So as I said in the 'games I got' thread, I got one of these a few days ago. I have six games so far, and probably will get some more on EBay soon (not much hope of seeing more in person anytime soon... NGPCs/NGPC games are a "once every couple years" kind of thing around here, it was pretty cool I managed to find this one). So, my thoughts.

This post, which will be long, has several major parts:

History (history of the console)
System (overview of the system design)
Games List (a list of all releases for the console)
Game Reviews/Summaries (including reviews of the six titles I have)



History
--
SNK released the Neo Geo Pocket in Japan in late 1998. However, Nintendo released the Game Boy Color around the same time, so the monochrome NGP didn't do well. SNK released the NGP in Europe at some point perhaps in late 1998, that is what most sites say, but maybe in early 1999, but didn't release the B&W system or its games in the US. There were only nine B&W-only games released in Japan during the system's short five month lifespan before the Neo Geo Pocket Color released, though, so we didn't miss too much. Europe, as a note, got four of the B&W titles there. However, many NPGC games are backwards compatible, so there is a decent library of games that can be played on the B&W systems even if very few games are B&W only. All B&W games play on color systems just fine, though I know of no way to play the dual-mode titles in B&W mode on a color system (similarly, there's no way to do that on a GBC either).

The NGPC launched in Japan in March 1999. The system launched in the US a bit afterwards, and Europe some time after that. Unfortunately, while it did better than the NGP, the NGPC was also a failure in the end. It lost money for SNK and has a short lifespan -- just about a year in the US, a couple years in Japan. Because the NGPC wasn't taking off, because the arcade market in the West had completely collapsed, and because of lots of piracy (and I mean "counterfeit arcade boards", not just downloading roms) of Neo-Geo arcade games, SNK went bankrupt and was bought out by the pachinko and slot machine maker Aruze in 2000.

Oh, I'm having some issues figuring out exactly when the NGPC was released in the US. I see some date it to April 1999, but others put it in August. The sources do say that the system first launched with six games, and in a limited manner, sold only on the web retailer EToys.com, though. Perhaps it launched there in April, then in stores later that summer? That sounds plausible. Either way, the NGPC's last game was released in the US in May 2000, barely a year after its release. The system lasted a bit longer in Europe, and there are six or seven games that got European releases in 2000 but were not released in the US, but after that, the system was gone. Even in Japan, it didn't last much longer -- while a thinning string of games were released through 2000 for the system, all 2001 saw were three or four titles, including several pachislot games (Aruze released many pachislot games for the NGPC), a mahjong game, and a sequel to the popular NGPC game SNK vs Capcom Cardfighters Clash. It's odd that that last one was actually released, given that no other non mahjong/pachislot games released that year... nice, though. Oh, there is no region locking of course. Some Japanese titles are only in Japanese, but a few do have English text; it varies from game to game, just like with the Neo-Geo itself.

The US-region games that had been produced but not sold yet when SNK shut down its US division in June 2000 were believed to have been reflahsed and sold in Asia or destroyed. However, suddenly, several years later, in 2003, many thousands of them surfaced in the form of blister-pack releases of the NGPC. This got the purchaser a NGPC system and six games. Not a bad deal, even if finding many other games would at that point have been tricky... and also, two games which had been produced but not sold in the US yet (though they had gotten European release) when SNK shut down finally got US releases, which greatly reduced the prices of European import copies of those two titles, The Last Blade and Faselei!. That means those two games do not have official US boxes, but oh well, the carts are what matter.

Overall, despite the small library of about 81 games, maybe 15-20 of which are stupid casino and mahjong titles, the NGPC is a pretty nice little system that is worth a look, particularly if you're an SNK fan of course but maybe also generally beyond that.



System
--
But anyway, the system itself. The system -- The NGPC looks nice. It's small, similar in size to a GBC/GBA/etc, except a little thicker. Still, it'd easily fit in a pocket. The system doesn't have a backlight, but the screen is fairly easy to get lit up, like the GBC, so you won't have GBA-like "have a light directly pointing at the screen if you want to see well" situation (though I do like the original GBA, it does have a darker screen.). I don't mind the lack of backlight, that's part of why the NGPC gets such great battery life -- this thing gets 30-40 hours on 2 AAs, which is two to three times what the GBC and GBA get on the same number of batteries. Impressive work there. With a backlight battery life would be much, much worse. The system also uses a CR2032 battery that saves the system settings and clock -- the NGPC has a basic menu that opens if you turn the system on without a game in it that shows you the time and has functions for a calendar, language setting (English or Japanese; this affects the menus and some games that have multiple language versions in them and display the one that your system is set to), a horoscope, and a timer alarm. Nothing special, but I guess it's nice to have. The system having a clock in it means that games don't need to do that themselves, which is nice -- GB/GBC games that have clocks in them drain their batteries much faster than other games, and you can't exactly just easily switch those batteries like you can the NGPC's. Games themselves save onto the carts, and they all use flash memory to save, not on-cart batteries, which is nice. Most carts have saving, though a few, such as Pac-Man, don't.

