Entertainment/Gaming Consoles - Page 23

05-10-2003, 10:39 PM

It should probably take you 4-5 days to beat Metroid, upon which you'll see your percent completed and go "Jesus, I have to play that again!"

I believe mine the first time through was 42%.

Tell me once you get to Serris; he's the first really annoying boss. The spider boss was the one that frustrated me to no end. After that, the really only annoying one was... well, I won't say, but if you've played any of the other Metroid games, you'll know him. Think wings.

vsp · 05-11-2003, 09:52 PM

Anyone tried either of the Midnight Club games?

Both sound structurally similar to the Tokyo Highway Battle series, but with Rockstar at the helm, and look interesting. Think Vice City street races (NOT like The Driver, hopefully, more like the Sunshine Autos race board) as an independent game with a steady framerate and faster cars.

(toying with the notion of a purchase)

05-11-2003, 10:53 PM

I have the first one, $20 at Wal-Mart. Pretty cool, but I haven't spent a lot of time on it. No, not nearly as frustrating as The Driver.

vsp · 05-19-2003, 03:06 PM

I have a pile of games that are sitting in my on-deck circle, waiting to be played. I have another pile that I'm about 80-90% through, waiting for me to work up the desire to finish them.

So what did I do this weekend? Ignore both piles, go back to my PSX collection and blast my way through games that I'd already enjoyed and played to death.

This weekend's oldie-but-goodie: <b>the Tecmo's Deception series</b>.

The Deception games are unusually dark in tone, particularly the first one (in which Our Hero is executed unjustly, makes a deal with Satan and returns to seek bloody revenge). Parts Two and Three cast their antiheroines a bit more sympathetically (one brainwashed, the other defending herself and revenging a slain family). In any case, the games are all about one basic play mechanic -- setting up traps on room ceilings, floors and walls, and using them to carve, fling, fry, zap, pummel and squash all who would oppose you.

I'm partial to Deception II and III myself, which both have third-person perspectives (think Resident Evil) instead of the first game's Doom-esque style. You start with rudimentary traps and tools, and build up resources by using them to defend yourself against intruders; at any given time, you can have one ceiling, one wall and one floor trap ready for use or charging in each room. (Traps can be relocated or switched at any time, but they have a "charge up" time after placement.) Successful trap hits earn you skill points; creative combos and using built-in room fixtures (pendulums, electric chairs, buzz saws, falling pillars, etc.) build them up even faster. Skill points are traded for more advanced traps, allowing talented players to build up quite an arsenal rather quickly.

When you get the hang of the trap system, the game is an exercise in cathartic sadism; you can catch an invader by surprise and slam him/her through eight or nine traps in a row, before they can react or lay a finger (or sword, spell or arrow) on you. Watching opponents bounce around like superballs can get repetitive -- most enemies are more hapless than threatening -- but there's a perverse satisfaction in finding new and creative combos.

If this sounds at all appealing, the games are out there for cheap. Kagero: Deception II is fairly common in EB used bins, often for less than ten bucks. Deception III adds in a training mode, an expert (puzzle) mode, and a much more detailed trap-building system (which can make the game much easier than Deception II, but oh well.)

Between the Deception games and the Monster Rancher series, I don't want to know how much of my life Tecmo's games have leeched away...

juju · 05-19-2003, 08:05 PM

I bought GTA3 Vice City for Windows two nights ago, and it seems pretty cool. However, it locked up twice in the short time I was playing it. Pretty dissapointing. Especially since I'd just spend over an hour downloading and installing various Windows 2000 updates (along with 4 reboots) before I played it. I think I'll try getting new NVidia drivers and see if that helps things out.

perth · 05-19-2003, 10:23 PM

i finally picked up zelda : windwaker for the gamecube. uh. damn. talk about a great game. most obviously, the graphics are beautiful. from the characters to the backgrounds to the tiniest little touches, i cant even count how many times ive said 'wow'. the bomb clouds are great.

the sound is great. the music is subtle and appropriate, and the string version of the zelda theme at the beginning made for a great fanboy moment. sound effects are crisp and sort of whimsical. while the characters dont 'talk', the nondescript voices add a nice level of immersion.

gameplay is tight and intuitive (mostly). its complex without being overwhelming and while i find myself forgetting some of the moves from time to time, its thoroughly enjoyable to play.

all in all, this is probably the finest game ive played on the gamecube.

~james

wolf · 05-20-2003, 12:49 PM

So it's not stupid and frustrating like Mask of Majora? Might be worth a look-see. Did you get the game bundled with Ocarina of Time? I've wanted to know if it's a direct port or if they enhanced it any ...

perth · 05-20-2003, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wolf
Did you get the game bundled with Ocarina of Time? I've wanted to know if it's a direct port or if they enhanced it any ...

nope. i think that was available only right after the game came out.

this one has had a couple frustrating moments, but thats mostly because i like exploring *everything* and the camera isnt quite perfect in that regard. im not very 'good' at the game, so i could see it becoming frustrating if it ramps up too much in difficulty, but so far its been quite forgiving.

