General Chat

been playing it at work (other have I was watching.) look at if they have added a fair bit.

5.5 gig that the unrealengine for you [;)]

waiting in line on fileplanet.......................................

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=47…

There are a whole list of servers at the top. The PlanetMirror sites are backed right up. I am downloading mine through the Action Trip one.

Edit: It is only downloading at 29k a second, but it is better than nothing.

thanks aven. im getting it at 45-50k off action trip.

played at lunch with the other guys here, had a blast - some fresh ideas on the incredibly stale fps genre, especially in regards to team play and co-operation. At the end of the day it's still just another fps, and gets old kinda quick, but enough to keep my interest for lunch at least [:)]

oh - and love those flying things - I think that satisfied an urge of mine to fly an orca since the original command and conquer [:D]

cool game. i liked those flying things as well :)

did you not play renegades? there were orcas in that right?

i just played onslaught and flew around in a Raptor for a game.

whos wants to have a muck around MP game?? lol

woohoo the demo, i cant belive i forgot. UT series are my fave shooters, i love the whole arena aspect in a multiplayer shooter :D

mines jumping all over the place, but it seems to still be climbin past 3megs a sec (me gots cable net)

edit: after like 5 mins its going @ 56 and still climing... :D

quote:did you not play renegades? there were orcas in that right?

there was -supposed- to be -- played the entire single player campaign, no orcas. Played a few bouts of multiplayer, no orcas -- I can remember some vague recollection of a phantom multiplayer patch which was supposed to deliver them but honestly the game wasn't worth that much thought or effort.

Played it a bit. It is good to see Assault return... and on acid. That map is just awesome. The weapons are still pretty crappy (the Mine Launcher is cool though). Onslaught is a nice addition. I don't particularly like the vehicles. They handle like crap. Give me Halo's vehicles any day.

It is still a demo though, so I can't really pass too much judgement. I would love to have a go against other Sumeans Inglis. Just let me know when and where :D

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000DZG1N/qid=1076577042…

The SE of it. 2 DVDs with video training for Mod creation.

phwoaaaaaaar, man i gotta gets me that, ive been shoving my money elsewhere a lot lately but damn, i just gotta buy UT :P

MMmmm i'm lookin forward to the 100+ hrs worth of video tutorials, but from what i've heard they won't even be shipping the special edition out here [:(]

Ok, I've *finally* have it downloaded !!.. Graphically, there's not that much difference to UT2003. Looks pretty much the same to me. [:)].. The vehicles are great, and control much better than in Unreal 2 XMP. You can slide out etc. I prefer the vehicle models in XMP though, and how when you enter a vehicle, it glows Tron-like in your team's colour. You can tell a mile away if the vehicle is an enemy vehicle or not. With UT2k4 it's a bit harder. The raptors - they're awesome. I was curious as to how easy it would be to control flying vehicles - if it was going to take some practise like Battlefield 1942. But in UT2k4, it's dead easy. Great!
Assault and Onslaught are the only decent game modes worth playing. The rest are deathmatch (deathmatch, team deathmatch, last man standing etc) and slight capture the flag variations (bombing run, double domination), so I don't really care much about them. Assault seems nice enough, but still isn't as indepth as the mission objectives in Enemy Territory. Basically you stand at one point for a few seconds, once that's done go to the next point and repeat until the mission is over. UT needs player classes, damnit! Onslaught feels like a faster paced Battlefield 1942. It's a smaller map, but has a variety of vehicles, and there are some good vehicle vs vehicle action to be had. Oh, and there's definately something satisfying about running over enemies with a vehicle. I must be a sadist.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the release because I'm sure there are tonnes more interesting maps to play with. I hope they're a bit more creative than the selection seen in the demo, and I hope they aren't a mixed bag of weird styles like in UT2k3 where it ranges wildy from gothic, cartoony, to downright weird. The team deathmatch level in the demo was Lord of the Rings inspired, I thought. Huge pillars, and that narrow bridge with bottomless area below. The should grab the developers from the disbanded Legend Entertainment who did Unreal 2 + XMP. They know how to do really great landscapes.
A nice touch in Unreal2k4 is that you can press N or M and it'll show you the way to your or the enemy's base. Definately useful.
Also I wanna see the [url="http://www.gamespy.com/previews/february04/ut2004pc/index2.shtml"]Leviathan vehicle[/url] which is some huge (3 times as big) monster transforming vehicle which turns into a cannon! Anyway, check out the screenshots. There looks to be a [url="http://www.gamespy.com/previews/february04/ut2004pc/screenshots.shtml"]space battle mode[/url] in there too..

i just jumped on OzForces (i think thats right) server for a couple games of Onslaught. Very cool.
Although I dont like it when a teammate beats me to my ride!!! lol

oh and I found a guided mini nuke weapon at the top of the tower in the middle of the map so ive been chasing people around with that. quite funny....well for me anyway

thats the redeemer inglis, AKA jesus gun :P :D and yes it is a sort of small nuke, heaps of fun to guide around and watch people run away from the massive rocket thats following them :P

yeeeees space battles and dog fights!!! i did a bit of dog fighting when i was playing onslaught online, lotsa fun.

btw did anyone else notice when u get in one of the humvee like car things it puts ur username us as the no. plate :D neat things like that and things like GTA inspired jump statistics popping up on the bottom of your screen after youve come screaming over a hill in one of the smaller cars just add that little bit more :P

yah, I liked the little easter egg type features like the awards. Running two humm-vees togethor makes a fender-bender, raptor vs. raptor is top gun, you've got the stunt bonuses, the ultimate road carnage for taking 5+ guys out really quickly with the hover vehicles down thrust etc etc etc... goofy novelties really [:)]

one thing I enjoy is the team play - it doesn't need player classes, because you pretty much assign yourself a role and support someone else - eg, try being the secondary man on the link gun, or base defender planting heaps of spider drones and directing them from the tower. Good fun :)

So what nicks do you guys use? You'll be seeing me in the ctf and onslaught servers if you play much of it :D

Gamearena servers seem pretty decent.

Local servers are just damn too busy to get on. Ozforces is always full and so is that NZ one.
I got some bugs happening when I play online too. Some of those manned-gun turrets have totally disappeared (but you can use them if you remember where they are), and I can't aim vertically when I'm in the raptor/tank/other shooting vehicles.. pretty frustrating. Plus the shrubs are pure white when they're in the distance. Once you get a lot closer, their texture shows up properly. This happens offline as well, so jot that in as a graphical glitch.
Put in 31 bots, and watch the chaos and mayhem! So much laser trails and bullets everywhere. It looks like something out of Star Wars. Funny you mentioned GTA - when you steal a vehicle that belonged to the other team, you hear a car alarm sound [:)]

I played a little bit of onslaught (with bots) at luncha t work today, and was very impressed. They seem to have captured the "5 minutes to learn, a lifetime (well, not quite) to master" concept very well. The rules are very simple, but there are enough little extra things that make the learning curve long.
Anyway, i really enjoyed it, and can only imagine it would be better online. I think it is definitely a HUGE leap, in terms of gameplay, over ut2k3, where there wasn't any really new/fresh gametypes, only rehashes of old ones, although i do quite like bombing run, as long as it is on a good map! The return of assault is definitely welcome.
I think the vehicles handle really nicely. They're simple and don't "fight" you to operate them (ie. BF1942). Some people may complain that the vehicles are too simple to operate maybe, but i think it fits the fastpaced action of UT much better. However, i would have liked to see some more opportunities for co-op vehicles. I haven't tried them all properly, but it seemed the only co-op ones where the humvee with MG turret and tank with MG turret. Might be nice to see some different weapons for the second player, and a co-op flying vehicle too. Of course we haven't seen all the vehicles yet probably, so i'll keep my fingers crossed.
I'll definitely be grabbing this when it comes out (and i have $$ :) ). I'm thinking the community for ut2k4 should be much larger than ut2k3, simply because ut2k4 (to me) is a better game.
If i can actually eb bothered trying it online (with ym crappy 56k) i'll be running under the nick Blitz (omg!).
CYer, Blitz

quote:some more opportunities for co-op vehicles

you know at least 2 people can jump on the sides of the manta while 1 person drives? its pretty cool flying along on the side of that thing :)

I discovered that by accident [:)]. Stupid bots always rushing for the nearest vehicle when you first spawn! Was heading for the Manta, and just missed out, but stayed on it's wing. Those Manta's are darn fast. Keep your right mouse button pressed, and just mow everyone down [:)] I love the Goliaths the most though (the tanks). They're darn-diddly-arn powerful. Thank god there aren't too many of them around in the map, or else it'll be too spammy. Some of the vehicles in Battlefield 1942 are so powerful. You'd be walking blistfully around and boom, you'd be dead. With all the vehicles and mayhem that's happening in Onslaught, I'm happy this doesn't happen as much with UT2k4.

my PC is to crap [:(]

I've played the demo/onslaught to death now.. need more maps. [:)] There's a few things I'm miffed about in the onslight gametype. Specifically when you're constructing a node, all it takes is one shot from the other side to destroy it. Add 5 of them taking pot shots at it and it's near impossible to build one. Also when a team is down to their last node, it's pretty much the end. You have the winning team with access to so many vehicles, the goliath etc, it's seriously too overwhelming.

ive played quite a few games now when we have come back from having no nodes to winning.....but then im quite the topgun :p lol

you just need to take out the closest node then the one in the middle and you are in business.

(i play reds most often) i allways go for the link right accross the battlefield that dosent have a centre point, more often then not people are going nuts at the centre point and the outside ones are near unguarded :P

ive tried my best to come back from no nodes but its pretty hard, doo-able but u need ur whole team working good and that means good human players, not bots :P

guess what nick i go under online? it might just be moonunit ;)

ohooo...people have found Text-To-Voice in the options and are typing sick things online.
I was playing and all of a sudden my speakers started sounding like a phone sex line.

lol what is that option (not for sex talk mind you :P just that the type space in UT is really damn small and no one sees things like "we need more support" and all of that stuff)

ive got a mic but when i heard someone try to use that function in a game all i managed to decypher were like 4 words in the all the speakin he did in the entire game, most of it just didnt come through (but the little pic came up so i knew he was trying to speak)

its in the Communication options I think. Down the right corner of the screen, just have to tick it on.

yeah been there before, had a mudvayne wallpaper from there on my comp for a while

mine is a Static-X fan art from Rocktoons.com
Gamewallpapers.com has a few good game wallpapers as well, most are free.

i change my wallpaper so often its not funny...but currently I have Prince of Persia

Yeah, I pretty much change my wallpaper every few days, but usually I have renders of the latest thing I've been working on. My theory is that if I'm always looking at an image of something I'm working on, I might come up with some idea on how to improve it...

