Ben-DutkaIt has been a nightmarish week due to a family emergency that is now – blessedly – over. It has all turned out well and things are back to normal but let's just say it was a week I'd rather forget, so we'll move on to happy holiday stuff. 🙂
I don't know what to do with you, Famitsu…
So you give Nintendogs and Bayonetta a perfect 40/40 and Final Fantasy XIII a 39/40, according to the leaked review . But while this is the first fact that leaps out at me, I must quickly dismiss it: as both Arnold and I have told you, it's really not fair to compare review scores between titles in two entirely different genres. This is why we're always trying to tell you that an 8.9 for Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time shouldn't be compared to the 8.9 Modern Warfare 2 received. Therefore, it'd be hypocritical for me to complain about FFXIII's score in comparison to Nintendogs (another reason you can't do that is the gap in release time). However, you know what I never knew (and you can laugh if you like)? That the "40" point total actually comes from four different reviewers. I'm not familiar with the magazine and I just thought that was some bizarre Japanese scoring scale. But it's not; it's four normal 10-point reviews.
And that's something I think we all need to remember when looking at Famitsu. What do we really have in that FFXIII review? Three perfect scores and a 9 out of 10. This is similar to having IGN, GameSpot and Game Informer all hand out 10s, and we give a 9. If you look at it this way, shouldn't we all be extraordinarily enthusiastic about this? …then again, I'd be interested to know how much collaboration is going on between those four reviewers; as far as I'm concerned, there should be none . They shouldn't even talk to each other until the review is published, you know? But I can't tell about that.
PlayStation 3 closing 2009 with a major surge
Okay, let's see if we can recap just a bit: despite sales that still aren't high enough, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves just won Game of the Year at the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards, and it also won Best Graphics and Best PS3 Game. This is a PS3 exclusive that is destined for many more awards before the year is out. Then you've got the November NPD results , which is proof of the PS3's upward surge; an 88% year-over-year growth in comparison to the mostly stagnant Xbox 360 and the huge 38% decline the Wii suffered (despite still selling over a million consoles during the month). Finally, the PS3 topped Metacritic's first annual Platform Power Rankings . Oh, and let's not forget that God of War III , yet another PS3 exclusive, won Most Anticipated Game at the VGAs, too, so… What are we looking at here? What some loyalists considered inevitable? The final push to eclipse the 360, even if the Wii is too far in front to ever be caught? Well, maybe.
In all honesty, I was not one of those people who believed the PS3 would experience such a drastic turnaround so soon. I did think the system would rise, of course, but 2009 has only proved that I underestimated Sony. Well, after handling the news for a mostly abysmal 2007, can you really blame me for being skeptical? But man, things have turned around…
Personal gaming update
Assassin's Creed II is complete. Altair's armor is awesome, I found all the Treasures and Glyphs, completed all the missions, scaled all the View Points, built my villa up to maxiumum, and bought everything there is to be bought. The only thing I didn't do was find all 100 feathers; I just didn't have the patience for that, but I loved the game and I especially like Ezio's final look. That beard coupled with Altair's gorgeous armor makes Ezio appear to be the total bad-ass he really is. Oh, and ACII even beat out Uncharted 2 for Best Action/Adventure Game at the VGAs. I don't necessarily agree with that, but U2 took home three other big awards (including the biggest), and I did want ACII to receive some recognition. It's just too good to be ignored. Now that I'm done, I will return to Dragon Age: Origins , which just so happened to win Best RPG of the Year.
But before I do, I have to admit I'm 20 hours into a new game of FFT. It just had to be done. I hadn't played it all year up until now and even after 11 years and oh…I'd say a good 500-600 hours of play, it just never gets old and every now and then, I have the irresistible urge to play. I'm hoping I can get my fill and get back to Origins to beat it before Christmas comes around because if not, whatever I get as gifts might take precedence. And I so want to beat that RPG! Well, anyway, gaming is looking good for the next 4-6 months, isn't it? 🙂
Lol. i would collect all the feathers if they were marked in the map or something. just looking for them without any help (guides/walkthroughs) would be hard and madddd borring
not to mention if there isnt any type of order and you just found a few randomly.
Haha Ben loves his Final Fantasy Tactis 😀
Bet we all have that one single game we'll always cherish, correction, most of us.
I just wanna say that 2009 has been a blast, and there's still even some games I still want to get…..
That said, glad I got the bests ones this year.
——-
Sega Rally Revolution's such a beautiful game. DiRT has nothing on it (imo)
It was a slow gaming week for me, my ps3 slim died on me this past thursday, which kinda pissed me off, but luckily I have a warranty on it so getting a replacement 2marrow. I'm also planning on buying a copy of that new dragon ball z game, since I pretty much ran out of games to play. I've been through uncharted's single player 3 times and modern warfare 2 been getting too repetetive for me.
By the way does anyone have the(so far) total NA holiday sales numbers(October-November) for the ps3 and xbox?
so is a refurbished ps3 like a zombie? you know cuz it died and then gets brought back to life…
by that same idea M$ is building and army of undead consoles!
run!! zombie 360's!!
