Ben's Week In Review: February 26
The Last GuardianI really never expected to be this busy at the tail end of February. Damn new hardware launch. Killing me. ...but oh, what a way to go. ;)
I'm on the fence about this whole Last Guardian thing
Like many others, I'm convinced that The Last Guardian will be yet another amazing PlayStation 3 exclusive title. But also like many people, I've been worried ever since hearing of Fumito Ueda's departure from Sony. Yes, I know it technically didn't change his position in terms of his day-to-day work, but when a Sony boss (Yoshida) says things are "progressing slowly," one still has to be concerned. Therefore, I remain on the fence when I get the news that Sony is assigning other internal studios to assist with the project. I mean, there are obvious positives and negatives to this situation.
On the plus side, you get the help of talented and proven professionals that have experience working with the PS3. This in turn should result in a faster development cycle. On the downside, you have to wonder: where was this project? It just seems like it was so far behind that Sony had to make this move. I'm worried that things just weren't gelling on the initial development team and hence, management had to step in. That's just never a good sign. Still...I have hope. Don't you?
Sony might want to consider a purchase...
And while we're on the subject, here's something else I'm torn on: whether or not Sony should purchase Thatgamecompany and add them to their fantastic stable of first-party developers. Studio co-founder Jenova Chen said they plan to expand beyond PlayStation, and it sounds like that's already a done deal. Therefore, my wondering is probably all for naught (although things can always change in the future). Still, it brings up an interesting question- Such talented and innovative people should bring their creations to the biggest audience possible, right? They deserve the widespread recognition. And let's just say it, they deserve to make more money. Thatgamecompany is comprised of visionaries, plain and simple.
So expansion is the democratic thing to do. And PSN users should be thankful they finally got Limbo. That's just an example. But at the same time, I've always believed that teams that focus on one particular platform can generate singularly amazing games; defining titles for the generation, in fact. And of course, that has happened ('cough' Naughty Dog 'cough'). So are we depriving them of the chance to make an even bigger impact if they go "democratic?" Tough question.
Personal gaming debate
Well, I made it plain that I can't stop playing Final Fantasy XIII-2. But work has to come first; I've still got more than a few Vita titles to review, the Syndicate review has to be written, and Asura's Wrath should be here tomorrow. Plus, I should also be playing Journey with whoever happens to be online from Thatgamecompany; they've set up some specified play periods for members of the press, and I should be taking part on Monday afternoon. And there's also SSX - which should be awesome - and the week after, Mass Effect 3. 'sigh' Figures. The one time I have a really long game that I want to play a lot.
However, I have noticed that I've turned to the Vita to play games, even with FFXIII-2 sitting there. There are times when I just want to play Hot Shots or Wipeout or Rayman or Uncharted or Touch My Katamari. Those are just great titles and it really doesn't feel that much different than playing them on the PS3. I never would've believed it before I got the thing but...well, there it is.
Lastly, congrats again to our most recent giveaway winner, Andrew B. aka Serakek; he got his two free Vita games this past week. Look for more giveaways in the near future!
2/25/2012 Ben Dutka
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Comments (36 posts)
bigrailer19
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 12:13:51 AM
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Lord carlos
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 9:55:27 PM
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if this came out in 2013 along with Agent then i'd be a happy camper!
PGU:Shadow of the colossus & MGS HD
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CanadianGuy420
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 12:41:16 AM
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Lord carlos
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 7:56:41 AM
Ueda was a CGI artist before starting game design,both ico & sotc took 4 years each to get out...long dev times are normal for this dude.
In rome a few hundred years ago nobles used to say "Don't hire leonardo da vinci,he can never finnish on time !!
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CanadianGuy420
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 3:33:25 PM
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Shams
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 10:02:40 PM
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I was kinda disappointed to hear that Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus wasn't clocking in at 60fps, especially when the last gen xbox could do it. Granted, mobile devices are underclocked for power consumption, and maybe rather than taking the time to fine tune the game against slow-down, they just found it easier to port the game as-is and lock it at 30fps to make it in time for the Vita launch. But, I didn't break the plastic of my copy, so I'll be returning it. But as disappointed I was to hear about that, I've been blown away by Uncharted:GA and Wipeout 2048. So, I'm a happy camper.
