Strange Cookie

I wasn't hyped at all about thise one (which is surprising, as I loved both previous instalments with my heart and liver), but I am now! Genuis!! Why does May 22nd seem so far away all of the sudden? And I feel so stupid for not getting the Joe/Jaw-pun before... Hmmm, pretty much as expected. It's Mac vs. Mac only, I'm afraid.

OK boys, if you really have to make an issue out of this, let's have a clean, fair fight... on the PM-board. On topic: I regret I never owned the SNES 2 / Super Famicom Jr. The best console IMO in one of the best designs? Gaming nirvana... The NES redesign wasn't too shabby either. Let's face it: videogamesystems are art.

Well, the one is a console. The other a handheld. They are both concave, but that's where the similarities it ends IMO. It's hard to compare designwise, as it's a different functionality. I can understand one likes the GB-micro concave design, but doesn't dig the 360 concave front. True, a considerable step up from the original design. And so small... Amazing feat at the time.

Hmmm, must have been my memory playing tricks on me. I looked it up, and it indeed doesn't seem very big now. I remember I thought it was absolutely MASSIVE when I first unpacked it. Oh well, soon there will be a N64 next to the other consoles under my TV, so it'll be easier to compare. Haven't downloaded the new NXE yet. Actually, come to think of it, haven't played with the 360 for an aweful long time. The last game I bought for 360 was... Dead Rising at launch? Whoopsy... Truth is, I haven't played 360 at all since I had my Wii and PS3. But that's a different discussion altogether. Anyhoo, if I have to vote for the best external design this generation, it's Xbox 360. The only thing that bothers me from a design point-of-view is the disc-drive. I'm more of an selfloading-drive-man myself. My vote for the best design of all time goes to PAL SNES. Gaming hotness. In plastic. In the end, it's not as important as with handhelds, but I'd rather have a SNES or 360 than a Xbox or original PS2 sitting under the TV.

I think the PAL SNES is one of the best designs outthere. Not quite that fond of the NSTC-version, but that's nostalgia clouding my judgmement. I thought it was a shame the NSTC-version ditched the four-colour-logo and went for purple instead. Now, purple is my favourite colour (more on that in a sec), but some ingame-references were lost in translation. I absolutely loved my purple Gamecube! Gotta love that handle for 'taking your console over to a friend' (why doesn't said friend come over to you, the lazy bastard), adventing the non-online stance Nintendo would take during the GC-era. It was a funky design, and I really likes the purple colour. No other fancy colours for me! Well, one possible exception... How phonky can you get? I also likes the Dreamcast. Simple, yet effective. Prefered the blue PAL-swirl over the american orange one. I think it made it seem more stylish somehow. The original Xbox... Well, even the official Xbox magazine made jokes about that so enough said. The original PS2 was more a radiator than a console, but the redesign redeemed it. The original NES was simple. nothing more, nothing less. The N64 was stylish, but too big. Can't have everything, I'm afraid. Anyways, retro-stuff notwithstanding, of all current-gen consoles, I think it's hard to pock a real winner. The 360 has some great design: nice whites, curvy, sleek (shame about the noise, though). The PS3 isn't so bad as originally made out. It's certainly not the BBQ as originally made out, and it's stylish sheen makes it a fashionably item under the TV. It also has a rather clean look to it. While the Wii is without any doubt the smallest and lightest of them all, I'm actually not really a fan of its design. I'd even go as far as to say that of all of Nintendo's design, this is the worst. It's okay-ish in its stand, but without it it looks like an external discdrive for a PC. It's hard corners and fiddly buttons aren't up to the former great Nintendo-designs. It's a no-nonsense-approach, and a great design if you realise what actually comes with it (4 GC-slots, 2-memory-card slots, etc.), but I still feel they haven't gone the extra mile with the looks. It feels more like a prototype. I'm surprised we haven't seen coloured Wii's or Wii-remotes yet. Very un-Nintendo.

So far we have: An old-fashioned cowboy (Eastern origin?) with eastern influenced patters and on his (or hers?)clothes and samurai-paddings on his arms, wielding a big gun and a katana, and a modern-looking city in the middle of what looks like a desert and an obvious nod to the Japanese flag (big red sun). Interesting. I'll keep my eye on this one. I loved red Steel, even with the control-issues, the lazy cutscenes and voice-acting and terrible animations. Hasn't aged well, though.

First official artwork (bar the ugly IGN-logo ofcourse). That doesn't look like any old Wild West-town to me. This is lookking more and more like The Dark Tower! Intruiging...

