Official VIDEO GAMES discussion

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GeorgeC

Official VIDEO GAMES discussion

Post by GeorgeC » October 27th, 2005, 3:38 am

Just saw my first in-person glimpse of the X-Box 360 running a game demo on a high-def monitor at a local Super Wal-Mart.

Decent visuals but not really much better than the best games running on current consoles.

The systems officially release next month on the 22nd (Nov).

I'm still waiting to see what Sony and Nintendo have to offer next year.

I wasn't much impressed by most of what X-Box had to offer and it's the only console system of the bunch I didn't buy...

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Post by ShyViolet » October 27th, 2005, 10:59 pm

Just wondering about your opinon: What's better, a GameBoy Advance or a Nintendo DS (portable.) I'm (possibly) looking to get a portable system.

The only games I play are the eight or so I have on my cellphone (which were expensive):

1.) Ms. Pac-Man
2.) Q-Bert
3.) Galaga (yeah, I like the 80's stuff)
4.) Dig-Dug
5.) Operation
6.) Space Invadors
7.) Tetris
8.) Simon

(I even had Batman Begins at one point, but you could barely see anything.)

Really good for when you have to wait somewhere! :wink:
Last edited by ShyViolet on October 28th, 2005, 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by GeorgeC » October 28th, 2005, 3:57 am

Hmm... Depends.

Based on my personal experience and UNLESS you really want to watch a movie on the go, DON'T GET A SONY PSP! Besides being the most expensive portable of the bunch, it has issues with durability (breaks easily; the D-pad is easily broken with moderate useage as I found out to my sadness:( ) and the library of games is not as extensive as it could be. It still has the best portable screen I've seen and graphics to rival consoles, but is not bang-for-the-buck the best by a longshot.

You should probably get a DS UNLESS you're planning to play GameBoy Advanced games head-to-head (in two-player mode). A DS will only play GBA games in one player mode but it's the future of Nintendo portables. Development still continues on GBA games, but who knows for how much longer? In the meantime, you can play ANY GBA game on a DS in one-player mode and have your cake and eat it, too!

The only advantages the GBA has over the DS are price and backwards compatibility with most GameBoy games. A Nintendo DS will only play GBA games in addition to DS games but is NOT compatible with pre-GBA GameBoy games.

Some people like the Stylus touchscreen on the DS, some don't. Be sure to get something to hold the Stylus pen if a case doesn't come with the DS because the Stylus is easy to lose. (If you lose the Stylus, no big deal. There are cheaper-than-Nintendo replacement Stylus pens on the market for the DS.) If you do get a DS OR GBA, get plastic screen overlays to protect the screens. For $5-$10, you're protecting a $70 (GBA) or $120 (? price could be lower now for the DS) investment from the inevitable scratches that will happen on the screens without protection. The touchscreen on the DS in particular is prone to scratches from the Stylus pen.

Good features of the DS are A) the best screen of the whole bunch of Nintendo portables; B) wireless connectivity between neighboring DS's; and C) a touchpad that enables you to interact with games in ways that are very different for a game system. Nintendogs and Trauma Center (the medical operation game) are must gets for using the Stylus. I've also heard the new Castlevania game for the DS works really well the Stylus, too!

Another great feature of the Nintendo DS is that in wireless connection mode only one DS has to be running the game for all the players to enjoy competition. That's right -- only one DS player actually has to have the game plugged into his or her unit for everybody in the party to enjoy playing against each other!



P.S. -- All those games you have on your cellphone are available in relatively cheap cartridge packs for the DS/GBA. Most of those packs have at least 4 games on them, sometimes 8 or more. There's even a new classic Atari game collection for DS, too!

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Post by ShyViolet » October 28th, 2005, 3:27 pm

Thanks! :wink:
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Post by Ben » October 29th, 2005, 8:56 am

If I want to watch a movie on the go, I use my portable DVD player.

Not only does this, like, keep the extra features on the disc (catching that missed commentary while riding on a long trip is cool), but, like, the discs are, like, totally compatible with every other disc player I have in the house and I don't have to buy two of everything!

Wow - how much smaller do things need to get anyway?

