Reddaye

It's only the greatest game ever made. Well worth multiple play-throughs.

Worse news for Sony comes from San Jose Mercury News' Dean Takahashi who writes that Sony recently "pleaded with third-party developers not to abandon its struggling platform", attempting to make the argument that the PS3 is filled with untapped hardware potential.

As Takahashi writes, it's a decidedly different attitude, one that's been reflected in Jack Tretton's E3 presser speech and Kaz Hirai's Tokyo Game Show keynote. Both execs approached the opportunity to present a more humble Sony, with Hirai stressing that the company was working to bring down hardware prices and work more closely with third parties.

So my brother and I go to get a PS3. It's priced at $999, and contains the console, a controller, and 2 launch games. The console in question is the 60Gb, backwards compatible version. However, all the stores are sold out, so we have to wait a week.

Fair enough.

A week later, we go to collect, but are told that there is absolutely no chance of getting the 60Gb version in Australia, as Sony have decided it's too expensive for people, so they removed the backwards compatibility, and changed to a 40Gb hard drive. The price is now $499 for the "new" version.

Slight problem: it's been paid in full...

Therefore, aren't we owed a 60Gb PS3, regardless of Sony's brain-melting business strategy?

Let me warn you now Duin...be prepared to throw your controller in frustration during 'Ravine of No Return' or whatever it's called...the fifth mission I believe. Wow, I found it frustrating.

Glad someone else liked the game too. It seems that the 'player reviews' have been higher than the 'professional reviews' in general.

Is anyone really suprised by the negative response to yet another sony product? C'mon, what part of the PS3 so far hasn't been a disappointment or vastly underwhelming.

They better get their stuff together quick, if they don't get a few killer apps soon, they're never going to catch up

A rental is a good call CKN and Duin. The overall presentation is fantastic (although I've noticed some screen tear and SLOW DOWN which is unacceptable at this stage in video games), loads of extras (there's actually more extras with this game than with most Collector's Editions people waste money on) but the controls have their moments.

Anyways give it a rental hopefully you'll both be pleasantly surprised like I was was.

...and are we like the only three people here who own a PS3? lol

I picked this up today and EB Games despite numerous poor reviews and even the guys at the counter hinting that the game was rather shitty and I'm damn sure glad I didn't listen.

Everyone's big complaint seemed to be that the controls were difficult and unresponsive. Honestly I think using the Sixaxis tilt functionality makes controlling your dragon feel so much more natural. It's a bit tricky when you first start out but after going through the tutorials everything smooths out quite well. People seem to expect this three ton lizard to turn and move like a modern jet fighter.

The targeting and camera can be a bit wonky and there's a some slowdown here or there but overall I'm shocked at how bad a rap this game is getting in the press. It's not as good as I'd hoped but still solid overall.

Anyone else pick this up?

I've been waiting for this game for two years and it's fucking incredible. God bless Ken Levine :'( Tuesday truly can't come soon enough.

Well that's fine Norro, things got out of hand either way. It's better to end this before it turns into two people just pointlessly squabbling over a forum, which solves nothing.

EDIT:

Criticize the Wii all you please. Constructive criticism breeds improvement. Criticism simply for the sake of it is absolutely worthless. I have many complaints for it. And since we got one a few weeks ago, lack of more than a handful of games is a big one. But that is not Nintendo's fault and not something to bitch about. We knew what we were buying and what was available, and the future looks exciting.

Someone here is an angry little fella Duin, but I think it may be you. I didn't start attacking other members of the forum, I just voiced my opinion (as poor as you may think it is). Everything was going pretty civil until you erupted.

But whatever, let's try and keep this topic at least somewhat steered in the original direction.

Way to spread misinformation there. Every Wii game barring Godfather (that I have seen at $65) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (that I have seen for $70) on the Wii in Canada is $60. Do you have a Wii? Only the other two have the $10 higher sale price on games.

A lot of great counter arguments in the last few posts.

When game sales are in a slump, you're not going to see games like Ico, Okami, Viva Pinata or Psyhonauts - you're going to get rehash after rehash after rehash - because that's what is safe and guaranteed to turn a profit. But when games are doing very well, like they are now, you're going to see many releases that cover a broad spectrum of players and I don't see how that can be looked at as bad at all.

I just realized I never really bothered to put my own opinions into this. How stupid of me.

