The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
For us Nintendo fans porting is a seriously annoying issue. I mean what we get constantly is frustrating PS2 ports day in day out. The Two Towers and The Legacy of Kain are the next to join a long line of PS2 games makings its way across to the Gamecube disappointingly. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it means we do get some of the best PS2 games BUT the best PS2 games that appear on the Gamecube do turn out to be mighty fine. Timesplitters 2 and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 are both games built using Playstation 2 hardware and yet they are two of the greatest Gamecube and X-box games, it is because the games are so damn fun we can look past the cosmetic stuff (although THPS4 is often criticized for the PS2 graphics).
Sometimes developers try to counteract the fact we get a really late game by adding in a new element, Medal of Honour: Frontline incorporated a multiplayer mode. This is an excellent idea and yet the game still looked and played like a PS2 game… because it is. You see there are two similar systems out there, the Playstation 2 and the X-box, they offer a basic premise, here we have a games console… here we have the tools to make games… now make them keeping in mind the raw specifications. The problem here is that the X-box’s raw power far and I mean far outweighs the PS2’s so a PS2 game looks naff on the X-box and an X-box game has to be heavily downgraded for the PS2.
The Gamecube is a different kettle of fish.
You see the Gamecube is technically the console in the middle; PS2 games look like middle to low-end Gamecube titles (as opposed to ‘how do they get away with these crap graphics’ on the X-box) whilst X-box games (the high end ones anyway) need to be downgraded slightly (and barley noticeably) and look like high end Gamecube games. Well actually they don’t. You see Gamecube games are very, very different. A Gamecube game cannot be done on the PS2 without downgrading it and it cannot be done on the X-box without downgrading it. It isn’t that the Gamecube has more polygon pushing power or graphical abilities it is that the Gamecube is a packaged geared entirely to making it easy for developers to make a very clever looking game.
When you make a website you could use a basic package, stick a picture here, stick a link there and some writing here. Yet along comes a guy who allows you to put a tail on the cursor, makes the picture change when you out the cursor over it, a side scrolling text bar, a flash image etc… etc… This is the Gamecube. The Gamecube games don’t look better than X-box ones but their package allows for special effects, the programming tools enables developers to use one of Nintendo’s home made special effects or to design there own… easily. It allows developers to do something special with their games easily, Wipeout developers Psygosis could show off the speed effects saying look at this whilst SEGA’s speed effects could be far better as Nintendo’s special package made it ten times easier to do. Nintendo’s inbuilt special effects do make their games better looking than X-box’s in some ways. Luigi’s Mansion uses the special explosion techniques used dramatically in Rogue Leader (noticed Rogue Leader’s looked much better than the Clone Wars), Luigi’s Mansion is also one of the only games so far that used the very clever transparency effects that could take months of coding on the PS2. Although Mario Sunshine was simplistic playing the game was far more awe inspiring again due to the Gamecube’s special effects, the heat haze that grew as it got hotter, the incredible water effects that looked even better cartoony than they did realistically in Wave Race and Mario also used transparency effects and the improved colour effects. Wave Race famously used reflection effects and the underused Motion Blur effect. That is not to mention the amazing bump mapping that is so easy to use that developers even use it when doing a port.
Bits Studio’s remains at the moment the only developer that is brave enough to make a Gamecube game and then port it to another console. Graphically Die Hard: Vendetta can be ported to the PS2 with only a minor downgrade but what of the special effects? Well sadly Die Hard doesn’t really use them they use one reflection effect on a few of the guns (like in Wave Race) this will either be removed or they’ll spend the next 2 months making a code in order to implement it. To counteract the fact the game was made with the Cube’s controller in mind and the Cube’s graphical power Bits are making a multiplayer mode… something that angers me no end as the game would be perfect with one. And this brings me onto my next point… Capcom’s 4. Product Number: 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix and Viewtiful Joe all use Gamecube’s special hardware just like the Resident Evil games, Product already uses reflection techniques and motion blur, Killer 7 has shown the layering effects and the improved splattering motions the Gamecube can do, Dead Phoenix uses the heat haze effects again and Viewtiful Joe uses motion blur a lot! All the games use the special Bump mapping option and I’ve deduced this from a handful of videos and screenshots.
