(although, this may have changed with the trilogy...).

It absolutely has.

I think a line needs to be drawn between "wow, that's a really cool effect/those graphics are beautiful, it really makes this feel alive/real" and actually losing yourself in a game.

Well, I lost myself a lot more in Prime than I ever did in Super Metroid.  I certainly never thought if it in the "wow graphics" sense, more in the immersed sense where I'd look at every nook and cranny, scan things to learn more about them, and just soak up the ambiance.

I just don't see it working well in a traditional RPG, without other major accompanying changes.

Absolutely; I don't think anyone in this thread is arguing that position.

Metroid Prime guys, Metroid Prime.  That's the height of immersion, plain and simple (thanks in no small part to the visor HUD/Samus reflection and Scan Visor).

A basic design education, the more interdisciplinary the better, will really help your game design abilities (even if in that education you don't design a single game).  Although it may seem otherwise, game design isn't nearly as unique a design medium as it may seem, and a great deal of aspects of design in other fields transfer over very nicely.

My favorite bit of info regarding this is Miyamoto: he went to Industrial Design school and got a degree in that before being hired by Nintendo (basically products/objects; I still don't get why it's called "industrial").  Personally, I think it's his time in design school that's allowed him to be the powerhouse he is when it comes to game design.  From what I've seen of his process/approach, he asks certain questions and views things in a way that's very common in other design fields, but still very uncommon in game design.

At the end of the day, design is design; it's not art, and it's not science, and it's not even something in the middle of those: it's absolutely its own thing, and one that really benefits from an education tailored specifically to it.

@mewse: absolutely.  Anyone who isn't currently doing this should definitely take heed; it's excellent advice.

I'd recommend being realistic and cutting down on the amount of time you put towards your indie game.  It's maybe not the nicest thing to have to do, but at some point you need to have a life and not burn out.  One prominent indie dev I talked to recently said that he was burning out from working on his game, and set a very reasonable 10 hours a week as the amount of time to spend on the project.  Given my own crazy arch school obligations, I'll be aiming for 5 hours a week this year; no, it's not a lot, but it's realistic.

I've gotta say that I'm kind of disappointed by the close-mindedness of a lot of the responses to Seth's interesting proposition.  I guess what people are responding to here is that if you remove the role of numbers in an RPG, it wouldn't really be an RPG (at least in the conventional sense) anymore.  That fact seems to be freaking people out and making them defensive.  I don't see a problem with a major change up like that at all though; realistically, the people that played this new game type probably wouldn't be the same as the ones who played *traditional* RPGs.  But really, why shouldn't we be trying to create new genres, instead of just working solely in the style of old ones?

Being someone who doesn't play RPGs pretty much because of the numbers/grinding, I think having things be a lot more fuzzy would be far more interesting.  One of the reasons I like the Mario RPGs was the fact that they had reflex button pressing as part of attacking, so there was more than just number crunching.

Here's a simple PSN one: Everyday Shooter!  If you don't already have this game for a different system, then you absolutely have to get it; one of the best indie titles created so far, and really really innovative.  It definitely a is a big challenging and frustrating, and you shouldn't touch the analog stick at all (even Jon Mak says that it should be played with just the buttons), but yeah, one of my favorite games, PSP or otherwise.

[MegaMan X Maverick Hunter]

MegaMan X Maverick Hunter is a very well done remake of the SNES game. Fun and challenging.

I'll second this; definitely a good time! 

Thanks guys; I really should have included "handheld" in the explanation, because that's what I'm looking for (no idea why I didn't think of that word).

I'll be sure to look into the Zoom H2 then! 

Wipeout Pure and Pulse 

Pretty much the best futuristic high speed racing at this point (but it has speed classes, so it eases you into the really fast speeds, unlike F-Zero).

Hi guys, I'm looking to buy a small portable microphone to record random sounds with.  Ideally I'd be able to record to mp3 or wav or something, and then just digitally transfer the files to my computer.  I do care about the sound quality, but yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect or anything.

Thanks! 

That first one is amazing!  Yes, it looks old, but in the sexiest, retro-ist way possible! 

Fucking amazing game Adam!  Great art/atmosphere/sound design!  And it still manages to be very addictive with only one button!

EDIT: oh yeah, and you guys should release the music. 

Wow, this sounds really really cool; definitely looking forward to updates!

To be entirely honest, I really couldn't care less about a new 2d Metroid; for me, Prime 1 was so phenomenal that they should focus entirely on creating a game even better than that one, but obviously along the same lines.  Heck, even a new IP like that, that does that game style better is cool by me.

And Intelligent Systems should focus their time on Advance Wars, as they've really shone when it comes to making that series awesome.

I didn't like Hunters just because it was the final nail in the coffin for 2D Metroid games. 

You've seen the new Other M trailer, right?  Seems to me like they're trying to make a hybrid 2d/3d (and not just 2.5d or anything, either).  I dunno; I'm an exploration junkie, so combat really isn't a big draw for me, and the Other M looks like it's more combat oriented as opposed to exploration oriented.

Wow...yeah.  Not even just the colours; the form is crazy/awesome too.  Great shot Ivan! 

I actually talked to someone once who said they liked MP2 because the atmosphere was more like Super Metroid than MP1 (and they were massive fans of Super Metroid).  I didn't disagree about the atmosphere, but for me the atmosphere was one of the reasons I didn't like MP2, so I couldn't really argue.

I'm actually proud to say that I've won every single Metroid game; I think that it's the only game series I can say that for (yes, including Pinball).  Prime 1 is my favorite by far.

And I don't really get what all the Hunter's bashing is about; it's really not that bad, and as a DS FPS it's great.

No, I wouldn't say that they're really hard.  Just stick to normal mode and you should be able to make it through just fine.

And yeah, MP1 is a game you just can't miss playing; really one of the best of the best. 

i literally just replayed MP1 on the gamecube this weekend... I think it's up there as one of the top 3 games of all time for me

I've known about this re-release for awhile, so I've actually forced myself not to replay the game and instead wait for this.  I'd actually been bitching for a bit about "how awesome it would be if they re-released MP1 with Wii controls," so when they announced it I was a little taken aback, as stuff people bitch about almost never actually happens.  :D