NFGworld! News

NFGworld! News http://nfgworld.com/mb/ Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:44:32 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) Nintendo 3DS: New platform, old story. http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/901
[ ] It's vastly more powerful than what we had before.
[ ] The new features will allow us to explore new kinds of gameplay.
[ ] It's not easy to develop for, and any developer who merely ports an existing game will fail.
[ ] It will target a different audience from the last generation.
[ ] It may cost more to develop for, but it'll be worth it.
[ ] Our company is uniquely suited to develop an all new experience for this platform.

See this 3DS dev interview for example. They do the same thing every generation. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:13:43 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/901 Sega Mark III Telecon Pack http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/893
http://nfggames.com/sales/html/EpZFpuEFuAQrmxZqAf.html

if not, does anyone know where I could purchase it? ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - panzeroceania) Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:45:35 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/893 Current Console Roundup http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/751
First off, one of every twenty Xbox 360 users is a filthy pirate or a cheat, and Microsoft has cut them off. According to CNN, some of them were cut off just because they were dicks. I am not sure it ever makes sense to cut off five percent of your userbase, especially since they're paying for the Live privilege. What a strange world.

Quote by Nintendo's Iwata:
"The Wii has stalled.

Of course, given the recent admissions from both Nintendo and Sony that their systems are basically stalling, perhaps Microsoft believes they can fuck their userbase without serious repercussions. Of course, admitting your system is sucking is one thing, but coming up with bullshit reasons like no HD output is quite another, IMO. No one really cares that their console is 'only' 480p, do they? I'd argue that they're more upset all the Wii games totally suck. Typical Nintendo, strong out of the gate and then they look around, wondering where they should be going. Sony's PS3, meanwhile, has such a tiny section of any of the gameshops near me that I wonder why they bother at all.

That's OK though, 'cause Sony has a plan, and it involves copying everyone else just like they've always done. Now that MS is including facebook functions with the 360, So is Sony.

And geez you guys, the Wii has hit a plateau and now you're trying to emulate that rocket-like climb to mediocrity? Both Sony and Microsoft are launching ridiculous motion controllers, and I gotta say that the only way I could be less interested is if they were pink and had little thorns where your hands go. Of course, Microsoft's Natal probably won't cause too much pain for black people, since it doesn't work with them anyway.

As far as I'm concerned peripherals that don't ship with the console will never see widespread adoption. Both Sony and Microsoft are still stinging from Nintendo's strong initial performance, and trying to follow the leader even though the Wii isn't leading anymore. Nintendo's "Reggie Fils-Aime is unconcerned about motion control solutions from Sony and Microsoft", and for good reason: the Wii is faltering in spite of their own controls, so much like a cold-war arms race, MS and Sony are just throwing money away, chasing a phantom leader.

Oh, I got a chance to play with a PSPgo last night. I am old and cynical and jaded, something to keep in mind when I say that the PSPgo was a piece of shit. It's sooo cheap-feeling. The dpad was clicky and annoying, and when you slide it closed your game doesn't pause or anything. Poorly executed, poorly made and, basically, rubbish.

Wii fit doesn't make you fit. Probably better for you than sitting on the couch, but you're playing video games. Wii Fit is still a failure on that front - Yoshi's Island is a way better game, and you're still burning fully half the calories.

Bah. It's all so pathetic. No wonder I'm playing Saturn games more than anything else recently. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:15:50 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/751 Bashing the PSPgo, ars style http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/736

Quote by Ars Technica:

You can't shop around for the best deal with your games, you'll never be able to sell a game, and the system is completely locked down when downloading a purchase. The controls are more cramped, and Sony has made sure you can only buy their cables. The wireless standard hasn't been upgraded, and the system is significantly more expensive than any of its competitors. When you close the system you see a big, beautiful screen you can't do anything with.

In other words, this system is for people who don't mind rebuying all their content, never buy used games, and don't mind paying more for less. If you're agoraphobic and the idea of driving to a physical store to buy a game is terrifying, this system is for you. So we're looking for a gamer who is both wealthy, and frighteningly antisocial.

I love the OoBE:

Turn on system

Connect to wireless

Must update firmware

Download firmware

Charge battery before being allowed to install firmware

install firmware

connect to PSP shop

download game

Up to three hours before you can start playing! Three-piece power cords, no standard connections, PS3 required for bluetooth hookup, can't do anything while downloading, uncomfortable design, outdated wireless, expensive. I'm not a PSP fan, but this... Wow, this is hilarious. Good going Sony.