So when Capcom say they aren’t actually exclusive I can tell you they’re not working on PS2 and X-box versions, because they can’t be done. If Capcom do suffer another bad year then a few of the games that don’t require the Gamecube’s specialist hardware too much may go to another console. But Viewtiful Joe relies on motion Blur a lot whilst Product Number: 03 are very reflective and use a lot of lighting effects (they are very popular especially in Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness). Killer 7 seems to use fewer effects but then the graphical style is too complicated for the PS2 whilst the most likely of the four to go multi-format is Dead Phoenix. Nevertheless all of them are built using Gamecube hardware, if they do go to other formats they will be superior on the Gamecube, it will take a good 6 months to downgrade and convert it and so really these are still system selling Gamecube titles. Capcom may do a quick port to raise some cash but the Gamecube generates hype around most of the games for around a year in Europe (and regarding Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix a year in Japan and America as well), they get the better version and a multi-format announcement won’t appear until December this year… so don’t worry the Capcom 4 are still 4 great reasons to own a Gamecube over other consoles.
Dringo.
Sometimes developers try to counteract the fact we get a really late game by adding in a new element, Medal of Honour: Frontline incorporated a multiplayer mode. This is an excellent idea and yet the game still looked and played like a PS2 game… because it is. You see there are two similar systems out there, the Playstation 2 and the X-box, they offer a basic premise, here we have a games console… here we have the tools to make games… now make them keeping in mind the raw specifications. The problem here is that the X-box’s raw power far and I mean far outweighs the PS2’s so a PS2 game looks naff on the X-box and an X-box game has to be heavily downgraded for the PS2.
The Gamecube is a different kettle of fish.
You see the Gamecube is technically the console in the middle; PS2 games look like middle to low-end Gamecube titles (as opposed to ‘how do they get away with these crap graphics’ on the X-box) whilst X-box games (the high end ones anyway) need to be downgraded slightly (and barley noticeably) and look like high end Gamecube games. Well actually they don’t. You see Gamecube games are very, very different. A Gamecube game cannot be done on the PS2 without downgrading it and it cannot be done on the X-box without downgrading it. It isn’t that the Gamecube has more polygon pushing power or graphical abilities it is that the Gamecube is a packaged geared entirely to making it easy for developers to make a very clever looking game.
When you make a website you could use a basic package, stick a picture here, stick a link there and some writing here. Yet along comes a guy who allows you to put a tail on the cursor, makes the picture change when you out the cursor over it, a side scrolling text bar, a flash image etc… etc… This is the Gamecube. The Gamecube games don’t look better than X-box ones but their package allows for special effects, the programming tools enables developers to use one of Nintendo’s home made special effects or to design there own… easily. It allows developers to do something special with their games easily, Wipeout developers Psygosis could show off the speed effects saying look at this whilst SEGA’s speed effects could be far better as Nintendo’s special package made it ten times easier to do. Nintendo’s inbuilt special effects do make their games better looking than X-box’s in some ways. Luigi’s Mansion uses the special explosion techniques used dramatically in Rogue Leader (noticed Rogue Leader’s looked much better than the Clone Wars), Luigi’s Mansion is also one of the only games so far that used the very clever transparency effects that could take months of coding on the PS2. Although Mario Sunshine was simplistic playing the game was far more awe inspiring again due to the Gamecube’s special effects, the heat haze that grew as it got hotter, the incredible water effects that looked even better cartoony than they did realistically in Wave Race and Mario also used transparency effects and the improved colour effects. Wave Race famously used reflection effects and the underused Motion Blur effect. That is not to mention the amazing bump mapping that is so easy to use that developers even use it when doing a port.
