The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only.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.
This is Nintendo
These days I think that people are being too critical towards Nintendo. Anti-Nintendo people are making arguments that Nintendo is bad with lots of accusations with little evidence to support it. But on the other hand Nintendo fanatics often over-glorify Nintendo. Well this topic is a chance for me to set things straight. I’m going to have a look at the arguments against Nintendo and draw a reasonable conclusion.
1.The Kiddie Factor (ga ga Vs. gurgle gurgle splat!)
This is probably the most commonly used argument against Nintendo. “Nintendo is for BABIES!” or ……… well that’s the only thing they usually say. Then I ask them “Why is it for babies?”. “They only have BABY games, hardly any of them are rated 15 of 18!” At the moment I would be rolling about in fits of laughter inside, after just having heard one of the most stupid arguments. Firstly when a games is rated 15 or 18 it is ONLY for adults. Games that are rated as suitable for everyone, which most Nintendo games are it means it is suitable for everyone. If you consider yourself as a hardcore gamer you will know that what makes a good game is the gameplay. When you read a review you don’t see a score column headed ‘Blood and Gore!!!’ or ‘Ultra Bad Language Factor!!!!’. What I look for in a game is how fun it is and how original it is. I don’t buy a game because it’s ‘cool’ I buy a game so I can have a good time.
So I’m going to take the Gamecube’s launch titles and see which ones are childish, buy that I mean what someone could by the tinyest detail describe as childish.
-Luigi’s Mansion: “oh, that’s sooo childish!!” Well how can it be? You play as a plumber (oh I suppose you may have liked him to be replaced with a spiky haired Japanese bloke but that would just take a huge chunk of the games character out of it) and you walk around a haunted house sucking up ghosts a la ‘Ghost Busters’, which was a cool movie. We can apologise for the ghosts not spraying blood everywhere and not ripping out Luigi’s guts all over the floor, but oh no! The games spoilt and not good even though it’s extremely playable and fun. That’s the point where every one shuts it out and puts it in the bin, well anti-Nintendo people do.
-Wave Race. The most realistic water effects in any game, ultimately playable and a stunning game, but oh! Nintendo-childish! I’m not getting that.
-Super Monkey Ball. About as childish as Tetris, which wasn’t. Need I say more?
-Batman Vengeance. Nope
-Tony Hawk’s 3. Oh no.
-Crazy Taxi. No
-Tarzan Untamed. YES. Sorry but I cannot defend this, it is childish. But hey it’s on the PS2 too.
-NHL Hitz. No
-Burnout. Nah.
-Spiderman. Oooh. Kind of an opinion here. I don’t think it’s childish.
-ISS2. No way!
-Rogue Leader. Probably one of the best reasons to get a Cube.
-Winter Sports. No
-Donald Duck. Ugh! Take it away!
-Tetris World. It’s Tetris!
-Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Nooooo.
-Universal Studio’s. Not childish, just a terrible game.
-FIFA. A football game childish? I don’t think so.
So there you have it. 3 of the 20 release games CAN be accused of being childish. So the conclusion here. Most games here are not childish, it’s just that most of them are suitable for everyone.
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Out of all the new-gen consoles the Gamecube has the lowest polygon count. But the advantage with the Gamecube is that when the game is running with full on screen special effects, the polygon count doesn’t lower as much as on the other consoles. The loading times on the Gamecube are much shorter than on the PS2 or X-Box. Unfortunately due to sloppy programming, the loading times are just as long on the PS2 ports as they are on the PS2. This is due to the GC highly advanced processing chip. The sound programming is just as good as the other next-gen consoles. Here’s a quick list of the GC’s visual specs:
System LSI Custom ATI/Nintendo “Flipper”
Manufacturing Process 0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency 162 MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer Approx. 2Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Embedded Texture Cache Approx. 1Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Texture Read Bandwidth 10.4 Gb/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth 2.6 Gb/second (Peak)
Pixel Depth 24-bit coluor, 24-bit Z Buffer
Image Processing Functions Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter
One of the best aspects of the Gamecube is that it appeals to game Designers, as it is much,
much, much, MUCH! easyer to make games for and it takes a lot less time to do so. That’s why
there’ll be around 50 GC Games on the shelves in the UK by the end of the summer. If you are not
impressed by that then you should go home now! So generally the GC is pretty well off.
3. “Nintendo games are c**p!”(excuse me?)
“Yeah…..uh ha……yeah…ok?…uh hu….yeah your stupid”. Well that’s what I usually say
I’m being bombarded by these kind of phrases. Now here’s a fact “Nintendo make the best games in
the word.” Anyone who says otherwise deserves a firm, long and painful beating. Now I’m not going
to spend thousands of billions of words telling you why, I could but I’m not that sad. Instead I’m going
to give you three words: ‘Mario’, ’Zelda’ and Shigru Myamato (did I spell it right?). If you look up the
words: ‘gameplay’, ’fun’ and ‘innovative’ you will find these three words. If you haven’t heard of them
then pull yourself out of that hole and open your ears, if you have heard of them and are laughing in
my face then go talk to a sane person. Every one else should know what I mean.
4. “It looks really bad!”(are you blind?)
“Look at that pointless handle!”, “Purple! Ugh!”, “I bet that’s really HUGE!”. Out of all the
next-gen consoles, the Gamecube looks the best and not like a black brick. It’s small, it’s stylish and
the handle comes in useful, with the X-Box, for example, you have to use a crane to get it into your
house (slight exaggeration intended). Anyone with any style can see that. Since when has a big green
X been stylish?
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
Pity, if the ability to play DVD’s actually made the games better this could be a valid
argument , but it DOES NOT! Someone did say to me that because it uses DVD’s it can work better.
But surely discs that are specially designed, like the Gamecubes, for computer games are better? The
Answer here is that they are. Any way there is a GC that plays DVD’s so anyone who finds having a
DVD/Games console necessary will be fine.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW! NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
7.”I’m getting a PS2 (£200) because X-Box (£300!) is too expensive.”
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, (sorry I’m just incredibly happy!) £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150………..The Gamecube has the best price of the lot. Surely that’s
a good thing?
8. “That controller looks really strange!” (looked in a mirror lately?)