Personally I'm in the same category as TCO and Dragsy with Elder B's comments on the Wii but not so much about his comments with hardcore gaming in general. The Wii for me is a huge let down (just like the N64 to a lesser extent, and more comparably the Gamecube). I finally got one probably a month or more ago and haven't even played it for longer than an hour tops.

As far as hardcore gaming "dying" goes, I can honestly see it shifting a little to help compensate for this new style of gaming. Nintendo themselves are shifting much of their time towards more casual gameplay, but honestly Nintendo's act was getting stale (to me anyways) a while ago. EA are putting a lot of focus on "non-games" but really EA shoot for the mass market anyways so it's no surprise.

Couldn't be arsed to read it, too busy at the moment, but is he basically saying that "hardcore gaming" is going to die because the Wii is letting causal gamers play too?

Just an excellent article I happened to pick up from the GameFAQs message boards (SHOCKINGLY considering the massive number of children that seem to post).

We made the acquaintance of SportsBlogNation president Tyler Bleszinski--yes, he's also the older brother, by three years, of Gears of War designer Cliff "Cliffyb" Bleszinski--after reading an eminently fair assessment that he'd written on his own blog Gearheads of War about our critique of the dialogue in Gears of War. Since then, we've emailed from time to time on subjects various and sundry. During one such exchange, prompted by our inaugural Monday Morning Quarterback post about the April sales charts, Bleszinski voiced his concern about the impact that the Wii--more specifically, the tidal wave of casual game-oriented newcomers that Nintendo's hit console was ushering into the market--would have on hardcore gamers like himself. Intrigued, we asked Bleszinski to tackle the following question, "Why do you feel threatened by the prospect of a dominant Wii?" Here is his reply.

My brother Cliff and I have been into games long before he ever created Gears of War. He and I played through the original Zelda together and I remember having tournaments with him where we'd play the original Nintendo Ice Hockey game. I liked to stack my team with the fat guys because they had a booming shot that could score from anywhere and were really good at checking. Cliff went the skinny guy route and tried to skate circles around me.

But the times, they are a-changing. If Nintendo has its way, young males will no longer be the dominant segment of the console audience--and this transition appears to be happening faster than I expected. The other day I was in Target looking to pick up some games when I saw an older woman--very likely a grandmother--waiting for the clerk's attention. She wanted him to get her a couple of games from inside the locked glass cabinet. When he asked her which ones, she stated Cooking Mama and Wii Play.

I could barely stifle a groan. Don't get me wrong; I think it's cute that someone who likely had no idea what a video game was would suddenly plunk down her Social Security money so she can cook virtual meals, play a rousing game of table tennis and shark her little grandchildren out of their milk money in billiards. But honestly, I had refused to believe that grandmothers were buying these things as so many news reports have claimed until I saw it with my own eyes. My story may be anecdotal, but the plural of anecdote is data, and there are more than enough news stories on this topic to suggest that this phenomenon is real.

What's more, Nintendo has the sales figures to back up its hype. The NPD sales figures since November have been troubling to me as a hardcore gamer who loves new IPs and in-depth experiences. The Nintendo Wii has built up a ton of momentum in 2007, and despite the fact that it features an internal architecture that maxes out graphically around where the original Xbox did, it has quickly become the darling of the non-gaming press. There have been umpteen stories about the scrappy little Wii wooing non-gamers and bringing in hordes of new converts to worship at the altar of Mario.

I'm not saying that the videogame industry shouldn't strive to bring in as many new people as possible. It most definitely should, because new gamers mean a nice, healthy business. My problem is what this new crowd appears to be drawn to. Games like Wii Sports, Wii Play and Cooking Mama have become some of the biggest sellers, and that is what has me worried. If these are the type of games that become blockbusters, then you can count on other gaming companies who cater to the more hardcore gamer--aka me and the milions of others who've been driving this business--to promptly change direction. If we've learned anything about videogame companies, it's that they all are quick to follow each other if one is successful with something.

I mean, Sony already imitated the Wii a bit with their Sixaxis controller; Microsoft followed Sony with their own EyeToy-like camera, albeit far less successfully; and Sony is now trying to replicate some kind of online service a la Xbox Live. If Nintendo winds up outselling the 360 and the PS3 by a wide margin, how soon will it be before we gamers are using the Sixaxis to chop up onions with in Metal Gear Mama? How long before we're frantically swinging waggle remotes for tennis, bowling and golf in Halo Sports?

