Vilge Duin

The Dolphin's already out. It's the GameCube.

I knew Nintendo would change the name (they have to everything in the past before) I just wish they would have kept Revolution. I still don't get how the so called "industry analyst" gets how the name Revolution and Xbox 360 even have a relation.

Eh well, as long as the games are good then all is good. Most game systems honestly do have ridiculous names. Nintendo's simply trying to reach out to those people that don't already play games... and ya never know, they may very well succeed.

Revolution renamed Wii

[uPDATE 3] Nintendo announces the console formerly known as the Revolution has a new--and surprising--moniker. Analysts' reactions are mixed.

By Staff, GameSpot

Posted Apr 27, 2006 9:14 am PT

In a surprise announcement this morning, Nintendo revealed the new name of its forthcoming game system: Wii. "As in 'we'," the official statement adds. For the official announcement, visit the Revolution...err...Wii Web site.

After a brief Flash introduction, the site explains Nintendo's move. "While the code-name 'Revolution' expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates game players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games...and each other."

The site goes on to say that Wii should be easy to remember for people around the world, no matter their language, and that it will avoid abbreviation. The "ii" spelling is intended to represent "both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play." It may also be worth noting that "ii" means "good" in Japanese.

Nintendo sums up the name change with the following comments. "So that's Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it's really not about you or me. It's about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything."

Game-industry analysts were swift with their responses. "Looks like a good solid name for Nintendo," said an optimistic Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director of Jupiter Research. "The key is making sure they follow up with a strong launch campaign to evangelize the new brand and help drive the message forward."

Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter was more mixed in his assessment. "My initial reaction, of course, is that the name is dumb," he bluntly stated. "However, upon reflection, I thought that the name Game Boy was dumb, REALLY thought that the name Xbox was dumb, and can't even recall my reaction to PlayStation. Let's face it, devices with cool names like Dreamcast and Gizmondo fail, and the lame names seem to do well."

Colin Sebastian, Lazard Capital Markets' senior research analyst for Internet and interactive entertainment, displayed Vulcan-like logic responding to the Wii revelation. "The success of the console will have much more to do with the quality of the games and the gameplay," he said. "Nintendo probably believes they've found a name that can stick with consumers. Revolution was catchy, but given similarities with the Xbox 360 name, perhaps Nintendo felt they had to make a change."

"Automatic", "Can You Keep A Secret", "Colors", "Deep River", "Distance", "First Love", "Hear Me Cry", "Tokyo Nights" and "Traveling" are all good songs by Utada. She also came out with an album titled Exodus (which I think just got released in the UK in September), that is an entirely English album. Has some good songs like "Easy Breezy", "Devil Inside" and "Animato".

Ayumi Hamasaki and BoA are also good.BoA and Koda Kumi did a song called "The Meaning of Peace" together which is good.

I'd think of more now, but eh, I think that shall be good for now.

EDIT: Oh, and the Japanese versions of Simple and Clean (track down the PlanitB remix too) Sanctuary are great too ("Hikari" and "Passion" respectively).

Ah good. Back to the Kingdom Hearts diary damn you!

The piece your looking for should be titled "Godzilla, King Of The Monsters" and all classic Godzilla music is by Akira Ifukabe.

Hope that helps.

Luxord was pretty easy, you just have to watch his card tricks and stop him at the right time (watch the command menu). And then just wail on him when he's vulnerable.

And I have to agree, Xaldin was a bitch to face. Took awhile to work out his pattern, but you just have to watch him. He was the only one that Mickey came out and saved me in (shocked me too). Don't fight him like a regular boss, use his learn thing as many times as you can and then just Jump repeatedly (I usually could store up to 7 of them). Run when he is lunging around and try to jump in for the attack when he stops after. He's tricky, but once you figure him out he's not too difficult. Also, when he jumps on his "dragon" thing just run to one side of the bridge to get him over there, and once he stops and charges run to the other side. You should avoid the beam.

I can't get enough of this game. It's almost infinitely better than the first. I played Gummi levels for 3 hours straight without noticing the time. Each world is also very enjoyable. The game is pretty lengthy too. I'm 20 hours in (just going at a leisurely pace) and I can still count half a dozen I know of that I haven't been to yet.

It's not been released in the UK yet, but soon, and from what I've seen it looks very good. Tell me though, what's the deal with the blond kid with the keyblade and Mickey with a keyblade?

*is playing KH1 & KH:CoM before KH2 release*

(Also, hide this topic from Benji, he hates Kingdom Hearts)

(Other also, should I do a KH diary?)