The entire ars review is worth reading.

UPDATE: So are the comments, where the article's author replies to a user comment:

User: Sony have pretty much said that its deliberately that high to provide retailers with extra margin...

Author: Sony actually said that to me, and as a gamer it doesn't make me feel better that Sony inflates the price on the hardware to get retailers to stock the hardware so it can inflate the price of games. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:13:44 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/736 Remembering the 3DO http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/711 Kendrick remembers the 3DO quite fondly. He professes a certain admiration for the first-gen Panasonic model, and is impressed at the fact it's still running today, and is better built than modern consoles.

Unfortunately he's wrong.

The original 3DO was a horrible piece of junk, with a failure rate beaten by few consoles before or since. For a while, we wouldn't even take them in trade at my store 'cause they'd die all the time and we'd be stuck with doorstops. They were the Xbox 360 of the 32-bit age. Everyone knew someone whose 3DO had died. The second-gen FZ-10 model was far more reliable (but still played the same old shitty 3DO games, and came with a controller best described as rubbish.

Modern consoles are still pretty bulletproof, if you don't consider the staggering failure rate of the 360. I've never heard of a PS3 dying, though I'm sure they do. The Wii, the GameCube, the Dreamcast - all basically indestructible. The 3DO doesn't even compare. In fact, of all the mainstream systems, it's probably #3 for being most failure-prone (360 and SegaCD being #1 and 2 respectively).

That Kendrick found one that still works is the exception, not the rule, and there's every chance it still works 'cause the original owner never played it. =) ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:37:25 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/711 X68000 - aspect ratio? http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/653 But what would be the most accurate way i.e. how would they appear on a real X68k monitor? ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - Starscream) Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:50:59 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/653 WTF is this Zeebo shit? http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/639 BREW development platform, the same used for countless mobile phone games, and the console features Qualcomm's 3D chip, adreno.

The logic seems sound: a console that downloads games over the mobile phone system that developing countries already have, with prices approaching those paid for pirated games. You see, the PS3 and Wii haven't been launched in Brazil yet, so prices for legitimate consoles there are 3-5x more than other countries. Perhaps no surprise to anyone, piracy is rampant and old hardware is still popular (via TecToy, Sega's MegaDrive is still a hot product).

And that's the sales pitch: 5-50MB games, locked to each console, impossible to copy. Surely people will fall over themselves to get ten-year-old games in countries where they still think the 19-year-old MegaDrive is awesome. And if not, consider the pull of original titles like Extreme Sports and Super Action Hero.

The problem is, their sales pitch is full of lies and misinformation. If it's not a scam to suck money from gullible investors, it's certainly a company run by idiots. Let's go through their claims.

Piracy: They claim that they can defeat piracy, and use bullshit claims and bad math to back it up. ESA figures are quoted, indicating a $3 Billion loss in 2007, due to piracy, then claim that for every legit game sold ten more are pirated. Doing the math, it seems that they want you to believe 10 x legit sales = $3b. ESA's own figures say that legit sales for 2007 were $9.5 Billion...

This is a great quote: "Due to rampant piracy, [...] today’s popular gaming platforms aren’t affordable..." I guess it's unusual to conflate the idea of expensive consoles and piracy, normally that's a software problem, but OK. Let's assume that much makes sense. How are we to believe the idea that piracy makes things less affordable? Last time I checked it made things cheaper. Silly me.

They further claim that hundreds of millions of games have been downloaded wirelessly without one ever being pirated. At first I thought they were joking, as a search on any warez site will turn up hundreds of mobile phone downloads cracked and ready to play, but then I read between the lines: Out of all the wireless games out there, one of them still hasn't been pirated! I wonder which one it is... No matter how you read it, Zeebo doesn't look good: They're liars, or idiots.

Pricing: Their strategy is to charge more than the local price for imported games. I can't even imagine how that makes the slightest bit of sense, so I'm just gonna leave this here... "Selling titles for only a slight premium over the gray market prices of the original titles, so consumers have no reason to leave home to shop."

Magic! "Providing automatic wireless software upgrades so consumers are never faced with console obsolescence or warranty issues with either the console or the games..." I can't imagine how they're gonna resolve warranty problems with the power of wireless. Qualcomm's fucking amazing!

Style: ZeeboNet. Z-Credits. 'ZEN Interface'. The Z-Wheel. I'm done here.

