Best year for gaming ever?

Post by **snarl** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:25 am

IMO, that's bollocks.

Post by **Kaylee** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:52 am

The first thing that popped into my head was that said to tune of 'That's Amore!'

Cathy_Quinn · Post by **Cathy_Quinn** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:30 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:The first thing that popped into my head was that said to tune of 'That's Amore!'

Anyone for pizza?

Post by **Kaylee** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:13 pm

In other news my PS3 is here (came as a free gift with my phone contract). Maybe it's because I was expecting to be disappointed due to the constant complaints and flak around it, but I'm very impressed!

Everywhere I've read how it takes ages to set up, framerates are jaggy in games, playstation store is crap etc. I had it set up (complete with new updates) in about 12 mins, I've downloaded a ton of demos (Ratchet and Clank is the platform game I've been waiting for since Sega totally f***** up Sonic!) and the Playstation Network actually uses REAL money, rather than Microsoft Mickey Mouse Points (my only gripe against an otherwise great online experience).

Very elegant piece of hardware so I must say, very impressed

I wouldn't say its better than the 360, simply because for the money the two are more or less equivalent, but the endless moaning I've read about (why do people go nuts because they can't play custom music during a game?) doesn't seem very well justified imo. It's a solid and very well put together piece of kit with some top notch content. I think its fair to say most consoles hit their stride about a year after launch so I've obviously come in at just about the right time

I've got a copy of Folklore and that is very fresh for me. I didn't realise how saturated I'd been with FPS and Wii-esque minigames until I could play something that was neither. I've missed RPGs

Honorable mention for fl0w also, which is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in ages

And Locoroco Cocoreccho too

Long live Locoroco!

Cathy_Quinn · Post by **Cathy_Quinn** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:04 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:I wouldn't say its better than the 360

Damn straight!

I am very impressed with PS3 and think we will have hours of fun when we acquire more games. I will be giving Folklore a try, although from what I've seen there's a lot of written dialogue in it (I read quite enough for my Uni course thank you very much!) but as you say it is nice to have an alternative to FPSs, racing games and silly little games.

Karl Lynch wrote:Long live Locoroco!

Bajumbo moi noi noi jecker dabatto bumperget jun jun!

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:21 am

I say my PS3 is a better bit of kit compared to the 360, by quite some margin, my only problem with it is, the 360 simply has all the AAA titles, and what games the PS3 has, are mostly available on the 360.
The online service is ******* dire, and Sony know that, untill they get thier own servers up and running like MS have, then they will be lagging behind in this department.
the only game on the PS3 really worth online investment, is Warhawk, trying to set up a game of Warhawk is a nightmare compared to the 360.

On the money front, Both MS and Nintendo use thier own online currency...

the EDGE forum actually made a list of titles, that were not racing, and FPS for the 360 other day, and oddly enough, the 360, again has more titles, and more than the PS3 has to offer!
Hell, when people big up the PS3, two titles are always branded about, Resitance fall of man (FPS) and Motostorm (racing) which both fall into the afore-mentioned catagory.

To be honest, game genre has never bothered me in the slightest, if a game is good, then its worth playing, its worth my investment in time.

Im currently playing (or trying to at least)

Super Mario Galaxy - Easily the best game of its type, ever made, it could even be one of the best games ever made. 3D action/platform

Crysis - thats what my PC for, no? FPS

Mass Effect - its got some nasty graphical glitchs, that I can live with because otherwise its brillant. Action/RPG

Cathy_Quinn: What are the silly little games on the 360?

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:30 am

I think she was slighting the Wii and its preponderance of party games. She'd never bad-mouth her precious console

360 is a very good console, and bringing it out a year early was a very clever move- all the games developers starting producing games for it and have stayed pretty much loyal.

RFoM and Motorstorm look pretty meh to me. Another shooter and a dune-buggy racer. Joy!

the EDGE forum actually made a list of titles, that were not racing, and FPS for the 360 other day, and oddly enough, the 360, again has more titles, and more than the PS3 has to offer!