I currently have a mech I'm working on.

Other then my own renders, I sometimes go for Lord of the Rings pics or stuff from the sci-fi world. [:)] - Then there are game screen shots, movie posters, cool cars, traditional art, sceneries, digital photos.... [:D]

http://www.lordoftherings.net/media/desktops/tour_pelennor_1280.jpg
Here be mine.

heres mine

http://www.3dluvr.com/inglis/other/desktop.jpg
(sized down from 1280x1024)

Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop, same at work.

Pantmonger

ammaaa inglis has Kazaa, dobbed on ha!

Kazaa lite is wut u need or Overnet or mIRC.

whats wrong with having kazaa???
anyone can download it from http://www.kazaa.com/.

Nothing wrong, just messin', but i don;t use kazaa. It always gave me viruses.

I use mirc, Kazaa Lite or Overnet. Havn't had a virus since.

Mines Squall and his gunblade (FFVIII), my fave final fantasy game [8D]

mines a cartoony pic of smashmouth which is to be the cover of their next CD (www.smashmouth.com or something)

lol at rezn0r

Steven Stahlberg's latest piece, Fairy Murder.
http://www.optidigit.com/stevens/jealousyhi.jpg

I have a tigger picture joel did for me on my desktop :)

*note - thank you reznor*

well...i have changed mine once again...

now it is a computer generated close-up of Tony Hawk pulling off some trick over a half pipe...[:D]

I use one of the wallpapers available from www.designchapel.com .. Namely of the lady with the art folder, in front of an emblem..

Well I tend to find good astronomical piccies - and the site I usually find good piccies is at Astronomy picture of the day:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I change my wallpaper as often as I change my boxers. The current one is a group shot from Azumanga Daioh.

Gabe and Tycho posing as Neo and Morpheus.

[url]http://www.penny-arcade.com/dl/matrix10.zip[/url]

Work: .hack "ALTIMIT OS" [url]http://dothack.com/game/item/wallpaper/01big.zip[/url]
Home: screen cap from an episode of Full Metal Alchemicst (The brothers sparring)

quote:Originally posted by CombatWombat

Well I tend to find good astronomical piccies - and the site I usually find good piccies is at Astronomy picture of the day:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

aaaaaah my dad does exactly the same thing! [xx(]

@ work -- a Craig Mullins piece, "Elf"
http://www.goodbrush.com/gallery/albums/sketches/elf.jpg

@ home -- a Brom piece, "Lost note"
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/katrinchen/volume3/brom_the_lost_note.j…

edit: copy/paste the second image into a new window -- it's on a xoom server, so it gets upset for forum linking

or just click it, and hit f5.

*fwaps joel*

Anyone been to Digital blasphemy, it has some very cool wallpapers. A lot of glowing.

Mine changes all the time, it usually a cool pic from a forum or the latest bit of art I have done. Right now it is the concept or a character that I'm doing for a 3D modelling DVD tutorial for a teacher at Tempe in University, Arizona, which will be released sometime in the next year.

Which I will be showing you all as soon as I can find some web hosting with remote linking.

I sent myself a voodoo curse from pinstruck.com and use that.

doord: www.uploadit.org - 20 images free image hosting, instant signup.

thanks you so much Styles.

Mine's now a desktop from http://www.rustboy.com/

Hadn't heard anything on the project for some time, so curiosity got the better of me.

Mines a wallpaper from FF7: Advent Children

Labia. Yeah im expecting this to be deleted :D

Fluffy

lol

Call it..........."a cat"

Oatcake...Oatcake I say!

What colour is the cat?

I havent actually got it yet, I'm getting it either today, or monday.

Call it 'Roof Rabbit'

ash-tray

get a dog. dogs have more personality.

cats only care about you when you bang the tin for their dinner.

yeah I agree. Dog's are much better.

tru, but dogs are always too happy to see you, even when u dont feel like patting it. and we have dogs n e way. i need a cat.

Thats really only true for some breeds of cat. I have a pure-bred burmese and he's easily as loving as any dog I've ever known.

Phatcat

TROGDOR!!!!!!!!!!!

What better name for a cat then the name of the Mighty Trogdor, The Burninator!

checkout http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html for the reference :)

homestar runner is cool

Zelda or Link could be cool names :)

I've always wanted to name a cat "Cefer" :)

a pic from the side of my computer:
[img]http://www.vooks.net/moonunit/curiosity.jpg[/img]

incase u cant read it says "curiosity didnt kill the cat, my car did" :D

*adds MoonUnit to hitlist*

Call your cat "Dogfood".

Call the cat "Sumea" [;)]

Call it souri

*awaits bannage*

hehe

i had a cat once. I named him Moscow. Very cool name for a pet.

Moscow disappeared, i assume he went by choice... *cough*

im thinking of naming him chow-min[xx(]

Guybrush
Master Chief
Cortana
Duke (Nukem)
Tails
Knuckles
Blinx (<----!!!!!!!!)
Yeah, i think you gotta call (him) Blinx, specially if he's orange and half decent with a vacuum cleaner.
CYer, Blitz

lol

Ryo-Ohki from Tenchi Muyo
Kuroneko from Trigun
Luna or Artemis from Sailor Moon
Meowth from Pokemon (hey it fits in with the latest comp :p)

i think Frenzy is a cool name...

you realise cats n dogs just respond to the sort of sound of their name, not like the pronouciation, my dogs called monty right, if i called out "donty" hed still come. So its best to keep it simple. Names like Ryo-Ohki arent really suited for cats n dogs, there understanding of pronounciation isnt that great :P

*** wonders what the hell I'm downloading here on my slow, slow connection... ***
[:(]

i downloaded it a couple days ago- its a great cinematic.

no doubt it will be asked.....they used XSI.

Yeah I got it a few days ago. I'm not too sure if Robot is a part of Capcom (do you know Inglis?), but Capcom have always had a history of having really sweet cutscenes. There was a Japanese teaser trailer for Devil May Cry 2 that was released. All my friends that did 3D animation were even asking "Is that real?"

Don't worry Palantir, it is worth it :D The fight scene between the Shinobi and the two pig like demons is frickin awesome.

Capcom outsourced it to Robot

http://company.robot.co.jp/

their website.

Bless you getright, now I can save this to my hard drive

This was floating around work, as well as a gameplay avi and the onimusha arcade fighting game avi. [:P]
Very nice job as always from our asian neighbours.
Shows what love, perfection and commitment can accomplish.

Damn my crapass 56k :(
How big is the movie?
Anyone know how to save it to your hd. Im not going to d/l a huge file if I cant keep it.

http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_onimusha3_gi.mov

direct link

its only 42mb.

Thanks inglis, I'll get it tonight

Whoa.. That was very cool.

Thats the neatest thing i've seen in ages. Is it a real movie or just a game trailer.

Got it last night, took over 2hrs.
AS I was waiting for it, I didnt really expect it to be as good as what everyone said, and I didnt think it would be worth the 2hr wait.

...boy was I wrong.
The movie is awesome, better then FF movie as well. Great character design too. Just awesome, especially for inspiration. Makes me wish I could do high poly.

Damnit, I'll have to download it as well.... *kicks 56k modem too*

Yeah, it takes a very long time to download on the 56k, but boy, is it worth it! If your wondering if you should bother or not... YES! It's one of the most amazing animations I think I've ever seen. I'll definitely get that game, just because of how cool that animation was.

Dude... I'm thinking, is it a complete sin that I've not played either of the Onimusha games? This is...

*fades off, bumbling through drool*

I just downloaded the higher res version. Its 114 mb.

You can get it here- but you will need a program like FlashGet because of the amount of traffic it likes to drop out.

http://ruliwebfile.intizen.com/mpeg3/kokocapcom/oni3_kr.mpg

Great animation. Curious as to how this fits in with the game though. Is it a trailer for the game? Cutscene from within the game (if it is, it doesn't look like you're going to be doing all the fun stuff [;)])?
Whenever I see ninja's hopping around and killing stuff, it just reminds me of one of my favourite anime, Ninja Scroll..

why would you want a collection of old cards?

I guess you could melt them down and extract some precious metals? :)

i would stick them on my wall and have a funky 3dfx cards wallpaper type of thing

I would glue them all together to make some sort of evil 3DFX robot to scare the neighbours cat from entering my yard. Beats chasing them with a stick all the time!

Ah, I remember my old voodoo card. Back in those days 3D accelerators were *only* 3D accelerators so you needed another card for 2D. It always brought me joy to hear it's relay switching the output over. Those were they days...

I more like it for nostalgia reasons. The first thing I saved up and bought with my very first part-time job was a 6Mb Voodoo Rush Accelerator. Plugged that baby into my P90 with a S3 graphics card, and it allowed me to play Quake II. Ah the days.... Plus I like Tachyon's idea :)

Blue tac them all together then shove it in your computer for a super, mega, hyper 3dfx turbo XXX, unlimted, alpha, xtreme!!! card.

and with a sizzle and a bang, you wonder "What could have made my computer spaz out like that?"...

sounds like power can it get the deveopler behind this power to make some turly cool games. Only time will tell.

It sounds impressive and all but I bet the games we will get are going to be really pretty and really short and nothing special.

Well a slight complaint would be that with three processors on it, it could be much harder to program for than the first one was.

Xbobx2!!

no!! you're replacing me!!

seriously though, gonna have to do something special for me to get one in favour of my trusty pc!!
But true, development costs will be insane compared to what they todays games, how many developers will jump on board for that..

wow if that thing gets rolling smoothly then that will be awesome!! a G5 console... tee hee

im about to do a budget update on my comp, makes it seem pointless :P

quote:Originally posted by Sorceror Bob

Xbobx2!!

no!! you're replacing me!!

seriously though, gonna have to do something special for me to get one in favour of my trusty pc!!
But true, development costs will be insane compared to what they todays games, how many developers will jump on board for that..

no installing games, smaller loading time, no render setting that need to be changed, no hardware problem (well I havn't had any), no huge OS eating your ram, no need to upgrade all the time once about every four years. Do I need to go on??

quote:Originally posted by Doord
no need to upgrade all the time once about every four years. Do I need to go on??

