Messages

1

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Are Games Getting To Easy?

« on: October 13, 2003, 06:36:20 PM »

it really has been a while since i've been here
i think at times games can appear too easy in retrospect.  for example if a game is short and has minimal replayability, it may seem too easy - it may (may) equate to brief content, no rewards, no longevity.
but short games can be great - i'd play ico again just to relive the atmosphere (yeah, if i had a ps2) - and back in my pc days i clocked myst in 4 days but played it three times again after that.
before i get flamed as an old-schooler,
i think perhaps people need to check their expectations of a game - what they expect to get out of it, whether there is just too much hype surrounding a certain game's technical development.
i'm reminded of miyomoto's (can't speeell) words on gta3 - it doesn't have the best graphics, it doesn't have the best gameplay, but it gives gamers an excellence sense of freedom (not his exact words, but you get the drift)
i think perhaps freedom is something more and more gamers are looking for instead of on the rails gameplay and/or plots/narration development.
that being said, just because a game is long doesn't mean it's hard or necessarily good.
gar - i think i lost myself in there somewhere.

2

Nintendo Gaming / p.n.03 and further whinging about australia! (you know you can rely on me for that ;)

« on: September 04, 2003, 01:40:29 AM »

got my copy of p.n.03 (on launch day - shouts to the big efforts of steve at the crypt in footscray - anyone in melbourne wants a copy, he's still got 5 or so left) and gotta say, i really like it.
first off i'll say that sure, i can understand why people didn't like it, their reasons etc, but these things make the game different.  if the controls were standard, it'd be the same as every other generic 3d shooter/hack'n'slash.  i like the dodge moves and the way you can't move and shoot at the same time.  reading a few article on it, a few writers have said they liked the way it becomes a game of timing your combination of moves and being familiar with room layouts, so the repeating of environments doesn't bother me much either.
but that's cool, you did sort of have to hunt around a bit to get an idea of what the game was going to be like since most of the articles just showed screens and said 'it's gonna be real good!' - arg.
and now to the whinging -
the official australian nintendo website hasn't been updated since July this year.  There are also no contact details anywhere on the site for feedback, only the phone-number for orders such as component cables etc.  we have absolutely no reliable release dates for up and coming games.
edit - sorry, they do update it regularly, but it's all gba and general news like 'thq ships insert game here to australia' etc.  great.
just letting you know all the numerous great things nintendo of australia are doing for us down here.  

3

Nintendo Gaming / an arena/editor based FPS would be good for the N5

« on: September 01, 2003, 06:26:41 AM »

so i've gone on long enough about my PC days, but basically i'm saying TS2 was great, but the story mode for me was almost useless.  sure it was fun, but ultimately the reason i have it is for multiplayer, and i love making maps but the editor is so so limited!  there are enough story modes in other FPS games available, i'm sure they'll always be around.
it would be cool if nintendo made their own FPS that basically consisted of deathmatch maps (ie, arena mode for single player) and put all of the rest of the effort into cool bots and a more powerful editor.
sure i could just get back on my PC (pIII 550 and a matrox g550 - yairight) but i like the idea of LANed consoles all being on an equal playing field, no hardware advantages for anyone, and the appeal of setting up a console LAN being far simpler and faster than a PC one.
gar, so i suppose the game would have to support LAN too - i think i'm asking too much!
the editor of-course can't be as powerful (or can it?) as the 3DSmax type editors used to create maps for PC FPS', but perhaps some more complicated tiles or outdoor environments with simple wireframe point altering to add vertical variation would be cool.
is it as hard to pull off as it sounds?

4

General Chat / RE:Disturbing Movies

« on: August 31, 2003, 08:45:23 AM »

at the moment i'm reading the neuromancer series again for the fifth time (up to mona lisa overdrive) - william gibson.
eventually when i stop spending so much on games i'll buy the virtual light series.
i'd read them both heaps but never owned them, so now's the time i guess.

5

General Chat / nintendo chans in mirc...

