I was tinkin' aboot somtin'. I think I know what game I personally would want Capcom to do as the next GBA Zelda game. I would love to see a new Zelda game done in the style of Adventure of Link. Something side scrolly with that Zelda twist and all that exploring would be great fun, and of course nothing, and I mean NOTHING compaires to the fun of finding out a wall is false and walking through it to find some hidden room! Castlevania did this too, and oh how sweet those areas are. They could expand on the finding of spells and new techniques, so you don't just learn an upward and downward thrust. The one thing they might change is instead of levelling up, have "tests of valor" hidden all over that you can take and on completion pick one of the three stats to increment. They could pack in Zelda 2 with the game (I think a good thing to do with old games from now on would be, instead of releasing them on their own, just put them in with brand new games of the same franchise).
Here's the part about multiplayer in Metroid Prime 2:
Quote:Metroid Prime has been one of the biggest hits for the GameCube so far. What can we expect from the second Metroid game?
What we did with Metroid Prime was gather individual developers and programmers from different areas and put them together into Retro Studios. This was their first project with all of these members working together, and while we were making Metroid Prime we didn't really know what the strengths and the weaknesses of the Retro team might be.
So Metroid Prime, as a first project, we thought went very well and based on that experience of their first project together we've learned where their real strengths lie and so... well I can't really say a whole lot about what's going to be in Metroid Prime 2, but because they have this experience behind them and they're going to be able to take advantage of their new-found strengths - I think you're going to find the game's going to be a lot cooler.
And the team of course after seeing everybody's reviews of Metroid Prime and winning multiple awards, they've really been excited by all that and they've got a lot of passion about it and they're excited to be working on the next one. But I do think that a multiplayer function that we were unable to include in the original is probably definitely within reach. [laughs] I don't know about any networking though!
I'm still trying to square off Mario Sunshine, and I need to beat the Hotel Delfino on that beach...the one where you bring the fruit up to the dude in the room. I got the fruit to him, and tried to give it to him, but he wouldn't take it...do I need to drop it off somewhere; how do I get it to him.
Quote: Our first port of call this morning was Nokia's expansive N-Gage booth, where around 10 of the 20 or so games that will be available at the system's launch are on display. Since all the consoles themselves were attached to rigid stands, it was occasionally difficult to hold the unit comfortably, but we did our best to have a go on each and every game available and can report that, if nothing else, they certainly look impressive.
The full list of games that we actually got to play on the N-Gage booth is as follows:
Major League Baseball
MotoGP
Pandemonium
Red Faction
Super Monkey Ball
Super Space Invaders
Tomb Raider
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Virtua Tennis
The title screen for a game called Virtually Board Snowboarding 2 was also apparent on a number of the consoles, but the game itself didn't appear to playable anywhere in the booth. Other games conspicuous by their absence, as far as we could tell, included Sonic the Hedgehog and all four of the games recently announced by Gameloft--Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rayman 3, and Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer.
All the games we played had one thing in common: the fact that upon first seeing them, it's difficult not to be impressed. Just seeing games like Tomb Raider, Super Monkey Ball, and Pandemonium running on such a small screen is pretty amazing, and even though the resolution of the screen is lower than that of a TV, the appearance of all the games is only slightly inferior to that of most PlayStation games. The other thing that almost all the games on the N-Gage have in common, unfortunately, is that they were designed to be played on a 4:3 screen, and this, we think, is the upcoming platform's biggest failing.
Pandemonium, for example, requires you to run from left to right, jumping between platforms, for the most part. Fans of the PlayStation original we were pretty excited when the game was announced for the N-Gage, but when half of the screen is effectively missing and you're not able to see any distance in front of your character, the game becomes a slow-paced exercise in frustration as you edge your way through the levels, trying to not get caught by hazards that you have very little time to prepare yourself for. After enduring similar screen-format-related issues with the likes of Red Faction, Tomb Raider, and MotoGP, we decided that Super Space Invaders would be a pretty safe bet. We thought wrong. Despite the fact that the one thing the N-Gage really doesn't have is a shortage of is buttons, the platform's version of this arcade classic discards all the buttons to the right of the screen in favor of having you push up on the directional pad to shoot. Aside from the fact that this means you can't shoot and move at the same time, the mechanic just feels all wrong, and the fact that somewhere along the line a decision was made that allowed this to happen is frankly nothing short of scary.
It wasn't all doom and gloom at the N-Gage booth, of course. Rays of hope for the platform came in the form of Major League Baseball, Virtua Tennis, and Super Monkey Ball--all of which were about as much fun as N-Gage games are likely to get. In conclusion, companies working on games for N-Gage really should think long and hard about which games they'll release on the platform. The fact that Tomb Raider can be ported across to the handheld doesn't necessarily mean that it should be, and just because the N-Gage has around 16 buttons that developers can use to handle more complex controls from PlayStation games and the like, they shouldn't necessarily be allowed to do so.
