The Coop

Having watched it all, I wasn't wowed or disappointed really... + Halo Reach (I like the Halo games, but I still haven't gotten to play part 3 yet) ?? Gears of War 3 (They look like fun, but I've got no 360 yet, so I'll reserve judgment there) - Kinect (Not a fan of this whole motion controller, Wii-mote thing) ?? Fable 3 (I still haven't played the series, but I've been curious about it all for a while) ?? XBox 360 Slim (I'm happy in one sense, but until I see reliability reports, I'll hold off on an opinion) + Metal Gear Solid Rising (don't know if it's exclusive or not, but it looked fun) So, some ups and downs. Nothing that made me piss myself in overjoyed incontinence. But I will add this about Kinectimals... as much as I wanted to say, "JUST GIVE THE POOR KID A REAL PET!", I was impressed with the interactive behavior of the young tiger. It was cute, well animated and such, which made me wonder... how's the AI and such? How often do the same animations get repeated? Just how "deep" do the behavior algorithms go? Virtual pets have been pretty limited for the most part, so I'm curious to know how far they took Kinectimals.

And yet still no Darkstalkers 4

DSi dropped GBA compatibility (bad Nintendo! BAD!) and added a slightly bigger set of screens, while DSi XL added even bigger screens (and longer battery life over DSi). DSi also added a faster CPU and more RAM, two digital cameras, voice recording... all sorts of nifty little things. If someone had just bought a DS Lite four months earlier, I'd understand their being tweaked. Sure, the DS Lite wasn't an enormous jump over DS (though it had some advantages beyond cosmetic), but DSi moved things forward a good bit. DSi XL looks to be the best of the bunch (nice big-ish screens), but who knows if there's one more yet to come. There's a nice little comparison on Wikipedia if you want to check it out. Not to me or you, but I know a good number of people were pretty upset when it got dropped (usually because they sold or packed away their PS2). I remember people trying like hell to find those 60GB PS3s so they could have the compatibility. Wouldn't call that bolded part minor What's sad is that it didn't do all that much after all the hype about how much better the Jasper chip was. I don't know. Dropping the UMD format altogether was a pretty big step. Makes me wonder why they kept "PSP" in the title of the thing given it can't play the original PSP UMDs anymore. That's like calling the DSi the GBA-DS or something. Oh I wasn't trying to compare the compatibility aspect of PCs and handhelds, just the constant updating trait. 3 GBAs, 4 PSPs, 4 DSs, 9 (technically speaking) variants of the PS3 and 360... really? Was all that needed? I mean no offense, but that's you. Other people see those updates differently. WiFi, bigger screens, longer battery life... those are big selling points for some. I know I'd like a 4.2" screen over a 3" one, or a camera to play around with (I still don't have a digital camera... stop laughing). Keep in mind, I'm not bashing you or anything, so don't take all this in that way. Those aren't big deals to you, and to be honest, a lot of it's not a big deal to me. WiFi, longer battery life... not big sellers IMHO (my systems stay home). But bigger screens, bigger hard drives, more light settings, more reliable hardware... those are important to me, which is why I do my best to wait. I guess we don't see eye to eye on some of the things with this. That kind of thing irks me to no end. I've gotten things off of Steam, Amazon, Gamestop and them, only to see it discounted a week or two later (Torchlight went on sale not even TWO DAYS after I bought it... that hurt).

That may have been the biggest change, but I wouldn't down play the rest of the changes. Some were to make them lighter or have longer battery life, some improved the screens or the chips inside for (hopefully) better reliability, some dropped notable features or boosted others... it's at times come off as a haphazard march of not really knowing just what to add or do. And it's still a kick in the shins when you buy a system, and six months later there's a new version with more features, improvements and so forth. Sure, you can still play all (or at least most of) the games for that system, but you still feel a little on the "SHIT! I knew I should have waited!"-side.

That would be nice. I know the tray going in and out looks fancier, but a pop top doesn't trap your disc in the system when it dies (my old Sega CD tried to keep my copy of Stellar Fire that way ).

True, no one's forcing you to buy them. But this generation's theme is, "Hey, let's put out an updated version of our system every nine to twelve months!" The PS3, the 360, the DS... it's reaching rather ridiculous levels. The old saying used to be "it's obsolete as soon as you open the box" when talking about computers. It was a joke about how quickly the PC hardware gets updated and/or moves forward (and still does). Now consoles and hand helds are just about caught up with that, thanks to revision after revision. You almost don't want to buy something until its market is nearly dead, just so you know there won't be a newer and better version waiting just around the corner.

