Quote:Torus Loves Voxels
The GBA developer builds a detail 3D engine for the handheld. First shots.
January 08, 2003 - Torus Games, the Australian team responsible for Game Boy Advance titles such as Duke Nukem Advance, Doom II and The Invincible Iron Man has revealed that it has created a voxel engine for the GBA. A "voxel" is a technique that allows developers to add height values to pixels in a flat 2D plane to simulate rolling hills, cliffs, and slopes.
The company is currently putting this engine to use in an original motocross racer for the GBA: Moto-X. The game features off-road, free-roaming dirtbiking over varying terrain for single and multiplayer challenges. Though the game currently has no publisher attached to it, Torus sent over the first screenshots of the game in action.
Voxel engines aren't entirely a new idea on the Game Boy Advance, as Destination Software's GBA conversion of Smuggler's Run features a similar technique. But Torus promises high performance out of its own technology, with a smooth framerate (currently 20 FPS), vertical texturing, static light-mapping, and link cable support.
We'll have more on Moto-X as the game continues in its development cycle.
Quote:PS2 Has Massive Holiday
Last year's buying season was quite kind to Sony.
January 08, 2003 - The PlayStation 2 enjoyed substantial success in the United States during the 2002 holiday season, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced in its annual press release touting the successes of the previous year. More than four million PS2s sold through at retail in November and December -- approximately one million in November and three million in December. Those sales represent a 42% growth over the same period in 2001.
Worldwide, approximately 8.5 million units of hardware were sold during the two months. 3.4 million units sold in Europe, a 27% increase over the previous year, and 940,000 units sold in Japan, a 27% decrease. The drop in Japanese sales, even over that country's lengthier shopping season (through the first week of January) indicates that the console is reaching the saturation point in its home country -- i.e., as many customers own PS2s as are likely to buy game consoles.
Sony remains on track to meet its planned worldwide shipping target of 22.5 million consoles in the fiscal year ending March 2003, and expects to turn a profit of 180 billion yen this fiscal year, a 10-fold increase over the previous year.
A total of 45 million units of PS2 software were sold from the beginning of the year through the end of November in the United States, increasing the system's software-to-hardware tie ratio (the average number of games owned by each console owner) to 7.7. More than 200,000 players reportedly made their way online using the PS2 Network Adaptor (some of them players of the more than 700,000 units of SOCOM: US Navy SEALs sold by the end of the year), and demand for the peripheral remained strong, with more than 400,000 units shipped to retail by the end of the year.
"We operate our business based on the fundamental belief that great games drive consumer purchase decisions. As Sony Computer Entertainment America evaluates our eighth holiday selling season in tangible measures, we affirm yet again the value of our approach to our partners," said Jack Tretton, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "In the new year we will raise the bar in interactive entertainment even higher as we delve into exciting new internal development and licensee opportunities to grow our platform businesses."
The original PlayStation, meanwhile, enjoyed brisk sales for an eight-year-old console, selling nearly one million units in November and December.
We of course offer our congratulations to Sony on the occasion of their Godzilla(or perhaps King Ghidora)-esque domination of the videogame business, and wish them further success in the future.
Damn, why is it that all of you guys get to play games and I have to wait another few months!
This still pretty damn pisses me off!!!!!
Like you've been playing Animal Crossing for a month now, and they are not even sure if it will ever release in europe!!!!
It probebly will but I have to wait for at least a few months.....
It's a sad world, full of wars, pestelence and release-delays... :cuss:
1. Never look for the simplest, most obvious cause of something. Refrain from mentioning Occam's Razor (it's your nemesis).
2. Always favor the conspiracy angle over the boring angle. Mundane explanations (like saying that Roswell was a balloon) are for dullards and government drones. If you want to sleep with that curvaceous new-age chick, don't tell her you think astrology is bogus!
3. Don't accept mainstream science unless it's something you've believed in for years (like gravity).
4. Try to answer as few direct questions as possible. Always obfuscate and try to sound learned. Mimic Richard Hoagland's style and you'll go far.
5. Use "what if" scenarios to change the subject whenever possible. If you linger on one topic too long you may be asked to provide annoying things like "proof." Don't let that happen! Consult a creationist if you need practice with subject-changing.
6. If you're cornered and asked for proof of something, always tell the person that they "can't disprove" your claims. Many of them will just walk away shaking their heads, which of course means they agree with you. A side-to-side head shake could be the same as a vertical nod. Anything is possible, after all.
7. Memorize all the sci-babble terms used in the Star Trek series. They are very useful if you get cornered by a skeptic, and you need to come up with some sort of "scientific" explanation. e.g., Inertial Dampeners. (Thanks to SkepticReport.com for the Star Trek terminology correction!)
8. When all else fails, start asking hypothetical questions that have nothing to do with the actual debate. If your opponent chooses to ignore your pointless questions and remains on topic, repeat your meaningless question(s) over and over. This will make any Believers in the audience think that your opponent is evading the issue.
