The Damned

I like to just start up new games and see what appears. This one, though, may be a sign. So, I spawn, and I start walking.. East, I think, it's hard to tell, the game is somewhat foggy despite me settings... weather effect? Any way, after about thirty seconds, I come across this. I didn't make that. That was there when I spawned. It has a fully furnished interior with a workbench, and the well has water in it. Even the little garden is starting to go to seed. This is definitely one of the top coolest things I've found since the big update.

It's been remixed a few times here before, but so has most of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, so no biggie. Multiple remixes of the same game isn't bad. For instance, we have timaeus222's remix. Pretty good over all.

I guess I need to check out the remixes section more often, because I never knew this was being done. Route 120 is a personal favorite, actually, and I wanted a remix for the Missingno Tracks, but we didn't have the time or remixers to do it.

It's a lie. They're on there right now, playing it. I saw them, when I accidentally joined the server and then I saw them being all "ha ha, no one else is here because they believed the lie we told them about not going on the server until it's been updated" and then they kicked me. True story, I swear.

Damn, these new procedurally generated ruins are getting kind of cool. Was it the Endermen?

You have to realize that Pokémon is very much a Japanese-style game. Simple story with some complex mechanics combined into a relatively cute package, something that doesn't exactly translate well when being attempted by Western hands. My point is that you have a very Japanese game and you want to put it in the hands of a very Western studio. Now, I can already hear you saying "what about Metroid, they did great work on that" and "Donkey Kong is Japanese in origin, that was done nicely by way of DKR", and I agree, that is true. But those games aren't the same as Pokémon (not to mention the fact that both Metroid and DK are far older and have gone years between games, and the fact that Metroid was effectively dead for years before Retro got to work their magic on it, so they had nowhere to go but up). It's that hard-to-describe flavor that some Japanese games have, that I don't think would remain intact if Retro were to make a Pokémon game. My concern is that that transition from one to the other would lose that very essence that makes up a big part of that series. While I do agree that Pokémon needs to update itself in some regards (story, maybe some graphical tweaks), it's that basic feeling that made it endearing and charming in the first place. It would be a shame to see it lost simply because another studio with very different design and aesthetic mindsets was given the reins. /early morning rant

Oooh, look what I found today! It's some sort of abandoned mining facility, complete with train tracks and torches, chests with items, and even some of the old miners. But they must have been minig lots of coal, because they were all black. Bastards kept following me, too, so I just ran for it.

Yes, the data storage. The Vita cards are what holds the games, but for user content, like movies and music, your only choice is to use their very expensive proprietary memory cards. If you mean the memory cards and not the game cards, then I don't really see how. As long as you can put any kind of file on the, there will be a way to get around any protection system. Just load it up against a firmware that isn't protected against it, and bam, free stuff. If you mean the ame carts, then i also don't see how that will work. it didn't stop all the GBA and DS flashcarts that came up, and there are already working prototypes of 3DS flashcarts out there. I honestly think it's just Sony trying to make their system the world-wide accepted standard. They aren't members of the SD Card Association, and they have their own flash memory format, Memory Stick. They would obviously love to have everything use theirs instead of SD, because that's all kinds of licensing fees they would profit off of. But no, they think they can change the entire electronics industry by making one device use it. It may have worked for Blu-Ray, but that was because one, it was offered in far more than just one Sony device, and two, Sony wasn't the only one invested in it. It just irks me a bit that they think they can force it upon everyone when there is a more readily available and cheaper (and possibly better in terms of specs) alternative in teh SD format. It just seems... arrogant of them.

Hey there now, I'm not that crazy. Last time I played online, I was one of the top three players in terms of time on the server. I was on constantly. I gotta pace myself. Though, in my exploring of the new game stuff, I came across an underground canyon. It was about forty blocks across, at least eighty down, and it stretched beyond my viewing distance on each side (and I'm running things kind of high). In it were waterfalls facing opposite to lavafalls, hanging iron ore deposits (like giant stalactites), pools of water and lava running into each other and all kinds of impressive sights. I should have grabbed a picture of it. It was very impressive. The new updates to the terrain generation are creating some very interesting caves and mountains.

