[CubaLibre]

Had a hankering for some adventuring, so 3D Dot Game Heroes. Recombing the world over and over to refind locks for your new key isn't terribly fun, but the dungeons are pretty great, and it's charming, especially when it's not trying to be funny.
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Let's Play, starring me.

[Mikey]

I will give Split Second credit for doing something which I personally haven't seen in a racing game before: When coming back from the pause screen (in mid-race) a brief animation of some sort plays before you get back into the action. It goes a long way toward making the act of pausing during a race less likely to result you immediately crashing when you jump back in.

[Jam]

Lost Planet 2 every moment I can make available for it.

I kind of need to start playing Little Big Planet. I fully intend to use it to con my nephew into believing we can make a video game to his specifications. His grandfather deserves a kick in the nuts for telling him I could do it.
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The King of America

[boojiboy7]

Jesus dude, your dad did that? That is weak as hell, man.

[Loki Laufeyson]

holy fucking shit, afterburner climax
afterburner climax, holy fucking shit

best game on 360?
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[firenze]

I was inspired by the recent (and awesome) Xseed/Falcom partnership news, so I'm now playing both the PSP Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch (confusingly enough, the first release in its trilogy in Japan), and PS2 Ys: The Ark of Napishtim. I'm surprisingly hooked on Legend of Heroes, something in me needed the simplicity of a completely by the numbers 2D JRPG.

Took a break for a bit of a Neo Geo fighter binge after finishing my complete set of the AES Fatal Fury games by finally getting a Japanese Fatal Fury 1. Played that, which led into some serious KoF '95 and '98, which led into the PS2 ADK compilation for the spectacularly awful Aggressors of Dark Kombat and the rather good Ninja Masters. But yeah, I'm quite pleased to finally have 100% of the Japanese AES releases for SNK's "big 5" fighting game series - FF, KoF, AoF, Last Blade, and Samurai Spirits (well, except my SSV Special is the more valuable English version, which doesn't mean it doesn't irk me that it's not consistent with my otherwise all-Japanese collection).

[Talbain]

Been playing Red Faction: Guerrilla. Not a bad little game, though it definitely feels a lot like Grand Theft Auto... in space. It's a lot of fun for the first couple of hours, and I really want to get into Oasis or to the North Pole to see what the game's version of "snow" is, but I feel apathetic. It's fun and all, but after about 20 minutes I just want to turn it off and play something else. Which is what I've been doing on a semi-regular basis, typically either playing Senko no Ronde or Lost Planet (the first one). Is Lost Planet 2 worth the price tag? I like the first one, even if I don't understand why you can't grapple when you jump.
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[skelethulu]

[Marshmallow]

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

cycle-sama~~~~~


I was moving things around and hooked the computer I do most on up to a monitor it used to be on, and pixely things generally look nicer although the screen bends out a bit much. To test whether I was hallucinating this or not and if I had hooked up everything okay, I loaded up Shonen Ninja Sasuke in SNESGT and was surprised to find the game ran smoother than I remembered. I played through the first time as a brainless SPC dumper, savestating my way through. Now I think I'm going to sit back and properly enjoy the game, both arcade and RPG modes.

If I can find the 10-button Logitech gamepad I think is around here somewhere, I might even document my playing it if I'm able to properly set a button to screen captures.

[boojiboy7]

[kiken]

I spent yesterday playing Metal Slug XX (on XBLA) and Senko No Ronde DUO.

MSXX is ok, eclectic level structure combined with some new weapons, but hey, more Fio is never a bad thing (and she always starts with Heavy Machinegun). I'd love to see Nadia return from MS4, but that's never happening. There's a DLC link on the awkward front menu, so we should be getting Leona (who was DLC in the PSP version). I find it rather annoying that SNKP couldn't be assed to include an overscan option... so the display choices are framed window or horribly stretched into 16x9.

SNR DUO is rather daunting. The closest comparison I can draw is that it's like going from playing the original Street Fighter 2 straight to playing Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike. There's twice as many Rounders to choose from plus you select a partner who augments certain aspects of your mech (and can serve as a Bomb). The games feels much more hectic as all of the special moves throw out a greater number of projectiles. As someone who mained Lili in the last game, I'm still trying to find a suitable replacement (Lili is now one of the assist characters). Also, the game gives achievements just for entering modes... like Practice Mode.
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"Amidst utter chaos lies strict order."

