miffy495

That was quite good, although the AI kept on kicking my ass and I got frustrated with it. This despite the fact that I've completed all of the Advance Wars games without any problems. I should re-download it and give it another shot.

Seriously? Wow, just in the demo, I found that the most fun part of the game was seeing how long I could lead the cops on crazy chases around the island. The afternoon I got my 360 was taken up by a friend and I swapping the controller back and forth seeing who could outlast the cops for longer. Seemed that all you had to do was bother them enough and they'd go after you. Your "driving like a maniac" probably should have done the trick by now...

Not shit, still above average, just not as good. This has been covered in another thread though. My problem with the choices that they gave you in Invisible War was that they really only seemed to matter at times like you mentioned. Otherwise, you could assasinate an official from one group under orders from another, then head to that group for your next mission like nothing happened. At worst, they'd scold you a bit. Seemed a tad silly to me. Still, if you can suspend your disbelief and make yourself think that they're pissed off with you, thus avoiding them anyway, it can still be quite immersive.

Actraiser, the Donkey Kong Countries, Super Mario World, Gunstar Heroes, Streets of Rage, any of the three Zeldas you may not have already played. Those are the essentials for me. They haven't released anything for N64 that isn't worth checking out yet, but as they're more expensive it's less of a "I should buy this!" and more a "I'd buy this if I didn't already own it." I'd never owned Mario Kart 64, for example, so that's the one I got. Games which are fun, but less of a priority: The Bonk's Adventure series, Kirby's Adventure, Super Castlevania IV, Super Ghouls and Ghosts, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. (mmm... addictive puzzler) There are more, but consider the first paragraph to be the truly essential of the catalogue. I've been really loving the VC since the post-launch trickle of real games started. Definitely keeps giving me a reason to turn on the system even when I only actually have a game to play every couple of months.

OK, as this is the only semi-active VC thread, I'm putting this here rather than making a new one. *ahem* HOW THE HELL HAD I NEVER PLAYED ACTRAISER BEFORE? In fairness, the N64 arrived when I was 9, so I was a bit young to really appreciate my SNES days (Donkey Kong, Super Mario World, Mario Kart, and a whole lot of Street Fighter were pretty much all I ever cared about) but still. Shit. This ranks up there with Super Metroid and Earthbound (I eBayed them about a year ago and played Metroid for the first time[i'd played Earthbound before on an emulator. Shhhh... ]) as one of those games that I can't believe I missed when they were around in the beginning. So good. So damned good. Anyone else making VC discoveries that they're ashamed they'd missed out on the first time 'round?

If you do end up getting GH1 for the PS2, the main warning I have for you is that the strap on the SG is a lot shorter. I play the Xplorer with the strap as long as it will go, which for me means that the top of the guitar is about level with my belt. The SG's strap is short enough that the lowest I can get it is to that the bottom of the guitar is at that height. That does get a little disorienting when I switch between the games, and is something to look out for. EDIT: Also, incredible swelling of geeky pride. This run got me two of the most difficult achievements in the game.

Damn, that's a whole lot better. I should try to find the original ending sometime.

I only played Free Bird once through on medium (when it's a game I'm good at, I'll go for the achievements...) so I can't quite recall what part you're talking about. The hammer ons and pulls offs are (I assume you know already, but may as well be safe) dependent upon if there's a black ring around the note. If the note has no ring around it, you can hammer or pull to hit it without strumming. Experimenting with hammer-ons and pull-offs doesn't work if you're just trying it for random notes. The notes can be pretty far apart and still work with that. I've actually been surprised how much they allow you to hammer and pull compared to when you'd need to strum if you were playing a real guitar. The entire intro to Free Bird, for example, only really needs to be strummed after each hold note when you're playing on expert. Everything else is hammered. If what you're looking at is something like: ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o- -o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- then you should be able to hammer it without too much difficulty, provided the notes don't have a black border. Just leave your finger on the green and hit the red to the rhythm with your nearest finger. Don't let go of the lowest note until the passage is done, and if you fall out of the rhythm, strum again to get back into it as soon as you can hit a note. Even if they're not hammer and pull notes, you should still be able to do the same thing just strumming up and down with your other hand. If you're not used to strumming up yet, there'll be a few songs when you move up to hard that you'll have no hope of finishing without it so you may as well get accustomed to the technique now. One last thing, keep using practice mode. That thing is a godsend. I could barely finish Laid To Rest for a 3 star review until I spent an hour with it in practice mode last Thursday. The very next playthrough I had of the song was 5 stars, and I haven't gotten less than that since. Just keep it up, and get ready for the above type of passages to turn into ---------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- ----o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- ---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---- --o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o----- when you get to hard. Those bits can still kill me, and the long passage of them in Free Bird is the only part of that song I still need star power to survive. As for the guitar, the buttons are actually the same distance apart, it's just the shape of the controller that takes some getting used to. The buttons themselves are differently shaped, but the button-to-button and button-to-strum-bar distance is unchanged. To illustrate: (Real guitar shown for scale.) (Also so I don't look as pathetic.) Actually, the buttons on the Xplorer look a bit bigger in that photo, but that's mostly because I had to lay the Xplorer on top of the SG to get the fretboards close enough for a snap. ...shit that was a long post. Sorry.

Damn. That is a pretty Wii game. Never played the original CC, as I didn't have anyone around with a gameboy that I could play co-op with. Assuming that's still the big draw of the series, any word on if this one will use the Wii's (admittedly limited) online functionality? While I do (surprisingly, this early in a console's run) have enough friends with Wiis for some co-op, and DSes as well if it comes to that, getting everyone together for a game could be cumbersome without internet capability.