I did. Still happened.I even went to see if I had to update, and nope, that's not it either.

Once again, Sony's desire to push their proprietary formats is biting them in the ass. UMDs, Memory Sticks, and now Vita memory cards. Jesus christ, just move on and support the ubiquitous SD format like everyone else in the world. I got a 32 GB class 10 for $50, and a small cache of microSD cards that I'm not really using. How about I get to use those instead of some price-jacked-up card that nothing else in the world will use?

So I tired the new version, because why not. I'm not really too busy these days and it's nice to see how things have changed. Five minutes in and I get an "out of memory" error. That was unexpected.

Added to the list on first page.

Again, long time no news. First, it's been confirmed that the Vita will be region-free. This means lots of import games are suddenly doable without modding or firmware hacking. That makes the library much more appealing, if you can get over language barriers. Second, you may have heard that the Vita has been rated at 3 to 5 hours of battery life... depending if you have any number of features on, like wifi, accessing the memory, moving a analog stick, etc. Sony's solution is a battery pack. No, not a battery pack that you attach to the device. It's a battery pack that you plug into the Vita by a cord. So, it's region free, which is nice, since that seems contrary to what everyone is doing these days, and is a nice throwback to what Nintendo was doing with their portables until the DSi. But the external battery on a cord thing... yeah, it might work as a power source, but having that extra bit of hardware is kind of an issue. I rather like having the battery not hanging from the device. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I don't use Facebook, how can I help? Like, do you need anything set on fire? I can do that.

Hell yeah, GameBoy Mega Man games.

I'm glad this got to see the light of day. I regretted it not being able to go on the album, but we felt it was for the best due to time constraints. But now it is out, and it's good! Great even. Nicely done, pu_freak.

Yeah, that doesn't really bode well for the GBA games. They should have made them AAA games and not the "meh" to "OK" titles. You want to reward someone, you don't give them copper coins when you're sitting on a pile of gold.

Sephfire, when are you going to do video game nostalgia, and it's pros and cons (mostly cons, though)? That would be an awesome topic. (Use pokemon as the primary example, and I will sent you a brazillion dollars)

I think it's the opinion of developers that in the current economy, where people are either watching their money closely or just don't have any, the game that gets out first is the game people will buy. It's not exactly right, seeing how fans will wait for certain games regardless of money or time, but I can understand why they would think beating everyone else out of the gate would be the deciding factor. Sadly, until everyone is doing better around the world, companies will still release early and often to try to get more sales.

Only half of the models will. The other ones will fade to white because it's Apple, and they like white.

LIES! Apple is buying Nintendo and the next portable is going to be the Appendo iGame, which will will do everything the iPod does but play also play Mario and Pokemon (no Zelda, they can't make it work on the new hardware) and only retail for $599 US. Then it will be replaced with the iGame 3G for online gaming only 8 months later. Then the iGame3GS+ for better connection speeds and finally be able to handle Zelda games. Then a year later, the will announce the iGame 4G and 5G, each one slightly better than the last version but still costing an extra hundred bucks then the last model, despite being nearly identical in design and features. I have an uncle who works at Nintendo AND Apple, and he told me so himself via encrypted emails, so I can't show them to you just now, BUT TRUST ME.

I love how this rumor is given more credibility than the rumors everyone said were never going to happen but did any way. To suddenly do a redesign this soon after launching a new console (portable or otherwise) is unheard of. I can only think of one example, and that's Sega in the late 90s. RUMOR IS RUMOR UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. Armchair speculation isn't helping anything, and most likely just stirring up people that are easily inclined to believe anything they read or hear about the matter. How about everyone just wait until something reliable and official comes out?