Well, as some do know, I visited the GC 2005 in Germany today.
Here's a little report (and some pictures - beware, they are pretty large
).
So, let's start with the "big ones", shall we?
Sony:
Well... all Sony had to show was hundreds of PSPs and some new PS2 games.
No word about the PS3 - only at the Developer Conference.
So, Sony was a bit of a disappointment for me... well, at least, they had some nice lunch
Here's a pic of some people playing some PSP... oh, goody
Comfy PSPlaying
On to the next one... Nintendo.
Nintendo had quite a lot to show (well, except for anything about the Revolution).
They have quite a few demos ready to play.
Most interesting for me on GC: Legend Of Zelda - Twilight Princess.
Plays pretty good. Graphics look like updated Ocarina of Time graphics, sound is the same as usual, finally: the camera movement is much better than it was with the N64 (it really screwed the game for me a bit back then).
On the NDS, they showed Nintendogs, which looked like it could be a lot of fun, though you can't really tell by playing a few minutes only.
Then there was New Super Mario Bros for NDS.
It sure does play like a classical 2D Mario, though there are some things I didn't like at all:
The Mario 3D sprite looks... well... a bit ugly. Running around looks like he's desperately looking for a toilet.
And there are some coins, which first need to be revealed by running / jumping / flying over them and THEN you can collect them. You can see them (they're not hidden), so all you need to do is pass them twice to collect... I don't see the point, and it's annoying.
The game itself looks pretty good, though, and has lots of nice new ideas.
BTW: Don't worry about the Mega-Large Mario... you only play like that for a couple of seconds.
Here is a pic: Hmm... I think I've seen this before...
Then there was Super Mario Kart DS. Well, it's a Mario Kart. It features the best of the old Mario Kart tracks and some new ones. You can play with 8 people linked together. That's it.
Though they sure have a nice NDS-Kart Setup
Oh, and what's the Nintendo Staff doing in their spare time?
And of course, there was... this tiny thing.
Okay, onto the next one: Microsoft.
Long awaited: The XBox360.
They revealed the price (see other topic) and showed the system.
See some pics here:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Few XBoxes lying around
But you couldn't play anything on the XBox360.
Wait... you could... but not at Microsoft.
You had to go to SquareEnix to do that... let's do that now.
SquareEnix:
Well, I was a bit disappointed, as they only showed Final Fantasy XI Online (which wasn't new at all). No FFXII, KH2 or any other game. Just FFXI.
But: They had a prototype XBox360 running FFXI. And yep, I played it.
The graphics aren't final though.
This is the FFXI XBox360 area.
This is a picture of the running protoype
And that's another one.
Oh, and they had some disguised chicks running around and wanted to take pictures of you. I have no idea why, I'd rather seen some more RPGs... but, well, this is what they did...
There were a lot of upcoming games showing on various screens of all exhibitors... though it didn't interest me at all.
Well, except for SEGA. They had a new 3D Sonic running on XBox, PS2 and GC (called Shadow the Hedgehog), though I never liked the 3D ones at all.
But they also had a new 2D NDS one... which played quite good.
They actually used the two monitors so that you can now see much more of the level than before. If Sonic is too fast and the scrolling can't follow him, it simply switches the main screen to the other one. Is a bit strange at first, but once you're used to, it's pretty cool.
Then there was the GO64 area. There I could find lots of nice C64 stuff.
The coolest thing for sure is the COne. It's a computer with programmable
processors, which means: It can be turned into most 8bit computers - it's just
a matter of coding.
The C64, Amstrad CPC464 and Amstrad Schneider are running pretty well already.
That's the motherboard and that's the system running a C64.
Beneath the C64 area has been the Dreamcast-Scene (you may know Max from these boards. Yep, has been there. And because I had a really good chat with him, I totally forgot taking pictures... well, I could've taken pictures of DCs only, so...)
Finally, I watched a demo of an upcoming RPG for the PC: The Witcher.
It's from Poland (hi hando), and it looked absolutely stunning. Very pretty and detailed graphics (heck, even fishes, flies, rats, birds appear and move around randomly), very good NPC characters running around in town (having their own mind, actually. They do what they want, if it rains, they try to run home, etc.).
Battle control are easy, though you have to tactically think about how you want to fight. The story is very good, with some twists in it, and the atmosphere is very dark.
Definately a worth a try!
That's it. What else? Oh yes, Adventure: Tony Tough 2... geez, they made that game in 3D... I don't like 3D adventures. I want classical point and click 2D ones.
Oh boy...
I hope you had some fun reading. There is nothing more I could tell you. Sorry. Bye
EDIT: UPDATED SOME FAULTY LINKS! PICTURES ARE NOW WORKING!
