[bishman]

Got my Gamecube today!!!

Ordered originally from DVD Box Office, but they sent a message saying they couldn't guarantee one for the launch as Nintendo and Microsoft were not supplying enough Cubes and X-box's to satisfy demand. Thought sod that, I want it now... So I ordered a Jap console with Jap/US selector from Lik-Sang. Arrived today with Rogue Leader, which I hadn't planned to buy untill I had read reviews, but couldn't stand the thought of the console arriving before I had any games.

Been playing for a few hours now and the atmosphere of the game is superb, although the gameplay seems a little shallow. But hey, it's Star Wars and it's cool.

Monkey Ball should be turning up later this week, looking forwards to that one and Luigi's Mansion will hopefully be shipped soon. Only problem is, the Mrs is buying the Cube as my christmas pressie, so now I got nothing to look forwards to christmas day, never mind eh (she had no hope of making me wait for it ).

Mark whatever you do DO NOT PLAY Monkey Ball.

It'll end in tears when you have to shut it off for xmas wrapping - the gaming equivalent of crack.

Personally I've got Luigi, Wave Race, Tony Hawks also with Smash Brothers and Pikmin on order

[bishman]

Too late my friend, Monkey Ball arrived today, been playing for 4hrs solid. This is truly a great game, anyone who is even slightly into games must play this, even the Mrs is loving it. No need to worry about it disapearing for christmas wrapping, the good lady is not so mean as to do that. In any case, she knows it would end in divorce if she tried to seperate me from my video games. Just waiting now for Luigis mansion to be sent, hopefully I should have it at the end of next week.

Got Pikmin and Super Smash Bros from DVD Box OFfice today- not bad as they arent released till Dec 4!

In addition to the games already mentioned- I got Fifa 2002 from DVD Box Office for only 22 quid!!!! Its def the best Fifa yet, I know thats not saying much but its a very good game- and will fill in nicely till PES2 comes out.

BTW am now onto the Expert level of Monkey ball- about 6 in, oh my god!!!!

Also so you guys know to get the extra missions in RSII- you need to get 30 points per mission, not actually that hard once you suss out the missions.

Just gotta crack Wave Race now!

Oh and r those controllers the best or what?

[bishman]

Yep, the controller is about the best I've used, gotta agree there.

On monkey ball have you done the extra levels too? If you go through the levels without losing a life, then you get some bonus levels. There are 3 on the beginner level, not sure how many on advanced, won't be long untill I can let you know, ( if you don't already) I can get through the levels on one credit on advanced and am only a few silly mistakes from doing it clean.

[johna]

Hi bishman

How long did it take from when you ordered you Game Cube for it to arrive?

Also was it registered delivery?

Are there any compatibility issues with it being JAP/US?

Sorry for the questions but I'm interested in buying one and woudl like your feedback

Thanks

John

[pointon]

If you got your machine from DVD Box Office in Canada, what would happen and what would you do if the machine didn't work, and you needed to send it back...

This is the only thing stopping me ordering one from them. Fear.

[bishman]

I ordered mine from www.lik-sang. com I ordered it on a Monday and it arrived the following Monday. It is Jap/US modified, by way of a simple switch and has given me no problems with Monkey Ball or Rogue Leader. I was a little aprehensive as it is the first time I have imported a console but everything went without a hitch. www.lik-sang.com are selling them for 182.62 UK pounds and that includes a step down transformer. Delivery cost 34.55 but can be cheaper if you are prepared to wait longer. The only other thing to watch out for is the import duty, got smacked for 60.42, ouch!! That was for the console and Rogue Leader. I would guess that just the console would drop that a little, can let you know in a couple of days when my friends one turns up!

One thing worth bearing in mind is that there may be delays in getting one from dvdboxoffice. I originally placed an order there a few months back. Nearer the release I got a mail saying that they would not be getting enough units to satisfy pre orders, that was when I switched to lik-sang. My friend has an order with boxoffice, which he placed a couple of weeks after me and this has not been sent yet, hence he switched to lik-sang also. although he has recieved Rogue Leader and Monkey Ball. He has had a week with games and no console, it's too funny for words.

Regarding the previous post about getting it and it not working, that is also something worth bearing in mind and is something I was fearful of. But also bear in mind the case of one of my other mates who got a UK PS2 which didn't work out of the box, he had to wait a few weeks for another one. Yes it is less of a problem if it is a UK model but it can still happen.

So long as you have a TV that can accept an NTSC signal, there shouldn't be any problems just don't forget the stepdown! Also don't forget that it won't be here until March at the earliest and some sources are even quoting the summer or autumn! In the end I can say that I am well satisfied with mine and Super Monkey Ball has become a way of life!!


All the best

[Ono]

Will your Jap/US modified machine work with UK Pal games eventually?

[bishman]

I very much doubt it, but am not concerned. The US games are working out around the 25-30 pound level, I can't imagine the UK ones being any cheaper. Not only that but usually things get released there first and also guaranteed to always be 60Hz which might not always be the case with the UK versions. Remember Mario 64, slower speed and not full frame, lazy conversions make me

[Ono]

Good point Bish.


Seeing as the UK release of GC may not be until September??? I may well go for the same option as you.






/Me waits until Bonus from work is paid.

Got mine from Lik-Sang as well,arrived within a week, excellent service, but also got caught by the man for the tune of £55 (Irish). Everything about it is so small, it's really cool. Controller is great and I suppose I'm still getting accustomed to it, but does anyone else find the position of the Z trigger terrible. Wave race is great, the water is fantastic. RS is also good fun and very nice to look at but not quite as amazing looking as some are claiming. All in all I'm very happy with it and it will tide me over very nicely till the Xbox kicks off in March. I must say I've completely lost interest in my PS2 although I think I'll rent out PES after reading some of the posts here. BTW where do people get their games from, I used Babbages(Gamestop). Arrived in a week which considering I ordered the day before Thanksgiving wasn't at all bad.

[bishman]

I agree about the Z trigger, could be a little more comfortable I guess. Not sure where they could've put it, to be better and I wonder how many games will actually use it anyway.

[bishman]

Oh dear, I have a very unhappy friend. UPS sent his gamecube out on the wrong lorry and he didn't get it yesterday, not only that but now they say they have lost it and it may be up to 3 weeks before he sees it!!

Yeah- bish ive done the 3 extra on beginner but not on the others.

Ive now finished advanced and are struggling with expert.

Bish- do you use the warps such as the one on level 2. They are great my highest score so far on advanced is about 460,000 because of the huuuuge time bonuses you get for warping!

[bishman]

Sure do use the warps, as you say, they are essential. My best on advanced is 652,000. On advanced I use the warps from 6-10, 18-25 and 25-28. Still haven't gone through advanced without losing a life though, keep doing stupid things and dying. The other thing stopping me is the fact that the mrs loves the game so much, the reason this isn't helping is because when we play together we have to play on beginner level, monkey billiards or monkey bowling. It does mean that I can keep improving my beginner level high score though, that is up about the 175,000 mark .

Blimey- thats some score, thought I was doing well!!!!

I annoyed mine last night playing Monkey Billards- did best of 3, I won the first and third frames with 2 aces, oops!

Not happy that she got a 68 on Monkey Golf either- not that were competitive, you should see how heated it gets during a game of NHL Hitz 20-02!