Bits Studio’s remains at the moment the only developer that is brave enough to make a Gamecube game and then port it to another console. Graphically Die Hard: Vendetta can be ported to the PS2 with only a minor downgrade but what of the special effects? Well sadly Die Hard doesn’t really use them they use one reflection effect on a few of the guns (like in Wave Race) this will either be removed or they’ll spend the next 2 months making a code in order to implement it. To counteract the fact the game was made with the Cube’s controller in mind and the Cube’s graphical power Bits are making a multiplayer mode… something that angers me no end as the game would be perfect with one. And this brings me onto my next point… Capcom’s 4. Product Number: 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix and Viewtiful Joe all use Gamecube’s special hardware just like the Resident Evil games, Product already uses reflection techniques and motion blur, Killer 7 has shown the layering effects and the improved splattering motions the Gamecube can do, Dead Phoenix uses the heat haze effects again and Viewtiful Joe uses motion blur a lot! All the games use the special Bump mapping option and I’ve deduced this from a handful of videos and screenshots.
So when Capcom say they aren’t actually exclusive I can tell you they’re not working on PS2 and X-box versions, because they can’t be done. If Capcom do suffer another bad year then a few of the games that don’t require the Gamecube’s specialist hardware too much may go to another console. But Viewtiful Joe relies on motion Blur a lot whilst Product Number: 03 are very reflective and use a lot of lighting effects (they are very popular especially in Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness). Killer 7 seems to use fewer effects but then the graphical style is too complicated for the PS2 whilst the most likely of the four to go multi-format is Dead Phoenix. Nevertheless all of them are built using Gamecube hardware, if they do go to other formats they will be superior on the Gamecube, it will take a good 6 months to downgrade and convert it and so really these are still system selling Gamecube titles. Capcom may do a quick port to raise some cash but the Gamecube generates hype around most of the games for around a year in Europe (and regarding Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix a year in Japan and America as well), they get the better version and a multi-format announcement won’t appear until December this year… so don’t worry the Capcom 4 are still 4 great reasons to own a Gamecube over other consoles.
Dringo.
It is an ingenious chip and all those add ons that make it even easier to use being made by Nintendo and co. make it even easier.
Love that flipper chip :D
They can be done on the other consoles, but it would take months to code it all.
They can be done on the other consoles, but it would take months to code it all.
For us Nintendo fans porting is a seriously annoying issue. I mean what we get constantly is frustrating PS2 ports day in day out. The Two Towers and The Legacy of Kain are the next to join a long line of PS2 games makings its way across to the Gamecube disappointingly. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it means we do get some of the best PS2 games BUT the best PS2 games that appear on the Gamecube do turn out to be mighty fine. Timesplitters 2 and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 are both games built using Playstation 2 hardware and yet they are two of the greatest Gamecube and X-box games, it is because the games are so damn fun we can look past the cosmetic stuff (although THPS4 is often criticized for the PS2 graphics).
Sometimes developers try to counteract the fact we get a really late game by adding in a new element, Medal of Honour: Frontline incorporated a multiplayer mode. This is an excellent idea and yet the game still looked and played like a PS2 game… because it is. You see there are two similar systems out there, the Playstation 2 and the X-box, they offer a basic premise, here we have a games console… here we have the tools to make games… now make them keeping in mind the raw specifications. The problem here is that the X-box’s raw power far and I mean far outweighs the PS2’s so a PS2 game looks naff on the X-box and an X-box game has to be heavily downgraded for the PS2.
The Gamecube is a different kettle of fish.
You see the Gamecube is technically the console in the middle; PS2 games look like middle to low-end Gamecube titles (as opposed to ‘how do they get away with these crap graphics’ on the X-box) whilst X-box games (the high end ones anyway) need to be downgraded slightly (and barley noticeably) and look like high end Gamecube games. Well actually they don’t. You see Gamecube games are very, very different. A Gamecube game cannot be done on the PS2 without downgrading it and it cannot be done on the X-box without downgrading it. It isn’t that the Gamecube has more polygon pushing power or graphical abilities it is that the Gamecube is a packaged geared entirely to making it easy for developers to make a very clever looking game.
