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Pier Solar and the Great Architect is an entirely new Japanese style RPG currently in development for the Sega Genesis by Watermelon Development, a group who is dedicated to breathing some new life into the long dead console by releasing some new and original content.
Continue reading A Look Ahead: Pier Solar and the Great Architect
Just play it. The load is worth the wait. Simply the BEST Flash Shmup that I have ever come a crossed.
http://heriet.info/swf/fgf08_pararalyzer/
Pararalyzer.
Play. Now. You are compelled to.
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Posted on Jan 23rd 2009 at 05:02:17 AM by ( Nionel) Posted under News |
Welcome to my new gaming blog, here I'll share with you which games I'm playing, deals I've found, new finds for my collection, and my own personal reviews that I'll write for every game I beat!
Well, feel free to comment with any questions or well...comments you might have, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you'll keep coming back once I have a bit more content.
God, it's been a while. Have you missed my Cynical Nature? My friends would tell you that I can be quite the Cynical Bastard, but in recent history I've moved to a new state and my Cynical Nature has been placed on the back burner as real issues consume my life. Life is good and all, and while I've been furloughed for four days I still have a job and that's fantastic.
Lucky for those of you that enjoy my Cynical Nature, I am writing this article. I mean there's plenty of things to be cynical about if you're American. For the sake of this article I'll keep it to limited to gaming. Let's jump into a few of those topics, after all it's been a while and some things have certainly happened.
Continue reading The Cynical Gamer #11: Uh?
There's a reason why I haven't done this in three weeks, you'll see why. Here's the release list for the last three weeks.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | • Lord of the Rings: Conquest | • Lord of the Rings: Conquest | • Deal Or No Deal
• Fishing Master World Tour
• Hotel for Dogs
• Neighborhood Games
• Paws and Claws Pet Resort | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | NOTHING
PC
• Cartoon Network Universe: Fusion Fall
• Delta Force 10th Anniversary Collection
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Mirror's Edge | • Bigfoot: Collision Course
• Elebits: The Adventures of Kai & Zero
• Hotel for Dogs
• Inkheart
• Jumble Madness
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Moon
• Paws and Claws Pampered Pets
• Personal Trainer: Math | NOTHING |
 Very exciting for not doing it in such a long time, I know. First thing worth mentioning is Mirror's Edge on the PC. If you have a good gaming PC and haven't experienced the game yet, please do so. Mirror's Edge is easily one of the five best games of last year. Yeah, the game is technically "short", but it never feels short. The pacing and length feels perfect. After you beat the game, there's plenty more to do, such as speedruns on all the game's levels and trying to beat your friend's scores on the online leaderboards. Please, don't skip this game. Give EA your support by buying the game. Let them know that they are truly headed down the right direction with innovative, original titles like Mirror's Edge.
The other title worth talking about is Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero for the DS. In case you don't know, I'm like one of two people that actually bought and enjoyed the first Elebits game on the Wii, so I was intrigued when I heard there was a DS version coming. A few weeks ago, I downloaded the demo to my DS from the Nintendo Channel on the Wii and played through it. I thought it was pretty fun, but repetitive and nowhere near as good as the original. What's different about the DS version is that it's structured more like an RPG/Adventure rather than a puzzle game. I'm not really sure what else to say about it. It's merely a decent game that's kinda fun. I certainly wouldn't rush out and buy it right now, but maybe when it hits $10 or so in a few months.
Check back very soon for this week's releases!
So here's the REAL story of what happened to Evan Grant Mondesanto and Ulysses Prant the First.
 So, what happened, Circuit City? In the eighties your service was state of the art! You even said so yourself! So why is it that a few days ago you decided to liquidate all assets, which in layman's terms means to close. Certainly it wasn't the fact that in the nineties you failed to update your incredibly dreary stores to fit new retail trends. While Best Buy had bright and inviting stores your stores continued to look like the dark, black abodes of sleazy electronics salesmen that was supposed to be a relic of the eighties. Might that have helped in bringing your downtown? Possibly, but who can be certain.
You tried to change, Circuit City. Your new stores look like a Best Buy ripoff, except instead of blue they are red. Too bad though that your changes we too little, too late. By the time you chose to adapt, Best Buy was already dominating the market, and there was little room for you to catch up. When we entered the second Great Depression, you were screwed.