~james

wolf · 06-10-2003, 01:17 AM

Good news everybody!! We no longer have to worry about being restricted from playing "violent" videogames ... the 8th Circuit believes it's a first amendement issue! (presumably from now on the coolest games will be rated "M" for "more sales")

I wonder if this means that the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers will be the next to go ...

vsp · 06-10-2003, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wolf
Good news everybody!! We no longer have to worry about being restricted from playing "violent" videogames ... the 8th Circuit believes it's a first amendement issue! (presumably from now on the coolest games will be rated "M" for "more sales")

What's this "we"? We're both well over 17, right?

(Not that the legislation in question wasn't moronic, of course. Any time the Joe Lieberman-types of the world get their knuckles rapped, an angel gets its wings.)

Quote:

I wonder if this means that the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers will be the next to go ...

Not a chance in hell. Tipper & Co. didn't get what they wanted (a much more explicit letter-coded rating system where _they_ dictated what the letters stood for) back in the day, but what they did end up causing (the Tipper Stickers) were sufficiently generic as to be toothless. (I'm sure Luther Campbell and Jack Thompson might argue the "toothless" part, but efforts to reclassify the Parental Advisory stickers as a legal definition of obscenity died a deserving death.)

Ironically, the video-game industry's stickers are much closer to Tipper's original dream (letter grades AND more thorough breakdowns of potentially offensive content)... but they work pretty well, because those setting the ratings are reasonably objective.

wolf · 06-10-2003, 11:03 AM

I actually was referring to the broader implications regarding attempts to restrict content in the games ... bring on the gore, baby.

Also I loved the statement near the end of the article which denies the much discussed link between game violence and actual violence. At last, someone speaks sense.

xoxoxoBruce · 06-10-2003, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Also I loved the statement near the end of the article which denies the much discussed link between game violence and actual violence. At last, someone speaks sense.

Really? I've often wondered if violence in video games, movies, TV etc doesn't desensitize kids to hurting people. Are you saying it doesn't or that it hasn't been proven? I don't have the answer but I'm always looking for it.

wolf · 06-10-2003, 10:37 PM

"they" have been saying this for years ...

The best known experiment was the one in which they showed violent cartoons to young children and then sent them into an observation room with a Bozo the Clown bopper doll in it.

Now, we've probably all had one of these toys.

You hit it in the nose. It makes a squeaky noise, and it falls back, then, because the rounded bottom is weighted it rights itself, and you get to start all over again.

The kids hit the bopper doll on the nose and thought it was funny (i.e., they made correct use of the toy).

Ergo ... watching violent TV causes children to be violent.

The judges rendering the decision are the ones that said the linkage does not appear to exist, not me. I'm just cheered by it.

There are a lot more people that play first person shooters than there are people who go out and ruthlessly murder others. Heck, I regularly play first person shooters, AND I carry a gun. Still haven't shot anybody in cold or hot blood.

vsp · 06-11-2003, 08:23 AM

How about this:

There are certain individuals who, when exposed to large quantities of violent video games, may be influenced what they see and hear to some degree.

The same can be said for rap music, pornography, sitting in the 700 Level at an Eagles game, the Bible, pro wrestling, Jackass, talk radio, raves, thrash metal, anime, New Age tranquility music, watching golf on TV, political rallies, Wall Street Week and the nightly news.

Does this make any of the above inherently bad? Nope. It just illustrates that some people are easily influenced and some people aren't, and that hermetically sealing society to a six-year-old's level to "protect" the easily influenced never works. Every Prohibition just creates another underground.

vsp · 06-24-2003, 09:59 AM

...so I bought a GameCube last night. I am weak.

I'm consistent with my usual principles, however, in that I didn't buy it for the typical games that others bought it for. When the PSX was relatively new and selling like hotcakes, I held back for quite a while because the first wave of games didn't impress me; it wasn't until some appealing oddballs (Motor Toon Grand Prix, Bust-A-Move 2, Jumping Flash! 2, Felony 11-79, assorted arcade collections) started coming out stateside that I took the plunge.

Likewise, I now own a Cube, but skipped the free-game deal by getting a preowned one. The big Nintendo franchises don't impress me all that much. For the ~$160 (with tax) that a new system would've cost me, I got a Cube, _two_ controllers, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (which I played over the weekend and liked, plus it was cheap), a memory card and a controller extension cable... and if I want Zelda or Metroid Prime down the line, there'll be lots of used copies out there for me to choose from.

