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 Guild Wars: Prophecies, released in 2005, was the first game ArenaNet ever developed. It's an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that shares many traits with other games in the genre, but also introduced some interesting things; most importantly maybe that there's no monthly fee for playing this MMO.
If Guild Wars (GW) would've been an offline RPG, its story could've been considered a bit shallow. It is however an online RPG, where story is somewhat less important than the actual online interaction with other players.
You start out as a new recruit of Ascalon, which has been at war with the Charr for years. The Charr are a bunch of savage creatures from the North, who look like upright walking tigers with horns. Suddenly disaster strikes as the Charr launch a massive, magic-fed attack and almost completely overrun Ascalon; an event later called "The Searing". You regain control over your character two years later in the now post-apocalyptic Ascalon where the story further unfolds...
This story is what it should be and drives the main missions well. However, you already get to play with your character before the Searing, all of which serves as a big tutorial. In this tutorial (which can easily take up 10 hours) you learn the basics of combat for all professions and have to choose your secondary profession before you'll get thrown into the actual game.
As with most MMO's, you first get to create your character: male or female, tall or short, brown or blond hair. Also, you immediately have to decide which profession you want to be: ranger, warrior, monk, elementalist, necromancer or mesmer. This is a choice that'll profondly effect your further gameplay, so it's wise to try a few professions first before investing too much time in one that doesn't suit your style of play.
GW features pretty standard gameplay. Each profession can wield any type of weapon, but can only wear its own specific armor. The attributes of each profession are different though, which is why it's best sticking with weaponry suited for you. A ranger, for example, has an attribute called "Marksmanship" which improves damage done with a bow.
You gain attribute points every time you level up, until level 20, the maximum level. Different than in most MMO's, getting your character to the maximum level doesn't take hundreds of hours, but can be completed within 50-60 hours on your first playthrough. (Incredibly fast for a game of this type) Also armor and weapons which feature maximum stats aren't that rare, giving GW quite a unique perspective on achievements compared to most MMO's.
In GW, the real goals are titles which you can display under your name. These can range from obvious ones as "Champion", "Hero" or "Explorer" to "Drunkard", "Party Animal" or "Unlucky". Some of these are relatively easy to complete but most take tens or hundreds of hours, some almost a thousand hours to complete. Craziest title of all is "Legendary Defender of Ascalon". To achieve this title you need to get to level 20 in the tutorial area (before The Searing) which requires you to make enemies level up by letting yourself die over and over again. A perfect example of playing the game without actually playing it, something that can be said of alot of the titles in this game.
To advance through the world you'll have to explore Explorable Areas (what's in a name) by yourself or in a party, making your way from outpost to outpost. Some of these areas are linked to specific missions, which also push the main story along. Don't worry though, because the other areas are filled with NPC's giving you lots of FedEx quests to gain some more experience. GW's world map is huge; exploring it alone takes hundreds of hours.
In these explorable areas, you'll come across the unavoidable monsters, which drop some gold or items for you to pick up. Every profession has different abilities, which you collect along the way. Only 8 abilities can be used at the same time, making for some strategic tactics when putting together the ultimate set of abilities.
Graphically, GW is great, with nice characters and monsters and interesting and diverse scenery. I think the water is particulary nice, even maybe by today's standards.
Music and sound are pretty standard, same goes for the voice work; although there are some catchy musical themes. It's not mind-blowing, but never gets on your nerves aswell. (Very important for a game that never ends)
Now to discuss my theory on MMORPG's as a genre, and something that GW suffers from too. The problem with an MMO is you're either addicted or you're not. There's no middle way. (Atleast not for me)
When you're addicted, the game you're playing is the greatest game ever and you don't want to play anything but that game. With objectives (in GW's case: titles) taking hundreds or thousands of hours to complete, you can easily spend a whole year on an MMO, completely submurged in the game and everything about it.
However, once that addiction fades it's hard to stay interested, because games like GW or WoW are specifically made so they're only fun when played alot. Finding the motivation to perform these long, tedious tasks becomes much harder without that obsessive drive aswell.