So here we are today. Circuit City is closing. I'd shed a tear, but I worked at Best Buy and I loved it. I mean sure Best Buy has a few screw ups here or there, but Circuit City failed over the whole decade. And of course there are now the massive liquidation sales going on, but as The Consumerist states - Be Careful! Liquidators mark up items to their original prices or higher just so they can be "marked down" 30%. Sometimes, you might even spend more money on the item during the liquidation. Also, if you have Circuit City gift cards, you might want to spend them now.
Goodbye, Circuit City. You're service may have been state of the art in the eighties, but your inability to adapt coupled with the second Great Depression has killed you off. You won't be missed.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the turning point in Sega's history. Released roughly one year after it's predecessor, Sonic 1, on Nov 21, 1992 in Japan, and Nov 24, 1992 in North America and Europe, Sonic 2 can be designated as the spark that ignited the major console wars between Nintendo and Sega. Only mere months after its release, Sega's market share had skyrocketed to an astonishing 50+%. This review will tell you why.
In the beginning of the game, we are greeted with the familiar chorus of 'SEGA', followed by a Sonic Team logo. After this fades out, the Sonic 2 logo begins to fade in. But wait! What, or rather who is that?! It is none other than the latest addition to the then young Sonic franchise, Miles 'Tails' Prower. In this game, you are given the ability to play as Sonic, Sonic & Tails, or just Tails. Whether or not Tails was a good addition to the game is a matter of much debate. You will find out my opinion later.
Learning Curve:
Come on... It's a Sonic game! Press A, B, or C to jump, and down A, B, or C to spindash. Easy to learn, difficult to master. 5/5
 Gameplay:
Gameplay in this game is great if you are playing as the Sonic & Tails duo, and brilliant if you are just Sonic. Why? Tails is just an idiot, plain and simple. He tends to botch up what you are doing, and when you actually need his help, he doesn't give it to you! However, the little 'Tails' problem will not detract from the gameplay. What makes the score rebound is what all Sonic fans know and love, Spindash. Introduced in Sonic 2, the Spindash is an iconic symbol of Sonic's speed. Overall, gameplay is quick, quirky, fun, and simple, just as a Sonic game should be. 5/5
Level Design/Replay Value:
Sonic 2 greets you with all new levels that are more zany than his first installment. If we look ahead a few years, to Sonic CD, I personally say that if Sonic CD has THE best levels of a Sonic game, Sonic 2 is a close second. Twists and turns will get you lost instantaneously, and the fun just never quits. Hidden passages and more points will keeps you playing again and again. 5/5
Music:
There are many songs in the video game world that you just can't forget. SMB: Overworld Theme, Metroid, Kirby, Legend of Zelda, the list goes on and on. Well, add Sonic 2 to that list. After a bout of Sonic 2 gaming, you will catch yourself humming these 'catchy' tunes! From Zone 1 to Zone 7, they're all great! 5/5
In conclusion, Sonic 2 is one of THE best Sonic games out there, and definatly deserves the official designation of a Classic Masterpiece.
20/20 or 100%
Now, I like game music, and Super Mario Galaxy had some damn good music. Of that music, I probably like the Buoy Base Galaxy theme the best. It's certainly one of the better pieces of music of this current game generation.
Now, music is great and all, but wouldn't it be greater if it could be manifested through Mario Paint? Well, thank god it can, thank god that it can.
Random Review: Dead Rising
My last review was a Famicom game, this one is 20 years newer and a totally different experience, but still a blast. Dead Rising was released August 8th 2006 for the Xbox 360 and at the time, was an exclusive for that system. It has since been announced that it will be coming to the Wii as "Dead Rising: Chop 'til You Drop". This game is huge and as my reviewing skills are not top notch yet, I probably will be excluding portions, but I'm trying more for a overall experience review anyway.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/watermark.php?type=bf;ID=U-115-S-00550-A&sizex=200[/img]
The Plot:
The plot of the game is essentially: you (an independent photojournalist, Frank West) come to a small isolated town via helicopter and after the US military forces your pilot to drop you off on the roof of the mall, you soon realize the town is infested with zombies. All you know is that you want to cover the story and the helicopter will return in 3 days. Through the game, you will uncover the mystery of the zombie outbreak if you do everything correctly, but if you don't finish a mission in time, the facts will be lost to you (and the rest of the world) forever. But, you can still finish the game and get a sub-par ending that inevitably ends in the destruction of the world. In addition to the regular missions, you can embark on numerous "side quests" rescuing survivors and killing psychopaths.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is simple; finish the missions and kill as many of the seemingly infinite zombies as you can before your 72 hours is up. But, there are a few aspects of the game that make it unique. The first is the RPG elements the game uses. As you gain "Prestige Points" in the game (by killing zombies, taking photos, killing psychopaths, rescuing survivors, or the other numerous ways) you gain abilities like increased health capacity, increased storage capacity and new fighting moves. These gained abilities are kept once you finish the game and start again, so you can go through the 72 hour mode as many times as you need to get the abilities to finish with the best ending.
