Late Night Consoling

I found this quote in the Metroid Prime article kind of interesting:

"Why was it not possible to release Metroid Prime simultaneously worldwide?

Barcia: This was simply not achievable at the same time. We've had to make the best effort to tailor certain aspects of the game for each territory and do the best job with each one. "

Now I'm living in Australia where Metroid Prime isn't going to hit the store shelves until April 3rd. I'd previously heard that Retro were doing a bit to the game to help improve its performance in the Japanese market, but this seems to indicate that they're tailoring it to the European markets also (Australia is pretty much considered Europe in the game world). With it taking an extra 4 months or so for the game to come out over here it sounds like they're doing more then just translating the text (or is there a hell of a lot of text in Metroid Prime?). Fixing the few reported crashes comes to mind though. Anyway, has any one (Jack?) got any ideas as to what's happening to the European Metroid Prime release.

As usual, Nintendo keeps it real because they are the only ones that truly care about games, and games only. None of this multimedia world domination bullshit. They put games before the money because they know that if they adhere that philosophy, the philosophy of quality over quantity, the money will follow because the games are that good.

Microsoft is simply doing what they already do with their software: constantly adding integrated apps (many of them free) until they are the leader in every market. Microsoft isn't trying to get gamers to make home movies, they are trying to get home movie makers to buy the XBox and, over time, buy more XBox software, whether that's games or whatever else. Apple has been targeting the home video crowd for years now, but where Microsoft might trump them is in price: a $300 XBox2 is a helluva lot easier to afford than a $1,200 iMac. Who needs a monitor for home video editing anyway? People have perfectly good TVs already.

I think it's also important to remember that MS won't do this half-assed. If the rumors are true and they ARE going to do home video, they won't be proposing it as a "lite" home video editor but rather THE home video editor. Just look at XBox Live. They aren't screwing around--when they give you online play you are going to get the whole shebang (as far as MS can dictate it anyway): broadband, voice-communication, inter-game communication, the works. If only they had shed their PC paranoia earlier we'd have mouse and keyboard support as well.

I'm pissed off at MS (and Sony) for invading Nintendo and Sega's videogame domain but it's hard for me to argue with their strategy. The only pitfall is "will it make money?" Does anyone know if the XBox program is in the black yet? I hear everyone saying they lose money on every system sale but I haven't seen net profit figures (inlcuding software sales) yet.

I was in my local EB the other day (buying VOOT), and I asked the kid why they don't have any Saturn stuff. He said when somebody brings the stuff in, they 0 it out. (which I'm not sure I understand, but I think it means the traders get a small amount of credit {maybe none}, and the store sends it to where ever, but never displays it {in order to use the space for more profitable items}).

It is crazy, they have SegaCD stuff, but no Saturn stuff. I guess they consider SegaCD under the Gen.

I was wondering if anybody has more insight into this? Also, does anybody know what the stores do with their old Saturn stuff?

I guess the USA stores feel that the Saturn was too huge of a flop, so they don't want to waste space/time/$ on it.

I've thought about opening a hardcore videogame store, kind of like a comic shop. Carries new stuff (current releases), back issues (silvergun, pd saga, river city...), imports, vg related junk (toys, candy, books...). I've never found an on-line store that carries very much of the old stuff or they don't have a good import selection.

if you picked up capcom vs snk 2 today please post here how the game plays over xbox live.
thanks!

XBox Bits

Indiana Jones & the Emperors Tomb review (4.2/5)
http://www.teamxbox.com/view_reviews.php?id=445

Murakomo info and screens
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/385/385937p1.html

N.U.D.E. info screens
"players will be judged based on their ability to mold their virtual idol into a realistic acting cyborg"
http://forums.xengamers.com/showthread.php?s=f611eb7f7eaef89bfba6e572cc1d3265&threadid=70788

True Crime: Streets of LA info (GTA meets Max Payne?)
http://www.gamepro.com/

Sudeki artwork?
http://www.teamxbox.com/news.php?id=4100

Ya know, when I immediately read the line about video and imaging editing, I thought, "Oh, this is really cool. Xbox2 will let us capture video or images of the games we're playing and even allow us to edit 'em and send them over Xbox Live. Don't need to hook shit up to a PC anymore."

