Bonjourno, Internet. I have sadly been sick all weekend, which left gaming to an absolute null and void. However, lying down with nothing to do gave me the perfect opportunity to re-watch season 4 of House, an absolutely awesome show, especially if you like smart, sarcastic types.
I did play a little bit of Drakengard 2 as part of my Ubisoft Marathon. Made by Square-Enix, Drakengard 2, (a sequel to drak... you don't need me to spell it out for ya) takes place 18 years after the first one. It combines Dynasty Warriors style gameplay, whereby you control one character as hundreds of random, nameless enemies are out to kill you, and aerial combat, where you use a dragon to slaughter wings and cubes, and the occasional biplane.
In the first one, there were many themes that would be deemed as controversial, but it was that type of storyline that attracted me to it in the first place. It dared to tell a story not often told in any form, let alone a video game. Drakengard 2, while still fun, lacks a certain something in the storyline. For example, the main character is a whiny little brat. Still, the game itself is fun.
I also managed to play a little Animal Crossing City Folk. I should be about 2/3 of the way through, and of course that means my debt. There's no way I'm going to finish collecting everything in that game, not for a long while anyways.
Castlevania was released today, much to the dismay of all people who hate 3d adaptations of classic, 2d games. This is Chris Taylor, off to take my daily drugs!!! ... of the not staying sick variety.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
A quick entry about Netflix
Do you live in Canada? If you do, try out Netflix.ca. Can't say no to a free month, can you? It is a neat little service. My girlfriend and I are currently catching up on the last season of Heroes. I am not sure if I'll suscribe though.
Regional agreements be damned. It would seem that the Rock Band 3/Keyboard bundle will not be available for the PS3 in North America. This sounds like some fishy money deal... Not sure what I'll end up doing about the game.
List of games before Xmas went from: LBP2 (next year), Castlevania (no classic tunes, no purchase for me), RB3 (humm)...
I guess there is still Force Unleashed 2... Otherwise, I guess this means more time for FFXIII and RDR.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Regional agreements be damned. It would seem that the Rock Band 3/Keyboard bundle will not be available for the PS3 in North America. This sounds like some fishy money deal... Not sure what I'll end up doing about the game.
List of games before Xmas went from: LBP2 (next year), Castlevania (no classic tunes, no purchase for me), RB3 (humm)...
I guess there is still Force Unleashed 2... Otherwise, I guess this means more time for FFXIII and RDR.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Red Steel
It doesn't take too long to figure out that I'm not the biggest supporter of the Wii, or the motion sensing control gimmick that's been the focal point of gaming in the last couple of years. I pretty much need buttons and a standard controller to be able to have fun with a game.
Such is the case with Red Steel, a launch title for the Wii. The game is broken down into two sections: First Person Shooting, which serves as the main, where you travel down corridors, collecting guns and ammo, and shooting at random Asians... or really, random Asian character models with French-Canadian voice actors portraying a terrible Asian accent.
The second part revolves around your ability to block, parry, and strike with a samurai blade. This is the part that gets lost in translation. It is the typical "Wii doesn't sense proper movements" complaint that most Wii games get. In this particular case, it's not so much that it doesn't get sensed at all, so much as there is a delay between your movement and what happens on the screen. It takes a while to get used to it, and even then, the lack of precision brings this game down.
Sadly, one could still say it's decent as a launch title. The aiming, while not perfect, isn't terrible, and the Wii is tailor made for shooters. If it weren't for the fact that it is in fact a launch title, I wouldn't even be able to give it that much credit though.
Sorry folks, this post would probably be longer, but I'm getting sick, and bed rest is the requisite at this point. Until next time, folks.
Such is the case with Red Steel, a launch title for the Wii. The game is broken down into two sections: First Person Shooting, which serves as the main, where you travel down corridors, collecting guns and ammo, and shooting at random Asians... or really, random Asian character models with French-Canadian voice actors portraying a terrible Asian accent.
The second part revolves around your ability to block, parry, and strike with a samurai blade. This is the part that gets lost in translation. It is the typical "Wii doesn't sense proper movements" complaint that most Wii games get. In this particular case, it's not so much that it doesn't get sensed at all, so much as there is a delay between your movement and what happens on the screen. It takes a while to get used to it, and even then, the lack of precision brings this game down.