« on: August 31, 2003, 08:34:47 AM »

where on earth are some good channels that actually discuss nintendo stuff... or actually say anything at all?
paic - i dropped into your pgc chan heh, you weren't kidding.
where is the apparent official pgc chan?  what server?

6

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Why Nintendo?

« on: August 31, 2003, 08:25:57 AM »

sure i'll be getting all of those games, if they ever come out in australia.
one adavantage (sort-of) i suppose is that release dates get spread out - easier to manage financially.
(not in australia bill!  but i am going to get them as soon as they come out.  i think the second one is due in a couple of weeks.  i have the entire series on divx but am faithfully purchasing now that it's out in region 4.)

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Gamecube and Game advertising in the darnedest places.

« on: August 31, 2003, 07:50:03 AM »

about the only places the gc logo is seen in my city are magazine ads for either third-party cross-console games or gba ads.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Why Nintendo?

« on: August 31, 2003, 07:25:15 AM »

gotta say bill, your avatar rocks - just got my 1st dvd box and t-shirt!  though the t-shirt only has arm-slaves on it.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:nintendo's appalling support in australia

« on: August 29, 2003, 07:35:11 PM »

i got my copy of pn03 launch day, but only because we fought for it - the supplier we got it from is actually in brisbane - how's that!
apparently one of the guys from the club went to a big place in highpoint (for all the melbournians) and told them he had his copy (the first one we got) - asked them why they didn't have it yet.
they said 'what?  um... it's out?'
then proceeded to run around like mad trying to find info on it.
yeah it does seem to come down to suppliers - so what's the solution?
i might jump on a few other boards and see if i can find other cubists in australia - action really needs to be taken.

10

Nintendo Gaming / RE:nintendo's appalling support in australia

« on: August 28, 2003, 06:49:32 PM »

update.
finally got our shipment of pn03 from another distributor, so we'll all be playing it today, which leaves me with the question, who makes decisions about distribution - the publisher or nintendo?  or is it the orders that third-party distribution companies put in down here?

11

Nintendo Gaming / RE:nintendo's appalling support in australia

« on: August 27, 2003, 08:25:41 AM »

AiAi - where abouts in melbourne are you from?  are you familiar with footscray?
email me at anakha@opendiary.com if you're interested in the sunday meet.  if all goes well, i think this sunday is going to be a smash bros comp, though i think the draw is decided already - still, we have 2 tvs so one will be running other stuff, probably pso but i do try to play other games

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:nintendo's appalling support in australia

« on: August 26, 2003, 07:30:08 PM »

sorry PIAC, i'm in melbourne, but that doesn't mean that YOU TOO could start your VERY OWN CLUB today!
arg - yeah, but i know how difficult that can be.  it's hard to find cubists in this country - the store is actually a comic shop that stocks games as-well, we kind of just tried it out one week, the owner told everyone who came in to buy various gc and other stuff to all turn-up on sunday and we all did.
this kind of thing really needs to start happening here, even to the point of maybe when we have enough established groups, starting a nintendo con of our own - even if it's small and even if we do it once, it might just have enough possitive effect on the market in our country.  i know a con would be expensive, but perhaps it could start off as just a small meet interstate - pick wherever there are the most cubists, could even be brissy, and sure, i'll fly or drive up there, because for the price it'll be worth it.
arg - but that's a long way off.  doing a con would involve talking to nintendo (probably 'of australia' - arg) and getting them on-side, and that might be goddamn difficult.
i just don't want to see the cube die in australia, and i think it really is up to us as gamers to affect this.

13

Nintendo Gaming / RE:F-Zero

« on: August 26, 2003, 07:22:35 PM »

i know, but that's aus$100, plus another aus$80 for the freeloader - especailly when pn03 is supposed to be out this week, plus soul calibur in a few weeks time.  i would prefer to support the local nintendo market here, but at this rate yeah, i probably will need to start importing - no choice.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Should Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles really use GBA connectivity??

