Double Agent
More heat than light - October 30, 2000 - Chris Jones

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. I've been writing so much computer code that I want to end my paragraphs with */ instead of </p>. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Kind of an early column tonight, because I just finished with another heavy crunch period and now I've got a whole bunch of housekeeping tasks to do, like getting a ride back home for Thanksgiving and registering for classes next semester. Thus, I get this out of the way whilst I can and then allow myself a brief hiatus to go get the new Zelda, and then get back to work. It's an interesting experience to do things this early, I must say - feels like I came into work at 4am and started programming while everyone else is still asleep or something. Gotta love college people, we keep the darnedest hours.

Onward.

Look any better to you?
Hiya Chris.

Lately I've been reading all sorts of news about the PS2 shortage, its capabilites, the lack of decent rpg's for the system (which actually makes buying Z:MM much more worthwhile, at least momentarily) and things along that line of thought but I believe there's something that seems to be overlooked. The PS2 is supposed to be able to run a rather large quantity of PSX games (well, "emulating" would be a better word..) and some of them should receive some sort of graphical improvement or what not...Anyway, those of you out there with a PS2, what is the truth about this? What changes or updates really occur or was all that fuss nonsense?

Jazan Gamoz "the man with ze goldened pp7"

An interesting question, to be sure, and not one that I can definitively answer. I get the impression that the PS2 makes the otherwise pixilated 3D graphics in games like Vagrant Story somewhat less so, but wouldn't do anything for traditional 2D style games. If anyone wants to send in a rundown on what their various PSX games look like running in emulation mode, I'd love to hear about it.

Economics 101
Hey did you know that each PS2 costs $480 to manufacture? Apparently Sony's hoping to make all it's money on games and peripherals. Does this mean it probably won't go down in price? ...Am I the only one who didn't know this?

Christoph, thinking he shouldn't have ditched so many economics classes...

$480 strikes me as a bit high, if true, but it's definitely the case that the console'll cost at least as much as the asking price, at least at the beginning. Even now I think Sega's losing $50 or so on each Dreamcast sold, maybe more since the price drop.

But two things you have to keep in mind here. One, yes, every console manufacturer is looking to make their profits on games (but not so much peripherals, I think). Since each CD only costs a buck or so to actually make, that leaves a lot of room for Sony to get a hefty cut of each game sold and still have enough to give the developers a profit, if it sells ok. Two, as soon as a console developer builds their prototype system they immediately start looking for ways to make it cheaper and faster to manufacture. I guarantee the current make price for a PSX or PS One is nowhere near what it cost Sony in 1995 when the system debuted, and the price drop of the PSX since then reflects this shift in the cost point. So fear not, amigo, someday you will see a $200 PS2, even if the PS3 has already come out by then.

Never quite as good as the original
In regards to the gamer who said he couldn't get through the Mist Cave in FF4: I assume you're playing it on an emulator, right? In some cases, as in the Mist Cave, the graphics didn't quite translate right to the PC and things that were supposed be semi-transparent end up totally blocking everything else out (I've had this happen in Super Metroid and Link to the Past as well). Some emulators (I use SNES9x) have a function where you can take out certain layers of the background. On SNES9x this is done by with the number pad on the keyboard. Just fiddle around with it until you get rid of the layer the mist is on.

Nick "But my Mom says I'm cool" Z.

Good golly gosh, we got a lot of responses about this, with everybody saying pretty much the same thing. It's basically the same thing I thought when I first saw the letter in question, and probably several of you as well. The way I see it, as much as anything this is another argument against emulation - sure, you can get it to work, but what's the point if your main character is running around on a blank screen with only the key features layer enabled? Admittedly, with computers as powerful as they are now I guess this kind of thing doesn't happen so much anymore, but still, why have a soy burger when you could be having steak instead?

Gratuitous gloat o' the day
You guys just don't get it. The PS2 is the most wonderful piece of gaming machinary EVER released. I've been consumed by Fantavision alone for the past three days. I didn't even start Kessen yet. The reason why you seem to have all these negative letters about the PS2 in your column is because everyone who actually OWNS a PS2 (all lucky way-in-the-minority 500,000 of us) is too wowed by the system to take the time to either read or write to any letters columns! The only reason why I'm writing this is because after so many hours of Fantavision, I need a little break. You know how when you play a puzzle game for so long you start to see the game when you close your eyes? Fantavision does that too... only you don't have to close your eyes. I vote that this is the best named video game ever released. ^_^ Ok, jealous losers, I'll go back to my monolith now. See ya in a few months, when I grow my life back again.

It's probably worth pointing out that Friday's column featured not just one, but two people who'd tried both and ranked Zelda much higher than the PS2, and I haven't heard anyone arguing the other way. Of course, having not actually tried either I can't give a definitive opinion (although at least one of those variables should change by the end of the day) but it's pretty good evidence for the moment.

On the other hand, we cater to all opinions and viewpoints here, so go ahead with your putdowns of us jealous losers, nameless person. It's cool, we can take it.

