As we know, Team Ninja, the creators of the Ninja Gaiden series, are hard at work on a new Xbox 360 entry in the series entitled Ninja Gaiden 2. But making a game isn't easy. You have to figure out the gameplay mechanics, how it plays, the story, the character abilities, and all sorts of other things, including what achievements to include. Well, Team Ninja (by way of Microsoft's Gamerscore blog) is calling on fans to create some achievements that may be considered for use in the game.
That's right! They are giving you a chance to help shape the game and offer up your input as to what kind of things should get your those ever so important gamer points. In order to suggest them an achievement, all you need to do is comment on this article at the GamerScore blog with a name for the achievement point, a description, how many points it should be worth, and possible artwork by January 24. Then all you have to do is hope that your idea doesn't get lost in the sea of submitted ideas and makes it into the final game.
Looking at the comments over there, I've found some great ones. For example:
"Avatar - Insert game disk into 360 1000GS " -DM2 "Achievement: The Master Returns - Turn the game on 50 times - 50GS" -TwilightWolf "Paint It Red - Spill over 20 gallons of blood(20G)" -Matt Jo "Go Out and buy a Shuriken already - Play for over 20 hours(45G)" -Matt Jo "Back to the Dojo (-5 GS): Die at the hands of the first enemy you encounter on Level 1. " -Whet Wurm "50G - Chuck Norris is proud: Roundhouse kick a beheaded foe." -Yagya "Red Ring of Destiny - Spill blood to make a red circle" -homez99 "Red Ring of Death: kill 8 people and one Xbox with one spin attack" -tim h
That's a few of the hundreds and hundreds of suggestions they have already. Here's a few I thought of:
Start Button Ninja: Pause the game 100 times (20G) Angel of Death: Die 100 times in one level (30G) Walk Away: Leave the game on the pause menu for 6 hours (20G)
Do you have any ideas for points Team Ninja could use in the game? Put them in the comments and we'll see who can come up with the best ideas.
Julian, we Nintendo fans were crushed when you decided to jump ship to the PS3, and release the motion sensitive Wii. You delighted us with Rogue Squadron, but you just had to crush our hearts with the jumping ship to the PS3 front. Well, how did Lair end up doing, huh? I hear it was pretty bad, Julian. So, today we hear that you are officially developing at least one non Virtual Console game for the Wii? Given your last release, I don't know if I should be excited, but none the less here you are, back at the doorstep of Nintendo, developing some unnamed game. Hope it is better than Lair, but hey, that should be easy, right?
Well, I am sort of excited. Factor 5's games were, and are, visually stunning. Factor 5 also was a provider of middleware solutions for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Knowing this, I hope that Factor 5 puts other developers to shame with graphics. If anyone can push the envelope, it is them.
At the same time, they might be, like many other developers, in for the quick cash in. I certainly hope such is not the case, but I guess we'll find out for sure once we know what exactly it is that they are developing for the Wii.
Julian, please do not disappoint us. You've already done that once before.
People have been sneering at the price of the PS3. They say it is expensive. You know, this statement is correct. However, I find it troubling that many of these people that say the Playstation 3 is overly expensive have no problem laying down the money for Microsoft's 360. I find such actions humorous. Let's analyze what I perceive as the true costs of these two systems, in terms of what they have to offer and what hidden costs lie with the system. Perhaps, we'll be enlightened after this discussion. Perhaps you'll be enraged. Chances are though that my arguments are pretty decent, and perhaps it will make take a second look at which system you ultimately end up purchasing.
So, it has been known for some time that Bioware was going to be working on a Sonic RPG. Today, we have more news about the Sonic RPG that is sure to make fans of Sonic and Bioware squeal with excitement. A couple of highlights are as follows:
Watercolor Style of Animation
4 Members in you Party at once, 11 party members total.
No random battles, in a definite homage to Chrono Trigger
Turn Based Fighting
Special Moves play like Elite Beat Agents
If you wish to see more than a few highlights, perhaps scans hosted at Jeux France will tickle your fancy. Those scans are bright, colorful, and look as good as graphics seen in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I'm certainly impressed by the graphics... are you?
Certainly, this game has the potential to rock one's socks off. I am predicting pure awesome. We'll find out for sure when this game is released later in 2008.
As I sit hear, listening to the Future of Rock and Roll, I was pondering what my next article should be. I sit hear, enjoying the music, listening to the smooth melodies of the indie rock scene. Feel the emotion, the magic, the rhythm. Music is a powerful medium. Music can be one of the best ways to convey emotion and mood without saying a word. Truly, music is an important part of games. From the 8-bit era to today, music has been an integral part of games. Think of the classics. The Mario Theme. The Zelda Theme, and many more, they're all great. Let's take the time to reminisce on the past, and identify the history of game music as it is today.
