Strike911

I'll be praying for you bLiNd.

I've heard that Moonlight Sonata mix before and I always laugh because that voice effect they use throughout the entirety was also used (or something close to it) in San Francisco RUSH. Anybody remember that? lol.

I was never under the assumption that the game was copying specific films, per se, though I thoguht it did have a very film-like presentation that did emulate the style of gritty, police stories as a genre in an intentionally cliche kind of way. Highly enjoyable.

I absolutely loved Max Payne 2. I don't know what the heck those flying things are though. I can deal if it's symbolic or have to deal with V, in fact, that might make it even cooler... but if they end up being supernatural-ish creatures that Max is shooting up, while I'm sure that too would be cool, it won't be true to the games, which will make me sad.

Oh, no! James Bond is against video games. James Bond never loses. I think we're screwed.

Just saying, I love PSO to death, but without people to play with it's not nearly as fun. I know there are a few private servers around though, however, I'm not entirely sure if they work with the old DC version...

2.40 Firmware is up. .... so uh.... ... now we just need patches for the custom soundtracks. I wonder if any games will get patches this week. Thank goodness for the in game XMB. It's about time. Although, it is a little weird right now when I push the PSButton and it pops up. Really cool, but i'm just not used to it yet I guess.

ah, I think they get it now! lol.

hmmm.........

okay, I saw the terms "Sega Dreamcast" and I'm obligated to respond. Yes, buy it, if you like collecting old game systems. If you can get past older generation graphics you probably won't like it compared to newer games. The Dreamcast has a ton of little gems on it... Shenmue and Sonic Adventure come to mind first. ...then again a lot of the good Dreamcast titles were ported over to PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. *shrugs* I say get it, but you should probably get a few more people's opinions. It'll be hard to find games, but you might be able to find some at vintage game shops and Ebay. I know theres an older gaming shop that has tons of Dreamcast games for sale. So it's hit and miss.

... you either think it is or it's not. Discussion about it never ends pretty. Sure I'll read a scholarly take on the issue every once in a while, but I really don't care (no offense) what regular old chumps think of games as art. Why? For some reason "games as art" discussions never stay civil. Also, it's like arguing in a neverending circle, which is just stupid. It'll take a general scholarly concensus that games are art, and it will require 'gamer culture' (or whatever you want to call it) to silence itself and not be an immature 'voice' for the medium. But really, if you can appreciate something for what it is, who the freakin' hell cares what other people view it as? View it how you want. One day in the future, your views will either be reinforced or shat upon. Until then, I'll be happy if I don't see another Gen Disc thread about it for at least another year or so.

I saw it last night too! It is by far my favorite Pixar movie... there was so little dialogue too, I don't know how they did it, but they made a robot really show emotion well! What great, heartwarming movie. Haha, I especially loved how human beings were in the future. haha. So true!

I don't know what area you're talking about. That sounds like dramatic hyperbole to me. I played through MGS4 as well, but cannot for the life of me remember any areas where that occurred... with the exception of two short segments. In any case, from personal experience, I can guarantee you that whatever area you saw is not indicative of the entire game's experience or load times or anything else. Again, I don't know exactly what you saw but nothing about cutscenes/load times screams bad design to me, especially now that I've finished the game. However, there are other things that do scream bad design to me... but in the case that you're talking about, I will argue against that. Load times really aren't an issue, with the exception of the installs. I don't really get it though. MGS4 isn't perfect (no game is, although it is one of the best in the series, and one of the better games to come out recently) but I don't understand the overall hate that it has been recieving since it was released... unless it's some kind of after effect from all the PS3 hate. *shrugs* Weird. There are far worse games that don't seem to take as much crap as MGS4 has though. Everyone I know that's played the game has thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, using the press as a transmission medium, people will try to use shock tactics to get people to read/listen to what they have to say (*cough* Cliffy *cough*), but ... pretty much everyone I've talked to has really enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 4 that have had the chance to play it. Most of the people REALLY complaining about load times, cutscenes, and anything else along those lines usually haven't played the game... at least in my experience in dealing with folks. Anyway, Whatev. *goes back to playing MGS4*

