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By the way, I do see the irony that the NGP add just shows a lot of remakes of PS3 games :lol:

I understand why people are into retro, but I also don't. The games were good for their time back then, but the world moved on... Or rather I moved on. I played them, they were good, I wasted many hours in my youth on games. I play them again now and go "oh yeah, I used to love this"; then after ten minutes I turn it off bored... Been there, did that, don't need to do it again it's actually a bit shallow and dull.

For me, the perfect analogy would be to the film industry.

"Retro" games are essentially like the original short films and cartoons the movie industry produced. Now, that doesn't mean that they are awful, and they have a place as an enjoyable piece of history. However, the games industry has moved on in a very similar way. Rather than simple themes and a repetitive plot-line, things have become deep and complex. You are now lead through a cohesive arc of plot and story and you play to unveil that. In the same way that you watch a modern film (say Moon ;) ) to watch it unfold and play out. You could spend an hour and a half watching Bugs Bunny instead - that's not really an issue, whatever floats your boat - but I did that when I was a kid and now I want to experience a different level of entertainment.

I still enjoy the odd cartoon here and there, but I don't want it permanently on and I don't want the games industry to be full of cut-rate cartoons when it's stifling development of special things (thank goodness for Team Ico ;) ).
 
furie said:
So yeah, the whole Nintendo thing confuses me. It's just an exercise in selling retro in an industry that isn't 50 years old yet.
Click to expand...

I do get what you're saying here furie, especially since when I was growing up with Sonic on the Sega Megadrive you had already conquered the arcades and were probably done with all your Atari/NES/other ancient consoles :lol: I'll never forget the first time my dad brought home the Megadrive and started playing the original Sonic The Hedgehog - I was blown away by it's 16-Bit graphics and the funky music and although the levels seemed hard at the time I found them entertaining enough to keep trying again and again.

It's that sort of memory that has made me love retro games, and whilst I mainly still play them for the nostalgia, it's also because I generally find those games more accessible, fun and just better overall than all these new games, such as all the dull, uninspiring First-Person Shooters that have all their flashy realistic graphics and online play.

And that's probably why I'm looking more forward to the 3DS instead of the NGP; it's not giving me all these swish, modern features or state of the art graphics (and HONESTLY, I can survive without taking the Internet with me where ever I go!). Instead, it's giving me a console that's solely about the games, most of which are simplistic, fun platformers or re-works of games from my childhood. And with what you said about the 3DS having graphics that look 10 years old, I'm not fussed about graphics. I never have given a flying turd about how realistic a game looks, for me if a game has good graphics I'll think "Okay, so it LOOKS impressive, but does it actually PLAY like a good, interesting game?". And if a game I love happens to have good graphics then, eh, it's just a bonus.

Take the original Spyro The Dragon on PS1...that game's 12 year's old now and it's definitely showing it's age graphics-wise (POLYGONS EVERYWHERE D:), but I still consider it to be one of the best games ever, and still play it. Loads. Even my dad laughs at the graphics, but it plays like a gem. It also has some of my favourite music from anything, anywhere, and it really adds to the levels that I find so...mesmerizing. Which is why the new Spyro games on the PS3/360 make me cry; they've taken everything about the originals and killed it, replacing it with next-gen graphics, fancy attacks and A-list celebrities doing the voices (Elijah Wood and Gary Oldman to name a few...). I hate these games with a passion because they've tried to move on to appeal to the majority of today's gamers. It's not a fun game anymore, it's just a stupid Lord of the Rings rip-off that does everything every other modern game does.

Ugh, I didn't mean to make such a long post, but I do happen to get very passionate about these things! Look what you've made me do, furie! :lol:

'Twas a rather nice NGP video you posted there, though!
 
You're right Fraser, but are falling for the same kind of things too :lol:

Certainly, games like Spyro and Crash (and Super Mario 64 too) are the best examples, simply because they're working in a brand new environment and are a very "pure" experience because of it. They're producing genuinely new ideas that are fresh and exciting. Every point from then on is a poor facsimile of the original. Sometimes you get an improved second hit, but it's not common.

You could easily argue that Doom and Quake are the purest FPS experiences for instance. Everything since then as added complications and diluted what made them so great in the first place (like Oblivion works brilliantly even though it's just a single drop, it's the focus on the one element that makes the ride, every other dice machine adds padding which while it adds length and complexity, draws the focus off the drop, which is the most important part).

However, you are falling into a modern trap here with a love of Spyro. Spyro is just a 3d platform adventure game, but it wasn't the first and it wasn't the last. It's still a fairly modern and popular style of game though. Like the FPS, it's the same game it was all those years ago - just now they have bells and whistles. The 2D platformer however died to make way for the 3D platformer. So you're being all retro about an game which caused games beloved to you to become obsolete and retro :lol:

You're just following in my footsteps because the 3D action platformer hasn't be replaced yet. In the same way I love Day of the Tentacle because it's such a brilliant point and click adventure, for me the best - simply because the point and click adventure hasn't changed. The graphics may be better, but the core gameplay is identical. New technology has not allowed for the way the game is played to change (not like the dramatic way 3D based hardware changed the sprite based world forever).