As for power, the NGPC is a bit more powerful than a Game Boy Color. It's 16 bit, and can put about 150 colors on screen from a palette of 4000; the GBC could put 52 on screen from a palette of 32,000. The system is faster overall, and the graphics look better. Audio is good, nice Game Boy-esque music. I like it. My main complaint would be that sprites are limited to three colors each, which really is annoying; backgrounds can be very colorful, but the sprites themselves are usually black, white/skin tone, and one color. Kind of distracting. Oh well...

The most unique thing about the NGP and NGPC's design is, of course, for anyone who has seen one, that digital joystick thing it uses for input. It looks like a small analog stick, but it's not analog, it's a clicky (really, it makes loud, audible clicks as you move it) arcade stick style thing that SNK developed. The NGPC's one is a descendant of the Neo-Geo CD gamepad's joystick, which had a similar small, clicky digital stick on it. SNK wanted people to be able to get the closest thing they could to the feel of a real arcade stick, and a d-pad just doesn't do this. It works -- this feels like an arcade stick, not a d-pad, and it's pretty great. It took a little while to get used to, but I did in not too long and now I think it's a seriously great control mechanism... I wish something else used something like it. It's too bad nothing does.

Apart from that, the system has A and B buttons (in the left to right order seen on most non-Nintendo consoles, not Nintendo's right to left design) and an Option button, which is the start button. Like the Game Gear, there are just the three buttons. I wish the system had more buttons; there are lots of fighting games on this system, and while they tried, they'd be more fun with two more buttons so they could have as many buttons as the arcade versions. If they really thought that they couldn't fit four face buttons on this thing (and I think they could have, maybe), maybe they should have looked into putting shoulder buttons on this... oh well. It's kind of disappointing, as this does lead to some reduction in complexity in the games, but doesn't hurt the system too much. It helps that the stick, and the A and B buttons, are so well built -- these buttons feel very solid and high quality. No cheap, lame handheld-system buttons here, that's for sure! SNK did a good job with the controls.

The NGPC also has the usual power button (hold it down for a second to turn it on), headphone jack, link cable port (for a multiplayer link cable or for a cable to hook the NGPC up to a Dreamcast; the NGPC, not the GBA, was the first handheld with a link cable that could hook it up to a console for transfer bonus stuff.), and volume knob (the speaker is nice and loud, well above the volume of that weak GBC speaker, which is nice). The system is comfortable to hold.

There were six NGPC colors released in the US. There are several more in Japan, including a redesigned NGPC that is a tiny bit smaller, but the redesign changed nothing major. I have the metallic blue one and it looks nice.

NGP/NGPC Games List
--
The list is separated into three categories, first black and white titles, second dual-mode games, and third color only games. Within each the games are separated by the regions they were released in. I also try to roughly put the games in order by release date (US dates for US-released titles) within each category.

Note that as far as I know, all games that save use on-cart saving -- I don't know of any that are password only saving, unlike the GBC. Also most games (Pac-Man and maybe a few more are the few exception(s)) have on-cart saving. Pretty cool.

*Asterisks note that that game is a third party published game, ie not something by SNK, ADK, Yumekobo, or Aruze, or a game from a third party but published by SNK. Yeah, there weren't many.


B&W Only Games
Note - the NGP (B&W system) and all B&W games were not released in the US, though a few did get limited European releases.)
--
Japan and Europe
--
Pocket Tennis - 1998 JP / 1999 EU - Sports (Tennis)
The King of Fighters R-1 - 1998 JP / 1999 EU - Fighting
Samurai Shodown! - 1998 JP / 1999 EU - Fighting
NeoGeo Cup '98 Plus - 1998 - Sports (Soccer)

Japan Only
--
Baseball Stars - 10/1998 - Sports (Baseball)
Melon-chan no Seichouki - 1998 (Melon-Chan's Growth Diary) - Raising Sim
Renketsu Puzzle Tsunagete Pon! - 10/1998 (Puzzle Link) - Puzzle
Shogi no Tatsujin - 11/1998 - Shogi (Japanese Chess)
Neo Cherry Master - 12/1998 - Gambling (Slots)


Color or B&W games (dual mode)

