Dinosaur games?

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]mOzart, I am reading the very latest books and papers published on dinosaurs. Of course there is controversy. But we have direct evidence that T-Rex hunted. Yes, if it fell at full gallop it would die, but who says it ran? It likely waited in ambush, or one T-rex would "chase" a hadrosaur off a cliff or to other T-rexes. Allosaurus was only a bit smaller and there is little doubt it was a hunter. And yes, all dinosaurs were basically in the same family as birds, but having feathers did not make a velociraptor and less ferocious!-even Utahraptor was covered head to toe in feathers yet it was a 6 foot long pack-hunting monster!

Also, a few million years after most dinosaurs went extinct, the fiercest predator in the Teritary period was A BIRD-TITANIS was 8 feet tall and called a "Terror crane"; coincdently it was flightless and had two "claws" almost identical to T-rex. I'm not saying T-rex wasn't a bird of sorts, I'm saying it would not be something you would want to meet in the woods late at night!-
"oh don't worry it's just a scavenger- with teeth the size of Bananas, and eyes that could spot you a mile away!" A human would be little more than a snickers bar to T-rex. Although the biggest Tyranosaur was Giganotosaurus...these creatures grew so big because the PREY they hunted grew big-it was a prehistoric arms race. Giganotasurus is found in the same deposits as Titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus-the biggest dinosaur yet found![/QUOTE]

The information I've been watching and reading has the Tyrannosaurus Rex moved out of the line that included the Allosaurus, Gigantasaurus and Argentinosaurus.  As I pointed out, the T-Rex has been effectively moved to a different evolutionary line based on the evidence provided by the last decade's worth of discoveries.  They are no longer considered to be directly related to any of those dinosaurs.  It was such a huge change in thinking that the beast was almost renamed (like the Brontosaurus was), but ultimately the proposed renaming met with too much protest -- not from scientists mind you, but from the general public.

[KanYozakura]

Not to go back on topic, but...

I've always had fond memories of Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues on the SNES.  If you liked the Genesis JP, you'll LOVE this one.  Awesome music, great graphics, great gameplay, the whole nine yards.  This should be the next dino game you play.

There's a bunch of JP: The Lost World games.  I've heard the Genesis one is quite good (but also quite rare), and I remember playing the PS1 version back in the day.  Good game, 2.5D platforming action.  It's also available for the Saturn.  There are differences between the two versions, but I can't remember what they are.

I personally hated Dino Crisis.  It's like Resident Evil simmered in crap, garnished with a small slice of "meh".

As far as last gen's games go, I can't think of any...although JPperation Genesis has been on my mind for a while.  Is it really good enough to warrant the insane eBay/GameStop prices it goes for?

Also, I know you're not really into next gen stuff, but the new Turok for 360 is dynamite.

[Alienblue]

Whoa, mOzart, what you just posted made no sense. Tyranosaurus rex was a TYRANOSAURID, a group that included TABOSAURUS from Asia and GIGANOTASURUS("giant southern cross lizard") from Argentina. T.Rex was not related to ARGENTINOSAURUS or ALLOSAURUS, those were Titanosarids and Allosaurids respectively. I too have seen a lot of silly mis-information on TV, is there a published scintific paper by a Doctor of Paleontology proving T.rex was not a Tyranosaurid? Again TYRANOSAURIDS were a whole group of dinosaurs wide-spread over the world, comparable to Primates or Rodents as mammal classes.

Also, scientists are now classifying animals by CLADISTICS, no longer using the branching family tree we did in school. By this basis, Dinosaurs were reptiles and BIRDS are an advanced kind of reptile too. But they were more closely related to the well known raptors than to Tyranosaurids.

This is getting boring and away from games, so feel free to continue this debate by emailing me. I am not saying you are wrong, but the evidence I've seen does not support it.

I would like to mention the book BULLY FOR BRONTOSAURUS by Stephan Gould. I agree that the name BRONTOSAURUS-"Thunder lizard" is far more appropriate than APATOSAURUS, which just means deceptive lizard. And Bronty is just so well known. Even
worse was renaming the first horse..."EOHIPPUS" means "DAWN HORSE" and is SO very apprpriate, much more so than HYROCOTHERIUM which means-duh!"Hyrax like beast"! How dumb is that? I refuse to acknowladge it, and tell people the first horse was EOHIPPUS! After all, MESOHIPPUS-"Middle horse" kept its name! And Gould argues it should be that way.

