"John Q. Pretentious" <johnisaheadcase@...> wrote:

> I think it's so that N's games can be stronger in the pimp-force than
> mere outsider titles.

Only if gamers are into shiny things (which the early non-gamma-
corrected titles can't easily provide). I've seen some good stuff crammed
into 8 megabits (i.e. 1 megabyte) especially on Sega Genesis, with
titles such as Sonic 2, Zero Wing, and Gunstar Heroes. It all depends
on how resourcefully the artists can use a limited tile set, how well the
programmers can optimize their compression, and how well the system
can synthesize music in real time (Genesis had an FM chip and used
ROM-hogging PCM only for some complex instruments and the
"Sega" choir in the intro screen).

> That said, no, it's not an issue of cost: The big N is not allowing anyone
> to produce games larger than 8m, and won't even let themselves release and
> >16m games. Those limits are due to shift in a few months, I'm told, to N
> w/ 32m and outside developers getting 16m carts.

Now by "8m" are we talking megabits, megabytes, or megawords?
THQ's Tetris(R) Worlds is 32 megabits or 4 megabytes.

> > how else are Nintendo supposed to keep
> > their games one step ahead of everyone else's? :0)
>
> By hiring better programmers and game designers. When Microsoft
> did this by obscuring certain useful parts of the Windows 98 API, people
> were up in arms. They have enough clout to spank us through fair play.
> I think they ought to.

Before you make a hasty comparison to Microsoft's practices,
remember that Microsoft makes game consoles now.

> Heh. That's what I get for thinking this is an all-amateur list.

Some of us are just used to nesdev and the like, which are all-amateur.


> (People need to learn to trim the footers out of replies.)

Or better yet to learn to write your reply directly under what you're
replying to and cut out what you're not. See also
http://www.google.com/search?q=usenet+top-posting