All Region releases (maybe a couple weren't released in Europe, but not many)
--
NeoGeo Cup '98 Plus Color - 4/1999; 10/1999 (EU) - Sports
Neo Turf Masters - 7/1999 (US/JP); 10/1999 (EU) - Sports
Crush Roller Pocket - 4/1999 - Arcade Action
The King of Fighters R-2 - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US) - Fighting
Bust-A-Move Pocket - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US) - Puzzle
Pocket Tennis Color - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US); 10/1999 (EU) - Sports
Neo Cherry Master Color - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US); 10/1999 (EU) - Gambling (Slots)
Neo Mystery Bonus - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US); 10/1999 (EU) - Gambling (Slots)
Neo Dragon's Wild - 3 and 4/1999 (JP/US); 10/1999 (EU) - Gambling (Poker)
Samurai Shodown! 2 - 4 and 6/1999 (US/JP) - Fighting
Baseball Stars Color - 5/1999 - Sports
Fatal Fury: First Contact - 5/1999 - Fighting
Metal Slug: 1st Mission - 5/1999 (JP); 1999 (US/EU) - Platform/Action
*Pac-Man - 7/1999 (US); 8/1999 (JP); 10/1999 (EU) - Arcade Action
Biomotor Unitron - 4 and 7/1999 (JP/US) - RPG/Strategy
Puyo Pop - 7/1999 (JP); 9/1999 (US); 11/1999 (EU) - Puzzle
Puzzle Link - 3/1999 (JP); 9/1999 (US) - Puzzle
Dark Arms: Beast Busters - 10 and 11/1999 (JP/US) - Action/RPG
Magical Drop Pocket - 6/1999 (JP); 12/1999 (US); 3/2000 (EU) - Puzzle
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash: Capcom Version - 10/1999 (JP); 11/1999 (US); 1999 (EU)
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash: SNK Version - 10/1999 (JP); 11/1999 (US); 1999 (EU)
Neo 21 - 12/1999 (JP); 1/2000 (US); 2/2000 (EU) - Gambling (Blackjack)
Shanghai Mini - 7/1999 (JP date); 2000 (US/EU) - Puzzle
Dive Alert: Becky's Version - 4/2000 (US date); 8/1999 (JP date) - RPG/Sim
Dive Alert: Matt's Version - 4/2000 (US date); 8/1999 (JP date) - RPG/Sim
Puzzle Link 2 - 4/2000 (US date); 11/1999 (JP date) - Puzzle
Faselei! - 12/1999 (JP); 2000 (EU); 2003 (US, cart only, packin release) - Strategy

Japan and Europe Only releases
--
Evolution: Eternal Dungeons - 2000 (EU version is very rare, and the JP version is Japanese text only. Third party developed, but SNK published.) - RPG
*Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams - 2000 (rare and expensive) - shmup
Picture Puzzle - 4/2000 (JP); 6/2000 (EU) - Picross clone

Also note that only Europe got English-language boxed releases of Faselei! and The Last Blade in 2000.

Japan Only (Japanese text only unless noted)
--
Shogi no Tatsujin Color - 3/1999 - Shogi (Japanese Chess)
Doko Demo Mahjong - 4/1999 - Mahjong
Neo Derby Champ Daiyosou - 4/1999 - Horse Racing
*Pocket Love If - 10/1999 (KID) - visual novel
Densha de Go! 2 - 10/1999 (Taito/SNK) - Train Sim
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Hanabi - 10/1999 (Aruze) - Pachislot
*Pachinko Hisshou Guide: Pocket Parlor - 11/1999 (Vistec) (Pachinko Pocket Parlor Guide)
Soreyuke!! Hanafuda Doujou - 12/1999 - Card (Hanafuda)
Party Mail - 12/1999
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Azteca - 2/2000 (Aruze) - Pachislot
Neo Baccarat - 6/2000 - Gambling (Baccarat). This may have also been released in Europe, though I'm doubtful. Has English text option.
*Rockman: Battle & Fighters - 7/2000 (Capcom) - Fighting


Color Only games (not backwards compatible)

All Region
--
SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millenium - 11/1999 (US); 12/1999 (JP); 1999 (EU)
*Sonic Pocket Adventure - 12/1999 (US); 2000 (EU); 5/2000 (JP) (Sega) - Platformer
SNK Gals' Fighters - 1 and 2/2000 (JP/US) - Fighting
Metal Slug: 2nd Mission - 3/2000 (JP); 5/2000 (US); 4/2000 (EU) - Platform/Action
The Last Blade - 2000 (Japan and Europe, normal retail release); 2003 (US, cart only, packin release) - Fighting


Japan and Europe, not the US
--
Dynamite Slugger - 5/2000 - baseball. This may have only been released in Japan, though the game does have a full English text option available (as well as Japanese).