As a conclusion I can say that Guild Wars is a great game in its genre, but it's still an MMORPG, so beware! Once you're hooked, you might not play another game anymore for months. Don't say I didn't warn you... 8.5/10
The search for good places to buy games is often a difficult one. Many choose to buy their games solely without the help of the internet, which may include game stores and yard sales, while others rely on it almost entirely. Others still, rely on a combination of the three; some stores in your area, some yard sales, and some online buys. This blog is to help you decide what online stores you should use. Also, I may review some stores in the Chicago area, but that most certainly will NOT apply to everyone. Let's Begin!!!
eStarland is awesome. Plain and simple. Many may have not shopped via this wonderful site, but I have, and the result was nothing short of AWESOME.
- Selection: You can't have a good store without having a good selection of merchandise, can you? Well, they do! From the new consoles (Wii, PS3, 360, PS2, DS, GBA), to the old classics (NES, SNES, Genesis), to the oddballs (Neo Geo, 5200), they have IT ALL! 5/5
- Prices: Nothing short of good. Notice I didn't say great, because on somethings, they overcharge. Many sites do, but I am not willing to pay $35 for a Genesis, plus shipping. On some items, the prices can't be beat. On others, it is worse than abysmal. 3.5/5
- Customer Service: Quite good. I had a question, and sent them an e-mail. One day later, I got a clear and concise answer. I was very pleased. But, they do have a customer service chat line that never seems to be online... 4.5/5
- Shipping Charges: Again, good, but not great. Shipping for the first item is $4, and each is $1 after that. But, they do offer other shipping methods such as Express ETC., ETC. 4.5/5
- Shipping Time/Turnaround Time/Packaging: Amazing. That is all I have to say. I got my package 3 days after payment went through, and it is advertised as "2-7 Days, 24 hour processing time". And, for the safe arrival of your games, they shrink wrap them all, for your satisfaction. 5/5
Now, my success story...
I ordered a copy of Corpse Killer for the 32XCD. It was advertised as "USED - Complete". For only $5, I couldn't resist. But, I was tempted to buy the "NEW" copy, for only $11. I went ahead and bought the Used copy. A few days later, my package arrives. Looking through my goodies, I notice that Corpse Killer has a different type of wrap on it, and its even shrink wrapped different. I rip that sucker off, and what do I find inside? A NEW GAME!!! Complete with the registration card, and even the tattoo! The game disk smells new, and looks virgin, as though it has never been played.
All I know is, I have had a great experience through them. They get a well earned 22.5/25!!!
Have any of you guys (or gals) ever had a success story with them? Maybe a horrendous experience? Leave a comment, post a blog, PM me! But don't just sit there!! 
You know, I hear that Samba de Amigo is coming out for the Wii soon. Might be coming out on September 23 of this year in the US. Should be a lot of fun, but then I am a biased source. I love rhythm games. Probably now my favorite genre of games, either that or Sims, and Samba De Amigo is a quality experience, well, at least it was on the Dreamcast. Fortunately for those of you who never played it on a Dreamcast, it is coming out on the Wii, and it's coming out soon. Personally, I am enthralled by the thought of playing this game, I hope you will be too after playing this mini game, located after the jump.
Continue reading Samba de Amigo is going to be Awesome... Again
Antimind is one of the original founders of RF Generation. Love homebrew? Why not read more, and check out her shrine to DS homebrew.
Nintendo's DS is awesome. The problem is the overflow of crap commercial games. The DS is capable of (and deserves) far better material. Enter homebrew games and applications.
How does video game trivia sound? Good? Awesome! It's available on DS. Wish you could play PC first-person shooters on the go? You can do that too. How about having a portable classic game library? Check! You can also play hundreds of otherwise unheard of games. Everything from puzzle collections to RTS with wifi play and leaderboards.
Want to play Japanese games in English? You can do that too thanks to homebrew. You can also turn your DS into a feature packed PDA. Want to read comics on the go? How about chatting on IRC? Done and done!
Check out my Homebrew Guide for the previously mentioned goodness and more. I've even included a Homebrew For Idiots guide. What are you waiting for? Unlock your DS's potential today!
Hey there. If you're here, you're likely either a gamer or collector, but some of you might actually have other interests, and enjoy doing other things as well. I know that I sure do. One of the fun things that we do around here is about this time every year we have a fantasy football league. It's a good time, and we all have fun doing it. The question is... why aren't you doing it? You too could join in all the fun and potential smack talk just like the rest of us. It's really a good time, and we hope to see you there.
