Well, the XBox is getting ready to phase out and bring in a new gen system, and of course Rare is there to keep the owners happy until they get the new hardware.
Conker's BFD is about a month or two away from release and it is without a doubt a beautiful remake of the N64 version with a much more detailed multiplayer setup, which is now online as well through the Live service.
The single player game is word for word, shot for shot from the N64 version, and for the first time I am intrigued about the XBox. Taking in to account that Perfect Dark Zero will never see the light of day on XBox; Conker's BFD is probably the only game worth buying on the console. Unless Rare releases a similar remake of Banjo~Kazooie... which I seriously doubt.
I know I love BFD, but the questions is: Do I buy a 'last gen' system for one awesome game? the XBox2 will be backwards compatible, so it would make more sense to buy a 'current gen' console. But what if the XBox2 delivers the same games as the XBox did? To me, the track record is obvious - Hundreds of games that are definitely not worth buying and even questionable as a rental... but the promise of the XBox2 or X-360, whatever you want to call it, is of course Perfect Dark Zero.
Those of you who know me, know how much I love PD. I'm a Perfect 1 and I can still take down a group of Darksims without dying :D
If PDZ is as good as PD... I might have to get an XBox2.
But then again, it could be one game out of hundreds that I would buy.
So what's your opinion? Should you shell out $350+ to get a next gen system for one good game? Be it Conker's BFD or PDZ, which I can only hope will be as good as the original...
Quote:Claim: Thief who tries to rob a gun shop is shot dead by those in the store.
Status: True.
Origins: Often, the various "dumb criminals" stories that come our way prove to be little more than fiction. This tale is an exception, in that it is relatively accurate, although some details of the event have been altered by whoever penned the "Darwin Awards" account chronicling it.
On 3 February 1990, David Zaback attempted to hold up H&J Leather & Firearms Ltd., a gun shop located in Renton Highlands near Seattle, Washington. About 4:40 p.m. that day, he entered the crowded shop and announced his intention to rob it by telling everyone to put their hands on the counter and saying if anybody moved, he'd kill them. He then spotted a uniformed policeman having coffee with Wendall Woodall, the shop's owner. What happened next is less than clear in terms of who shot first, but there was an exchange of gunfire between David Zaback, the would-be robber; Timothy Lally, an 18-year veteran of the King County police force; and Danny Morris, one of the shop's clerks.
Zaback, who had fired three times, was shot three times in the chest and once in the arm. He died in the hospital about four hours after the shooting. No one else was injured during the incident, and no charges were subsequently laid against Lally or Morris.
The e-mailed narrative holds up as a news item for the most part, but some of its elements have been altered to make for better storytelling.
Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a hold-up, and fired a few wild shots from a .22 target pistol. The officer and a clerk promptly returned fire, the police officer with a 9mm Glock 17, the clerk with a .50 Desert Eagle, assisted by several customers who also drew their guns, several of whom also fired.
Although the Darwinized account presents the encounter in the humorous light of a hapless robber waving a pop gun being felled in a hail of bullets by a mass of heavily-armed gun shop patrons, that wasn't precisely the way of it. Zaback's weapon was a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol, not the .22 target pistol of the e-mailed account. The clerk, Morris, fired a 10mm semiautomatic pistol, not a .50 Desert Eagle, and the policeman, Lally, fired a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. As for the participation of others, according to Renton police Capt. Don Persson, although several other customers had guns and pulled them, they did not shoot — the only ones involved in the exchange of lead were Zaback, Lally, and Morris.
The robber was pronounced dead at the scene by Paramedics. Crime scene investigators located 47 expended cartridge cases in the shop. The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. Ballistics identified rounds from 7 different weapons.
It's unclear how many shots were fired, in part because some of the suspect's shots struck ammunition on a counter, causing the ammunition to explode. "There were slugs all over that place," Persson said. As for Zaback, he died with four wounds in him, one in the arm and three in the chest, not the 23 wounds claimed in the colorized account.
