Now, we don't all have the pleasure of having a huge room devoted to our gaming collections, but we've all got something. Whether it's a small corner in a basement or a building built solely for games, we are all proud of what we've got. But, we all look at our collections a little differently.

So, my question to you is, how do you treat your game room/collection? Is it like a museum where everything is on display and nothing can be touched. Or more like an arcade where everything is out to be played a no one cares if a game label gets scratched or a CD gets a few scuff marks?



Continue reading Collector's Dilemma #4

System Review #1: Nintendo Game Boy Posted on Oct 1st 2008 at 06:56:49 AM by (NESman93) Posted under Game Boy, Nintendo, review, system

  Ahh, what can be said about the original Game Boy, that hasn't been said a million times before? This one handheld, released in 1989, completely revolutionized the handheld video game market. Before the Game Boy was released, there were literally hundreds of different kinds of handhelds, but they were the cheap, lcd screened systems that you would find in small discount stores.

  At first glance, the Game Boy does not seem like much, but when you pop in that Game Pak and boot on the system, you know that it is more than you expected. The Game Boy is vastly more powerful than lcd handhelds, and will probably last longer (which is true, seeing as how there are some from '89 that are still working flawlessly).  The system is instantly easy to use for any gamer who grew up playing the NES, as the controls are exactly the same as those on the NES controllers.  Another thing, the system has a screen, but is green for some reason. This was also the first handheld that was able to link up to multiple Game Boys to play multiplayer games.

  Nintendo made the perfect choice to secure the rights to Tetris as the system's pack in game. This meant that anyone that bought a Game Boy had a game that they could play right away. Tetris was obviously not the only game on the system, as Nintendo made sure that all of the NES favorites were available to be in your pocket (game such as Super Mario,
Donkey Kong, Metroid, Tetris, Mega Man, TMNT, and newcomers such as Kirby). 

  As you can see, this is only a brief overview/review of the game boy.  It may seem very old and very outdated by today's standards, but will always live on in the hearts of classic gamers as one of their favorite systems of all time. This one gets a perfect 10/10

Little Review #11: Kingdom Hearts Posted on Sep 30th 2008 at 07:15:08 PM by (Sirgin) Posted under Review, Modern Gaming, PS2, Sony, Square, Disney, RPG, Kingdom Hearts

[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/E-072/bf/E-072-S-00730-A.jpg[/img]What would happen if we put many of Disney's famous characters, some random evil guys, a couple of Final Fantasy's greatest heroes and some new spike-haired kids all in one game? That must've been the question Squaresoft and Disney were asking themselves when they were creating the concept of Kingdom Hearts. What made them came up with such a crazy question? I have no idea. Does it make for an enjoyable RPG? It sure does.

No matter which way you look at it, Kingdom Hearts (2002) is a pretty unique game. It shares some common points with the Final Fantasy series, but it's profoundly different otherwise.
At the start of the game we meet Sora, Riku and Kairi. These three friends are simply enjoying the little tropical world they live in and spend their days playing, talking or staring at the ocean. One day changes everything when the Heartless, a purple army of toy-like bad guys, attack the island. Both Kari and Riku disappear and Sora decides to go and look for his friends, with the help of his magical Keyblade.

Before the main story takes off, you're placed in a church-like darkness, with only glass windows displaying sleeping princesses to walk on. This area serves as a tutorial for basic combat action as well as facing you with a choice that'll decide your "destiny". Destiny may be a big word, but it comes down to you having to choose a strength and weakness with "attack", "defense" and "magic" as your options. This will later influence the way your character (Sora) levels up, what abilities he'll get first and even how fast he'll level.

Soon after embarking on his quest, Sora will meet up with Donald and Goofy, who will accompany you throughout the rest of the game. You stumbled upon the hilarious duo because they are on a quest of themselves: to find King Mickey, who has given them instructions to assist the Keyblade wearer, which just happens to be Sora.
Although the plot may seem quite heavy, it is treated pretty lightly during most of the game, mainly because you'll be working to get all the sub-plots in the different Disney worlds settled out. There's more to say about the main plot but revealing any more story feels like spoiling to me, so I won't. I'll just say that even though the story has its depth, it's clear to see that Square wanted to make this a lighter digestible plot than the average Final Fantasy; a decision that's also reflected in Kingdom Heart's gameplay - but more about that in a minute.

You'll meet many famous Disney characters on your quest to find Riku and Kairi, all living in their specific world based upon their movie counterparts. Funny is how these Disney characters (except Donald and Goofy) don't know anything about the major story, but are preoccupied with their own little problems. Along the way you'll find yourself playing alongside characters like Alladin and Jack Skellington in worlds such as Wonderland, Agrabah, the Hundred Acre Wood, Halloween Town, etc... Next to that there are some new worlds designed specifically for this game such as Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion.

