Ben-DutkaThis is always popular…especially amongst those who have good reason to brag.
So after the warm, fuzzy chaos died away and the last unwrapped present sat by your side, you reflected on yet another great holiday haul. And after having a chance to sift through it a bit and sample the goodies, you now have a chance to make everyone envious…ah, 'tis the season. Were you a super good boy all year long? As a result, did you receive a momentous prize like a new 3D HDTV? Or perhaps you just wanted a pile of games you wouldn't be able to see over… Tell everyone about it, if you're willing…and I'm willing to bet you are.
I won't list everything but I'll get it started- got a PSP-3000, which really helps because I've been using my brother's PSP to get work done. Now I can give it back and remain up-to-date with handheld stuff. I also got a bunch of clothes, a couple Blu-Ray movies to add to my collection (just classics like the original "Batman" and "Beetlejuice"), several new books (more novels from a a few of my favorite authors, including George Eliot), and the following games: Splinter Cell: Conviction , NBA Jam and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit .
In fact, I think I'll go play some Conviction right now. I hear it's short so I can get it out of the way quick. 😉 Now, your turn, PSXE brethren.
I got some cash which I am very happy about, my brother got me a Best Buy gift card which is probably going to go toward Dragon Age II later next year, and 3 games. Enslaved, Castlevania, and Dead Rising 2 🙂
Enslaved is kind of blah and a technical wreck, Castlevania is badass, and I haven't tried Dead Rising 2 yet but it should be good for some zombie fun later on.
Hey World, I saw you were playing Enslaved… I did play the demo and thought of it s quite good, the characterisation and scripting. Engine is ok, a little glitchy, but it is multi-platform. I did feel however the use of colour was good and it did peak my attention.
Castlevania on the other hand, visually anyway, seems to be a master piece… did the inflexible camera annoy you at all?
Nice haul!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Well, I'm hoping the story in Enslaved will pick up so I can find out why the reviews liked it so much. Not that it's bad but I was hoping for more. It IS kinda like a poor man's Uncharted.
The camera in Castlevania can be extremely annoying when it wants to be, but I can look past that as it doesn't take long to recover.
I really found Castlevania intensely boring as the combat is obviously the focus, and it isn't even that great.
Enslaved at least has something besides things that piss me off. 🙂 And yes, the story gets much better as you go.
I only found Castlevania frustrating at first but after unlocking some more combos and getting the hang of how to fight, I found the combat very satisfying and rewarding.
Ben, the combat takes a while to develop. Not 10-20 hours like FFxiii (different genre, I know, but still combat-centric with even less exploration), but it takes a while. I understand if you won't ever want to find out, because you don't care much for the genre, but even I'm playing through FFxiii to see what your praises were all about.
Aside from combat (which is well done not the main focus), the boss and level designs, vistas, and art direction are the other obvious foci of the game. It doesn't have the oil painting veneer of GOW3, but it's certainly amongst the best looking/performing multiplatform titles, and the amount of content Mercury Steam squeezed into it most certainly has even Santa Monica Studios in awe, and is a total bench mark for the genre.
@Qubex: Out of the 40 or so stages (the game is huge, no fluff, and jam packed with breathe takers), there are maybe a couple of instances of confusing camera angles. In other words, even less frequent than GOW3 or DI, considering the number of levels each game has.
Also not that I have anything to prove, nor to brag over, but as a casual gamer with an inclination to simpler games of the action adventure, shooter, and racing varieties, even I have clocked over 40 hours in ME2, 110 hours in Demon's Souls, over 40 in Valkyria Chronicles (probably my favorite), over 25 in Folklore, and over 26 so far in FFxiii. Granted, most likely only one of those games can be considered a bona fide rpg, but my point is I often make deliberate efforts to look outside the box of my personal preferences to keep my mind open (as long as i don't compromise my dignity, of course), but even still, I'd be more wary and cautious of judging a game like FFxiii, partly because of my lack of experience with the series and genre, since scoring the game (as much as I'm liking it) has everything to do with how it is relative the series and the genre.
On the other hand, as I have played POP's, DMC's, Masters on both NG's, GOW's, DI, DarkSiders, I can honestly tell you C:LOS is a stellar, if not elite title, relative to the genre, and highly recommended for the casual gamer looking even just for a palette cleanser, a value packed title, or at least a great game to play in slow times.
I think it's worth noting that the pacing of Castlevania shifts heavily towards puzzle solving about 1/3 of the way in. This took me by surprise as few games I can think of shift the focus of play so heavily as you progress.
And World, I thought Enslaved's story was exciting right from the start. Not that it's some epic literary masterpiece, but the acting and interaction between the two main characters is what made it more compelling than it would've been without it. It was fun, not something I plan on going back to, but interesting and entertaining while it lasted.
Shams: I know the combat intensifies. …still isn't that great, IMO.