Don't you mean a redesigning of the redesign? There'll be at least three versions

Can't say I was any more or less impressed than I was with the MS show. Felt about the same. - Zelda didn't thrill me. - The 23rd iteration of the DS just made me roll my eyes (c'mon Nintendo... how many damn versions are you going to pump out?). + The Donkey Kong game piqued my interest. ?? The Kirby game I want more info on before I decide how I feel. Looks creative visually and they seem to be branching out the gameplay. But while I like the franchise, "branching out" doesn't always equal fun or good. ?? I don't own a Gamecube and thus have yet to get to play the 3D Metroids to know if I like them. ?? Another Paper Mario game (I played the first one and liked it, but I haven't played the sequels yet). + Dragon Quest IX got my attention. Hope they did at least as good a job with it as they did with XIII. - Never got the "OMG WOWZORS!" for Goldeneye on the N64, so an upgrade doesn't do a lot for me. I also have to say the DS got a lot more attention this time. Seems like it's getting more big franchise names than the Wii right now (beyond the expected Nintendo franchises). I know they have yet another "upgrade" to it so it was sure to get more time in the spotlight, but it seemed to be more the focus for third parties.

If Billy Mayes were still around, he could pitch the new 360 as a combination game player/engraver/wood planer.

Pardon? Looks like someone hasn't been doing their homework. Detention. Three days, for one hour each day. You'll be cleaning out the OCR "rejection letter-worthy" remixes bin while you're there.

Here's hoping MS finally gets this RRoD thing beaten with their new system. All the talk about the Jasper chip and the systems are still dropping at an unsettling rate. I want one, but I'm not picking one up until they finally get a handle on the problem. I'd like to at least feel reasonably confident that my new system will last longer than it's warranty. Oh, and... What? Whoever wrote that in your e-mail had to have been forced to do so. That's like calling the Razzies the biggest night for the movie industry

Red Dead Redemption

Alan Wake

Check your PM box Jenner, if you haven't already.

We always figured you were crazy, now this just proves it As for TL2, glad I could help. Don't forget, there's a PC version as well, with four games the PS2 version didn't have... Bubble Symphony, Cadash, Pop'n and Pop and RayForce (the shmup prequel to Raystorm). They're arcade ROMs that you can quite literally drop right into MAME and play on that emulator (just zip up the folders and that's it... they're even already named properly for MAME). It's $4.99 new at Gamestop, so...

LT- I've debated this for a while, but I figured I'd ask after sitting down and finishing it... Could I get that as a personal avatar? It's based off of Jon Talbain's portrait on the character select screen in Darkstalkers. And just for the hell of it... Didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped (little motions look bigger in tighter spaces), but I animated it like that same portrait. I know animated avatars aren't allowed, but I thought I'd post it. Maybe someone else will want to use it on another site.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?price=0,5 I remember reading about this not long ago, but it seemed kind of odd for Steam to start offering up Genesis games. I know the VC does a decent bit of business, but I never pictured Steam getting in on the classic console market. Seems I was wrong. The prices thus far range from $2.99 to $4.99, which isn't a bad start really. The VC charges more, so at least Steam and Sega are on the right track with pricing. They also put up a decent selection. How successful this'll end up being is anyone's guess, but I hope this isn't something that's tried and barely ever updated with new content after its initial launch. Not that it matters, I have all of the games on that list, but still... Leaves me with two questions... - I wonder how the emulation is? - What kind of emulator did they use/create to require 50MB of space?

To all the troops that visit OCR who have served and are currently serving, thank you for doing what you do. Though the rest of us may quarrel over the various wars, why they were started and what to do about them, we've never stopped wishing you a safe return home to your family and friends. For those who have left this world on our behalf over the many years...

Dio was part of the previous trio. This trio was Art Linkletter, Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper. However, this one is the worst of this trio, as Dennis Hopper was just so out there at times, it was hard not to find him enjoyable to watch. He always gave his characters this slightly off-kilter touch, making even a potentially boring character notable in some quirky way. He was a bit strange and a pain in the butt to some in Hollywood, but he was a great actor and an interesting personality. There aren't many like him, and now, there's one less unfortunately. RIP Dennis Hopper, and thanks for all the great movie memories.

Monster Hunter Tri