A slightly more balanced take
This is how I see it:

Everyone's bashing the PS2 right now because they're bitter they didn't get one or because it was so over-hyped that although it may be a good system it had no chance of living up to expectations. This doesn't mean I'm about to go buy one for $800 on ebay, but I just think sony's system may be more than people give it credit for.

-AJS

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that the system is "so over-hyped it had no chance of living up to expectations", I'm just saying that whatever potential it might have, it just ain't there yet, near as I can tell.

But as more than one writer has pointed out, this is true of the vast majority of systems out there. The SNES was an exception with great launch titles like Mario World, FF2 and Actraiser, and arguably the NES as well, since by the time most people had heard of it Zelda was already out and games like Metroid were just around the corner. But as fun as Mario 64 was, I don't think anybody would have missed all that much by waiting for Zelda to come out and picking up the N64 at $150, and I'm quite certain that the PSX wasn't worth getting for RPG fans until Square started publishing for the console. The same will likely hold true for the PS2.

Simile or metaphor? I can never remember...
I've been thinking about the two N64 Zelda games and how to compare them, and I came up with this:

If Ocarina of Time was the cutie you'd want to take to the prom, Majora's Mask is the hottie you'd leave your spouse for.

MM is better, that's the difference in these games.

-Scott

Well, thanks, Scott, for that somewhat chauvinistic metaphor. (See, I do know the difference!)

I'm not sure why we have to bash Daily Radar. We just do, I guess.
Chris, I have something that might be of interest. Last week Daily Radar reported this tidbit of news:

"Sega of Japan has shifted gears in response to economic losses, and Reuters news services suggest the company may develop games for competing platforms."

In response, I have this to say:

Oh, get off your fucking high horses.

I think it's safe to say that the Dreamcast has been given a massive array of enjoyable games and I'd be happy if Sega were to develop for the PS2, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. And interpreting something in a certain way JUST to spread a rumor is just going to keep people from supporting Sega and buying a fantastic Dreamcast. All because Daily Radar said there was no need to.

"This is good," said Daily Radar editor Dan Egger, "because I've wanted to play those Dreamcast games for quite some time. I'd plug my VMU into the memory card slot for my PS2, I'd hook up the maracas and Samba out! Just think about it. Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5 and Time Stalkers, House of the Dead and Shen Mue, and that Resident Evil game! Wow! That game looked so good that it scared me into thinking that our PS2 wasn't as godlike as I thought! Hey, did you check out this seanbaby.com article? I think I'll float over some of its material!"-Cedric "Lobstaboy" Henry
http://www.lobstaboy.com

Er, to be fair, this isn't the first we've heard about Sega looking to outsource some of their development talent. I don't have to repeat how pleased I am with the Dreamcast's available and forthcoming games (although I guess I just did) but despite some quite good sales numbers in the US as of late, the general perception is that Sega's just not doing well. And where perception goes, reality tends to follow as far as money's concerned. The fact is, that while I'd like to see Sega stay strong and independent, it's not gonna be any kind of blasphemy if they do end up developing for someone else. That's just the way these things go, and if it means Virtua Fighter 4 ends up on the PS2, that's just something we live with.

Economics 102
Chris:

I just wandered over to ebay, and looked at the PS2 auctions. No auction that starts higher than $600 has any bids. The most successful auctions of the 150 or so I looked at seem to have stopped somewhere between $500 and $625, and most of the higher dollar auctions include a memory card, extra controller, and one or two games.

PS2 = $300
Extra Controller = $35
Memory Card = $35
Game 1 = $50
Game 2 = $50
Total = $470 (without tax)

So one might not want to get taken over by dollar-sign eyes and rush out to invest $470 in extra PS2 packages in order to turn a profit of maybe $30 - $50 per package. There might be some inflation of the price people are willing to pay as Christmas draws near, but official release info suggests that another 800,000 units will be shipping before Christmas, almost tripling the current supply.

--DarkLao, "I won't sell mine, but send me offers anyway. I need a laugh."

This sounds about right. It's true that initial bids were through the roof (numerous people pointed me to the Ebay auction that closed at $14,000), but I'm pretty sure that most of those were either people just screwing with the system, or the rare dot com millionaire to whom hundred dollar bills are about as valuable as Kleenex. The free market has spoken, and while a seller might earn one or two hundred bucks in profit at this point, things are starting to level out. End of story.

Closing Comments:

Tomorrow is, of course, Halloween. My first reaction was to put up a topic about scary games, but then I thought, nah, that's trite and obvious and everyone would probably just talk about Galerians and Silent Hill.

But then I thought again, and figured that maybe one or two people might end up waxing rhapsodically about the horrors of Spice World, and besides, trite and obvious is what this column's all about. So send me some discussion on games that are just pure evil, either by design or not, so you'll all have something at least mildly frightening to read tomorrow night. See you then.

-Chris Jones, dressing up as himself

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