SomTervo

In AC:B easy became repetitive as all you had to do was just chain everything and you would tear through 20 guys at once. What was the term from Kotaku they used earlier... "gameplay loop." Same shit. All the time. Slightly incremental changes. And when they tried to break the loop (guards who could block certain weapons) the loop was instantly reinstated when the player realises certain weapons or tactics worked on everyone regardless. Talking about 'making your own fun', in AC:B, for me, it got to the stage where I would get into a fair-sized fight near an edge, and systematically disarm every bad guy, and drop their weapon off said edge. Just so I could get into a bloody good fistfight. *sigh* why wouldn't they simply add enemies who can disarm you, or a place to have good fistfights that aren't the ridiculous, arbitrarily time-limit mercenary fight club things.

Multiplayer vid is up. Looks pretty fucking good, and is probably much more fun to play than to watch. Other info not here: - Apparently Bullet-time also works in a bubble as well as line-of sight, so if someone comes out right behind you they don't have much of a bonus in capping you. - Like in the singleplayer, I believe you can choose hard lock (full autoaim), soft lock (aim assist), or free aim. Probably will have server options to change this.

Yeah, Assassin's Creed 1 was easy as shit, but I still sunk tens upon tens of hours into it just running around and getting into really cinematic fights on rooftops. That shit was fun. Even if I had to make the fun myself half the time.

Silent Hill 2's story is stunning, and is a closed arc, which is lovely. I'm not a fan of Silent Hill's story or Silent Hill 3's story. I don't like the cult thing. I love how SH2 is cultless and has an incredible story. The characterisation is just so strong, and the multiple endings actually say something, too. It's pretty scary I found, but fair enough if you didn't find it so Strange. Did you find Pyramid Head unsettling at least? I never considered him scary in himself, but I found how the game build up a sense of dread and 'he could be anywhere' thoughts around him that it was just, just sublime. His model could be replaced with a cartoon unicorn for all I care, and he would still be scary because of how well the game develops him in conjunction with James. I don't find any of the game particularly scary at all now, but Pyramid Head still invades my psyche. For non spoiler'd people, to reiterate: SH2 has, imho, the best example of a 'descent into hell' I've ever seen in a game, and better than most I've seen in literature or film. It's stunning in narrative, theme and execution.

That's really cool about the white cloak thing. It's easy to brush the game off as 'simple', but as I thought (considering they took hints from Team Ico games), ThatGameCompany have put a fair amount of work in to make many things to discover in the background of the game.

Yeah, I've got the J&D Collection. I can't really say till I've finished them. I played the originals in my formative years, so I can't remember how good the graphics actually were back then, but it looks like a lot still could have been done with the graphics here. Smoothing edges, improving textures a little more; but the games are still really good. Jak II has the same old problems it always did (generally boring game world) but is still very fun at times. Precursor's Legacy is a great adventure, still surprisingly big and fun. Jak III I never played and haven't played yet; but I imagine it's going to be good. In the end, it'll probably be worth getting to collect it. That's why I got it. I owe a lot of my original love of game design to the first one, so I got it for nostalgia, and I don't really regret it though this may not be the best of ports.

Yeah that's cool, I just picked up negative tonality from some of your posts! Really, really tragic that this HD release isn't looking good. At least the originals still look amazing today and are totally playable (maybe not certain parts of SH3, but SH2, definitely).

Sorry, is that Silent Hill comparison from the HD collection or on that emulator? If it's like that in the HD collection that'd ridiculous. The Ico/SotC HD collection were flawless. However, it all depends on the company doing the port/renovation, the company who did the Ico/SotC one, Bluepoint Games, is probably the most reputable and best, others are nowhere near as good or dedicated to reworking the originals. EDIT: You seem to be arbitrarily bashing HD collections, Dean; while some of them are pretty obvious cash-ins, others really are made with care and improve upon the original releases. I'm really surprised the Silent Hill one had flaws like that (if that is the remake), especially as those games have such artistic merit. Ico/SotC were such vast improvements upon the originals. They are my favourite games, and it adds a lot having a consistently smooth framerate, better definition, sound, and responsiveness; as well as better draw distance etc. It's incredible: and it gives people a chance to get games they never had a chance to play (and in my case, keep my original copies hermetically protected, with no need to ever take them out.)

As others said, it's not really a marketing ploy. It'll appeal to a slice of the demographic, but it's not trying to grab everyone's attention. It more sounds like a good design choice for people to get more out of the game, without giving them too much work. I've always wanted more games to do this sort of thing. For the recent Rockstar releases, I've really, really wanted a 'realistic contact' mode, where, as well as NPC's getting Euphoria'd from bullets and contact (PC's only do from rough contact like explosions), the main character would, too. So if in RDR you got hit by a sniper, say, instead of a spurt of blood popping out of Marsden's chest as he walks on nonchalantly, the player would get thrown about and have to recover slowly from a prone position. And you could drop your guns and... I just think it'd make things more immersive if developers added (at least a choice for) this sort of thing. Anyway, fantasy rant over. EDIT: Yeah, this isn't particularly impressive in any way as Bioshock probably had about 20 pages of dialogue at most.

I like almost all of the ideas in it, but I'm really not confident about the execution. Those guys don't seem the types who'll be able to tie together all of these fairly chaotic gameplay mechanics together. It sounds very scrappy, and that narrative probably won't be great. But it still looks like it'll be really fun, and if they get it right it'll be excellent.

