AndrewTS

The real winner in this will be IBM. PS3 and Wii are both PowerPC based. So they may have lost Apple, but between Sony and Nintendo, that's a helluva lot of money to be made.

It's out, I've got it, it's really, really damn good. What not to expect: The Feather, Tanooki Suit, Hammer Suit, and any other powerups introduced in SMB3 and onward. We've got the red mushroom, 1up mushroom, tiny mushroom, giant mushroom, fire flower, invincibility star, and blue shell (gives you a shell that allows you to attack by running, ducking and spinning like a koopa). What to expect: SMB/3 play mechanics (with a SMB3-ish overworld), 3 coins to collect per level (which can unlock other paths on the overworld), and basically getting your BUTT to the end and grabbing the flag before time runs out. There are midpoint flags, though. You can save every now and then, ie after using your coins on an obstacle or beating a boss. I just completed World 1, where King Koopa stomped out in all his glory--and went down in a similar method as in SMB1--hit a switch and the bridge collapses, dropping him in lava. A side effect of this game's release is that the NES Classics version of SMB is *gone* from retail stores, including Gamestops and EBs everywhere that I've seen. Since the NES Classics came out, nearly all of them have dropped down to $9.99 and probably plenty of people snatched it up to practice.

Source: the horse's mouth. Weird that Nintendo is going with PowerPC, especially since even Apple has switched to Intel. No matter... Oh, and found this on Gamers Daily. It's old, but it is their "confirmed" list of games that are in development for Wii: Most of these were confirmed at E3, but...Kid Icarus? Hm...well, he was in SSBB....

"being based on history,the stages of the game will also be based on famous battles that actually took place in japan. So here's this enemy crab..." "RIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAACER!!"

Considering that Sony is going to be in the hole with every PS3 they sell, and each Wii is going to turn a profit--your math is a little off.

http://revolution.nintendo.com/ In the immortal words of many an RPG protagonist... "..."

That's very true. I played strangers at an arcade outside of town on SC2, and just basic use of 8WR and GIs were freaking this one guy out. I barely play any new fighters, but it was really sad. And I admit I know jack crap about most of the new fighters released in the last 4 years. Like, double perfect with Seung Mina (I think) and I can barely remember most of her moves.

...as of June 1st. Now, that in and of itself wouldn't be so bad (the trade-in prices suck at those places, and you'd have to be an idiot to bite for them unless you just want to get rid of them), but the entire inventory of it at my EB was "relocated" to "a store that has more room." Yet, we have room for music cds nobody is buying, and they're overflowing with crappy DVDs people aren't buying. So, get any PS1/N64 games you were considering picking up now before you're forced to order it online.

This isn't official confirmation, though, just speculation. Obvious speculation, at that. I'm surprised there's not a 2nd sku bundled with a game, though. For those wondering, that $200 will be for the system, 1 wiimote, and the nunchuku attachment.

No idea. That only happens with me if it is the last copy of something, and typically I don't care in that case. The guys at my local EB are very cool. I get free stuff all the time from them, they're very helpful, and only try to sell you extra crap if you're interested. Like, they'll ask people that clearly haven't been there before, and if they don't bite, they'll shut up. If a magazine is so-and-so old, they can't actually sell it at either EB or Gamestop. This is an easy way to gauge if the store is run by pricks: try to buy it. At my local EB, and a few fairly close Gamestops, they gave it to me and gave a mag to a friend, since they're technically supposed to throw it out.One Gamestop jerk fed my friend some thing about "having to send it back" to the the publisher. What? The issue in question was the Nintendo Power with Resident Evil DS on the cover. My friend got it for free last week, and I just nabbed one at another Gamestop. From the good Gamestops/EBs, a friend and I nabbed several old mags, some game boxes for older games they had to throw out otherwise, and the pride of my friend's gaming swag--the Kingdom Hearts 2 display standee. He has it in his basement now next to his huge-ass TV.

In short, the Powerbook is the 'professional' model, geared more towards business users, while the iBook is the 'consumer' model, geared more towards regular users. Specs for comparison here: http://support.apple.com/specs/ MacBook Pro is the intel-based replacement for Powerbook, while the iBook will eventually be replaced with, well, MacBook I guess.

Good--they went Batman TAS style on them with 4 1-sided discs. The half-ass approach with S:TAS (where one disc is double-sided and ridiculously prone to scratches) annoyed me. EDIT: Season 2? Nuts. I guess I need to find Season 1 then. I didn't know it was out.

