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StuKeith
29th December 2006, 21:01
Is pretty good!

Only downloaded Zelda (NES) and Bomberman 93 (PCE) at the mo.

Well the wife and I cant stop killing each other on BM!

I also have Zelda TP and have only played 20mins due to having so much fun on Wii Sports and BM!!

If you have a wii get BM93.

Sim City and R-type 3 are out today!

:thumbs:

Harrison
29th December 2006, 21:45
Do you have the retro gamepad for the Wii? That is meant to be worth it for the virtual console. Are the games perfect replications of the originals?

I've still not seen or played a real Wii yet but its popularity is already so big that I will get one at some point in the new year. Will probably wait until a mod chip or soft mod is available first though.

StuKeith
29th December 2006, 22:24
Yea, got the classic pad! seem to be the orignal, with some polish added!

You dont need the classic controller for all games, mainly n64/snes, but you can use gamecube pads too.

rayzorblue
1st January 2007, 18:50
Im gonna have to get my Wii online and d/load some games for it unfortunately the only way i can do it is to get wireless or a little ninty dongle for the pc then i could play my ds games online as well, i have got call of duty for my Wii but havent really played it because Wii sports is jus so much fun.

Oz2
10th January 2007, 11:53
I downloaded Zelda, Sonic, Donkey Kong and Super Mario 64, all of those except Mario 64 can be played with the Wii-mote, for Mario you need to connect a Gamecube Controller. But it's lots of fun and they run really great.

I think it's a really good idea by Nintendo to offer these games for download, and not only limited to their older systems. Feels nice to be able to play Sonic on it too. :p
Even if they don't give them for free....

The only game that stopped my retro-euphoria on the Wii at the Moment is Zelda: Twilight Princess. I can't stop playing! Well... i've been waiting to play it for long enough after all! hehe

cicobuff
10th January 2007, 12:10
Wii is great, managed to get one a week ago today!..got Zelda Twilight Princess (can't stop playing it) and Rayman Raving Rabbids my wife loves.

What about us Amiga fans on here that are Wii owners adding Mii friend codes...havent made use at all of the Mii parade as yet, anyone interested?

Btw, a Gamecube Action replay disk, Official Nintendo SD/Gamecard adaptor or SD Gecko (or even self wired gamecube memory card/sd adaptor) and SDloader will enable homebrew in gamecube mode, so you can play any of the games available in virtual console mode! I am awaiting my SD Gecko card currently, prices of these seem to be going up at the moment due to popularity.

Anyone know when the rumoured stars catalogue will enable you to trade in your earned stars for Wii points seeing that I have like 7000 points and nothing worth spending my points on? (Nintendo UK Stars Catalogue is the worst)

J T
10th January 2007, 13:19
I love my Wii too, and the new Zelda game really has reeled me in. I'm enjoying it a lot.

A Wii code exchange sounds like a good idea, I'll have to find mine and post it up.

LowercaseE
10th January 2007, 13:41
Good to see the Wii doing so well, lets hope it helps keep the PS3 sales down.

Harrison
10th January 2007, 14:04
You really do have a thing against Sony don't you LowercaseE. :lol:

I'm feeling left out here. Will have to get me a Wii very soon as all this talk of the system is getting me more and more interested in it. And Oz mentioning homebrew enabling even more som now. :)

LowercaseE
10th January 2007, 16:12
/\ I just don't like what they're doing with BluRay. The fact that they're still using region codes is just retarded, plain and simple. It was a stupid idea for DVD and it's even more stupid to carry that idea over to a new format. HD-DVD is region free, you can get a DVD anywhere in the world and play it on any player you want. THAT'S how the "digital revolution" should work. It should make things more compatible, not less. Also, the last I read was that Sony was exercising content control over Blu-Ray and that's censorship which I am vehemently opposed to.

J T
10th January 2007, 16:19
region free, you can get a DVD anywhere in the world and play it on any player you want. THAT'S how the "digital revolution" should work. It should make things more compatible, not less.

Amen to that.

LowercaseE
10th January 2007, 16:23
I have no doubt that Blu-Ray will be region hacked sooner or later, but just the fact that they're even instituting it is dumb. Even many regular DVD players nowadays are easily hackable (through remote codes) to make the region free right from the factory. Some of them, such as Oppo Digital (http://www.oppodigital.com)'s players even directly advertise themselves as region free. Sony is such a megalomaniacal company, they want to control everything. They're like the Wal-Mart of electronics companies.

Teho
10th January 2007, 16:45
I thought the region encoding on blu-ray is optional? I mean, the players support it if the publisher wants it, but it is completely up to the publisher whether they want to include it or not?

