The hot new game from Rockstar is. . . ping pong.

[sigil]

Sorry for the ign link. They had the exclusive.

I'm torn about this. Doing this will completely mess with the minds of those who want to banish Rockstar to the ends of the earth for San Andreas, which is a good thing.

But table tennis?

Take 2 did buy the rights for topspin from Microsoft some time ago, so the possibility of a good performing game is there. The stills, all four of them, looked as good as Fight Night round 3.

Just a very odd thing to be seeing on the net at lunchtime.

[Ironwood]

I don't get it.  Where do the dead hookers fit in ?

[Paelos]

Ping Pong? I'm confused and speechless.

[Merusk]

It's going to be like "Grand Theft: Ping Pong" right?   Kind of like DOA Volleyball?

[schild]

That's awesome. I'll buy it.

[NiX]

F13 needs some "urban cool." Stupid made up crap lingo. I hate people who make up words...

Edit: I agree 100% with this statement and is exactly why I ditched my 360

Unless new games try to do something fundamentally beyond the scope of current games at a level beyond merely providing prettier versions of a current-generation game design, consumers will not feel compelled to buy new hardware.

[schild]

Why? Because we're still on the first wave of games and nothing groundbreaking has come out yet? Hi, welcome to every console launch ever except for the Nintendo. Noob.

[Margalis]

Mario 64 was groundbreaking. I'm not sure if Castlevania 4, Actraiser and F-Zero were groundbreaking but they were a huge step up. The original dreamcast games looked amazing compared to what is currently out.

Some of the 360 games barely look better than normal XBox games on a standard TV, and have fewer features to boot.

[schild]

Having played everything except the 360 EA stuff on the same hi-def TV I played my Xbox on, I can confidently say that everything is a leap beyond the last generation. It's just not the huge leap the dreamcast was. The dreamcast gave everyone something they didn't expect in titles like Soul Calibur - curved edges. Body parts, for the first time, looked like body parts. Now that we're used to that, no amount of antialiasing or framerate can be that big of a leap. Essentially the Dreamcast made the uncanny valley bearable in video games. We went from 4 polygon arms in Final Fantasy 7 to a system where, in many games, things looked closer to reality than we ever imagined. The immersion quotient jumped 500% overnight. Ironically, with WoW, we're back to 4 polygon arms. But that's neither here nor there. The 360 IS the next generation. It's just a matter of time before people get a grip on the hardware. Hell, look at the Ping Pong screenshots. Then go look at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You simply can't say the 360 isn't a lightyear beyond the xbox without lying through your teeth. Rockstar has always sucked balls with graphcis and even they were able to make shit look like that.

Just give it time. The PS2 grew into an incredible system and it launched with a Missle Command clone. The Xbox was the best system for crossplatform games quickly after release. And the Gamecube, while it took 4 years, ended up having the best looking game of the last generation (RE4, with God of War on the PS2 close behind). It takes a while for this shit to happen. Though, I think, it'll happen much faster this time around.

The PS1 took a super long time to come into their own because of a total paradigm shift. The n64, imo, never really hit on the spots that were important. There really isn't an RPG worth playing on the system. It's completely bare of any sort of good simulation/strategy title. Though I think an Ogre Tactics came out on it, didn't matter, the PS1 reigned supreme there. As for Mario, it's fucking mario. It's all been downhill since the SMB3 anyway. Here - at the 360, the shift is behind the curtain (xbox live, digital distribution, online play, etc).

I'm an early adopter - and I know a good deal of people on the boards are. If there's one thing I've learned about picking up a system early (say, the DS - which had the shittiest outlook ever imho), it's that after the requisite 1-2 years of companies getting into a comfort zone with a new console, things will start to shine. Hell, the PSP has less than one month before it even hits the year mark I believe. Yet on the weeks surrounding the original release date we're getting a Katamari portable, Astonishia Story, and Splinter Cell Essentials (I smell a delay as UBISoft is probably scheming up a way to put Starforce on a UMD that installs itself on your computer when you connect wirelessly). They need to pick up the pace on localization though...anyway...summation:

Be fucking patient. This shit takes time. And don't count EA, they bring down the average quality of the industry in everything they do.

