SilverStar

So.. anyone notice some framerate issues on VC Paper Mario? Seems to be quite a few points, even in Toad Town, where the framerate slows and the entire game starts to feel like it's running in slow-mo until the camera changes.. or you pick up coins, or something.

Finally able to watch the Nintendo E3 conference. So far, I think they're doing really well. Opening up by showing the cultural phenomenon the systems have become, then showing the figures and breakdowns, and following it up by announcing that there's going to be 100 more games between now and the holidays. And at this point, there's about 8 games on that list that I actually want. Which isn't too bad. Also, the zapper doesn't look too horrible. You just need proper distance to make good use of it.. but the design is garbage, for how you hold it. But, hey.. 20 bucks for the zapper, WITH a game(which they didn't actually announce what it is, so I'm guessing it's Duck Hunt revolution or something).

That's cool. But this could be more important: http://www.nintendorevolution.ca/07182007/22/report_nintendo_wii_loophole_could_allow_homebrew Unsigned code execution through the Wii browser.. Wii homebrew may be coming right around the bend, now. Including emulators, for all those naughty kids who don't want to pay for their VC titles.

That was one of the reasons why I couldn't stand the game.. the other was the pirate ship. I hate trying to do a 3D environment with 80% of the range being completely blind. Particularly when you're trying to go straight up and can't see more than a few "feet" around you. The other part I hated, was trying to do those damn towers, going back and forth, sliding across the wall then having to actually run and then do it again.. pain in the ass. But, I think if you use the nunchuck to handle strafing in a FPS, maybe use the Z or C button to actually trigger the dash/roll move in whichever direction the nunchuck is actually leaning, it could work really well.

I say, forward/back and turning with the stick, strafing by tilting the nunchuck. That way, all your movement is covered in the nunchuck and you still have free aim with the remote. The "doorknob" thing.. not to great, because you'll get RSI really fast from the constant twisting either way, just to rotate, while strafing is something that's more optional/advanced in most games and is often done by either locking on, or using a trigger to disable turning. One could also add a "tilt" function, so you can lean the nunchuck forward to make the character lean forward, while using the remote to aim/look around a corner. As well, if tilting the nunchuck to the left and right were strafing, it would give it an added bonus of being able to readily control rolling. Tilt to the side then flick the nunchuck and you'll roll the way it's tilted. The only real problem, is that in the games I've tried, the nunchuck has a bit too much recoil effect in the accelerometers. If you swing too hard in one direction, it might completely ignore that movement, in favor of being triggered by the recoil and make you go the other way. They need to either fix the sensitivity, or find a way to.. tighten them up, in future models.

Back when the Wii came out, didn't they do power consumption tests, and found that when the Wii is in standby with WiiConnect24 enabled, it used like.. almost 100% of the power it uses when actually being played? I think maybe Nintendo needs to issue a firmware update that is a little more selective over what components are being used when the system is in standby, since it doesn't need to be running EVERYTHING but the GPU at 100% constantly, just to do periodic checks.

Since there's no real point in having it going right now, just turn off the WiiConnect24->standby connection option, and the system will shutdown nice and won't be running hot. Though, granted, it might be an issue in the future, when games like Animal Crossing are active and players actually come to visit your town, when you're not around.

Too bad so few actually decent or good games are coming out on VC that weren't done by Nintendo. Fuck, most of the rest of them have been released on Gametap and a half dozen Best Of.. or Collections titles. Oh well. Not like most 3rd parties actually know what the hell they're doing yet. By this time next year, they should be in their groove. Until then, we have Nintendo and those few parties who actually saw the potential for Wii and have solid experience with it. Hopefully companies like Ubisoft won't put their F-string teams on future developments, and create abortions like.. say, the Splinter Cell series has been, on Nintendo platforms so far. I've spent 40 bucks on the virtual console, buying 1 SNES and 3 N64 games.. and don't regret it. SMW, Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X and now Paper Mario.. all very fine, solid games that have aged quite well. The only one of which that I owned, was Super Mario World, way back in the day. And even with access to emulation and roms(hell, I have roms of all the games I've bought on there so far), I'd still rather play them this way, because it just feels.. well, proper. And paying 5-10 bucks for an actual, quality game isn't a bad deal. August 21 just can't get here fast enough, though.. oh well, at least the local Blockbuster is unloading their GC games cheap. Their remaining New titles(unopened, still in original shrink wrap), are only 15 bucks, and their used ones are anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks. Plenty to keep me occupied until Prime 3.

Yeah, you know.. 500 points, 5 bucks. 1000 points, 10 bucks. 2000 points, 20 bucks. So, a 10 buck point card.

To buy Paper Mario? Go buy a 10 buck point card from a local game store, cash it in, and download it? Was released in NA today.

Well, if you look at what's currently available.. PS2. Or X360. Everything else is future(next few months, out to a year or so).

The problem is, if it couldn't be done with Smash Bros, then why are they going ahead with other fighting games, on 360? Sure, it's tricky, but there's a lot of things that they can trim from throughput to make it a non-issue. But, we'd have to hope they do something about their own damn network responsiveness, first. I still time out when trying to connect to the VC shop, far too often.