At first sights the controller does look pretty weird but when you get to actually hold the
thing you realise how ingenious it actually is. The GC isn’t out in England yet but I got to hold one
of the controllers in a small shop in Kingston. I was going to play on the thing but the lazy shop
assistant, I quote, “couldn’t be a**ed”. I came back later and he gave me a cold look, I wasn’t going to
buy anything (Gamecube for £450!?!), so I obediently left the shop. Anyway the controller was an
absolute dream and you got used to it the second you held it, every thing felt as though it was in the
right place, very different to the daunting PS2 controller. Triangle..no!no!, R2! R2! Where? Where?,
quick ! X,X,X!!! Doh, game over!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your brain really)
When someone told me this I just walked out of the room. The GC disc is very much like
The Tardis from ‘Dr Who?’. It’s small but hold loads of stuff and is perfectly for the job. Not much
more to say about that.
10. “COOL Man! Yeah! Cool games!!! COOL!!” (OK calm down)
I wouldn’t be one of the last person to admit that fat Italien plumbers wearing dungarees and
running about stomping on mushroom isn’t cool. Even with that in mind it makes for a great games.
Many games that attempt to be cool just end up flat on their backs, taking into account of a certain
rapping game on the PS2 (it just makes me shudder thinking about it). Even so many games do get a
good mix, for example SSX Tricky. But it mainly comes down to how well the game plays and I think
that’s what Nintendo, coupled with Rare, do best.
11. “Must buy X-Box….must buy X-Box” (advertising at it’s best)
This is what I call the zombifying effect, which Microsoft achieves very well. Personally I
don’t get effected by advertising that much, I’ve grown of the impulse buying stage. These days you
can’t go anywhere without seeing a huge green X printed on a shop window or painted on the
pavement. You walk into Dixons ,where they might as well be saying “We love X-Box” using a huge
150ft banner to get it across, and you walk around the rest of the day thinking “Xxxx-Booooox” in a
monotone voice. Unfortunately advertising plays a big part in selling things, but just because it gets the
best advertising doesn’t mean it’s the best console.
12. “Playstation has always been better than the Nintendo!” (in my days ………)
Firstly, just to clear things up with some people, the Nintendo was 16bit (can’t quite
remember) console that was out in the 80’s. That’s a long time ago. So from then on I just assume
there are talking about the N64. But lets have a look at the beginning of the Playstation. Back when
the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) was doing roaring business good old Sony came
up to Nintendo with a plan to create a disc drive for the SNES, a la Saga Mega Drive. But Nintendo
didn’t like the idea, since the SNES was doing well anyway, and the rejected the proposal. So Sony
trundled of home very disgruntled and decided to spite Nintendo and so the PS was born. Whether this
was a good or bad thing for Nintendo we have yet to see. Anyway it’s a proven fact that the N64 was
better (technically) and they had the best games manufacturers behind it.
13. “Nintendo is doing really terribly at the moment!” (Not in comparison)
At this moment Nintendo is doing better than it has ever done in the past. Back in that
days of the NES and the SNES when Nintendo had a so called ‘monopoly’ on the computer gaming
business they weren’t doing as well. The thing is that over the past few years the gaming industry
has boomed, and lots of people are cashing in. I don’t think that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hate
each other. After all they all are rolling about in pile of cash singing “where’re in the money…..”. All
three consoles are doing well, it’s just that Sony grabbed that huge vacuum of new gamers that
appeared a couple of years ago.
Conclusion (Almost there (yawn) rutdfykjiuvgnirgevdsvnwi…….whoops!?!)
So to conclude, yes I am a Nintendo fan. But I am much more tolerant than most people are. I
think the PS2 is a damn good machine, but the Gamecube is better (sorry but I just don’t like the X-
Box). I hope this has changed a few peoples mind but I think some people are just beyond cure. Even
if you don’t buy a Gamecube, it won’t stop me from getting one and enjoying the games. OK back to
the count down…….how many days is it now?
(N.B Look in this months NGC Mag (issue 65) pg83-Bonus letters-third one down. That’s me!)
These days I think that people are being too critical towards Nintendo. Anti-Nintendo people are making arguments that Nintendo is bad with lots of accusations with little evidence to support it. But on the other hand Nintendo fanatics often over-glorify Nintendo. Well this topic is a chance for me to set things straight. I’m going to have a look at the arguments against Nintendo and draw a reasonable conclusion.
1.The Kiddie Factor (ga ga Vs. gurgle gurgle splat!)
This is probably the most commonly used argument against Nintendo. “Nintendo is for BABIES!” or ……… well that’s the only thing they usually say. Then I ask them “Why is it for babies?”. “They only have BABY games, hardly any of them are rated 15 of 18!” At the moment I would be rolling about in fits of laughter inside, after just having heard one of the most stupid arguments. Firstly when a games is rated 15 or 18 it is ONLY for adults. Games that are rated as suitable for everyone, which most Nintendo games are it means it is suitable for everyone. If you consider yourself as a hardcore gamer you will know that what makes a good game is the gameplay. When you read a review you don’t see a score column headed ‘Blood and Gore!!!’ or ‘Ultra Bad Language Factor!!!!’. What I look for in a game is how fun it is and how original it is. I don’t buy a game because it’s ‘cool’ I buy a game so I can have a good time.
So I’m going to take the Gamecube’s launch titles and see which ones are childish, buy that I mean what someone could by the tinyest detail describe as childish.
-Luigi’s Mansion: “oh, that’s sooo childish!!” Well how can it be? You play as a plumber (oh I suppose you may have liked him to be replaced with a spiky haired Japanese bloke but that would just take a huge chunk of the games character out of it) and you walk around a haunted house sucking up ghosts a la ‘Ghost Busters’, which was a cool movie. We can apologise for the ghosts not spraying blood everywhere and not ripping out Luigi’s guts all over the floor, but oh no! The games spoilt and not good even though it’s extremely playable and fun. That’s the point where every one shuts it out and puts it in the bin, well anti-Nintendo people do.
-Wave Race. The most realistic water effects in any game, ultimately playable and a stunning game, but oh! Nintendo-childish! I’m not getting that.
-Super Monkey Ball. About as childish as Tetris, which wasn’t. Need I say more?
-Batman Vengeance. Nope
-Tony Hawk’s 3. Oh no.
-Crazy Taxi. No
-Tarzan Untamed. YES. Sorry but I cannot defend this, it is childish. But hey it’s on the PS2 too.
-NHL Hitz. No
-Burnout. Nah.
-Spiderman. Oooh. Kind of an opinion here. I don’t think it’s childish.
-ISS2. No way!
-Rogue Leader. Probably one of the best reasons to get a Cube.
-Winter Sports. No
-Donald Duck. Ugh! Take it away!
