The All Things Video Games Thread!

[Apollo Leader]

I didn't buy any version, I was given the PS2 version. And why not? I had the first two, plus Rocks the 80's, on the PS2, and two guitars for the PS2. I only recently found a cheap used copy of the second one for the 360. I digress. The whammy bar does give the notes the wavy effect, but in the previous two, when you hit a star power note and hit the whammy bar, it would add extra star power to your meter. This time, it makes the note wave, but there's no change in the star power meter. Anyway, I may buy Guitar Hero III for the 360 later (I want the Les Paul), but I'll wait until the used ones show up in the spring or summer. For now, I'm saving my cash for Rock Band.

Okay that makes sense.

Speaking of GHIII, I haven't opened Through the Fire and Flames yet for either Career or Quick Play, but I played it online in Face Off mode last night on hard... ouch! I managed to get 55% of the notes, but granted you are only playing half to begin with! Right now I'm going through Easy perfecting every song. Think I got 16 songs left before going to medium. Online Face Off is fun.

[JB0]

Seems Telenet Japan finally announced they're closing up a week ago.

Not exactly a big name, but they had some recognizable titles back in the 90s. Valis was probably the most prominent.

Personally, I liked El Viento and Gaiares.

For you new-fangled gamers out there, they also did the early Tales games for Namco.

Tales of Phantasia SNES

Tales of Destiny PS1

Tales of Phantasia PS1

Tales of Eternia PS1

Tales of Destiny 2 PS2

They were one of those companies that just never managed to make the 3D transition. Kept their heads above water longer than most did, though. Probably thanks solely to the Tales of ... paychecks, which had them tucked neatly out of sight in the end credits.

tri-Ace was formed by Telenet's Wolf Team(responsible for El Viento, and the original ToP, which was their last game before they left and formed tri-Ace). I'm sure the loss of that chunk of talent didn't exactly boost them up the success ladder any.

Last I heard of them they'd licensed someone to do a Valis porn game(not like the character design didn't lend itself to the concept....), and then some more porn from other licenses they still held. Seems that didn't pay the bills either.

News courtesy of Insert Credit.

http://www.insertcredit.com/

Edited October 31, 2007 by JB0

[Keith]

Mmmm Valis porn, where's that at?

[JB0]

Mmmm Valis porn, where's that at?

http://www.eants.co.jp/valis/ is the official game site.

Contains non-safe content. Both in the traditional "naked women" sense and the "WTF did they do to Valis?!?!?!" sense(hint: they lesbian tentacle-raped it).

[David Hingtgen]

If you played Castlevania 3, and/or MegaMan 2 you know they have some of the all-time best VG music. And I discovered this part of Screw Attack's site way too late:

http://www.screwattack.com/RetroRemix.html

Skip the first minute or two (or five), trust me. But after that, they rock. Just fast forward past all the talking until you get to the music. For the first MM2 track (actually the second one listed--they're in reverse chronological order) you need to skip the entire first half.

But if you're like me, and you could listen to MM2 for the rest of the your life and be happy, the rest of the track is gaming music bliss.

[myk]

http://www.eants.co.jp/valis/ is the official game site.

Contains non-safe content. Both in the traditional "naked women" sense and the "WTF did they do to Valis?!?!?!" sense(hint: they lesbian tentacle-raped it).

AWESOME...

[Sdf-1]

LOL! I have found the ultimate shmup! Mars Matrix: Hypersolid shooting (for MAME).

Never seen so much ammunition on screen before... But oh why do I actually enjoy playing it!?! Must be the free credits...

Seriously, it's the sickest shoot em up ever.

[Warmaker]

http://www.eants.co.jp/valis/ is the official game site.

Contains non-safe content. Both in the traditional "naked women" sense and the "WTF did they do to Valis?!?!?!" sense(hint: they lesbian tentacle-raped it).

I came across that bit of news when I remembered the old Valis games. Googled it, came across some fan sites, and one mentioned the literal "raping" of the Valis franchise

[myk]

I came across that bit of news when I remembered the old Valis games. Googled it, came across some fan sites, and one mentioned the literal "raping" of the Valis franchise

AWESOME...

[danth]

Who remembers this arcade game from the eighties? Serious nostalgia there for me.

[JB0]

LOL! I have found the ultimate shmup! Mars Matrix: Hypersolid shooting (for MAME).

Never seen so much ammunition on screen before... But oh why do I actually enjoy playing it!?! Must be the free credits...

Seriously, it's the sickest shoot em up ever.

That got a Dreamcast port back in 01, with upgraded graphics and a metric buttload of extra features.

I strongly recommend it.

It's supposed to be VERY similar to the Giga Wing series. Which I've failed to play as of yet.

For some reason everyone talks about the Giga Wings, but no one ever mentions Mars Matrix.

[Black Valkyrie]

Who remembers this arcade game from the eighties? Serious nostalgia there for me.

I remember it, used to play sometimes on my old MSX.

[Black Valkyrie]

Any Nintendo fan would like these old Famicom TV CM.

[areaseven]

What are your thoughts on the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games?

