Ben's Week In Review: March 13

Daylight savings tonight and the warm weather is inching closer...

Dark Souls: a fulfilling challenge or a chore?

That's really my only question. I have no doubt the game will be great - perhaps even amazing - but over the past few years, I've learned that gaming has become more of a source of relaxation than ever before. The days of killing myself to finish Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry 3 (before they fixed the difficulty with the Special Edition) are long gone, and I'm just not interested in extreme challenges that add tension rather than relieve it. Now, I don't mind some difficulty and I do get a small rush of satisfaction when conquering something particularly tough, but I'd much rather just enjoy myself. So I'm a little worried at From Software's statement concerning Dark Souls: they plan to make the hardest game possible.

I don't expect cheapness, certainly, but I remain firm in my belief that Demon's Souls suffered from a definite balancing issue. I hear the gameplay in this follow-up effort will be a little different, and I also imagine we'll find different advancement systems and mechanics. That alone is intriguing. And I know the game will be designed specifically for the hardcore, but there is a limit...well, for me, at least.

Can we call Dead Space the Resident Evil of this generation?

It's clear that EA has high hopes for the future of their critically acclaimed and well-respected horror franchise. They mention the immense success of Capcom's Resident Evil series and make it plain they hope Dead Space will follow a similar path. Now, while I don't think we can say DS is as revolutionary as RE was back in the day, there are two things we have to remember- firstly, many will argue that Alone in the Dark officially began the sub-genre we called "survival/horror," and others add that Silent Hill did more for the category in some respects. Secondly, we shouldn't underestimate what the first Dead Space did; it managed to properly fuse a third-person shooter mechanic with an atmosphere and style that was vintage Resident Evil. The debate could rage for a long time, but at the very least, DS innovated, if not revolutionized.

But to get to the level RE hit back in the '90s seems unlikely. The industry has changed so much and the competition is steeper than ever before; more great games arrive at a faster clip than we've ever seen. For anything to stand out, it really has to hit big. Dead Space is big but in comparison to "RE big" during its heyday? Weeeeell...

Personal gaming update

So I'm playing and loving Dragon Age II. I do believe hardcore RPGers might be disappointed due to a number of obvious reasons - several of which I mention in my video commentary - but I also know the game is fun. But there's one thing I haven't mentioned- with all this great hardware and technology, why - why - did so many RPG developers do away with an open world map? We'll get one again in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I know, but this used to be a staple; a mainstay. And we could do amazing stuff with it, too! Why am I going to a menu to select my location? I do that in DAII; I did it in Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, and it just never seems to stop. Why are they restricting us in this way?

Just a question. Maybe people don't care, I'm not sure. Next week, we've got Yakuza 4 to go over and I've still got to weigh in on the competition for MLB 11: The Show. Yeah, 2K Sports has a pretty decent offering in MLB 2K11, or so I hear. Oh, and then there's Top Spin 4, which I can't wait for, but I know nobody cares about. ;)

3/12/2011 Ben Dutka

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Comments (68 posts)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 9:30:15 PM
Reply

Got to agree about chores and whatnot. There's tension and difficulty and then there's torture that no longer has benefit for me.

Gonna be playing DAII again tonight cuz it is pretty sweet. I made a smexy redheaded female champion to spice things up.

If you would have asked me years ago if this generation would be a return to open world RPGs I'd say of course, they'll have all that power and space to play with. But sadly no. I'm not keen on the menus to travel either, seems lazy to me.

I dig Dead Space (still playing 2) but I don't know how much further the game can go after a third outing. I hope EA doesn't just lean on Visceral to keep making them. At least we know they are working on other stuff, but they aren't that big a team.

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shadowscorpio
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 8:55:52 PM

I believe that "Tales of" are the only RPG's that haven't done away with the world map yet. If they were traditional turn-base, these games would probably be the savior of JRPG fans. The thing that I can respect about the Tales of series is that even in this gaming gen they have still stayed true what they have always been.

