To your second question, I'd have to say that my most regrettable decision as an IGNcube editor was attending E3 2003.
As for my Top 10 Favorite GameCube Games (all capitalized because this is important), here you are:
It's actually pretty tough to narrow the list down like that. There are a lot of other fantastic games, from Viewtiful Joe to Wave Race: Blue Storm, all of which deserve a spot in the Top 20 (again, capitalized because it's an event).
So let's begin then, shall we? I mean, we have 10 paragraphs to go through here. I should probably start with a breakdown of why Mac's standard operating system, called OSX, is superior to Windows XP in most ways. But first, a warning: if you are a PC gamer, you might as well stop reading now. Games and Mac are at war with each other, as the latest Doom III Mac benchmarks surely prove. However, if you make a living with your computer, or simply want to use it for word processing, photo and video editing, digital music, Web browsing, and custom scripting, you really can't do better than Mac OSX.
Mac OSX is, at its core, Unix, except heavily modified to look and function like an Apple product. Of course, because its backbone is Unix, the system is not only exceptionally stable, but also highly flexible. Previous versions of OSX have enabled a wide range of options to Mac users. I'll talk about those below. But first, an immediate plus. That Mac users control a much smaller segment of the market than PC users automatically ensures one benefit over Microsoft's ugly, awful operating system: fewer viruses. That's really an understatement. I'd estimate that for every 10,000 viruses released to PCs, one is developed for Macs. I'm sure that's going to change as the world gradually wakes up to Apple's product, but for now it's quite lovely.
The latest version of OSX, called Panther, brings with it number of alternatives (improvements) to Windows XP. The most obvious is presentation. Apple's operating system just looks better than anything out on the market, and if you dispute that, I'll let you in on a secret: you have no taste. The subtle, simple interface is extremely streamlined for efficiency, but not at the cost of visual style. Menus allow for transparencies and shadows, animated minimize and maximize windows, and much more. All of this is possible without slowdown or any loss in navigation speed. In short, OSX looks like it was designed by a team of qualified artists, as opposed to Windows, which looks like it was designed by a team of shareware programmers.
Stability is important, don't you think? I find myself thinking about stability often during work because my life-sucking PC crashes at least once a day. It's gotten so bad that I save my work once every five minutes just because I live in a constant state of fear where Windows XP is concerned. Not so with Mac OSX. PC purists will argue that because Apple has a monopoly on its hardware, it doesn't need to design software to accommodate hundreds of possible hardware configurations, add-ons, peripherals, and so on. My response is that's probably true. But you know, as the end user, I really don't care, so long as the product works. In my experience, OSX performs damned near flawlessly. Programs almost never crash. I'd say that I encounter a crash on Mac once every two months versus once every couple hours on my PC. And when something crashes on a Mac, it really doesn't matter. You just close the program and open it again. No harm done. On the other hand, PC crashes can be system fatal. Everything locks up and you need to reboot the damned computer.
Perhaps the most impressive feature about OSX is the Dock. Actually, it was this seemingly small (but in practice quite large) extra that first convinced me to switch from PC to Mac back in the day. The Dock is little more than an icon bar that can be set to the bottom or side of the screen. The bar, which can be minimized and then enlarged when moused-over, replaces the need for desktop icons. You no longer need to clutter your screen with a bunch of useless crap. Just mouse-over the Dock, each icon will be magnified, click on the one you want, and your program loads. That simple. Since Apple released the Dock, a number of PC rip-offs have unsuccessfully attempted to duplicate it.
Mac OSX-compatible software is another huge reason to consider an Apple product. From the clean, efficient Web browser Safari to the outstanding movie-editing tool Final Cut Pro, Apple really knows how to deliver consumers that go above and beyond. Don't even get me started on iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, DVD Studio Pro, Garage Band and iWork, all of which kick my ass and yours. And let's be honest: if you have an iPod -- and millions of us do -- you're better off with a Mac. ITunes runs 10 times better on Apple's machines.
Now let's talk about OSX Tiger. This is Apple's next major OSX release and it's set to debut a number of pretty amazing new additions to what is already the best operating system on the market. Apple has not officially announced a release date for this product, but rumors indicate that an announcement will be made on April 1 and that the software could ship as early as two weeks later. You should really click on this link to see Tiger in action for yourselves, but since I promised 10 paragraphs yesterday, I mean to deliver.