I picked it up the day of release but could only get around to playing it the past two days since I had a game going with the first Kingdom Hearts to freshen up my memory. Gotta say, that game was damn enjoyable this time through, far more than the two previous times I've played it.

And damn did they do a fine fucking job on this game. I've only played about 10 or so hours (subtract about two from just having it sit on a menu screen while I did things) and it's been a blast. Most every gripe I had with the first game so far has seemingly been rectified. The camera is great (albeit took a bit to get the hang of using the analog after just finishing the first game), the gummi levels are fucking great, combat is better and there is far more of it (on standard I find it to be a decent challenge) and even though I swear it was only my pet peeve I can open damn boxes during combat now. No more having to clear an area out first.

I actually find that the gummi stuff is superb. Has a very Star Fox like feel to it, plus each stage comes with different objectives after you've beaten them. The new style world map is a nice change too. The menu's are fixed up and more streamlined too. Everything about it is fantastic.

The story's been good so far too. Although, not having played Chain of Memories, I think I missed some info or something... First while didn't make too much sense of any kind. Although the creepy feel to everything was awesome. I don't know what it is though, but I love me some Disney. Most people scoff at the notion, but I love all the characters tossed in and such, it's just a fantastic experience (I could give a shit less about the Final Fantasy characters... just tossed in fodder to give nice cameos too).

I also gotta say, I hate the Internet most of the time. I've been anticipating this game since finishing the last, and it's about the only game I've wanted to play. And I knew I'd be buying it from the get go, so trying to have a totally virgin experience with little to no knowledge of it has been extremely difficult. Bastards love ruining shit, even so called "professional" reviews.

So yeah, anyone else have it yet or plan on getting it? It's an overall incredibly superior experience to the last game. Highly recommended on just what I've seen so far.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6090892/index.html

That should cover everything you need (except recent things in the past two). I read it awhile ago, and it's comprehensive in what I think you'd want. And if you do anything about controversy, Night Trap is right up there with Mortal Kombat.

As for biggest games? Look at any review site (IGN, Gamespot, etc.) and look at their top rated games. Things like Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Donkey Kong to Grand Theft Auto, Halo, The Sims and Pokemon along with plenty of others.

It may be about the quickest game you've dropped, but commenting on elements that aren't even introduced until after what you've played seems ridiculous.

And if you're talking about the list of PC games... I am more than likely getting to them eventually (and all were picked up in the last two months). I was just commenting on my lack of desire to play them, not really dropping them for any particular reason. It's hard finding time to play stuff (and harder to pass up getting things for next to nothing). I have difficulty playing things on a PC anyways, probably has to do with the fact I can sit on the couch and relax with a console.

That mission is the very first mission... And if I'm not mistaken the game barely lets you do anything else before you do that... So how exactly can you criticize the game? The game is shit, no doubt (absolutely not what I expected after Jak & Daxter), but it sounds like you didn't even play it.

I don't normally play games that I drop, since I'm usually extremely picky about what I'll fork money over for (even a rental). However there has actually been a fair few that I just quit on when I think about it.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time I dropped after 40 or so minutes. Around the giant "gear/wheel" puzzle when I couldn't be bothered to figure it out. Picked up Warrior Within and tried it for 15-20 minutes and quit. Controls are too shitty for my tastes.

Metroid Prime is another. Bought it for cheap ($10) when we got our Gamecube and because I heard it was a must have amazing game... Graphics impressed me, atmosphere was decent, but fuck was the game boring. Nothing else to say. The save said I logged in 20 something minutes on that.

kill.switch is another fucking wretched piece of shit. Played it half way through the first mission, had no clue what the fuck was going on and got killed. Then killed again. And again. Damn fucking shooting through walls AI was cheap.

And maybe it's because we bought so many, but we got a shitload of games for the PC lately (probably because most were dirt cheap, can't go wrong at $3 a game) and I've barely played any. Black & White, Freedom Fighters, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, Return of the King, Battle for Middle earth, MoH: Allied Assault, The Movies, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Rome Total War, Splinter Cell, Star Wars: Empire at War and Knights of the Old Republic... All friggin installed and barely played. Empire at War, KotOR, RT3, Battle for Middle-earth and The Movies I've played for awhile but I've seemed to abandoned (Lack of units and simplicity, extreme lagging on Dantoine, sheer boredom, repetetiveness and sheer retardedness of "stars" respectively)... Bleh, been playing a couple console games lately instead, I don't think PC games are for me. Making me feel like having a decent computer is useless.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/thegodf...tml?sid=6121958

Read.

I said nothing about being in the game. I was talking about the whole thing and game's are in develop for extended periods of time ya know, so people can express feelings on things well before they pass away. Coppola was perhaps the number one reason for The Godfather existing.

