Ah, the good old debate of which is better, stuff that looks pretty or stuff that works. Now, you're probably wondering how I'm going to relate this to game collecting. But anyone with a sizable collection of boxed Genesis games or loose Atari 2600 games knows the answer to that.


Continue reading Collector's Dilemma #5

RFG Release List: Week of October 26, 2008 Posted on Oct 27th 2008 at 04:43:18 AM by (Tondog) Posted under Modern Gaming, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playsation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, DS, PS2

That's the only thing of any importance coming out this week. So, I'll see you all next time, provided I'm not playing LittleBigPlanet.



Continue reading RFG Release List: Week of October 26, 2008

Week Old Reviews: Dead Space Posted on Oct 24th 2008 at 07:57:31 AM by (Wolfman Walt) Posted under Week Old Reviews, Dead Space, Reviews, Wolfman Walt, EA, Week Old, Survival Horror

In space no one can hear you scream, unless MJ and Janet are responsible, in which case no one wanted to hear "Scream". Of course that doesn't really help most of us that are stuck in our living rooms on a regular basis playing horror games. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family knows I scream like a little girl thanks to Silent Hill 2. Dead Space isn't really improving things.

Dead Space, designed by EA Redwood Shores, is a new intellectual property from EA, a company that used to be considered the most vile and unoriginal collection of individuals since John Romero's ego took over his soul. With their buying up every single development house known to mankind and pumping out Maddens like it was going out of style they easily qualify as atleast a stereotypical Captain Planet villian. Then they release a string of good new properties that I enjoyed such as Army of Two, no matter how criminally short it was, Crysis, and most importantly Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Then Activision came along and proved to be worse than Julian Sands as the Warlock and anything EA has mustered for upsetting me. Then EA released Dead Space a week ago.


Continue reading Week Old Reviews: Dead Space

This Week in VG History: Sega Master System Posted on Oct 23rd 2008 at 08:30:24 AM by (Nik the Russian) Posted under History, SMS, Sonic, Sega CD

[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/J-031/hw/J-031-H-00020-A_00.jpg align=right[/img]October 20, 1985 (23 years ago): Sega Mark III is released in Japan.

Known later as Sega Master System, Sega released SMS to compete with the NES. The console supported a number of accessories (like a light gun, 3D glasses, and at least 4 different varieties of controllers) and featured a number of successful games (Phantasy Star is a big one, other popular ones were Y's: The Vanished Omens, Alex Kidd in Miracle Worlds, Outrun and the later Sonic the Hedgehog port). The system also had ports for both cartridges and cards, though cartridges were more common.

Nevertheless, the console was not successful: in North America it was eclipsed by NES, and later by Sega's own Genesis; in Japan, both Famicom and PC Engine were much more popular. The later, smaller revision, called SMS II, did not help sales. I am actually surprised that SMS had a game released for it in Europe as late as 1996. If only Sonic would've appeared sooner, the SMS might've had a chance.



Continue reading This Week in VG History: Sega Master System

RFG Release List: Week of October 19, 2008 Posted on Oct 22nd 2008 at 07:11:45 AM by (Tondog) Posted under Modern Gaming, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playsation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, DS, PS2

It's a literal gamesplosion this week!

Playstation 3	Xbox 360	Nintendo Wii
•Bioshock •Disney Sing It •Eternal Sonata •Far Cry 2 •The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon •Midnight Club: Los Angeles •Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition •Rock Band 2 (Game only and as an instrument bundle) •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows	•Dance Dance Revolution: Universe 3 (Game only and bundle. God I'm sucker for DDR) •Disney Sing It •Fable 2 (Also available as a limited edition) •Far Cry 2 •The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon •Midnight Club: Los Angeles •Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition •Rock Band 2 (Game only and as an instrument bundle) •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows	•Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?: Make the Grade •Backyard Football 2009 •Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp •Build a Bear Workshop: Fur Seasons •Carnival Games: Mini-Golf •Celebrity Sports Showdown •Circus Games •Dancing with the Stars: We Dance •Disney Sing It •High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE •Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 •The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon •Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition •Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 •Penny Racers Party: Turbo Q Speedway •Petz Rescue Wildlife Vet •Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows •SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom •Think Fast •Wii Music (God this game looks AWFUL. Do not buy this because it says Wii ____.)
PSP	Nintendo DS	Playstation 2
•Crash: Mind Over Mutant •Midnight Club: LA Remix •Petz Saddle Club •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows •Star Ocean: First Departure PC •Bully: Scholarship Edition •Combat Wings: Battle of Britain •Dead Space •Deer Hunter Tournament •Europa Universalis III Collection •Far Cry 2 •Heist •Littlest Pet Shop     •NBA 2K9 •NHL 09 •Petz Horsez Club  •Poker for Dummies •Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows •Shaun White Snowboarding	•Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?: Make the Grade •Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp •Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games •Backyard Football 2009 •Battle of the Giants: Dinosaurs •Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia •Dancing with the Stars: We Dance •Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell •Ener-G: Dance Squad •Ener-G: Gym Rockets •Ener-G: Horse Rider •High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE •The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon •Lovely Lisa •Master of the Monster Lair •MechanicMaster •My Baby Girl •Pass the Pigs •Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game •Smart Girls Party Games •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows •SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom •Tornado •Touchmaster II •Transformers Animated •What's Cooking? Jamie Oliver	•Backyard Football 2009 Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp •Cake Mania Baker’s Challenge •Disney Sing It •The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon •Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition •Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game •Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

