Messages

1

TalkBack / RE:Wii Component Cables Sell Out

« on: November 16, 2006, 03:32:14 PM »

I believe if Nintendo really want the majority of games to support 480p, they should have included the cables in addition to the a/v cables. Nintendo said that not too many people have HDTV, but there are a lot of folks who have a television that supports 480p.  When I get a Wii, component cables is a must. In my opinion, component cables should have been part of the package. They don't cost that much to manufacture. Its still a wire.  I think not having the component cables as part of the package irritated me more than anything else.  I'm glad people snatch up the cables fast. Maybe Nintendo will consider it in future console packages.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:50-70 hr quest too long?

« on: November 04, 2006, 05:59:12 PM »

If anyone is complaining about the length of the game being too long, well then you are now a general gamer (aka casual). The true hardcore wouldn't care about the length. Anyways, I have problems with games being too long as I have become too busy to play it continously. My GC library is full of incomplete games. The games are fun, but going long spells without playing causes a disconnect and I don't feel like continuing the game.  I suppose I will wait until my life gets a bit less busy and predictable so that I can get the Wii and the game and go through a a few weeks of intensive gaming therapy.  I have already said that I will wait to get a Wii, but damn, Zelda looks good and impressions so far points to good things to come.  I'm getting caught up in Nintendo's hype machine and they haven't even begun to market the thing!  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Component cables confirmed

« on: October 19, 2006, 09:16:25 PM »

I was under the assumption that the component cables were part of the package. Its disappointing that its being sold separately. Its starting to look like my decision to forgo purchase of the system until a later time was a wise idea.  Just include it in the package and make 480p a Wii standard!  With this setup, the Wii really is just a 1.5 GC with a new peripheral as its center piece.

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General Gaming / RE:The Madden Curse Strikes Again!

« on: October 09, 2006, 07:04:42 PM »

I think the problem is that players that wound up on the Madden cover usually do so after having a career year. Alexander had a career year last year and well, when you're at the top of your game, its all down hill. The same happened to Culpepper and whoever else that was involve. Also, Seattle was the super bowl loser and those teams tend to be cursed one way or another for at least a year or two. The rule of thumb is make it to the super bowl and win, cause if you don't, you might as well start rebuilding.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:That $250 price tag again...

« on: September 18, 2006, 07:21:52 PM »

For a system that rely on localized multiplayer family oriented fun, the price of the console package (which contains a game with multiplayer fun) results in a price that is quite high, in my opinion.  You add the second remote without the nunchuck and it reaches the $300 mark with taxes. I find this unacceptable unless the console can seriously dish out some powerful graphics.  Because the price of the remote is in the $40 range, what 3rd party is going to make a game that requires 2 remote.  I think Nintendo knows that they will sell out the system at launch regardless of price. All hardcore gamers will snatch one up on launch day. Parents after seeing the price of a complete XBOX360 and the price of the PS3 will balk and choose the Wii for their kids. You get a sell out regardless. I'm hoping the controllers drop in price after the holidays, but I doubt it.  I'm disappointed in the price. It should be at $200. I think Nintendo is making a serious killing on the margins. Since we haven't seen the full Wii specs and based on rumors that its really an upgraded GC, I think Nintendo can afford to lower the price. Of course launch is a few months away, and they can claim to have a manufacturing break through that will lower the cost of the package to $200 by then. Here's hoping...

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Preorder, midnight sale, or just wait???

« on: September 14, 2006, 07:10:39 PM »

With the disappointing package and price, I'll take a pass on the Wii for about half of a year. I just got the DS and it will keep me occupy for a while. Hopefully there are enough early adopters out there to make it a success without me and that the Wii will still be around six months later.  I'll wait for the official review of Zelda for GC and Wii before actually getting it for the GC or wait 6 months later and play with the Wii. The launch date seems a little late (most promotional events seemed to hint at a late November launch), which puts my purchase around March 07 at the earliest. Again, I'm a bit disappointed with the price and package, but I am excited to try it out in stores or where ever its demoed in the next few weeks.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:What is your opinion of this analysis of Wii and PS3?

« on: August 06, 2006, 03:47:56 PM »

There's too many holes to the argument that it just not worth responding to. In all honesty, the first paragraph is actually very good and I agree with it, except for the Genesis point. At that point, the whole thing went down hill.  Its too outrageous of an analysis and some forum members will probably rip it to shreds.  

