DailyTech - 11/19/07 Daily Gaming Refresh -– Super Mario Galaxy is Numero Uno Edition

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Software 11/19/07 Daily Gaming Refresh -– Super Mario Galaxy is Numero Uno Edition
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 19, 2007 4:16 PM

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18 comment(s) - last by ViperROhb34.. on Nov 20 at 6:05 PM

Halo 3 maps coming, House of the Dead for Wii, and more

For the multi-console owner, this week is pure insanity. An upcoming edition of The Shipping News for Games will outline exactly which games will be commanding gamer dollars, but Rock Band, Unreal Tournament III, Mass Effect and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune are just a few.

Super Mario Galaxy is Best Rated Game of All Time
Well, according to Game Ranking’s average of published reviews, Super Mario Galaxy has surpassed the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the top rated game of all time. While the collection of reviews differ greatly from each game being nine years apart, Super Mario Galaxy also stands above The Orange Box, Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Needless to say, the consensus is that once again, Mario is the best game for the Nintendo Wii.

House of the Dead 2, 3 Confirmed for Wii
Perhaps stirred by the Wii Remote shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Sega confirmed that it will be bringing both second and third games from the House of the Dead series to Nintendo’s home console. The Wii Zapper just got a bit more attractive.

PlayStation 3 Development Kit Price Drop
It seems consumers aren’t the only ones getting a price break on PlayStation 3 hardware. In hopes of attracting more developers to develop for its consoles, Sony halved the price of the PlayStation 3 development kit. The “PlayStation 3 Reference Tool” will now be available for 950,000 yen in Japan, $10,250 USD in North America and 7500 Euros in Europe.

Halo 3 “Heroic” Map Pack Coming December 11
The first major DLC for Halo 3 will hit in a few weeks, setting buyers back 800 Microsoft Points, or $10. Of course, not everyone will purchase the new maps, which could potentially splinter the current online community.

Not to worry, says Bungie: “First, when downloadable content arrives, it will have its own playlist for those folks who just want to play with their new toys. Simultaneously all of the DLC maps will be rolled in to the regular Matchmaking playlists as well and then as folks are getting matched up, the game will take into account who has what maps in the matchmaking process. So you'll see Team Slayer on Standoff show up in the Team Slayer hopper as well as in the new DLC-focused playlist.”

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Mario Galaxy

By kileil on 11/19/2007 5:04:18 PM , Rating: 2

Is one of the few games that has nearly made me lose my lunch.

If you're prone to motion sickness, approach the checkout with the game in one hand, Dramamine in the other.

Still, fun as hell and totally worth it.

RE: Mario Galaxy

By Parhel on 11/19/2007 5:06:47 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Is one of the few games that has nearly made me lose my lunch.

It probably shouldn't, but that statement makes me want to buy it even more.

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By kileil on 11/19/2007 5:15:12 PM , Rating: 4

Welcome to Daily Tech - The largest tech & vomit fetish site on the intarwebs

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By RandomFool on 11/19/2007 5:07:59 PM , Rating: 2

HL2 is the only game that makes me feel sick. Mario just makes me smile.

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By Polynikes on 11/19/2007 5:16:28 PM , Rating: 2

I've never understood what makes people get sick from video games. And for some people, all it takes is a FOV change to make it stop.

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By Pezman37 on 11/19/2007 5:19:45 PM , Rating: 6

Mario galaxies makes me want to smile as I'm vomiting.

List of franchises that have sold ten million copies or more.

1. Mario (200 million)[153]
2. Pokémon (164 million)[154]
3. The Sims (90 million)[105]
4. Final Fantasy (75 million)[155]
5. Grand Theft Auto (65 million)[82]
6. Tetris (60 million)[156]
7. Madden NFL (60 million)[157]
8. The Legend of Zelda (52 million)[27]
9. Donkey Kong (48 million)[158][159]
10 Gran Turismo (47 million)[160]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_...

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By ViperROhb34 on 11/20/2007 6:05:35 PM , Rating: 2

I dont know how often Wikipedia updates of that list of 10 million copy franchises..

but one of their updates pages on Halo Series
says the Halo franchise has sold more then 20 million copies
as of Oct 2007..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_%28series%29

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By jconan on 11/19/2007 11:03:23 PM , Rating: 3

2nd that... With most 3d games sometimes there's a lack of spatial orientation or loss of vestibular balance with real physical coordination and game space because of the exaggerated variation of the perceived simulated velocity and acceleration from real space. Whereas if it was inside a simulator or rides from Universal Studios the exaggerated speeds and acceleration aren't that much of a problem. Also with 2d I don't find that to be a major problem and the same with low resolution 3d games like mario cart on the nds. When playing 3d on the console e.g. Gears of War the camera can be quite jumpy when moving the character causing spatial disorientation whereas in real life when moving from side to side or jumping it's not an issue with an internal gyroscope. Also in Heavenly Sword when switching from perspective view spatial disorientation can become an issue. I think this is a major problem for most people that game studios have not solved and it makes the game less enjoyable from the lack of game world immersion and real time but for most people spatial disorientation or vestibular imbalance may not be a problem. Personally I still think 3d games lack the fludity and smoothness with real space and until a solution comes along I'll stick with games that are less jumpy or more 2d like.

