Dolphin safe and PS2 friendly - July 13th, 1999 - Drew Cosner
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. I hate you and everything you stand for. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Well, I got a pretty good response to the question I threw up in the closing comments yesterday, so enjoy. Remember, Double Agent is more than just a column, it's an institution.
| Cease and desist |
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If we just talk amongst ourselves, what are you going to do?
-Ian P.
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I've had enough of you and all of your logic. I think it's high time that I lured you into my gingerbread house and forced you to watch tapes of 80's cartoons at gunpoint while I had a dog lick peanut butter out from between your toes. You wouldn't be so damn logical after that, now would you?
I've already had to use that form of treatment on other people, and they all ended up as physical trainers or weight loss instructors. I have those powers. Don't make me use them on you. Decease your logical thinking now.
| Thrown to the Gamesharks |
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Due to Final Fantasy VIII imminent release in the US (woohoo only 56 more
days) has there been any info about what US gamers are going to do without
the PocketStation? Will my Final Fantasy VIII game forever remain unfinished,
with secrets hidden away never able to be unlocked without the
Pocketstation...
If Square isn't going to "fix" FFVIII to be compatible with non-pocketstation
owners would it be in my benefit to buy a Japanese import PocketStation,
would it work with a US (non-modded) Playstation, and with the US version of
FFVIII?
-Ogopogo
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Square hasn't really made any announcements yet, in their typical fashion, but to be honest, it's highly unlikely that they'll incorporate the hidden extras that can only be obtained with the Pocketstation into the actual game itself. In other words, unless you want to screw around with a Gameshark, you're not going to get the hidden stuff.
I'm pretty sure that you can use an import Pocketstation if you feel like shelling out for one, however. Memory cards work on all Playstations, and when you come down to it a Pocketstation is just an ehanced memory card.
| Wait and see |
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First of all, Howard Lincoln (Chairman guy of Nintendo of America) said just about a week ago that the Dolphin would definitely NOT play DVD movies, or even audio cds. A big mistake on Nintendo's part, I think. If the system could play the DVD movies, it would force Sony to include that feature as well. Since Sony already sells DVD players, it might have cost them quite a bit of money, since their own products would be competing against each other.
-Somebody, somewhere, sometime
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First of all, what Howard Lincoln said is that Nintendo themeselves wouldn't be manufacturing Dolphins capable of playing DVDs and audio CDs. Matsushita, on the other hand, will be making lines of DVD players that are also able to play Dolphin game discs, which is one of the reasons Nintendo partnered with them. It's an interesting concept, really. This way Nintendo can manufacture and market less expensive Dolphins that play games exclusively, and those interested only that feature won't have to pay the extra costs involved in adding movie playback capabilities to the system. Conversely, someone going in to purchase a DVD player who normally wouldn't be inclined to buy a gaming system may see that one of the DVD players also plays games and figure he may as well pick it up since he's getting a DVD player anyhow.
Sony's plans, however, are still a bit of a mystery. There's several paths open to them, really. One one hand, they could opt to keep the PS2s and their DVD players seperate from one another so that people would still have to drop down a hefty chunk of change in order to watch movies and play games. Or, they could make certain models in their line of DVD players PS2 enhanced. Another plausible option is that of merging their DVD players with the PS2, creating one machine which plays both games and movies. We'll just have to wait and see what they decide to do.
| Combos |
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Drew,
I draw a parallel in my mind between the introduction of new, DVD-based
systems and the early 90's introduction of CD-based video game systems. Back
then, people were downright amazed that the next video game systems would all
play their actual music CDs. Of course, the amazement has since died down
and video game systems that play music CDs are commonplace.
Same thing with DVD-based systems. Yes, Sony and Nintendo have made it clear
(or at least Nintendo has) that their systems will not support DVD video
right out of the box, but the potential for an add-on is still there. The
nice thing is, we have nothing to worry about. If there's one thing that I
can say for Nintendo, it's that they've always been all about the games. And
since the Dolphin and the PS2 seem to be more equally matched than the N64
and the Playstation, Sony will have to be just as focused on games to be able
to compete. They won't be able to sit idly by, or worse, concentrate on
providing a "set-top box" at the expense of a "video game system."
