Ben-DutkaHappy bunny day, everybody! We've talked about the PSN enough, so let's dwell on other topics for a while.
No Last Guardian this year? Bummer.
When I saw the disappointing announcement , I felt a little irritated…and I felt guilty about that irritation. That guilt arises from the obvious fact that we have plenty of top-notch titles scheduled for 2011, especially for the second half of the year. I mean, why should I be complaining when we already know Resistance 3 , Batman: Arkham City , The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , Twisted Metal , and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception are coming between September and November…? And that's only a small sampling! So what right do I have to complain? I still remember futilely scanning the shelves back in the early '90s, trying to find something even remotely interesting to rent. Times have changed for the better in regards to frequency of awesome games.
That's undeniable. And yet, I can't help feeling like the loss of The Last Guardian is significant. It would've been a really invigorating breath of fresh air; an artistic high watermark for the year, and it would've been especially useful against a myriad of familiar formats and styles. Well, I can be patient. And when the game does arrive, I'm sure I'll be more than satisfied.
Wow, that NGP launch could be damn attractive
I'm not the biggest portable/handheld fan but even I'm interested in the Next Generation Portable, and it appears Sony is planning to bypass the traditional software launch woes. Historically, many new pieces of hardware just don't release with a lot of must-have games, but look at the four titles on tap for the NGP's release. If the information is accurate, there could very well be three AAA titles available on day one, and that's pretty bad-ass. Uncharted and Wipeout have yet to let anyone down, and Sony has said – numerous times, in fact – that they fully intend to give the NGP huge software support. They know it's crucial.
And analysts know this, too, so if we can confirm more of the 50 scheduled NGP titles developers are currently working on, it would go a long way towards increasing the consumer's enthusiasm. And that goes double if a lot of those titles are easily recognizable, and the franchises in question have a fantastic reputation.
Personal gaming update
So I finished Portal 2 and I loved every second of it. But I need to apologize for a small error in that review: when describing the length, I said the first half was puzzle-based while the second half was more about progressing in puzzle fashion (so-to-speak). However, I hadn't quite finished at the time I wrote the review; I was convinced I was at the end, but there was another set of puzzles (similar to, but more complex than the first half) before the adventure is over. Just wanted to clear that up. Anyway, I enjoyed myself immensely and that ending is freaking hilarious . GLaDOS' song is just perfect. The whole production is so worthy of the praise it has received, even if any claims of a "great story" are exaggerated.
I'll return to Dragon Age II now, but I had to get involved in the Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection for the review. Unsurprisingly, I'm glad I did and yeah, it's proving hard to go back to DAII now. 😉 Mortal Kombat is great fun, too, but it's not really my thing. Looking forward to L.A. Noire !
I'm currently playing the arcade ladder with Scorpion and waiting for PSN to get back up.
Also, PC fanboys are the worst.
Last edited by LittleBigMidget on 4/23/2011 9:37:39 PM
Console fanboys can be just as bad if not worse. Fanboys in general, no matter what the subject of conversation may be, are just downright irritating and in our cases here on this site, really put a damper on our favorite hobby.
Last edited by Geobaldi on 4/23/2011 11:49:11 PM
Yeah, particularly those Playstation fanboys, thinking they're so elitist and better than anyone else. They don't even bother to acknoweldge the awesome games the 360 and Wii has!! They're all a bunch of ignorant little….
…. oooooooooh…. ssssorry…..
… thought this was N4G, my bad. 😛
Any fanboy not on your team is always the worst.
I am eagerly awaiting any new on the ngp. Of course all the big news like the price, the release date and a lot of the games will be announced at e3 this year. So still a ways off. *sigh*
I'm good with TLG being delayed,gives me something to look forward to next year along side MGS.
NGP i'll get after the first model revision cause my 60 gig ps3 died twice(refurb as well)
PGU:Not much because of the psn bs thats going on but i did start operation flashpoint red river & i have to say its pretty good once you get the hang of ordering your fireteam around.
PS.Went into my local gamestop with 5 old multiplats that i did'nt play anymore with the intention of trading them in for credit along with 120 bucks & was going to get portal 2,MK & socom,got evertything scanned in and then am told by the douchebag behind the counter that their all out of stock on all 3 games.