Sadly, one could still say it's decent as a launch title. The aiming, while not perfect, isn't terrible, and the Wii is tailor made for shooters. If it weren't for the fact that it is in fact a launch title, I wouldn't even be able to give it that much credit though.
Sorry folks, this post would probably be longer, but I'm getting sick, and bed rest is the requisite at this point. Until next time, folks.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Zen Pinball
Do you like Pinball machine? Do you own a PS3? Then you owe it to yourself to get Zen Pinball. It is the most fun I've had with a game in a good while. The extra Street Fighter 2 Homage table is quite neat, with surprisingly clever ways of making the Pinball game feel like a Street Fighter game.
I wish I had more to say at this time, alas, my last few posts were rather lengthy and I haven't had the chance to really playanything else since then. I was planning on picking up Lord of Shadows, but seeing as it has little to do with Castlevania, I'll probably skip it. In the meantime, I've also gotten back into FFXIII. More on that as I progress further (I was at chapter 8 when I stopped playing and I'm close to wrapping up chapter 9).
If you live in Canada, Netflix is now available and you can get a free month. The content isn't that great, but there are some fun things.
Read you soon?!?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I wish I had more to say at this time, alas, my last few posts were rather lengthy and I haven't had the chance to really playanything else since then. I was planning on picking up Lord of Shadows, but seeing as it has little to do with Castlevania, I'll probably skip it. In the meantime, I've also gotten back into FFXIII. More on that as I progress further (I was at chapter 8 when I stopped playing and I'm close to wrapping up chapter 9).
If you live in Canada, Netflix is now available and you can get a free month. The content isn't that great, but there are some fun things.
Read you soon?!?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
MOVEing up in the world...
... Yeah, not a very clever play on words, but you get the idea. I have recently gotten the Playstation Move, and with it a copy of Resident Evil 5: Gold edition.
I like the Move. It picks up movements decently well, and rather than it just being a flick of the wrist like it is with the Wii motion controls: You control every nuance of whatever it is you're controlling on the screen. I've played some of the Sports Champions games. I'll put a more full fledged post about it next week. I will say this though: It's more than just a glorified demo disc, which if you've ever played Wii Sports, well... that's what that game felt like.
Now, normally when I play through a series of games, I need to play them in order, with Silent Hill being a notable exception (I actually played the first one third, since I couldn't find it anywhere). All of the Crash Bandicoots, the Spyro's, any gaming series I have I need to play them from when they began, that way I can see how the story goes from one game to the next, I can see all the little references and improvements made. With Resident Evil, I figured I would do the same thing... but then when the Gold Edition of 5 came out, with Move compatibility, I figured why not? Originally I was getting the GE for Jeff, and he was going to trade me his copy of the original version, but since he ended up getting it for himself, I wasn't going to just give my copy away...
To be honest, I've always maintained that the Wii was tailor made for shooters: All you really need to do is aim the Wii-mote at the screen, fire, and voila: Instant killing gratification. Which makes me wonder why playing RE5G on PS3 feels better than any Wii shooter I've played. The controls just work very naturally for it.
I tried the game very briefly at Jeff's place using the Dualshock setup, and I gotta admit, I much prefer just pointing at the screen. There's just something about it that makes it feel more fluid. Again, RE5 on the PS3 is what I wish Wii shooters would feel like.
On a final note, even almost two years after the games release, RE5 is probably the best looking game I have ever seen, and I've seen way too many games than could ever be considered healhty. From Press Start Two Play, I'm Chris Taylor, wishing all a pleasant Gammage.
I like the Move. It picks up movements decently well, and rather than it just being a flick of the wrist like it is with the Wii motion controls: You control every nuance of whatever it is you're controlling on the screen. I've played some of the Sports Champions games. I'll put a more full fledged post about it next week. I will say this though: It's more than just a glorified demo disc, which if you've ever played Wii Sports, well... that's what that game felt like.
Now, normally when I play through a series of games, I need to play them in order, with Silent Hill being a notable exception (I actually played the first one third, since I couldn't find it anywhere). All of the Crash Bandicoots, the Spyro's, any gaming series I have I need to play them from when they began, that way I can see how the story goes from one game to the next, I can see all the little references and improvements made. With Resident Evil, I figured I would do the same thing... but then when the Gold Edition of 5 came out, with Move compatibility, I figured why not? Originally I was getting the GE for Jeff, and he was going to trade me his copy of the original version, but since he ended up getting it for himself, I wasn't going to just give my copy away...
