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Weekends are for rest. They are also for recreation, or if you're the type of person who frequents this site, weekends are for gaming. You've already worked a long week, and provided The Boss doesn't call you in on Saturday (mine did
) you deserve a little time to let the mind be in a world other than the one that surrounds you. Now here is a question...
What happens when gaming becomes your second job?Has a game ever enslaved you. You put in time and fail to make any progress. You get stuck on that same level at that same spot. You've cleared everything but the final boss which requires nothing but grinding away to level up towards a distant victory. Maybe it got too hard, or boring. There is only so much you can do.
Quit. The loser's way out, but keeps you from wasting time. Time you could be using to be playing something better.
Keep playing. You're not made of weaksauce. Hard games
are hard. Deal with it.
Get help. An online tutorial might cover something you missed. Maybe there is a technique to help you reach your goal faster. Additionally, sidequests or performing special stunts might open up a new way of playing a previously completed title.
Gamesaving grace The #2 timesaving option. If it is only a matter of gold accumulation or leveling up why grind? Cheat codes might also give you what you need to get the job done faster and make it more exciting in the process. Don't overuse this one. The only person you're cheating is yourself.
Break it. The game had it coming. You made a purchase and you'll find your amusement somehow. If the game is lousy enough it will likely have no resale value, so you'll have to fuel your amusement with your imagination. Snapping a disc is simple and to the point, but inserting a cartridge into a toaster (highly NOT RECOMMENDED) will surely bring forth satisfaction and toxic fumes. Drink coasters and skeet shooting targets are other alternatives.
I finally did it and bought a PS3 I've been drooling over this magnificient machine since its release and have nearly bought one many times finally this week while visiting a local game shop I saw a used (no box, some scratches) 40 gig ps3 on sale now I love this shop and I wanted a PS3 and I had the money for once to buy it. So I did. I found out when I got home that I overpaid by about 20 bucks but thats ok I love this shop and they need my support. Anyway I've been having a blast with it so far playing the following:
Ferrari challenge
Everyday shooter
lingering wake (interactive art)
motorstorm
Gran Turismo 5
And I have a copy of Time Crisis 4 with guncon on the way (and I have the big screen to play this bad boy on!) I need to get an HDMI cable though running composite just seems wrong!
Also I've got a wonderswan crystal and Judgement silversword coming
and am looking into finally beggining my Neo Geo AES collection after having had a nice Neo Geo Pocket collection in the past.
As you probably know by now, I'm very excited for the upcoming PS3 exclusive game, LittleBigPlanet, which comes out in a little over a week. I love the happy-go-lucky atmosphere and the bright colors...however Sony has officially thrown that out the window with a newly announced guest Sackboy character...
SEPHRIOTHYeah, that Sephiroth. Everyone's favorite long-haired emo villain from Final Fantasy 7. The same Sephiroth that inspired many awful fanfics, fanart, and especially other games, is now coming with his trendy Hot-Topic dress style into the world of LittleBigPlanet. Along with Sephiroth, expect thousands of 15 year old otakus who think Sephy is kawaii bishie and writes long yaoi fanfics involving him and Cloud to follow.
Also coming to LBP: Old Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4.
For those of you who sort of follow gaming news, however few of you there are, probably have been following the Tokyo Game Show, which is probably the biggest show there is for gaming now that E3 is dead. Long Live E3. So, there are a lot of bombshells and great announcements to come from TGS, and if you want to know what they are I suggest you look at a website that blogs about games. Might I recommend
Kotaku. See, I am not here to report all the crap that was announced at TGS. Rather, I want to start a discussion as to the things that excited
us. Well, now that I got this out of the way way, let me begin.
Continue reading TGS is going on, what excites you?
Well, here is a treat, it's the Mega Man 3 theme, with lyrics. I was a bit skeptical when I decided to listen to it, but after listening to it, I am very pleased with what the singer has done:
Isn't that awesome? I sure thought so. Tell me what you think in the comments.
[img align=right width=175]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-005/gs/U-005-S-01510-A.jpg align=right[/img]
September / October, 1982 (26 years ago):
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is released for Atari 2600 (Sources are unclear on exact release date).
