Sunday, September 24, 2006

Nintendo's Age of Disruption

# posted by Chronodin @ 9:43 PM
 
"Age of Disruption", by Sean Malstrom

If you have any interest at all in the video game industry right now, particularly Nintendo, you owe it to yourself to give that article a read. It sheds some very interesting light on what might be Nintendo's TRUE business strategy, and it makes perfect sense. He also makes a convincing argument that "Wii" may have different origins than they've led us to believe.

Read on, and see for yourselves.

.:[ Links ]:.
No remix of the day right at the moment, but I'll put one up tomorrow soon. Scout's honor.

-Chronodin
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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Twin Towers Correctional Facility

# posted by Chronodin @ 9:33 PM
 
Sorry no updates in the past few days, not too much going on it seems. But, hey, isn't it nice for me to have to say that instead of "Sorry no updates in the past few months"?? ;)

And as for the title of this post, I was watching Shark when writing this one, and just happened to look up and see that on the TV. Considering the post talks about Peter Jackson, it seemed too good of a coincidence to pass up.

Interview with Peter Jackson about Halo movie

I wasn't sure before, but this interview gives me hope for this movie. For one, Jackson admits that most video game movies aren't that great, and I think he's really taking it very seriously. I know I kinda picked on him before for a lack of originality, but I'll hand it to him... he knows what it takes to have a good movie. King Kong wasn't bad, and Lord of the Rings was... well... you couldn't have asked for a better adaptation. Shorter, perhaps, but not better.

All in all, though, it seems they're being picky with this one, and they don't just want someone who is in it for the fame or money or who will ruin it. He's even up for the idea of having a special R- or unrated version (non-theatrical) with more graphic scenes, particularly in regards to the Flood (which you know, if you have played the games, aren't the friendliest or pretties creatures in the universe).

.:[ Links ]:.
Remix of the Day: "Hunter's Etude-Scherzo" by Blak_Omen, from Final Fantasy IX

-Chronodin
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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Math lesson

# posted by Chronodin @ 4:46 PM
 
Wii pre-order poster for Gamestop?

If this is true, then that's pretty rediculous. I call for a boycott of Gamestop if this is the case; buy your Wii somewhere else, anywhere else. SOMEONE else will be taking pre-orders, I'm sure, and you know the prices will stay the same.

Now mind you, Gamestop makes a ton of money from trade-ins. The mark-up from what they give you to what they resell it for is rediculous. I did a little research to find some examples:

Xenosaga Episode III (PS2)
  • Trade-in value: $18.00
  • Price for used copy: $34.99
  • Difference: $16.99, a 94.4% increase.
Black (Xbox)
  • Trade-in value: $14.00
  • Price for used copy: $29.99
  • Difference: $15.99, a 114.2% increase.
Trauma Center: Under the Knife (NDS)
  • Trade-in value: $12.00
  • Price for used copy: $26.99
  • Difference: $14.99, a 124.9% increase.
In fact, your best deals come with the newest games, obviously, such as...

Dead Rising (360)
  • Trade-in value: $35.00
  • Price for used copy: $54.99
  • Difference: $19.99, a 57.1% increase.
Oh, good, only a 57% mark-up. Still kinda stinks that by buying a used copy of said new games you're only saving about $5, less than a good lunch. I say, skip the lunch and get the new copy. Or, if you're going to trade-in a used game somewhere, do it at a local game store, because they're the ones that have the hardest time making a profit or even staying afloat and could use the extra cash. Gamestop is doing just fine, don't you worry about them.

But back to the Wii deal... notice I could have traded in the first three games I mentioned, not including Dead Rising, and still only gotten up to $44... alas, not enough to reserve my Wii. Let's say I traded in Dead Rising and Xenosaga, which would put me at $53... enough for a Wii! Hooray! That's $54 off of my Nintendo Wii... well, I'm not REALLY saving any money, since I had to trade in games for the discount, but Gamestop is making a nice $36.98 PROFIT off of my trade-ins (not counting cost, they could resell the two games for a combined $89.98).

It doesn't really sound fair, does it?

Best Buy/Circuit City, here I come!

.:[ Links ]:.
Remix of the Day: "Dark Star Scherzo" by Jormungand, from Secret of Mana - If you like piano arrangements, you'll love this one. Impressive and flashy without being cheesy; nicely done.

-Chronodin
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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Wii details revealed!

