Ben's Week In Review: October 24
3D Dot Game HeroesAh...good weather, finally. Is there any place where it's autumn year-round?
So...nobody in the US played games in the '80s?
I keep thinking Japanese developers completely discount the Western gamers who grew up during the dawn of the industry. Granted, it was basically all Japanese in those days, so they're right in assuming that video games were simply bigger in Japan. But when I hear that Atlus only expected to sell a measly 25k copies of 3D Dot Game Heroes in the US, I can only conclude that they think Westerners didn't start to get into gaming until much later. 25,000 is basically 0 and in all honesty, if they were expecting that, I'm surprised they released it here at all. But it goes and sells 160,000 units, which sorta proves that hardcore gamers who want a whiff of nostalgia still exist. Let's face it: the title in question was designed for those who lived through the age the game parodies.
And we were there. If I remember correctly, there were quite a few of us. Sure, it paled in comparison to the number of Japanese into Nintendo and everything else in the '80s but what kid didn't want a NES in the mid-80s in this country...? I think this is part of the reason Japanese devs think Westerners only want shooters, and why the JRPG is almost non-existent on consoles these days.
Is Treyarch scared or are they bragging?
I've been trying to figure this out ever since I saw the news. On the one hand, they might actually want to avoid the backlash felt by Infinity Ward for Modern Warfare 2's airport scene. Then again, that controversy didn't exactly hurt sales, now did it? Besides, shooter fans seem to be looking for even more authentic, and thus, more dynamically grisly action in their games. Therefore, when a team says they had almost "went too far" in regards to the exhibited violence, it's hard to decipher the statement's actual meaning. I keep thinking it's almost like a teaser, i.e, "boy, we really had to reign ourselves in...but you won't believe what we let slip through!" The very words "went too far" are bound to perk the ears of the violence-loving twitchers. However, A Treyarch animation designer said it so perhaps we should just take it at face value.
If Activision had said it...well, that's something else entirely.
Personal gaming update
I finally got a chance to finish Enslaved: Odyssey to the West; I had stopped at Chapter 10 after reviewing it and got too busy to finish. But it's done now; I thought the final encounter was a little lame and frustrating (sure, focus on the game's weak point, the third-person shooter aspect with the staff), but the ending itself was great. So very surreal and philosophical; quite surprising, actually. I also think I might be close to finishing Vanquish, which is totally kick-ass. I still have to deliver reviews for ZHP, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, among others. In November, I'm obviously looking forward to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Call of Duty: Black Ops. Oh, and I must reiterate: LittleBigPlanet 2 is awesome.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm, on the other hand, is not. By the way, if I only had to score the Story Mode, the game would've gotten like a 3. It's just horribly broken. Good thing there are other modes and games included like Time Crisis 4 to help the final outcome.
10/23/2010 Ben Dutka
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Comments (49 posts)
WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:31:57 PM
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frylock25
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:34:08 PM
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Lawless SXE
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:41:41 PM
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1119257p1.html
EDIT: Rereading the rules there, they still don't seem to make any sense to me. Maybe you can do better.
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 10/23/2010 10:43:58 PM
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frylock25
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 12:18:14 AM
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Gamer Girl Gemo
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 4:53:08 AM
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Lawless SXE
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:24:21 PM
Reply
Ye-anyway, I don't think that it's a matter of target demographic when these Japanese publishers set their estimates. Sure, they realise that it may not sell as well as it will in their home territory, as they feel that that is where their target lies, but perhaps it is more a case of cover, and consequently avoiding disappointment. A tactic that Ninja Theory could most definitely benefit from.
See, they use a low estimate, so that when it breaks that, they can feel free to do it again and see how it sells. It's a different world.
Treyarch's statement is a gamble. Controversy creates cash, and they are trying to create controversy. Making a statement like that is essentially free advertising when it gets picked up by the media. I think it's similar to the Taliban fiasco in MoH, but Black Ops will get higher review scores, so will obviously sell better. Before I go on, would anyone have honestly expected MoH to sell 1.5 million copies in five days with the (I won't say mediocre, but) less than great review scores it got? Those figures are bloated as a result of the controversy, and I feel as though Treyarch are trying to follow that example.
