Good lord that's more Street Fighter than I probably ever wanted to know about, but that's pretty much the long and longer of it. Now I want to go back and play Street Fighter Alpha 3 again, though, but that would require me setting up my Dreamcast... and I'm lazy.
Archive for the 'Dreamcast' Category
Grr, I can't find my copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the Dreamcast. Does anyone have any clues? Like, did I let you borrow it and clean forgot? Blah, I don't really want to buy the PS2 version and re-unlock everything when I already own it, but I guess that'd be one less Dreamcast game I need to keep my Dreamcast out for...
Universal Soul Calibur II Arcade Stick for the US
Okay, I'm pretty seriously considering getting one or two of these. I'll have to see how SCII performs with the standard GCN controller, but if it's not up to snuff, I'll be picking up at least one. And hey, I'll be able to use it for the other PS2 fighting games I have, to boot! And I might even be tempted to pick up a copy of MvC2 for the PS2 (and a few of the other games that I have only for my dreamcast) just so I don't need the Dreamcast anymore.
One year ago, the death of the Dreamcast was announced. I was very fond of that little white box, and that was a very sad day. At the time, I said that there were still a number of upcoming Dreamcast games that I was looking forward to playing. I was looking forward to Crazy Taxi 2, and Sonic Adventure 2, and Shenmue 2, and Phantasy Star Online.
But I never bought Crazy Taxi 2, because they removed the two player mode. (Though admittedly, my roommate picked up Crazy Taxi 2 on clearance from Toys R Us last week, but more on that some other time.)
I never bought Sonic Adventure 2, because it was announced as Gamecube bound.
I never bought Shenmue 2, because sadly it became an Xbox exclusive in North America, and I didn't get a chance.
And I never bought Phantasy Star Online, because I kind of lost interest in it.
In fact, I didn't buy a single Dreamcast game once its death was announced. I actually feel kind of guilty about abandoning the poor little fellow. It's not that I ever stopped liking it, it's just that the circumstances changed. Though I didn't buy any new Dreamcast games, my little white box got at least as much play as my even-deader N64.
So it goes.
So I just got back to my apartment in Berkeley, and I was tidying some things up, and making room for my new chair, and I realized that the situation in front of my TV needed some resolving.
So I moved my GameCube to where my Dreamcast once sat, next to my PS2. And I moved my Dreamcast to where my N64 once sat, next to my TiVo/DVD Player. And I moved my N64... into a drawer.
Shhh... He's not dead, he's just sleeping...
This actually makes me kind of sad. We haven't really touched the N64 since about July, when we were playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario Party 3. But since then... It's just gathered dust. I really liked that system... But I don't think I'll be waking him up any time soon, unless I happen to finally buy Zelda: Majora's Mask -- which happens to be the one last N64 game that I really want to play.
I don't know... It's silly. Even though I hadn't touched it for six months, I still feel bad about putting it away. Oh well. It's not like it's that put away -- it'd take me maybe three minutes to set it back up, if the nostalgic urge to play an N64 game really struck me...
So here in the first few minutes of round two, Nintendo is claiming the Gamecube is the fastest selling next generation console, and they're sticking to their guns when interviewed about the claim. Microsoft has stayed quiet on the issue, probably because they just didn't have enough consoles available to compete, thus making claims that the Xbox has been selling out moot as a basis of comparison. And though Sony was quick to toot their own horn last year when the shit hit the fan with PS2 sales, they probably won't respond to Nintendo's press release, and they'll end up seeming mature in the face of what looks like bragging from Nintendo.
Never mind the fact that Metal Gear Solid 2 has already 1.8 million copies just in North America, and it's not even Christmas yet. And it was just released in Japan today.
The point is that the PS2 has a huge head start, and it's way too soon to start cheering for any of the challengers to the belt which Sony's currently wearing.
And while Nintendo claims to have sold 510,000 Gamecubes in the first week, way back at the very beginning of round one Sega sold 410,000 Dreamcasts in the first week, and look where they ended up.
Last Friday when I was in Bakersfield, Pi bought a Gamecube and a DVD player from WalMart for less than the cost of a PS2 or an Xbox. Admittedly, the DVD player was on sale for $75, but his total with sales tax was still only $294.22.
Let's do a quick comparison of each of the three contenders for equivalent configurations, shall we? We'll assume a non-sale price of $100 for an external DVD player, and I'll be nice to the PS2 and allow the Gran Turismo 3 bundle to be its entry, and we'll assume 7.5% sales tax as a compromise between Bakersfield's 7% and the Bay Area's BART subsidizing 8ish%.
Gamecube:
- Gamecube console: $199
- Extra controller: $34.99
- Game: $49.99
- Memory Card 59: $14.99
- External DVD Player: $99.99
- Total: $398.96 ($428.88 with tax)
PS2:
- PS2 Gran Turismo 3 bundle: $329.99
- Extra Controller: $34.99
- Memory Card: $34.99
- DVD Remote: $19.99
- Total: $419.96 ($451.457 with tax)
Xbox:
- Xbox console: $299.99
- Extra Controller: $39.99
- Game: $49.99
- DVD Remote: $29.99
- Total: $419.96 ($451.457 with tax)
Um, other fudge work in these numbers: Admittedly, the Xbox has a hard drive and network adapter, but at the moment all the Hard Drive is good for is storing custom music sound tracks and I'm assuming that it can store saved games. And on the assumption that the Xbox's hard drive can store saved games, I didn't add in the price of a memory card on the Xbox.
