old lunars on DS

[DevNall]

Well, let's think on that for a second. Almost every system from NES, to Genesis, SNES, and onward had their share of slush games that basically, well, blew monkey chunks. To say that the PS2 titles are weak, you have to admit that pretty much 60% of all titles on every console pretty much suck. There was just as much lame junk on the PS1 as there is on the PS2.

I'm not arguing that, there are a lot of bad games for most any platform. I'm only taking about the really good stuff, of which it seemed like there was a lot more for the PS1 and the PS2. (Granted, this is subjective.)

Granted, online play is not something I do alot of (outside of FF XI), but Nintendo is still refusing to have the Revolution be online capable (last I heard). Now, I don't think a console needs to be able to play games online, but I am a fan of games that allow you to download extra content for the regular playing experience. By not evolving, Nintendo is ignoring thise nice aspect of online accessability.

The Revolution doesn't do this? The DS can, so I'm surprised. (Although I am not really a fan of online gaming currently, either.)

The Box is a very powerful machine, and many of its owners love it for that. One of my best friends always tries to start a console arguement with me by taunting the Box's machine strength over the PS2, but my neutrality always holds strong since I just want to play good games and I don't care where they come from.

Ah, a "mine is bigger" argument? I remember those going on between the Genesis and the SNES when I was younger (I liked both), and a good number of the facts that people used to quote turned out to be wrong anyway. Personally, I think in those cases developers tend to become more focused on what they can do rather than making a fun game. But, history has shown that "more powerful" does not equal better gameplay (or better sales), although I've met people who seem to think it does -- at which point, I usually feel like, to quote Tycho, "Excuse me, I forgot. It's not innovation unless it involves another texture pass."

[Dragonmaster Lou]

...No I didn't see that.

SE is developing MARIO BASKETBALL?

...dudes, leave Basketball to EA sports. That's what they DO for a living.

You're an RPG company. Make RPGs.

EA does serious basketball for a living. It sounds like this will be a cartoony basketball game, which EA doesn't do (and probably wouldn't do well, for that matter).

Comparing this to EA's basketball games would probably be like comparing Mario Kart to NASCAR.

[DaWrestla]

You guys seem to be excluding the Japanese market. The gamecube is kicking the xbox's arse in Japan. Worldwide, the xbox only has a *slight* edge on the cube. It's in America that the xbox dominates the cube.

[Roas Atrades]

You guys seem to be excluding the Japanese market. The gamecube is kicking the xbox's arse in Japan. Worldwide, the xbox only has a *slight* edge on the cube. It's in America that the xbox dominates the cube.

No, I don't think we are, because the Japanese market is a completely different beast when talking about the Gamecube and PS2.

Remember, we get a portion of the slew of games that the Japanese market gets for these two consoles. There are countless games out there that are probably made specifically for the Japanese market, so only one of our resident insiders may be able to tell us what popular games in Japan the Cube has that we do not, and same for the PS2.

At the same time, remember that the Japanese have a distinct different taste for games than Western gamers. What we may consider a whacked out crazy game that is stupid, a Japaneses gamer may think it is the greatest thing in the world.

On the flip side, Xbox makes their games geared for Western gamers, because it is a West based company. So these games may appeal to us more than a Japanese gamer.

So, you have to take into account the different gaming environments of the two markets before making that kind of statement.

After all, whenever a Dragon Quest game is released in Japan, it is basically a holiday and can only be done on a weekend because the entire nation basically shuts down to get it. Kind of like when Madden Live comes out here, is a good comparisson.

[GhaleonOne]

Well, even at that, it's not like the Cube poses the PS2 a threat in Japan anymore than the Xbox does. The Cube may be killing the Xbox over there, but the PS2 is killing both.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=5692

Those are hardware sales from a week ago. Xbox doesn't even break 150 units moved. The GameCube pulls a bit over 1500 and PS does 23000+. It's not like it's even a comparison.

But when you flip it to portable sales, Nintendo is still doing quite a bit better than the PSP. 44k vs 29k.