I think the problem is that only certain titles seem to get shelf-space and advertising time. I can well believe there are more games out for it than PS3 on just about all fronts (although it's hard to quantify if you go out of country, since there are some games in the US which haven't made it over here and ditto for Japan, all of which are region free).

In fact the only thing I'd disagree on is their online service, I've had no hassle with it and found it nice and easy to use

Probably a case of horses for courses though. Soon as I can I need to pick up Warhawk, it looks like all kinds of fun

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:49 am

Oh the Wii is very anoying, SMG is the only decent game on the console, sorry, im picky, and I expect better from Nintendo.
The rest of the games are just party games, that have about as much life as Pong in them or are Game Cube games with some rubiish remote controlls tacked on.
SMG on the other hand...

I think another problem with the PS3 is that its hard to develop for, the 360, supposedly, is very much like a PC and developers have found it easy to get good results from it.

I agree on the shelf space scenario, hell, SMG is down in 3rd place in the charts this week, being beaten by SUPER FOOTBALL GAME 3000, and INANE SHOOTER OF DeATH.

Its a western thing I suppose, we like our FPS?
Was reading an interesting article on Games-Central the other day about how every generation has its game, your Snes and Megadrive both excelled and platformers, and everything was a platform game. now-adays its all FPS.

I think FPS are popular because in general, they represent the pinacale of graphics, and in some respects offer the most interactive experience with an enviroment.
Unfortuantly, like the 2D days of platform games and such, alot of it is Generic crap. but some is incredibly good.

ORANGE BOX

Even the most hardened people, who dislike FPS, will love the Orange Box, even if its just for Portal.
HL2, and its add-ons really are the complete polar opposite to the generic, 1 space marine v's the world, of which Halo cuts its teeth (even if Halo does do a pretty stellar job of it)

The PS3 online service, its works, its playing games over the service that doesnt work. The way MS intergrated your friends list into the games is so much easier to use, and they host the games on thier giant servers and such, so lag is pretty muc non-existant.

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:58 am

MS integration is definitely very good. They worked it seemlessly into their Live service (which whilst being an obvious move doesn't make it less awesome). Receiving MSN messages in-game I'm not so keen on (mainly as they're a swine to reply to without a USB keyboard) but as far as game invitations, lobbys and generally communication with the people you play with go it can't be beat.

I must pick up the Orange box

Probably get it on Cathy's 360 since I here the PS3 version is buggy as hell (mainly since the guy in charge made it quite clear it's an afterthought he'd rather not have bothered with).

I dread to think what programming on the PS is like. The 360 is (like the original XBox) basically a PC in a box with a new shell so it's very straightforward. That said Sony just halved their development pack costs (good move, why it wasn't done months ago is beyond me) so hopefully we'll get some good stuff on it to go with some of the titles already out/out in the next few months. I still need eye of judgement

You might be on to something there with the different generations of consoles being defined by a particular style of game. See, I've nothing against the idea of FPS and I recognise it's so common because it's a tried and tested format that people lap up, my problem is basically the same, Kiff Kroaker-esque groan I make when (playing Uncharted for example) I realise it's another unimaginative running-shooting-standing still game. That's why I liked Halo so much, very diverse, although I would have to say that I prefer Hitman: Blood Money (does that count as an FPS?).

Hopefully a friend of ours will bring his Wii over for our Christmas bash and we can have a crack at SMG

I'm always willing to give things a fair chance and if you're this positive about it then it must be pretty good

Still looking forward to LittleBigPlanet, I have such hopes for that game

And for a new Locoroco title as well

Dead Head · Post by **Dead Head** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:09 am

Recently, I bought a PlayStation 3. Very nice hardware, though I am a bit put out that Sony decided to remove the PS2 chips in a sneaky effort to force owners to buy more PS3 titles (masking it under the pretense of a cost reduction effort).