To be honest, I've always maintained that the Wii was tailor made for shooters: All you really need to do is aim the Wii-mote at the screen, fire, and voila: Instant killing gratification. Which makes me wonder why playing RE5G on PS3 feels better than any Wii shooter I've played. The controls just work very naturally for it.
I tried the game very briefly at Jeff's place using the Dualshock setup, and I gotta admit, I much prefer just pointing at the screen. There's just something about it that makes it feel more fluid. Again, RE5 on the PS3 is what I wish Wii shooters would feel like.
On a final note, even almost two years after the games release, RE5 is probably the best looking game I have ever seen, and I've seen way too many games than could ever be considered healhty. From Press Start Two Play, I'm Chris Taylor, wishing all a pleasant Gammage.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Pointer controlled Resident Evil
Like a fair number of people, I thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil 5. It is one of those games that really takes advantage of the New Game + concept. In fact, I am fairly certain that the game is nigh impossible on a Professional playthrough with just the basic equipment.
When I first played it, however, I strongly believed that it would benefit immensely from pointer controls, à la RE4:Wii. My first impression was disappointment... Fairly strong disappointment at that. Although I did not play the game much (waiting on a friend to start playing again), I tried to understand where my disappointment originated. The answer is not overly complex, but it involves more than the controls.
The first thing to keep in mind is that I lost my save file (old PS3 died). Not only do I not have access to some of the DLC costumes from the get go, but rebuilding my arsenal is not something I am looking forward to.
The other thing of note is, it does control very similarly to RE4:Wii, with a few notable differences. The cursor does not stay on the screen. I do not know if this is a design decision or a technological "limitation", but the end result is that aiming is different and more difficult. Design wise, the Wii way of aiming makes the game a lot easier. The Move controls work fine, but aiming takes more time to get used to simply because you have to reset your aim everytime.
Last but not list in this brief analysis is the fact that in RE5, unlike RE4, you HAVE a lot of control on the camera, and that is something that is completely lost in the Move version, you can only control it when aiming. In RE4, you could only tilt the camera a bit, and even that was mapped onto the Wii mote. At the end of the day, I think that this is what causes RE5 afficionado to cringe a bit when they start playing RE5 with the Move. However, put the Move down, try the Dualshock again...and chances are you'll realise that your memories and the actual control scheme are not the same. Move definitely allows for a superior experience.
That being said, I am looking forward to playing through the game again and I can't wait to have some decent weaponry. I did play some RE4 to see how the games differed... And well, that's why I wrote this entry. Plus RE5 is still one of the prettiest games out there, one year later.
If you want to play some RE5 with me, just send me a message and if I can, I will be more than happy to join you.
Until next time, remember to aim for their head.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
When I first played it, however, I strongly believed that it would benefit immensely from pointer controls, à la RE4:Wii. My first impression was disappointment... Fairly strong disappointment at that. Although I did not play the game much (waiting on a friend to start playing again), I tried to understand where my disappointment originated. The answer is not overly complex, but it involves more than the controls.
The first thing to keep in mind is that I lost my save file (old PS3 died). Not only do I not have access to some of the DLC costumes from the get go, but rebuilding my arsenal is not something I am looking forward to.
The other thing of note is, it does control very similarly to RE4:Wii, with a few notable differences. The cursor does not stay on the screen. I do not know if this is a design decision or a technological "limitation", but the end result is that aiming is different and more difficult. Design wise, the Wii way of aiming makes the game a lot easier. The Move controls work fine, but aiming takes more time to get used to simply because you have to reset your aim everytime.
Last but not list in this brief analysis is the fact that in RE5, unlike RE4, you HAVE a lot of control on the camera, and that is something that is completely lost in the Move version, you can only control it when aiming. In RE4, you could only tilt the camera a bit, and even that was mapped onto the Wii mote. At the end of the day, I think that this is what causes RE5 afficionado to cringe a bit when they start playing RE5 with the Move. However, put the Move down, try the Dualshock again...and chances are you'll realise that your memories and the actual control scheme are not the same. Move definitely allows for a superior experience.