Sony has put the final nail in the coffin for usage of their UMD (Universal Media Disc) format for movies by announcing that you will soon be able to transfer Blu-ray movies that you own to your PSP by way of the Playstation 3.
According to Gizmodo, the functionality will be available this year, will (most likely) be free, and will work on (almost every) Blu-ray Disc under the sun. Some specifics about the transfer process are that the movie files will be around 1GB, in standard definition, optimized for playback on the PSP, and will take about 3-5 minutes to download to the PSP's memory stick. However, the catch is that the movies will be protected by DRM (Digital Rights Managment), which is no surprise considering that you're copying a copyrighted movie onto a portable device and could easily share it with others. There's no word on what exactly the details of the DRM policy will be (one of the restraints may be that you can only copy each disc a certain number of times). My guess is that it will be just like the DRM used for PSone games downloaded from the Playstation Store.
But who knows. Knowing Sony it could be a DRM scheme that drops a rootkit on your PS3/PSP and monitors every single thing you do before dropping that rootkit in your brain and controlling you.
Rod Cousens, to CEO of Codemasters has said, and I quote:
"I think this cycle has got a long way to go and it's certainly not over. Anyone writing off Sony and Microsoft do so at their peril. I could give you an argument that says there's going to be a 'Wii 2′ pretty quickly because [Nintendo would need one] in order to sustain momentum over a 10-year period. And what type of software would it have then? Because right now it isn't driven by technological supremacy or power. I wonder if the idea of opening up a whole new audience to 60-year-olds looking to make sure their brain cells don't die off is a sustainable form of entertainment. Maybe they got it right because we are all an aging population in Western markets, but I somehow think as a form of entertainment that won't be the case."
My reply? Why the heck are you in the gaming business? Are you that stupid? Let's talk some games, shall we? First off there is Super Mario Galaxy, which is regarded as one of the best games of all time. Second, we have the up coming release of Super Smash Bros Brawl, which is going to sell like hot cakes. Also, ton's of great 3rd party games coming up. Would you like me to name some Mr Cousens? Sure.:
Endless Ocean No More Heroes Okami Dragon Quest Swords
So maybe if you could out from under your rock and see whats going on, your quotes would not make me sick. We are all on page 5 Mr Cousens, open the book please.
Ed Note: Damn, this one hell of a well written, thorough review. I encourage you all to read this up.
I haven't listened to any Pink Floyd since quite a while before I re-ripped it at 320kbps. I'm now listening to some of it through the headphones I got for my birthday in November. It sounds so good.
The headphones are called Sharkoon X-tatic 5.1, I think rebranded as Tritton AX360 in the USA. I got halfway through writing a review of them but moved on, as I always do. I'll discard that one and start fresh...
As many of you may know, the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show is going on in Las Vegas. At this show, the electronics manufacters gather together and show off their new products. Among the exhibitors there, one of them caught my eye, Se2 Labs and their ITC One product.
The ITC One is a strange combination of...
Microsoft Xbox 360
Your choice of a Nintendo Wii or an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player (adds $450 or $300 onto the cost of the system, respectively)
Your choice of a DirecTV, Dish Network, or Comcast High-Definition DVR
Bryston Digital Sound Processor
ICEpower D-Class Amplifiers
Internal subwoofer amplifier
Transparent Cable Power Conditioning
iPod Dock
All for the low low (base) price of $25,000!!!
Goddamn! That's some pretty high end shit in there, and it's by far the best "home theater in a box" I've ever seen, but damn, it's excessive!
What's more is that according to Siliconera, you can't remove the Wii and get access to the Gamecube ports on the top of the system. Also, I have another important question about that ITC One. What happens when you get the infamous Red Ring Of Death?
So, it's simple, I guess. Almost too easy. Want your collection to be featured? All you need to do is upload some collection photos and voila! You're instantly in the running for a featured collection. That said, let's talk about gorez's collection. As we can see from his photos and collection profile, gorez is primarily a Genesis collector, followed by the PS2. He also owns both the Featured Game and the greatest hits version of the Featured Image. Now only if he owned the Featured Hardware, or as we like to call it, the George Foreman Grill. It's black, it's beastly, and unlike the current models this PS3 has not be neutered. Or spayed. Hell, we'll just call the new models castrated. Such a strong word. That said, gorez has entered the current generation in the Microsoft camp, with his 360. I bet his favorite game is Sneak King. That or Viva Pinata. Who knows, certainly not me.