-Tetris World. It’s Tetris!
-Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Nooooo.
-Universal Studio’s. Not childish, just a terrible game.
-FIFA. A football game childish? I don’t think so.
So there you have it. 3 of the 20 release games CAN be accused of being childish. So the conclusion here. Most games here are not childish, it’s just that most of them are suitable for everyone.
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Out of all the new-gen consoles the Gamecube has the lowest polygon count. But the advantage with the Gamecube is that when the game is running with full on screen special effects, the polygon count doesn’t lower as much as on the other consoles. The loading times on the Gamecube are much shorter than on the PS2 or X-Box. Unfortunately due to sloppy programming, the loading times are just as long on the PS2 ports as they are on the PS2. This is due to the GC highly advanced processing chip. The sound programming is just as good as the other next-gen consoles. Here’s a quick list of the GC’s visual specs:
System LSI Custom ATI/Nintendo “Flipper”
Manufacturing Process 0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency 162 MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer Approx. 2Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Embedded Texture Cache Approx. 1Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Texture Read Bandwidth 10.4 Gb/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth 2.6 Gb/second (Peak)
Pixel Depth 24-bit coluor, 24-bit Z Buffer
Image Processing Functions Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter
One of the best aspects of the Gamecube is that it appeals to game Designers, as it is much,
much, much, MUCH! easyer to make games for and it takes a lot less time to do so. That’s why
there’ll be around 50 GC Games on the shelves in the UK by the end of the summer. If you are not
impressed by that then you should go home now! So generally the GC is pretty well off.
3. “Nintendo games are c**p!”(excuse me?)
“Yeah…..uh ha……yeah…ok?…uh hu….yeah your stupid”. Well that’s what I usually say
I’m being bombarded by these kind of phrases. Now here’s a fact “Nintendo make the best games in
the word.” Anyone who says otherwise deserves a firm, long and painful beating. Now I’m not going
to spend thousands of billions of words telling you why, I could but I’m not that sad. Instead I’m going
to give you three words: ‘Mario’, ’Zelda’ and Shigru Myamato (did I spell it right?). If you look up the
words: ‘gameplay’, ’fun’ and ‘innovative’ you will find these three words. If you haven’t heard of them
then pull yourself out of that hole and open your ears, if you have heard of them and are laughing in
my face then go talk to a sane person. Every one else should know what I mean.
4. “It looks really bad!”(are you blind?)
“Look at that pointless handle!”, “Purple! Ugh!”, “I bet that’s really HUGE!”. Out of all the
next-gen consoles, the Gamecube looks the best and not like a black brick. It’s small, it’s stylish and
the handle comes in useful, with the X-Box, for example, you have to use a crane to get it into your
house (slight exaggeration intended). Anyone with any style can see that. Since when has a big green
X been stylish?
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
Pity, if the ability to play DVD’s actually made the games better this could be a valid
argument , but it DOES NOT! Someone did say to me that because it uses DVD’s it can work better.
But surely discs that are specially designed, like the Gamecubes, for computer games are better? The
Answer here is that they are. Any way there is a GC that plays DVD’s so anyone who finds having a
DVD/Games console necessary will be fine.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW! NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
7.”I’m getting a PS2 (£200) because X-Box (£300!) is too expensive.”
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, (sorry I’m just incredibly happy!) £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150………..The Gamecube has the best price of the lot. Surely that’s
a good thing?
8. “That controller looks really strange!” (looked in a mirror lately?)
At first sights the controller does look pretty weird but when you get to actually hold the
thing you realise how ingenious it actually is. The GC isn’t out in England yet but I got to hold one
of the controllers in a small shop in Kingston. I was going to play on the thing but the lazy shop
assistant, I quote, “couldn’t be a**ed”. I came back later and he gave me a cold look, I wasn’t going to
buy anything (Gamecube for £450!?!), so I obediently left the shop. Anyway the controller was an
absolute dream and you got used to it the second you held it, every thing felt as though it was in the
right place, very different to the daunting PS2 controller. Triangle..no!no!, R2! R2! Where? Where?,
quick ! X,X,X!!! Doh, game over!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your brain really)
When someone told me this I just walked out of the room. The GC disc is very much like
The Tardis from ‘Dr Who?’. It’s small but hold loads of stuff and is perfectly for the job. Not much
more to say about that.
10. “COOL Man! Yeah! Cool games!!! COOL!!” (OK calm down)
I wouldn’t be one of the last person to admit that fat Italien plumbers wearing dungarees and
running about stomping on mushroom isn’t cool. Even with that in mind it makes for a great games.
Many games that attempt to be cool just end up flat on their backs, taking into account of a certain
rapping game on the PS2 (it just makes me shudder thinking about it). Even so many games do get a
good mix, for example SSX Tricky. But it mainly comes down to how well the game plays and I think
that’s what Nintendo, coupled with Rare, do best.
11. “Must buy X-Box….must buy X-Box” (advertising at it’s best)
This is what I call the zombifying effect, which Microsoft achieves very well. Personally I
don’t get effected by advertising that much, I’ve grown of the impulse buying stage. These days you
can’t go anywhere without seeing a huge green X printed on a shop window or painted on the
pavement. You walk into Dixons ,where they might as well be saying “We love X-Box” using a huge
150ft banner to get it across, and you walk around the rest of the day thinking “Xxxx-Booooox” in a
monotone voice. Unfortunately advertising plays a big part in selling things, but just because it gets the
best advertising doesn’t mean it’s the best console.
12. “Playstation has always been better than the Nintendo!” (in my days ………)
Firstly, just to clear things up with some people, the Nintendo was 16bit (can’t quite
remember) console that was out in the 80’s. That’s a long time ago. So from then on I just assume
there are talking about the N64. But lets have a look at the beginning of the Playstation. Back when
the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) was doing roaring business good old Sony came
up to Nintendo with a plan to create a disc drive for the SNES, a la Saga Mega Drive. But Nintendo
didn’t like the idea, since the SNES was doing well anyway, and the rejected the proposal. So Sony
trundled of home very disgruntled and decided to spite Nintendo and so the PS was born. Whether this
was a good or bad thing for Nintendo we have yet to see. Anyway it’s a proven fact that the N64 was
better (technically) and they had the best games manufacturers behind it.
