Getting poll results. Please wait...
Playability vs CollectibilityLet's say you bought a duplicate of a game, so now you've got two of the exact same game. One looks like garbage: the label is torn and dirty, but plays perfectly. On the other hand, the other one looks like it's in mint condition, but it just will not play. Which would you keep if you could
only keep one?
For the sake of argument, let's say it's a game where you can not simply switch the boards from one game to another.
Would your opinion change if it was a game you know you would never play? Or a game that you'd play so much you'd certainly ruin the label anyway?
After reading a very interesting article in a Dutch games magazine I would like to know what you guys think that should be done in the future concerning the lenght of videogames.
At the Games Education Summit (Dallas) in July,
Warren Spector (known for games like Wing Commander, Thief and Deux Ex; see picture) stated that 100-hours singleplayer games are a thing of the past. He also said that
only 2% of the people who have played GTA4 actually finished it. If he means by "finished it" getting 100% complete, I'm sure it's even less.
RPGs are probably the "worst" kind of games when it comes to being overly lengthy. Recent games like
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion or
Final Fantasy 12 come to mind. They often take up 60 hours to finish the main storyline alone and go well over 100 hours if you want to finish all sidequests, defeat all monsters and get that strongest weapon. (Don't get me wrong, I love RPGs)
As you all know, making videogames is no longer cheap. Especially with the next generation consoles and their fabulous physics and visuals, production times get longer and the costs are getting higher. Spending $40.000.000 to develop a videogame isn't anything spectacular anymore and companies are strugling to make a profit like they used to do 5-10 years ago. Especially when your game stands in the shadow of a Triple A title, sales can't always make up for the costs.
If most gamers stop playing GTA4 at 40%; that basically means 60% of the game's content is money down the drain.
Would you like to see shorter games, knowing that most (read: the not-so-hardcore) gamers don't finish these games? Wouldn't it be great if companies could make games for less money and therefor take some more risks? It would mean more diverse games for us for sure.
Do you really want the Full HD graphics and 7.1 surround? Maybe some gamers do, but the rest of us are forced to walk the same path. I wonder why nobody seems to have the guts to make an HD 16-bit style 2D RPG for Xbox360 or PS3. If the story was good and the gameplay rock-solid, wouldn't that make for an amazing game?
Note: I've reposted this on the forums because I wanted to make a poll about it. You can find the poll
here.
Well, another week with a late blog post. Our county fair was this past week and I wasn't home from Friday until today, so this was the earliest I could get it written up. Unfortunately, because I was at the fair all weekend, I didn't get to go treasure hunting this weekend. My dad went without me, and he was instructed to call me if he found anything, but he supposedly didn't see anything.
However, I was able to stop at a sale between classes on Thursday. It was a massive "tent sale" but I didn't see much that I wanted. I got a pair of big old truck horns for $1 each, but neither ended up working. Luckily, before I left, the guy says that there is a Nintendo and an Xbox in a trailer outside the tent. So I walk over and find this stuff:
The SNES stuff was marked $25 for it all, the Xbox and hookups were $35 and the Xbox games were $1 each. All very acceptable prices, but I figured I could do better. I offered $50, which they accepted. However, since I wasn't planning on garage saling at that moment, I didn't have $50 on me, so I had them put it aside and told them I'd be back to pay. Which worked out pretty well because she didn't have the power cord, but by the time I came back with the cash, she had it.
So, now I finally have my own Xbox. All I need is a SMS and I'll be satisfied with the consoles I have for a long time now.
There was also three boxes with a boxed 4 switch VCS and a loose 6 switch, plus several boxed games and a couple dozen loose games (all commons, only a couple I don't have) and a few other old electronic stuff for $20. I thought about buying it, but it was just too dirty for me. I knew I would end throwing half of it away and the other half would need to be fumigated for cockroaches, so I left it.
