than my previous card.
Then again, this is the gaming console industry where stuff sometimes tends to be somewhat inflated. Like Microsoft seems to think their 120gig Hard Drive costs $180 and claims that "a 120 gig self-powered external PC drive and in that case we are seeing those retail at anywhere from $160 to $200 for comparable laptop sized external hard drives."
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5119&Itemid=2
You bought your X800 at the tail end of when that line was still new, though. Last Feb, I bought an X1600 Pro 512, for barely any. In 8-9 months, I'll be able to get the X1950 AGP for the same price, because the next generation of ATi cards will be out and mainstream.
Video processor generations are ~18 months. It tends to take 2 generations for the common value edition(EG, the X1600) to be as powerful as the flagship of past generations(X1600 is as powerful, or more so, from a raw numbers standpoint, as a 9800 was, when it was new).
The X2600, which will be the core value edition, will probably be in the ~$250 or less range when it launches, and will be as powerful as your X800, plus some extra, very useful features for modern gaming.
The PS3 has somewhere between the X1800/7800 and the X2800/8800 range for video power. 360 has the 2800/8800 class already.
It'll take 3 years for those premium class graphics, to come down in price enough to be affordable. But in 4 1/2 years, around time of the next generation, they would be very much value priced, and still powerful enough to make games not look like crap, in comparison. Plus new tricks, to squeeze extra fireworks out of them.
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Considering Nintendo's global profit for last year was north of 8 Billion dollars, I'd say.. yeah, Nintendo has the money to fund such a project.
Would it have graphics superior to X360 or PS3? Not if you want to pay a reasonable price.
I do, however, think Nintendo is working to pump out some heavy numbers of units, to get the price down even more so they can start issuing more price drops, sooner(Wal-mart in Canada apparently has dropped the price of the Wii by $50CAD).
What I wouldn't mind seeing, as strange and wonderful as it may be, is some sort of.. add-on unit for the system itself, sort of like a larger bay that the Wii can slip into, to extend the functionality of the system by leaps and bounds.. unfortunately, this is just one system that wasn't designed with any useful ports, unless those USB ports are really ultra high bandwidth ports in disguise.
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You have to be living under a rock not to at least see one or two truly great games the 360 has so far. I agree the Wii Sports is a very attractive option for gaming newbies, but I think something like Warioware uses the whole thing so much better and it still is somewhat newbie friendly.
Also, the current generation of games haven't faded completely yet, but they will soon. I really haven't heard of any exciting game releases beyond 2007. Maybe except for a Nippon Ichi game or two for the PS2. Other than that, it's entirely next gen.
The thing with both generations of Sony consoles were that they just had a mob of third parties backing them a year or two into their lifespans. PSX especially so, since the 3rd parties left what they perceived as a parent-complex Nintendo had for 3rd parties in that time (some would argue they still have a bit of that mentality today).
But I don't think it is entirely attributable to only the Wii's early success either. The 360 pretty much snap up more and more token 3rd party Sony exclusives by the day, and Sony is playing a major catch-up to the Xbox Live online service and even that software revamp won't come until around a year from now. I would have thought people crazy if back in 2006, people actually thought Microsoft would be leading Sony around by its nose like this.
Even for being as much a fan of Nintendo as I am, I would have been hard pressed to believe that Nintendo has been able to almost catch up with MS for number of hardware sold(1/2 to 2/3, depending on which numbers you go by), in half the time. I mean.. according to VGCharts, for example, X360 hasn't passed 10 million yet. It would seem that the sales of the 360 have slowed down to the point where they've been hovering in the 9 million range for the past 6 months, almost like they stalled as soon as the other boys entered the playground.
And, frankly, I didn't think Nintendo would be able to hold its own against Sony, yet alone come ahead with amazingly dominating numbers. I hope they at least come in with a heavy second place, with a good 10-20M more units than gamecube had, globally. I also hope that we don't see -all- of Sony's big titles hit this year. Would suck for those who actually did buy it, to have it go the way of the Dreamcast(with the same kind of cult-like loyal following).
On the other hand, it looks like Nintendo is firing all guns, trying to hit the market with -everything- they have, in the first 12-18 months. Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, Metroid.. even other, surprisingly popular franchises are being pulled out of retirement. Will Nintendo have anything left, come spring '09? Or is that when we'll see Nintendo start pumping out original IPs, like they attempted with Pikmin?
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You know, this is interesting.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/charticle-the-first-four-months-249629.php
Judging by that, Dreamcast, Xbox(original), N64 and Gamecube have all outsold the comparable Sony systems, for the generation, in their first 4 months.
And at the same time, the Sony systems were the weakest of the bunch. Yet they still won out, somehow.
N64 was more powerful than PS1. Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox, all more powerful than PS2. And yet, somehow Sony came out on top, both times.
I hope it doesn't come out the same way.. but with Nintendo selling 2-3 times more than Sony, that's more than just a tiny lead they're scraping together.
But, 2 killer apps(even if they're just ports that were originally aimed for Gamecube) in the first 6 months, certainly looks promising. Then more killer apps by the end of the year, before Sony gets their first real killer app.
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I'd agree with ya on the delay, I'm ok with it, it just allows them to make sure the game will be a smash hit. So I can take a delay or two on games. Its just when they keep delaying till it gets canned (Starcraft Ghost) is when I get mad.
On another note, anyone wanting Super Paper Mario? I think I'll go pre-order it just to make sure I get this game.
