411 Games Rumor Down-Lo 06.24.03
411 Games Quote of The Week
Now I’m probably not the best person to discuss a Star Wars game. I don’t know my Obi Wan Kunobi’s from my Luke Skywalkers, or my Chewbaccas from my Captain Picards, however I am the best person to tell you whether a game is good or not, because I have a thing called taste, and everything I say is usually correct.
— The Scotsman (Review: Star Wars The Clone Wars – XB)
(411 DOWN-LO ONLINE 06-24-03: BEGIN TRANSMISSION…)
Hi, I’m Bebito Jackson, and I TOLD YOU the new Tomb Raider would be a ‘pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard…a belligerent old fart…a worthless, steaming pile of cow dung!’
Reviewers are finally getting their first tastes of Tomb Raider: Angel of Crapness in its completed form and believe me when I say it ain’t pretty. Later on in the “show”, I’ll give you an excerpt from an interview with Core Design co-founder Jeremy Heath-Smith, where even he openly admits that the game is the suckiest suck that ever sucked a suck. Well sort of, he didn’t come right out and say that exactly but… you’ll see.
Time to make with the rumors. Slim pickins’ this week, but I’ll make due with what I have. Behold the “Tomb Raider Still Sucks” Edition of the Down-Lo. For those new to this column or for regular readers of mine that are mentally retarded, the higher the Down-Lo Rating the more chance the rumor could mystically come true! Rumors! They’re magically delicious! Enjoy. I do.
This is the Down-Lo.
JET MOTO? NO NO
Man, I’ve really got NOTHING this week. *rummages through old rumors* Something’s has to be in here. Ah, here’s a tidbit.
Ever hear of the hot new game Jet Moto Solar?? Sony was working on the early stages of a new game in the Jet Moto series dubbed Jet Moto Solar. Sounds great right?! Well, only thing is, the game was canned before it ever came out. Sorry. This is one Jet Moto that we’ll never play. *thinking back to Jet Moto for PSOne* On the other hand, perhaps that’s a good thing. But you can check www.weslouie.com for the original art and concept images on the game if you’re interested in dead projects.
What? Yes that’s it. Next rumor.
DOWN-LO RATING: 9
MATRIX? MORE IS COMING
I’m dying over here. Still nothing. Come on, come on… OH! *pulls out folder marked ‘Matrix’* The Matrix. Everybody loves the Matrix, right?? Great! Better stretch… err, I mean go into fine detail on this one.
Driver, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Civilization, Monopoly, Test Drive, Unreal, Dragon Ball Z, V-Rally, Backyard Sports, Deer Hunter, Tonka, Putt Putt, Freddi Fish, and Enter The Matrix. What do all these games have in common? Yes, they’re all highly overrated but besides that. Give up? They are all games that have surpassed sales of 2.5 million units. Sick isn’t it? In little more than a month on store shelves, Atari’s Enter The Matrix has sold through 2.5 million units in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), and we all unfortunately saw it coming.
No Enter The Matrix wasn’t a horrible game. It wasn’t even bad. That’s not the point. It just wasn’t a game deserving of THAT many sales. Sure, it’s a decent title. I’d give it a 7/10, maybe a 7.5, but for it to have sold as many as it did was completely unjustified. Meanwhile stuff like Ikagura, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and Capcom Vs SNK 2: EO sit on the shelves and collect dust. It’s just not fair I tell you.
Due to the ungodly amount of money the title has generated it’s a gimmie that a sequel should be in the works. But not as soon as you might think. Even though the next Matrix flick is due to hit theaters in November, the next game in the series may not be released until Fall 2004 with a follow up to that game scheduled for a 2006 release. These two games (both being developed by Shiny) are in addition to the MMORPG already announced by Ubi Soft, which means there are more games in the future of the Matrix than movies. And that is truly a sickening thought. Especially when you consider all the inhumane amounts of money they’ll make off of mediocre titles. Darn you Super Wachowski brothers!
DOWN-LO RATING: 8
UPDATE: XBOX 1.5
Gotta at least do one more… and I don’t have anything. *sigh* Oh well. It’s over. Hey I gave it my best shot, but like I said nothing new has come in lately and… *Rumor Monkey comes running over to Bebito* Don’t tell me! You’ve got something! *Rumor Monkey nods* Oh thank goodness. Let me see. *hands Bebito piece of paper*
What? An update? Not even a new rumor? Oh come on now, monkey.