13. “Nintendo is doing really terribly at the moment!” (Not in comparison)
At this moment Nintendo is doing better than it has ever done in the past. Back in that
days of the NES and the SNES when Nintendo had a so called ‘monopoly’ on the computer gaming
business they weren’t doing as well. The thing is that over the past few years the gaming industry
has boomed, and lots of people are cashing in. I don’t think that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hate
each other. After all they all are rolling about in pile of cash singing “where’re in the money…..”. All
three consoles are doing well, it’s just that Sony grabbed that huge vacuum of new gamers that
appeared a couple of years ago.
Conclusion (Almost there (yawn) rutdfykjiuvgnirgevdsvnwi…….whoops!?!)
So to conclude, yes I am a Nintendo fan. But I am much more tolerant than most people are. I
think the PS2 is a damn good machine, but the Gamecube is better (sorry but I just don’t like the X-
Box). I hope this has changed a few peoples mind but I think some people are just beyond cure. Even
if you don’t buy a Gamecube, it won’t stop me from getting one and enjoying the games. OK back to
the count down…….how many days is it now?
(N.B Look in this months NGC Mag (issue 65) pg83-Bonus letters-third one down. That’s me!)
I see that my reply has been mainly ignored.
And I took years to write it.
*Cries and sobs*
:D
And I took years to write it.
*Cries and sobs*
:D
I would have liked to go through all my arguments against PS2 and X-Box, but prehaps I could do that in another post.
Absolutely brilliant post, thank you :-)!
If this does not win GAD, I don't know what will.
Cna't be bothered to go through the points right now, but most of mine have been said by others already.
If this does not win GAD, I don't know what will.
Cna't be bothered to go through the points right now, but most of mine have been said by others already.
Absolutely brilliant post, thank you :-)!
If this does not win GAD, I don't know what will.
Cna't be bothered to go through the points right now, but most of mine have been said by others already.
If this does not win GAD, I don't know what will.
Cna't be bothered to go through the points right now, but most of mine have been said by others already.
Universal Stuidos is childish but agreed Luigi;'s mansion aint!
netnonid
netnonid
Good topic, but only because you were supporting Nintendo wholeheartedly, not because it was written well, or anything :D
Not really, great topic, well argued, you obviously went through a lot of toil and trouble working through this topic, eh?
I'm a huge Ninty, and I can say nothing but: 'Here, here!'
Shocky
Not really, great topic, well argued, you obviously went through a lot of toil and trouble working through this topic, eh?
I'm a huge Ninty, and I can say nothing but: 'Here, here!'
Shocky
I agree but I think Nintendo deserves more credit for what it's doing these days. There are still brilliant.
1.) Nitnendo has always been the company with the kiddy image. The way they go about though, makes people say they have an even bigger kiddy image, and those people are right. Nintendo are slowly growing out of their kids image these day, bringing more and more adult titles upon us, but they will remain as the kiddies company for a long time to come.
2.) I'm sorry but I'm too tired to comment on this one right now.
3.) I think, that people who say Nitnedo games are crap are talking from the wrong end. I really don't like people that say, "That game is colourful and childish. It must be Nintendo." are just complete fools. It doesn't matter how a game looks, what matters is how it plays. Here's proof. Even though Mario Kart 64 looked kiddy and childish that didn't stop me from playing it a lot of my N64 days. Donkey Kong 64 as well. Hopefully those 2 games will have similar outings on the Cube.
4.) If people say the GC looks terrible, then they are wrong. The GC does not look terrible. I think it looks better than it's 2 opponents. The yare big and black. It is small and purple (it can come in black though). And a handle can actually help you carry the console, and it would stand less of a chance of dropping if it does have one. You could seriously damage a console by dropping it.
5.) There is the Q. The DVD playing GC from Panasonic. It is cheaper than the PS2 was at launch and cheaper than the X-Box will be too. And a games console is made to play games anyway. DVDs just make it look and sound better. The GC is a games player, not a DVD player.
6.) It's only a few months. And there's always the option to buy a foreign one as well. I'm not but there is always that option.
7.) Yes, that price is a good thing. £160, not £150 (no difference really) is a very affordable price, that is almost half of what PS2 and X-Box were when the came out. (X-Box still to come out). The games aren't looking that expensive either. Either £37.99 or £39.99. Not bad.
8.) Oh yes. The controller does look strange. Unique really. But it doesn't matter about the looks. If it does the job then you should be happy with it. This controller (I've held one) is the absolute biz. It feels great in your hands, and makes the PS2 and X-Box's controls look and feel pitifully bad. The GC control is the one to have. The buttons (except perhaps the Z one) are all in the right place too. Great stuff!
9.) The GC disc is a special kind of disc, that small as it may be, it can hold much more data than real CDs can. Nintendo have the clever and (once again) unique image.
10.) Cool. GC could do cool easily if it wanted. It has SSX Tricky and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 but they are both Playstation 2 conversions. What Ninty need is their own cool game. Rare would be the best to come up with one. They'd better be working on something cool now.
11.) Adverts. Adverts. Yes, they do help buy a console for you, but GC has great adverts too. Better looknig than the X-Box ones in my opinion.
12.) Playstation hasn't always been better than Nintendo. Yes, Ninty did have their bad points on the N64. Not enough games, not enough good games, too expensive, but the games that Ninty did have, the ones that were good, could easily stand up to PS1 games. Perfect Dark was superb at everything, and so were many other things. Playstation won the console wars last time because it was cheap, easy to make for, had developers behind it and it tried to always put the customers first. Nintendo are trying to move in this direction with the GC. Hopefully they'll get there.
13.) If anyone said that Nintendo were doing terrible at the moment then I would disagree badly. Ninty are selling brilliant in Japan. Luigi's Mansion was the highest selling launch game ever over there and it is still doing very well. Smash Bros is selling out all over as well. So anyone that said Ninty are donig badly are wrong.
Conclusion.) *Falls asleep.....*
Gah, that took me long enough.
:D
2.) I'm sorry but I'm too tired to comment on this one right now.
3.) I think, that people who say Nitnedo games are crap are talking from the wrong end. I really don't like people that say, "That game is colourful and childish. It must be Nintendo." are just complete fools. It doesn't matter how a game looks, what matters is how it plays. Here's proof. Even though Mario Kart 64 looked kiddy and childish that didn't stop me from playing it a lot of my N64 days. Donkey Kong 64 as well. Hopefully those 2 games will have similar outings on the Cube.
4.) If people say the GC looks terrible, then they are wrong. The GC does not look terrible. I think it looks better than it's 2 opponents. The yare big and black. It is small and purple (it can come in black though). And a handle can actually help you carry the console, and it would stand less of a chance of dropping if it does have one. You could seriously damage a console by dropping it.
