Penfold

I thought today was the ship date for Okami, but if it's actually available in stores today I'm definitely going to pick this up during lunch. I'm really looking forward to it, especially because I loved Twilight Princess. So WiiWare comes out next month, and just checking out IGN's coverage of some of these games I'm pretty excited for its launch. LostWinds is looking especially cool I think. I don't fully understand how the distribution system works for WiiWare, but I heard that Nintendo won't be approving/filtering out games that are submitted so there's a lot of room for serious innovation to come out of that. Should be fun to see.

I don't doubt it's coming, but I don't think it's sure-fire PS3 (especially given suprising announcements like Dragon Quest IX for DS). There's just no predicting what system(s) it'll be on at this point.

What? I haven't heard any confirmation of an actual KH3 yet. If you have a link, I'd really appreciate it.

Happy birthday/21 run! Just remember to at least drink enough that you'll regret it tomorrow!

Decided to buy this collection yesterday, though I've gotta find my old PS memory card before I can start MGS. Also got through MGS2 and most of MGS3 this weekend, and both have been really enjoyable. [MGS2 possible spoiler]I thought it was kinda funny that during the fight with Fortune, I know I hit her several times...a bug or were you actually able to defeat her in that short time? I also died a couple times when attempting to infiltrate shell 1, since I didn't realize you NEEDED the AK to continue, and I didn't really have any idea where it was . [MGS3 possible spoiler]The fight with The End was terrible IMO. I appreciate the idea they had for it, but the execution wasn't good. Of course, going for the stamina kill added to the frustration (which I just didn't have the patience for, after he recovered half of his lost stamina when I lost him one time). It's also kinda tough to transition to MGS3 when you've taken the radar (and suppressors that don't deteriorate) for granted, but a very fun experience nevertheless. The dialogue with Granin was really interesting, as was his REX printout and RAY model. Overall, I've been really impressed with the story through these games, and especially MGS2 has gotten me excited for MGS4.

Here's hoping that the Wii gets a hard drive/actual SD card functionality in the near future. I wouldn't mind at all paying for the online service and paying for the hard drive, just so long as I can get a damn hard drive (I actually had to delete VC games just to make enough room for Brawl's save file).

Oh, ok...didn't realize it was on a 2nd disc. In fact, I didn't even realize there was a 2nd disc since I didn't even open MGS3 yet .

I could be wrong, but was under the impression that since Subsistence was included in this collection, that MG/MG2 would be included in the package. Also, since I just recently bought Subsistence since I didn't hear about this collection till after, I can tell you it goes for $14 at EB/Gamestop.

Yeah, apparently it's pretty awesome. A friend in Japan got that just after release there, and said it was great. Also, there are a lot of really good games for Wii, though the majority of titles released for it are quick cash-in/crap titles just like we saw on the PS2 last gen. End of discussion, now let it go people.

Totally. That's basically what I'm trying to say. I've known people who had come over and when we were all going to play Melee, they get almost defensive about items needing to be off...where's the fun in that? They were always the worst people to have over for some party gaming cuz they would take it WAY too seriously, to the point where the game just wouldn't be enjoyable for anyone anymore (and that doesn't mean they were the best either...my best friend is the best Smash player I've known in real life/ever played against, but despite that he doesn't take the game or himself too seriously).

I only got to use him once after unlocking him, but he's pretty interesting. Gonna have to beat classic mode with him now . Still don't see what people have against items and the random element they introduce. To each their own, but the game seems so much less stiff and so much more fun to me playing with items on...then again, I just play the game for fun and don't take it so seriously .

Just unlocked the last character I needed. [spoilers] They made Wolf a pain to find, and finally decided to look online for how to get him. Good thing I guess, since I wouldn't have unlocked him for a while the other way (I only had about 250 matches, and he required 450). [/spoilers]

Thanks guys for clarifying the differences between Twin Snakes and the original release. Honestly, hearing about the differences make me wanna get this MGS collection just to experience these differences for myself.

