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Reader Comments (50)

Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:07PM drsashamd said

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Yay for them doing something that should have been done, without hesitation, from the beginning.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:16PM (Unverified) said

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I think MS might have played a role in it actually. I would have expected a plan to fix it right away from Rare.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:47PM PoisonedAl said

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I won't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I know that there's the problems making a teeny-weeny HD screen to fit in the projector, and then there's the diffusion of light rays, or something like that. I'm not even sure if I just made that up. I just know that you will never get the sharpness from a projector that you would from a screen of the same size.

It's all moot anyway for me. I don't have the space, and I want to be able to see the screen even if I have the tenacity to open the curtains.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:48PM PoisonedAl said

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WTF? I'm pretty sure I clicked the right thread!
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:50PM WiredKnight said

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Lkr, I think it might have been the other way around. MS has some of the most stringent design requirements ever, when stuff like this slips through they're usually on top of it.
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 6:49AM Snowblind said

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"I would have expected a plan to fix it right away from Rare."

Rare actually originally said they were going to fix it. It was only because of a comment by one of the developers on the forums which lead everyone to believe they wouldn't. He was clearly just misinformed.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:07PM (Unverified) said

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Get an HDTV. Xbox 360 deserves an HDTV more than any other machine anyway :D
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:09PM Dr Stabbingworth said

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The text was hard to read on my 720p projector with 100" screen. Besides, I don't recall having an HDTV as being a requirement for gaming this gen.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:14PM (Unverified) said

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Well of course it's not a requirement, I'm just saying that a 360 would require HD video more than a DVD or any movie because movies are the equivalent of prerendered videos. They will look good (in terms of creating the image it's actually trying to represent) no matter what, but a game is streaming so its beauty is directly proportional to your resolution. I firmly believe that (assuming there is one HDTV in the household) a 360 should be assigned to it as its primary peripheral and cable box/DVD player second.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:16PM Obienator said

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Will your mom buy one for me too?
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:23PM PoisonedAl said

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@Dr. Stabbingworth

Remember, while the result is "100, the source of the image is still quite small. You will never get the same quality from a projector then you do from and LCD or plasma (or LED if you're REALLY flash) screen.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:26PM DerickDBrown said

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Well sure, that was Nintendo's stance.

After hearing that Banjo was gonna need to be on an HDTV, I bought one. It wasn't that expensive ($417), and I've been really surprised with how good things look on it...

I'd recommend getting an HDTV to anyone who is on the fence and has the means...
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:32PM Stink Snake said

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@Poisoned Al

The Banjo Kazooie text is hard to read on a 42" 720p LCD. The text is just damn hard to read.

Gears of War 2 has small text as well but it is not an issue because, 1) the font makes it easier to read, 2) the back drop is grey and black which makes it easier to pick up vs. the bright colors in Banjo, and most importantly, 3) Anaya never tells Marcus Fenix the next objective is "Eeeeb Eeab Ahb Eeeb Eeeb".
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:33PM Megadanxzero said

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Stabbingworth, PLEASE tell me you're taking the fucking piss. I have a 22" inch screen and I could see the text fine. In fact it's only slightly smaller than the text on the Xbox Guide. I can see why people would complain about Dead Rising's text, but this? What the hell...
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:39PM (Unverified) said

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I have a 19 inch hdtv and had no problem reading the text on the demo. Of course I don't sit all the way across the room from the tv though since it's that small, I'd say maybe 5 feet away is about where I sit.

Can't wait to pick the game up tomorrow
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:48PM Megadanxzero said

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I don't see how it could have anything to do with the size/quality of your TV or how far away you are from the TV. I'm playing it right now and the text in the demo is literally the exact same size as the lower-case Xbox guide text... How anyone can complain about it is beyond me. Or rather how anyone can complain about this game and not EVERY other 360 game there is...
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:53PM Dr Stabbingworth said

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@Poisoned Al

That doesn't make any sense. It still creates a picture at 1280x720, the pixels are just bigger. I could knock it down to 50", or 20" if I really cared to and it would still be 1280x720, just with smaller pixels. In any of those cases, the text would be difficult to read.

And as Stink Snake pointed out, there are several other reasons why the text is hard to read, including the fact that it auto-scrolled before I could finish reading it in some cases.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:48PM PoisonedAl said

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I won't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I know that there's the problems making a teeny-weeny HD screen to fit in the projector, and then there's the diffusion of light rays, or something like that. I'm not even sure if I just made that up. I just know that you will never get the sharpness from a projector that you would from a screen of the same size.

It's all moot anyway for me. I don't have the space, and I want to be able to see the screen even if I have the tenacity to open the curtains.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 11:05PM PhaseDMA said

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Stabbingworth -

While not a requirement it should be. I enjoy the HD video gaming much more then any HD action packed movie.