Yet one item of the Darwinized version one would otherwise suspect to have been the product of overwriting does indeed hold up: Renton police Capt. Don Persson said, "The surprising thing is that the man had to walk right past a marked police car to get in the front door."
edit: I don't mean that personally to any Red Sox fans who may or may not frequent this site (ABF), just that I (and apparently others) am getting sick of hearing about the Sox from every form of media known to mankind.
Quote:ATLANTA, Ga., (April 11, 2005) – The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) today announced an exclusive licensing relationship with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to develop, publish and distribute interactive college football games. The six-year agreement gives EA the exclusive rights to the teams, stadiums and schools for use in its best-selling college football videogames. The agreement is for all videogame consoles including console online features and handheld devices. The first title under the new contract, NCAA Football 2006, is scheduled for release this summer. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"When we began our analysis of the videogame landscape, it became apparent that EA SPORTS was best positioned from a marketing and development perspective to maximize the sales opportunities for college football," said Pat Battle, CEO of The Collegiate Licensing Company.
"Electronic Arts has been a tremendous partner, and we are thrilled that the EA SPORTS team has renewed its commitment to the college market. We look forward to seeing how EA will continue to grow its NCAA Football franchise through innovative game play, unique marketing programs and its dedicated sales force."
“EA SPORTS is currently our top non-apparel licensee,” said Mike Low, Director of Licensing at the University of Notre Dame. “Fans love the effort they put into making the stadium, the traditions, mascots and the whole game environment so realistic.”
“Our NCAA football franchise is a key element in our EA SPORTS brand lineup and we are pleased to have secured the NCAA license,” said Jeff Karp, Group Vice President of Marketing for Electronic Arts. “There is an unrivaled loyalty our fans have for the game, and this agreement with CLC allows EA to continue to deliver to fans the best, most innovative college football experience now and for years to come.”
EA’s NCAA Football 2005 was the only college football title released in 2004. Its NCAA Football franchise, published under the EA SPORTS™ brand, has sold more than a million units in each of its three most recent iterations and was the #7 console title in terms of retail revenue in North America in 2004. NCAA Football 2005, currently is available for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox® videogame system from Microsoft, and Nintendo GameCube™. The game was developed by EA Tiburon based in Orlando, FL and rated “E” (Everyone) by the ESRB.
Quote: Konami revealed its new position as majority stockholder of Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. today on its Japanese website.
After dismal fiscal year for Hudson, the software company turned to its primary stockholder, Konami, to improve its fiscal situation. Hoping to "strengthen Hudson's net worth," Konami agreed to purchase 3 million new shares to raise its ownership of Hudson from forty-five percent to fifty-four percent.
Hudson is now a consolidated subsidiary of Konami, and the parent company will oversee the developer's reorganization. Hudson currently provides Nintendo (which owns 1.23% of Hudson) with games and software development tools. Whether Konami's increased investment will influence Hudson's relations with Nintendo is unknown.
Keep in mind I'm coming up with the questions as I type this. The difficulty will vary wildy from question to question. Expect some really hard ones and also some pathetically easy ones. Good luck! Oh yes, this whole thing is riddled with spoilers. You may not want to read further if you have not yet completed the game. I have a list of the answers right here on my computer. If you have a different answer than what I'm looking for, but you can show it does accuratly answer the question in the way I worded it, and it is correct in that context, you will still win. If your answer is wrong compaired to my answer list, but you can prove me wrong, you win and, in fact, will get bonus points for the correction. This correction will be listed here. Oh, I might just ask some trick questions :D. Oh yeah, feel free to look stuff up whenever you want.
Send the answers via PM to me. I will send my initial score to you via PM, giving you a chance to contest my score before I post it up here for all to mock/revere.
Finally, is that gum? OB1, is that gum?