Now for one of the most irritating aspects of the game: travelling between all these worlds. Rather than just having your party "teleport" to a world, you'll have to play a minigame each time you'll travel to a new world. Your ship, called a Gummi ship, travels along a determined path until you reach the next world. While flying around you'll have to shoot (often unidentifiable) enemies. This is clearly a Star Fox rip-off, and a bad one at that. By defeating enemies you'll receive "Gummi blocks" which you can use to upgrade your ship. Instead of making this easy, Square decided to put in an awkward ship editor in the game that allows you to make your ship stronger by adding parts or even create a new one. This sounds better than it actually is because there isn't any point in doing so. The Gummi levels are so easy, you'll just want to get them over with quickly to advance to the next world; so what's the point of upgrading the basic ship? The whole feature could have been left out of the game for me, but I guess Square found it necessary to let players "experience" how the party travels between worlds.

Luckily, the game is a whole lot better when inside one of the worlds. Unlike the (until then) Final Fantasy series, Kingdom hearts is an Action RPG. This means all combat happens directly in the main environments, without "going" into a turn-based combat area. Your main weapon is Sora's Keyblade, with which you can use to hit the enemies one time or in combo's (depending on the abilities you have). You can also cast traditional FF-style magic such as fire, blizzard, thunder, slow, etc... These can be selected in the "Command menu" in the lower left corner of the screen with either the D-pad or the right analog stick. You can also assign up to three magics to the cross, triangle and square buttons that allow for easy-casting in combination with L1. Lastly, you can summon Disney characters that'll temporarily help Sora out, giving Donald and Goofy a break. The camera can be moved only to the left and right by holding down either L2 or R2, which feels quite restricted. In fact, it's the main thing that bothered me while playing Kingdom Hearts; I find the camera much too close to Sora's back to give a overall perspective of your environment. Oftentimes you won't even see the enemies you're fighting, with the camera struggling to get them into view. If it wasn't for the lock-on function (activated with R1), Kingdom Hearts would be almost unplayable.

Combat happens frequently, with enemies spawning almost everywhere on the map. Sadly enough the limited tactical options will make fighting the hordes of Heartless a rather boring venture, and feels like "something you have to do" instead of being a source of fun. It isn't so irritating that it'll make you stop playing, but it could've been done a lot better. As I said earlier, Donald and Goofy will accompany you on your quest, so they're also with you during combat; helping out by attacking enemies, using magic or throwing a potion your way when your health is low. You can also opt to temporarily exchange one of the two by an optional character, depending on the world you're in. On a positive note I can say that the boss fights are much more fun than the random battles and can be quite challenging, too. (if you haven't leveled up your characters too much, that is)

Besides the fighting, there's the traditional RPG action to be done such as talking to characters, buying items and weapons in stores and saving your game at save points. There's also a bit of platforming included, which is a nice distraction from the combat but suffers from the same camera problems as well as the not-so-fluid jumping animation. Kingdom Hearts clearly is an RPG with some platform elements rather than a platform game with RPG elements.

In the main menu there are the traditional "item", "equipment", "status" and "abilities" menus as well as a "customize" and "journal" menu. In the customize menu you can set the quick-access magics for Sora and determine Donald and Goofy's combat behavior by selecting if they have to do certain things "constantly", "frequently" or "occasionally". The journal menu serves as a log in which a summary of the story is kept, next to character and world descriptions.

Graphically, Kingdom Hearts is a feast for the eyes, especially if you're a Disney fan. Both the worlds and characters accurately resemble their traditional animation counterparts, something Square can be proud of. You can also enjoy the colorful scenery in first-person view when pressing the select button. Once again, the restricted camera is the only thing that keeps this game from being a sightseers' dream.

Vocally, Square has done their best with much of the dialog being voiced over by an excellent cast of voice actors. Most of the actual Disney voice actors have lent their voices to their respective characters and Haley Joel "I see dead people" Osment gave his voice to Sora. Sound effects are average but just like in most of Square's RPG's, music is excellent. Each world is accompanied by its own theme (often a variation or adaptation of the famous Disney themes) that either sets a happy tone (in the Disney worlds) or a more serious tone (in the non-Disney worlds).

Despite its flaws, Kingdom Hearts is a unique game that successfully merges the worlds of Disney and Square into a unique experience. Whether you're an RPG fan, Square fan, Disney fan or action fan; there's a little for everybody in Kingdom Hearts. 8.4/10

Today in VG History: Fallout 1 & 2 Posted on Sep 30th 2008 at 01:02:02 PM by (Nik the Russian) Posted under History, Fallout, Total Annihilation, DirectX, PC, Windows

[img align=right width=175]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-016/gs/U-016-S-03680-A.jpg align=right[/img]September 30, 1997 (11 years ago): Fallout is released.

