It made Michael King of the NY Jets 7 inches tall

I have yet to throw a gamecube game on here, so here goes an excellent one. In a genere cluttered with rip offs, here is an original survival horror game, for of all systems, gamecube. Silicon Knights has certainly outdid themselves thanks to the deep storyline, hallucinating effects, and the innovative “create-a-spell” system. Gamecube owners looking for a more “adult” experience will do well to pick this up.

IGN has the video presentation.
thoughts from nintendo power writer Steve Thomason
and of course, The Powet forum

While the world is still collectively reeling from this and everyone has blogged their opinion, I’ll toss in mine as well.

It is quite obvious to me that Nintendo has given up the battle with Sony and Microsoft. They cannot win playing by the rules that they themselves established 20 years ago. They went back to the drawing board and released the DS, which is literally a drawing board. It took some time to take off and start to find its niche, and it looks like great and inventive games are out or coming out soon for the DS. They’re truly making the PSP look like just a portable video player or just a portable playstation.

So now theres their new console, which they’re losing ground to the imperially established Sony and the increasingly aggressive Microsoft. They took a look at the competition and realized that if they couldn’t beat them they could at least shake up their own future enough so that they don’t even appear to be in competition anymore.

And thats whats happened. Nintendo is out of the race and in a class by themselves now. Third Party support for the gamecube was dwindling because the cube wasn’t capable of anything the PS2 or Xbox was. So now they have a console and a portable that make direct ports to other systems impossible! And, any game ported over from another system will have to be heavily reworked to make use of unique control schemes. This is it! Back to the days of the NES and Gameboy where the entire lineup is exclusive.

Weird control configurations are now standard in Arcades now. Sure, Tekken 5 is munching quarters without having anything original in control (hell you can plug a PS2 controller into the cabinet to use instead of the stick!), but the rest of the arcade is sit down racers, gun games, and dance games. And skee ball. But all of those offer control and experience unavailable on a home system (home racing wheels and guns are never as good anyway, and standard dance mats are considered a joke). Its that “I can’t play this at home” thing that keeps arcades open now, and Nintendo is going for an audience that will quickly realize that “hey, this game is not possible on Xbox 360 or PS3!”

Of course we still haven’t seen a Revolution game. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed this controller wasn’t premeired with a new Mario or something. And thats the only thing that can prove the concept. Possibilities are endless, but I remember how Mario 64 proved the analog stick to be a great idea. Revolution still has a chance to prove to the haters who say Nintendo has lost their minds as well as satisfy those who have been smoking the company dope for years. And if Nintendo has their way, they’ll also get people who’ve never gone into gaming before.

On what might be the eve of an official announcement, 4CR presents Revolution Controller Mockups

This is very old, but it’s still a slept on classic. The multiple endings, ability to go about the missions however you wish, “Knights of the old republic-like” plot and the customizable ablities are nice, but Most of this game’s appeal has to do with it’s physics system. Throwing trash at people, tossing around dead bodies, and beating up people can provide hours of fun. It’s more than an FPS, and its on par with some of the best RPGs.

Alien Hominid might be the last good game to ever come out on GBA.
Don’t beleive it? play the old flash version!

The price jump from $50 to $60 is big news with the Next Generation. I’m confident gamers will vote with the dollars as they’ve done so in the past. Frankly, for all the hours I’ve logged on games like Halo 2 and Mario Kart, I’d have gladly paid $70 or $80. I’d pay double for a game I know is going to keep me entertained for this long. 10 months later and I’m itching to try Halo 2’s playlist update! Thats saying something.
Conversely, I hope this opens the door to budget gaming more in the next round. More under-$30 games could mean a stronger focus on innovation with shorter games. Katamari Damacy is a prime example of a low-budget high-concept title. At $50 it would have a hard time moving, but on a budget gamer’s plate its fair game. and I have a feeling by the time they hit the third game in the series they’ll have no trouble asking for and getting premium dollar.
Splinter Cell, Madden, Halo, Zelda, Metal Gear… they can all name their price now because the fans of these series HAVE to have the latest and know they’ll get their money’s worth. But the big franchises of the future should be aiming lower for the budget gamers.
Advent Rising had some big buzz which was killed by mediocre reviews. I’d bet Majesco would’ve done much better if they’d gone right to $30 and risked a bigger loss. Now its in doubt whether the 2 planned sequels will still make it out and I’m sure Advent’s fans can’t be pleased. Majesco should think about pushing a lower price on the next release if it comes to that. Ditto for Psychonauts which is getting great reviews but losing on sales because Xbox heads won’t drop premium cash on a single player platform action game!
I don’t mind dropping a few dollars on a potentially bad/potentially good game. Astro Boy taught me that a good game can in fact come out of no-where. But when I’m going to spend more on a game than a week of groceries, I better see the value and know what I’m getting!

By the way, if you don’t read Wil Wheaton’s Games Of Our Lives, get off your ass. The Onion AV club has been running a games column for a couple months, and while you can expect the same sardonic wit applied to current game release reviews (“Frustration sets in when: Your Nintendog stubbornly refuses to fight space aliens, punch hookers, or perform other expected video-game feats”), but Wheaton’s look into gaming’s history covers dismal arcade and console failures that don’t get mentioned when people talk about how great gaming used to be. Note to kids only aware of games fromn the early 80’s via compilations by Activision, Namco, and Midway: This represents all the good games from that time. The rest were garbage.
So its nice to have someone remembering that game sucked ass before Superman 64.