nandx

New Blog

2005-10-16T21:06:00.000-04:00

Well. My new blog is up.

Check it out:
~~http://tyrantmizar.blogspot.com/~~
http://tyrantmizar.blogsome.com/

Sorry

2005-10-11T18:25:00.000-04:00

I'm officially discontinuing this blog. I've gotten rather bored of blogging for now. Recently I've become more active with del.icio.us, various forums, the PasswordMaker community, and various Web 2.0 softwares. I might take up blogging in the future, but in all likeliness, it won't be this blog.

This blog failed because I failed to account for more than just video games. I realize now that I need to create a blog with a broad scope in order for me to maintain it. If you do see me blogging again, it will be a fresh start.

If you are interested in my opinions enough, be sure to check this blog every month or so. I'll be sure to post to notify the world of my new blog.

See ya!

The Revolution Begins!

2005-09-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

Holy s***. Nintendo actually knew what they were talking about. (Thank you!) This next generation is going to rock.

A quick note: this is all according to good ol' IGN (IGN, curiously, still doesn't have a separate site for the Revolution).

The new controller is the thing on the right. Yes, the weird remote looking thing. Yet, if you view it closer, you'll see it has all of the buttons that a controller has, and little more.

The main feature is, yep, gyroscopes. However, is that a bad thing? No! It rocks! Navigating through caves, fishing, aiming, everything done by simply pointing. You can move and affect the game in complete 3D. More than just gyroscopes, though, you can attach a left hand controller and play that way. Heck, you can turn it sideways and play it as an old-school NES controller.

This is truly a revolution. This is no longer a gaming controller in the normal sense of the word. Xbox 360's normal controller and PS3's controller (still the same as PS1 and PS2!) look positively dull. This is where the future is heading. We are heading to a more simple and easy to pick up gaming experience. With touching (the DS) and simply waving your hand around (Revolution), we are getting farther from a massive controller with 20+ buttons, and returing to perfection: the basics.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo Revolution

Revolution's Controller - Is Tonight the Night?

2005-09-15T17:10:00.000-04:00

Word on the street is that Nintendo is planning on revealing the controller for the Revolution in Japan tonight (for the US).

At the Tokyo Games Show, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is giving his speech... and the facts stop there. Just about everything left are rumors, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Heck, rumors were flying about about how Link in upcoming Zelda game could turn into a werewolf, and it turned out to be true!

But seriously, Nintendo has waited far too long. There are so many Nintendo Revolution Controller mockups that anything is possible, and, therefore, nothing is amazing. I cannot tell you, cannot express how much I hope I'm wrong. I truly hope that Nintendo reveals it and the whole world goes "That's awesome!" I sincerely want Nintendo to have done the job right.

But, no matter how much I hope, no matter how much I have faith in Nintendo, I find myself doubting that anything they create will be revolutionary.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo Revolution

Gameboy Micro

2005-09-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

The GameBoy Micro is a waste... almost. It does everything that the Gameboy SP does, and that is about it. The DS is way better.

Granted, the Micro has a few good things. Mainly, it looks cool. That's it. It's a designer gadget.

Otherwise, it is way too small. You could eat it. You almost certainly will lose it. Or rather, I would almost certainly lose it. I've lost full size Gameboys before, and this is much smaller.

Most gamers aren't getting it anyway, or, at least, most Joystiq readers. I know I'm not.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Gameboy Micro

Fox Aquires IGN

2005-09-12T17:33:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't already heard, Rupert Murdoch's huge corporation has acquired yet another relatively small corporation - IGN. I'm actually shocked, and wondering what anyone except the head honchos of IGN and Fox Corporation has to gain from this deal.

Seeing as I'm a liberal, cynical, corporation-hating type of person, I absolutely loathe this setup. I'm going to spare you all and leave it at that.

I'm probably going to look at IGN's reviews from now on with a bit more cynicism, and am going to be far more likely to see other opinions on a game. Usually I have a fair amount of trust in the ratings system of IGN, but now I'm afraid that it may become "fair and balanced."

Meanwhile, I'm kind of at a loss at which sites I should look to first when it comes to reviews. Just about every main gaming site is owned by some corporation. IGN (and with it Gamespy and Rotten Tomatoes) are now owned by Fox. Gamespot owns loads of others and is owned by CNet. Yahoo is a corporation in itself. And then there are loads of other game review sites that I've never really heard of.

The best solution that I can see is to do what I usually do: get a large variety of sources ranging from corporation-sized web sites to blog-sized ones and try to form a collective opinion based on the sum.
Tags: Gaming IGN Fox

Slight Confession

2005-09-10T11:12:00.000-04:00

I don't actually own a DS. I haven't technically lied (I think), but I have misled. That will change soon.

I'm currently looking into buying a DS. There are several good games already out, and several good games to come. My current hopes to get are:

1) Advance Wars: Duel Strike -I have played it and it rocks!!! There isn't that much difference between it and the other advance wars, but it stick is a fun game.
2) Trace Memory - While it hasn't been released yet, and I don't know if there are any reviews, I'm a sucker for games with an involving storyline. That is what this game is hyped up to be, but we will have to wait and see.
3) Kirby: Canvas Curse - Awesome and fun. I will say no more
4) Animal Crossing DS - All the fun of the Gamecube version except you can play it anywhere
5) Metroid Prime: Hunters - I'm pretty good at Metroid Prime and I enjoyed the other two games. Online wireless multiplayer rocks too.
6) Super Mario 64 DS - Super Mario 64 rocked, why should this be any different.

And that's just what's off the top of my head.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo DS Advance Wars Trace Memory Kirby Animal Crossing Metroid Mario

Super Smash Brothers Melee

2005-09-06T17:52:00.000-04:00

I've gotten readdicted to Super Smash Brothers: Melee for Gamecube. It is bothering me how much worse I am than what I used to be.

Super Smash Brothers: Melee was one of the first hit games for the Gamecube (and the best selling Gamecube game to date). The reasons for this are obvious: it is an awesome game.

The gameplay was fantastic. Super Smash Brothers is a different kind of fighting game. Rather than simply beat up your opponent, you must K.O. them by knocking them clear off the stage. This brings several well implemented and fairly unique features to the game.

The balance was top-notch. After playing games with the likes of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, Super Smash Brothers is a quick, nimble, and fluid experience. Learning the nuances and advantages to each character is a wonderful experience. My personal favorite is Samus, who has the greatest range abilities and good melee. However, very few of the characters can be considered 'bad,' and I'm decent with a variety of characters.

There are numerous plus sides to Super Smash Brothers: Melee, and I'm not in the mood to go into detail here. But if you haven't at least tried this game, then go rent/outright buy it now! P.S. This post is a bit random. Oh well. I might edit it later, but for now, I'm leaving it. I'm having trouble focusing today.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Super Smash Brothers Melee SSBM SSB:M Super Smash Brothers

Nintendogs!

2005-09-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

Nintendogs is taking the world by storm. There have been reports that Nintendogs have sold 250,000 copies in the first week! The reviews are excellent and there is a semi-cult growing around the games.

The biggest reason? Why, puppies are cute. I feel kinda weird writing that but it's true. You get to have (nearly) all of the fun of raising puppies without the mess.

I won't be getting it, however. I'm broke.
:(

To all of you playing Nintendogs now, I wish you good luck. It will probably be old news in a few weeks, though. (Yes, I know I'm a cynic. Sue me.)
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo DS Nintendogs

Next-Generation Games

2005-08-31T15:16:00.000-04:00

Ever since the Xbox 360 was revealed at E3, there have been a few dozen games revealed for that system. Everything from Project Gotham Racing 3 to Perfect Dark:Zero has been announced and shown off for the next-generation system. Microsoft seems to love boasting about the graphical quality of their games.

Which begs the question: Where are Nintendo's games?

There are none (or very few). No major games have been announced for the system, and Nintendo is focusing on hyping up the new Zelda game at the moment. The general feeling I've received is that Nintendo does not want any games announced, least the 'secret' behind their "Revolutionary" controller be revealed.

While this does add to the suspense (I guess), it more that not adds to the frustration. Nintendo almost seems to be intentionally trying to put itself in the background, especially compared to Microsoft, who are practically dancing around in bikinis singing "Look at our beautiful Xbox 360!"

I seriously hope that Nintendo knows what they're doing. Otherwise they're going to be fighting a long, uphill battle in the coming years.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Xbox Xbox 360 Revolution

Revolutionary Controller

2005-08-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

First, a bit of background. At E3 in May 2005, Nintendo revealed for the first time, the next-generation console - codenamed Revolution. They revealed the actual system, but did not say anything about the controller, other than 'some other time.'

Since then, they haven't said a word more, except that it will be revolutionary (*sparkle sparkle*). In fact, they said that it will be revolutionary (*sparkle sparkle* again) so many times that they're starting to hype it up.

Well, guess what Nintendo? Hype is the superstar killer. I've said this several times, most noticeably when I compared Halo with Halo 2. If you guys hype up the controller much further than what you have already, then it better damn be revolutionary.

When Nintendo finally reveals the Revolution's controller, two things will probably happen. It may well be as revolutionary as they have said. There will be cheering abroad, and Nintendo gains some lost ground in the console business. Or, if it turns out to be a piece of crap, Nintendo may go out of business, or at least be regulated to the handheld market. Or it could divide gamers everywhere. Some will think it's awesome, while others think it sucks.

We won't know until they reveal it. But when they do, gamers everywhere will be able to see how much of a future Nintendo has.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Revolution Controller

Bleh

2005-08-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

This summer has been slowwwww. Nothing is happening!! Nothing really, anyway. Nothing to blog about: there are very few new games, and it is the grace period between E3 and the winter holidays.

