JazGalaxy

So, with console fever brewing everywhere these days, I felt nostalgic and wanted to write down my list of the top 5 most bizarre console launches of all time. maybe this will be of interest to people who weren't there and might not know that some of this insanity took place.

5) The NIntendo Entertainment System: The NES was the console that revitalized the Gaming industry after the famous videogame crash of the 80's. But it wasn't easy. The world was very different then, and the country wasn't really connected the way it is now. Nintendo had to literally got across the country attempting to convince department stores to carry the NES console. Many stores had been burned by the poor reception of the massive number of consoles that had existed up until that point, and they were hesitant to carry yet another console. Nintendo was able to convince some stores to carry it, which is why it was one of the most bizarre console launches of all time. It happened slowly, and spottedly, across the country. It was common to have a friend from away, or a cousin, who was hooked on this "Nintendo" thing, that hadn't hit your area yet. It's almost hard to picture in this day and age.

4) The Sega DreamCast: Who DOESN'T love the Sega Dreamcast? There was just something about it. It was the first 128 bit console, but it launched so long before the Playsttion 2 and Xbox, that it really wasn't a part of the "console wars" for that reason, there was an unprecedented amount of good will for the console when it shipped. Add to that, the fact that it had a phenomenal number of quality launch titles. Add to that, the fact that it launched on 9/9/99, as the world counted down the days until the millenium. It's hard to understand or picture just how ready the world was for the "future", then. Everything, from fashion, to music, to the ".com bubble" were all about embracing the idea that we were about to step into the "millennium", The year that all science fictuion dubbed "the future". The Dreamcast somehow managed to tap into a little bit of that hype and optimism. It was also the console that saw 3D gaming come into an era of legitimacy. The Playstation was the switch from 2D to 3D, and in a lot of ways, the early 3D games on the playsttion were like going back to the Atari. Simple concepts. SImple Shapes. Ugly graphics. The dreamcast was the console that started to be able to use that new 3d power to create beautiful games.

3) The Playstation 3: Oh man. Oooh man. Sony was riding high after the unprecendented success that was the playstation 2, and they could write their own ticket as the internal darlings of Sony. The success went to their heads, and they debuted the Playstation 3 to the public at the insane price of twice what it's competitor cost. Not only that, the console featured the same highly stylized font as was used for the Sony Pictures film, Spiderman. Not only THAT, but the console debuted with bizarre boomerang shaped controllers that were difficult to even envision being held by a normal person not riding a bike. Sony spokespeople assured the public that the console was worth the money, as it was capable of feats no other console was capable of. You would be able to, they said, take digital photos and video and upload them to the playstation, which would then somehow up-res them in a digital locker. You could then take them out after a period of time in HD. THey knew it was pricey, but they said you would be so thrilled to own one,that you would take a second job and work harder if you had to. People were willing to buy into the hype, until the launch games came out and not only tended to look worse than their Xbox contemporaries, but played worse as well. Sony was able to pivot and rebound, but utter insanity of some of the things Sony publicly said during the launch of the PS3 deserves to live in infamy as one of the most bizarre launches ever.