No. You just have to but a new console every four years.

It does sound like a sexy beast though. Just keep in mind that Microsft changed the specs for the Xbox on a weekly basis, so this should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

It would be a pity to lose the hard drive. That thing is just so damned useful. No memory cards, and the ability to have your own music playing while thrashing around on PGR was excelent.

Its probably gonna be bullshit.

I mean look at all this shit about GameCube 2 (The N5) Using 100-1000 small Super computers (Blue Gene). The PS3 having 100 times the power of a Pentium 4. And now this! Its just hype crap and hell the Xbox architects etc.. could just be trying to get people hyped if thats the case then they have achieved it.

I think its bull overall, there is always hype over new console often made up by Fan boys who think there console is the greatest. I personally think if consoles like these were made the cost would well exceed the $1000-$5000 mark (Hey i remember here the PlayStation started at $2000 at Kmart then it dropped too $800!) and like said before the games would/might get better graphics but at the cost of the developers budgets and gameplay and of course length.

But in a way i guess its possible. Think though what is Silicon made of? Sand, thats right the beach has the fastest processor in the world with a in built wave generator with un beatable physics and realistic graphics and a great cooling system that cant be beat! Oh and the OS is good too its called Life [;)].

Tom

PS: The reason that they are dropping the Hard drive is because not only for Piracy reasons but because a console with a hard drive isnt really a console, its a PC. Im not joking either they even stated that themselves, a console with a DVD player doesnt count either they said as well, sorry people but Nintendo is still in the lead of originality and legit consoles [;)].

it is not what that is in a console that makes is a console, it is how it plays. If you plug it in to a TV it mainly for playing games and has a pad not a keyboard then it plays like a console therefore is one. Well that my spin on it.

Also the game cube is not that much different to the x-box, I my not be right but I believe that IBM made the processor and n-Vida made the graphics card, just like the x-box :)

quote:Originally posted by Doord


no installing games, smaller loading time, no render setting that need to be changed, no hardware problem (well I havn't had any), no huge OS eating your ram, no need to upgrade all the time once about every four years. Do I need to go on??

Good points, but on the flip side.. No mod support(that i'm aware of), weak internet, no applications (ps, max, maya etc) and most importantly, no Total War games..
My PC currently does everything I want it to. So why get a smaller system that will just take up room *glances at N64*

I read a bit of the comments on Shacknews, and there's some good opinions there. Maybe the Xbox 2 will have the HD as optional, or perhaps memory cards/flash ram will be cheap enough and large enough so that it could be used instead for downloads/patches/caching/saves.. it'll definately reduce the size of the Xbox2 in anycase.

I really hope the nextgen consoles will be the huge leap that I'm looking forward to. I got that impression from the Playstation 2 (especially when they were touting it could do Toy Story in real time), so here's hoping this time the Xbox2/PS3/Phantom(*cough*) will blow our socks away!!

I think it?s silly getting hyped up over how powerful the next gen of consoles are going to be. Of course they are going to be powerful, they are the next wave of high tech home gaming, but what really matters, and what has always mattered, far more then the hardware, is the software. The bottom line is what games will be available, how cool will those games be, and what kind of range of games will there be.

The ps2 outsold its contenders by a long shot, not because it was the most powerful (which it wasn?t), but because it had such a large range of games that come under the ?I?ve gotta have it!!? category. I could probably list at least 30 games on ps2 that are compulsory playing for any gamer with true passion for computer games, while I would be hard pressed to list 10 must have games on both the xbox and game cube combined. If Microsoft really wants to be the king of the console, they should spend less worrying about hardware and more about software. It?s the game developers that make a console great, not the hardware itself.

Besides, what chance does an American company really have against the Japanese king of game consoles, Sony (or even Nintendo)?

people just a note, theres something about the console wars:

its your own opinion

so saying things like:
"Nintendo is still in the lead of originality and legit consoles"
"while I would be hard pressed to list 10 must have games on both the xbox and game cube"
is all a matter of personall opinion and most likely meaningless to other people and only serves to start little fights. Im telling you your wrong or right, its just your opinion so keep that in mind [:)]

palantir - Microsoft does have Rare up their sleeve. :D

You are right though. These press releases never mention how many excellent games will be on offer on launch. "The XBOX NEXT will have 2 games available on launch; a PSOne port and a shallow driving game that shows off the amazing graphics grunt the XBOX has to offer..."

I think its a shame they are losing the HDD. It was one of the few things that helped the XBOX stand out from the other two contenders. It really made for some interesting cross-platforms titles; certain games took advantage of the HDD and let you do stuff like save music. This would no doubt have been a shot in the arm for the Xbox's sales...

anyhoo.

Er yeah, I meant to say that those views were merely my opinion? I?m just trying to point out that games are what make or break game consoles. When I mentioned must have games, I was talking about super successful games that made it into the top sales figures. I think sales figures kind of speak for themselves?

IMO, the whole reason to get a game console should be if there is one single game out there that you just have to have. For me, the only reason to get a ps2 (or ps3) is the Gran Turismo serries. That?s pretty much the only game that can tear me away from the PC for any substantial length of time.

I think it will be very interesting to see were the future of game consoles lies. I have always thought that the gap between PC and game console will dissolve, until the day comes when you just have a box plugged into your high definition tele that does everything you could possibly want from a home entertainment/PC system. Especially with the development of new control systems, like motion capture (think Sony Eye Toy evolved ? controlling computers with simple body movements), it could theoretically be possible to easily do everything you do on a PC in the comfort of your lounge room ? one day?

In my opinion. [:D]

The hdd was one of the main reasons i got an xbox. I absolutely detest memory cards. Unless xbox2 ships with a 7 gig memory card that plugs into the back of the box (and NOT the controller) i doubt i'll be purchasing one...
It's not so much the cost as just the hassle of having to worry about more things than just the game disc to play a game, not to mention the extra development opportunities (ideas) opened up by having that storage device (and knowing that every single unit had it).
Bad move MS.
CYer, Blitz

I still don't believe Sony's comments about the PS3 being able to render Toy Story in real time. When nVidia released their Quadros, they tried saying that it could render FF: Spirits Within in real time. Pity it was actually just a watered down version of Sid with one light in real time. Close, but not quite the same.

My biggest problem with consoles, is that they all have games on them that are worth buying. I just really don't want to have three consoles sitting in front of a TV. Having to switch them all around whenever I want to play a different one.

Get 3 TV's :)
CYer, Blitz

and a winning monopoly ticket

quote:Originally posted by Aven
My biggest problem with consoles, is that they all have games on them that are worth buying. I just really don't want to have three consoles sitting in front of a TV. Having to switch them all around whenever I want to play a different one.

One of my mates has :
3 Xboxes
2 PS2
2 Gamecubes
6 siblings
1 large flatscreen TV

Why?

I know more than one person who has a similar setup as well. Seems kind of pointless as all that extra cash could be so much better spent.

Personally I'm a nintendo person all the way, I just prefer their in-house titles. Does x-box have any great franchises that arent made by other companies? I dont think they do, Same with Ps2 (Not totally sure on that one though) Nintendo has Zelda, Mario, Metroid, donkey Kong etc People buy nintendo consoles for these games alone. Plus I like how nintendo doesnt bullshit their hardware specs like sony and microsoft.
As for the convienience of consoles over PCs, yes they are simpleer to use, but I prefer PC's I like taking care of my computer, fidgeting around with settings etc.

quote:Originally posted by Aven

My biggest problem with consoles, is that they all have games on them that are worth buying. I just really don't want to have three consoles sitting in front of a TV. Having to switch them all around whenever I want to play a different one.

There is this thing called an "A/V switch box". ;)

It?s interesting that Micro$oft think that by rushing the crapbox2, er, I mean xbox2 [;)] onto the market early will win them the war of the next gen consoles? I?ve always thought that any product held off until perfected makes for a better product. And is there really any indication that hitting the market a year or two before the other consoles will really give them that big of an advantage? Most console sales seem to take place when there is competition to drive down prices.

Still, I guess there are always the people willing to pay top dollar to have the latest thing?

quote:Originally posted by palantir

It?s interesting that Micro$oft think that by rushing the crapbox2, er, I mean xbox2 [;)] onto the market early will win them the war of the next gen consoles?

Certainly didn't work for Sega's Dreamcast. Not really a fault of Sega though. All it took was Sony's PS2 hype to kill it. Maybe it'll work again against Microsoft [:)]

quote:Originally posted by Souri

quote:Originally posted by palantir

It?s interesting that Micro$oft think that by rushing the crapbox2, er, I mean xbox2 [;)] onto the market early will win them the war of the next gen consoles?

Certainly didn't work for Sega's Dreamcast. Not really a fault of Sega though. All it took was Sony's PS2 hype to kill it. Maybe it'll work again against Microsoft [:)]

I think the major problem the Sega Dreamcast had was that they did very little marketing.

Were Sony have aimed the playstation one at a different market, the people which watch TV but don't play games and now all these people are gamers. Not to say that people that play playstation are not gamers or anything like that just saying that Sony graped this un-taped market and got a huge number of units sales out from it. Nintendo start this with the Snes, but the playstation was out before the New Nintendo (N64) when these people were looking at the new PC games and were looking for a new console to be able to play games like this.

Also because of this huge unit base many game developers etc. got on broad. So if Microsoft can get there marketing right and get out before the Playstation 3 when this people are looking for an upgraded console (because of how much better PC games are looking now compare to the PS2) they will do the same to Sony.

Sega's weekend of launching the DC was the most successful launch (US wise) before the PS2 was launched. Great system despite it's short lifespan. But you can't compare Sega, rated the worst company to invest with in Japan for two years running and losing millions for about 5 consecutive years to the Redmond giant.

It's a bit redundant to compare Microsoft's 'killer franchises' with Nintendo's, considering that Nintendo have been making console games for a lot longer. The games mentioned by Fluffy are great (if this time around, not as strong as the last incarnation) but I think that if MS are given a similar timeframe, we could see a similar number of great titles. Maybe. They've got Halo so far and some decent sports games -- in part, I wonder if the age of the mascot is dead now that the average age of the modern gamer is a lot higher.