When you make a website you could use a basic package, stick a picture here, stick a link there and some writing here. Yet along comes a guy who allows you to put a tail on the cursor, makes the picture change when you out the cursor over it, a side scrolling text bar, a flash image etc… etc… This is the Gamecube. The Gamecube games don’t look better than X-box ones but their package allows for special effects, the programming tools enables developers to use one of Nintendo’s home made special effects or to design there own… easily. It allows developers to do something special with their games easily, Wipeout developers Psygosis could show off the speed effects saying look at this whilst SEGA’s speed effects could be far better as Nintendo’s special package made it ten times easier to do. Nintendo’s inbuilt special effects do make their games better looking than X-box’s in some ways. Luigi’s Mansion uses the special explosion techniques used dramatically in Rogue Leader (noticed Rogue Leader’s looked much better than the Clone Wars), Luigi’s Mansion is also one of the only games so far that used the very clever transparency effects that could take months of coding on the PS2. Although Mario Sunshine was simplistic playing the game was far more awe inspiring again due to the Gamecube’s special effects, the heat haze that grew as it got hotter, the incredible water effects that looked even better cartoony than they did realistically in Wave Race and Mario also used transparency effects and the improved colour effects. Wave Race famously used reflection effects and the underused Motion Blur effect. That is not to mention the amazing bump mapping that is so easy to use that developers even use it when doing a port.
Bits Studio’s remains at the moment the only developer that is brave enough to make a Gamecube game and then port it to another console. Graphically Die Hard: Vendetta can be ported to the PS2 with only a minor downgrade but what of the special effects? Well sadly Die Hard doesn’t really use them they use one reflection effect on a few of the guns (like in Wave Race) this will either be removed or they’ll spend the next 2 months making a code in order to implement it. To counteract the fact the game was made with the Cube’s controller in mind and the Cube’s graphical power Bits are making a multiplayer mode… something that angers me no end as the game would be perfect with one. And this brings me onto my next point… Capcom’s 4. Product Number: 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix and Viewtiful Joe all use Gamecube’s special hardware just like the Resident Evil games, Product already uses reflection techniques and motion blur, Killer 7 has shown the layering effects and the improved splattering motions the Gamecube can do, Dead Phoenix uses the heat haze effects again and Viewtiful Joe uses motion blur a lot! All the games use the special Bump mapping option and I’ve deduced this from a handful of videos and screenshots.
So when Capcom say they aren’t actually exclusive I can tell you they’re not working on PS2 and X-box versions, because they can’t be done. If Capcom do suffer another bad year then a few of the games that don’t require the Gamecube’s specialist hardware too much may go to another console. But Viewtiful Joe relies on motion Blur a lot whilst Product Number: 03 are very reflective and use a lot of lighting effects (they are very popular especially in Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness). Killer 7 seems to use fewer effects but then the graphical style is too complicated for the PS2 whilst the most likely of the four to go multi-format is Dead Phoenix. Nevertheless all of them are built using Gamecube hardware, if they do go to other formats they will be superior on the Gamecube, it will take a good 6 months to downgrade and convert it and so really these are still system selling Gamecube titles. Capcom may do a quick port to raise some cash but the Gamecube generates hype around most of the games for around a year in Europe (and regarding Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix a year in Japan and America as well), they get the better version and a multi-format announcement won’t appear until December this year… so don’t worry the Capcom 4 are still 4 great reasons to own a Gamecube over other consoles.
Dringo.
Sometimes developers try to counteract the fact we get a really late game by adding in a new element, Medal of Honour: Frontline incorporated a multiplayer mode. This is an excellent idea and yet the game still looked and played like a PS2 game… because it is. You see there are two similar systems out there, the Playstation 2 and the X-box, they offer a basic premise, here we have a games console… here we have the tools to make games… now make them keeping in mind the raw specifications. The problem here is that the X-box’s raw power far and I mean far outweighs the PS2’s so a PS2 game looks naff on the X-box and an X-box game has to be heavily downgraded for the PS2.
The Gamecube is a different kettle of fish.