Japan Only (Japanese text only unless noted)
--
Mizuki Shigeru no Youkai Shashinkan - 1999 (Mizuki Shigeru's Ghost Photo Gallery)
Mezase! Kanji-Ou - 1/2000
Kikou Seiki Unitron - 1/2000 (Biomotor Unitron 2) - RPG/Strategy
*Cool Boarders Pocket - 2/2000 (UEP Systems) - Isometric Platform/Action with touches of Racing
*Koi Koi Mahjong - 3/2000 (Visco) - Mahjong
*Memories Off Pure - 4/2000 (KID) - Visual novel
Neo Poke Pro Yakyuu - 5/2000 - Sports (Baseball)
Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun - 2000 - weird raising game
Densetsu no Ogre Battle: Zenobia no Ouji - 6/2000 (Riverhillsoft/SNK)
The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradies - 7/2000 - board game
*Bikkuriman Viva! Pocket Festival - 3/2000 (Sega) - minigame collection?
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Ward of Lights - 3/2000 (Aruze) - Pachislot
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Porcano 2 - 7/2000 (Aruze) - Pachislot
*Delta Warp - 8/2000 (Iosys) - puzzle game, mostly in English
Cool Cool Jam - 10/2000 - music game
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Del Sol 2 - 10/2000 (Aruze) - Pachislot
Big Bang Pro Wrestling - 11/2000 - wrestling (has full English text option)
*Infinity Cure - 11/2000 (KID) - visual novel
*Nige-ron-pa - 11/2000 - (Dennou Club) - RPG
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: Daihanabi - 12/2000 (Aruze) - Pachislot
Pachi-Slot Aruze Oukoku Pocket: DH2 - 1/2001 (Aruze) - Pachislot
Super Real Mahjong Premium Collection - 3/2001 - Mahjong
Pachi Slot Aruze Oukoku: e-CUP - 3/2001 (Aruze) - Pachislot
SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters Clash 2: Expand Edition - 9/2001 - Card


Games
--
Now, on to the games. As I said above, the NGPC has about 81 games. Approximately 30 were released in the US in 1999-2000, while Europe got several more, maybe 40 or so, including the four B&W titles (though there were a couple that got US released but not European ones, I believe, there were quite a few more they got but we didn't). At least the US did get two more of those when the blister-pack release of the system in 2003 got use US The Last Blade and Faselei... the rest. though, stayed in Japan.

The library has some real strengths and weaknesses. As I said before, there are a LOT of casino and pachislot games on the system, far more than most anyone would like given the small size of the library. That's a weakness, darn you Aruze... :( Also, there are very few platformers. While the sidescrolling platformer was the bread and butter genre of all other handhelds from the Game Boy to the GBA, the NGPC has very few of them; indeed, apart from Sonic Pocket Adventure, the only other ones are the two Metal Slug titles. At least the NGPC Metal Slug games play as much like platform-action games as they do Metal Slug. The system does have a lot of fighting games, though -- there are at least 10 for the system. Given that it's from SNK that should be expected, but that fighting game focus is there. At least they did try to branch out with things like RPGs (Biomotor Unitron), strategy games (Faselei!), platformers (NGPC Metal Slug), etc, so it's not quite as focused on one genre as the Neo-Geo was. There aren't any racing games, though; well, there's one horse racing game, and one snowboarding game that's as much an isometric platformer as it is racing, but no car racing titles at all. Also, on a related note, the NGPC has very few third party titles. SNK was always pretty bad at getting third party support, and that showed here as much as anywhere. There are far more first party NGPC games than there are third party.

Below, I'll talk about games I have for the system. I have six games so far, basically the six that came in the blister-pack the person who bought this NGPC purchased I assume (given the titles and number, I'm sure that's what I have, a blister-pack release). As I get more I'll add my comments on them of course. Three are fighting games, three other types. All six games do have their plastic cases, which is nice.

Fatal Fury: First Contact - A fighting game. SNK's nine fighting games for the NGP/NGPC all have a somewhat samey feel, and probably share an engine, but it's a really good engine so that's okay. The games all use superdeformed-style cartoonish art, which fits the small screen well. The long, extending limbs they have do look kind of funny though. :) In general character selections are much smaller than the major console titles, though there's still a decent variety in each game. For this game in specific, there are 11 characters to choose from. The game doesn't have the multiple plane design of the Fatal Fury games it's copying, though (this claims to be a Real Bout title, not Mark of the Wolves), which is perhaps too bad because that was one of pre-MotW FF's defining design features, but still it's simple fun. The game's somewhat of a button masher, and there are better games on the system, but it's decent fun. Difficulty is moderate.


The King of Fighters R-2 - Better game than the above one. The graphics are similar, but maybe a bit nicer, and there are a few more characters. Also I like KOF more than I do Fatal Fury; I like MotW, but the rest of the Fatal Fury games have never really grabbed me. KOF, though, I like a lot. KOF EX2 for the GBA is one of my more played games for that system, so I can't help but compare this to its handheld descendant. Obviously here the graphics are nowhere near as good, and there aren't quite as many features or modes either, but still it's great fun. I wasn't sure if the NGPC fighting games would be worth getting given that I do have KOFEX2, which is one reason I hadn't bought one before, but now that I do have one, I know it was worth it -- sure the sprites are only three colors, and they're all small superdeformed things, but the games are great fun and play really well. The fighting is very smooth and they do as well as they can with only two buttons. It does reduce complexity, which as I said is too bad, but this feels a lot like a KOF game even so. I like it. (Oh, the first game, KOF R-1, was B&W title, so there was no US release. It was released in Europe though.)