'It was over-the-top, so we took it out.' It seems like an invitation to see what they didn't feel was over the top.
Personal Update:
Still going through the Lost and the Damned.I'm enjoying it, but still kind of want to hurry up and get through it so I can play Enslaved. I've sidelined the PSP lately, it's not really holding my attention as it usually does when I've got a great game to play on it.
Still reading Possession, but I'm starting to get bored with it. It's a really great novel, don't get me wrong, but the way the focus is off Roland and Maud makes it seem far less interesting. I just don't care what Lord Ash did.
Also, work is starting to wind down, so I'll probably be having every Friday off for the next few months. I hate it, it's so bloody boring having forced three-day weekends. Oh well.
Peace.
P.S. Again I ask, where is the Insomniac interview?
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:42:31 PM
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Lawless SXE
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:47:31 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:59:28 PM
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Snaaaake
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:30:10 PM
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And more hype from the CoD studios?
Saying they went too far and had to tone it down?
Wow, what a way to hype the game and just like Lawless said, it's free advertising with the media focusing on it, not to mention it's CoD.
Next year we'll have Inifity Ward saying that the graphic was too realistic so they had to lower the detail and textures.
It's a bad week for me, on the day 20102010 or 20th of October or wednesday, heavy rain poured down, and my ceiling started leaking.
Water fell on my tv and PS3, now I'm putting them outside for a week to make sure it's dry by the time Hot Pursuit demo comes out.
Ben, I wanna ask how long did it took you to finish Enslaved?
Last edited by Snaaaake on 10/23/2010 10:32:07 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:42:55 PM
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Temjin001
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:37:50 PM
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Not so much because I thought the shooting element was a lot of fun, but rather, the craziness of the events. I even got to see what happens when you get eaten up--they went the extra mile in that regard ;)
My gaming time has been spent...
NGS2 has been put on hold while I've got my plate full with Castlevania LOS, Bayonaise for the second time, and FFIX.
I'm really impressed by LOS's texture-work. The textures are so densely detailed. Also, a cool play dynamic I didn't pick up on from the demo is the MGS style roll/evade dynamic. Basically, on smaller sized enemies you can roll into them causing the enemy to stumble and stagger. This gives you major frame advantage, and it also works well at quickly breaking up a small group of goblins/were-wolves etc. Unexpected, but very cool. MGS has a similar approach--I wonder if it was Kojima inspired.
I also notice the game uses an exaggerated field of view ratio. Basically, I don't know if many here know much about optics and perspective, but most games set the FOV differently. I won't get too technical(if that's possible on this), but there's 3 basic vanishing points that sit on a horizon line. One VP is set directly forward of your view way way down at the horizon, and the other two sit way out to the left and right of that VP on the same horizon. Essentially, all objects on a viewing plane recede to these VP's in some way or another. Now realistically, we don't really see more than about 40-60% in what's called our "cone of vision" basically, the end of where our eye optics perceive visual sense-data (birds see a lot more than humans). A director or game designer can adjust just how much of that cone of vision can be seen by the viewer. More-so than naturally possible. This creates a look that causes items in the foreground to really magnify with the receding plane really stretch out into the background.. This is commonly used in movies when a shot is centered on a persons face--usually happening just before a WHOA moment--and the camera seems to be slightly zooming in on the portrait of the actors face while the environment around him is receding smaller into the background....
Okay, that's it. I'm stopping there I spent way too much time already trying to explain that. but anyway, I don't know if I like that effect being used from a gameplay perspective--I think Left 4 Dead uses this effect also. I still think LOS is great so far anyway.
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Shams
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 12:21:17 AM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:47:46 PM
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CoD is just talking itself up because their animation got slightly better. Even though it still isn't half as good or realistic as Killzone (Limted and Collectors editions have been leaked) Woohoo.