That being said, I am looking forward to playing through the game again and I can't wait to have some decent weaponry. I did play some RE4 to see how the games differed... And well, that's why I wrote this entry. Plus RE5 is still one of the prettiest games out there, one year later.
If you want to play some RE5 with me, just send me a message and if I can, I will be more than happy to join you.
Until next time, remember to aim for their head.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Marathon...s
Ladies and gents of the world, I have six hundred and twenty-six games that I haven't beaten. That's a lot. Too much. Problem is, I almost never have time to play games, and when I do... well, I usually change my mind on what I want to play. I'll go through times where I want to play certain games, and then half an hour later I'll play something completely different. I needed something to inspire me to play my games, and usually, a list of some sort helps.
Enter Backloggery. When I first joined the site, it inspired me to play things I've had in my collection for years and never beat. Adversely, it also inspired me to buy even more cheapo games to add to said collection.
Browsing other peoples collections, I noticed someone doing a marathon of Ubisoft games. It's exactly what is sounds like: They are playing all of the games that they own that were made by Ubisoft. It inspired me to do the same, and at first, I thought that it worked.
Then I tracked down the Prince of Persia games that I didn't own yet. The addiction continues.
So I'm three games into my Ubithon, and I'm still buying more games than I'm beating. An idea hits me: Why not go in alphabetical order? But I didn't think I'd ever actually do it.
Then, while browsing other peoples profiles... again, I saw someone else with the exact same idea as me. He's got a list of games from # - Z, and he's actually beating them in alphabetical order. And that's pretty much what I'm doing... with a little leeway. I'm going three games at a time. That way, if I get stuck in 3D Dot Game Heroes, I can take a break and play Bioshock. There are also two replacements: Since I don't have a Q or a Y, I just replaced those letters with games that are close in lettering to what I didn't have.
Just picked up the Move AND RE 5 Gold. Resident Evil was supposed to be for Jeff (he was going to give me his copy of the original game, and I was going to trade the Gold for his regular), but he ended up picking it up for himself, so Hey, more bonus stuff for me XD. Haven't tried the move yet, but I'm planning on hooking it up tonight, and trying out those sports games. Also, it gives me an excuse to pick up Eye of Judgment at some point, and with my love affair of CCG's, I'm totally going to get it... eventually.
I've also been playing a lot of Magic. A LOT of Magic, so much that even my Room Mate has started playing... a little. She's into the XBLA version, and she even has a couple of pre-constructed decks, now we just need to get her into it full on.
Until next time, I'm Chris Taylor wishing all a pleasant Gammage.
Enter Backloggery. When I first joined the site, it inspired me to play things I've had in my collection for years and never beat. Adversely, it also inspired me to buy even more cheapo games to add to said collection.
Browsing other peoples collections, I noticed someone doing a marathon of Ubisoft games. It's exactly what is sounds like: They are playing all of the games that they own that were made by Ubisoft. It inspired me to do the same, and at first, I thought that it worked.
Then I tracked down the Prince of Persia games that I didn't own yet. The addiction continues.
So I'm three games into my Ubithon, and I'm still buying more games than I'm beating. An idea hits me: Why not go in alphabetical order? But I didn't think I'd ever actually do it.
Then, while browsing other peoples profiles... again, I saw someone else with the exact same idea as me. He's got a list of games from # - Z, and he's actually beating them in alphabetical order. And that's pretty much what I'm doing... with a little leeway. I'm going three games at a time. That way, if I get stuck in 3D Dot Game Heroes, I can take a break and play Bioshock. There are also two replacements: Since I don't have a Q or a Y, I just replaced those letters with games that are close in lettering to what I didn't have.
Just picked up the Move AND RE 5 Gold. Resident Evil was supposed to be for Jeff (he was going to give me his copy of the original game, and I was going to trade the Gold for his regular), but he ended up picking it up for himself, so Hey, more bonus stuff for me XD. Haven't tried the move yet, but I'm planning on hooking it up tonight, and trying out those sports games. Also, it gives me an excuse to pick up Eye of Judgment at some point, and with my love affair of CCG's, I'm totally going to get it... eventually.
I've also been playing a lot of Magic. A LOT of Magic, so much that even my Room Mate has started playing... a little. She's into the XBLA version, and she even has a couple of pre-constructed decks, now we just need to get her into it full on.
Until next time, I'm Chris Taylor wishing all a pleasant Gammage.
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