Ben: Fair enough, but if that opinion is made from conjecture based on merely 2-3 hours of play, then as Temjin implied, you're missing out.
…And not just in the evolving moveset and powers (basically the hold triangle combo you mention in your review is a feeble one that is replaced by far more power and useful ones), in the thrilling bosses (flying colossus battle comes to mind), the vistas, the puzzles (musical box level), and the over-the-top ending.
I played it long enough to know about the increase in powers, not only because I had to for the review but also because I really wanted to like it.
The entire thing just felt really bare to me, and the camera and controls continue to be a problem in my eyes. I've also seen very late stages of the game, as a friend has finished it…nothing I saw changed my mind about the score.
I'll say this, Andy Serkis is doing a great job and helped Monkey grow on me, but Trip is such a whiny b*tch, she grates one me with that voice. I just met Pigsy, and he's… well pigsy. There have been a few laugh out loud moments, I'm hoping for more. I'm gonna beat it no matter what, cuz I think Enslaved might need a full play before any opinion can be solidified.
Otherwise, the gameplay and climbing is SO restrictive I feel Mothered in a bad way.
Yes, Ben, I'm familiar with your anticipation of the game (based on your adoration for SOTN and the preview articles you posted such as the one with Ice Colossus video).
And I'm not asking you to change your score. I'm just saying just as Temjin and World implicitly mentioned is that just as some games don't reflect their true worth until a single, and sometimes double, play through, there are good deal of games that don't review well in the first few hours. They're not exactly reviewer-friendly, so to speak. And, hey, I'm not blaming you. I know that unlike other gaming sites, psxextreme doesn't have a team or staff to cover every game, and for that reason your hands are full, and your schedule is tight, and even then, you still give more credible assessments more often than the larger conglomerates like IGN do.
For the record, I played for about 7 hours before reviewing. I will also add that if a game doesn't get "good" until after many hours of playing – and I still don't think CV got much better, anyway – there's something ELSE wrong with it.
It's lucky it got what it did, in all honesty.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 12/27/2010 6:56:45 PM
Lucky? Frankly speaking, luck has to do with what side of the bed I wake up on, but it should have nothing to do with how I evaluate a game. But what'evs. To each his own.
But, how many hours a game requires to be given a fair shake in a review: I would think in an ideal world, at least a single playthrough, where applicable (i.e multiplayer is a different matter). Anything less would be a hands-on preview. Granted, in the "real world", practically speaking, some games don't require that, as they maybe so consistently excellent or entirely broken, and in some cases, some games are so large, that writing a review in a timely fashion, after a full playthrough, without other games to be reviewed backing up in a queue, would be nigh impossible. This much is understood.
I got fish for Christmas 😀 Anyone else?
Seriously, you know what a great Christmas present would be? Seeing Jack Thompson hauled off to a mental facility.
Nah, better Pachter than Thompson. He seems more annoying nowadays.
That would be AWESOME oh! and funny too LOL
Sadly the one thing I really need I did not get, so I will have to do some retail therapy to compensate. My PS3's HDD has been flakier than a box of cereal from Kelloggs. I got utterly fed up today when the collective flakyness took Infamous with it. Now I have to download it again, and sometime in the next few days, backup everything I can and replace the HDD – another two weeks of downloading and I should be back to normal.
When I get this drive out of the PS3, expect a nice short review of it. Something along the lines of;
Hard disc upgrades for PS3, avoid this one, it's crap…followed by them make and model.
The new one will be a nice 500GB from WD, they have a unit that's built for super reliable 24/7 operation.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 12/26/2010 9:55:23 PM
Just wondering, is it possible to switch harddrives with another ps3? Like if i get a new ps3 and switched the harddrive with my old ps3, will i have everything from my old ps3?
Nope.
You can, however, connect PS3 #1 to PS3 #2 with an ethernet cable and transfer the data that way. Even locked saves will copy over via the ethernet move.
I am in a simular situation. Had the system restore error then complete data wipe about t weeks ago. It is working fine now but I lost so many games saves it was depressing. I haven't played a disc game since. But that changes tonight.
I am thinking of deactivating this one and having it replaced. But for that I must do battle once again with Sony CS.
Sony please for the Love of God. Cloud Save Me!
Last edited by FatherSun on 12/26/2010 11:12:02 PM
Cloud Saves FTW!
Seriously, this HDD has been a royal pain. This is the second or third time it's flaked out on me.
This tells me two things. 1) the HDD is crap, and 2) the disk routines int eh BIOS are not robust enough, I have noted that the problems appear most often when something is downloading in the background or you are running a dynamic theme – yes, I've even experienced problems moving files around in the XMB.
So I have set a static theme, and canceled all background downloads.
But, the thing is, if the HDD routines were fail safe, the only way HDD corruption should happen is either a drive failure or power loss in the middle of a disc write. This is – IMHO – an area that needs some work. Along with Cloud based saves.