The strength of last week carries over into this week as well with the launch of a game that's been in development for 10 years, the first true sequel to Galaga, and a bite-sized follow up to one of the greatest PS3 games.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | ... | •Smash Court Tennis 3
•Too Human | ... | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive) | •Commando Steel Disaster | ... |
 Not a big list, but there's a lot of great stuff coming out. First is Too Human, the long in development Action RPG from Silicon Knights and The Canadian Loudmouth, Denis Dyack. In case you don't know, Too Human is an third person action/Dungeon Crawler RPG. I played the demo last week, and my impressions were that it was pretty fun, but chances are that the game could get very boring if it's stretched out to (supposedly) 10 or more hours. Not to mention replaying the game with all the various classes. So, I'd check out some footage or the demo if you're unsure about it. The buzz so far has been very mixed.
Also coming this week is the stunning sequel to Galaga, Galaga Legions. Galaga Legions is like the original game, but with several new features that change up the gameplay. What those features are, nobody really knows outside of a greater emphasis on combos, multidirectional attacks, and some serious bullet hell patterns. The game was made by the same team at Namco-Bandai that did last year's Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is an incredible game. So considering the team and the INCREDIBLE footage released so far, this game should be a winner.
 The final highlight this week is Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty for the Playstation 3. This pirate themed downloadable follow-up to last year's installment is a 3-4 hour experience with a heavier emphasis on platforming and puzzle solving than seen in the most recent games in the series. Insomniac has also introduced several new gameplay elements into the game including the ability for Ratchet to pick up and manipulate objects with his wrench, puzzles involving shadows, and more. What's awesome about this game is that it has all the polish and graphics of a $60 game, but as a 2GB download for only $15! I'm sure a lot of you would bitch about the $15 price, but I'm willing to pay that price in order to support Insomnaic and what they are doing. Hopefully this sells well enough to warrant future downloadable episodes.
Have a great week everyone.
 Gran Turismo. One of the names most associated with the Playstation-brand whose popularity is met by only a couple other franchises out there. In 1998, with the release of the original Gran Turismo came the DualShock, probably the most recognizable modern-day game pad there is and something that shows how big an impact this series has had.
Gran Turismo 3: A-spec (2001) was the first racer Polyphony Digital released to the world to show what the Playstation 2 was capable of. With Gran Turismo 4 (2005), Polyphony Digital tried to realise what they couldn't with part 3.
Let's start out with what is new. Immediate eyecatcher is the highly needed, slick new menu layout. Every screen in the game feels like it's part of a bigger whole and the same fonts, colors and icons are used throughout. This gives GT4 a much more streamlined feel, aswell as provide easier mobility while navigating through the game's massive options.
As usual, there's an Arcade Mode where you can do single races, time trials or go up against others in a 2-player splitscreen or LAN. The not-so-interesting Replay Theatre is back aswell, but most important still is the Gran Turismo mode, the place where you'll spend 98% of your time.
Here, you'll immediately notice the difference in layout, with much more icons than in the past. In the classic home screen, the garage has become much more flexible for searching through your collection of cars with listing categories like country, power-to-weight ratio and so on. You'll also notice your "diary" which is nothing more than a log of your purchases and race results.
In GT4, races are devided into much more categories than before. The beginner, professional and expert races make a return, but new are the country- and manufacturer-specific races. There are, for example, Japanese, American and European events, while you have to go to the manufacturers to see if there are model-specific races available.
One thing in which GT4 excels is content: There's over 700 cars and 50 tracks in the game, making it a much bigger game than GT3. The same however was true for GT2 compared to GT1, probably because the developer has more time for their second release on each console. New this time are all the classic cars from the 50ies and beyond, aswell as some crazy concept cars and some of the first cars ever made. To make things easier in the beginning of the game, you can buy used cars of all ages. However, there's so many races to do and cars to collect in this game, it'll take you weeks (or even months) to finish it.
Also new are the B-spec and Photo mode. In B-spec mode you don't drive yourself but assist an AI driver by giving him/her directions (accelerate, break, etc...) for what to do next. Photo mode is (as the name indicates) a mode in which you can take pictures of your favorite cars, put them on a USB stick and print them out if you want.
