Messages

[ShyGuy]

1

General Gaming / RE:Yeah, Halo 3's been announced.

« on: September 26, 2007, 07:58:30 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: ShyGuy
Wait, wait, wait. What formula advancements has Halo done that are bigger than the Prime series? You gotta back wild claims like that. If you say dual wielding....

Within the series, which is what he's talking about, Halo has added online play (which it did in an innovative and perfect way - the virtual couch is brilliant), a map editor, sharable instant replays, online coop, competitive coop, and a nice ladder system that does a good job of matching you against people of your skill level.

I love the Prime series as much as anyone, but the series hasn't really changed at all since the first one, save for the different control scheme in the third.

Halo deliberately caters to a broad audience with its simple gameplay, and it took something that was too complicated and intimidating for most casual gamers (online gameplay) and made it easy in a simple and innovative way.  It doesn't make things any more complicated than they need to be, instead focusing on simply having fun.

For me the fun of Halo isn't just that it's a fun game - it is, don't get me wrong - but its mass-appeal means that I get to enjoy it with people I wouldn't otherwise get to enjoy a game with - my brother, my casual-gaming friends, my wife's brother - and its so popular that it means there's always matches to jump into, usually with people I know.

Mass appeal, simple fun gameplay that brings casual and hardcore gamers together, innovative simple solutions to complex problems... reminds me of another company that I like an awful lot.  Only difference is that Halo gets faulted for it.

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General Gaming / RE:PSP - Jeanne D'Arc

« on: September 20, 2007, 09:34:24 AM »

It's very Fire Emblem-esque.  Much more comparable to the FE series than anything else.

It's also extremely awesome.

[Nemo]

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TalkBack / RE:Guitar Hero 3 Details Revealed

« on: May 24, 2007, 10:01:06 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Nemo
I thought it just meant that they weren't the band to create the song. They just did the best/most popular cover of it.

No.  When they can't get ahold of the original recording to remix it (you have to mix the guitar / bass to its own track so that you can turn it on and off separately from the rest of the song) they have their own internal cover band do the song.

That's why most of the songs have fakey lead singers; usually they're good enough that you don't really notice.  Sometimes though (*cough* Killing in the Name Of *cough*) they're painfully bad.

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General Gaming / RE:What if Nintendo made a portable Wii/Gamecube?

« on: May 24, 2007, 07:06:01 AM »

My wish guess:  Something like the Gameboy Micro, that takes no media, but allows you to sync with the Wii and play Virtual Console games.  Something with wifi so that you could access the store directly from the device.

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General Gaming / RE:Half-Life 2 "Black Box" cancelled

« on: May 21, 2007, 05:53:18 AM »

They're being released individually on Steam.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:GBA games with good quicksave / suspend systems?

« on: May 19, 2007, 09:04:40 AM »

Wow, you're 100% correct Pale - this is a great piece of hardware.

It's too bad it didn't seem to do very well - it could have given new life to the GBA.  I'd love to have seen them expand the Classic NES series and really push that with this - it's great for quick, ultra-portable retro gaming.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:GBA games with good quicksave / suspend systems?

« on: May 17, 2007, 07:30:33 AM »

Good to hear.  When I had a DS I didn't really like playing GBA games on it - not sure why, the letterboxing + the cartridge jutting out, GBA games just never felt at home on it for me.

For the price of a single console game, it seems like a no-brainer.

Thanks for the tip on GS2, I've heard good things about that series.

8

Nintendo Gaming / GBA games with good quicksave / suspend systems?

« on: May 16, 2007, 05:44:59 PM »

So, with the GBA Micro under $50 now, I was thinking about grabbing one for a "backup" system.

But having been spoiled by the suspend features of the DS and PSP, I'm not sure I'm willing to put up with games I can't quicksave or suspend.  Obviously Fire Emblem and Zelda have great setups, and I've heard FFVI has a nice quicksave system similar to what Kingdom Hearts had.

Any other good ones?  

[anubis6789]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:HDMI for Wii?????

« on: May 01, 2007, 03:46:35 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: anubis6789

Btw a component signal is not compressed when it reaches the TV, whatever is sending the signal tends to decompress the signal before it gets turned into analog (I have never in my life heard of analog compression).

It's not "compressed" in the digital sense, so much as "information is removed to make it fit."  It has less color space, this is somewhat noticeable with good source material on a lot of TV's.  But in general I agree, HDMI is largely an issue of convenience, with fidelity coming in behind it.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:HDMI for Wii?????

