AndrewTS

The upside of MM9 being like this is that the classic games' gameplay will be preserved. 7 was okay, but it was doomed to be looked at as a step back from X anyway. They tried to mix it up by making the sprites huge and detailed (if cartoony), and throwing in all the various Rush gimmicks, but MM was stuck with the traditional play mechanics of the old games otherwise. However, he moved slow and controlled like molasses. He was nowhere near as responsive as in the NES games. MMX has an overall slower MM than in the classics (compare how they jump, for instance), but the addition of new play mechanics (dashes and wall cling) made it feel like quite a different beast and made it fresh and new. MM8 tried to compromise, by having lots of detailed animation and cartoony characters, and having a similar feel to the X games, but lacking X's trademark moves. Didn't really feel like a classic MM game, either. Neither did Megaman & Bass, but I honestly don't like that game at all anyway. Seemed to be just like MM7 but with less polish. I think Capcom should try to throw in some incredible surprises in the graphics. Like super-detailed and animated backgrounds and special effects, that will not detriment the gameplay but still add graphic pizazz. Compare this to Wario Shake, and the difference is quite staggering. Anya does love to troll Nintendo. Of course, this is a Capcom game, but how *dare* Nintendo allow it on WiiWare. Even though, you know, they're doing Wario Shake, which appears to be old school and graphically great.

Link: http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/guitarh...ew_6126444.html Renegade mentioned his doubts about the controller, saying that the previous controllers RedOctane made weren't very good, but apparently they're making a new and improved one just for the game, so we shall see. Surprised it took so long for a game like this to be in the works for the States. This appeals to appeal the US market more than prancing around like a fruit on a DDR pad.

I rented Alone in the Dark for 360, played through the entire game...and I still really don't know what to make of it. Once a game has had a Uwe Boll movie made about it, is there really any coming back from it? House of the Dead was just a braindead rail shooter anyway, Bloodrayne, it and HotD got a movie sequel while the games didn't, I don't know anyone who knows or cares about Postal, and Alone in the Dark...well, it was something. The series actually had some dignity to it at one point, and the game being delayed for so long made me think someone maybe stepped in and decided to delay it to distance the new project as much as possible. Well, I still don't know what to think. I can't really call it a good game any more than I can several b-list Survival Horror games, like ObsCure, but I was compelled to at least play it. However, with the game getting good to terrible reviews, Atari threatening lawsuits over supposed reviews of pirated or unfinished game copies, and curiously a good score on 1up and good European sales, I gave it a shot. You play as Edward Carnby, who is the protagonist of the original Alone in the Dark. Making him like a hundred years old. This isn't a spoiler since the game synopsis tells you so. At any rate, you look like a scarred up Harrison Ford circa 2008, you don't remember anything about yourself (even your name at first), and some thugs are trying to knock you off when some unearthy crap hits the fan, and you're soon trying to make your way out of a destroyed/burning building in New York City. Throughout the course of the game, the gameplay shifts a lot, with game styles ranging from simple puzzles, to shoot-outs (including an essential FPS perspective), to Tomb Raider style platforming, to vehicle scenes, to a full-blown free-roam, GTA-style set of scenes where you hijack cars and drive up and down Central Park burning giant roots. I really wanted to like the game--and it's ambitious if nothing else, but Atari/Eden missed the memo that survival horror games don't need to have terrible controls anymore (not that it seems to think it is one, though). The vehicle scenes are abysmal, melee combat is workable once you get the hang of it (your control stick controls the movement of the item), but since you're always reaching for fire to do in baddies anyway, and ammo is doled out in generous amounts, it's usually a waste of time when you can use fire bullets to do the job. Some cool boss fights, though. The best part is the inventory system, where you can sometimes sacrifice ammo packs or even healing spray to make a last-ditch weapon. I still found myself wishing it was more flexible, but it's still a pretty solid foundation to build upon if they do a sequel. Shame that the story is generally pretty silly. The game tries to play out like a TV series...but with lots of cursing, so you can skip around to different scenes, "episodes" and get recapped on what you missed. However, it comes off and generally pretty cheesy, and forces cliffhangers at the end of every ep. I got a good rental out of it, and I couldn't help but cheer it on despite the many obvious gripes (the biggest one being the crummy controls). Still, moments like chopping off a dead security guard's arm to get through a handprint security gate, or sticking a molotov cocktail to a giant bug as it crawled back to its nest, making the nest go kaboom--pretty neat. Spoiler-ish, but LOL: Ironically, the PS2 and Wii versions are apparently pretty terrible, with the expected cuts in graphic quality, physics and some mechanics. Same basic settings and stuff, though. It's too bad, because those versions were made by the same team who made ObsCure, which I actually liked (a survival horror game inspired by The Faculty, featuring 2-player co-op). Anyone else brave enough to try it out?