That seems like a really subjective issue to me. In any case, you'll be staring at a screen either way; it all comes down to whether you want the story told to you similar to a movie, or experienced. I don't think either is wrong in this case. My point is that, in theory passive entertainment is not the way to go, because as gamers we want to experience everything and feel like we're in control, but then a game like Metal Gear comes out, and though there are a hell off a lot of cutscenes, it works. I've played through MGS4 a few times, and the experience was very entertaining, which is the point of playing a commericial video game. And in Metal Gear's case, specifically, it's been a long tradition of text based storytelling. MGS1 took that and turned the text into long codec scenes. Since then the game has been featured more Hollywood style cutscenes, which led to MGS4, which had really minimal codec conversations (compared to the other games) and more on-screen cutscenes. Cliffy though... for someone to really complain about passive experiences in Metal Gear is really someone not understanding the Metal Gear series (and styles of genres) in general and MGS's long running tradition of Hollywood mimicry. Did anyone expect the game NOT to have long cutscenes full of story elements? Of course not, this is Metal Gear. Half of the enjoyment is the movie-like presentation, which they've advertisted the game as. The story is one of the series strong points and so is the movie-like presentation. It wouldn't work for most games, but it works here to make the game very entertaining. Again, it is a subjective issue in the end. It all matters about what you're playing games for... you want something similar to watching a movie, then playing in some of the scenes then Metal Gear will take care of it. Want to be involved in the story and make choices to determine stuff? Play Oblivion or something like Fable. Gears of War 2 is not aiming to be MGS4. Understandable, but to take some kind of a jab at a completely different style is almost saying something similar to this: "OH, Hi, My name is Kojima. I'm not making some pithy real-time strategy. I'm making a stealth game!" Do you see how arbitrary that is? It's comparing apples and oranges; two completely different experiences. Epic should be more concerned with people NOT playing a triple-A game like Unreal because of lag and generic gameplay... just saying. I saw that news story today. The guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Yeah Gears of War was fun, but none of the missions had any rhyme or reason. It was get to from point A to point B. The levels (with a few exceptions) could have been mixed and matched in almost any order. I know they're attempting to add story elements in Gears2, but come on... it just sounds like a little kid arguing that his product is better than his competitors... makes him sound childish.

Passive Storytelling /= Bad I like the style of Metal Gear... but I can acknowledge that games have to be very special to use this model of storytelling. I don't know that many other games would work because of this. However, it's not bad, per se, it's just difficult to pull off, since we all want gameplay in the end. It's just a different style. When I want some "active" storytelling I'll play through BioShock or Half-Life. I think the connotations (and implications) that passive is bad, is dangerous to the industry, because a lot of good games have stories that unfold outside of the gameplay, and I'm okay with that, I'm sure others are too. To expect games to change out of this model entirely seems silly, and not to appreciate it is almost sillier. So I understand he was trying to make a punchy hit on "MGS4 as passive entertainment," but really, if anything, he's merely describing the way the story is set up. It would be next to impossible to create a game with the story of Metal Gear Solid and have it be anything different. They could do it for parts, but for it to be effective, it must be in the way it was made. And anyway, who cares. As long as the games are good, I couldn't care less what the style of storytelling is. Metal Gear, since it's inception, ALWAYS sought out to mimic Hollywood. Always. The style fits for this game. I don't know that it would work for others, but for MGS4, yeah, it is especially effective. Meh.

Oh My God! I CAN'T BELIEVE I LEFT OUT EINHANDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111 Kill bosses in different ways. Fun weapons system. It's just REALLY satisfying to blow crap up... it feels right when you shoot something, which I can't say about most games. It's like they neglect that sudden impact. It's just remarkably fun to shoot stuff, and the fact that you can blow stuff up in multiple ways makes me even happier. The music is good too. That's why I love Einhander. If only there were a level select in the American version. .... OVER... and over again. Fantastically replayable. It's going to be available on the PlayStation Network soon (Japan first, maybe US one day), which means I should be able to play it on my PSP, which will be heaven on Earth... well, close to it. I mean, I already have it on PlayStation1, but hell, to play einhander on a portable device! Man... I could play that game over and over again. Love it!

I'm going to give you a hearty vote of confidence, and you have succesfully made me curious as to where this little indy project is going. Keep on keepin' on.

After all the happiness you and your lady friend have shared in being together, you finally decided to settle down and be miserable! Congratulations!!! Kidding! Congrats buddy! Nice pic too!

Love Hayter as the voice of Solid Snake... HOWEVER... ... even if this was real I wouldn't want him writing or directing a Metal Gear movie. While X-men 1 was decent, X-men 2 was silly, and the Hulk was terrible. ...................... I just wonder what exactly they're making this movie about. The first Metal Gear Solid, I hope.