You see the Gamecube is technically the console in the middle; PS2 games look like middle to low-end Gamecube titles (as opposed to ‘how do they get away with these crap graphics’ on the X-box) whilst X-box games (the high end ones anyway) need to be downgraded slightly (and barley noticeably) and look like high end Gamecube games. Well actually they don’t. You see Gamecube games are very, very different. A Gamecube game cannot be done on the PS2 without downgrading it and it cannot be done on the X-box without downgrading it. It isn’t that the Gamecube has more polygon pushing power or graphical abilities it is that the Gamecube is a packaged geared entirely to making it easy for developers to make a very clever looking game.
When you make a website you could use a basic package, stick a picture here, stick a link there and some writing here. Yet along comes a guy who allows you to put a tail on the cursor, makes the picture change when you out the cursor over it, a side scrolling text bar, a flash image etc… etc… This is the Gamecube. The Gamecube games don’t look better than X-box ones but their package allows for special effects, the programming tools enables developers to use one of Nintendo’s home made special effects or to design there own… easily. It allows developers to do something special with their games easily, Wipeout developers Psygosis could show off the speed effects saying look at this whilst SEGA’s speed effects could be far better as Nintendo’s special package made it ten times easier to do. Nintendo’s inbuilt special effects do make their games better looking than X-box’s in some ways. Luigi’s Mansion uses the special explosion techniques used dramatically in Rogue Leader (noticed Rogue Leader’s looked much better than the Clone Wars), Luigi’s Mansion is also one of the only games so far that used the very clever transparency effects that could take months of coding on the PS2. Although Mario Sunshine was simplistic playing the game was far more awe inspiring again due to the Gamecube’s special effects, the heat haze that grew as it got hotter, the incredible water effects that looked even better cartoony than they did realistically in Wave Race and Mario also used transparency effects and the improved colour effects. Wave Race famously used reflection effects and the underused Motion Blur effect. That is not to mention the amazing bump mapping that is so easy to use that developers even use it when doing a port.
Bits Studio’s remains at the moment the only developer that is brave enough to make a Gamecube game and then port it to another console. Graphically Die Hard: Vendetta can be ported to the PS2 with only a minor downgrade but what of the special effects? Well sadly Die Hard doesn’t really use them they use one reflection effect on a few of the guns (like in Wave Race) this will either be removed or they’ll spend the next 2 months making a code in order to implement it. To counteract the fact the game was made with the Cube’s controller in mind and the Cube’s graphical power Bits are making a multiplayer mode… something that angers me no end as the game would be perfect with one. And this brings me onto my next point… Capcom’s 4. Product Number: 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix and Viewtiful Joe all use Gamecube’s special hardware just like the Resident Evil games, Product already uses reflection techniques and motion blur, Killer 7 has shown the layering effects and the improved splattering motions the Gamecube can do, Dead Phoenix uses the heat haze effects again and Viewtiful Joe uses motion blur a lot! All the games use the special Bump mapping option and I’ve deduced this from a handful of videos and screenshots.
So when Capcom say they aren’t actually exclusive I can tell you they’re not working on PS2 and X-box versions, because they can’t be done. If Capcom do suffer another bad year then a few of the games that don’t require the Gamecube’s specialist hardware too much may go to another console. But Viewtiful Joe relies on motion Blur a lot whilst Product Number: 03 are very reflective and use a lot of lighting effects (they are very popular especially in Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness). Killer 7 seems to use fewer effects but then the graphical style is too complicated for the PS2 whilst the most likely of the four to go multi-format is Dead Phoenix. Nevertheless all of them are built using Gamecube hardware, if they do go to other formats they will be superior on the Gamecube, it will take a good 6 months to downgrade and convert it and so really these are still system selling Gamecube titles. Capcom may do a quick port to raise some cash but the Gamecube generates hype around most of the games for around a year in Europe (and regarding Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix a year in Japan and America as well), they get the better version and a multi-format announcement won’t appear until December this year… so don’t worry the Capcom 4 are still 4 great reasons to own a Gamecube over other consoles.
Dringo.