So, the featured game is Dark Cloud 2. It apparently is a good game. I couldn't tell you though, as I have not played it, but my brother has, and he has a wonderful review written. Check that out.
So, features. Huhzah! Stay tuned to see what new features we have next week.
This is a public sevice announcement brought to you by logical123
Hello to all you guests on RFGeneration right now! I'm logical, and I'm here to tell you REGISTER!!!!! Please! Yesterday, while on the forums, I noticed that there were 30 guests on-line, but only 6 registered users. The site and its members won't bite, we promise. The site is great! You can find people to ask questions, you can sell extra controllers, and of course, the Collection Software tool, the pride and joy of the site. Our coding monkeys are some of the coolest dudes around, the site works nearly perfectly. Find an error? Post in the forums. It will get fixed. Bar-none. The site is great. Register, you won't regret it.
Well, it seems as though the format wars are possibly reaching a conclusion, with Sony's Blu Ray format beating out HD DVD. Depending on how you look at it, either this conclusion is vindication for Betamax or something that you wish mirrored Betamax. So, after years of fighting, bickering, and backhanded deals, the future is looking rather bleak for HD DVD. I guess the question then is- was the future ever looking bright for HD DVD? I don't know if I can say yes. It seems as though one of its principal proponents (Microsoft) seems to be rather preoccupied with its own download service. Do they really care about HD DVD? Perhaps we'll find out soon at CES with their rumored Ultimate Xbox announcement. But, I bet that even if the Ultimate 360 has a built-in HD DVD drive Microsoft will still have its agenda entirely on its download service. I wonder if it even matters any more. Let me tell you why.
As I was writing my next System Overview article, I found myself asking the question "What in the world were they thinking?" when looking at some of the console designs in my Room of Doom. Some are very unique and others are just plain elephant-man ugly. With that image in mind, who will take the home coveted Joseph Merrick Award for worst-looking video game console? The contenders:
Magnavox Odyssey 2
Just what I need - 15 million keys to play a game.
Amstrad GX 4000
Space-age design or just a cheap rip-off of the Land Speeder from Star Wars?
Cast Your Vote!!
Atari 5200
Hmm... make it bigger and they will love it - NOT.
Gakken Compact Vision
What in the heck am I supposed to do with those funky handles?
Nintendo GameCube
Simple design or designed by simpletons?
RCA Studio 2
Brutal, just plain brutal.
Bally Professional Arcade
Bally should have stuck to designing arcade machines.
Pioneer LaserActive
"Customer needs assistance in aisle 3. Fork lift will be required."
You may remember a previous post about a cool hack called Extra Mario Bros. In case you missed that post, here is the video again.
So, I have received confirmation that this game does in fact exist. Since I wish not to be sued, all I can say is yeah, look in the right spot and you might find it, and that's all I got to say about that.
So, I was checking out GameSniped today, and they listed some very interesting and rare Atari auctions they stumbled upon at eBay, sold by the Atari Museum.
He has quite a few unreleased prototype hardware items that are pretty cool.
One of the neatest things he has for auction is a box and manual for the game Quadrun. Now, as you may know, Quadrun is one of the rarest 2600 games (rated a 9 on AtariAge's rarity scale), so finding a box and manual for agame like this is really a once in a lifetime experience, and the current going rate of the auction reflects that. As of this writing, the box/manual is going for $200. Quite spendy for some cardboard and paper if you ask me, but I suppose it's worth it considering how much that game usually goes for.
Another neat item he has up for auction is a prototype of the Super Breakout LCD game, only one of two known to exist. Currently that one is priced at $385, and will likely go even higher as there is one day left in the auction. Pretty darn neat looking thing that would make you the center of attention in the game collecting world. Also, notice how much that proto looks like an early 80s version of the iPod? I wonder if that's where Apple got their inspiration...
He also has quite a few other protype system boards, hardware, and other items for sale. Take a look and report anything you found interesting.
There's some other great auctions up there including some game concept art, promotional poster for the recent Atari Flashback 2 plug and play console, some sealed Activision LCD games, a service kit, diskettes, and some rare accessories (including a CX-70 light pen.)
" -DM2
Sony has put the final nail in the coffin for usage of their UMD (Universal Media Disc) format for movies by announcing that you will soon be able to transfer Blu-ray movies that you own to your PSP by way of the Playstation 3.
As many of you may know, the 
So, I was checking out 
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