[DaWrestla]

So, you have to take into account the different gaming environments of the two markets before making that kind of statement.

I'm aware of the different environments. I was making the statement simply based on raw hardware sales, nothing else. And in raw hardware sales throughout the world, Cube and Box are practically tied...for 2nd place.

[Roas Atrades]

I'm aware of the different environments. I was making the statement simply based on raw hardware sales, nothing else. And in raw hardware sales throughout the world, Cube and Box are practically tied...for 2nd place.

Point.

But it still means nothing in the sense that Nintendo makes games that are decidedly less mature or genre oriented than Xbox or PS2, hence why myself and many others currently want little to do with Nintendo over the other systems which have a wider variety of games.

Sales or no sales, the focus is on why we don't want to play Nintendo games anymore, atm, not whether something is selling well world wide. I've said that Nintendo handhelds are, and have always been, the better handheld consoles on the market. I personally have little use for them, and thus, will not spend money on it or a major console that is not going to provide me with the types of games I want to play.

That's just my opinion, not anyone elses. I would never tell someone what they can like and dislike, let alone buy and not buy (unless they were going to spend money they didn't have ).

[localflick]

Geist looks pretty cool...

[DaWrestla]

But it still means nothing in the sense that Nintendo makes games that are decidedly less mature or genre oriented than Xbox or PS2, hence why myself and many others currently want little to do with Nintendo over the other systems which have a wider variety of games

Point. Personally, I could care less about "mature" games. If a game is fun and happens to play like a cartoon, I'll play it and probably love it. Hence why Zelda Wind Waker is my fave Zelda game.

While I have nothing AGAINST Sony or Microsoft (I own a PS1 and will eventually get a PS2 when KH2 and FFXII are released.), I will always be a Nintendo fanboy

[Roas Atrades]

Point. Personally, I could care less about "mature" games. If a game is fun and happens to play like a cartoon, I'll play it and probably love it. Hence why Zelda Wind Waker is my fave Zelda game.

I don't mean that cartoony games cannot be fun. I just feel that Nintendo does not cater to those of us who were its original fanbase, anymore. I just don't feel they have made any innovations in gaming in the past ten years or so, enough that they can remain at the top of the food chain. They remain in this tunnel vision sort of production that just focuses on a specific demographic, when they should really be focusing, in addition to kids, on those of us in our mid twenties and early thirties who helped make them what they are now.

While I have nothing AGAINST Sony or Microsoft (I own a PS1 and will eventually get a PS2 when KH2 and FFXII are released.), I will always be a Nintendo fanboy

heh, I stopped being a fanboy way back at the height of the Console Wars in the late 90's. When it became clear that the only way to get all the good games out there was to own multiple systems, I stopped putting my allegience to a single console and pushed Names aside for the pursuit of good games.

Of course, this was back when you could count on a system having multiple good games. Now a days, you can shoot yourself in the foot since systems may look good out of the gate but end up having nothing at all.

[lioyd]

I think it will be great if they made a lunar EB in the DS or GBA .

[Inu]

Id really rather see SSSC and EB for PSP since as far as I can imagine, it would be a lot better than DS as far as using actual full cut scenes with actual voice overs and such..which is something Im sure is something you all would have to admit you love and miss as far as Legends and Dragon song... not to mention voice overs during those special times during game play...I doubt anyone would argue that just because they wernt in the original games that things would be better off without them but I dont really see the need for a touch screen or 3Dish graphics..

It would be cool even if they added the special making of video that were on the bonus disks for each game as unlockables or even a way to listen to the soundtracks

I just don't feel they have made any innovations in gaming in the past ten years or so, enough that they can remain at the top of the food chain.

I do love Nintendo but Id have to agree with that.. for some reason it has been starting to feel to me that maybe they put more effort in Japan than North America...maybe its just me but most GBA games don't seem to be very interesting at all and Dragon Song is the only game I can think of that I would buy a DS to play..

By the way..just wondering..I know the Psp hasnt been out as long as DS but as far as japan goes, which one is doing better?

[GhaleonOne]

By the way..just wondering..I know the Psp hasnt been out as long as DS but as far as japan goes, which one is doing better?