Samurai Shodown! 2 - Another sequel to a JP/EU only B&W NGP title, Samurai Shodown! 2 is, well, a handheld Samurai Shodown game. It has the slower, more deliberate pace you expect from SamSho, and is a great game. This is far better than SamSho 1 for the Game Boy, as decent as that title was... The controls are a bit odd, though -- the A button is slash, and B does several things depending on context including kicking, deflecting, etc. I kind of wish there were two slash attacks, my favorite SamSho button layout on the Neo-Geo itself was SS4, which had three buttons for attacks and one for kick (instead of two and two, like the first two games). I know you get used to it, but it's a bit odd. Apart from that, though, this is pretty cool. The character lineup is interesting, as a bunch of characters from the 3d Samurai Shodown 64 titles show up here -- Shiki, etc. are in this game. Cool. The game's a challenge too, much more so than, say, Fatal Fury. Control issues aside this is a good game.


Metal Slug: 1st Mission - This game is amazing! It might be my favorite of these six games, in fact... MS 1M is an incredible, addictive game. As I said above, the two Metal Slug NGPC games, much like their followup Metal Slug Advance, are quite different from other Metal Slug titles. Instead of walking to the right on a screen that can't scroll back, you go in all four directions and can freely move around. Instead of having one hit deaths and lives, you get just one life per continue, but have a health bar. And instead of spending most of your time shooting, you'll be doing more platform jumping and exploration in these games than you will standard Metal Slug style shooting. Fortunately, it all works brilliantly. In fact, I think I might like this game even more than MS Advance. While that one obviously has far better (nearly Neo-Geo perfect) graphics, it also has far too few levels, with only five; the NGPC games have many stages each. This one has like 15 or 20, and the second game apparently has 39 or something. They aren't all as long as those five levels are, sure, but still it provides more content. The game has fair replay value too, as it's just so much fun to play that I imagine I won't just be playing it once. In this game you just play as Marco; the later two (2nd Mission and Advance) both have a male or female character to choose. The game saves, but you have limited continues so be careful. If you use a continue you pick up from right where you died, but lose 10 coins. Sometimes it's smarter to reset the system and load up your save and try to do it without dying this time. Along the way, there are lots of items to collect for points and POWs to rescue in standard Metal Slug fashion. The continue limit makes it harder, but oh well. It is a little annoying that you have to switch between your gun and grenades with the Option button, so you can only pause if you hold the button down, but oh well, as I said the system could have used more buttons. It's not too bad. But yeah, the game is great.

Pac-Man - This is, well, Pac-Man. It's Namco's only NGPC game, and it's based on the Game Boy and Game Gear versions of the game, clearly. While the details are different -- versus the GG version there are different numbers of dots (yeah, that surprised me, but the number of dots is different) and some different graphics in this version, for instance -- both have the same very basic presentation and options. Both versions, and the GB version also I assume, though the GBC special edition, released just a month after this version, does include Pac-Attack as well as Pac-Man. It's too bad that isn't in this version as well. Pac-Man itself has the same (lack of) options across all three platforms though. You only have two options, fullscreen (with the whole thing shrunken down so you can see it all at once) or scrolling, so you can see the full detail but can only see one part of the field at once. Neither is perfect, but with a handheld it's all you can do. Also, neither version has saving. While on the GG that was understandable, here it's much less so; almost all NGPC games save! It's annoying Namco was too cheap to have a save chip in the cart so it could save your best scores.

Neo Turf Masters - This is a golf game. The game's a pretty decent golf game, and is based on the very popular Neo-Geo golf title Neo Turf Masters, but I just don't like golf very much, so I find it boring. People who like 8/16-bit style golf games probably would like it, though. It seems well made and has multiple characters to choose from, three courses, and more. Choose a club, aim, press the button at the swing power you want, and try to get it in the hole...

http://swiffy.googlelabs.com/

It's buggy right now, but this is a google fast conversion of any flash file you might have directly into an HTML5 web page version. I tried it with a few Homestar Runner flashes and it does a pretty nice job, though again, it isn't complete yet so they are a little rough around the edges.

When they get it in a good enough condition to leave "labs", I expect that sites that were previously hesitant about switching to HTML5 due to a massive amount of flash content will find the switch far less painful now. Now I'll try to convert a few animutations...

<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IF2v32xCD0Y?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IF2v32xCD0Y?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>

This is a recording of a dial-up connection's initialization slowed down by a factor of 7. Wow, it's otherworldly. It could have been a track for Rez. Love the guitar solo near the end.

Ads coming to Kinect:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/busine...x.html?hpw
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RSk5DhxQHLo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Sony statements:
Jack Tretton:

Quote:Forbes: When will you start talking about PlayStation 4?

Tretton: PlayStation 3 is really just hitting its stride. And technologically, I don’t think it’s possible to provide any advancement beyond what we have. What we’ve seen from the competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3. We invested heavily in that, we rolled a very heavy rock up a steep hill, through the launch period. But now I think that all pays off, and we’ve got a long run way behind it. So, I wouldn’t look for any discussion of a next generation PlayStation for quite some time.