Rumor Monkey: (*Take what you can get monkey noises*)
——
Before my departure from 411 Games, I brought up the possibility of Microsoft planning to release a redesigned Xbox, dubbed “Xbox 1.5”, which will come in a significantly smaller case than the original model. Just because it wasn’t shown at E3, does not mean the plans have been scrapped.
Weekly magazine WAM has reported that the new system will be launched alongside the MMORPG True Fantasy Live in Japan later this year – a move which would make sense, given that True Fantasy Live is one of Microsoft’s key hopes for invigorating sales of the Xbox in that territory.
Also reporting on the new Xbox is respected Japanese games magazine Dorimaga, which speculates that the forthcoming hardware revision is the reason why Japan has not seen an Xbox price cut in the last few months – with the price of the old hardware expected to drop when the new version appears on the market.
Many commentators fully expected Microsoft to unveil a revised version of the Xbox hardware at E3, following long-running criticism of the bulky casing of the console (bashing which I feel to be highly unwarranted; it’s not THAT big). It’s not expected that any changes will be made to the internals of the system, however – this is, by all accounts, a purely cosmetic makeover.
When the results of the makeover are revealed on Jenny Jones, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
DOWN-LO RATING: NONE FOR UPDATES
And that’s the Down-Lo. Whooo… glad that’s over.
Thanks to IGN, Spong.com, GamesAreFun, and GamerFeed for today’s stories.
THINGS I FOUND THAT MAKE GREAT COLUMN FILLER
Here’s the interview with Core Design co-founder Jeremy Heath-Smith as promised. It’s taken from GamesAreFun, which took it from Computer & Videogames.com. So it’s stolen from a website that stole it from a website. Just read it. It’s fascinating.
Computer & Videogames: To deal with the latest delay again, the way we understand it is the game simply had to be out by the end of June to make Eidos’s fourth fiscal quarter…
Heath-Smith: Yes.
C&V:But could you really use even more time?
H-S: You know what? We could’ve spent another year on it. But you can do that with any big game, so we had to draw a line in the sand, which we did some time ago, and say: “That’s it guys – let’s lock down content and just get this bloody thing finished.
The game is finished – we’re happy with it; we love it.
C&V: And you’ve had enough time to iron out all major bugs before it went Gold?
H-S: There’s fifty hours of gameplay – we’re not going to get every bug out of it. How can I emulate two million people playing it differently in a day? I can tell you this: we can’t find any crash bugs. Are there times when things may go a bit weird? Yeah, course there are, but you show me a game that doesn’t do that. So yes, I’m very, very happy with the quality. (Bebito’s Note: Was it just I, or did he completely dodge that question. It’s not just me? Ok. Just making sure.)
C&V: When you first unveiled the game, it was build as “adult” and “edgy” and you used arty references to tie-in with it. Does Angel of Darkness remain true to this vision?
H-S: No, I think we’ve softened it as we’ve gone on, and as the market’s softened. I think the storyline is still very adult and edgy; anything involving a religious cult and a guy that’s been around for 1,000 years, who are in this sect and murder people and use them for experiments – yeah, that’s pretty dark.
The great thing is that Lara shines through as a kind of bright candle in all of this. On one side it’s hard and edgy, and on the other Lara comes along and brightens it all up. We toyed with the idea of darkening Lara as well, but we stopped that in the early stages and brought her back up a bit – and I’m very pleased we did.
I think the way that the PlayStation player plays games now… they like the adultness of a story, but also wants to be entertained rather than horrified.
C&V: What were you doing with Lara that was so dark and that you decided to change?
H-S: It’s more in terms of what we were planning on doing with her in the storyline. We were looking at adding things to her body that would, well, change her! To see Lara smoking would be a bit weird, because she’s pretty clean living. She might smoke – we haven’t told you she doesn’t, but…
C&V: So the changes you made were as a result of a general shift in the market rather than any titles in particular…
H-S: No, it was actually market shift. There are enough dark and dingy games out there. But look at Vice City: is that a dark and dingy game? No, it’s a fun game. Why is it a fun game? Because you can do loads of different stuff. Does it cross a line? Yeah, absolutely, but that’s what makes it a fun game.