Activision Blizzard

Edited December 5, 2007 by areaseven

[danth]

What are your thoughts on the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games?

Activision Blizzard

I want WoW for 360.

[mikeszekely]

What are your thoughts on the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games?

Activision Blizzard

It's bad for everyone (check out Penny Arcade's 12-5-07 cartoon... apparently an Activision exc really did use the word "exploited" in a conference call), but I don't feel as bad about it as I did about EA buying BioWare.

[David Hingtgen]

In case Mike hasn't seen this, and if anyone knows of a bigger version, please let me know:

[eugimon]

I want WoW for 360.

If they did it, I wonder if it would be a seperate version? Or will MS finally release a keyboard/mouse for the 360? Because I just don't see someone with the controller keeping up with keyboard and mouse folk in raids or in PvP.

I wouldn't be keen on paying the Live subscription AND the WoW subscription either.

As for the merger... I understand the "why" behind such mergers but I think it's a sad thing in general to have so much consolidation in the industry. One of the things that seperated Blizzard was that they developed their own IP and they put gameplay and community first and I hope that Activision's more "bottom line" focused mindset doesn't affect the folks at blizzard too much.

I'm still soured at activision for all the half assed mechwarrior games they released in the 90's.

Edited December 28, 2007 by eugimon

[JsARCLIGHT]

Didn't they already try a subscription style RPG on the Xbox 360? I could have sworn they had Final Fantasy Online for the 360 and that they charged a fee in addition to requiring Gold for it to work. Then again I know no one who has that game or plays it so I could have heard wrong.

[eugimon]

Didn't they already try a subscription style RPG on the Xbox 360? I could have sworn they had Final Fantasy Online for the 360 and that they charged a fee in addition to requiring Gold for it to work. Then again I know no one who has that game or plays it so I could have heard wrong.

there is FF online, but I have no idea if there's an additional subscription fee on top of the Live membership. I don't know anyone who plays either, so I have no idea. But I'm opposed to the idea of having to pay for Live and then having a second subscription on top of that, I won't be playing any game that attempts that model.

[JB0]

In case Mike hasn't seen this, and if anyone knows of a bigger version, please let me know:

No original Zero?

:'(

Didn't they already try a subscription style RPG on the Xbox 360? I could have sworn they had Final Fantasy Online for the 360 and that they charged a fee in addition to requiring Gold for it to work. Then again I know no one who has that game or plays it so I could have heard wrong.

Phantasy Star Online did it on the XBox 1.

Dunno if PSUniverse does it.

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, I noticed the lack of a "proper" Zero as well. Why two nigh-identical MMZ versions?

[Ishimaru]

In case Mike hasn't seen this, and if anyone knows of a bigger version, please let me know:

Kick ass.

No original Zero?

:'(

Honestly Megaman Zero and X1-4 were the only good things that happened to the Megaman series. I don't know whats up with Capcom, but they really screwed things up.

[mikeszekely]

Thanks, David, I got all the anniversary wallpapers from the official Japanese site.

As for why there's no MMX Zero, my guess is that they're only showing the title characters. Van and Aile were both Model X/ZA, and Grey and Ashe were both model A. Zero, despite being the character Inafune wanted to focus on, wasn't actually a title character in Megaman X.

[David Hingtgen]

Link to wallpapers from the japanese site? I never go to capcom.co.jp, it's impossible to navigate (even by "websites I don't know the language of" standards)

[yellowlightman]

Both FF Online and Phantasy Star Universe charge additional fees beyond the regular XBL costs.

[eugimon]

Both FF Online and Phantasy Star Universe charge additional fees beyond the regular XBL costs.

wow, that's complete crap. I already pay for the 'privilege' of online multiplayer, I shouldn't have to pay again to play an MMO. Hell, it's not even like MS runs dedicated servers hosting games like Halo 3 anyways.

[Alpha OTS]

Don't know if there are any SNK fighting game fans around here, but I found the PS2 King Of Fighters XI and NeoGeo Battle Colloseum for 9.99 a piece in the bargain clearance bin at Best Buy while Christmas shopping. Colloseum is like the Marvel Vs. Capcom of the SNK universe, and has a good sampling of fighters from just about every SNK fighter(including Sam.Shodown and World Heroes). I'm kind of old school with the KoF cast, so I noticed more of what it didn't have(Where's Billy!?) than what it had, and ended up preferring the 2002/2003 combo set that came out a couple years back. Both are some old school 2d fighting fun, but I was more wow'd by Colloseum.

[mikeszekely]

Link to wallpapers from the japanese site? I never go to capcom.co.jp, it's impossible to navigate (even by "websites I don't know the language of" standards)

Here you go, David.

wow, that's complete crap. I already pay for the 'privilege' of online multiplayer, I shouldn't have to pay again to play an MMO. Hell, it's not even like MS runs dedicated servers hosting games like Halo 3 anyways.

Microsoft charges $50 a year for their Xbox Live Gold service. That's money in Microsoft's pocket. PC MMO's cost, on average, around $15 a month. That goes to the publishers. I don't know why anyone would expect that an MMO on Live wouldn't have the usual subscription fees just because it's on Live instead of a PC.

