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Games Entertainment

Nintendo Game Cube On (Limited) Preview In 12 Cities 268

Posted by timothy from the fanning-flames dept.
psxndc writes: "Nintendo has set up "Cube Clubs" at various US cities that allow you to go in and play (mainly first party) Game Cube games. Cube Clubs exist in Boston, San Francisco and Minneapolis, with plans to run in a total of 12 cities. I went to the Boston one today. Most games were disappointing, but Rogue Leader and suprisingly Luigi's Mansion were a lot of fun. More info on Cube.ign.com. A recap of the SF one is also there." Anyone else with first-hand reactions from this?
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Nintendo Game Cube On (Limited) Preview In 12 Cities More

Nintendo Game Cube On (Limited) Preview In 12 Cities

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  • the cube is no ipod (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    at least apple's ipod can play breakout. ipod 1, the cube 0.

  • WHAT GAMES?!?
    I want details- if the guy who wrote that article is checking the replies, PLEASE elaborate!
  • At least, I think there was one in Phoenix. My friend won some sort of GameCube tournament here and won a T-shirt. Sounds a lot like what this is talking about... could be the same thing.

  • Played it in Minneapolis (Score:5, Informative)

    by Murdock037 ( 469526 ) <tristranthorn.hotmail@com> on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:00AM (#2491438)
    I played a few of the games at the Mall of America on Friday night, and on the whole, it was impressive, if not mind-blowing.

    Luigi's Mansion, the new Smash Bros. game, and Pikmin looked pretty decent, but far and away the most impressive game showing was Rogue Squadron. (There were a few games missing-- Zelda and Metroid aren't due out for awhile, so don't expect them in any of the other cities if you go.)

    Unfortunately, even the ones there weren't marvelous. There's nothing on deck that I saw that would make me want to buy a GameCube come November 18th, even though it's a hundred bucks cheaper than Xbox or PS2. There's no flagship title yet-- it's missing a Metal Gear Solid 2 or a Halo.

    Of course, Nintendo had everything running under the best possible conditions-- you have to wonder what the games will look like on regular televisions, instead of the HDTV screen they had up. The remarkable detail crammed into Rogue Squadron could easily get lost.

    The controller was a bit less awkward than that of the N64, but it's not the kind of thing you'll get used to right away.

    My affection for Nintendo left over from the original NES will probably lead me to pick up a Cube after the holidays. But even after an hour's worth of hands-on I'm not exactly dying to do so.
    • Of course, Nintendo had everything running under the best possible conditions-- you have to wonder what the games will look like on regular televisions, instead of the HDTV screen they had up. The remarkable detail crammed into Rogue Squadron could easily get lost.
      I heard a nasty rumor that the Game Cube needs an HDTV set to get 60 fps; regular sets will only get 30 fps. If that's true, Nintendo blew it big time -- IMO the most impressive aspect of the PS2 is it's fluid 60fps animation in practically all situations.

      I saw a Game Cube demo in Seattle in August. I didn't get to play it, but the graphics looked amazing (on an HDTV set) and these little kids (6-8 yrs old) were going berzerker over that "Super Monkey Ball" game -- they just couldn't get enough of it! As for myself, at the ripe old age of 26, I just didn't understand...

      • I heard a nasty rumor that the Game Cube needs an HDTV set to get 60 fps; regular sets will only get 30 fps. If that's true, Nintendo blew it big time -- IMO the most impressive aspect of the PS2 is it's fluid 60fps animation in practically all situations.

        I've heard this other nasty rumor that NTSC TV's can only show 30 frames per second total. 60 frames per second is nice, but since most TV's out there can't/won't even show it then you're really SOL. I don't really see the problem with the GameCube running with the stardard that most TV's can show and besides, most PS2 games run at 30 frames per second anyway. 60fps is just really a marketing number.

      • What is 60 fps... Interlaced? (Score:5, Informative)

        by alexhmit01 ( 104757 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:34AM (#2491504)
        Okay, a standard television can do 640x480 interlaced (called 480i if you follow DTV specs). This is 60 fps interlaced, which is really 30 fps. Alternatively, you can do a 240p signal in the 480i system, which is what the original Nintendo system did. (IIRC)

        With a HDTV-ready system and a Gamecube, you can do 480p, which is 640x480 progressive, which can provide a true 60 fps signal.

        Because of the size and shape of my living room, I have a standard size television, which is a 4:3 ratio. Some of the HDTVs are full-screen (4:3) and some are wide-screen (16:9). You can send a 16:9 signal to a 4:3 television and it letterboxes (or you swap the aspect ratio and get tall, thin people). You can send a 4:3 signal to a widescreen and reverse letterbox (on the sides) or stretch it and get short, fat people. :)

        In supporting 480p, the Gamecube offers a true 60 fps, as the entire screen updates every frame. With a standard television, running at 480i, you will really only effectively get 30fps, as it takes 2 frames to draw a full image.

        Interesting, the 1080i ration for HDTV (which can also carry a 540p signal) is interlaced. Interlaced is fine for things without that much movement, games and heavy movement systems benefit from progressive images. Computers have all but abandonned interlaced signals, and with HDTV, you'll have to find a TV/STB combo that does what you want. The 720p resolution will be amazing for HDTV and the "next" generation consoles after this crop.

        Alex
        • In supporting 480p, the Gamecube offers a true 60 fps, as the entire screen updates every frame. With a standard television, running at 480i, you will really only effectively get 30fps, as it takes 2 frames to draw a full image.