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:35 AM
 

(courtesy of IGN, obviously)

New York City Press Conference details

Oh, that's just the start of it. You can also see the details from the Japanese press conference, but I'll share with you the most important ones (thanks to 4 Color Rebellion for this info):
  • The Wii will be released on November 19 for $249.99.
Compare that to the Xbox 360's $399/$499 and the PS3's $499/$599. It's going to make that awfully appealing for a lot of parents come Christmas.
  • 30 Virtual Console games available by the end of the year.
    • NES games will cost 500 points, SNES 800 and N64 1000.
    • The original Legend of Zelda, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong and Mario 64 will be available on launch.
  • Opera web browser will be available but must be bought with points.
  • Wii Remote costs $39.99 (1 is already included with the system) and Nunchuck Attachment is $19.99 (I believe will also be included with the system).
Oh so much more. Some other things to check out include:
4cr has a constantly updated newsfeed that would be worth keeping an eye on.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

iPod is the cat's pajamas!

# posted by Chronodin @ 10:54 AM
 
I really have no clue where that saying comes from. Oh well, handful of iPod news for ya today.
I think the most interesting one (though I'm pretty excited about the news of new iPods and a lower price... I'm looking at you, 30gb) is about Viewsonic's iPod monitor... thing.

Granted, it's a neat idea and I'm sure would be fun to play with (with... which to play. Gah! I've got myself paranoid about that after the last post). But is this intended as a TV replacement? Or simply a new computer monitor? Because if it's intended to replace your computer monitor, well, wouldn't you have said videos on your computer already, thus nullifying its usage?

Just a thought. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

.:[ Links ]:.
Remix of the day: "Legend of the Snake 2: Snake versus Dragon" by Reuben Kee, from Metal Gear Solid - Just posted today on http://www.ocremix.org OCReMix, pretty solid arrangement. Orchestral with a very epic feel to it, and worth downloading, especially if you're a Metal Gear Solid fan.

-Chronodin
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

A gamble on gambits

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:46 AM
 
A brief Final Fantasy XII preview

It seems like the only concern for this game is such:
"At this high level, these detailed arrangements allow the game to almost in essence play itself."
While I do understand the worry, need I remind some people that this isn't the first time such a concept has been introduced, albeit on a simpler level, and in a game many were quite fond of?

Ogre Battle, anyone?

I mean, granted, they're still pretty different, and you've got those who will argue, "But, but, but! Final Fantasy games aren't like that! It's not what they're about!" Well, Mr. Dangling Participle, you might have a point (edit: Well, call me Captain Hypocrite... see just after the quote), but the Final Fantasy games it seems will be criticized no matter what they do -- use the same tried-and-true system, and people will complain that it's nothing new, but change things up, and people complain yet again. To quote a character from Austin Powers with a certain gold appendage...


"There ish no pleashink you!"

All I'm saying is that maybe we're approaching this wrong. What they're doing is essentially a combination of their Active-Time-Battle (i.e., not turn-based, enemies don't wait for you to select a command) and Action RPGs, which are notorious for having horrendously stupid AI -- I've yet to find one that doesn't, and it's really frustrating, especially when the battle system might be fun otherwise.

The debate comes in because of gambits: the surpisingly-complex strategy trees you build to determine how the characters act (for those of you who are into programming, they're just big "if else" statements... if this, do this, but if that, do this, else... etc). This brings us back to the statement about letting the game play itself. The gameplay and strategy, I think, comes into play in setting up the gambits and seeing what works best. Don't want to do that? Fine, then, set the game to Wait (where you can pop-up the command window and the action pauses) and go easy on the gambits. As far as I can tell, the game won't FORCE you to use gambits, so really, if they bother you, don't use them.

And, all in all, what Penny Arcade said about Enchanted Arms, even if they did then criticize Final Fantasy XII's battle system in the very next comic, really applies here. If it's not your cup of tea, don't play it. You can't please everyone all the time.

.:[ Links ]:.
Remix of the Day: "Battle" by bLiNd, from Final Fantasy VI - Not so much a remix as it is a cover. Still, quite cool, bLiNd does a really nice job with his modernizations. There are a bunch of others from Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger (might be others, but at least those).

-Chronodin
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Sunday, September 10, 2006

Coincidence?

# posted by Chronodin @ 4:50 PM
 
FFVII has a connection with FFX?

An interesting theory I heard about the other day.  This page addresses that, and even has some theories regarding the idea, but a number of them don't really hold.  The most interesting part is the Evidence section, which has a few quotes from FFX-2, making the connection pretty obvious to me.  Apparently there is an interview with the writer of FFVII, X and X-2 (among others, maybe, not sure) and he says that there is a connection, albeit one that was added later after he wrote FFX and realized how the two worlds could be one in the same.