Hey, I bet you like games. You're here, right? Chances are that you even have a computer. In fact, I'd almost guarantee that you have a computer. Anyways, on a rare occasion, some people like to give out something truly awesome for free. You see, as a kid, I really enjoyed the game Red Alert. It was a fun time spent playing as the Soviets, reeking havoc on the allied bases and infantry with MiGs and Tesla Coils. Oh my oh my, good times to be had. So yes, imagine my surprise to find out that EA, the cold corporation you love to hate, has decided to let you
download Red Alert for
free. That's right... free. How can you turn down free? I bet you can't and you'll use the link below to get the game as quickly as humanly possible.
Get Red Alert for Free (Scroll Down Page)
Our databases would be nothing without the submissions of our members. Thanks to the submissions of our members, we can say that RF Generation is THE Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.
August saw lots of submissions - 2962, to be exact. Lots of people helped to make us have 2962 new submissions, and this month, Funk_Buddy kicked ass and took names with 840 submissions! Way to go! We really appreciate it! Rounding out the top 3 were Apolloboy and NES_Rules, and our top non-staff submitter was eaglebeak99! Of course, while these four people submitted a lot of data, they are not the only submitters, and we'd like to thank everyone who submitted, including the following people who made 50 or more submissions:
Funk_Buddy, ApolloBoy, NES_Rules, eaglebeak99, Tan, ga5ket, NayusDante, Sirgin, totalgridlock, Alabama-Shrimp, Darth Sidious, blcklblskt
Of course, for all the submissions, someone must review them all. This month, Tan was the excellent gentleman who reviewed your submissions the most. NES_Rules also helped out a lot. Thanks you two and everyone else on staff that helped with submissions!
From all of us at RF Generation, thanks for the awesome August! Here's hoping for an even better September!
Thanks for the submissions, all!
The fall release season marches on this week...if you're a PS3/360 owner. The rest of you get nothing much at all. Here's the lineup:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii |
•FaceBreaker
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species
| •FaceBreaker
•Infinite Undiscovery
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
•Warhammer: Battle March | •Rapala Fishing Frenzy ($10 more than the PS3/360 version?!) |
| PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 |
| ... | •Picto Image | •Mercenaries 2: World in Flames |
This is actually a pretty good week considering how early it is in the season. Mercenaries 2 is the sequel to the 2005 PS2/XBox original, and expands on its sandbox style of gameplay. This new installment features enhanced physics (powered by the ever-popular Havok engine), the ability to light things on fire, swimming (along with boats as an added vehicle type), air support, a grappling hook, and more. I haven't played the first game, but the new installment looks pretty neat.
Next up is a game that I have tried, Facebreaker. This is the first game to be published under EA's new label: EA Sports Freestyle. Freestyle, as explained by EA Sports head, Peter Moore, provides
"a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports." Enough with the businessy talk, the game is pretty damned fun based on the demo. It's a simplified version of EA's own Fight Night series but with cartoony characters and a humorous tone, much like Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast. FaceBreaker is nothing outstanding, but it certainly should be worth getting when the price drops to around $20 or $30. If you're interested in the game, give the demo on PSN or Xbox Live a shot.
Next up: Infinite Undiscovery, the much anticipated (
) Xbox 360 exclusive RPG from Square-Enix (that's something you don't see every day). I honestly don't care about this game, I only highlighted it for Square fanboys (the most annoying variety) so that they don't totally deride me and rip me to shreds.
Finally, the true follow-up to possibly the greatest game on the 360 comes out this week. That's right, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. The new game includes 30 new species, new areas, and an Eye of Judgment
rip-off like feature which allows you to scan cards using a Live Vision camera and get new Piñatas that way. But unlike Eye of Judgment, Rare is actually going to be making these cards free on their website and maybe bundled with promotional partner products.
That's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time!
Now this is a review on Mortal Kombat that this guy, Sizzler07 on youtube did. This has got to be the worst video game review of a video game that ive ever seen! I dont even think that he has even played the game before he turned the camera on himself! He says that the game shouldnt have ever been ported from the arcade. He also has done a Contra review that was even removed because he bashed the game so heavily that people were creating so many video responses and flaming his review. The MK review pissed me off so badly, and it may even piss off some of the most hardcore MK fans. Anyway, just watch it.