Raw Brutal Power: 128MB RAM! Well, OK, it's a low-power low-cost system that (and this is a real selling point for them) weighs less than an Xbox 360 power supply. RAM's heavy, obviously, so it was chucked. But hey, at least it has VGA graphics, right? 640x480 video, and since it's VGA we know it'll be non-interlaced (ie: progressive). Too bad it only has composite-video outputs, which can't actually support VGA resolutions.

Future Proof: "Additional enhancements may include [...] new services." Phew, I was worried about the future. But no, the future's awesome: "By 2012, the worldwide video game market is projected to become a $68 billion industry." Yup, from $9.5b in 2007 to $70b in 2012. Only Zeebo allows you to capture a market that will increase in value seven-fold in five years.

Looking for Love: Zeebo is looking for partners who meet these criteria:

A trusted consumer brand

Strong relationships with local manufacturers, final assembly and reverse logistics

Connections to local software developers and content publishers who can bring culturally relevant content to consumers

A financial track record that would make Zeebo a powerful companion to your brand

Yeah, if I was launching a powerhouse console that was going to take the world by storm I'd be looking for someone, anyone, who could provide them with hardware and software and name recognition and money too.

And finally, Success: Before they even launch, they're happy to tell you "Zeebo is considered by many publishers as the world's 4th gaming console."

This doesn't look like a Wii Classic Controller

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:52:27 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/639 Vodafone useless: Pulls out of Japan http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/493
It would seem Vodafone have no idea WTF they're doing in Japan. They were consistently innovating, making giant advances with the assistance of their hardware partners (mostly Sharp, but also Toshiba, Sanyo and a handful of others) and offering many features well in advance of other carriers. Docomo gets all the press overseas, but Vodafone was first with great family pricing, 2-megapixel cameras and a unified gaming structure: There are only 4 levels of gaming for Japanese Vodafones, where trying to find compatible games on Docomo is a bit of a minefield.

But I digress.

It would seem that Vodafone K.K., the Japanese arm, simply couldn't or wouldn't communicate with the rest of Vodafone's global operation, and none of the world-class phones, customer-first philosophy or affordable pricing made it out to the rest of us. Vodafone worldwide is an evil giant, with the same shitty phones as everyone else, and the same shitty rates. Vodafone is, it would seem, better at colluding with its enemies, the other carriers, than it is with its purported partner in Japan.

The newest vodafone unit, the Sharp 904-SH, is like a mini deity. Check out this feature list: VGA screen, Bluetooth with a neat new 'near chat', letting you talk to people within a ten metre radius, 3.2 megapixel camera (featuring an incredible zoom mechanism, with 5 lenses!), optical zoom, motion sensor gaming, Felica e-payment chip, 3D sound, face recognition, 3G, GPS, SD card, W-CDMA + GSM, USB, infrared, video output, Flash animation, and QR code reading capability.

The top of the line Motorola does, let's see, less than half that, and costs twice as much. Japanese manufacturers, combined, have less than a 10% market shar of worldwide phone sales. Vodafone was uniquely positioned, as the only Japanese carrier, to launch these amazing phones - most of which were already running in 100% English - worldwide.

They didn't.

So, as far as I'm concerned, they deserve to lose Japan. They squandered the resource, fuck 'em. Not being able to take advantage of these kinds of capabilities speaks of nigh criminal incompetence. SoftBank, a large ISP and publisher, will be buying what's left of Vodafone in Japan. They can't possibly do worse than Vodafone themselves did. With luck they'll change their name back to J-Phone, and forget this nasty little incident ever happened. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:14:50 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/493 Samsung Saturn Revisited http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/492 Samsung Saturn. I recently received a pair of additional units, and after having had a look at them there are definitely new things to learn.

The two biggest things of interest are:
1. Not all of them have the Japanese-language option disabled from the boot menu, and
2. Either no one in Korea could refrain from opening their systems and mucking around with, and losing, the innards, or Sega foisted some pretty shoddy gear on poor Samsung. All three are missing parts and/or screws.

I've started a new page detailing some of the findings on the wiki. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:13:41 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/492 Sony acknowledges PSP faults.. No, they don't. http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/491 harsh appraisal of Sony's PSP. According to a GameSpot article the head of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutaragi, said only .6% of the PSPs sold have been returned, and that people complaining about the buttons are overreacting to intentional design choices.

Which completely dodges the issue of defective units where the buttons don't just feel different but actually hit the screen preventing comfortable use.