Plus the wide screen allows you to see so much more - Especially in online multiplayer shooters where it can make a huge difference in who wins.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:19PM (Unverified) said

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Didn't you get the memo Dr. Stabbingworth?

Does 'title update' mean they will be replacing the disks in-store? Or will this be a patch? Either way, it's unfortunate since a large amount of the demographic for this game that also has an SDTV, will undoubtedly not have their console connected to the internet.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:21PM (Unverified) said

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Why they didn't have the basic common sense to include SD sets in testing during development is completely beyond me. Hurray for the modern "release *then* test and fix" mentality!
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:44PM dr steve brule said

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why is no one commenting on the awesomeness of this pic. thanks for the laugh ludwig
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 6:57PM HTCEVO said

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Looks like my call to Microsoft helped. Glad I'll be able to actually read the retail release at least.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:09PM Supermanisdead said

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Now there is no reason not to buy it :P

Yeah, and the text is small even on HD screens, it was a pain to read on my TV.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:13PM anoffday said

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lmao. Otis. Most annoying old man ever. He literally made me hate that game. I had more fun with the freakin demo than I did with the actual game.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:16PM (Unverified) said

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It seems to me that all the games coming out now have poor text. Fable 2, Gears 2, Fallout.. it's just nuts and I OWN a HD set and it's still hard to see. (thank god for the TV's Zoom feature)
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:47PM WiredKnight said

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You might want to get your eyes checked then. Fable 2 has some of the most readable text I've seen in a video game in a while.
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 1:53PM (Unverified) said

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Fables map is way too small and having all that wasted space around it is annoying as well. My eyes are fine..
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:20PM Tiptup300 said

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I think the best approach would be to ban overscan. I FUCKING HATE OVERSCAN. Although that's not really related to anything in this situation.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:41PM juju187 said

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i was mad about no voice overs...
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:41PM juju187 said

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i mean viva pinata had voice work wtf.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:42PM juju187 said

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dont drop the ball on killer instinct 3
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:36PM spin cycle said

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It's traditional for Banjo Kazooie games to not have voice overs.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 11:05PM drsashamd said

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"It's traditional for Banjo Kazooie games to not have voice overs."

Then why do people get so upset when Zelda has no voice work?
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 1:51AM (Unverified) said

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"Then why do people get so upset when Zelda has no voice work?"

For the same reason juju187 wants voice work in Banjo-Kazooie: different people have different opinions. Some people want voice work in Zelda, and some people view the lack of voice work as keeping true to its roots.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:43PM mnemo said

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Best post pic of the year! Kudos!
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 7:58PM FakeJamaican said

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just in time for my new xbox to arrive... 2 years and i got the RROD today...not bad, not bad
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:01PM Jacksons said

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Sweet. Even with an HDTV tiny text is a crap-chute.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:36PM spin cycle said

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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:52PM falcomadol said

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All I need to know, I learned from musical theater:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdct9UWlt_c
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:34PM JackieChandler said

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Capcom should come out with the Limited Edition Otis Magnifying Glass for Dead Rising 2... assuming the text is as small as NaB seems to have.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:34PM (Unverified) said

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Bout' time.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 8:44PM falcomadol said

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Banjo's square nose is one of his best assets.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 9:01PM Noxat said

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The demo's text was pretty small even on my HD display.

And hey, I like Banjo's square nose.
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 10:58PM (Unverified) said

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Wow... Took me a while to catch onto the reference in the picture, but it came to me when I realized you guys had also mentioned Dead Rising numerous times when referring to this issue. Very nice...
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Posted: Nov 10th 2008 11:27PM samfish said

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Banjo's square nose! OOOOOOOAARRGH! That nose PISSES THE SHIT OUT OF ME. GRARRR I HATE IT HATE HATE HATEHATEHATE IT!






D:
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 9:49AM (Unverified) said

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ARGH! Where do they get these incompetent programmers??!? I'm not a professional by any standards, but I apparently know more about how you should be programming something like this than everyone currently involved with the project. If it were done properly it would be a matter of changing ONE function. When you do something repeatedly like throw up some text, you don't hard code it each time. You make a single function that handles ALL the text, and you just pass it slightly abstracted inputs. You don't say "20 pixels tall," you say "size 3" and let the text function figure out how big to make it based on things like screen size. When it comes time to fix the text size you change the text function rather than 50,000 instances of the messed up value.

ARGH! Now excuse me while I go nerd rage while doing my real job.
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 10:18AM Rhamsey said

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to bad the bastards at lionhead, and whoever did dead rising didnt do the same.
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 10:44AM xGearSecondx said

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Good! Cuz I couldn't read what the hell I was supposed to do in the demo
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Posted: Nov 11th 2008 2:30PM (Unverified) said

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They should also change the font. I have a 32-inch HDTV and the font made reading the dialogue a chore. What happened to plain ol' Tahoma/Verdana/Comic Sans/Arial?
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