Basically, this small blog of mine is going in a small hiatus untill something interesting happens (heaven forbid).

Or I could start reviewing random games.... hmmmmm...

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Overview

2005-08-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

Here are the final scores:
Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 9
Replayability: 8
Plot: 9

My final score: 9/10 (not an average)

This game is fantastically presented, with an involving storyline and excellent character dynamics. There are so many ways to play this game it isn't funny. You can focus on a few units and make them super-powers, or you can strive for a well-rounded and balanced team. The artwork is top-notch, with eerily good character sprites. The sound has full-blown orcastrated music, which is beyond belief coming from the GameBoy Advance's speakers. And once you're done with one character's path, you almost have to pick the game up and play it through with the other. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes strategy/rpgs, and also to anyone who liked Advanced Wars or the other Fire Emblem.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Plot

2005-08-01T10:56:00.000-04:00

I finally got Fire Emblem finished! Granted, I wasn't exactly playing it night and day... Anyway, this is the plot post.

I am going to try to make this as spoiler-free as possible. If you don't believe me, then don't read this post!

Let us start with the presentation of the plot. As mentioned in my previous Fire Emblem review posts, the plot is seen in the conversations between characters. Suprisingly, this works extremely well. It is easy to get involved in the storyline, and if you don't want to listen to them ramble, the START button will skip (I believe) any conversation.

There are also support conversations. They are conversations between units (yes, on the battlefield) that give statistic bonuses and a nice insight into the the character's personalities. I find it amazing that the authors of this storyline managed to keep all of the characters personalities straight. Each person says something that they would say, and rarely just what needs to be said to advance the plot.

There isn't much to say about the plot. It is very involving and actually quite good. Get this game for the plot, but don't keep it for the plot. There are other things to keep playing the game for.

+8 presentation of the storyline
+2 for storyline
-1 because I feel like it
9 for plot
Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, ~~Multiplayer~~, Replayability, and Plot.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

This is Getting Ridiculous!

2005-07-27T20:43:00.000-04:00

Okay. I'll start by saying that I've been trying not to post anything about Grand Theft Auto. Since I posted the previous post, I've resisted and controlled my frustration for almost a week. But the situation is getting ridiculous!

For starters, I would like to point your attention to three letters that I absolutely agree with. Here's one:

Dear Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Yee, and Mr. Thompson

In recent statements by the ESRB, they have accused the mod community of undermining their ratings by putting sexually explicit material into PC games, namely San Andreas, which was already rated "M". However, if you look into a game by the name of "Singles - Flirt up your Life", it becomes quite clear they are doing a good job of that all by themselves. This "M" rated game features full frontal nudity (and not androgynous "barbies" like The Sims) and characters engaging in interactive sexual scenes. Screenshots of this game can be seen over at IGN: http://media.pc.ign.com/media/667/667197/imgs_1.html

And for that matter, what of the game "Playboy: The Mansion", which is based on the skin magazine, and is also rated "M"?!

Seeing as these game contains *far* more graphic depictions of sex than anything found in San Andreas, including the scenes involving nudity which we modded into the game (by default, "Hot Coffee" did contain fully clothed actors...), how exactly have we undermined their rating? If anything, what was left on the disc by Rockstar and modded into the game by us doesn't even come close to what the ESRB itself considers "M" material, let alone rising to their very own standards of "AO". To blame the mod community for this is not only hypocritical, but quite deceptive as well. Not to mention the fact that they've essentially had one title banned for containing "pornography", while they let more explicit games get by them.

For the record, we feel that "M" is an appropriate rating for these games, as their contents are no worse than R-rated films which have long been considered "okay" for ages 17 and up. However, we do agree with you all that that the ESRB is a big joke. Especially now that they're attacking their own customers for content which they obviously don't seem to have a problem with. Why should we the consumers be persecuted for adding something to a game which the ESRB has already demonstrated as perfectly acceptable for titles in the "M" range? San Andreas originally carried a warning for "strong sexual content", and judging by their previous ratings, we would insist that we released the "Hot Coffee" mod well within the ESRB's (apparently broken) guidelines.

Best Regards,
the administration of gtagarage.com

I completely agree with everything in this letter. Why the heck are they targeting GTA when there are far more "dangerous" games out there that have gotten M. Also, an excellent letter can be here. That one is loaded with sarcasm. Funny!

But what pissed me off enough to write this was the story of a grandmother who is suing Rockstar for sneaking sex scenes to her 14-year-old grandson. I don't know what the heck she was thinking when she bought an M rated game for a 14-year old, but apparently it was perfectly acceptable. However, since the ESRB changed it to AO, it is now immoral to give it to a 14-year-old. Apparently, "no parent would knowingly buy an adult-only video game for their children."

What the heck? If you're willing to buy an M-rated game about pimping, murdering, drug-dealing and gang wars, I'm sure that you have just blatantly impressed upon your child that you don't care what they play. What the heck is a crappy, poorly-textured, (and very difficult to unlock) sex scene going to do? What parental mindset says, "Well, its okay that they are learning to kill cops, but a split second of crappy sex is going to scar them forever!" Sheesh!

And the government has decided that debating the future of our country is too dull. The House of Congress has ordered a federal investigation into the game! What the heck! Pick on Playboy: the Mansion! GTA has nothing on that!

People should stop trying to control what parents can buy for their children. Let the parents decide! If you want to focus on children, focus on their crappy, dull history classes (brought to you by Lies My Teacher Told Me)! Stop twisting the truth to our youth and telling them that everything is going to be alright! Choose textbooks based on how well it invokes critical thinking, not on politics or what overtly conservative parent will say. The same goes for GTA - let the parents decide if it is appropriate for their child.

This country is based on capitalism! Our government loves laissez-faire! They'll let the oil industry do whatever it wants, but the gaming industry? Of course not, it might damage children into becoming violent. Meanwhile, the government's own Bureau of Statistics says that crime rates for children have dropped excessively since video games really picked up. What? Stop being so hypocritical!! And STAY OUT OF THE GAMING INDUSTRY!!

Whew.... that was a nice rant.

Letters #1 and #2
Again, letter #3
Grandma Sues Rockstar
Tags: Gaming Xbox GTA:SA Grand Theft Auto Hot Coffee

It's Off-Topic, Charlie Brown!

2005-07-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

I'm not up to rambling about the current state of affairs right now. Maybe later.

This post is about related (*hacking cough*) stuff. Such as Internet Explorer. I realized less than an hour ago that this blog looks really off if you view it with IE. I don't blame myself for not realizing this because Firefox is way better. Apparently the arrows that indicate an external link don't show up in IE. Why? Because IE sucks. The main problem is that IE leaves the space after each link and makes it look horrible. So, for now, I'm just going to remove that feature entirely until I take the time to find a work-around.

Second, is an announcement of self-glory. I've been selected as a moderator on the PasswordMaker forums! If you don't know what PasswordMaker is, then check out this site. It is a very useful extension for Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape that allows you to create high quality, practically uncrackable passwords with a minimum amount of fuss. I highly recommend that anyone who surfs the web get both Firefox and PasswordMaker. It will give you an extremely secure surfing experience.
Tags: IE Firefox PasswordMaker

How Rare can you get?

2005-07-22T14:23:00.000-04:00

Rareware is one of my favorite gaming companies. They have produced some of the best classics that I have ever played. I consistently return to such wonderful games as Goldeneye 007, Jet Force Gemini, and Banjo-Kazooie. However, ever since being bought by Microsoft they have floundered (with the exception of Conker: Live and Reloaded, which was just released).

I suppose I should start with one of their practically-trademarked, er... qualities. Rare is very well known for having no guilt or shame about pushing back the release date. Case in point: Conker: Live and Reloaded came out within the last few weeks, but it was originally an N64 game. That's, what, 5 years ago? The only thing that you can know for sure about Rare's release dates is, well, nothing.
Continue Reading "How Rare can you get?"
Another thing to note: when, I say "Rare" (or "Rareware"), I am referring to the company after it created Donkey Kong Country for SNES. Everything before that is insignificant.

Rareware began as a third-party videogame developer. Eventually, they become devoted to Nintendo. Their main games are for SNES and N64. But sometime in 2002, Nintendo sold the rights to Rareware to Microsoft. About 80 people quit from Rareware at the news, and went to various other companies. Many went to Free Radical Design and created the hit Timesplitters series. For the Xbox, Rare has created a whopping 2 games! Grabbed by Goulies, you can ignore, but Conker is already forming a cult (just check out Old Grandma (warning: language) and see her love of the game).

One thing that has always fascinated me about Rareware is their ability to create some of the most awesome in-game music that I have ever heard. Also amazing is their ability to fit the music perfectly to the surroundings. If you're underwater in Banjo-Kazooie, the music adjusts to a subdued, well... underwater-type music. If you're storming a base in Jet Force Gemini, there will be a dramatic tune going along in the background that you will find yourself humming years later, even though you haven't played in 4 years. The music in the jungles of Donkey Kong Country 3 sounds like a stereotypical Aztec/Mayan music. Etc.

Let's start with the Donkey Kong games Rare created. Nintendo gave them the rights to the monkey in the original classic Donkey Kong. You know, the one that threw barrels at Mario. Rare turned around and made a sweet sidescroller that everyone I know have fallen in love with withing 5 minutes. The well-hidden secrets, the excellent level design, the dynamics involved in killing "baddies," all of these combined to create one heck of an experience. Especially the level design. Nearly every level has something weird about it, be it the rising and lowering water levels, low gravity, or having to escape the saw as it moves up the tree. It was pure gameplay, and still has a cult following.

