zippyjuan

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multime...123050901.html

But it is the artificial shortage of machines at Christmas time that help stimulate demand. Ask Microsoft.

__________________
I add new pictures to my photo gallery pretty regularly. You can see them here if you are interested: http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz

InfiniteNothing

Oh man, I can't wait. I started growing up on NES. Then I was a diehard SNES fan (best system EVER btw) but I got tired of the N64 so I sold mine. I was reunited with Nintendo not to many years ago when some really cool games were coming out for the Cube. Now I can't wait for this next system. I'm particularly ethusiastic about it's backwards compatibility because every now and then I find an old game that I must play to death.

In conclusion, I love Nintendo for their occasional immortal games. The lame technology of even the NES can't disuade me from playing games such as Metroid, Zelda, Mario 3, etc. I have no fear of inferior technology and I will enjoy the extra cash (I'm cheap). I'm still amazed at how many poor people can afford 360s.

zero2dash

There's a lot of rumor/speculation about the pricing on the Revolution.
Every Nintendo system has launched at $199, so you can bet on the Revolution costing no more than $199. Now, there's even rumors that it'll be cheaper than that; I've heard $149 isn't unlikely and it could potentially be as low as $99. Yes, seriously...$99. The specs/hardware of the unit - it's built for low power consumption, meant to run cool (no heat dissipation problems)...and since it's being made for efficiency and not 'raw power' (like the competition's consoles) - they could release it for $99, truthfully.

If they release the system for $99 and the Virtual Console games (the downloadable NES, SNES, and N64 games) only cost $0.99 cents apiece, it's going to make a killing. If they release it for more (say, $149) but make the VC games *free* - it'll still make a killing. All due respect to the Xbox 360 and the small amount that we know about the Ps3 - but - Nintendo is back and could be taking the throne back as the top selling console. If you were wanting to go to the store to buy a system and you didn't own any of the new ones, and you could pick up a Revolution + 4-5 games for the same price as an Xbox 360 console, what would you choose? I know I'd sure the hell pick the Revolution + a bunch of games...

E3 is going to be huge this year.

IrishSS

Ya, I'm really looking forward to the classics available via download. Nintendo really gets a huge pat on the back there for even considering it. I've often recalled various NES and SNES games from the past that I wanted to play again, only to find that I don't want to pay $75 for an original NES console and half the time, the emulators stink or the particular game doesn't work worth a crap in the emulator.

BTW Zero, great avatar!

__________________
Spigs, you MFR#1N!

Cubsfan

Who is that? Is that Kain from FFII?

zero2dash

Yup.


Thanks I decided yesterday it was time for a new avatar and I've been playing FFIV Advance a lot lately...god how I missed that game...I almost forgot how great it is. Anyhow - Kain was my favorite character from FFIV...(FF2 on the SNES) I liked everyone, really, but Kain was my fave. I found a site yesterday with game sprites from every 2d FF (and a lot of other games, actually), so naturally - I grabbed Kain sprites. Originally I was going to do the Kain win animation (2 frames where he throws his arms up in celebration) but for some reason, the top of the 2nd sprite gets chopped off...so...he remains still and vigilant. (ie I chose the still pose)

http://www.videogamesprites.net if you want to check it out; there's links to sites with tons and tons of other sprites. I almost went with a MegaMan 2 sprite but chose in favor of Kain in the end.

I also almost went with someone from FFVI (FF3 in the US) but, well, that's my favorite all time FF and I wouldn't be able to choose...FFIV is probably my 2nd favorite.

***

One other thing about the Revolution to keep in mind -
Miyamoto has said numerous times that there are still secrets about it that no one knows yet. (Hopefully we'll find out what at E3 this year.) They might announce (again) that all the VC downloads are free, or, have a rate plan of like $5/month for unlimited play/downloading (which would rock!!!).

A friend of mine (who owns his own game store...privately owned...one of the best sources for unbiased game news I know...) speculated on something that would be so f'n awesome that words don't do it justice.
Ok, basically he said...look at the Revolution controller and what size it is. Now, imagine if they had a small screen and they put it in the Revolution controller, a little color LCD screen small enough. Now, where have you seen a screen small enough? [Holds up a Game Boy Micro] *my jaw hits the floor*
...he THEN says (GET THIS) - they put in the screen in the Revolution controller and put some flash ram in there to store stuff. What can you store? The games from the VC. In the Revolution controller...with the screen...that has enough buttons to be a PORTABLE NES with the perfect controller layout.

