MBJ

I would have replied but I don't own an Xbox. I do however enjoy online gaming with my DS (Mario Kart DS, Tetris DS, and Clubhouse Games are all highly recommended) and before too long I will be doing some online gaming from the Wii. Nintendo may be new to the online gaming scene (and these friend codes are kind of a pain) but at least you don't have to pay extra for wireless with their systems. I use a D-Link model DIR-625 (Draft N) for my systems.

ROMs are OK but I like being able to play them on my big TV from my couch in progressive scan. In some cases I own the original cartridge but the convenience of not having to drag out the old consoles and hook them up is nice. I also enjoy playing with wireless controllers although i wish that Nintendo would release replicas of the original controllers (mainly the N64 controller) that would work wirelessly with the Wii. Also, the save functionality on some of my original carts has worn out and With virtual console I don't have to worry about that. I can even stop mid game and turn off my system and when I come back days later I will be at the same place (even with games that don't have a save feature). Another point that should be brought up is that most of the mainstream gaming market probably doesn't know about the availability of ROMs. At least VC is keeping these old games available on a wider scale. The one point that I kind of agree with you on is the subscription service idea. I would gladly pay around $10 a month for unlimited games. I easily pay more than that now as I have been downloading about 3-4 virtual console games per month on average. BTW, although I disagree with most of the things you say Warrior, I very much appreciate your posts returning some life to the forums.

Check your PM inbox.

Nice to see that you're back. Just about all of our past material is still being actively distributed at Gay-Porn. I'm still seeding the large Nintendo Power release and 420 has been making great progress with the Nintendo Players Guide project releases with parts 1 and 2 up at google. If you want to do a large scale re-release of the Nintendo Power issues on a public tracker I'd support that as it may bring more new traffic to the site. I'm not really able to scan right now but I'd be glad to help with distribution or other things. Just let me know! Edit: I saw the new torrents you posted at Mininova and am currently seeding them using the previously released files.

Yesterday over at nintendowiifanboy.com there was a report that Best Buy and Circuit City (and possibly Target) are saving up Wiis to be released this coming Sunday (1/21). Check out the article here: http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/01/1...its-for-sunday/

Cool. Thanks for the link. I sort of hope that Nintendo will release wireless versions of the original controllers for use with the Wii. That's the type of thing I'd drop my money on. Regardless, I just got a second classic controller for Christmas.

Well it's free so the only real issue to consider is whether or not you want to take up the memory that it requires. You can really do just about anything with it. My dad renewed his car registration with it the other night.

Has anyone else downloaded the browser for the Wii yet? I'm posting through it right now. So far it seems like little more than a novelty.

I'm enjoying the Virtual Console feature. My highest recommendation at this point is Bomberman 93 from TG16. It's one that you probably haven't played much before and it supports up to 5 players.

I downloaded Zelda and Sonic. I'm going to get F-Zero and maybe Mario 64 when my classic controller comes in. Update 11/26/06: Got my classic controller had have downloaded Mario 64, F-Zero, and Bomberman '93.

It turns out that Blazer was mostly right. Brick & Mortar outlets won't have component cables for a few weeks.

Amazing! That exceeds the specs of my dreams!

During an interview with Game Informer, Nintendo's own Perrin Kaplan confirmed that component cables would be available at brick-and-mortar outlets. See trhe original article HERE.

I won't be camping as I have secured myself a pre-order. It's always a good idea to bring a snack and a Gameboy/DS though. I waited in line for two hours for my pre-order and got to do some 2 player DS gaming with the guy who was in line in front of me. Also, I could pick up the DS download station signal from inside the store so I got to try out a bunch of new game demos while I waited. I'm not really complaining but I'll have to wait 12 hours more than some people to get my Wii. I pre-ordered at a Gamestop in a mall and they don't open until noon on Sunday. I hope that they have component cables on Sunday.

I'll be getting Zelda and Excite Truck. I'm looking forward to both but I'm still disappointed that Elebits was delayed.

$45 for a Gamecube. ($25 + bonus $20).

Gameboy player will NOT work with Wii. Also, it would not be possible to play original GB games on DS just by widening the slot. The GBA line had a switch in the slot that original GB games would push to switch it into original gameboy mode. DS systems do not have the necessary hardware to run older GB games.

This may be late notice, but I found out yesterday that Gamestop and EB Games have a special deal going in which you can trade in any of the current gen consoles (GC/Xbox/PS2) and get an extra $20 credit on the deal. This ends tomorrow (November 5th). I just got $45 in store credit for my Gamecube and one controller which I personally think is an amazing deal. I have a Wii preordered so I just have to go two weeks without being able to play my Gamecube games which I actually rarely play. I still get more play out of my N64 than my Gamecube. Anyway, I thought that some people might like to know about this so that they can take advantage.

It sounds like you're on the right track. I've had my eye on that exact processor. I don't have too many specific recommendations. I switched my video card from ATI to an Nvidia card about a year and a half ago and I can't imagine switching back as Nvidia's support (driver/software updates) is infinitely better that that of ATI. You can get some detailed performance comparisons at Tom's Hardware. I'd also make sure to stick with SATA 3Gb/s hard drives as your MOBO is compatible. Unfortunately, I don't think that there are any 10,000 RPM hard drives that use the SATA 3Gb/s interface but that would be the absolute best thing to get as far as hard drive speed is concerned. How much RAM are you planning to get? I would personally go for about 2GB but you could probably get good enough performance with less at first and then upgrade later. I look forward to hearing more about your project!

I could care less about DVD playback for the Wii. I have a great DVD player that handles DVD+/-R discs as well as DivX files. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo made the Wii incompatible with rewritable discs in order to combat piracy, which would exclude about half of my movies. A one million digit friend code sounds like a pretty outrageous rumor to me. Nintendo will make online play as easy to do as they possibly can while still ensuring that it is a "safe" experience. It would be foolish of them to do something that makes it impossible to play with friends online. Let's face it, between Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, it seems like Nintendo is maintaining the strongest focus on pleasing the customer. If nothing else, you can trust that the Wii will be easy to use.

Is there really anything better than SNES graphics?

I never got into the Final Fantasy series. I am seriously tempted by the upcoming remake of FFIII for the DS though. Do you think that this would be a good intro to the series?

Bitlord is on the current list of BitTorrent clients that are banned at google.

Yes, this was included in the big torrent that was released earlier this year. It's still available for download (and fairly well seeded) at Gay-Porn. PM me with your e-mail address if you need an invite.

In case anyone hasn't seen it, here's the cover of next month's Nintendo Power: There's nothing in the life of a gamer that quite compares with the excitement of a system launch.