          This isn't entirely true. The GameCube always renders 60 FPS no matter what its hooked up to. If you're using a HDTV you get the full picture. If you're using a regular TV, you still get something that's better than 30 FPS. Regular TVs display an interlaced signal which means that it shows all the odd lines of the picture first, then the even lines afterward. It traces across the screen at 60 Hz but you need two traces to get a full picture. What the GameCube does is send all the odd lines from one frame to the TV, and then it sends all the even lines from the next frame. So it is sort of like 60 FPS even though the TV is only displaying 30 full frames per second. This results in some interesting still-frames, but in motion it looks good.

        • Re:What is 60 fps... Interlaced? (Score:4, Informative)

          by foobar104 ( 206452 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @09:02AM (#2492114) Journal
          Interesting, the 1080i ration for HDTV (which can also carry a 540p signal) is interlaced.

          (Disclosure: the company I work for has a broadcast integration arm, so I'm always hearing people yak yak yak about the latest TV technology. And we also play with HDTV a lot in our lab.)

          Interlacing provides one very imporant feature that you didn't mention: flicker reduction.

          I don't have science to back this up, but it seems that a 60 Hz progressive display-- one in which every scan line is redrawn 60 times per second-- has a noticable flicker to most people. (Set your computer monitor to 60 Hz and see. No, really. Go ahead. I'll wait.)

          A 60-Hz interlaced display, however, flickers less, because only *half* the scan lines are being redrawn at any given time. Your eye perceives a clean, flicker-free image, although admittedly this can result in some tearing or blurring when the scene moves quickly.

          We've known for years and years that refresh rate is more important than frame rate for visually pleasing, flicker-free pictures. Analog film is projected at 24 frames per second, which is a really low frame rate by digital standards. We get away with it because the film projector gates (that is, projects on the screen) each frame twice, meaning the screen flashes 48 times per second. Less flicker for the same frame rate.

          Interlacing uses the same principle but in a different way. Instead of refreshing the screen faster than we update it, we only update half the scan lines each time through the raster, leaving the other half lit. This works because phosphors on TV tubes continue to glow after they've been excited, so we basically get half of our scan lines for free every refresh.

          My point here is that you might find a 60 Hz progressive scan display more pleasing than 60 Hz interlaced scan in some cases, but it's not universally true to say that progressive is always better than interlaced.
          • I spent months trying to understand the tech before making a purchase. I then spent months trying to understand how to best use it after I made a purchase.

            I appreciate that I don't fully understand it, but I won't apologize. You guys that work with the technology would be really helpful if you provided information (like this post did) instead of just telling us that we are wrong.

            Sit on some of the home theatre boards. The HDTV engineers on them disdain people that don't understand things as well.

            It shouldn't require 4 years as an engineer at an HDTV firm to understand what you are buying... My four year MIT EECS degree should be fine... :) Hell, anyone, regardless of background, should be able to find information if they dig deep enough.

            I find your arguement that interlaced is more pleasing fascinating. However, I would still rather the information be transmitted at 480p. 480p is twice the data as 480i.

            The reason that I find 1080i interesting is that it is quoted as an interlaced spec. Many people think that 1080i is better than 720p for this reason. This is blatantly false. A 720p image has more data.

            Ideally, you want to get as much data as possible into your system. Once it is in your system, you want to be able to customize how it displays based upon your preferences...

            For example, I may want everything to display at NTSC levels through my VCR, but I still want the most data reaching my house. I (through my equipment) should be able to do what I want to display it best, but I still want the most data in.

            My output is at best what I get in. GIGO...

            Alex
            • The reason that I find 1080i interesting is that it is quoted as an interlaced spec. Many people think that 1080i is better than 720p for this reason. This is blatantly false. A 720p image has more data.

              Sorry, you're not correct. 1080i is 1920x1080 at 30 frames per second, and 720p is 1280x720 at 60 frames per second.

              1280*720*60
              55296000 pixels per second

              1920*1080*30
              62208000 pixels per second

              Sorry, but in terms of pure bits per second, 1080i wins.
          • Interlacing provides one very imporant feature that you didn't mention: flicker reduction.

            Actually, the reverse is true. Interlaced images almost always flicker MORE than progressive images.

            While it's true that a VGA monitor at 60 Hz does flicker a little, 72+ Hz refresh eliminates this for most people. Video is transmitted at 60 fields per second, but each scanline in the full frame is transmitted at only 30 frames per second.

            The result of this is more flicker, not less. Especially if you have sharp horizontal lines in your image, the interlacing flicker can be appalling. This can be reduced by reducing contrast between scanlines - softening the picture will help, but decreases detail. Long persistance phosphors will help too, but cause streaking and trails on moving objects.

            For a still image with comparable detail and phosphors, progressive will always look better than interlaced.

            • The result of this is more flicker, not less. Especially if you have sharp horizontal lines in your image, the interlacing flicker can be appalling.

              Actually, I think you're referring to aliasing, or the shimmering moire patterns one sometimes sees in interlaced images. This happens when a very small spot, or pattern of small spots, seems to jump back and forth between even and odd fields as the image refreshes.

              The only example I can think of off the top of my head is in the VHS tape version of Braveheart. Near the beginning there's a shot of a soldier in chain mail, and the sharply detailed pattern in his armor shimmers on a regular TV like nobody's business.
      • Ordinary TV can't display 60 frames per second, only 60 fields. Interlacing means you see half of a frame for 1/60th, then the other half, then the first half of the next frame and so on. However, this doesn't preclude games rendering at 60Hz and using the output circuitry to downsample for anti-aliasing, and this is what the games do. They render to 640x448 at 60Hz and blend the scanlines together to give 640x224 at 60Hz which is the most the TV can handle. PS2 and XBox do exactly the same thing, by the way.

        With HDTV you can output 640x480 progressive scan at 60Hz. It's identical to 60Hz VGA. It looks much nicer, but rest assured the games still look great on your ordinary TV set.

