h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, Playstation is good and all, but until you go Dreamcasting you haven't played anything!

While the dreamcast may seem nice now, the PlayStation 2 - due for immentent release in Japan - is going to be so much more powerful than all existing systems that it's right up there with teh capabilities of the latest Pentiums (if I remember the article correctly).

Plus, the kind ppl at Sony are making it backwards compatible, so PlayStation 1 gmaes can be used on the new system. Something Sega and Nintendo are yet to consider.

Shelley - once Sega user

Yeah for Sony. The playstation is by far the best games console I've ever had the pleasure of using. Loads and Loads of games and they are usually of good quality. I will forever boycott Sega as they totally ripped everyone off with their Mega CD and 32X units -crap games and very few of them to boot. The Nintendo 64 also seems to suffer from a low number of games. It will be the Playstation 2 for me!

I am also boycotting Dreamcast because it runs Windows CE

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Boycott? Why? just because it will be running PC games? Has the world gone nuts? Dreamcast is a great
system at a great price. I have been playing video games for over two light years and I will tell you one
thing, you're lucky if you have five great games for any piece of hardware. Yea, I can see you kiddies next Christmas
dishing out 399.00 for the sony... in your dreams... next christmas you will be digging the 99.00 bucks out for the Dreamcast
and the two great games they will have for it by then. Maybe two or even three years when the Sony falls to
149.00 you will finally get your chance at the PSX2... As for nintendo, there in the card business and I doubt the
the Dolphin will be out in under three years...they're greedy so they have to wait to they get the money back
from the N64 and as slow as the sales of that nightmare is going it will take at least two years... Remember, kids
hardware is really nothing to get excited about... its the software that counts in the end. How many really great
Sony games have there been? Have there been even five yet? How many for Sega?Phantasy Star Series, Sonic,
Shonbi, etc. the list is a long one. So hop on the PSX2 bandwagon if you wish but remember what Sega said many moons
ago, "SEGA will always be there." Peace war42

I don't know where you are, but in Australia PlayStation and N64 have been going for $190 for a loooong time.

I agree Sega has a lot of ground to make up after it's attempts with the Mega CD and Sega Saturn (remember that?)

The only reason Nintendo started the N64 was because they were going bankraupt, luckily it payed off... for a while.

As for great PS games...
1) The Tomb Raider series (soon to total four games); While it's initial popularity may be due to pre-pubescant teenage boys, these are good games. And by the third game they had found the technology to allow the baddies to 'hunt' you, as opposed to continuing to approach while you fired at them. The fourth one is to be even more indepth. Plus, what game can claim to have done so much for women's lib?
2) Final Fantasy IIV; 5 mil copies sold in four days of release (in Japan) says it all
3) Grand Turismo; the most realistic driving game on any system to date
4) The Wipeout trilogy (Wipeout, Wipeout 2097, Wip3out); great graphics, great music, and one of the most original concepts ever seen
5) Abe's Oddysee/Exoddus; original concept, good FMV and the ability to make the character interact by controlling his speech
6) Crash Bandicoot Trilogy; surely, a game is recognised as great when it's ripped off by a competitior (Banjo Kazooee - or whatever it's called)
7) Time Crisis; while I can't speak personally, regarded as THE laser gun game

And the list goes on. That's 15 games there, and that list is drawn from several gaming magazines

And another thing for PlayStation, it's got the most comfortable controller I've ever held!! (What's with the third prong on N64?!!)

8) Bust-a-Groove. Cool music, cool dancing. Need I say more?

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Resident Evil II, what a game!

That's the one, couldn't remember the name.

Plus, if the Dreamcast is compatible with Windows, why not just get a computer which is ultimately more useful?

There's a misunderstanding... I was talking about games produced and created by SONY not by other companies. Sega has created more games than SONY has ever thought of and this is why the Dreamcast will be worth the bucks. Crash Bandicot is all right but does not come close the any of the Sega games. Go into any arcade and see how many SONY arcade machines there are... none...
as for Sega there will be new ones and ones that date for years. Sega I think has been very lucky with the Dreamcast and perhaps we will not lose one of the best true gaming compines the earth as ever known. peace war42

Not all the games are by Sega alone. Mortal Kombat for existance is also produced by another company. Just cos it may not be on the box, check through the maunals.

Sony, as far as I know, has not produced a game on it's own. That's not what they set out to do, they only wanted to produce they system. By having hundreds of different companies produce the games, it presents unrivalled creativity and a budget bigger than Bill Gates' wallet (well, maybe not).

Plus, Sony is constantly drawing producers over from the N64 camp. Squaresoft (Final Fantasy series producers) and the ppl who released the James Bond games are prime examples.

Have you even used an N64 controller? I'm not talking about ten minutes playing Blast Corps or Clayfighter at your friends' house!!

The Playstation dual shock is a poor, poor clone of the mighty 64 controller...you won't achieve instant success with the 64 controller as it takes some getting used to: remember first using a mouse though? Like anything, practice makes perfect...the 64 controller is ergonomically excellent (though mechanically the analogue stick does go "stiff" after 6 months - though I used to "kill" a dual shock every 3 months )

Nintendo did not start the N64 because they were going bankrupt. Nintendo have more cash (cash!! not bonds/investements/tied up project funds but cash) than Sega or Sony. The Pokemon phenomenon has filled their coffers to bursting point and it's still growing. The Gameboy is the most successful gaming platform of all time - check out the all formats sales charts for 1999 and its' Pokemon on the gameboy...