As a long-time Nintendo fan(but not a fanboy), I have to say that, more than anything, Sony is looking just like this generation's Nintendo.. only without the profit. They're already releasing an "updated" PS3, not a year out of the gates, and for the most part, their only really interesting games.. are first/second party titles. The difference between them and Nintendo the past 2 generations, is that Nintendo was actually turning a profit, constantly. Sony's taking huge hits for every system sold, because they are trying to force blu-ray. Like I said, though.. PS3 is just a multimedia PC. Built for the multimedia, but with some gaming capability added in. X360 was more built for gaming, and had the multimedia added on to that. And even if every game between PS3 and X360 between now and the end of the year were coming out on both systems.. that would still make X360 a superior choice for a gaming perspective, since it's cheaper for what it would be used for: playing games. And so far, in side-by-side comparisons, the X360 games have been coming out stronger in a lot more areas than the PS3 versions. So, unless you actually have a true 1080p HDMI/HDCP HDTV and have a hard-on for buying all the movies you already own, on another format(and in turn, more money than sense for that reason), 360 is actually the better choice. But, if what you REALLY want is a HD DVD player to watch movies on.. well, that's when PS3 shines. It's a high end BluRay player, with Linux capabilities, and even has the ability to play games as a bonus.. which is actually how Sony has been marketing it since they announced it. They have not once called it a gaming machine or game console(at least, not as far as I recall), and have actually gone on record as saying that's exactly what their system is NOT. So, you could spend $600 for a gaming PC that is supposed to last you for 10 years(and by then, you could build a better one for less, and actually have superior PS2 emulation by then), or spend $400 to get a game machine that has some bonuses and, largely, plays the same games, at the same quality.

Like most people who don't seem to get it, you're comparing a media center PC, to a game console. And don't forget, the "price drop" is only while supplies last. X360 Premium lets you play all the games, no worries. Toss in a Gold membership(which you get the first month free with the system anyway, to see if you actually like it), and the.. oh, what was it? 20 A+ titles coming out in the second half of this year? Compared to a BluRay player that has some game functionality added onto it.

You know.. the more I see about Mario Galaxy now, the more I'm worried.. It almost seems like the 2p co-op is a little more important than it may seem, on the outside. Like you might actually -require- a second player, to do 100% in the game, because of things like freeze-frame attacks on enemies and objects, and collecting the star shot things, as well as firing at triggers.. I hope they don't do that, and instead make it so the 1P game still has that functionality, just with the cursor being moved on screen by the same player. Might be an issue for the buttons, though. And there was word a few months back, that HAMMER was on hold.. Which sucks. I want a good, ol'fashioned smasher, in the vein of Gauntlet, using the wiimote to control where you violently swing your weapon.

Wii.. really isn't as revolutionary for shooters as it was originally expected to be. There's just no reliable way to have PROPER aiming, without having a reticule on the screen to go by, since each setup is completely different.

...Kaz, time for you to be shot out of the volcano and for someone else to come in. Seriously, maybe the reason why people didn't want the 20GB model, is because it was so heavily crippled? You know, not having half the external functionality of the 60GB model. And now to kill off the 60GB model, completely? Oh shit, congratulations to Sega territory!

Except that a lot of companies just aren't bothering with anything this year, unless it's their own private showings. Notice how there's been like.. 20 conferences so far, this year? Even Squenix had their own, instead of showing off at E3. I think they need to go back to the whole centralized thing. Maybe someone should make their own mega center and rent it out the other 360 days of the year and put E3 on during an extended long weekend or something.

Any bets for how long until they bring back the old format of E3, or at least until something similar springs up, for the entire industry again?

You missed by a whole order of magnitude. That should be 2.6 million Wii in North America. But the actual numbers are closer to 3.6 million, now. Out of 3.6 million units, how many went to "serious gamers"? I'd say.. the entire launch shipment, and everything through the holidays.

I think the problem so far, is that it's all we've been hit with. 3rd party shit. Nothing of real quality, anywhere to be seen, yet. At least Sony didn't seem to try to steal anything from Nintendo this time. That's a first.

I'd really like to see some solid, non-minigames coming out for Wii. It was cute at first, showing off how the remote can be used to do -parts- of games. But now, seriously, I'm waiting for some good, quality stuff. Looks like MS did a lot better last night, revealing a block of 20 big games coming out by the end of the year, plus announcing partnership with Disney to have almost all their movies up on the Live Marketplace, for download in high definition. Guess it's time to see what else Sony tries to steal from Nintendo, in their half-assed, overpriced way. Oh.. and since I wasn't able to watch the Nintendo conference myself.. I'm hearing that there was no online mentioned for Smash Bros Brawl. Does this mean they scrapped the online? They mentioned Mario Kart Wii as being online, even Dragon Quest Swords. But nothing about Smash Bros?

PS2's video output also wasn't designed to be limited. Wii was, specifically, designed not to output over 480p. Otherwise we'd at least have a VGA cable out now, from a 3rd party.

I'd say.. probably 1.5 million sold by retailers. Globally. In 8 months. Except that then, the numbers would still be FAR too low, because Nintendo has easily sold over 7 million(being heavily conservative here) of the Wii. So.. double those numbers, for both Sony and Nintendo, and you probably have a lot closer to the truth.

Don't forget, MS does the same thing. With the.. probably close to 2 million returned systems, so far. Also, funny thing about the sales numbers. They're MONTHS out of date. Wii at less than 3 million, PS3 at less than 1.5, and X360 at only 5.8? 360 has hit official numbers of around 10 million already. You'd think they would try to get the official numbers before trying to post that.