Can you imagine if they did that??? You buy a Revolution - and you get a free portable NES.

edit I did a mockup of what he meant/showed me.

IrishSS

That site is awesome! So many avatars, so little time to choose.

BTW, Kain is one of the best characters ever... along with from Cid in VII and X. And Auron in X... and Sabin in III... and... and... and...

Cool idea on the Revolution controller. I'm already sold on it because of the NES games, but hell, if they do that... just a bonus for us!

CornMonkey

i am SOOOO getting the revolution. and surprisingly enough, the wife is demanding we get one..hehe.

on a not-so-related note, the DS is getting a redesign. i may have to pick up one of those as well.

Bires

I just bought one. I LOVE it. I was really into the GBA (still am), and GBA games look great on it, and mario kart DS is the best MK so far.



On another note:
Has it been confirmed that HDMI is the only output on the SonyPS3? That seems restrictive, even for Sony.

__________________
Five years...

zero2dash

I can't wait to be waiting for the Revolution inside a 24 hour Walmart just like I did with the Gamecube...it's gonna be more fun this time around since (hopefully) most of the people own and will bring their DS's for some multiplayer goodness. Mario Kart + Meteos = all you need. (Really, all you need is Mario Kart, but Meteos is a damn good game also. )

Yeah, I just saw pictures of the DS Lite.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/26/ni...unces-ds-lite/


I'll pick up one, but as a 2nd DS. The DS I have now is the Teal Nintendogs DS, which was a Christmas present (most importantly) and secondly, isn't available for sale anymore (unless you mind paying a lot on eBay). But I would like to pick up a 2nd DS...so when we do, we'll get a Lite. Looks really good...I guess Nintendo's going full force into the 'Apple white' visual scheme with their products now (since the Revolution will also have a glossy Apple white color available).

The Ps3 - No, HDMI isn't the only output on it.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/636/636848p1.html

Grubbie

What a BS statement. MS Sold 1.5million in a 5-6 weeks. If they created the shortage to spark demand, why did they have to bring a third plant online to make.

Give me a break and stop spewing garbage.

zero2dash

If Microsoft wanted to create a false shortage, they did a bad job of it. (ie the shortage was real, not artificial)

1) The X360 hardware was shown for the first time, in "final" form, at E3 2005. That was in May. That means from May -> the launch on November 22...they had 7 months to make consoles to meet demand. The demand at the time was probably at least 2x the supply, and by launch, it was probably at least 3-4x.

2) Even though the hardware could have been the final design, who's to say that they didn't notice problems at E3 that they had to correct before launch - which could've taken anywhere from days to months...making their time to try to meet demand even smaller.

3) The numbers that they claimed that they shipped are close enough/believable to what they sold. It's way past the primary shopping season and systems are still trickling at best to retailers. Why would they continue with a false shortage when all it would be doing (at this point) is not allowing them to make money? That would be stupid.

--just my .02 cents at least.
I may not be all that hyped on the 360 (primarily because the library isn't my liking and I don't have a hi def setup to make the system show it's true potential), but there's no way in hell that they made an artificial shortage.

That being said - I can guarantee you that there will be a Sony shortage and there shouldn't be a Nintendo shortage. Sony still doesn't have final hardware yet and even when they do, they're gonna have 10x as many problems with faulty hardware that Microsoft does (because of the past history of every other Playstation console). Nintendo on the other hand almost has finished hardware and their systems have a lot less parts to manufacture and put together, in addition to the fact that they build quality stuff the first time around...I have no problems believing that Nintendo will keep up with demand. They did have minimal shortages with the N64 launch but I remember new systems rolling out every few days, and the shortage was very small and didn't last long.

Bires

Do console manufacturers still sell the systems to resellers at a fixed price so all the resellers sell them at the same price? (no profit from systems)

zero2dash

Well, you have the MSRP and that's about it, really. I'm not sure if retailers get consoles cheaper than that, truthfully - but I doubt there's any money gained by the retailer. I think for the most part, retailers mark up some items but not others.

(I know that back around 95 or 96 when I worked at Best Buy in computer sales, the markup on some of their things are ridiculous. They paid roughly $5 for a parallel port (IEEE-1394?) printer cable and they sell them for $25-30; they also earn 100% of the fees for the extended warranties.)

