GCN Impressions: Luigi's Mansion When this game was debuted at Space World it was said that it was just a tech demo and not an actual game. Then at the pre-E3 press confrence it was announced as an actual game. Shiguero Miyamoto was on hand to demonstrate the game, although there were several areas that remained unlocked on the playable version. One area was the bathroom, Miyamoto demostrated how you could pull back the shower curtain with the vacuum cleaner and then close it again. Even without many of the extras this game still drew a pretty nice crowd. 
Gameplay In Luigi's Mansion, Luigi is searching the mansion for his missing brother Mario. Now the house is haunted so Luigi call upon a parnormal researcher to help him catch these ghosts. Luigi's only defense is a flashlight and a vacuum cleaner. The only demonstrated at E3 was Luigi cleanin house ghost busters style. Now this could be the whole game, but there could also be a little more to the game, but thats anybodys guess at this point. Is what makes this gameplay different is the ghosts and how they have to be captured. The ghosts are scared of light, they will only appear when its dark. Is what you have to do is startle the ghosts with your flashlight, then start your vacuum. A number will then appear next to the ghost, once that number diminishes to zero, the ghost will then be sucked into the vacuum. But be careful, your vacuum can overheat and catch on fire if its on for too long. You'll now how close your vaccum is to overheating by the sound and by the guage on the bottom of the screen. Now if your thinking that this game sounds to easy, you'll beat it without trouble, think again. The game also includes different types of puzzles, dealing with capturing the apparitions. Take for example, there is a ghost in the den that is sitting in a rocking chair reading a book. Now if you just shine your light on him, he dissapears. You have to wait until he is stretching and yawning to startle him. Once a room is cleared of all the spooks, the lights will come on and coins will be thrown all over the room from a treasure chest, also special items such as keys will also come from these chests. Now Luigi is scared to death of ghosts, so sometimes a ghost will appear right behind him and startle him. He will go screaming and running through the room and end up back against a wall, shaking. I found the gameplay to be very refreshing and new. I'm glad to see Nintendo try something completely new and original. 
Control Now to be completely honest, it was a bit difficult to control Luigi at first. After a little while at the controller it gets alot easier. The left analog controlled Luigi's upper torso, turning Luigi around. The right analog stick made Luigi walk around. The A button was the context sensitive button (ie: opens doors). The R button activated the vacuum cleaner, when you turned the vacuum cleaner the flashlight goes out. At the press confrence, Miyamoto was describing the function of the L button. From using water that you had sucked up to frost from the freezer to attack enemies. After a while playing the controls become very easy and fitting to the game. Don't get discouraged. 
Graphics Luigi's Mansion displayed great real time shadowing and lighting. The in game graphics were FMV quality. As you can see from the screen shots the game is very detail oriented and displays some of the best lighting seen in any game to date. Theres not much I can really say about the graphics so I will allow the screen shots and movies do the talking for me. 
Outlook Even if Luigi's Mansion only consists of sucking up startled ghosts, I think the outlook for this game is very good. Honestly who doesn't love wondering through a haunted mansion ridding it of ghostly appartitions. While this game sorta reminds me of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, I really enjoyed playing it. Another wonderful game comes from the great mind of Miyamoto. Images Slidin down a banister Surrounded by ghosts Face to Face Zooming in Screaming Luigi's Tonsils Some spooky furniture Candle light dinner Up close and personal Peekin around the corner Playin cards Some more banister action Falling chandleers A little upset Current Media Luigis Mansion Demo 6.14M 
GCN Impressions:
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader Now this is one of the games that completely blew me away from the Space World unveiling of GameCube. But I honestly would have ever thought the game could get better than the first screen shots, well I was wrong. Rogue Leader drew very large crowds through out the whole show, you would have to wait at least for a half hour to get to play. Ok now for what you are waiting for the impressions. 
Gameplay Ok now we all know the story of Star Wars. In Rogue Leader, you get to take control of Luke Skywalker in the battle against the Empire. There are plenty of scenes from the movies in the game. The playable levels at E3 were the battle over Yavin, better known as the Death Star battle. Bespi, or Cloud City where you must take out hot air ballons loaded with gun turrets. And a level were you had to take out a Star Destroyer. There will be plenty of levels to keep you busy, and completing this missions won't be a walk in the park. 