Of course, I doubt many of you thought of it this way, but I'm sure that's the point of it all.

I saw this screenshot from F-Zero GC (or whatever they're going to call it):

http://www.tendoplanet.de/homepage/Bilder-News/fzero-big3.jpg

And I noticed -that's a R.O.B. the Robot in the background! How cool is that? Nintendo takes one of its biggest embarassments and puts it in a game!

Now if there was a Virtual Boy in this game somewhere it'd be even cooler.

Namco just sent me Xenosaga...

Wow, this is one impressively produced game; soundtrack by the London Philharmonic, and cutscenes that put the best Square has to offer to shame(only problem is that there are so many of them).

I can't even beging to explain the story. Suffice to say, it's something else...

So yay for me I finnally got my copy of the zelda bunos disc and proceded to copius amounts of playing. First thing I'd like to say is this is really a great, will easily be a classic. But as I was running through Hyrule field for the fifth time I thought of this: I'm playing the hell outta zelda 64 right now and loving it. Could this cheapen Zelda: Wind Waker when I finnally get my copy? In other words do you think it might loose some of that special zelda magic after playing Ocarina of time right up to the Wind Waker release?

So to anyone that has gotten their hands on Wind Waker do I have nothing to worry about or might I be ruining the expierience a little by playing Ocarina of time now?

Capcom Vs SNK2 EO Live impressions:

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2910846,00.html

sounds good!

Looks like every game that's out there tries to be something more and even though sometimes they feature more stuff than usual, they end up being pure videogames or a total failure altogether. The only exception I believe is PS2 playind movie dvds (I've used it to watch dvd movies), but that's a different approach.

I have just seen a documentary at discovery channel. It was about "the tvs of the next decade". What's funny is that the documentary was done almost a decade ago. It shows a family around an "interactive tv" discussing what to watch, selecting from their "agents" (who are like scripts that select what each one will watch) what they'll "stream". The little boy wants to play (because the interactive tv OF TEH FUTURE!!! allows you to "play with people from around the world") butthe little girl wants to see the ponys. The father wants to see the singing trio so they watch the singing trio.

What they fail to see is that it's just unpractical. With hardware/home appliances getting cheaper and cheaper, instead of whinning about wanting to watch this or that, a normal family would have like 3 TV sets on their home so anyone would watch whatever-it-is. That's the way it is nowadays. This kind of "FUTURE!!" vision with so much root in today's society is so very wrong it makes me feel sad.

Video editing? Well whatever, lots of home video cameras have some basic video editing features nowadays, and when they don't, you could have done that easily on your home computer using some cheapass ms/apple software or something more serious like adobe after effects. So why bother offering crap stuff no one will use anyways? How many emails have you sent from your sega genesis system?

Please, make videogames videogames.

My $0.2.

You might actually be able to do movie editing on a normal modded xbox before too long. There are so many nifty things you can do on it. Can't beat using it to play divx and other media files on your TV, streaming right off your PC.

It seems that in the past consoles have been claiming to support all of these features, but don't let Sony's lack of production taint you. With the PVR market exploding into a home-hub market, I think you'll find that xbox 2 will try to be the all-in-one device for TV / DVD / Gaming entertainment. The added features of photo editing and email are both coming out for the Tivo within the near future ( with a one time 99 dollar service fee ).

This is where the set top box market is going. Sony attempted to reach this same market, but feel flat years ago. The infrastructure and technology was not cheap then. By 2005 there should be a well place foundation that the X-Box 2 will attempt to build off of.

Just my 2 cents.

That is just what my gaming computers are used for or should I say my photo editing,music listening,game playing computer with a little spead sheet/word thrown in. I'm down with it. Make me an affordable gaming machine that I can edit photos,rip n' play music- and browse the internut .Just don't forget the keyboard and mouse this time.

without knowing exactly what BillG said and in what context, it's really no good to speculate.

For all we know he could have been talking about a future home device - a home media server marketed under a different name - that also includes the ability to play Xbox games. Xbox 1, not Xbox 2.

