What are you playing?

[Don Flamenco]

Pro-Tip for the devs of Fear 2.

If you have story related intel items you want me to read to add color to your story, make them audio logs. This is 2010. I ain't down for reading anymore (especially in what is a straightforward action game). I don't care if it doesn't make sense in the context of your story.

and for the devs of mass effect 2...if you have audio logs you want me to listen to, please don't make them play from a terminal and cut off when I walk away from it.  

and for the devs of halo ODST...make better audio logs that aren't lame.

[Stoney Mason]

Pro-Tip for the devs of Fear 2.

If you have story related intel items you want me to read to add color to your story, make them audio logs. This is 2010. I ain't down for reading anymore. I don't care if it doesn't make sense in the context of your story.

Eh, you gotta account for deaf people and localisation concerns and pandering to people like me who only want to skim the good stuff.  Probably a mixture  of both would be best.

It's probably alright for an RPG like Fallout 3 or Dragon Age or even Mass Effect or if the story is really execptional or something. But in Fear the story is fairly throw away and its an action game. Going into a pause menu to read isn't a good idea for an action game.

[Don Flamenco]

I'm playing some mothafuggin' Actraiser.  on a SNES.  shit is tyte.  Saving mah peoples and building towns and castlevania actiong

[The Sceneman]

never played Actraiser, better add it to my ROM queue

[Don Flamenco]

It's awesome.  You get worshippers.  which I already have in real life, but it's probably pretty cool for people who don't.

[Bebpo]

Pro-Tip for the devs of Fear 2.

If you have story related intel items you want me to read to add color to your story, make them audio logs. This is 2010. I ain't down for reading anymore (especially in what is a straightforward action game). I don't care if it doesn't make sense in the context of your story.

I'll probably finish this off tomorrow. Enjoyable enough although very repetitive as I expected and like the first game was. Also one of the easiest games I've played that I can remember on the "hard" difficulty.

haha, sounds like Bayonetta!  I didn't read any of the story stuff.  I tried!  But so much text and it was pretty boring since the plot is lolz.

[Ichirou]

I finished Magna Carta 2.  Yay!

[CajoleJuice]

Just beat Splosion Man 

I thoughy my game froze for a second and then BAM

And the credits, holy shit.

[Bebpo]

I would like to beat 'splosion man someday, but I have a serious problem with these little downloadable games that have a TON of levels (see Cloning Clyde, Marble Blast, N+, etc...as well).  I really like the games but level after level feels like it will never end.  tbh, I really don't want any XBLA/PSN game to be longer than 3 hours max.  I buy them for 1-2 day distractions, not to spend 10-20 hours on them like a retail game.  I liked that Trials only had like 15-20 stages and you could blow through 60% of them in the first hour you play the game.  Braid was another XBLA game that I actually finished because it was short.  Bionic Rearmed was nice and short too.  When I finished world 1 of 'splosion man I felt like I had enough 'splosion time.  It was great, but 16 levels was a lot and I really didn't want to do another 32 that would take even longer.

[CajoleJuice]

So then just don't finish it? It's obvious that there are plenty of people that enjoyed it enough to finish it. I also ripped through N+ and loved it immensely the entire way (even when it was almost impossibly hard). Marble Blast Ultra was fun the entire way through for me as well. I mean the only thing you could argue is that you rather have less content for 5 bucks than this much for 10 bucks...but then you like Trials HD which was 15 bucks.

[Bildi]

I bought that PB Winterbottom game a few days ago.  I haven't played much more than the demo but apparently it's a similar length to Braid.

[Bebpo]

So then just don't finish it? It's obvious that there are plenty of people that enjoyed it enough to finish it. I also ripped through N+ and loved it immensely the entire way (even when it was almost impossibly hard). Marble Blast Ultra was fun the entire way through for me as well. I mean the only thing you could argue is that you rather have less content for 5 bucks than this much for 10 bucks...but then you like Trials HD which was 15 bucks.

That's what I do and I'm perfectly happy with what I get   I'm just saying why I don't finish most of these games is because they are really long.  I love N+ and finished about 3/4ths of it, I also really liked Cloning Clyde and 'splosion man.  I definitely get my money's worth and then I move on.

It's only that with retail games I try to finish everything I start, so when I play these XBLA/PSN games like these it's not as satisfying to not finish them entirely.