« on: August 26, 2003, 06:42:24 PM »

it's a great idea, and i'm going to get an SP specifically just for ff: cc - so i have a totally opposite attitude.
the implementation is awesome - an idea the dreamcast started a long time ago - so yeah, i don't currently have a GBA at the moment, but will at the launch of ff: cc!  that will probably start me off buying a whole bunch of GBA games - all in all i'm quite happy with the whole thing.

15

Nintendo Gaming / RE:did nintendo listen to gamers when designing the cube, will they listen for the N5?

« on: August 26, 2003, 06:34:39 PM »

i suppose this is always going to be a risk with 'stars' as such dropping entries on forums - they don't necessariily need to respond, just read - but then how do we know they are listening - gar - i know just about none of them have the time to start their own threads, but it would be good if they did.
arg - there's no easy solution - one danger of posting too much as a developer is that when the product is delivered, it's wildly different from what was discussed in one forum, but in many or most of the others, something else was prioritised.
i'm aware that not everyone can be made happy, but there seem to be a few things that always crop up in forums, magazines etc that were bad ideas for everyone, perhaps these could have been avoided if gamers were asked.
who knows.
and eternal darkness rocked, if anything i thought it was a little on the easy side - still loved it though, totally immersive, which arguably is the most important aspect for a game.

16

TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop in Australia

« on: August 26, 2003, 06:24:41 PM »

PSO has to be one of the strangest games in australia - it appears, disappears all the time - and the nintendo aus site still says it hasn't been released.
are all these stores getting their shipments from suppliers that ship to the uk?  because you know we get uk releases anyway.
at the moment, pulsar on bourke st, melbourne, has about eight copies on shelf, don't know how many in store, but that was monday - they could have sold out by now.

17

Nintendo Gaming / RE:How old are you and how long have you had gamecube?

« on: August 26, 2003, 06:08:15 PM »

i'm 21, had my cube since september 2002.
best games would have to be eternal darkness, ts2, pso I/II, mario party, smb 1, zelda ww.
i WOULD get pn03 but it seems nintendo don't want australia to have it, if my store gets it i'll be snapping it up - also already reserved sc II, ff: cc
looking forward to f-zero, viewtiful joe, killer 7, mgs:twin snakes, custom robo, animal crossing, mario kart, kirby's air ride (for LAN - come-on, it's what it's all about) res evil 4, heh, plenty of capcom in there.

18

Nintendo Gaming / RE:F-Zero

« on: August 26, 2003, 05:55:44 PM »

well i hope you're all enjoying it, australia won't be seeing it until 'october' (no date) though the release schedule means less than nothing.
sorry - i'm really pissed at nintendo at the moment for our release dates - that's assuming we get games at all, and that we get more than one shipment.

19

Nintendo Gaming / nintendo's appalling support in australia

« on: August 26, 2003, 05:46:24 PM »

aside from having perhaps the lamest and shortest marketting and advertising for the cube at launch and after, we in australia are just being left behind.
several headline third-party titles have been discontinued - super monkey ball 2, skies of arcadia, burnout 2, robotech battlecry, pso I/II (though stock of this seems to turn-up at random in different stores around the nation...) just to name a few.
but now we come to product number 3.
every sunday we have a cube meet at a store, play games, talk etc - probably something that's quite rare in australia - in any case, the store ordered 20 copies of pn03.
our supplier received 5 copies.
we received one.
...
now i'm angry.
so our one copy is going to the guy who is the keenest to get it and ordered it first, but we have 14 other orders to fill, plus five spare copies which for sure will walk out the door.
why did this happen?
-
we understand that australia isn't the biggest market, but for god's sake, this is rediculous.  nintendo announce they're going to spend a zillion dollars on advertising in this country, then they send us a handful of copies of the most anticipated game at the moment.
sound's like a plan guys, yeah, maybe that will DETER anyone who was going to jump to the cube - finally some awesome games coming out on cube... that we'll never play.
oh no, but wait, at least FIVE people will...
-
we are thinking about what we can do to make our cube club official, liaise with nintendo and see what we can get out of them, but at this point i'm very pesemistic.  we have about 15 regulars who turn up each week, but i get the feeling that this kind of thing has to start happening around the nation a lot more before nintendo notice us.
a whole bunch of clubs and meets need to form-up and make some noise, because nintendo just isn't going to help us on their own.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:did nintendo listen to gamers when designing the cube, will they listen for the N5?

