BydoEmpire

Not so much lesser-known, but I can't resist a bargain. EB online had DK Jungle Beat w/ Bongos new for $20. How could I resist that. Last month, though, it was Deep Labyrinth. I don't know why it got such bad reviews, I think the game is a lot of fun, and pretty well done. I'm always up for a good dungeon crawl, and the game has gotten better the more I played it. I finally made the purchase because of an in-depth review on Dual Screen Radio, and I wanted to order Tecmo Classics from Gamestop online anyways ($5). I didn't want to order for just one $5 game.

This spring I got a copy loose at Flea World's Game Trader's for $4. Their Atari cart prices are not usually great, so I was a little surprised to see it there.

I've been doing professional game programming for over ten years now - coin-op, GBA, ps2/xbox/ngc, psp, and 360/ps3. I did launch titles for the psp and 360, and recently finished a PS3 launch title. I did a bunch of freeware Apple 2 and c64 games in junior high/high school in the 80s. [Edit] I remember the first day I ever did any programming - by brother taught me how to do a few things in Applesoft basic, and my mom worked in the community college's lab which had an Apple ][+, so I tried a few simple things. Stuff like trying to make a spaceship made out of *'s animate using GOTOs. Then came typing in programs from magazines of the era, then came skipping lunch in junior high to work on games in the lab. It all snowballed from there. I didn't do much game programming in college, but I did a little demo maze game for Windows 3.1 which somehow got me my first job... it was horrible.

PlayStation - Soul Blade N64 - Mario 64 (first system I ever preordered) Xbox - Panzer Dragoon Orta (though I bought it with the Sega GT/JSRF bundle, I knew PDO was coming out soon) Dreamcast - NFL 2k and Soul Calibur All of these systems ended up having tons of great games, even if it was a system seller game that pushed me to make the purchase.

Phantasy Star Online, of course! One of the best games of all time. Offline it's a fantastic dungeon crawl, if you're into that type of thing. Probably T for animated violence (you just fight monsters, etc, no blood or anything). Shenmue 1&2 - martial arts adventure game. If you have a little patience, and like adventure games, this is a great pick. Probably T due to martial-arts violence. Capcom vs SNK (probably T due to cartoon violence). One of the best 2d fighters of all time imho. The floaty DC d-pad doesn't help, but the game is still great. Other great picks (I *think* E, but I'm not 100%): Crazy Taxi 1 & 2 (great arcade fun, both games are excellent) Sega Bass Fishing (relaxing fun) Sega Marine Fishing (more relaxing fun) Mars Matrix (one of my favorite 2d shooters) Metropolis Street Racer (one of my favorite driving games) Crazy Taxi may be T for song lyrics.

Most of my c64 discs are unreadable, so I'm pretty excited. I'd definitely pay a few bucks for the Jumpmans and Apshai games.

Hm, I wonder if we're seeing big regional differences. I've never seen 1st party DS titles for more than $35, even around launch. 3rd party titles seem to be *mostly* $30. I also haven't seen many PSP games over $40. I'm pretty sure even EA games are $40, although I have no idea about Koei. EBGames.com has Vice City Stories for $50. I also don't recally too many n64 games over $60. I'm sure there were some, but I think $59.99 was pretty standard. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly... First party GameCube games are $50 everywhere around here. 3rd party games vary between $40-$50. Earlier in its life, pretty much everything was $50. It's kind of the opposite for ps2 - 1st party games are $40, 3rd party games vary between $40-$50, though of course they're trending down. For the first years of the system's life almost everything was pretty much $50. Xbox games *were* $50 for most of its life, but now I don't really know (I haven't bought any new non-budget xbox title in a long time). I remember NES games being $30-$35 for the most part. Some bigger games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy were probably $50 but I honestly don't remember. I don't know what the average SNES game prices was, but I paid $70 for SF2 and $80 for FF3. They were totally worth it. =) I also remember being extremely pissed because I paid $60 or $65 for some SNES Batman game that was pretty bad. It was one of the more expensive games, so the average must have been more like $50. There seems to be a trend of different pricing between 1st party and 3rd party games (ps2, gamecube, xbox 360). That's worth noting.

For me: 2600 - stopped working some time in the last year 7800 Intellivision II Odyssey2 - joystick 1 is broken, so it's not very playable Bally Astrocade NES SMS SNES Genny (model 2) w/ CD (model 2) Game.com Game Gear Non-classic systems (imho): PS1 PS2 Dreamcast - (white model has no video out, black Sports model works great) Xbox (one normal black system, one white "EA Games" model) GameCube (purple) DS (original) Earlier this year I sold my Colecovision, Saturn and N64. Classic compters: c64, Amiga 500, Amiga 1000, Apple 2c

Just my Touchmaster Infinity upright, although it has a ton of games that were never released. My inlaws actually play it a lot when they come over... more than I do. After the mortgage is paid off, I'd like to get some classic game cabs, but I can wait. I have a Sinistar motherboard, too, but no cab, and it's missing the audio daughtercard. I'd like to get that working some day.

Yep, I missed that it had been pushed back. My mistake. Regardless, there are still plenty of good games at launch. And it's nice to know there are great titles in the pipe for 2007 (Metroid, Super Smash Bros, Mario, Sonic). Sounds like the Wii isn't the system for you, which kind of works out because that's one less person competing for it on launch day.