On the N64, Rare created Banjo-Kazooie (and later, Banjo-Tooie). At first one would think it's just a Super Mario 64 knock-off. And, indeed, it has many of the same elements and movesets that Super Mario 64 has. But the gameplay and humor was equal to (I would say, better than) Super Mario 64's. Banjo, the bear, and Kazooie, the cheeky bird in Banjo's backpack, wander around Grunty's Lair to save Banjo's sister. Their shoddy progress is frequently commented on (in rhyme) by the witch, Gruntilda. Mumbo, a shaman, will change you into various creatures/objects, such as a walrus, a bumblebee, or even a pumpkin. Rareware even works its British humor into the game quite well (though not to the degree of Conker). Characters in the game (especially in Banjo-Tooie) will comment on the fact that it is, indeed, a video game. Also, seeing Kazooie fart an egg out of her butt is always good for a laugh. While these games are sligtly (extreme emphasis) kiddy, the games certainly bring a unique flair to the video gaming world.

Another hit game by Rare is Goldeneye. This game is much like the Halo of the N64 games (to make a bad analogy). It revolutionized how we play shooting games, and was unusually enjoyable. There were 40+ weapons that you could choose from, each with varying power and attributes. You'll probably never hear me say this about any other game, but what I liked most were the cheats. You could activate unlimited ammo, all weapons, and invincibility and then just slaughter hoards of rather dim enemies. It is a shame that Goldeneye: Rogue Agent disgraced the Goldeneye name.

The last classic that I will ramble about is Jet Force Gemini. This was a critically acclaimed game, but it didn't sell as well as it could have. The reason? Crappy controls. This game has one of the worst implemented control scheme I've ever seen. But despite that, it was (and is) still one of my favorites. The music was excellent, the weapons were well-varied, and there were many types of enemies to fight. The other thing about this game is it is long. You will learn to hate tribals, and might find yourself slaughtering the cute, innocent bears by the dozen. Just look at any review on GameFAQs to find out why. You can start here

Rare has created some of my favorite classics to date. The gameplay, the humor, the level design, and the music are the highlights of Rareware. I will be an eternal fan of these games, and am proud to own them. From Donkey Kong Country to the day that Microsoft bought them, Rareware has produce outstanding games. Nintendo (and soon Microsoft) owes a lot to Rare for being, possibly, the best third-party video game developer for so long. If you have an SNES or an N64, and you haven't played any of these games yet, then you should be shamed and banished by people everywhere!
Tags: Gaming Nintendo Rare Rareware SNES N64 Donkey Kong Banjo Kazooie Goldeneye Jet Force Gemini

GTA Gets AO Rating (Prepare for a rant)

2005-07-21T16:12:00.000-04:00

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been re-rated by the ESRB to a Adults Only rating. This is a horrible situation for the ESRB to be in, and they chose was an easy way out.

Let us rephrase the previous two sentences: The ESRB bowed to government pressure and changed the rating in order to get good ol' Hilary Clinton (as well as numerous others) to shut up. Of course, those people were calling for censureship, and I'm unsure how they got away with it. What the *@#! happened to democracy?!?! to laissez faire? to capitalism? to it being up to the parents? This is America, home of the most anti-communist people ever to grace the earth! It is practically written into the Constitution that the government won't censure stuff (unless it's for "National Security" or some bullcrap like that).
Continue Reading "GTA Gets AO Rating"
Giving GTA an AO rating is just going to keep it out of Wal-Mart, not the internet. If a kid could get their parents/older sibling to buy GTA when it was rated M, what is going to stop the same kid from getting it if it's AO? AO is one year different from M! This will not keep many people from it because of their age. It will just keep it out of the retail stores. Rockstar fears it will loose a crapload of money (Take-Two has had a 6% drop is stock prices already), but I don't think it will be much. All this controversy has likely perked up at least a few curious ears, and people will be buying the game to see what the big deal is.

Rockstar is also planning to re-release GTA "with enhanced security to prevent the 'hot coffee' modifications." Nothing about removing it (but there might be something I'm missing here). This will bump it back into an M rating.

On a related note, Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 will come with parental controls/child block. Huh? This is in the same boat!! Chances are very good that parents will not be aware of this feature, and what good will it do? If the parent buys an M rated video game for little Billy, than the feature is pointless! It is simply Microsoft going "Hey look! We're doing something!"

GameSpot.com: GTA gets AO [Read]
The Inquirer: Xbox with Parental Controls [Read]

Via Joystiq, and numerous others.
Tags: Gaming Xbox Xbox 360 Grand Theft Auto GTA GTA:SA Hot Coffee Rockstar

Well, Duh.

2005-07-18T14:11:00.000-04:00

A recent report showed that video games "can distract the player from the sensation of pain," leading to faster healing and far less discomfort in the long run.

Well, I could've told you that. In fact, just about any active video gamer could have told you that.

However, I appreciate that time taken to make the use of video games a viable option to pain management. But you didn't have to do this study! The article alone links to several different studies of cases where almost the same thing was proven. Heck, if anyone wanted a list of all of the good news about video games, they should just follow all of the links in the first 3 paragraphs.

And look at the rest of the article! Many of the people that cite this article go 'Oh, joy!! Good News!' without reading it the whole way through. Much of the second part of the article talks about the negative affects, such as increased aggressiveness and the like. It lists off 11 problems that have come up when playing video games. But its not the worst and most aggressive article that I've seen, so I'm not complaining too much.

But luckily, it concludes on a relatively high note (read: neutral) and says basically more long term studies are needed.

British Medical Journal [Read]
Via Eurogamer.
Tags: Gaming Nintendo DS

Awesome Mario Speed Run

2005-07-13T16:26:00.000-04:00

The following speed run of Super Mario 64 is simply awesome. Using glitches, shortcuts, and major sequence breaking, the person who did this beats the entire game in just barely over 20 minutes. Grated, they skipped literally 7/8ths of the game, but who cares?!

I've watched many speed runs (you can find many of them at the Internet Archives) and I can honestly say that I have not yet seen one that so quickly and so casually dismisses nearly all of the arbitrary barriers that the designers put in. When I saw the freefall off of Princess Peach's slide (see picture) I would have bet that there is no way to make that. But the person made it, and smoothly too.

If you have 20 minutes of spare time (and factor in some extra if your internet connection sucks), then you should sit down and watch this simply awesome video.

SpikedHumor.com (Windows Media Player) [Watch]
Via 4 color rebellion
Tags: Gaming Nintendo N64 Mario Super Mario 64 Speed Run

Summer

2005-07-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

Summer's here, and what does that mean to gamers? No new games.

Game developers hesitate to release games in the summer, as the holidays are 'just around the corner.' Never mind that millions of kids just got out of school, and that this would be a great opportunity to release something for them to do. After all, they've just shown us all of it at E3, so why don't we just wait until winter? >:( However, they are starting to get a bit better at releasing summer games. After all, Kirby: Canvus Curve was just released. And look at how popular it has become.

But this does create a wonderful opportunity to go back and revisit lost games. Beat Super Metroid again, Halo, Halo 2, Star Wars: KotOR, Zelda 64 (as well as all of the other Zeldas), and on and on and on. I, however, sat down and got re-addicted to Animal Crossing!!
Continue Reading "GTA Gets AO Rating"
Animal Crossing, for those of you who have never stepped outside in 5 years, is a wonderful game for the Nintendo Gamecube (and soon for the Nintendo DS, too). You move to a small village, are given a pat on the back, and then set loose. It is surprisingly flexible in how you play it (I was going to say open-ended, but that's not quite the right word). You can spend your time fishing, catching bugs, decorating your room, doing chores and favors for the villagers, chatting with the villagers, and quite a bit more. Other than the joy gotten from doing those tasks, there is no real point to this game - you can never die, and there is no end.

Also, Animal Crossing implements a real-time clock, so the village will continue onward whether you're playing or not. It's not uncommon, after not playing it for a while, to pick up the game again and find your town full of weeds and a few people short. This system means that this game must become integrated with your life!!

But it's not like there's no point. The main point is to make money (Bells). Much of the game is paying off your debt, and then buying a bigger house so that you have a new debt to pay off. You can now add more stuff to your house, such as that samurai suit display you always wanted. There is so much furniture in this game that you could play the game for a year and not find everything. That goes for clothing, too. To make even more sure that you'll play, much of the stuff is only available during certain times of the year, or during a special holiday.

And that concludes today's post. Remember: play Animal Crossing, and your life will be fulfilled (as long as you keep playing).

Tags: Gaming Nintendo Summer Nintendo Gamecube Nintendo DS Animal Crossing

Fun with Physics!

2005-07-11T14:24:00.000-04:00

Megon has a tech demonstration of the next generation's physics system. It most certainly is not graphically advanced, but the physics are smooth, and it gets the point across.

Strangely, I had a lot of fun in this tech demonstration. You start off in a single room full of various objects (such as glass, panels on the wall, or a balcony). You can walk around in it, and shoot everything with the big red balls, and each object responds beautifully. Glass shatters nicely, the panels fall accordingly, the solid balls fly around.

I think I had more fun in this 5 minute tech demonstration than in many (a scary amount) recent video games.

