Razumen

Those are some bad screens of Crysis, here: http://firingsquad.com/media/galleries/crysis/04.jpg http://firingsquad.com/media/galleries/crysis/14.jpg http://firingsquad.com/media/galleries/crysis/19.jpg I don't know about you, but I consider experiencing awesome visuals in a game just as worthwhile as plot and gameplay. Just because a game has a interesting story doesn't let it off the hook in the graphics department. And $5000+?! Way to exagerate. Sure, buying a whole new computer is more expensive than upgrading a few parts, but as long as you're not a complete gullible fool, it'll never cost near that much to build a decent gaming system. You only get near that amount when you start buying all top of the line stuff, which is just not a wise investment at all. As for Oblivion, my 3GhzP4 + Radeon9800 managed to run it fast enough to be enjoyable, even with HDR enabled. Most games are made to run acceptably well with a wide range of systems, so as long as you make some well informed purchases when you build/upgrade, you won't have to replace key components as often as people would like to say. As for me, I'd love to see graphics continue to the point where we're playing the next (well not the[/n] next) Half-Life game with ultra-photorealistic graphics in a near, if not totally, virtual reality type implementation.

I used to have a Creative Zen, don't remember the model but it was a earlier one with 30GB and a nice 24hr lifespan before recharge, unfortunately the touchpad frequently stopped responding so I ended up returning it. How does the touchpad on the Zen Vision M hold up so far?

I would, but they both reek something awful.

Graphics will always matter, as will sound, gameplay, etc. Even when we attain total realism in graphical capabilities, and some games use that to create new and unique styles, people will still bitch about them 'having crappy graphics'. It's like arguing about how important good set design is for films, or the importants of lyrics in a song over the melody - just pointless.

You're right, I was looking at the wrong section. There's also a experimental disc that has six layers and can hold 200GB, but whether that'll ever become available is doubtfull. Just because a lot of games do it doesn't make it a good thing. I also wasn't just talking about textures, but while we're on that subject, hopefully id's new Megatexture technology will help alleviate that problem somewhat.

Really? You do know that that you never do get the full capacity of a drive when it's formatted, right?

So what if they're storing prerendered cinematics on there, some people actually like watching well done cutscenes, they are undoubtably better looking than rendered ones and there's no real point in rendering a cutscene in realtime anyways. (it might help immersion somewhat, but if you're using cutscenes that obviously doesn't matter that much) You'll also note that I said the extra space benefits games not gameplay, there's quite a big difference there. As for Oblivion, yeah the world is large, but that size comes at the expense of variety. A lot of the content is reused throughout the whole game, especially for the landscape and monsters (I was hoping Oblivion would have a more interesting landscape, ALA Gothic 2, rather than the boring old sole heightmap based implementation, but it was not to be.)

This is true, and also why I'll probably never see a good, Hexen 2 sequel from Ravensoft ever - even if Activision let them make one.

I've never heard them say that, and while I'm more interested in how much the new discs can hold for personal reasons (backups, etc.), it is true that the more spacious BR discs do help more than regular DVDs when it comes to the more demanding space requirements of today's games. Sure, BR isn't an absolute neccessity at the moment, but at least when developers start to really take advantage of the PS3, they won't have to worry about space constraints. It's too bad the read speed of the drive is so slow though.

Neither, I'd get the Creative Zen: M. Of course if you like paying a premium just for the brandname, by all means, get the Ipod.

That's not really much of a advantage over Bluray, considering a single sided BR disc can hold 50GB, they could just as easily make a 2-3 layer disc that holds 100-150GB. Good news for HD-DVDs though if it becomes supported and not restrictively expensive like DL-DVDs are still today.

Oh yay, this argument again. Frankly, I consider graphics very important in a game, properly used they help to suspend disbelief, immerse the player in the game and allow more beautifull and realistic environments (for example: Farcy, and it's successor Crysis). Whether or not graphics are more important than gameplay is a stupid debate really. Games are enjoyed because they're interactive, and the interaction is enjoyed because it's (hopefully) designed well. The graphics of a game are there to lure and immerse the player in the game world. Even if/when we reach the capability for video/photorealistic graphics (we are not there by far) such power will allow for more visual styles, effects and sheer possibilities than normally possible. So while there's always an obvious balance that has to be maintained among the various elements when developing a game, better graphics will always benefit games.

I bet they just took the door off for the picture, as it's kind of hard to see inside otherwise. It would need a door anyways, especially since you'd be wearing a headset and literally unable to watch your step. It's an interesting implementation, but unless it also detects your leg, arm and head movements as well as posture, the immersion will be hard to keep up. Not to mention you'll be always walking up a perpetual incline. Expensive and space consuming as hell to I reckon. The more I think about virtual reality type setups, the more convinced I am that the best solution would be to bypass the physical realm almost entirely, and instead relay impluses such as movement, touch, etc. passively to and from the brain. Sound and video could still be supplied by headsets or the like. Of course on a technological level we're not there yet, but advances are being made. For example, if I recall correctly, there was this one experiment where people were able to affect the position of a mouse on a computer screen by thinking about moving their arm. I don't think it unlikely that in the future we'll be able to accurately interpret brain signals to recreate similar fine motor skills in a virtual world.