2) The Sega Saturn: Now we're getting to the good ones. The launch of the Sega Saturn was very close to being my number one pick, but I had to ultimately downgrade it to number 2. The Sega vs. Sony system wars took place in Japan and, for trhe most part, never really made it to The States. The conflict was largely rooted in arcades. Sega was known, at the time, for being a worldclass arcade game developer. Their chief rival was Namco. For every game that Sega made, Namco had a competitor. Virtual Fighter was countered by Tekken. WIng War was countered by Ace Combat. Daytona was countered by RIdge Racer. Virtual On was countered by Cyber Sled. Virtua Cop was countered by Time Crisis. So when Sony was looking to build a home console, it was easy for them to side with Namco to bring top notch versions of their arcade games to the home. Problematically, Sega built their hardware to handle 2D gaming, and not to handle 3D arcade ports. As a result, the Saturn brough inferior versions of it's arcade games home, while Playstation brought superior versions of Namco's arcade games to the home. As this war was brewing, Japanese customers began to easily prefer to the Playstation to the Sega Saturn. When ti was time to bring the Saturn to the states, Sega knew they had to do something drastic. In a move that seemed like it was thought up by 5 23 year olds around a card table, the Sega Saturn opted for a SUPRISE launch. In a CES speech to the media, Sega revealed not only the price for their console, but also the fact that it was IN STORES AT THAT MOMENT! SURPRISE! The media was pissed that they had no heads up in order to get coverege for the system and many publications blew the console off in retaliation. In order to control the launch and keep it a secret, only a few retailers were given consoles. This pissed off the OTHER retailers, who were left out, and annoyed the retailers who DID get the console because they were not given time to promote it or allocate appropriate space. I distinctly remember going to a local electronics store and seeing the console sitting on the shelf behind the counter. "Is that the SATURN?!" I wound up asking the guy, out loud. "Yeah..." he said, nonchalantly. It's IMPOSSIBLE to put into a modern context how bizarre this was. It would be like going to walmart 5 months ago and just seeing an Xbox One... sitting there. Nobody really paying it any attention. No fanfare. No comercials. Nothing. Just sitting in it's box. Bizarre.

1) The Sony Playstation 2: The PS2 holds the top spot for the most bizzare console launch not because of anything Sony did, but because of how the public reacted. Before the Playstation 2, console launched weren't really a big thing. Some people got excited, but NOBODY camped out for it. NOBODY bought them at midnight. The News mostly ignored them. The Nintendo 64 was the only console launch that I remember making waves, because ti was considered one of the "hot toys", the christmas it was out, and it shipped in limited supply. It was scarce, but you could find it in most places. The playstation 2, though, struck at just the right time. The Playstation was the console that aged gamers in the perspective of the public. Where the Nintendo consoles were typically thought to be toys, played by children (commercials almost exclusively featured children), the playstation was the first console that targeted older teenagers and adults (commercials NEVER featured children). The playstation 2 was the first console that was hitting older gamers who tended to have jobs and disposable income. Sony's Ken Kutaragi talked the console up with his usual insane promises. The Playstation 2, he said, was powerful enough to render the film Toy Story in real time, and Sony had to be careful that terrorists didn't get their hands on the console because they wanted them to guide their missiles. The console would also function as a dvd player, which was a burgeoning technology at the time. It was standard Sony stuff, but poor yields of the console's hardware meant that close to launch, the word came out that the console was going to be ultra-rare. Consumer's went into a frenzy, pre-ordering the console and camping out where and when they could to get their hands on one. PS2 frenzy didn't hit fever pitch, though, until launch day. People who purchased the console began to put them up on Ebay, a new site in the public zeitgeist at the time, and were fetching insane prices for the units. Celebrites and the like were willing to pay top dollar so their child could have the big thing that christmas holiday. As the supply chain began to restock, stories of theft and murder began to assocaite themselves wtih Playstation 2, as people sought to cash in on the internet goldmine of ebay. It's this PS2 phenomnenon that prompted tens of thousands of people to attempt similar behavior the following console launch, with the Xbox 360 and again with the PS3. Each successive launch sees the hysteria dying down a little bit, as people realize there aren't thousands of dollars to be had for flipping the console online. But the legacy that the PS2 left is more than enough to earn it the rank of the most bizarre console launch of all time.

So, I downloaded Assassin's Creed 4 for the PS4 today. I have never played Assassin's Creed before in my life. I've seen my brother play a little bit, and mostly I only know about it from listening to the Bombcast over the years. (which, honestly, shows just how darned much Brad, Ryan and Vinny have talked about the game at seperate times in the past.)

I get that there are assassins and templars. I get that the game takes place in the present/future and that people get in a machine that takes them back to the past through virtual reality connected to peoples.. blood? Or something? I get that there was supposed to be some big war in the future that the assassins are trying to prevent. There are aliens involved or something?