September 30, 1998 (10 years ago): Fallout 2 is released.

Consoles: Windows PC

If you have not played either of these RPG titles, you should at least try. Set in a violent post-apocalyptic future, Fallout games stood out with their dark humor, art-deco designs (many items and technology the player encounters are from the 1950's), and themes meant for more "grown-up" audiences (plenty of 'casual' language and blood). The player explored the world in real-time, while combat was turn-based and used "action points" (like in the awesome X-COM: UFO Defense). Many balanced skills made it actually possible for the player to rely more on stealth, or diplomacy, instead of force. Furthermore, the quests often had multiple outcomes, granting varying experience and affecting the player's karma.
[img align=right width=175]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-016/gs/U-016-S-05120-A.jpg align=right[/img]
As for myself, I was glad to see an RPG that did not have any elves or magic, but instead lots and lots of guns, which I liked. The art direction was another thing I liked, as well as many pop-culture references (like a card game called "Tragic: The Garnering", or the Nuka-Cola drink).

As I am sure many of you know, after shutting down Project Van Buren, a Fallout sequel in development, Bethesda purchased the rights to the franchise from Black Isle and is about to release a sequel of their own, Fallout 3, on October 28th of this year. I know that I will buy it, play it, and hate it, but continue playing it. I could go on a rant about Bethesda and their "experience" in game-making, but there are other sites on the Internets for that.

To reminisce, here is the opening video from Fallout, along with the awesome music ("Maybe" by The Ink Spots) and narrated by Ron Perlman:


Continue reading Today in VG History: Fallout 1 & 2

RFG Release List: Week of September 29, 2008 Posted on Sep 30th 2008 at 09:22:40 AM by (Tondog) Posted under Modern Gaming, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playsation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, DS, PS2

So, I had this written earlier today and wanted to make a few corrections, but then I closed the web browser on accident. Looks like I'mma have to do the commentary section from memory.

Playstation 3	Xbox 360	Nintendo Wii
•Silent Hill Homecoming	•Mobile Ops: The One Year War     •Silent Hill Homecoming	•Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility •We Cheer
PSP	Nintendo DS	Playstation 2
•Cake Mania •Pipe Mania •Valhalla Knights 2 PC •Baseball Mogul 2009 •Dark Horizon •Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft  •Mount & Blade •Pipe Mania •SAS: Secure Tomorrow •Sniper: Art of Victory	•Animal Paradise •Margot's Word Brain •Pipe Mania  •Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation •Princess Debut •Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood •Unsolved Crimes	•Mortal Kombat Kollection •Onimusha: The Essentials  •Pipe Mania

Looks like the game companies decided to give us a break before completely slaughtering our wallets in October.

First featured game this week is Silent Hill Homecoming for the PS360, the newest installment in the popular survival horror franchise. I must confess that I've never played a Silent Hill game in my life, but I do know that Pyramid Head is badass. Since I've never played Silent Hill, I pose this question to my readers. Is it worth getting into the series? If so, where should I start?

Next up is Sonic Chronicles for the DS. Expecting a fast platformer like Sonic Rush? You're definitely not getting that. Sega decided to take Sonic in a totally different direction with this new game, and hand off development to Bioware, creators of Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Yup, this is an RPG in the Sonic universe. Quite an interesting concept if I must say so. And get this: it's getting strong reviews. Let that sink in. A new game starring Sonic that's actually GOOD. For reals.

Also this week: 360 owners can MUST download Mega Man 9 for 800 Space Bucks (that's $10 for us Earthlings).

Check back next week for a return to game companies raping your wallet.

Treasure Hunt Chronicles #23 Posted on Sep 29th 2008 at 06:05:07 AM by (NES_Rules) Posted under Collecting, Trophies, Treasures, Scores, Deals, Milestones

The garages sales were plentiful this weekend, but weren't all that great. Again, the flea market was great as I've now bought nearly everything from my new favorite vendor. He's still got a few more things I want, so I should have a couple more 'Chronicles' this season.

Saturday Garage Sales The Monster Rancher 4 and Finding Nemo were from one sale for $3 for both. Both in excellent shape (and CIB) for being kid games. Big Game Hunter (CIB) was $0.50 and THPS (CIB) was $0.25 from another sale. They also had an N64 with hookups, 2 controllers, and 2 Football games for $10/make offer. But I didn't bother with it, probably should have picked it up, but I just didn't want to be bothered with re-selling it.

Got this from a sale for $0.50. It was marked $1, but she just wanted to get rid of it. I probably could have gotten it for $0.25.