October, November, December 1983 (25 years ago):
North American Video Game Crash of 1983 begins due to the market flood of poorly made software.
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial is one of the most famous games ever made, mostly because it is also one of the most poorly made and over-produced games. The reason for the rushed development and overproduction is clear: the movie of the same name was an instant hit, and became the most financially successful film at the time of its release (yes, surpassing Star Wars). It only made sense to think that a game based on such a hit movie would become a bestseller, so Atari reduced development time to only six weeks, skipping audience testing in the process.
Certainly,
E.T. was not the only reason for the subsequent Video Game Market Crash; there were other low-quality games made around that time (the terrible "flickering ghosts" port of
PacMan comes to mind). Imagine how confused parents must have been, deciding on which console to buy: Atari 2600, Atari 5600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Astrocade, Odyssey 2, Fairchild Channel F, to name a few, and that is not including Sears clones or other, more obscure consoles. Other contributing factors for the crash were an abundance of start-up companies trying to make some cash and hoping that customers would buy any video game regardless of how bad it was, as well as the availability of cheaper and usually more versatile computers, such as TI-99 and Commodore VIC-20.
[img align=right width=175]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-005/gs/U-005-S-03070-A.jpg align=right[/img]
Most important effects of the crash were:- End to 2nd generation of video game consoles;
- Slowdown of the video game hardware development;
- Many third-party game development companies shutting down, including Coleco and Magnavox;
- Activision taking years to recover;
- Atari never recovering from the blow and eventually leaving video game hardware business;
- Almost complete lack of retailers' and customers' interest in Video Games for several years afterwards;
- Resurrection of video games industry by Nintendo and its NES (note that it is called an "entertainment system", not a "console");
- Beginning of Japanese video game domination, primarily by Nintendo and Sega;
- Introduction of strict rules regarding licensing third-party made games.
In my own opinion, the
E.T. game is terrible. Should a person unfamiliar with the movie play this game, he/she might think that the movie consists of E.T. walking around places with many, many deep holes in the ground, constantly falling into them, slowly "levitating" out of them, just to fall back in, and again, and again. If you are one of the fortunate ones who never played this, ask your Atari-loving friend (I am sure he has this game somewhere) to let you play, just for educational purposes.
Other events for this month include:
Continue reading This Month in VG History: E.T. and the Market Crash
[img align=right width=200]http://img18.yukle.tc/images/215Colin_McRae_Rally_04.jpg[/img]Colin Mcrae Rally 04 (2003) is the fourth installment in the succesful Colin McRae Rally series. Whether the title alludes to the fact the game was released in 2004 in North America or simply to the fact it's the fourth game in the series, I'm not really sure. Looking at the titles of the series there certainly has been a lack of continuity on the developer front: 2.0, 3, 04, 2005 and DiRT; it's almost as if they couldn't make up there mind how to label their games. No matter though, because I'm here to pay homage to the great Colin Mcrae by reviewing this game, not complain about at the series' titles.
I'll start of with the main menu which is kept simply, easy to navigate and straightforward. There's the championship, quick-race, single race and single rally modes. In the option menu you can make graphics and sound adjustments aswell as select what controller you'd like to use. Next to the keyboard, you can use an analog controller or a driving wheel. The last obviously being the best choice for a realistic experience but since I don't own one nor a PC controller, I have to limit myself to my keyboard.
In the championship mode there are actually six championships that can be completed. One for each of the game's difficulties (normal and advanced) and each of the different vehicle categories (three). There's the standard 4WD category with cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer or the Subaru Impreza WRX, a 2WD category with smaller cars like the Citroen Saxo or Ford RallyeSport Puma and the "B-group" category which consists of high-powered older vehicles such as a Lancia 037 or Peugeot 205 T16.
B Group cars are forbidden in current-day rally because these faster, harder to control machines too often led to accidents. Luckily for us gamers, Codemasters has included these fun cars in Colin Mcrae Rally 04 for us to ride with as much as we want!
Every of these categories feel thoroughly different to drive with and even specific cars within a category handle differently. My favorite car is the 2WD Ford Puma because it is a nimble, lightweight car that can take consecutive corners rather fast. But no matter what car you choose to drive, it doesn't take long to get used to its handling and you'll be driving like a pro in no time. That's probably the most fun aspect of this game: the fact that it feels like realistic driving yet isn't too realistic so it doesn't become extremely difficult to control your car without smashing into the scenery.