Hell, do. They'll start to weed themselves out with hideous car crashes.

We had The Descent for a really long time at my theater last summer/fall as we were the only place in the city that would bother to book it. It really was quite good but unfortunately for me it was ruined by a completely shit ending. From what I heard though, they changed the ending to make it more suitable for "North American Audiences" so your version may have been entirely different from mine. It's really a pity as I quite liked the film up until the last 5 or so minutes. Those little troglodyte guys were creepy motherfuckers. So yeah, watch The Descent, but try to avoid the North American version. Haven't seen the original ending, but it's gotta be better than what I saw.

So Molyneux should Will Wright himself up a tad? Keep the freedom, but remove the judging? Honestly, sounds pretty good. A very nice post, and Dan's right about putting you on the blogroll. It'd make for some good reading when I boot up my computer in the morning.

Yeah, that was pretty cool. Only the second time I've communicated with a thumb in a non-text manner. (first was n0wak in a game of Worms on Xbox) If I'd known that was a feature earlier on, I may have been one of those people camped out for it. Hell, even if the game were horrible, the tech geek in me is very happy with portable gaming VOIP.

Well, the first of a few anyway.

Haven't tried, but I believe that if you're playing a gamecube game, you need a gamecube controller for it. If you're playing VC, the classic or GCN may be used, but not if you're playing GCN in the first place.

OK, so I have a friend code now. I have yet to really do much with my file, so I don't have anything worth trading or battling yet, but for future reference: 3651-7293-0095 *ahem* POKEYMANS! (that is all)

Really? I love my classic controller. I think it's extremely comfortable. Maybe it's that I primarily play SNES games on VC, but I've gotten up to the water temple in OoT as well and find it very nice for that as well. My most recent plays have been DKC, DKC2, Super Mario World, Streets of Rage, and Gunstar Heroes. All of these play fantastically with the classic controller, and I've actually been thinking about picking up a second for my roommate to join me in coop Gunstar/Streets without one of us having to use the GCN controller. I've tried using the GCN pad for games and have run into a couple of problems. The button config on GCN, for instance, doesn't allow for simultaneous running and jumping in SMW, as the buttons are spaced much too far apart. Given that I'm the first person in this thread who actually likes the damn thing, I'd try and find a friend with one that you can try out to get a feel for it. I absolutely love mine, but if the general feeling is one of or even you'll probably want more than my word for it.

Heh. I remember my friend telling me "I saw Jack Black on American Idol last week. He was wearing that Coach-monster shirt that you have." Knowing that he has Whispering Rock as well makes him all the more awesome. Plus, Tenacious D will be in the next Guitar Hero. Jack Black may just be the most awesome person in Hollywood.

Holy shit. Please please please let that come to North America...

Yeah, that one didn't give me any trouble. I saw the slightly open window and it was pretty obvious to me.

Wait, so someone could make a geodude fuck a tree continent monster and simply trade me the offspring of their unholy union? I may actually have a shot at raising all different types of those little fuckers without someone else being deprived of the opportunity? Except: My death penguin is male. Are all starters male, or is it randomized? How many people would actually have a tree continent monster capable of producing little new ones? For that matter, what about the fire monkeys? Can you sometimes have the offspring be the same species as the father? I may need to go check a FAQ on this. EDIT: I did check a FAQ. For others who didn't know, anything that fucks a Ditto, regardless of its gender, will produce that, as a Ditto cannot be bred. Or something. The gist of it was, "have it fuck a Ditto." The exact mechanics of it are beyond my understanding. I can't stop laughing at the absurdity of these sentences as I write them. The looks my roommate is giving me as I'm giggling incessantly across the room fill me with shame.

Well, I don't really see how that tells us anything new. The medical community has known for years that depression has negative effects on aptitude for anything else. The idea of quantifying depression is pretty cool though. The DSM IV really doesn't allow for a whole lot aside from the doctor's side notes of "mild" or "severe" so a yardstick, Video game or not, is a pretty important development.

I see. Well, if you've got someone specific you've arranged the trade with beforehand, I guess I could picture the trade thing working out. At least there's no more fucking around with link cables. For my purposes though, I don't know if that would work. Ideally, I'd want to get my hands on the early form of the starter pokemon and level the bastards myself. I like the chance to have them when they're still small and cute before they become giant monsters of badassery. The Bidoof panel did get a chuckle out of me. I'm working the bugger up myself right now trying to get a decent team going. I'm just starting, so I just have 5 pokemon right now and I'm trying to keep them all at the same level. Right now, that level is 7, and Bidoof is taking her sweet fucking time getting there. Also, you can force a geodude to mate with a pikachu? That's messed up, man. EDIT: my god, I've become one of them

OK, so I jumped the gun by a day and bought Pearl. I decided to go with the little water-penguin thing, mostly based on cuteness. Sorry, haven't played enough to remember its name yet. Pippup or something. Couple of questions from someone who hasn't played for 9-ish years: I've noticed that all the pokemon I catch so far are gendered. Does the gender effect anything? I remember the evolution path for Nidoran changing based on whether you caught the male or female in Blue, does that still hold? Also, Aussie Ben, you have the top evolved version of two of the starter pokemon in your party. How'd you swing that? Will there be a chance to grab the ones that I didn't take later on, a la Pokemon Yellow, or did you just luck in with a trade from someone? While my super-evolved death penguin will undoubtedly be cool, I wouldn't mind a fire throwing monkey or giant fucking island either.

I'm perfectly happy playing a regular old RTS if it's the quality that Starcraft is/was. Thing is, if you're promising innovation, deliver on it.