Here's to Tales of Graces coming to the U.S.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 9:41:24 PM
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I don't think Dead Space will ever be the Resident Evil of this generation. Not only was Resident Evil an "alone in the dark" thrill ride with just about every release, it largely left it up to the player to find his/her way through the game via clues and documents found around the game. Dead Space...not so much. It guides you as if it's holding your hand. Plus Dead Space lacks memorable boss battles and puzzles. One of my favorite aspects of Resident Evil was the puzzles and boss fights. Something Dead Space is lacking. I also loved how Resident Evil 2 allowed you to play the same game but from two different perspectives. That's half the reason Resident Evil 2 remains one of my favorites in the series even today. S for me Dead Space will probably never replace Resident Evil for me. Plus now that Issac speaks, I like him even less for some reason.

Speaking of Dead Space, I still haven't finished 2. Not sure I will anytime soon either as I am still knee deep in Killzone 3's multiplayer and I also just started Valkryia Chronicles. So far I am liking it. A lot. So much in fact I ordered the second one yesterday from Amazon. I'm really loving the graphics. Something about the artist vision of it grabs me and keeps me wanting to see more. It has a style of its own and I would really love to see more JRPG's(or any kind of game really)adopt what Sega has done with the presentation. My only gripe is the white boarder that's always present around the edges of the screen. Seems rather necessary to me as I want to see everything that's on the screen but it's not a big deal. I really didn't think I would enjoy this game but something about it, that I can't quite put my finger on is really keeping me interested.

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rogers71
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:01:45 PM

I absolutely love Dead Space 1 & 2. It will never surpass the greatness that was Resident Evil 2.

With that said, after RE2, it took a downward turn and has gotten worse with every sequel. I sincerely hope that Dead Space does not fall into the same spiral that has befallen RE.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:06:30 PM

I really loved 3, 4 and Code Veronica. It didn't get lame for me until 5. I really do not know what Capcom was thinking. Maybe Jun Takeuchi was playing to much Gears of War.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:16:22 PM

oops...The white boarder seems rather *unnecessary...

The iPhone's auto correcter. A blessing, yet a curse. >.<

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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:18:44 PM

The Dead Space puzzles are easy peasy, but you do piece the story together in a similar manner: audio and text logs.

I know what you mean about the white boarder in VC, but it bothers me less because of the painting like quality than say the giant black fog around the screen edges in Mass Effect 2. That annoys me to no end.

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Lawless SXE
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:25:37 PM

Dead Space puzzles are definitely too easy, though I really enjoyed the enhanced scope of them in the sequel. That white border around VC was a rather strange design choice, but it does fit with the style of the watercolour visual presentation. It's so pretty.

It's also retained in the second one, so don't go in expecting to not see it.
Peace.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:29:20 PM

True the piecing of the story together is similar but Dead Space guides the player through the game by clicking the left analog stick. It gives you a way point. Something Resident Evil games didn't do. In Resident Evil the player is largely left on their own to figure out which way to go. Only given hints through clues and the process of elimination. I think part of the reason I enjoyed Dead Space 1 a lot more than I am 2 is I played through the entire game not knowing you could click the left stick to tell you where to go. Haha. Only on my second play through did I figure out there was a way point. After that the game just didn't seem the same.

@Lawless, yea, I expected as much but it's okay. While I would prefer it didn't have it I am already starting to forget about it as I play more of the game.

Last edited by Jawknee on 3/12/2011 10:31:30 PM

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SvenMD
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:18:56 PM

I think it's pretty evident that I really liked DS 1&2. (the avatar says it all) ;) But even I dont think that DS will go beyond RE in terms of sales it popularity..... But that doesn't bother me. I think Visceral has made a phenomenal game and I don't really want to compare it to anything else. But I think DS did alot for the current state of "survival/horror" and changed it Up quite a bit For one, zombies are freakin' played out right now and even though Dead Island looks awesome so far, it was nice to see something besides a zombie. Second, anatomical dismemberment is amazing. Third, the weapons are diverse.... Thank goodness I don't have to take on these things with a crowbar or a little 9mm..... You get a plasma cutter... Sweet! Anyway, I'm already looking forward to the next one.

@Jawknee - you don't HAVE to click L3! Haha.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:45:00 PM

Haha, I know but now that I know it's there it's hard not too.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:05:14 AM

If there was no locator in DS you'd be running out of oxygen a lot. I like it, but if you just follow the locator you will miss a lot of stuff.

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Lawless SXE
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:12:00 AM

HEY! Why do I not remember air cans in DS2?

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Jawknee
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:23:03 AM

Neither do I. Seems they did away with them entirely. Seems like there were less Zero Oxygen areas in Dead Space 2 as well.