I started playing the game, but I hate tutorials, so I decided to play the Playstation exclusive content with the cool looking african american lady. I started playing the game and figuring out the controls. It took me about 15-20 deaths to get past the firs tpart, but finally I got a handle on the way the game played. Or so I thought. When If irst entered the combat scenario, the grounds are swarming with enemies. I started playing the game like I would play something like Techu: Stealth Assassins. Afterall, this is supposed to be an assassination game, right? I kept making progress and dying. Making more progress and dying again. I was having fun, but I wasn't overcoming the scenario. THEN, I basically started playing like a lunatic, holding down the run button, dashing headlong into groups of people machete first and completely dessimating the bad guys.

My question is, is that the way the game is supposed to play? I thought it was supposed to be a stealth game, but with the sheer number of enemies and the success I was having just brawling them to death makes me think maybe I had the whole thing wrong. It was comical the way the badguys just kind of stand there as my character just disembowls man after man.

Anyways, seems fun so far...

You made the right chioce. I don't know what I was thinking, but there was a definite moment last night, It hink right after I realized what a dissapointment Contrast was, that I was like "... wait... so these are the ONLY games out right now? and there's not really ANYthing coming out before Christmas?"

Xbox will have the better Christmas.

@white_sox, yeah! rocksmith goes down to the nitty gritty basics. I keep meaning to do a review, but there are basically three core modes to the game that each could be their own game.

The "rockband" mode is just like guitar hero but with a real guitar. I. This mode, they thow one note at a time at you and actively level you up as you get better. If you're hitting everything you will rank up faster and be playing the real song more quickly. If you are not, which no beginner would, it just gives you the notes you can play with some extras for challenge. Once you get good enough for master mode, the noted begin to fade and then disappear. At that point, you are really playing the song 100 percent on your own. If you have trouble with any part of the song, you can break off just that part and riff repeat. In this sub-mode, you can slow the song down to get the muscle memory of what they're asking you to do.

The second major mode is the video instruction part. Imagine dozens of high res, interactive youtube movies that show you individual techniques, they show you the technique, explain it yo you, let you listen to it, and then ask you to do it. It's like one on one guitar instruction. This is he mode that mosteiple who use rocksmith and don't get anything out of it, skip.

The third mode is session mode, in which you play what you want and a band of ai instruments back you. This is the main educational mode. The game assigns you "missions" that have you master individual techniques as well as accomplish goals like " play for 2o minutes", which is really just practicing your instrument. But it's fun. This is the mode where they actually begin to teach you music theory. A few people have trouble with it at first, because you really can ExACTLY play what you want. That's not how music works. You can play what you want within the confines of what the ai drummer is doing, which is like real life.

At any rate, the game is amazing.

I actually haven't played it I a. Week because I played it nonstop for the first three weeks it was out and strained my wrist. Bad form I guess. Stopping and letting it heal is killing me.

I don't think I was being clear when I said you physically cannot learn to play guitar in ten days. I wasn't critiquing your journey to play guitar, I was saying that some techniques require you to be in "guitar shape", which is a process that takes longer than ten days. That isto say, it doesn't matter how long you practice, or how much you analyse the technique. It just takes time.

Some thoughts:

You physically cannot learn guitar in ten days.you'll find that a lot of techniques you are having a hard time with will become easier as you build strength and coordination for the tasks.your brain has to rewire itself and your muscles have to strengthen.

As cow what the game will and will not score, you are just going to have to give it some slack. Real music isn't a game. All the matters is the sound. Them gamifying it isn't going to work 100 percent. Especially since so many techniques, like bends, are really "guitar hacks", not what the instrument wS built for.

As for hammer ons, hammer harder. If you just put your finger over it, it's a mute. A hammer on is a percussive strike.

I think really interesting approaches could be done both ways. I think my real question would be how Japanese it would be. If it was super Japanese I would rather it was animated as I can't handle Japanese acting. If it was like a Scott pilgrim or a Wes Anderson movie, I'd pick live action.

I tried to edit that but I'm on my ipad and it's too difficult to be worth it.

The drive club that was supposed to be free on pen was already a cut down version so I guess nothing about the game was ready

There seem to be a lot of film Easter eggs in the game. I saw a bar on pink soap on a white tray that said "jack" on it. Seemed like a fight club reference to me.