My error hit when I installed the latest firmware. I was devastated. My last back up was deleted too so I am screwed. I have also disabled auto downloads. The firmware was waiting for me and just installed. I usually wait to see if there are any issues but not this time.
At this point I would pay for Cloud saves. I wonder if that is in development. If not, how long do you think it would take for Sony to set that up? If they started today that is. Do I have to wait for the PS4?
@highlander
I always keep a memory stick pro duo in my ps3 to copy my gamesaves since doing a full back up is too time consuming and a big hassle. the last time i did a full back up it took me 15-20 hours to back up more than 4 times with the same amount of time restoring but it never worked right. i wanted to upgrade my hard drive but ended up backing up and restoring for a whole damn week. Instead of having all my data backed up, i ended up with just gamesaves. i had to redownload and reinstall EVERYTHING all over again. fortunately there was that download list.
This time, i'm avoiding full back up. so far i've been able to copy most of my gamesaves. so the only games that i'm screwed with is assassins creed 2, vanquish, and demons souls. I dont really mind replaying these games. Luckily, polyphony/Sony recently unlocked GT5 gamesave so i immediately copied it to my memory stick and an external hard drive. I spent too much time and effort into gt5 just to loose it because backup sucks.
I only buy seagate drives. All though i've heard good things about western digital. It's not worth the savings for crap like maxtor and samsung. The extra amount you spend is absolutely worth it every time.
I have a Seagate too. no problems so far. Have had it for over 2 years now.
@Milonakis,
Indeed. I'm not sure what the drive in the system right now is. I only buy WD or Seagate.
The WD I'm looking at is an AV-25, they make it for DVRs, digital video security systems, video kiosks and other applications requiring high availability and extreme reliability. It's very low power, only 5400 RPM and best of all has a 32MB cache which boosts performance nicely.
@john,
I periodically push mine to a high capacity SD card. I hate having to put the MemoryStick Duo Pro into the adapter to make it work in the PS3. I have a USB drive, but it's a 3.5-inch and needs external power so it's not that convenient. Once I swap this bad boy out, I'll give it a severe low level formatting and put it in a pocket sized USB enclosure.
I didn't get anything game related, friends are broke and family doesn't know half the games I do.
I got myself a new logitech keyboard, to replace the one that died which kept me off these boards for a while though.
Plus I just upgraded my ps3s hard drive from 80 to 500g 7200rpm, so I'm also damn glad gt5 chose to un-copyright their saves. Just leaves me screwed for my Dragon age saves, hopefully I can find a local ps3 to do an ethernet swap with before the sequel hits. I had beaten it with 4 or 5 characters although I wouldn't mind redo-ing some of the origins.
Full backups are pain in the arse indeed. I don't have a hard drive small enough to have the right formatting.
Last edited by Nerull on 12/27/2010 2:16:09 AM
They need a backup utility checklist so i can copy just my saves over instead of the entire hdd. Unless i'm missing something (which is likely), the only way to copy *just* saves is one-by-one in the saves folder.
@Bandit,
I think I and a whole lot of other people would be content with something like that, or a specific option on the Game Save Data folder in the XMB to perform a single backup of all game saves. I don't care if it encrypts them specific to my PSNID or something, so long as I can back them up top an external media. The ideal solution would be a way to backup my game saves to a PSN 'cloud' based game save store specific to my PSN ID. I wouldn't even mind if this was rolled out as a premium feature that required a Plus subscription to access it. It's exactly the kind of value added service that Plus should offer – along with the infamous cross game voice chat…
Spoke too soon, the PC's video card died tonight, so now I have an el-cheapo one on the way as a stop gap. In the meantime, it's whatever Windows thinks it can do with the hardware in the system for me…Ugh!
I also have had problems with a 500 GB drive, in my case a Seagate.
Something like "Cannot start. Correct hard drive not found." about 5% of the time.
Frustrating, but not a deal-breaker.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/29/2010 12:54:55 AM
My family kept it simple this year. We are all going to mexico for 5 days in january (thanks mom!) so we just got a few things. Some noise cancelling headphones, shirts, new slippers (shut up, my slippers are manly), a big box of car cleaning stuff from my grandparents.
It was a nice, mellow christmas. Our dog was kinda sick so we just chilled the whole day. It was Charlie's first christmas with us and i think the excitement didnt help him feel any better.
Not much in terms of games this year. There really wasnt anything other than GT5 i wanted. My sister and her fiancee got me inFamous, which i already have, so i'll exchange that for something else. Maybe FF13.
Slippers are only manly if they're made out of duct tape or sandpaper.
My slippers are teh sh*t yo
I asked my brother for GT5 because I've been tight on cash and couldn't really afford it myself and not only did he get me the game but he got me Logitech's 'driving force GT' racing wheel. Its good having a bro with some dough! But regardless of the gifts, it was mainly just really good to see the family, thats all that matters.