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General Gaming / RE: AMD buys ATI

« on: July 24, 2006, 08:09:42 PM »

AMD needed a chipset maker and ATi is cheaper than NVidia.  Although this makes AMD a competitor to NVidia, NVidia is still in a strong position to compete. Besides, if AMD can't keep ATi's graphics division fairly independent, Ati's ability to compete in the graphics space might degrade because it would be distracted and that leaves only NVidia as king of the graphics card business (although Intel technically sells more integrated graphics chip).  I like AMD's move if I am building a computer with AMD processors, but I think ATi's graphic division might take a turn for the worst in the short term.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Sports for the Wii??

« on: July 23, 2006, 12:53:15 PM »

As much as the Wiimote opens up new game play possibilities in other type of games, I just don't see it as being a great instrutment for traditional sports game, with the exception of football, tennis, baseball, and golf. I'm not 100% confident that the Wiimote will translate well to basketball. Also, in baseball, the controller is obviously intuitive with swinging the bat, but what about pitching and fielding? I just can't seem to imagine how the controller will be use for that purpose. In basketball, I can see the controller excel at defense, but on the offensive side of the ball, I don't see it provide the magic that you would expect. As for soccer, I don't see the controllers being used beyond shooting the ball. In my opinion, I don't see a lot of sports games on the Wii that will be good. It will be more of a hit or a miss if developers use the Wiimote. In certain type of sports game, the experience will be revolutionary, in other games, it will be more of a sparkling innovation.  With this in mind, I think Nintendo should definitely include the traditional controller as part of its package.  Without it, we will be missing out on some potential hits that are just more suitable to the traditional controllers.  In the end, I think the Wii will have a crap load of sports title that would heavily benefit from the use of the Wiimote, and that would be football, baseball, tennis, and golf. I don't think basketball and soccer will be abundant. Basketball will probably get better later in the Wii's life, but I expect early titles to be sparkling innovationy and probably a bit frustrating.

If Madden fails to get traction, I don't think the Wii will have a drought of sports title as other publishers will come up with their own unique approach. I think in the beginning, I would think that a lot of sports title will either fail to impress because of ackward usage of the controller. The games will be better with each iteration as developers learn what works and what doesn't through trial and error.  I think sports title on the Wii will get very good in the second half of the Wii's life.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Honest Opinions on the Look of WiiSports

« on: July 09, 2006, 05:21:10 PM »

Simple and shallow gameplay should be complimented with simple and shallow graphics. It would only piss off buyers if the graphics were spectacular and yet the gameplay remain shallow. I'm not saying the gameplay isn't fun, its just that it is basic and almost old school, which isn't such a bad time in the end.

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General Chat / RE: How do you make your computer faster?

« on: July 07, 2006, 11:22:15 PM »

Consider updating your motherboard BIOS. This might give a minor boost to the system. Run spyware removal programs, defrag, and perhaps kill some of the programs that is automatically loading up on startup. You can run the msconfig tool in the run menu to prevent some of these programs from starting up. I find that when my computer that holds most of my music files is running slow, its usually infested with spyware or programs that start up automatically. I run spyware removal programs, uninstall unnecessary programs, prevent some program from automatically starting up, and finally defragging. It runs pretty well after that.  You might want to make your swap file (the place that windows reserve for virtual memory) a constant 1GB so that Windows doesn't expand it too high and then when it decides to reduce the size, bring your system to its knees. You can find this area in the advance tab of the system properties menu. Click on the settings button for the performance. Look for the virtual memory settings area and make a custom size and set the initial and maximum size to 1GB.  I do this for all of my systems and it seems to keep my system from getting periodic slow downs.

If you got the cash, get a faster SATA drive and make it your primary drive for running applications and use your current drive for data storage. Also, getting your system RAM to 1GB makes a world of a difference. Beyond that, its overkill.