World, my first play through of Dead Space 1 I never ran out of oxygen even without knowing about the way point. I just always made sure I had oxygen cans with me and I rushed through the zero oxygen areas as fast as I could to avoid running out of air. It was only on my second play though which was on a harder setting and when I wanted to explore a bit more did I run the risk of running out of air.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:14:06 PM

Fair enough. DS2 opted for air refill stations. I got pretty turned around on the mission to reset those mirrors in space and almost ran out of air a couple times. Enough to make it tense anyway.

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Temjin001
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 9:59:26 PM
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I'd prefer to have both difficulty options in games. A regular difficulty for the majority of those "regular" gamers, and then the harder difficulties for those who like a good fight.

Dragon Age 2 looks good. Now I'm torn on what version to get. DF just came out with a final version face-off and it seems last minute changes by Bioware happened before the game shipped. The PS3 version is now more my preference.
I've always been one to take smoother frames and some tearing over lower frames and v-synced graphics. Judging by DF's observations, the PS3 gets Richard's personal preference between the two versions due to it's higher frame-rate+some tearing and great MLAA for smooth edges. Cutscenes also appear to hold up better on PS3.
And I totally prefer the DS3 for mashing buttons and DA2's rogue class is definitely "mashy." The question becomes DA:O. On one hand I prefer the clearer textures, DS3 and BD-ROM, but the game suffers from deeper FPS drops and a lack of AA in comparison to 360. BUt Temjin why not just play DA:O on 360 and DA2 on PS3? Because I wan't to import my DA:O save file to DA2 =)

PGU: Lost Odyssey, I've been playing Lost Odyssey *shifts eyes, clutches sword, and listens for disturbances in the wind. My Porky Power Ranger friend may be lurking nearby readying his attack* =p

I did take a slight detour and play a level or so of Reach (got it for $13). And yeah, KZ3's visuals spanks it old school hard.

Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/12/2011 9:59:40 PM

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:07:28 PM

From now on, every time you mention Lost Odyssey in a post, I am going to give you a thumbs up. :)

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Temjin001
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:14:07 PM

woo hoo! =)

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:18:30 PM

"I did take a slight detour and play a level or so of Reach (got it for $13). And yeah, KZ3's visuals spanks it old school hard."

I don't know if it was just the TV I was playing it on when I played it with my friend at his house but Reach had jaggies galore! I really was surprised at how unchanged it looked from Halo 3. The helmet textures looked nice in some of the cutscenes but I really couldn't see any drastic improvements over the previous game.

Last edited by Jawknee on 3/12/2011 10:19:19 PM

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PasteNuggs
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:04:51 PM

@Jawk
I actually played Reach before 3 because I didn't get a 360 until November and when I played I could see some major improvements from 3 until Reach. To me, everything just seemed a lot less flat and there was more texture detailing, at least in the "nature" environments. In the urban environments everything looks flat and square with no detail though.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:16:38 PM

Yea I could definitely tell a difference in the textures but not much else. Maybe it's because I haven't played 3 since it released and I am just not remembering correctly. I was still left asking myself why the jaggies were so bad though. Not since the start of this generation have I seen jaggies that bad. The frame rate seemed choppy and the characters outlines looked jittery for some reason too.

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PasteNuggs
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:22:26 PM

I definitely agree on the framerate. The vehichle sections seemed the worst to me, and the checkpoints. The character outlines though, I don't know, to me it seemed like Bungie was trying to give the characters like some sort of aura or something. It was a little off putting though.

Last edited by PasteNuggs on 3/12/2011 11:24:36 PM

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Temjin001
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:48:47 AM

Jawknee, there's a number of enhancements, albeit more subtle ones, to Reach across the board, but even so, it still looks like a Halo game. Outside of a level that used a lot of white buildings it looks on par, aliasing wise, with much of whats out there today for the platform. THough, I think Reach is using a cheap AA method, but it's still better than having zero AA like Halo's from before.
Visually, the only real thing I that still stands out about Halo is it's sometimes impressive HDR usage. Some darker indoor areas, like "the Long Night of Solace" Covenant ship part looks quite nice. Reach can suffer from some occasional, mostly rare instances of frame dips, more-so than I remember from Halo2/Halo 3/ODST.
As a whole though, Reach looks surprisingly dated now having played a lot of KZ3. Generally, KZ3 feels like a half-generational gap quite often in graphics over Reach. Making that dated feel sometimes hard to ignore. But not only that, the motion in KZ3 is pretty impressive. It may be less weighty than KZ2 but it's still doing some gun and player momentum physics that feels really convincing. Also, I can't help but highlight the great animation, best I've seen for a FPS. It's just superbly handled all around.

