Games: What games are you currently playing? [OT!]

[mrwiseman]

So, if you get an Xbox 360 next year which games would you be interested on playing?

[Cataferal]

Blue Dragon
Lost Odyssey
Halo 3

Thats about all for now. The majority of the best games for the 360 are FPS's, which im not terribly fussed about (bar Halo 3). If only FFXIII and MGS4 were announced for it, then the decision would be so much easier.

Oh, and now its out i can finally say it...the new "Sonic the Hedgehog" game is mediocre and rushed (at least for the 360). Dont buy it. Seriously...

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ November 24, 2006 06:47 AM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[phaq]

just recently played the old nes godzilla game. i used to kill mothra off early and go on with godzilla. this time around i kept mothra around and it(seems to be gender confused between movies) was actually pretty damn helpful against monsters that would give godzilla a hard time. in the end because i chose to attack ghidorah with godzilla with his turn, i lost godzilla(ghidorah was rather tough, and attacked with his turn right after), but won the game with mothra.

anyway, as far as the 360 goes, dead rising would be one of my reasons for picking one up. beat the crap out of zombies with whatever you can get your hands on? shit sign me up. if the wii godzilla gets ported over like destroy all monsters did,that'd be another reason. ninety-nine nights sounds like a hyper dynasty warriors so theres another. oblivion, cuz not everyones got the specs to run every modern pc game. bioware(star wars knights of the old republic, jade empire)'s got some project in the works, probably nearing completion soon. fable 2. if the 360 keeps getting the sega sequels the original got that'd be even more reason. that's me though, i dunno what would sell you.

[Cataferal]

A lot of those points do sell me on the idea of buying a 360. Im sure a new years price-drop would seal the deal.

Halo Wars has potential as well.

[mrwiseman]

I've decided to get an Xbox 360, even with very few games I want to play on it (Test Drive Unlimited doesn't count: PC version in the works; Enchanted Arms counts half(*), Eternal Sonata still not confirmed in Yurop (the Japs at Namco must think Europeans super happy happy no RPG ass eels for them)). The reasons why I'm getting it despite the mediocre (at best) RPG line are:

1. The PS3's RPG line is equally as mediocre.

2. The PS3 is not out, and I want to punish Sony for crapping on us.

3. The PS3 is ?200 more expensive than it should and 1 year later because it's full of AIDS-Ray. When you thought things couldn't get worse than HD-DVD, they got.

4. Microsoft wants to shove Windows DRM (AKA Windows Vista) down your throat by making some lame excuses to make DirectX 10 Vista-exclusive (BTW, they are lame excuses, I can tell). Since I'm not installing Windows DRM even if I got paid for it, and in fact I'm phasing out Windows in 2 years and switching over to Linux (currently developing tools and finding substitutes for my needs), I'll need a console for games. I can't rely on PC games unless they are released for fair use platforms; namely Linux and *BSD. Not gonna happen unless game developers get as pissed with Microsoft as I am (and they should).

5. I'm counting that there's a high probability of good people finding a way to crack the Xbox 360's regional protection.

(*): Oh and Enchanted Arms got a stupid limited edition and they're not resupplying, so I can't get it. Stupid idiots (then they'll say games don't sell in Europe). I'll wait a couple of months to see if people manage to crack the **** out of the Xbox 360, and if they don't, I'll crack what I can of it (i.e. play pirated games) and pirate Enchanted Arms because it's abandonware in my country (and they want me to keep to my country).

?????

As for Sonic the Hedgehog, lol Sega. They said such big words on recovering the lost charm of the MegaDrive Sonics, and they manage to keep getting worse, even at a faster rate. As with the MegaDrive as far as consoles go, now it looks like this crappy Sonic is the rule, and Sonic Adventure was a rare exception.

They just can't make decent 3D Sonics, and since they won't do 2D Sonics because mainstream gamers are stupid (see that I don't blame them for this ? I blame mainstreamers), repeat with me: Sonic is dead.

