Tommorow's August, that means it's time for a new flavour for the flavour of the month forum
How about a topic I understand so I can actually pretend to be the all powerful mod who doesn't do anything?

Time to vote, people! Which avatar do you think ABF should choose?

Regular #1:






Or



Super Cool # 2!!:

It's ultimately ABF's decision, but the rest of us are going to have to look at it all of the time so let him hear your opinions!

After watching <a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=59376">Link's Quest for Ass</a> today, I saw how poorly the Mario sprite was edited to look naked. I thought I could do a better job myself and so I gave it a shot. It turned out pretty good, so I just decided to put a beer in his hand and throw him in a stupid short little comic. I do caution the faint of heart to turn away. It may spoil the magic for some of you to see Mario's grotesque naked body. (Actually, it's not THAT bad. I just felt like hyping up my comic a bit).

THis isn't a joke, my recyclebin actually says that

N-t

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/430/43093...?fromint=1

Quote:PSP Specs Revealed
Processing speed, polygon rate and lots more.

July 29, 2003 - At a press briefing held in Japan today, Sony Computer Entertainment at last revealed detailed specs for its PSP (PlayStation Portable) portable system. Although first unveiled at E3, Sony left showgoers in the dark about what form the system would actually take. Today's announcement covers most bases, from planned CPU speed and memory space all the way to networking ability.
As its CPU, PSP will make use of twin MIPS R4000 32 bit processors running at max 333 Megahertz. One of these units is referred to as the Media Engine, and is to be used for sound, movies and I/O management. In addition, the system will include a so-called VFPU floating point vector unit with calculation capability of up to 2.6 Gigaflops. This latter unit is meant for assisting the CPU in 3D calculations.

Memory for the system is divided into two areas. In all, the system is expected to feature 8 Megabytes main memory with bandwidth of 2.6 Gigabytes per second along with two megabytes of sub-memory, also at 2.6 Gigabytes per second, which will be used by the Media Engine.

Outside of the CPU and main memory, the system will of course include a graphics processing unit (GPU). The GPU is made up of a Rendering Engine and a Surface Engine and has access to 2 Megabytes of VRAM with a bandwidth of 5.3 Gigabytes per second. The hardware will include support for traditional polygons as well as curved surface primitives along with such things as clipping, morphing and more, freeing up software from having to deal with these. Sony claims a theoretical polygon performance of 33 million polygons per second.

The system's UMD (Universal Media Disc) optical disk format has also been clarified a bit. A UMD is a 60 millimeter dual layered disk that can store up to 1.8 Gigabytes of data. Transfer rate for the reader unit is 11 Megabits per second, which is twice the transfer rate of a standard DVD system. Sony is also promising the highest level of copy protection for these discs using DiscID and AES encoding technology.

Multimedia support is big for the system. Sony announced MPEG4 support at E3, and now they've gotten a bit clearer, revealing that the PSP will use the AVC decoder, which has a high encoding rate. This will allow the UMD to store up to two hours of DVD quality video. Sound is also taking a high place on the system's feature list. The PSP will feature reconfigurable DSPs which can be rewritten allowing for support for the latest sound technology. Sony announced today compatibility with the ATRAC3 plus format along with AAC and mp3. In addition, the system will support playback of 3D and 7.1 channel sound.

On top of all this is Wireless Lan. The system will include as standard IEEE802.11 wireless LAN. Sony had originally intended to make this an option, but game creators were pretty adamant about its inclusion. Sony revealed no further details about the system's networking features, unfortunately.

The PSP will, of course, play games as well. Sony will be tapping into its PlayStation heritage and including the familiar triangle, circle, X, square, start, select, L1 and R1 buttons on the system. These will be digital. In addition, the system will include a single analogue thumb pad.

For a list of specs on the system, see just below this article.

If you find yourself salivating at these specs, you're not alone. Unfortunately, Sony shared nothing but words today. A prototype of the PSP will debut at E3 of next year (May of 2004) with 2004's Tokyo Game Show (September of that year) expected to bring with it the unveiling of the system's game lineup.

A worldwide simultaneous launch for the unit is expected for the fourth quarter of 2004.


[PSP SPECS]

UMD(Universal Media Disc)
60mm
Laser Diode:660nm
Dual Layer :1.8GB
Transfer Rate:11Mbps
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID

PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) @ 2.6GFlops
3D-CG Extended Instructions

PSP Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Sub Memory:2MB(eDRAM) @ 2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core 1
3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)
ex 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division

PSP Graphics Core 2
'Rendering Engine' + 'Surface Engine'
256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz @ 1.2V
VRAM :2MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec
Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec
max 33 M polygon /sec(T&L)
24bit Full Color:RGBA

PSP Sound Core: VME
Reconfigurable DSPs
128bit Bus
166MHz @1.2V
5 Giga Operations /sec
CODEC
3D Sound, Multi-Channel
Synthesizer, Effecter, etc

AVC Decoder
AVC(H.264) Decoder
Main Profile
Baseline Profile
@Level1,Level2,Level3
2Hours(High Quality) - DVD movie
4Hours(Standard Quality) - CS Digital

I/O
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
Extension Port(reserved)
Stereo Head phone Out

Communication
Wireless LAN (i802.11)
IrDA
USB 2.0

As OB1 suggested I make ... er, six months ago? :D

Here are some (read: a whole lot) of my favorites... trying to group all games by the same companies together. :)

Oookay... new definition.