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Qubex
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:11:12 AM

Temjin... crazy thing is, after KZ3 visuals, how do you get used to other FPS's now? Battlefield 3 may come close if they do something special with it...

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

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Jawknee
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:17:17 AM

The motion and animations are quite fascinating in KZ3. Like you said, even with the change, the realistic, fluid motions just feel right. I played a little bit of KZ2 today and now I can't decide which controls I prefer. They both feel great though 3 feels quite a bit more accurate and less herky jerky.

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Temjin001
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 10:15:09 PM

Qubex, those Battlefield 3 graphics will be downgraded for console gamers. A DX11 game running on a high-end GPU is going to make things look pretty nice. So unless they've discovered something really amazing, programing-wise, it's not really possible for a multi-plat to look as good as a custom designed PS3 game. Assuming good art direction is in order, it really comes down to crunching the numbers and optimizing resources for the final overall look of a game. No matter how hard a dev tries, they just couldn't make Uncharted 2, KZ3, or GoW3 happen on a 360. Battlefield 3 just won't compete at that level.

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THEGODSLAYER
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:08:27 PM
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deadspace will never be as good as resident evil was back in the day,

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WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:20:37 PM
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Resident Evil is dead at any rate, especially with a team based action game on the horizon.

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Lawless SXE
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:28:48 PM

That's an unconfirmed rumour. All we know for certain is that there are two 3DS games and a PSP game on the horizon. Actually, that's pretty much a death knell anyway.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:44:34 PM

There is another rumor that Resident Evil 6 could be a time PS3 exclusive as well. I wonder if it as anything to do with the Team Based Action game rumor that you're talking about World. I guess this Team Based Action game is supposed to be made by the same people who made Socom Confrontation.

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main_event05
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:18:04 PM

As much as I love RE they should have ended it with Raccoon City.

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Lawless SXE
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:22:49 PM
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I'm very glad that it's stopped raining for the time being. Not being able to work this past Thursday and Friday was irritating. Still another two months left of the official wet season though. :/

I like me a challenge, but not a cheap one (the final boss of Dissidia: Final Fantasy springs to mind). It's one of the reasons that I thoroughly enjoyed Demon's Souls, but I also didn't like it because most of the bosses forced you to use one specific method of attack, and if you weren't proficient in that style, you'd get nailed. Outside of that, I had no qualms with it. Looking forward to Dark Souls because it appears to follow that same pattern. And the open world format is awesome. I hope to see more RPGs use it.

RE was the go-to series for shock and horror since its inception until RE5. I don't think that any game can be called the same today, unless it's Amnesia: Dark Descent. That's supposed to be creepy as all hell. FEAR didn't strike me at all, Dead Space is more about the action, but I'm looking to see what DMD and Silent Hill: Downpour are capable of. But it appears to me as though Alice: Madness Returns will have horror elements (you must remember that I prefer psychology to visual horror).

But I think EA's statement is more along the lines of Dead Space being the popular brand of horror, rather than the most spine-tingling. In that respect, I do believe it's possible.

Personal Update:
Finished DS2, the review is up, and I had to cut almost 2000 characters from it... Yeah, 'tis long. I'm now playing Brutal Legend. My thoughts thus far are reserved.
And I finished 1984 on Friday. How can it take me less than a week to read it, but more than three months for Middlemarch? Makes no sense. Anyway, I'm onto Inferno now.
Peace.

P.S. Did anyone hear about Insomniac Click? What are your thoughts?

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PasteNuggs
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:49:25 PM

My thoughts on click are that it will be something to boost Insomniac's budgets to continue to give us great games. Also, since it is a division I assume that it will be training ground for new team members to get accustomed to the Insomniac team and learn from the masters.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 10:52:36 PM

Yea, the final boss in Dissidia was a great challenge. I think I finally beat him with Cloud and then again with Squall and Gabranth.

