-=>SONY vs NINTENDO

[Jared Katooie]

PC is best.

Consoles only for the games they could release on PC easily but wont, like Mario and Fable and the like.

[Pyroxian]

Yeah, but can't play PC games with a Joypad on my sofa in front of my 32" telly with surround sound on.

Have to sit at my desk on a dining-room chair hunched over a keyboard and mouse...

Which is fine for FPS's and RTS's, but not so good when you want to play a driving or platform game.

  Steve

[VampiraJen]

the only thing i've ever played on pc is red alert 2, which does work better on pc that consol, but i just can't imagine trying to play something like tomb raider on pc, give me a control pad any day of the week...must be a thumb thing...

my obiding memory of road rage is that i never actually owned that game, a friend did, and i whooped his arse at it, and borrowed it off of him once (in exchange for streets of rage, i think), but not for long enough to get very far with it.

I think electronic art were kind of ahead of the game back in those days.  Remember Desert Strike?

[VampiraJen]

mr c - you might want to go to a doctor about that cough...


"ahead of the game" - sorry, no pun intended...:(

[Pyroxian]

>Remember Desert Strike?

  Yep, Great game (bloody hard though) although I had it for the Amiga, not the Mega-drive. I've now got the Mega-drive version though :)

   Steve

[-=>DEMONIZER<=-]

The Commodore Amiga - now that was a machine!

Remember the old Amiga vs ST wars in the magazines and at school?

And before that, C64 vs Spectrum [no contest, but the ZX was still one hell of a machine].

ZX81 anyone? ZX80 even?

[Pyroxian]

Got 'em all (except for the ST - the only game I can think it's worth getting one for is Oids), oh and I don't have a ZX80 because the ZX81's exactly the same really, except faster.

Speccy, great games, nice sharp graphics. C64 had fantastic sound and colour, but the graphics were a bit blocky :(

Love the Amiga still and still get my A1200 out of the box and play some games on it now and again, the rest I just play on Emulators as I can't be arsed to wait 5 minutes for a tape to load! I'm toying with the idea of getting a 2nd x-box, chipping it, sticking in a bigger hard-disc and loading it up with hordes of emulators so I can play classics on the big-telly without having to unpack one of my consoles beforehand.

   Steve

[Pyroxian]

Just to get back on topic slightly - towards the end of the 16-bit era, games had lost their originality, we were subjected to many generic 2D platformers (we used to joke that they had a construction kit program to bash them out, I've since found out that's not too far away from the truth...), generic 2D beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups.

Once Doom came out, it revitalised the industry and made the console companies (OK, well Sony as the Saturn was going to be a 2D console until Sega saw the Playstation) think that 3D was the next best thing, which meant for a while we started getting new ideas thrown into market.

Still, there's plenty of original ideas out there the problem is a) getting Marketing divisions to understand them and b) getting the teenagers to buy them instead of Tomb Raider VII: This-time-we've-ballsed-up-the-control-system-so-bad-you'll-strangle-yourself-with-the-controller-cable

   Steve

[-=>DEMONIZER<=-]

ZX81: I remember 3D Monster Maze and some Star Trek game with fondness... have u got those? How blown away I was at the time, man....

ZX Spectrum 48k: Manic Miner, JSW, Wally games(Automania, Pyjamarama), Dragontorc, Sabre Wulf, Atic Attac, Underwurlde, Knight Lore, Football Manager... remember FAIRLIGHT? Where the hell is that 3-channel sound coming from!!??

Blocky graphics were a critisism of the C64 for sure, but when you got Impossible Mission, Parallax, Uridium, Bubble Bobble and loads of other classics that escape me... who cared?

It's a bit old-fartish, but I dont't care - they simply do NOT make 'em like they used to!

[stront692]

the GBA has also been flooded with loads of 16 bit ports and snes games as well, though

as u say its due to the high cost of gaming at the moment, software groups re relying on bread and butter conversions while trying to come up with a hit (it got this way towards the end of the 8 bit era and again at most eras since, the only exception is the dreamcast which was flooded with high end software just before they stopped making it - i had a great xmas that year)

[stront692]

games are evolving slower bcos they are being treated like product, every year they tout that games make more money than the film industry - at ?40 a pop im not surprised (films cost ?5 a time and are a weekly experience, i dont many people that can buy a game a week)

if games ever do become like films then we are in big trouble cos then we will be battered with endless big summer blockbusters and sequels even worse than now - every time someone makes a new game it will copied to deaht for the next 2 years just like the trends in the cinema (dinosaurs after jurassic park, aliens after men in black, superheroes at the mo)

[Steamboy]

Matt, the games you mentioned in your earlier post as top PS2 games are all available or will be available soon on Xbox(some on cube) with improved graphics, I meant the PS2  has very few decent Exclusive(and i mean fully exclusive not exclusive for 6 months) titles with a couple of exceptions(main ones I can think of are the Gran Turisimo games, the best racing games around). The controller coment was based on my belief that all most all PS2 games have a generic button layout and use the controller in the same way leading to titles playing the same, I for one like the challenge of learning a new game not playing the same game with dif graphics.
The Double Dash point I agree very similar same as Mario but atleast the new elements they add work and dont shit up the gameplay. My main point is the whole market is becoming stagnant and stale because mainstream gamers dont want to take a chance on titles they've never hear of. Whats a bet we get a Tomb Raider sequal next year but not a Prince Of Persia sequal, look at sales figures over Christmas
Big Sellers - MOH:Rising Sun bellow average sequal to top selling game last year(not even half as good IMO)
           - Tony hawks Underground(5) yawn been there done that a couple of years ago with Agressive Inline(awsome game didn't sell simply because it didn't have a big name attached)
           - Need For Speed Underground oh look Fast and the Furiouse game....yawn below par graphics wow 2 player games online, but you can give your car a nice flash paint job
All three of these games outperformed(in Aust market anyway) Prince of Persia not one could hold a candle to the quality that is P.O.P. I suppose  its something we have to live with when a medium goes mainstream doesn't mean we have to like it.

CU Krestel (did I mention how much I like Metroid Prime)

[Devons Daddy]

i get to see the comparison game wise here .

with so many pirate versions of games easily avaible i am able to make direct comparisons.

i have found PS 2 tend to have 30 basic games and 10 versions of them each which they like to pretend = 300 games.

XBOX has 30 basic games but 3 -4 quality version of each.

Game cube. some outstanding games. but such a small market out here i think it will go to the wall in five years.

sony are happy to churn out crap. microsoft seem to be more quality orientated.

but innovation is nintendo, but such a small fan base its not going to cut it in the long run.