Control If you have ever played the original Rogue Squadron, you have an idea of what to expect. In Rogue Leader, the controls are very simple and easy to learn. The left analog stick controls your movement, the right control stick controls the camera in cockpit view. The A button fires your ships primary weapon and the B button fires your secondary weapon. The L & R buttons are used to speed up and brake. The L button being the brake and the R button being the accelerator. When you accelerate your ship will go out of attack formation and your not able to attack until you go back into attack formation. To do this is simple, all you have to do is tap the R button again. The X button changes your views from a close up view, to a distant view and cockpit view. When you are in cockpit view you can activate your targeting computer by pressing the Y button. When you targeting computers is on, it will outline the enemies and fill them in with the approriate colors (see next sentence) making them easy to see. It will also make your primary and secondary targets a different color on your radar. Your Primary targets will be purple or yellow depending on your objectives. The Z button will make your ship roll. The Digital directional pad is used to control your wingmen. The options will very depending on the current situations. You can make the go after the guns, towers or fighters depending on what type of enemy is on the screen at that time. You can also give the orders to fall back. Factor 5 put the GameCube controller to good use, and used every button. You can alomost fly like a pro the first time you pick up the controller. 
Graphics The visuals on this game are stunning to say the least. From the heavily detailed Death Star, to the massive Star Destroyers. This game is using scale models of every ship. So basically it will feel, look and sound like you are controlling the digitally enhanced version of this movie. The game is running at a constant 60 FPS without a hint of slowdown. Also it is said that one Star Destroyer is running at an unbelievable 7.8 million polygons per second. Thats not including the backgrounds, the other ships, AI etc. The GCN is really starting to prove itself to be a graphical monster. While playin I started to actually get disoriented, due to the blazing fast framerate and the realism of the game. The game that was shown was still not complete and still needed some Anti-Alliasing. Over all this game was one of the most visually impressive games at E3. 
Outlook Rogue Leader is very promising and in my book, a must have. The game will be as challenging, if not more challenging, than the previous Rogue Squadron game. Actually, it was rare to actually see anyone complete a mission at E3. Factor 5 has definitely put to use the powerfull GameCube hardware. From the reflection of Photon blasts on the surrounding enviornments to the advanced AI used. This is a game to keep your eye on and will definitely become a system seller. Images Front view, Star Destroyer Tie fighter going down Behind a Star Destroyer Cockpit View Close Call The infamous Death Star Trench run. Lost a Wingman Close up of an B-Wing Is this a picture from the movie? Getting in formation Current Media E3 Gameplay Footage Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Intro 8800k Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Playable game Footage 19000k
GCN Previews:
Metroid Prime Finally a long awaited sequel to the Metroid series is on its way. Nintendo handed Retro Studios, a Nintendo second party, the liscence to develop this game. It will be a first person adventure, that will go back and forth to a third person view depending on the action that is made. This game will still have alot of the same features as the original series (ei; rolling into a ball). 
The only pics available at this time are FMV that was develop for show at SpaceWorld. Although there are mixed feelings about Metroid switching to 3-D and being a FPA, I personally can't wait to see this game in action. Hopefully this will be one of the playable titles at this years E3 Expo.
E3 Impression Although it was shown in a short FMV trailer, this game is really starting to shape up. Retro Studios is starting to show us just what they are capable of. The Trailer shows Samus coming up out of her ship, which makes great use of blur motion, then coming up against a very large enemy (more than likely a boss). It also shows Samus surround by bugs. The new pics and movie can probably explain it a little better than I could, so Check them out. We will probably hear more about this game and see a playable version at Space World this August. Current Media Character model: Samus Samus's Ship A Boss? More Bugs Surrounded A Hallway Metroid Prime E3 Trailer Previous Media Samus Aran close-up Running by A whole lot of bugs More bugs Being chased Fighting back A large blast Current Media Metroid 4 Demo 2000k Impressions: Kameo Elements of Power 
This is a very interesting game to say the least, I for one wasn't expecting it to be playable at E3. You play as Kameo a fairy princess, its not as bad as it sounds, and you must save the six Elemental Ancestors from the Dark Troll King, Thorn. Throughout the game you can capture monsters and train them and keep them by your side, not as much like pokemon as you think. Kameo has the ability to morph into the captured monsters and use their abilities to help you throughout your journey. You can also have two monster by your side to help with battles. 
Control The control on this game was very nice. As typical the analog control stick moved the character. The B, X, and Y button morphed you into the desired monster. The A button was the main action button it was used for jump, or a monsters certain strength. The Z button if I remember correctly allowed you to release your two monster companions by your side, if I am wrong I will update with the correct function. The camera angles, I found tedious at times but this was still an early build on the game. 