'On day 1? i ask
'Yes' he lied
'Sure its nothing to do with pre-orders?
'Eh..well..'
i left the shop with red river instead & 107bucks still in my pocket.
A sad day when you cant even walk in on day 1 n get your games!,they should at least have a supply for over the counter sales for people that do things the old fashion way.
Boo hoo
Take your time on The Last Guardian. We need to save some PS3 exclusives for next year.
Also, I can't wait for L.A. Noire as well. 9 days until Motorstorm 3. May is jam packed with good games. A good game each Tuesday.
Happy Atheists/Agnostics Eating Candy Day!!! 😀
lol, anything to distract from people who actually see the holiday as a monumental event. Statements like that just make you sound like a bastard in denial.
But hey, since we're on the topic of being offensive, I'm sure most atheists would be offended to suddenly be disallowed from having a paid day off on this holiday.
Funny how that sense of entitlement works, eh?
Go get your own holiday so I can have a day off for no reason, too. Of course, that would be pretty bleak… "Hooray! I have hope in absolutely nothing!"
As if you would detract from people who have found peace, whether it's misguided or not.
Unless, of course, amidst your constant "God doesn't exist" chant (which is really silly, in and of itself… why do you need to convince people of that?), you can actually prove He doesn't. (And just as I personally can't prove he does, you certainly cannot prove he doesn't, either. So why tear people down?)
Why are you so offended by it? But when it all comes down to it, why do you feel the need to be so offensive? I can understand if someone came in here and got all religious on you, but no one said anything about God or religion. Instead, you're the one that began all the propoganda.
It isn't fair to do that so randomly. You can go get your own day, but you can't just reinvent the meaning of a religious holiday so bluntly. Why don't people like you ever go after other religion's holidays? Is there something about Christian holidays that offends you?
You should ask yourself why you're so sensitive towards Christianity. This isn't the first time you've done it, and now I'm calling you out on it. And I will win a theological debate, so back off.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 4/24/2011 2:46:15 PM
I just wanna add, normally I can ignore this sort of thing without ever commenting, but when you go after the one holiday that has significant meaning in my life, I get a little touchy. It's just not cool to do. (Christmas is great, and all, but it's not the big one)
wow chill out man and lets not get started on the whole god debate……u seem very relgious and i dunno y u have really got so offended by that i think he was only jokeing
"which is really silly, in and of itself… "
lol what
oh and
"Hooray! I have hope in absolutely nothing!"
just made me lol
I too usually like you Underdog, can ignore these types of comments. But what a dumb comment to make so randomly! Take it somewhere else before you infect the one video game site I enjoy coming too!
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 4/24/2011 9:21:16 PM
dont worry, the "ending" halfway through portal 2 had me fooled too.
Same. I was like really? Wheres the goop and all that etc. The Puzzles get insanley difficult after that part
There's a whole lot of games I'm looking forward to this year. Among the hottest are Infamous 2, Skyrim (that trailer is just amazing), Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex, Uncharted 3. I'm hopeful for Rage, Motorstorm, Twisted Metal and whatever great stuff gets revealed at E3.
I want the NGP, but probably not right out of the gate. I'll let prices drop and the gaming library to expand. Make no mistake, if I had cash to burn, I'd be on board day 1.
As for my gaming update, I've been on an Assassin's Creed binge. I finished the first game. I loved the story. I gotta say, the AC games probably have the coolest stories since, since MGS? I'm not one to play games for stories, but the AC games make me stop and listen. I've been doing AC: BH which was abruptly cut short temporarily–I didn't really want to–because of the new MK. And I'm glad I took the time to try it out. It's sick as heck, but very well made. WB was definitely a turn for the better for the MK team as they had more time and resources to make it the best they could. I'm already working on a user review and I hope to have it done sometime tomorrow. Fighting games are close to my heart so I've gotta give it love.
NGP is sounding amazing. However PS3 games are more important to me so it might be a while till I pick it up.
I will probably pick up Portal 2 down the line when it is a lower cost. I enjoyed the first one and I am certain the second is good but I am saving money up for the fall.