I wanted Rayman:Origins, but couldn't find it at BestBuy and Target, and Gamestop didn't include in it's BTGOF deal. I picked up Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom, to show off what the Vita was capable of, but I'm not opening it because I'm wondering if I should've just Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend.
Rayman seems to be selling out everywhere. Conservatively stocked I'm sure, but the praise is unanimous about it being perhaps the #1 Vita title to own.
1 up, 1 down
THEVERDIN
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 10:06:43 PM
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iwillbetheone
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 11:25:36 PM
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frylock25
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 11:29:19 PM
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also playing AC revelations but havent gotten very far yet.
anyone that wants to see something funny go on youtube and look up epic rap battles of history. that last one was "the wright brothers vs the mario bros". before that it was "leonidas vs master cheif" other great ones are hitler vs vader, shakespere vs dr suess, mr rogers vs mr t and abraham lincoln vs chuck norris.
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Geobaldi
Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 11:53:40 PM
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matt99
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 12:30:56 AM
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frylock25
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 4:17:33 AM
matt yea same guys. NicePeter and Epic Lloyd. they bring in other people to do some of the raps with them.
another of my favs is einstein vs stephen hawking.
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Geobaldi
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 6:44:06 AM
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___________
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 1:42:37 AM
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TLG was dead to me ever since $ony announced the series creators departure.
yea hes still there working for it, but just makes me feel like hes there because he has to be not because he wants to be.
when your doing something that you dont want to your going to half a$$ it and rush it.
i hope it turns out good but im not holding my breath.
as for $ony buying that games company its not really worth it for them.
their a niche studio, a indie studio at that, i cant see them pulling in the profits to make a first party buyout worthwhile.
plus being a indie studio it wont be worthwhile for them, to be profitable they need to be on multiple systems.
asuras wrath im yet to play, bit of a waste having it on the shelf for 2 weeks and not touching it but whatever.
im really disappointed with binary domain.
yet another developer promising the characters will react to what you do, the world will do so too, and the game will change.
yet again another developer harping on the customization, and yet another game that has failed to deliver.
im so sick of developers promising it, and never delivering on it!
i remember when GTAIV just before release they announced you could make decisions in the game that would change the story, but all they really did was change a cut scene.
like niko catches up with that guy who has been screwing around with him and you can choose to kill him or not.
whether you do or not changes nothing, so whats the point?
yes characters react to how you play, BUT you have to be a total prick and constantly screw up to make them hate you.
im constantly telling them to charge into enemy fire and getting them killed and they still obey me like the messiah!
just for once can we have a game that actually delivers on its promises?
just once?
the plot is really interesting too, the concept of hallow children and not knowing if your spouse or best friend is a robot.
but it really is so shallow, its managed to turn a really interesting concept into a i dont give a sh*t story!
the cut scenes are so dragged out and uninspired you find yourself constantly skipping them.
i was expecting a game with a really deep story, and characters and gameplay i can mould and shape the way i want to.
but sadly all i got was another generic shooter, but in place of humans your fighting robots.
not as generic and uninspired as terminator, but not far off it either!
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gray_eagle
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 2:20:28 AM
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to see what kind of game they could make for the vita.
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Lawless SXE
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 5:26:05 AM
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And Team ICO is a small studio as well, so I think it's a good thing that Sony has sent over people to help them out. TLG just seems to be so shockingly ambitious that the team would never be able to deliver on its promises by themselves, regardless of how talented and visionary they are. Now they get people that have experience with delivering excellent games working alongside them, but remaining under the tutelage of Ueda. I think, if anything, it could be a learning experience for those other members in working beneath someone who is so singularly excellent at merging gameplay and narrative, and that is the best possible outcome in my opinion.
PU:
Yeah, I haven't been around much recently, but I've been busy elsewhere and just having some personal issues. Don't worry about me too much, I'll try to pop in a bit more frequently :)
Been playing through FFXIII-2 of late. It's a good game, but I think that it would have been better if it had been incubated for another year or so, certain elements changed and have it released as XV, while ensuring that Versus gets out the door in the meantime. I've actually finished the story except for the last battle, so I'm going back and grinding to make it easier, but I'm disappointed that the campaign was so short. It took me half the time to reach the end of it as it did for the original XIII. It was even shorter than Valkyria Chronicles... Anyways, I'm now playing Binary Domain and I'm yet to make up my mind on it.