I haven't played MK64 in awhile, so it's hard to compare against MK:DS, but I really can't stand the steering in Double Dash; It just feels so laggy (Although it's not the steering that's actually laggy, but the camera). It was also stupid that the person in the rear seat didn't have have a rear view of the action to better aim shells and whatnot.

Actually, I'm pretty sure The Damned is right.

I don't have anything against the game, just the bad decisions they made with some parts of it. I actually did enjoy the game somewhat, despite its flaws, and I wouldn't be posting in a thread I made about it if I didn't like it. Magic doesn't regenerate in CoD, even if it did, the torches don't give out hearts, except for a few certain areas, they just dropped coins (which should've been dropped by enemies along with the hearts). It may be a staple in the series, and not a really a big flaw in CoD, but it's still a pointless waste of time to bother smashing lights, when you could get so much more money by stealing from enemies. As for the level design (if you can call it that), the problem wasn't just that they kept on using the same old corridors and rooms over and over, but also that these rooms were all exactly the same, regardless of locale; plain, flat and offering no variety or aspects of design that lent themselves in any way to the numerous battles you often fought in them. There are a few more things that could have been better; more variety in weapons, attacks and combat, another more challenging mode other than normal available from the beginning, an easier way to select targets and a better camera when targeting an enemy, as well as better secrets and unlockable bonuses (collecting chairs for the 'Chair Room' is a joke, as was beating the pointless Legion boss). They did a pretty good job with the cinematics though, sparse as they were, especially the fight between Isaac and Belmont.

So what? Are you trying to say that smashing torches and braziers form the very core of the Castlevania experience? Really, just because it's been done a lot in the past, doesn't mean it makes sense to continue doing it. If it's something that's extraneous and add very little to the gameplay then it should be ditched. When Ninja Gaiden jumped to 3D you didn't see Ryu still jumping up into the air hittin blue orbs for goodies did you? It's just a gameplay convention, which works well in 2D, but not so great in 3D.

Who else here has played this game? For a 3D Castlevania, it wasn't all that bad. Don't get me wrong, it still has loads of flaws; such as the horrendous unrelenting use of 'copy & paste' level design, different locales which change nothing but the scenery, useless game mechanics (Do we really still need to be smashing light fixtures for coins and hearts anymore?) andsubpar graphics. However, the different paths you can evolve your Innocent Devils is cool, and fighting alongside them in the many battles was fun. Although most of the game on the normal mode is really easy, (There is a harder, unlockable mod, but I haven't tried it yet) the combat felt solid and satisfying, which is good because that proved to be one of the few saving graces of the game. They're just trying too hard to translate the 2D Castlevania experience into the 3D realm - which just won't work. The series has a lot of potential in 3D, perhaps more so than even the current 2D renditions, but Iga and his team are going to have to make a lot of changes to their design processes to get it right. No "zOmg, 3D Castlevania? Lol" idiocy please.

I probably won't get a 360 until it either hits $350CAD, or Ninja Gaiden 2 is released for it. I'd really like to get one now, but $500CAD is too much at the moment, I'd rather use that money to upgrade my P4 to a C2D.

Yeah, I've been thinking about trying it too, is it worth it? Yes. It is one of the most in depth and different MMOs out there. Check it out, make sure you do the tutorial though.FYI: The tutorial will be long. Yeah, give it a go, you might like it. It is one of the better MMO's out there, despite it's grindyness. It's possible to avoid grinding altogether in this game! Though you might have to grind a bit to get to that point. Maybe not. It really depends! Riiiight Perhaps this is what you mean? That's why I quit anyways, I'd rather play a game and advance through my own efforts, rather than wait for some arbitrary time limit to elapse. In the end it's just another take on the broken MMO formula.

Yeah, I've been thinking about trying it too, is it worth it? Yes. It is one of the most in depth and different MMOs out there. Check it out, make sure you do the tutorial though.FYI: The tutorial will be long. Yeah, give it a go, you might like it. It is one of the better MMO's out there, despite it's grindyness.

I agree it's fun, but how is waiting days, even months to learn a skill and going on mission after mission for money/weapons/ore not grinding? Sure, you can take your friends, but it's still grinding with friends.

That's because Nemesis was little more than a port of Star Trek II to TNG. They even offloaded Data's katra to a convenient replacement. Nemesis blew, hard I'd rather ignore the fact it even exists and perchance to hope that it get decanonized. TOS was good, although I liked the movies more than the series, because I just couldn't get past the horrible effects. TNG was the series I practically grew up on, and it holds the highest spot at the moment, for a lot of reasons. Enterprise, well it wasn't a very original premise to begin with, and the opening song didn't help matters either. I think the actors and characters had potential, but the whole premise just ended up falling flat.

Meh, I played it for awhile and it seemed pretty much like any other 'grindy' MMO.

Wait, Voyager?