        The nicest part of all of this is Nintendo are mandating all games to support HDTV. PS2 can't support this - Sony won't tell us how the VESA modes of the chip work. I don't know what XBox's capability and position is on this.
        • XBox renders everything at 480p anyway. For display on an ordinary SDTV, each field is extracted, throwing away half the detail. On a 480p-capable set, you'll see the full quality of the picture.

          Full 1080i output is also possible, though I don't know if MS are mandating games to support this or not. This will work on an HDTV or (AFAIK) a large VGA monitor too.

      • Traditional television sets display 30 full frames a second and 60 fields a second. A frame is broken down into odd lines and even lines, and one set of lines is known as a field. The displaying of fields instead of frames is known as interlacing. In certain games (the new smash bros and rogue squadron) the gamecube can display 480p (the lowest of the 3 HDTV standards) on an HDTV set, which is a full 60 frames a second. The 'p' stands for progressive mode, which simply means that the picture is not interlaced, and a frame is put to the screen all at once, not broken into two sections.

        heard a nasty rumor that the Game Cube needs an HDTV set to get 60 fps; regular sets will only get 30 fps. If that's true, Nintendo blew it big time -- IMO the most impressive aspect of the PS2 is it's fluid 60fps animation in practically all situations.

        This is true, and is not a nasty rumor, it is just the way television has always worked. Your bias towards the PS2 is not rooted in logic or understanding. The higher frame rates of the PS2 and gamecube will be noticed, however, as the interlacing of TV's allows for very good motion, at the expense of picture quality. HDTV does not suffer this and is both smooth and clear.
      • The games run at the same fps with both HDTVs and standard televisions. I believe the game cube does not take advantage of higher resolutions when using an HDTV either. With an HDTV the only benefit is that the picture is progressive rather than interlaced. Some one noticing this jumped to the conclusion that one interlaced frame is the same as 1/2 af a progressive frame so they called it 30fps. Its a silly statement. By the same logic your PS2's "fluid" 60fps is 30 as well.
    • I am so sick of hearing about Metal Gear Solid 2 as if it was actually good and justified the existance of PS2. From day 1 the console mags have always been "yeah I guess we'll admit that PS2 games suck right now, but OMG WAIT TILL YOU SEE MGS2!" But MGS2 has always sucked. It sucked on PC and now it sucks on PS2.

      It's like the "import tuner" mags promoting the notion that front-wheel drive (japanese only, of course) cars with 1.6L engines are great for drag racing while reverizing about the mythical (never existed) woebegone "japanese supercar" (primarily the toyota camry with turbos and different body known as Supra).

      Be too smart for that shit. Realize that these people are trying to fool you into making them money.

      Even the XBox, which is 1000x more powerful than the other consoles, is just a 2yr-old PIII with a GF3 and an interlaced, super-low-resolution monitor.

      • The gamecube is much more powerful graphically then the xbox. The Xbox is not very impressive when seen in action.
      • Um, you are thinking of the original Metal Gear Solid, not MGS2. Only the original made it to PC. A lot of people consider it a great game in the series, and some of us have actually played parts of Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2 (demos, E3) and realize that the gameplay is just as good, if not better, and the graphics are 10,000 times better. If you don't like that type of game, that's you, but don't say all the hype was created by magazines and websites, it was created by the gamers who love the games too.
      • MGS2 Rules. My friends and I have spent many Code Red induced nights playing the demo. The DEMO I tell you!
        So...you get through the demo. Now what? Most people would stop playing. Wana know what we did? We ran around checking out all the interactions that could be achieved. Have you tried hiding in a box? Have you tried running around in a box? Have you played in a wet box? Have you tried to get the bad guys to chase you into the locker room, only to find you not in there? (because you are in the locker!) Have you tried knocking the locker door down? (the one with the sexy girl) and crawled on the ground making it apear as if you were having sex with her? Have you hung on the ledges of the ship and wasted even more time running around the inside of a ship under a box? OMG! Just the demo is fun as hell, and we were not even playing the mission half the time. MGS2 totally justifies buying the PS2. No questions.

        (The demo comes with Zone of Enders BTW)

    • Re:Played it in Minneapolis (Score:5, Insightful)

      by melatonin ( 443194 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @01:39AM (#2491598)
      probably lead me to pick up a Cube after the holidays. But even after an hour's worth of hands-on I'm not exactly dying to do so.

      I don't think Nintendo's going for a strong launch. They don't really need to come running out the door screaming HEY LOOKIE AT WHAT WE GOT!

      They've got the same stuff that they've had all along; their franchises. And that value is stronger than ever now that Pokemon is so strongly established (they haven't even announced a pokemon game yet!). They already know how well their franchises are going to work (Zelda '2' for the N64 sold like hell, even though the game was a piece of ass). Now's a good time to show off some new stuff, like Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin (which looks amazing).

      The N64 had a lot of flaws. It was notoriously difficult to develop for (although it sounds like the PS2 is worse), and the cartridges where incredibly expensive for developers. It was just much more cost effective(and in many ways, more rewarding) for developers to develop for the PSX. So Nintendo was quiet at the time and worked on the Gamecube in the background. The N64 was a flop in Japan and enjoyed moderate success in the states. The best thing they could do for it was to replace it :P

      No more cartridges, no more pain-in-the-ass programming. They built it as a platform from the ground up to play games. The PS/2 and the X-Box aren't for that- they're made to take over your living room (pah, AOL vs MSN). The Gamecube ends up being a lot cheaper than the others too.

      I expect that they intend to sell quite a few right now without trying too hard- they've got the kids cornered (who can expect Pokemon), and it's much cheaper. The launch titles at least prove that the system is capable; I don't expect most people to say 'it sucks' and dismiss it entirely (of course, some people will anyway. PIII RULEZ d00d!).