I rented it and essentially beat it. The story goes by ridiculously quickly. I didn't track down all the extras (like all extortions or finding all film reels) but I got everything I could want out of it.

I still can't decide if I like it. On one hand it was good, but then it was also rather meh. It brought nothing really new to the table. The city was drab and uninteresting, and extremely confusing at times. Upon completing it I still didn't exactly grasp all the little icons they throw at you and a fair bit of the game is trial and error.

The game is essentially just a bunch of "Kill _____ now" or "Drive here now" missions. With little variety. Extorting gets bland, rackets are nothing, and all other extras comprise of taking over warehouses or hubs, or tracking down hidden things. Neither of which interest me. You can also blaze through the missions quickly if you want.

It's a good start but has nothing at all on Grand Theft Auto. If it does well, I'm very interested in seeing where The Godfather Part II will take the game (it's bound to happen).

EDIT:

Great game, nothing really bad to say about it, although I kinda wish they had gotten Al Pacino to do Micheal's voice. It just didnt seem right to me.

It doesn't help that Pacino didn't want to be in the game in any form.

We got ours a few months ago with Mario Kart DS and it's been awesome. I've never been a fan of the Mario Kart games outside of the occasional weekend rental or such, but having it on the go (or even at home) is great. The gameplay lends itself well to the portable design.

Animal Crossing just needs time to "unravel" so to speak. I thought it was redundant at first, but there is a slight attachment to the neighbours in the game and slowly collecting stuff is fun. It's a game that gives you more the more you put into it. It's also designed to take a full year to completely play. If you have someone to play with on the same game, it can be amusing leaving messages and such and what not.

Mario 64 DS is a good buy, the game itself is still great with plenty of added content to make it worth it. Phoenix Wright is also a very good title, but likelihood of finding it anywhere but Ebay is nil since it was discontinued some months ago. Meteos is good, albeit very limiting with the amount of variety it has (the gameplay is essentially just launching stuff the whole time).

Tetris DS and the New Super Mario Bros are also bound to be good to get, with Tetris out next week and Mario Bros I think in May.

Raiden simply got pissed off with Shujinko for his "stupidity". In fact, he's more a "face" now than ever before because his sole concern now is the protection of Earthrealm at all costs, from all transgressors.

And as Benji said, Scorpion is the champion of the Elder Gods. Every last one of them. He's always been neutral but with Deception he became good. After being thrown into the Soulnado by Moloch and Drahmin his soul was destroyed but the Elder Gods decided to use him as their champion so his existance continued. That's why he moved away from the classical ninja look to appearing more "Knight"-like. He's a good guy.

Preview videos and such are never right to begin with, what with placeholder information and changes in design until the finished product. Then again, no information on the story is known, so anything is possible.

So the game should be kept out of reach of children because of a few shots of computer generated tits... Not Kratos ripping and eviscerating various things in bloody glory?

Society today.. Eh well.

Recently I went about upgrading my computer to have more ram and installed a new DVD drive, I've accumulated Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil (those came in an Ubisoft action pack thing for $10), Knights of the Old Republic, Rollercoast Tycoon 3 Gold, Rome: Total War Gold, Warcraft III Battlechest (again), Star Wars: Empire At War and LotR: Battle for Middle-earth. Plus I still have the Sims 2 and The Punisher lying around.

Quite a load of games to get through (which I all got pretty cheap, except Empire at War). And so I got to thinking today... Why the hell can't I stop playing Knights of the Old Republic? I've clocked in over 30 some odd hours on that within the past week or so, without barely even touching the others. Something about this damn this is addictive. I can't help but just give myself "Oh just five minutes for some Pazaak, maybe kill a few Sith, nothing too big". Then a couple hours goes by. I haven't been addicted like this since I first played San Andreas (clocked in 72 hours in a week). It's the damn music and sound effects...

The two games I put the most hours into have to be Final Fantasy VI (old SNES cart), Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X and Chrono Trigger. I used to have a tradition where every summer when I was still in school I would play and beat FFVI in July and then Chrono Trigger in August. Final Fantasy VII I played through twice, but I'm not sure how many hours since both saves maxed out the timer. Final Fantasy X was just evil with that idiotic Blitzball that I would up having two saves going over 130+ hours. Didn't help that it was the only PS2 game I had for the first couple years I had one. Super Mario Brothers 3 and Mario World were very addictive back in the day.

So any games that just make you want to keep playing? Even if it means you ignore everything else.

Took it long enough, now I can head out and get it.

I have an aversion to buying anything brand new, at least at a $60 price point, but God of War is well worth it. I rented it a couple of times and played it quite extensively. It's rather good with a large amount of unlockable content.