The only stores you can count on charging more than MSRP is malls. I've seen so many people say that the N64 launch price was $250, and so was the Gamecube. And I've responded 'til I was blue in the face that it launched for $199 and I can scan my Walmart receipt shortly after midnight on launch to prove it. Malls always charge more for anything...hell, try buying a music cd at Sam Goody for under $18 whereas elsewhere they're $10-12 bucks.

welfareloser

you MUST buy a dreamcast. i got one from ebgames for $15, downloaded an NES and an SNES emulator disc... it runs every game beautifully, you can save all your game progress, etc. EG loves it (and i am ADDICTED to breakout, by the maker of tetris... had never played it til that emu disc.)


hmmm... at $99, it'd certainly go on the kids' wishlist, since that's about what the grandparents like to spend...

i think you're (almost) right... i'd be kinda surprised if they became the top console again, but i'll bet they take back a huge chunk o' market share... it's beginning to look like the three consoles are going to be in a dead heat in this generation... which is good for consumers aaaaah, cut-throat competition...

__________________
Find the person who will love you because of your differences and not in spite of them and you have found a lover for life. ~ Leo Buscaglia
http://www.welfareloser.com
http://gotapexblogs.net/users/welfareloser/

welfareloser

and as for gba/ds/evolution...

the coolest thing about the gba is the $25 mod cartridge for it... plug in any size CF memory card, and it can play movies, mp3's, e-books, game roms (can't save the games, unfortunately), and there's even a TI-85 emulator for it... so eg's old gba is now my pda, my ti-85 (i ebayed mine) and mp3 player and movie player for the one inevitable kid in the carseat who doesn't want to watch the movie that's in the vcr during a roadtrip...

hasn't been much info on the evolution (the new gameboy that's supposedly being released around the same time as the revolution) has there? may be that it is the controller plug-in thingy that was speculated about...

and a final note... i don't like that split controller thingy. not one bit. there's something nice about having one chunk of plastic that you can set both hands on; i'd feel all out of control with both hands moving completely independently...

Bires

Which one do you have? I have a supercard that plays GBA and NES with both a real-time save state and a game file save to the CF card. I also have the Superpass key that does the same thing (w/o realtime-save states) on the DS.

welfareloser

it's called "GBA movie player" and the instructions that came with it are engrish at its finest

got a link to the superpass? i've never seen it for sale. the thingy i got is the only mod option i've ever seen for gba...

Bires

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=25598
http://www.jandaman.com/Merchant2/me...t_Code=gbasccf
ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SD-Supercard...QQcmdZViewItem

Official Homepage:
http://eng.supercard.cn/

ramazank2

This looks pretty cool. Maybe you can answer a few questions for me?

How do you get a movie on it?
Are Roms easily available?
Can you make your own?
What is the superpass?

Thanks!

Bires

1. The makers have a proggie called "GBAmedia" that converts it into a file the GBA or NDS can read (like Nickelodian GBA videos)

2. Uh huh, but I can't tell you where (g|a rules)

3. Roms? Ya. There are lots of homebrew games and apps out there.
http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/

4. Superpass allows NDS roms to be run off of the GBA-cart Supercard and save back to the compactflash or SDmedia card.

You're welcome. Happy Wintereenmas.

zero2dash

All you need is NesterDC. A guide on burning the disc so that it selfboots (ie without the need of a swap disc) is here, along with the links to other programs you'll need.

That will give you the emulator and the necessary files to run the emulator...and nothing else. Roms - you're on your own.

SNES emu - you're better off on PCs. The best DC SNES emu (DreamSNES) was never finished and only runs at about 80% speed. There are tons of other emulators out there for the DC; the only one you'll probably never find is the hack copy of the Sega Smash Pack (hacked so you can use any game with it) - it was 100% perfect, but quickly removed and 'disappeared' when Sega started threatening lawsuits everywhere. I've tried using my copy and making a new image of it with different games but haven't had much luck yet. I need to get to working on that again...

Some people have called the Dreamcast "the last true gamers console" and I agree. I still have my launch Dreamcast that I installed a region-free mod chip myself, with about 30 import titles. (mainly 2d fighters...Capcom and SNK primarily) I think I'd sell my car before I sold my Dreamcast...

welfareloser

hmmm... i'm very happy with my dreamsnes disc... i think it's better than 80% speed ... it's funny, i skipped a lot of generations of consoles (basically, no new consoles in the 90s) and only acquired a dreamcast about a year ago, and i swer it is the best purchase EVER, even 7+ years after it launched