Megon Future Technologies (Look for the GDC 2005 techdemo, just after the movies) [Read]
Via Joystiq
Tags: Gaming Next Gen Physics Nintendo Revolution Xbox 360

Violence in Video Games

2005-07-06T12:28:00.000-04:00

Violence in video games and how they affect people has been a major discussion recently. Many politicians, including good ol' Hillary Clinton, have been trying to outlaw the sale of 'M' rated games, specifically Grand Theft Auto, to minors. This seems to be causing tension throughout the media, as some of them are starting to include what video games people have recently bought whenever a murder happens.

I will tell you right now and upfront. I have always been an anti-mass-media type of person (which is why I'm running a one-man blog). I think that if you are a major media source with hundreds of employees, journalists will twist the information and over-dramatize the news so that their story goes first. It all comes down to who can make the biggest scandal/ story/ article/ 5-minute-clip-of-a-building-blowing-up.

People have lamented on how the situation seems oddly specific to Grand Theft Auto (and even more specific to San Andreas). I agree with Conrad in that it seems to be more of a PR thing than keeping 'M' rated out of the hands of minors. This too comes back to the fear of a bad media coverage (which, I'll will bet, will happen soon).

Recent events and studies aren't helping the average gamer's image, either. A couple in South Korea recently left their 4-month-old to die while they played World of Warcraft [Read]. A 15-year-old boy in Japan beat up his parents and blew up their apartment, and they are connecting it to his love of Grand Theft Auto [Read]. A 4-year-old died of heat stroke in the car because he wanted to stay and play video games [Read].

This is a very disturbing trend, and it is getting worse. The recent study that showed that your brain becomes dramatically more cognitive and less emotional when you play violent video games is an extremely one-sided study. That is the only thing they looked at. No puzzle games, no RPGs, no strategy games, not even games like Myst. If they looked at those, too, then it would be much less bias. [Read]

But, of course, the media exists to sell itself. No one wants to hear that video games improve your logic skills. But parents will pay attention when they learn that the video game that their child is playing might turn their son into a mass murderer who will blow up their apartment.

Via Joystiq, Kotaku, and Press The Buttons.

Tags: Gaming Video Games Grand Theft Auto

Back From the Dead

2005-06-27T14:44:00.000-04:00

I'm back from the dead!! Give me a hip hip hooray! *silence* Ah... never mind...

Anyway, if you want to be the proud owner of an NES (see picture) and 783 games, then look no furthur! Some guy is selling it on eBay, and it can be yours! However, you have to: first, beat the current bid of $5,600, and then reach the reserve (which hasn't been met yet).

This is ridiculous. There aren't all that many good games for the NES. Sure, there were the classics, the brilliantly designed games that spawned series. But no way are there more than 50 or so of those types of games. You want my opinion? (well tough, I'm giving it anyway) Don't bid all of that money and try them all. Chances are you'll never even pick up 700 of those games again.

If I were that person, I would wait several more years, until those games become things that museums would buy. Right now, it's worth almost crap. I seriously doubt that set is worth all that much more than a few hundred.

eBay item [Read]

Update June 28, 12:20 pm:Up to $8,100 and the reserve still hasn't been met. Hoo boy.
Update:Bidding ended at $10,099.99. Seeing as the reserve wasn't met, I'm wondering if neswoman ended up selling it.

Tags: Gaming Nintendo NES eBay

More Halo Stuff

2005-06-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

GameSpy has a nice story on the remaining five multiplayer maps for Halo 2. All 9 of them (these and the others) look mostly fun and certainly entertaining for hours on end. Of all of them, however, Turf looks the most fun. I've always been a big fan of street fighting. It has sniping posts, alleyways, and an entire maze of streets that crisscross the small city. Also, Relic (see picture) looks fun also. Imagine a crudload of people cramped on that small little island. It doesn't seem like a good place for CTF though.

GameSpy.com Preview [Read]

Also, the Halo 2 Tourney winner has been announced! The winner is King Tuur of the Netherlands! He both won his name being filtered through everywhere, but also a crapload of stuff.

Xbox.com Winners! [Read]

Technorati Tags: Gaming Xbox Halo 2 Bungie Xbox Live

Halo Stuff

2005-06-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

For starters, let us discuss the Halo movie. I don't think they should do a movie at all. Period. And yet Bungie wants to milk the Halo craze for all it's worth. Bungie is doing a good job, however, at being very picky about who they pick to make the movie. I like how they are determined not to let anyone else make a bad movie or add a plot twist that Bungie will have to accomadate for. This keeps it more in the spirt of the plot line. But a movie?!? That's stupid! Some CEO was drinking that day.

Also, the Halo championship tourney is nearing an end. They've eliminated it down to 24 people, one from each of Xbox Live!'s regions. This should be interesting. I hope someone posts some videos of the fights online.

Halo Movie [Read]
Tourney Finalists [Read]

Technorati Tags: Gaming Xbox Halo Halo 2 Xbox Live

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Replayability

2005-06-06T17:38:00.000-04:00

I've decided to skip the Multiplayer review of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones because I can sum it up in one word: sucks. You most certainly would not buy this game for the multiplayer mode. You would buy it for the campaign mode and the hours of gaming and replay value it offers. This last part, coincidentally, is what this post is about.

Replay Value
This game has excellent replay value. I simply cannot put it down, and yet the game keeps continuing. The campaign mode is lengthy and immersing. You grow to connect with many of the characters, either through the plot evolution or the support conversations. One major source of replay value, is that, at a certain point in the game, you choose between Eirika and Emphraim and finish the game with them. Then, you can replay with the other character, and learn more about the plot, as well as you play different maps.

There are countless other parts that add to the replay value. You can focus on different characters, or try a different difficulty. The single player mode offers tons of hours of guaranteed gameplay, and makes this game a great one in itself.

+ 9 all of the good things I said
- 1 no multiplayer to continue past the campaign
8 /10 for replayability

Note/Edit(08/01/05): I lowered the score 2 points because it isn't as replayable as I thought. I guess you really do have to play it through to figure out.

Note: The Plot review won't come for some time, so be patient. Hopefully I'll have enough to make it sooner, rather than later. Also, I apologize for the crappines of this post. I'm a bit tired today, but I don't want to put off writing this even more.

Also see Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, ~~Multiplayer~~, Replayability, and Plot.

Technorati Tags: Gaming Nintendo Gameboy FireEmblem

Nintendo Revolution Downloads Free

2005-06-06T17:35:00.000-04:00

Nintendo has announced that most of the games that can be downloaded by the Nintendo Revolution will be free. Or at least, those that are made by Nintendo. This is absolutely fantastic. Now anyone will be able to nearly play all of the Mario games for nothing. However, third-party companies can charge what they want, so it's not completely good.

There is a rumor going around of a list of games that Nintendo will offer, but Press The Buttons discredits many of the listings.

Nintendo games are free! [Read]
List of games [Read]
Press the Buttons' article [Read]

Technorati Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo Revolution

Gamers' Manifesto

2005-06-02T18:17:00.000-04:00

This is an excellent article about the 20 things that gamers really want from the next generation of games. This guys cusses like a sailor, so be warned (or get Firefox, Greasemonkey, and the clean language script. Just a thought.) Also, if you're not a gamer, many of these you will not understand. Favorites are 1, 2, 3, and what the hey, all of them.

Favorite quote:

"Gradually tougher enemies, more enemies, mind-bending puzzles, it's all good. It's all fair. But DO NOT try to artificially make your game harder with... arbitrary triggers in RPG's. Why isn't the Dark Elf waiting at the Black Temple like he said? Because I haven't talked to every f***ing person in town yet."

Or maybe its this one, where the chances of businesses keeping away from making crappy games based on movies are:

"Excellent. I like to think that some day the businesses of the world will wake up and realize they're part of a greater whole, that the energy devoted to cannabalistic infighting means ultimate doom for all. The leaders of the great religions of the world will realize that all of us, Muslim, Christian, Jew, all want the same for humanity. Women will realize it's the pale, studious type they want instead of the quarterback of the football team, and everywhere we walk, bunnies will dance a path for us. Dance, little guys! Dance!"

Heck, the whole article is an excellent quote. If you are a gamer, check it out. Now.

A Gamers' Manifesto [Read]

Technorati Tags: Gaming Nintendo Xbox Xbox 360

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Gameplay

2005-06-02T16:22:00.000-04:00

Gameplay
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is a strategy game. Sure, it has touches of an RPG game, but it is primarily strategy. The maps are set up as a grid, and each character can move a certain amount of squares. Luckily, the movement is quick and smooth, so there is very little waiting for units to get there (and you can set the options to make movement so quick its almost instantaneous!).

The battle system is quick to catch on to. There is a weapons-triangle, sword-axe-lance, and a magic-triangle, anima-light-dark; both are in rock-paper-scissors style. However, there are also different types of each weapon. For example, slim lances are weak, but have a great accuracy and are light, so usually characters will strike twice. However, a heavy spear is much more powerful, but has a lower accuracy and is much heavier. Also, there are bows and long range weapons, but these generally have drawbacks in itself.

Each type of unit is different from all of the others. Cavaliers (cavalry) have a high movement range, are usually good at direct combat, and can move again after, say, using an item. Knights, however, are very slow, have low movement, but have crazy-high defense. A new addition to this game is the ability to chose what a character levels up into. This adds a whole new strategy to this game, and forces you to think about what your team's weaknesses are.

There are three difficulty levels, right off the bat. Easy has an in-game tutorial. Normal and Difficult don't. The tutorial is very informative, but isn't as interworked into the gameplay as it was in the previous Fire Emblem. The game starts out with Eirika, the princess of Renais, and sticks with her for the first 8 levels. Then you are prompted with a choice between her or her brother, Ephraim, and then you are stuck with them for pretty much the rest of the game. This is a nice feature that allows you to view the story in two different ways.