Gameplay I really enjoyed hoe the game played. There were only several playable levels at E3. The first one I played was demostrating how you catch the monsters. Kameo has a strange item that shoots bubbles out to catch the monsters. You have to aim at the mosters, if you catch the monster in the bubble, the screen goes to a swirling rainbow color with a black whole in the center. The object here is to get the bubble to the center of the screen, or the balck whole, and hit the A button. Once this is accomplished you have succesfully captured the monster.
The other board was a wide open area, with alot of hills, a river and some trees. I assume there will be alot more trees in the finished product. Here you get to experience battling and morphing first hand. They three monsters you could morph into were a pteryadactl, which would allow you to fly. A Grasshopper, which would allow you to jump really high. And a beast like monster that would allow you to attack. Messing around with the different monsters was alot of fun. When I finally got a chance to fight some baddies, I called out two monsters by my side and they actually took care of the enemies for me. 
Graphics The textures looked great the character models were all very nice. The one thing that really caught my eye was the transperency effects that this game uses. When you morphed into a monster, you will be able to see Kameo inside of the monsters shape. Again this was still a early build of the game, but it displays how much of a graphical beast the GameCube really is. 
Outlook Now this game is made by Rare so we know it will be great. The game played like a typical Rare game. So my outlook on this game is great, I really want this game and I can't wait for its release.
More in-game Screenshots Look, you can see Kameo Kameo battlin an enemy 
Impressions: Eternal Darkness We all knew that this game had made its way to the GameCube, but the last thing I was expecting was for it to be playable at E3. I was very impressed with the game, the control was great the graphics, although not very polished, looked great. 
I think the story line is best left for Silicon Knights to descbibe. This is the introduction to the story, you can find it at silicon knights website: "An Ancient Evil
Long before humanity graced the Universe with it's ideas, the Earth belonged to another species. An ancient species - unbound by physics or nature, purpose or ethic. Through the shifting of time, the relentless advance of ice and continental plate, this species was driven into the recesses of the world - to lie dormant, until such time as the conditions were right for their return.
The innocent human race, safe in its blind superiority is oblivious to the danger it walks amongst. The Ancients want to reclaim the Earth as their own, and have taken great pains to ensure their reign in the dawn of the new millennium.
Secret Societies, hungry for power and domination, mad with their obsession, seek to restore the Ancients to their former mastery. Over the aeons the sects have been active, scheming and plotting in the darkness, worshipping entities and attempting to summon them, through arcane magicks, blood and sacrifice.
Of these groups, few stories are told. Those who know too much perish swiftly, hunted and murdered to preserve the secrets.
Beyond mankind's limited comprehension.
An incomprehensible war, hidden by secrets and plagued by death.
Innocents, who will be tainted. Hunted, murdered, martyred...
A Legacy of Darkness
From beneath the secrets of time and space, the story of the Eternal Darkness unfolds, echoed through thirteen chosen souls. Thirteen people, their fates inextricably entwined with the destiny of the human race, fight an incomprehensible war against the malignant regime of the Ancients.
From a benevolent monk during the paranoia of the Inquisition, to a Special Forces commando deep behind enemy lines, the Chosen Few find their lives torn apart by the unseen evil, and are forced to confront their fears without reward or glory. Their sacrifice will be extreme - such is the cost of saving humanity.
The human mind is a fragile thing at best and confronting the numbing power of the Ancients is no small feat. These poor souls will find the very concept of reality challenged, even fractured in the yawning maw of insanity. Some will fail, while others will brave the grim dangers of their shattered minds, experiencing effects that transcend that which is real, and that which is pure abhorrent delusion.
Yet not all hope is lost. The tools at their disposal are both ancient and modern - from sophisticated technology like laser sighted automatic rifles, to the mystical powers of arcane magick. After all, not all the servants of the Ancients are immune to the edge of a sharp blade....
The enemy are aware of the resistance of mankind, and have infiltrated every level of its society. The lurking abominations of the Ancients hide behind trusted faces, wearing their skins like puppets, manipulating and controlling the fate of humanity.
The hunt has been endured for centuries, and is drawing to a close...
You are one of the chosen...
Dare you shed blood and bone, as well as mind and sanity, for the sake of your kindred?"
Control The control on this game was great. It was really easy to navigate around. The main buttons you use are the analog, to move the character. The A button to attack, the B button to open doors. The R button locks on the the enemies, now here is where the real innovation comes in. While holding the R button you can use the left analog control stick, to aim at a specific body part on the enemy. When you hold left it highlights the left arm, hold right and it highlights the left arm, hold up and you can decapitate the enemy. Also if there are several enemies surrounding you, while holding R you can click the button (or push the button all the way down until it clicks) and it will target another enemy. The game was very easy to adapt to, which made it very enjoyable. 