People who write Micro$oft make me think this: [img]http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2002/20020722l.gif [/img]

In truth MS has succeeded in one aspect - they've now got decent brand recognition. Where people would have just gone for a PS2, now they are thinking -- which one do I want? Xbox or PS2? Or they pick up an NGC on the cheap. Getting out to the market first may pay off - but Sony have some of the best marketing muscle I've seen.

Personally - I hope that the next race is more even. If Sony come out on top again (third time in a row -- unprecedented in the console world), it could end up turning into a monopoly of sorts.

Hehe. [:D] Yep. That guy in the cartoon is pretty much me, I'm sad to say... (Apart from the location).
Anyway, my star fleet uniform is getting dirty, so I better get mum to clean it while I prey at my Linux alter...

*kneels in front of PS2, in praying position*
"May Linux one day triumph over Windows. One to beam up." [:P]
*Dissapears in dazzle of cheap particle effects*

(hey, it?s late, and I?ve been programming all day ? I make no apologies)

I wonder if the new x-box will be the size or a breifcase again?

I'm betting that it won't be. They'll need to compete in ALL territories next time around - and the Japanese will be after something that wont double as a space docking station.

Thats not good for Disney!

WOW. Those Disney guys are crazy.

It's interesting to see that disney can make sequael to those original 5 movies, should Pixar decline... Finding Nemo 2, 3 and 7. Of couse, no animation studio in their right mind would be in any rush to try and fill pixar's shoes...

Disney have had it good with Pixar with some dodgy dealings. There was a 5 movie distribution deal where Disney would reap a lot of the profits from the Pixar movies. That deal, however, didn't include sequels, which means Toy Story 2 didn't count as a movie. Disney saw the Pixar split coming a mile away. That's why they've been downsizing their traditional 2D areas (there was a 2D animation studio they shut down recently which had over 200 animators), to concentrate on 3D and compete with Pixar and everyone else. I think it's a shame to see this transition because I have a great appreciation for hand drawn animation - especially the Disney style (Alladin, Mulan, Hercules, Lion King etc.. I could go on). The recent Disney movies haven't been too good though. Unfortunately no one has told them that it's the stories that made the Pixar movies so successful, not the 3D.

wow disney must be pretty unhappy about this. Good luck to pixar though, their movies are some of the best ive ever seen!

"are you my concience?"

I think there will always be a place for 2D animation, no matter how good 3D gets. Lilo & Stich wasn't such a bad effort on Disneys part, I like it. Nice art, reasonable story line, I like how they switched back to watercolour for their backgrounds, something they haven't done since Dumbo.

Damn aladdin was a good movie... still haven't seen Mulan or Lilo and Stitch. Mental note.

Smiles a little smile.

Gee no one thought that was comming.

Pantmonger

The Emperor's New Groove is still my fav. They poked fun at themselves really well. Then Aladdin and The Jungle Book. Pretty much everyone saw this one coming. I heard about it about mid way through last year. Although it is pretty sadening, I'm sure that Pixar are doing it for their own good. I am just interested to know who they will go to now...

I really havn't liked any disney 2D cartoon since Lion King. I think companies like dreamworks are really dominating the animation area, sinbad kicked arse and so did shrek. They are also doing well in the 3D area with shrek, shrek 2 comin out, shrek 3 in plan and also shark tales. Go dreamworks.

I read somewhere that a big portion of Disney's entire profits were due to Pixar's films. It's definately going to be an interesting time for Disney in the future.

Yeah i read that too Souri and as for Disney i think they need Lester and Iliza to help them again(If anyone gets that [:P]).

Poor Disney, they made some great stuff, i just hope they dont die. They hadnt been doing well since Pixar joined them. Its sad for the factorys in China and for McDonalds, the factorys cant produce the crappy Nemo merchandise for Happy Meals with copyright Disney & Pixar films 2003 on them, and McDonalds cant sell the crappy happy meals with free crappy merchandise due to the break up.

See people you have to think outside the square, think of others and the chain reaction!

Awesome...thats means Pixar can make movies their own without the shitty Disney "LOVE&FRIENDSHIP RULES..OK!" stamp of approval. Thats the only thing i hate about Pixars movies. Good luck to them. Cant wait to see a "DISNEY NOT TOUCH!" Pixar movie.

Toy Story 3 happening without Pixar

http://www.moviehole.net/news/3121.html

oh my god, they cant do that thats so wrong to not have pixar do toy story.

I've already got my toy story + toy story 2 boxset... fire away!

I'd love to hear Tom Hanks and Tim Allen refuse to work on the movie, that would rock.

I read that Disney might not have had much choice. The new contract deal Pixar wanted would not have been favourable for Disney. So Eisner would have been damned either way- split with Pixar or sign a contract that would not have limited/reduced their Pixar-related erning potential.

tru

Marvel are now getting in on it http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=10209

I'am a fan of marvel comics, but i don't think they need pixar to make good movies. Alot of the marvel comics gone movies (ie: Spiderman, X men) had a lot of CG effects and stuff with out pixar, I don't think they need pixar or pixar needs them.

some of the marvel movies were top stuff (like x-men2) but to have pixar do them would be awesome! i wouldnt like to see pixar tied to marvel though, as pixar needs to be able to do its usual stuff aswell.

Also Marvel comics are serious where as Pixar Movies are mostly Comedy I don't know if I'd want to see a Serious movie by Pixar or a comedy movie by marvel for that matter.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/Dispatches/P74592.a… More fun on the Disney front :)

a quote from someone i don't remember
"comedians by and large, are the ONLY people who can be taken seriously"

http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=10291 Looks like Pixar have their new partner.

MGM hey... well it makes sense, like it was mentioned in the article they dont allready have anything established in the animation/childrens department so it broadens their horizon, aslong as pixar are shown the respect they deserve :P

YEE-ESSS! http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/03/03/disney.eisner/index.html Good bye Eisner. Nah nah nah nah. Nah nah nah nah. Ye he he... Goodbye :D

lol we are a happy chappy arent we, well if he is responsible for the demise of the pixar disney relationship as is rumoured i suppose it is only good news that hes gone.

Try

in the header. Many proxies are slow to adopt the change, which is the problem you have now, so don't expect a magic fix.

thanks

I'm getting bombarded by some very strange emails, but they seem to contain bits of (or references to) personal information (family names, related organisations). May be a different virus...

Very odd stuff.

also worm_mimail.r ? some server in france thinks i sent a infected email while my computer has been offline for a few days, always a good sign.

I haven't got any, and I'm a full-on magnet for crap-tastic email.

I think there is a new virus called "The Doom" just saw it on the news.

doesnt sound good....

what does it do?

its actually called MyDoom, and it is designed to DDoS SCO

havent had much in the way of viruses myself, but heaps of problems with internet hijackers (re-directing you, changing your home page and so on). That and a trojan

of late my hotmail e-mail has been getting 6-7 virus attached emails a day.

MoonUnit, Yeah I had the same problem, with advertising internet stuff. It got to the point were now I don't have a net connection at home. Everything is so fast now. My Photoshop or max will open in about 5 sec or less, it is damn amazing.

What types of sites do you guys visit to get such virus infected spam?????

Don't get any emails with virus attachments, but i am pretty sure that i have picked up a worm as of late (damn porn sites). The other day, IE started crashing a fair bit, today it wont even load before it crashes. I'm now using Netscape :'(

quote:Originally posted by inglis

What types of sites do you guys visit to get such virus infected spam?????

Petty much any site with Ad's I think are bad to visit which is just about all the net. Thank you Souri for not going to the dark side.

Yeah i had the popup worm where i coud not open internet explorer with out getting infinite pop ups. I did a scan with norton and it found a worm called adclicker or something which clicks on all the banners and stuff. Luckily i got rid of it. Any Hu, don't u guys have anti virus software? Broadband is great with norton cos it always keeps u up to date with the latest virus definitions. I havn't had a problem since i got Cable 2 months ago. before that i was usually formatting my computer about once a fortnight. No Joke [V]

I havent gotten the virus yet, althoug I have been getting lots of spam about Jessica Simpson and buying cigarettes online (!).
Oh and I had to close my Firewall (Zonealarm) to upload a pic, it was only a minute yet somehow I got this small casino program downloaded onto my computer without me doing it!! It also sends out pop-ups and other shit. I only had the firewall down for a minute!! Damn the crappy things that happen on the internet. :(

Sport is the grit in the underwear of my life.

Pantmonger

bahahaha @ pants

I like sport.. But not tennis or cricket.. Or anything televised for that matter.. I want to play, not watch it.. But there it is, eating up my precious TV watching hours. I want to watch that 70's show, not some crappy non interactive version of pong.

It's good that you like it Moonunit.. But I really don't like seeing tennis related stuff here. Makes me feel.. Dirty.

I think ill pass on that grit comment. Too scary.

The Australian Open is an impressive exhibition of athletes competing at the peak of their professional sports etc etc. But it is also the reason i had no Scrubs to watch tonight. :(

quote:Originally posted by Sorceror Bob

It's good that you like it Moonunit.. But I really don't like seeing tennis related stuff here. Makes me feel.. Dirty.

Shame on you, dirty, dirty MoonUnit. Didn't you know these forums are moderated for discussion on topics other than games, art, women, computers, fantasy and sci-fi?

haha [;)]

I love sport to but not tennis. Soccer is the way of the future. Watching tennis is like nodding no at someting. Your head just goes side to side.

I flew down to Melbourne last saturday to shop my butt off and to also watch Hewitt vs Nadal, great game, Nadal certainly made Hewitt work for his win though.
Also saw Todd Woodbridge play in the doubles.

Tennis, football(soccer) and extreme sports are the only competetive sports I can watch, generally find the attitude of most people who play competetive sport a tad worrying. [:P]

To all those Melbournites out there, your city ROCKS!!

Don't get me wrong, Brisvegas is great and all but I would prefer to be able to move during summer and not sit half naked in a kiddy pool to escape the ridiculous humidity!!

Mr Burns were is your disc to block the sun when we need it??!!!