We have Smash Brothers Melee, Timesplitters: Future Perfect, Star Fox Adventures, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes and Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door.

There's been plenty others but those are about the ones I figured to keep.

Eternal Darkness and the plethora of Resident Evil's definately fill out the horror category very well. Animal Crossing can get quite dull very quickly (it's best for short intervals on the DS). I personally found Zelda: Wind Waker drab and boring. Just seems to be a slower paced and easier Ocarina of Time. Mario Sunshine is just like Wind Waker, with Mario 64 being better. They're both fun but are just derivitive. The same goes for Mario Kart, Wave Race, F-Zero and the Mario Party games. Most Nintendo sequels, just seem like prettied up versions from the past with some tweaks. Paper Mario is about the only one that seems like a slight upgrade, and it's a very enjoyable game.

As for original games not entirely based on something before; Metriod Prime is decent, but not as amazing as people make it out to be. Pikmin can be an amusing good time, but is simplistic and easy as wll.

The Rogue Leader Games are also very good. Can be frustrating difficulty wise but are good fun. Day of Reckoning is a refreshing change of pace from the Smackdown series, but the second was a major disappointment. Future Perfect is a great game to get if you haven't tried it on the other two already. Twin Snakes is also a nice update of the original MGS. Star Fox Adventures is also a decent game in the same line as Zelda (I swear Rare ripped off the engine entirely), which I prefered to Wind Waker.

You can also get every Sonic game made in some form or another, if I'm not mistaken.

Skies of Arcadia Legends, Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos are about the only real RPGs apparently (aside from Paper Mario). I haven't played the latter two since I can't stand the new recurring trend of every RPG being anime inspired but Skies of Arcadia was awesome on the Dreamcast.

Last but not least, Smash Brothers Melee. The game kind of speaks for itself. You either like it or you don't, with most people liking it. It's just fun batting Young Link across the Super Mario Brothers level with Bowser.

I tried to keep it to the exclusives I can remember off the top of my head. Everything else can be found on the PS2 or Xbox. I personally recommend Smash Brothers Melee, Future Perfect and Paper Mario.

I hope that helped, I kind of rambled a bit...

http://empireatwar.filefront.com/file/;57456

It's still obviously being worked on, but I like the changes.

Also since it is just XML files you place in your XML folder with the game, it doesn't alter anything permanently. You just delete the files if you don't want them.

I don't see what so wrong with it to warrant a "SAY IT AIN'T SO BOON".

You didn't detect the slight hint of sarcasm clearly. They're technically carrying on anyway, I'm not that bothered love.

It's been known for almost two months now, initially announced in Game Informer magazine.

They don't host them anymore (for legal reasons) but the scans can be found here, albeit in munchkin size:

http://www.kamidogu.com/archive/2006.php?month=january#3

And all gathered info so far can be found here:

http://kamidogu.com/games/mka/

Only thing new I learned from that is the inclusion of Motoro, which is good to hear.

I don't see what so wrong with it to warrant a "SAY IT AIN'T SO BOON". Every character in the Mortal Kombat series history will be in it. A new conquest mode in the style of Shaolin Monks (sadly more than likely single player only), a create a fighter feature, a new slew of unlockables, more interactive backgrounds and arenas, tweaks and fixes to the in game engine, a custom fatality system and online play. They're going all out for it.

It isn't an end of Mortal Kombat. The game is supposed to be an all out war between the characters to tie up all lose plot threads and conclude the story told thus far. So they can start fresh on the next generation consoles coming out (with Sub-Zero and Scorpion confirmed to be sticking around).

What's so wrong with it? It's should be every Mortal Kombat fans dream.

EDIT: damn my spelling and grammar was atrocious... I think I need some sleep.

Next-Gen DVD Copy-Protection Debacle

Hollywood screws 3 million HDTV owners, sucks in general.

by Gerry Block

February 24, 2006 - In perhaps the greatest disservice to the general consumer market yet perpetrated by players in the electronic entertainment industry, it has been revealed that next-generation DVD technologies (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) will only function with monitors and HDTVs with HDMI or DVI connections.

What does that mean to you? If you purchased an HDTV more than a couple of years ago, chances are you are using Component Video (the red, green, and blue plugs) to connect HD sources to your TV. Component Video is an analog transmission, which means that it can't work with the absurdly stringent AACS copy-protection Hollywood has insisted be integrated into the new formats. Thus, no HDMI input on your TV, no hi-def DVD for you. If you don't have a compatible TV, you'll either receive a massively downgraded sub-720p resolution version of the content, or what the studios are suggesting, a warning screen followed by nothing.