Did you know Pterosaurs were warm blooded and had HAIR like mammals, but were not mammals? They were Pterosaurs! Many different groups of Dinosaurs had feathers but were not birds.
Birds evolved from just one type (probably COMPSOGNATHUS), and even though MICRORAPTOR had wings and could glide like a flying squirrel, it still was not a bird, and more than a bat is!

Ok, back to games. I played CHUCK ROCK 2-SON OF CHUCK. That was one of the funniest games ever! I did NOT like RADICAL REX the skateboarding dinosaur, though my exwife loved it(SNES).

[zenzerotron]

Everyone knows that dinosaur bones are the work of the devil, planted by Satan himself to make mankind not believe in creation anymore.

P.S............God hates astronauts.

CAVEMEN AND DINOSAURS NEVER EXISTED

I seriously can't understand why people today still believe in the creation story, considering carbon-dating, and all the various fossils we've found.......

I realize that evolution is a flawed theory, but at least it holds some water.

I personally always want to imagine dinosaurs as the most violent and powerfull creatures the Earth has ever seen. I DON'T want to find out they were just really large chickens.

When I was young, I had a fascination for dinosaurs, most little boys do. No little boy imagines giant chickens! They picture roaring monsters.

Myself, and many others, would like to think that dinosaurs were REAL monsters. They were'nt folklore, legend, or works of fiction, but REAL monsters that really walked the earth. That's the appeal of them.

Has anyone mentioned Primal Rage yet?? It was easily the #3 most popular fighting game, behind Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Whoa, mOzart, what you just posted made no sense. Tyranosaurus rex was a TYRANOSAURID, a group that included TABOSAURUS from Asia and GIGANOTASURUS("giant southern cross lizard") from Argentina. T.Rex was not related to ARGENTINOSAURUS or ALLOSAURUS, those were Titanosarids and Allosaurids respectively. I too have seen a lot of silly mis-information on TV, is there a published scintific paper by a Doctor of Paleontology proving T.rex was not a Tyranosaurid? Again TYRANOSAURIDS were a whole group of dinosaurs wide-spread over the world, comparable to Primates or Rodents as mammal classes. [/QUOTE]

Dude, you are doing it again.  The only reason that Tyranosaurid fits into that classification is that men many years ago decided to make that classification and fit them all into it based on the evidence they had at the time.  And what I am telling you, point blank, is that the new evidence in the past two decades has been STRONG enough to bring them to revise that taxonomy.  This isn't just stuff I am making up, this is what the evidence has led these men to conclude.  The T-Rex has been effectively moved out of its original classification.  That change ALMOST led to a name change, a controversial one, when they realized that it had more in common with a dinosaur discovered much earlier than the first known T-Rex bones were discovered.  The T-Rex has now retained its name, partially due to tradition, but it has nonetheless been reclassified.

I don't want to argue that with you, as I am not the one who is making these assertions -- much more learned men on the subject are doing that.  But hold back on the "made no sense" stuff when we are talking about human-designed information models such as taxonomical species classifications.  These are tools -- a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

[RRJ]

[QUOTE=zenzerotron]Everyone knows that dinosaur bones are the work of the devil, planted by Satan himself to make mankind not believe in creation anymore.

P.S............God hates astronauts.

CAVEMEN AND DINOSAURS NEVER EXISTED

I seriously can't understand why people today still believe in the creation story, considering carbon-dating, and all the various fossils we've found.......

I realize that evolution is a flawed theory, but at least it holds some water.

I personally always want to imagine dinosaurs as the most violent and powerfull creatures the Earth has ever seen. I DON'T want to find out they were just really large chickens.

When I was young, I had a fascination for dinosaurs, most little boys do. No little boy imagines giant chickens! They picture roaring monsters.

Myself, and many others, would like to think that dinosaurs were REAL monsters. They were'nt folklore, legend, or works of fiction, but REAL monsters that really walked the earth. That's the appeal of them.
[/QUOTE]

Lol. I once attended a creationist gathering/speech at the USC campus which was led by various instructors of the "religious arts". They held a Q & A session after the speech, and I asked what they thought of dinosaurs, hominids, Australopithecus etc. He replied that there was no such creatures. He then went on and explained how they were either planted there by individuals who refused to accept the "word of god" or that they were simply deformed humans...yes, including dinosaurs. He rationalized that sin was at such a high rate back then, that god punished humans and animals alike to resemble the various beasts that walked in hell. Absolutely hilarious to say the least.