That's true, I suppose I feel most confident about the gameplay, too. Really can't wait, even the Multiplayer sounds incredible. Apparently shoot-dodging etc. feel even more at home in the online arena, and the whole thing still holds a totally cinematic feel. I have complete faith in the Houser's writing, although it might lost some of Max's depressing punch, which is really what made the series. I still think it'll be very good writing, and very Max Payney, but it obviously won't be Lake's.

Yeah, I know. The way it flashes up and changes position and then sticks around- but only for a split second before the panel moves on, looks really, really infuriating. Reminds me of with it's awful mind breakingly ADHD-fast barrage of scenes. I think the storytelling is still going to be very strong overall in the game, I just don't think that one element in the cutscenes will work. EDIT: Oh also, the way the (camera) shots all flash and double up on themselves with VHS-tape-coloured negatives. The way it flashes is awful. So off putting and undermines the actual quality of the shots. Like when the guy is out on the street shouting at him that Max killed his only son: there's no need for that kind of visual faffing on a still shot!

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/developer-diary-max-payne-3/728084 Looking prettyyyy fuckiiiiiing stroooong. Really not sure about the comic cutscenes, though. They look gimmicky, like something we'd see in a poor hollywood action blockbuster. On top of that, they look confusing and too-fast. Still, the general style of the game looks great, imo.

I hope this holds true, my biggest complaint with the Uncharted series was the reliance on bullet-sponges. Definitely. If they basically made a more realistic Uncharted I'd be happy, but making it post-Apocalyptic too is a definite bonus. I hope there's a reliance on item management. I played a bit of Resident Evil 1 a bit again today, and it's actually refreshing how a tough item limit can make you rethink situations and engage with the game more. I'm quite tempted by Silent Hill: Downpour in this regard, too.

Not sure if this has been posted already, but there's a couple of potentially spoilerey details here (not really, it's stuff probably revealed in the first minutes of the game, but it's early days to hear about plot info): http://www.computerandvideogames.com/339433/previews/the-last-of-us-making-the-apocalypse-interesting-again/ Some really nice gameplay suggestions. Sounds like I Am Alive but with Naughty Dog's usual ballsy approach to things. One bullet is usually enough to kill (it's suggested this includes the protagonists), and pointing a weapon at bad guys will make them scatter. However, unlike in I Am Alive where bad guys will stand down, these ones will simply split up and flank you (allegedly). Sounds pretty nice to me. The word's 'survival horror' are actually used, which is nice.

Yeah it was a total stealth title. I think I'll read a couple of reviews in full. I'd trust Destructoid over IGN any day. There are a few things it sounded like the game was doing right, but the question is how well it put them together. That's the real test.

I've watched most of those at some point, Dex, but not all of them. Some pretty good ones there. Ta for the more unusual tips Tenshi et al., Mushishi looks very very strong. I love it when a 'one plot arc per episode/issue' template works well. Just finished Planetary the other week, and that used the same thing but in a sci-fi context rather than a fantasy/ mythological one, like it looks like Mushishi uses (the main character even looks really similar). Will definitely give that a look.

Yeah, I generally stay away from anime movies. I know there are good ones (I'm a champion of Ghibli too (except Earthsea)), but in terms of TV-show tie-ins I've only heard generally bad things. I've seen some old classics like Wicked City and the like. I've seen quite a few series and only a few I've wanted to come back to; though some certainly didn't seem bad. Any recommendations? Ones I recall well are; NGE (obviously), Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Trigun, Death Note (reading the manga)... There are others but I can't remember. I remember some Bubblegum Crisis (or something) and Full Metal Panic, but they seemed to be driven by the melodramatic aspects of anime that I despise.

Just saw the Presidents of the United States of America live. They played a few singles, then played their whole debut album start-to-finish, then a couple of tunes to finish. How cheesy some of their stuff is really comes across live... The debut album somehow has a really unkitch tone though, it avoids the cheesiness altogether. Hearing it all live was incredible, and just like (or better than) the trecord. EDIT: I should probably add how actually good the show was. Great stuff.

Aside from the money incentive, I'm in exactly the same boat. I'd really, really like to learn some, and I've dabbled in Java and Flash (years ago), but generally my brain just doesn't handle programming or coding well at all. I can't stand it. If anyone has tips, that would sure be useful.

Brought this up in my status and Dean mentioned that its wasn't here, so here it is: Scottish Independence. A pointless and arbitrary thing. The SNP manifesto was basically Identical to the Scottish Labour one, but had a couple of telling incongruities; disallowing homosexuals to give blood at all, for example. However, the SNP campaign was so strong (they had a professional, high-level psychologist conducting and researching every move they should make and every word they should say) that none of the public acknowledge, or even know about. And if any other party remotely criticises them, they disregard the argument as 'negative campaigning': a fully successful appeal at making them the 'good guys' in the audiences eyes all the time. It's dark stuff. But even darker, is that the Tories are fucking up so much shit social-policy-wise, I'm actually considering siding with Independence to just get away from all that. That would be lovely.

This. Although, not convinced it's the most beautiful game I've ever played, but it's definitely up there. Extremely pretty and well designed. Need to replay it, will probably appreciate it more. Amazing that it's only two hours, so 'replaying it', unlike with other games, is not some massive undertaking

Yeah, it's stunningly short, but pretty stunning in itself. However, when I passed it to my flatmate (after completing it) to let him have a go, I made sure we checked the trophies. As I expected, the game's designed for quite a few playthroughs. The trophies are good, and have very Uncharted/ Ico/ SotC things like "Find the hidden monster in the caves" and such, so you really have to explore the levels (like you did, Chopin). Will hopefully write a little review up over the next couple of days.