Been alternating between the first three Bourne novels and the last novels in the Jane Austen compilation, so I have Persuasion to finish, then The Bourne Supremacy before I'll be moving on to the Sherlock Holmes compilations. It's all good.
Peace.
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Snaaaake
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 5:28:37 AM
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PGU:
Been playing the heck outta FFVI, and I gotta say, there are times when I almost had tears in my eyes when I'm playing the game.
FFVI has got to be the FF with the most depressing moment and every one of it touched me real good.
SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER
One thing I must mention is that Kefka is as worst as a villain can ever get.
I don't know why Sephiroth always ahead of Kefka in terms of popularity.
Like one of the character called him(Leo if you played the game), Kefka is INSANE.
Poisoned the water supply of a kingdom and resulted in the death of all in it, down to the last child.
Killed a lot a lot of the espers.
Not only that, he even succeeded in destroying the world, causing grief everywhere, and destroying the hope of many.
And became the world's overlord who can just burn any village down at will.
If we're going by personality it is arguable who is the better villain, but if we're going by what they had done, Kefka beat Sephiroth hands down.
Sephiroth was badass, strong, cold.
But all he did was unleashing some WEAPONS, called a meteor which failed to touch the world and of course, who could ever forget, killed Aeris.
What Kefka achieved is immeasurable.
SPOILER END
SPOILER END
This is what I think after playing FFVI, it's not that I think Sephiroth isn't a good villain.
But I just dislike how Kefka isn't as famous as Sephiroth among FF fans.(Thought this sentence was a tongue-twister)
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Beamboom
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 5:44:38 AM
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This exclusive-idolizing is... Just... so *blargh*!
Creativity and artistry knows no boundaries! And of all the fantastic games being released these days, by *far* most of the "defining titles" are released on several platforms. By FAR!
That's not to say that an exclusive title with a pile of sponsoring to polish it from here to eternity doesn't give results, of course they do, but come on.
Multiplat titles are not second rate products. Quite the contrary, they are made by studios with no obligations to anyone but themselves fighting on an open market to create the most amazing games.
Where would we be without games like Skyrim, Gotham City, Rocksmith, Rage, Mass Effect or LA Noire last year? What's "defining" if not those titles - and now we only talk about releases within one single year, and on top of that others would probably have listed other titles as "defining" instead! Portal 2? Battlefield 3? The list goes on!
Highly likely many of those projects would have been pure losses had they only been made for the PS3. Like Skyrim, I don't see a game like that being released for just the PS3 ever, it's just not thinkable.
I believe getting out of the Sony grip is *perfect* for Thatgamecompany. Flower and Flow for instance, could have played perfectly on a wii too, or - god forbid - even a tablet or mobile phone.
The market potential for their games outside the Sony sphere is *enormous*.
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/26/2012 7:09:53 AM
5 up, 6 down
Jawknee
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 8:05:16 AM
Dude, you just have some odd bias against exclusive games and it's hard to understand why you seem to loathe them so. It's as if you automatically lower a game down a peg because it's not multiplat.
4 up, 2 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 10:09:37 AM
In fact I got an exclusive on my "most underrated of 2011" list: Resistance 3. A very good shooter of 2012.
Another exclusive, Infamous 2 would probably be rated as one of my favs of 2011 (I don't have it yet). The first Infamous sure was a fav for that year. I don't loathe exclusives at all.
A good game is a good game regardless, but to hail exclusives as the "defining titles of a generation" is quite the pompous speech when you see what's going on amongst the non-exclusives.
In my opinion there were two games of all the excellent games released last year that *truly* pushed the envelope for others to follow: Skyrim and LA Noire, for each their own reasons. They both pushed the boundaries, offered something at a level never seen before. And no exclusive were anywhere near what they offered. No exclusive were even on the same ballpark as those games.
Either way - a theory that an exclusive dev going multiplat would in any way risk the quality of their products going down is just... Irrational.
In fact, when Demons Souls went multiplat NOONE could spot this supposed decline in quality at all! None!