The on-foot stuff is generally okay, but vehicle stuff is a glitchy, buggy mess. Also, platforming segments sometimes throw in falling objects that you have to know are coming ahead of time, otherwise you might get nailed with debris.

If you're a DQ fan, and like Zelda style games, I'd put in a recommendation for Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. It's got its flaws (easy, and gameplay is a bit repetitive), but it's a fun Zelda-style game with lots of DQ series references and baddies as main characters. Be wary though, it's adorable and silly, too.

Except for the apprentice, the guest characters are just "reskinned" versions of normal characters. (wa wa wa) So says Shane from 1up.

Oh yeah, no slight against PW, but the humor and characters are the main hook, not the gameplay.

"Essential" GBA or DS games? This'll be a lengthy one. First off, I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate...x infinity Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I liked the original, and War of the Lions on PSP is a great investment, but the characters are horrible and the Judge system is a load of arbitrary bullshit. If you liked the original game, be VERY wary of Advance. A2 I've heard brings back the Judge system but apparently it isn't as annoying, as its conditions are only for bonus stuff. Anyway:

With it way out of warranty, I looked up some repair guides. The fact that the system turns on and reads memory cards but the laser never moves sounded like maybe it wasn't a total loss. I found this useful PS2 repair guide for the slim: http://site.powergamingparts.com/RepairV12.html It functions perfectly other than the switches that detect the lid is closed seem to not be hit by the top casing. When I hold the two switches down the laser moves, it boots a game and works! It's all a mechanical issue with the case. So I just gotta fix that and I should be gold. I decided to just order a whole new top casing, though, rather than fiddle with fixing that teeny tiny case I have. Beats 2x as much just for a pawn shop unit. FYI for anyone else with slims.

It really bothers me when they release these games that are already populated on the Genesis Collection that I own for PS2. I know not everyone has it or has a PS2 for that matter.. but it still bugs me. I feel like they should be releasing older FF games or DW games or even fucking Pro Wrestling. Sure it's not a GREAT game.. but I'd rather have that than Alex Kid... Miracle World is a Master System game and/so it wasn't on the Sega Genesis Collection. Square isn't going to let Nintendo put Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest up because they can release remakes on portable systems for 30-40 bucks a pop. That's why we have King's Knight and not Chrono Trigger. Maybe, just maybe, they'll start doing it for FF1 and 2 since they've remade them FOUR FUCKING TIMES already. Also, having the games on a compilation on another system doesn't mean it shouldn't be on VC. I have no idea when the Wii SNK Arcade Collection is coming out, but come hell or high water, I would like to be able to play a full-speed Shock Troopers on it or VC, instead of that travesty that is Shock Troopers on the PS2 SNK Arcade Collection.

PAYBACK, BITCH!! Good letter, and helps illustrate why MS has so boned up this whole operation. I heard that MS was adding extra heatsinks to the refurbed units they were sending out, and there's ways to identify it if you had a refurb: http://gamer.blorge.com/2007/08/03/how-to-...360-will-break/

Today Alex Kidd in Miracle World is on Virtual Console. As supposedly being a non-shitty game, I have to ask, is it really? (I thought Genesis' Enchanted Castle was an unplayable turdburglar.)