Here's a little report (and some pictures - beware, they are pretty large
).So, let's start with the "big ones", shall we?
Sony:
Well... all Sony had to show was hundreds of PSPs and some new PS2 games.
No word about the PS3 - only at the Developer Conference.
So, Sony was a bit of a disappointment for me... well, at least, they had some nice lunch
Here's a pic of some people playing some PSP... oh, goody
Comfy PSPlaying
On to the next one... Nintendo.
Nintendo had quite a lot to show (well, except for anything about the Revolution).
They have quite a few demos ready to play.
Most interesting for me on GC: Legend Of Zelda - Twilight Princess.
Plays pretty good. Graphics look like updated Ocarina of Time graphics, sound is the same as usual, finally: the camera movement is much better than it was with the N64 (it really screwed the game for me a bit back then).
On the NDS, they showed Nintendogs, which looked like it could be a lot of fun, though you can't really tell by playing a few minutes only.
Then there was New Super Mario Bros for NDS.
It sure does play like a classical 2D Mario, though there are some things I didn't like at all:
The Mario 3D sprite looks... well... a bit ugly. Running around looks like he's desperately looking for a toilet.
And there are some coins, which first need to be revealed by running / jumping / flying over them and THEN you can collect them. You can see them (they're not hidden), so all you need to do is pass them twice to collect... I don't see the point, and it's annoying.
The game itself looks pretty good, though, and has lots of nice new ideas.
BTW: Don't worry about the Mega-Large Mario... you only play like that for a couple of seconds.
Here is a pic: Hmm... I think I've seen this before...
Then there was Super Mario Kart DS. Well, it's a Mario Kart. It features the best of the old Mario Kart tracks and some new ones. You can play with 8 people linked together. That's it.
Though they sure have a nice NDS-Kart Setup
Oh, and what's the Nintendo Staff doing in their spare time?
And of course, there was... this tiny thing.
Okay, onto the next one: Microsoft.
Long awaited: The XBox360.
They revealed the price (see other topic) and showed the system.
See some pics here:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Few XBoxes lying around
But you couldn't play anything on the XBox360.
Wait... you could... but not at Microsoft.
You had to go to SquareEnix to do that... let's do that now.
SquareEnix:
Well, I was a bit disappointed, as they only showed Final Fantasy XI Online (which wasn't new at all). No FFXII, KH2 or any other game. Just FFXI.
But: They had a prototype XBox360 running FFXI. And yep, I played it.
The graphics aren't final though.
This is the FFXI XBox360 area.
This is a picture of the running protoype
And that's another one.
Oh, and they had some disguised chicks running around and wanted to take pictures of you. I have no idea why, I'd rather seen some more RPGs... but, well, this is what they did...
There were a lot of upcoming games showing on various screens of all exhibitors... though it didn't interest me at all.
Well, except for SEGA. They had a new 3D Sonic running on XBox, PS2 and GC (called Shadow the Hedgehog), though I never liked the 3D ones at all.
But they also had a new 2D NDS one... which played quite good.
They actually used the two monitors so that you can now see much more of the level than before. If Sonic is too fast and the scrolling can't follow him, it simply switches the main screen to the other one. Is a bit strange at first, but once you're used to, it's pretty cool.
Then there was the GO64 area. There I could find lots of nice C64 stuff.
The coolest thing for sure is the COne. It's a computer with programmable
processors, which means: It can be turned into most 8bit computers - it's just
a matter of coding.
The C64, Amstrad CPC464 and Amstrad Schneider are running pretty well already.
That's the motherboard and that's the system running a C64.
Beneath the C64 area has been the Dreamcast-Scene (you may know Max from these boards. Yep, has been there. And because I had a really good chat with him, I totally forgot taking pictures... well, I could've taken pictures of DCs only, so...)
Finally, I watched a demo of an upcoming RPG for the PC: The Witcher.
It's from Poland (hi hando
), and it looked absolutely stunning. Very pretty and detailed graphics (heck, even fishes, flies, rats, birds appear and move around randomly), very good NPC characters running around in town (having their own mind, actually. They do what they want, if it rains, they try to run home, etc.).Battle control are easy, though you have to tactically think about how you want to fight. The story is very good, with some twists in it, and the atmosphere is very dark.
Definately a worth a try!
That's it. What else? Oh yes, Adventure: Tony Tough 2... geez, they made that game in 3D... I don't like 3D adventures. I want classical point and click 2D ones.
Oh boy...
I hope you had some fun reading. There is nothing more I could tell you. Sorry. Bye
EDIT: UPDATED SOME FAULTY LINKS! PICTURES ARE NOW WORKING!
