WTF

You know that makes me wonder like yes cost of the servers and all that. But isn't it a bit unlikely that running costs of the servers are met by charging the user to pay to play online. I mean in theory yes it sounds like it can work. But in practice say if all that's left playing a game are 100 people and they all paid for the online pass it's only 1000 ? It really wouldn't make sense because as games get older and servers die esp for yearly recycled games we might find at best 5k players for the game after 3-4 years (which at best amounts to 50000). Most of the people who continue to play the game are usually those who played it from the start. Considering EA routinely shuts servers down I feel like it's going to come and bite them unless they've planned that whoever paid for the $10 towards the closing phase gets a refund (getting an EA downloadable voucher is jack). Of course there's no perfect system but since EA links us to their service it's probably best that they let you do that at least on the PS3. I doubt MS will allow them for that on the 360 but the yearly resets help to some extent.

Actually you're not anonymous. It's just that no one probably checked but might be best to nip it in the bud before anyone notices . If you follow your profile link on the article, it takes us to the staff page which basically has your name and two links. Your name links to excaliburps and your posts link to the stuff you've posted. Just saying if someone wanted to connect the two it's not that difficult .

I guess I'm not coming off quite clear either. My problem is that the online codes are not linked to your EA account but rather linked to your PSN account. And yeah the online code is to unlock access and truth be told I've not checked it for other users hence my saying it was as far as I knew. I've unlocked it for DS2 but have yet to play online on another account. I know that I can if I want use my EA account on my wife's PSN account (since she hasn't yet linked it with an EA account) and thus she'll have access to the same content - though it'll perma-link the two PSN accounts to the same EA account which is not really a problem since her account is a PSN sub-account (which they now only allow minors to have for some reason...). The same way she can use my steam account on her PC user profile to play steam titles. And play EA games while on her PC user account but using my EA account. I just want EA to link the online code to my EA account and not to my PSN since they know the two are linked (I'm sure Sony would not have a problem with that). This is my problem with their current system. I agree that second hand users can buy it for cheap and then try before buying online while those who buy first have the privilege. But they aren't really making it a privilege but rather making it quite sort of similar to the ME codes (since PSN activations are only for every 5 machines). I know it means you can't of course play the games simultaneously but I'm not happy with the way it links it. If that makes sense.

I just bought infinity blade because I was curious. It's currently half price too and includes the DLC (which is free). It's not bad to be honest.

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201103/03041005.html Already knew about the bonfire 'save' areas but apparently we can get an occasional summoned ally.

Yeah I am aware that it was Project 10 dollar, but I hear that it's more applicable to the online aspect these days than just DLC. I'm not happy about the Online access code simply because of restrictions. It is fine on a PC title since I can link it all to a singular EA account which I can access on two separate profiles or multiple machines. But when it comes to consoles it's a tad annoying really. I'm not the only one who goes online with a game on the console and thus it sort of restricts the going online to an account rather than to a singular machine afaik. If it's not restricted to a singular account then it's alright (though the catch then lies with the fact that it's probably going to have the console download activation limit which varies between the consoles). See this kind of clarity is lost in that sort of online code situation. If EA pretty much ties a game to an EA user account, which I know it does since if I ever play a demo on the PS3 or PC it does send the info back to EA, I'd think it was better. Instead of an online activation code, they should let the user tie it in with the EA account. Of course it prevents used game sales but if games came with a key that did this it would be nice because not only do you know that you can go online but also you do actually own the license of the end-copy of the game for as long as EA does business or the game license is in their hands. I'm aware that the DLC is meant to help the customer keep the copy with them for a longer period, but that's for DLC releasing post-release. Pre-release/launch day DLC voids that issue completely.

I didn't think I'd post anything but hey this fits I guess.

I'm getting the signature edition for £5 so I'm not going to complain but the thing is DLC for dragon age is their method of combating 1) Used game sales. While it is a chunk of content and it is available at launch. Only first purchasers get access to it. The rest have to shell out through whichever network they play (makes sense even on the PC since you can if you choose not to authorise it on EA Download Manager sell it later since even the bioware social network lets you deauthorise your cd key thus actually enabling you to resell your PC game - which is quite rare. Not possible if you've activated it via EADM though.) 2) They want people to buy at launch, only launch copies have the codes and only those preordering before X date have all the codes. While EA does a lot of despicable things with PC games and of course the whole project 10 dollar online activation code. This is one thing that they do get right. On the true subject of DLC, yes it is ridiculous for them to release DLC early but when you see why they do it- you realise it's a business decision and it doesn't really affect you if you planned to buy the game first-hand.