Running Linux (Ubuntu 7.10) on the PS3 is very useful, even on my godawfully small SDTV. Nice to have a proper desktop and proper media playing applications available.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:21 am

Yeah, as much as I want to like Drake Uncharted, I just cant, it feels really basic to me. Saying that, Drakes bases itself in a Jungle (with trees for walls) and sitting on my desk next to me is Crysis... which is like a real jungle down to each tiny little leaf.
God, the PC has lept over the consoles again...

Yeah I heard about Sony reducing the cost of the PS3 dev consoles, im still unsure as to what to think about this. on one hand ive heard Sony are pretty much begging developers to make games for the PS3 but many are saying its just a pain in the butt, so Sony dropped the price.

How much was it in the first place, the rumors suggest about a 1/3rd more than a 360 dev box. - total cost? god knows...

SMG has to be played, ignore the erm intro, sit down and play it for 2-3 hours, its quite brillant.
Ive just reached some levels that are hard, like SMB3 hard, but thats good because untill then, I thought the game was way to easy. not sure about the spike in diffaculty but its good to see things getting tough.
Still cannot get over how imagnative it all is. very impressive...

LBP really wants to be very good, I think its got alot to live up to.

Hitman: Bloody Money. I was never a big fan, as I find the controlls a bit naff but then i guess the game is more a puzzle than a FPS, a bit like Splinter cell in that way.
Is it a FPS? hmm... tough call, im going to coin the phrase 'Hybrid FPS' - there, ive never heard that before!

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:26 am

Lesse off the top of my head I think the dev costs about $10,000 now. Obviously that's not including man hours and other costs which for a complicated system would really drive the price up.

EDIT- Dead Head: for the price difference mate why not go pick up a brand new PS2 or a second hand one with a stack of games?

Dead Head · Post by **Dead Head** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:08 pm

Karl Lynch wrote: Dead Head: for the price difference mate why not go pick up a brand new PS2 or a second hand one with a stack of games?

I bought a 60GB one (that has the ps2 b.c.). My bedroom space is very tight, so one games console (i.e. just the PS3) is about all I can fit with my current surroundings.

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:10 pm

Ah fair enough- when you said removed the chips I assumed you'd gone with a 40GB. Mine's 60 too and BC is alright, its something like 90%of games work.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:20 pm

They do? - i think the BC list of the PS3 is just as shocking as the 360 BC list no?

I find it strange that titles such as FF X - one of the largest selling PS2 titles, doesnt work on the PS3...

I think both MS and Sony need shooting over the BC features, they brand the consoles as backwards compatible, when in fact, they are not. unless they pretty much re-program the games to work. or update the emulation software etc...

Which leads me to the PS3 40GB model, what a farce, the Backwards compatiblity mode of the PS3 was done using a software emulator, why does it cost money to remove?
rip off!

Post by **Best First** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:26 pm

WHEN THE F*CK DO YOU PEOPLE GET TIME TO GO TO THE PUB?

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:31 pm

Before gaming time, there is pub time, then game time, then sleep time, followed by work time.

Friends, family, pets and lovers are cleverly squezzed in between 'times' and the circle is complete.

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:31 pm

I find it strange that titles such as FF X - one of the largest selling PS2 titles, doesnt work on the PS3...

I think therein is the issue... there are a lot of PS2 games that work (considering how many thousands of them there are) its just that most of them are generally toss and nobody would want to play them. Some of their bigname stuff like FFX and FFVII have issues, which IS annoying.

Which leads me to the PS3 40GB model, what a farce, the Backwards compatiblity mode of the PS3 was done using a software emulator, why does it cost money to remove?

I thought it was half-and-half? Initially they had the emotion engine and PS2 hardware in the PS3, then they stripped out the emotion engine to make the PAL versions then they stripped the remaining PS2 bits to make the 40Gig.