Sony's spokesman for PS4: There are plenty of science-y folk who could probably explain what the hell Sony intends, but it doesn't really fit in with Neo Geo at all, from what I can tell. Here's a wiki on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension The 4th dimension in that sense is apparently supposed to refer to the spacial 4th, Tetraspace, and not Time. Although plenty of games which play with that element rawk (neo POPs, for instance).

OTOH--PS3 price announcement? Shocked silence. BTW... http://www.buyawhiteguyasubscriptiontoebony.org/media.jpg Making dinner analogies...4D...where have I heard that before?

Plus, gotta love the built-in controller ports, ditto for on GC. BluRay is a decision that could be declared legally stupid by Sony. Not even the most diehard Sony fans can/will defend it. Ken is lying out his ass about people bitching about the "Playstation's" price. PS1's price killed Saturn dead from the start, and when PS2 came around, people were very interested in DVD, and it was considered a huge bargain. Sony's choice in (an increasingly popular) format then won them developers, because DC was so much easier to pirate and lacked the space a lot of newer titles needed. Sure, Sega was damaged goods anyway, but when a company lies to itself to justify its position, that's downright silly. When people talk about BluRay, they're like "WTF? WHY?!?"

Well, I was out of town, and I'm not exactly agreeing with you on it.

Luke-o, the difference between PS1 and PS2 for 2D graphics is worlds of difference. At the risk of oversimplification, animation in PS1 fighters sucked because of the limits of onboard RAM. This is a bigger issue in cd-based consoles, but of course Genesis/SNES compensating in fighters by usually shrinking the characters and cutting their animation. For pre-rendered sprites/computer animation, instead of things being rendered in "real time," every single animation frame possible has to be in RAM and ready to access. It's why the RAM carts let Saturn pull of XMvs.SF, and so on. This is why Shang Tsung morphs suck on Saturn/PS1. Now, it's easier to pull stuff from ROM to RAM on carts, so SNES/Genesis morphs are fine. However, loading time exists on graphically intense carts as well--see Batman Forever for the consoles, for instance. You can still have limited RAM issues, too. Take a look at the animation cut from Killer Instinct Gold. Compare this to Midway Arcade Treasures 2, where Shang can morph into everyone at anytime. Huge difference, there.

I'll admit I was a bit late on the N64 thing myself, but I think Chris is right, too. I did see some 60 dollar N64 games, though. And there were of course the uber-expensive RPGs on SNES around that time, too. Any game that had an extra chip, like Virtua Racing, Mega Man X2/X3 were more pricey, too. I remember holding off until the Cruis'n USA-era drought had passed. It was quite sad--Mario, Pilotwings, and maybe one or two more...then....like, nothing for several months. However, when you look back, N64 had a really rich library of quality games. Hell, if some of the games that were originally slated to come out on it did and got wide release--Animal Crossing (Jpn only), Earthbound 64, Eternal Darkness--it would have one of the strongest libraries of all time save for its weakness in RPGs.

I'd bet on the SFC version myself, though it's not going to be a big difference to me. Too bad I already have Strider. Weird, Strider's getting 2 re-releases at around the same time. OMG NEW STRIDER COMING!?! Alpha 3 port on Dreamcast is terrible, at least animation-wise. There were frames missing on the DC 3rd Strike. The PS2 version of 3S is *more faithful* to the arcade game than the DC version, luke-o.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardco...tygameslist.htm NBA Live 04 is on it but nothing newer. MvP isn't covered, either. Only a few games work because each game has to run in an emulation environment. The 360 architecture is vastly different than the XBox, because it isn't based on Nvidia anymore. So every game needs an emulation patch.