You've got to try LBP 1/2 to actually get why it's so much fun with friends or drunk and even the online is lagfree these days (It's so smooth, which is a long way from how it used to be when it launched in 2008). There's more co-op games, you could try Dead Rising 2 if you want but I don't remember if it's local co-op as well. As for fighting games and Vs games I do play the game with people who sometimes are terrible but to be fair some games they'll be good at eventually. Beginner's luck, button-mashing and if you do feel sorry you can always try characters you generally don't play with. The objective of course is to have fun . I think Katamari forever has a few two player levels but isn't total co-op like the original ones. SC4 is retardedly fun to play with a friend because of the whole create a random character option randomizing the way you look and fight. Personally I did enjoy Resistance 1 and 2 splitscreen co-op as well. You can play Deathspank and it's sequel as co-op games though the second player just heals or does magic and most of the inventory sorting and the like is done by the first player. I did get spare parts to play co-op but honestly never ended up playing it...

That's true but it's not optimised for 16:9 the last time I checked . If I can get an optimised version it'll be nice. I might get it for the PS3 at some point still have the PS2 version and my PC version's somewhere.

It's hard to remember each and every game I'm interested and so I've got a word document list for this purpose. Games are added, categorised, deleted based on what I see and what I like (in terms of buying) though I will not delete them totally till they're out. This helps me a)control my gaming expenses and keep track for what I'd spend in a month b)budget my expenditure as I've other things I'd like to spend money on than games. c)remember... Meh I've got so much shit on my mind that it's hard to remember game releases. However with this chart I can pretty much bring up data just like that . I'm glad studying DBMS and nearly working for Oracle at least helped in some regard. Deus Ex is Hot title for me though it's so Gold (cue Spandau Ballet if you must). I am glad that I don't have to pay upfront for preorders. I don't know why I'm not feeling it for Skyrim. I really want to be hyped for it but I can't be arsed.

This is close to what what I believe is wrong with the game's marketing. To be honest I'll compare the reaction to this game as the global or at least the European reaction to Cloverfield. It's not that the movie was bad, it's not that they tried shaky cams. It was just one of those things that doesn't transcend borders. Certain things don't work outside of a specific context and advertising heavy and hard just makes it feel a bit forced and unappealing. While fictional the Red Alert series was always about Russia invading the US and taking over and then the fight back. But it didn't advertise itself as Russia invades the US but rather here's some silly cold war era fiction but we've got a good game and focus on that. Of course game marketing was a lot less back then. You could say they could've used the same angle for RA2 but they went with pretty much 'No Comrade Premier. It has only begun.' Those work. But this like Cloverfield won't really work unless they change marketing.

PixelJunk Games are good (can get frustrating for some) LBP's always a good suggestion I agree RE5 is a good suggestion. KZ3 I'm going to try local co-op but it could be alright (trophies). Dead Nation gets pretty hard towards the final chapters (depending on difficulty). it's insanely fun but depends on frustration levels and the time you play. Borderlands isn't too bad for local co-op Brink is going to be one to look for co-op. SP in that game is just pointless really. What about Vs games like fighters? MvC3, Tekken 5 on the PSN, SC4 are all good fun. I'd recommend Blazblue:CS and SSF4 too. Naruto is fun the same vein. There's more but I can't remember them all at the moment. Then of course there's the racers and driving games if those are your thing. Mod Nation isn't too bad in that regards though Motorstorm games are quick load. GT5 is alright.

I'm currently dreading May and June (Damn you surprise-attack EA). I think I'll skip my list of anticipated titles since it goes to like 40 games... Most anticipated for the year is El Shaddai though since I know I'll either enjoy it or find it ironically amusing and that's going to be good entertainment plus I like the visuals. And HoMM 6 which I hope would give me good memories like HoMM 2 and 3 and not 4&5 (though they were still enjoyable 3 was special just like how Civ 3 was special and Moo2 was special). It would've been March but I've decided to drop Retribution, Homefront, Move Heroes and Apocalypse till they go down in price. As for May well there's Witcher 2, Brink, LA Noire, DNF, and El Shaddai and June already had Infamous 2, Red Faction: Armageddon (June 3rd here) and now Shadows of the Damned (same day as infamous 2) and Alice: Madness returns (the week after). I know November is going to be crap on the wallet too thanks UC3, ME3 etc. I'm not too hyped for Elder Scrolls 5. Not to mention Zenimax priced the game like how Activision prices Modern Warfare. I've spoken to some etailers and they say RRP is £56 something here (would've been 55 but VAT). I think they feel like they should charge a premium for the game.

The Oreimo game isn't that bad from what my friend's played of it and it did OK during the week of release about 88.something K as per media create. It's more of a cross between visual novel and dating sim type of mechanics though is what I hear so in that way it'll be different from the anime. However the preorder bonuses were a bit much someone said. Dengeki had a decent prerelease report --> http://news.dengeki....000/338/338635/ It's one game I'm wondering if I should import same as the new Haruhi game which continues the story after the disappearance (not a major fan of the series, my wife was at some point but I'd like to see how it ends up) which releases this month iirc.