I don't know what you're talking about, that's a pretty solid launch lineup. As good as any system's I can think of (maybe the original xbox - Halo, PGR, Madden/Fever). It would be great to have Mario in there, but I don't want Zelda, Mario and Metroid at the same time. They'll cannibalize sales (and play time) from each other. I'd much rather have them take a little extra time and put out a AAA Mario game in six months than rush out another Sunshine. I would agree that there isn't really a Wii-specific killer app, since you'll be able to get Zelda for the 'cube, but I think the launch titles are very strong. And to be fair there wasn't a killer app for the 360 launch, and there wasn't one for the ps2 launch, either. Personally, I'm breaking the bank with: Zelda Sonic Monkey Ball Red Steel Rayman Possibly one or more of these depending on reviews: Far Cry Trauma Center Elebits Excite Truck Madden As for the "confirmed" launch titles, this is the internet. Unless it comes from Nintendo, Sony, MS, or the actual publisher, it's NOT confirmed. Someone posting a photoshopped flyer of a few games on some random message board does not mean much.

Sad but true. Hopefully this will change if the DS continues to sell well.

Why, you can use them? My point was that if it were a game that they could tweak to take advantage of the Wii then it would make sense (i.e. Zelda, MP3.. mabye they'll even do something with Super Paper Mario). I'm not sure what they can add (other than up the graphics/sound and maybe online support) that would make the Wii version any different than the cube version. But I guess we'll see. Perhaps one player can use the wii remotes to play a kit while other players are hitting the bongos? Regarding the bongos... Four games that use the Bongos is pretty good, imho. How many Super Scope games were there? How many Xbox light gun games were there? Do you think they'll do four Guitar Hero games? For a $50 peripheral that came packed with a game, it's gotten more support than I expected.

None of these issues affect my plans to get a Wii on day one. I wanted a Wii to play games with the motion-sensing remote, and that hasn't changed. The games looks just as fun, if not better than they looked months ago. The newly announced stuff like Wii Weather looks fun and useful. I would have hoped 2 wiimotes would be packed in, but I'll pay the extra $40 (I have no need for 2 nunchunks). It's not like any other console has shipped wtih two controllers in ages. It's all about the games, and they look better all the time, so I'm still on board.

I thought your letter was well written. But I think $250 is a fair price (of course i would have liked 2 wiimotes packed in). Things are always priced based on what the market will bear, not manufacturing cost. Hence, $15 CDs and $20 DVDs. Hence, MS and Sony taking a loss on their consoles. I can see not wanting to spend $250 on the Wii right away, but I'm sure the price will come down soon enough. Peronally I think it's worth it, and I'll still be getting one at launch. Some people will spend $600 for a ps3 at launch. I sure wouldn't, but hey, to each their own. It does suck that Super Paper Mario and now DK Bongo Blast have moved to the Wii. I find DK odd, since the whole point is that it uses the Bongos.

No, but I'll be buying Intellivision DS the minute it's available. Hopefully someone will have impressions.

Heh, I know what you mean. I started playing FF 7 for the first time last year. I got a few hours into the 2nd disc and stopped playing, too. Haven't picked it up since. I *did* at least put the disc in my ps2 last week, so that's a step in the right direction. I really ought to finish it one of these days.

That's about what I expected. I haven't had a TG-16 in years, so I'll pick up a few of those. NES games around here at Flea World go from $3-$7 for most games (loose), so this is in line. I'd kind of rather have the cart if the price is close, but if they have some features like saving I'll be more inclined to buy the VC version.

I'll be getting a Wii on day one. The games and the system look like a lot of fun. $250 is reasonable for what you get, although, of course, I would have liked to see two controllers for that price. But from the looks of it, most multiplayer games won't be requiring a nunchuck, so it's really an extra $40 per player (not that that's any great deal). Anyways, I'll get a 360 eventually, probably next year. Waiting for more games that interest me and a price drop. I'd be very surpised if Wii titles were more than $50. Didn't Iwata even mention a $50 price point for games back at E3?

I almost hate to say it, since it's so new, but I have to go with the DS. I've owned several handhelds, but I've never put anywhere near the time into any of them as I've put into the DS. Plus, it plays GBA games (with a great screen), so it's almost perfect.

I liked an Allman Brother slogan I saw on a t-shirt at one of their shows: "Never trust any band under 30." There's no way Atari games will be on the Wii, at least for a while. It would be pretty cool, but I just can't see it happening.

That is kind of neat, but I'm not sure how well it will work without being anchored. It's probably tiring to hold it up with both hands, whereas with an anchored wheel you can rest your arms on it. I do love the idea that the Wii makes it easy to have cheap, customizable controllers like this, though. I'd definitely give it a shot, because I'm not paying $100+ for a high-end driving wheel.

Kitt's radar was also Intellivision Auto Racing (at least in one episode). I would apologize for going blatantly off-topic, but I think it's too late to save this thread. [Edit] see, the thing is, I think the games in that video look pretty nice. And yeah, so does Gears of War. There's a wide range of games that you can say "have good graphics."

Wow, that is really cool.

I find the DS a little uncomfortable to hold too long - especially with games like Metroid Prime Hunters that use primarily the touch screen. I should get a Lite, but can't really justify it at the moment. I, too, have about a dozen DS games on my "want" list.