AndrewTS

Okay, Portal is a fun little game. I knew the Half-Lifes were great, but this is a fantastic surprise, too. Warning: Portal spoilers It seems like Valve saw Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, too.

I've been sick and pretty much stayed in bed most of the day, but when I was up and finished getting the big plays on Zelda PH, I picked up my Orange Box (360) reserve. Played a good bit of Half-Life 2, made some more progress on trying to finish the first HL, then jumped into Portal. The voice is creepy until it says something really goofy...like R&C goofy. Does the whole game feel like this though (like a demo)? EDIT: Oh, I have 4 levels to go. I guess so.

Knuckles and Tails would be fine. Maybe Eggman but any more would be overdoing it. Even if it's only Sonic that's fine by me. I don't think they'll be able to resist putting a Knux rap in, though.

Yeah, nothing but decent to great games came out on NES. Oh wait... Nintendo's publishing polices are arguably less stringent than its competition. The Charlie's Angels game was rejected by Sony and Microsoft, but Nintendo allowed it to be released for the Gamecube. Then again, Chicago Enforcer was allowed to see release on xbox, but it was a "budget" release. I'm sure we can all cite a number of truly terrible PS2 games, but mostly those were 20 bucks or less upon launch as well. Nearly all of Nintendo's 3rd party crap is 3rd party *full-priced* crap, though. I'm sure you mean the straps. I've never heard of the remotes themselves breaking (unless them crazy krauts have been going Angry German Kid on them), and they've fallen 5 feet down onto a stone tile floor about a dozen times since I've gotten the Wii. I still put in an order for my Wiimote rubbers, though. JIC.

On Wii, "just barely mediocre" is the new "must buy!" What's that in reference to? It's in reference to 3rd party wii games sucking hard, usually following the recipe "take one PS2/Wii game, Just Add Waggle " or being flat out bad side projects that they didn't care enough to put a good team on. Umbrella Chronicles is going to be like an hour long. It's a rail shooter with apparently no real depth to speak of. Manhunt 2 -- PS2 game with waggle. Godzilla Unleashed -- PS2 game with waggle. Basically the same game as DAM Melee and Save the Earth. Bleach -- licensed game by Sega, and no Treasure. Accounts of the import peg it as "shallow but fun." Hardly a meaty game experience. At least it's an original game, though! Guitar Hero 3 is a game you get the chance to purchase by virtue of simply owning a relevant console (actually, not even that-- it's also coming to Mac, for crying out loud). Naturally, it's also on PS2. Wii owners need to quit lowering their standards, and buying any crap that's available to play. That's how things like Red Steel being a million seller happen.

Depends on what you go for in a FF/RPG. IV is narrative-driven and has more simplistic overall gameplay, but most folks have great unique abilities. V's class system is very well polished and versatile, so I think it has the edge in gameplay, but it has a relatively simple, straightforward storyline with less memorable characters. I think V is just plain more fun to play, but if you never experienced IV before I'd go with that one.

New PoP trilogy...finally something to materialize off that art leaked last year: http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/200...-4-screens.html Obviously, I'm interested.

Played the Conan demo. "God of War clone" kind of oversimplifies it... But let's see--a horizontal and vertical strike (called "light" and "heavy" here, but they still are H and V...), a block, jump, and throw button, using right analog to roll, context-sensitive button commands for counters and interacting with objects (at the very least), orbs collected from defeated enemies (green to restore energy, red ones for upgrading abilities). Oh, and a zoomed-out, uncontrollable 3rd person view. Feels sluggish compared to the real deal, though.

Call MS and try to get it fixed. If nobody registered it before, you may be in luck. If they refuse (perhaps on the grounds that you aren't the original purchaser, which they mighty discover if it was registered to a previous owner), or you don't want to go that route--how did you pay? If it's PayPal they have buyer protection policies that should get you a refund back on it. It's a DOA system, after all.

Yes on the Wi-Fi. As for the USB hubs, Sony hasn't really been a stickler on proprietary stuff for PS3, but you can bet it's not an "officially" supported feature unless they release an "official" PS3 USB hub. The nuts and bolts of PS3 compatibility, BTW: http://kotaku.com/gaming/customer-service/...t-to-308467.php So like I said, it's always been SW emulation on the PS1 front.

Since Sony is saying this is totally what we wanted, of course it is, based on what recent purchasers of the PS3 reportedly think.

