The Coop   Members

Ancient Chinese secret... like Calgon, only newer.

It's all been downhill since the MSX 2 version.

That last part's easily fixed with a "No CD/DVD" patch, which are usually available about a week after a release... sooner for big titles And it's not fear at all. It's knowing that at some point, the services will be gone or reduced, and the games you paid for will go with them unless you can back them up (ala Steam, Impulse, etc.). Streaming doesn't offer backups of your games, and things like the Wii that tie your downloaded games to a console that can die and take them with it, simply makes no sense to me as a consumer. Something that used to last for decades, now only lasts as long as the company stays in business (OnLive), doesn't drop your game from its list (OnLive), or as long as your system still works (Wii). I don't see an upside to that. I too pay for an experience. And flipping through a manual, opening up a world map, knowing that the discs I paid for are professional quality (usually), artwork abound on the disc(s), manual and insert... that's all part of the experience for me. And when all those physical goodies go away, yet I'm still paying the same price... that irks me. You save no money realistically with digital downloads, and in ways, you get less for that money, as you have to expend your own resources to make backups and ensure those backups never go bad as the years roll on. As I said, it's not fear, and I do enjoy Steam. But in truth, it's getting less, while paying the same. $60 for a downloadable game for you to save on your own, or $60 for a hard copy with box, art, discs, manuals, etc. I'll go with the latter every time.

I think Sony simply underestimated the current-day abilities of its customers, and how far they'd go to tinker with the toys they buy. That's not to say Sony could have prevented this, as holes aren't always known until found by someone else. But this seems like they weren't paying quite as much attention as they could have been. Rest assured, they will be from now on though

PSN? MOER LIEK PoSN AM I RITE?!

Yeah, they'll go that extra mile and call it the Super Wii and gave all their games the prefix of "Super."

Sega hasn't been Sega for many years. Even I have to admit, they're a shell of what they once were, and as such, what they used to do and allow no longer applies. They've driven Sonic into the ground, release iffy emulation-driven ports of their older games, and just don't put as much effort to basically anything they do anymore. Sega of the 1980s and 1990s is dead. This new entity calling itself Sega these days is a very different beast.

That's Fox's new slogan... "Fox News. Stop thinking. You'll be better off."

So, I guess this means getting feedback on my Mario WIP for the album project is going to take 2-4 months now?

Crysis 2

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/8792-Critical-Miss-The-Sega-Guide Looks like some folks working for The Escapist took notice too.

Goldremixer- This is a set of your old remixes, Mr. Hudson. All my life, I have been in love with their beat, their brilliance, their divine composition. I welcome any return that will increase my stock. Jared Hudson- That's all well and good but... I can't remix tied to this table, let alone with a giant CD burning laser closing in on my crotch. Goldremixer- The deal is simple. I want you to remix Cheetahmen 2. Jared Hudson- I think you've made your point, Goldremixer. Thank you for the return welcome, but I'll have to pass. Goldremixer- Choose you next remix carefully, Mr. Hudson. It may be your last. **dramatic pause, with neither saying a word** The purpose of this encounter is now very clear to me. I do not intend to be having another. Goodnight, Mr. Hudson. **turns and begins to leave forum** Jared Hudson- **looks worriedly at closing laser** Do you expect me to remix? Goldremixer- NO Mr. Hudson. I expect you to die. There is no other remix you could give me that I don't already have. **walks out of forum** Te Be Continued...

Halo, DoA3, Project Gotham Racing, Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X (1 and 2 together), NFL Fever 2002... all got solid reviews. Even titles like AirForce Delta Storm and Fusion Frenzy had above average review scores (FF more so than ADS). And that number of titles is noticeably higher in count than the entire SNES launch line up. The DC stands a bit better in terms of game count, regarding games that were worthwhile and above average.

The Dreamcast would like to have a word with you, as would the XBox.

Simple, a touch haunting, and leaves a greater impression than the original.

Watch it be cartridge-based

I hope it's not set up like the first one, with a bunch of very quick, simple levels, and then the last few are the real challenges that take a while. That kind of elongated "training" part is what killed the longevity of the first game. A couple levels to get the hang of it, sure. But over 10?

Not so much a bump, as it is a rear end collision. But... Not too long ago, I "found" a copy of Broken Thunder, the horrendous Thunder Force spiritual sequel. I was excited, as I knew the history of this ill-fated game, knew how fast it was panned and yanked off of store shelves in Japan, and knew it vanished into obscurity. But nonetheless, I found it, and played it. The first four stages are unimaginably easy. The bosses are ridiculously bad in design and "animation" (if you can even call it that), and the only redeeming factor was the music, which was pretty good (done by the man/band who did the music for TFV, Blast Wind and Hyperduel). Then I reached the final stage, fought through the first four bosses again, and met the last boss... and was promptly handed my ass. It starts out simple enough. Some tracer bullets that are fired at where you are, a small spread of pink bullets, and a spread of thin lasers that criss-cross which are easy enough to dodge, despite how well they blend into the background. The next phase ramps up the difficulty by firing a blob of blue bullets at wherever you are, a quick moving spread of blue bullets in random directions, and then three big lasers that cross the screen. After which, it moves to the other side, and repeats the process in the opposite direction. Then it gets really pissed. It begins firing thick spreads of pinks bullets above and below it, with six wide lasers that leave a large opening in the middle, with lots of thin blue lasers that slowly move in your general direction. There's a lot of squeezing into tight spaces here, and if you survive this, the boss blows up... ... and then comes back as just the upper half. This parts first attack is a big web of thick lasers, leaving spaces for you to dodge the small pink tracking shots that came at where you are. Then comes the rapid fire tracking shots that do the same thing. After that, big greenish-yellow orbs that follow you for a while, which are fired in a steady stream. After that, a spray of fast moving rapid fire blue bullets that are shot out continuously. After that, a steady spread of pink bullets while large lasers are fired at wherever you are in rapid succession, which stay on the screen for a time. After that, a blue bullet spread followed by a spray of fast moving thin blue lasers. Then a spread of the thicker lasers, more greenish-yellow orbs that follow you, more fast blue bullets... it just never ends. This isn't a manic fight like DoDonPachi where you make tight weaves in and out of intricate bullet patterns, it's just a mass of shit being thrown at you willy-nilly until you die. And you will die. A lot. It's the kind of final confrontation that just screams of cheap pattern creation that's not designed, but rather thrown sloppily together, and the end result is dying again and again and again, while burning through continues.

It looks like it could be pretty fun, but $50 worth? I don't know. The original was pretty damn short, and it was noticeably cheaper. So unless this game's about twice as long (or longer), I'm going to have a hard time justifying that pricing point to my wallet.

I say go with the 8-bit style. With Megamans 9 and 10, Dark Void Zero and such, it's been shown that there's still a market draw for the NES/Master System visual style. It's simple in terms of color palettes, you can animate it to whatever level you wish, and tiling's quite easy. Plus, it still gives you room to play with its visual design type (realistic proportions, cartoony, etc.), detail level and whatnot.

If you make an FF1 hack or what have you, I'll do up 8-bit versions of the characters, and help with other graphical needs. I don't think I've ever done 8-bit pixel work before.

It's a grave digger sim. You have to see how many graves you can dig before your shovel breaks, using the Wiimote. A bit glitchy, but it works decently from what few reviews there have been of the series. I think they're up to Shovelware VIII now.