Why is it a great game? The game itself isn’t actually that good; what makes it great is the whole experience. That’s why I’ve played it for hours and hours. Do I get my head around doing all these missions? No, that’s pants, I don’t care about that. Ask any GTA player and they’ll tell you that. (Bebito’s Note: I’m sorry, but what the blood clot is he talking about? Does he even know?)
C&V: So how has Lara evolved?
H-S: I feel she’s evolved in the way we’ve matured the story; the way we’ve improved the way she looks, the way we’ve used physics, the way we’ve introduced Kurtis into the story, the way the environments are bigger, the RPG elements, the power-ups, the bigger and better puzzles…
You know what’s terrifying? For the last few months we’ve played the other Tomb Raider games… You got back and play the original – and people have hugely fond memories of Tomb Raider 1 – and take a look at it. You’ll die. It’s just unbelievably bad [laughs].
C&V: Staying with Tomb Raider on PSone, the general perception is the series got progressively worse from the original. Do you see this as a return to form?
H-S: I would say it’s a return to form. But I’d also say put on Tomb Raider 4 next to Tomb Raider 1 and you’ll see the quality quadrupled. What originally happened was that Tomb Raider was a breakthrough product – it was a new genre, 3D, new character – just incredible. People tend to remember snapshots throughout their lives of things that affected them and Tomb Raider certainly touched a lot of people.
As the series went on and we exploited the licence, hardcore gamers maybe thought we’d turned our back on them. And in reality, we probably did (Bebito’s Note: Probably?), because we had to broaden the gameplay to appeal to a broader audience. With this game, we think we’ll get a lot of Tomb Raider 1 players back, and I think what we’ve done is give the hardcore gamer enough to get their teeth in while making it accessible to the mass market.
The real gamers are going to play this and think: “This is a big game.” But if you’re one of these casual gamers who like to play a game for a few hours here and there and be rewarded, we feel we’ve nailed that as well.
C&V: As you’ve said, the first Tomb Raider was revolutionary at the time. Do you still feel the series is as relevant and full of impact now?
H-S: No; how can it? All we want to do is ensure we’ve created a great game on what is already a big licence. People having given it scores of 8/10 so far and I’m asked if I’m upset. Well no: I wouldn’t expect any more, if I’m complete honest with you. How can people give this 10/10? It’s not a revolutionary game; it’s a Tomb Raider game. It’s just a bigger, better, more gorgeous Tomb Raider game – that’s the truth.
Anybody whose job it is to review games, if they give it less than 8/10 I’d think: why? That’s really unfair. (Bebito’s Note: …nevermind. It’s just too easy.) If they gave it 10/10, I’d say good for them, I think it’s worth a ten, but I do understand. A game like Splinter Cell comes along and it is revolutionary. It’s a new genre, nice game and deserved to score massively.
Who boy. I’ve seen fewer excuses than this in a Chris Pankonin column defending Triple H. You could just tell that he knew his game was garbage. You read it. You saw it too. And it’s stuff like this that I just don’t understand. How can you spend sooo much time and money working on a single title and still allow it to be released as bug ridden, uncontrollable, derivative, company shaming, really SHOULD have been in development for another year, piece of trash. I mean really, Core Designs should be ashamed of themselves to even allow this thing to go out there with their names on it. Notice I didn’t say the Tomb Raider name, because that has been degraded all to purgatory and back. But I’m sure some still had hope that Core Designs would pull something out this time. Not me, but some. Sadly this was not to be. And with that went down the name of their entire development studio. I feel sorry for the poor sap on the 411 staff that has to review this puppy. I’d do it, but I’m allergic to utter and compete crap. You’ll see what I mean when the mediocre to retina burning bad reviews start streaming in from everywhere, but do yourselves a favor beforehand and don’t buy this. Please. I’m begging you. This is as much for your own good as it is mine. Just… don’t.
It’s really a shame that this is what Eidos was banking on to bring them back to their former over-prosperity. However the general populous is woefully stupid, so we should most likely anticipate high sales regardless. Bleh. It’s all Angelina Jolie’s fault. Darn her firm breasts. When the movie becomes better than the games, it’s time to hang it up. Seriously.
MY READERS ARE AWESOME AND I’VE GOT PROOF!