1. What is Shadow's real name?
2. What item changes all spell's MP consumption to 1?
3. What two monsters can you get the above item from? What other place can you get it from?
4. In Vector, there is an enemy that can't be beaten, at all. What is this enemy?
5. Bonus question, when does this enemy appear again?
6. How many dreams does Shadow have? Think about it.
7. There is another character that has a dream similar to Shadow's, relating to Shadow as well, but you must do something special in order to see it, something that removes a character from the game. Who sees this dream, and what do you need to do to let this character see this dream?
8. What is Terra's full name?
9. Some of the names of the characters were changed from the Japanese version. What are all the main playable character's original Japanese names?
10. The Atma Weapon is very powerful due to it's special attributes. What is so special about it? Keep in mind I'm wanting at least two special attributes of this thing.
11. What were the two Atma Weapon's names in the Japanese version?
12. What was this game called on the Super Nintendo in America?
13. A large number of Moogles appear to help Locke early on in the game. What are ALL of their names?
14. Mog's Dance ability allows him to learn dances based on the area type he is in. All of these basic area types are available in the world of ruin EXCEPT one. Which one is this, and how does one get this dance in the world of balance?
15. There is a glitch involving a stat that has no effect in the game whatsoever. What stat is this? Which status effect is meaningless because of this glitch?
16. Two soldiers accompany Terra at the start of the game. What are their names? Either the SNES or PS1 version's names are acceptable.
17. In the PS1 version of the game, there is a guide you can unlock that lists every single summoned monster in the game, as well as instructions on how to get each one. However, the instructions for one of them are incorrect. Which one is this, and in what way is it incorrect?
18. In this game, there is a glitch where when two spells are used in a special way, it can instantly kill almost every enemy in the game, including bosses. What special spell combo is this? I will accept both versions of this.
19. Why does the above glitch work? Just a basic explanation of what's happening will do.
20. True or False: General Leo is FRICKIN' AWESOME.
21. There is an enemy that you can go inside of during battle, revealing a full dungeon. What enemy is this? Where does this enemy appear? What is the main reward to be found in this dungeon?
22. How does the blue magic "Step Mine" work? How is damage determined? How is the MP cost determined?
23. When escaping the floating continent, enemies attack with a special move that locks you in place. What is this move called? How do you remedy this move's effect?
24. There is a special background decoration in the game which, when examined, ALWAYS has a secret (NOT treasure chests). What decoration is this? What item does it normally give?
25. In the cases where it doesn't give the above item, what special thing does this decoration do? I'm thinking of two special events in particular, but any two will do.
26. Gau can learn special uncontrollable attack patterns from a large number of enemies in the game. How many of these "rages" can he learn?
27. How many "memento rings" or in another version, "safety rings" can you obtain in the game without using the morph ability?
28. What is Gogo's secret identity?
29. There is a special peace banquet held by the Emporer at a point in the game. At this time, you are able to do many things to impress him, which nets you a number of special gifts. What are these special things you can do?
30. What is the name of Setzer's first airship, the one you use in the world of balance? This isn't mentioned in the American version.
31. What is the deal with Kefka? No seriously, what reason is given for Kefka having a few screws loose?
32. Who is "Mr. Thou"? Think about it! There may be more than one answer here, I want them all.
33. There is a huge secret the game reveals indirectly regarding Shadow and another playable character. What is this secret, and what is the evidence the game reveals to show this?
34. Espers, aside from teaching spells, often also have permanent stat bonuses applied at level up. Which one is the ONLY one that gives a "speed" stat bonus?
35. At a certain point, you are charged with saving Cid from starvation. You have to feed him fish. Which fish is the best to feed him? Which fish is the worst?
36. There are items starting from Narche and ending at South Figaro hidden in boxes and other background items. Unlike the rest of the hidden stuff all over the game in this manner, these can be different based on something special. What do you need to do to change the items found in those places?
37. Finally, how many rads to the nearest multon? Be specific, this is a real question.
