The Gamer's Quarter

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Half-Life marathon at a friend's place in Cambridge.

I'm in Norwich.

Time to be irresponsible and head there with all speed!

EDIT: Scratch that. No way can I get a train on time.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Previously on Nana's Adventures in Xbox Land...
Nana set up her Xbox 360 and managed to endure the grueling process of entering her address twice before she could start downloading wonderful magical xbox live games and movies, only to discover she could only download five at a time! What will happen to our heroine?

Nana's Adventures in Xbox Land

Part 3: How slow is slow?

I sit and wait until Lumines finishes to download and load it up immediately. First of all the menus are just like the PSP version but not exactly the same, and the slight differences are annoying as all hell. It's not as bad as some shit but still bothers me. So I start up Challenge Mode and start playing.

It's slower. The whole thing doesn't really feel like Lumines any more than the lame PC ports/ripoffs do. The graphics are off. It doesn't feel like injecting liquid crack into my arm as I'm playing it the same way it does on the PSP.

I'm really disappointed. I make it through a couple skins until Meguro comes up. I think I maybe recognize some of the earlier ones from the PSP game but this one I know (it's also one of my least favorites. I bear with it, and keep advancing skins until it cycles around and I get the first skin again. This doesn't seem right, but sure enough it's the first skin again. I look over to the right and I've only been playing for 15 minutes, which means there are maybe six skins or so total. In the PSP version it takes me an hour to do a complete loop and afterward I have like 300K points. Here I only have 25K and it felt like I was playing for just as long.

I don't know what it is. It isn't the same. The amazing feeling i get from making blocks disappear is gone. The time line seems to move slower and the whole thing just is not nearly as smooth as the PSP version.

Dejected I go back to the Dashboard and check on my downloads. The Dead Rising demo still isn't done yet so I check to see what else is on the hard drive taking up 12 gigabytes.

I find demos for Kameo, Burnout Revenge and a few other games but those are the ones that interest me. I load up Kameo wondering what to think about it, since most people I know played this and thought it was mediocre.
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B coma · . Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 279

what was it that pissed you off about double dragon Nana, the oddball graphical update or the GAF thread?

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I don't like the graphical style. Without pixels, I am nothing.
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dessgeega · Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject:

xybots is sometimes called a "3d gauntlet" and is indeed by the same team and similiarly a game about shooting enemies in mazes but i actually think i like it better than gauntlet. your energy still ticks down constantly but since the game is more about one-on-one shootouts rather than overwhelming hordes of enemies. there's a feeling that skill can prevail over entropy (though of course it can't, since the game is endless). that the shootouts are cabal-style shoot-and-dodge affairs is the best part.

i've actually yet to make it very far but (like in gauntlet) there's a warp in the first stage to a randomly-selected seventh stage that makes the game very easy to replay and replay.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Cho Ren Sha 68k is pretty damn hard.

What's this I hear about a 3-in-1 power up trick?
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dessgeega · Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject:

you know how the power-ups appear in a triangle? if you fly into the middle of the triangle and stay there for a few seconds without touching any of them the triangle will speed up and close and you'll get all three.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

This is useful info. Thanks.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Cho Ren Sha also has a built in superplay if you just let it go into attract mode from the start screen. That may help you with any bosses you have a problem with.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

It's mostly the "running out of lives" thing at this stage. And getting the hang of the 3-in-1 trick.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I bought R-Type on the Wii Virtual Console and tried playing that. i'm bad at shooters, but I'm even worse at R-Type. Until Dess explained how to use the force ("no mystical energy field controls my destiny!") I was only getting to the first checkpoint in the first level. The furthest I made it was half way through level 2 before I gave up for now.

I previously bought Super Mario Bros for the Virtual Console and decided to play that. I'd never beaten the game, there was a point (which I now learned is in world 8-2) that I could never get past. Well I still can't get past it, but today I was sucking it up really hard and barely able to get to the world 4-2 warp zone.

Zelda: Link to the Past is exactly as I remember it two years ago when I played the GBA port. People have been saying how terrible this game is, but really I think it's just that it's unremarkable from most other action-adventure games. That said, I really do like the sprite artwork and that has kept me going.
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Now on hour 4 in leveling up so that I can defeat the final boss in Enchanted Arms. Wow. The pacing of this is way off.
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B coma · . Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 279

I can make it to about what I presume is midway through Stage 3 of R-Type until I get taken out by a stray bullet I didn't notice (or brush up against the wall/ship, which is totally my fault). Maybe it's because I always play when I'm tired, but the flickering in that stage really does not help : (

I'll get past it someday soon.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Other than the camera being continously awful, I enjoyed the Ninety-Nine Nights demo quite a bit.