Sonic Adventure was a good first step into the 3D world, and did pretty well save for some camera and fall off problems in some stages, and excess of stupid characters. Sonic Adventure 2 squared the camera problems and made the game [strike]2.5D[/strike] [strike]2D[/strike] [strike]1D[/strike] 0D because it's impossible to do anything other than the goddamned fixed path of the camera, not even backtracking. It also added rails, which are the suckiest Sonic thing ever: not interactive, and 99.99% chance of falling off when you want to ride them. Add completely frustrating, braindamaged level design and camera work, and Sonic turns into a guessing game of landing in a very thin platform or rail 200 metres below you can't even see. Finally, it got more stupid characters, and the ones I could cope with are so out of character and gameplay they suck. Sonic Heroes kept going downhill by adding cumbersome gameplay and keeping the ugly void. As if you thought it couldn't get worse, they threw even more idiotic characters in. Shadow the Hedgehog? Lol, I won't even comment on that one, it's clearly the worst ever out of the Sonic games. OH WAI-

And now this Sonic the Hedgehog takes and goes further on the glitches from Sonic Adventure 1, the pathetic camera of Sonic Adventure 2, the lame, cheap ass rails of Sonic Heroes, and yet another idiotic character I don't want to play with. Why even calling the game "Sonic the Hedgehog" if you only manage to play with Sonic for 20%-30% of the time, at best? do they even know I don't care for 2 of the oldest non-Sonic characters, and I despise all the new ones? Oh, and Sonic seems to have the hots for a human girl. Totally smart. I should be doing that princess, not some blue hedgehog.

BTW, I almost enjoy reading the lame reviews it's getting. For example, it got 2/10 at Eurogamer.

[Cataferal]

I love eurogamer.net's reviews. They have a good sense of humour, take a european standpoint on the games industry (ie, a cynical one), and have a very strict scoring standard. They arent the only people that slated Sonic The Hedgehog though; Edge gave it 3/10, and Gamespot gave it a relatively generous 4.4/10. Hopefully the fanboys will take a hint this time; for the last 5 years, Sega have been paid far too much money for the little care they've put into this iconic franchise (sans Sonic Rush, which was decent).

WRT 360 Region Coding: Some developers dont bother putting region coding on the disc (click here for some examples). I doubt Namco will be among these, but it is a possibility.

[mrwiseman]

While a few western games don't have region coding, almost all japanese games do. My only hope would be that for the American version of Eternal Sonata, a non-Japanese person would be in charge.

[phaq]

unless you're talking quick-burst-of-action type games (shoot em up, fighting/wrestling, hell even puzzle), why would you want anything in japanese, unless you knew the language?

[Cataferal]

Its amazing how, in a span of 5 years, the Xbox name has gone from being a joke to a respectable (and now even threatening) market contender. I guess it just goes to show that if you have enough money and time, as its certain Bill Gates does, you can find a way to turn any product into an eventual success. With the 360, Microsoft might even be able to make back the losses they amounted with the original Xbox; its all down to how quickly Sony get their marketing act together, and who gets the big name titles launched first.

Right now, i dont actually seem to mind who comes out on top. More than in any other console generation, I think there's going to be a lot of overlap when it comes to system ownership this time, and not just with the Wii. Admittedly, Im currently leaning towards the Wii and 360, but i can also easily foresee myself buying a PS3 after a few price-cuts; even for just the Blu-ray functionality and PSX game download service.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ December 05, 2006 08:49 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[mrwiseman]

I want to get rid of racist regional locks because:

1. I want to play games which are not released in Europe, but are released in America in English.
2. I like curtain shooters; I might want to try some games even if they are in Japanese.
3. I might learn Japanese in the future.
4. Regional locks are against fair use, freedom of commerce and basic morals, and the ones who devise, implement and profit from them should get AIDS and die.