[Wolf]

There was that funny publisher, they publish budget titles and old "classics" (the thing I know them for was Sudoko Challenge, lol). The pinnacle of their amazing catalogue was "Ping Pong Madness" (or something) which advertised itself as the only ping pong game around. Damn, Sudoko Challenge People, you're fucked.

Just give it time. The PS2 grew into an incredible system and it launched with a Missle Command clone. The Xbox was the best system for crossplatform games quickly after release. And the Gamecube, while it took 4 years, ended up having the best looking game of the last generation

One word: Black. Here's where your EA hate routine hurts your credibility :P

[schild]

Dude, that bit about Black was supposed to be in green, rite? Or are you the one fan that the game managed to keep after it's release. Talk about wasted development. Should have been a fall (of this year) release for the 360.

Your comment would have been better as 4 words: Fight Night Round 3. Now that's a 360 game EA can be proud of.

[Wolf]

Awww, don't hate a game 'cause it's 8 hours long. Actually ok, I give you that, I guess not paying for your games (job perk) spoils you a bit. So if we ignore the whole 8-hours-long thing Black is the most awesome shooter EVAH. I want my shooters simple, keep the complicated stuff for RPGs. I'm probably the only guy on the planet that hated Half-life 2. Black is everything Half-life 2 isnt. I fucking shoot and I feel like I'm shooting bodies flying, shit blowing up and walls striping down. I'd just pump up the volume and DESTROY. That's a feeling I haven't had with a shooter for quite some time. And back to graphics, which started the whole thing - I've played both RE4 and Black and, imo, the style and technology behind Black is what I choose over the two. Period. We have a stupid saying here - "It's a matter of taste" said the dog and licked its ass. :P

[schild]

You hated Half Life 2 and loved Black. Right. This makes sense. There must be a joke in there somewhere. Gimme some time, I'll find it.

[Samwise]

Hell, look at the Ping Pong screenshots. Then go look at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Mrrrmmm... except that in ping pong you have 2 (maybe 4) people, a room that's maybe thirty feet across, and a ball.  In GTA:SA you'd have hundreds of people on screen, vehicles, moving sky, explosions, swaying trees, an entire town with bits of trash drifting through the streets, et cetera.  So yeah, the quality on the individual models was pretty low, but that's because the sheer quantity of them was so graphic intensive. 

You can't just compare individual models from each game as a gauge of how much horsepower each platform/engine has, because there are too many other variables.  That's why when they benchmark two PCs they run the same app on each instead of running WC3 on one and HL2 on the other.

[schild]

You can't just compare individual models from each game as a gauge of how much horsepower each platform/engine has, because there are too many other variables.  That's why when they benchmark two PCs they run the same app on each instead of running WC3 on one and HL2 on the other.

But you can for gaming experience. Rockstar, if anything, likes to be consistant. If one character is shitty, all characters are shitty. Also, Professional Ping pong is played in a gymnasium with a table in a fenced off area, a referee, and tons of chinese people around the fence. More than are in any given scene in GTA.

Also, Grand Theft Auto: SA had less people on screen than Dynasty Warriors 5. And they all looked shittier. And I don't mean a "couple less," I mean a good 100-200 less. Other games with more people on screen that looked much better - Devil Kings and Drakengard.

[Samwise]

Rockstar, if anything, likes to be consistant. If one character is shitty, all characters are shitty. Also, Professional Ping pong is played in a gymnasium with a table in a fenced off area, a referee, and tons of chinese people around the fence. More than are in any given scene in GTA.

They might have learned from experience (I always thought it was a bit of a blunder not to switch to higher-def models for cutscenes).  No reason that the chinese people around the fence would need to be as high def as the players that we're seeing the close ups of; it's hard to tell from the screenshots since the spectators are far away and poorly lit, but they do look a little less defined.