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/26/2012 10:51:36 AM
4 up, 1 down
Geobaldi
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 10:51:34 AM
Dark Souls you mean ;)
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Jawknee
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 11:57:32 AM
Uncharted 3 and Skyward Sword > Skyrim and LA Noire.
You claim no games lose quality when going MP, LA Noire was worse on the 360, Final Fantasy is now a twitch fest, Resident Evil is no longer Resident Evil, Tekken is no longer what it used to be, Metal Gear has turned twitchy, etc.
You're wrong when you claim games can't and won't lose quality when the developers spread themselves thin over mutilple platforms. There's no if ands or buts about it. Certain developers like ND have even told us as much.
Last edited by Jawknee on 2/26/2012 12:03:14 PM
5 up, 3 down
Nagi
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 8:03:30 PM
I agree with part of your argument, and I see where your going with it, but I don't see what the Xbox 360 has anything to do with the gaming direction of RE5 and FFXIII. If you want to argue about the recent installments of those established franchises for being lackluster, that's fine, I'm right there with you, but that falls more under bad gaming philosophy and design.
RE5 proved, that Capcom is dead in the water without the great minds of Mikami or Kamiya guiding their way, the game lacked atmosphere, creativity, and more than disappointed in the fun factor category. I doubt development exclusively on the PS3 would suddenly just make all those problems go away.
Same with Final Fantasy XIII, I think the pacing and design of the battle system would be just about the same, early captures of the game showed nothing dramatically different then what we have today, so if bound to Sony's baby, you would probably still be disappointed.
I know its a common perception to think that only Xbox 360 gamers play shooters. But take a good look around, action games are becoming the go-to games this gen, on both home consoles. And alternative genres (which are now niche) don't stand much of a chance on either system.
@BeamBoom
I think the point that Jawknee is trying to get across is that, exclusives definitely are superior when you analyze the objective aspects of games (graphics, presentation, production values etc). While fun factor and personal merit is subjective at best, you've list some good titles, no doubt, but they fall short to some exclusive heavy hitters.
Personally I've had more fun with multiplatform games; I've logged more hours in titles such as Unreal Tournament 3, Ninja Gaiden 1, and Vanquish compared to the exclusives in my library. Most will say they lack in the technical field compared with exclusives, but that's not my focus. Hell, the fun factor is why I find myself playing these old ass games even today!
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bigrailer19
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 9:21:48 PM
I think you're looking at it wrong. The fact is multliplats are not being attacked here. The bottom line is though, games developed for one console tend to not only run better, but look and play better. Story, and genre isn't even a point of discussion in this argument. Although LA Noire had good graphics and good voice acting, it didnt run the same on both consoles. Skyrim also has some issues on the PS3 (even though I havnt experienced any major issues, and yet the game is so big maybe it's understandable?), that most exclusives would never have.
You did mention some games that did a lot for the industry, but if you're going to argue that any character in LA Noire or Skyrim has more intricate detail than Kratos on GoW3, or that the landscapes and character models were clearer, crisper and more detailed than any Uncharted game... Well that's just crazy talk. But it's a good argument, the games are great, just don't hav that exclusive polish.
But don't get me wrong this doesn't mean I'm partial to exclusives - even if Uncharted is my favorite game - because I've played more Skyrim than any game since Oblivion. All it means is there's generally more polish and quality in exclusives.
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Beamboom
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 5:47:19 AM
And for the record: Everything from here on is In My Opinion. :)
The good exclusives essentially have ONE thing that makes them stand out from the crowd: An insane level of polish. That's where the sponsoring by the platform manufacturer goes - into polish on a level that most non-sponsored, third party productions simply can not afford to be.
Where would for instance Syndicate have been were the developers given those extra six months of polishing? We will never know.
But that does not in itself make them "ground breaking" or "defining" games in itself! Just more polished.
When I mention Skyrim and LA noire, I don't mean to say they are perfect.
I merely say that those two, regardless of what I think of them as games, represent a display of something on a technical level we've never seen before, ergo true examples of defining something.
Open world RPGs will from now on be compared to Skyrim.
The tech used in LA Noire is unrivalled in *any* game before. Not in pixel by pixel/screenshot comparison (@Big), but in non-prerendered, emotional (change of) expressions. We have never seen anything like that ever before. Not anywhere.