Who's to blame for screwing some 3,000,000+ HDTV owners in America that were good consumers and early adopters who purchased TVs without HDMI? A group put together by the major movie studios called Advanced Access Content System (AACS). AACS was responsible for the Reuters report last week that speculated that Sony would miss its spring launch date for the PS3, due to the fact that the AACS had still not finalized the technicalities of the protocol. After a good six months of deliberation since version AACS v.0.9 was put into testing, and only 2 or 3 months away from the supposed release of the first HD-DVD and Blu-ray players, AACS has finally made the baby step of offering provisional licensing to the likes of Sony, Toshiba, and the other early manufactures of hi-def DVD solutions.

Even if you've got an HDTV with HDMI or DVI inputs, it's unlikely your TV has more than one. Just about every HD source these days is best in HDMI, so what are you going to do when both your cable box and next-gen DVD player/PS3 need the same plug? HDMI switchers or enabled receivers are not cheap, or even easy to find. In addition, it would appear that every component involved in the transmission of an HD-DVD/Blu-ray signal must make use of Intel's HDCP technology. This extra level of protection works with the AACS protocols on a hardware level.

Why is this bad? Say you decided to be future proof and purchase a high-end AV receiver with HDMI connections and up-scaling capabilities. Seemed like a good idea last week, but not anymore. Unless it supports HDCP, and it doesn't, because no manufacturers have made HDCP models yet, you won't be routing your HD-DVD or Blu-ray player through it.

Perhaps you're a progressive type and decided to make your media center PC centric. You're screwed too. Even if you purchased a high-end ATI or Nvidia graphics card advertised as HDCP compatible, that all it is: compatible, not compliant. HDCP chips must be bios flashed at the factory, and though these new "compatible" cards have space for a TI HDCP chip, none have them yet. In addition, every link in the chain must be HDCP ready, and only a very few PC monitors have adopted the standard. Get ready to buy both a new high-end graphics card and a new monitor if you want hi-def DVD for your PC.

It gets even worse. At the same time the AACS story came to light, it was discovered that the first wave of next-gen DVD players will not support the "managed copy" option that so many proponents of the new technologies have been hyping. Now that it is apparent Hollywood is willing to absolutely screw more than three million early-adopting consumers (who are probably also some of the best DVD-buyers) is it wrong to be skeptical that the "managed copy" features aren't quite going to be as fully-fledged as we all have hoped, if and when they actually appear? Expect massive downgrades in resolution to be the major movie studio's requirement for any content they allow to escape from the closed AACS-HDCP loop.

This is a dark day for the entire consumer electronics industry. Huge manufacturers like Sony and Toshiba have allowed Hollywood executives to punish consumers for the studios' inability to protect their own content in the wild. Despite the fact that the relationship between movie piracy and the floundering movie theater receipts of recent years has not been proven to be direct, Hollywood is applying an iron fist in their aim to control the next generation of the home-theater experience. You know those previews on DVDs that you can't skip through? That's only the beginning of the ways Hollywood wants to control your entertainment experience.

Consumers shouldn't take this lying down. The difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray quality and normal DVD isn't huge, especially in light of the rather nice results produced by up-scaling DVD players available today from Oppo, Sony, and others. Should we allow movie studios to force their biggest fans, the early adopters of HDTV and related accessories, to buy entirely new entertainment systems? Is the upgrade even worth it?

Next-gen DVD is looking pretty questionable at this point. Not only do we have a format war to deal with, we've got Hollywood's accounting departments in charge of deciding the minutia of how we're able to enjoy the content we pay for. No copy protection scheme yet developed has been able to stand up to the genius of the hacking collective, and it's unlikely that even AACS and HDCP will last for long. Just long enough, perhaps, to strangle what remains of the traditional disc-based content distribution model and open the door for ubiquitous digital content and on-demand distribution.

I loved him in just about everything. Very sad day.

Rest in Peace.

I completed a full runthrough of the Galactic conquest mode and started a campaign for the rebels.

The game is pretty damn good but I can't help but keeping thinking about other games while playing. It reminds me of a combination of Rome: Total War, Battle for Middleearth and with some Dawn of War thrown in... But with a twist of Star Wars tossed in. I'm liking a lot of the foreshadowing and such during the campaign, like stealing x-wings and such. A good spin instead of rehashing the same old battles from games of old.

I also downloaded a realism mod that's out, and I have to say despite needed some ironing out it really adds to the experience (it is only version 0.2 afterall). It adjusts the damage done by units, increases population caps and also decreases the size of infantry units so they're to scale with the vehicles. It's a really awesome site seeing over a dozen rebel infantry units try to take on a massive AT-AT.