5.) There is the Q. The DVD playing GC from Panasonic. It is cheaper than the PS2 was at launch and cheaper than the X-Box will be too. And a games console is made to play games anyway. DVDs just make it look and sound better. The GC is a games player, not a DVD player.
6.) It's only a few months. And there's always the option to buy a foreign one as well. I'm not but there is always that option.
7.) Yes, that price is a good thing. £160, not £150 (no difference really) is a very affordable price, that is almost half of what PS2 and X-Box were when the came out. (X-Box still to come out). The games aren't looking that expensive either. Either £37.99 or £39.99. Not bad.
8.) Oh yes. The controller does look strange. Unique really. But it doesn't matter about the looks. If it does the job then you should be happy with it. This controller (I've held one) is the absolute biz. It feels great in your hands, and makes the PS2 and X-Box's controls look and feel pitifully bad. The GC control is the one to have. The buttons (except perhaps the Z one) are all in the right place too. Great stuff!
9.) The GC disc is a special kind of disc, that small as it may be, it can hold much more data than real CDs can. Nintendo have the clever and (once again) unique image.
10.) Cool. GC could do cool easily if it wanted. It has SSX Tricky and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 but they are both Playstation 2 conversions. What Ninty need is their own cool game. Rare would be the best to come up with one. They'd better be working on something cool now.
11.) Adverts. Adverts. Yes, they do help buy a console for you, but GC has great adverts too. Better looknig than the X-Box ones in my opinion.
12.) Playstation hasn't always been better than Nintendo. Yes, Ninty did have their bad points on the N64. Not enough games, not enough good games, too expensive, but the games that Ninty did have, the ones that were good, could easily stand up to PS1 games. Perfect Dark was superb at everything, and so were many other things. Playstation won the console wars last time because it was cheap, easy to make for, had developers behind it and it tried to always put the customers first. Nintendo are trying to move in this direction with the GC. Hopefully they'll get there.
13.) If anyone said that Nintendo were doing terrible at the moment then I would disagree badly. Ninty are selling brilliant in Japan. Luigi's Mansion was the highest selling launch game ever over there and it is still doing very well. Smash Bros is selling out all over as well. So anyone that said Ninty are donig badly are wrong.
Conclusion.) *Falls asleep.....*
Gah, that took me long enough.
:D
Who is Nintedo??? Anyway, cracking on with your HUGE topic!
1. The kiddey factor
Very true- Nintendo games are universally loved, not just kiddy games. But what does this actually mean?
Well, it means that their first party games are fun, original and often have broght graphics- the kinda thing anyone can pick up and play.
BUT, casual gamers DO NOT want this. They actually (SHOCK) prefer football sequals, FPS games and realistic racers. Why else do you think Fifa 200X will outsell most other games?
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Anyone who begins to talk about these is just spurting rubbish. Even some of what you said is not true- the GC has a better polygon count than the PS2.
However, the who power thing is COMPLETE RUBBISH! The N64 was "twice" as powerful as the PSX, and the PSX still had the bigger range of games! It's all to do with how developers use the power... and remember most hardcore gamers prefer gameplay over graphics anyway!
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t
> play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
The "GC that plays DVDs" is only coming out in Japan. In fact, the GC release in Japans was truely aweful. However, when the Qcube (the one that plays DVDs) came out, sales shot up... but that's because DVD players are still expensive in Japan.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW!
> NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you
> cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just
> shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
errrrrr... well, that dependsa on the games you like. The GC is certainly not "the best" console- all 3 are pretty excellent- it just depends what games you want!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your
> brain really)
Heard of multiple discs? Most games don't use a whole DVD anyway!
Sonic
1. The kiddey factor
Very true- Nintendo games are universally loved, not just kiddy games. But what does this actually mean?
Well, it means that their first party games are fun, original and often have broght graphics- the kinda thing anyone can pick up and play.
BUT, casual gamers DO NOT want this. They actually (SHOCK) prefer football sequals, FPS games and realistic racers. Why else do you think Fifa 200X will outsell most other games?
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Anyone who begins to talk about these is just spurting rubbish. Even some of what you said is not true- the GC has a better polygon count than the PS2.
However, the who power thing is COMPLETE RUBBISH! The N64 was "twice" as powerful as the PSX, and the PSX still had the bigger range of games! It's all to do with how developers use the power... and remember most hardcore gamers prefer gameplay over graphics anyway!
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t
> play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
The "GC that plays DVDs" is only coming out in Japan. In fact, the GC release in Japans was truely aweful. However, when the Qcube (the one that plays DVDs) came out, sales shot up... but that's because DVD players are still expensive in Japan.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW!
> NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you
> cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just
> shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
errrrrr... well, that dependsa on the games you like. The GC is certainly not "the best" console- all 3 are pretty excellent- it just depends what games you want!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your
> brain really)
Heard of multiple discs? Most games don't use a whole DVD anyway!
Sonic
This is Nintendo
These days I think that people are being too critical towards Nintendo. Anti-Nintendo people are making arguments that Nintendo is bad with lots of accusations with little evidence to support it. But on the other hand Nintendo fanatics often over-glorify Nintendo. Well this topic is a chance for me to set things straight. I’m going to have a look at the arguments against Nintendo and draw a reasonable conclusion.
1.The Kiddie Factor (ga ga Vs. gurgle gurgle splat!)
This is probably the most commonly used argument against Nintendo. “Nintendo is for BABIES!” or ……… well that’s the only thing they usually say. Then I ask them “Why is it for babies?”. “They only have BABY games, hardly any of them are rated 15 of 18!” At the moment I would be rolling about in fits of laughter inside, after just having heard one of the most stupid arguments. Firstly when a games is rated 15 or 18 it is ONLY for adults. Games that are rated as suitable for everyone, which most Nintendo games are it means it is suitable for everyone. If you consider yourself as a hardcore gamer you will know that what makes a good game is the gameplay. When you read a review you don’t see a score column headed ‘Blood and Gore!!!’ or ‘Ultra Bad Language Factor!!!!’. What I look for in a game is how fun it is and how original it is. I don’t buy a game because it’s ‘cool’ I buy a game so I can have a good time.
So I’m going to take the Gamecube’s launch titles and see which ones are childish, buy that I mean what someone could by the tinyest detail describe as childish.