THAT is defining the generation, setting the bar, pushing the envelope. NOT the insanely polished LBP or U3.
Are they good games? Sure! But that's not where the true new grounds of gaming are explored - quite the contrary. They are both examples of über-polished and über-TRADITIONAL games!
*Can* an exclusive offer something new like the mentioned titles? Of course. But _so_can_multiplats_, and *that's* my entire point.
(sorry for this long post, and at the end here I just want to salute you all for being this rational in your replies. This community is only getting better and better. I dare say this is not a discussion we could have had like two years ago)
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/27/2012 9:01:41 AM
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Beamboom
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 6:07:58 AM
Please allow me to strongly object to this. This is what the Japanese imagine - for whatever reason. But look at the sales charts over at the main merchants, look at the meta score lists, look at the rate of different genres being publised, and the answer is glaringly obvious: We, the gamers buy a LOT of different genres, we support a LOT of different genres, the press are enthusiastic about a LOT of different genres, shooters are not taking over anything! Look at the GOTY awards for last year: Hardly any shooters won anything (to put it simple)!
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/27/2012 6:09:07 AM
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Nagi
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 7:18:33 AM
Mmmm...maybe, I wish I can find some up-to-date, hard numbers on best selling games to back up my point.
As of rate of different genres being published, I don't know, that's actually the very thing I find kind of lopsided to be frank. I definitely see on the mobile/portable front, but I wish it to be more common on the console end.
Their are of course exceptions out the bunch, but for every one exception their are several titles of alternative genres, that deserve more in sales and acceptance, but aren't achieving it, because the taste of the mass market is not as diverse as it needs to be, for these particular genres to stay relevant.
And I feel the overall presence of these genres such as platforming, survival horror, j-rpgs, puzzles, etc. have diminished compared to previous generations.
For the record, I'm mainly talking about sales, I've seen all kinds of games get the critical reception they deserve, its just frustrating when they don't get the commercial aspect of it.
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Beamboom
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 8:16:06 AM
This is the point where we really should take the discussion over to the forum, easier to link and elaborate there. :)
But ok, so we put review reception aside then - seems we agree there.
Everyone and their grandparents knows COD are the supreme winner when it comes to sales. But just as noteworthy is the fact that for example Resistance 3 barely sold a few hundred thousand. And this is pure speculation of course, but I dare say that had that same level of production value, or sheer quality, been put into a different genre game then the game would have sold more! I simply believe a shooter is just about the stupidest thing you can venture into making as a developer today, because of a combination of insane competition and over-saturation.
Look at the best seller list at Amazon co uk right now: You do of course find COD there, but also SSX on top(!), Skylanders, Skyrim, the Jack&Daxter collection, FIFA 12, Just Dance, Zumba Fitness, Sims 3 Showtime, FIFA Street... The sales list across all platforms right now is really not dominated by shooters at all!
So my claim is that it's just a *myth* that shooters are so overshadowing popular - and that goes for any platform! For example, Skyrim sold a *lot* more on x360 than the ps3.
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/27/2012 8:46:28 AM
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killerbee12
Sunday, February 26, 2012 @ 8:56:14 PM
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Teddie9
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 8:40:58 PM
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There is no reason to go on. I don't know what I'm doing (aside from killing things), why I'm doing it, and especially who I'm doing it for. There is no emotional attachment with any npcs. I wish I could remember someone's name, I really do. Regardless of a great VA effort the characters do not evoke any emotion from you neither do they exude any. Whether it be aesthetics or the body language( which the game is pretty much devoid of) there is nothing to relate to. I'm going to have to trade this one in :((.
Don't worry I'm coming Garrus!
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Beamboom
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 @ 3:32:32 AM
But then again not much compares to Mass Effect when it comes to getting attached to characters and involved in the story. That must be said. Most games pales in comparison.
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Kevin555
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 @ 1:17:34 AM
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PGU: I've been playing SCV mostly & Uncharted 3 in 3D which looks marvellous. Anticipating Street Fighter X Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3 & Mass Effect 3. Should be a busy month for games.
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mike rlz
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Saturday, February 25, 2012 @ 9:29:17 PM