Planning on picking it up on monday or tuesday.
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Since I'm one of those crazy ones who never played RE4 on GC, paying full price wouldn't be as much of a pain to me. But seeing how it's the same game with a few extra bits tacked on, I'd certainly hope it isn't.
And another.. what was it? Gun Survivor? No thanks. It didn't do so well the first time. And rail shooters, I would imagine, wouldn't be nearly as fun when you're not holding something that looks like an actual gun. Especially when you have an on-screen cursor. You're not aiming, you're pointing. Takes away all the fun.
But, NiGHTS does sound nifty. Air -and- water play, huh? I hope they play on the differences in control response, between the 3 types of air flight(normal, dragon(unaffected by wind) and rocket), and the absolute freedom of underwater. And make it so the weather of the different levels is based on different places around the world, too.
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Damn. Last Nod mission is fucking -hard-.
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More than that, it looks like it'll have -real- online play.. except for the damned friend codes. Even having ladders and ranked play.
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Yeah, the play mechanics they're putting in are really looking fun/innovative. Since the Gamecube Paper Mario (personally I really liked it), looks like they've really tightened the visuals (better anti-aliasing, more vibrant, etc). When I first heard about Paper Mario for the N64, I imagined something much closer to this Wii game than what actually became the original Paper Mario: a platformer, not an RPG. Can't wait for next week!
I wonder when the first mega game, designed from the first line of code, will be for the Wii. So far, the 2 biggeest games, Zelda and Paper Mario, were both originally GC titles but then just ported.
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Is it sad that my favorite tactic in the campaign missions, is to overwhelm, then take over their structures and see how far their tech tree advances?
FYI, Nod's mission at the White House, gives GDI full tech tree access. I had fun by wiping them out using the ion cannon.
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Who gives a fuck about whether a game is innovative or not anyways ? As long as its fun to play.
QFT
Take what works and just try to keep it fun. That's all that sequels are about. And I must say, in recent years games have been getting better by their sequels. Something which movies need to take a hint on.
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Sometimes, taking something that's been proven to work well, slapping a fresh coat of paint on it and putting it in a whole new environment is all that something needs.
At the core, most 3D platformers are just, even still, close clones of Mario64(though, most suffer from far worse camera issues).
But, I have to agree, I would love to see Nintendo come out with a few dozen new IPs, instead of just putting a new spin on classic games. Pikmin was a great example of this.. so, how about another pikmin sequel, then something similar, but completely different? The whole swarm tactic, I'm sure, could be used in a bunch of different games.
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Sony has the biggest conglomeration of developers both first and second party under its wings and although it usually isn't recognized for its games I would say that Sony does have the best first/second party developments houses. Nintendo has the nostalgia factor which will probably always get it more recognition but the developers that work under Sony are all very talented, moreso talented then Nintendo's in my opinion.
If Nintendo were working solely on the nostalgia factor, then they wouldn't be too likely to be the top software house. Even in October '06, before the Wii was even launched, Nintendo was #2 for publishers for the month, in the US. Second to EA.
When you consider, that's Nintnedo, with 2-3 systems that they're releasing for exclusively(Wii, DS, GBA), compared to EA which releases 2-3 games per month, across every system, that shows they're a lot more powerful than simple nostalgia.
And as for the complaint about Zelda just being Zelda with nothing new.. that's the problem with making sequels. Either they deviate far too much from the original formula and get panned as being "Not (series) Enough!", or they stay true to the formula and get ripped on for being "Too much of the same!" It's a series. Do you really want them to make as much of a wild departure as they made, by turning Dinosaur Island into a Star Fox game? Because that's the only real alternative.
The other option there, is to just keep the wildly new ideas, to their own franchises. Dinosaur Island should have been its own series, unrelated to Star Fox.
So, would you rather a sequel be a lot like the previous game, but with some evolutionary/incremental improvements, or take off in a whole new direction and be something completely unlike what you were expecting from the previous titles?
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So, anyone hear anything yet, about VGA cables for Wii? At this point, I'd particularly love them, since I just snagged a nice 19" widescreen LCD for my birthday, and it has DVI-D and VGA inputs.. and I'm now on the DVI, so I'd rather have a nice, progressive scan input to use on my free VGA, instead of using a tuner card..
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At this point, as much as I'd like to see a new channel for March, I dunno if we well.
In unrelated news, EA is coming out with a new rhythm game for Wii called Boogie. I'm somewht intrigued to see how the control scheme works, and how wiimote usage will vary from DDR Wii's usage of it (which, in case people didn't hear, is supposed to use both a DDR pad plugged into the GC port and Wiimote/nunchuk at the same time in at least one of the modes).
I only bothered looking at a single screen shot of Boogie, and in it.. it looked like you don't dance. Rather, you just swing your arms like a wiitard and shake the remotes like maracas or something.
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Final version of the internet channel has been delayed.. Nintendo has about a week to come out with a special channel, if they intend to keep to one a month.
Nintendo Wii
in General Discussion
Posted
I would still like to see it be 2.5D, using 3D models in a 2D environment. And maybe use the remote at some point.. I think it'd make for a very good implementation of the X-ray visor, so you can actually have the X-ray on, while moving, and still look as you need to.
Then again.. much as I do hate games that over-use the pointer function, in a sidescroller to provide fine control of where she's aiming, it could also be useful. Run one way, fire in another, and use a homing beam or something, as one of the weapons, to snake it into places.