Will games like Halo and Gears of War ever go away? Hell no. But publishers aren't stupid. They're going to go where the majority of the money is and if people want to play the WarioWare mini-games more than the meaty experiences that hardcore gamers love, you're inevitably going to see a corresponding shift in development. Publishers are in the business of making money, so if they can spend six months or a year developing a mini-game package for five-year-old technology and make more profits than they would by spending 2-3 years crafting a long and detailed experience, you can bet your Wiimote that that's exactly what they'll do.

If casual games become the industry's primary money-making vehicle, these mini-game collections and more casual games could wind up completely redefining the market. I don't think we're far off from the day when Hannah Montana Wii and Wii Sports 2 dominate the NPD charts. And as soon as that day comes, why would publishers want to continue to the time and effort to develop an in-depth, cinematic experience when they could slap together a bunch of mini-games with waggle and make just as much money, if not more? Remember, gaming is a love for you and me, but it's ultimately a business for these publishers and developers.

So while the business of the Wii has great for Nintendo--surprise, surprise--and a handful of risk-takers like Ubisoft, it's thus far been ugly when it comes to the experiences beloved by core gamers like myself. The Wii has been chock full of mini-games, PlayStation 2 knockoffs and PSP ports. Yes, there has been The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but not much else in terms of lengthy, in-depth experiences. As for new intellectual properties, they've been pretty much few and far between, unless you consider Wii Sports and Wii Play new IPs; to me, they're more tech demos than anything else. At least the PS3 has Resistance and MotorStorm, with Lair right around the corner. The 360 has Gears of War, Viva Pinata and Crackdown. But for the Wii, most third parties would rather take the easy way out and continue to port older games with the waggle tacked on than devote the time and resources to creating great new experiences. The fact that the PS2 is still going incredibly strong isn't going to help the situation either, because it and the PSP will provide the Wii with an endless supply of ports for the Wii instead of forcing publishers and developers to think of new and in-depth experiences.

I'll repeat this again: I am not saying that the more hardcore games are going to die out. Smart developers and publishers will realize that they can make a mint off the hardcore, especially if more developers move towards the quick, jump in-jump out type of experience that many Wii and DS games offer. But they will be in the minority. Valve, Epic and others won't turn to making mini-game compilations, but I can definitely see companies like EA and Ubisoft realizing that they don't need huge development teams and hundreds of people working on a game to make a ton of cash in the land of mini-game moneymakers. It's like suddenly discovering that business plan behind McDonald's is applicable to video games.

Some will likely argue that these more casual games are a gateway drug for new users. They'll claim that we should be happy because it will bring a whole new group of people into gaming. I find it hard to believe that something like Wii Play could lead to someone like the little old lady I saw in the store playing Metroid Prime 3. I just don't see it happening. These same people didn't jump into hardcore games before the Wii, but they're suddenly going to do it now because they had some fun playing virtual bowling? I seriously doubt that. She's not going to go from creating a meal in Cooking Mama to saving Zelda. She's never going to defend Sera, guide Reggie Bush into the end zone, or venture into Liberty City. And should the product portfolios of major publishers become a zero-sum game, her tastes will represent a direct threat to my longtime hobby.

I sincerely believe that bringing new people to video games is a good thing. I like seeing the business continue to grow and be even more successful, because I'm old enough to remember the videogame industry crash between the Atari 5200 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. But ultimately, going more mainstream can have unintended consequences--ones that could negatively impact the breadth and depth of the kinds of games that I love, as do millions of others. I think Mike Myers' Wayne Campbell said it best in "Wayne's World" when he was talking about that tool Benjamin Kane, played so memorably by Rob Lowe. "It's like he wants us to be liked by everyone. I mean Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes everybody liked. They left that to the Bee Gees." That statement could very well apply to the Wii and its software lineup.

Well I was excited for E3 this year and so far I'm a bit let down. Not much in the way of new developments but I'm hyped as hell for this Christmas when the release lists just look like a road map of where tons of my money is going to go. If I had to rank them it'd be Microsoft, Sony, then Nintendo.