      Next year, we can probably expect Zelda, Mario, and Metroid. Wow. And I can't begin to imagine what form F-Zero would be like on this thing. And then there's whatever Rare will make for the system. And then you have some very strong third party support [ign.com].

      Nintendo's drawing power is their franchises. There's no point in putting them all out at launch. Let Microsoft use up Halo, let Sony use up MGS2 to fight Nintendo. Nintendo already sounds like it has the next couple of years down solid. What are Sony and Microsoft going to deliver that's bigger than what they're doing this year? (I suspect that's there's an answer to this- I'll admit that I'm a bit ignorant here).

      So why buy one now? Because duh, you like playing games! (and you don't think consoles suck because they're consoles). There's not much point in buying a PSX or N64 right now. The DC's a great choice (now that it's soooo cheap), but it doesn't have any long term potential. The 'cube is going to be fun now, and it won't be letting up any time soon. And the price is good.

    • Bummer. I haven't gotten a look at the game cube yet, but I was really hopping that the controller wouldn't be all out wack. I can't tell you how much I despised the N64 controller. It seemed like most games had you hold the controller at a funny angle so you could use the high hat instead of the thumb pad. Dose anybody know why they set things up this way? As of yet, I've been unable to find a coherent answer...

    • of course there are flagship titles - Luigi's Mansion, Zelda, and Pikmin are all flagship titles. The next Pokemon will be too.

      It's just that the Gamecube's flagships are aimed at the Gamecube's audience - kids who play Pokemon. MGS2 and Halo are very nice, but not Nintendo's style at all...it's not a lack of a flagship, but rather a whole different gaming ethos to the 20-30 year old FPS fan demographic that MS and Sony would like to have.

      Pikmin, for example, imho will be huuuuuuge. But huge in a Nintendo way - cartoon spinoffs, mechandising, the whole Pokemon lot...and with in this will be massively more succesful than MGS2. Whether as a game it sells more is irrelevent.

  • This guy I know got his game cube early, (Lucky bastard developers...) Anyways, at his birthday party everyone was playing Monkey Ball, and I guess it kicks ass. So I dug up some info a IGN to see what its like.

    IGN [ign.com] has a review with some screenshots, and the tv commercial [ign.com]
    • This guy I know got his game cube early, (Lucky bastard developers...) Anyways, at his birthday party everyone was playing Monkey Ball, and I guess it kicks ass. So I dug up some info a IGN to see what its like.
      Monkey Ball? What kind of silly name is that? I think it was supposed to be called "Donkey Pong", but the english name got messed up in the translation.

  • Slight correction on Xbox demo unit problems (Score:3, Informative)

    by JonathanF ( 532591 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:06AM (#2491454)
    What I've heard about those Xbox units crashing is that, at least with Halo (a Bungie employee said as much), it's because the demo discs were accidentally built with an older video library. When that library looks for things that aren't there in a shipping Xbox, it goes on the fritz. Microsoft may have a rep for things that don't quite work properly, but at least here it's a one-off that shouldn't carry over to the final product. Oh, and about the Gamecube - I'm interested in that as well, but I already have a Dreamcast and a PS2. Even a third console would be a bit much!
    • I'd consider that more a harbinger - MS is now bringing "DLL hell" to your living room. Games are dynamically linked against system libraries in flash ROM on the system, so if they ever upgrade those libraries there's a very good change they'll break or introduce bugs to older games. Both Sony and Nintendo do 100% static linking of the OS and system libraries so they're immune to such hijinx.
      • Where did you come up with a flash rom on the X-box? All operating system files/libraries are loaded off of each game disc so that you'll never have incompatibility problems.
      • I am developing on the Xbox and can say that your information is totally incorrect. There are no DLLs on the Xbox. There is not even a dynamic linker. Executables are statically linked against system libraries -- this is the only sane way to go.

        You can run into trouble if your game links against debug or devel versions of system libraries and you run on a home unit -- but that executable would never pass certification. The linker is very noisy about this.

    • Let's see... I have:
      • Atari 2600
      • Atari Jaguar
      • Atari Lynx
      • Nintendo Gameboy
      • Nintendo VirtualBoy
      • Odyssey^2
      • Sega Genesis


      And that's not counting the machines that pretended to have some use other than gaming, the "home computers".

      What's one or two more? It's not like we can't shove them in milk crates and stack them in the back of a closet when we're not playing with them.
  • Anybody know of a place to pre-order a gamecube? Out of all the new systems I like this one the best. The games actually look fun instead of just being eye candy. I can't wait to see what nintendo can do with a mini-dvd instead of a stupid cartridge.
    • You'll be hard pressed finding anywhere online. Amazon and EBworld both sold out of their online allocations within 4 minutes.

      I had to get a friend of mine in the US to physically go out and pre order me one. Can't wait to play Rogue Squadron and Luigi's Mansion.

  • Interestingly, I was in a Target store in Las Vegas yesterday and they had a console set up for exhibiting all 3 systems side by side. Incidentally, they had an XBox running. For some reason, though, the PS2 next to it wasn't running. I think it may be because if you compare Xbox and PS2 side by side, Microsoft may not come out on top. They had only a few games for Xbox--some kind of preview CD. I played a little Oddworld. It wasn't very impressive..
    • They realy did bundle a crappy demo with the Xbox kiosks I suspect it's because most of the launch titles that realy kick ass are rated M and since you can't buy those without being a certain age why let people play em. Maybe we'll get different demos here in Canada.

