nsps

So, does everyone have too much respect for the democratic process to tell me how to vote, or should I just ask for specific categories?

So there are some categories for which I haven't played any of the games. Idle Thumbs should assemble a list of endorsements that I can blindly vote for rather than become an informed participator in democracy. In lieu of that, I'll just blindly vote for whatever people on this forum tell me.

Seems to me, the gaming companies should donate the equipment to this first experiment, as if it works it would make good publicity and more business.

Huh, interesting that prosumer used to come from "producer" instead of professional. So it sounds like a prosumer is someone who buys prosumer level products, eh? Anyway, best to strike up some conversations with those female clerks with good taste. If nothing else maybe they'll give you a bit of the old employee discount. I am so banned.

For the record, the U.S. doesn't have an official language, although it's obviously expected that you know English most of the time. I've only encountered customer service personnel with limited communication skills in fast-food restaurants, where they'd know the menu items but wouldn't be able to help if, say, you asked whether MSG was in something. In that case, they would probably go ask a fellow employee to help. Speaking of English and hip new words (OK, so we weren't talking about hip new words), I thought prosumer was only used in reference to electronics that were high-grade consumer products with some pro features, although not quite as nice as the super-expensive pro items. Eh? I went by EB Games the other day hoping they'd have some used Dreamcast controllers, and heard an informed employee talking to people about the new systems, mainly the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility possibilities. I wanted to jump in and say that the Revolution would be super-backwards compatible, but instead left in defeat because they only had N64 and PSX controllers. So yeah, there are probably annoyed clerks at Gamestops and knowledgeable ones at EB, depending on timing.

Yeah, I had problems with his points there as well. In terms of the camera angle thing, I don't think there's anything wrong with "cinematic" camera angles if they fit the atmosphere of the game. For example, if a game is made in the spirit of a film noir, part of the immersion process he puts so much stock would be the shot compositions. There are obviously problems with games that come about due to bad camera angles, but I generally don't find them with fixed position cameras.

Thanks for the advice, although the main conclusion that I'm drawing is… No one has ever actually played NeoGeoCD. I can't seem to find any used games anywhere anyway. If I try that Kings of Fighting one, I'll let y'all know how it is.

Yeah, I don't think a year qualifies as an age. The medium has evolved very quickly though, so it's hard to say. Look at the evolution of film and photography, which went very quickly, and then look at gaming go even faster. Still, seems like we'd at least need, like, a console generation or something to justify an age.

Yeah, I think I complained a bit too much in my first post, as it's a solid tour through gaming history. My main beef with it is the decision to make it look ranked, but basically do it chronological (which they point out on the page). And the questionable use of the word "essential," of course. I guess they're doing a second list of great games that didn't meet the criteria of that list...like, say, Monkey Island, Zelda or Metroid, for example, but that you must play. So yeah, good list of games to consider if you're thinking about this topic...

Here's a list of the "essential" games that I think is a bit silly in its format, but does provide some other ideas as to key points in gaming history. http://classic.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3116290 Now, the definition of "essential" here is incorrectly considered to be landmarks in gaming history rather than games that are key to understanding the pleasure and possibilities of video games. For example, I'd call "Grim Fandango" essential even if it wasn't the most influential game, because I consider it the greatest game ever made, so it's certainly essential for someone to play. Likewise, I wouldn't put "Super Mario Brothers" 4 spots under ET, which is apparently important because it was so bad it almost ruined the gaming industry. The editors reveal a complete lack of any perspective other than chronological. Look at the years of each game and you'll see that this could almost be a timeline of landmarks in the history of video games, which would have made it a much better article. They do say that it's more based on chronological order, but they still present it as a ranked and not entirely chronological list. Oh well. Sorry to rant, just thought I'd clarify my opinions of the list if I was going to link to it. Now, to the question at hand: Based on my studies of other arts like painting and film, I'm reluctant to call the primitive games the most important. For example, a decade and a half had passed before The Birth of a Nation came out and put all the elements of cinematic language together, and 28 years later Citizen Kane was another major landmark. (I'd highlight many films in between, but am speaking in very broad and general historical terms.) So I'd probably favor Super Mario Bros. with props to Donkey Kong for opening format and also bringing video games into the mainstream. But I'll keep thinking. This opens another interesting question: When was the golden age of video games? Has it happened yet?

He doesn't have to be a dragqueen. He could be an executive transvestite.

If we don't get every old NES game free, there will be a revolution, damnit!

They could even make vintage controllers (wireless?) specifically for playing the old games. Or a base station that takes all the old controller inputs.

This is the most awesome news in the history of awesomeness. Marek's E3 article, which came before any sort of "free" announcement, said first and second party, I believe. Maybe only first party will be free, though. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Maybe they'll print that on top of the explosion sticker they add to the box.

Also, it's the kind of title that should have legs and build word of mouth as more people play it, rather than a super-hyped title that's going to start big and steadily decline. There seem to be lots of people who don't know who Tim is but think that the game looks really cool, so hopefully sales will grow.

You need to get a nice camera and shoot that pen twirling at 72 fps or something md, because (monkey)dang, I can't tell if you're really twirling it or just waving your hand quickly.

I'm waiting for the pen-spinning movie before passing any judgment.

So I couldn't resist. I went to my friend's house and played it for a few hours. Only got to the first two parts of Sasha's brain (the third part looked really cool, but I had had to go get some sleep. I don't want to be a spoiler for those who haven't played yet (ahem), but I will say that I'm impressed with how different the first two brains have been.

On G4's "Icons" recently, Tim Schafer told a similar story about everyone at LucasArts (LucasFilms Games) going to the warehouse to hand-pack the first Monkey Island game.

Monkeydang, a wise man once said, "It ain't braqing if it's true."

What 3D card are you using? My Psychonauts just arrived (all discs there, plus shirt), but I still need a graphics card and won't have time to play before leaving for Cannes Sunday.

Well, since I can't play Psychonauts I've had to learn. Also, I edited my post slightly a minute after posting, only to find three people had already replied.

It could be, but I kinda doubt it. Try it and it'll tell you if it doesn't, maybe someone here in the states could just call for you. If you don't have anyone to call for you, PM me and I could do it. EDIT: Made my offer more clear while three other people posted.

adn than a dawg cood run up and start hupming son then byte sanford in the nutz haelaireeous! EDIT: Removed capitol letters and punctuation.