I didn't get this from a garage sale, but I did pick it up during my saling time, so I'll count it here. I actually got these from FreeCycle. She said they go from 2000 to 2004, but I haven't had time to check them over. There are 40 of them though. A little rant here: why do people at local sales, tear off the address label. I was at your house, I know where you live, what info could I possibly get from the address labels that you need to tear them off and rip the cover in the process?

This was a strange sale. It appeared to be a guy selling off stuff people left in his storage building. My dad got another set of lawn darts for $1. I got the TRS-80 Color Computer 2 for $2. I almost didn't see it as I just assumed it was another typewriter, but something made me take another look under the translucent dust cover.

Sunday Flea Market Bought these for $2 each. He had about 30 more and said I could take them all for $30, but I didn't need any of the others, plus they weren't in very good shape.

Traded Super Mario 64 (PC), Mario Kart 64 (PC), LOZ: Majora's Mask, SMB, SMB/DH and Super Mario World plus $5 for all them. The top two rows are CIB, the bottom two rows are missing the manual. All but one are in mint/excellent condition. Oh yeah, this was in that lot too. Yeah, it's complete and mint.  Anyone know what's it worth? I didn't realize what it was when I bought it, but once I got home I learned it's THE hardest to find SMS game.

All in all, a very good weekend. Although I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these SMS games. Plus the guy has a SMS that I'll probably trade for or buy next week since I haven't found one yet.

A History of the Mother Series Posted on Sep 28th 2008 at 07:08:58 AM by (Feechy) Posted under Mother, Earthbound, Earthbound2, Shigesato, Itoi, Ape, Mother3

This is my first blog post on RFGen, and I think I should start it off with a history of my favorite series, Mother or Earthbound. The first Mother game was released in Japan on July 27, 1989. It was an interesting RPG due to how the game was played. Insteasd of the redundant, over-used story of medieval times, it takes place in the present. I won't delve into much detail so I don't ruin the story though. In short it's about a boy named Ninten (CLEVER!) who has to recover the 8 Melodies in order to save the world from evil aliens and such. Then after recovering the 8 Melodies, Ninten fights Gyigig (or Giygas, whatever you want) and saves the world. The game was very succesful in Japan, but it failed to get released outside Japan because of the SNES being released and no one wanting to buy an NES game.

The series picks up with Mother 2 or Earthbound. This game was released in America and Japan, but strangely not in Europe. Once again, only a brief story description. You play as Ness, a boy living in Eagleland. A meteorite crashes on a hill in your town, Ness and his neighbor Pokey go check it out, and a fly named Buzz-Buzz comes out of it. It tells Ness he is one of the Chosen Four and has to save the world from Giygas (What a twist!). After Ness has a battle with a Starman, they return to Pokey's house. There Pokey's mom kills Buzz-Buzz and well, we seem to have been given another asshole. BUT! Hope is not lost for the story progresses. Once again, can't say much of the story lest spoilers are to be had. But what I can say is that Itoi did an accurate portrayl on American life and shows all the problems and quirks of it. This can be from the insane Ku Kulx Klan-esque cultists to the shady real estate agents. Can't say too much more about this game, so we'll skip to Mother 3 for now.

Ah, Mother 3, what I consider to be the best of the series. A fan translation for it has also recently been completed. Mother 3 takes place in the future in which the Pig Mask Army is pillaging the land and all that good stuff. What I particularly like about this game is that it is divided up into chapters for key parts of the story. But I will only talk about the 1st chapter and the 8th chapter. In the first chapter you play as Flint, a rancher I'm guessing and father of Lucas, and oh crap... SOMEONE SET THE FOREST ON FIRE! So now, Flint has to go out and find who caused the fire. Spoilers are coming up so...FAST FORWARD! Okay now chapter 8, in this chapter you are told by the bell ringer of your town that you're living in some kind of Orwellian utopia. But all is not well because you must defeat the evil Pig King who has caused all of the damage in the past. After along journey to New Pork City, the largest city in all the land, you must find the Pig King. So after climbing this huge tower in the center of the city you've reached the room which holds the Pig King. But alas! What's this? He seems to look just like Pokey from Mother 2? What kind of black magic is this?! But from what we have yet to find out is that Pokey was up to some dastardly shenanigans that involved time-traveling so now he's gotten old but is still a cheeky little bastard. So after kicking his ass your quest is finally over, good job, have a cookie. But now onto the useless trivia. This game was originally planned to be released on the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive system as Earthbound and Mother 64. But the project was scrapped until much later after the Disk Drive was a failure. Also, the Mother 3 fan translation I mentioned early on can be found at mother3.fobby.net .

Hoped you guys liked my first blog, and I hope to make many more!

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