This is odd I've not run into someone who does in an online community but it's a practice I picked up when I was studying Computer Science and Engineering some 10 or so years back. But yeah I'm exactly the same and use about a million different strings of passwords too which sometimes makes it hard to remember especially since I make up some complicated shit at times... unless it's for sites I don't care at all. Lots of times I do use a proxy to browse as well. You can use Chrome to browse incognito but like Safari it doesn't clear the cache unless you quit the program and even then there's some trace fragments that remain most of which can be cleared via clear browsing data. But if you feel that paranoid you might have to go to app data manually and delete a few files. If you're on Win 7 or the like and you've got your hidden files visible just delete files and folders in it except for the bookmarks, plugins and extensions that you need (unless you're willing to reinstall them each time you visit). BTW it does nothing to the program just deletes most of your user data and preferences.

FYI for those waiting for the Ico+SoTC collections, I do believe it might miss the spring date since they're currently redoing most of the cut-scenes and some animations for higher textures and 3D. Personally apart from that I'd really like a Legacy of Kain series HD version and a Blood Omen remake. It's a shame Amy Hennig won't be doing it anymore and Tony Jay is dead but Blood Omen is currently an eye sore to play. While I'm not that crazy about graphics that game hasn't aged well at all. I'd also like some PC classics retextured via Mods if anyone's doing it for games like Clive Barker's Undying (which had really good audio effects and scared the crap out of my kid brother and his friends back then).

Crisis Core Tactics Ogre if you like SRPGs Persona 1, Persona 3 Portable and the upcoming Persona 2s Third Birthday God of War Ghost of Sparta (if you like the GoW series) Dissidia 2 (there's little point to one if you have 2) Kingdom Hearts: BBS Prinny 1 or 2 if you want a tough platformer. Unfortunately no demos. Peace Walker Star ocean 2 Now you can play the PSOne classics on the go like FF7,8,9, Vagrant Story, Xenogears (if you're in the US) Lumines II (it's old but you'll get hooked or at least your girlfriend/wife will) Tekken 6 or DR both are similar Get these if you like the demos Patapon series Locoroco Half Minute Hero Badman Resistance: Retribution GTPSP is a hit or miss really. I liked it but many don't. It's a pick up and play racer is the issue for most.

Well OK maybe not that kind of cardboard. Not the one Psychonauts or The Sims etc came in. But rather the cheap ass paper cardboard ones that most Blizz games come in. Blizzard uses good gum though. THQ tried it with CiV5. It was terrible and so cheap... Good thing it's a steamworks title. But still! But yeah I still have those old cardboard boxed games lol. I was just going through some old stuff and boy am I glad that currently it's either DVD sized or Blu-Ray sized - though curse you Aksys for making your Blazblue limited editions in a DVD shape rather than Blu-Ray one like Demon's Souls or GT5.

I prefer Steelbooks to the cardboard ones that some of my PC games come in. Lol while yes most of them do not even require the box, it would be nice if they used some firmer glue. it's really annoying for the thing to fall apart as soon as you get it. Cardboard boxes are on my shitlist more than steelbooks (especially since it fails on so many levels these days).

While We Dare is stupid, the game is quite innocuous. Just has a terrible ad and will appeal to probably the same people who are whining about it on the Daily Mail. I think Battle Tag is infinitely more so since it's a laser tag game that was supposed to have DLC before they did a limited release and went quiet about it. Since the following titles are all Ubisoft it'd be stupid but funny if they made a title called Tom Clancy's We Dare you to Just Dance to Broadway: Brotherhood. A whimsical game of laughter and romance. Meet 'Easy' Ezio and Sam 'Smokin' Fisher as they dance their way to Broadway fame and fortune through their latest dance troupe 'Brotherhood'. But they have to impress their 'Got to Dance' judges first. I just hope no one here works for Ubisoft or Gameloft.

Honestly. I think we don't have a retro phase in gaming as obvious as people think. When I think true retro it's arcade games because that's gaming that's not coming back here in the form it was. Most of what we consider 'retro' are basically what could be played on an arcade machine. Basic platforms, 16/32 bit games and the like. Classic games are basically like vintage games. Games that stand the test of time just like classic films. You can still watch a lot of Lang, Truffaut or Kurosawa and still appreciate the film-making process in those films. Same goes for the games. It also has to appeal to the current generation for at least the gameplay. Not to mention 'classic' usually means that it adheres to a particular standard. I believe we need to stop calling the older games retro because retrogaming exists with modern games that are released even today. One can argue that MeatBoy is retro, one can argue that Chinese RPG released last December on the MegaDrive is retro (Yep it was released in 2010). We have genres and games both old and new fit within those. To me what's truly retro is something that technically cannot be replicated in the same form on modern consoles due to various reasons. The thing we currently consider retro-gaming is just a genre that could use a different name since 80 years from now everything we play currently would be retro.