The Gamecube memory card is smaller than the PS2 memory card, so I probably should have added two Memory Card 59's to my Gamecube total to be more equitable.
I think I recall seeing that the Sony Hard Drive/Network Adapter Bundle will be $150 when it comes out this spring, so that puts the final price of the PS2 (even with the bundled GT3) way up above the Xbox.
I expect that the Gamecube Modem and Ethernet adapters will be $50 each when they come out. And a nice portable removable Gamecube Hard Drive is also a possibility.
But, for now, I'd argue that games aren't really taking advantage of the Xbox's network and hard drive features enough to really count them into the overall equation.
Oh, and as long as I'm on the subject, you can get a Dreamcast for $50, and find most of the games and accessories for $10 to $20. If you're really cheap.
If you bought every possible accessory for the Gamecube as they come out, you'd probably end up spending more on the Gamecube than the Xbox in the long run. But most people won't buy all the Gamecube accessories, and most probably already have a DVD player, and most people with an Xbox probably won't ever use the Hard Drive or Network Adapter, so I still say the Gamecube wins the price game.
Besides which, I think being able to pick and choose with the Gamecube is better than Microsoft's Model-TX.
- "Some of these sprites are older than the people who are playing the game."
--My roommate Michael, on Capcom vs. SNK 2
When I first heard about Crazy Taxi 2 back in about December, the most notable new features mentioned included split screen multiplayer action and internet multiplayer action. The internet play didn't strike me as overly important, but it sounded nice -- it was the multiplayer action that really piqued my interest.
So when I heard that the Internet play wasn't going to make it into the final product a couple months ago, I didn't care too much, because the report explicitly stated that the split screen multiplayer would remain in the final product. That multiplayer action was all I really cared about. When I first played Crazy Taxi so long ago, one of my first thoughts was "This is a great game! But where's the multiplayer?"
I would have bought Crazy Taxi 2 if all that were added was two player split screen.
So I've been eagerly anticipating today's release of Crazy Taxi 2, which, so far as I knew, not only included multi player goodness, but also included new maps, mini games, drivers, and moves. It sounded like the perfect sequel to an already great game.
But today I read this review of Crazy Taxi 2, and, um, apparently, it's single player. And now, despite all the new additions, I'm not sure that it's a sequel I actually want to play.
Back when the Xbox was first revealed, no dimensions were distributed, so I made some educated guesses about how big the system would be: About four inches tall, and about a foot in each direction.
Well, The Magicbox has some comparison shots up showing that it's actually bigger still than I estimated... And I thought I was erring on the side of too big! Since the magicbox lacks any way to link directly to a story, here are links to a top view, a 3/4 view, a side view, and a controller view of the Dreamcast, the Xbox, and the PS2. The PS2 is a full foot wide, making the Xbox about 14 inches across, while it's between 10 and 12 inches deep, and it's just about 4 inches tall. (The PS2, for references, is 12 inches wide, 7 inches deep, and a little less than 3 inches tall).
Then we pull in my comparisons of the Game Boy, the Gamecube, and the Apple PowerMac G4 Cube, which I did here, and we see that while the Gamecube is probably about as tall, if not taller, than the Xbox, you could fit AT LEAST four Gamecubes on top of the Xbox. More if you started cutting your Gamecubes into pieces.
Apparenly, Even the Japanese were laughing at how huge the Xbox is. And remember, folks -- those vents on top of the Xbox aren't just for looks. No stacking stuff on top of it, or you'll have some singed silicon smelling up the place!
I was playing Crazy Taxi tonight, in anticipation of the impending release of Crazy Taxi 2, when I crashed into a black van and flipped it over. I made a joke about pissing off the A-Team and Keith said that, strangely enough, he had seen an episode of A-Team last weekend.
Finished with my fun and games for the evening, I retired to my room and began reading a few web pages. Then I got to Feedle's site, and he had a link to, well, All Your Base are belong to Mr. T (flash warning).
The GIA ran this story today about the security of Phantasy Star Online. It's a shame that PSO's been tampered with, but it seems like the architecture could have been easilly designed to make this sort of thing impossible. Hopefully they designed it extensibly enough that they'll be able to fix it.
What I found more interesting in the article, though, was the mention of the security measures in place to protect accounts from being stolen. While I respect the desire to protect the time investment of the players, the restriction that a character must be played on the Dreamcast it was created on strikes me as troublesome. What if my Dreamcast dies (as mine seems to be threatening to do)? What if I want to take my VMU to a friends to show off my character? What if my VMU dies? And there are so many possible solutions, it's a shame they didn't implement any of them.
The easiest is to allow the user to select what level of security they want for a newly created character. This way people who will only play from their cushy couch and broadband connection can feel safe, while wanderers will be able to play wherever they land. Still more complex systems could employ something based on RSA key pairs (which would also help prevent server spoofing). They could have even added a controller code pass phrase to a key-pair system (with the option of a zero length pass phrase) to allow even more security. It seems like limiting the security based on the particular Dreamcast is a big waste of the portability of the VMU. Well, I guess that as long as I can back up my character on to another VMU they didn't mess things up too badly.