DS, by quite a margin.

In the US, it's very close I believe, but I haven't looked at numbers in a month or two, so I don't know which is ahead.

In Europe, I believe the PSP is winning, but the numbers are so much smaller due to the PSP launch happening much later than in the US or Japan.

[Alunissage]

Id really rather see SSSC and EB for PSP since as far as I can imagine, it would be a lot better than DS as far as using actual full cut scenes with actual voice overs and such..which is something Im sure is something you all would have to admit you love and miss as far as Legends and Dragon song... not to mention voice overs during those special times during game play...I doubt anyone would argue that just because they wernt in the original games that things would be better off without them but I dont really see the need for a touch screen or 3Dish graphics..

Actually, I'm perfectly fine with no voice-overs, and animation is okay but not what makes the series for me. I liked Lunar Legend just fine in these regards, as it had the most charming sprites. Its flaws were in the battle system and balance, sound quality, and translation, plus the same story problems it inherited from SSSC. TSS was the first RPG I played and as such I didn't know that animation and voice were anything special. Sure, they added, but not as much as good music and writing.

I just don't feel they have made any innovations in gaming in the past ten years or so, enough that they can remain at the top of the food chain.

I do love Nintendo but Id have to agree with that.. for some reason it has been starting to feel to me that maybe they put more effort in Japan than North America...maybe its just me but most GBA games don't seem to be very interesting at all and Dragon Song is the only game I can think of that I would buy a DS to play..

It's just you. I can't think of one reason I'd get a PSP. Chacun a son gout. I'm not sure why you'd expect Nintendo to put more in the US than in Japan when it's a Japanese company, though.

And I'm not the one to come up with examples, but I know there are many people who would disagree with the notion that Nintendo hasn't done anything innovative for the last ten years.

[GhaleonOne]

I'd seriously disagree with that notion myself. The dual touch screen system is hella innovative. And the Revolution looks to follow suit. If anything, what has Sony and Microsoft done that's been innovative. Other than add in non-gaming additions such as DVD playback? The only thing innovative has been adding harddrive support and online play. Both of which are pretty standard directions for gaming to go in.

I'd say Zelda: OoT, Pikmin, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, etc. have been quite innovative in the past 10 years. I could name off a ton of others.

In addition, I can't think of a reason to get a PSP currently either. I'm so sick of hearing "But you can watch movies on it". Why? UMD is only supported by PSP. I don't see why someone would buy a UMD movie over a DVD movie when the only thing they can play the UMD movie on is a PSP. So far there are only like 2 games out worth buying for it. There ARE a lot of games coming up that I'm interested in. Suikoden 1 and 2 specifically. But until then, it's a waste of money. The DS has a plethora of good titles worth looking into (besides Lunar, which is not exactly up to Lunar standards anyways). I just don't see how anyone in their right mind could pick the PSP over the DS in terms of software right now. Until some of these games in the future lineup hit the PSP next year, the DS may be technologically inferior, but game-wise, it blows the PSP out of the water.

[Roas Atrades]

I'd seriously disagree with that notion myself. The dual touch screen system is hella innovative. And the Revolution looks to follow suit. If anything, what has Sony and Microsoft done that's been innovative. Other than add in non-gaming additions such as DVD playback? The only thing innovative has been adding harddrive support and online play. Both of which are pretty standard directions for gaming to go in.

I'd say Zelda: OoT, Pikmin, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, etc. have been quite innovative in the past 10 years. I could name off a ton of others.

In addition, I can't think of a reason to get a PSP currently either. I'm so sick of hearing "But you can watch movies on it". Why? UMD is only supported by PSP. I don't see why someone would buy a UMD movie over a DVD movie when the only thing they can play the UMD movie on is a PSP. So far there are only like 2 games out worth buying for it. There ARE a lot of games coming up that I'm interested in. Suikoden 1 and 2 specifically. But until then, it's a waste of money. The DS has a plethora of good titles worth looking into (besides Lunar, which is not exactly up to Lunar standards anyways). I just don't see how anyone in their right mind could pick the PSP over the DS in terms of software right now. Until some of these games in the future lineup hit the PSP next year, the DS may be technologically inferior, but game-wise, it blows the PSP out of the water.