« on: April 30, 2007, 02:24:14 PM »

Try Music Direct and Elusive Disc - they have most everything.

I get a lot of stuff from eBay and local retailers as well.  There's quite a few good jazz SACD and DVD-audio discs out there, start with the Miles Davis Kind of Blue Dualdisc.  You might even find that at your local BestBuy.

[Rhoq]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:HDMI for Wii?????

« on: April 30, 2007, 10:54:59 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Rhoq

Quote
Originally posted by: Blue Plant
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't HDMI allow for uncompressed data stream?  While component has a very good signal, it's still being compressed?

Quote
Originally posted by: Brandogg
Correct.

Not quite.

HDMI carries uncompressed audio. The video signal being output is the same whether it's Component or HDMI, the only difference is that component is analog and HDMI is digital. Because of this HDMI is supposedly slightly sharper, though most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Picture quality will only be as good as the source. HDMI will not make a difference.

Not at all.

First off, the notion that "picture quality will only be as good as the source", and is only true if you have a medium over which to transport that data losslessly.  Otherwise we'd still be using coax inputs for our tv's.  

Component is compressed vs. HDMI.  The color palette is larger due to the greater available bandwidth.  Even VGA is better than component.  

The other advantage to HDMI is that it's digital the whole way.  With component you go from digital to analog back to digital again at the television.  You're saving two steps of conversion with HDMI because your TV can natively do the scaling.

There will always be exceptions to any rule, but by and large HDMI is superior to component.

Quote
HDMI might just be the most over hyped and over rated technology of the moment.

I just think you don't "get it."  Personally, I have a nest of cables behind my system - toslink or audio cables going from each component to the preamp, component and toslink or RCA cables going each component to the amp.... if everything just used HDMI (and, well, if my preamp accepted it) I could replace 2 component cables, 1 DVI cable, 2 toslink cables, 1 coax cable, and 5 single RCA cables (for 5-channel lossless from my SACD / DVD-Audio player) with 4 HDMI cables.  And I would experience an increase in quality in most cases.

It gets rid of the clutter, and the need for any configuration - imagine if you could just plug in a high definition device and you didn't have to go into the menus and enable upscaling or progressive scan or set the resolution. With HDMI it's all automatic.  

[MaryJane]

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General Gaming / RE:PSP Price Cut

« on: April 05, 2007, 05:07:15 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
I find it a little to strange to hear some of these arguments coming from people who I KNOW would love to have a portable GC. Because I sure as hell would. I think that's what part of Sony's plan with PSP was let people play their favorite PS games on the road.

Things done to death? How many times, on how many platforms, do we need to play Zelda: LttP? As many times as it's released? I did and I know others have also. What's the real problem with the PSP? I believe it's lackluster titles and high launch price... sort of like the PS3, which is funny since the Wii is following the DS's success, and now the PS3 is following it's handheld little brother's success.

Those are my thoughts exactly.  I never had a problem with the SNES ports on the GBA, I don't have a problem with PS2 ports on the PSP.  People act like it's some fundamental rule of portables that they provide a unique experience, when really this is a quality unique to the DS (and even that quality is a little overhyped - a lot of the best games for the DS are extensions of franchises from other platforms.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing - quite the opposite.)  Portable versions of good games are worthwhile by virtue of being portable.

I have more time for gaming on the go than I do at home.  If a game comes out on the PSP and on my home console, I will usually get the PSP version (particularly if it's better suited for portable play).

One thing I do agree with though is that for whatever reason PSP owners don't buy games, although I don't agree with Deguello's assertion that this is because all 20 million people who own them are more interested in piracy and emulation - I think that's a gross generalization based on a vocal minority online.  Most of the people I know with PSP's are casual gamers in the strictest of sense - the Madden crowd if you will.  My guess is that its tie-in ratio is so abysmal simply because they've failed to convert the hard-core crowd the way that the DS has.  They're the ones who buy games by the truckload.

[SixthAngel]

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General Gaming / RE:PSP Price Cut

« on: April 03, 2007, 10:46:31 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: SixthAngel
Since this is a "core system" I assume you are required to spend about 60 more dollars before you can play a game with even basic save functions much like the ripoff that is the 360 core system.

You have to buy a memory stick.  They're about $15-20 for a 1GB.

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General Gaming / RE:PSP Price Cut

« on: April 03, 2007, 09:25:19 AM »

I realize this isn't the best place to find a fair and balanced view of the PSP, but rumors of its weak library are greatly exaggerated.  It may have been true at some point, but it's been getting a steady stream of quality games for some time now.  