Instead, I looked at the Cube's second-string titles and saw enough interesting-looking non-PS2 oddballs to make it worth the $89.99 gamble:

* Eternal Darkness
* Hunter: The Reckoning (wife played it over the weekend and loved it, sequel's coming out in two months)
* Bloody Roar: Primal Fury
* Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
* Pikmin
* Skies of Arcadia Legends
* Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters
* Cubivore
* Ikaruga
* Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero (for my wife)

and a boot-disc import solution exists, so I can track down Japanese oddities as I see fit.

Of course, within 24 hours of my purchase, Acclaim <a href="http://cube.ign.com/articles/425/425457p1.html">announced that they were dropping GameCube support</a>. That in and of itself doesn't bother me -- I can count on one hand the number of non-Bust-a-Move games they've put out over the years that were worth a shit on ANY system -- but third-party developers tend to fall like dominoes once the big names start pulling out. First Sega (dropping sports support), now Acclaim...

05-20-2003, 12:49 PM	#337
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	So it's not stupid and frustrating like Mask of Majora? Might be worth a look-see. Did you get the game bundled with Ocarina of Time? I've wanted to know if it's a direct port or if they enhanced it any ... __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

06-10-2003, 01:17 AM	#339
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Good news everybody!! We no longer have to worry about being restricted from playing "violent" videogames ... the 8th Circuit believes it's a first amendement issue! (presumably from now on the coolest games will be rated "M" for "more sales") I wonder if this means that the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers will be the next to go ... __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

06-10-2003, 11:03 AM	#341
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I actually was referring to the broader implications regarding attempts to restrict content in the games ... bring on the gore, baby. Also I loved the statement near the end of the article which denies the much discussed link between game violence and actual violence. At last, someone speaks sense. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

06-10-2003, 10:37 PM	#343
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	"they" have been saying this for years ... The best known experiment was the one in which they showed violent cartoons to young children and then sent them into an observation room with a Bozo the Clown bopper doll in it. Now, we've probably all had one of these toys. You hit it in the nose. It makes a squeaky noise, and it falls back, then, because the rounded bottom is weighted it rights itself, and you get to start all over again. The kids hit the bopper doll on the nose and thought it was funny (i.e., they made correct use of the toy). Ergo ... watching violent TV causes children to be violent. The judges rendering the decision are the ones that said the linkage does not appear to exist, not me. I'm just cheered by it. There are a lot more people that play first person shooters than there are people who go out and ruthlessly murder others. Heck, I regularly play first person shooters, AND I carry a gun. Still haven't shot anybody in cold or hot blood. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

06-24-2003, 09:59 AM	#345
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Awright, awright... ...so I bought a GameCube last night. I am weak. I'm consistent with my usual principles, however, in that I didn't buy it for the typical games that others bought it for. When the PSX was relatively new and selling like hotcakes, I held back for quite a while because the first wave of games didn't impress me; it wasn't until some appealing oddballs (Motor Toon Grand Prix, Bust-A-Move 2, Jumping Flash! 2, Felony 11-79, assorted arcade collections) started coming out stateside that I took the plunge. Likewise, I now own a Cube, but skipped the free-game deal by getting a preowned one. The big Nintendo franchises don't impress me all that much. For the ~$160 (with tax) that a new system would've cost me, I got a Cube, _two_ controllers, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (which I played over the weekend and liked, plus it was cheap), a memory card and a controller extension cable... and if I want Zelda or Metroid Prime down the line, there'll be lots of used copies out there for me to choose from. Instead, I looked at the Cube's second-string titles and saw enough interesting-looking non-PS2 oddballs to make it worth the $89.99 gamble: * Eternal Darkness * Hunter: The Reckoning (wife played it over the weekend and loved it, sequel's coming out in two months) * Bloody Roar: Primal Fury * Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 * Pikmin * Skies of Arcadia Legends * Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters * Cubivore * Ikaruga * Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero (for my wife) and a boot-disc import solution exists, so I can track down Japanese oddities as I see fit. Of course, within 24 hours of my purchase, Acclaim <a href="http://cube.ign.com/articles/425/425457p1.html">announced that they were dropping GameCube support</a>. That in and of itself doesn't bother me -- I can count on one hand the number of non-Bust-a-Move games they've put out over the years that were worth a shit on ANY system -- but third-party developers tend to fall like dominoes once the big names start pulling out. First Sega (dropping sports support), now Acclaim...

05-10-2003, 10:39 PM	#331
dave Guest Posts: n/a	It should probably take you 4-5 days to beat Metroid, upon which you'll see your percent completed and go "Jesus, I have to play that again!" I believe mine the first time through was 42%. Tell me once you get to Serris; he's the first really annoying boss. The spider boss was the one that frustrated me to no end. After that, the really only annoying one was... well, I won't say, but if you've played any of the other Metroid games, you'll know him. Think wings.