Right on guys, I can play Starfox64 time and time again. There have been very few games that I can just pick up and play, then have a blast. Can't believe it's been over 10 years, but the game is more fun that half the crap coming out these days! Anything else? The original Metal Gear Solid I've played through a zillion times, more than any of the sequels. And last but not least, I could play Advance Wars over and over again when I'm on my DS. The strategies you can play with are fun, and you can make maps, which I've had a lot of fun with, too! ... OH, and I was playing Burnout 3 constantly on the original Xbox until just recently. That game just feels right. With custom soundtracks it made it more fun and more energetic (better music, right?). In fact, I'd go so far to say with custom soundtrack options I'd replay things much more often than other games. I mean, I have Armored Core 4 on PS3, and it was fun, but a little "meh" after a while, but I kid you not... if I could play that game with classic Gundam music playing in the background I would probably be doing that right now. Seriously. Burnout 3 just felt good (better than the newer ones IMO) and the custom soundtracks are probably what kept it in my regular play-throughs. The newer versions seem to have lost the intensity of the races, now that real tracks are gone, and you can check traffic. It's just intense. Far more intense than the newer ones. Anything else? *thinks* Oh, and Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the SNES. I can always have fun with that.

lol. Thanks. I'll take a look at the MGS3 stuff... although, I have a bad habit of mixing too many Metal Gear tracks together in general!! There so much fantastic music I just can't pick usually. I made a Megamix track years ago, and I just can't stop lately. lol. Hmm... well, now I need to get to refining it. I think it is a tad too long.

It seems to me that MGO is much more fun when you have a good group of people that are willing to try out different tactics in the game. MGO really shines when it's played like that, but most people playing are just their to try and relive Gears of War. In general, people are too busy trying to get as many kills as they can (abandoning their teams going into situations Rambo style), instead of trying different things, like putting people to sleep, using traps, being part of a team. The few people I've met online that are willing to use actual teamwork were really cool people, and I had so much more fun than your regular, run of the mill teamdeath match. We had a group of enemies that just wanted to camp a rooftop and try and snipe us. There were claymores everywhere so getting up there was a bad idea. As a team we came up with a way to divert their attention to one of us, while a single sniper would pick off the enemy once they would give up their sniping location by shooting. This type of stuff isn't exactly possible in other games. Things like this make the game shine. We ended up winning and, damn, that was just so much fun. Regular old team-deathmatch, rambo-style (while fun sometimes) is not MGO's strong point. I just really have the most fun in MGO when it's played differently (tactically) from a regular shooter. Everyone stays in small groups and functions as a team. Seriously, the first time I was in a game where we had 8 players on our team and two squads of 4 actually engaging and flanking enemies was like a dream come true. It was the moment that I said to myself "wow, MGO is ridiculously cool. Look at this stuff that's possible." The squad gameplay just feels right and I can't say that about other games. That how MGO shines. That's enough rambling.

I don't know. The atmosphere is just different... the fantastic music is almost entirely replaced with mediocre, forgettable techno and the voice acting isn't as good as the original. Choices in cinematography are silly sometimes too. Snake can't do freakin' backflips, jump off of missiles, dodging bullets Matrix style, or any of that. That's what I meant by different aura. It just feels... way... different, even when compared to the style/ambience of MGS2, MGS3, and MGS4. It kind of sticks out stylistically. I mean, Metal Gear has as a series has some ridiculous over the top cutscenes, but Twin Snakes just took everything and made them even more ridiculous, which I thought was impossible. At least the original was grounded in some kind of series based "reality" that was marginally believable in the game world. *shrugs* I really hope it's not nostalgia motivating this, because I hate people that do that and I deserve to be fatally shot in the face in that case. lol. Thanks for the compliment on the Liquid interview. I had a blast making that thing. Probably should make a new one soon... If I could get a Flash Animator to animate it that would be fantastic, but I don't know who/where to go to. I put it on Newgrounds a week or so ago, so maybe i can find an animator one of these days. I could go for millions of YouTube/NewGrounds hits... Maybe it'd help launch my voice acting career. lol. ^_~ I can dream right?

the PS1 version is superior in every way EXCEPT for the graphics. The cutscenes are more emotional, the music is better, voice acting is better, and IMO the experience is better than it's Gamecube counterpart. The Gamecube makes a few corrections (like changing a few characters accents for story reasons, minor things like that), but other than that, go with the PlayStation version. Or like they said up there, get the Essential Collection. The Gamecube version is interesting to mess around with, but... meh, the cutscenes are done really over the top, and I hope it's not nostalgia speaking, but the PS1 version really has a different aura about it while playing through it. It just feels better. There are some REALLY emotional parts in the original version that are lost in the Gamecube one. Trust me. I know their mouths don't move, but they change the music and the feeling and everything. I guess I'm kind of a Metal Gear purist, but it just... a lot of scenes lose their impact on the Gamecube version.

No matter how hard I try, my creatures always end up looking like giant robots.... I think I'm happy with that though. I PRESENT TO YOU... SHOGUN CRABTRON! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAryfHXXwJ8 This is ridiculously fun. I can't believe a mere creature creator is such a blast. I hope the rest of the game is fun as well. Off to make an Octorok and whatever enemies from video games I can think of. Nice toejam up in the beginning by the way!