Last edited by frylock25 on 12/13/2009 3:26:26 PM
I think the hardest thing to overcome for Sony in this "console war" is the fact that the PS3 came out a year after the 360. Everyone ran out and got a 360 cause it was the new thing. Unfortunately, Sony is still living in the shadows of that lag time (an already installed userbase goes a long way)
Some of the problems with the PS3 at launch was: A)price point, and B)it was too much machine for some devs to handle (or just didn't want to deal with -thanks Valve) and we ended up with a few crappy ports and early titles that in no way showed off the power of this machine. (Props to Insomniac and Naughty Dog, among others for stellar year 1 titles)
But now we are finally getting the great exclusives and the price to compete, but it's still going to be a slow climb out of a hole for a machine that should have been at the top the whole time.
I think 2010 is going to be a great year for the PS3 – at least if this roll they're on continues.
yeah, people actually cheered for Valve at the awards when best studio was being announced. Are they insane?
Be that as it may, Sony did it right the first time. Rather than rush it oot. They were smart to wait till it was ready. They are catching up faster than Mr. Griswald on his Teflon sheet.
No World, they're not. Valve has NEVER let me down in regards to gaming. I can't think of another company that has earned my money more than them.
A group of inebriated scabies could do a better job than them. I played L4D2 last weekend and it was abysmal.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/13/2009 2:28:24 AM
I'm assuming you played it by yourself? L4D2 just like L4D is my multiplayer game of the year. It never gets old and brings my core group of friends together even though we no longer live near each other.
Ben can find fault with Valve's lack of innovation but I personally could care less. Gaming is all about entertainment and no other company (besides SS/SE) creates games that I keep playing long after their release dates.
I wasn't, but I won't fight ya on it since it's all opinion, still even if you like their games, they are an ignorant studio
oops, couldn't edit, did you notice how Valve was the only studio that there was no footage of in-house? All they could show was L4D2. Rather curious.
Agree to disagree, I'm cool with that. I've always respected your opinion World.
Valve doesn't do much of anything worth talking about these days, but I do want to play L4D2.
L4D2 is one of the best multiplayer experiences around at the current time.
theres heaps of guides on finding the feathers, just Google them.
though, finding them i found was harder than finding the 250 shards in infamous and that almost killed me.
developers PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! no more find this, find that trophies.
PLEASE!
i seriously cant see what famitsu sees in bayonetta.
sure its a great game, but 10/10?
no its no where near that good.
9/10 maybe 9.3/10 if your generous but thats about it.
the combat is far to repetitive to deserve a 10.
the environments are almost the same.
the enemies are almost the same throughout the game.
and to be frank, just fighting enemies is no where near as fun as it is in DMC4,ninja gaiden 2 or even GOW.
when it comes to overall game its the best of the group, but when it comes down to just combat its no where near as fun as the others.
i personally really like NGs 2s combat system, just something about the combat in that game feels most enjoyable and satisfying.
im glad AC2 beat uncharted 2 to the punch, it deserved it.
finally a game that deserves something gets it.
combat wise i really wished they changed it to the combat in assassins creed altiars chronicles.
its the normal, standard heavy and light attacks.
AC2 besides the controls and combat is perfect.
i always found myself running away from the guards instead of fighting them, because to me killing them is a chore.
killing SHOULD NEVER! be a chore.
its just too slow and cumbersome.
they block EVERY attack.
the only way to kill a guard is to counter or dodge than swing but you can only get 1 hit in before he continues blocking.
or use your gadgets.
its just too slow.
in what mind is that fun?
seriously?
I think you keep playing games as fast as you can with like zero patience. Countering can kill weaker enemies in one or two strikes, and depending on the enemy, it's preferable to use other maneuvers.
There's really nothing complicated or abnormally slow about ACII's combat.
Mr No name, seriously get that schizophrenia thing checked out.
I think he should be banned from the site since he has no name.
omg i got 249 shards and have every single other trophy on the game, kill me now :'(
it is slow.
half of the time the enemies are reluctant to attack you, and have to taunt them opening yourself up to a heavy attack.
ben, you played altairs chronicles?
go play that, the combat is much, much, much better.
its a real shame, because they have some seriously cool finishing moves but i dont want to use them because doing so is a real pain in the a$$.
call me impatient, but its annoying sitting there waiting for a enemy to attack you just so you can lay into him.
they should either make the combat like altairs chronicles, or make it that only the higher tough guards the ones with heavy armor can block every single attack.
or maybe add in a block breaker.
i dunno, they need to do something with the combat, its far to slow.
it takes far to long just to kill one skilled enemy.
the player should never be running away from a battle, unless they are low on health or know there going to get their a$$ kicked.
but im always running away from battles.
killing should NEVER be a chore.
Hey Mr. Nobody, you do realize that a majority of the people on this site most likely never bother to read anything you write due to your inability to write something of substance.
Seriously do you just blindfold yourself and smash the keyboard (except for the space or enter key of course).
lol, vertigo is right, no disrespect intended but the guy really isn't all there in the head and frequently makes long posts that negate themselves and say nothing.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/13/2009 1:42:35 PM
i have to agree, always with the negativity always complaining about games, because he finds a game a hard, its broken, or boring. not all games are made to be easy just to make them fun, some are harder, which makes it a challenge, which therefroe gives a sense of achievement once completing said challange.