This is a list of all the games that we, the members of TC, proclaim to either be great, or great in our nostalgic memories. Either one is fine... :D-


Blizzard
1. Starcraft (and Brood Wars)
2. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (and The Frozen Throne)
3. Warcraft II: Battle.Net Edition

Microprose
1. Civilization II (and Conflicts in Civilization&Forgotten Worlds or the Gold Multiplayer Ed. and Forgotten Worlds for music)
2. Alpha Centauri (and its expansion)
3. Sid Meier's Gettysburg (and/or Antietam, Waterloo, Austerlitz)

Activision
1. Netstorm: Islands at War
3. Zork: The Grand Inquisitor
2. Medieval: Total War (by The Creative Assembly)
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Microsoft
1. Age of Empires
- Age of Empires 2

LucasArts
2. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (and Mysteries of the Sith)
1. TIE Fighter (CD-Rom Edition or '95)
9. X-Wing (CD-Rom Edition or '95)
4. X-Wing Alliance
3. Grim Fandango
10. Rogue Squadron
5. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
6. The Curse of Monkey Island
8. The Secret of Monkey Island
7. Sam & Max: Freelance Police
- Full Throttle
- The Dig
- Dark Forces
- Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
- Star Wars Galaxies
- Star Wars Rebellion
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Sierra
3. Space Quest V: The Next Mutation
1. Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero
4. Half-Life
2. Lords of the Realm II (and Siege Pack)
5. Caesar II
- Caesar III
- Space Quest IV - Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
- Space Quest VI - The Spinal Frontier
- King's Quest IV - The Perils of Rosella
- King's Quest VI - Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
- The Castle of Dr. Brain

Maxis
3. SimCity
2. SimCity 2000
1. Klik & Play
4. SimTower

Gametek
1. Micro Machines 2: Twin Turbo (by Codemasters)

UbiSoft
1. POD
4. Rayman
2. Rayman 2: The Great Escape
3. Conquest: Frontier Wars

Psygnosis
3. Wipeout XL
4. Rollcage
1. Rollcage Stage II
2. Lemmings

FunCom
1. The Longest Journey

Acclaim
1. Extreme-G 2

Accolade
1. Hardball III Collection

Strategy First
2. Disciples
1. Disciples II: The Dark Prophecy

Interplay
7. Giants: Citizen Kabuto
1. Planescape: Torment
2. Baldur's Gate (and Tales of the Sword Coast) (by Bioware)
3. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (and Throne of Bhaal) (by Bioware)
5. Fallout
4. Fallout II
9. The Lost Vikings (by Blizzard)
6. Descent
8. Conquest of the New World Deluxe
- The Last Express
- Normality
- Sanitarium
- MDK2 (by Bioware)
- Whiplash
- Out of This World
- Blackthorne (by Blizzard)

Epic Megagames/Epic Games
- Traffic Department 2192
- One Must Fall 2097
- Jazz Jackrabbit
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2
- Unreal Tournament
- Jill of the Jungle
- Xargon

Apogee/3DRealms
- Wacky Wheels
- Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Mountain King)
- Duke Nukem 2
- Duke Nukem 3D (and Plutonium Pack)
- Max Payne (Remedy)
- Death Rally (Remedy)
- Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
- Kingdom of Kroz
- Blake Stone - Aliens of Gold

ID Software/id Software
1. Commander Keen (all seven games)
4. Wolfenstein 3D
2. Doom (and expansions)
3. Quake (and expansions)
- Quake III: Arena (and Team Arena)

Sir-Tech
1. Wizardry 8
2. Jagged Alliance 2 (and expansion)

Looking Glass
3. Thief
1. Thief 2
4. System Shock
2. System Shock 2

CDV
1. Cossacks - European Wars (and both expansions)

EA
1. Shogun: Total War (by The Creative Assembly)
2. Moto Racer 2
- Battlefield 1942
- Relentless: Little Big Adventure
- Twinsen's Odyssey: Little Big Adventure 2
- Privateer (by Origin)
- Freelancer
- Dune 2 (by Westwood)

3DO
1. Heroes of Might and Magic II (and The Price of Loyalty) (by New World Computing)
2. High Heat Baseball 2004

Acornsoft
- Elite

Bungie
- Oni

SCi
- Kingdom o' Magic

Virgin Interactive
- Screamer 2
- Cannon Fodder

Llamasoft
1. Llamatron

U.S Gold
-Flashback

Monolith
- Claw

GT Interactive
- Driver

Fox Interactive (or should it be Sierra, since they published it?)
- Aliens Vs Predator 2

I don't own all of these games (I don't have Doom, Quake, any of the Looking Glass or Sir-Tech games, Fallout II, Half-Life, BG2: ToB, Wipeout XL, Rollcage, Sam and Max, or Alpha Centauri) but I know they are good enough to be in this list.