One question though, why are all the men in Melbourne so 'Man pretty', don't the Melbourne women get jealous that all the fashion stores are for blokes lol. J/K [:)]

Oh noes! Metroman! *runs for cover*

I'm not a huge tennis buff, but I was ready to kick the TV in when Pat Rafter lost to Goran Ivanisevic at the Wimbledon finals in 2001.

Soccer isn't so bad, it's thankfully only confined to SBS.. Can't stand to watch it though honestly.. Only sport I go out of my way to watch is (field) hockey.. Yeah yeah..

I don't really watch alot of sport, except for motorsport. I guess it's hard to call it a sport though, because it's not like you need to be heaps buff and fit to drive a car fast (not that most drivers aren't fit anyway).

I try to play sports more than I watch them!

However I remember spitting chips when pat rafter lost that wimbledon 2001!

soccer is still my game aswell :D
tennis is fun to watch sometimes though, admitedly it can be boring but i saw some awesome matches.

Melbourne, what can i say Malus, we didnt win the most livable city in the world for nothing :P

i was "spitting chips" the other night when federer beat hewitt, that was probably one of the top matches ive seen played.

I hate hewitt he has to learn to admit defeat. He blamed his loss on the fire works. How about Ill-Skill? yeah try that one hewitt.

Really? Every interview I've seen when he loses (or wins for that matter) he comes across as a good sport, he was pretty imature when he was younger but any kid thrown into that type of world would be a bit cocky.

He was really good after the match I saw, he really made it known that the young kid made him work his butt of for the win.

quote:Originally posted by smeg

But it is also the reason i had no Scrubs to watch tonight. :(

I know! Scrubs is my favourite show and Im missing out on it!! :(
Not fair

Hi all! [:)]
Yeah, there has been some nice tennis on the tele.

Personally I?m not much of a competitive sports fan, but I think tennis is good if there are top players involved, otherwise I don?t ?get? traditional sports. They just don?t seem much fun to me. And American television (or even better then TV: gaming [:p]) seems better to watch then sports. [:)]

But I really love the more fun activates, like pretty much all extreme sports [:D] ? especially surfing. Here in beautiful Brisbane surfing is so easy to get into ? a shortish drive and there are some of the best waves in the world? sometimes. IMO, Much more exciting then tennis (or football, cricket, whatever). -if there are waves. [:(] (not that I?m ever up early for a beach trip anymore, I?m always up late on the ?puter )

Still, with the heat we?ve been getting, going to Melbourne for summer sounds pretty cool?

Watching sport is about drinking beer, not watching sport.

do they allow beer wenches at the tennis???

"Watching sport is about drinking beer, not watching sport."

-Wow, now your talking!

hieneken has a big sponsorship in the australian open, theres like a bar were you can get hieneken, hieneken or hieneken beer on the grounds. If you dont like hieneken beer your alchoholic choices are pretty limited as you cant bring anything in (they do check ur bags) so youd have to go sip wine at one of the cafes (EXPENSIVE!!!)

It was like that for the rugby world cup as well. The place we watched the final at took up a heineken only policy (i was in melbourne at the time!).

I got a cool heineken hat out of it though, so thats cool. :D

Hi Palantir - welcome man :)

I'm a programmer type so won't be able to help you with your animation q'ns, but we seem to have lots of really good artists around here who I'm sure will be able to help :)

You'll have to fire up an IRC client and come join us at #sumea (host: irc.uq.edu.au) to help us set a new record for number of Sumeans online in 2004 ;->

Cheers,

Mark/CW

welcome palantir, im one of those artist types but unfortunatly im just starting out, and currently taking a bit of a break whilst making a short film.

enjoy ur stay at the boards :)

WElcome, post some art and have some fun :)

Welcome to the only forum where you dont have too wear pants and care about a health inspector! Well its true some of us might not be wearing pants!

Anyhow welcome aboard although im only new to i guess so i cant say much [;)]. I hope i can see your work sometime!

Overall welcome to friendliest board with no health inspectors [;)].

Welcome, and good luck. Can't wait to see somw work from you :)

As for mech walking and IK/FK... If it is for the legs, then definitely IK. To get the look rightm just try animating some human walk cycles. Now take that walk cycle and make the steps more deliberate and jerky. Make sure that the body bobs enough to add in the weight. Arms come down to personal pref, but the best way is to have IK/FK switching/blending options. Do the newer versions of CS support that?

Thankyou all for you kind welcomes. [:)]

Aven, thanks for the advice. So far I've pretty much done all my walking animations with CS biped, which really takes the difficulty out of animating, especially with footstep mode. I'm still learning about IK, but it seems useful for my needs at the moment - besides, I don't want to ignore any aspect of animation just because doing something another way is easier.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by switching/blending options with IK/FK... do you mean as in having an IK leg with an FK foot, for example? I'm not really sure if my version of CS supports that. It seems to me to only have IK. -But I'm not certain.

Nope. IK/FK blending means that you can make a character's arm move to pick up a ball using IK. That way you just have to move the wrist and the arm should (hopefully) animate correctly. Once you have the ball in the character's hand, you can then switch to FK mode and animate the arm to throw the ball in the air and catch it again using FK. This may not sound like it is that big a deal, but it really does help :)

Um, I?m a bit embarrassed, but I feel a bit lost here? Please excuse my newness [:)] I just have a few questions, if anyone feels like informing a new guy. I?m not sure if I should post this elsewhere though, but since I?ve started a thread, I guess I should use it! - and my connection is really slow at the moment, so I haven?t gotten to check out everything yet, but I can?t find these answers:

The main site and this forum are separate entities, right? People who post there aren?t necessarily on the forum, are they? Do people from here post on the main site also?

Where in the forum do people generally post? Is it in the competitions/challenges only? Can people post some of their previous works here? Or do you need a link to your work found somewhere else?

Some of the pictures in posts don?t show up. Is this because they have been removed? Or am I lacking something to let me see them? I can see most of them.

And I was wondering about the challenges, modelling in particular. Most of the entries are really good! (Aven, I love your villain model!) How good do you have to be to enter? Does it matter if your modelling skills aren?t as complete as you would like? Or is this for highly skilled modellers only?

Thankyou, anybody who could be bothered answering! [:D]

The main site and this forum are separate entities, right?
YES.
You can post your work on the main site so people can view it there. And/Or you could post it in the forum, which allows people to discuss your work.The forum is also used to discuss other topics beyown peoples personal work.

Do people from here post on the main site also?
Yes, but youre not forced to.
It will give your work more coverage.
You can upload your work on the main site and link to that on the forum as well. In case you dont have a webhost of your own.

Where in the forum do people generally post?
This depends on the topic of the thread.
Just read the little descriptions under each forum section.

Can people post some of their previous works here?
Please do. We would like to see your work.
Use the "Exhibition" forum to post your work.
You can link/insert the images from your own webhost, or upload them in your login on the main Sumea site and link to them there.

Some of the pictures in posts don?t show up. Is this because they have been removed?
Yes. That is probably the main reason.

How good do you have to be to enter? Does it matter if your modelling skills aren?t as complete as you would like? Or is this for highly skilled modellers only?
Enter them, you may not win but you will learn from them.

Check the FAQ if you have any problems.
If you cant find your answer there just ask.

http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/faq.asp

Thanks heaps for you help inglis [:)]
A bit of question and answer really helps with orientation!

I?ve now posted a couple of pics on the launchpad site. My profile is at http://www.sumea.com.au/sprofile.asp?member=277 if you want to check them out.

They are just game models I needed for my project. I needed two (or more) teams of light, medium and heavy bots. So I made particular areas textured with a variable colour, so a small change in colour to the corresponding area of the texture image would instantly change the team (so I had red and blue teams). Maybe I should post a in game pic so it makes sense?

I just wish I had better character models to post?

i used to play quake 3 tournaments- love that railgun. although it pisses your friends off when you hardly never miss with it- you quickly end up having no one to play. i think thats why I stopped playing it.

...20% on your vid.

i enjoyed that

hes made a half life DM one a while ago, dont know if its still on the net though

btw there is plenty of sweet rail gun shots in the vid, one seriously awesome one which is replayed in slow mo

sorry for double post but the site www.spirax.org has been updated and the old halflife video is now availible in the downloads section, plus penguins gone and put up some new stuff like player profiles and wat not. I know becuase i tested it for him :P

Wow, he has got some skill, i'am giving serious thought to buying Quake 3. Is it Fun. I've never played any of the quakes b4.

Just checked out the Half Life one, but it aint half as good.

heh heh yeah note the message at the start "none of spirax usually plays HLDM" (or something to that effect), but its still neat.

Well i went and got Quake 3 and man it is awesome fun. I've been playing for hours. And inglis i know wut u mean with the Rail gun, Iam loving it to, getting ok with it.

Oh well back to quake.

lol penguin will be pleased with me, i have converted someone to quake :P

did u find it in a bargin bin or something? im amazed theres still copies around

damn straight bargain bin! $9

heh ive had a quick check when ive been near bargin bins but mostly i prefer UT :)

all this talk of quake 3...
made me install it and give it a shot again after not touching it for 2 years.
i recorded myself playing a bot :)

quake 3 version 1.17 i used - dont know if that matters.

now to cover my ass seeing as i havent played it in 2 years-
its a 10 min 1v1 game -

i remember the games being a lot faster pace back in the day (all the strafe jumping, rocket jumping etc...im too unco to do that now lol)...and the railgun being a lot more accurate..anyway...enjoy :)

http://www.3dluvr.com/inglis/other/

go there and download the file "rustyquake3.zip"

that a demo vid for the game or like a mpeg? (i dunno cause like its in a zip file see...)

is a demo recording for the game.

Even when Quake 3 first came out, I could never play more than an hours worth of deathmatch - it just seemed really mindless and boring to me. That really quick, jumping, twitch shooting, splash damage style kind of play.. It's the same with Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat. Capturing and holding the flag is really just a small step up from deathmatch, I reckon.
I love Enemy Territory though. Bring on classes, mission objectives, and team orientated gameplay!!

I had a small play with Unreal 2 XMP and that was pretty much capture the flag(s), but it had some classes to choose from. It's a step up, but it's still very watered down when compared to Enemy Territory. The gameplay is quite different too. People jump like crazy, and they're so far away when you fight, so you tend to use weapons that have large splash damage (gas, electricity, rockets etc) to hope to hit someone.. or you stand back and snipe.

