Burgenstein and I attended Nintendo's Cube Club in Philadelphia tonight. I really had no excuse not to go, as it was being held a mere 3 blocks from my apartment. After standing in line for about 20 minutes with about 40 other people, we were granted access. Following are my impressions.

Setup
Two rows of Gamecube kiosks ran the length of the floor, totalling about 35. Each kiosk was equipped with a 32" Panasonic Tau HDTV connected to the console via component input. Most stations had 4 controllers hooked up, but some, like Rogue II, only had one. The only drawback was the imprecise picture geometry generated by the TVs. But overall, a really nice set of systems.

There were 2 special booths in the rear that featured a 36" Tau HDTV and surround sound. Each was manned by a Nintendo representative that gave a hands-on tutorial of the games (Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers Melee). A DJ played annoyingly loud rave music the whole time, which probably explains my headache. A large-screen projection system at the very back of the space showed trailer movies for some of the games, which looked quite nice on that setup.

Hardware
First of all, the console itself is small. I'm sure you all know it's small, but seeing it in person is quite different. From screenshots, I thought the console looked bulky and fat, but I found that the unit looks sleek and streamlined up close. Overall, I very much like the look of the console, especially when I consider that it's the only console coming out this year that will fit in my entertainment cabinet. It still looks like a hi-tech toy, but hey, I like toys.

I really like the feel of the controller. It felt quite comfortable in my hands, and the buttons were placed in just the right positions. After years of PSX gaming, I've become a total Dual Shock fanatic, and I'm very picky with controllers. But the GC controller feels very good, and controlling most of the games was a breeze. The oddly shaped X and Y buttons bothered me a bit, though, as I prefer the standard circular buttons on most pads. I suppose I'd get used to them fairly quickly though. The left and right triggers contoured perfectly with my index fingers, so using them felt right too. The d-pad seems very small, but it wasn't used much in any of the games I played. I didn't quite understand the little yellow "nub" on the right side of the pad; I don't recall using it either.

Games
A nice mix of games was on display. Graphically the games are quite good, reasonably comparable with some of the second-gen PS2 games. Madden 2002 is virtually indistinguishable from it's PS2 cousin. If anything, it might be a tad smoother, in terms of anti-aliasing. Speaking of which, many of the games featured the nice edge anti-aliasing featured in many 2nd generation PS2 titles. Some, like Luigi's Mansion, had no anti-aliasing at all. The games themselves did a fair job of showing off the systems' capabilities, in terms of drawing distance, atmosphere/weather effects, lighting, texturing and polygon-pushing prowess. Seeing swarms and swarms of Pikmin prancing all about with no slow-down was quite a sight.

Pikmin
I really didn't "get" this game until I saw it in action. It's basically a puzzle game in which you instruct your ever-burgeoning Pikmin followers to carry out objectives in the environment. Different objectives require differing amounts of Pikmin to accomplish. Completing tasks rewards you with more Pikmin, allowing the cycle to continue. There's a day/night element as well, as Pikmin will die if they're not huddled back to their spaceships before dark. The demo I played was a 3 level affair. According to the Nintendo Rep, it's 7 months old, and a lot has changed since then. The friendly chap also gave us a thorough set of instructions on playing the game, which helped quite a bit. Nice people, those Nintendo folk. The graphics were quite nice, and they reminded me of A Bug's Life in terms of style. Overall, this was a fun, novel game that has real potential. Plus, all the hot chicks were playing it, so there must be something to it.

Super Smash Brothers Melee
I'm not a huge fan of fighting games, so this was one of those games I enjoyed more watching than playing. But being a gamer, I tried my hand at it. My buddy and I were summarily pounded by a pair of 1337 SSB super-pimps. The action is fast, frenetic and unrelenting. Often I had difficulty keeping track of where my player was on the screen. Most times, I was flying off to the side, exploding in a pillar of red flame. I found it impossible to actually pick a character, as every combination of buttons I pushed resulted in failure, so I ended up playing as Blue Falcon or the Star Fox guy. I really wanted to play as Pikach or Peach, but alas, I'm a fucking dumbass. Anyway, the game was pretty fun once I got the hang of the controls. Seeing Pikachu eat a pill and explode to 3 times his original size made me laugh out loud. The demo also featured an "Adventure Mode", which combined some one-on-one arena fighting with platformer-style jumping and item collecting. I didn't get to try this part, but the people who did seemed to be having fun with it. If anything, it looks like it will add some depth to the game, which is a plus for SSB fans. But this one's not for me.

Rouge Squadron II: Rogue Leader
The graphical upgrade is this games' biggest selling point. And frankly, the graphics are outstanding. Tons of geometry, near-infinite drawing distance, hi-res textures, lots of things moving all about, and some really nifty lighting. The menus were nice too, as they featured clips from the original Star Wars movies. The color-coded targetting window was a nice touch, as it allowed you to quickly differentiate enemy and friendly targets. The missions themselves are a Star Wars fanboy's wetdream. Flying a B-Wing squadron up against a pair of Star Destroyers was great fun, as was tripping up walkers on Hoth. But in terms of gameplay, it felt all too familiar. If you've played the first one, or Episode I Starfighter, then you've played this game. It plays almost exactly the same as those games, with only minimal additions. But if you liked the previous games, then you'll probably like this one too. I'm just a little disappointed that Factor 5 didn't significantly enhance the play mechanics.

Luigi's Mansion
I didn't get to play it, but what I saw looked very appealing. The models and lighting are top notch. The translucent ghosts look incredible, even as they're sucked into Luigi's vacuum cleaner. The cartoony story seemed rather charming as well. I'm thinking of going back tomorrow night so that I can actually play it. I found the whole "haunted house" theme kinda cool... I kept describing it to my friend as "Silent Hill lite".

Wave Race: Blue Storm
As expected, the water is the real star of this game. It feels like it has mass, and the random wave patterns make each lap a new experience. The menus also feature the nifty water distortion. The game plays pretty well too. Of course my buddy had issues just getting past the first lap, but I was zooming around with no problems. The rest of the game looks quite nice, if a little plain compared with some of the other games on display. It essentially looks like an enhanced version of Wave Race 64, but it's still mighty fun.

Eternal Darkness
A Nintendo rep walked up and asked me if I wanted to use the headphones to hear the game in surround sound. I said "No thank you". I'm having a crappy enough time just trying to play this sack of donkey balls. I know now the hell that is The Roman Guy. The highlight of my The Roman Guy playing experience was attempting to stab a prone pair of legs by thrusting my sword into the wall repeatedly. Gah, I won't spam up my own article with further talk of this abyssmal piece of tripe.

Swag
The freebies were a mixed bag. There's a mini-disc demo CD that's playable on your Mac or PC. It's basically a Flash website that has info, screens and video clips (165MB total). I also grabbed a foam cube puzzle, which when solved forms a cube emblazoned with witty marketing slogans, such as "Are you Cubistically Correct?". I've deemed this puzzle impossible to solve. My friend picked up a handful of temporary tatoos, which he applied as soon as we got back to my place. We both entered to win a free Gamecube in the sweepstakes they were running.

Overall
Dave and I had a great time. We're both more excited about the GameCube than we ever were before. He put in a pre-order for it, but I'll wait it out. Way too many top-quality PS2 games have sapped my gaming budget far into next year. If nothing is going on tomorrow night, I may go back for more, if only to play as Princess Peach Toadstool.