Quite how stripping what must amount to a few pennies worth of electronics makes such a saving though I don't understand.

WHEN THE F*CK DO YOU PEOPLE GET TIME TO GO TO THE PUB?

Even when I'm there I'm thinking of how to tackle the next level of Folklore

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:59 am

I've reached a bit of a stopping point on Halo 3: The Rank of Captain. At this point, everytime I play I'm forced to play with 20 level or higher guys that clearly play this game waaaay more than me and pwn me a good deal of the time. But occasionally I get in a big team battle and have a good time running around and shooting things.

Also, my headset has gone out on me, which is another incentive for me to not play, I suppose.

In other Shanti418 gaming news, I'm still crunching along on GH3, even though I played Rock Band at a friend's house for like 16 hours over the Thanksgiving break and was endlessly hooked. Now when I play GH3, I feel like I'm playing Playskool Guitarz 4 Kidz. Except it's insanely difficult, much more so than Rock Band.

What games do I want to play or are going to play in the future? Pssh, I'm still back in August: First BioShock, THEN Mass Effect.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:27 am

pulled another 3am on Mass Effect last night, it is rather sci-fi movie good.
Seth Green voices the pilot of your ship, and is a cocky lil git but due to my now increased aggresive bargining skills, i snap him back into place.

Im really quite enjoying reading and interacting on the dialogue, its like some interactive movie... eww, nasty term.

Cathy_Quinn · Post by **Cathy_Quinn** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:28 pm

Sorry I'm late replying and the convo has moved on, but just for the sake of it...

As Karl quite rightly said I was mainly referring to things like WiiSports and WariWare for silliness and pointlessness. The stupidest things I've played on the 360 so far have been Sonic The Hodgeheg and the Demo of Ratatouille.

Must agree that Halo 3 was a brilliant experience, a beautiful game to look at with lots of weapons and vehicles to offer. Plus I really liked the fact that you could play the main game as 2-player rather than being limited to a few maps they tacked on as an afterthought (ala GRAW)

And BestFirst, if you have any ideas as to how I can drag Karl to the pub more often I'm all ears

though my own inner geek was exposed when I came home from a nightclub to find I'd missed a double episode of Family Guy - nooooooooooo!

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:36 pm

I think it's time to give up WoW and get back to casual gaming.

Been checking out some of the games mentioned here and there are a few I would like to give a whirl:

Forza 2 (Forza is the only thing I play now apart from Warcraft)

Halo 3 (I loved the first game, was disapointed with the second but I really wanna check out the third game)

Also what's this Orange Box I heard mentioned?

Post by **Best First** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:47 pm

South Park owns Family Guy.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:37 am

Best First wrote:South Park owns Family Guy.

It's true. Completly off topic, but I just bought Season 10 of South Park on DVD, and in the commentary for the two part Cartoon Wars episode with Family Guy and Mohammad in it, Trey and Matt say that yes, they actually DON'T like Family Guy. They feel like the obscure pop culture gags that have no bearing on the plot are lazy writing. They don't begrudge Family Guy for their success, though. They compare themselves to hardworking musicians, and Family Guy to Justin Timberlake, some fancy pants know it all who comes in and gets 4x the ratings of them.
The REAL interesting part though, was they said that after the first part of Cartoon Wars, the creators and writers of Simpsons and King of the Hill called them and were like, "Hells yeah! We hate Family Guy too! Way to stick it to those guys! You should include us!" And THAT'S why Bart Simpson and the King of the Hill staff was featured in the second part. Because all of popular animation came together to actually say "We think Family Guy sucks."
For the record, I don't think Family Guy sucks, but it's a cheap thrill. And as Matt and Trey also say, the thing is Family Guy could be really good because of the characters they've developed.

BACK ON TOPIC>>>>

Darth Aux wrote:Also what's this Orange Box I heard mentioned?