I think there’s ground to be carved out for everybody. But I didn’t see anything about Nintendo’s announcement that said ‘Oh, we’d better get working on rolling out a new PlayStation here pretty soon.’

Our attitude is kind of ‘welcome to the party.’ If you’re looking at being a multimedia entertainment device, if you’re looking at high def gaming, that was 2006 for us.

Quote:

Indyana Wrote:SCE executive (James Armstrong, VP SCEE, CEO SCE Spain+Portugal) made a much clear statement about the PS4 graphics.

How do you imagine the next-gen, better graphics, new controls or both?
- It's difficult to say now. I don't believe we are going to have a console with much better graphics than the ones the PS3 offers now. I think the future will be in offering the best and most accessible experiences to consumers. The target will be to expand the gaming population and to try to design games for women.


My English isn't very good and it will take me more time than I would liked to translate properly the whole interview.

Highlight of Sony E3 conference?
- PS Vita, great controls for everyone.

Highlight of PSV?
- Controls give a lot of authenticity to games, great experience.

PSV target?
- Gamers 14-30 years old looking for a true handheld experience.

PS3 10 years plan?
- PS3 = 299€, Playstation consoles left market at 99€ or 149€, lots of time ahead.

Wii U will launch next year, does it accelerate PS4 launch?
- PS3 has lots of life, they expect to sell 500k in Spain this year and become the best selling console of the year.
(2010 Spanish sales= Wii > 700.000, PS3 ~600,000, DS > 500.000, 360 <300,000 )

- Good luck to Nintendo, it's good for the industry, they will have to show they are bringing something new. Nintendo has a different target , Playstation = gamers and casuals, Wii = families.

PSP plans?
- 129€ good price for boys and girls 6-14 years old. Spanish developed gameslike Cars 2, Geronimo Stilton and Mistery Squad will launch this year.

3D and Sony, new standard or fad?
-Sony has bet on 3D a long time ago, videogames will be very important, new HDTVs makes difficult for families to buy a new 3DTV, it will take time but all TVs will be 3D.

How do you imagine the next-gen, better graphics, new controls or both?
- It's difficult to say now. I do not think we are going to have a console with much better graphics than the ones PS3 offers now. I think the future will be in offering the best and most accessible experiences to consumers. The target will be to expand gaming population and to try to design games for women.

- Lots of market research = women want a Playstation, but there aren't games for them. Online and digital downloads have to evolve too. Don't expect too much on next-gen graphics.

Sony plans for women?
- It's important to expand gaming population, focus on males=selling only to a half of the market.

Will digital downloads kill physical media?
- No, physical media has lots of advantages for consumers. Digital sales will increase.

Digital sales help avoiding piracy?
- PSN sales have no piracy, helps because there's a lot of piracy, PSP for example, LOTS of piracy in Spain.

PS3 piracy damaged Sony benefits?
- Yes. Lack of piracy is very good. High risk industry, high development costs.

Lessons learned from PSN outage?
- Learned a lot, no product 100% secure, contracted best companies to help us, no fraud detected because of hacked PSN.


Source in Spanish:http://www.3djuegos.com/juegos/articulos...ny-europa/

We hate you, Nintendo of America... it looks like Europe isn't just getting Xenoblade later this year, but The Last Story for 2012 too. It hasn't been announced yet, but it seems like they might actually get it. Of course, there's absolutely no sign that either will get a US release. Mod your Wiis then I guess if you want to play them, unless a miracle occurs...

NoE has a far better release history this gen than NoA does. Before it was always the other way around, but they have very much reversed themselves this time... what the heck, NoA, what's wrong with you...

Of course then there are a bunch of titles that don't come to either region for no apparent reason too, so NoE isn't all better. But still, it does seem to be a little better at actually releasing more games.

News from:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434652

http://zelda.com/ocarina3d/#/master-quest

So this is nice, Master Quest is in this version, only improved a bit. While it seems the dungeon changes are the only "world" changes, there is one minor alteration that should get one lost a few times even in the overworld. It seems the whole map is now mirrored. Interesting, I suppose, in the same way the mirrored world in the two versions of Twilight Princess is interesting. Also, this Master Quest has one extra thing adding a bit of challenge, you take double damage. It should be interesting. One difference in this case is the need to beat the "normal" mode to unlock Master Quest. Well, it's not like I wasn't going to do that anyway.

This is cool, as it's the first time the Master Quest has been made more widely available than a pre-order bonus. It does make me curious. Will they ever decide to do the same treatment to Majora's Mask? I loved the intricate detail on all those side character's lives. It's why I think I may rate that game a bit higher than Ocarina personally, but it's close.

Anyone have this yet? I'm curious how they handled the places with pre-rendered backgrounds (outside the temple of time, hyrule market's panorama, a number of house interiors). Are they still pre-rendered but in higher resolution, or are they now all handled with the in-game visuals?