Apple is really proud of Tiger's new Spotlight feature. This is essentially the ultimate search function. What's so amazing about the tool is that it searches everything on your computer, including text inside word documents and e-mail, for your keywords, and it does so in real-time. No delay. As soon as you type a word, a box below scrolls every file on your Mac that matches it, and separates said files by category. Microsoft is hoping to do something similar with its Windows XP successor, codenamed Longhorn, but as we all know, that's not coming out for a while still.
Tiger also delivers a really cool new widget tool called Dashboard. Widgets are more or less mini-programs such as a calculator, a weather reader, world clock, flight reader, an address book, or stock reader, all of which could easily clutter your desktop if you're not careful. Dashboard manages these widgets and makes them appear or disappear with a single button. No clutter. No mess. You just hit a button and a previously invisible desktop layer materializes, and all of your widgets with it. As someone who constantly uses mini-tools like these, Dashboard is an invaluable addition to Tiger.
There are so many more reasons why Tiger will rock that it's impossible for me to fit them in a paltry 10 paragraphs, so let me sum up two more of my favorites. The first is the latest version of iChat. iChat is Apple's IM client. Except, in addition to standard text messaging, the latest version of iChat enables some vastly improved videoconferencing options. I happen to own an iSight camera and use it to videoconference with coworkers, friends and family all the time, so naturally I'm excited. iChat uses the new H.264 compression codec for superb new levels of video quality at reduced stream sizes. This enables four-way videoconferencing with higher-resolution feeds, but without the bigger data flow. Again, it's also the presentation of these videoconferences that separates Apple and Tiger from the rest. Check out the link I included to see how iChat makes videoconferences look as though they are taking place at a polished table inside the company boardroom. Lastly, Tiger includes QuickTime 7, which also utilizes the new H.264 codec for amazing high-def-quality movie playback at reduced file sizes. One of my hobbies is watching game and movie trailers, so I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of QuickTime 7.
And there you have it, an even 10 paragraphs.
What have we learned from this? I think today's lesson is that it's better to let Matt (yes, I'm writing about myself in the third person) run off-topic for a paragraph or two in his daily mailbag than to endure 10 paragraphs about a subject GameCube owners really don't care about. Regular readers of the mailbag section will know that my brain refuses to stay glued to any given subject for very long. (It was quite a struggle to cover OSX, as much as I am anticipating it; my mind wanted to write about other things halfway in, including various movie trailers like The Island, Red Eye, and, of course Star Wars.) So just go with it and all will be well. Oppositely, more complaints about my off-topic-ness can only result in 10 more paragraphs about another unrelated subject, such as why HD TiVo is cool, but also ridiculously overpriced.
Matt responds: Funny, that. I got some letters about my PSP comments yesterday that weren't quite as cheerful as yours, to say the least. One of them was like, "well imageine tat! A self-proclaimed graphix whore like$ the PSP!!111" Clearly a mental giant to be sure, but he does have a point: I am a graphics whore. That said, I am an even bigger fan of good games. This is why GameCube is my favorite console, and it's also why I happen to really like the PSP so far. In short, both systems have some pretty good games. I listed my GameCube Top 10 in response to today's first question. These aren't just some of my favorite GCN titles, but also some my favorite games of all time. The majority of my favorite games this generation are on Nintendo's console, which automatically makes it my favorite system. But on top of that, I happen to favor the GameCube controller to the others, too -- particularly Wave Bird.
As far as PSP goes, I'm merely being honest about my opinion. The simple truth is that I prefer Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racers to any games I've played on Nintendo DS so far. That doesn't mean I don't like DS, though. In fact, I'm really, super excited about both Nintendogs and Kirby: Cursed Canvas. Once Nintendo gets more DS-specialized software like that on the market, I'm sure the playing field will even out some. But right now, PSP's ability to recreate some of my favorite franchises with near-console-quality graphics and audio while retaining great gameplay mechanics, coupled with its movie/picture/music functionality, is frankly impressing the hell out of me.
Stefan D.
Matt responds: Yes, there is. Nintendo announced that this game was in development at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month. You can expect more information on the title very soon. WrestleMania is on Sunday, remember. You're going to hear/see something before then.
-Diego
Matt responds: Again, interesting speculation. For readers curious what screenshot Diego is referring to, I believe he means this one. Of course, these could just be dogs.
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