I-n-j-i-n

Jeez, I hate playing party pooper to these kinds of posts all the time. But you can technically do all of those above at a much cheaper price if you consider that you are only spending money on a few adaptors and hardware and not spending hundreds more on the actually sold games themselves. Also, the thing with PC emulators is that they are now so easy to use and have a ton of emulation varieties and features. One of the current problems with the VC games is that their save state aspect isn't ironed out yet, the multiplayer is still a dream, and really, the idea of improving an old game and selling it as a "classic" is just a bit strange. If you want to speak technicalities, you can do just as well if not a LOT better with emulators. Especially with simple emulation like NES, SNES, Turbo Grafix, Genesis and etcetera. Even Playstation emulation and N64 emulation are pretty common place now as well. Go ahead a few generations and we'll probably start seeing Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 emulation. The technicalities isn't the point. Like many people costantly state, it's just the state of mind of paying for "legitimate" service in their view. Hell, many people (like me), think the legitimate choice is simply emulation. I simply dislike paying for a corporation that touts the different versions of an essentially the same game or even reselling the games in the pretense of selling classics. Sometimes it can be great. Sometimes not. Like I said before, I think a $10 pricetag is a bit high when some compilations that run thirty games can sell for as low as $30. There just isn't a very stable selling price for selling emulated games. And if people like buying stuff for the VC or XLA and think they're doing the right thing by supporting the big corporations, then more power to them. More power also to the emulators who go for the underground movement of games and a free distribution of something every hardcore gamers have more or less played and can be open to modding and free usage to their liking.

True. But books can't be serialized in the same way games can. If the author can't bring him/herself to make more sequels, it just can't happen. While the total opposite is true with games. Even Nintendo let Capcom develop some Zelda games before. They can even rent out the license of their franchises to make games for them and etcetera. And typically, look at most of the oldie titles being re-released, and they predictably have their modern sequels still out. I just see it as a part PR and part resale. And unlike books, with each new releases and top 10 lists filled with fresh new material and sometimes even outright revelatory topics, you see the top 10 lists of games and you're almost certainly guaranteed to see most, if not all of them are sequels. Again, I'm not saying sequels and franchises are bad. Because I play them and enjoy them. But creatively, the lesser known titles and those that doesn't have the name brand have a huge uphill climbing to do. Unless they can muster the hype train like Halo and Gears of War did. (again, not to say the hype in itself is bad. I'm a casual fan of Halo and I'm sure I'll enjoy GoW). With things like reselling the same game "as is", I just think it's a part of the whole "sell the same game" aspect of videogaming.

I agree. Nintendo Wii in itself, as revolutionary a system with the crazy controller is, it's merely a layer on top of the gaming thread. It's about the core games and all that. Yeah, I wouldn't go as far as to say that the actual act in selling them is bad or that people shouldn't have access in such a way. There's some games in the past that I passed up because of their extremely steep pricing, and yet I can simply snatch them up for free by the minute now. That's going off the point a bit, but what I'm getting at with the whole "suspect" nature of reselling the same old game is that the gaming industry is still dominated by the same game franchises even 20 years ago. There's nothing wrong with that fact. There's nothing wrong with squeezing the money out of the gamers. It's like double exploitation. Gamers demand it constantly, and the publishers rake in the money. It's just artistically, it's just a sad cycle of lesser known titles just getting trampled upon, not selling as well as they should and etcetera. I'm a Sega fan, and I'm just resigned to the fact that their games, no matter how good they were, just did not sell. Same could be said of a lot of great PC game subgenres that simply became extinct due to low sales. Sure, capitalism and the whole supply & demand thing is great. I'm actually all for it since I'm in the business myself. It's sorta like how PC games naturally become shovelwares. Console games, to me, should go down a similar path. Selling games for something ludicrously cheap like a dollar or five bucks? Fine. TEN dollars, nowadays? I'm just feeling the capitalistic, game sequel-pushing, franchise touting more than anything. Again, I'm not saying this should become the fact or that everyone should feel the same way as I do. It's just my own perspective on it.