Is there something wrong with me? ;_;
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

No matter how wonky the design decisions are, Dynasty Warriors-type games are nearly always fun. So no.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I liked the 99nights demo, but not enough. It seemed really mindless, and I have the feeling that after eight hours or so it would get really tedious. Though, there are plenty worse ways to spend your money than that.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Other than the camera being continously awful, I enjoyed the Crackdown demo quite a bit.

Is there something wrong with me? ;_;
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

It's impressive how the team behind ninety-nine nights made short levels frustratingly long. Man that game drove me nuts. Enjoy fighting this boss with their unblockable attacks and ability negate your blocks! Ahhahaha!
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SuperWes · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:46 pm Post subject:

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I think it's pretty cheap now? I'll probably get it when it's $20 or so.

I played some more Lumines LIVE! on Advanced and the Heavenly Star skin. Advanced is better than the normal single player challenge in that there are more skins and better colors, but I'm still not really pleased.

Heavenly Star on the other hand is really, really awesome. It reminds me of a Daft Punk song, and the way the music, vocals, background video and colors mix is just as good as the best skins from the original PSP game. The only downside is how badly it makes me realize how sad the rest of the single player challenge mode is.

Wasn't there supposed to be licensed music in the Live version like in Lumines II? I thought when they announced it they were talking about how they would have music videos and stuff but I haven't seen anything like that yet.
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

AAHHH! I beat it! Take THAT, From Software! Out of the 50 hours it took, 9 of these were leveling up to beat the final boss ... well, there's like 7 final bosses, but the first one was the one that took all the work. I'm going to ignore how much time I spent on such a mediocre game by high-fiving myself over that 100% Complete mark.

Lost Planet: It's time!
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Wanna sell or trade me your copy of Enchanted Arms?
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Sure! I'm really interested in trading, though. What do you have?

---

Aside:

Vista! Finally I can order a new PC. My backlog can barely contain itself! Finally, no more transferring DVD titles from laptop hard drive to desktop hard drive and using no disc cracks. And a system that doesn't sound like it's going to open up a time-space vortex every time it boots up.

Soon: Gothic 3, The Guild 2, Company of Heroes, and and and and!
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Wait, and you're going to try gaming with Vista?

Let us know how that goes, I guess.

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Over at quarter to three quite a few have been using the previous release candidates for a while now and haven't had any problems. A few developers have mentioned how older video cards have really benefited, while DX10 cards will really be great. The game browser deal is something I'm interested in too, not needing to use shoddy No CD cracks anymore is a pretty big perk for me. I'm not looking to purchase/upgrade (well, minimum upgrades) for a long time, so I've waited until I can get everything in one package before purchasing a new system. The only thing I don't like is that installing XP on a Vista system is a huge problem, though installing Vista on an XP machine isn't. XP has been incredibly stable for me, so I'm not too keen on giving it up.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:57 am Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Argh! I hope the feature wasn't removed, but initially you were supposed to be able to do full game installs on your system so that you wouldn't need to hunt for CDs anymore. This is an aboutface from the current stance, but it was apparently going to be done so that the PC was easier to use for games - tying in with the Games for Windows branding and magazine, and apparently that campaign is going to ramp up after Vista - making it similar to playing music. You were going to be able to go into the Games Explorer, see a box shot, screenshot, product description, including links to developer and publisher sites, then simply launch the game if you wanted to play it. The official page for Games Explorer doesn't mention this, but I do hope they keep it in.

Oh, here's something that's nice (Brad Wardell of Stardock posted this at Qt3):

"So Vista literally gives your PC a score in all kinds of categories (CPU, Hard disk, video).

As a result, imagine games in 2 years coming with their requirements listing what your performance ratings have to be instead of vague requirements we have today. We'll also have a standard way to know just how resource intensive a game is.

My system rating is 4.0 for instance."
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

There's supposed to be dual booting, from what I gather.
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Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject:

I rented Red Steel this weekend.