I havn't played unreal or enemy territory but i played CS and i think quake wipes it's ass on it.

two screens... weird, i mean i could see a innovative game or two utilising that but for a dedicated system....

sounds cool. Good to see Nintendo has woken up and realises what threat the PSP poses to their handheld market. None of this 'We don't see Sony and MS as competitors, we make just games.' What a load of bollocks.

Its a great idea - I think it's really gonna be the 2 player aspect of things that becomes important.

Other things I can think of:

- True peripheral vision. Ever seen a game of Unreal2k on 3 screens? Very cool. It means that certain areas are out of your direct vision so you must become more alert. On a regular screen, everything is perfectly in focus.

- Menus and stuff in real time. One screen for the game - other for the menus etc - so you dont have to pause all the time.

- 2 player games where players can go off on their own - ie an RPG where your characters split up - not just play as one lot, then another.

I think showing games from more than one perspective will be an important part of this. First person and 3rd person at once?

Wow funky idea. Takes a bit to get your head around it.

I doubt they will dedicated a screen to each player, thats what all those link cables are for...

So is it based on the GBA hardware? I can't imagine Nintendo would drop the backwards compatability... and they have been saying all along that they intend to improve the GBA, not create a contender for the PSP.

How many days til E3? I'm going to need one of those lame count downs Java clocks. :D

I'm guessing that the two screens will be vertical to each other, so the controls, and screens can be folded that way.. and yeh, I agree, definately looking forward to the innovations in gameplay that come from designing for two screens [:)]

I'm thinking it'll just be great for the extra screen real estate. It will allow decent RTS's etc. to eb played, that normally take up a large part of the screen with menu options and whatnot to have a full screen showing the true map, and the other screen showing the menu options, minimap etc.
CYer, Blitz

It's kind of hard to tell how well this will sell...my first impression of it was "What the?", but with what everyone else has been saying, it sounds like it could have lots of potential...

It'd be interesting to find out what the first titles for it will be...

I think this is to compete with the 3d PSP. An advanced GBA wouldn't be enough. It'd still be stuck in the 2d realm and against the 3d PSP, it'd be commercial suicide.

I've been hearing that it's basically a portable Gamecube (remember the GBA chipset is extremely streamlined) with the second screen lined up for that 'gba connectivity' that Nintendo lauded so much, but has never really taken off. Most people don't bother with buying (say) Metroid Prime (GC) and Metroid Fusion (GBA) just so Samus can have an extra suit. This may cut having both versions of the game.

So instead of buying both products, you get 2 in 1. Not sure about battery life - but probably the same as PSP. This is how the NintendoDS (dual screen=dual system) fits between both product ranges.

I don't think it'll be portable - but it'd be cool if you could attach your NGC controllers to it as well.

quote:Originally posted by Blitz

I'm thinking it'll just be great for the extra screen real estate. It will allow decent RTS's etc. to eb played, that normally take up a large part of the screen with menu options and whatnot to have a full screen showing the true map, and the other screen showing the menu options, minimap etc.
CYer, Blitz

For so long, develoeprs have been trying to streamline interfaces so I hope this doesn't lead to developers regressing and not using the 'extra space' efficiently.

As for the killer app - probably a new Mario game that's 2 player but which encourges teamwork.

a 2 player handheld game..going to be sitting cheek to cheek watching your screens...thats the image ive got anyway. it may work differently to how i have imagined it.

I see it that way as well. It'll be portable - but not pocket size portable. I also think it'll be able to sit freely on a stable surface - maybe 20cm-ish in length? About the size of 2 gba's side by side. Or is it vertical?

I also wonder if it folds in the middle like a game'n'watch. That way players could be facing towards each other, unable to see the others screen (a la 'battleships'.

Now imagine a link up to another system (4 player).

Now imagine Goldeneye.

[url="http://www.ggdb.com/img/ggdb/vol0/5764_3_th_gm.jpg"]Something like this[/url].

I hope not - it just seems too predictable.

And limited.

I've always wanted a 2 player portable system - this is the best shot at it.

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I've always wanted a 2 player portable system - this is the best shot at it.

You could just buy two GBA SP's [:D]

well the nintendo DS looks like it will have two screens, interesting. you must all remember that the DS is not a continuation of the GB series, and is a "completly different concept", so dont start crying over the death of 3d games.

just take a look at this page [url]http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3188[/url]

here you can see one of the official concepts for the PSP, (sonys handheld) and by the looks of this lush looking machine it will $?cost?$ a few, especially when you concisder the large scree, shiny finish, disk laser, media and video playing capabilities, id say at least 200?. and the advance is around ?40, so the PSP is not really entering the little kids market that the gamboy dominates, but the same feild as the nintendo DS, so the gameboy will be kept going, but kept to the ?50 price tag area. and like the SP, the DS will occupy the more mature gamer market.

well there ya go, the gameboy wil still be goin, but the DS will be a seperate thing, probably costing around the same as the PSP.[8D]

Most reports i've seen suggest the DS will be coming in far cheaper than the psp. Around US$129 is the rumor atm, compared to psp's US$300 or something?!?
CYer, Blitz

I really don't think that Sony are aiming to compete with Nintendo for the handheld market. They have called the PSP 'the Walkman of the future', and how many little kids had one of those when they came out? Personally I think that Sony would be doing the right thing by making it more expensive and aiming it at a higher end market. It will be their first handheld. If they tried to take on Nintendo at a lower end market, they would just end up slaughtered. With this, they have the ability to become well known in the portable gaming arena, and then they can try to take on Nintendo.

The GBAs aren't always well priced anyway. My friend's brother wanted a GBA:SP when they came out. He could have spent $200 on the GBA, or $250 on a GC with the GBA adapter. Seeing as he only wanted the GBA for the games and not for the portability of it, he bought a GC.

I don't think that is what the PSP is gonna look like. That pic was in Atomic and they said it was just a mock up. I also think that the Nintendo one will be more popular with kids and the PSP popular with Teens. For some reason Sony carries a more cool tag with it where as Nintendo carries a childish one, I just can't see nintendo breaking away from this image IMO.

I read a fascinating article about Nintendo's approach with the gamecube. The PS2 and XBOX were aimed squarely at male youths (sharp edges, big black controllers), whereas the gamecube was designed to appeal to children, teens and open minded adults (age and gender indefferent basically). Nintendo are not likely to drop this any time soon, as their games conforms to the same theory.

Bullet21, i reckon you're right. I wouldn't be surprised if the GBA and PSP markets were essentially divided by age (GBA - kiddies, PSP - oldies). What 6th grader is going to carry around a $500 PSP?

Honestly, you can't really compete with the Game Boy brand at this point; a GBA competitor would be blown away. Instead, sony appear to be trying to appeal to those who like the idea of portable gaming, but don't like what the GBA is offering.

What i dont understand, is why Nintendo is launching the DS. The PSP is going to take a small portion of Nintendo's 20 somethings... but they have always done well on their Pokemon and Mario franchises, which generally do not appeal to this age bracket. So how can it possibly be in Nintendo's interest? (Unless of course GBA backwards compatability comes into it...)

sorry this post jumps around so much :D
cheers

Hi Inglis
www.evilechoes.tk [;)]
Nuthin great at the moment but I'll be doing a redesign when I got time and add more work since I've got tonnes done lately. I'll link back to you. Got a banner?

Edit: The evilechoes address doesn't seem to be working so just use this one http://members.optusnet.com.au/rpanetta/

http://www.dsc223.com/
guess i should add a 'link page' to it though....

(argh, up to case nb 48 of 96 in implementing a 'marching cube' style game world viewer, not fun, brain burning)

Downloaded 46% of it (with dialup), but now the link is requesting a login [:(]

Ouch. Too many people must have been leaching it (like me :D). I got it soon after I posted this link last night. The first half of it I had already seen. It is where Batou is fighting a Geisha girl. This was a much higher quality version though. The second part is a cool action scene in a grocery store. The 3D is a cross between really sweet and really detached. I think that GITS: SAC did it a lot better. I'm still really looking forward to this though :)

Interesting style. Initially, i started shifting into fanboy mode (why fix if it aint yada yada) but I'm interested to see where they're taking this.

It's really interesting seeing Japanese animators, who until recently have generally looked down on CG, adopting these techniques on a large scale. I'd say any movie that adopts CG environments is likely to have some cool tricks up its sleeve, as it is surely easier to paint a couple of backgrounds.

Bring on the big robot/tank/crab thingies!

fuchikomas dude, animating them is even more fun

http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/downloads/index.asp?model=973 (quake3 fuchikoma model i made)

I've seen only a tiny early trailer for GITS: Innocence, and there were some CGI parts that urked me. The shelves in the grocery store just stuck out as CGI. Has anyone seen the "Beyond" episode on the Animatrix? That was a brilliant fusion of anime and CGI.

I still stand by belief that Stand Alone Complex has the best 3D use. It is all cel-shadded so it fits in perfectly. Here is the link http://www.productionig.com/Ghost_TV.html Go to the Images and look at the Fuchikomas. They look even cooler moving :D If Smeg hasn't read the mangas or played the PS game then he would most probably mean the German Think Tank. That thing was cool, but Shirow's Multipede Cannon from Appleseed was heaps cooler. That and the Erectacockies from Dominion Tank Police :D Yeah Souri, Beyond did have really cool use of 3D as well.

hey Aven, the "Erectacockies from Dominion Tank Police" may have been more of the animation studio than shirows idea, read an interview where he distanced himself from the latter parts of the animated series (not that he didn't like them, he just had less input)

DSC

Whoever made them has a twisted imagination :D I have never read the manga for Dominion Tank Police, so I am unsure on who made them. The new Appleseed trailer http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/appleseed_large.mov It is all 3D and mostly cell shaded. The disapointing thing is that all the bots are animated really well, where as all the humans look really stiff and robot like :/

Serves em right. Hacker-nerds need a good ol' shit kickin'. That'll teach em.

Seriously tho' -- this is serious infringement. Who are they trying to impress? Please keep the hacking to govt services, thank you.

I don't really think anyone deserves to be hacked by little script kiddies and their kind, even government services. (please don't tell me you'd like youe electricity cut off for a week because someone hacked there control systems [:P])

It just comes down to the fact that these small people have no self confidence and need some form of a win in their lives to feel worthy!! Pimple dicks. Get a life and keep out of other peoples!