I'm going out a limb here with the next statement, so know this is my personal opinion. No flaming or kicking my derrière, please. I couldn't care less about multiplayer options in a FPS. So the lack of any kind of multiplayer here doesn't really bother me at all. I never even tried the multiplyer or Red Steel. Even the online multiplayer of The Conduit doesn't appeal to me in any way. I like eg. Mario Kart online or with friends. It a game made for that. But multiplayer FPS, be it on Wii, 360 of PS3? No, thank you. Guess I just don't 'get it'. (And yes, I suck at it... )

The lack of multiplayer is most mystifying! Anyhoo, someone is going to bring it up sooner or later, so here goes. Wild West? Eastern influence? I smell something... or someone... It's... Jacky Chan! If you're not impressed, then try this one. Vampire cowgirls wielding katana's. How awesome can you get.

This game continues to amaze me! It's so much fun and downright funny! It's actually more serious than it looks, and ralking about looks, it looks amazing. I'm usually not very influenced by hype or comments on forums, but for this one... Guess I owe you all a rather big thank you! For those who haven't bought it yet, here's a message from hypnotoad: Buy it! Buy it Buy it!

Try Chris in RE5. Atleast RE4 is believable, whereas Chris hasn't got arms. He's got tree trunks growing out of his sholders. Still, it's not as bad as... ...this. That was cutting-edge rendering in the ol' days. And prerendered at that. Couldn't get any better. How graphics have evolved since then. Even real-time renders are better nowadays. Anyhoo, this game looks great! Quite liked UC, so I'm looking forward to this one. Still, that nagging feeling that it could've been a RE4-style game persists. Oh well, can't have everything, eh!

When I read the new setting has a Wild West-vibe, I thought that was a huge mistake on Ubisoft's part. Then I saw the artwork, and am actually quite intruiged. It doesn't look half as bad as my uncreative mind made me think it would be. Nice! True! The Dark Tower is, in my humble opinion, not only one of King's better works, but one of the best in literature in general. It's not easy to grasp, mind. And the first book doesn't give away even a hint about what happens in the latter... at all.

Now there is a most interesting question. There will always be a special place in my gaming heart for 2D-games, whether it be 2D-gameplay or just 2D-graphics. I'm a NES/SNES-kid, brought up in the Golden Years of 2D-platforming, so I'm a bit biased ofcourse. Cue nostalgic ranting. One thing that still appeals to me about 2D-gaming, is it's cheer simplicity. Not to say it's easy. Metal Slug and Contra can attest to that, but it's not as difficult to grasp. Left: go left. Right: go right. in a 3D-environment, it's not always so clear-cut or precise. I wouldn't want to say Mario 64 of Galaxy don't control well, but if I have to choose between those two and SMB3 or SMW, I know who has my preference. Then there is just the unadultered charm that, up to this day, only 2D-graphics can provide. No matter how well a 3D-Wario is animated, It'll never hold a candly to the charm of Wario Land: Shake Dimension. Granted, animators curse if they have to draw every single animation by hand, but that's how a labour of love is done. Lazy artists... One of the main preconceptions about 2D-gaming, it that it's reached it's limits with the SFIII. You only have to look at some recent and upcoming products to see there is still room for improvement. Can one look at Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire or Muramasa without gasping for breath? Who isn't impressed with the promise of a hand-drawn HD-King of Fighters? And which one has the most charm visual-wise: Wario World or Wario Land: Shake Dimension? I'm not saying 3D-gaming and graphics are a bad thing. Who would rather play Halo Zero (Don't know that one? Google it) than Halo 3? But I most definitely agree that 2D is somehow frowned upon. Sure, it's more limited in freedom (it's missing one dimension after all), but that hasn't stopped Metroid and Castlevania from bringing some 2D-gems that still are held in high regard these days. Even with 3D-graphics, there are still games that are 2D in nature. Just look at SFIV: excellent 3D-graphics and perfect 2D-controls. One of the problems is that most people these days associate 2D-games with, pardon my rudeness, plain-ass crap mobile-phone games. In short: 3D is here to stay, and we're very happy about that. Some games just can't be done in 2D, so don't even bother. But that idea goes both ways: some things just don't work in 3D, and it's not a shame to make something 2D. If only Sonic Team would learn... Point is: 2D gaming is almost a genre in itself: 2D-fighting, 2D-platforming, and I feel it can stand tall next to it's 3D-brethren. Now this is coming from an nostalgic old fool. Younger kids who had their first taste of gaming on the Playstation often don't know the delights of 2D-gaming. I suppose they get the same feeling I get when someone is going on about how great the Atari 2800 was and how Pitfall is the greatest game ever. Must be a generation thing. Now get off my lawn and comb that hair!

Must have this. Must have this now. The 2D-Gods must have haerd our daily prayers. The day htis arrives in Europe will be a happy day indeed!