No idea. Loved both the trailer, as well as the horribly violent MPAA ad. "Stealing movies is a felony...just like robbing the elderly...or murder." And the obligatory racist Ruckus comment was funny. "I ain't never seen a n***** smart enough to use a personal computer. Not even a Macintosh." And of course, Jasmine freaking out. Jasmine: "You're ruining my innocence!" Robert: "Shut up!"

All that "no plans" for a U.S. version of the 40GB? My ass. http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/40gb-ps3-dated-308191.php Only Three Hundred and Ninety Nine U.S. Dollars...and ninety-nine cents, plus applicable sales tax, tariffs, bundle-whoring, etc. Plus this holiday season you get to choose from 65 titles, such as Not Metal Gear Solid 4 and Not Final Fantasy XIII.

Manhunt 2 has been refused classification...yes, AGAIN...by the BBFC...yes, again. http://kotaku.com/gaming/new-cut-rejected/...gain-308072.php Rockstar is appealing: http://kotaku.com/gaming/manhunt-2/rocksta...sion-308357.php By the time this thing comes out in the UK, it's going to be Sneak King 2.

Email support, lol.

Pushed back to '08. Forgot about GH3, but it's a port. On Wii, "just barely mediocre" is the new "must buy!"

It will play PS1 games, still. If it didn't, it would basically kill a good bit of the PSN store. It achieves it through software emulating the PS1 hardware.

I theorize a lot of the original purchasers were morons who hadn't yet learned how to properly treat a game disc so it stays in proper working condition.

Any recommendations for a good/affordable dig cam?

Well, consider this: -Last week, N released Sin and Punishment, a previously import-only game that was still mighty expensive to track down the original cart for. You can now download it for about 1/4 of the cart's secondary market cost. -Lots of people don't have room to hook up a Genesis, NES, etc, or may not have the systems any longer. -Chances are, unless your family was rich, you never owned a Neo Geo. The eventual release of some good Neo Geo titles is interesting. -The Virtual Console emulation, with perhaps the exception of TG-16, is basically top notch, unlike those found in some compilation packs and some other standalone downloads. -The N64 games are, save for the lack of rumble, generally *superior* to their original releases, free of annoying blurring and graininess. Plus, using a better controller is a plus, too. I want Goldeneye not simply for nostalgic purposes, but because it will *look* and *play* better on Virtual Console. -What is wrong with Retrogaming? Apparently nothing, because N, S, and MS all offer similar services, to some extent. I can't and won't justify buying Sonic 2 for 8 bucks when I own it in tons of other perfectly acceptable forms. Other people can. That's why variety and quality on Virtual Console makes it appealing. Although, anyone who downloaded Urban Champion should be considered legally insane. Oh, and have you seen the Wii release schedule, lately? It's pretty much a black hole of suck between the releases of Prime 3 and Smash/Galaxy.

What makes BC a big deal for a lot of people, I believe, is a) the PS3 library is still rather poor, b) the PS2s aren't reliable hardware, with the possible exception of the slim. Sony's offering a new machine that finally has an acceptable warranty, and in some cases has the ability to play nearly all PS2 games. For people with sputtering, dying PS2s that could give out any day, the prospect of a shiny new machine that can do the same thing and then some is quite nice. The impending US 40GB PS3 leaves doubt as to the 60 GB's future. Ideally, one should have the choice to pay extra for the BC if they want it. However, since the 80 GB only has the software BC, and the 40GB is coming, I'm guessing the 60GB will be phased out. It's disappointing that right now it seems like the most compelling argument for getting a PS3 now is "if you wait, you will probably only have the choice of two shitty models."

There's really no reason they can't do 4. Other than, you know, *greed*. Also, enough weak sauce releases. There should never, EVER be another Urban Champion week. There's no excuse for not having 4 *good* games released every week. Plus, as I mentioned in the Wii numbers thread, get on some sort of online enhancements. You're going to have to have it ready for Brawl, anyway, N. Some online competitive Dr. Mario--something! Also, sent Reggie Kong over to Square to smack some sense into them, because they have more good games they *could* put on VC and aren't, and they haven't announced for a DS treatment either.

Guilty of that at times too, so I get it. Raw was the best of the 16-bit button mashers. I still can't freaking do Diesel's Mega Move, though. Well, I did it once, and I swear the input is slightly different than move lists say.

I was under the impression that online Street Fighter 2 is what several people in the thread were really, really calling for, and unfortunately Nintendo isn't interested in providing online-capable enhancements for VC. But on the post before that--I forgot this wasn't the general Wii thread; my bad.

They did 4 a week last year since the launch. Then, ever since the horror that was Urban Champion Week, they've done 1-3, but usually if it's one just game it's a really really good one.