  • Gamecube is Spectacular (Score:5, Insightful)

    by uwmurray ( 516566 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:19AM (#2491475) Journal
    I haven't been to one of the 'cube clubs' but I've had my cube (import) for over a month now, and I can assure everyone that it is a great (little) system. The visuals in all three of the japanese launch games (Luigi's Mansion, Waverace - bluestorm and Super Monkey Ball) are fantastic, Luigi's and Waverace are particularily impressive. From a hardware standpoint I'm pretty impressed, Nintendo, ATI and IBM have done a great job designing this system, the footprint is small, the graphics look sharp, from what I hear it is a dream to write for and the controllers are out of this world.

    As far as the funfactor of the Games:

    Luigi's:
    Great fun, great visuals but kinda short, I beat it (without knowing any japanese) in a bit over 7 hours.

    Waverace:
    Really intense. Spectacular graphics, awesome wave physics and good difficulty. Split screened with friends on a bigscreen is really wild.

    Monkey Ball:
    This game alone justifies the purchase of the system. I don't think I've ever had as much fun playing a game (on a console) with friends as I have with this one. The premise is wierd, (you manuver a monkey trapped inside a plastic ball through courses) but insanely addicive. Buy the system and buy this game.

    Anyway, just my two cents.

    Andrew Murray

  • I had been checking my local Electronics Boutique for the past few weeks, asking if they were doing pre-orders. They weren't, claiming that they didn't have numbers on how many systems they'd be getting. Rumor has it that Microsoft and Sony were being bullyish, and trying to get retailers to not stock or do pre-orders on GameCubes, but that's another story.

    Anyway, they finally started doing pre-orders/purchases. Thanks to the PS2, it looks like all future consoles will be available only bundled at launch. For $399, I got a GameCube (it comes in indigo and black), 3 games (I chose Luigi's Mansion [ign.com], Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II [ign.com], and Super Monkey Ball [ign.com] (not all launch titles were available in the bundles)), one controller, and one memory card. A little pricey, but once I had one readily available in front of me, I had to have it. :-)

  • I was at Boston today (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Pzykotic ( 72530 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:24AM (#2491490)
    More specifically it's in Cambridge, right near Technology Square. It seems to be in some boiler-making company's building, very odd.

    Panasonic was there with Nintendo, and provided about 15 HDTVs. They looked amazing, and the following games were there:

    Madden 2002
    Luigi's Mansion
    Star Wars game (The name escapes me at the moment)
    Monkeyball
    Super Smash Bros Melee
    WaveRacer
    NBA game (dunno the name of this either)
    Pikmin

    There were also 2 small booths with larger HDTVs and surround sound, to enhance the experience. The two games on display in those were Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion.

    I would have taken pictures, but my camera was confiscated at the door :)

    My favorite game is a tie - Super Smash Bros Melee and Pikmin both rocked my world. The graphics on all the games were amazing - Madden 2002 looked like an actual TV broadcast of an NFL game (But there were 2 guys hogging it the entire time, playing a full game. The bastards. :P)

    Loud music, even a coulple "Booth Babes", and loads of free junk (Nintendo Power, foam cubes, tattoos, contests to enter...)

    It was pretty cool, but I wish they had had SSX there, or some more killer multiplayer games. I urge anyone that can to check it out, it's at 275 Third Street, in Cambridge. That's right near the Kendall Square stop on the T, and sandwiched in between MIT and Harvard (as is everything in that city :P)

    Any questions, just reply, I'll be keeping an eye out!

    -Luke
    • They didn't open up the second room? There is a second room, if you make a right as soon as you enter and go around up some stairs. More of every game and they had I think Madden and Rogue Leader in the small rooms.

      Here's my breakdown:

      Pikmin: I was never into Lemmings, so I watched some people play this and got bored.

      Rogue Leader: Lotta fun, probably played this this most.

      Luigi's Mansion: Went back to this one the most, but it did seem easy. A lotta fun trapping ghosts

      Wave Race: Better graphics than the N64 version, but seemed to play the same. Cool, but not great

      Madden: Looked and played like Madden on the PS2. Barely played.

      Smash Brothers Melee: What is the deal with this game? I bought the N64 version because everyone said it was a great party game. I've left it out at a couple parties and barely anyone touched it. Everyone in line wanted to play this game. I played it and I don't understnd what the big deal is. Its a big button masher. Oh, and some eight year old tried to tell me it's pronounced muh-lee. Please.

      Basketball: didn't bother playing.

      I may go back this weekend, just for kicks. And to clarify, I don't think of the location as sandwhiched between Harvard and MIT. More like MIT and the Cambridge Side Galleria Mall.

      psxndc

  • "What would you do for a Nintendo GameCube?" (Score:3, Funny)

    by Amon CMB ( 157028 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:27AM (#2491494)
    On this site it asks the question "What would yo do for a Nintendo GameCube? Eat slugs? Dive into a pile of Yoshi doo?" Hmm, no thanks, I think I'd just pay $200. ;-)

  • Japanese cube... (Score:4, Informative)

    by ctar ( 211926 ) <christophertar@@@gmail...com> on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:42AM (#2491523) Homepage
    I have a Japanese cube, and have to say I am very impressed. Luigi was a lot of fun to play, although a little bit short. It is visually amazing.

    I have just started Pikmin, which is also amazing, visually and as far as gameplay is concerned. It really seems to be a new genre of game. I can't think of anything else to compare it to, except in small small ways to C&C. Not only are the ideas and goals innovative, but the controls are absolutely an innovation in gaming.

    I am a little worried that Pikmin will be short and sweet as well, though. I've only had a few days with it, but I think I've made pretty good progress so far.

    I am also worried in general about Nintendo's catalog and release schedule...Even months after the initial release, the software release schedule does not seem very complete.

    What's a contemporary gaming console without a good golf game?!?

    One more plus...I think the new controller is great; a great improvement over the N64 controller, and much better thay playstation/PS2. Probably the 1st controller I've felt comfortable holding and using since the NES.