As for Insomniac Click, I hadn't heard of it until now but I don't do Facebook so I probably won't go beyond the Googling I just did to find out what it was about. :)

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Lawless SXE
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:09:23 AM

No, Jawk, I thought that final boss was cheap... At least in Inward Chaos. He was level 111, or some such ridiculous number like that, all those undodgeable attacks. And almost always an instant one-hit kill. Cheapness. I beat the main story mode of all of the good characters though :D

And I'm inclined to agree with Nuggs on Click. It'll be a proving ground for the new devs introduced to the team, but I mean, will the involvement of Insomniac in the facebook apps be something vastly different, or will it just be more of the same? Will it really bring console quality gaming to FB? I hope so, but I doubt it.
Peace.

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Jawknee
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:18:09 AM

I don't think I attempted it on Inward Chaos. You have given me a reason to play the game again. :)

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Vitron
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 10:18:46 AM

I also challenged the Inward Chaos with my Squall yet to no avail so I just quit plating it after a while. Now I just gonna start grinding again for Squall's Lion Heart item.

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johnld
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:48:33 PM

i bought dissidia for 20 bucks. took it home, played a couple of games, went to sleep, brother let girlfriend borrow it. then they broke up, she kept the game and psp, and i just spent 20 bucks for nothing. next week, my brother sold his wii with MY mario galaxy game in it. Hence my rule of not buying games for systems i dont own. if psp games can be played on ps3 then i would be able to buy and play it.

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PasteNuggs
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:00:01 PM
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I'm still torn on DA2, but I assume I will break down and get it at some point. I just still don't exactly like the X button attack.

PGU: I "finished" Mass Effect 2. I haven't done all the DLC and I'm not sure if I will. I put 74 hours into it on my playthrough. I might start another one because I lost 2 team members. I lost Jack and Jacob. Jacob bothered me more because I'm not sure why I lost him.
So now, I still have DS2, GT5, and AC:B for my main 3 games. I'm really starting to feel the urge for AC:B so that might be what I play now, although I did pick up Alpha Protocol for $16 this week so I may get in to playing that instead. I'm going into it with low expectations and am hoping I can see the genius behind the flaws.

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Beamboom
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 9:05:28 PM

Funny, I've looked at the Alpha Protocol pricing for weeks now, thinking exactly what you're thinking, "it can't be *that* bad, can it?"... Please tell how it goes playing the game with no expectations.

Regarding brotherhood: Go for it, I say. it's a really good game. It's not a story of epic proportions like the BioWare games, but it's still a good game.

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kellett007
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:02:23 PM
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I can not wait for Yakuza 4 and Top Spin 3. It was 80 degrees here today so it is def tennis season for me.

PGU: Still playing GT5 and am now level 31 A-Spec and 34 B-Spec. Should have almost all the races done before long just waiting till the endurance save patch comes out before attemping those 24 hour races. Also playing both RDR and Undead Nightmare and really starting to get into it.

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main_event05
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:19:16 PM
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FYI Dr Pepper has a promotion going on for free DS2 Costumes.

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main_event05
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:03:20 AM

Also, I hear Sony just won a lawsuit giving them access to all the IPs that accessed geohot's website, twitter stream and youtube page.

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Shams
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:44:42 PM
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PGU:

Killzone 3, though a hurried (and ambitious) effort, rocked the kaspah, and I'm digging the mp, though I'm a total newb. DS2 was a thrill, so I downloaded "Severed" DLC today. Will be replaying inFamous in hot anticipation for the sequel. DA2 is tempting, but I'll hold off on it, along with BulletStorm, for the $20 sweet spot...it'll be a while, but 2011 has plenty to hold me over with. Need to get a new harddrive and an external one so I can finally get to GT5. I got Uncharted 1 from Buydotcom for 15 bucks, so I'll be playing that again, though I'm more in a mood to play Vanquish again. And man, I forgot how fun Wipeout is.

I dug the Crysis 2 Speed Trailer (The 3rd "New York, New York" remix is the best, just don't know who it's by). IGN's 4 part interview with Cliffy B was surprisingly engrossing. He's really passionate and intellectual, and based on how he cites gaming history, he's definitely a gamer first and foremost. He's got me psyched even for Gears3, so I'll be picking up a battered 360 up at some point...but I can wait.

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Jawknee
Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 11:47:04 PM

I thought you had a 360 already? Did you sell it at some point?