Gameplay As stated before, this is one of the places where the game really stands out. Silicon Knights really took alot of time in developing the characters and story line. There are 13 playable characters and around 40-60 hours of gameplay. One of the most interesting aspects of this game is the insanity meter. The insanity meter measures how sane you are, if you walk past some bad guys with out killing them the meter drops, if you don't finish an enemy it also drops. Just imagine what walking past a phone and it suddenly rings, imagine what that does to your sanity. As your meter drops the more insane you become, you start hearing voices, seeing pictures move and watch you walk down the hall. Your not to far from seeing hullicinations, which start happening as your meter runs out. You'll be walking through the door controlling the character when your head falls off, soon to follow will be your arm, then your other arm. Then you lose your upper torso, all to find out that you were hullicinating and imagining the whole thing.
The game spans over a period of 2000 years, all the way from ancient rome to present time. 
Graphics The graphics on this game were very impressive. Silicon Knights again paid alot of attention to everything. All the backgrounds were all rendered in real time, and very fitting for the century of the character. The cameras in the game are also very well positioned so you never lose site of the enemies. The character models consist of roughly 5,000 polygons, while the enemies consist roughly of 3,000 polygons. There can be up to 20 characters on the screen and it would still run at a constant 60fps. The load time on this game is unbelievable, cause there is none. Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, said that they actually got this game to load quicker than when it was on the N64. He also stated that they had to add an eighth of a second delay, cause players were getting disoriented. The game also includes some very realistic volumetric fog. That starts rolling in when you enter a room. The spent alot of time making sure that the characters notice whats going on around them. If there is an enemy your character will watch it, a torch pops and you look at it. The game, although only about 60% done does not include bump-mapping, lighting or any extras yet. I can't wait to see the final product. 
Sound There will be alot of voice acting in the game, whether its in latin or just plain english. The music fit the situation very nicely and the sound effects were done very nicely. There was still alot that wsa missing in the playable demo that will be included in the finished product. Outlook I think this game is a definite must have. If you like these tpes of games. The game is labled as a psycological thriller and like previously stated, will have around 40-60 hours of gameplay. There will be alot of different paths and choices to make throughout the game that will alter the story. This game is a definite system seller and one of my favorite games displayed at E3.
Gamecube News:
Official GCN Price! Dedicated Gameplay System Launches November 5, 2001 With Six First-Party Titles Priced At $49.95
REDMOND, Wash., May 21, 2001 - History's most successful video game manufacturer today announced the U.S. suggested retail price of $199.95 for its all-new video game console, NINTENDO GAMECUBE(tm), launching November 5th. Today's announcement comes on the heels of what Nintendo executives describe as an "overwhelmingly positive response" from thousands of the visitors to the national Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, which ended Saturday. More than 62,000 people gathered to view the latest in interactive entertainment
"The response to NINTENDO GAMECUBE at E3 was phenomenal," says Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. "Game developers expressed over and over that our games are of unmatched quality, especially Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II. Pikmin also spiked interest for its incredibly unique game content and approach. This is all very exciting."
NINTENDO GAMECUBE's November 5 launch will hit with a library of six exclusive Nintendo titles, each with a MSRP of $49.95, expanding by end-of-year with licensee games, representing a robust and diverse library with games for players of all ages. Compatible with Game Boy® Advance, which launches in North America June 11, NINTENDO GAMECUBE delivers all-new forms of interactive fun and offers the easiest development environment to date for game creators.
Other upcoming games include: Animal Forest(tm), Disney's Mickey for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Donkey Kong® Racing, Eternal Darkness(tm), Kameo(tm): Elements of Power(tm), The Legend of Zelda®, Mario Kart® for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Metroid Prime(tm), NBA Courtside 2002, Raven Blade, Star Fox® Adventures: Dinosaur Planet(tm) and Wave Race® Blue Storm. In addition, early titles will come from a wide range of the world's top independent publishers and developers, including LucasArts, Electronic Arts and others. NINTENDO GAMECUBE is scheduled to launch in Japan on September 14, 2001, and in Europe in early 2002. Information on shipment quantity will be made public as part of Nintendo's official financial announcement slated for May 24 in Japan.