[Talbain]

kiken, do you need a Japanese X-Box 360 to play SNR DUO?
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[Loki Laufeyson]

metal slug xx is a port of metal slug 7, if anyone didn't already know
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[kiken]

[Mikey]

Kinda wish they'd release a PS3 version at least.

[Talbain]

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

this morning I played a dream about a weird CRPG

I just couldn't get a handle on it.

I think it starts with the player crashing down on the world where the game takes place (not a totally unheard of RPG concept), with the impression that the player was an astronaut but they may not have been performing conventional space travel

the game seemed like a early 90s release and I remember nice looking intro graphics and stuff but the game "drew" itself in some weird way that reminded me of Dwarf Fortress world generation, and when the game actually started the display in the middle was some weird mix of ASCII and....dots. Just different colored dots, big pixels, to represent living things moving around.

I thought it would be turn-based but it turned out to be real-time, only this really weird jerky real time where it was like....a second passes, everything moves. A second passes, everything moves. And then every third or fifth second or whatever, everything would move three times, then once, once, three times, once, once.....it made it very disconcerting.

Radiation was measured. I'm not sure what was radioactive, but there was a definite impression that the world was not in a good state (although it seemed pretty colorful and lots of plants) but radiation was a thing the player had to deal with and figure out ways to reduce/absorb.

I was trying to check out the battle system so I tried to run outside the city I started near the entrance of but apparently the gate guards weren't expecting me so they started to shoot at me so I got shot to death before I entered battle because of the weird real-time movement.

want this game so bad.

[Deadcat]

Playing a bunch of things at once!

Halo 3: ODST - I suppose I should say I'm done with this since I just finished it, but I feel it was worth mentioning. The first mission worried me because I really didn't like the way that the mission was laid out, but riding in a Scorpion in the third mission put things back on track for awesome. I think I liked the OST more than any of the previous Halos!

Final Fantasy II (SNES) - Considering FFVI was the oldest FF I completed, it's pretty impressive to think how nearly everything was improved upon so much between the two games. I'm aware of the changes made in FFV and I suppose I should be comparing those two, but I didn't come close to completing it so I can't really pass much judgment. Ironically, the typos are making me smile the most, with lines like "You noble looking!" and "Make yourself free at home!" with the latter quickly becoming my personal "BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS".

Fallout 3 - I don't know how to feel about this yet, and that's usually bad for me. I just got out of Vault 101 and finished two quests in Megaton, but the game isn't clicking with me. All of the weapons, melee and guns, feel entirely useless outside of VATS. I couldn't hit an enemy to save my life, which is kind of important in a video game. The dialogue seem uninviting as well. The way that NPCs stare without a facial reaction to anything I say or do completely takes me out of the game. I really feel like there's something I'm missing, but I might just dislike the game as a whole.

[Jigsaw]

I wasn't too impressed with Fallout 3 to start either, but once I started exploring more and getting involved with more quests, it really started to grow on me. I personally loved the VATS system but your mileage may vary I guess. Melee is entirely useless though, which bugged me a lot, because I wanted to play a post-apocalyptic martial arts Jesus, but if you want to actually get anywhere you kind of get to pick between specializing in light or heavy firearms, and that's about it. :| But yeah, once I got into it I actually thought it was a lot of fun, so I'd give it at least a little more time before writing it off completely.

[Mikey]

Dear Black Rock Studios:

Split Second was a really good idea and you kind of spoiled the single player with a bunch of artificial difficulty (read: aggravation). I hope the multiplayer is more fun.

-Mikey

[Drem]

Yeah, I really liked the idea affecting the environment as your weapons. The only thing I was worried about, based on the demo, was whether it was possible to find a "perfect path" through a level that would let you dodge most power attacks. Whenever I used an attack, it seemed to always affect the same spot on the track (barrels always dropped in the same place, etc.).



Senko no Ronde DUO :( Hopefully Aksys, or even Ignition, picks it up soon.

[Mikey]

The bigger problem is the incredible ability your AI opponents have to suddenly engage their afterburners or whatever and overtake you even if you have been having a perfect race and a great lead. It's depressingly easy to fall from 1st place to 5th through no fault of your own.

[scratchmonkey]

I'm amazed that so many developers still think that rubber-banding AI is ever a good idea.