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Temjin001
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:54:43 AM

I don't think I could even pick up a 360 just for Gears 3. It may be worth holding out Master Shams. Didn't Epic claim recently that they'd "love to bring Gears to the PS3?" I think it's still pretty probable.
BUT if you do manage to get a battered 360 anyway, snag Bayonetta and my new best friend LOST ODYSSEY while you're at it =) Good stuff. and my 360 gamer tag is Temjin01. One less zero than my usual. =)

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Jawknee
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:18:42 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if the next Gears after 3 ends up on the NGP too.

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Shams
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:26:47 AM

You remember correctly, Jawknee. I had one, but sold it sometime last year. When it was announced ME3 was coming to PS3, my interest waned in getting a 360, again, but Cliffy B rekindled it. But you reminded me, depending what comes out on the NGP, this may change again, because I will be getting an NGP for sure.

And true dat, Sensei Temjin. You've got me interested in both Lost Odyssey and Bayonetta. Gears3 might just be the cherry on the sundae.

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kraygen
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 12:37:41 AM
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Ben, I'm curious as to the balancing issues you're talking about with Demon's Souls. Only thing I could find in the review about balancing was the music.

I think as long as Dark Souls is hard because you have to learn how to play and learn when to attack and defend, like Demon's Souls, I'll love it. If it's just super hard because when a monster looks at you wrong you keel over, I'll be beyond annoyed. I'm really ok with trying to figure out the best way to attack, strategy, and all that. I don't however enjoy games that every enemy takes 80 hits to kill, but they can kill you in 2, just aggravating.

Currently finishing up the dlc that I got for free on Mafia 2, I really enjoy it, so I might have to spring for the parts I didn't get. When I have fulfilled my mafia appetite for a while, I'll put Two worlds 2 back in and see if they've patched it yet. Second half of the game still freezes a lot anytime it tries to load, which since it is open world, it loads often. I actually learned several spots to avoid as they are freeze happy, but I loved it a lot and I want to play through focusing on magic because the magic system is freakishly awesome.

I have Godfather II to play which will come after my Two worlds 2 game is finished again, or possibly before if they haven't released the patch yet, it's in the works, just not sure when it'll be ready to download.

About 6 years ago a friend brought over a game on xbox called Advent Rising, I absolutely loved it and thought of it the other day, found it new on amazon for less than $10, so that will be here next week and I can't wait to play it again, wish they had made the sequels.

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 7:43:07 PM

I'm talking about the fact that souls are used for everything, including buying items and leveling up. This means you can either choose between advancing your character or buying a piece of equipment.

Most RPGs, obviously, have a money/experience system, which makes much more sense. I understand the addition of strategy with souls and making big decisions, but it doesn't pan out, balance-wise. That's how I see it, anyway.

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kraygen
Monday, March 14, 2011 @ 11:54:32 AM

Oh, ok, well I can definitely understand that. Yeah I would say that would probably be my biggest problem with the game, especially once you get to the point that you need like a million souls just to level. At that point, every souls counts.

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___________
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:20:26 AM
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that depends.
if its going to be the typical game where if you die you have to redo the whole level then tedious pain in the a$$!
if its going to be like ninja gaiden, but have good checkpoints or let the player save and pick up where they save then thats how it should be.
i love hard games, i enjoy a challenge, but having to redo a whole level because i died is what pisses me off!
i dont have enough time to play the games i want, ive got like 12 games sitting on my shelf i still have not touched!
let alone spend hours redoing sh*t ive already done!

i can see what EA wants to do with dead space, i just hope they dont.
they want to expand the series and make it much more popular, but more popular means comics, movies, figurines, and we all know what that means.
i love dead space too much to see it turn into, well, RE5!
DS2 was already a step in the wrong direction.
wheres the tension?
the only reason dead space was so popular was because your constantly confined to a small space, you cant move around so you get surrounded and trapped really easily and you start to panic, you feel claustrophobic.
its hard to feel like that when your in a open room with multiple exit points.
thats what ruined dead space 2 for me.
some games are suppose to be open and non linear AKA KZ, some games are suppose to be closed and linear AKA DS.
oh well, looks like its time to have a memorial for all my favorite games because there going to be changed real soon.
:(

just finished ME2 last night, and WOW, just WOW!
BEST ENDING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU LISTENING GG?
NOW THATS HOW YOU DO A ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
action packed AND really emotional at the same time!
go out with a bang, a cry, and leave some questions open for the sequel.
i dont trust TIM, i ended up leaving the ship in tact because i was doing the paragon run, but the look he gave me at the end of the game, i dunno i just feel hes going to betray me, and the human race.
maybe TIM is a collector in discize?