Hope they enjoy their time as bitches in a medium security jail in the states. [:P]

hackers - nah, that's the wrong phrase Jonothan, you're looking for "dickheads" or "script kiddies".

Hackers are people who love coding computer stuff, and who do great things with that, like Linus Torvalds, and the numberous other people who do GPL stuff.

That's Linus, not linux torvalds :P
Either way, I don't know who these black-hatters were kidding. If they thought they would come out smelling like roses they were obviously quite full of themselves. IP theft of this magnitude should be, and is, taken very seriously and it's very likely they'll end up in a prison cell for a while, and upon release, will bear conditions such as not being able to use a computer for years and years.

It's always was a stupid move to make, we'll just see if it actually catches up with whoever made it.

Don't FBI get guns, if i was in FBI i would have executed em Manhunt Style crowbar to the back of the neck. Wut kind of juvenile dickwad could get a thrill from ruining someone elses hard work.

But in a way it was a good thing. It show not only the HL2 creators but other game developers as well that u can never have enough security.

problem is you can never get enough security unless you all work in a lead lined box with no access via internet or telephone.

Copmanies are always blamed for being lazy in securing there property but the fact is theres nothing you can do if someone is more determined.

People just need to get there own lives and stop hurting others (that includes crowbars to the neck, that, tends to just make things worse.[:P])

I suppose a highly succesful security system would be either monitoring every itty bitty byte or wiping fecies all over things (Health Hazard) and not using any internet which would be half the load of monitoring [;)].

Watch the movie Hackers, its a great example of the hacking society (Not!) in fact it was like low budget film which i found quite damn funny.

Overall i hope these suckers fry! Actually if you read a user comment on the guy who's house was broken into. One guy said his friend emailed them been a dick saying he helped leak HL2 and the FBI tackled him down naked [:P].

I have no sympathy for people who do things like this. They just don't understand what the effects of their actions could cause. If Valve weren't as stacked up with cash as I'm sure they are, I would bet a lot of people would've lost their jobs/livelihoods as a result, due to things being rescheduled and delayed. A 4 month delay would certainly affect most smaller dev companies. I bet missing the pre-Christmas release slot was a bit of a financial setback for Valve.

glad that the felons didnt remain unknown (well presuming this is them) and that this isnt just one of those cases that slips into the forgotten realm. Itd really suck if the guy from that blog wasnt _the_ guy, sounds like a worse morning then i had waking up to jackhammers.

Cool - I like the idea.

But Nintendo dont.

I bought a SNES about a month ago, I have Super Mario World, World league basketball, Super Stars Wars and Double Dragon. Snes kicks ass! :)
Now if only I could find Mario Kart somewhere :(

Have you considered using a modified XBOX? The emulators on that thing are getting really good (SNES and MAME ones especially). And so long as you don't need more than 10gig (is that the HDD size?) you'll be fine!

just a thought.

You can put a bigger HD into the xbox too if you want.
CYer, Blitz

They're up around the 120 gig mark now. Mind you, I hear that you can't get onto Xbox Live tho' if you're chipped. Someone did say that some chips have a switch that allow you to get around it.

Haven't really played much attention to be honest.

I havent looked into modding Xboxes much as I have a PC, but a friend of a friend gt really into it (said that xboxes are cheaper than PCs and has now spent over $1000 modding his box :/). Last I knew, the Xbox will take up to 180gb HDDs as long as they are Seagate. You can either mod the Xbox by mod chip (grey area but still technically legal), or flashing the bios (illegal as it changes the original software). The better mod chips allow you to keep the old Xbox Deck (GUI), and still run new ones. That way you can switch back to the proper Deck and use Xbox live.

Bah Xbox.

The Xbox in my eyes is really just a PC in a case with good low sound cooling. And besides due to its severe similiarity to the PC, a computer slightly faster (With a Geforce 3 or higher) can emulate it at near full speed, so why bother getting one?

If you want proof then check out this http://www.caustik.com/cxbx/
Its some mighty fine work and its progressing pretty fast for a two to three man project. And even the main contributor/author (Caustik) said by the end, a PC over 1ghz with a decent video card should be able to run it at full speed.

Cheers,

Tom

Oh and im not trying to offend Xbox owners [;)]. Im just saying $200-$400 with the right stuff would be enough to outbeat the Xbox [;)].

that i must say is like eating strawberries and cream on a cool spring day underneath your favourite mango tree...perfect fun in every way, heh heh.

-bino

Xbox doesn't suffer all the crap that goes with PCs. No patches, just plug 'n' play. That's why I almost never bother with PC gaming -- all that fluffing around.

Arh the Snes, back when game were fun.

Were have those days gone.

Oh I remember now, all the fucked up poeple making games to only make money. Fuck them fuck them all!!!

My brother and I recently bought two NES systems, and starting grabbing all the games we could find. 50+ games and counting. :D

Is it just me, or were the eighties the best? Great music, great games, great fashion.

I dunno Doord - games are still pretty fun now. They're a bit more complex which can dilute the fun but it's still there.

By your reasoning, Goldeneye, Halo, MGS, Mario 64, Virtua Fighter 4, Zelda etc.. aren't a patch on the oldies. To be honest, I think games are better than they were. Not as accessible sometimes, but most genres have advanced compared to the 16 bit days. It just seems like the 'thing to say' (games aren't as good as they used to be) but each generation has always had it's share of great and shit games. The 16 bit had so many shit platform rip offs it wasn't funny -- A bit like FPS now.

The older we get, the greater the old games were. Beware of rose coloured glasses people! Go back and play those old games - are they really as fun as you remember? Some will be, some wont.

(BTW - re: people making money comment: Sega and Nintendo were taken to court in the early to mid 90s for excessive profiteering - so back then, they were just as guilty.)

Not meaning to get on your back Doord but your comment made me think and I agree with Jonathan.

I get slighty annoyed when people make the "when games were fun" comment as really its a load of pants. There are hundreds of those types of oldschool games with similar gameplay made everyday, check the net you'll find a zillion of 'em.
The reason we don't see them in our stores is that no one buys them because...well, more recent games are more fun, more immersive, more entertaining, more thought provocing and of course violent and sexy.

I do believe there is something in saying games these days are getting a tad on the stale side but thats not because they are less fun than the old days.
Nor is it because we have all sold out to the man, its because the recipe nowadays sells well and publishers like there money, why wouldn't they? There a business aren't they?

Humans tend to get bored with the new very easily, if we didn't we'd still be climbing trees and picking nits from each others hair.

So maybe people should think more before they make that comment, are these games today worse than pong? Or are they just nothing new compared to the ones made last week?

I still climb trees and pick nits from peoples hair.

reminds me of when i used to moderate a games forum, the thing about games that some people seem to forget is that there made for money, oh yeah people love their job and everything but the games were made for money, there were then, they are now.

Some old games are good. Some new games are good. Hopefully there will always be some good games, because the crap is always gonna be there.

thats another thing, people look at the SNES, something thats had a full life time and they see all the great games, at the end of say the gamecube lifetime (jus keeping with ninty, nothing about preffered consoles) itll probably have the same amount of goodies.

On that note, there was plenty of crap on the SNES, plenty of it, back when movie licences werent bad, they were absolutely shocking (ghost busters platformer anyone?) and there was plenty of other garbage.

on a lighter note, cant remember the name but i allways loved that uni cycle game, no idea why...

I don't think the Cube will have the same amount of great games as the SNES -- it just doesn't have the same level of 3rd party support.

MoonUnit: UniRally

I like my Cube. Overall i have always supported Nintendo and loved all of their consoles however. I do like the Xbox and PS2 but i have always been a Nintendo man [;)]. But all consoles have their bad games and good games. Although i must say what the hell do people really see in Halo? Its just another FPS with co-op as far as i can see and its highly overrated.

The SNES had probably the most games of any console to exist to this day and thats what made it great. Even if the some of the games were dodgy [;)].

Anyhow overall i will stick by my Nintendo. Even if they stop making consoles, im sure that their handhelds will still be there best sellers [:)].

PS: I swear the Portable Playstation is going to crash and burn on Sony, i mean as if 50 million with GBA's (Or 130 million or so people with GameBoys) are going to get the Portable Playstation and drop their GBA's, highly unlikely and the fact that PSP's are going to be about $400-$600 here in Australia means bad selling for Sony [;)].

Check this out ([url]http://www.gc-linux.org[/url]) [:)]. Oh and read this its the new handheld coming soon at the end of 2004 from Nintendo (Use babelfish to translate it [url]http://babelfish.altavista.com[/url]). [url]http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/040121.html[/url]. Or read the GameSpy preview [;)] [url]http://www.gamespydaily.com/news/fullstory.asp?id=5624[/url].

I'm pretty sure the Playstation 1 has more games than the SNES. I know for sure it cracked the 90million mark (it may have passed the 100 million but I cant be arsed to look it up). It's the highest selling system (not handheld)of all time. PS2 have just cracked 70 million (as announced a few days ago).

Sony's marketing is going to make the PSP a desirable item. Plays music, games and movies -- the 'walkman of the 21st century'. People won't drop their GBAs but that wont stop them from picking up a PSP -- the target demographic is different.

I still think Nintendo will own the handheld market for a fair time yet, but in a way 50 million to none is a fair amount.

Halo is neat, it may not be the best game that mankind has ever created but its still a bit of fun :)

The N-Gage didnt look that bad 2 me, all in all. But it sold terribly it seems so im slightly skeptical about the PSP, but "Its a SONY" so theres hope for it yet.

My sad story:
My brother who lives in Melbourne actually *gave away* our old SNES because he was sick of it taking up space/never used it.. He couldn't even be bothered to ring me up and ask if i wanted it still..!? What a fucking retard..
Street Fighter 2 Turbo..Gone. *Sob*

quote:Originally posted by cutty

My sad story:
My brother who lives in Melbourne actually *gave away* our old SNES because he was sick of it taking up space/never used it.. He couldn't even be bothered to ring me up and ask if i wanted it still..!? What a fucking retard..
Street Fighter 2 Turbo..Gone. *Sob*

There, there im sure that the catridge was heavily used and you will remember those memories [;)].

Throw a dog at his face, that will teach him.

