2014 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Joe Lucia]

I bought A Link Between Worlds on Black Friday. I finally got around to starting it last week.

 

It's fun, but is really easy. I have three dungeons left before the final castle, and I've only died...once. Maybe it's because i know what I'm doing with Zelda games after playing them my whole life. Maybe it's because the game isn't difficult at all. I dunno. The little malaimai search quest thing is also rather easy - I'm at 94. I've bought and upgraded every item aside from the ones left in the dungeons. So....there's that.

[Neil Koch]

Got Metal Slug Defense for my phone. Not normally really into the genre but this is a fun little time waster.

[MarcosLoura]

 

If you don't know the differences you shouldn't buy Ultra.

 

I have Arcade, so the upgrade to Ultra is miniscule. I was just curious of the consensus. I am very much a casual street fighter player.

 

 

Exactly, spending money on Ultra makes no sense.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I am not afraid to admit this.

 

Seeing Tomodachi Life actually be played was the first time I've wanted a 3DS.

[twiztor]

I bought A Link Between Worlds on Black Friday. I finally got around to starting it last week.

 

It's fun, but is really easy. I have three dungeons left before the final castle, and I've only died...once. Maybe it's because i know what I'm doing with Zelda games after playing them my whole life. Maybe it's because the game isn't difficult at all. I dunno. The little malaimai search quest thing is also rather easy - I'm at 94. I've bought and upgraded every item aside from the ones left in the dungeons. So....there's that.

 

this was my biggest complaint also, but i mainly attributed it to playing the SNES game dozens of times. thus, i already knew how to solve most of the riddles and defeat most of the enemies.

i ended up beating the game without losing a single life. found all 100 maimais also, but that took longer.

haven't played it since december.

[Salads]

The only Zelda game I can remember dying in was the first. The later ones are easier at first, but they also tend to come with hero modes. I've got Wind Waker HD's queued up and the idea of playing through the game without heart drops sounds like playing Sonic without rings.

[Lawful Metal]

If you don't know the differences you shouldn't buy Ultra.

I have Arcade, so the upgrade to Ultra is miniscule. I was just curious of the consensus. I am very much a casual street fighter player.

Exactly, spending money on Ultra makes no sense.

I got it. New characters are fun (Hugo and Rolento are old faves) but Poison is a little too risqué. I guess its not a shock with Cammy around but her bend over entrance is a bit much.

Ultra Combo Double is a good idea, but everything else seems the same. I do like the idea of paying only 15.99 instead of having to pay for a whole new game, which is what usually happens.

Of course, I own a SFIV arcade stick.

[ultimoDANK]

If you don't know the differences you shouldn't buy Ultra.

I have Arcade, so the upgrade to Ultra is miniscule. I was just curious of the consensus. I am very much a casual street fighter player.

Exactly, spending money on Ultra makes no sense.

I got it. New characters are fun (Hugo and Rolento are old faves) but Poison is a little too risqué. I guess its not a shock with Cammy around but her bend over entrance is a bit much.

Have they revealed if Poison is a pre-op or post-op transsexual? Um asking for a friend...

[Tabe]

 

Have they revealed if Poison is a pre-op or post-op transsexual? Um asking for a friend...

 

 

 

. Street Fighter IV's producer Yoshinori Ono, when asked in an interview about the matter, stated "Let's set the record straight: in North America, Poison is officially a post-op transsexual. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away to look female."

 

Poison Entry on Street Fighter Wiki

[ultimoDANK]

Have they revealed if Poison is a pre-op or post-op transsexual? Um asking for a friend...

. Street Fighter IV's producer Yoshinori Ono, when asked in an interview about the matter, stated "Let's set the record straight: in North America, Poison is officially a post-op transsexual. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away to look female."

Poison Entry on Street Fighter Wiki

This is the greatest. 'Merica can't handle a fighting game character that tucks.

[Cristobal]

Watch Dogs is a fun game, but no one involved in making it has ever been anywhere near Chicago.

[supremebve]

Watch Dogs is a fun game, but no one involved in making it has ever been anywhere near Chicago.

I'd say that Watch Dogs is a good game, but not necessarily a fun game.  It is basically what would happen if GTA switched all the funny out for vague tech speak, and all the goofiness out for super seriousness.  There is nothing wrong with it, but I can't think of anything that has happened that made me feel like I'm supposed to enjoy my time in the world.