I know the games for the PS3 are region-free in the way that they can be bought anywhere and will work anywhere. The games can contain code however to work differently depending on where it is played, so that regions that heavily censor content in games such as Germany, can have their damn censored game without it being a separate release. Whether this works better than the old system remains to be seen.

Harrison
10th January 2007, 17:58
/\ I just don't like what they're doing with BluRay. The fact that they're still using region codes is just retarded, plain and simple. It was a stupid idea for DVD and it's even more stupid to carry that idea over to a new format. HD-DVD is region free, you can get a DVD anywhere in the world and play it on any player you want. THAT'S how the "digital revolution" should work. It should make things more compatible, not less. Also, the last I read was that Sony was exercising content control over Blu-Ray and that's censorship which I am vehemently opposed to.

That is a good point. And region coding is something Sony feel very strongly about. Look at their recent PSP exploits, sueing companies in Asia for supplying PSPs outside of their intended region.

The newest PSP custom firrmware based on Sony's newest fw3 release makes me launch as practically within days of its release the custom version was out that removed region restrictions allowing any UMD to be played from any region, and also the bypassing of all other PSP restrictions.

Sony, as with most large corporations, do have a lot of bad things against them, but equally they still manage to produce some nice consoles and other technology which is worth the purchase.

I didn't know that HD-DVD was region free. That is good if that continues to be the case. The UK government was reports to have told manufacterers that they must try to make all of their next generation optical HD players compatible with both HD-DVD and BluRay formats. This can only be a good thing, but we will have to see if the manufacters play ball and do this or if the UK government have the balls to sue them of they don't.

Personally I'm holding off the purchase of a HD format until a clear winner in the format wars is announced. I have a feeling it will split into Bluray being the format for PS3 and HD-DVD being the format for home video players replacing current DVD players, so in effect both formats win in their own markets. Bluray won't die purely because it is the PS3 format.


I have no doubt that Blu-Ray will be region hacked sooner or later, but just the fact that they're even instituting it is dumb. Even many regular DVD players nowadays are easily hackable (through remote codes) to make the region free right from the factory. Some of them, such as Oppo Digital (http://www.oppodigital.com)'s players even directly advertise themselves as region free. Sony is such a megalomaniacal company, they want to control everything. They're like the Wal-Mart of electronics companies.

I don't. I fully expect Blu-Ray players to get hacked in no time. Look at when DVD first came out. No players could be soft modded to run other region discs, but mod chipd soon appears to bypass this.

I purchased a nice Sony DVD player soon after DVD took off and bought it pre-chipped to make it region free from an official Sony Centre! How cool is that! ;) And I have to say that I'm still using the same DVD player to this day. Everyone I know who purchased much cheaper players have been through 2 or three since. My Sony still continues to work perfectly, giving great sound and audio, output to my Sony AV Amp of the same age which is also still working perfectly. :)

As I said above, Sony may be obsessed with trying to restrict access by region, but they do make some great hardware.

At the end of the day though you cannot blame Sony alone for wanting to protect their discs and its content. Making things region free is also not liked by governments. If consumers can purchase a disc at a lower price from another country that will work out of the box then they will. But doing this doesn't generate any income for any retailer in the country the person is living in, and the government don't make any tax from it either. Do you think it is only large organisations that have a part to play in region encoding and region restrictions? Think again. The governments are working with the companies to try and enforce region restrictions so they ensure revenue from all purchases made from their population.

LowercaseE
10th January 2007, 18:34
I know that it's a whole "conspiracy" and not just Sony's doing, but I just don't get how HD-DVD can go region free with no problems and Sony can't follow suit. I totally forgot about Sony putting Lik-Sang out of business too. I'm sorry, but that was a dick move if ever there was one. That's the kind of thing that really angers me about companies like Sony. Like they don't have enough money and they have to squash someone who's actually trying to give the fans what they want.

I'll agree that they do have some good hardware, but there are comparable or better things out there. When I bought my HDTV, a Panasonic 34" widescreen, I did a side by side comparison of it with a Sony HDTV of the same size. The sales guy and myself tweaked the settings on both and no matter what I or he did, the Panasonic clearly had the better picture. At least to my eyes anyway. Not only that, it had more options (simulated surround, BBE enhancement, etc.) that the Sony did not. AND the Sony cost $200 more. From my experience with Sony, you're just paying for the name most of the time.

J T
10th January 2007, 19:04
Sony gear used to be the mutt's nuts but now it seems a long way from that.

Although LowercasE, was it a flat panel screen? Panasonic screens trounce Sony ones.

LowercaseE
10th January 2007, 19:33
Sony gear used to be the mutt's nuts but now it seems a long way from that.

Although LowercasE, was it a flat panel screen? Panasonic screens trounce Sony ones.