Official reader mail decreased significantly due to feedback for the latest Down-Lo Contest, but a few of you had some nuggets of joy in addition to your entries:
So I Have To Wear A Mask And Shoot Out Flames Now?
Heyyy. Glad you’ve realised you don’t suck any more and its time for a gimmick change. This could lead to the success that the likes of kane feel after a stint as Isaac Yankem or alternatively you could sink faster then Kronik. But this is a games column and theres no way you could fail with the greatest writing name the internet has ever seen and i promise you no one else will come up with this, unless they drank the same mix of bacardi and red wine i did, and that name is “Carlos the magic reindeer man” or as you would be known “Bebito the magic reindeer man i tell you its a sure fire winner.
— Al Francois
Please email me back with whatever mix of bacardi and red wine you downed. That must have been some good stuff.
I’m Two People In One! A Skitsofraniac!
Well, well, well… Two of the Games Section’s finest re-emerge at the same time. Hmmm…. That’s a thought…. Nobody seems to have any pictures of you and Alex Lucard both at once… Maybe you’re the same person!!
Hmm… Not so good as a gimmick. Would be a lot funnier if it hadn’t been done before, too. Oh, well, never mind.
But here’s a Gimmick for you…
Now to expand…. You might have the ‘regular’ personas like ‘Uncle Bebito’, who appear more frequently, and some other ‘one-shot’ ideas (where the joke is only good once, like some bad Sonic news being accompanied by ranting from the spirit of an articulated lorry that used to love squashing Hedgehogs into roadkill… The personality surfaces briefly, then vanishes. Obviously, the ideas you come up with for personalities will be way better than mine). And if people tell you they like certain personalities, they might re-emerge by popular request.
The beauty of this idea is that while it requires some effort, you already do that sort of thing anyway, and it won’t interrupt the flow of the column. Oh, and Rumour Monkey needs a catchphrase… How about… “The rumours from Monkey are irrepressible”?? OK, done with cheesy references to so-bad-it’s-good Japanese TV now.
Glad your wife is better, too. Long-term illness in family members is never a good thing (as I know).
Well, all the best, and give the Monkey a banana for me ;)
— Misha
My wife thanks you for the “get-well” wishes. And my monkey thanks you for the banana.
Man. That gimmick probably would have been a top contender, but I received the entry a day after the contest expired so no dice. Had to be fair. And PLEASE don’t compare me with Mr. Lucard. Game companies probably like me (Sega mostly), but Alex gets death threats from EA & Squaresoft on a daily basis. Then again, I’m sure someone at Core Designs would love to ring my neck right about now.
Weep For Me! Weep, I say! Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha!
Sigh, you can’t just leave well enough alone, can you, Mr. Jackson? You HAD to include info on your little buddy Sonic. Bah on him I say. BAH! Perhaps my hatred of him is due to having similar hair, just not blue. Whatever it is, stop. Please. Don’t make me start crying. Well, publicly, I mean.
As for X-Box getting aggressive, they need to be. They might be #2, but they’re a DISTANT #2. While I wish nothing but pestilence and plague upon the system, it has the potential to be great, and really needs to work on more than “We have X-Box Live, LOVE US!!!”
And what’s with 411 being full of people with unpronounceable last names? Eric S., Jeff M., Chris P., and this freak Daron K. Hell, it’s gotten so bad Daron doesn’t even spell his FIRST name right! Ugh.
Benefit of trip to Hong Kong: Treamcast. Detriment of trip to Hong Kong: Money and SARS. Damn, looks like I gotta go without. :(
And as for your new gimmick, howzabout… The Beer Guzzling, Chair Swinging, Game Playing Black Superman. I think that’s catchy.
— Jim Moore / Down-Lo Devotee
Hmm. A Treamcast might actually be worth SARS. The have cures for that stuff now, right?
And don’t get me started on how to pronounce Chris Panky and the rest of the staff’s last names. Is everybody Polish or something? Somebody please tell me.
Oh, and you might as well get used to it too, Jim. Sonic The Hedgehog will always be an intricate part of the Down-Lo. Heck, the only one-shot column I’ve ever done in my entire 411 career was on the Sonic X anime. (That shill is simply devilish.)