What is ZHP? I know it's a PSP game but that's it.
Been playing New Vegas, haven't seen any glaring bugs yet. I switched the HUD and Pip-boy back to lovely Green straight away though. So far the only gripes I have are that I'm not much into the whole western influence/music, but hopefully that will wane when I get to the strip. I'm a city boy, and I like a wasted wasteland, not... sand. Still, it's becoming addicting. Not sure what the loading time gripes are about, maybe that doesn't happen till you get to the strip either.
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:00:33 PM
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Snaaaake
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:05:11 PM
That I gotta get!!!
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Lawless SXE
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:08:57 PM
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Snaaaake
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:16:15 PM
1 up, 1 down
Snaaaake
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:23:41 PM
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Lawless SXE
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:32:46 PM
Peace.
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Snaaaake
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:45:22 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:57:26 PM
And guys well... as a goggle aficionado, Helghast goggles are the more fashionable choice :)
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 10/23/2010 11:59:48 PM
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aaronisbla
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 12:15:18 AM
I love the fact that the game makes you specialize in something, as it was too easy to be a god on FO3. 15 perks gained thru leveling to the max makes it planning important.
You can sneak to new vegas with high enough sneak and a stealth boy ive heard
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WorldEndsWithMe
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 2:35:20 AM
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NoSmokingBandit
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:10:48 PM
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Vintage gaming is just awesome.
The only old system i really miss is my old Master System. I spent so much time playing California Games and Shinobi on it. It was a fantastic console.
I dont have 3d Dot Game Heroes though. Its on the list, but i feel like GT5 will put me really far behind on my games list if its ever released.
Last edited by NoSmokingBandit on 10/23/2010 11:12:26 PM
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Qubex
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:28:30 PM
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
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Gamer Girl Gemo
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 4:50:22 AM
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Milonakis
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:17:28 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 11:58:15 PM
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aaronisbla
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 12:07:04 AM
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LittleBigMidget
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 3:09:51 AM
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Gamer Girl Gemo
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 4:47:01 AM
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My personal gaming update (yeah, I know everyone's excited to have the girl gamer back ;D): I decided to go through another good playthrough of Heavy Rain. I honestly haven't been playing much of anything new. I'm really looked forward to Force Unleashed 2 and anticipating DA2, Black Ops, inFamous 2, and GT5. I will admit, GT5 isn't at a high priority at all for me. I was never into the racing games and GT5 was never any different for me. I'd never seen anything of GT5 and never went looking for anything of it.
However, I saw a little preview for it up at GameStop the other day and wow... Wow is all I could get out of my dropped jaw. The graphics and detail drew me into being pretty hyped for it. Now I know what everyone keeps talking about and why everyone is just psyched over it.
I have been enlightened :)
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ValdiPS3
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 5:53:03 AM
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Great week for me in a gaming perspective, finish Battlefied Bad Company 2 and Dead Space, man, Dead Space is awesome, completely love the game,i know that is a 2008 game, but i pick up my PS3 in the beginning of the year, so i have nearly tree years of games to update, for my is the best multiplat of my collection (18 games so far,7 are exclusives),and the best exclusive is MGS4,in my opnion, i have started play Red Dead Redemption, the game is good, but i think is a little overrated, lets see if become great in the mid stages.
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Lawless SXE
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 6:52:06 AM
Peace.
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JackC8
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 7:24:43 AM
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This week I kind of got disgusted with F1 2010. You couldn't turn the traction control on, because it turned the game into a total arcade racer. With it off, the physics were fairly realistic, sort of like the mid-engine, rear wheel drive cars in GT5P - brake before the corner, accelerate after the corner, and during the corner, well, you can give it a bit of throttle if you dare, but go 1% too far and you'll end up facing in the wrong direction. That wouldn't have been so bad in itself, but the amount of traction you would get was constantly changing depending on how much rubber got laid down on the track as the weekend progressed, how much gas you had in the tank, and whether or not it was dumping a monsoon on you at the moment. I dunno, maybe I'll try it again some time in the future.