Curses! Curses to those bargain deals! Curses to those cheap games! Too many good games in so little time! They better invent another weekday for playing all them games. At the moment, I'm am barely scratching the surfaces of: Little King's Story Pikmin 2 Madworld Animal Crossing Wii Mario Power Tennis Boom Blox SimCity Creator Tenchu 4 Dead Rising Medal of Honour Heroes 2 Rayman Raving Rabbids TV-Party I can last three summer droughts. And there's more to come...

Couldn't agree more with the title of this thread. This game is great! It's incredibly fun! It's got great humour, and the music is awesome! One minor gripe, though: why no Pikmin-esque pointer controls? Yes, I'm nitpicking, but I can't recommend this title enough.

Wow. That actually blew my mind! And up it goes, straight to the upper regions of my Most Wanted-list! Another Code was great, if a tad short. But there were some awesome puzzles inthere. I hope the same creativity can be found in this version.

I'm actually warming up to the Wii-version. Gotta love that Venkman! I was first overwhelmed with the 'next-gen'-version, but when looking now at the versions side-by-side, the Wii is less realistic, but it has so much more charm than the clinical-looking other versions. My only concern is that it was reported some time ago that not all the story-elements/dialogue would be in the PS2/Wii-version. A detail, but with dialogue and contents, so funny and so... Ghostbusters, it'd be a crying shame. It's the only things that's currently pushing me towards the PS3-version.

Granted, upon reading again, my post was very, very cynical, and terribly over the top. I just had to ventilate what was on my mind, especially in the edvant of another alledged Mega-/Gigaton. The truth is ofcourse less black & white as I make it seem. Nintendo has made some great games since then, and not every casual game is shovelware. It's just that I get the feeling they don't really care anymore. WiiSport resort is going to be fun, but it's more of a tech-demo than a real game. But I still like Nintendo. Otherwise I wouldn't be on this forum. You know that love and hate very close together. Sorry about the pics! I'm not really PC-minded, so how do you actually resize pictures? Thanks!

That would be great indeed! But so un-Nintendo. They'd rather have you pay again for those games. I really hope this one lives up to the hype. A new Mario, Zelda, Starfox, Waverace, F-Zero, Luigi's Mansion 2, or a brand new original and fun IP! My more cynical side tells me it'll be WiiFit+, Wii-Music Encore or some other piece of shovelware printed on a disc. My cynical side is usually right these days... When Reggie made his first public appearance at E3 2004, he represented the new attitude of Nintendo: ass-kicking, name-taking, game-making Gods. Fear us. Worship us. Nintendo was reborn, Reggie the personification af said change. He was the Hope for Gamers. Now, it's a PR-bot who lost all touch what gaming is about, and has to fall back on the monitors in order to know what to say. In a very unenthousiastic, boring, monotone voice. The promise of 2004: We're all about... Games!! The accumulated filth of all the cheap, bad and unoriginal games will foam up about the other developers waists . . . all the gamers and critics will look up and shout, 'Save us,' and Nintendo will look down and whisper, 'No'. It's the new Nintendo. I can break your neck with a twitch of my pinkie. Do not take us lightly. We're back in business, and our business is games. All for you, loyal gamers. DS. Great games. Great functionality. Great gameplay. Great innovation. It's Nintendo. You'll buy it. The reality of 2009: We're all about... Charts!! It's cool. It really is. Can't you see how much fun I'm having? Buy it! Games? What about them? Look, I get payed to do this. And you'll pay for this! It's plastic. It's got the Nintendo-logo on it. Ofcourse you'll buy it! Fatal Frame IV? Disaster? Guess you won't buy that. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Please buy some of our shovelware-on-discs instead. Now, let us all just dance, sing and play some crappy MIDI-music!

Ahum, before this discussion takes on proportions like Conduit's SD/HD-'discussion', back to Little King's Story. Looks very fun and interesting! Getting some good reviews too, so chances are I'll pick this one up.

MvC2 was/is great, so this could be very good news! My money is on a PS360 download-only, though, just like SFIIHD.

True, I've made the same reflex when I was considering Luigi's Mansion for New Play Control. Still, does it really need analogue input? Hardly used it in the original, and I'd happily sacrifice analogue input for the Pultergustfor Wii-controls. I haven't heard said podcast, so maybe I'm missing something. Hey, can't blaming me for dreaming, can you?

Hmm, don't know... The rubber is pretty elastic, so I don't think that would be much of a problem. Then again, why make it wider to begin with... The plot thickens! It would seem like an odd decision, though. Guess we'll just have to wait. Nintendo and odd decisions go along very well from time to time. Anyhoo, shouldn't this discussion be in the MotionPlus-thread? There is more talk about that in this thread than about Wii Sports Resort.