9. Accuse your opponent of being a liar, or try some other tactic that will (hopefully) make him angry. If he responds in kind to your endless taunts, change the subject to his anger, and accuse him of name calling. If he accuses you of provoking him, then you have changed the subject of the debate. If he stays on topic, keep the heat up. The Believers in the audience will forgive the worst verbal attacks you use, but they will think even the mildest replies he makes to you are personal attacks that undermine his argument.
10. Use the word quantum in a sentence, despite not knowing what it means. For a more impressive effect, use it with the name of your favorite superstition - "quantum dowsing" sure sounds mighty serious.
11. Two more words: Paradigm shift.
12. Always claim that the other guy is "closed-minded" and that you're as free-thinking as a newborn baby. Other woo-woos love the concept of "open-mindedness" and will take you into their inner circle without question. They have no tolerance for those "mean old nasty" types who demand evidence for everything.
13. Drink heavily while posting.
14. You must believe that the word "anomaly" means proof of paranormal activity.
15. Use the word "anomaly" as often as possible.
16. When your position appears hopeless, your entire audience is laughing at you, and you've lost all credibility (and perhaps even won a Kook of the Month) threaten everyone within proximity with a lawsuit. You don't need to actually prepare a lawsuit, just make the threat. That will let them know you're a serious person.
17. Go make your own newsgroup with a group charter
drawn up to keep out anyone who doesn't agree with your view of the world. Occasionally crosspost to other newsgroups from that one, then complain when people answer your posts, complain to their system admistrators that they're abusing the terms of your newsgroup and demand their accounts be yanked for abusive spamming. Respond to each answering message with a duplicate copy of the FAQ for your newsgroup.
18. Open numerous accounts under other names, then post agreeable responses to your own messages from those accounts. Everybody knows that the only reason anybody disagrees with you is that they like the belong to "the group" and have no independent thought of their own. Just manufacture a group of people who agree with you, and the rest of the mindless zeebs will fall into line, tripping over each other to become one of your supporters.
19. Fix the 'reply to' line of any post you make, to direct responses to your email account - this will automatically mail you a copy of any response made to your posts on usenet. Send copies of these mails to the postmasters and sysadmins of anyone who posts a disagreeing answer to you. Refer to these people as 'internet terrorists' and demand their accounts be canceled immediately for sending you unwanted email spam.
20. Refer to anyone who doggedly uncovers your latest little scams, time after time as "stalkers." Write to their sysadmins and demand their accounts be removed for net abuse.
21. Remember to occasionally tell your opponents that you've handed all the information you've collected about them to the local police/Mounties/FBI who were extremely interested and grateful for the advance notice of where to find criminals like you. You don't actually have to collect any information, or send it to anybody, but this will keep your opponents edgy, and make them paranoid. Mention that the police/Mounties/FBI are closing in on them, and that their day of reckoning is just moments away.
22. Refer to anyone who does not immediately agree with you as being uneducated on the matter, lacking in important information, or just plain too stupid to understand your magnificent statements.
23. Pretend to write a book. Nothing says "I am beyond reproach" like having written a book. If asked for an ISBN number, just make something up. Nobody ever looks at those anyway.
24. Pretend to have a degree. Never let yourself be pinned down to what kind or where you got it. Just state repeatedly that you have one, and therefore are superior, and may not be questioned upon any subject by anyone.
25. Claim that there is no evidence that you are a fraud, kook, net-abuser, spammer, or liar. Refer to any actual proof of this as "spinning" or "disinformation." Post messages that the system administrators of every system your opponents post from are on the verge of killing their accounts for net-abuse, and that you're going to set things right, and get rid of all these cynical lying fact-spinners by sending one final massive complaint against them all.
26. When all else fails.... SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM.....
27. When questioned, be sure to exclaim "They laughed at Galileo, too!" or perhaps "They laughed at Columbus, until he proved the earth was round!"
28. Always bear in mind that The Conspiracy Against You can do almost anything. After all, they've kept those 300 MPG carburetors secret for years.
29. Keep trotting out the one "respectable" scientist who might possibly have said something that could be construed as perhaps giving a hint that it may theoretically support your position. Even better if said scientist has said it outright. Ignore all complaints that the work is 50 years out of date, the scientist has no experience in the field in question or that other experts in the same field think said scientist is a complete loony (and they can prove it, too).
30. Dig out one reference that supports your position. Complain when someone presents a reference that refutes yours. Say that this means they can't think for themselves and your reference proves it. Ignore all queries on why you hold this hypocritical position.
31. Whenever you read something on the Internet, re-post it as fact.
Never bother to do even basic research into the matter.
32. Be sure to repeatedly spam your petty political rants onto lots of unrelated, off-topic newsgroups. (Those folks reading rec.culture.needlepoint are just dying to read about how much you hate a certain politician!)
33. One word: "Hyperdimensional."
34. When debating, remember that the best technique to "proving" your hypothesis is to start with a supposition, and when you get to the third point, refer to the supposition as a "fact". This may cause just enough initial confusion to let you escape with a momentary triumph.