...And it cadres to stupid people.

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Really? Their trying to tell me their new car optimizes any fuel, even fuels that haven't been invented yet.. That's stupid. OK, Lexis I fuel my car with fire and horse shit, optimize my fire poop fuel Lexus if your so awesome..

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I just got me a 3DS.. So everyone post your friend codes here!

Erich Tov: 4038-6106-4383
Eden Master: 2578-3111-5268
Dark Jaguar: 5069-4211-5802

Hexcite was a Game Boy / Game Boy Color dual-mode game, with Super Game Boy support, released in 1998 (Japan, titled as Glocal Hexcite) and 1999 (US/EU). The game does have battery save, unlike many GB puzzle games. I mean it when I say it's addictive -- I've been playing at least a match of this game almost every day for months now, ever since I got the cartridge. I can't say I've done that for too many games before... this game is really, REALLY addictive.

Unfortunately, some other versions of the game stayed in Japan. The game was originally a Japanese board game, but I'm not sure how much Western distribution the boardgame version had or has. Other console ports include a (B&W) Wonderswan version in 2000 (Glocal Hexcite, very much like the GB version), a Playstation version in 1999 (Glocal Hexcite, but enhanced for the more powerful system I think), and a Game Boy Advance version in 2001 (Hexcite: Metal Fusion EX, with new features and such), as well as a cellphone version in the mid 2000s (Hexcite Fusion); this last, cellphone version seems to have been released in the US on some carriers, according to Gamespot, but I don't know for sure. I would love to play them, and will probably at least play the GBA and PSX versions sometime. They look like they have more features than the first game, I'd love to see what they are.

The West finally got another major Hexcite game in 2007, when a PC version was released. I just found out about this -- it's a download-only title on Bigfish Games. I think I will have to buy this now.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-gam...index.html



Returning to the first Hexcite game, however, I need to describe how it works. As I said, Hexcite is a puzzle strategy game. In the game, two players take turns filling in a large hexagon with shapes. The large hexagon is broken into seven smaller ones, each of which is broken up into a lot of triangles. There are seven different pieces that the players use to fill in the space. You can rotate pieces to angle them any possible way they could fit. In each game, the players get a somewhat random selection of pieces and try to score the most points. The rules are a little complex, but once you get used to it it makes sense.

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/6/6/8/gfs_81970_1_1.jpg

So, in each match the goal is to have the most points. The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the match; in multi-round matches, scores are cumulative and the winner is the one with the higher total across all rounds. Again, each player gets a somewhat random selection of pieces. The piece selection at the beginning is the luck element in this game, and it is important -- some hands will be MUCH harder to get rid of than others. This isn't rigged against you, though, so overall you'll be even between times when the computer crushes you because you get a terrible hand and times when you crush it.

The first player has to play in the central triangle, along its edges with the six surrounding ones. You get five points for each side the piece you play touches, so this is the perfect time to play the largest pieces because that's about the only time you'll be getting 15 points for one, bonuses for filling hexagons excepted. Player one, the human player in single player games, always plays first in the first round, but in multi-round matches, after that it depends on the total score, so the computer will sometimes play first.

On that note, for scoring, you get five points for each side of the polygon you are placing that is touching already placed pieces on the board. However, you are docked for each piece still in your inventory at the end of the game. You lose five points for each side the shape has, so a triangle loses you 15 points while a hexagon loses you 30. Oh, and you must play if you have a play, even if it allows the other player to get more points off of it; you can't pass.

However, and this is important, you can only play if all sides of the polygon you're playing are either fully empty or fully against other pieces. That is, you can't place a piece if a side of the piece you're playing is only halfway against other blocks. Each side must either be against empty space, or fully against placed sides. This rule takes some getting used to.

Also, the player who plays the last triangle in one of the six outer large hexagons on the map and fills it up gets a point bonus. Three are worth 10 points, the other three 30; this is marked on the board with the three or one dots around the edge next to each triangle. There is no bonus for filling the central hexagon.



The seven pieces are shown on the dies of the picture above. These take up a lot of space, but because each side is only one piece long, you'll have no issues with sides being partially covered at least.

First there is a large hexagon. This is the largest piece.

Second is a small triangle, which fills up one space on the board. It's always good to have a good number of these.

Third is a small rectangle. Two spaces. These can be useful.

Fourth is a small trapezoid. Three spaces.

Fifth is the large triangle. Four spaces.

Sixth is the large rectangle -- two large triangles end to end. Eight spaces.

Last is the large trapezoid, three large triangles. These are the biggest pieces and the hardest to play -- each takes up a full half of a hexagon on the board. Play these first, or you likely never will. And be afraid when you have a lot of them and the computer starts with a hexagon, you'll lose a lot of points if you're unlucky.

Remember, size has no effect on point loss, only the number of sides, so small and large rectangles and half hexagons will all cost you 20 points if there are any left at the end, for instance. So don't focus on playing all large pieces first, then smaller ones -- there are many cases where it's smarter to play the small rectangles and trapezoids before the large triangles, as they cost more points if left in your hand.