    • One more plus...I think the new controller is great; a great improvement over the N64 controller, and much better thay playstation/PS2. Probably the 1st controller I've felt comfortable holding and using since the NES.
      Man, your hands must look scary...
    • One more plus...I think the new controller is great; a great improvement over the N64 controller, and much better thay playstation/PS2. Probably the 1st controller I've felt comfortable holding and using since the NES.
      Ah yes, if only all the console makers stopped making all these silly "ergonomic" controllers and went back to the good old fashioned rectangle ones. now THAT was a good design.
    • What's a contemporary gaming console without a good golf game?!?

      Fun?
  • I mean, how can you can compete with the PS/2? The damn games are beautiful and I have never seen a PS/2 demo unit non functioning unless the store unplugged it cuz of some idiots hanging around too long! :) I saw the Oddworld game at a EB on the Xbox.....worst thing I have seen in years! It looked like a 16 bit unit to me. I mean, really, they have a full COMPUTER in the thing an no deballed thing like a PS/2 or Gamecube. The Pentium III 700 should resoundly kick butt. But, Oddworld looked ugly and the shots I have seen of that car game that are going around suck too. MS better have some better games then these two cuz SUCK! Granted, that doesn't mean the games suck. I have played the worst and the best over the years. Some of the best looking games suck when it comes to game play. The same token, some of the worst looking ones were damn fun.
    • I dunno, Man... My 486/66 wiped the floor with IBM's PS/2.

      Oh, oh, wait... you mean Sony's PS2.
    • I don't understand, you say 'Gamecube no', but then you compare the PS2 to the Xbox demo units. So how do you come to the negative conclusion about the gamecube?
      • In my subject I said I dunno.... (or I don't know if your a grammer slut). I can't comment too much on it since I have never seen much of it.

        Also, don't fool yourself....the X-Box demo units are probably pretty damn close to final units. Also, they have PROOF about some of the screenshots a while ago being faked and things like that.

        I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have. X-box has to compete with several game units that have established games that will be on them....GameCube has (or will Have) Mario, F-zero, and several other games while PS2 has Crash Bandicoot, and several others also. What does X-box have? Oddworld? Halo (which does look cool from what I have seen of it)? What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?

        Game consoles better freakin wake up and do it soon, otherwise these things are going to put them under. Of all of the new stuff, the GameCube looks like it may be more of a immediate hit then even the PS2 because Nintendo has some kick butt games that will be coming out on the machine and they are playing everything real close to the vest (I heard more about the PS2 then the gamecube....). I know the Luigi game looks real cool, but something keeps me thinking that Nintendo has some surprises. Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc. Nintendo never said that the GameCube would be anything but a game machine. Maybe this will be why it will do better, but still, Nintendo needs to revamp even some of it's new products (like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?) before they will do better.

        Keep this in mind when you read this post....I don't follow console games that much. I will look at them cuz, hey everyone needs a break. I refuse to be a gamer geek because it seems so pointless. If the game is fun to play who cares what the performance of it is as long as it the performance doesn't hinder the game play! Heck I loved playing Atari and we know how crappy it looked (when compared to todays stuff). My point is is games are supposed to be fun and those who harp on every little thing about a game, to me, take away that fun. This is why I buy the games I want to buy and never read a review.....let me decide if the game sucks (a game sucks if it's not fun).

        On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two? My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.

        • I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have.

          Here, Nintendo may be stepping on its own toes, as the name "Pikmin" is confusingly similar to the name of Nintendo's rooster sports[1] simulation "Pokemon".

          What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?

          One Xbox can split-screen four players for $600 ($300 plus the price of a sufficiently large TV set), as opposed for $2000 for four PCs.

          like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?

          A Pelican cover-light helps greatly and costs what? 10 USD?

          Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc.

          DVDs are also proprietary discs under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and foreign counterparts. Rumor has it that the "proprietary discs" are physically DVDs but formatted a different way (i.e. not udf).

          On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two?

          Can you give me a control map with only six keys (Up, Down, Left, Right, B, and A) that would let me excel at Descent or any other first-person shooter?

          My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.

          But weren't the 8-bit sports games (especially wrestling and TnF) mostly just button mashing?

          [1] "Rooster sports" is a euphemism for cockfighting.

    • How is this flamebait??? I guess if I praised the X-box it would not be? If I really wanted to flame on I would say that is look like an 8 bit! :) Now now now it didn't look THAT bad, but it did look terrible, to me IMNSHO. Seriously though, I am tired of seeing the same dang things turned out over and over again, but with pretty graphics. Let me see a new game concept like Fantavision on the PS2. That's a puzzle game and I liked it! Wait! I am supposed to hate puzzle games! Why did I like it? Because there's nothing like it. You really can't compare it too much to any other puzzle game. If I had to say it looked like anything, I'd say it looked like a upside down Gem stacker game, but it doesn't really. It's definitely a refreshing change from Madden 2002 and other EA drivel coming out. I mean I know it's been out a while, but still, it's pretty darn nifty and fun.

  • I'd just like to point out that Nintendo of Canada is touring across Canada with a couple of GameCubes. Oddly enough, the only place I've seen it advertised is on their own website [nintendo.ca]; on the plus side, it should make for some short lines.HJ Hornbeck

  • There is nothing bad to say about the GameCube (Score:3, Informative)

    by Dot_Killer ( 473321 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @12:57AM (#2491548)
    I was at the Club in Boston on Friday and all the games looked great. Only one seem kind of DOA, it looked like a Resident Evil clone but it might take a bit to get into. WaveRace was its usual great on all accounts. I liked the idea of Pikmin and its look but I didn't get into it, it does have great promise. I didn't get around to playing Luigi's Mansion or Rogue Squadron but those 2 titles really make the system shine. They actually where able to turn the lame N64 version of Courtside to a good cube game, Courtside 2002. Madden was like someone else said, looked like a broadcast. Smash Brothers was Smash Brothers but a better system made it better also. If you don't want a gamecube that's one thing but it is far from lame. I only played Monkey Ball battle a little, but the game comes highly rated.