The idea is that FFX takes place years before FFVII, maybe 1,000 years, and that some of the concepts like spheres (FFX) and materia (FFVII), the Farplane (FFX) and the Lifestream (FFVII), etc. match up very well.  Read on, and do a little research if you're more interested.  If anyone were to find anything else out about this, let me know.  It's a very intriguing proposition, if you ask me.

.:[ Links ]:.
  • FireFox cheat sheet - I'm all about keyboard shortcuts.
  • Pope will publish chat on evolution - Some of the things said in reference to this make a lot of sense.  Such as, "Fessio explained that the conclusion that God created the world is not a scientific position, but a philosophical one. This, he said, is where the Catholic Church differs from the creationist movement in the US."
  • Scientist probes "telephone telepathy" - Interesting idea, but needs some more experimentation to give it any merit, really.
  • Backwordz - You control a ship, and asteroids fly at it, so you type the word that is associated with that asteroid backwards to destroy it.  Fun game, though I wish you didn't have to keep switching back and forth between the mouse and keyboard.
  • Typershark - Fun typing game.  I got to level 16 with 5,082,112 points on Hard mode and still had 14 lives remaining, but started getting bored with it because at that point it's just the same thing over and over again... but it's fun for a while nonetheless.
  • Remix the Ring - How cool is this??  Remixes of "Ride of the Valkyries!"
  • Remix:ThaSauce - Speaking of remixes, I found another remix site, more similar to VGMix before it went offline.  Their philosophy about remixes is much closer to my own, as opposed to that of Overclocked Remix, where it seems technical prowess and making it "different" from the original are valued over simple enjoyment.  Read the About page on RTS for more details about that.
  • Facebook rebels against... Facebook - A lot of Facebook users aren't too crazy about the website's new News Feed feature.
  • Log! - A conversation earlier reminded me of this skit, so I did a quick YouTube search, and sure enough, there 'tis.
  • Secret of Monkey Island in-jokes - Man, I love those games...
  • The Deep Sky Frontier - Largest page on the internet.  No, really, this thing is freakin' HUGE.
  • Mississippi State Marching Band video game halftime show - Really cool stuff, I've always wanted to do something like this, though I would have done it a little differently.  Oh well, one of these days people are going to realize the Halo theme really doesn't translate well to other mediums.
  • Impressive bike jumping - He makes it look so easy...
  • Wii accessory price list - More or less as much as you'd expect.
  • Tales of Destiny screens - This looks like it might be a lot of fun.
  • Interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi - Discusses Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal.  If you're interested in those games (which you SHOULD be!), then give 'er a read.
Remix of the Day: "She Was Dreaming in the Rain" by TenchuX, from Chrono Cross - Just downloaded this one today, and was really impressed.  Very pretty.

-Chronodin
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Stan sells everything!

# posted by Chronodin @ 9:49 PM
 
Well, it's true.

I love the Monkey Island games. If you've never played them, my god, find them somewhere and do so. They're old, but they're still very enjoyable. The graphics, although obviously dated, are still not hard on the eyes at all. If you can't find them, well, I'm not endorcing piracy or anything, but y'know, do what you need to do. They ARE hard to find, unless you take this route.

And besides, they have Stan, who is one of my all-time favorite characters from any game.

.:[ Links ]:.
Remix of the Day: "Calamitous Judgment" by zircon (Chrono Trigger)

-Chronodin
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Monday, September 04, 2006

A sad day

# posted by Chronodin @ 8:52 PM
 
Bunch of links for you today.

Sad news in particular about Steve Irwin, who was killed today by a sting ray.  Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