That's why I said I understand how you feel by being more content with something you can buy. At least it's "official" in that sense. I'm just creating talk for putting my own views about it. And I simply think it's suspect to sell the same thing again and again and again. That's one of the biggest pitfalls of videogaming as I see it, though I'm not saying that it's a wrong thing for gamers to take advantage of it. And the reason why I bring up the purist point of view is because I am one.

Personally, I'm all for emulation, but I think you got some things wrong about emulation in general. Emulation is basically any software that literally emulates and copies the conditions of an other console, PC or chipset/hardware. Secondly, you can plug in just about any controllers to the PC if you have the right adaptor. Thirdly, Nintendo, just like it is the trend nowadays with console games and the whole idea of classics compilations and what is really just are emulated games, are selling them instead of having them be distributed freely. And some of the TV-screen emulation of emulators on PCs can change the resolution and add pixelation as it was intended. The big problem (for gaming purists) with modern console emulation that goes for sale is that they often add anti-aliasing or simply don't do a good job of emulating them. And they look less pixelated than they are supposed to be. And yes, pixelation could be seen as a sign of authentic, loyal emulation. PS- If you feel any more content in buying the games instead of for free, that's your preference. I can see how that is. I feel more connected towards the games I buy too. But with emulation, this whole zealous attitude towards loyal emulation of the games and the underground attitude of free games for everyone is a draw as well.

Yeah, but isn't the VC basically emulation? BTW, I'm waiting for the reviews for the new VC titles. I probably won't ever buy any VC title other than SMRPG, but it's interesting to hear how the games have aged on a new console. I still wish they put out high definition, pixel-laden versions sometime though. The higher definition actually lends itself to the retro feel.

Best played on an SNES if you ask me. I swear my copy is almost 100% mint condition. I keep the games in good order.

Actually, no. Madden, much like the Dragonball Z Tenkaichi 2 game I own, have their own specific ways of control that does take some getting used to. It's DEFINITELY not a "pick up and play" kind of mechanic. You do have to learn some quirks and the button utilization. It's definitely more difficult of a learning curve than the typical controllers or even a keyboard/mouse combination. But it can be intuitive once you get used to it. Which is sorta funny considering that they're trying to cater to the non-hardcore and casual gamers with this. I would think these kinds of complexities in controls would be more suitable for the true hardcore gamers.

Umihara Kawase is probably one of the most 'hardcore' SNES games ever made. It's deceptively simple, it's easy to get into, but incredibly hard to master. Too bad that it's basically a Super Famitsu title, though it's easy to play through an emulator. It also has some of the most inordinate number of porn based on it for some odd reason..

I actually feel nostalgic for the older Playstation days, but I think it's good for the company if they can take note of all the things they've done wrong through their hubris. But Sony was run pretty shadily for a long time. At least they can do something more shrewd like what Nintendo did with the Wii. Maybe. Sony needs to stop messing around and making their system the premiere choice for 3rd party development like it used to be. Now, apparently, it's more viable to build upon the 360 and even the Wii for the smaller titles. If you said that a year ago, most people would have laughed. Including me. We'll have to see about that. MS could package in Vista with the newer, multi-core processor machines within a year. That's how they pushed Windows XP, even though its software sales were pretty good to begin with. Actually, I won't be surprised if the Vista starts taking hold a few years down. Windows XP had a lot of criticism in its early years too, I remember. I think it is simply the case of a Nintendo system getting some modding and reverse engineering action that the Playstations and the Xboxs's have been getting for almost a decade now. I expect to see burnt games and roms soon.

Gametrailers has a habit of making me want a game. It even made DOAX2 look like a pretty fun game. And Viva Pinata actually looks a lot more fun than it sounds. I hope Rareware keeps making original, new games instead of trying to live up to its former hype.

FFXII simply has no real story. That's the story. I don't mean to be negative or positive about it. Because I can't critique what's not there. And something that completely derives from the basic story principles from Lord of the Rings and Star Wars... well, it's not worth commenting. Not to mention that the characters basically talk in cliches and nothing else. Even the supposed banter between Vaan and Penelo and others are portrayed as background chatter. I think that's a pretty big disservice for an RPG. Maybe in an action game, we don't need to hear the extra quips and dialog in order to connect with the characters. Different story for RPGs. I hope FFXIII at least has a semblance of a story. But SquareEnix has been pretty lax with their RPGs having any story worth discussing about since Sakaguchi left. PS- Currently hunting and collecting and searching for Tournesol. Biggest pain/work for a single item in a long time I can remember. But at least Square left something in there for high levelers to work for.