Basically, if you liked Advanced Wars, but though it was too kiddy, this game would be perfect for you.

+5 Weapons systems
+3 Movement system
+1 Something else
9 /10 in Gameplay

Also see Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, ~~Multiplayer~~, Replayability, and Plot.

Technorati Tags:Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Sound

2005-06-01T15:52:00.000-04:00

Sound
The original Fire Emblem had one main theme that was played in different tones and different themes. It didn't have all that many completely distinct compositions. Some themes were happy, others were mournful. Some were very dark, with very low tones, and other were light and giddy. They did one song so many different ways that it covered all the bases.

The music in this new Fire Emblem is almost completely different. There seems to be far more than just one main theme song. If you listen really hard and pretend a bit, you can make out a similar tune between some tracks, but the casual listener probably won't notice it right away. The music on the whole seems to be slightly darker, but there is no absence of joyful tunes.

Personally, I don't like the music as much, but it is easy to ignore and very few are overtly repetitive. The music sets the themes and tones of the scences very well. I should make it clear that some of the songs I actually enjoy, and a few I despise, but most are in between. The net rating, however, is that I don't like the music as much. Luckily, they kept the sound room, so one can listen to any music they choose.

The sound effects of the game are excellent. Not as believable and realistic as, say, Halo, but still wonderful in their own right. The foot steps between cavalry and knight, for example, are easily distinguishable. Also, when your character happens to get a critical hit, there is a nice, satisfying bang. Best of all, they are generally inconspicuous, so they won't annoy you. One thing to mention is there is no voice acting. It is all text based conversations. But, if you can read this, you should be fine.

+5 Variety of music
+5 Good sound effects
-3 personal dislike of music
+1 Inconspicuousness
8 /10 for Sound (Yes, I am making up the scores based on personal opinion. What did you expect from a blog?)

Also see: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, ~~Multiplayer~~, Replayability, and Plot.

Technorati Tags:Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Reviewed! --Graphics

2005-05-31T16:38:00.000-04:00

I managed to scare up the money to buy Fire Emblem on my vacation and was impressed. I haven't finished it yet, but I've played enough to do a decent review on it. This will be a six-part series of posts, hopefully one per night. Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, ~~Multiplayer~~, Replayability, and Plot. The final one may take a while to show up, so don't fret if I haven't come up with it by then. Also, if you're worried about spoliers on the plot one, I will make it as an expandable post, so you don't have to read that one if you don't want to.

Graphics
Excellent in most aspects. This game has some wonderful character sprites for the dialogues, and excellent backgrounds too. In the dialogues, the heads move around in just the right way that you know more or less exactly what is happening at all times.

The strategic view, or rather the overview of the battlefield, is done with nice, simple graphics than actually please the eye. Nothing too complicated, but still enough for you to be able to tell exactly what it is (which is more than can be said with many Gameboy games).

The battle animations are fluid, with some nice flashy effects. The battling character sprites are nicely detailed, but still simple enough that you can tell exactly what just happened. The only complaint about this area is that many of the battle animations were copied directly from the other Fire Emblem. However, there are so many new types of units, so that makes up for it.

Strangely, the graphics in general are nicely anti-aliased, to the point where I could have sworn some of the edges were dead smooth. How they managed to pull this off on the highly pixeled Gameboy is beyond me.

Overall, the graphics are wonderful. They managed to pull off a truely beautiful game out of the pixelized bucket of bolts that is the Gameboy Advanced. I bought it for the graphics, now I'll see if the other aspects were worth it.

+ 5 for new character sprites
+ 5 for new maps
- 1 for reusing the same sprites for battle
9 /10 in Graphics

Technorati Tags:Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

Nintendo World Kicks Butt

2005-05-31T16:23:00.000-04:00

Oh, did I forget to tell you guys about this place? Sorry, yeah. It opened a few weeks ago.

Anyway, RedAssedBaboon has a nice post about their tour of the newly opened place. It sounds nice, and has nearly 30 nice pictures to go along with it.

RedAssedBaboon's post [Read/View]

Technorati Tags:Gaming Nintendo

Vacation

2005-05-26T20:53:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be gone for a trip, so don't expect any posts. Can't say who, what, where, how, or why. I can say when: Friday through Monday afternoon. I'll try to recap on everything that happened over the weekend either Monday evening, or Tuesday.

See you then.

Note: this is the first post without a picture! Aren't you proud of me?
Technorati Tags: None!

Update:I find it so depressing and extremely ironic that I recieved 1/2 of my total hits for the month in the 4 days that I went on vacation. Fate is so cruel to me!! :(

Post E3 Mess and Xbox 360 High Resolution Movies

2005-05-24T17:28:00.000-04:00

Now we go from the week of E3, where there is a huge amount of information to the weeks after E3, where nothing happens. Sometimes I wish they would spread it out more, but the public seems to like an overload of information all at once. After all, the average attention span for an adult is 20 minutes, and for a child, it's much less.

Anyway, Major Nelson has uncovered some wonderful high resolution videos of Xbox 360 games. Of course, I wouldn't know how high the resolution is, because my internet connection isn't that good. The Quake 4 one is huge.

High-Resolution Videos (Windows Media Player) [View]

Technorati Tags:Gaming Xbox Xbox 360 E3

Fire Emblem Released!

2005-05-23T17:21:00.000-04:00

The second Fire Emblem in the US has been released! From how I understand it, in this game, you have slightly more control over the game. You can chose what they level up into, you can revisit old areas, and fight in Tower of Valni to gain loads of experience. There are only a few reviews so far, but they look good.

Official Website [View]
Metacritic Roundup (so far) [Read]

Technorati Tags:Gaming Nintendo Gameboy Fire Emblem

Xbox360.com

2005-05-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

The Xbox 360.com website that I was talking about has been almost completely revamped. It still has everything that it had before, but now there are more wallpapers and more high-resolution pictures, including a hot picture of Joanna from Perfect Dark. Check it out, it's cool.

Xbox360.com [View]

Technorati Tags:Gaming Xbox Xbox 360 Perfect Dark

Logo Indecision and Technorati

2005-05-22T16:54:00.000-04:00

I'm having indecision about the logo at the top. I almost like the previous logo I had more than the logo I have now. Click the picture at the left to view the previous one, and tell me which one you guys like more in the comments.

Also, you may notice the Technorati tags on the bottom. I'm working to implement them into previous posts, so this blog may be iffy for a while.
Update: That's enough. If I go any furthur back, those poor people that look at Technorati tags will get stuff that isn't recent.

Technorati Tags:Blog Technorati

E3 - Xbox 360

2005-05-18T16:09:00.000-04:00

The Xbox 360 at E3. Yeah, I know I'm late. It was Monday night, and I haven't gotten around to it until today. Anyway, the Xbox 360 showing was more of a commercial than anything else, but there were some cool bits of info.

For starters it will be backwards compatible!!! (for the most popular games though) That means that you could play all the Halo games on a single system. That's about it. I must be missing something with this fact, because it doesn't seem that big.

Also, it will come with a basic free version of Xbox Live! out of the box. This is big. Especially since there are a lot of features with this one alone. Also, HDTV support with all games.

Actually, they didn't talk all that much about the Xbox 360 itself, but more on the games.

Oh well.

Joystiq.com [Read]
IGN [Read]
E3 Insider Movie [Read]

Technorati Tags:Gaming E3 Xbox 360

Zelda

2005-05-18T15:52:00.000-04:00

The new Zelda game looks sweet. While it will be much more detailed than Windwaker, it isn't so hyper-realistic that it can't have it's own art style. It will be a darker game, and I think it justly deserves to be. The werewolf thing is a bit weird, though. After all, after Link turns into a werewolk, some little pet-thing rides on him and you fight from that view.

From the movie, Link seems to have three distict stages. First, he has some strange forest garb that really creeps me out. It seems to be a type of training stage. Then there is the 'Link' that everyone has come to recognize, with his tunic and funny cap. Then there is the werewolf stage, but who knows what that's all about?

Anyway, the game is looking really sweet. I might buy it without even renting it first.

Zelda Trailer (Quicktime) [Read]

Technorati Tags:E3 Nintendo Zelda Link Gaming

E3 - Gameboy Micro

2005-05-17T16:34:00.000-04:00

There was in fact another Game Boy coming out. There were rumors, but I dismissed them without a thought. "Just another internet rumor," said I, "They can't have another Gameboy, they have the DS." How wrong I was. The Game Boy Micro will play all Game Boy games, but no DS ones. It will have the brightest screen they've made yet, and is could, literally, be held with one hand.

To paraphrase everyone, this is just a designer thing. If you're too cool to have a Game Boy, or, heaven forbid, a DS, just get this. Pretend it's your second cell phone.

Joystiq [Read] and [Read]
IGN [Read]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Gaming E3 Gameboy Gameboy Micro

E3 - Revolution

2005-05-17T16:10:00.000-04:00

The Revolution is here! As Satoru Iwata, the President of Nintendo said, "the Revolution is by far the smallest console we have manufactured. In its final form, it will be even smaller than this, about the size of 3 DVD cases stacked together. It will play either horizontally or vertically.” There will be wireless controllers (which they said they would go into more detail later), and the ability to play both DVDs and GCN games. Everyone is jumping on the wireless bandwagon. Also, some wifi support, as touched on at GDC.

Also, very suprisingly, they announced that the Revolution will allow gamers to play any games from any Nintendo system. The details of how, however, remain absent. But being able to play all of the Metroid games, (or Zelda games or Mario games or...) would be cool. You would be able to play each one in a series, and live the story line, game by game (But that would also be over-rated. There generally isn't much inter-game storyline.).