 

Oh yeah, I'll never understand why none of these games have cars that you can drive like a sober person.

[Lawful Metal]

Have they revealed if Poison is a pre-op or post-op transsexual? Um asking for a friend...

. Street Fighter IV's producer Yoshinori Ono, when asked in an interview about the matter, stated "Let's set the record straight: in North America, Poison is officially a post-op transsexual. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away to look female."

Poison Entry on Street Fighter Wiki

This is the greatest. 'Merica can't handle a fighting game character that tucks.

I did not know that. Is this even addressed in the game?

[Cristobal]

Watch Dogs is a fun game, but no one involved in making it has ever been anywhere near Chicago.

I'd say that Watch Dogs is a good game, but not necessarily a fun game.  It is basically what would happen if GTA switched all the funny out for vague tech speak, and all the goofiness out for super seriousness.  There is nothing wrong with it, but I can't think of anything that has happened that made me feel like I'm supposed to enjoy my time in the world.

Aiden isn't a fun guy, but the game is fun. Hacking stoplights to screw with random NPCs is hilarious. The phone conversations of random NPCs are as funny as anything in GTA (short of Lamar's "n-word" soliloquy and the "hipster" chat) and it's got a better "cheat at poker" minigame than Red Dead Redemption.

I'm having a blast.

[Tabe]

Heard it was heavily discounted at Gamestop so I had my wife pick up a copy of Bandfuse for me while I was out of town.  I've been following this game since it was first announced and I was intrigued but the early gameplay videos I saw were not promising.  At all.  I decided to wait to purchase after its release and then...bam...they were out of business.  Anyway, fast forward to now and I have a $10 copy of Bandfuse and decided to give it a go last night.  First impressions....the user interface is a mess.  The gameplay screen, like every single music game ever, is way overcrowded and has tons of distracting stuff on it - complete with no way to shut any of it off.  Coming from Rocksmith, the actual display of notes takes a lot of getting used to, since they use a scrolling tab format instead of the note highway typical of the genre.  That's not a bad thing.  However, they also color-code notes based on the finger you're supposed to use to fret it.  Also not a bad thing - except in my head, different colors = different strings and that messes me up.  That'll take getting used to.  Then there's the difficulty levels.  At the lowest difficulty levels, what they have you playing seems to barely resemble the song in question.  It's like a simplified version of the rhythm of the song rather than anything actually recognizable.  And the lower difficulty levels don't actually build to the higher ones as the note selections in each are completely different.  Gimme the Rocksmith way of dynamically adjusting difficulty ANY DAY.  Finally, There's no way to adjust the volume of stuff in the game, so you can't turn down the actual song to hear yourself better - even in the playback after you're finished.  Terrible decision.  The song selection is mediocre as it's rather small.  A Foreigner track for me, so that's good.  The game itself is very responsive to your playing, however, which is a big plus - no lag at all, even when I'm playing over HDMI.  Overall, not impressed but will keep with the game as I'm always willing to try something that will get me to actually not suck on the guitar but it's also very easy to see why the game went bust in a hurry.

[Jiji]

 

 

 

Watch Dogs is a fun game, but no one involved in making it has ever been anywhere near Chicago.

I'd say that Watch Dogs is a good game, but not necessarily a fun game.  It is basically what would happen if GTA switched all the funny out for vague tech speak, and all the goofiness out for super seriousness.  There is nothing wrong with it, but I can't think of anything that has happened that made me feel like I'm supposed to enjoy my time in the world.

 

Aiden isn't a fun guy, but the game is fun. Hacking stoplights to screw with random NPCs is hilarious. The phone conversations of random NPCs are as funny as anything in GTA (short of Lamar's "n-word" soliloquy and the "hipster" chat) and it's got a better "cheat at poker" minigame than Red Dead Redemption.

I'm having a blast.

There are moments where it's very fun, as you mention, but I would say it's a lot of work to get to the fun. Too much so.