More WAWA References No One Will Get
man… you had to go and promote me… between you and lee (and this new email from pk) i now feel obligated to keep writing, lol. maybe i’ll take baxley’s cue and ditch the format and just write… i’m not
sure how that’ll go over in a review-type situation, but it’s better than the whole lot of nothing i’ve been churning out lately… oh well, time will tell…
BULLET POINTS OF RAMDOMNESS
new GB-dunno about the hard drive thing… take another look at the (mostly incomprehensible) article… it says that it’ll dl the game info to “internal random access memory”… aka RAM. which means that as soon as you cut the power, POOF! nothin’. i’m guessing it’ll be kinda like the e-reader works now, only on a bigger scale.
x-box price drops: yep, probably… just as soon as sony does the same :p still, even at $180, xbox is still the cheapest linux box you can buy, heheh. as far as game prices dropping… my guess is just that they’ll add more titles to the platinum line.
spotlight: that has to be one of the most disturbing things i’ve ever read. i’m not sure if that’s a good thing…
pc vs. console: one thing you missed: to be on the console cutting edge, you’re spending a few hundred bucks every few years per system. to stay on the pc cutting edge, you’re constantly spending a few
hundred on a video card here, a new mobo/processor there, etc. huge cost difference. also, about 90% of pc games are either FPS’s or RTS’s, which, ironically, all lead to CTS. pointy-clicky games, IMHO, get old real fast. even pc rpg’s are pointy-clicky. console=variety
jersey reference: *I* got it, beeotch! ^_^ I live in south jersey. I also work at night. ergo, I worship wawa. nothing like knowing that you can get a fresh hoagie at 3am. that and the fact that you mention this to anyone outside of the wawa radius and you’re guaranteed a funny look, heheh. i’ll leave the blunt-smoking to the socks, tho. ;-)
re: re: pipe dream rumors: PE3: cool beans. last I heard it was just a remake of 1, which would be cool, but 3 is even better. 2d gundam: bandai and capcom already teamed up to make a 3d gundam shooter that didn’t suck (federation vs. zeon). i will keep dreaming, i guess… hopefully not in vain >_< advance wars^3 (cubed?) schweet. ED2: i had already figured, but double schweet. mario sports: i think i's safe to say that me and sven will just agree to disagree. i can't stand mario, and i can't stand golf. i ain't gonna change my mind, and i'm not out to change his mind. i'm still just irked that an original game was sidelined in favor of what's basically a retread. bringing golden sun to GC... now THAT'S an idea. death penalty: assuming that AW goes online in the future, i may just have to enforce that law myself. that game is way too pure to be f*cking with it by cheating. all will submit to the power of lightning strike!
new gimmick: i thought the monkey was your gimmick…? I always viewed the “i suck” thing as more of a running gag. unfortunately, i really don’t have any ideas.. mostly because i think things are just fine as is. you wanna ditch the “i suck” thing, that’s cool, but really, it’s not like it’s leaving a gaping hole or anything.
anyways, i gotta split. thanks for the column, as always… ttyl
— Matt Hardin / 411 Figures
The monkey? A gimmick? No, no, no people. He is my trusted friend and sidekick. I couldn’t do the column without him. *pats Monkey on the head* Glad Lee and I convinced you to keep writing, but if you ever want to write for 411 Games, I could sneak you in the back door (shhh, don’t tell PK). Besides, you sort of sound like you’d fit in around here. You’re demented enough that’s for sure.
THE DOWN-LO CONTEST: CREATE MY GIMMICK PART 2
When the call went out for you good folks to create a new gimmick for this very column (now that the “I suck” thing is dead and buried), many stepped up to the challenge. And who wouldn’t want to give it a shot, with a column appearance within the Down-Lo on the line? Nobody that’s who. And that was evident by the wide range of gimmicks I had thrown at me. Some of the stuff I got back ranged from creative to hilarious to downright disturbing. Let’s take a quick look at few that were close but no cigar:
*****
“Bebitious, God of rumors, games, and funk.”
“Newest Teen Girl Squad Member”
“Bebito: Digging up copies of Atari E.T. carts as we speak”
“Most of the time, you’re Bebito, mild mannered web reporter, but when when a video game company does something shady or outright stupid (fail to include Sonic CD in the Sonic Mega Collection, dupe Matrix fanboys into turning a game with below average gameplay into a bestseller, etc.) you become everyone’s favorite new superhero, Gamer’s Avenger (please choose a better name), and then proceed to prevent the Evil Company’s plans from being fulfilled, warn the gaming community steering it away from terrible games and toward games that got the funk instead, and perhaps seek out the Evil Company’s CEO and kick him in the shins.”