As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems. The systems include Game Boy, Nintendo® 64, Game Boy Advance and the upcoming NINTENDO GAMECUBE(tm). Since the release of its first home video game system in 1985, Nintendo has sold more than 1.4 billion video games worldwide, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario(tm) and Donkey Kong® and launching such franchises as Zelda(tm) and Pokémon®. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.
For more information about NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Game Boy Advance or any other Nintendo product, visit the company's Web site, www.nintendo.com.
Now, although I had held out a hope of a $150 price, this is pretty expected. It still gives GAMECUBE a $100 advantage over the competition. November 5 can't come soon enough!
--John S. Press Confrence Recap! Well, this is me recaping what i saw on TechTV, so it probably isn't complete. They kept going in and out. I heard they showed Mario Kart, but I didn't get to see it... Ah well. On with the recap!
Well, it opened up with some speeches about how great Nintendo is, but I won't bore you with that. You know that already. Then they great Miyamoto came out, with one of those REALLY tiny, beautiful GCN's in hand. He talks about how they spent alot of time deciding which charater should launch with Gamecube. He thinks he has an answer...
Then an AMAZING (!!) 2 minute Super Smash Brothers: Melee video plays. Every detail is perfect. You can see every thread in Mario's jeans! Wow.
More talking, and Miyamoto starts talking about the next game, "Luigi's long awaited starring role', LUIGI'S MANSION! THis game is no less than stunning. All the lighting, everything. The master himslef plays it for a bit, and then Tech TV goes to commercials. I dont know how much I missed, but it comes back to...
PIKMIN! Miyamoto brings out the lead programmer, and he plays it for a while. I will leave the bulk of this stuff to Mr. GCN Preview Editor (b/c it is late :p) but I will say this game looks stunning. Basically, you control a bunch of little "Pikmin" and try to get parts to repair your crashed space ship. Sort of like one of those 'God' games, but soooooo much more. But I am too tired to write that now.
And that is where TechTV ended it's coverage. Good Stuff, eh?
--John Sharkey Some minor changes to the GCN controller!!! Source: IGNGC At Spaceworld they stated that the GCN controller is a constantly changing. IGN has uncovered some new alterations to the controller. The B button has now been changed from the kidney bean shape to a round shape as well as teh color has changed. Also the start button has changed and has been slimmed down to a small gray button, instead of the huge red one. Keep in mind this is not the secret that still has not been disclosed by Nintendo. We will have more about the secret controller information after E3. For now enjoy the IGN mock-up of the redesigned GCN controller. 
Above: IGN's mock-up of the new controller 
The controller displayed at Spaceworld 2000 GCN Logo... Revealed! The PGC Story The folks over at Planet Gamecube did a little Pre-E3 snooping, and uncovered the official Gamecube logo! Check out the pics below! 
Possible GCN logos? Gamefront page. German site Gamefront.com has some rumored GCN logos. While we won't know untill E3 (die Shawn!) it is still kind of interesting... 
RS2 details, and controller secret! The Steve Kent article Steve Kent of MSNBC has played RS2, and has full details in his article, but here is a rundown of the good stuff.
First off, the most important. He runs down the controls, as follows:
-Steer with the left stick
-Control the camera with the right one
-The D-Pad contols your wingmen; durign the battle, four commands will pop up. Up slects one, down another, etc.
-This is the good part. THERE ARE FOUR SHOULDER BUTTONS. He reports that the 'top' shoulder buttons (where the Z button is on the Spaceworld controler) accelerate and brake, while the 'bottom' ones (the analog ones I assume) roll your fighter.
-The ABXY cluster shoots the weapons and that stuff.
Also, he reports that even in the unfinished state, the game looks FAR superior to Starfigher for the PS2. Raves Kent:
"Forget anything you have heard about polygon counts and processor sizes this re-creation of the cinemas most famous battle is nearly flawless. GameCube may not boast the largest polygon counts, but it makes very smart use of polygons and textures, resulting in an amazingly true-to-the-movies recreation.
From the moment you enter the trench that circles the Death Star, you cannot help but notice the crisp look of its walls. These are not the faded and rough-looking walls in past Star Wars games including Starfighter on PlayStation 2. This trench has the same dull plastic look as the one in the movies.
GameCube makes good use of light, too. Whether lit by lasers or exploding Imperial ships, the walls of the Death Star glow to reflect changes in light."
Kent also notes that although it will be a launch game, Factor 5 has had the dev kits for soooooo long that it is actually about a 1 1/2 or 2nd generation game. More as it is released.
--John Sharkey |