It's WAY to early to take any of this seriously. The next Xbox and PS3 and such aren't due until 2005. LATE 2005, most likely. We're talking 2.5 years. Big grains of salt, guys. And besides, BillG is not steering the Xbox ship. He has his say, and he's the company chairman, but it's not like he's sitting in rooms planning out the design of the next Xbox with J Allard. People need to get over the idea that one person makes every important decision in a company that size. That's what VPs and corporate managers are for.

I think that given the price considerations, the next Xbox will probably be only a game machine, POSSIBLY with the ability to play media files stored on a networked PC on your home TV. That's it. Doing more with it would require more memory, more HD storage...it would drive up the cost significantly. Plus, the market has basically proven that it doesn't want it, and game developers won't build for an box like that.

I think the home video editing may prove to be an excellent idea. As digital video becomes more prevalent people will want to make there own home videos etc.. At the moment you need lots of expensive software and a kick ass PC to do that. If the new X-box allows that to be done cheaply on their television i think it will appeal to alot of people and open the system to a new market. It would also make the x-box more of an overall entertainment system, instead of just a games console.

Actually I hope Nintendo does something innovative this time Jason

Jason what if the video editing stuff wasn't geared towards home videos. What if it was geared toward more game video editing type stuff.

Imagine, Halo 3: the best players (who would be playing on CAL at that time) recording demos. Then having those players editing their own demos and doing all sorts of cool shit.

What about for making crazy movies such as a montage of BF1942 crazy vehicle antics, or crazy Halo Vehicle Antics. People could make videos of themselves playing games to show off crazy tricks and strategies etc, and then send em to each other over XBOX live.

If they do it right, they could make a pretty cool feature for the xbox 2 or whatever it's called. I don't think microsoft is looking at it thinking "Geee during the day little johhny can kill aliens in Halo 3 and during the night Papa Johhny can edit home movies! OMG WE"RE GENIUSES".

Although I do agree with your point. After making it such a point to establish XBOX as a pure gaming console (and they've done a decent job so far), why would they start throwing in all these crazy features like wifi, video editing, and tivo type stuff. They might be assuming that they'll have a large enough player base to just "be trusted".

I'd interested to find out more about this.

capcom vs snk 2 on xbox live is fun

my fingers hurt.

You know what would make a good Xbox Live game.. Dungeon Siege 2!

I actually went online with my DC quite a bit, just for S's and G's though

ANY WINNING ELEVEN NEWS?

(is it online compatible?)

why isn't Ratchet and Clank in the review database? This game is a perfect 10~!

Umm Jason have you seen what Sony is doing in Japan with the PS2 with broadband and the hard drive?

http://www.gamesdomain.com/news/6499.html

I think I'll wait to hear what the final official specs are for the next xbox.

For all we know, it could've been a mistranslation, pie-in-the-sky idea or something else.

As long as they focus on games and new gameplay experiences, I'll be happy. People thought that the hard drive was a bad idea- but it's one of my favorite aspects of the Xbox. Nothing like cruising around tracks on your motorcycle with 15 other people listening to your favorite music. AWESOME.

capcom vs snk2 eo

graphics are meh
gameplay is same as always
there are soooo many options...i dont know what any of them do yet, so i just pick randomly every time im prompted hehe
same ol stuff, im just happy to have street fighter on xbox :)

ill get xbox live soon :)

I agree. Video editing? Thats pretty stupid, not to mention awkward.

I used my Saturn NetLink every day. I loved it. Played Rally + Duke3d + Virtual On all the time (nice high phone bills).

Then I got a PC.

Console's + internet = dumb. I don't think we're anywhere near the point where gaming consoles needs to have multimedia software/editing tools and such, and won't be for a long time. They should be able to play games on and offline, and play your music cds and dvds. Nothing more is necessary.

Resident Evil 3 really lost the feeling of the "survival horror" genre. It just felt like you were running around shooting zombies. Oh look, here's another zombie, pow. And another, pow. And another... etc.

I ENJOY TEH GAMIES OF TEH SHACKER NOOZ