So, those are the game basics and rules. Now, on to game modes.


The game has One Player, Two Player, Level Game, and Practice mode modes, as well as an options screen. Continue is for continuing a game you suspended.

One Player is for playing a single match; think of this as the quick-action mode. You just choose a number of rounds, difficulty, a few more options (timer on/off, alternate starts or always play first) and go. There are five difficulty level choices. It won't be saving stats or anything, though if you win enough games without saving in the highest difficulty level, on a GBC, you will unlock another difficulty level above that.

Two Player is for a versus game. It's like one player but with two humans, obviously. As this is a turn-based game, you can play two player on a single Game Boy, taking turns, if you wish. If you're playing on a Super Game Boy, the game has two SNES controller support, so that each player can use a separate controller. It's a nice option. It also supports link cable multiplayer if you wish to play it that way.

Level Game is the main single player mode. In this mode you save your progress into one of six slots as you go. In each match you can choose the number of rounds; the default is six, which is what I usually go with. You gain experience as you win matches, and gain ranks once you reach certain experience point levels. Levelling is slow and there are a lot of ranks, so you can play this game for a long time before you hit the max difficulty. This is the mode I play the most.

Practice mode is basically the puzzle mode. See below -- you get specific pieces and try to win. There are sixty puzzles to solve. I kind of hate these puzzle modes, so I haven't played this much. I'm usually so bad at them... For instance, as much as I love Tetris Attack/Puzzle League, I'm hopeless at the 'you have X moves to solve the puzzle' modes in those games. This I like a bit more than that, because of the kind of game it is, but still, I'd rather play the main game.


In the Options screen, the main options of note are the music and color set choices. There are ten music tracks and eight different color sets to choose from, and the SGB and GBC each have their own different color sets. Many GB or GBC puzzle games would have two or three music tracks and one color set, and no battery save either, but this is a better, more feature-rich effort, and I like that about this game -- it feels quite feature-rich. On SGB there are fewer colors on screen of course, but still it does a good job and the game is fun on a television. I'm not sure whether I like the GBC or SGB versions better; the main reason that I mostly play on GBC (well, GBA SP that is) is because I like playing this game while watching TV, and you can't do that with the SGB version. There's a nice help menu here as well with a good, visual tutorial of how to play the game and the rules for the various modes.

The final option is Continue. You can save a game in progress in the pause menu while playing, and you load it here. This is a temporary save -- the file deletes itself when you load it. It's an awesome option to have, temp saves are something all Game Boy games should have had. :)

Returning to my previous point, this is a perfect game to play while watching TV -- the audio doesn't matter, it's just background music, and it's all turn based so if you look up to watch for a while it won't affect the game at all. Also, and I haven't mentioned this yet but it is a real negative (if one of the only ones apart from the fact that that battery is going to die sometime), watching TV while playing is also a good idea because sometimes the AI takes far too long to take a turn. At times I'm waiting a 30 seconds to a minute until the computer finally takes a turn. Maybe those times are exaggerated, but it is true that you can be waiting for a while sometimes. I can understand why it is though, the AI has a good number of different moves to choose from, and that poor, slow GB CPU takes a while to deal with deciding which one to do sometimes. Chess games often had slow move times too. This game isn't as complex as that, but it's enough to have some waiting sometimes. Oh well, I don't feel that this hurts the game much, it's a great, great game, waiting or no. Turning on the timer might help here, but I don't use it so I just deal with the slower speed -- I don't want to have to be limited by a timer myself after all... :)


This is a picture of a game, midgame, with the timer on. There are going to be leftover pieces in this match, I wonder who won... As the board fills up more, playing pieces gets harder and harder.


The lower right shot on the back of the box shows a game nearing the end. As you reach the end of the match, the stakes get high -- both players are trying hard to play as many pieces as possible, without trying to keep the other player from being able to play as many pieces as you can. You need to carefully consider each move, not only in terms of how many points you will get from it, but for what new moves it allows the enemy to do and whether they'll be able to play pieces you'd rather they different -- one of the best ways to win is to stick the computer with large pieces they can't play and watch them lose points for it. Look at all possible moves, and judge which will get you the most points and, in later parts, cost the other player the most points and moves. It's a complicated, strategic game, and that's what I love about it -- you have to think while playing this game. I love it.

On that note, I haven't gotten to the max rank yet, I think. I'm not sure what the top rank is, actually, but currently I'm rank B, level 10; I doubt that's the max. I haven't gained a level in a while, but I imagine I will eventually. Who knows, I'll be playing either way.

Finally, I think I'll have to try the PC version now... looks like it's more of the same, which is great. This game probably works best as a portable title, but still it's awesome that there's another version of Hexcite I can play without importing things from Japan (even if it did come out several years ago, I just didn't know about it)! Here's a shot of the PC version.