-Luigi’s Mansion: “oh, that’s sooo childish!!” Well how can it be? You play as a plumber (oh I suppose you may have liked him to be replaced with a spiky haired Japanese bloke but that would just take a huge chunk of the games character out of it) and you walk around a haunted house sucking up ghosts a la ‘Ghost Busters’, which was a cool movie. We can apologise for the ghosts not spraying blood everywhere and not ripping out Luigi’s guts all over the floor, but oh no! The games spoilt and not good even though it’s extremely playable and fun. That’s the point where every one shuts it out and puts it in the bin, well anti-Nintendo people do.
-Wave Race. The most realistic water effects in any game, ultimately playable and a stunning game, but oh! Nintendo-childish! I’m not getting that.
-Super Monkey Ball. About as childish as Tetris, which wasn’t. Need I say more?
-Batman Vengeance. Nope
-Tony Hawk’s 3. Oh no.
-Crazy Taxi. No
-Tarzan Untamed. YES. Sorry but I cannot defend this, it is childish. But hey it’s on the PS2 too.
-NHL Hitz. No
-Burnout. Nah.
-Spiderman. Oooh. Kind of an opinion here. I don’t think it’s childish.
-ISS2. No way!
-Rogue Leader. Probably one of the best reasons to get a Cube.
-Winter Sports. No
-Donald Duck. Ugh! Take it away!
-Tetris World. It’s Tetris!
-Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Nooooo.
-Universal Studio’s. Not childish, just a terrible game.
-FIFA. A football game childish? I don’t think so.
So there you have it. 3 of the 20 release games CAN be accused of being childish. So the conclusion here. Most games here are not childish, it’s just that most of them are suitable for everyone.
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Out of all the new-gen consoles the Gamecube has the lowest polygon count. But the advantage with the Gamecube is that when the game is running with full on screen special effects, the polygon count doesn’t lower as much as on the other consoles. The loading times on the Gamecube are much shorter than on the PS2 or X-Box. Unfortunately due to sloppy programming, the loading times are just as long on the PS2 ports as they are on the PS2. This is due to the GC highly advanced processing chip. The sound programming is just as good as the other next-gen consoles. Here’s a quick list of the GC’s visual specs:
System LSI Custom ATI/Nintendo “Flipper”
Manufacturing Process 0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency 162 MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer Approx. 2Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Embedded Texture Cache Approx. 1Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Texture Read Bandwidth 10.4 Gb/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth 2.6 Gb/second (Peak)
Pixel Depth 24-bit coluor, 24-bit Z Buffer
Image Processing Functions Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter
One of the best aspects of the Gamecube is that it appeals to game Designers, as it is much,
much, much, MUCH! easyer to make games for and it takes a lot less time to do so. That’s why
there’ll be around 50 GC Games on the shelves in the UK by the end of the summer. If you are not
impressed by that then you should go home now! So generally the GC is pretty well off.
3. “Nintendo games are c**p!”(excuse me?)
“Yeah…..uh ha……yeah…ok?…uh hu….yeah your stupid”. Well that’s what I usually say
I’m being bombarded by these kind of phrases. Now here’s a fact “Nintendo make the best games in
the word.” Anyone who says otherwise deserves a firm, long and painful beating. Now I’m not going
to spend thousands of billions of words telling you why, I could but I’m not that sad. Instead I’m going
to give you three words: ‘Mario’, ’Zelda’ and Shigru Myamato (did I spell it right?). If you look up the
words: ‘gameplay’, ’fun’ and ‘innovative’ you will find these three words. If you haven’t heard of them
then pull yourself out of that hole and open your ears, if you have heard of them and are laughing in
my face then go talk to a sane person. Every one else should know what I mean.
4. “It looks really bad!”(are you blind?)
“Look at that pointless handle!”, “Purple! Ugh!”, “I bet that’s really HUGE!”. Out of all the
next-gen consoles, the Gamecube looks the best and not like a black brick. It’s small, it’s stylish and
the handle comes in useful, with the X-Box, for example, you have to use a crane to get it into your
house (slight exaggeration intended). Anyone with any style can see that. Since when has a big green
X been stylish?
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
Pity, if the ability to play DVD’s actually made the games better this could be a valid
argument , but it DOES NOT! Someone did say to me that because it uses DVD’s it can work better.
But surely discs that are specially designed, like the Gamecubes, for computer games are better? The
Answer here is that they are. Any way there is a GC that plays DVD’s so anyone who finds having a
DVD/Games console necessary will be fine.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW! NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
7.”I’m getting a PS2 (£200) because X-Box (£300!) is too expensive.”
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, (sorry I’m just incredibly happy!) £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150………..The Gamecube has the best price of the lot. Surely that’s
a good thing?
8. “That controller looks really strange!” (looked in a mirror lately?)
At first sights the controller does look pretty weird but when you get to actually hold the
thing you realise how ingenious it actually is. The GC isn’t out in England yet but I got to hold one
of the controllers in a small shop in Kingston. I was going to play on the thing but the lazy shop
assistant, I quote, “couldn’t be a**ed”. I came back later and he gave me a cold look, I wasn’t going to
buy anything (Gamecube for £450!?!), so I obediently left the shop. Anyway the controller was an
absolute dream and you got used to it the second you held it, every thing felt as though it was in the
right place, very different to the daunting PS2 controller. Triangle..no!no!, R2! R2! Where? Where?,
quick ! X,X,X!!! Doh, game over!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your brain really)
When someone told me this I just walked out of the room. The GC disc is very much like
The Tardis from ‘Dr Who?’. It’s small but hold loads of stuff and is perfectly for the job. Not much
more to say about that.
10. “COOL Man! Yeah! Cool games!!! COOL!!” (OK calm down)
I wouldn’t be one of the last person to admit that fat Italien plumbers wearing dungarees and
running about stomping on mushroom isn’t cool. Even with that in mind it makes for a great games.
Many games that attempt to be cool just end up flat on their backs, taking into account of a certain
rapping game on the PS2 (it just makes me shudder thinking about it). Even so many games do get a
good mix, for example SSX Tricky. But it mainly comes down to how well the game plays and I think
that’s what Nintendo, coupled with Rare, do best.
11. “Must buy X-Box….must buy X-Box” (advertising at it’s best)
This is what I call the zombifying effect, which Microsoft achieves very well. Personally I
don’t get effected by advertising that much, I’ve grown of the impulse buying stage. These days you
can’t go anywhere without seeing a huge green X printed on a shop window or painted on the
pavement. You walk into Dixons ,where they might as well be saying “We love X-Box” using a huge
150ft banner to get it across, and you walk around the rest of the day thinking “Xxxx-Booooox” in a
monotone voice. Unfortunately advertising plays a big part in selling things, but just because it gets the
best advertising doesn’t mean it’s the best console.