Racing wheel…. Yes!… That its the missing link to my GT5 3DHDTV puzzle. That and one of those racing chairs too! Or am I going too far?
Nahhhh…
Well, had a quite Christmas with a parent. Family is split up with sister in the states and cousins, aunts, uncles down south in South Africa. As we are all going to be in South Africa for my sisters wedding in February most of the family resources are going toward that…
However, I still got 200USD in cash to put towards games of my choosing. I will pick em up as the year progresses… should get a few games on special that I missed the past 18 months, and at least 2 day one buys, like Killzone 3 and Uncharted 3…
Oh, and a few weeks ago I picked up a second PS3 and stuffed 750GB HHD in the original 60GB phatty. My second PS3, i upgraded the 40GB to a 250GB and did what Highlander has to do, re-downloaded everything which took the best part of 3 days…
I think in hardware alone, its 400USD spent, well before Christmas…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/26/2010 10:30:55 PM
How come the Qubex family is all over the globe all the time? You a spy?
Well, people around me were mostly scrooges so I bought presents for myself. This year, I got myself a PS3 Move Bundle (which is really nice), and some games that I needed to catch up on like Infamous, the God of War Collection, and Final Fantasy XIII. I was going to buy LittleBigPlanet 2 and Mess Effect 2, but they're not coming out until January.
I did better than I thought I would. Bro didn't know what to buy me so he paid for the Vietnam expansion pack for BFBC2.
Got money from various other members of the family and some gift vouchers.
Took them into the sales today and got Vanquish for 18euros which I couldn't believe.
Also picked up Fallout:New Vega and NFS:Hot Pursuit.
I've not had a chance to play NFS yet, tomorrow I'll update it and get some games in with whoever wants to play.
Vanquish is so much fun I had to tear myself away from it.
Fallout:NV is just sucking me right back into that whole universe.
Thank God the weather outside is so bad, I've an excuse to not have to go anywhere for the foreseeable future.
Very cool, about time I saw you on the track 😉 & Vanquish is most def. a blast 18euro=$23 good deal.
Got all sorts of gaming goodies this year, Enslaved, Brotherhood, Move, Alan Wake and my first xbox 360 slim. (obviously not converting, just catching up on some missed games) few other interesting things such as a voice recognition alarm clock O_o
that's the big stuffs, good to hear people had a happy holiday and I wish you all one last Merry Christmas!
You did very well too dude and glad you're enjoying catching up on your xbox games.
I have to admit there's some games only on the xbox I'd love to play, but I can barely afford to keep up with all the games on PS3, forget about buying for two consoles.
Luckily a lot of the games are multiplat now, or going multiplat, but still a few I'd like to try.
I'll update today NFS and we'll get a few games in.
I've also made promises to Mac that we'd get some Vietnam time in plus I wanna play more FO:NV, Vanquish.
Before Christmas I honestly wasn't sure if I'd even end up with just the Vietnam expansion pack, I've not organized myself for all this goodness haha
I got a bit too self-indulgent this Christmas, perhaps due also to some bonuses I received at work. I got me a Sports Champions Move Bundle, then another Move, and decided also to buy Start the Party, EyePet and MAG.
Sports Champions, Start the Party are quite apt since my GF likes these kinds of games and we can spend our time playing. EyePet–my nephew's coming next month, and being a bit over 1 year old but always up for exploring, I think EyePet will give him a good time. MAG–I've just finished the massive initial update til the latest 2.XX. What's the best faction to choose? 🙂
Since I now write for a website to review games and write articles, my family decided I needed almost every new game to come out this year – which is awesome for me.
My new games include Dead Rising 2, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Vanquish, Final Fantasy XIII, Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time.
I have plenty of work to do before the flood of releases that is 2011 begins. Wish me luck!
NHL 11, NBA 2k11(racking up trophies like it's no tomorrow)and a 2GB memory stick for my PSP. My cousin gave me money so I might see what EB has left after the vultures flew in on those day after Christmas sales.
The misses and I gifted ourselves with a 55" Samsung 3DTV. I couldn't wait to get home yesterday. I am still in the process of setting it up. Had to install the old 46" Sony Bravia into the bedroom first. Now what 3D movie should christen this bad boy? Its mandatory for the family.
After its GT5 till my eyes fall out of my head! I'm 26% in trophies but lost all my data so I have to start fresh.
P.S. I am ecstatic! Just found that due to inclement weather I am off tomorrow. Zero sleep!
My family don't really exchange presents for Christmas, so the only ones that got anything were my niece and nephew. We usually all head into the city early in the year and pick up gifts for each other, so it's all good. Just had a nice quiet Christmas with the family, enjoyed the rain and the floods. Y'know, the usual.
Peace.