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Post by James » October 29th, 2005, 9:33 am

PSP!

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Post by Macaluso » October 29th, 2005, 1:35 pm

Bah PSP.

*huggles my gameboy*

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Post by GeorgeC » October 29th, 2005, 11:34 pm

James wrote:PSP!

I like the hardware, too, BUT Sony's track record with the consoles and PSP hardware reliability to date has been abysmal.

You're basically FORCED to buy another console (or PSP) within 2 years because the darn things break so easily! And believe me, I'm as careful as they get and I STILL have sent back 2 PSPs to Sony to get them exchanged. They don't seem to know how to make these things with D-pads that WON'T break or aren't worth sh!t to begin with. I'm on my THIRD PSP and it hasn't been a year since the launch.

If I hadn't met as many people as I have who've gone through 2-4 PS1's, 2-3 PS2's, and AT LEAST 2 PSPs by now -- and hadn't experienced many of these problems myself --, I'd have never believed it!

Love the Sony software, yes, but I HATE how easily their systems break.

Nintendo and Sega are the last two companies that know how to build hardware to take minimal abuse (and a bit more from little kids) and STILL survive for 10 years or more. Nobody else that's entered the market since '95 seems to know how to build a system that won't break over minimal use!

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Post by ShyViolet » November 4th, 2005, 2:45 pm

Do they sell versions of the original Super Mario Bros games, and can you play them on DS?
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Post by GeorgeC » November 4th, 2005, 10:52 pm

ShyViolet wrote:Do they sell versions of the original Super Mario Bros games, and can you play them on DS?

I'm not aware of there being any way to emulate games on the DS. Also, they have not my knowledge done any major re-releases of the Super Mario Bros games since the SNES days. It's been a while!

If you really must have these games and STILL have the old NES or SNES systems, plenty of gamestores still sell used cartridges. You might have a hard time finding these games in-store because they're popular and many people held on to their copies.

Other than that, you have 2 more options:

A) The first and cheapest is to find a good game system emulator for your computer (Mac or PC) and download it. THAT'S the easy part! The harder part is to search for the ROMs of the games. Beyond this, I can't tell you any more. It's widely-available knowledge but even typing this much can get sites in trouble! Emulators are technically legal. The illegal part is the distribution of ROM images of old games that MAY still be under copyright.

B) Wait a year for the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo is promising wireless connections for the Revolution that will enable you to uplink to an Internet archive of old Nintendo games that you can download and play. Whether you'll have to pay a fee (PROBABLY) to use this service or not, I don't know. I just hope they have a better controller designed by then because the old games aren't going to play well on that DVD remote they introduced at the Tokyo Game Show!

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Re: X-Box 360s now demo'ing at Wal-Mart and gamestores

Post by Bambi » November 6th, 2005, 9:03 pm

GeorgeC wrote:
I'm still waiting to see what Sony and Nintendo have to offer next year.
Sony will offer Kingdom Hearts 2 and it will be awsome. I wonder what happened to mickey
I got "twitterpated" by Faline...
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d53/bambidude/BAMBISIGMetallica.jpg[/img]

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Post by ShyViolet » November 27th, 2005, 5:21 pm

Not only does this, like, keep the extra features on the disc (catching that missed commentary while riding on a long trip is cool)!
I tried to watch my portable on an eight-hour bus trip over Thanksgiving weekend, but it just made me motion sick.
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Post by ShyViolet » October 22nd, 2006, 10:14 pm

I finally got my own gaming system,--Nintendo DS Lite! Yay! :) :)

It's the pink one....I really like it.

I chose Nintendo DS for affordiblity, look and the fact that they have lots of Mario games (I love Mario! :wink: )

I also got the New Super Mario Bros. game to go with it! :D


Even though it's a year later, thanks for the advice George! :wink:
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Post by Daniel » October 22nd, 2006, 11:01 pm

I just got a regular DS Lite (white) less than a month ago, no games. But definelty for Christmas! :P

Bet your having a blast huh Vi? :D the pink one is so cute!, but I'm a boy, it wouldn't look to masculane for me to have one :?

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Post by Ben » October 23rd, 2006, 7:20 am

You know that's the one you want... ;)

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