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/km57jhEStKY&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/km57jhEStKY&rel=0</a>]]>
Maximo: Ghosts To Glory (2002) is Capcom's effort in trying to create a modern platform game with the classic Ghosts 'N Goblins feel to it. The game was originally planned for release on the Nintendo 64, but after being delayed a couple of years it found itself on the PS2 instead.
When starting a new game you'll see Maximo returning home after war in a nice CGI cutscene. Things aren't exactly as he had hoped because Achille has taken over his kingdom and opened the door to the underworld. To make matters worse, Achille has captured four princesses aswell as Maximo's wife, Sophia. With a devastation spell, Achille sends Maximo to the underworld where he's given a chance by the Grim Reaper to resque the princesses and regain control over his kingdom.
Despite being a difficult game, the gameplay of Maximo isn't complicated at all. Maximo is restricted to four moves: a basic swing of his sword, a power strike, a downward strike after double-jumping and throwing his shield. When venturing through the five worlds of the game you'll encounter different enemies that each require a unique combination of moves to defeat.
Knowing how to defeat each enemy is critical for your success, because just like in games of the past, Maximo dies after only a couple of hits. Furthermore, you need 100 coins each time you want to save; which is only possible in the central hub-level of each world. If Maximo happens to loose all his lives he'll return to the underworld where the Grim Reaper will ask for a Death Coin to revive the fallen hero. A Death Coins is obtained by collecting 50 Blue Spirits. If you die without any Death Coins, it's game over for good. All of this results in a game that's far more difficult than other platform games on the PS2, or even modern games in general.
Needless to say, Maximo will require a lot of trial & error, figuring out how to defeat certain enemies or remembering where the next armor chest is located.
To make things less repetitive, Maximo will find abilities along the way aswell as power-ups for his sword and shield. Some abilities are almost vital to survive (like the double swing or throw shield abilities) while others aren't of much use throughout most of the game (like Thunderbolt) The sword power-ups however always come in handy, as they make Maximo's sword stronger and are needed for certain abilities. To get the most out of these abilities it's best not to die, because Maximo looses all but a few "locked" ones when faced with death.
Each world features five levels that are to be completed to gain access to the world's boss and the next world eventually. Each level has its own difficult moments but luckily a couple of checkpoints can be activated, so death doesn't necessarily mean starting all the way from the beginning of the level. After clearing a level you'll get a great feeling of success that is hardly present anymore in most modern games.
Maximo's graphics match its old-school gameplay in a sense that everything (except the character models) looks a bit blocked and flat. Often, walls or floors aren't more than a single huge polygon with a texture slapped onto it, clearly showing Maximo's history on the N64. This never bothers me because Maximo is intended to feel like a 16-bit era game. On the other hand, character models are detailed and animations are fast and smooth.
The sound of the game does the job well, with nice sound effects and good voice-acting for the (scarce) CGI cutscenes. I especially like the the game's music that enhances its classic mood aswell as each world at the same time. A couple more songs would have been nice though.
Overall, Maximo is a double-edged sword. Novice gamers will be frustrated with the game's trial & error gameplay and cumbersome save system while old-school gamers will love the game's nostalgic feel. If you're up for a challenge, like platform games or like 16-bit games, be sure to check out Maximo: Ghosts To Glory.
8.6/10
This should be Treasure Hunt Chronicles #18, but I accidentally erased it, please forgive me. Although I guess it is 3 weeks old at this point, so why are you reading it anyway, go read the new one!