To many games, so little time and cash
Saw Prototype at the mall for $17 so i grabbed it, haven't played wanna finish Dragon Age. I just hit the 50 hour milestone. Not much else going on but I gotta ask, is it just the way I am playing DA:O or is the game designed to repeated hand you your ass. Is there some way to my party's level up that I am missing, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of fights for me to pick.
I really had no issue with DA:O, even on nightmare. I would highly suggest fine tuning your parties tactics. This made a huge differences in how much my party actually did. Also a balanced party helps.
Your party should also be close to your level, usually equal or one behind you. Two or three tops.
Last edited by sirbob6 on 4/23/2011 10:45:29 PM
no there aren't a lot of fights, if you want to big a big shot you need to micromanage your skillsets and weapons pretty closely.
@sirbob6: You know I never did mess with the party tactics on my first playthrough. I think I'll do more with them this 2nd time since I did have times when most of my party would die in big fights.
I should add that one huge problem with when i play RPGs i always end up focusing only on the main character and the only people who get any real play time are the people who 1st fill up the party.
Also *who* you bring with you are of importance too, especially when they have weapons with different damage types. And like it's been said, towards the end of the game it's worth reviewing the strategy settings on the characters.
I hear ya, I was always getting my ass raped. I took the shameful rout of putting it on casual setting. I'm not to proud of it so I'll just bang it through and then go back as a different character with a little more experience on normal setting.
It would help if you listed what class you're playing as. In my many playthroughs of it, i found the mage if used in certain ways,, to be the easiest to use as far as the main character goes. Believe it or not, they make the best tanks
I'm an Elf Mage
GREAT, ok, well have you done the Redcliffe mission where you send a mage into the fade? if not, make sure you take your lead character mage and bargain with the demon to get blood magic spec unlocked. once its unlocked, you can go back to a previous save if you want to do things differently, but that class spec remains unlocked for all game saves and future playthroughs.
At first glance, blood mages may not look like much but once you build them up they are deadly. Combined with with the Arcane Warrior class spec for your mage will make it into a walking tank that can take down most enemies by themselves. They take little to no damage, even on harder difficulties.
The only catch to making any mage go down the Arcane Warrior path is a lot of the skills Arcane uses are buff skills. Its not uncommon to have all of you buffs on (including some you may have learned from other skill trees, like flame blade ( or whatever its called, its been awhile since i last played ) and have very little mana to cast a good spell or 2.
This is circumvented by using blood magic. It allows you to cast spells but it saps life instead of mana. Arcane Warrior allows you to use your magic stat as your strength stat so you can wear the bulkiest armors, and wield swords and shields. Combined with some of the skills you learn later with Arcane, your armor rating is so high you rarely get hit. It also allows for great elemental protection.
If you need to cast a attacking spell, do so under blood magic. If you need to heal yourself, blood magic has a skill that allows you to drain an allies health to heal you. This works WELL on pets you may have out on the field, like pets a Rogue may call forth.
Say you don't wanna go down the Arcane path. Blood Mage still makes for an excellent class spec no matter what. Key is making sure whoever is your tank is always drawing attention. Bigger armor = More aggro towards your armored ally. Allistar fills this role perfectly. Wears armor, good fighter, uses shields. Played right, enemies will always go for him first, allowing you space and time to cast spells
The NGP is going to be awesome. I just can't wait to get my hands on one. I'm also a little disappointed that Last Guardian won't hit this year but if it needs it to be spectacular than that's ok. I just don't understand why the Team Ico collection is delayed. That should come out this year no matter what. Oh well I'll just put the money towards Fear 3.
Here is my gaming update:
I earned the platinum in Uncharted 1 finally. So happy for that. It is my 5th platinum trophy. I finally went through Secrets of Monkey Island. Still 2 more trophies for 100%. I started the Strong Bad games tonight. Pretty funny so far. I may work on Dragon Age: Origins some more and maybe some Borderlands or just start something else. Not sure yet just depends on how I'm feeling.
Secrets of Monkey Island = Greatest Game Remake EVER!!!
Indeed
Since I knew TLG wouldn't make it this year I'm not bothered at all. Besides, next year needs to have SOMETHING. 2011 is like the biggest year I've seen in a long time. This way TLG will get the attention and hopefully sales it deserves.
As I wait for LA Noire I'm playing some Ar Tonelico and Two Worlds II. As soon as finals are done next month I think I'm just gonna be pale and play games inside all summer. Sick of the real world for sure.