The second feature that sets Dead Rising apart, is the weapons. Of course, there is the standard handgun, rifle and shotgun of any good zombie game, but there are also items like Molotov cocktails, katanas, swords and battle axes. But, that's not all, basically anything you can pick up is a weapon, whether it's a trash can, potted plant, 2' x 4', lead pipe or one of the other 250 items in the mall. Using everyday items to kill zombies is a blast, there's nothing like slicing a zombie down the middle with one fell swoop of your Katana or using a hole digger to skewer and zombie and use his spinning body to kill more zombies. This is definitely the best part of the game for me, on my first playthrough I didn't bother with the missions, I was having too much fun slamming faucets into zombies and watching them bleed out through it and cutting up hoards of them with chainsaws and lawn mowers.
[img align=left]http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/watermark.php?type=bf;ID=E-115-S-00180-A&sizex=200[/img]
Sound and Graphics:
The sound effects of the game are top notch. Zombies groans and moans seem to be all around you and the screams of distant survivors make it seem more real. The weapons all have their own sounds and they all sound pretty realistic.
This was my first Xbox 360 game, so the graphics blew me away at first, but after playing more games on the system, the graphics are pretty standard. Nothing super awesome, but everything is smooth and I didn't notice any kind of glitches in the game. There are numerous zombies which is nice (especially if you compare it to a game like RE4 where it seems there are only 5 different "zombies") and at first you may think they are all unique, but after a few hours into the game you'll start recognizing zombies by their appearance.
In conclusion, this is a very, very fun game and is definitely worth a pick up. I got my copy for $20 and it was well worth it. For me, it got a little boring and redundant after my 2nd playthrough, but I can see myself coming back to the game after a while.
I'm giving this game a 95% as it really is worth the money and if you've got a 360, you really do need this game. It's not a game you'll devote your life to playing, but it's good for many hours of play time.
 I'm sure you've heard the news about EGM being shut down in the whole UGO buying 1UP thing. For those who don't know, EGM's closing marks the end of a 20 year legacy and the passing of one of the biggest influences on gaming journalism (and gaming as a whole).
In honor of EGM's closing, the Drunken Gamers Radio podcast has dedicated this week's episode to reminisce on the glory years of the magazine and their early memories of it. In addition, hosts John, Moe, and Hilden bring in special guests and former EGM employees, "Trickman" Terry Minnich, Ken "Sushi-X" Williams, and Dan Hsu to talk about their time working at the magazine.
Many podcasts have dedicated themselves to the EGM/1UP closing, but DGR has done the best job of any of them. This podcast is highly recommended listening for everyone here since we all have a soft spot in our hearts for classic gaming. Even if you're not familiar with EGM, this podcast should help you realize just how big of an influence EGM had on the gaming world and how huge this closing really is.
You can find the episode on the iTunes Store or on their website at RobotPanic.com.
What are your memories of EGM and/or 1UP? Let us know in the comments.
The 11th Jan 2009 was the day it started. It was the day I finally decided to take the plunge, to risk everything I love and everything I own. I've struck the match, heated up the crack and taken a drag. I'm nervous as I sit here today at work, I realise after a few hours of playing the game yesterday - I've spent a lot of time thinking about WOW and a lot of time talking about it. Could these be the first signs of addiction? I've even attempted to pull a reformed WOW addict off the wagon by suggesting he joins me and play WOW. I need to know whether this is a game or something run a million miles from.
