miffy495

I just got myself a new PCI-E card, but I really don't know the difference between the two in terms of pros/cons. Anyone care to explain to a poor, inexperienced-but-making-an-effort-to-learn tech dweeb?

Well, buddy left Burnout 3 in the system, and I'm enjoying the occasional wreck in that. Katamari Damacy has me incredibly hooked (I just picked up my first car! w00t!) and Ico is stunning. As much as I love my PC and the gaming experiences it brings, there are some experiences the black box on my TV can deliver that the black box on my desk can't. And the purple box (GCN) has it's own brand of awesome as well. Don't knock a platform just because you don't like the controls (I can never bring myself to play a console shooter anyway) or the company or the look or whatever. Every box has a unique awesome to bring to a room. And Scabb, I'm sorry. I know admitting this in a primarily European forum (from what I've gathered anyway...) may be suicide, but I don't like soccer... I'm a Canadian, man. I needs mah hockey, but that's really the only sport I've ever been able to get into. P.S. Go Leafs Go! Set to dominate the new and improved NHL!

I agree regarding the general indecipherable sentences employed by our new friend, but I can see the point he's trying to make. I actually had quite the opposite experience with GTA:SA about a week before the stink regarding Hot Coffee. I was at my local EB and a 12 year old kid was trying to convince his mom to buy him the game. She eyed it carefully and spotted the M rating (immediately making her a better parent than most of the people who are bitching about the game) and then proceeded to ask the clerk about it. Woman: "Excuse me, How much violence exactly is involved in this game?" Clerk: "It's a very violent game, m'am. It's story centers around brutal gang warfare in the early 90's." Woman: "Hmm...." *looks to her son* "I don't know..." *to the clerk again* "Is there any swearing?" Clerk: "Yeah. Quite a bit, actually." Woman: "Hmmmm...." *looks at the son again* "I don't know..." This went on for about 15 minutes, and with every question she asked, the clerk gave her the answer that would make the game the LEAST appropriate thing in the store for her son. She quite obviously was uneasy with her son playing a game as adult oriented as SA, and good on her for it, too. The kicker was, though, that after all of these questions (One of which was actually: "Would you say that this game is appropriate for my son?" Answer: "No.") she still bought the game for her kid. Oh, but she did make sure that everyone in the store knew she was responsable by adding "OK. But if there's anything inappropriate in this game, I'm going to have to take it away." These people are the problem with GTA. I don't know if Smith (Matrix or Killer 7, btw?) was denouncing the injustice of his 15 year old friend not being able to play SA, and I'd be a hypocrite for telling him that it would be wrong for him to play it, myself having played GTA3 on release when I was 15. Still, if his friend's mother was making the buying descision and was uncomfortable with the content, I applaud her bravery in saying "no" to her son. If more people would do that, the media would have a whole hell of a lot less to jump on with regards to violent gaming. Sorry. That was longer than expected. I'm going to go now.

Gamespy recently posted their Top 25 X-Box Games and while I was reading the article, I started counting. The results are in: only 7 out of the 25 are exclusives. The rest, if not ports themselves, were ported to other consoles or released simultaneously on multiple platforms. The cream of the X-Box: Available everywhere else too. I feel so vindicated for reasoning that this would happen back when X-Box was "teh 5h17." I love my 'cube even more now... It's exclusive best games really are.

Yoy. OK, I found Rez on eBay, but the thing is (brace yourselves) $120 US!!!!! Looks like this is one game that I'll just have missed out on...

First off: THEY MADE SYBERIA II FOR X-BOX????? Now that that's out of the way. Yeah, I've seen some weird mixes, but nothing anywhere near what you're looking at there. That's some messed up stuff there. Probably the dumbest I've seen was one that had NFS 5 and C&C Red Alert together for now reason. That or this "Let's bundle the Ecks Vs. Sever game with a link cable for no reason" pack for the gameboy, but that's not a combo of games so much as totally random, so whatever.

That is brilliant. Applause applause.