I know it's heresy, but I switched to the PSP from the DS about 2 months ago - I ride the train for 45 minutes each way every day so I had burned through the library really quickly on the DS.  I'll pick a DS up again when Zelda comes out, I just wanted to give the library some time to catch up.  My impression of the PSP so far is that the it gets a bum rap.

15

General Gaming / RE:Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 25, 2007, 04:29:50 PM »

I haven't seen anyone reputable mention anything about built-in wireless, I don't think that's happening.

Kotaku's latest story mentions that they will indeed be using the redesigned 65nm chips though, and will be able to utilize the IPTV stuff.  Maybe this one will run cool enough to keep inside your entertainment center?

[Djunknown]

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General Gaming / RE:Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 22, 2007, 04:27:46 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Djunknown
Besides, HD-DVD's max output is 1080i if I'm not mistaken, component cables are good enough.

HD-DVD is natively 1080p, just like Blu-Ray.  The only significant difference between the two formats is disk space and compression algorithms.

Quote
So where's the extra $179 coming from? Built-in Wi-Fi would basically seal the deal. It would fit Microsoft's vision of the connected entertainment hub.

It's only $79 more expensive.  Not justifying it, just questioning your math.

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General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 22, 2007, 09:38:19 AM »

That's simply not true.  I'm guessing you're just assuming this and you've never done a side by side comparison?

With component and VGA the signal is going from digital to analog, going over a wire, and then getting turned from analog back into digital again.

With HDMI and DVI-d the signal stays digital the whole time.

HDMI has a higher color palette than component as well (component has constrained bandwidth, even versus VGA which is why even it looks better).

I'm not saying component looks bad, but dismissing it outright as something the human eye can't perceive is outright false.  The difference is very apparent if you do an A/B.

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General Gaming / RE: Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 22, 2007, 06:19:07 AM »

Well, I was referring to that whole Sony incident, where Kotaku pitched a fit and rallied their users when Sony was going to take away their demo unit and presser access.  There was a definited "we're taking the high road" tone to that whole thing.  I know I'm in the minority, but I lost a lot of respect for Kotaku when that went down.  But this is beyond unsubstantiated.  Rumors are great, making broad sweeping conclusions from a single post on CheapAssGamer is fanboy baiting, plain and simple.

But yeah, I agree, Joystiq is worse.  I can't read it at all.  GameSetWatch is my fallback gaming blog, but it can be pretty esoteric (not Insert Credit esoteric, but esoteric nonetheless).  

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General Gaming / RE:Xbox 360 Elite

« on: March 22, 2007, 04:45:50 AM »

Where are you hearing the $120 rumor on the HD-DVD drive?  Are you getting that from the Kotaku story?

Just curious.  I hope they do drop the price, but that Kotaku story was probably the worst thing they've ever run - it was based on one single post on CheapAssGamer.  No one else there was able to duplicate it.  And then in typical Kotaku fashion ran an article declaring HD-DVD dead because one guy said the drive was $120 at his Walmart.

Ah, Kotaku.  Acting like journalists, but only when it serves them.

That said, I really hope they drop the price. I'd pick one up in a heartbeat at $120.

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General Gaming / RE:Some of your favorite Xbox and PS2 games

« on: March 20, 2007, 09:53:10 AM »

If uniqueness is your main driver, then I really think you'll like Deus Ex 2.  It's not really an FPS and not really an RPG... but its best quality is how organic it is.  

Say you have a character and you've been concentrating on being able to hack, and you're kind of weak in the up front fight department.  You walk into a room guarded by 6 guys and a giant mech.  You can either engage them in an up front fight, sneak into the ducts and avoid them completely, or, utilizing your skills, hack the mech and blow up all the guards before self-destructing the mech.  You have lots of little freedoms like that in the game.  It's not as emergent as advertised but it's pretty damn cool anyway.

I can't think of any game that's given me that experience (other than its sister game Project Snowblind, and its predecessor) but it's a fantastic experience.  Ignore the haters, they're usually suffering from PC bias (Deus Ex 2 is very console-ized, so it alienated all the PC gamers).

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General Gaming / RE:Some of your favorite Xbox and PS2 games

« on: March 20, 2007, 05:48:28 AM »

If you can get past the hate people have for them, Fable and Deus Ex 2 are really great games.  They failed to meet the extremely high expectations placed on them, but they both stand on their own (albeit with some problems).  They were, in all honesty, two of my favorite Xbox games.