First off was Microsoft, who I think held off on big announcements for their X07 show down the road. What they did was show us all what we'll be playing THIS year for certain including Mass Effect (FINALLY an official date), Assassin's Creed, GTA IV, etc, etc. A lot of quality there for sure. I'm also glad to see some people being swayed by what I consider superior software on the 360. Things like the new Viva Pinata, Mistwalker's RPGs, and Eternal Sonata tell me the 360 is going to much more diverse than the original Xbox. MS really picked up the ball and started running with it this gen. Solid stuff overall.

Secondly is Sony who are rebounding nicely after last year's disaster. It was tough to choose between Sony and Nintendo because neither has much that interests me personally. Haze and Unreal Tournament 3 both look good but I could honestly wait for their 360 releases. MGS4 also looks great but I expect a 360 release once the PS3 version comes down the pipeline. I don't expect Killzone 2 to amount to anything much, and Home is neat; but not really my thing. PSP isn't something I'm interested in so no comment. Much better than last year but still not as great as I'd hoped.

Last for me is Nintendo. I'm honestly just thinking of selling my Wii and forgetting about it. All I keep seeing is more and more "non-games" and very few games to suit me. All I've got to look forward to is the odd Nintendo flagship (Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Metroid) and really how much fucking Mario does one person need? This Brain Training, Personal Fitness, and whatever else isn't for me. Kudos for Nintendo for trying something new and I'm glad it's been successful but they're not winning me over personally.

Where my money will likely be going (as far as E3 covered content goes...)

- Mass Effect (360)

- GTA IV (360)

- Assassin's Creed (360)

- Guitar Hero 3 (360)

- All Pro Football 2k8 (360)

- Fable 2 (360)

- Haze (PS3)

- Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)

- Warhawk (PS3)

- Mario Galaxy (Wii)

- Mario Kart (Wii)

Deus Ex. If you haven't played this game yet you're missing out on an amazing experience. Single player only first person shooter with heavy RPG elements. Just play it if you already haven't

I'd really like to enjoy this game, but I just can't. Even arcade style racing games bore the hell out of me after a while but simulations make me want to snap the disc in half the moment I drive about half a kilometer in-game.

Needless to say I'll be passing on this one.

I'm looking forward to Crysis, COD4: Modern Warfare, GTA IV, Assassin's Creed and Half Life 2: Episode Two. Sadly I'll probably only be able to play HL2: Episode Two and COD4 (with low graphics and fps). I don't have a DX10 card for Crysis and I don't have a next-gen console either. So I don't know why I'm looking forward to them....but they are just awesome.

It's looking to be a great year for gamers this year. Off the top of my head I can think of... Mass Effect, Bioshock, M2TW: Kingdoms, NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, The Darkness, GTA IV, NHL 2k8, Overlord, Fable 2, Devil May Cry 4...to name a few. >_>

Actually I bought it from EB Games and didn't bother buying the warranty (which I never do). Oh well, lesson learned I suppose.

Well I don't know of any places locally that resurface discs, although I'll likely ask around if cleaning doesn't work. I've got some cloth of cleaning glasses I use to keep my DS as clean as possible. Worst comes to worst it'll just fuck the disc up worse lol.

I also realised the part that's fucking up is a section leading to a cutscene, that may be related.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Well Saturday I finally decided to purchase and play God of War for the first time (Lord help me for taking so long). Well I dusted my PS2 off and started playing without problems. Yesterday I accidentally dropped the disc and now it has two scuffs, but I had no problems until today.

I got home from work, popped GoW in began playing through the 'Cliffs of Madness' or whatever it's called (the area just after making the statue rise out of Kronus' back). I got to the part where you have to plug the necklaces into the statues to make the four platforms that move back and forth across a large gap pop out.

I make it across the gap and take about two steps and my screen goes black. I can still hear the platforms moving, when I hit start of select the menu screens come up but the actual gameplay screen is black. I hit the attack buttons and get no sounds of Kratos attacking.

Anyone else had a similar problem? Is my game fucked? Is my PS2 finally on it's last legs after so many years?

It's not an official Sony brand card hmm.gif

If you're having troubles saving games on your 16 MB card it's most likely a problem with the memory card. For whatever reason the data you're trying to save isn't sticking into the card's memory.

If it's not an official Sony brand card I'd say with 90% confidence that your problem is the card. Try saving some other games that you haven't had problems with on the 16 MB and see if the problem still occurs.

If you like card/board games etc I suggest Clubhouse Games. There's about forty two games ranging from darts, bowling, checkers, chess, poker, and solitaire to plenty more.