Seriously, can't we just end the Cuba embargo already... it's beyond ridiculous. Yeah, they're an oppressive Communist regime, but it's not like we're not supporting far worse governments; there is no other nation the US treats anything remotely like what it does to Cuba. Maybe Castro will have to die before finally something can happen, but it should. Maybe it'll even help open up Cuba some, too.
Either that or we should be consistent and treat China just like we do Cuba. I can't see that getting anywhere.
This actually happened in early March, but I didn't notice... argh. :S
Interceptor made last year's decent but not amazing Rise of the Triad remake. 3DR has, of course, been in deep trouble and with almost no staff ever since they ran out of money near the end of Duke Nukem Forever's development, so I doubt that this cost much except for IP costs, but still... I know that it really happened some years back, but Apogee was a huge part of gaming for me for years. In the first half of the '90s, Apogee was, of course, my favorite shareware developer, and I played a lot of shareware games. You had to take sides of course, Apogee or Epic MegaGames... and I was very much on Apogee's side. Epic had some good games, but Apogee had more. Once Apogee became 3DR and moved over to FPSes I stopped caring as much since I don't love FPSes like I do platformers, but still, I kept following them even if I've barely gotten past the first couple of levels of any of their FPSes, honestly. Ididn't buy any for more than a few bucks, but now I have the Blake Stone games, Rise of the Triad, Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior, and DNF... all of Apogee/3DR's internally developed FPSes.
But even so, I definitely like the company a lot because of their shareware games from the late '80s to mid '90s. So yeah, them getting bought up by some random team who has made some ports of 3DR FPSes and that one okay but not great original title... well, we'll see. I know that right now Gearbox and Interceptor are suing eachother over who owns the rights to Duke Nukem. Who knows how that will turn out. Either way, it can't get much WORSE than it is now, for sure, given how 3DR is essentially dead. However, last year's other 3DR reboot, the new Shadow Warrior game, is supposed to be better than Rise of the Triad (2013), so I hope we get more stuff like that.
So, the Xbox is probably one of the easiest modern consoles to mod and put homebrew OS stuff on. I've read about the several methods to softmod and knew it was easy, but hadn't actually gotten around to modding my Xbox since I certainly don't need it for emulation (that's what actual old consoles are for), and I've never really looked into what else it could be for (no way could it handle modern media streaming either, HD video? yeah right, I'd think). But I'm interested in getting some import games, so I need a softmod since I don't want to buy a second console unless there's no other good choice (as with the PS2, where it's that, a mod chip I could never install myself, or the irritation of a slide-card and disc swapping every time).
So, the first major method is the hot-swap-the-HDD-into-a-PC method, which sounds like it would work but... hot-swapping IDE cables? I don't want to do that unless I have no other choice. Second there's the one where you get files onto your Xbox, usually through buying a cable to connect Xbox stuff to a PC, or maybe through manipulating a flash drive. That seemed easy, but I don't want to have to buy a cable if I don't have to (and buying memory cards with the files on them already is ludicrously overpriced). So the IDE-swap method sounded like the only choice...
But first, I decided to try and see if my Gamemon coverter, a GC/PS2/Xbox-to-PC converter I got for a few bucks used at a local store a while back (but apparently were sold in stores in the US for a while, so they're not too hard to find), would actually work with Xbox memory units, since I have one. I didn't expect this to work, since the thing has no options and ... questionable ... button layouts that you can't change [on the Xbox controller, for example, A is button 1, X is button 2, Y is button 3, and B is button 4. No other settings are possible. Annoying!]. But I plugged in my Xbox memory unit to the controller, and... the system detected something! It wasn't sure what, though; no drivers for it. But it actually could tell that SOMETHING was plugged in. Well, that was interesting.
Now, I looked at one of the guides I'd found, one for the memory card file-based softmod method about modding a USB memory stick to fool the PC Xbox Action Replay software into thinking it's an Xbox memory unit, and transferring the files that way. Link: http://www.mrdictionary.net/_xbox/guide_php.php I essentially followed this guide to get the Action Replay to recognize my Xbox Memory Unit plugged into my Xbox (superior larger original style) controller plugged into my Gamemon. The guide tells you to use this USB software to view two necessary IDs on the USB stick; instead I got those two numbers off of the unrecognized Memory Unit. The first one was the same as the default (for Xbox Memory Units attached to Action Replay's own memory unit-to-PC cable), but the other ID was different, which is why the default AR drivers couldn't recognize the memory unit in the Gamemon-attached controller. With that driver modified as in the guide, though, the system recognizes the Memory Unit, and it cost me nothing since I had the Gamemon already! Pretty awesome.
