AndrewTS

And DNF will be done when it's done. I bought Star Fox Command for DS. And yes, I like it. There's been a lot of confusion about just what it is and what it plays like (mostly due to Nintendo's sketchy information and deceptive gameplay videos that were released). Is it really not a rail shooter? -Yup. It's all combat. Is it really completely controlled with the stylus with no dpad input? -Yes, it is. You guide your ship and plot the courses of your units using the stylus, and even in the battle scenes you use it for all movement. You shoot using any button--so lefties and righties could use whatever choice of configs they want. I've found the L button to be...well, basically my only choice for firing. However, you will need to get yourself in the proper position so you can a. hold the ds b. hold the stylus and c. have a servicable fire button at your fingertips. Is there really strategy elements? -Yes. Each mission--at least so far--involves you usually keeping the Great Fox safe. You have x number of turns to destroy enemies and collect their cores. This can be rather annoying at first, because until you get the controls down pat nabbing the cores can be frustrating, but you get some leeway with collecting them. Are the controls bad / "ick, stylus controls." - I'm not convinced that the stylus is a proper replacement either--and keeping straight if you need to go left or right to head to one of the enemies on the map can be tricky, because you have to have your eyes darting up and down from the screen, when most of the time you can simply glance to plan the direction to head into. Did it need stylus controls? - For a rail shooter? Hell no. We know d-pad controls are fine, and nothing save for the bomb-dropping (which lets you actually drag a bomb from the bottom screen and "drop" it in an area with your preferred targets) really seems different from the old games. - However, if they *had* to go this direction for the game, it was the right decision, since the stylus controls are essential for controlling your units and plotting their courses effectively, plus it's better to do all stylus or all dpad rather than changing between them all the time. Are the cutscenes that bad? - I'm sure a few here and there are, but I've skipped over them up to this point, and it doesn't seem like they contain much essential gameplay-related information. Just what are the missions? - Basically mini-strat games. You move your "units" (which, when charging head-on into an enemy, results in the meat of the game, the combat scenes), try to destroy the enemy, and clear everything. However, just blowing enemies away aren't all you have to do. And yes, it sucks to have obliterated a ton of enemies in record time, only to lose because a dot that was hiding in some fog came close to a semi-circle.

With all the talk of "power levels," plots that can be summed up in 2 paragraphs stretching out to like 30 eps each, cookie-cutter semi-sd character designs, it's already just a party of barely-out-of-their-teens characters to complete most of the cliches.

Infintum Labs' Phantom is officially dead: http://gear.ign.com/articles/726/726140p1.html

Actually, some (but not all) of the NES patents are expired. So in theory it's 100% legal to make a system that plays NES games if it doesn't infringe on existing patents. http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051111/boyd_01.shtml Most "NES-on-a-chip" consoles--such as the Retrocon and most of the others, aren't 100% effective duplicates of the chipsets and are fine and dandy. Nintendo actually lost a suit in one of those cases. So it's not as black-and-white as the band of gypsies at your local mall selling those 500-in-1 systems that resemble N64 controllers that plug into TVs (violating valid game copyrights), while down at the other end those same games are being sold through more legimate (though ridiculously overpriced) means. I'd been trying to find a Tristar 64 (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristar_64), but they're virtually impossible to find, and usually they're on ebay for higher prices than you'd except (nearing the triple digits). A nice compact console that would effectively play all my N64/SNES/and NES games would be fantastic, but sadly it probably wouldn't play those rare problematic NES games, and isn't 100% on SNES games. Oddly it plays Star Fox, despite it using the FX chip.

I didn't say it was "bad" exactly. I said I hate the game, that's all. So while it probably plays more like the fights in the show, I'd rather play SDBZ.

Yeah, but translating the spirit of a show/movie/etc. doesn't necessarily make for good gameplay. However, DBZ fans are hardly discriminating with their tastes in gameplay. BT fans were swearing up and down how complicated or "lousy" SDBZ is, because they don't get the gameplay. Although the air combat is much chunkier than in BT. As for the best of Budokai 1-3....it's like this. If you care more about heated, competitive gameplay, the 2nd one is a bit better. But B3 is more "cinematic" in it's approach--you get more mid-match cutscenes of people smashing into walls/through mountains, etc. Also, more people seem to prefer Budokai 3's quest mode. Don't ask me at all about Sagas, though. I played like 2 minutes of it.