Also, a bunch of games were shown, including the upcoming Link game, "The Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess." Bit of a weird title, eh?

Joystiq Coverage [Read] and [Read]
IGN Coverage [Read], [Read] and [Read]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Gaming E3 Revolution

E3!!

2005-05-15T14:59:00.000-04:00

E3 is this week!! Presumably, all of the next generation systems will be revealed here (or, in the case of the Xbox 360, more info will be given). I, being too poor, will not be going there, but other sites will be, so I'll just give commentaries based on their stories. So stay tuned and check often!

E3 will be covered live by G4, which I am too poor to see, and covered by gaming blogs around the web (any of the links on the right will do). Speaking of G4, check out their commercial for E3. It's hilarious.

G4 E3 Commercial (Couldn't resist) [Watch]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Xbox Gaming E3

Xbox 360 Official Web Page

2005-05-15T14:51:00.000-04:00

The Xbox 360 web page is a sleek java applet. However, the real beauty of it is the pictures of the console and the controller. Zoom, rotate, do whatever, and see the next generation up close.

Xbox360.com [View]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Xbox 360 Web Page

Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution

2005-05-15T14:34:00.000-04:00

MTV's Unveiling of the Xbox 360 has come and gone. Why didn't I report on it? 1. I was too lazy. 2. Everyone else did it better. Go check those out and ignore my humble blog (I would recommend the Video Game Ombudsman article for a laugh).

gamesblog.it and Joystiq.com are reporting on leaked Nintendo Revolution logos. While Joystiq likes it, I don't. It's a bit retro. Why someone would have a retro logo for a system nicknamed the 'Revolution' is beyond me (but then again, this is Nintendo we're talking about). Don't get me wrong, it's not ugly, but I don't think I could look at it for month after month for a few years. I seriously doubt the picture on the second page will pass any focus groups.

Joystiq Reports!! [Read]
gamesblog.it photos! [View]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Xbox Xbox 360 MTV Revolution Gaming

MTV Special Taped

2005-05-10T15:58:00.000-04:00

The big MTV special has been taped, so all the big time stars and celebs have now seen it, while us little average consumers have to wait until Thursday. I have intentionally decided not to report on anything that concerns the next-gen Xbox until the special is shown, because they will probably discuss the answers then.

By the way, it is being shown on Thursday, May 12, 2005 at 9:30 EST. That's just under two days away! If you don't live on the east coast, find out when its being shown here.

Xbox.com News--MTV Unveiling [Read]
Xbox.com News--On the Scene [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox MTV

Xbox 360

2005-05-07T16:58:00.000-04:00

Engadget has managed to uncover a picture of the actual Xbox 360. I've got to say, it looks hideous (but that's probably the white). It definitely fits the picture and the description. There even seems to be a hard drive attached to the top and an eye toy-like thing next to it.

Engadget Post [Read]

Pardon for the mass of links, but the picture corroborates so well with the rumors that have been reported that I felt the need to show all the gossip that this pictures supports.

Technorati Tags:Xbox Xbox 360 Engadget Photo

Bill Gate's Interview

2005-05-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

Bill Gates has revealed that the Xbox Live! feature for the next-generation Xbox will have many more features than the current Xbox Live! For starters, you will have the ability to view your buddy list, listen to music, look a photos, watch TV (huh?), etc. I am really hoping that you aren't forced to only use stuff provided by Microsoft. I really shouldn't fret too much, as someone will always find a way around it, be it legal or not.

He also, rather irrelevantly, joked about how the bloggers were making it "more difficult than ever to provide a single company message to the public given the number of Microsoft employees who are now blogging publicly." To end it, he made a horrible joke against Macs. Guess I should have known he was a bad conversationalist, aside from being the richest nerd (and person) in the world.

Also, a reminder-The MTV special of the unveiling of the next-gen Xbox is May 12 at 9:30 PM EST. [Read More]
Xbox 365 article about Gates [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox Live Microsoft Gates

How Nice of IGN...

2005-05-02T16:58:00.000-04:00

IGN has unlocked a crudload of guides for viewing by the public for every gaming system. Many of them aren't the greatest games, but some are actually pretty good. For instance, Fire Emblem (GBA) rocks, and Metroid Fusion (also GBA) rocks. I don't really recognize the rest.

For some reason the list only goes to 'N,' but I'm hoping that it's intentional, rather than technical. Also, it might look like I'm linking you to the Gamecube list, but it actually has all the newly free guides from all the systems on it.

IGN Guides list [Read]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Xbox IGN

Half-Life 2 for Xbox

2005-05-02T15:15:00.000-04:00

Value is currently making a port of one of the best games of 2004 from the PC to Xbox. This seems to be following the trend of Doom 3, but who's complaining?

IGN has taken a sneak peek at the game, and they are impressed. The graphics are as good, if not better, than what is was on the PC. It is set to releases in late August 2005, but with single-player mode only. IGN also gave it a big thumbs-up on how Value handled the transition from the keyboard to a controller. This could be a major hit, and will furthur set Half-Life 2 in stone as one of the greatest games ever created.

IGN Hands-On [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Half Life 2

Halo 2 World Championship

2005-04-30T11:14:00.000-04:00

Join the tournament to become the Halo 2 World Champion. According to the Xbox.com site:

The highest-ranked player (who is also tourney-registered and eligible) in the Rumble Pit will be declared the U.S. Halo 2 Tournament Champion, and will receive:

* Master Chief statue
* Halo 2 U.S. champion plaque
* Halo 2 U.S. champion sweatshirt
* Samsung Personal Camcorder
* $500 U.S. in cash
* $100 GameStop gift card

The only reason I would do it would be for world-wide recognition.

Xbox.com Tournament Details [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Xbox Live Halo 2

Business Figs

2005-04-30T10:57:00.000-04:00

GamesIndustry.biz has some interesting figures that have recently been released. One of them is the news that the Nintendo DS topped 5 million units sold in March worldwide. That's very good news, especially as most of that was from Europe. Europe seems to love the DS, but strangely, the USA seems to be obsessed with the PSP.

Another important figure is that the Xbox got a net loss in sales again for the first 2005 quarter, but that won't even put a dent in Microsoft. Heck, they could lose money for a decade and still had a lot to spare.

GamesIndustry.biz Nintendo DS Article [Read]
GamesIndustry.biz Xbox Article [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Nintendo Nintendo DS

Da Woodcube!

2005-04-27T16:19:00.000-04:00

The Woodcube is downright ugly, but it probably functions well. It has a SNES, a Playstation, and a N64 built into it, with wooden levers as on/off switches. This guy is a lot more adventurous with his consoles than I will ever be.

If you really want it, you can purchase it off of eBay for about $570, but you'll have to pay shipping.

Woodcube Pictures [Read]
Ebay.se Item [Read]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo N64 SNES Woodcube

DRAM for Xbox 360

2005-04-27T15:49:00.000-04:00

Japanese semiconductor giant NEC agreed to provide Microsoft embedded DRAM computer chips for the upcoming Xbox 360. It will take part in the graphics system, and will help to speed up the anti-aliasing calculations. I'm not technical enough, so if anyone can tell me what the heck the importance of this is, I would love to know.

GamesIndustry.biz Report [Read]
The Inquirer [Read]
Wikipedia on DRAM (Rather technical) [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox Xbox 360 NEC

DS Freefall

2005-04-26T16:57:00.000-04:00

Its official now, the Nintendo DS can be played wirelessly while freefalling from a plane. Four sky divers played a game of Super Mario 64 DS flawlessly while at about 400 feet away from eachother.

Lou Myers says "Playing in the air was pretty exciting. It was also incredibly difficult. Some of the problems were that when you were jumping, you needed to bring both hands together on the DS, and it seriously decreased your stability."

Not something I'm going to do anytime soon, but it definitely sounds fun.

Wired News Story [Read]

Technorati Tags:Nintendo Nintendo DS Super Mario 64 DS

Myriad of News

2005-04-25T15:20:00.000-04:00

Another picture (See right) has leaked from ourcolony.net. Current assumption is that it is a 64Megabyte memory card, as you can make out '64' and a bit of an 'M' on it.

Also, the first Halo 2 maps are available for downloading today. You can get two for free, or you can pay $5.99 for 4 maps. I would suggest that you just be patient and wait until August.

Xbox365 Memory Card News [Read]
Halo 2 Maps [Read]

Technorati Tags:Xbox OurColony Halo 2

Xbox 360 Logo

2005-04-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Xbox365 has gotten a picture of what possibly might be the official Xbox 360 logo. It makes sense--circles...360...need I say more!?! I also saw this near the end of the MTV-Xbox trailer. Frankly, if this was the actual logo, I wouldn't be suprised in the least.

Meanwhile, all is silent in the rumor world of the Nintendo Revolution...

Xbox 365 News [Read]
MTV Teaser Trailer [Watch]

Haunted NES Bought

2005-04-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

The haunted NES back in March was bought for US $225.53. However, the guy who bought it is pissed. It turns out it wasn't really haunted after all (great gaspy! < /sarcasm> ). No voices in the background, no evil presence, nothing.

1UP.com Article [Read]
Previous Haunted NES post [Read]

'M' Ratings in California

2005-04-22T13:37:00.000-04:00

California moves to illegalize the sale of 'M' rated games to minors. This has much of the gaming industry up in arms, especially MattG over at Press the Buttons. Seriously, go and read his post. I don't have a hope of doing a better job than him at expressing anger and rage on the topic.