....The n64 has not been a flop...it may not be as "successful" as PS, but don't judge the system solely by sales in Europe and Japan but look to the USA where the N64 is a great success...even in little 'ol Britain you are looking at an installed base of 1.3 million. People bitch about the cart format but don't understand that games like Mario 64 and Zelda COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE on a cd based format.

I've played every games system since the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo N64 has the best games of any current system barring the PC (which is like £800 for a gaming machine!!). The Playstation does not have landmark games like Mario 64, Zelda, Pilotwings, Waverace 64, Goldeneye, DK 64, 1080 snowboarding, etc. The Playstation has at best, a dozen triple A titles out of a worldwide catalogue of 2000 games. The N64 has eight-ten triple A titles out of a catalogue of 200 games....go figure!

The Dreamcast is a good machine but will take some time to build steam, and for programmers to get to grips with the hardware. Some stunning PC conversions (Quake III, Half-Life, etc.) are headed to Dreamcast but at present there are too many "arcade" games for my liking -although titles like Soul Caliber and Powerstone are AAA!!

The PS2 will not live up to the hype. The release games are glorified rehashes of existing PS games and graphics can only "hook" you for so long...a lack of gameplay will become evident. As with the Dreamcast, the programmers will take a good 1-2 years to start using the hardware; early games will be limited by the middleware that is currently used to make any sense of the architecture. There is a serious lack of RAM and some problems coding with such a small cache, but some great games could arrive as long as the typical PS "bust 'em out quick..sell out..make a sequel.." formula is avoided.

The Dolphin will emerge as the true gamers machine - it will not receive the hype but in benchmark tests it is running 30% faster than PS2. Nintendo will not release it until the software is ready and it will be something really special..

I admire Sony's marketing acumen but don't forget Nintendo..who do you think everyone else copies...platform game (mario world), 3d platform game (mario 64), analogue control, force-feedback, etc.

Errr, as I recall, Crash Bandicoot was released before mario64

Dreamcast? Sorry I stumbled upon this site when doing some research, but how can you say Dreamcast is even a good system? It has one established title that isn't really worth wanting the system which is Resident Evil (like I said the system, not the game). Other then that what? The Playstation has plenty of good third party support and is the system to beat. But with Nintendo picking up some of their old comrades the Dolphin will be a contender. Sorry to say but the Dreamcast is Sega's last leg and Nintendo and Sony are about to kick it out from under them.

I must admit, Crazy Taxi looks good.

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JOTD: It's hard to be humble when you're so perfect

Well, considering it took my brother and his mate one night to beat, I'd have to dispute that comment

>I've played every games system since the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo N64 has the best games of any current system barring the PC (which is like £800 for a gaming machine!!).


ROTFLMAO!!! What a laugh and a half! Nintendo 64, having the best games? How about the N64 having the fewest games? Or how about having the worst grahics (oh, sure, if you love 3d- rendering, without the quality, it is one of the best!)? Lamest games (Geoman? Clay fighters 64? Killer Instinct 64?).

I was a Nintendo fan from the beginning; I had hundreds of nintendo games, just as many snes games, and a couple dozen game boy games. How many N64 games do I own? 11. Yup, that's all. The system churns out the worst games imaginable, at a snail's pace at that. Can I even say that the system has 11 good games? No, not really. At least count, I could only find 7. Indeed, when Square left Nintendo they pretty much sealed N64's fate. I'm hoping that the dolphin will fix all of the N64's errors

I am a Playstation fan now, and I am pretty sure that the new PS2 will kick more ass than any other system out there.

The N64 in its time had good grphics that ere used by deelopers badly. Some of the inhouse games were buitiful. With the exeption of ports (wich are always terrible) the n64 never sufferd from the chronic jaggies of th PS and there was some polygon isssues early on but they were ironed out where as the PS had them right up till the end.

as for no good games

Mario 64-possible the greatest 3d platformer ever even if it did come after crash. Wich really didnt bring anthing new just a change of perspective.

Goldeneye - the first and still one of the best FPs stelth based games.

Conkers BFD- without a doubt the funniest game ever.

The legend of Zelda, the occorina of time - up there with the greatst games ever.

Anyone who says an N64 controller is better than a Dualshock 2 needs there head examining.

For an example of ergonomic design it's superb. It fits in your hands perfectly whether adult or child. It works as a controller should and Microsoft and Nintendo recognised this with there controllers for Xbox and Gamecube. There basiclly the same with a few changes to avoid being sued. and the Xbox controllers crap.

Having said that the games on PS2 and XBox are getting boring pastiches of each other. My current list of best games

GTA series esp. San Andreas - It's the mutts nutts

Wipeout series - broke the mold, just need to play it on a PSP

Pro Evo Soccer series - kicks FIFA all over the place by just being better.

GT series. The first thing I played on a Playstaion and the reason I bought a Playstation 2

Tekken series - Too many drunken nights and mornings playing these with mates.

Timesplitters series - who needs a Lan to play a multiplayer shooter. same situation as Tekken

Halo - Admission from a Sony fanboy, this is THE fps.

I think that's it. and to think I moan about sequels

Blimey, someone's resurrected a conversaton from a previous life!

And look what's become of Sega...