12. “Playstation has always been better than the Nintendo!” (in my days ………)
Firstly, just to clear things up with some people, the Nintendo was 16bit (can’t quite
remember) console that was out in the 80’s. That’s a long time ago. So from then on I just assume
there are talking about the N64. But lets have a look at the beginning of the Playstation. Back when
the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) was doing roaring business good old Sony came
up to Nintendo with a plan to create a disc drive for the SNES, a la Saga Mega Drive. But Nintendo
didn’t like the idea, since the SNES was doing well anyway, and the rejected the proposal. So Sony
trundled of home very disgruntled and decided to spite Nintendo and so the PS was born. Whether this
was a good or bad thing for Nintendo we have yet to see. Anyway it’s a proven fact that the N64 was
better (technically) and they had the best games manufacturers behind it.
13. “Nintendo is doing really terribly at the moment!” (Not in comparison)
At this moment Nintendo is doing better than it has ever done in the past. Back in that
days of the NES and the SNES when Nintendo had a so called ‘monopoly’ on the computer gaming
business they weren’t doing as well. The thing is that over the past few years the gaming industry
has boomed, and lots of people are cashing in. I don’t think that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hate
each other. After all they all are rolling about in pile of cash singing “where’re in the money…..”. All
three consoles are doing well, it’s just that Sony grabbed that huge vacuum of new gamers that
appeared a couple of years ago.
Conclusion (Almost there (yawn) rutdfykjiuvgnirgevdsvnwi…….whoops!?!)
So to conclude, yes I am a Nintendo fan. But I am much more tolerant than most people are. I
think the PS2 is a damn good machine, but the Gamecube is better (sorry but I just don’t like the X-
Box). I hope this has changed a few peoples mind but I think some people are just beyond cure. Even
if you don’t buy a Gamecube, it won’t stop me from getting one and enjoying the games. OK back to
the count down…….how many days is it now?
(N.B Look in this months NGC Mag (issue 65) pg83-Bonus letters-third one down. That’s me!)
These days I think that people are being too critical towards Nintendo. Anti-Nintendo people are making arguments that Nintendo is bad with lots of accusations with little evidence to support it. But on the other hand Nintendo fanatics often over-glorify Nintendo. Well this topic is a chance for me to set things straight. I’m going to have a look at the arguments against Nintendo and draw a reasonable conclusion.
1.The Kiddie Factor (ga ga Vs. gurgle gurgle splat!)
This is probably the most commonly used argument against Nintendo. “Nintendo is for BABIES!” or ……… well that’s the only thing they usually say. Then I ask them “Why is it for babies?”. “They only have BABY games, hardly any of them are rated 15 of 18!” At the moment I would be rolling about in fits of laughter inside, after just having heard one of the most stupid arguments. Firstly when a games is rated 15 or 18 it is ONLY for adults. Games that are rated as suitable for everyone, which most Nintendo games are it means it is suitable for everyone. If you consider yourself as a hardcore gamer you will know that what makes a good game is the gameplay. When you read a review you don’t see a score column headed ‘Blood and Gore!!!’ or ‘Ultra Bad Language Factor!!!!’. What I look for in a game is how fun it is and how original it is. I don’t buy a game because it’s ‘cool’ I buy a game so I can have a good time.
So I’m going to take the Gamecube’s launch titles and see which ones are childish, buy that I mean what someone could by the tinyest detail describe as childish.
-Luigi’s Mansion: “oh, that’s sooo childish!!” Well how can it be? You play as a plumber (oh I suppose you may have liked him to be replaced with a spiky haired Japanese bloke but that would just take a huge chunk of the games character out of it) and you walk around a haunted house sucking up ghosts a la ‘Ghost Busters’, which was a cool movie. We can apologise for the ghosts not spraying blood everywhere and not ripping out Luigi’s guts all over the floor, but oh no! The games spoilt and not good even though it’s extremely playable and fun. That’s the point where every one shuts it out and puts it in the bin, well anti-Nintendo people do.
-Wave Race. The most realistic water effects in any game, ultimately playable and a stunning game, but oh! Nintendo-childish! I’m not getting that.
-Super Monkey Ball. About as childish as Tetris, which wasn’t. Need I say more?
-Batman Vengeance. Nope
-Tony Hawk’s 3. Oh no.
-Crazy Taxi. No
-Tarzan Untamed. YES. Sorry but I cannot defend this, it is childish. But hey it’s on the PS2 too.
-NHL Hitz. No
-Burnout. Nah.
-Spiderman. Oooh. Kind of an opinion here. I don’t think it’s childish.
-ISS2. No way!
-Rogue Leader. Probably one of the best reasons to get a Cube.
-Winter Sports. No
-Donald Duck. Ugh! Take it away!
-Tetris World. It’s Tetris!
-Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Nooooo.
-Universal Studio’s. Not childish, just a terrible game.
-FIFA. A football game childish? I don’t think so.
So there you have it. 3 of the 20 release games CAN be accused of being childish. So the conclusion here. Most games here are not childish, it’s just that most of them are suitable for everyone.
2.Polygons n’ Stuff (confusing!)
Out of all the new-gen consoles the Gamecube has the lowest polygon count. But the advantage with the Gamecube is that when the game is running with full on screen special effects, the polygon count doesn’t lower as much as on the other consoles. The loading times on the Gamecube are much shorter than on the PS2 or X-Box. Unfortunately due to sloppy programming, the loading times are just as long on the PS2 ports as they are on the PS2. This is due to the GC highly advanced processing chip. The sound programming is just as good as the other next-gen consoles. Here’s a quick list of the GC’s visual specs:
System LSI Custom ATI/Nintendo “Flipper”
Manufacturing Process 0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency 162 MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer Approx. 2Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Embedded Texture Cache Approx. 1Mb (Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM))
Texture Read Bandwidth 10.4 Gb/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth 2.6 Gb/second (Peak)
Pixel Depth 24-bit coluor, 24-bit Z Buffer
Image Processing Functions Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter
One of the best aspects of the Gamecube is that it appeals to game Designers, as it is much,
much, much, MUCH! easyer to make games for and it takes a lot less time to do so. That’s why
there’ll be around 50 GC Games on the shelves in the UK by the end of the summer. If you are not
impressed by that then you should go home now! So generally the GC is pretty well off.