I kind of like the sound of "Remo's Recipies," myself.

Heh. Yeah, Iguana was pretty sweet. If you ever played the South Park shooter, the Iguana bites Kenny's head off. Classic start to an OK but not great game. I'm a South Park addict, so I played through the whole thing, but otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. Multiplay isn't bad though.

Yeah, I've already got ahold of Ico, in the sense that I ordered it for less than $20 online and it's in the mail. Rez is one that I always wanted to play, but have forgotten about recently. How hard would you say it would be to get ahold of these days? Sly I hadn't thought about, but will at least rent now, so thanks. As for BG&E, I've got the 'cube version and have played it over about 4 times now. Great game. Thanks for the tips!

Damn! I wanted to suggest that. Long hours of playing a rented copy of NHL '94 for the SNES in my living room with my next door neighbour have imprinted that intro in my mind. Also, the startup on Mario Kart Double Dash is always worth a laugh. "NiiiiiiiiiinTENDO!!! Whoohoo!"

Looks good. I hope they have a decent translation in the works, as that Englishski could be distracting for an entire game, but I'm quite hopeful for the game itself. Their hearts are in the right place at the very least, and anything that tries to break the mould I tend to enjoy. Good luck, you commie bastards! You have my full support!

Remo, don't you ever fuckin leave. Even a semi-annual guest column is enough, but if the Extremo should die, so would a good portion of the awesome around this place. Not enough to make the Thumb not really awesome anyway, but a lot of awesome nonetheless. Edit: I just noticed that in telling you how awesome you are, I forgot to congratulate you. Good on ya, man. Let's hope shack deserves you...

Oh yeah, I definetly wasn't saying that the GCN was the only platform out their with innovation. Just that they were the ones who made the most effort to get people to buy the niche titles. And yes, Ben, I have two sets of Bongos too. Did you play Jungle Beat? It was actually quite good, though incredibly short. Yeah, the PS2 has the ugliest graphics, the cube in second, and the X-box first, but really I have never found that to be too distracting unless I was moving from one system to another in the space of an hour or two. Otherwise, the difference has never been enough for me to notice. On another note, don't get me wrong Ben. I thought the lack of internet play (although I don't really like online play in the first place...) was a stupid move, and the linking of the GBA to the GCN was never used enough and really a useless thing to publicize. I can't help it if I'm biased towards Nintendo with comparison towards the other companies, but they have made some colossally stupid and whore-ish moves as well, and I can admit that. All I ever used my GBA link cable for was to unlock the extra stuff between Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. Other than that, it's pretty damn dusty at this point... As for the novelty controls though, exactly how many games can use the PS2's dance pad?

Ugh. Sky Captain. Normally I enjoy cheezy movies. In this case, not so much. It was beyond bad. I found myself actually making my own MST3K sort of commentary with my roommates. That was actually fun, but the movie itself, not so much. Plus, what's up with that hench-chick? She looks like the bastard offspring of Darth Maul and Riddick. Ick.

First off, what's wrong with 90's gameplay? I think Mario 64 DS would like some words with you about success in the modern gaming world, and Banjo Kazooie has had to be restrained to keep from running at you, sharp pokey things sticking out of its grey cartridge casing. Donkey Kong 64 is just very dissappointed in you. It's sitting in the corner and crying. Personally, I still enjoy games of this type. Yeah, they've got you hunting for random crap you don't really care about, but that's the nature of the genre. You need to expect going in that you'll be hunting around, and just sit back and enjoy the search. If the game environment has been well-realized enough, there's a sense of wonder and discovery as you explore each world looking for the goodies. If not, it's a crappy platformer, but so be it. Psychonauts had the atmosphere. The world was amazing, and constantly intriguing, which is what a platformer needs to be great. Edit: Oh yeah, KOTOR. I really liked it. It was the only RPG (Ok, and Earthbound) that I've ever been able to sit through. It really sucked me in and, despite the boring of Mannan (I kind of liked the political backstabbing though), made me want to see what became of my characters. I finished the whole thing in about a month which, considering I have school, is pretty quick.

