Jamie Woodhouse has launched the [Qwak GBA Homepage (http://www.qwak.co.uk/)] where you can download a demo (playable using either a GBA emulator or on an actual GBA if you have the necessary equipment) and register your interest in snagging a copy. Jamie's only doing an initial release of 300 copies, so you want one you'd do well to get in early when they become available.

The demo is superb. The game is virtually identical to the Amiga version save for a few minor details. I'm surprised Jamie hasn't found a publisher yet.

Yeah! I've seen that! It looks really cool! I'm reaaly gonna get it!

Yeah me too! It's almost like I was playing it on the Amiga.

If only I could find my GBAMP, I could play the demo on my GBA.

It's an okay game I guess. This genre does not get me excited. I mean, throwing lemons at small ghosts while gathering fruit and stones to gain a currency called points which in turn give you nothing... thrilling =P

which in turn give you nothing... thrilling =P

Name a game that actually gives you a tangible reward.

Aside from online poker, there isn't one.

Name a game that actually gives you a tangible reward.

Aside from online poker, there isn't one.Maybe he's talking about addictive hypnotic patterns á la the Octopus-s-s-s from The Prime Minister's Brain?

Xinox would probably be happier if you were a red-clad demon-hunter throwing fireballs at mythical beings, collecting items covered in blood. And also you swear. And also it's accompanied to a hard rock soundtrack.

Xinox would probably be happier if you were a red-clad demon-hunter throwing fireballs at mythical beings, collecting items covered in blood. And also you swear. And also it's accompanied to a hard rock soundtrack.


yeah.. that annoys me- even if something's the exact same- such as, an fps with "cute" graphics is less likely to sell than a much darker one. seems there's just more appeal for those ones.

ratchet and clank, for instance, is a third person shooter- but people see the graphics and instantly think "platformer" (as people often stereotype platformers as being "cute")

also, shadow of the collosus is a platformer- but people think "rpg" when they see the graphics.

rant over.

I have nothing against cute games. I've been playing Disgaea allot recently, and I'm a big Katamari fan. It's just that this game has it's gameplay so heavily based on gathering points. In super mario points are much more subtle, which is the way it should be. Points should acknowledge gameplay, not be the center of it.

Name a game that actually gives you a tangible reward.

Aside from online poker, there isn't one.

Why does it have to be tangible? For instance RPG's give you exp which make s you characters improve. You may find money that allows better items; or you could unlock a new main menu layout by gaining a certain am mount of points. As long as it does something other than "okay, this guy has the most points.. hooray?"

Edit: wigwam the: I have never heard of anybody calling Shadow of the Colossus an RPG based on it's graphics, who does that!? But the game makes a good example, would it be better if the world was FILLED with items that only gave you numbers for picking them up? No, but it has other things like fruit and lizards which improve your health and stamina. Usefull rewards that is.

Edit: wigwam the: I have never heard of anybody calling Shadow of the Colossus an RPG based on it's graphics, who does that!? But the game makes a good example, would it be better if the world was FILLED with items that only gave you numbers for picking them up? No, but it has other things like fruit and lizards which improve your health and stamina. Usefull rewards that is.

mind... I'm sure I heard someone call it an rpg before.
and health+ stamina boosts aren't really an rpg thing, and I didn't say it should be an rpg, just that it wasn't one.

You miss the idea behind Qwak Xinos, the amount of fruit you gather on each level adds to your ammo or egg supply. In each world the enemies becomes about an egg stronger so gathering alot of points and saving ammo in the early levels help you later on. Theres a strong strategy and gameplay element behind the point system in Qwak.
I dont see anything wrong with points in games, any kind of sport I can think of now uses a point system to determine the winner. In computer games the point systems are often more complex but its still the same thing you measure.

Just downloaded the demo and one thing stands out from the Amiga game, except for the obvious scrolling. The game runs extremely fast. Maybe its the emulator, although it says 100% it looks like the game runs about 1.5 times as fast as it should. Ive had speed issues with Visual Boy Advance before so its probably just the emulator running it too fast.

While I enjoy 'cute' games if they're really well done and have a great style of their own (like, say, Kirby Superstar and Super Gem Fighter), something like Yoshi's Story which seems like Teletubbies set in the Mario universe is just a little too simple and silly to me.

As for Qwak; it's a nice game from the demo I've tried, but just far too simple for my liking. It would be pretty good if it were a late 80s NES game, or a shareware PC game, but it's not something I'd spend about $20 on right now, especially not on current GBA hardware. Its simplicity is good for 'old-school', nostalgic fans of its genre, but also prevents it for being comparable to newer platformers, such as Megaman Zero, or on a harsher note, even SMB 3 which came out in 1988. So even though I'm mostly a fan of cute and "childish" games, Qwak still wouldn't appeal to me too much.

yeah.. that annoys me- even if something's the exact same- such as, an fps with "cute" graphics is less likely to sell than a much darker one. seems there's just more appeal for those ones.

ratchet and clank, for instance, is a third person shooter- but people see the graphics and instantly think "platformer" (as people often stereotype platformers as being "cute")

also, shadow of the collosus is a platformer- but people think "rpg" when they see the graphics.

rant over.
Nowadays a lot of games don't seem to stick to their genres. Ratchet and Clank is both a Platformer and a TPS, but at the same time it is neither. It's something entirely different- a thirdperson patform shooter, combining elements from the two genres.

Shadow of the Collosus is even harder to define. Allthough it certainly isn't an RPG, it does incorporate some basic RPG elements- The slight increase in both grip and health you recive when you defeat a collosus for example. It's certainly a platformer, but it's also a puzzle game. The large and contiguous gameworld is something that you'd expect to see in an Adventure game like Zelda (Which definately isn't an RPG).

I recently read an article in Gamestm about GTA3 clones and how they've formed the only new video game Genre in recent years, but that genre is near impossible to define as each part of said deffinition has at least one notable exception-

For example you may say that a GTA3 clone must have a large city enviroment that you can freely explore, yet Destroy All Humans features relatively confined levels. Or that some ellement of gunplay and violence is necissary, yet The Simpsons Hit and Run does not. Some say that progression through the game is based on a simple mission structure, yet the upcoming Just Cause does not.

The problem with the GTA3-clone genre is that GTA3 itself doesn't fit into any genre itself, like R+C and Shadow of the collosus its a hybrid of many genres (TPS, Driving, Adventure, RPG, platform...)

Just as judging a game based on its graphics is often not doing said game full justice so is trying to put every single game into a single genre.

i think i called it an rpg once... though i only saw 2 or 3 screenshots of it

Zelda (Which definately isn't an RPG).

Well now, that depends what you mean by "RPG".

The term seems of late to have almost exclusively attached itself to those ridiculous games where you play as an elf and periodically level up, very slowly incrementing your powers until you are some kind of behemoth, much like the more traditional (and in many ways far superior) role-playing games played around a table with no hardware more advanced than some specialist dice, but point and click adventure games were always called RPGs as well. Zelda is clearly a role-playing game, in that you play the role of Link in the game, and it is a proper role: you can get items and powers to make him a more formidable character, and there's a proper story and legend behind him to flesh him out a bit. Obviously Mario wouldn't count, because he really could be anyone and then any game at all would be an RPG.

But it is a role-playing game, and it does have a lot of elements from more "orthodox" RPGs. Just be careful, because you can easily have a very long argument about this simply by working to two different definitions of RPG.