-Chris Kohler
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Nintendo seems content to work on their first party titles while Matsushita worries about the DVD players, and you'd think a company who's been around the block once or twice such as Sony has would know well enough the importance of garnering strong third party gaming support to the success of their system.
One thing that I should mention, however, is the fact that the average American likes know exactly what it is that a decice is for. Sure, it would make enough sense to whip up and market a combination toaster and can opener: Both are appliances used frequently in the kitchen, so why not have one apparatus that does both rather than having two seperate devices cluttering up your kitchen? Well, we all know that's not going to happen. Even when a combination makes sense, such as with a TV/VCR hybrid, it just doesn't seem to go over all that well. How many of those things are there in relation to the number of television sets and VCRs in American households? Maybe more of a side point than anything else, but still something to take into consideration.
| Swimming up the mainstream |
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I think that the mainstreaming of videogames would be a huge mistake.
Sure, on one hand it would be nice to let the public know that videogames
are not just for nerds with a lot of time on their hands, or for morons that
only know how to mash buttons. But on the other, commercializing this aspect
of the entertainment world would contaminate it. It's happened to other
forms of entertainment, such as Hip Hop music. Before Hip Hop blew up, it
was all about expressing yourself and your talent. But how many rappers
today rap only about money, sex and drugs? It's uninteresting, repetitive
and old.
Now apply that type of scenario to videogames. If the games industry
were commercialized, we'd have companies making games that they believe
"everyone" could play. We'd have more Mystic Quest's and Yoshi's Story's on
the shelves, dumbed down for the new, vast American market. Soon after we'd
have so many "stupid" games on the market, we wouldn't even want the system
anymore. Look at the N64 as proof. All it's got is GoldenEye. Even THAT
gets old after a while.
-HypeSpider
P.S. Drew, you're doing a great job with the column.
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Should videogames ever go mainstream, I think we'd have a situation mirroring that of the movie industry. You'd end up with the equivalents of independent films being made by smaller developers who were ready and willing to try something bold and new. And when you have a broad market, even a smaller cult following will be enough to make at least a little money in return. Of course, we'd still have the giants like Capcom, Konami, and Nintendo coming up with the "blockbuster" titles that would fuel most of the industry, just as films have the likes of Paramount, Warner Brothers, or Universal. Of course, this is just my own personal opinion, and you're open to disagree with it... as long as you're also willing to let me know just why you disagree with it. Opinions backed up with some basis in reality are definitely cool.
Since I've already established myself as a Nintendo lacky, I'm not even going to bother refuting your use of the N64 as "proof". Instead I snuck into your house while you were away and emailed death threats to the president from your computer. I think I handled things maturely.
P.S. Thanks. Stroking my ego is always nice. Feel free to do it more often.
| Virtual surreality |
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Just thought I'd share, I'd buy a Virtual Boy and a 32X for an Inspector
Gadget RPG. It might not be the coolest thing ever, but it'd be damn close.
-The deceased flamingo who hangs out in the darkest corner of your soul
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Hell, for an Inspector Gadget RPG I wouldn't mind going cross-eyed sticking my face into that thing. Of course, I'd have to take occasional vomit breaks brought on by naseau, but that's a small price to pay.
| Walking the tightrope |
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Yo Drew,
I'm kind of concerned about the idea of the new DVD based machines being
turned into home entertainment units. I don't think that the mainstream
games that gamers love (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Zelda, and so on...)
would sell to all of the people that buy the system just to watch movies in
and buy a game every once in a while.
I remember back a few years ago trying to play some god-awful golf game on
the 3DO or CDi, and it was the worst experience of my life, but like
wrestling and Clinton, Americans like stupid things. Also, I've got a DVD
player in my computer, so I don't know if I should buy a Dolphin (stupid,
STUPID! name!) or wait and buy the whole package. I think this will lead to
either the demise of videogames as we know it or a severe lack of intelligent
and thought provoking games (otherwise known as RPG's). Well....that's about
it....