GC's problems, IMO: It followed the N64. Despite how good Mario 64 was, 3rd parties hated that system and the high development costs associated with cartridges. Plus, Nintendo didn't even go to plain' old DVDs either, they used a propri disc format as well. So, no built-in DVD capabilities. Lots of people bought a PS2 for its lousy DVD player. Then, they got a *good* DVD player later. GC was a 2ndary console for a lot of people. 3rd parties didn't have a reason to really throw much support behind it, when they could just go for PS2 and get most of the same buyers, or put it on XBox as well and get the slighly older demo of that console too. Wii may be heading in that same direction, but Wii can do games that aren't possible on PS3/360. I see exactly what Anya is saying with, say, MP3. Thing is, I'm looking forward to playing it. I loathe standard FPS controls, particularly the dual analog setup. I never really had fun with a FPS game until Metroid Prime. I'm looking forward to playing it on the wii. Likewise, I don't think I need to reaffirm my Zelda fandom. I'm very much looking forward to playing it on wii, even if I'm ticked at them over the delays. All Nintendo is doing right now is trying to get the Wii established. You know what you do when you're trying to get a console established? You dig out your IPs that everyone loves. Zelda, Mario, GTA, Halo, Gran Turismo,etc. It's universally understood and accepted. MS is cracking the whip on MS Game Studios, Sony is pushing their in-house developers as well. Likewise, Hal, Team Mario, Retro--they're doing the same thing. The point is to get the goodwill and interest going, to get people's mindshare, and hopefully attract lots of 3rd parties. Sony's banking on 3rd parties going to them because they're presumed to remain dominant. Developers have had more time to work with the 360. Nintendo is pushing their ease of development and lowe production costs. "It's just a controller" is one way of looking at it, Anya, but its Nintendo's distinctive quality that sets them apart. I don't give a rat's ass about PSP, and I love my DS. There isn't a damn thing in the 360 that I feel I want to get the system for, ever after E3. The PS3's showing, as far as the thing that counts (games) was pathetic. Sony will likely be in the lead eventually, but I firmly believe Sony is going to take a huge hit on marketshare this generation. Luke-o is of the common perception that gaming was better when the industry giants were fiercely competitive. It's a fair argument, shared by many. Anya swears that Sony has been a benevolent dictator, and with them so secure in their position, they're more willing to take risks because they have little to lose. That does have some merit as well. Sega had the corporate stick up their ass in America in the early-mid 90s. Japanese games would get localized to hell if they came out at all. Sports games and licensed dreck got marketing priority over new, original titles. Sega had a game that played a lot like Zelda, but prettier, and gave it a hideous magazine ad and nothing else (Beyond Oasis, although that was later in the console's) life. SoA took *NO* chances whatsoever, and most RPGs langished over in Japan. Of course, the Megadrive wasn't as big of a success in Japan, but the point is, that supposedly Sony is much nicer to publishers of niche titles than Sega/Nintendo. Many publishers would beg to differ with that (pubs wanting to do 2D anything, even on PSP), however Working Designs were being total drama queens about Sony not wanting a several-year-old Goemon game on their American system. OTOH, the "new release" this year I've been most excited about was Ape Escape 3, and I couldn't care less about most of the big name releases. The game quality between some "decent" old imports and the latest licensed POS probably isn't that huge.

Finally, Capcom giving people want they want: So, the games that were in the PSP title plus a lot more. And finally, Street Fighter 1 is going to be available for us to laugh at, play for 5 minutes, then never touch again. Some of those other games are pretty darn cool too.

Yeah, that's a pretty dumb phrasing of the question. Clarify what you mean, plz. Like this?: http://www.nullriver.com/index/products/connect360

As I already pointed out many times, Nintendo is doing a fine job keeping afloat and making cash in an era where two MNCs control the rest of the market. It's kind of funny, yet sad, that they're both saying "oh sure, buy a wii. It's not like it's something that's at threat to us. You'll still buy our hardware." Sega pissed away their loyalty and respect with crappy games, crappy hardware, and crappy marketing decisions. I don't think anyone actually has respect for Sega anymore. Nintendo now is a more humble and benevolent entity than the iron-fisted industry leader that controlled the 8 bit era. They have great games, sure, but people support them also for nostalgia and its underdog status. When Sega was dying, they made some some pretty pathetic business decisions. Nintendo at this point shoots directly for the Japanese consumer, with all of their eccentricities, and if you don't like it, tough.

I buy used games almost exclusively, so yeah I think it's worth it. Of course, they can take their "used" games that are $44.99, 5 dollars off, and shove them up their tailpipes. If I don't want to pay new, there are pawnshops and websites I can go to instead. However, something that's $17.99, sure I'll take the discount. I remember when I bought like a dozen (some fairly rare) SNES games, and paid like 10 bucks because they had a buy 2 get 1 deal going on, and it still let me take the discount. Plus, it knocks off the sales tax, in effect.