Disclaimer: I dont not endorse the throwing of animals.............except in self defense.

quote:Originally posted by Makk

Throw a dog at his face, that will teach him.

Disclaimer: I dont not endorse the throwing of animals.............except in self defense.

I suppose that you have had to defend yourself several times? So therefore you have thrown a lot of animals, correct?

Lets see how the RSPCA thinks of you then, [:o)]!

quote:Originally posted by tbag

There, there im sure that the catridge was heavily used and you will remember those memories [;)].

It's SF2 Turbo, tbag, an evergreen masterpiece. Memories just aren't enough i'm afraid.

It was a pretty nice piece of work, i'll admit that. But im sure it will turn up in the future (Or you could get it on GBA). Or of course just simply strangle your brother [:P].

But im sure within about 10 years or longer it will be legal to copy and distribute snes games and if not then go to Thailand or somewhere similiar (No offence intended!).

cutty:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3072657803&catego…

Heal those wounds. =D

After reading the instructions, why in the world would you need to turn your TV upside down for it too project and why would the projection be reversed?

Something tells me this guy screwed up on putting the lense in or something.

Ok i found a work around of not turning your TV upside down. If one Fresnel lens makes the projection and makes the projection inverted. Then two fresnel lenses would fix the problem and project larger [:)].

http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=30081

One of the developers have responded in the shacknews discussion that they've indeed been closed down. I got a chance to play Unreal 2 XMP and it's obvious that they're very talented people. The levels and models are great!

It's a tough industry when you're pretty much your latest title. Make one game that doesn't meet it's expectations (Unreal 2), and you're done for. I'm sure if they had one more chance to make another game, it would've been great.

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

Well sorry if i fired them. Oh and i just bought Sumea off Souri, so get off my property damnit! This is my forum now [:D]

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

Heh. But then you have MicroSoft who could buy out probably most if not all game studios.

But they wont, because they wont be allowed to or people wont sell to them.

I don't think Microsoft could buy out Sony. I'm referring more to EA, Atari/Infogrammes, Ubisoft, Sony etc..

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

I can definitely see that happening. I'm Glad there are still developers out there that still own all the rights to there titles and are independant in monetary terms, guys like ID, Epic, 3D Realms, Digital Extremes, Monolith, as far as I know all these are still privately owned.

Yeah - it doesnt matter if these guys only make (say) $50 million profit in comparison to a larger publishers $500 million profit if their costs are proportionately lower.

Also, as long as they are privately owned they don't have to report to shareholders, so even if their profits are dismal, as long as they can keep paying all their costs they can continue to operate.
CYer, Blitz

yeah - but I guess at some stage, they'll want to be operating at a level that still gives them a few luxuries.

I think in future we'll start seeing games branch off into 'simple' and 'complex'. Complex being those that utilise many key combinations etc -- and simple being those pick up and play ones or peripheral type games like Eyetoy and Karaoke Revolution. As games are becoming more complex, it's more and more difficult to attract the mainstream gamers now. Eyetoy etc are taking games back to being fun again and bringing new people along with it.

Point being: simpler games take less resources to make.

any chance of having it after the 29th (i'm in darwin 'till the 29th) ?

Sure, let's see how Thurs 5th of Feb goes then :)

HMMM that might be fun, I'll see how my cash flow is at the time.

You guys and gals always have to have it in the city, anyways, are you gona go to the Quake2 lan meet up there?

id go but im sensing a non 15yr old enviroment ;)

Im 15.

Hey moon and cody, very welcome to come along guys. I'm suggesting the city as it's central, but happy to take suggestions for other places! [:)]

Adelaide! - So I and a few other people can attend! (j/k)

Adelaide! hehe

hmmm wouldnt know where to go personally, i mean i usually only eat around my local area (not city) and thats barely. Spose i never really eat out when i can take away :P

Go to a bubble tea lan cafe.
CYer, Blitz

Well there's a little bit of interest, but perhaps it might be an idea if we merge this with another game development related event - namely the Game development Meetup (http://gamedev.meetup.com/) which is happening in Melbourne on Tuesday 17th Feb. Sound good?

Cheers,

Mark/CW

well were not actually developers ourselves, just people who want to be... sooo is that really our thing?

I'm back in melbourne now, so i'm up for whatever you can come up with. Particularly if it involves the riddle of steel.
CYer, Blitz
PS. CW the thing i like about that quote in your sig, is it has come true, except rather than for the people who played pac-man, it's the offspring of these people that hang about in darkened rooms (night clubs) munching "magic" pills. Oh, and i bet they occasionally eat cherries too! :)
So, perhaps our offspring will go to mars and kill alien beasts from the depths of hell? Or maybe they'll go and fight nazis in WW2! Who can tell these days.

quote:PS. CW the thing i like about that quote in your sig, is it has come true,

I think thats the idea.
Its funny because it did come true, even though the idea of it happening is abstract and strange.

Its a set up and "but wait that did happen" gag.

Pantmonger

Mind you, all music is repetitive -- it's the defining component of a thing called 'rhythm.'

Very valid point Jonathan. In rock i think it is called a Riff. On the topic of rock who here is goin to the Korn concert. I am but not to see Korn. Korn is gay, I'm goin to see Fear Factory[8D] and Static-X[8D].

Hmm, well i guess i was thinking more of the original quote (which was being very serious about games not affecting people), rather than the context of it in CW's sig :)
CYer, Blitz

Uhhh, is it confirmed that this is happening on thursday? It's getting pretty close...or is it just gonna happen with the other gamedev meetup thing?
CW?
CYer, Blitz

Currently we have 5 (Blitz, Tachyon, MoonUnit and Cody), latter two of whom have probably re-started school this week? I think tomorrow isn't really going to be a goer :-(

Shall we see if the gamedev thing gets off the ground on the 17th, if it doesn't I'll recruit the people listed for the gamedev meetup to come to a sumea dinner thing early March.

Sound like a plan, or would you guys still prefer to go ahead with tomorrow's dinner thang? I'm happy either way.

Cheers,

Mark

I'm happy either way, out of work atm so got no plans for anything really :)
If theres only 5 though it might just be easier to hook up with the gamedev thing on the 17th (even if theres not many people from the gamedev thing that are going to show up). Strength in numbers etc. :)
CYer, Blitz

yeah tommmorow dosent seem like a good idea, perhaps the gave dev meetup thing but im still wondering if people like a 15 yr old hopefull is going to be welcome?

Should definately have a Sumea dinner happening sometime during the Next Wave Independant Game Developers Conference in Melbourne. I'll be there!!

15 year old hopefuls are welcome, but you'll have be the butt of all our jokes, of course.

(kidding [;)])

hey not bad idea, attatch it on to that, ive done some mod work so ill be fine with that thaaaaank-you

what was the details for that again (date, time, venue etc)?

You need to register to come along to the meetup thing - at http://gamedev.meetup.com/
(select city, register, vote on venue)

probably finish it in 6mins if he didnt have to wait for the console to process...

quote:Originally posted by Aven

. A pretty cool idea. People could used to join up and have an appartment that they made for themselves. Would be an interesting thing to do here :)
http://www.mrwong.de/myhouse/

You must've read my mind, because I was planning to do something like this for the Sumea Draw Club.. I was going to suggest people make some pixel art of a house to put in a Sumea town (I don't have the link, but there's a site that did this wonderfully). Thinking of it now, we should do something more original - it'll be extremely fun to do though!

Hehe. Sim Sumea :D I don't know why Souri, but you just struck me as the sought of guy who likes isometric pixel images :D

PIXEL ART TOWN... do it!

edit - Just watched that Mario 3 thing. That is so COOL.

The Quake2 speed challenge was better. Quad Rocket Jumping off walls to get through levels :D

i may need a link to that one too... :D

lol with the tallent we have visiting this forums we could probably turn it into an expansion pack for the sims :D , i mean obviously its not to hard cause theres bloody thousands of them :P

sounds interesting though, oh and my elvish name is Maeglin Arcamenel apparently (my real name is Benjamin Murphy, thats what i entered into the boxes)

http://planetquake.com/qdq/

Is for the id games done quickly. Just go to the downloads section.

elvish name: Findec?no Ar-Feiniel
hobbit name: Olo Grubb of Little Delving

quote:You must've read my mind, because I was planning to do something like this for the Sumea Draw Club

sounds like a cool idea.

http://www.mrwong.de/myhouse/ <<---- im suprised there isnt more people jumping from the building...

My Elf name is Maeglin Isilra' and my hobit name is Todo Overhill of Rushy. lol.

Elf: Findec?no Falassion
Hobbit: Olo Bleecker-Baggins of Fair Downs

i think we found the limitations of this name generator...

satyrblood and i both got the same first names in elvish and hobbit but our real names are different...unless someone is a diehard jrr tolkien (spelling??) fan and can explain it.

Elf name: Aerandir Elensar
Hobbit name: Ferdirand Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern

what the?!?!

Any ideas on the pixel art contribution? I'd prefer something more original than the extending building or town idea. While I do like the pixel building, the contributions were so many (and due to the sizes of each contribution), my browser didn't even finish loading all the images. So, in short, keep it small. [:)]

Maybe a Sumea pixel luxury ocean cruiser/titanic? So we see the start of the cruiser on the left, and we scroll the page to the right and see all the contributions? And you all get to draw your own wacky quarters on the ship (with 2 levels)..

quote:Originally posted by Aven

Hehe. Sim Sumea :D I don't know why Souri, but you just struck me as the sought of guy who likes isometric pixel images :D

I'm a pixel artist from waaaay back. C64, then Amiga. Yes, I am 0lD S|<00L. [8].. I'd do dithering, anti-aliasing, everything dot-by-dot, as everyone else did, back then.

I would still ike the city/town idea. Maybe you could make it so that the long time users and mods get more real estate, where as the newer people only get single blocks of land.

Other ideas though. A space station perhaps? Coming up with original ideas for where people can live isn't the easiest thing to do :(

Pixel art is still fun as all hell. I loved it when I finally got Sim City 2k with the building editor. That was heaps of fun :D I think that it is a requirement that ONLY 2D packages can be used. No 3D renders. That should be fairly obvious though :) Would it be okay if the images were anti-aliased (like SC2k), or would they have to be more crisp and aliased like that tower?

I don't know why, but this is just a really cool idea.