.:[ Links ]:.
  • Amazing rocket jumps, among others - Hey, remember that Quake 3 game?  These stunts are... well.... yeah.  Pretty doggone good.  Granted they have God Mode on, but still, the timing is pretty impressive.
  • Video games that never got made - Some of these are downright funny, but a lot aren't that hot.  Once you start getting a bunch of lame ones, you can quit reading... it seems that all the best ones are near the beginning.
  • Game Poets Society - An interesting concept.  I actually have one I wrote for a class I could submit to this!
  • Metal Wolf Chaos gameplay video - Wow.  How many games do YOU know where you control either the President or Vice President piloting a mecha?  Ooh, and a http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/metalwolf-chaos/551820p1.html preview, too!
  • Comedian James P. Connolly - I heard this guy on the radio, he's got a sample of his act on his page.  Pretty funny stuff.
  • 1,000 cars - A video of the game Trackmania Sunrise where someone put 1000 cars into this one track.
  • Guy plays Mozart's 40th symphony on bottles with roller blades - Who would even think to do this?  It IS pretty cool though.
  • Toronto throughout the day - Nothing surprising, but kind of neat to see the city change throughout the day.
  • Cowabduction.com - Er...
  • Russian subway photos - Some weird people down there...
  • Albert Einstein head on robot - I want an Einstein robot!!
  • A million thank-you's - Sigh.  I only lasted until about 700.
  • Slo-mo Home Depot - Another one from the Improv Everywhere group.
  • Self-parking Lexus - This should make passing the driver's test easy.
  • Triplets get too much attention at the zoo - This mother (father too? Not sure) took her infant triplets to the zoo, and had her older daughter video tape it, showing hwo nosey and sometimes ignorant people can be.  Take a look.
  • Bon Jovi offering incentives to purchase CDs - This is, in my opinion, the best way to fight internet piracy.  Make a good CD (well, you be the judge of that... /snicker) and then give people a reason other than just the music to buy the CD.  One of my favorites was Thrice's "The Artist in the Ambulance" which had not only interchangeable album covers but a detailed written commentary on each song, including an interesting story about its writing or why they wrote it, that sort of thing, not just the lyrics.  I wish more bands would do that.
  • Lullaby renditions of Metallica - This might just be the most horrible idea anyone's ever had.  Listen to the sample of Enter Sandman, you can't even tell what song it is.
  • Star Trek inspirational posters - Even if you're not a Trekkie, these are still pretty darn clever.  I broke out laughing reading a few of them.
  • The Time Fountain - Now you know what to get me for Christmas.
  • Mike gets a new office! - "Ha ha, that's funny guys!  Where's my stuff?"  "We threw it out."  "Oh..."
  • [blank] on a [blank] - I feel like my life is fulfilled now that I've heard the term "Cow on a Popemobile"
  • Updated Guitar Hero 2 song list - Ooooh.  I don't actually know most of these, unfortunately, but the Avenged Sevenfold selection in particular is exciting.
Remix of the Day:  "Prelude to a Legacy" by yours truly - I figured since I just finished it today a little shameless plug wouldn't hurt.  Also, while you're there, download the updated version of Dark Toccata, the new one is set to segue right into Toccata... trying to, at least.  The transition isn't quite as fluid as I'd like it yet, but it's getting there.  Let me know your thoughts on the new remix?

-Chronodin
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Friday, September 01, 2006

Peter Jackson remaking The Dam Busters

# posted by Chronodin @ 12:36 PM
 
See for yourself.

Now, I think Peter Jackson is a good director. I really liked the LotR trilogy and thought King Kong was done well (or maybe well-done, depending on what happened after the movie... hiyoo! *rimshot*), but I realized that the guy hasn't done any original movies since The Frighteners, back in 1996. I mean, since then, he's done,
  • The Lord of the Rings (duh)
  • King Kong (double duh)
  • This upcoming movie just announced (as it says, a remake)
...and he has one called The Lovely Bones slated for 2007, which is based on a book by Alice Sebold. I dunno, maybe this is more common than I realized, but it's mostly the Lord of the Rings + King Kong + Dam Busters that set off my no-original-ideas alarm.

Yes, I have one, you hush.

.:[ Links ]:.
  • iPod causes bomb scare - I wonder at which point in the interrogation they knew it was an iPod...
  • Emmy's skit offends - I think people might be a little oversensitive. I didn't watch the Emmy's, but I don't think I would have made the connection.
  • Sonic and the Secret of the Rings video - This should help calm some people's fears about the Wii's graphical capabilities -- the game is looking pretty darn good.
  • 'Executioner' used to kill cancer cells - Another step in the right direction in the fight against cancer.
  • ChipAmp - Quoted straight from the page, "Chipamp is a free bundle of existing plugins for Winamp that lets you play a variety of chiptune and tracker formats, including music from classic game consoles like the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Gameboy, and Playstation." 'Nuff said. Check it out.
  • Remix: Tales of Phantasia, "The Koan of Drums" - I just realized I never link to remixes. This is a huge mistake on my part in my opinion, as there are so many GREAT remixes out there, and I'm a big fan of them anyway. So I'll start with this one. I don't even know the source material, but I really enjoyed it. Has kind of a techno-ethnic feel, nifty combination.
If there's interest, maybe I'll even have a specific section just for links to remixes. Most of which will probably be on Overclocked ReMix, but there are so many (good AND bad) on the site, it can be hard to sort out sometimes. Would anyone be interested in me doing this?
-Chronodin
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