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General Gaming / RE: Kaz Hirai Hints at PS3 games 59.99 +

« on: July 07, 2006, 10:53:59 PM »

$60 games, in my opinion, isn't much, but he did say some games will possibly be more. That's a problem for the PS3. The bigger problem with the PS3 is the initial cost to play. $600 for the complete console version, plus you must have an HDTV set to take advantage of the higher quality graphics. That could set you back $1500+ easily before you even buy a game. If you already have an HDTV set, the entry fee is still $600 bucks.  I personally believe HDTV is the future, but the problem is that its taking a long time for it to get traction because of the lack of HD content on the air waves.  I don't believe HDTV sets will be main stream by 2010 at all. By then, the majority of sets in use will only be DTV or EDTV (which I believe is just a progressive scan tv set). Even when the analog signal goes dark in a few years, the tv, cable, and satellite programs have not yet offer anything in HD that is worthwhile on a constant basis for consumers to justify buying only HD sets.  Anyways, my point is that Sony is banking the success of the PS3 on sheer power and the massive adoption of HDTV sets by consumers, which I believe will cost them the video game market by the end of this coming generation. In the end, the PS3 is not virtual reality. Its still a game machine and it doesn't come with an HDTV set to play on. Mostly kids play video games and since parents are financially responsible for their kids, they are unlikely to put out a lot of cash on what is really just a high tech toy (unless the family is loaded).  

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General Chat / RE: Transformers: New Live Action Film. Power Rangers anyone?

« on: July 03, 2006, 01:06:37 PM »

I didn't get the teaser trailer.  With rumors that Arcee will be part of the TF cast, the movie will most likely blow up the more familar TF story line. What's the point of being on Mars? They crashed on earth and is scheduled to re-wakened.  I also thought the Beagle 2 was not a mobile lander.  I'm hoping the movie would be good and true to the original story, but I have a feeling its going to be messed up when it is all over.  The movie better have some kick ass CG and transformation sequence.

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General Gaming / RE: Xbox handheld

« on: June 07, 2006, 07:14:46 PM »

MS entering the handheld gaming market is a natural progression of its sucess in the home console market here in the US. They are in a position now to leverage their brand and home console successes to contest Nintendo in this sphere. From a market share stand point, its all upside if they have a capable portable gaming device. The risk are there, but if it manages to get 15%-25%, that is a lot of cash.  In my opinion, Nintendo is more vulnerable now in the portable arena than they have ever been. That's primarily because Nintendo has not been the dominant force in the home console market for a while now.  If MS does not enter the portable gaming arena in the next 2-5 years, then chances are high that they have failed in the home console arena and have exited the stage.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Does anyone still play, or have, Tales of Symphonia?

« on: June 07, 2006, 07:06:03 PM »

The curse weapon quest was terrific. It was hard as hell, but it was fun. After beating that boss, the end boss feels a bit underwhelming.  There should be more bosses like that one in very RPG.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: The indie games are here. (Orb Screens)

« on: May 31, 2006, 06:07:51 PM »

I don't know what to think of it. It looks ok, but its obvious that there isn't much gameplay shown in those screens. The game looks very early. I guess at this stage, graphics is really secondary as the main game engine is being developed around a very minimal environment. I hope they make it it into a good game. I absolutely agree with Ian on the graphic style. If they don't have the graphical expertise, its best to use an artistic style to for the graphics. I personally would rather have stylize graphics when playing a fantasy-like game. It makes the whole unrealistic elements that much more immersive.  We need more indie developers to succeed to re-invigorate the industry greatly as the cost of producing graphically appealing games continue to spiral upward and make publishers even more risk-averse.

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General Chat / RE: Free EGM subcriptions for all!

« on: May 25, 2006, 08:06:38 PM »

Free stuff is good if you set up an email account strictly for spam and don't really care if it arrives or not. I have so much junk coming to be now that its ridiculous. Thankfully, I recycle!

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: No Da Vinci Code?

« on: May 25, 2006, 08:00:57 PM »

A game based on any movie will suck. There are 1 or 2 exceptions, but the percentages are so low, its not worth considering. The same can be said about games to movies. There are just some things people shouldn't be allowed to do and that is movies to games translation and vice versa.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Nintendo registered Wii-Domains

« on: May 25, 2006, 07:47:45 PM »

Or these might be links on the Wii's home page using the Opera browser. The home page would be a portal site similar to Yahoo, but will be tailored to Wii related stuff only.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Halogen lights confuse Wiimote

« on: May 25, 2006, 07:44:53 PM »

In my experience with anything wireless, the technology is so vulnerable to various environmental factors that can't be completely predicted that I have learn to except it and move on. As long as the Wii can handle common interferences found in the home, I can live with it. Its when it can't even do that I would find it unacceptable. Halogen lamp interference doesn't concern be because I don't use them.  Interference is something you should expect when it comes to wireless technology.  Anyways, if the interference is too much, then Nintendo is already doomed. Surely they wouldn't be so stupid to release something that the company is heavily dependent and watch it fail because of common interference.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Iwata Interview