Perhaps I should have been more specific when I made that comment back then. I am refering to games, not hardware, so I won't comment on hardware since that's not in my focus.

For all intents and purposes, I don't see anything special about the above mentioned games. The only one that maybe came close was Metroid, but again, in the end, just another shooter.

The way I see it, Nintendo has taken the same path that helped lead to Sega's downfall as a console manufacturer. Since the N64, Nintendo has relied too much on internal game development when it comes to their consoles (not handheld). If anything, Nintendo itself proved during the SNES era that 3rd party liscencing is what makes a system broad and diverse enough to attract customers.

Nintendo is relying too heavily on name recognition and a handful of tired, reused characters. They keep themselves afloat through Handheld success (which is no slouch, but it ain't a console) and maybe two or three successful games a year, while Sony and Microsoft fully use their 3rd party developers to put out 2 to 3 more big hits every year than Nintendo (that is not counting cross platform titles).

That's not saying that Nintendo does not still make the a good game once in a while. Once a Gamecube drops to around $50 I will buy one so I can play Fire Emblem and Twilight Princess...but like I said...the system will have to be going fo cheap before I do that.

The only thing I will say about the Revolution is that its specs are not impressing me much....least of it's whacked controller and that twinky wand idea they are talking about. No thanks

Clearly a few of you still have faith in Nintendo....I simply do not for long run purposes.

As far as the PSP goes, I could not agree more. It is a useless handheld pandering to those "Must Havers" who are suckered into buying every bit of technology. Would I take it if I won it in a contest? Sure. Will I ever buy one? Probably not.

[phyco126]

Oh come now, the PSP is really a good piece of technology. Expensive, yes. But I've played it several times, and I have to say I was more impressed with the graphics and the screen itself than I was to begin with. Not to mention, yeah, it does play movies.

To reply to G1 about buying UMD vs DVD, I think it's for the people who want too watch movies AND play games while going on a trip, rather than buy a portable DVD player and a seperate portable gameing system. The cost is roughly the same. *shrug*

Personally, I hate the Dual Screen aspect of the DS, but I'm not much of one to like things that have a huge gap between two screens that are used to be "one" screen. I think the graphics on it are absolutely awesome, but the Dual Screen is just not for me.

The PSP is not useless. Just my two cents.

[GhaleonOne]

Oh come now, the PSP is really a good piece of technology. Expensive, yes. But I've played it several times, and I have to say I was more impressed with the graphics and the screen itself than I was to begin with. Not to mention, yeah, it does play movies.

To reply to G1 about buying UMD vs DVD, I think it's for the people who want too watch movies AND play games while going on a trip, rather than buy a portable DVD player and a seperate portable gameing system. The cost is roughly the same. *shrug*

Who said it wasn't a good piece of technology? It's technologically superior to the DS. I have no argument there. Again, the point is in software, which the PSP is still lacking. The DS was also, but came through starting around May. The PSP will eventually. There's been a number of good games announced over the past 2-3 months.

Regarding the movies. I still don't see why someone would buy movies *just* to watch on a trip. How often do you travel where you would need it? It just seems pointless, when you could buy the DVD and watch it far more often. I guess you could watch it on the PSP with a UMD, but that rules out anyone but you watching the movie. Not to mention, a tiny screen to watch on. I'm not saying it's not a nice feature, but I don't see why someone would buy the PSP *just* for that feature.

[phyco126]

Well, I wouldn't by the PSP *just* for that feature, but I'm one of the suckers who would buy the UMD movies Cause I'm a sucker like that ^^:

Now, I didn't mean that the PSP is a good piece of technology in the lines of being technologically advanced. I was just saying that in reference to what Roas said about it being worthless.

[GhaleonOne]

I'd say it's next to worthless currently. That'll change come next year, but at the moment, I wouldn't even spend 50 on it if I had 50 to blow.