    P.S. They gave out Nintendo Powers with a CD with demos of the first 10 games include an amazing demo of SSX. You could win one for just going so it is a win-win.

  • Why I think XBox will eventually win (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    First, I definitely think XBox will be a 3rd place seller his Xmas. I personally think GameCube will get 50% of sales, PS2 will get 33%, and XBox will only get 17%.

    However:

    We need to also keep in mind Sony and Nintendo's weak spot: developers.

    Developers are continuing to complain that PS2 is just too alien, and only a handful of developers are able to get the promised performance out of PS2.

    Developers are also complaining that Nintendo's licensing and distribution is way too heavy.

    In the long run, I think many developers will be woo'd by Xbox for the following reasons:

    * They can make as much money due to higher margins.
    * Microsoft understands developer relations far better than Sony and Nintendo.
    * Half billion dollars of marketing muscle will definitely help.
    * Also, NVidia's developer relations are a major asset.
    * Microsoft will make it very cheap for PC game developers to port DirectX games to Xbox. Look for a proliferation of newly anointed "console" developers to expand the XBox library (albeit with a lot of crap, too)

    Yes, XBox has a lot going against it too, but Microsoft's history of winning over the long haul (Browsers, handhelds, databases, etc) makes me really believe that Microsoft will win this battle, too.
    • basically..nintendo has had a lot of experience in the gaming world while microsoft has none, only a very few of the games microsoft has released for the pc have been really popular. and secondly the cube is about 100 dollars cheaper and the games are also cheaper....
    • *shudder* Deer Hunter on a console :( Why did you have to mention anything about the crap that would make it to a console. The world will never be the same.

      Jeremy
    • I think it will be closer than that. I would guess that they'll all be pretty damn close to even, with a slight advantage for GameCube and its lower price. GameCube ~40%, PS2 ~35%, Xbox ~25%.

      The GameCube will appeal to parents everywhere, especially for the price. The PS2 will appeal to those with the money who want an established machine with an established library of games. The Xbox ... well, I work at Electronics Boutique, and the thing doesn't impress me. I'm being nice, though.

  • I think the Gamecube looks awesome, but has anyone seen the ads they've been running? They're confusing and pretentious, and they only feature about five seconds of actual gameplay. And when they do, it's filmed off a screen. Why not show us how good these games look, instead of these arty pieces of crap? They had the same problem with the ads for the GBA.

    Someone needs to fire whoever they've got making ads for Nintendo.
    • Someone who has seriously good advertising is Sony Europe - those new PS2 ads are so trippy (see 'I am the wolfman' and you'll get the idea) http://ps2.ign.com/news/39423.html Sure they don't have any gameplay footage, but they make me wanna get my hands on one!
    • Nintendo IS confusing and pretentious. Their marketing staff is doing a good job, given that fact.
  • i heard that microsoft spent 12 million on x-box acvertising.. correct me if i'm wrong
    • I read somewhere on ign.com that Microsoft was spending more than $400 million alone on advertising. Alas.. IGN's search engine sucks, so I couldn't find the link. :P

      However, I was able to get a snippet from another site [twsurf.com] which stated:

      "That's why so much is riding on the Microsoft Xbox gaming console and why the company is expected to spend ten-billion dollars over five years just manufacturing the box itself, and a half-billion dollars in advertising and marketing in first eighteen months after launch. "

      I believe Nintendo's advertising budget is only a tenth of that number, which seems plausible since they have no need to establish a name in the video game market as much as Microsoft does.
  • I went to the club at the Mall of America. The most notible thing I personaly noticed, is the feeling that nintendo I trying to change thier image to appeal to adult video gamers. (1) When I walked in, a staff member handed me a stack of magazines. Most video game, but on the top was a magazine called "Stuff for Men" featuring pages and pages of Bikini Women. (2) They had Eternal Darkness on demo. Basiclly a Resident Evil style game. (3) They must be advertising diffrently since Most everyone there was 18+ years old!

    If I am right about ninendo trying to appeal to adult video gamers, they more than just bikini women magazines and Horror video games. They need bikini women in Horror video games.
  • ...surprisingly Luigi's Mansion...

    clue: with every new console, Nintendo issued a Mario universe game that rocked (for the time). As people seem to be complaining about it being too short, it's probably one of the weaker ones.

    Kiwaiti

  • Phoenix ended last week. I played each of the games for around five minutes with the exception of Pikmin (which was in use each time I came by). Anyway... I didn't get a good chance for some thorough report, but here are my thoughts:


    1. No killer app. While most of the games seemed entertaining enough, none really struck me as a stand-out hit. Pikmin looks like it has potential, but strikes me as more of a sleeper-hit. Then again, as the games are clearly targeted at a young audience, they may appeal more to kids than me.


    2. The controller feels great. As wierd as it looks, I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it felt (I guess I have "average" adult-sized hands). Much better than the N64 controller, which allways felt somewhat awkward. All of the buttons are easily accessible, and the analog have better grip than the ps2 dualshock.


    3. Graphics on par with PS2. In spite of specs that don't look as good on paper as ps2 ('cept RAM, I guess), the EA games (NBA and Madden) looked every bit as good as the ps2 versions.

    Overall, I think nintendo stands a good chance in the long run based on it's core demographic and the strong titles in the pipe -- Mario Sunshine, Zelda, Metroid(yes!) -- and the pricepoint is good. However, I don't think that Christmas is gonna be that strong compared to their other launches.