However, new hardware does open doors to new and interesting ways of presenting games which may not break the mould, but misshape it.

See, if you like 3D platform/adventure games, then you will like the best of them no matter what comes next. Likewise if you like FPS games then you'll always like them, but love the best. Same with racing games. The best examples are always the best. The core game remains (and may expand almost out of recognition), but you're always after the best, focussed experience. So often that will be early versions.

Then you get games like Flower. It's essentially a flight sim/adventure puzzle game. It takes both genres and turns them on their heads. You have a new type of game altogether with elements of both. It could have been produced on lesser hardware, but it wouldn't have worked to the degree it did.

Going back to Team Ico, Shadow of the Colossus is simply a 3D platform game. Yet it isn't, it's an immersive, fantastic flight of fantasy and captivating journey into another world that you're transported to. It's the same basic game as Super Mario 64, but in terms of how it plays and feels, it's a million miles away. It's like saying a cup of tea is the same as a bush in India. Without the PS2 hardware, the game would have been impossible (it was almost impossible anyway and really creaks at times). Sometimes the new hardware allows for the creativity to be let loose.

The important thing is to keep on pushing the boundaries. We need the Fifa's, Halos, CODs, Dirts, etc, etc to keep money flowing in the industry in the same way the film industry needs run of the mill action adventure summer block busters. They're the bread and butter that lets the inventive minds work on new projects.

My issue with Nintendo is that they're incredibly popular doing exactly that. They're the worst in terms of "repeat ad infinitum" and while they do it, they make marketing people think the only way forward is to mimic them. Yet Nintendo are just reproducing their hits and (no matter what I think) their games are some of the best examples of the genres you'll get. Nobody CAN mimic them.

So instead of new, cool and exciting games being made (particularly for Nintendo systems), we just have more of the same. My hope is that we have people who take the NGP and produce more Patapons, more Flowers, more Pixel Junk games. I don't want Resistance or Uncharted on it, I want the delicious titles that push boundaries and make gaming fun and interesting and fresh again - something Nintendo is seriously lacking, and is making the trend across the industry...
 
There's always gonna be a mix of rehashed and original titles... It's a way of life...

Will I get the 3DS? Possibly... It's hard to say mainly due to the lack of Zelda at launch mainly... Because quite frankly I'd be happy just actually completing the bloody thing for once...

I don't mind older games being re-released tbh... Mainly due to how I played them in the past compared to now... I'm better at gaming, hence I will get further in 3DS Ocarina than I ever did on N64/GC Ocarina...

There are hardly any unique games around these days... All FPS' are practically the same story and graphics for example... Very few (Vanquish for an example) actually do something a little different, but even then it's so akin to other games it's still familiar...

Familiarity is good... It makes us feel safe and sound... Nintendo do work this into the floor... We all know Mario, we remember how good his games were (and still are) and it makes us interested... Plus Nintendo's first party games are still exceptionally well done... Galaxy 2 is still a brilliant game, regardless of it being a rehash of Galaxy 1 and every other Mario 3d platformer...

Nintendo do flog a dead horse (they have a stable full of them), but they still manage to give these dead horses quality... That's the thing... They might just be the same game but often they still have the quality of themselves to stand up and be counted as something different...

There are still fresh titles out there... You just have to look for them, otherwise they would just become another cash-cow...


And Fraser's right, 90s 3D platforming games for the win! Where's my Crash 3?
 
I'd have to agree with you Furie.

Although because of my taste in games, the RSP and 3DS fight is really difficult for me... I like to go out my way to find games. True I do like my occasional Bog Standard FPS but I do like to hunt down my REZ, Megatens (which better be localized btw), The weird japanese games with little girls flying around shooting so many bullets that you have an epileptic fit.

I think it's because of this I can find even more to bleh at nintendo flogging a dead horse With Megaten (bite me, I like it). I find it quite annoying that Pokemon has quite a status with the catching monsters genre being the staple and all that and causeing a whole slew of similar games that never really took off, Monster Rancher, Telefang, hell even Final Fantasy got it a bit but the the annoying bit is the very first Megami Tensei Game came out like 1987, 9 years before the first JP pokemon game and it was much more complex and deeper in mechanics and story it also started as a NES game and pokemon came along and dumbed it down considerable.

Alot of more recent nintendo games seem to be dumbing down. the New Super Mario stuff just seems (said looser than a 90 year old hooker) like it's trying be all oldy and nostalgia like a brought up. Quite like a revival. Was this really needed? To me it just seems to be a more dickish money grabbing tactic than Activision or EA.

I wonder, what would happen if someone got to work at nintendo and just filled with r34 of the mario characters from paheal. I'd actually buy it, It would finally be different !

Nintendo yu stoopit. I'm an Anti fanboy so I'm right
 
OK ****ING STOP EVERYTHING

NGP 3DS NINTENDO RETRO ETC ETC **** OFF

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwEHS6dr6Lw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

HSIEN KO! I ****ING CAME EVERYWHERE!

I getting MVC3. Really.