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Pandacastro
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:13:28 AM
Reply

Just got a new ps2. Any great overlook games you guys would recommend?

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Kevin555
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:25:15 AM

Depends what genre you're into bro.

Some gems i'd recommend are Beyond Good & Evil, Ico, PSI OPS Mindgate Conspiracy, Shadow of Memories, Primal,The Bouncer, SOS The Final Escape (also known as Disaster Report), Freedom Fighters just to name a few.

There is a crapload out there worth a mention though, those are just some of my personal choices.

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johnld
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:53:39 PM

i saw a bunch of ps2s on clearance at target for 65 bucks i think. thought about picking up one to use as a dvd player. ps2 for dvds and ps3 for blurays. I'd suggest final fantasy x, X2, 12, marvel vs capcom 2, star ocean till end of time, dragon quest 8, tenchu.

i wish there was a tenchu game for ps3. i wanna play some stealth ninja action. ninja gaiden is great and all but i feel like playing a ninja game that actually plays like a ninja.

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Kevin555
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:33:33 AM
Reply

Dead Space & Resident Evil are both great game series, although i enjoy Dead Space alot i would personally always pick Resident Evil over them just for memories sake & the impact they made on my gaming experience.

Walking through that mansion during the first RE & having skinless dogs barking at the front door as you open it gave me chills, just when i thought gaming couldn't get much better (at the time) Resident Evil 2 comes out & surpasses the brilliant original by shoving in more of the same, but done better.

I'd say Dead Space is this gens RE mainly due to RE5 sucking balls but as far as overall franchise goes, RE will always trump DS imo.

But hell, both are top game series & both should be played by as many sane gamers with pulses as possible.

PGU: I've been playing the good old Hitman games lately & imo they're still an absolute joy to play, why IO Interactive have chosen to release two morning turds in the guise of Kane & Lynch instead of rehashing the baldy assassin is beyond me. Maybe they're working on Hitman V now? I sure hope so.

I'm also looking for more info on Alice Madness Returns, the new Silent Hill, BioShock Infinite, LA Noire, Tekken Tag 2 & for the god of me, DmC just to see what Ninja Theory have planned.

I will also insert my usual whinging about the lack of Virtua Fighter & King of Fighters XIII console loving.

Last edited by Kevin555 on 3/13/2011 3:35:39 AM

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RadioHeader
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 7:24:40 AM
Reply

I had my first venture online with Killzone 3 last night, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Move has boosted my performance massively! Not only that but it's just so F'ing cool to use. For me, it has become just as important for shooters as my steering wheel is for GT5.

Games I really want to see supporting Move; inFamous 2, Resistance 3 and - even though I won't buy it - the next COD thingy. lol, I just want our superior controls to laugh in the face of micro$haft's early DLCBS.

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Excelsior1
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 10:00:06 AM
Reply

wow, so many great comments above. i honesltly enjoy reading the comments section more than the main articles.

dead space is good, but it's not quite up to re's level yet. like many mentiioned above, it really needs more enemy types, bosses, and better puzzles. re was just epic.

there certainly wasn't any hand holding going on in the early re games. you really had to watch your ammo, and search areas thouroughly. i almost had to restart code veronica becuase of poor item management on my part, and not having more than 1 save. i kept running out of ammo during that boss fight in the cargo plane. i got lucky by finding some explosive bolts in my inventory box that i was overlooking. another close call was that axe swinging steve burnside mutant.

so many great times with the re games. hopefully they get things back on track with re6.

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Ricochet
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 10:41:06 AM
Reply

It's been awhile since I last posted here but I'll give my two cents to exact why Dead Space 2 could never be Biohazard/Resident Evil.

The thing with Biohazard, is that despite being a "survival horror" game. The developers has NEVER EVER forgot the "game" aspect. Such famous examples would be the puzzles used in the game. Sure they take away the pacing, but it's nice to know that it doesn't just boils down to shoot/kill, run to checkpoint, etc. Which in turn still make emphasizes the whole point of the video games: FUN!