[Pijaibros]

i figure they do it because it's easy to code for. i'm not a developer.
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[Talbain]

[wolf roboblitzer]

Space Raiders is a version of Invaders where you steer a guy with a gun left and/or right instead of a ship. Aside from some of the most lovably inane line-readings since Raw Danger I guess there's not much to recommend above any other version, though the avatar suggests how much Space Invaders begat PN03 begat Resident Evil 4 begat Gears of War begat everything.

...I have zero interest in Gears 3 and the Gamecube has become my main shooters console, what the hell happened to me.

[Loki Laufeyson]

is space raiders the same game as space invaders: invasion day?

also, in britain, space raiders is a brand of crisp
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[Mikey]

I could deal with the rubber-band AI in Split Second if only I could knock their cars around as easily as they shove me aside (and occasionally into walls, causing wrecks). Is that the kind of thing that can be tweaked in a patch? If it is, it should be.

The tracks are marvelous, however, and the route-changing powerplays in particular are a whole lot of fun, and I'm not even sure I've seen all of them yet. Some of the additional non-racing modes are a nice change of pace too.

[Schwere Viper]

The demo for Split Second left me with the impression that it relies on eye candy/WOW factor too much. "BOOM EXPLOSIONS WHOOPIE" is the entire draw. It just did not impress me at all. Given a choice, I'd go for Blur, which seems to have a better head on its shoulders when it comes to being an entertaining video game for more than an hour. if the multiplayer demo was anything to go by.

Also, I finished Sky Crawlers today! The gameplay is solid Ace Combat with a few tweaks (prop planes don't take sudden gusts of wind very well :<) and the planes and mechanical behemoths are all good and well, but the story is a bit hard to follow. By the end I was still wondering what Kildren were exactly, and I had no idea whatsoever why the two countries were fighting, or even if they WERE countries. Maybe they were PMCs? That aside though, it's still a decent game. It's no Ace Combat, though.

On a side note, I relearned how to play No More Heroes well and got the Real Ending. Damn.
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HeavyViper@Twitter ~~~ HeavyViper@Soundcloud
Blog: Machines That Sing

[geinou]

[Mikey]

Too slow? I actually think the game feels pretty zippy, especially when you start unlocking faster cars.

What becomes the meat of the game is that it's not always easy to build up your powerplay meter - yes, it's often as simple as drifting around a corner, but if you drift poorly or lose control you slow yourself down too much and having the extra meter is less of a net positive. This becomes a much bigger deal in later races where even the mooks can pull away from you if you get sloppy. I haven't ventured online yet but I imagine if "high level" play ever emerges it'll be the ability to build powerplay meter without ruining your racing lines (so to speak) that will be the key to victory.

That's the main draw for me, even beyond bitchin' explosions and player-activated shortcuts: I like the fact that you have to earn your powerups through racing technique as opposed to merely picking them up off the track. Download errors conspired to keep me from playing the Blur demo, how are powerups handled in that game?

[Schwere Viper]

[skelethulu]

Played an hour of Super Mario Galaxy 2 (USB'd it while I wait for my pre-ordered copy to arrive). As many of you were, I was somewhere between disgusted and disappointed with the first game. This one, though, feels great! It still has needless hubworld bullshit but there is far less of it. The levels feel less like sloppy minigames chained together and more like variations on level design themes. You can really feel the Jungle Beat in this one! The 2D levels are some of the best Mario you can get. Sure the new power ups are pretty much worthless (cloud mario only gets to fire 3 clouds and then no more until you pick up another refresher powerup? what?) but DAMNIT I play something like Rightside Down Galaxy and I feel like somebody, somewhere, still knows how to make a decent platformer.

Miyamoto's hands are not obvious this time, and there's generally less HEY PRESS (A) TO TALK! hints everywhere (although there is seriously a rabbit that says "SHAKE THE WII REMOTE TO SPIN WHILE IN MID-AIR!" that appears in your hub world AFTER you beat a level that can pretty much only be won by spinning in mid-air).

3 out of stars (not an average).
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[Roman]

Played some Contact, I certainly hope that the storyline becomes more epic than it is now. I'm a bit tired of games that force me to do the same segment multiple times just for leveling. I´ve seen that enviroment already, give me a new one, or allow me some plot developments. I've also played Portal, I quit when I reached room 17. These momentum jumps makes me nausea (literally), the puzzles are really easy. I don't see what all the fuss was about (my friends still use phrases as 'there will be cake', but I'm well aware of the fact that they are way too geeky for my companionship), I'll try to finish it tomorow.