Now for the actual driving. (This is where opinions will clash the most concerning GT4) Depending from what you, the gamer, expect from a racing-game, you'll either love GT4 or you won't. If you're looking for adrenaline-pumping, faster-than-lightning races with brutal competition, chances are big you won't like GT4. If, however, you're looking for a realistic (and therefor sometimes a bit boring) driving simulator, you'll find GT4 (almost) everything you're longing for.
When it comes to simply simulating driving, GT4 is fan-tas-tic. Especially when turning off electronic aids you'll be able to really show what you're made of. Couple this with the rich content and you can already justify buying GT4. However, there's some bad sides to the game aswell, quite a few actually...
For starters, there's no online play. This'll surely dissapoint alot of people wanting to test their skills against others online, who don't have a racing friend nearby.
Secondly, the AI is as dumb as ever. The other cars (still only 5) always drive in the perfect racing line, almost never miss a turn and stay together as a group unless there are major differences in the cars' performances. A third complaint is the fact that you can still use cars ahead of you as airbags for taking sharp corners aswell as ride off-track on several courses. (Apricot Hill, anyone?)
A penalty system has been introduced in the Dirt & Snow events, making you drive 50km/h for 5 seconds if you hit the other car, however, sometimes you get a penalty for the other car hitting you! These Dirt & Snow events are another thing that bothers me in GT4. Instead of them being realistic (like, say: Colin Mcrae) you feel like you're trying to manoeuvre a bar of soap on a wet plastic surface, constantly sliding towards the sides unless you break like mad. Although the B-spec mode sounds like a nice new feature at first, it's boring as hell and I really don't see the fun of not driving yourself.
Lastly, there's still no damage model, but it depends on what you expect from a driving simulator if that's a bad thing or not.
On the bright side, both graphics and sound are perfect in GT4, with beautiful cars and circuits aswell as realistic engine sounds. The soundtrack is elaborate although I'm not sure it'll appeal to all with mostly rock songs. Luckily, you can customize it in the "jukebox" so you only have to listen to the songs you like. Especially graphically, you can see the improvements made since GT3 with nicer cars, reflections and lighting. Especially the clouds seem to have been improved, showing much more detail than before. The addition of a new over-the-hood view of your car is very welcome, bring the best of the other 2 views together.
Scoring GT4 is difficult because it really depends on what you expect from it. I'd personally give it a 8.8 or maybe even a 9.0 out of 10 but considering the many faults this game has I'll give it a more diplomatic 8.2/10.
This weekend turned out to be a very big letdown in terms of the trophies I found. The weather was absolutely perfect, not too hot, not too cold, sunny but not overly sunny. I knew, however that it wouldn't be a spectacular weekend simply because I could only put in half a day of saling on Saturday as we had to go to my uncle's for a cookout at 11:00. Oh well, I may not have gotten a lot of games, but I got drunk on free beer and had a fun night.
So, here are my treasures.
Playstation Games
Paid $5 for all of them.
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Yep, that's all the gaming related swag from this weekend. The flea market had a ton of people, but none of them had anything good. Although I did see a loose Maxi 15, but it was $50, way too much for me.
Non-gaming related finds weren't much better.
Non-Gaming Finds
The Def Leppard CD was $1, the blanks CDs were in a trash can at one sale, so I grabbed them. They are all like new.
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On the way to the flea market, we stopped at a single garage sale, everything was drastically marked down, things that were marked $2 were now marked $0.25, and they said everything was half what it was marked. These are the sales I LOVE, people just want to get rid of their extra stuff. There wasn't much there I wanted, except a large box of men's clothes, 99% of them are my close enough to my size, so I paid the $0.50 they wanted for the box. Some of the stuff is like new and nothing is in bad shape. But, once I got home, I realized there was some other things in the box. Like a couple old credit card statements (with these people's credit card and social security numbers and other stuff. Luckily for them, I shredded the stuff and then burned it. Same as I would do if it were mine. There were also a couple "personal" photos of them 
And some of you more astute readers, will notice that I changed my format quite a bit. Marriot_Guy really helped me out with it and I think it looks great, but I'd like to get an opinion from my readers of how you guys like the new format, so feel free to comment on that since my finds were so pitiful.
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
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