Quote:<b>Forecast Channel Arrives, Internet Coming Friday</b>
<i>Browsing is free for now, costs 500 points next year.</i>
by Patrick Klepek, 12/19/2006
68 of 68 users recommend this story.
Both the Forecast Channel and Internet Channel were expected to be day-and-date features with Wii's launch, but Nintendo failed to deliver and has been a awkward and coy about confirming release dates for either. But the mystery is over, as today the Forecast Channel was launched as a free download and Internet Channel, complete with an Opera-based browser, hits on Friday.
Internet Channel, however, is only free until June. The ensuing months will be a beta test for the browsing software, and while the full version arrives in March, Nintendo apparently won't be asking for 500 Wii Points ($5.00 USD) until June. Will people bite?
So we get to try it for 6 months, then decide if we want to pay for it. Really, we're getting in on the beta, as it says. This wasn't supposed to LAUNCH until June, was my understanding.
Well, two days away, who will be the 1st to post at TC from their Wii??
Insanely lengthy list of pretty much every PC game with a chance of coming out next year, and with a screenshot for almost every title... some I hadn't heard of, even. Click. :)
Not from Nintendo, but interesting. My main question is what SORT of rechargeable are we talking about here? If it's nickel cadmium, forget it. If it's lithium ion, I'm getting this as soon as it comes out. At least the look fits with the Wii style.
Your task: Read the first four chapters of Great Rumbler's book and tell him your thoughts on it.
Difficulty: Assume that you are the head of the submissions department of a large publishing firm that receives hundreds of stories every month and has to sift through a mountain of fan-fiction in order to find one really good [and interesting] story.
Questions: Is the story too "wordy"? Does the main character "talk" too much? Does the story have the right tone? Does it feel like something is missing? Does it feel like something doesn't belong? Do I feel sympathy towards the plight of the main character? Does the use of words feel right? How does the voice of the author aid/hinder the underlying story? Does the story have too much detail? Is there too little action? Are there any incosistencies or contradictions present? Does everything make some logical sense? How would I change the story if I were the author? What works? What doesn't work? How can the story be made better?
Remember: Great Rumbler likes lots of details on how he can make his story better, so please write as much as you can about it.
Well I'm almost finished with Twilight Princess, and thought a discussion about the art style of the Zelda games was warranted. Most of the games have been incredibly artistic even when they weren't testing the technical limits of graphical capabilities at the time. Anyway, here's how I would rank the games:
1. Wind Waker
2. A Link to the Past
3. Link's Awakening
4. Twilight Princess
5. Majora's Mask
6. Minish Cap
7. Ocarina of Time
8. Oracle Games
9. Adventures of Link
10. Legend of Zelda
I think the art in Wind Waker blows them all away, and I only wish the difficulty had been up to par with TP. I kind of group LttP and LA together as the art style for both games is very similar, but those two games are what I think of when I think of 2D Zelda. The twilight realm in TP is very cool, and the characters all have distinct personalities without even talking to them. This is similar to Majora's Mask. Minish Cap had a cool style, but I prefer the style from LttP and LA. OoT was obviously a great advance for the Zelda series, but while the game was incredible I don't think it compares artistically to some of the other Zelda games. Of course, it is still leagues beyond most other games out there, but Zelda games have a higher standard when it comes to artistry.
in my collection. ... I thought it was interesting, at least... (and it's really totals, not ratios. Close enough.)
Hardware Japanese Games American/European Games
Game Boy 19 11 36.7% US/Eu releases
GB Color 9 6 40% US/Eu releases
GB Advance 22 1 4.3% US/Eu releases
SNES 37 15 [two games are a Japanese ports of European computer games listed here as US/Europe]
Genesis 34 16 [Sonic 2 was a joint US/Japan team; I listed it as Japan] 32% US/Eu releases
Sega CD 0 4 100% US/Eu releases
Nintendo 64 23 35 60.3% US/Eu releases
Gamecube 25 18 41.9% US/Eu releases
Playstation 24 16 40% US/Eu releases
PC 6 243 97.6 US/Eu releases
... US/European breakdown would be more interesting for the PC list, for sure.
Those two I have notes for are trickier. Like, how do you categorize Super Swing Golf, a Japanese console port of a Korean PC game? I think it makes the most sense to list something by original developer, not the one who ported it, so Super Swing Golf (PangYa/Albatross18) would be Korean, despite Tecmo making the Wii port... but the porting one should be noted somehow too... bah. 0.7 for the original maker and 0.3 for the porting company? :D Not to mention how some games have developers in multiple regions working on them (like art/CG teams in other countries working on the game while the main developers are elsewhere -- it has happened.), and I probably have some of those and didn't note it, but I'm not even going to get into that...