I guess I'm saying if you are going to put 100 levels of content, you better have 100 different gameplay ideas that give a reason to have 100 levels.  With retail games that are 10-20 hours the idea is the change it up enough to keep it fresh throughout.  This tends to require budget ^^; With downloadable games, since they're on a much lower budget, they tend to be just one idea repeated for a long time.  Makes them hard to finish.  I guess a good comparison is if NSMB Wii had 30 worlds.  It'd give much less incentive to finish it because it just feels like it keeps going and going and going.  With 8 worlds you feel like you're making good progress each time you finish a world.  Portal is a good example of taking a good idea and only running with it as long as you can keep it fresh.  That's mainly what I want from XBLA/PSN puzzle/platformers.

Might just be me and my 500 game backlog speaking /shrug but I appreciate short games a lot. 
Unless they are AAA titles and then medium length (like Uncharted 2 or MGS3) is good.  With rpgs I appreciate them being under 50 hours at all times.

[Beezy]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

Just beat Splosion Man 

I thoughy my game froze for a second and then BAM

And the credits, holy shit.

I love their sense of humor. You ever grabbed a fat guy and just stood around? I thought that donut song would just be a short loop, but it's actually a full song.

[Bebpo]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

For me, yeah.  That's basically the length of a full $60 game these days like Bioshock 2 or Bayonetta and I'd rather spend the time with a retail game.
On the plus side, you get way more bang for your buck with these titles.  But to me time is more important than money, so whatever gives me the highest quality experience gets my time.

[bork]

Two new PSP games:

Minna No Tennis- Seems like a faithful port of the original PS2 game.  Not much else to say, really.

BlazBlue Portable- Pretty impressive port overall; all of the animation is intact, all the modes (sans online, of course) are there, game play is spot-on, you get the unlimited versions of every character, there's a new legion mode, all the voices appear to be there, etc. etc.  They made all the backgrounds completely 2D, but they still look great and the animations are there.  Where the game falters a bit is its sprites.  They look a little too pixelated and it's hard to see some detail.  But it's pretty minor to me since what's most important is that all the game play/animation remains intact.  Oh yeah, this is the Japanese version, and unlike the console versions, the language is Japanese-only.  I wonder if that means that the upcoming U.S. release will have English-only voices?

[Beezy]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

For me, yeah.  That's basically the length of a full $60 game these days like Bioshock 2 or Bayonetta and I'd rather spend the time with a retail game.
On the plus side, you get way more bang for your buck with these titles.  But to me time is more important than money, so whatever gives me the highest quality experience gets my time.

I'm assuming that you don't play much handheld games then either?

[AdmiralViscen]

Bebpo, that's distinguished mentally-challenged.

[bork]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

For me, yeah.  That's basically the length of a full $60 game these days like Bioshock 2 or Bayonetta and I'd rather spend the time with a retail game.
On the plus side, you get way more bang for your buck with these titles.  But to me time is more important than money, so whatever gives me the highest quality experience gets my time.

If time is more important to you than money, why do you insist on playing all the way through the games you get that you don't like?

[AdmiralViscen]

Splosion Man was a higher quality experience than most of the full retail games released last year.

[Stoney Mason]

If time is more important to you than money, why do you insist on playing all the through the games you get that you don't like?

Zing!

[Beezy]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

For me, yeah.  That's basically the length of a full $60 game these days like Bioshock 2 or Bayonetta and I'd rather spend the time with a retail game.
On the plus side, you get way more bang for your buck with these titles.  But to me time is more important than money, so whatever gives me the highest quality experience gets my time.

If time is more important to you than money, why do you insist on playing all the through the games you get that you don't like?

Seriously Bebpo. You're not even an achievement whore.

[Positive Touch]

I'm playing some mothafuggin' Actraiser.  on a SNES.  shit is tyte.  Saving mah peoples and building towns and castlevania actiong

hey, i'm playing it too!  actually not holding up as well as i remember.  the sim parts take like 5 mins and the action levels are pretty bland.  still worth playing, just not as mindblowing as i used to think.

[demi]

Actraiser 1 is teh poop. It's all about 2

I still think Enix/Quintet games were some of the best on the system, though.

[Raban]

I got home high as fuck last night and played a stage of Rez HD. Holy shit, greatest idea I've ever had. High + Trance Vibration on controller + Rez HD insanity = The greatest thing I have ever played.