I was playing Motorstorm Pacific Rift online most of the week. Haven't played that game in about a year so I totally sucked at that as well lol. Good fun though - the game is just a blast to play. Maybe I'll start on Dead Space Ignition tonight, and then I've got the Saboteur that I haven't started on.
See, I thought I'd be looking forward to the be-all and end-all of racing games coming out in a couple of weeks, but nooooooo. F***ers :(
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nilos95
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 10:01:05 AM
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Personal Update:
First things first! I just finished Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. All I have to say is: awe inspiring boss battles, really cool and various characters, better ultimate jutsu system(at least, it is slightly fairer) and incredible competitive modes(online is good when playing with same region, but i lag sometimes when facing NA and JP players). Lord of Shadows and Enslaved stare at me as I am now ready to play with them, although i will play eternal sonata first. Now, portable gaming! Before, starting up with VC2, i will replay Birth by Sleep(its battle system and story are really outstanding, if you submerge into its ocean) and face some friends in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker(get it if you don't have it!). Btw I am waiting for European Castle Crashers release and I am ready to test my toughness and pride as a man with Amnesia!!!!
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www
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 10:06:33 AM
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Personal Gaming Update:
I got my hands on Mass Effect 2. Enjoying the crap outta DiRT 2, a game I wanted to pick up but missed back in 2009 cause of funds and GT5 maybe, and this was the perfect time to get it since GT5 is taking forever and boy, the graphics and fun is over the top. And still loving FIFA 11 too :)
Last edited by www on 10/24/2010 10:10:45 AM
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Steel
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 2:43:25 PM
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Well, I am somewhat new to posting on the boards but I have been a member and reader of PSX for a long time, so I thought I would share.
Latest gaming news for me would start with Castlevania: LOS. Originally I picked up the game because is seemed to have some of the same gameplay design as GOW and a little bit of DMC, but at almost 75% through the game so far, I have found that I have adopted LOS as far more than just a similarity. I truly enjoy this game. Sure the framerate struggles to keep up and there have been a few annoying platforming jumps into oblivion, but all in all, the depth of the horizon is truly captivating me so far. (frozen lake anyone?) Gorgeous surroundings to explore, a story that in my opinion, doesn't totally suck, and I actually like the music alot as well. Its a far step from what I have come to know the Castlevania franchise for, but it is working for me currently, and I am excited to finish it up.
On to Enslaved. I am beginning to feel i am in that .01% minority of folks that aren't totally thrilled with the game. I bought LOS and Enslaved the same day, fully intending on putting more time into Enslaved than LOS, but found myself rather.. let down? The scenery is gorgeous mind you, and the character voice acting is far above par in my opinion but it just feels somewhat slow on gameplay thus far for me. The story hasn't caught my attention as deeply as I had hoped and I am struggling with the controls. As easy as it is to platform around, I have found the over the shoulder veiw makes me feel more like I am running at diagnal angle rather than straight, as weird as that sounds. I think I need to give it some more time and really try to get involved in the story before i begin to let it collect dust, it would be a shame to miss out on the true glory of it because I haven't given it enough time.
I tend to jump around on games constantly, and honestly I suprised the hell out of myself when I felt the urge to play COD MW2. I played COD4 for a couple of months because I do enjoy a FPS, but waiting for KZ3 is killing me so I gave MW2 a chance and you know, I am actually enjoying it. It has put the FPS competetive nature back into me and leveling up has given me a goal to work for. After getting into it, I began to actually read the Black Ops news that I had chalked off as something too far from my gaming taste (normally military FPS games have bored me) but the news I have read actually has me VERY excited! I am happy that Treyarch is at the helm, and allowing us to customize out avatar and face paint is a very cool addition. The wager match idea has me totally stoked, as I feel it will add to my enjoyment of competetive play even more, so needless to say, I am actually going to pre order it. Lets hope it wont let me get too bored and keep me excited till KZ3 can make my FPS dreams come true.