[ghostribbon]

Played the first stage of SUPER ULTRA SEXY HERO RISING ZAN SAMURAI GUNMAN (JOHNNY NO MORE), then the game crashed or something. No big deal, I guess. It was clunky as hell. Felt kind of like a precursor to God Hand and Samurai Western. Only not nearly as good as either of those games. (The blood looks like it was drawn using the airbrush tool in Paint).



Also started Monster Rancher 2 (haven't played it in years). Didn't feel like getting out a bunch of discs, so I just used my Monster Rancher 1 disc, which gave me some super-powered Sueki Suezo (with 1 speed) that Colt kept complaining should be retired, so I froze it, made another, and then fused them to create a regular Suezo with decent stats (actually, pretty good stats for the very beginning of the game). Never really bothered with Suezos in the past, and this Suezo isn't really turning me into a fan.
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[secret character]

[Rud31]

Contact: a harder game to stop playing than to keep playing.

Fallout 3: VASTS was engaging? AIM FOR HEAD, BLOW UP HEAD.

Those aren't games I've been playing just comments on the above.
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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

now that I've got a gamepad setup and tinypic is asking captchas, I'm going to try out imgur's uploading tool. I started my second go at Samurai Kid (to complement my second go at Shonen Ninja Sasuke):

...

I don't know why they draw the main character with glasses. It makes him look even more different from the sprite.


...
.
...

One thing I (can't friggin' believe I) didn't notice before is that the first level has the different tools pictured in some parts of the background, in case you can't figure out what to use. It's oddly inconsistent in where they are placed, though.


...

First run was an embarrassing 7'47 for a tutorial level that I remembered pretty well. The next run shaved off about two minutes, but that should have been better. I want to at least beat my old record. Unfortunately, it's taking me a while to get reacquainted with the game.



Case in point: the second stage took me 14 minutes, when I know I can clear it in at least half that time >_<


The details in the graphics of the second stage are really nice, though. It takes place in a haunted village in the middle of a forest, so there's some of spooky happenings going on.

...
.
...

note the outline of the ghost with a knife behind the door. It has a neat little animation of sliding in from the side, stabbing downwards and then slinking off.

[Rud31]

Startling revelations took me recently. I started playing Shenmue 1 in Japanese. Outside of understanding everything, I was overwhelmed how the voice acting is atrocious. The deadpan delivery and weird intonation in the English dub is taken straight from the original. The game froze when I tried to enter the Arcade.

Tom is 100X better in English. The baby talk pidgin present in this is amazingly insulting.

Before that I just about finished wasting time in Ryu Ga Gotoku 3. There is easily 100 hours of stuff to do in this game. Not necessarily stuff you'd want to do for a hundred hours (maxing out all the hostesses so you can do their one little substory would become tedious.) Still, I'm pretty happy with the game, even if it is always too damn quiet. Also that you can't turn off random battles until you find all the coin locker keys and talk to the clown.

My Gamestop PS2/Xboxen component cable finally died (don't buy one.) So I'm trying to tell myself to go ahead and order the monster cable off of amazon so I can play Ys in HD. Seriously, played Sonic 2 all the way through again, and man that game is so good. I also need to get an xbox controller that isn't half broken.
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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[ionustron]

So I played DFO for about a week longer than I should have. I said I'd wait and see until level 30 if the game actually gets any good but I couldn't even make it that far. (28)

After taking over an hour to slowly wade through the trade shops to find customization pieces, I already felt rather defeated. I just wanted a pair of pants.

If you have a friend who is interested in this and a good connection than by all means. Trying to play with random people is like any other online game, except this time it's like permanently talking via blackberries.

Really the idea in an action game to invest 50+ hours before it gets remotely good is tragic. This whole game is tragic mess. I kinda begin to understand more what Rudie means about Romancing SaGa playing this (which I still have to finish.)

I collected allot more thoughts in greater detail about it over the last week and could post them but I'm not sure if it would be in poor taste or not. It does have some player base that clearly enjoys it but man alive. Plus they are the kind of people who when you point out the problems would just be like rage much lol

Bottom line, it is is the realization of amusement and arcade parlor businessmen worldwide, now in your very own home!


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when in doubt, Space Harrier.