Hope you've braced yourself because the onslaught of new games starts to ramp up this week! RPG fans have two great "next-gen" games to look forward to this week, and golf fans get the latest installment of EA's Tiger Wood series. Nintendo fans also get in on the action this week with a new Mario sports game...and a shit ton of shovelware. Think this week is loaded? HA! It's only gonna get worse as we approach the holiday season.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii |
•Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
•Ferrari Challenge
•Tiger Woods 09
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species | •Tales of Vesperia
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Ferrari Challenge
•Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
•Mario Super Sluggers
•Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
•Rebel Raiders
•Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
•Tiger Woods 09 |
| PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 |
•Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive)
•N+
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Commando Steel Disaster
•Digimon World Championship
•Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•From the Abyss
•Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
•My Chinese Coach
•N+
•Picto Image
•The Quest Trio
•The Sims 2 Apartment Pets | •Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•Tiger Woods 09 |
So, highlights this week include Tales of Vesperia, Disgaea 3, Tiger Woods 09, Mario Super Sluggers, and N+. I'm not going to spend a lot of time detailing each title, but I'll give you a brief rundown of them all. Tales of Vesperia, fun JRPG (holy shit, an RPG I like...at least based on the demo), latest in the Tales series, fans start screaming kawaii now. Disgaea 3: latest in the JSRPG (that's Japanese Strategy RPG for short) series, weeaboos rejoice and have a seat, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Tiger Woods 09: You know what this is about, more golf and
jesus shots. Mario Super Sluggers: more casual games from Nintendo, thanks Cammie! N+: It's like
the original PC/Mac/Linux or
Xbox Live Arcade game on the go, you can't go wrong.
You know, coding a game progress tracker is a lot of work. God knows when it will be finished, but to keep myself from going crazy, I like to play Guitar Hero. See, I like rhythm games. In fact, I like them a lot! They might form my favorite genre, and I wholeheartedly look forward to future releases like Samba De Amigo and Guitar Hero: World Tour. I don’t know what it is about rhythm games, but I find them utterly addictive and extremely enjoyable. Perhaps you hold the same opinion, or maybe you don’t. The latter is cool, except that some people in that group take their reasoning to the extreme, and it makes me angry.
See, I used to be a musician. A band geek, so to speak. In addition to being a band geek, I also wore broken plastic glasses, a monochrome short-sleeved shirt, and a pocket protector in the shirt pocket. Just ask the Black Perl, he’d vouch for that. You know, we band geeks are
horribly nerdy. That must have been why the jocks always beat the crap out of me and my friends. But, aside from being an über nerd, being a musician gave me a love for all things musical. Can I still play a saxophone or clarinet? Hell if I know, but I can still play my recorder. But, it was a good time, and being a musician gave me some skill sets that others just don’t have.
So, I was a musician, marching in Ohio’s Finest (Only) All-Male Marching Band. I am proficient in reading music sheets, and if I practiced (and I don’t), I could probably become a decent musician once more. I really enjoy my musical prowess to a certain extent, but that certainly doesn’t exclude me from liking things that bastardize music. What could possibly bastardize music? Why, rhythm games, of course, and this bastardization make some of you very unhappy.
Continue reading The Cynical Gamer #9: Rhythm Whining
Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) is a 2005 game released by Quantic Dream. With the studio's second release they wanted to create a truly cinematic game and let me tell you: they succeeded.
This week is one full of possibly great games that are flying under the radar...along with a game that is going to be freaking huge. First up is the new game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind The Sims and SimCity. That game is Spore for Windows and Mac. What is Spore? It's a life simulation game like The Sims, but with a much larger scope. In the game, you design a species and oversee their evolution from single cell organisms to intelligent creatures. During this time you will guide the species through many phases including Tribal, Civilization, and Space. Once you reach the Space Age, you will be able to travel to the planets of other players and interact with their civilzation by trying to make peace or attacking them. I am so very interested in this game due to the fact that it could be the deepest game ever conceived. I just hope my PC is able to run it. Hopefully PC gamers actually buy this game and support EA instead of pirating it and contributing to the downfall of PC gaming.
It's official, my listing here RF Generation states I currently own exactly 1000 games! The collection in itself had been moving slowly lately, lingering within the last fifty through spring and summer. I should mention that Thursday September 4, not today (Saturday?), was the date that this