35. Sock Puppets are very useful. If you can't find a weak-minded soul who will blindly parrot you in support of your nonsense, create your own. Then you can refer to your "many" supporters.
36. Quote Einstein, and do so often. Quote things he said if possible, but Einstein has been dead for ages now and so it's permissible to bring him up to date. Change the odd word here and there to make it clear that Einstein would have supported
your argument if only he knew what you know. Act as if any arbitrary Einstein quote supports your position.
37. Any and all communications problems including satellite failures, bad phone
connections, mysterious messages when dialing known phone numbers, busy signals
when trying to enter the grassy knoll on AOL, and radios left on during calls
must be blamed on the 'Conspiracy' trying to 'silence the truth'.
38. Use lots of ALL CAPS letters. Use them randomly: "I was posting my URL in alt.paranormal/alt.astrology. Then I was stopped because A MAJORITY OF POSTERS, PSEUDO-SKEPTIC RAVING FANATICS SCREAMED ABOUT IT."
39. Beware the "goodtimes" virus.
40. When all else fails, try to redefine what "skeptical", "skeptic" and "skepticism" mean so that you become a 'real' skeptic who accepts your own nonsense at face value.
While this isn't as big news as Wizardry 9's resurrection (Sir-Tech Canada's other game that died with the company) would be to me, its still nice... Jagged Alliance is a pretty good turn-based strategy game series... so seeing its alive after its developer closed is great... now how about Wizardry 9? :)
Isn't it great to see serieses from dead developers still alive? Theif 3 from whatever Warren Spector's company is called now, Jagged Alliance (probably) from either Strategy First or someone else, rumors of a System Shock 3 from Irrational Games (they made System Shock 2, but the developer of the first game and series creators Looking Glass closed several years ago... Irractional recently made Freedom Force, btw.)... :)
Its not as good as still having Sir-Tech Canada or Looking Glass Studios still with us, but lacking that its as close as we will get. Nice... as long as it happens...
Apparently, Live is being subscribed to at a very high rate. My one theoretical possibility as to why this might not work is that the $50 kit allows a free year of subsription, but that can only be done once, after which that particular Box MUST use the standard subscription. In one year, how many subscriptions will still be active? If in fact people intend to remain subsribed, MS just prooved that gaming online can pay for itself. They also have already prooven just by these subsriptions that having online capabilities indirectly gets them money, since that seems to have pushed sales of the XBox ahead of the Cube. Nintendo REALLY need to focus on a decent online plan, even if it's just Sony's plan, which is at least something at the level of encouragement to other developers to make online games.
Here's one flaw I don't like about Live though. Once someone registers for Live, that account is permanent on that Box. That means that that Box will always use that account. Here's the reason I hate this. If someone wants to get rid of their XBox, like say giving it to a friend, they now have someone else's account on their system, and they can't sign up their own account. The only way around this is to send it in to MS so they can erase the old account data and make new data. Sure, at least there IS a way out, but man that's annoying. Oh well, I can see the security reasons, plus it's only bad in that rare instance.
In any case, my main point is that Nintendo really needs to reconsider their stance on Online Gaming. It's great for the consumers (and if Nintendo wants to keep their whole "we do it for the gamers" vibe, this isn't the way to go about it), and more importantly for them, it makes them money based on cube and game sales due to this feature.
They haven't revealed a thing about it, but I think we all know it's going to be a port. I think we also all know that unless they are reporting Super Mario Bros 1 (nah, that'll be Super Mario Advance 5 :D), this will be a port of Super Mario Bros 3 plus Mario Bros Classic. Super Mario Bros. 3 has always been my favorite 2D Mario game. Since it's a "favorite", I'm actually interested in the port. I got Yoshi's Island since I didn't already own it on SNES, though I may not have if I did. This however I feel compelled to get. I certainly hope they don't change the gameplay, and it remains just the same as ever before. Changing gameplay at the level that Super Mario Bros 2 was changed is just something I don't enjoy. Having said that, hiding huge secret worlds with all new levels is something I WOULD like to see added. One could choose not to find those secrets and play it normally (when I want full gameplay conversion, I mean I want you to be able to put on a blindfold and press all the buttons the same way on both games and when you take off the blindfold, you are in the EXACT same situation in both games), or find the extras. I suspect a "find the red coins" bonus will be added, since it's added to all games that don't already have it before, but as long as it's an optional quest that doesn't alter gameplay, like in SMB DX, then no prob bob. Since they will most likely reuse the All-Stars graphics and sound (no prob by me, that looked and sounded great, and there's not THAT much they could do to improove it, aside from removing "tiling", which I wouldn't like since the tiles helped me in various areas), I do hope they will add in the removed end game bonus from the NES version (they took it out of all-stars) where you beat it and can restart the game with an item menu filled with P-wings.
![[Image: motox_010803_2.jpg]](http://pocketmedia.ign.com/pocket/image/motox_010803_2.jpg)
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![[Image: motox_010803_4.jpg]](http://pocketmedia.ign.com/pocket/image/motox_010803_4.jpg)
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