« on: May 23, 2006, 06:36:54 PM »

I think it would be a mistake for Nintendo to release the Wii with two different packages. They need to streamline and think about releasing another package further down the road. A non-gamer or casual will require two controllers (nunchuck and remote) because based on what Nintendo has been saying, the Wii needs to be played with others. It defeats the whole point of inclusive gaming when you only include 1 set of controller. This is a new concept, and Nintendo needs to include almost everything its target audience will need to get started without purchasing extras.  They need to return to what they did with the NES, a pack in game, controllers, and the zapper or in the case of the Wii, 2 nunchucks and 2 remotes with a demo disc at $199- 249.  Nintendo needs to execute well down the stretch and why not make the packaging of the Wii all inclusive right out of the box. They can worry about releasing different packages down the road.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Which Wii Games Has Nintendo Already Sold You On?

« on: May 15, 2006, 08:21:49 PM »

I wasn't going to get a Wii at launch (I was going to wait for it to be more widely available and just have GC Zelda and Super Paper Mario hold me over), but the excitement and raves of the remote has gotten me to completely rethink about the situation and (gasp) pre-order the darn thing way ahead of time.  Anyways, games that I will probably get will be Madden, Metroid, and Wii sports. I'm not going to consider Zelda because there is nothing to consider. I'm going to get it. Trauma Center looks very interesting. I haven't felt this excited for a game console since...I have never felt this much excitement about a game console's launch.   Basically, the games I will consider seriously will have to make full use of the remote and have as much free form play as possible. From what I see so far, I am definitely considering Red Steel, but I am waiting for definitive answers about the responsiveness of the controls for that game. I'm hoping that the Wii will be the console that ushers in the new golden age of gaming, and for some strange reason, I think it already is.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Wii's hardware

« on: May 15, 2006, 07:46:12 PM »

I think Nintendo should have a rechargable option, but also allow regular alkaline batteries. They can then pimp their own rechargable option and make more money. In the end, I'm sure some third party rechargable option will be available.  It seems like a minor issue to me. That comment about physics being built into the system intrigues me. Is this the ace up Nintendo's sleeve that will give the Wii a processing advantage over the competition?  I am a bit suspicious that the Wii might be more powerful than we thought and Nintendo's emphasis on gameplay over graphical power might be lulling the competition into a false sense of security (It could be that they don't want to compete with Hollywood like CGIs and have to pay more to their artist than their programmers).  I'm willing to bet that in the next few months, Nintendo will unwrap the technical specs and reveal that it is a processing powerhouse that can simulate physics well enough that the quality of the effects will wow the gamers.  ATI and Nintendo have consistently say that it will be comparable to the competition, but not support HD. That comparable word has always bugged me. Perhaps at standard resolution, the image quality and effects will be the advantage that justify the comparable comments.

[Jin-X]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Can You Feel It In The Air?

« on: May 11, 2006, 12:38:23 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jin-X

Quote
Originally posted by: slacker
I currently have a 42" HDTV plasma, but there is no way in hell I'm playing games on it and risk screen burns.

May I ask what model and year your plasma is because you're really missing out for a very overblown "problem".

Its a Philips with the Ambient Light feature. Got it quite cheaply early this year so it might be a 2005 model of sort. Anyways, I heard that newer plasma screen has good screen burn protection, but still to just play games on it seems like a total waste. I primarily use it for watching sports in HD and movies. These things have a shelf life, and if use to game, well, its going to fade faster than if its just for watching sports. I have been tempted on many occasion to just play games on it, but I wasn't sure if the set has good protection against screen burns (It was kind of an impulse buy to watch the Super Bowl and it was well worth it too).  Anyways, a decent size progressive scan CRT these days are a bit cheaper and I won't need an HD set to enjoy Nintendo's offering.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Can You Feel It In The Air?

« on: May 10, 2006, 08:40:46 PM »

I noticed that there wasn't any games that utilize two remotes at the same time. Will tomorrow bring us a surprise announcement of Punch Out!? I sure hope so. Punch Out is among my all time favorite game. I once played it via emulator for entire 6 months and beat it like a mad man and it was still fun.  If I can get my controller to work properly, I might play it again, but if the Wii is going to have it, then I will wait with great anticipation.