Granted I'd like if more if I could have her voice actor from DarkStalkers but hey... HSIEN ****ING KO!
 
zomg, Triple post! Well, triple if you count my fangasm.

Anyway. I got Dead Space 1 and I've just been playing it with the whole "Alone in the Dark" thing.

It's... fun? Which is quite a shame IMO, I was hoping to be more, atmospheric? It's got a nice setting and lighting and stuff but it's kinda, Underwhelming. Especially when you get the tool time trophy and start screaming "SCHMETTERLING" at the necromorphs... then punching them.

Oh well.
 
* Monopoly - Do you like Monopoly
* Hero Of Sparta - God of War lite
* BREAKQUEST - Pants, utter, bollocks
* Championship Manager 2010 Express - Like football manager?
* SPOT THE DIFFERENCES! - Bobbins
* Zombie Tycoon - No idea
* Stand O’Food - Bobbins
* Fieldrunners - Good tower defence game
* 5-in-1 Arcade Hits - Bobbins
* Bowling 3D - Bobbins
* DynoGems - No idea
* Echoes - Bobbins
* Red Bull X-Fighters - Yeah, it's good actually.
* Arcade Darts - No idea
* VEMPIRE - Bobbins
* Bloons TD - Meh, iPhone game.
* VT Tennis - No idea
* Tehra: Dark Warrior - No idea
* Sneezies - No idea
* Mahjongg Artifacts - Mahjongggggggggg, do you like it?


From February 16 to March 2:

* Ice Road Truckers - Bobbins
* YetiSports - The worst game ever released.
* Let’s Golf! - Meh
* Pinball Dreams - Woohoo!!!
* Age of Zombies - Actually really good fun.
* Bloons - See Bloons TD, iPhone like pap.
* Brick Breaker - Bobbins
* Bubble Trubble - Bobbins
* Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess One of the best games ever (if a little short)
* Dracula: Undead Awakening - Actually, it's not bad.
* Vector TD - Pants tower defence
* This Is Football Management - See other football manager
* Cubixx - No idea
* NormalTanks - Bobbins
* The Mystery of the Crystal Portal - No idea
* Alien Zombie Death - Erm, platform shooter pants
* 4×4 Jam - no idea, probably bobbins
* Coconut Dodge - acquired taste
* Aero Racer - Good, but challenging.
* Supermarket Mania - bobbins

There we are. I would bite Sony's hands off for Monsters Probably Stole my Princess at 99p. X-Fighters is well worth looking at if you're after a kind of Tony Hawks, motorbike, Trials lite kind of game.

So yeah, both of those are easily worth a quid. The few others I recommended probably are too, even if you only put half an hour into them :)
 
Ben said:
Someone post in this thread on the 16th reminding me to get Monsters (Pr...
Click to expand...

I'll put a reminder in my phone. You should get a decent phone that can do this kind of thing Ben :p

Just remember it's a PSP game, so it looks a little ugly on the big screen. Worth 99p for the remix of "In the hall of the mountain 'thing'" though alone ;)

Another Mini I picked up (for free as part of PS+) was "I Must Run".

It's a simple concept right from the early 8-bit days.

You run from left to right, jumping over gaps in buildings and punching obstacles out of your way. If you hit an obstacle, there's a chance that you may slow down too much to make it over the next gap. Later on you need to slide under things too.

One life, no check points. It's fast, frantic, infuriating and addictive :) No idea how much it is, but if you ever see it on special, it's worth a punt.
 
Plenty of discussion about the Black Eyed Peas Superbowl halftime show in other threads, but did anyone notice Furgie's Night Elf from World of Warcraft costume?
furgie_elf.jpg
 
Sooooooooo.

I've finished Dead Space a while ago. In the end it's a really really fun game. Slightly disapointed that it wasn't all that scary but meh *bulks up manly man chest*

And now I'm played Dead Space 2... Not as good :|. Just alot of things feel a little ngh about it, like some guy sitting next to you is constantly poking you.
 
So addicted to Worms 2: Armageddon at the moment. I bought it while it was on the cheap over Christmas.

I thought I'd got over my addiction (which started with the original on release, we used to play it at work in our lunch breaks - that must be 1994/5?). I think it lost something over the years with too many silly weapons, but I got re-addicted to the PC version many years ago, and me and Minor_Furie spent many hours blowing each other up.

Now it's all started again... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
 
I loved Armageddon on the PC, and World Party which was essentially the same but yeah as you say, it got a bit silly.

I got the worms PS3 release is Worms 2: Armageddon more like the original Armageddon then??
 
Yeah, it's very similar to the original Armageddon.

Unlike other versions of it I've played on the console, it actually works really. The control mechanism is excellent and the sticks work well as a replacement for the mouse. It's just very tight, and you never feel you're "fighting" with the game to do stuff.

Obviously, you really need people to play it with to get the most from it, but it's great, and really captures the best of Armageddon... Thinking about it, I think it was Worms World Party I had with the nuclear experiment thing. It was good, but you wanted a few less things.

As long as I have a banana bomb and a holy hand grenade, I'm happy as Larry :)

There was a demo of it actually, which is what convinced me to buy it :)
 
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