The Action Replay software DOES seem fairly flaky -- I couldn't format the card (which did have files on it) through the AR software because that failed, and had to plug and unplug the card frequently to see if file transfers I was making actually stuck (not all did). The last issue was that after one failed attempt to put the large (~5.6MB) homebrew-installer zip file on the card it wouldn't let me copy it again. I solved that problem by plugging the card back into my actual Xbox, and deleting the problematic file there (no issue there). Then I copied the file again, and this time it copied correctly, they copied over to the Xbox fine, and with my copy of MechAssault I can softmod it with no trouble or added costs. Pretty nice, I think. :)
Of course attaching the thing to my computer via a LAN to install more homebrew stuff would be an additional step, but hopefully just this basic one will get me able to run import games. I might do the network thing another time, but being able to play other-region discs is what I really want.
Did you see the latest Nintendo Direct? Behold all their majesties.
We got Yoshi back, we got Zero Suit Samus and Sheik. Charizard's in there, and so is newcomer Greninja.
So what else is new? They've officially ditched the concept of "multiple characters in one". The basic idea is to make things a bit less complicated than they were starting to get, with the need to switch between movesets and playstyles mid fight all the time. Zelda and Sheik have been split into two characters, as have Samus and Zero Suit Samus. This frees up their Down+B specials to be new moves.
As for Pokemon Trainer, it appears there's been a sacrifice. Charizard has gotten too rebellious and struck out on its own, leaving the trainer (and Squirtle and Ivysaur) behind (as opposed to make those two unique characters as well).
So, this is Amazon's new streaming box / low-end console, much like the Ouya but from a much bigger company, and more powerful. I doubt that I'm interested, but Amazon has done something different from the rest of the things in this category, like the Apple TV or Roku (two devices I know little about): they're putting focus into games. Amazon has actually bought up some developers, including the studio that made Killer Instinct (2013) and Strider (2014) and some other potentially good people, and will have first-party titles on the system, so this is a bit more serious effort than the other streaming boxes. It isn't a full current-gen console, but it's not just a streaming box either. Interesting; we'll see if it takes off. Amazon's size and marketing power should get this thing a lot more sales than the Ouya's getting, at least, for sure!
As for the controller, it's sold separately, which is kind of annoying for buyers -- the box is only $100, but then add $40 for each controller and $100/year for Amazon Prime, which they'll certainly try to push on you if you have one of these, and it gets pricier. The remote that comes with the box has a microphone built in, for instance, but not all third-party apps support voice search... if any do. Still though, voice search definitely could be handy, for a system without a keyboard, so that is a nice feature to have. As for the controller, it's basically another X306 knockoff design.
First-party game "sizzle reel" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU_s3MI4onM The graphics aren't nearly as good as full consoles, but it does look better than Ouya graphics.
On the note of the Ouya, Game Informer's April issue's April Fools section had some funny stuff in it... including one kind of cruel article "by Ouya's CEO" trying to convince people to buy Ouyas, because no one wants one. Ouch... but kind of true, I think. But this should do better. How much better? We'll see. But it's Amazon, so it could do alright.
The big downside, of course, is that these streaming boxes are entirely designed for the Internet-based, "you don't really own anything anymore" future. That future may be coming, but it has so many huge downsides that there are at more bad things about that than good, I think!
Posted by: etoven - 5th April 2014, 1:57 PM - Forum: Ramble City
- No Replies
Gooseberry's kick start seriously has a long way to go with just 14 days left! Please all my friends, consider supporting the worlds first feature animated film using open source software! Just $25 gets you early access to the film and helps usher in the future!
I've never seen a guide so... mesmerizing. I don't know what to make of it. This guide is basically the ENTIRE GAME in the form of a hundred looping gif animations. The things being animated range from helpful to comical to surreal. The guide itself is written so straight, without comment on the insanity going on in the images. Behind it all is the ever sparkling bejewelry of the web page itself. I... can't look away.