This is an acknowledgement of nothing, Sony's just dodging the question. GameSpot's article only serves to help gloss over the significant variance in Sony's manufacturing process which often results in very unsatisfactory user experiences.

Happily my unit, purchased only ten days ago, works fine - but I've used units that don't, and I know people who have imported one and are stuck with it. Sony's non-acknowledgement serves no one but Sony. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:12:22 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/491 PC Engine Modem http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/490 software. The PCE modem was never released, and according to this auction only one hundred units were made. Check out this image of the modem and a black PC Engine. And in case you're wondering what something like this sells for, now you know.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/auctions/pcemodem/modem.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:10:30 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/490 Nintendo's DS http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/489 went wrong with the PSP a few people asked what I thought about the DS.

The bottom line: Nintendo's DS is far better designed and constructed. Never mind the specs and features and games, the DS hardware isn't as flawed as the PSP.

Read on for details.

As an interesting aside, a little birdy told me a Nintendo PR flack, when pressed about the GBA cart slot in DS game cases, mumbled something about the DS being able to access both the DS and GBA carts at the same time, and that there are plans for expansion cards for the GBA slot with software in the DS slot. Therefore you might conceivably want to keep your GBA-shaped expansion cart with the DS games. Therefore, two slots.

Now if only there were good DS games to play...

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/DS/DS1.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:07:21 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/489 Sony's PSP http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/488 crazy adventure I managed to score one. Four days later the lineup for Nintendo DS units at my local Toys R Us was five times longer than the lineup for Sony's PSP. A harbinger of the future perhaps? For all the fervent interest in the PSP it would seem that they didn't try really hard to make a product people might actually enjoy using, so much as they made a tech demo that impresses journalists and looks good under glass.

Read on for the gory details. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:05:08 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/488 Sony's PStwo http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/486 Spong thought), it turns out the system is really tiny. According to this Japanese page the system will launch in early October, and will be $149 (Y19,800).

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/grafx/pstwo.jpg]

What's really surprising, to me at least, is that it'll be top-loading. A good thing, really. This will reduce the number of things that can be broken, a definite bonus since Sony's totally incapable of making a games console not built like a five dollar watch.

More pics on this Norwegian site(and how often do I get to say THAT?)

Oops, Norwegian link is now dead, sorry. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:58:48 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/486 Capcom CPS Changer http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/485 Capcom CPS Changer system, a kind of bizarre Capcom console for a very few lucky souls.

[Image: http://nfg.2y.net/games/cpschanger/system2.jpg]

have a look!

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:55:46 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/485 They Came from China: PC Engine Clones http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/484 Vistar you'll love these Chinese-made PC Engine clones!

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/pceclones/3.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:53:29 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/484 The Vistar-16 - Korean TurboGrafx http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/483 Korean Vistar, a recycled TurboGrafx-16. As far as I know this is the first bit of information about it in the western world.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/vistar/unit1T.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:50:24 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/483 Strange Sega Saturn Hardware Variant http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/482 strange new Saturn.

[Image: http://nfg.2y.net/temp/saturn_weird2.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:48:36 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/482 Sega Development Hardware: Address Checker http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/481 Saturn Address Checker made by IS Electronics. No, this isn't a repeat, this one's a LOT different. About 8kg different in fact.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/satadd/satadd2.jpg]

Check it out.

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:43:50 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/481 Strange Device: IS Electronics Sega Saturn Debugger http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/480

[Image: http://nfg.2y.net/grafx/saturnAC4.jpg]

Check it out.

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:41:18 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/480 Micomsoft's XSelect-D4 Reviewed http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/479 incredibly detailed review of Micomsoft's world-beating XSelect-D4 component/RGB transcoder.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/xselectd4/b.jpg]

Update! Jeremy's whipped up a shorter NFG-style review if you want to get the bottom line faster. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:38:46 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/479 The Koei PasoGo http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/478

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/pasogo/hrdpasogo1.jpg]

]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:35:31 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/478 The Sega TeraDrive http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/477
The system is very robustly constructed, which is typical of IBM's hardware. The keyboard is the clicky type and is very durable - also typical for IBM. There is a matching Sega-branded monitor, but the manufacturer is unknown. The rest of the system was manufactured by Sega. Peripherals included or purchased separately include the mouse (similar or identical to the MegaDrive mouse), and a 3-button joypad which is indistinguishable from the MegaDrive part.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/teradrive/td_system1.jpg]