Mainly it was fanboys not just looking for, but desperate for, a Playstation 3 killer app. Then it appeared to suck long before it came out. Then it was pushed back to right before MGS4, and then nobody cared. I hope it bombed. Maybe PS3 isn't a system for hardcore gamers, you know?

Outside of the PC/Mac version, only the DS has been confirmed, as far as I know. And some kind of mobile phone thing, which I assume isn't the full game. I also heard that the creator of the game was intrested in making a Wii verison, but he was only just intrested nothing was confirmed. Spore for Wii was confirmed an eternity ago. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164001

For re-licensing, yeah--I'd say you most def have a new motherboard. Mine just needed the opt drive replaced when I got it fixed, and none of my downloaded stuff had any problems.

97-ish. Attack of the Fem-bots! What the hell, Sega? Granted, I don't think anyone went broke underestimating how pathetic the romantic lives of Japanese otakus are, but it's like an "original character" somebody on Deviant Art created for their Mega Man hentai comic/lemon. But it's not even remotely original, which is kind of scary. Imagine if somehow Sega got sued over it...

There's also the matter of Tecmo not reporting Itagaki's resignation to shareholders, which under Japanese law they were supposed to do a day or so after they knew of it. So, employees, gamers, shareholders--everyone hates Tecmo! Too bad, I was looking forward to the Wii Fatal Frame game.

I consider that a rare crummy commercial for Nintendo back in the day. There was another Zelda rap too, people often forget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FepWbqPpJh0 Some of my fave commercials: Punch Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BZ4Uz3f7I SMB3: --though the one for the GBA release is better: Metroid 2: Ocarina of Time commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JntHVUp7m4E...feature=related US Final Fantasy 3 (6) commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgs72a5HXBc

I put Sega CD in, but I think I actually posted that vid in an AVGN-related thread, as context for his parody of it. Angry Black Guy is no Segata Sanshiro, though. "Blast Processing"--ugh. That's the kind of thing that makes technicians/programmers want to kick salespersons and marketers in the face. Was there something inherently wrong with saying the main processor was about twice the speed of the Super Nintendo's? So many of Sega's commercials were shamelessly juvenile, but then again, they were marketing to juveniles so it's somewhat expected. However, the montage of one second of gameplay from a game, switching to one second of another game, and then doing that over and over, making it faster and faster until something explodes, etc--that technique seemed to be in like 70% of their commercials. Nintendo copied it to an extent with Play it Loud!, and much of the Western game marketing remained like that until early into the 32-bit era. URnote even seemed like a direct bite off Welco Metot henex Tlevel PS3's North American adds were obnoxious and pretentious. However, nothing compared to Europe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_CIsfIVMU0&hl Maybe I'm just too much of a stupid American to get it.

EDIT: (moved)

I never understood this argument by McCain. Why is it "fine" that we find it necessary to have troops stationed in these(and a hell of a lot more) countries. I am not saying it isn't necessary for various reasons, but WHY is it a GOOD thing? Is it really "fine" that Americans are stationed in South Korea and Germany? Necessary, maybe, Fine...ummmm? Plus, McCain and the Republicans trying to claim they want to dial down the number of troops seems to be an utter crock.

Crummy day. Irreplaceable moderator. I was really hoping to see him moderate a few debates for the presidential election. All the MSNBC guys look like they're spending the entire commercial breaks bawling.

You honestly may as well get a used black if you're going to try to find a new NG, but at any rate: http://www.gamequestdirect.com/018946010304.html They have a listing for Black, but it's out. They may get more later: http://www.gamequestdirect.com/018946010427.html

I really enjoyed the episode, but it seems like it was kind of rushed; some things weren't very well explained. Killinger had a way bigger job to do than just helping Monarch get back on track... Although the best part was the

None taken. Partly it was just it running out, and part of it was me playing PSP/PS2/Wii more, my 360 then breaking, and waiting for my repair/return. The original Ninja Gaiden is dirt cheap these days, though, and Ninja Gaiden Black isn't *that* different.