And most of the non-numbered games, of course.

So... what am I missing... :)

Well, it's been long enough! Time for the new TC awards, the meaningless popularity contest over trivial issues that EVERYONE loves!

Hmm... I forgot almost all the categories EM has added to it, so I'll make them up as I go along.

Best Name:
Best Signature:
Best Location Line:
Best Avatar:
Favorite Member:
Favorite Forum:
Favorite Thread:
Favorite Board Style:
Favorite Smily:
Favorite Weltall:
Least Favorite Smily:
Least Favorite Board Style:
Least Favorite Thread:
Least Favorite Forum:
Worst Avatar:
Worst Name:
Worst Signature:
Worst Location Line:
Most Cheeselike Member:
Member Most Likely To Evolve Chitineous Plating:
Most Well-Groomed Member:
Least Magical Member:
Where's Waldo?:
What's New Member ENTROPICDECAY's password? I bet I know..., and you can too, ask me how!:
Favorite Cake:
Most Communist Snack:
Most Likely Cause of the Sinking of Atlantis:

And one I could actually remember (Yes, this too is a voting catagory, it's got a frickin' colon, you see?):

Member you'd gladly pay to see burned alive for 5 minutes:

And yes, I WILL have my new signature surgically removed by the end of tomorrow. I'm aware it's just plain huge, but it's funny! I'll be going to see Dr. Poop tomorrow, and yes, I realize his name can be found amusing by immature people! One note, I miss how the old message board system wouldn't change all past sigs to match the updated one, so you could go back in time to see old signatures preserved for all history.

Anyone gonna get it? If it's enough of an improvement over the N64 version (which I really loved) then I'll pay the full $50 for it, but if not then I'll wait until I can get it for a better price. Reviews should start popping up today.

Here are some interesting bits from theGamespy interview:

Quote:GameSpy: Speaking of collaborations, was Eternal Darkness in the works before Nintendo came along?

Denis: No. It was in collaboration with Nintendo from the beginning, with them in mind at all times.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GameSpy: What about Eternal Darkness would you say was Japanese? What did Nintendo and Miyamoto bring to the table?

Denis: The gameplay was Nintendo all over the place. We learned so much during that development cycle. It's amazing, getting the opportunity to work with guys at Nintendo who've worked on games for twenty years.

Specifically, the color coordination with the gameplay elements was their idea. We managed to evolve it and combine elements of the gameplay with the story. Also, the boss fights felt, to me anyway, very Nintendo.

GameSpy: Was there anything that you wanted to add in that Nintendo didn't let you?

Denis: Nothing, but you're thinking about it the wrong way again (smiles). There are certain things that we don't like to touch. We like to keep everything very tasteful. Certainly, there were some pretty graphic scenes in there, but ... it's all history. And historical facts are really chilling when you think about them. Working them into a story is really fun. You don't even have to be that creative because history is creative enough on its own. Doing things like the Inquisition, that was really fun! You have to hold back, you don't want to show everything that they actually did.

GameSpy: What was it like working with Miyamoto?

Denis: Working with Miyamoto is like working with Aristotle ... like working with one of the great masters. I said this at a press conference: "Gameplay is his ocean, and he navigates it like no one else." He has a talent, an insight, a vision, and a conceptual understanding of gameplay like no one I've ever met.

He will sit there and play the game for a long time, and he refuses to make any comments until he plays it himself. And, when he finally comments, he will say something that is so deep that it literally takes weeks to understand totally what he means. Then we have to go back and ask, is this what you meant? And he'll say, "Yes, now you understand."

It makes me feel like Grasshopper from Kung Fu.

GameSpy: What's one of the deep comments he's made?

Denis: At one point, he said to us, "This is looking very good, and we're really happy with it. But it would be really great if you could do something that would make the characters feel alive."

I thought about it for several weeks, and so we created the Reactive Animation System (RAS) where the characters' eyes would follow things, snapping and moving around. So, regardless of whether you were moving the controller or not, the characters would be moving around a little bit; they would seem more real. That's a significant enhancement to the gameplay -- to the feel -- that would never have happened if Miyamoto were not involved.

Don't think about it as Miyamoto just throwing comments at us every four months or so. It's doesn't happen like that; it's all-the-time communication. We have video conferences, and every so often we will fly to Japan, groups of us. And they will come to Toronto. Satoru Iwata (Nintendo's current president) was the first person from NCL to visit SK. He's a great, great person who's doing a fantastic job as president.

Yamauchi (former NCL president) could be very controversial at times, but he has an incredible talent for making decisions that I feel are strokes of genius. When he appointed Iwata as his successor, we were all amazed, but it was a great call. Look at his aggressive approach: the GBA-SP, for example. He said it best at the press conference, "We know what happened, we know what the issues are -- we're moving forward."

And what did the other groups do? Microsoft cancelled its party. Sony talked up a handheld that it didn't show. But we're focusing on games, and partnerships. The plan that Iwata has is very strong.