Lastly, I finally bit the bullet and bought the Trittan AX Pro gaming headset. I havent unboxed it or given it a try yet, but I am holding out. I know that the masses say that the Astro A40s are the best on the market, but I cant wrap my head around spending that much money (like $250) on a headset at this time. I have never had a 5.1 surround sound headset, I have always stuck with my samsung 5.1 surround sound home theater set up, but I tend to play late in the bedroom where the 60" and the surround sound is and it the grenade explosions keep the girlfriend up so I decided I will give them a try. I am more than simply excited about trying these things out. Even watching movies with them could be a VERY cool experience.
Okay I am shutting up. hopefully my fellow PSX readers can welcome me to the boards. I read almost all the comments on each article and this community aside from a couple people, seems to be one that is friendly and open minded. Looking forward to discussing gaming news further with all of you! :)
-Steel
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Shams
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 5:38:29 PM
Again, welcome aboard.
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Temjin001
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 10:01:03 PM
And I, too, have played Enslaved. They're two different games but LOS is definitely more my style. Enslaved is more content driven, whereas, LOS leans a bit heavier on the action category of play. BUt that's not to say it doesn't throw some cool content driven experiences your way; like the titans, for example.
My two biggest beefs with Enslaved are directed towards the overall emptiness in value--there's just not a whole lot to do after you've seen the story once. And all of the technical hiccups summed up a lot higher than what you'd see from other games these days.
It was worth my time, though. A fun 8-10 hour adventure with great dramatics.
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TEG3SH
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 3:06:21 PM
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jumped from Atari-segas-then playstations(1-3).nevertheless I was always about japanese/Eastern games especially JRPGs.
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slimey
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 6:09:10 PM
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It's weird. I get the impression that here in the UK at that time we had our own quaint gaming scene, cut off from the rest of the world, based mainly on ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC Microcomputer, and with a bit of international glamour provided by the Commodore 64. I don't recall anyone I knew having an NES. Most had the Spectrum, a few cool dudes had a Commodore, and a handful of exotic nerds were playing the BBC machine.
I'm playing Fifa 11 and PES 11. None of the big releases of late really tickle my fancy, but I will get round to Vanquish and Lords of Shadow when they come down in price. I am however looking forward to Assassins Creed and GT5.
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spiderboi
Monday, October 25, 2010 @ 7:09:33 AM
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Oh, and Castlevania only has ONE save file (autosave), so if the error happens, you're back to square one! So back-up your saves on Castlevania, people, or otherwise wait for an update before playing further.
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spiderboi
Monday, October 25, 2010 @ 7:20:05 AM
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SirLoin of Beef
Monday, October 25, 2010 @ 1:39:48 PM
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As far as personal gaming goes, I've been spending a fair amount of time in the Mohave wasteland. Finally entered New Vegas and am doing my thing. Looking forward to Fable III tomorrow. After that going to play Heavy Rain again but this time with the Move and see how it plays with that controller.
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frylock25
Reply
Saturday, October 23, 2010 @ 10:24:06 PM
black ops just wants the attention.
Personal gaming update: i have been playing split second most of the week and i must say that game is a lot of fun. i have really enjoyed it a lot more than i thought i would. also picked up new vegas and i love it. i have not had any freezing issues, only small framerate issues. i like that its not the exact same thing as F3. very very close but not exactly. i can see my self enjoying just as much as the first one. i just tried to play the card game it has (forgot the name). its hard still as i dont understand it. havent even found vegas yet. but im still early in the game.
i rejoined gamefly and have FF13 on the way as well as just cause 2. figured i would play them for the free 2 week period and send one back. i almost bought FF13 on amazon for like $19.99 but i passed on it. figured i would have a better use for the money.
Last edited by frylock25 on 10/23/2010 10:24:42 PM