Evolution a flawed theory? How so?

Back on topic: now that I think about it, I have no memory of ever playing a dino related video game. I'm going to have to take some of your guys' recommendations and endeavor to play these titles.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=zenzerotron]I personally always want to imagine dinosaurs as the most violent and powerfull creatures the Earth has ever seen. I DON'T want to find out they were just really large chickens.

When I was young, I had a fascination for dinosaurs, most little boys do. No little boy imagines giant chickens! They picture roaring monsters.

Myself, and many others, would like to think that dinosaurs were REAL monsters. They were'nt folklore, legend, or works of fiction, but REAL monsters that really walked the earth. That's the appeal of them.[/QUOTE]

Actually, the scientist in the article I posted earlier had something to say about that which I thought was poignant:

[QUOTE=The Article]"People don't like it much," he says. "But we're doing science here. It's not an opinion poll. This is based on an accumulation of the evidence. It's just hard to change your mind when you grow up with the idea that this is a big, nasty predator."

When Horner talks about Tyrannosaurus rex, it's hard not to pay attention. He's paleontology curator of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont., which accounts for 11 of the roughly two dozen T. rex specimens ever found. Teams that Horner led into the Hell Creek region of eastern Montana found eight of the giants in the past two years as part of an unprecedented effort in paleontology.[/QUOTE]

[ActRaiser1]

Anyone ever play the Sega CD game Cadillacs and Dinosaurs?

I remember liking the cartoon as a kid but that's about it.  Essentially, you had a guy in a car driving around with a bunch of dinos.  You wonder why it never took off?

[steerforth]

I don't have much to add this conversation, but I would just like to say the dinosaur cartoons in Calvin and Hoobs by Watterson are fantastic.

There beautiful, and they perfectly capture the 5 year old idea of a dinsoaur, which is the most interesting kind of dinosaur there is.

Whenever I hear the word 'dinosaur', that is what I think of.

Nobody in the funnies today has half of Watterson's talent, artisic ability and ambition. I still read the comics every day, it is a habit and I am at least half a kid in some ways, but there are only a couple really worth reading.

[Alienblue]

mOzart, I like you a lot and don't want to argue with you over something as silly as dinosaurs. I cannot link that article, but interestingly, the book I am reading right now is by Proffesor Horner himself. I really agree with you mostly anyway. T-rex skin is indeed like a chickens; it could indeed have had small display feathers. My book has a picture of a chicken and underlines it "mordern dinosaur". So we are in agreement there.

I just think the evidence that T-rex was a SCAVENGER is skimpy. Again, we have HEALED t-rex bite marks on dinosaurs that escaped.
Also, it would be near impossible for an animal that size to rely on "leftovers" alone. Dude, even chickens in the wild are omnivorous and catch and eat insects and small reptiles. If a chicken was the size of a T-rex it could snap a person in half.
In fact it has long been known, ostriches-the worlds largest bird- are quite dangerous. They could kill you with one swift kick. So you see, the two arguments are not mutually exclusive.
T-rex can be chicken-like and still a hunter.

The book I have is quite current, 2006. Yet I know research is ongoing and it says that much will be disproved in time. When I was a kid, I read that Brachiosaurus lived under water and the "bump" in his head was to breathe! We now know that is silly, If Brachiosaurus submerged totally it could not breathe due to pressure. Old pictures show dinosaurs dragging their tails and of course NONE ever did. I will keep an open mind and keep up with new finds. We must be cautious though....only a few years ago Discovery magazine had an article about a bird "older than Archeopteryx" found, dubbed neoopteryx. It was a fraud! Someone combined small raptor fossils with feather inprints. They had to print a retraction. Just because something has been reported as a new find doesn't mean it is right.

Anyway, I argue no more. Calvin and Hobbes was a great strip, and the art has yet to be matched, but the new strip PEARLS BEFORE SWINE is hillarious and matches C&H's sarcastic humor. I urge all to check that one out!