Yeah, the X-Box is a really good system for some people, but I like my games to have a really defined sense of style. The X-box tends to go for hyper-realism and I can respect that, its just not my thing. You KNOW when you're playing a Mario game. You KNOW when you're playing Zelda. Viewtiful Joe was a GCN exclusive for about a year. Of all the consoles, the 'cube seemed to be the one people were willing to take the most risks with. Killer 7 was originally part of the Capcom 5 as well. Hell, the fact that there even WAS a Capcom 5 (for those who don't know, this refers to 5 games that Capcom made/planned to make exclusively for the 'cube. Viewtiful Joe, RE4, Killer 7, Product Number 03, and a game involving people with wings that just kind of faded into obscurity.) helps to make the case. Every cosole had its personality. If it suited you, thats fine. Here's the way I saw it: X-box: WE HAVE POWER!!! With the might of our console, you can see every drop of sweat on your fellow soldier's face in our incredibly detailed, realistic environment. PS2: Heh. Fart. We've developed a whole lot of games with attitude. Our mascots can fling snappy comebacks faster than... YOUR MOM, BITCH!!! (See Jak, Ratchet, et al.) GCN: Well, we've got the lowest North American sales, so what the hell? Let's experiment a bit. See what sticks and maybe we'll have a hit on our hands. What weird things can we do to make the gaming experience unique enough that people will buy it? Of course, this does not go for all games, but I'm calling it like I saw it. Hmm... That was longer than expected. I should go. ...seriously, I'm going now. ...Bye.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't saying that the X-box had nothing to offer. However, as a student with limited funds, I have been much happier with the selections available to me on my Gamecube and now that I'm getting one (Mostly for Katamari and Okami, but whatever), PS2 than friends I know that have the X-Box. While the X-box does have some great games, there just aren't as many as for the other systems. As for the Rainbow Six thing, I never really got into tactical shooters, so I don't know what to tell you. Add that to the fact that I never liked Halo, and there are only two games that I would want to play on the X-box that I couldn't get elsewhere. Those being Crimson Skies and Godzilla: Save The Earth (...yeah. I actually LIKED Destroy All Monsters and would love the chance to play as Jet Jaguar, arguably the coolest creature of the series). There ya have it. I don't hate the X-Box, or Microsoft. I'm just saying of the three, and in retrospect, they may have been the worst choice for the gamer who could only afford one console this generation.

Man, and to think the first time I heard of him it was just the DC sniper case back in the day. This limp-dick motherfucker gets way more airtime than he deserves. Why people still give a shit about him is beyond me.

from what I hear, there are no genitals. On anyone. They're all just like barbies, but it's IMPLIED!!! Just like the characters in GTA somehow fuck through their clothes.

I wonder how many times he practiced for "research"

Most recent movie I've seen was "It's All Gone Pete Tong." Quite a funny movie. It's a mockumentary, like Spinal Tap or Mighty Wind, about a British DJ named Frankie Wilde who goes completely deaf. The theater I work at was the first to get the main release (the director used to work concession at the place back in the day...) but it won 5 awards so far, The Audience Award and Best Picture from the Gen Art film fest, the Best Canadian Film award from the Toronto Film fest, and the Best actor and Best Feature from the US Comedy Arts fest, so it's quite good. Check it out if you get the chance. Other than that, I got the DVD of 12 Monkeys for pretty cheap, and that's always a good time.

Well, when you combine "space shooter" and "DS" there's only really one game you could be talking about. Is it any good? I was wondering if I should pick it up or not. Y'know, like, when I have cash. But still, anything I've had recommended by the thumb community I've always loved so far, so what's the verdict?

I'm going to do the same thing. And soon too. I know a guy who's looking to unload his old PS2, and I can get it for about $50 if I want. Must... play... Katamari... Oh, God! I almost feel like I'm cheating on Nintendo...

That's it, I'm getting a PS2. Sooner or later. I now have no choice. I must play Katamari!!!!!!!!!