Yeah, it's smaller than usual, but the little trolls that usually do our Q&A work decided to go on strike this week. We had to give them a new dental plan and a 2.4% wage increase... but on the bright side we've got this week's Q&A.
A while back I heard something about Baulder's Gate Dark Alliance coming out for the GCN. Is there any truth in this rumor? I need a mad RPG fix and even though Evolution is on my list to purchase, primarily because its an RPG on a Nintendo consol and I'll do whatever I can to support this genre on Nintendo boxes, a more traditional RPG would be more to my liking. Thanks for your time. Oh, any insider info on a possible port of Diablo II?
-togo menu
Brenden: The entire Baldur's Gate rumour started when Nintendo of Australia posted their upcoming games list. I've been out of it for the past little bit, so I'm not sure about a release date.
Anthony JC: It's coming to GameCube and X-Box sometime late Summer.
Hey. I am a new reader to the page and I was wondering where are all the pictures to the games? No, I don't mean the old out dated ones but the current ones. Also why is your preview section so small? You have no games of interest to me not even Resident Evil! I am not trying to offend any one cuz you obviously know more about making web pages than me but these issues don't make me wanna return to the cite so what's up?
-VladTapes
Brenden: As far as pictures go, I'll explain this as best as I can. This site doesn't generate any money. Our bandwidth (the amount of data that can be sent to and from the server) is capped at a certain amount. The more pictures we have, the more bandwidth we lose and if we go over the cap, we have to pay.
Jason: Honestly, if we were to post all of the pictures that get released we would all go insane. If you really like the pictures then always hit our forums. The guys there are dedicated 24/7 to gaming-goodies like that.
Do any of you guys know exactly (or not exactly) what Factor 5's relationship with nintendo (and Lucas, for theat matter (sorry about all the brackets)). I dont think that they are a 2nd party, yet I have never heard of Factor five games out on anything else but Nintendo systems. Also, do you know what factor five have in the Pipeline for the GC? Thanks, and keep up the good work. (it's cliche but always effective)
-Colin
Anthony JC: Factor 5 is a third-party licensee who also happen to develop some development tools for Nintendo and for the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Factor 5 has had a hand in developing the GameCube and GBA hardware, as well as close ties to Nintendo, that pretty much fuel their dedication to Nintendo for the time being.
Jason: Personally, after RL's really wishy-washy showing on the GameCube I'm not as hyped about any next project from these guys. Perhaps though, if they really had enough time they could pull off something special. Only time will tell (as usual).
Anthony P: Factor 5 are as close as they can get to being a second-party without actually being one. As Anthony said, they had a hand in the making of the actual GameCube, and are in the top tier of developers that have actually extracted a fair amount of power out of our six sided baby. Having already proven their technical wizardry with the hardware, it should be interesting to see what their future project holds.
Why don't you ever post my questions??????? 1) Would a US wavebird work on a PAL gamecube? 2) what cable does the PAL gamecube use out of the box to connect to the TV?
-JonesYMA
Anthony P: 1) Most likely. All Nintendo controllers have had the ability to work hand in hand with their respective consoles across the world. It's not 100% at the moment (is anything at the moment with Nintendo?), but I suspect you'll be able to import one and have it work effectively on your PAL machine. 2) Upon opening your GameCube packaging expect to see "Scart Lead" (requires scart compatible television).
Rabid Albino Penguin: As for the first part of your question... try lifting the "Shift + /" keys on computer. Here's a mathematical equation to represent how this works. a = g / p c = 1 / a Where a is the annoyance level, g is the grammatical ability, p is the excessive number of punctuation points and c is the chance of your question being answered.
Ok, Dean "Send me your hate mail" Bergmann was good, but I just think Dean "But I REALLY love her..she's left me? Oh, then I love her instead" Bergmann has that extra, realistic touch. Anyway, yeah a question. "Furthermore, there are also two new Nintendo funded studios working on projects. While one is a Japanese company working on an undisclosed project, the other is a European company working on a big killer app. Ironically, one of the Spaceworld 2000 demos is directly connected to the highly recognizable head honcho of this new developer. The revelation has a lot to do with coming full circle, in more ways than one." That's a quote from The Buzz: Edition #1. Now it's pretty clear to me that the SW2K video is the car demo. We know who developed all the other demos, the only one we're unsure of is the car demo. A car demo with the line "coming full circle" (racing around a track)? And a big killer app? Surely this all points towards a GT-style GC game! As for the head honcho..well, I have my idea as to who it is, but as nothing has been said about the rumour since November anyway, I'll try not to reveal too much in the hope this way I'll actually get this question posted with some answers! So has N-Sider (Anthony) heard anything more about this? Or can you tell us anymore? Anything on the Japanese developer?