Given that there were people right here who could answer that, I figured I'd just throw it out there. No harm in that.

So what's the difference between the 2 MGS2s and the 2 MGS3s? I got Sons of Liberty and Subsistence, but how are these different from Substance and Snake Eater, respectively?

I never really understood the widespread complaining about snaking when like nobody complains about using "advanced moves" in Smash Bros, since they're about equivalent - exploitables. For the record, I snaked in MK:DS, but would usually stop snaking if it was clear my opponent(s) wouldn't/couldn't. I don't lament the loss of being able to do that in MK Wii or anything, but I figure whatever the game if it's there people can feel free to use it, cheap or not (snaking, advanced moves, items, whatever).

Oh, gotcha. So, pretty much, they just made Twin Snakes too easy compared to the original release. I guess so long as content wasn't taken out, though, I can live without having played the original PSX version after playing Twin Snakes.

How do you mean? I understand they added the first-person view stuff from MGS2, and obviously updated the graphics, but did they actually change anything else/remove anything)?

Actually, on this topic, did they add any new content that would make it worthwhile for people who already own the games to get it? I actually only relatively recently picked up MGS2 and 3, but haven't gotten a chance to play them yet, then have Twin Snakes for Gamecube (which I really enjoyed).

Maybe I read it wrong, but I thought he was just using 10 years' experience as an example..

I'm still so bad at recovering with Ness/Lucas. Probably cuz I don't ever practice playing as them...

Yeah, I watched the Final Fantasy, Zelda, and Metroid installments and those were really interesting. Good stuff.

Haha, one with the nunchuk, one with the wiimote I guess you'd either have a lot of fun or get really frustrated with your controller buddy.

Haha, good plan. So, this is the tv my brother and I got my parents for Christmas. 32" Sharp lcd, 720p. Like it says on the site, contrast ratio is 1200:1 (btw, I'd recommend ignoring the dynamic contrast ratio for any of these), which is pretty stanard for LCD tvs. I thought it was a really nice display, though one drawback for future use if you don't plan to use a receiver with it is there are only 2 HDMI slots.(EDIT: I think we got it for about 700 in December) Here is a link to the 37" version of it. Then, a friend has the 32" version of this tv, and really likes it (he also uses it as a computer monitor, hence the 1080p...works exceptionally well for that btw). According to what they say about this one on the website, it's also able to input 1080p through the components. I got my tv and our parents' tv at Costco, just because they have the best return policy and they extend the manufacturer warranty to 2 years automatically. My friend who has the 32" 1080p Sharp and another friend who got a couple HDTVs recently both got theirs at Best Buy and bought their extended warranty thing. Personally, I'd recommend buying at one of those two places for that reason (my personal preference is Costco), instead of going to a place that has better prices but may not have the coverage for it. EDIT2: Hope that helps btw. Good luck, man.

Are you planning to go LCD or plasma? Probably the highest-recommended brand for LCD as far as I'm concerned is Sharp (Aquos series), but Samsung and Sony are good as well. For plasma, Pioneer Kuro series are the best (pretty much the best HDTV you get get right now, but more expensive), and Panasonic is the next best thing. Depends on whether you're going to be doing a lot of watching in a well-lit room most often, your budget, the size of screen you want, or if you're a bit more of a video-phile as to which way you should lean. If you're going to do something 50" or less and are not planning to use it for hooking a computer up to it, just go with 720p. Start answering these questions, and it'll make it easier to narrow down. For my personal uses, I got a 42" 720p Panasonic plasma, which I would highly recommend. I don't have a ton of time to spend in from the tv these days, but when I do I tend to watch in the dark or with low lighting, and really needed something with a high contrast ratio (so LCD was out). I also don't plan to use it as a computer monitor, so for my purposes I couldn't justify the difference in price when it came to 1080p tvs (especially because the 1080p plasmas I was looking at tended to have a lower contrast ratio than their 720p counterparts). I don't know what brands offhand can input 1080p via components, but I understand that's increasingly rare these days.