Silent Hill 2: CE *contains minor spoilers from early into the game* http://newgrounds.com/portal/view/334798

Japanese God Hand commercial; it has crappy sound, and unfortunately for me it cuts off part-way in. You may have to click past that point just a tad with your mouse to watch the rest. Oh, and possibly NSFW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTlWWd7eaw

It's funny that on MKO's forums, there are plenty of folks in utter denial there. "No way the final will have text + katas. NO WAY is Midway that lazy." However, you're saying even for text+katas that the endings are still nonsensical anyway, which is pretty sad.

Wasn't the last game Guilty Gear XX "sharp" reload? Anyway, sounds more like they "Capcomed" GG; SNK is the one who Madden-ized fighters.

Maybe the live action show--if they haven't used her yet--can have her played by a dwarf girl.

That's a hella-old concept design, from back when the "shell" controller was actually going to be a shell you put the Wiimote in. Compare to the current Wii-mote's revamped design: http://e3.britishgaming.co.uk/2006/nintendo/wii/wiimote.png Also, it seems talk about the attachments and doodads has really toned down, and it seems all the launch (and launch window) titles either use a traditional scheme, or support the wiimote/nunchunku configuration. The "shell" design turned out to be this: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/arc..._controller.jpg. However, I doubt that's final, either.

SC III is officially a Greatest Hits title, so that $20 price tag is permanent. Ok, none of the target games had a GH packaging, and Lord knows that EB/gamestop barely has any new copies of the game, opting to keep the old pre-owned price on everything for a while..

Judging by the demo I played...all combat. I hate it. It's my least favorite of the games, by far. UYA is much better, and I still find the combat in that game a bit excessive. However, depending on your gaming tastes, your mileage may vary (Not sure about Renegade's feelings on it, because he loved UYA). Oh, and best thing to come out of MK in years: http://www.viralchart.com/bloodonthecarpet/ (well, that and MK SM's gameplay, even if the story is terrible)

LOL at Motardo: http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/perl/cds...age&id=1600 Those aren't even horse legs. Those are goat legs. Motaro is a jacked-up satyr. His stage theme should be Torgo's from Manos.

There's no real "positive" way to spin that. It's a big mistake; it isn't just that there's no 3P online games this year, but Nintendo isn't sharing the code to let it happen. Of course, that's a matter of months, really. I personally don't care, but its Nintendo that suffers, not the 3Ps.

I agree. Centaur Motaro ain't happening if he's not a default character. Since they use mokap, and haven't bothered to put any effort into the series in years, they'd have to create an original 3D model from scratch if they wanted him to have 4 legs. All for the sake of a single old boss character? Forget about it.

I'm not sure how long 20 dollar SC3 lasts, so get it ASAP. I guess Motaro had half of his body chopped off in a mob hit and it was put on Shao Kahn's bed, or something.

Yes, onyx = black.

Update: Onyx and Coral Pink hit the US September 13th. (Credit: 1up.com) http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153112 Still no green...

I'm sure it's all for the sake of character balance....... You suck, Boon.

Silent Hill Origins trailer: http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/5252 Gameplay footage: http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/5237 Preview: http://psp.ign.com/articles/727/727752p1.html (but that monster at the bottom looks *awful*. Terrible design.)

I disagree that Kingdom Hearts doesn't qualify as a "blind buy." Do you honestly remember what the impressions were at the time? We were seeing screens of this game coming out of Japan with some spikey-haired punk interacting with FF characters, yanking Pooh's fat ass out of a rabbit hole, and fighting doofy-looking inkblots. On top of it all, that utter hack nomura was heading the project. The entire idea was borne out of a disney exec and a square exec getting in an elevator and brainstorming the most blatant, contrived, and illogical gaming tie-in imaginable. And it worked. By some mad miracle we got not one, but two great games out of it. It softened up one of the most bitter, square-hating folks I know into a blind buy...and "my jaw never left the floor." Okay, it got good reviews, but every square RPG gets good reviews. That doesn't mean we all have/should have high expectations of quality. Obscure: Survival horror meets The Faculty. The voice acting is just precious, too. It's like someone played resident evil 1 for the first time and thought "good, but the dialogue isn't campy *enough*!" The gameplay is hot too. Where else can two people team up in a horror game and beat monsters to death with blunt objects? However, I rarely have blind buys since i usually deeply research my game purchases, but a lot of games i like are unheard-of games for most folks.

Yeah, but you're not me, and I hated that movie.

RE: the silent hill fye rebate: Details here: http://shop.fye.com/product.aspx?sku=202736264&loc=50290