I thought I was the only one…
There's nothing slow about the combat in ACII. Don't listen to a word he says. He must think he's playing God of War or a FPS; the battles play out like they very likely would in real life but…well, I think we're dealing with "twitch-gamer" syndrome, here.
o jesus christ.
it takes 5 minutes to kill one freaking guard and thats not slow?
i give up.
ill probably have better luck convincing a brick wall.
Ben is right. Try fighting someone in real life with a sword sometime. You'd be reluctant to open yourself up to counter-attacks, too.
I'm a crappy fencer, but I know enough to see how good the combat in AC (and I assume ACII) is.
p.s. I also just started another run of Tactics, though on the PSP this time (i.e., not PS1 classic).
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/15/2009 6:18:52 PM
Maybe U2's wins in the VGAs will lead to more public awareness and will equal to more sales; I'm also pretty disappointed that KZ2 left empty handed.
p.s maybe Nintendogs(lol)and Bayonetta are more deserving of a perfect score.
It's because it came out so long ago, if it came out after MW2 it would have had a chance.
I think I'm closing in on the finish of Dragon Age and I already can't wait to play it over a different way so get to it Ben. Even if you have to relax your OCD completionist mentality.
I also know how you feel as around Xmas time the oooold gaming memories pop up of being snowed in and hunkered down with a favorite and now wanting to go back and play that favorite every year around xmas time for a piece of that nostalgia. And so I do the same thing. And every year I kick myself for not finishing it too.
I can't wait for Batman AA 2!
Finished AC2 also! Great game…but as you said I refuse to get every feather. I'll just look up online what happens when you collect them all. Also didn't get every treasure, I just didn't see a point in getting all of them after I beat the game.
Well exaaaactly. Three perfect scores and a 9/10 is pretty damn good. Getting up in arms over that is just silly. I can't wait to get my grubby hands on FFXIII. That's going to be a good time. Just gotta finish up Dragon Age.
Mr. Western RPG'r feels like taking a crack at a TRUE RPG, eh?
Buddy, it was thanks to kids like me that JRPGs even came to North America.
Video killed the radio star and you helped!
I hope Ubisoft doesn't pull a 2012 stunt in AC3
I miss your old FF9 pic.
BTW I agree with you in regards to Ben not knowing about the rating format Famitsu uses.
To be fair this site is very US-centric with just a few nods to the UK and Japan.
I don't live in Japan. I don't speak Japanese. Only review scores are ever posted; very rarely are they separated out into each of the 4 scores from that magazine. So sue me.
I'm suing you, papers will be filed on Tuesday.
I will be getting AC II within the week . 🙂
Me too! Game on Sir.
my week in review i have been doing a lot of fallout 3 playing. finished mother ship zeta, anchorage, some random quests and made level 30 on my good file. going to start on other files in a while. i love that game.
on a unreleated note but still funny as hell. we got hit with a snow storm all week on and off. after having to shovel my driveway i got cleaned up and ran to McD's for some food. i was feeling lazy after all the shoveling and didnt want to do anything but eat. as i was trying to park my car i had to wait for the neighbor to finish leaving their driveway to get to mine. as i parked i looked over and the car i passed was stopped in the middle of the road with a mid 20's girl at the end of it. she comes running down the road up to me all upset and says "oh my god i dont know what i just did" so i told her i didnt know what she just did either… she says "i just ran over my garbage can!!" she had backed her 2007 impala over her garbage can and it was now sticking 3 feet out the back of her car with the cans wheels lodged behind the bumper. i ended up having to jack up both sides of her car to bend the can back around the rear bumper to pull it back out while my mcdonalds waited for me. what can i say she was super hot. as a gift for my good karma i was awarded her phone number and i went back to my McD's and Fallout 3.
Last edited by frylock25 on 12/13/2009 6:53:40 AM
are the extra episodes worth the $50?
i just happen to get lucky and have a buddy that had bought all 5 of them and gameshared with me. i have beaten mothership and anchorage, played some of broken steel and visited point lookout.
of all games i have gotten the luckiest with fallout 3. i bought the game originally with gift cards to target and paid $7 out of pocket. so i bought the guide to it. then my friend had the dlc and i planned on getting the new guide when i got the dlc or goty edition. gave him that guide and got his content. went out and got the collectors edition goty guide.
fallout 3 is the buggiest game i have played on my PS3. the dlc is more of the same which is not a bad thing. it has new weapons, new characters, new story lines, new trophies.
if you enjoyed fallout 3 worldendwithme yes i would say it is worth it. i have put hours upon hours into just the dlc. if i were gonna buy the content i would have gone for the goty disc. i still may when the game goes down in price just so i own it.
Last edited by frylock25 on 12/13/2009 3:15:24 PM
@ WorldEndsWithMe – No need to spend $50. The GOTY edition will be 30 or less very soon.
Hard copy FTW!
Yeah I was hoping it would already be cheap but no luck yet, I love the game too, but if I can avoid putting extra gigs of data on my drive I'd like to.