Given that for the recently announced price tag of an N-Gage you could get your hands on a decent cell phone and a Game Boy Advance SP, the only features that Nokia's new baby really seems to have going for it are its Bluetooth multiplayer capabilities. But if you don't like playing the games solo, why should you want to share the experience with friends? We're not out to kill the N-Gage before it's even had a chance to arrive in stores, but the simple fact is that, like any gaming platform, its success will depend largely on the quality of the software available for it. At the moment, Nintendo's GBA SP and even conventional cell phones with their own minigames have nothing to worry about.
Quote:AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Democratic lawmakers returned triumphantly from their self-imposed exile Friday, telling enthusiastic supporters at a rally outside the state Capitol that they had killed -- for now anyway -- a Republican redistricting plan that would likely have thinned their ranks in Congress.
"Government is by the people, for the people, and we had to go to Oklahoma to say that government is not for Tom DeLay," said state Rep. Jim Dunnam, chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the Texas House of Representatives.
A group of 51 Democrats from the Texas House fled last weekend to Ardmore, Oklahoma, a move that deprived the Texas House of a quorum and brought legislative action to a standstill. Democrats said they took that step to prevent passage of what they described as an unfair redistricting plan pushed by Delay, the powerful majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and a fellow Texan.
The redistricting plan, which Democrats say would have cost them five congressional seats, died in the House when it could not be voted on by midnight Thursday. Republicans, however, have said they may bring the plan up again in a special session this summer.
The flight across state lines became the subject of late-night lampoons and biting commentary. By holing up in a hotel in Oklahoma, the Democrats were out of the reach of Texas law enforcement authorities, who were told to round up the rebellious lawmakers and bring them back to the Capitol.
Texas Democrats wait aboard a bus in Ardmore, Oklahoma, before heading home.
In addition to infuriating Republicans, the Democrats' absence shut down all business on the House floor, stalling up to 500 bills and costing the state of Texas some $700 million, according to House Speaker Tom Craddick, a Republican.
The Democrats, however, savored their victory Friday, even if the broader legislative battle over redistricting is far from over.
"No matter what happens, democracy won in this event," Dunnam said.
The crowd cheered and waved signs reading, "51 Heroes," "Welcome home, Hero Demos" and "We're Proud of You."
While state legislatures typically redraw district lines every 10 years after each census, Republicans in Texas moved ahead with a plan this year.
In Washington, DeLay defended the move, saying, "Texans deserve representation that reflects their values and beliefs." He noted that all statewide officeholders and a majority of the Legislature are Republicans.
Several black Democrats refused to join the walkout because the redistricting plan would have created a majority African-American congressional district.
Quote:LOS ANGELES, May 15, 2003 – Nintendo today announces a new worldwide retail offer combining its Nintendo GameCube™ home console with the new Game Boy® Player. The combination allows players to enjoy more than 1,200 Game Boy games on the home TV screen, along with the full library of more than 300 Nintendo GameCube titles.
For a limited time, Nintendo will include Game Boy Player for the regular price of the Nintendo GameCube system. This offer will be available at retail on June 23 for an MSRP of $149.99 in the United States, and on June 20 for €199.99 in Europe.
"This offer builds on the incredible momentum generated by our Game Boy® Advance line, which has already sold 35 million systems worldwide," says Peter MacDougall, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America. "Once we saw the enthusiastic reception given to the debut of Game Boy Player here on the show floor at the E3 trade show, it was an easy decision to move ahead with our plans to combine these two products."
The Game Boy Player is a platform less than an inch thick, which acts as a base for the Nintendo GameCube. By simply inserting Game Boy cartridges into a slot in the Game Boy Player, consumers can use their Nintendo GameCube controller to direct action on the TV screen.
In North America, Nintendo is riding a wave of momentum generated by three dominating product launches this spring. Game Boy Advance is the hottest selling system in the market; The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker™ tops the console hit charts; and the combined Pokemon® Ruby and Pokemon® Sapphire are the top two selling titles in the portable game category.
Wow, a nice move by Nintendo. This effectively opens up the GC and GBA libraries to buyers when they buy a GC, at no extra cost. This could really tip the scales for deciding gamers.
Quote:Today I went to the Gamespy booth to conduct a small and simple interview with GameSpy's President, Jon Epstein. After exchanging business cards, the questions began.
The word "tunneling" was introduced to many gamers with the software that Gamespy released for Halo and many of other Xbox games that didn't utilize Xbox Live but did use LAN.
Tunneling IS NOT being used for any of Nintendo's upcoming LAN utilized games. The information which came to me as a huge shock, is actually better than it sounds. According to Gamespy, Nintendo came to them about a year ago for LAN software. Nintendo did not want to use "tunneling, because it would require gamers excessive hardware such as hooking up multiple cables, computers, hubs, and what not.
Instead, Mr. Epstein, went on to reveal that Nintendo will be using Gamespy developed "in-game" software. Much is not known about this except the fact that all gamers have to do is hook an internet cord from the Gamecube to their broadband modem and that's it. You are online as soon as you plug in the ethernet cord and choose the LAN option.
I repeat: "tunneling" will not be used and extra hubs, computers, and extra ethernet cords will not be needed as Nintendo wanted to keep it simple. It is simple in-game software that will be used in upcoming Nintendo LAN games.