Of course, like everyone else I've heard lots of stuff said about WOW and how addictive it is. So I've always been curious to check it out for myself. I feel like its the one phenomina in gaming that I have not sampled. Until now I've avoided it, partly due to not being a massive RPG fan and partly due to the fact you have to pay a regular subscription fee. One of my best friends has played the game before and managed to get reasonably far into it (level 60), he always warned me that if you get sucked into WOW then you may as well sell your XBOX, PS3 etc as you won't be playing anything else once you "get into it". So I was curious to see what all the fuss was about, and I wanted to see if the game was as good as everyone made out. I was also intrigued to find out how addictive the game really is - and whether this addiction is due to the game being so much fun or whether it was something more negative, like scratching an itch, or feeding a habit (I.e. from compulsion). My opinion before playing was its a bit of both.
The reason I decided now was a good time was to try WOW was boredom. I have a 360 which RROD'd a few weeks ago and is currently on recuperation vacation in Germany, hopefully my friend Mr 360 will be on the way back to me ASAP before I get sucked in to WOW. I suppose it was my own fault for relying too much on the 360 - I should have spread the games out more, but all the games I really like on the 360 - so for the past few weeks I've been doing other stuff.. like watching TV and films.. I was so bored last week and decided to check out some of the video nasties from the 80s (these are films which were banned by the BBFC, also known as, British Board of Film Classification) at one time or another.. I started off with a family favourite - Cannibal Holocaust.. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when you go into the Amazon to make a film about cannibals without doing your homework. The film is badly dubbed from the original Italian into English but the story wasn't all that bad. I liked the premise of the story, the way it starts off with the Professor who goes to find out what happened to the documentary makers that have not been heard of since entering the Green Inferno (Amazon Rain Forest). The film wasn't that bad until the film makers started behaving worse than the cannibals trapping some natives in their huts and setting fire to them. I was cheering for the cannibals by the time they started hacking up the hapless documentary makers. Although I must have downloaded the Disney version as much of the really bad stuff was cut from the film - maybe not a bad thing. I'm not sure anyone really needs to see turtle being chopped up or a bloke having his Johnson removed with a machete. By then end of the film I realised that the plan to spend the next few weeks working my through the entire BBFC of video nasties was not going to be that productive and if I carried on I would end up slightly disturbed.
So what else to spend my time on? The PS3 sits there winking at me (through its layer of dust) - okay it's not going to set the gaming world on fire - when the history books are written I think the PS3 will be something that Sony will want to forget - it feels like the George W Bush of gaming - always looking uncomfortable in it's on skin, able to do lots of things badly but no one thing really well.. (Enough with the cheap pops at Sony - have to say Home is terrible though - moving on) I tried. I stick on Resistance - a PS3 launch title that's been on the shelf since it was given to me gratis my friend who tried (and failed) to convince me that this would be 'the best thing ever' online - how wrong. But the 1 player game was actually alright. Nothing special but enjoyable enough for the first few hours. But then boredom and reputation set in and I decided to put it back on the shelf.. Then I went back to Mario Galaxy - managed to get enough stars to complete the game... I thought to myself how good is this game? but why arent there more games like this on the Wii... but now Ive finish galaxy and watched several episodes of The Office.. I want some interactive entertainment... I can only play Peggle on the Mac. What about WOW - could this be the time to do the free 10 day trial thing?
I go to the website and click on the link... the download starts... I click on the game and start register... I keep thinking I'll give up if it asks me for a credit card any excuse to turn back from the road to ruin. I want to try the game but Im also looking for any excuse to do something else. In the back of my mind Im think the game will be dull, plus Ill have to go through the newbie stage where I'm all finger and thumbs. Fortunately no credit card is required, I quickly go through the character creation screen, for some reason I pick a Priest. I'm already thinking this is a mistake; I should have been a character with a sword but what the hell... I give him a name, struggle to think of something that sounds like a fantasy character - I pick Esseker in the end. The name of a character in the film with Keifer Sutherland I watched at the weekend (Mirrors). I pick a server and server type - I go for PVE. I don't to be attacked all the time. And without further ado I'm in the world of Azeroth wondering how the game works and what I'm supposed to do.