[Tabe]

So I finished Console Wars.  As I stated previously, there's a ton of great information but the book is dragged down by the writing style and the over-the-top pro-Kalinske bias.  The book also misfires on some key points.  It glosses over the release of the 32X after spending a fair amount of time discussing it pre-release.  The book fails to mention how the 32X and its failure led to the tanking of the Saturn, thanks to stores feeling betrayed by Sega giving up on the 32X so quickly.  The book repeatedly bashes us over the head with the "The Saturn sucked!" mantra when, as anybody who actually owned one can tell you, that simply isn't true.  The book also gets some fundamental facts wrong, like basically stating that Sonic the Hedgehog was released for free at launch as part of a Genesis bundle.  That's just...wrong.  The game was released standalone initially, with the bundle coming later.  I know - my game store got copies of Sonic on release day and they sure weren't in a console bundle.  When you mess up a simple fact like that, just so you can push your pro-Kalinske bias, it brings into question everything else.  Still, lots of great info and the stuff on the Mario movie and the Sega Pico are must-reads.  I highly recommend pretty much any video game history book and this one's no exception.  It's really good, just be aware of the bias going in.

[Brisco]

I got my code for the PS Now Beta (on PS4) and started with Hunter's Trophy 2 'Merica. Even on Wifi the game runs pretty smoothly with a few hangups here and there, although this game isn't a real test of the streaming technology. I have found I am a lot better at hunting big game than birds and my strategy in flushing out the birds (ie what direction I am sending them) is my biggest hangup.

 

The greater test for the PS Now is Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a tongue in cheek FPS that is enjoyable if you know about game hacks and stuff of that nature. I am on a boss fight where the streaming has started to get clunky and am unable to get a wired connection where my PS4 is currently located. PS Now looks like they may get my money (over F4W/WO) if a monthly subscription price is right.

[twiztor]

 I highly recommend pretty much any video game history book and this one's no exception.  It's really good, just be aware of the bias going in.

 

what are some of your favorites?

i haven't read any, but anything that covers mid 80s to mid 90s would be what i'm interested in.

[Gonzo]

Animal Crossing. . .

 

We're here.

 

[Tabe]

 

 I highly recommend pretty much any video game history book and this one's no exception.  It's really good, just be aware of the bias going in.

 

what are some of your favorites?

i haven't read any, but anything that covers mid 80s to mid 90s would be what i'm interested in.

 

The discussion starts with the best of 'em all:

 

The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven Kent

 

600+ pages of awesome.  A must-own for any video game fan that can read.

 

 

Others:

 

Replay by Tristan Donovan - Heavily focused on the European game market, which a lot of Americans aren't all that familiar with.  Has an incredibly bad cover design but is a great book.

 

Phoenix by Leonard Herman - Outstanding semi-early work on the industry.  Good luck finding a reasonably-priced copy.

 

Hackers by Steven Levy - This one covers the history of the computer industry, going way back, but has lots of great stuff on early game companies like Broderbund, Sierra, and others.

 

Jacked by David Kushner - Pretty good book covering the creation of the Grand Theft Auto series.

 

 

 

And then, of course, Console Wars.

 

There are lots more I still need to get.  The book on Ocean being a foremost one I still need to get.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Got a 3DS XL.

 

KORG M01-D SYNTHESIZER- okay fine it's not a game fine whatever. It's a keyboard with instrument presets, so it's basically useless to me.

 

CAVE STORY- I now own Cave Story on three platforms, and I am still not tired of it.

 

TOMODACHI LIFE- If your friends are idiots, this game is amazing. My friends are idiots. I have so many awful pictures and miis.

[Tabe]

Oh yeah, there are also books dedicated to the creation of the Xbox, the 360 and the Playstation.  I've read the Xbox one and it's very good.  Haven't read the 360 one yet and haven't bought the Playstation one yet ($$$).  I imagine we'll see PS2/PS3/PS4/Wii/Xbone books before too long.

[Tabe]

 

 I highly recommend pretty much any video game history book and this one's no exception.  It's really good, just be aware of the bias going in.

 

what are some of your favorites?

i haven't read any, but anything that covers mid 80s to mid 90s would be what i'm interested in.

 

In another direction, if that timeframe interests you a lot, pick up issues of Retro Gamer magazine.  It's heavily UK-biased but the interviews and "making of" or "history" pieces are absolutely top-notch.  The publishers have also done "bookazines" covering various systems and compiling back issues.  It's the best gaming magazine since Next Generation died.

[Joe Lucia]

Following up on my Link Between Worlds post from last week - I beat it today. Final tally was one life lost, and that was because I had no idea the flame spitting griffin things on Death Mountain were as absurdly strong as they were. Also, I didn't even need a fairy on the final boss...yikes.

 

It was still a real fun game, but nowhere near the struggle you'd expect from a Zelda game. I still have some heart pieces to get, but fuck it.