-Kamek
Brenden: Hey look, it's a mod from our forums! And he's asking a question! ... amazing. By now, you've probably realized that I can't answer your question, so I'll bring Anthony in.
Anthony JC: Unfortunately nothing. The way things work in the land of Nintendo journalism is one day someone will loosen up and give you some information, the next year they ignore you.
Shigeki Miyamoto Jr: I can answer that question. I stole the money!!
Fran Mirabella the 5th: I have come from the future to destroy you Shigeki. You will one day create a video game that will ruin Nintendo.
Robo Yamauchi 3000x: DIE STUPID!!
Mature Mario: Shigeki created me. Forget the sunshine and rainbows and pass me the crack pipe b****.
Jason: Ahem. Mario, you're in the penalty box now bud! What did I say about trying to be like the cool kids? *cuffs mario in the back of the head*
Mature Mario: *grumbles*
Brenden: There, now wasn't that helpful?
Ah the old days. The Cold War, the OJ Simpson trial, Teletubbies, N-Sider features...sniff, good times ::wipes tear from eye::
-Three In A Boat
Brenden: That's not actually a question, but I'll answer it anyway. You really can't expect features on a steady basis. We try our best to get them out as much as possible, but there's only so much you can do when you're volunteering your time. On top of that, E3 is quickly approaching. N-Sider is preparing for the event and we'll most likely have a multitude of features following the show.
Anthony JC: Features are extremely time consuming. As much as we love to do them, sometimes it's incredibly tough when we have to juggle school, life, and our real jobs !!
Jason: Well, to be fair, we've really tried hard to get you guys some specials. Problem is that this time of year we are really booked. Exams are coming up faster than I expected, and the front page shows that. However, as you will see, we've still had time to talk to the Mafia developers, and even book some interviews with companies like Natsume for you guys. This summer is going to be a blast.
Brenden: Hey... isn't that Kam-
Rabid Albino Penguin: NO!
I wanna know why you guys wont answer any Earthbound questions huh!
-Brad
Jason: I'm not quite sure, but I could very well be the biggest earthbound follower on staff here. However, I'm very realistic about it's future. The possibilities of having a sequel are slim, and having it live up to the previous games is even slimmer. However, if you would really like to talk earthbound with fellow fans, just hit the forums. For some extra added goodness, try searching for the old Mother for NES. Now that game is tough!
Brenden: There was some interesting discussion going on about this topic in a thread at the forums. General concensus? The team slaved over the game for years, but it doesn't look like anything will be done with it. We can only hope that the GameCube will bring on another attempt at it.
Hola, sup everyone? I got a few questions to ask (mainly about Metroid) so here they are. 1)WTF is the banner-ad for n-universe all about. People have asked before, but you all never give a clear answer, so how about a good answer. 2)Anything new on Metroid Prime, I heard it was suppose to have 3 main female characters including Samus. 3)Will the GBA version of Metroid be able to link to the GCN version of Metroid? 3)How many disk is Metroid going to be on? 4)Finally I heard from a friend that there is a dual-layer 1.5 gb disc that developers can use to make the disk hold the same size of storage, like a regular dvd rom? Thank you if you answer my questions, and keep up the good work on the site.
-Landon
Anthony JC: Last we heard Metroid Prime and Metroid 4 would make use of some sort of GC-GBA connectivity. Lots of things can change though.
Jason: 1) the N-Universe thing is N-Sider's baby. It's our project that we have working in the background. It's taking a long time we know, but since when have we ever rushed anything here? Just like Nintendo itself, things need to be paced in order to ensure quality. In the end you benefit. I hope that helps there. 2) Umm, no new stuff on Metroid Prime yet other than a bit of story details. Supposedly it's not going to be a prequel after all. 3) They are trying for a link, as Anthony said. 4) To our knowledge this whole dual-layered GC disk is bogus. In fact, it almost all stems from Denis Dyack's interview where he stated that the media may not be final. Thus, this another case where someone was looking to far into something simple.
Anthony P: Want some new information about Metroid Prime, huh? According to NOM UK (Nintendo Official Magazine), Samus' visor system allows you to unlock game secrets, solve puzzles and uncover otherwise unattainable information about enemies. Another tidbit is that when you come out of the roll-ball manouver, you immediately stand up with a loaded gun, ready to unload more lead. E3's the place where the Metroid information should flow like wine... for the over 21 crowd.
Q&A By: Brenden Petracek, Jason Nuyens, Anthony JC and Anthony "I want to marry WaveRace Blue Storm" Pepera. With special appearances by: Shigeki Miyamoto Jr., Fran Mirabella the 5th, the Robo Yamauchi 3000x and a distinctively albino and rabid penguin.
Send your questions for next week's Q&A!