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RE: Mario Galaxy

By robinthakur on 11/20/2007 6:01:11 AM , Rating: 2

I completely second that, Most 3d games I really look forward to playing (recent example being Metroid Prime 3, Halo 3 amongst others) I feel like I'm going to throw up after playing for 5 minutes. Metroid, I can play as long as I haven't eaten beforehand, I discovered recently. Its weird though. The old '3d games' with sprites such as Duke Nukem 3d,doom, hexen i would literally need to lie down for hours after playing for a couple of mins because I felt so nauseous, but I could play Quake 1 for hours before feeling sick. Things like Virtua Fighter 5/Tekken/Virtua On/Sega Rally Revo/Gears of War I can play all day long without feeling sick at all (not just Sega games, its an example;)

Mario Galaxy actually made me feel weird in a "how on earth is this happening, my brain is starting to ache" kind of way rather than a motion sickness kind of way. I've never played another videogame similar to the way Mario walks upside down, bounces between gravity etc. its a really neat idea executed very well. I was all ready to be disappointed by this game, but so far, its made me love videogames again! I'm glad that people appreciate the work, charm and ingenuity that went into creating it and don't just rate something completely undeserving and temporal like Halo 3. Mario Galaxy will be remembered fondly by a generation to come in the same way that I recall Super Mario World on the SNES being one of my first perfect Video Game experiences.

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Nintendo make the best games.

By Smoza on 11/19/2007 8:49:14 PM , Rating: 2

Nintendo has long been touted by fanboys the world over as making the best games, but now Gamerankings have made it official, with the top three ranked games of all time being on a Nintendo system. ;)

Or is it just that reviewers have a soft spot for good 'ol Ninty?

*queue fanboy debate

RE: Nintendo make the best games.

By BansheeX on 11/19/07, Rating: 0

RE: Nintendo make the best games.

By robinthakur on 11/20/2007 8:22:08 AM , Rating: 2

Well then, since you love Nintendo's games, don't deceive yourself by thinking that they will EVER go the way of Sega. I was very sad when Sega threw in the towel, not least because the games which I liked the most only came out on the saturn and dreamcast. Their experience and the subsequent lack of respect shown by the industry and the public as a result to them, would convince Nintendo to never stop producing their own hardware and software. I'm sure that Nintendo also don't really see the problem with instantly making $100 on a hardware sale. Its better than a $300 loss...
Whilst I will freely admit that a slightly higher resolution/anti-aliasing might be called for in Galaxy occasionally, the overall gameplay package is so far ahead of any other game available on current generation consoles I think it just goes to show how very little graphics matter still. As long as a game runs at 60 frames per second, I can forgive ALOT. Games that don't run at 60fps I find it hard to enjoy because they just look badly optimised and there is no fluidity. Why developers seem to think we can't tell the difference/nobody cares anymore is a mystery to me, its the most glaring defect. Worse is when a level loads up and looks lovely and fluid, then an effect happens, like a building collapses (e.g. Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction first level, which otherwise looks quite nice, even if the characters look too american and everything looks like an episode of Reboot) and the frame rate drops to 30fps. Wow, my kick ass £330 console can't even handle first generation titles properly! Money well spent...

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RE: Nintendo make the best games.

By Spivonious on 11/20/2007 9:16:04 AM , Rating: 2

queue should be cue :)

Grammar Police strike again!

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RE: Nintendo make the best games.

By inperfectdarkness on 11/20/2007 9:41:27 AM , Rating: 3

:) this just makes me smile.

i knew this back in 1988. i've been preaching it ever since.

the NUMBER ONE REASON to buy a nintendo system is because of their exclusive 1st party games. microsoft and sony COMBINED cannot match the quality, depth, diversity, and breadth that nintendo's library contains.

nintendo make games for sony or microsoft? ROFLMFAO! it's microsoft who should give up and make games for nintendo & possibly sony. microsoft is not making money on the console market. they've entered into the market using the same "brute force" tactics that they use to ensure all of their business ventures.

at the end of the day, ratings don't lie. nintendo is the gamer's company. not the fanboi company, not the techno-geek company, and not the "my gpu is better than your gpu" company.

all hail the oldest and best company in the business.

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Hell YEA!

By Volkerkind on 11/19/2007 9:03:52 PM , Rating: 2

Mario Galaxy is freaking awesome. They've added bits and pieces (as far as i've played already 25 stars so far) of other Mario games into every level. It's challenging as hell after you pass the first galaxy.

RE: Hell YEA!

By Xavian on 11/19/2007 11:06:19 PM , Rating: 4

It only gets better, you haven't experienced anything yet :)

Having gotten 106 stars so far, I think the game is well deserving of being highest rated game of all time.

There's only 1 game before it that made me close to as happy as when I'm playing Galaxy and that's Super Mario 64.

Just when you think you have seen everything in this game, it throws another brilliant idea at you.

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RE: Hell YEA!

By AlphaVirus on 11/20/2007 12:14:19 PM , Rating: 1

The only interesting thing I find about this game is being in the tunnel and collecting the music notes to play the "Dun dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun, *higher pitch* dun dun dun dun dun"

The game itself was pretty well thought out but as with all Wii games it gets old fast.

The use of the 2nd player is lacking at best. You basically just sit there and root for the 1st player like Robin from the Bat Man series.
The camera angles do make you a little sick but after a few hours you get over it.

The random gems falling from the sky gets a little annoying because it condones standing around just waiting to collect em.

The Wii has fun, different games but overall it seems to dumb down the gaming community which I do not like. How many of the game are even a challenge, when have you used your brain to play? Besides the fact that majority of the games call for a "Quick just jiggle the wiimote", the rest of the games arent different from each other.

The more and more wii games I play, the more and more bored I become with the Nintendo franchise.

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