Although, for the record, $15 a month to play a game I already own IS complete crap. That's why I don't play any MMOs.

Don't know if there are any SNK fighting game fans around here, but I found the PS2 King Of Fighters XI and NeoGeo Battle Colloseum for 9.99 a piece in the bargain clearance bin at Best Buy while Christmas shopping.

Really? That game just came out! I'll have to swing by Best Buy later.

Edited December 30, 2007 by mikeszekely

[Alpha OTS]

Really? That game just came out! I'll have to swing by Best Buy later.

You know, I thought these were both old titles for some reason, but looking at the gamefaqs boards now it looks like these are new releases. Weird that they'd discount them so quickly. Maybe they're preparing to clear out the ps2 stuff altogether? I also saw the PS2 version of Fire Pro Wrestling in the $9.99 bin too. Although that game's not my cup of tea(I didn't have the patience for the learning curve), people have raved about it ever since the Saturn version. Seems the ps2 got a lot of 2d SNK goodies recently.

[gerwalk25]

You know, I thought these were both old titles for some reason, but looking at the gamefaqs boards now it looks like these are new releases. Weird that they'd discount them so quickly. Maybe they're preparing to clear out the ps2 stuff altogether? I also saw the PS2 version of Fire Pro Wrestling in the $9.99 bin too. Although that game's not my cup of tea(I didn't have the patience for the learning curve), people have raved about it ever since the Saturn version. Seems the ps2 got a lot of 2d SNK goodies recently.

I gotta get my FPW on

(haven't played it since Six Man Scramble for Saturn) and for that price that's a freakin' steal! Must hit Best Buy SOON!

[Alpha OTS]

I gotta get my FPW on

(haven't played it since Six Man Scramble for Saturn) and for that price that's a freakin' steal! Must hit Best Buy SOON!

You know, I probably should have picked it up anyway.

Been playing KoF XI some more, and I was intially waaaaaay too hard on it. It's actually very very good. There's almost a full roster of unique characters(13 in all) you can unlock to add to the default cast for 47 total(that's not a misprint). Mai, who I initially thought wasn't in this one, is one of the unlockables, in all her bouncing glory.

[Radd]

Although, for the record, $15 a month to play a game I already own IS complete crap. That's why I don't play any MMOs.

If the company is doing it right, those subscription fees are also going towards a continuous stream of new content. A lot of my friends who play WoW say Blizzard is exceptionally good about that, but I don't know myself. The grind mechanics behind pretty much every MMO, and what I've seen of the majority of players, is enough to keep the genre off the radar of my gaming interests.

[Warmaker]

Just to tack on a bit more about MMOs and subscription fees. I used to really abhor paying $15/month for a game I already bought. But now, it varies and it really depends on the game and its developers.

As Radd says, any decent MMO's developers will continously over the game's life, fix bugs, tweak gameplay. Some will add every now and then new game zones / regions / maps / NPCs / quests... new content... without buying an expansion pack. Lord of the Rings: Online for instance, has done exactly that without even putting out it's first expansion packs, which usually cost $29 for most PC games. Several whole new, fully explorable regions with it's own NPCs, quests, loot, etc.

With MMO expansion packs again, just like any PC game expansion pack, they usually add much, much more onto the core game than what normal releases do.

As for the subscription fees, a few MMOs out there somehow get around to not requiring them, despite the constant work and upkeep to run an MMO. Guild Wars for instance has, last I checked, 5 million players, but doesn't require a monthly fee to play. The only fees you may be interested in playing are the "Chapters" / Expansion Packs they put out every 4-6 months. As I recall, there's 4 total packs for the game... the core game and 3 expansions. The developers of Guild Wars however don't add major content with their regular patches, but saves them for the expansions.

If you're curious about MMOs but are leery about forking over money every month to play a game, you've got 3 options.

1) Try out one of the non-subscription MMOs like Guild Wars.

2) Read around on various forums on the state of a game, and not just official forums. Ask questions about it, especially on "neutral" forums that aren't centrally about it, i.e. ask a MW'er what they think about this game.

3) A bunch of MMOs have a very cheap or free trial offer. Usually they go about as 14-day trials, if you're still interested in it, then go forth with the subscriptions afterwards.

If the game turns out much later that it no longer is to your liking, canx the subscription. The same thing happened to me in Star Wars: Galaxies. I played for 2 years with a great, diverse, large player population until the developers decided to make changes for the worse (long story in itself). So in short, I quit.

As far as the types of players you come across in MMOs, it varies just like any other game. You got your friendly people, you got your a**hats, you got your great team-players, you got guys who "want to play single-player on a multi-player game," etc.

[Alpha OTS]

Heh, I went back to Best Buy to buy Fire Pro because I figure for $10, best to buy it now than to want it later and buy it for far more off ebay as it seems like the rare type of game that will actually appreciate rather than depreciate especially given how high 6man Scramble on the Saturn used to go for.

They were sold out. KoF XI and NeoGeo Coliseum were all sold out too.