05-11-2003, 09:52 PM	#332
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Anyone tried either of the Midnight Club games? Both sound structurally similar to the Tokyo Highway Battle series, but with Rockstar at the helm, and look interesting. Think Vice City street races (NOT like The Driver, hopefully, more like the Sunshine Autos race board) as an independent game with a steady framerate and faster cars. (toying with the notion of a purchase)

05-11-2003, 10:53 PM	#333
dave Guest Posts: n/a	I have the first one, $20 at Wal-Mart. Pretty cool, but I haven't spent a lot of time on it. No, not nearly as frustrating as The Driver.

05-19-2003, 03:06 PM	#334
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	I have a pile of games that are sitting in my on-deck circle, waiting to be played. I have another pile that I'm about 80-90% through, waiting for me to work up the desire to finish them. So what did I do this weekend? Ignore both piles, go back to my PSX collection and blast my way through games that I'd already enjoyed and played to death. This weekend's oldie-but-goodie: <b>the Tecmo's Deception series</b>. The Deception games are unusually dark in tone, particularly the first one (in which Our Hero is executed unjustly, makes a deal with Satan and returns to seek bloody revenge). Parts Two and Three cast their antiheroines a bit more sympathetically (one brainwashed, the other defending herself and revenging a slain family). In any case, the games are all about one basic play mechanic -- setting up traps on room ceilings, floors and walls, and using them to carve, fling, fry, zap, pummel and squash all who would oppose you. I'm partial to Deception II and III myself, which both have third-person perspectives (think Resident Evil) instead of the first game's Doom-esque style. You start with rudimentary traps and tools, and build up resources by using them to defend yourself against intruders; at any given time, you can have one ceiling, one wall and one floor trap ready for use or charging in each room. (Traps can be relocated or switched at any time, but they have a "charge up" time after placement.) Successful trap hits earn you skill points; creative combos and using built-in room fixtures (pendulums, electric chairs, buzz saws, falling pillars, etc.) build them up even faster. Skill points are traded for more advanced traps, allowing talented players to build up quite an arsenal rather quickly. When you get the hang of the trap system, the game is an exercise in cathartic sadism; you can catch an invader by surprise and slam him/her through eight or nine traps in a row, before they can react or lay a finger (or sword, spell or arrow) on you. Watching opponents bounce around like superballs can get repetitive -- most enemies are more hapless than threatening -- but there's a perverse satisfaction in finding new and creative combos. If this sounds at all appealing, the games are out there for cheap. Kagero: Deception II is fairly common in EB used bins, often for less than ten bucks. Deception III adds in a training mode, an expert (puzzle) mode, and a much more detailed trap-building system (which can make the game much easier than Deception II, but oh well.) Between the Deception games and the Monster Rancher series, I don't want to know how much of my life Tecmo's games have leeched away...

05-19-2003, 08:05 PM	#335
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	I bought GTA3 Vice City for Windows two nights ago, and it seems pretty cool. However, it locked up twice in the short time I was playing it. Pretty dissapointing. Especially since I'd just spend over an hour downloading and installing various Windows 2000 updates (along with 4 reboots) before I played it. I think I'll try getting new NVidia drivers and see if that helps things out.

05-19-2003, 10:23 PM	#336
perth Strong Silent Type Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 1,949	i finally picked up zelda : windwaker for the gamecube. uh. damn. talk about a great game. most obviously, the graphics are beautiful. from the characters to the backgrounds to the tiniest little touches, i cant even count how many times ive said 'wow'. the bomb clouds are great. the sound is great. the music is subtle and appropriate, and the string version of the zelda theme at the beginning made for a great fanboy moment. sound effects are crisp and sort of whimsical. while the characters dont 'talk', the nondescript voices add a nice level of immersion. gameplay is tight and intuitive (mostly). its complex without being overwhelming and while i find myself forgetting some of the moves from time to time, its thoroughly enjoyable to play. all in all, this is probably the finest game ive played on the gamecube. ~james

06-11-2003, 08:23 AM	#344
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	How about this: There are certain individuals who, when exposed to large quantities of violent video games, may be influenced what they see and hear to some degree. The same can be said for rap music, pornography, sitting in the 700 Level at an Eagles game, the Bible, pro wrestling, Jackass, talk radio, raves, thrash metal, anime, New Age tranquility music, watching golf on TV, political rallies, Wall Street Week and the nightly news. Does this make any of the above inherently bad? Nope. It just illustrates that some people are easily influenced and some people aren't, and that hermetically sealing society to a six-year-old's level to "protect" the easily influenced never works. Every Prohibition just creates another underground.

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