“Makes lazy f*cks like me come up with gimmicks to get on 411”
“Plays Ikaruga with no picture. Dies Immediately but does it anyway”
“Tosses salads like his name was Caesar”
“Drops the soap on purpose”
*****
The contestants who sent in those last two were DISQUALIFIED!
At the end of the day however, only one could win and the 411 Games staff got to decide who they felt was the best of the best. Rumor Monkey, may I have the envelope please? *Monkey hands Bebito envelope* Ok, and the winning gimmick is…!
*drum roll*
“The rumor monkey’s bitch!” sent in by 411 Games fan Bogey! Wait… *looks at gimmick again* “The rumor monkey’s bitch,”?? THIS is what the staff decided? You’ve got to be kidding me? *Rumor Monkey smiles at Bebito* Oh, I’ll deal with this later. But in the meantime, a deal is a deal. And Bogey gets his own column within the Down-Lo. So without further ado, let’s have a look at his 411 debut, shall we?
Bogey’s Little Space In The Internet World 06.24.03
Posted By Bogey on 06.24.03
Wow! I couldn’t believe when I opened my mail today and saw that I was the winner of Bebito’s gimmick naming contest. Let me take you back on the long journey and tell you how it happened. I was at work the other day and as usual, I was bored out of mind. So I decided to click on Bebito’s column as I do each and every week. As usual, it was solid work from the rumor king; a few rumors here, a Down-Lo spotlight, the rumor monkey popping up at random. Then, as I reached the end of the column, I saw it. A chance to be immortalized forever in the annals of 411mania history. I KNEW I had to win this contest, no matter what it took. If I had to spend hours upon hours or even days thinking of the perfect gimmick for Bebito, I would. So after getting home that afternoon, I locked myself in my own personal sanctuary with a glass of Tang and six and a half Oreo cookies. After thinking long and hard, I came up with the perfect gimmick for Bebito. He was the rumor monkey’s bitch! After all, who was in charge of their relationship? The monkey. Who could show up in the column whenever he felt necessary? The monkey. It was simple really and it took my genius to think of it!
To tell the truth, it wasn’t really that exciting. I read the column and came up the gimmick idea in about five seconds. Then I went home and oogled at pictures in the Sears catalog. Sigh. Anyway, I’ve wasted enough time so let’s get to what this column is all about…video games!
Today, folks, I’m going to tell you why I love Nintendo as it is my favorite video game system of all time. Whether you think I’m right or not doesn’t really matter since I’m only a humble guest of the rumor monkey’s bitch(had to get that in), Bebito Jackson. From that fateful day when I got the Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas in 1980something, I was hooked. I had played Atari and Intellivision before, but this gray box of goodness blew both away.
The first game I played was Super Mario Brothers. Never before had I seen such a vast world in a video game. It was truly amazing as there were castles, warp zones, dragons, powerups, a princess and a minus world. Over the next year, my library of games increased as I played such classics as Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, Metroid and Rad Racer. Don’t get me wrong, they were all very good games, but they didn’t compare to the game I was about to get the following Christmas.
Yeah, just like everybody else, I had seen the corny commercials. The game looked cool and all but I really didn’t know what it was about. I wasn’t expecting this game to change the why games were made forever. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the game I’m talking about is The Legend of Zelda. There are really only a few games that you can say changed the video game industry and Zelda is one of those games.
This game had it all. Swords, shields, a huge world to explore, multiple dungeons, huge bosses, difficult enemies, secrets, puzzles! It was your classic good versus evil and it had never been done this good on a video game system. It took me many months to defeat the game but when I did, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Then I discovered there was a SECOND QUEST! So I did it all over again, though it was much harder this time, and I loved every single minute of it.
Time went on and of course I got the classics like Zelda 2, Mario 2 and 3 and Dick Tracy(hey, I thought it was a good game). Then I heard one day that Nintendo was planning on introducing a new system, a 16 bit system! Of course, I subscribed to Nintendo Power so I was able to see all the previews of the new games. I loved it! I would go to Babbages and watch the video previews they had of different video games and I couldn’t wait until the Super Nintendo came out.