Oh my.

dhex · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:20 pm Post subject:

there's not going to be any way to dual boot a vista/win2k system, is there?

http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_gaming_performance_reports
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Gears of War keeps giving me dirty disc errors. I'm on either disc four or five at this point. I received another error earlier, but after restarting the game continued, to where as previously the discs either never continued past that point or wouldn't even boot. I just want to kill alien insect dudes, is that too much to ask?
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Excessive DDE on the 360 was the first sign of my console starting to fail. After excessive DDE on Oblivion I then moving onto Dead Rising and they kept happening. Then, on one fatal weekend afternoon, the 360 got a DDE and then I restarted it and it wouldn't read anything. So, I took it back to Best Buy and used my extended return plan got a new one and haven't had any DDE since (well, Ok, I may have had one or two). Also getting a intercooler cut my DDE rate down a little on my failing 360.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

This is my second or third 360, having the other one (or two) replaced by MS. So far this is only happening with Gears of War. It happened to a friend of mine, too. He was showing me how he could eventually play after restarting 5 or 6 times, then on the second attempt we heard a GGRRRRRR sound. He removed the disc to find a chunk missing. I'm not sure how it happened, but, sure enough, there was a piece gone. It was a brand new disc, I had just handed it to him, too.
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Pijaibros · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject:

All these errors and flying disc problems you folks are having are just scaring me into waiting until v2 of the system arrives to actually go out and buy one.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

At this rate, I don't see myself buying any next-gen console until at least 2010.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Microsoft is notorious for not getting things right with a product until "version 3". Now I don't know if this would mean console revisions or physical consoles (if so, the Xbox 720 should be great).
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

So, this is either my third system or just my system returned to me. Either way, yeah, that was a huge hassle, but they ended up refunding my money and extending my warranty a year (per their new policy). Aside from Gears, which is a problem I've read about all over the place (and word is that it can get you banned on Epic's forums with their explanation being they can't help since it's out of their hands once it goes off to be mass produced), no problems with Undead Rising or Oblivion or anything else on this one. Good thing: I love both of those games. My friend bought a 360 recently and has gone through my library and hasn't had any problems, so I wouldn't be too worried buying one now.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Ryan: I'm pretty sure they send you back the console that you send them unless they can't fix it.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. But some people made note of their SN and the system's manufacturing information and have actually received older systems. That I wouldn't be too pleased with.

Here's a story about the DDE in GoW from Xbox360fanboy.com mentioning it. A google search also brings up some healthy results as well.
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Pijaibros · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject:

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I've been at my brother-in-law's house! His games purchases have in the past been less than informed, so the other day we gathered up his big pile of games he will never play again and traded them in for Warioware: Smooth Moves, Rayman Raving Rabbids, a Wii RGB scart cable and Animal Crossing DS.

Warioware and Animal Crossing are great, which wasn't really a surprise, but HOLY SHIT RAYMAN IS BAD. I'd heard good things about it- that all in all it was a better collection of minigames than Super Monkey Ball, but if Monkey Ball is worse than this then someone fucked up. Because damn.

There's one minigame where you have to point the remote like a hose, hosing down the rabbits who are running at you. Shaking the nunchuk works the pump (presumably?), so you have to keep shaking the nunchuk the whole time you're hosing the rabbits. I said 'at no point in real life would you need to do this action,' referring to my frantic, perpetual hand-shaking, to which my brother in law said 'except when you have a wank'. But if having a wank was this much like hard work no-one would do it. Seriously. It's ridiculous. I don't want to bore you with a breakdown of how everything about this game is stupifyingly substandard, so I'll just say I never expected this game to be even half as bad as it is. It's the worst game I've ever bought at (almost) full price!

Oh yeah, and get this- you unlock new clothes, eyewear and shoes for Rayman as the game progresses, and the eyewear option called 'gangsta' turns his face black! What kind of racist shit is that?

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

yes rayman is pretty terrible, i don't understand why it's getting all this praise.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

How does Monkey Ball compare to it? I can't see Monkey Ball's games being less fun than this.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

You people are crazy, that's the only explination for things. I mean, have you ever worked a pump (i.e. a keg or hand pumped fire extinguisher)? Sheesh.

Also "at no point in real life would you do this action"... I don't jump on mushrooms all day either man. It's a freaking game.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

What turned me off to Rayman was the quality of action. Many of the mini games feature pretty strenuous physical action to build up a meter to run fast or throw something a long way. There's no accuracy or even real gameplay involved in that; you just wave your arms around as quickly as you can. It's about as engaging to me as one of those carnival strength tests. And even in those games that aren't based around that the gameplay just feels off to me. The controls float and environmental interaction feels entirely dated. Or perhaps not dated, just created too fast and pushed out the door without fine tuning.

Which is almost certainly the case.