Also started playing Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and DMC4. Although, with DMC4, when I opened the case the disc had a fat scratch about an inch from the outside going towards the center. I hope it isn't bad enough to ruin the game later on, but we'll have to wait and see.

Bought Mega Man 9 within minutes of my Xbox 360 ownership and run through Galaxy Man's stage right away. Gonna try and beat it before 10.

I also played the Shadow Complex demo which was quite fun, and if Perfect Dark wasn't so close I'd probably get it right now.

[Bocsius]

I'm going to head through the Omega 4 relay in ME2 when I get home from work.

[Bebpo]

I definitely don't have your problem, Bebpo. XBLA games get played by me just as often as retail games. Splosion Man has 47 levels and 3 boss fights. You really think that's too much?

For me, yeah.  That's basically the length of a full $60 game these days like Bioshock 2 or Bayonetta and I'd rather spend the time with a retail game.
On the plus side, you get way more bang for your buck with these titles.  But to me time is more important than money, so whatever gives me the highest quality experience gets my time.

I'm assuming that you don't play much handheld games then either?

I play lots of handheld games!  I don't mean highest quality = biggest budget or whatever.  I just mean best designed/most fun game.
I think all this just comes down to that I thought 'Splosion Man was great for the first half of world 1, but then I felt it dragged and was bored by the time I got to world 2 so I moved on.  It's a good game, but I just felt like it was a one-trick pony and I was over it after a few hours.  It also didn't help that when I started playing world 2 I'd just come off of the first boss which was terrible and made me want to never play the game again.

[Beezy]

I honestly don't understand what the problem is then. XBLA games are as good as, if not then better than handheld games, outside of the rpg genre. Especially this year. And they're much cheaper.

Also, the level design in Splosion Man gets crazier and more difficult for each world.

[tiesto]

Just got my new laptop so now it's time to install a buncha old PC rpgs on it... starting with the Witcher.

Polacks

Also gonna beat ME tonight, I am just about up to the final battle now.

[iconoclast]

200'd Bionic Commando Rearmed. Still one of the best games on XBLA (if not THE best). If it weren't for the atrocious overhead missions I'd say this game is a 10/10.
Played Williams Pinball and did 4/5 of the wizard goals on Taxi. I must have hit the joyride a hundred fucking times and I STILL have not landed on a 'special.' Medieval Madness and Pinbot took me half as much time as this trash.

[demi]

haha, you pirated it. enjoy your poverty status, third world country.

[The Sceneman]

200'd Bionic Commando Rearmed. Still one of the best games on XBLA (if not THE best). If it weren't for the atrocious overhead missions I'd say this game is a 10/10.
Played Williams Pinball and did 4/5 of the wizard goals on Taxi. I must have hit the joyride a hundred fucking times and I STILL have not landed on a 'special.' Medieval Madness and Pinbot took me half as much time as this trash.

good stuff man  you have joined an elite few. Only other people on this board that got 200 are demi and me

[Fragamemnon]

starcraft 2 beta, terrans - my builds are good now, and, more importantly, they much better suit my style than the one base shit the warcraft 3 tards are dragging up.

dawn of discovery expansion - just unlocked today, will play this weekend.

[Raban]

Just played the Bayonetta demo for the first time. I want this game to stick its dick in me.

[The Sceneman]

you will do your part and purchase a copy immediately

add me on xbl gtag: Sceneman

[Raban]

you will do your part and purchase a copy immediately

add me on xbl gtag: Sceneman

we're already friends, lol

my gt is startselect

EDIT: Oh btw, I played the Banjo Kazooie and Sonic Unleashed demos. Terrible. Sonic was like watching a video of somebody playing the game for me. And I don't know what Rare did to Banjo, but it's fucking HORRIBLE.

[The Sceneman]

lol, sweet

[Mr. Gundam]

Been playing the Saturn lately. My regular old controller's d-pad is busted, so I've had to the use the 3D controller that came with Nights. What a horrible controller, hopefully I can get another controller in Japan...

[Raban]

lol, sweet

Too much ganja, mate

[CajoleJuice]

starcraft 2 beta, terrans

[ManaByte]

COD: WAW. Just got the Blue Ribbon achievement on Ring of Steel.