First up: Rock Band 2! This time it's the game only for the PS3 and the bundle edition for the PS3 and 360. Sorry, but PS2 and Wii owners have to wait until next month to rock out with plastic instruments...again. Or until Guitar Hero World Tour next week. But why get that when Harmonix is so much better than Activision? Plus Rock Band 2 has one of my favorite songs of all-time, Teen Age Riot by Sonic Youth.

Next, Fable 2, the latest promise-a-thon from Peter Molyneux...and from the looks of things, it lives up to at least some of the promises he made. I have no experience with this series, so I can't say too much about it.

Far Cry 2 is also out this week. I've always wanted to play the first game, but have never got around to it. It looks pretty awesome and got some great reviews. Any insights here?

This week two former 360 exclusives make the move to PS3.First up is the critically acclaimed Bioshock. I've never played much Bioshock until the PS3 demo a few weeks ago, and it totally blew me away. I won't get this game right away, however, because I want to wait until it reaches the price level that the 360 version is at, which will probably be a month or two after Christmas. The other one is Eternal Sonata, which is actually not half bad for a JRPG (at least based on the demo).

Also coming out this week: Star Ocean: First Departure for the PSP (yet another Square remake), Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the DS (even more Castlevania goodness), Midnight Club: Los Angeles on PS3/360/PSP (That OTHER game Rockstar makes!), Spider-Man: Web of Shadows on PS3/360/Wii/PSP/DS/PC/PS2 (The reviews are surprisingly good so far, and the game looks pretty intriguing), DDR Universe 3 for Xbox 360 (probably another shitty 360 installment), and Dead Space on the PC (DO NOT MISS THIS GAME!!!).

Phew. Exhausting list. Check back next week for the next installment of the Holiday 08 release list season.

Treasure Hunt Chronicles #26 Posted on Oct 20th 2008 at 03:52:27 AM by (NES_Rules) Posted under Collecting, Treasure, Trophies, Scores, Deals

Absolutely spectacular weekend for treasure hunting. The weather has finally started to get cold this season, which cut down on the number of sales, but the ones that were open seemed to be selling really cheap to counter act the low number of customers. I think we only went to around 20 sales and were home around noon. A good 2-3 hours sooner than usual.

Continue reading Treasure Hunt Chronicles #26

Little Review #13: Ratchet & Clank Posted on Oct 19th 2008 at 08:29:00 PM by (Sirgin) Posted under Review, Modern Gaming, PS2, Sony, Insomniac, Platform, Ratchet, Clank

[img align=right width=200]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/RaCbox.jpg[/img]Just like fellow Playstation platform developer Naughty Dog did with Crash Bandicoot, Insomniac Games decided to sell their PSone franchise Spyro and start with a fresh game on the PS2. Furthermore, Ratchet & Clank (2002), too, features a main character and a side companion that stay together during most of the games. Coincidence? Not really, because both studios used to be located in the same building on a Universal Studios backlot and continue to have a close relationship.

In Ratchet & Clank, you play as Ratchet, a creature that doesn't really fall under a specific animal-category, but can be best described as a sort of cross between a lynx and a human. Ratchet lives on the planet Veldin, where he spends most of his time working on his spaceship, dreaming of leaving Veldin in search of galactic adventures. One day, a little robot named Clank crashes near Ratchet's home. Clank comes form a robot factory on the planet Quartu, where he discovered an infobot that revealed that Chairman Drek, leader of the Blarg race has decided to start building a new planet for his race, made up from pieces of other planets. When Ratchet finds Clank, Clank shows him the infobot and says he fears that Drek is going to destroy the universe. After some compromises, the odd duo sets of to rescue the galaxy from Drek's madness.

The rest of the story is brought to the player in a similar fashion: after reaching a certain point in each level, a new infobot plays another cutscene and gives the coordinates for a next planet. The game makes handful use of this concept to make each planet/level completely different in terms of environment, backgrounds and "feel", thus making the game varied from start to finish. Along the way you'll find yourself on space stations, polluted planets, tropical planets, urban-themed planets and more. As you can expect, the story is very light-hearted and the well written cutscenes are often hilarious, making the game enjoyable for both young and old.