Lots of great stuff here, but of particular note is the Lost Vikings theme music in the trailer, some of the character descriptions (some pretty funny stuff there! Kael'Thas... ), the controller (complete with triple credit card swipe!), and their mention of pay-to-play gaming. Good stuff! :)
I have a few games I go back to again and again, games I think I know inside and out. Sometimes I find out something. I'm not talking about deleted content or some absurdly hidden content that requires me to translate languages or something. I'm talking stuff that is more or less "right there", but I somehow missed it in the 20 times I've played it. I dedicate this thread to a few examples.
Link's Awakening: Let's start this off right, with one of my favorite games of all time. I've bought this game 3 times, and that was the SAME VERSION. I also bought the DX version. I played through each cart many times, because I love this game. So one would think I'd already uncovered everything that could be found, but I found wrong. I recently found out I can sprinkle some magic powder on random skeletons in the game to get dialog from them. Neat, but wow I really didn't think this game had anything left to give.
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Final Fantasy 6: FF6 sets a standard for hidden "scenarios", little bits of story exposition that need to be "found" with the right combination of characters going to the right places at just the right time in the story. There's Shadow's hidden dreams, the hidden scene with Setzer talking about Darryl in the world of balance, a hidden scene involving a two sided coin if Sabin and Edgar are with you, things like that. Well, this one is especially out of the way. As it turns out, at the point where you need to travel from South Figaro to the Returner's Hideout early on in the game, there's another hidden gem that was hiding from me this whole time. After the fight with Vargas, normally you feel the need to go straight on to the next destination. Turns out, if you decide to turn around head BACK through that long mountain trail and head BACK to South Figaro, you can talk to a certain old woman (the only person in town who's dialog has actually changed) with Sabin in the party and she'll talk to Sabin about the death of Vargas. Wow, talk about out of the way. Just to be clear here, this story scene can't be accessed if you go on to the Returner's hideout and come back to this town later. Her dialog now talks about the Empire's occupation.
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Chrono Trigger: How did I go so long without finding out about this? Another game I've played many times, partly because the game rewards it through it's invention of "New Game +". Recently, on a playthrough of the DS version of the game, I ran into something involving the court room scene early in the game. Now, I've read guides and data on this before, and was basically convinced that one of the jury members was basically "locked" into always voting against you, and you could only ever get all but that ONE jury member to side with you. As it turns out, one of them is linked to finding that little girl's cat. "Wait!" you're typing, those of you who ALSO obsess over this game "But we all know that, you need to get that girl's cat to sway a jury member, and she even get brought up to the witness stand to testify to Chrono's good character!". Sure enough! In fact, I ALWAYS made sure to rescue that kitty cat, and ALWAYS saw her testify to how kind I was to do so. However, it turns out TWO jury members are affected by rescuing the cat, but one has slightly different criteria, "glitched" criteria if you ask me.
So here's the deal, that cat rescue? Any sane person would expect this order of events:
1. Talk to little girl who mentions she lost her cat.
2. Find lost cat and bring cat back to the brat.
Nope, that's WRONG. Turns out this is the right order of events:
1. NEVER EVER talk to the little girl to find out she wants her cat.
2. Somehow instinctively know (maybe Chrono is psychic or some sort of cat whisperer?) that this one random cat belongs to that child and drag it on over, talking to her ONCE to confirm the cat was returned.
3. Never talk to that little kid again, she is now dead to you.
Seriously, that's how it works! That ONE jury member determines if you "helped" the little girl by seeing if you EVER talked to her when she was crying for her cat, but NEVER bothers to check and confirm that you did in fact bring the cat, so that old codger always determines you are a terrible person. So, at long last, after all these playthroughs, I finally figure it out. I have to act in an illogical manner in order to get a "perfect" rating in court. ... Well, "worth it", but what really gets me is this glitch has NEVER been fixed. It's there in the SNES version, the PS1 version, even the DS version. (Yes, also in the iOS version, but considering how sloppy SE's work has been on the iOS ports, that's basically a given).
Buy the magazine! Read the magazine! EAT THE MAGAZINE TO GAIN ITS STRENGTH! NINTENDO POWER CANNOT BE CONTAINED! It will SHATTER YOUR HOMEWORLD! Buy it now, NOW, or Mario will break out of your TV set and KILL YOU!