It's actually a 34" CRT Panasonic "Tau", but it's a flat tube/screen. I looked into flat panel LCD but in my opinion, CRT is still the best as far as picture (black levels, contrast, and color reproduction) is concerned. Then again, the thing weighs nearly 200lbs and is quite bulky.

J T
10th January 2007, 20:58
What about us Amiga fans on here that are Wii owners adding Mii friend codes...havent made use at all of the Mii parade as yet, anyone interested?


New topic created for this and pinned to the top of this sub forum :)

Harrison
10th January 2007, 21:43
It's actually a 34" CRT Panasonic "Tau", but it's a flat tube/screen. I looked into flat panel LCD but in my opinion, CRT is still the best as far as picture (black levels, contrast, and color reproduction) is concerned. Then again, the thing weighs nearly 200lbs and is quite bulky.

In the UK CRT HDTV all but don't exist. I've never personally seen one. I expect some do get sold but not in any high street stores I've seen.

I do agree that CRT screens do still offer much over LCD in one big area. Scaling. Flat Panels always have to use the fixed resolution pixels they have so are limited in the way they can scale outside of their native resolution. Whereas CRT's can scale easily with no difference in quality.

But give an LCD or Plasma screen a picture in its native resolution and it will blow the CRT out of the water and show how blurred any CRT is in contrast.

It's weighing up what you need the most I suppose. I always preferred CRT monitors over LCD for a long time, but now only use LCDs. Why? Computers and graphics cards became fast enough that the native resolution of the LCD is all that you ever need to run. Games no longer need to be dropped to lower resolutions to run at good frame rates, and the high resolution and clear graphics and type are perfect in the native resolution for desktop work.

CRT only looks better a lot of the time because it's analogue technology is good at hiding imperfections by slighly bluring the screen dots together.

As for the quality of Sony products. I agree. They used to be some of the best made, but now many of the other good makes have caught up or are better. I personally think Panasonic products have always been just as good as Sony. Others such as Samsung have recently caught up and are now overtaking Sony in may areas too.

J T
10th January 2007, 21:51
Good points you mentioned there Harrison.

Panasonic did a range of kind-of-high-ish definition CRTs in the UK under the Acuity range. They could run at 733i resolution by some fancy scaler or somthing. Bloody good tubes but sometimes I felt the image was a little "over-processed".

They didn't do the actual HD resolutions as we know them now - they came out just before HD sets became available (possibly the standards had not been set at that point). Could also do PAL Progressive scan. They were very capable sets. I was tempted to get a refurb one cheaply. Glad I didn't now though, as I love my plasma.

rayzorblue
14th January 2007, 20:15
Finally got the Wii online with a Nintendo USB dongle it seems to work well enough although the update did take a while, went on virtual console and d/loaded Bomberman 93, brilliant stuff, my partner wants me to get mario bros next which would be kind of cool, cant wait to get my mates round to play multiplayer bomberman. Wasnt so impressed with the browser but that dont matter because i dont really need it anyhow. I read an interview wit Reggie Fil-Aimes were he mentioned how much he would love to see goldeneye on the virtual console but there are certain legal issues with it (like the fact RARE is now owned by Microsoft) i just hope one day we get to see it. :thumbs:

cicobuff
14th January 2007, 22:12
Finally got the Wii online with a Nintendo USB dongle it seems to work well enough although the update did take a while, went on virtual console and d/loaded Bomberman 93, brilliant stuff, my partner wants me to get mario bros next which would be kind of cool, cant wait to get my mates round to play multiplayer bomberman. Wasnt so impressed with the browser but that dont matter because i dont really need it anyhow. I read an interview wit Reggie Fil-Aimes were he mentioned how much he would love to see goldeneye on the virtual console but there are certain legal issues with it (like the fact RARE is now owned by Microsoft) i just hope one day we get to see it. :thumbs:

And now even RARE has gone to the dogs http://www.cex.co.uk/cex_feature.php?id=8346

Founders have quit after the poor commercial success of games since the acquisition by Microsoft.

rayzorblue
15th January 2007, 00:01
Its sad to see a once great company go down the toilet, but while saying that i am smiling. :lol:

Oh hope u guys linked your nintendo website account with your Wii shopping channel one as you gain shi**y stars when you buy virtual console games. And yes i did miss the free age of empires DS game on the stars catalogue, dammit

Harrison
15th January 2007, 12:35
I still have a load of stars collected on the Nintendo site from the Gamecube games I bought. Can these be linked to the Wii?

StuKeith
15th January 2007, 12:54
I still have a load of stars collected on the Nintendo site from the Gamecube games I bought. Can these be linked to the Wii?

Yes they can. You can link your nintendo VIP account into the wii itself!

Ninty will also be allowing you to convert stars to wii points at some point too!