Other off-the-beaten-track stuff:
Second Sight
Project Snowblind
Call of Cthulu

Seconding:
Silent Hill 2
Psychonauts
KOTOR

And the other classics that no one mentioned:
Jade Empire
Chronicles of Riddick

[KDR_11k]

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General Gaming / RE:360 game library?

« on: March 16, 2007, 06:14:20 AM »

Also:
Rainbow Six Vegas
PGR 3

Guessing you have a PC so you probably aren't interested in these:
Oblivion
FEAR
Condemned
Prey

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Gears of War, Dead Rising and Crackdown are rated the equivalent of AO here, i.e. good luck finding a store that sells them so they're right out.

Can't you just pay some bum to buy them for you?  Or are you saying the stores don't even carry them?

Because all 3 of those are definitely worth getting (though Crackdown is more of a rental).

[GoldenPhoenix]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Whoa! Ouch...A little harsh there Chris...

« on: March 08, 2007, 09:13:43 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
The point about Chris is he came accross as unprofessional and petulent. In regards to Hudson saying Dead Rising can't go on Wii, do you have any facts? You realize that games with tons of characters on screen has been happening since the PS2 days right? Dynasty Warriors and State of Emergency being two.

Because you're talking orders of magnitude more enemies in games like Dead Rising.  Where DW and SoE have hundreds of (identical looking) enemies on screen at once Dead Rising has thousands of different looking characters, all with independent paths.  A better analog would be Dynasty Warriors to 99 Nights.  Where DW5 on the PS2 could do something like 100-150 characters on screen, N3 can do 2,000.  This isn't because the PS2 developers were lazy.  Nor does it inherently make N3 a good game (it is, in fact, a terrible game).  It's just the kind of thing that plays to the strengths of the multi-core machines like the PS3 and the 360.

Look, you're obviously not capable of accepting the notion of the Wii being low-powered as anything but a myth, but it's true.  Hopefully, in the long run, it won't matter because developers will find other, more fun things to do with the Wii's hardware.  The Wii has a lot of strengths and will have lots of great, new, exciting gameplay experiences on it.  But games like Dead Rising won't be among them.  They aren't feasible, they don't play to the system's strengths and wouldn't be worth the level of effort necessary to make it happen.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Whoa! Ouch...A little harsh there Chris...

« on: March 08, 2007, 04:21:11 AM »

How did he argue contrary points 2 years ago?  He said that the multi-core CPUs are a pain to program for.  That doesn't mean, "these CPUs are too powerful!" just that he prefers traditional single-core architecture.

I don't think he's being disingenuous here, just hyperbolic.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Whoa! Ouch...A little harsh there Chris...

« on: March 08, 2007, 03:26:53 AM »

Cap, I think you completely missed the point.  He's very specifically calling out the CPU capabilities and pointing out how that will limit the gameplay opportunities.  Actually your example is backwards, there will be a lot of great games on the Wii but Dead Rising is exactly the kind of game that won't be there - tracking thousands of characters on screen at the same time is exactly the kind of thing you won't be able to do with the Wii.

Again, I think you're all taking it way out of context.  Sorry to upset your daydreams about him losing his job because you disagree with what he said, but he'll still be there Monday.  Chris Hecker has taken part in this forum every year since they started it.  The whole point of the forum is to be contentious, to stir up discussion, to be funny and over the top.  Read the past transcripts and get a little perspective on it.

You'll also see where he's coming from on the games-as-art thing.  You'll either agree with him or disagree with him, whatever, but at least you'll know what you're reacting to.  Right now I'm not convinced you do.

Quote
OK so.. why are games and films . I mean comics and films interesting to talk about with respect to games, they’re the art forms that have come around in the recent history.. we know what they did. Film was the most important medium of the 20th century. Comics started to be important and then failed. Why? They just did the same thing. They found something easy: superheroes in bright costumes and they just did it. More and over and over and all of a sudden they weren’t stocked anywhere. In the 50s they were in any store you walked into. Now they’re in stores with men in the back playing games involving dice.

You really wanna be happy at an award ceremony, so I realised I didn’t wanna rant, I wanted to rave. Games are really totally amazing. How often do you get to be there at the start of an art form? Once every 100 years?

Games are different  from other art forms: they’re interactive! There is feedback! No other art has this. I don’t care whether you call it games or storytelling, it’s all the same in my mind. Games will allow us to be affected emotionally unlike any other medium in the history of mankind. Power Fantasy is not the only tool in our toolbox! You can play some games right now that show hope. Interactivity is important and can be more so if we do the right thing. Games are really cool, and that’s my rant.