The championship mode will take you to all of the game's locations which range from snowy Sweden to wet Brittain, or tropical Australia. All countries have a different dominant surface that you'll be faced with: tarmac in Spain, wet gravel in the UK, snow in Sweden, rough gravel in Greece, wet tarmac in Japan, fine gravel in the US, pea gravel in Australia and gravel in Finland. Plenty of variation in other words and just like with the cars, driving on different surfaces really feels differently.
The key to success in Colin Mcrae Rally 04 is: A. Carefully listening to your co-pilot and B. Selecting the right settings between stages. Although this might sound logical, paying attention to your co-driver's instructions really makes all the difference. Unless you'll play the game a lot, you won't be able to memorize what the different stages are like, so you're really up to his instructions. Especially in narrow sections, it's important not to get of track, because once you're between trees, it can easily cost you 10 seconds to get out again.
Once every two stages you can set up your car in the service station for the next two stages. You get a little map which shows you the course layout and gives you a stats table that shows how much of a type of surface you may expect. It's important to check what surface type appears most in the next two stages combined and choose tires accordingly. Besides tire types you can also adjust your brake bias, steering speed, gear ratio, ride height, spring tension and anti-roll.
Second function of the service station is to repair damage done to your car in previous stages. Depending on how big the damage on, say, your turbo might be, it'll take anywhere from only a few minutes to almost half an hour of repair time. You get a maximum of 60 minutes at every service station so it's best not to trash your car on the way there. Besides visual damage there's also alot of internal damage that can seriously affect your car's performance. You have the option to set the car damage on "normal" or "hard" depending on your skill level. At the normal setting the occasional jump in the scenary doesn't mean catastrophy but at the hard setting it's vital to avoid crashes at all costs.
In the championship mode you'll have to drive a series of normal stages in each country and end with a special "face-off" stage where you have to drive faster than another driver in an arena-track. Between rallies, you'll be able to attempt to win new/upgraded car parts in constructor challenge mini-games. This can range from sliding enough to wear down tires on a selected course to staying within a small RPM-range while switching gears.
Goal of the championship mode is to win each individual rally (obviously) aswell as having your manufacturer win the overal championship. After finishing one of the championships, you unlock a few cars.
The PC version of the game features online or LAN multiplayer for 2-8 players. Despite all players driving at the same time, you can only see ghosts of your opponents' cars instead of the actual cars. I haven't had the chance to check the multiplayer out just yet, so I can't really say anything about it.
Visually, Colin Mcrae Rally 04 is great. The PC version has improved graphics over the original Xbox version, with more detailed and sharper looking cars, roads and foliage, aswell as improved weather conditions. The game was always smooth to play, with a minimum of framedrops and glitches. Textures are generally good but some foliage and trees are rather low-res; this is especially apparent when you go of-course. the damage model looks pretty realistic with broken windows, loose bumpers and parts that completely fall of your vehicle. Colin Mcrae Rally 04 doesn't have the DX10 graphics of DiRT, but that's only natural considering the game's age.
There is no music in the game except for the random techno tune of the menus, but that doesn't mean Colin Mcrae Rally 04 sounds bad. In fact, this game sounds as realistic as I can imagine rally sounding like. Engines roar, gearboxes rattle, exhausts scream, windows shatter, ... it's all there. Derek Ringer does an excellent job as co-pilot and never bored or annoyed me at any time. Every sound gets a extra dimension when switching to the cockpit view where everything looks and sounds just a bit more dramatic. I never made much use of this view though, because it limits your view greatly.
If you happen to see Colin Mcrae Rally 04 somewhere and it isn't too expensive, get it. It's pretty much everything a good rally game should be and I had a great time playing this game.
8.0/10
You all know LittleBigPlanet. It's a PS3 exclusive platformer developed by Media Molecule that was slated to come out next week. Well, not so fast, because one of the songs from the game's soundtrack, 
The biggest game of this week is EA's sci-fi scarefest, Dead Space. If this game is not on your radar, it should be. Why? It's supposed to be an