Soon there will be no need to buy any of the VC games. Just the way it's supposed to be.

Don't forget the advent of XNA and the possibility of indy/individualized game development. Considering how cheap it is apparently, and how they're aiming to spread it around Xbox Live, it could potentially be a big breakthrough for those who can't even afford the high development prices. Ironically, this is EXACTLY what Nintendo preached for years and now Microsoft is actually doing it. In years past, their track record wasn't that good. Not bad but not great. But I think they're paying attention to how important the customer support is nowadays. Especially seeing how the PS3 and PSP is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way with the slow or nonexistent customer support and willingness to listen to the actual gamers.

Career modes on the Fight Night games have been very addicting as far as I remember. And it has Xbox Live play to boot. It's a very simplistic game in a similar way any other tennis games and 3D Pong games are. And yeah, the BK games are insane value for what they have. Not too fair a comparison actually.

Yeah, so maybe not all 360 owners care about the Wii and maybe some Wii gamers would not care for other consoles. So what? This is not worth arguing about. As for Table Tennis, I hear it's pretty good as a sports game and though I only played the demo, what was there was just really solid and probably the best ping-pong style game made yet. And the Fight Night series, for being an EA game, has had a great history of having a great, involving gameplay on top of the graphics.

Zelda games throughout the years always had their share of useless items though. Skateboarding Link/Legolas for the LOL

Oblivion is good no matter how you slice it though. I ended up buying two versions of Morrowind too. Then there's Cry On, Lost Odyssey, Fable 2 (hopefully much improved from Fable) and Mass Effect. Not a bad line of RPGs coming up. PS- Now that I have a Wii, the 360 is definitely up. The PS3 isn't even on my mind because of the crazy price. Still waiting for some official word on the possible MGS4 port. Though a lot of Sony fanatics are saying it won't ever make it. But there's hints it could.

I also think the thing that drives the numbers up is that there are simply a ton of very decent games for the system. Even speaking of ports, the best versions have always been for the 360 for a full year now, and some exclusives (or semi-exclusives. PC/360 basically) such as Dead Rising, DOA games and Gears of War helped. And of course, the Halo 3 anticipation.

I wonder if you can log onto 4chan and get porn through the Wii.

I think the microtransactions as a problem is blown out of proportions. Equating it with "rape"? What? Though I can see how it could be such with Gran Turismo for the PS3 which was originally slated to have very few cars and with the rest being unlockable later. Also, the idea of 360 microtransactions is not always that of unlocking content within the game. It's basically like a small add-on or mod, PC style. BTW, I think the idea isn't that good unless it's something like the Steam games where such addons are entire new game chapters (Half Life Episodes anyone?), or entirely new mods and full game expansions (Steam nowadays caters to other games and their expansions as well) Also, Blue Dragon is coming by the end of the year I believe, and the reviews have been very positive for it. I won't be getting the 360 until the price of the Premium goes down by around $100 (probably will happen in Fall 2007), but Blue Dragon looks very tempting. The music in Blue Dragon sounds wonderful as well. Finally the return of Uematsu in his full glory so to speak.

Sorta, kinda, maybe relevant picture about the infinitely superior PC controls:

Online shopping >>>>>>>> real life shopping.

PSX for literally cents in eBay. Just don't go for mint copies, which is worthless.

What. I'm very confused as to how you could find Facebook more annoying than MySpace. The entire interface is so much cleaner, and I don't have to listen to your crappy music when I visit your profile. Injin, flamebaiting? Never. I'm more like... candlebaiting.. or something. But it's just that my old pals-turned-total-strangers just lost themselves to Facebook and MySpace. And you go into libraries, and like EVERYONE is logged into a social site. Socially networking online in a social environment. lol