The interface is all PC like (lots of icons) but seems easy enough to understand. I walk around and talk to people not sure whether they are real people or NCPs. The graphics look a bit basic but look they've make a coherent world. I start my first quest my heading towards a yellow question mark on the map, I speak with a chap in the Abbey I have to head north and kill some creatures. It sounds easy enough. Then I get lost. I'm used to Fable 2 with the breadcrumbs. I expect there should be an icon flashing on the map but there isn't. I walk around and find some woods... I discover a lake and then another village. Here I see lots of people jumping around and throwing fireballs at each other. I walk past trying not to get caught in the cross fire. I'm only level 1, I feel vulnerable - if someone sneezes on me I'm not sure I would survive. I see a man on a horse - he looks cool, like Venga from Dungeons and Dragons. I want to talk to someone, what I really want is someone to talk to me and tell me what to do - but nobody does.
I wander back to the Abbey (via the pub) and go back to the bloke that gave me the quest to kill 10 creatures, apparently they are causing trouble but when ever Ive seen them they have been going about their own business. I dont question the quest any further. Ive read what he says more clearly this time and have a better idea of where to go (head north from where the bloke that gave me the quest was standing). There they are... I start casting some spells and kill one of them... and then another and another. Before I know it I've massacred 10 of the critters and in doing so completed my first quest. I head back to the man in the Abbey and collect my reward which is some rather nice boots. I check the time its 30 minutes later than I thought and time for bed, but already I feel like I want to do another quest. There seems like a lot to explore and I enjoyed seeing my level go up from 1 to 3 but its time for bed. I logout. Im not hooked. Im not even sure the game is anything special, but I want to try it again and find out more about this strange new world.
I think, I'm gonna start reviewing games here in my blog space, hope to see you soon!
I know Rob (Logical) or Dave (TraderJake) usually does these, but I want to feel special too. So here we go. Hilarious chat dialogue. Go see for yourself... I dare you. No... I super dare you times four!
what about enough english to get yourself killed
Yeah
Lemme tru
*try
if we were all deaf mutes the world would be a wonderful place
I is a foreener, I has not is no American money no point firearm at I.
Seconded
because the bears would have eaten us all a long time ago
Bears?
Fuck BEARS!
and wolves
and panthers
We'd be eaten by panthers!
Woah
O.O
What I was gonna say.
HIVE MIND
SPOOKY!
I am so scared I'm hiding under a desk!
As you can see we are quite awesome and talk about many topics on our humble chat. Usually video games or the latest decree by the Good King of Waffle James. But sometimes we go off topic like that. So please join us. It's night, I'm scared, and I think I hear panthers.
(Go find the link yourself because I'm simple and don't know how like that)
As many of you know and experienced last year, RF Generation went from a shared hosting solution to a dedicated solution over the course of two months. It certainly was a tumultuous two month period which rather cruelly began on April 1, which for those of you that are new is a high holy day at RF Generation. Needless to say, we've been on a dedicated solution since June and with such a solution comes significant costs.
In case you're wondering, RF Generation costs 90 dollars per month to operate currently. The site, as you may have noticed, does not currently have any ads on it, and well, we'd like to keep it that way. So, you might be wondering how this site is funded.
To say that RF Generation is nonprofit is a huge understatement. While the fact that RF Generation is a nonprofit site (after all, it's your site) is true, it's also true that RF Generation relies solely on donations to keep the site running. Sure, we have the store, but to get that revenue you need to have a certain number of sales and frankly we don't have that many sales to sustain the site or even cash out a check.
Every month that we do not receive enough donations to cover the cost of the site the remaining cost is split between two people, St0rmTK421 and myself. While the first few months had been okay for server costs, towards the end of 2008 our donations were rather few, and we found that more often than not the two of us were footing most of the bill for the site.
So, why am I writing this? Well, I just want to let you guys know how revenue generation is going with the site. I also want to write this to make a personal plea to all of you to consider donating to keep the site running. Ninety dollars a month is not cheap, especially when one of the two people on the hook for the tab was smacked with a four day furlough, which while he appreciates the time off, hates the pay deduction. God bless America. So, please, please, consider donating. Every little bit helps. I mean, if the entire site donated a dollar we'd be good for about two years. That won't happen, but please, consider donating. RF Generation is great, we want to keep RF Generation ad free for as long as possible. Donations allow us to do that. While I can't guarantee any snazzy features for donating right now we would be forever grateful and you might get to see somethings in advance of their release, but then no guarantees there. Donating is a noble cause that keeps the community's site going. Please, consider donating.
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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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