« on: August 25, 2003, 08:52:10 PM »

filmmakers run test audience screenings, and also watch forums closely.
sure, game designers and console manufacturers have their own in-house testing, but why should each party act any differently to filmmakers?  perhaps it's budgetary, films with large budgets, x-men/star wars have the means by which to watch anticipation, comments, likes and dislikes, i suppose it's up to the directors etc and how keen they are to see responses - but especially in forums like this one and ign to name a few, they're not exactly backyard projects, these are places where the people who play their games the most are talking about them.
and yeah, it's a lot of text to wade through, but shouldn't ALL staff of just about ALL aspects of the industry - hardware, perhipherals and software - first, second and third party companies, be constantly surfing forums and guaging responses and anticipation?
perhaps this goes on already, this essentially was what i wanted to know how you all feel about it - do you think it happens, should it happen more, can it have a negative effect of hampering designer's creativity - the ability to give gamers something they're not expecting yet make the product successful.
is there a balance?

21

TalkBack / RE:Games Too Complicated? Carmack Agrees.

« on: August 25, 2003, 07:49:17 PM »

there's a time and place for both i think, though i would suggest that perhaps there aren't enough simpler games out there.
and yes - simple does not mean dumb - perhaps just more intuitive.
as much as i enjoy FPS and RPGs a la ts2, ff, and action/sneaks (metal gear solid 1) i enjoy smb just as much.
i'll probably get slammed for this, but i think one game that has achieved this intuitive simplicity would be ico.
no gui, simple controls, but i'd have to say i find it just as emersive as metal gear solid 1 and eternal darkness are, especially the use of language and subtitling.
i've only just gotten access to ico recently, a mate of mine bought it ex-rental from a video store, and i've got to say that it's my kind of game.  i'm not saying that all games should go down this path - albeit probably none will because ico was terribly unpopular, but i'd definately like to see more games like it to compliment the huge range of complicated cames out there.
arg - but i'm a myst fan from way back, so i'm probably just a bit strange

22

Nintendo Gaming / RE:where is lan?

« on: August 20, 2003, 09:32:24 AM »

yep, you'll need a BB adapter for each cube, a copy of the game for each cube, a display device for each of them (handy if your mate's got two tvs... bummer if they don't) and a cat5 crossover cable.
i've only ever heard double dash talked about in respects to linking two cubes, not fully LAN supportable, but someone here might be able to tell you otherwise.  if it does support full LAN then someone will need a hub/router.
but that's a lot of expenditure if you don't already have it, especially the nintendo BB adapter - and just for one game?  is it worth it?

23

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Nintendo puts 10 million $ to advertising in Australia

« on: August 20, 2003, 09:24:50 AM »

i think many companies underestimate out market.
we are one of the most multicultured places in the world, and consumers here really need to be convinced of something to buy it.  suffice to say that generally (generally) even if marketing is high but the product is bad, we just won't buy it.  we're already considered by a few companies here and there as a good testing ground for the global market... but for all i know that could be for sports shoes - gar - the console market does change quite a bit per region... but it sounds good anyway!  and nintendo should give us more stuff!
because... and... that's all.
(weebl rocks)
the end.

24

General Chat / does anyone know where i can get talisman the board game?

« on: August 20, 2003, 08:13:25 AM »

i've heard plenty of rumours that it's been rereleased and i'm really keen to get it.
yeah yeah, humour an old board gamer ok?
i tried google searching it but of-course, got a lot of fansites and stuf, but i'm looking to import it to australia - or if anyone knows where in australia i can get it, that would be even better.
games workshop ummed and aahed me when i asked them if they could get it for me, so no luck there.

25

TalkBack / RE:Games don't kill people, adrenaline does

« on: August 20, 2003, 07:44:17 AM »

here here!
what we all wanted to say but are too lazy and inartiulate to