[D3RANG3D]

Doom3 Resurrection of Evil

Painkiller

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines

Hidden and Dangerous

[The Sceneman]

Hidden and Dangerous lol

[Don Flamenco]

I've got something hidden and dangerous....in my pants 

[D3RANG3D]

Hidden and Dangerous, was a free legal download can't complain lol.

[Stoney Mason]

Finished up Fear 2. It's a solid B tier game and shooter. the second half of the game is better than the first. Its repetitive and I ignored the story but the core mechanics and scripted battles and weapons are enjoyable enough to push it along. The little mech sections are surprisingly fun also.

It's fine for what it is, the problem is it just doesn't do any one thing good enough to boost it into being something that would grab most people's attention. And since the multi-player is absolutely dead you have a game that was ever only going to be a rental for most people.
 
I wish there was a grenade indicator because you get some cheap deaths because one of the AI enemies you will be fighting will toss a laser accurate grenade and you will die sometimes just because you didn't see him toss it since you fight multiple enemies at a time in different directions. Also I wasn't much of a fan of the momentum movement system they employed for your character.

That's about it. Decent rental. Decent game. Textbook example of solid work but not great work.

Edit: Re-read that and thought it may have come off harsher than I intended. I liked the game if it isn't clear.

[Kestastrophe]

It's fine for what it is, the problem is it just doesn't do any one thing good enough to boost it into being something that would grab most people's attention. And since the multi-player is absolutely dead you have a game that was ever only going to be a rental for most people.

That's a pretty good summation of my experience with the first game on 360.

[Raban]

Hey Lyte I got SF4, get on Live, bro.

[Tucah]

Heavy Rain - Interactive story telling  In all seriousness, it's pretty much exactly what I expected. Slow start, but should get better as it goes on.

Uncharted 2 - Still fantastic.

MGS4 - Still too many cutscenes.

Bayonetta - Still awesome.


I really need to finish up some of these games.

[Raban]

Hey Lyte, nvm, I just punched a hole in my wall trying to beat Seth to unlock my main. Probably shouldn't play for a while.

[demi]

lolz

[Raban]

omg Lyte I don't think I've had that much fun playing SF4

[Cormacaroni]

I got home high as fuck last night and played a stage of Rez HD. Holy shit, greatest idea I've ever had. High + Trance Vibration on controller + Rez HD insanity = The greatest thing I have ever played.

 

[Raban]

I got home high as fuck last night and played a stage of Rez HD. Holy shit, greatest idea I've ever had. High + Trance Vibration on controller + Rez HD insanity = The greatest thing I have ever played.

 

Best $10 I've ever spent, I swear. I love Q Entertainment so much, I want to marry them. Every original idea they've created has been a top 10 potential game for me. Rez, Lumines, Meteos, omfg. EEE is alright, but it's based off of a flash game, and Gunpey was the brainchild of the Game Boy. But omgomg Q unf unf

[Third]

Sonic and the Secret Rings

Don't know why I even bothered playing this. It's truly terrible. The tutorial levels alone are frustrating. The main levels are chaotic and don't make any sense, at all.
I will never play a Sonic platformer again.

The Sonic race game is pretty good, though. Didn't expect that. I'm playing the Wii version because my sisters are Wii exclusive gamers. And I can't play with anyone else. 

[tiesto]

Played a bit of the Witcher and Fallout 1 just to make sure they installed right on my new machine. Witcher looks pretty fun, as does FO1... though FO1's interface is pretty awkward in the way early PC RPGs can be.

[Stoney Mason]

The Witcher is pretty damn good especially from a choose your own adventure perspective. Way beyond most other RPG's.

[AdmiralViscen]

Dragon Quest Swords is kind of fun, in combat. There is way to much talking and wandering around with horrific town controls, though. I don't know why they didn't make the town on rails too and let you click on arrows to go from place to place. Horrible.

Also, the Wiimote is too inaccurate for some of the diagonal deflections and shit I'm already required to do.

Good enough for $10 though.

[duckman2000]

Banjo N&B, but the kid has spent all the notes on random crap.

[Stoney Mason]

I've always wanted to play nuts and bolts. A collect-athon platformer has little interest to me at this stage but it seems like this was a different beast based on all the impressions people gave.

[AdmiralViscen]

Game is fucking awesome. The only collecting you do is in the hub world, and rather than widgets it is new parts to buff up your vehicles.