-The Steve
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Quick note: "Dolphin" is the project name, not the final name, calm down there. I do agree with what you're saying, though. It's difficult to balance between gaming machine and movie player. Lean too far to either side, and you end up with either a gaming machine that costs too much because of all the junk in it to play movies, or a DVD player with some really crappy games. It will be interesting to see how both companies handle this tight-rope walk, as well as determining who will be victorious in the upcoming console race.
| Added bonus |
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I think it is a great idea to be possibly be able to play DVD movies on
the upcoming new console systems. I would never waste my money on a DVD
player by itself. So if playing DVD movies came along as an added feature
(like playing CD's on the PSX) I wouldn't mind at all.
I ususally don't complain about the state of RPG's today compared to the
supposed "good old days" but I miss the days of RPGs that had four people in
the party, like Dragon Warrior 3 or 4. Now all the traditional RPG's have
only 3 members. There's the hero who your stuck using unless he gets
knocked out for awhile (FF7, Xenogears) and two other side characters. In
Xenogears I like to use Rico and Billy (of course I have gotton Citan's
sword yet) but I would have loved to use a 3rd side character as well. I
guess maybe that's why I like these other non traditional RPG's like
FFTactics and Vandal Hearts where you use like 8 people at the same time.
-Pendy (who is hoping and wishing for a DQ7 release....cause he will go
insane if it doesn't happen!)
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The only problem I can see with that is the fact that when one feature takes the back seat to another in a device of multiple capabilities, whichever ever one it may be ends up being an oft-neglected side point rather than a feature. The fact that the PSX could play music CDs didn't exactly wind up as being much of a selling point, as we all well know.
I've also noticed this trend. Yes, that's right, I noticed something that was completely blatant and not exactly difficult to catch. Do I get a gold star? The next thing you know, we're going to have parties limited to 3 mentally unstable characters who must discover and come to grips with their hidden inner powers, and the only time you get to put anybody else in your party is when one of them falls sick or his Id is running around beating the shit out of people or something.
| Nice save |
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Hey Drew -
I agree with Matt's letter about the lack of save points in RPGs. One of
the things I really, really like about Lunar: SSS is the ability to save the
game at any point. Now, I know some people might not like that if they feel
it takes away from the challenge of the game. But for people like me, who
play RPGs for the story and the experience, and don't really care about the
challenge, it's a great feature. I'd really like to see more RPGs do what
Lunar does.
- Kaxon
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Yup.
| Interesting line of thought... |
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Hi, I was just writing to correct your mistake in yesterdays Closing
Comments. Nintendo stated less than a week ago that their focus will
remain on games, not anything else. In an interview with Howard
Lincoln, he said that "You will not be able to play audio CDs on
Nintendo's machine, and you will not be able to play movies. That's
something that's already established". This will help to lower the
price, and make it very competitive when it's released. There is the
possibility, however, that Matsushita (Nintendo's partner in Project
Dolphin, for those of you that have been hiding in the closet since E3
or so) will release a DVD/CD system after the Dolphin is released that
will be able to play Dolphin games. As for PSX2, I'm all for it being a
"do-all, be-all set-top box". I don't think Sony could really screw this
up at all, since they have such a large following and have had such
great success with there past incarnations. And hey, by combining
everything into one nice little system, we won't have so many cords
everywhere (The back of my desk is a big tangled mess). Anyway, that's
just my opinion.
-CTZanderman
OR
-Curator of the site www.geocities.com/tokyo/ginza/6568
PS- I still think Chrono Cross should have Chrono Trigger on it as an
extra (yeah, I wrote that letter that was shot down a week or so ago).
Oh yeah, and sorry 'bout the site plug, but I desperately need more hits
:)
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Buying a system over a matter of less cords... there's something that never even occured to me. Just for coming up with something original like that, I'll go against my usual policy of not plugging sites. Given enough caffeine, even I can be nice on occasion.
| Closing comments? |
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A few months ago Allan was considering to close down the Closing Comments
section because he had nothing to write in it.
I suggested to him a nice replacement: a section dedicated to nubile
scantily clad models in compromising positions.
Obviously, he decided that it wouldn't be appropriate for such a page on the
vast information superhighway.
Now that we have the little disclaimer at the top of DA, I suggest that we
close down the Closing Comments section for good. It's obvious that you
lack the dim wit and dry humour of our beloved Allan, so this is a petition
for you to sign to shut down Closing Comments and in its place you shall
post pictures of scantily clad nubile models in compromising positions daily.
This all starts with you buddy, make it so.
-Reno >:D
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Hey, you got it.
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