Press The Buttons Post [Read]

MTV Teaser Trailer

2005-04-22T10:43:00.000-04:00

Microsoft and MTV are going all out. They've even created a teaser trailer about the MTV special of Xbox. A teaser trailer to the teaser trailer of the next generation Xbox. I guess they really are trying to appeal to the mass consumers with this program. Oh well, the trailer isn't that bad, and shows just how much money Microsoft has to waste, er.. spend.

Teaser Trailer [Watch]

Xbox 360 Picture?

2005-04-22T07:58:00.000-04:00

The Gamem8ker has revealed another picture, which Team Xbox speculates is the Xbox 360. It certainly seems to fit the description from what little we can see. Kotaku, however, thinks it is the removable hard drive that there have been rumors of. Yet again, no one will know for sure until May 12 when the MTV special occurs.

Team Xbox: Xbox 360 Revealed? [Read]
Kotaku's Post [Read]

Update!:Engadget has found the 'official' picture of the Xbox 360. I've got to say, it is definitely the most likely candidate of the b u n c h. I probably would have put a separate post about this if I wasn't so lazy.

Engadget [Read]

Finally Fixed

2005-04-20T19:54:00.000-04:00

Major update to my blog. I managed to finally make it compatible with IE (I didn't know!! I only use Fx) so that is no longer an issue. Also, I changed the colors around, a bit.

Oh, you want real news? How 'bout this: Amazon.co.uk is allowing anyone to preorder any of the next-generation consoles. They even have a nice little description about the rumors for each.

Nintendo Revolution [Read}
Xbox 360 [Read]
GameSpot article [Read]

More Unreal 3 Pictures

2005-04-20T15:18:00.000-04:00

GameSpy has some more pictures from upcoming Epic game. These new screenshots seem to be taking on more of a shooter feel than the previous ones. The detail is so stunning, I can't take my eyes off it!

...so mesmorizing.... *drools*

GameSpy Unreal Engine 3 pics [Read]

Multi-Version Xbox Rumor

2005-04-19T20:22:00.000-04:00

It looks like several versions of Xbox 360s will be released in time for Christmas, or at least according to latest rumors. One version will be a completely stripped down console that can only play games (but it will be cheap!). The other version rivals the Mozilla Suite for rights to 'everything but the kitchen sink.' The other version will have:

Backwards compatibility--Play Halo, KoToR, and every other Xbox game on the Xbox 360!

removable hard drive that doubles as a media player

WebTV compatibility

an extra $100 added on to the base price of $299

WebTV will bring digital access to the internet to your Xbox 360. You can access your IM, email, whatever. You want to know what think of it? I think it's just another ploy to get more people to use MSN Search, Hotmail, and MSN Messenger and keep us away from the alternatives. I fully expect Microsoft to integrate those features so well into the Xbox 360 that you will be forced to use them. No Firefox, no AIM, no Gmail, nothing else will be permitted. And with these programs so tightly integrated, all of the security problems for those programs will be hardwired into your Xbox. And I bet it doesn't come with a warranty for 'virus trouble.'

But that's just my biased, angry, underinformed opinion on the matter. Who knows how it will happen.

Kotaku Post [Read]
GamesIndustry.biz Adds More! [Read]

Electric Blue DS Coming Soon

2005-04-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

Nintendo of America has announced that the western hemisphere is getting a new color! (finally!) It will be released in June, with Kirby: Canvas Curse and Meteos coming later that month.

No longer are the colors for Japan only, and this is hopefully the start of a continual improvements and additions to the DS's repertoire.

Nintendo Press [Read]

Broadcom Powers Revolution Wireless

2005-04-19T15:42:00.000-04:00

It has been announced that Broadcom will be partnering with Nintendo to help create a wireless networking system for the next-gen Nintendo.

Robert A. Rango, Group Vice President of Broadcom's Mobile & Wireless Group, said "Broadcom is pleased to partner with technology leader Nintendo, whose visionary commitment to the user experience has inspired new uses for established wireless technology."

Broadcom Announcement [Read]
Designtechnica News [Read]

Next-Gen Facts

2005-04-18T16:44:00.000-04:00

1UP.com has an article with all the facts and nothing but about each of the next generation consoles. They manage to sum it up in a couple of sentences at the beginning of the Revolution article:

"We know what to expect from Sony based on their past. We know what to expect from Microsoft because they've laid it all out. Then there's the wild card: Nintendo."

It is based on what has been confirmed by the company officials, and pretty much no one else.

Nintendo Revolution article [Read]
Xbox Xenon/360 article [Read]

Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict Released

2005-04-18T15:18:00.000-04:00

Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is supposed to be one of the sweetest Xbox Live! games ever. I will definitely take a look into this game. It has a 3rd-person and a 1st-person mode that is supposedly well implemented. You shoot in 1st-person, and go hand-to-hand in 3rd-person mode.

Can't say much more, because I don't own it. :(

Metacritic's List o' Reviews [Read]

A Disturbing Trend...

2005-04-16T20:53:00.000-04:00

I've noticed a disturbing trend popping up lately. Namely, in game advertising. I first noticed it back in Feburary, with the discovery of Matrix Online advertising. Back then, I thought nothing of it... how foolish of me. Now, however, no less then ten companies are signed up to advertise in over 40 games this year alone.

Man, going through the streets of Earth in Halo 3 will be simply ridden with advertisments. Everywhere you look, Coca-Cola! Honda! IGN! Star Wars! Pasted on every other wall will be a poster of some hot chick with a Mountain Dew bottle in her hand. Why? So companies can more accurately "target this elusive sector [18-34 demographic] of the consumer base much more easily."

Don't believe me? Look at this:

Joystiq's Matrix Online Ads [Read]
IGN joines the fray [Read]
Massive Inc., creators of the first video game ad network is created [Read]

More Halo 2

2005-04-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

Bungie has announced that another autoupdate to Halo 2 is almost ready. It will include fixes for glitches, more anti-cheating measures, and weapons balancing. "Weapons balancing?" you ask. Yes! For example, melee attacks, especially the brute shot, and grenades are now more potent, thus they are actually useful now. They are trying hard to open up the number of options the players have when choosing their weapons. These are multiplayer only options, so the single player still stinks.

Bungie.net Story [Read]

22 Rules of Halo 2 Etiquette

2005-04-15T21:49:00.000-04:00

Over at Insert25 they have an article about Halo 2 Xbox Live Etiquette. Most of these should be fairly obvious (I don't really like Halo 2 and I still know these) so listen to these and don't annoy everyone else!

Actually, most of these are good advice for nearly all Xbox Live! games, so even if you're like me, I would still recommend it.

Insert25's Twenty-Two Halo 2 Rules of Etiquette [Read]

Xbox 360 Design?

2005-04-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

McNasty04 over on the Team Xbox Forums has made an observation. Man, genuis really is being able to see the obvious.

Don't know what I'm talking about? First read this, then, head over to Xbox.com... wait for it... wait for it......

If you don't see it, then check out the forums, they'll tell you.

Thanks to Joystiq.com for uncovering this [Read]
Xbox Forums [Read]

Pirates Go Squish Squish

2005-04-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

Nintendo did what Microsoft usually does and busted four people, accusing them of making illegal copies of video games. Apparently, 60 thousand copies of pirated games were rounded up in the states of New York and New Jersey.

ABC13.com Report [Read]

Note: I have now switched over to Flickr! Yahoo! Geocities just kept maxing out on bandwith allowance, sometimes causing pictures to not appear.

Hilarious Flash Movie

2005-04-13T16:11:00.000-04:00

Press The Buttons has dug up a great movie of Console Wars. I can't say much more than SEE IT!

Press The Button's Article [Read]
Console Wars [Read]

Xbox 360's Price Range

2005-04-13T15:15:00.000-04:00

Goldman Sachs reports that the next generation Xbox will cost in the range of about $250-$300. This is a different estimate than the $350-$400 one back in January. Also, in the same report, they stated that Microsoft will release the Xbox 360 in October of this year and they expect to have 3 million units of the systems shipped worldwide by December of this year.

Forbes.com's Report [Read]

Note:I will refer to the next generation Xbox as Xbox 360 from here on until either:

Microsoft confirms otherwise

An overwelming number of sources say otherwise.

This saves me typing space, because I'm lazy :)

Xbox 360 Name Confirmed... again

2005-04-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

The British have uncovered a sneak peek at the next-generation Xbox, and have come back with info. The name? Xbox 360. That makes two sources that have this name, but no one will know for sure until Microsoft finally confirms it.

The descriptions is pretty vague, but they say it has a concave shape and can stand upright. Not much more is given.

GamesIndustry.biz Report [Read]

Next Xbox on MTV

2005-04-12T17:39:00.000-04:00

The next generation Xbox will be revealed on MTV. This is an exclusive partnership that will showcase the system before E3.

“We are ecstatic about our alliance with MTV and unveiling a video game platform in a way that has never been done.” -Peter Moore, corporate vice president, Xbox Worldwide Marketing and Publishing, Microsoft

Yeah, its definitely hasn't been done before. General protocol has them releasing the information at E3. However, a partnership with another corporation sounds exactly like Microsoft to me.

Elijah Wood will be hosting the show. Also, The Killers will be performing throughout the special. You can catch the show, “MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed”, on May 12, 2005, at 9:30 PM EST (if you live in North America, if you don't it gets more tricky).

Xbox.com's coverage and Showing Times for non-North American countries [Read]

Our Colony

2005-04-10T13:50:00.000-04:00

Our Colony.net is Xbox's next alternate reality game, similar to the Haunted Apiary. This is a team based game in which the "colonies" solve the challenges for points (I think, that's as far as I can figure out). In case you're curious, I am tyrantm (limited number of characters allowed) on team 'yay.'