3. “Nintendo games are c**p!”(excuse me?)
“Yeah…..uh ha……yeah…ok?…uh hu….yeah your stupid”. Well that’s what I usually say
I’m being bombarded by these kind of phrases. Now here’s a fact “Nintendo make the best games in
the word.” Anyone who says otherwise deserves a firm, long and painful beating. Now I’m not going
to spend thousands of billions of words telling you why, I could but I’m not that sad. Instead I’m going
to give you three words: ‘Mario’, ’Zelda’ and Shigru Myamato (did I spell it right?). If you look up the
words: ‘gameplay’, ’fun’ and ‘innovative’ you will find these three words. If you haven’t heard of them
then pull yourself out of that hole and open your ears, if you have heard of them and are laughing in
my face then go talk to a sane person. Every one else should know what I mean.
4. “It looks really bad!”(are you blind?)
“Look at that pointless handle!”, “Purple! Ugh!”, “I bet that’s really HUGE!”. Out of all the
next-gen consoles, the Gamecube looks the best and not like a black brick. It’s small, it’s stylish and
the handle comes in useful, with the X-Box, for example, you have to use a crane to get it into your
house (slight exaggeration intended). Anyone with any style can see that. Since when has a big green
X been stylish?
5. “That’s not good! It doesn’t play DVD’s!!!”(Video’s work don’t they?)
Pity, if the ability to play DVD’s actually made the games better this could be a valid
argument , but it DOES NOT! Someone did say to me that because it uses DVD’s it can work better.
But surely discs that are specially designed, like the Gamecubes, for computer games are better? The
Answer here is that they are. Any way there is a GC that plays DVD’s so anyone who finds having a
DVD/Games console necessary will be fine.
6. “May 3rd? I can’t be bothered to wait the long!” (NOW! NOW! NOW!)
If you’re buying an X-Box or PS2 because you cannot be bothered to wait two or three
moths then you are a fool. It just shows that your self-will is incredibly weak!
7.”I’m getting a PS2 (£200) because X-Box (£300!) is too expensive.”
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150, (sorry I’m just incredibly happy!) £150,
£150, £150, £150, £150, £150, £150………..The Gamecube has the best price of the lot. Surely that’s
a good thing?
8. “That controller looks really strange!” (looked in a mirror lately?)
At first sights the controller does look pretty weird but when you get to actually hold the
thing you realise how ingenious it actually is. The GC isn’t out in England yet but I got to hold one
of the controllers in a small shop in Kingston. I was going to play on the thing but the lazy shop
assistant, I quote, “couldn’t be a**ed”. I came back later and he gave me a cold look, I wasn’t going to
buy anything (Gamecube for £450!?!), so I obediently left the shop. Anyway the controller was an
absolute dream and you got used to it the second you held it, every thing felt as though it was in the
right place, very different to the daunting PS2 controller. Triangle..no!no!, R2! R2! Where? Where?,
quick ! X,X,X!!! Doh, game over!
9. “Small disc = Small memory = smaller games” (bit like your brain really)
When someone told me this I just walked out of the room. The GC disc is very much like
The Tardis from ‘Dr Who?’. It’s small but hold loads of stuff and is perfectly for the job. Not much
more to say about that.
10. “COOL Man! Yeah! Cool games!!! COOL!!” (OK calm down)
I wouldn’t be one of the last person to admit that fat Italien plumbers wearing dungarees and
running about stomping on mushroom isn’t cool. Even with that in mind it makes for a great games.
Many games that attempt to be cool just end up flat on their backs, taking into account of a certain
rapping game on the PS2 (it just makes me shudder thinking about it). Even so many games do get a
good mix, for example SSX Tricky. But it mainly comes down to how well the game plays and I think
that’s what Nintendo, coupled with Rare, do best.
11. “Must buy X-Box….must buy X-Box” (advertising at it’s best)
This is what I call the zombifying effect, which Microsoft achieves very well. Personally I
don’t get effected by advertising that much, I’ve grown of the impulse buying stage. These days you
can’t go anywhere without seeing a huge green X printed on a shop window or painted on the
pavement. You walk into Dixons ,where they might as well be saying “We love X-Box” using a huge
150ft banner to get it across, and you walk around the rest of the day thinking “Xxxx-Booooox” in a
monotone voice. Unfortunately advertising plays a big part in selling things, but just because it gets the
best advertising doesn’t mean it’s the best console.
12. “Playstation has always been better than the Nintendo!” (in my days ………)
Firstly, just to clear things up with some people, the Nintendo was 16bit (can’t quite
remember) console that was out in the 80’s. That’s a long time ago. So from then on I just assume
there are talking about the N64. But lets have a look at the beginning of the Playstation. Back when
the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) was doing roaring business good old Sony came
up to Nintendo with a plan to create a disc drive for the SNES, a la Saga Mega Drive. But Nintendo
didn’t like the idea, since the SNES was doing well anyway, and the rejected the proposal. So Sony
trundled of home very disgruntled and decided to spite Nintendo and so the PS was born. Whether this
was a good or bad thing for Nintendo we have yet to see. Anyway it’s a proven fact that the N64 was
better (technically) and they had the best games manufacturers behind it.
13. “Nintendo is doing really terribly at the moment!” (Not in comparison)
At this moment Nintendo is doing better than it has ever done in the past. Back in that
days of the NES and the SNES when Nintendo had a so called ‘monopoly’ on the computer gaming
business they weren’t doing as well. The thing is that over the past few years the gaming industry
has boomed, and lots of people are cashing in. I don’t think that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hate
each other. After all they all are rolling about in pile of cash singing “where’re in the money…..”. All
three consoles are doing well, it’s just that Sony grabbed that huge vacuum of new gamers that
appeared a couple of years ago.
Conclusion (Almost there (yawn) rutdfykjiuvgnirgevdsvnwi…….whoops!?!)
So to conclude, yes I am a Nintendo fan. But I am much more tolerant than most people are. I
think the PS2 is a damn good machine, but the Gamecube is better (sorry but I just don’t like the X-
Box). I hope this has changed a few peoples mind but I think some people are just beyond cure. Even
if you don’t buy a Gamecube, it won’t stop me from getting one and enjoying the games. OK back to
the count down…….how many days is it now?
(N.B Look in this months NGC Mag (issue 65) pg83-Bonus letters-third one down. That’s me!)