Then again, might turn out that every bead of sweat on every spectator's forehead is rendered with five passes.  Too early to tell is all I'm saying.

[HaemishM]

Ping pong.




Oooooooo




kkkkk.




Is there a mod that I can unlock using my character's cock as a paddle?

[MrHat]

Ping pong.




Oooooooo




kkkkk.




Is there a mod that I can unlock using my character's cock as a paddle?

Thanks for that.

[Shockeye]

It will look something like this. OMG NOT SAFE FOR WORK. -schild

[NiX]

Why? Because we're still on the first wave of games and nothing groundbreaking has come out yet? Hi, welcome to every console launch ever except for the Nintendo. Noob.

Sometimes when I talk to you.. I smell broken latex.

[schild]

Why? Because we're still on the first wave of games and nothing groundbreaking has come out yet? Hi, welcome to every console launch ever except for the Nintendo. Noob.

Sometimes when I talk to you.. I smell broken latex.

I wasn't aware we were talking. And it's astroglide.

[Wolf]

Late to the topic again.

Anyways, schild - If I had to review Half-life 2 and Black, hl would get the better score. By far. But since I no longer do that, I just go with what is fun, for me personally. I don't like HL2 and I like Black. I thought that was the point in gaming. And you probably didn't play Black, so how can you say it's teh sukku?

[NiX]

Late to the topic again.

Anyways, schild - If I had to review Half-life 2 and Black, hl would get the better score. By far. But since I no longer do that, I just go with what is fun, for me personally. I don't like HL2 and I like Black. I thought that was the point in gaming. And you probably didn't play Black, so how can you say it's teh sukku?

Cause.. HE KNOWS. He's the Wolf Blitzer of gaming.

[schild]

I can answer for myself, canuck.

I didn't say it sucked for you, at all. I said it should've been a 360 game. A lot of people like style over substance. Hell, the vast majority of gamers think System Shock 2 and Deus Ex were not as good as Half-Life.

[Signe]

It will look something like this. OMG NOT SAFE FOR WORK. -schild

 

[Ironwood]

I can answer for myself, canuck.

I didn't say it sucked for you, at all. I said it should've been a 360 game. A lot of people like style over substance. Hell, the vast majority of gamers think System Shock 2 and Deus Ex were not as good as Half-Life.

Which is actually a perfect example of what you are talking about.  Broadly, all 3 of those games were similar, with varying degrees of depth (RPG vs 3rd P.Shooter).  What divided them was the style and the story.  I think they were ALL fantastic games in their own right and perfect examples of 'games done right'.

Ah well.

[Wolf]

I didn't say it sucked for you, at all. I said it should've been a 360 game. A lot of people like style over substance. Hell, the vast majority of gamers think System Shock 2 and Deus Ex were not as good as Half-Life.

Actually you just said it should've been a 360 game, and that's a whole other discussion. I, for one, wouldn't have been nearly as impressed by the game if it was for the 360. I wasn't even going to pay any attention to it, as i wouldn't have played it 

Anyways, it should've been backward compatible, that's a given. But that's the whole story with the 360 backward compatibility, isn't it? :)

[Nebu]

1. Find a game that China likes (Population: 1,306,313,812)

2. Make a computer game version

3. Profit

Granted this is a huge stretch... but perhaps there's a bigger crowd for this than any of us could possibly imagine.

[HaemishM]

So what you're saying is... 1 billion screaming Red Chinese can't be wrong?

[Nebu]

So what you're saying is... 1 billion screaming Red Chinese can't be wrong?

Wrong or right, I wouldn't want to piss them off. 

[Yegolev]

1. Find a game that China likes (Population: 1,306,313,812)

2. Make a computer game version

3. Profit

Granted this is a huge stretch... but perhaps there's a bigger crowd for this than any of us could possibly imagine.

Mah Jongg?