Nowadays, games tend to go 'blockbuster-based' meaning they are becoming more and more like movies. Japanese developers until today, still has superior gameplay mechanics than most western games out there.

However, "western" mindsets like S-E and more sadly Capcom is now catering to such mentality that it actually falls face flat on itself. (Part of the reason that I'm glad Nintendo exist simply due to that fact "gameplay" tends to make up more than graphics and whatnot)

Last edited by Ricochet on 3/13/2011 10:55:04 AM

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Excelsior1
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:21:59 PM

re 5 did kind of fall flat on its face. the whole blackhawk down vibe and roided up chris just didn't work for me. a motercycle gang of zombies? the boss fights were terrible, too. the only boss fight i enjoyed was u87. the rest of that tentacle crap was just awful.

the lost in nightmares dlc had more of re vibe to it. a whole game like that would have been a lot better than what we got in re5.

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Jawknee
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 2:00:19 PM

When RE5 was announced I was excited to see what they would do with the "Black Hawk Down" idea but they obviously, like you said, dropped it flat on its face. They had a bunch of cool ideas like sunlight would play an important roll. Chris would get fatigued if he stayed out in the sun too long and they wanted to play with lighting effects where if you were indoors and went outside it would take a second for your vision to adjust to the bright light but for what ever reason they scrapped all that in exchange for a half ass run n' gun Gears of War like vibe.

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Beamboom
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 11:13:51 AM
Reply

Regarding the open world maps: I think it's ok that BioWare does it this way, let that be their way of telling their stories. I simply respect their work too much to bitch about that. We got Fallout who offer the open map experience.
What I do wish though, is that those two were not the only ones to deliver decent RPGs on the ps3. I am so sick'n'tired of "action games" in various outlets, being it in cars, on foot, 3rd or 1st person perspective!

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Beamboom
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 9:42:33 PM

"decent WESTERN rpg's", I should say. jrpg's just don't do it for me.

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Godslim
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 1:44:05 PM
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i loved dead space 1 but 2 just doesnt do anything new for me really its prett much the same game :S

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johnld
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:44:57 PM
Reply

i have no problem with difficulty. cheapness is another thing(treyarch) but i dont mind a game being difficult. I have demons soul but i didnt really find it as hard as people say. Killzone 2 on elite was great and challenging. it felt like a great accomplishment beating it. killzone 3 is different though, too easy. i rarely used the cover button and the only trouble i had was on the vehicle sequences.

as for dead space, i havent played it. i played resident evil on ps1 but not the newer ones. i'll probably pick up 5 if it gets cheap enough just to try it again. i guess survival horror isnt really my type of game.

PGU: Im starting to play killzone 3 online using the sharpshooter. the first couple of games were a mess but the fourth i actually got a positive kdr. i'm getting pretty used to it now. I also finished dantes inferno. bought it for 10 bucks new. i gotta say that i like it a lot more than castlevania. castlevania is just a chore for me. i'm thinking about going for the platinum but collecting relics and judas coins was a pain.

Now i'm looking forward to getting yakuza 4 this week. i hope kmart has copies of yakuza 3 because if they dont i'm gonna have to pass on it. I might also be getting socom 4 day 1, i'll see how things go.

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Alienange
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 3:53:55 PM
Reply

Ok, WHAT??? There's NO world map in DAII??

I had no idea ... I'm floored. What have you done Bioware? What have you done!! Of all the developers out there I thought YOU understood what a world map does for a player. How it makes us feel apart of something bigger. How we could feel like we're actually traversing a landscape. But selecting destinations from a menu?? THIS is what you've come up with for DAII?

I'm more than a little shocked and... and... frankly, pissed.

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Beamboom
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 9:06:46 PM

... You never played DA:O or ME then, I take it?

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just2skillf00l
Sunday, March 13, 2011 @ 5:39:18 PM
Reply

Personal gaming update

stagnant!!!

BUT, I just preordered Homefront today at gamestop. I turned in all my COD titles some weeks before so I practically got the game free of charge! My gamestop is having a midnight release tomorrow so I'm gonna be on Homefront all tomorrow night! And daylight's savings makes the day's appearance seem so much younger. Yep! I love spring.

So who's gonna get Homefront? Add me if you are. No buts, ifs, or maybes!

My PSN ID:
Just2skillf00l

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