Gamem8ker and Our Colony [Read]
Sweet forum discussion on Our Colony [Read]
Join Team 'Yay' [Read]

Update:OurColony.net has shut down. All that's left is an ant and a cool mouse over logo thing. No more teams. I think...

Metroid Prime:Hunters

2005-04-05T16:57:00.000-04:00

Metroid Prime: Hunters will have complete online compatability, or at least according to SPOnG.com. We're talking about deathmatches, maybe a bit of capture the flag, and hopefully several maps. If this is true, than it should be yet another DS game that will take full advantage of the Nintendo DS's wi-fi abilities.

SPOnG.com Exclusive [Read]
Press The Buttons, a similar site to this one, and their story [Read]

Crapload of Games for the next Xbox

2005-04-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

Fable 2, Halo 3, and Project Gotham Racing 2 are all in the works for Xbox 2(/Xbox 360/Xenon/whatever). The recent interview with Shane Kim confirms some tidbits that were previously just a assumption in my head. For starters, he practically says they will continue those series.

Another, which was apparently stated at GDC, is that Microsoft will not be raising the price of their Xbox games. This is good for the consumers, of course (yay!), but brings up an issue that will bother Microsoft in the long run. Microsoft cannot run on money made from Windows forever. They have to start making a profit with the Xbox before long. While they finally made an net profit at the end of last year, this is compared to 3 years straight of losing money.

However, if neccessary, good ol' Bill Gates will fund the project with his own money. So I shouldn't worry.

Chat with Shane Kim [Read]

Sumatra Earthquake

2005-03-28T19:31:00.000-05:00

Sumatra experienced an earthquake that registered a magnitude of 8.7 at 11:09 a.m. EST. I can't believe I only just now realized this happened (I didn't hear anything during the day about this). Second disaster in that part of the world in the last couple months. I will edit and update this once I find a suitable list of relief organizations. For now, I'll just point to trusty Google News's list of sites.

Google News Search:Sumatra [Read]

Doom 3 and Other Oddities

2005-03-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

Doom 3 is slated to release on April 3rd on the Xbox. While the graphics aren't quite the same as the PC's, it's is still great.

Also, ebgames.com reports that there is a Star Wars: Battlefront 2 set to release November 1st. No other news on this.

Gamespot.com's Impressions of Doom 3 [Read]
EBGames.com's Listing of Battlefront 2 [Read]

Easter is Here!!

2005-03-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter to all! Here are some fun stuff:

Google Eggs!

Google and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Find the rest yourselves!

Have fun!

Chris Bryan's Halloween Costume

2005-03-25T18:49:00.000-05:00

Chris Bryan has a wearable Master Chief MJOLNIR-class armor (yes, I am a nerd). It's not for sale (as far as I can tell), but it sure looks nice. I've got to say, it looks eerily accurate.

halo.bungie.org [Read]

Halo 2 Multiplayer Pack

2005-03-25T18:11:00.000-05:00

The Halo 2 X-Pack has been revealed to be a Halo 2 multiplayer pack of 9 new levels, another movie, a documentary and other assorted updates. While you can eventually get all nine maps for free under Xbox Live, to get the others, you have to buy the $20 disk. Bungie has it all broken down into a much nicer list than I could do, so what are you waiting for?

Bungie.net [Read]

GameSpy Powered DS

2005-03-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

Nintendo has announced that they are partnering with GameSpy to create the wireless network necessary for online gaming. I have used GameSpy's online gaming capabilities to play Halo: Combat Evolved for PC and found it useful and relatively simple.

Imagine playing Animal Crossing on your Nintendo DS when you decide to visit someone elses town. You choose from a list (probably in the form of a scheduling board at the train station) and off you go to someone's town in another country. I would hope they implement a microphone for communicating between players, but I guess touch-pad text messaging would work fine. You wander the town, leaving messages, checking out the patterns they have created and admiring the workmanship and design of their homes. And when you're done, you just board the train and either head home or go to another town. All this from a small handheld powered by an already intact online gaming system by GameSpy.

Cube3.com [Read]

Stuffo Gathers the Facts

2005-03-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Stuffo has taken all the assorted rumors about the next generation Nintendo and combined them into one picture. They say that it will have a variety of new stuff, including a weird controller unlike any ever created before.
Whether or not its actually revolutionary will be up to the consumers.

Stuffo "The Nintendo Revolution" [Read]

E3 Expo--Full

2005-03-22T17:57:00.000-05:00

This year is apparently going to be a good year for E3. After all, 400 exhibitors rushed to reserve the 540,000 square feet of the Los Angeles Convention Center in record time. This will be the highlight of both Nintendo and Xbox, as they seem to both want to delay revealing anything definitive until E3. Just a reminder, I won't be there to cover it in person, but I can collect the various reports from the internet and put them in some meaningful fashion.

Also, E3 is open for the week of May 16, with the main dates being May 18-20.

GameSpot [Read]

Xboxes in Low Supply

2005-03-22T10:27:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has reported that Xbox sales are exceeding production. In fact, many stores are running low on the consoles. Why, you say? Because Xbox suddenly became very popular in the last several months. Unexpectedly popular, in fact. They even had to raise their expected sales predictions by a couple million in January.

Reuters.co.uk article about US Xboxes [Read]

Soul Calibur 3--A Playstation Exclusive

2005-03-22T10:17:00.000-05:00

Namco has stated that, despite the fact that the Nintendo version of Soul Calibur II out sold the other two copies, they are making Soul Calibur III a PS2 exclusive. That means no Xbox version either.

A bit of a side note: I believe this is the first time since the creation of this blog that I have used the phrase Playstation or PS2.

Cubed3.com [Read]

DS Dock of Legos

2005-03-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

BooJoh over at d³Gamers Forums created a stand to dock your DS...entirely out of legos. Another example of how a single person's ingeniousness can achive something out of nothing.

Warning- you probably need broadband or a lot of patience to view these pictures.

d³Gamers Forums ->Ghetto DS Dock [Read]

Halo 2 "X-Pack"...and its disappearance...

2005-03-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

GameSpot reports that Xbox's Korean website has an entry for a Halo 2 X-Pack (with a picture to prove it). However, if you go there now... the entry is gone. Someone at Microsoft apparently caught wind of this pretty quickly and had it removed (or this is an elaborate, multi-website hoax, but doubtful).

Joystiq's Coverage [Read]
1up.com's Report [Read]

Camera Feature for the Xbox 2

2005-03-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

Microsoft's Allard has made some comments that lead me to think that Xbox 2 will have a similar feature as the picture on the right.

"We're trying to take some learning’s from what our competition has done with cameras that let players control games"

"We've got a couple of those answers. We're going to turn that into a couple of solutions."

Or...maybe this is another of Allard's doublespeak.

Xbox Advanced's Coverage [Read]

New Oddworld in Works

2005-03-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

Another Oddworld game has been announced. It follows a Shepard named Fangus who's home country of Fangustan is being invaded by outsiders (Fangustan...hmm...Afghanistan...< sarcasm>any similarities people?< /sarcasm>).

More oddity (sorry, couldn't resist) is that EA will not be producing the game, and the game will probably get an 'M' rating.

Gamercentric's Report [Read]

Nintendo DS has Broken Records

2005-03-17T15:35:00.000-05:00

As in the Guinness kind, not what your grandpappy has. Nintendo have set the record with 87,000 Nintendo DS units sold in the UK since March 11--the quickest selling unit in Britain ever. Though that might be because there is no PSP; its not scheduled to come out until late April with a price tag of £179.99 (compared to the DS's £99).

It just goes to show that even though Nintendo's lagging a bit behind when it comes to the console business, they still can win the handheld war.

Cubed3.com's take [Read]
PSP at Amazon.com [Read]

Xbox 360...maybe

2005-03-16T17:47:00.000-05:00

SPOnG.com reports an exclusive in which they discovered the next-gen Xbox's true name. They stumbled upon a focus group where they were testing marketing for Xbox 360. Maybe true... maybe not...

SPOnG.com's exclusive [Read]

Pardon the mess...

2005-03-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

I've decided that I don't like the image placements, so I'm going through and moving them.

Instead of this:

I'm going to try it like this:

Pardon the mess of this blog for the next hour or so...
Update:Finished! I like it more now...

Non-Game Nintendo DS Titles Revealed

2005-03-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

There are now five "games" being released for Nintendo DS in which their status as a game is debated. They are:

Nintendogs

Electroplankton

DS: Easy Dictionary

Course to Loosen Up Your Brain

DS Training For Adults: Work Your Brain

(translation according to IGN)

SPOnG.com [Read]

Haunted Nintendo on eBay

2005-03-14T15:01:00.000-05:00

There is a haunted NES for sale on eBay, and if you want it, you better bid by 11:00 P.M. March 16. The guy claims he bought it from a thrift shop in NYC, and he was told that it belonged to someone who passed away. While he is careful to say that the spirts are not harmful, he is clearly freaked out about it. He put it up for auction at a starting bid of a U.S. penny, and, as of writing this, the highest bid is now US $102.50.

Haunted Nintendo [Read]

Fable: The Lost Chapters

2005-03-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

Microsoft and Lionhead Studios announced Fable for the PC. Though much of this will be a straight port, there will be more quests, better graphics, and better customization. Also, there will be more weapons, enemies, spells, armor, and expressions.

Joystiq.com-- [Read] and [Read]

1up.com-- [Read]