Orange Box is a console game that includes Half Life 2, Portal (some kind of puzzle game, I think), and Team Fortress 2 (a multiplayer FPS with classes), and I THINK HL2 Episode 2? I dunno, I haven't got around to playing it yet, but it's not for lack of want.

I'm looking forward to playing Mass Effect, but even when I DO, I'll still spend the nights dreaming of Rock Band. I played that at a friend's house for 8 hours two nights in a row over Thanksgiving, and the experince of rocking out with three other people changed my life. Now if only I knew other losers who have nothing else to do but pretend to learn how to play instruments.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:22 am

the Orange box

orange box has HL2 (regarded as the best FPS ever) - Episodes 1&2, which are essentially sequals, or continuations of the story if you like, both as long as HL2, and just as good.

So thats 3 lots of super FPS action for you.

Portal is a FPS puzzle game, with some very dark humor, and all based around a very clever portal weapon, that produces portals! - utterly brillant.

Team Fortress 2, is a sequal to the online MP game TF, but is now all in cartoon graphics, again, brillant if u like MP online FPS death etc...

Super value for money.

Playing Mass Effect at the moment, loving it.

Post by **Best First** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:29 am

Shanti418 wrote:
Best First wrote:South Park owns Family Guy.
It's true. Completly off topic, but I just bought Season 10 of South Park on DVD, and in the commentary for the two part Cartoon Wars episode with Family Guy and Mohammad in it, Trey and Matt say that yes, they actually DON'T like Family Guy. They feel like the obscure pop culture gags that have no bearing on the plot are lazy writing. They don't begrudge Family Guy for their success, though. They compare themselves to hardworking musicians, and Family Guy to Justin Timberlake, some fancy pants know it all who comes in and gets 4x the ratings of them.
The REAL interesting part though, was they said that after the first part of Cartoon Wars, the creators and writers of Simpsons and King of the Hill called them and were like, "Hells yeah! We hate Family Guy too! Way to stick it to those guys! You should include us!" And THAT'S why Bart Simpson and the King of the Hill staff was featured in the second part. Because all of popular animation came together to actually say "We think Family Guy sucks."
For the record, I don't think Family Guy sucks, but it's a cheap thrill. And as Matt and Trey also say, the thing is Family Guy could be really good because of the characters they've developed.

BACK OFF TOPIC >>>

love that tail.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:39 am

I think I like Family Guy more than South Park. the random Star Wars moments make me happy

Post by **Best First** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:31 pm

this explains why you are always wrong - you are at odds with universal truth.

IronHide · Post by **IronHide** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:50 am

Halo 3. Good Stuff, great ending (possible sequel WUT!!), loved the gameplay.

Assassins Creed. Great graphics, very fluid. Game play and storyline is a little hinky, but manageable.

Mass Effect. Reasonably good, but soooooooooooo much content. Almost...too much...

Orange Box. Not. Worth. The. Money. Might as well wait an extra 2 months for TF:2 to come out seperately or buy it over Steam. Unless you haven't played HL:2 (then I must assume you're either a hermit or over the age of 35).

The Wii and Related Games. Honestly, I love Wii Sports. Its fun as hell and a great pasttime for a drinking night. As far as Zelda, meh. I had more fun with the old 64 games than this one. Mario v Sonic looks cool, but we'll have to see. Same goes for the new SSB. Also....Galaxy, was decent.

PS3. Has yet to impress.

There are other big titles such as Heavenly Sword, Time Shift, MoH, etc that were fun to play. I'd have to say it was a pretty fun year game-wise. Should be interesting to see what the future holds for these 3 systems.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:57 am

Now I've tried Heavenly Sword but I'm not honestly that blown away. It's a button-mashing beatemup basically. I had more fun with the DW:Gundam game (and that was not a great game... it would have been manageable without the endless badly lip-synched voiceovers spewing the same 3 arrogant catchphrases like 'You're weak you will never impress me!' (usually after I've just single-handedly wiped out an entire army)).