When arriving at a new planet there's usually several directions you can go in, each leading to a different objective. Pressing start will reveal a map of the planet you're on, along with the objectives you've found so far. You can also watch the corresponding infobot again in case you missed out on anything.
To keep frustrations on a low, backtracking is kept to a minimum with the ability to teleport back to your ship after reaching the end of a certain path. There's also plenty of invisible checkpoints on each planet so gamers won't have to replay most of a level because they died right before the end.

Compared to other platform games, Ratchet & Clank's focus mainly lies on the many different weapons and gadgets in the game than on jumping about from platform to platform. At the start of the game, Ratchet is equiped with his Omniwrench 3000, your main melee weapon that you can smash or throw at enemies or boxes. Still on Veldin, Ratchet receives the free Bomb Glove, a glove that, you've guessed it, throws out bombs at unsuspecting enemies. The more progress you make, the bigger your weapons assortment will become. Some weapons have to be bought at the Gadgetron vendor, which can be found at each planet, others are prizes for completing objectives. Besides the first two, you'll be able to have fun with the Blaster, Pyrociter, Devastator or the more exotic Glove of Doom, Suck Cannon and Morph-o-Ray.
All weapons are fun to use, although you'll find yourself using two/three of them most of the time. To change weapons, you can display a quick-select menu on screen by pressing the triangle button. Sadly enough, the game doesn't pause when you're changing weapons, something that was only added in Ratchet & Clank 2 (= Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando in North America) Not all weapons can fit in the quick-select menu at once, but you can select which ones you want it to contain in the main menu. The Gadgetron vendors also serve as ammunition shops for the weapons you've aquired.

Despite being more combat-orientated than most games in the genre, there's still a fair bit of platforming and puzzle-solving to be done. For these puzzles you'll need to use certain Gadgets, similar in use to the weapons. Gadgets are devided into 4 subcategories: hand items include things like a Trespasser (to open sealed doors in a mini game), Hydrodisplacer (a device that can store highly compressed water) and Swingshot (a hook shot that latches on special floating balls, which you can swing from).
Then there's backpacks: modifications for Clank that let you glide through the air or swim faster under water. Third are head items for Ratchet like an O2-mask or Pilot Helmet. Lastly there's foot items which include the awesome Grindboots. With these boots you can grind on rails which is something you'll have to do on several ocassions.

The gameplay itself is a lot of fun. After defeating an enemy with your weapon of choice, he'll burst out into Bolts, the game's main currency. You can also collect Bolts by smashing crates that are placed on all levels. For those who can't get enough of the game there's also a select number of Golden Bolts to be found on each planet, usually in hidden areas. These are then tradable for rare goodies.
To keep the game exciting at all times, there's also mini games in which you'll have to fly in your spaceship in a 3D-style shooter or stages that you play with Clank. Those are particulary fun because you'll get to control tiny robots than will follow Clank's instructions such as "Follow", "Wait" or "Attack".
The controls are good and even the camera adjustment has been done right (a rare thing in 3D Platform games) with a camera that stays where the player wants it. I do have to admit that I missed the possibility to strafe as seen in the game's sequels but then again, this never bothered me when I first played the game in 2002.

At the time of its release, Ratchet & Clank gained much praise for its fantastic graphics. Although not as good as later games for the PS2, Ratchet & Clank's graphics are still very much enjoyable. The levels are big, there's no load times (except when moving from one planet to another) and textures are detailed and colorful. There's very little glitches and the frame rate is constant at all times. Animations are very well done, especially in cutscenes. Speaking of the cutscenes, despite them being funny, some of the jokes between Ratchet and Clank are a bit lame compared to those in Jak and Daxter.
The game's sound is on par with its graphics with a funky up-tempo beat on each planet, good voice acting and solid sound effects. Nothing felt out of place to me, usually a good sign that the audio is good.

With its light-hearted story and humor, wide range of weapons and gadgets and beautiful graphics and sound, I think Ratchet & Clank is what you could call a "perfect" game that'll interest a broad range of gamers, not just platform fans. Recommended to all. 9.0/10

Overheard on #rfgeneration Posted on Oct 19th 2008 at 07:06:47 PM by (TraderJake) Posted under Overheard on RFG, JOIN THE CHAT

Did you know that RF Generation has a chat room?? We really, truly do, and we like to talk about stuff in that chat room. Be it about gaming, collecting, or truly random crap, our chat room is a wonderful melting pot of the Unrelated Series of Thoughts thread in real time. Did I mention that we're not hateful like other chat rooms seen throughout the series of tubes? Won't you join us? It's pretty damn easy to do.

Why not see some of the crap we talk about in #rfgeneration. Sounds as though we'd like to see you in the chat with us:


See.... we want to see you in chat. We need to see you in chat. I swear we're not an obsessive bunch, but it's certainly more fun when lots of people are in the chat and I am sure if you stick around in the chat someone is bound to show up.

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