The Code Games News Report 03.16.07
Posted by Shawn Struck on 03.16.2007
Two Gamecube Games That Almost Were, System Shock 2 Is Now More Awesome, Triple Shot of NIntendo Video Goodness, and more!
Okay, last week's delay of The Code was also due to technical delays, but this one wasn't my fault. All I have to say about it is that attempting to revering an entire hard drive's worth of data because something has gone really, really wrong with storage allocation tables really, really sucks. A lot.
Fear Not, gentle reader, as I have finally gotten everything up and running. To make it up to you, I'm hittin' ya with a triple shot of Nintendo video goodness and a double shot of "It Came From Ebay".
The Code! Apply directly to the forehead. The Code! Apply directly to the forehead. The Code! Apply directly to the forehead.
Two Gamecube Games That Never Were, But Coulda Been (via Gametrailers)
Ah, what could have been. For old time's sake, here's clips of two GameCube games that, for one reason or another, never were.
First, Donkey Kong Racing, Rare's Cube sequel to Diddy Kong Racing that was canned when Microsoft bought Rare out back in 2002. Speeder bike homages are ace.
And second, the Cube's Kirby game. This one's a little more mysterious - originally a Cube game it just kind of ...faded away, and while various reports have it making an overdue appearance on the Wii we've yet to actually hear anything official on this. If it ever does surface on the Wii, safe bet it'll be what you see here.
System Shock 2 2k7: How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine? Make it look prettier! (via gnome's lair)
If you couldn't tell by the headline, I'm a bit of a System Shock 2 fan.Even the most devoted of fans realize that the graphics engine and character models look a bit dated. Plus, there were huge Windows XP compatibility problems.
Until now.
Yes, one of the most awesome FPS games in the history of awesome can now run on Windows XP, and look like the "new hotness" instead of "old an' busted".
Start with the latest official patch and a rather similar Win XP/2000 fix and only then move on to the much needed sound upgrade, via the SS2 DeepFriedBeer mod. Having a more stable and beefier sounding game, this should be the moment to reflect on life's intricacies, while simultaneously installing the excellent Straylight mod. This one fixes and rebalances a huge number of anomalies, discrepancies and bugs, all while staying true to the developers intentions.
As for hugely improved graphics, these can be achieved through the combined use of SHTUP's (Shock Texture Upgrade Project) high resolution textures and Rebirth's brand new detailed polygons. Oh, and by having one of those spanking new Pentium 3 ninja-PCs...
Check out the article for some screen shots that will make your jaw drop. With the rights to the System Shock franchise scattered across nearly half a dozen different comapnes, this will most likely be the closest thing fans will see to a System Shock 3 ever.
"I Attack The Darkness!": D&D Online Reactivating Inactive Accounts For Free
Thought I'd post this since I generally find out about these things the day after they end. Starting today, all inactive Dungeons and Dragons: Stormreach accounts in North America will be reactivated for free through Sunday, to allow former players a chance to come back ad see all the new changes that have come about since you left in a fit of boredom a month after the game came out. Maybe that was just me.
Current and returning players will also enjoy a +50% XP and +1 to loot all weekend long during Welcome Back Weekend!
All YouTube, All The Time:
A Triple Shot of Nintendo-Related Videos
First up, those merry band of pranksters at Mega64.com produced several skits for the recent Game Developer's Conference, and they recently released one of their best videos from the GDC. In a way, the comedy group comes full circle; the very first skit they ever filmed involved Super Mario Bros., and now, so does this one. It's only thirty seconds long, but trust me, you WANT to see this:
Of course, Shigeru Miyamoto gave a presentation himself. Vincent gave a pretty good recap. Here's a video of my favorite part of the presentation-- talking about the future of gaming, expanding the audience for video games, and measuring success by a metric called the "wife-o-meter":
"Now maybe some of you out there can remember when you played a game like Pac-Man [or Super Mario Bros.], and maybe you'd think that there were very important moments in your lives.
A Double Shot of "It Came From..."
Ebay: An Original Dreamcast DevKit with Buried Treasure and Every SNES Game Released, Ever, In Mint Condition (thanks fishstixx)
First off, someone's selling a "Katana" development kit used to make Sega Dreamcast games. Sure it sounds interesting, but what's the kicker for me?
It includes the source code for the unreleased Ecco 2: Sentinels of the Universe, which you can see the guy playing in the video. I hope whomever wins this auction takes the Ecco 2 prototype, dumps it to the net to not just preserve a part of video game history, but also because I want to see butter-eating collector fatties wail and moan about the theoretical monies they could have made.
And yes, if you've always wanted to catch 'em all, you can bid on a complete set of Super Nintendo games. They even come with the original game boxes and instructions!
Pimping Is Easy When You Use The Code!
Check out Vincent Chiucchi's Select and Start News Report has more from the GDC, from in depth recaps of both Shigeru Miyamoto's and Phil Harrison's keynote speeches.
Andrew Mellick's The SIXAXIS has more on what some are calling Sony's killer app.
Remember when Sonic The Hedgehog featured a hedgehog that ran really fast, didn't involve guns, had no human-on-Sonic action, and, y'know, didn't suck? Cory Moore remembers the franchise's better days in The Fun Factor!
411 Games Fact or Fiction : Chris Kovatsh and Adam Smith battle in a "video game piracy, Sony at GDC, and SIXAXIS feature" match. It;s worth reading, even if I'm pretty sure the Undertaker will just no-sell the entire fight until they reveal the score at the end.
Angry Gaming covers a game that never was: Thrill Kill. After reading it, you'll find out why it should stay that way.
The Retrospective covers Clock Tower, the only game that my younger brother has EVER demanded I stop playing and turn off right now because it was freaking him out.
First, there was 411Mania on MySpace. Now, there is 411Mania GAMES on MySpace. Tom only wishes he was this cool. Rupert Murdoch, watch your back, brah! WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN 411MANI RUNS WILD OVER YOU?