    • Re:Phoenix First-Hand Impresssions (Score:4, Informative)

      by Uttles ( 324447 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [selttu]> on Monday October 29, 2001 @09:27AM (#2492160) Homepage Journal
      Then again, as the games are clearly targeted at a young audience, they may appeal more to kids than me.

      What are you talking about? Did you play Star Wars? How about Madden 2002? Resident Evil? Wave Racer? Yes there were some kiddie games, but why is that such a bad thing? Kids have to have fun too. Pikimin was good? Are you on crack? Star Wars was the Killer App, hands down.

      Graphics on par with PS2. In spite of specs that don't look as good on paper as ps2 ('cept RAM, I guess), the EA games (NBA and Madden) looked every bit as good as the ps2 versions.

      Ummm, well.. hmmm, maybe you haven't seen the specs, but if you go to cube.ign.com [ign.com] I'm sure you can find some. The Gamecube is the leader in all areas except clock speed, which in reality doesn't matter because it has the highest processing power, it just takes less clock cycles to produce it. It runs off of a PowerPC-type RISC chip that was designed specifically for gaming (not watching DVD's). The most important areas are PPS (polygons per second) and Colors, and the GameCube has the lead in each of those categories. Anyway, all the stats in the world don't matter, PS2 has what feels like a 2 second delay between your movements and the game's reaction where the GameCube flows right along with your input, and that's the most important thing to me.
  • <sarcasm>Which is suprising because, you know, none of the other Super Mario Bros. games were fun or anythng.</sarcasm>

    Seriously, he was suprised a Super Mario Bros. game was fun? Um..... okaaaay. :-)
  • So does it crash as much as the Xbox? I'm guessing it doesn't...

  • I was at the Atlanta preview (Score:3, Informative)

    by Uttles ( 324447 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [selttu]> on Monday October 29, 2001 @09:18AM (#2492135) Homepage Journal
    OK, first of all, as an avid Nintendo supporter and GameCube fan, I take offense to this:

    Most games were disappointing, but Rogue Leader and suprisingly Luigi's Mansion were a lot of fun.

    Luigi's Mansion? Please! Apparently the author must have not felt like standing in some of the longer lines to play the really cool games. I agree with his comment on Rogue Leader, it was most impressive.

    Anyway, as to what I thought, I really enjoyed the preview. I have a cube on preorder along with a few games and I can't wait to get mine. The controller is really nice, unlike the N64 they really made a controller that "fits" your hand this time. The response of the controls is also very nice, unlike PS2 or Xbox, you really get a feel for the game, as soon as you move, it moves.
    *My favorite game was Star Wars... I've been a big Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember and this game is about as close as you can get to actually flying around in futuristic space and fighting the evil empire.
    *I also really liked Madden 2002, although I was a little dissapointed at the way it seemed to be just a carbon copy of the PS2 version. There were a few differences and I'm sure once my copy arrives I'll notice them better.
    *Another really fun game was Super Smash Brothers. They had 4 controllers set up and it was a blast using Samus to whoop some teenager ass. That game is hilarious, all out fun and it's surprisingly cool to fight with all the classic Nintendo Characters.
    *The new version of WaveRace was stunning. I really liked the N64 version but this new one delivers on every graphical aspect of the gamecube. You can actually see individual fish under the water as you're speeding by.
    *There was also a basketball game there, I don't remember the title but it wasn't EA Sports, and it also wasn't very good. The graphics were nice but it seemed to me to move too slowly, but I'm not a big basketball fan anyway.

    Well, that's what I thought about the games I played while I was there. I didn't play any others so I'm not going to talk about them, although I saw a long line for this Resident Evil type game. Anyway, only a few more weeks!
  • Of the upcoming machines left in the console wars (Playstation 2, XBox, and GameCube), GameCube appears to be the "least hackable", and yet its fanboys' support is rampant. I'm not totally against Nintendo -- the Game Boy Advance rocks, and playing Doom on it has brought back memories; plus, it's a great piece of little hardware -- but one's got to wonder if the Pokemon generation has been programmed to run out and purchase anything 8 inches by 8 inches.

    From a hacker's standpoint, the systems breakdown in "potential hackability":

    - XBox
    - Playstation 2
    - GameCube

    XBox is actually looking suprisingly promising. I mean, com'on: built-in hard drive, DVD drive, ethernet, digital out, NVidia components. This is a hacker's wet dream. While the GameCube has proprietary components that, at best, will be as difficult to port Linux to as has been the PlayStation 2 (which many Sony fanboys continue to deny).

    Personally, if I have the extra money, I'm going to purchase an XBox. Whether or not it's going to stay an XBox for long is debatable. I would say that "the system with the best games will win the war", but as we saw with Sega, even having really cool, innovative games is sometimes not enough to beat established marketing machines.

    • If hackability were enough to drive the market -- then we would all still be in awe over the Dreamcast. But it looks like as far as game machines are concerned -- there are legions of 12 year olds out there that just do not car if their Nintendo will never act as their firewall/mp3 server.
    • Hacker's wet dream? The XBox is just a PC in an ugly case! Wouldn't it be more fun to hack something else?

    • Of the upcoming machines left in the console wars (Playstation 2, XBox, and GameCube), GameCube appears to be the "least hackable",

      The Game Boy Advance, on the other hand, is the most hackable [gbadev.org]. All you need is GCC and a $50 cable, and you can connect your PC (running Linux or Windows) to a GBA through the parallel port and send short programs to the GBA's 256 KB of RAM. You can even program flash cartridges through the cable if you develop a larger program that you have tested on an emulator such as VisualBoy Advance.

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