The day it came out, I was one of the first in line as I had to get it home and play 16 bit Mario. Once again, I was blown away. The graphics were amazing, Mario and Bowser never looked better, the world was much larger, and the final boss battle was something never seen before. Each year the SNES games got better and better. Zelda 3: A Link to the Past may be one of the greatest games of all time. Never before had I looked forward to a game as much as that one. I would literally spend hours a day looking at the pictures of it in Nintendo Power. I counted down the months to the release date and when the day finally arrived, I was in heaven.
Nintendo kept pushing the limits of the graphics on its games. Star Fox was revolutionary for it’s time. Maybe the most amazing game though was Donkey Kong Country. This game was simple breath taking as it had graphics and music never seen or heard before in a 16 bit game. The game was beautiful in every sense of the word and if you’re a Nintendo fan and you didn’t appreciate this game, there’s something wrong with you.
The Super Nintendo was going great but the time came when change was necessary. Sega was putting out a new system. An unknown machine called the Playstation was released and doing very well for itself. Nintendo had to up the ante and to an extent, they did with the release of the Nintendo 64.
Once again, the day the system came out, I was there to purchase it and once again, Mario stood up to the plate and hit a homerun. A game that is still considered the best 3-D platform game ever, Mario 64 was another one of those games that changed the video game industry forever. There’s been MANY clones since Mario, some have been great, some haven’t. Although many people didn’t appreciate the 64 and many more thought there weren’t enough quality games, I have to disagree with that. Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the Mario Party games, Mario Kart 64, and Donkey Kong 64 are just some of the classics released for this underrated machine. It may have not gotten the respect that it deserved, but I was more than happy with my Nintendo 64.
Fast forward to late 2001. Playstation 2 had been out for awhile and are dominating the video game scene. They were pumping out many quality titles. X-Box was just an infant but the power of its machine was undeniable. Once again, Nintendo had to get with the times and they released the Gamecube.
Ever the loyal fan, I was there on day one to by the game. Something was different this time though. There was no Mario game on the release day. In my opinion, that hurt a lot as almost everybody associated a new Nintendo system with a new Mario game. I got past that though and after a few months, there were some decent games coming out. Eternal Darkness, the Resident Evil remake, Animal Crossing, Mario Sunshine and most recently, Zelda: Wind Waker are just a few of them. There are a lot of rumors saying that Nintendo may give up on making new hardware and just concentrate on video games but I refuse to believe that. I think there’s to many great games coming out in the near future for that to happen plus a new Nintendo system is rumored to be in the works.
As you can see, I’ve been a Nintendo fan since the beginning. Sure, I’ve played a little of Sega, Playstation and X-Box so my opinion isn’t completely biased. No company has been as creative, innovative and as consistent as Nintendo has. The great games and the great franchises the company has just keeps me coming back for more and more.
One day, Nintendo may go the way of Sega and only produce video games and if that happens, it will be a sad, sad day for the video game world. Before Playstation made an impact and became the number one system in the world, before X-Box was even thought of, there was Nintendo. Nintendo, the system that made the Playstation and X-Box possible. Nintendo, my favorite system of all time.
I’d just like to thank Bebito Jackson for giving me this small space in his great column to give my opinions. I hope I didn’t suck to bad.
Not at all Bogey! And there’s nothing wrong with oogling the Sears catalogue either! Drop the guy a line and let him know your thoughts on his column. I’m sure he’d get a kick out of it. Congratulations on winning the contest. But let me be perfectly clear: even though the 411 Games staff voted on and decided it, I AM NO ONES “biatch”. *Rumor Monkey looks disappointed* Oh get back in your cage and shut up.
THE DLV OF THE WEEK
What the heck happened to Dino Crisis? No seriously. Check out Capcom’s plot summary on this one: “Dino Crisis 3 begins with the discovery of the gigantic spaceship ‘Ozymandius’ that has suddenly re-emerged after disappearing for 300 years and is now headed towards earth.” Ok…
But the trailer for it is sweet. Look at the pretty Xbox graphics and marvel. Ooooo. Aaaaaah.
(DLV OF THE WEEK: DINO CRISIS 3)
We done, dun. You people keep it on the DL until I get back. In the meantime, check out my home biscuit Lee Baxley on the Hump Day. Foshizzle my nizzles. Peace, I’m out.
(411 DOWN-LO OFFLINE: END TRANSMISSION…)