I haven't started ar tonelico yet, but I really enjoyed Two Worlds II. Definitely has some issues, but it has some of the best customization you can find.
I am not overly concerned by the delay of Last Guardian… I would want it to be the best game in the PS3's crown. It will be a nice way to end off this generation for me as in 2012 I expect to be on PC and PS3, depending on the game. For the PS3 is will only be for exclusives though… games from Sony studios.
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110423/ap_en_mu/as_obit_former_sony_president
Has anyone noticed that when you open the web browser on your ps3 & youre on the playstation home page & you scroll left or right youll see "introducing free movies on playstation"? NO BS. Check for yourselves… What is that all about?
Last edited by Killa Tequilla on 4/24/2011 12:08:54 AM
Thanks for the link,
R.I.P. former Sony president and chairman Norio Ohga
May you forever have happiness in Heaven playing my recently departed PS3.
I know sony just launched a service called Crackle, they offer free movies and TV shows with limited advertising. I'm assuming thats what you're seeing.
Yeah, Crackle's a great movie site put out by Sony that works just like Netflix, except that all the movies/shows on Crackle are FREE.
"May you forever have happiness in Heaven playing my recently departed PS3. "
lol, AMAZING!
Sony's latest update 🙂
"We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security. We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available."
Last edited by Killa Tequilla on 4/24/2011 12:19:32 AM
I haven't been here or on PS3 in a couple days, been working on my car instead. This is crazy! I'm a little late to the party, but I have to go to the other gaming sites and read some comments.
Whenever something like this happens it brings out the crazy in people and those people post stuff. They're usually good for a hour or so of entertainment. People here seem to keep the crazy to a minimum, at least everyone but ___________, and even he keeps it under control for the most part.
Sad news for TLG, but it's true that at least we are not going through any dry spells. I don't care how long they take as long as they do the best they possibly can.
FF Duo Decim has me more intrigued than before, there is way more to this game than I thought there would be. I thought it would be a pretty standard set up for a fighting game. Just some cut scenes in between battles, but way more to it than that and I'm really enjoying it.
Psn being down sucks for the whole beta thing, but I'm in my own little rpg worlds so it hasn't had much of an effect on me.
I wonder, will the ngp be able to play hd videos purchased from PSN? and if they are, will we be able to output them to our tvs in 720p? that'd be nice
That'd be cool. How about the ability to use it as a kind of external hard drive for the PS3, with automatic updating for any new file types that you upload onto the home console upon connection?
Ran through Enslaved and then got back into Fallout New Vegas. Thankfully patch 1.04 downloaded just fine and the game seems quite stable now. What else to do with the network down right?
Oh, and all those PS+ babies on the PS Blog can go shut the hell up about getting compensated.
I am sure Sony will have to deal with more law suits now… it just costs them so much time and money…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Alienange,
Well, I haven't read any of their posts, nor do I intend to.
But with that said, I don't have PS+ yet but I think that anyone who does have it surely has a legitimate beef, & their PS+ time should certainly be extended by exactly the same amount of days that the PSN network is down for.
That's only fair.
As for all the others, the PSN has always been free, so they need to get a life & stop their bitchin' about demanding a free game, etc, etc.
I mean seriously now, Billy Preston said it right….
"Nothing from nothing leaves nothing"
@ Qubex
Some might try, but their lawyers will/should point out to them that there is a disclaimer that they agreed to when they first used the PSN. One that stipulates that they use PSN "as is" and that Sony does "not warrant that the service and content will be uninterrupted."
Paying for PS+ does not remove those disclaimers and certainly doesn't give you more rights over the use of the network.
Last edited by Alienange on 4/24/2011 1:51:54 AM
Gotta agree with alienange on this one. Any and all people asking for compensation for this are being rediculous. I only say that because this isn't like cable or the internet as far as PS+ goes. What I mean is besides special deals, early demos, betas, etc… PS+ members arent gaining anything that Non PS+ members have access too. Having access to play online is free, PS+ or not. The only thing PS+ members are missing out on right now are deals that will be there when PSN goes back up. So really their isn't much to compensate for. but extending their membership the amount of days the network is down does seem like a fair offer!