it's that time of the week -- What have you been playing?

Me?

Deadly Premonition - truly great game. I think I'm about to finish it, I'm going to givee it a 9 with a point takn off for tank controls.  To tell you how good it is, this is the game I started when I finished SMG2 -- and I'm playing it to completion.  Usually after playing a game as good as SMG2 I reject the first 3-4 games I try.  This one is good enough to compete.

And SimCity 3000 on PC.  I really am too good at this game.  All my years of SimCitying have paid off well --problem is, it makes it a bit dull, but I will push on and fill the grid.

EDIT: Here is some Bonus Content for this post, jsut saw this, funny:

My mom thinks "LOL" means "Lots Of Love". She texted me, "Your grandma had just died. LOL"

I beat Valkyria Chronicles and played a bit of Uncharted 2 MP. Nothing more.

robio said:

Not playing too much of anything. This week I'm all about finishing my History of Horror Video Games presentation since I host the panel this Saturday...

You should tape it and put it on Ytube.  Then you could get plenty of insightful, well contructd comments regarding your contribution.

aspro said:

robio said:

Not playing too much of anything. This week I'm all about finishing my History of Horror Video Games presentation since I host the panel this Saturday...

You should tape it and put it on Ytube.  Then you could get plenty of insightful, well contructd comments regarding your contribution.

I'll see if I can find someone to record it, though if it goes badly you'll never see it. Right now it focuses on 8 games as turning points for the genre and then mentions about another 30 as filler.  Including the video clips it should run about 30 to 35 minutes and will leave approximately 10 minutes for any Q&A.

BTW guys, do we consider Alan Wake horror or not?

I haven't played it either, but I think I'll put it in the yes category. Sounds a good bit like Shattered Memories, so that'll be enough. And if people disagree that'll actually make my point about the current state of horror games even stronger.

Foolz said:

Ah, that's just lame then.

It's getting an original new horror focused single player Resident Evil so that's better than yet another port really...

All this is on the news from Nintendo's event so just look it up... or at least the three lineup videos (DS, 3DS, Wii)...

What I've been playing this weekend

So I kicked on some virtual console games in what seems like forever. I couldn't be bothered cracking out the classic controller and since I went all HD, with no SDTVs left in the house. I was put off playing them, because firstly you had to find some freaking hidden code to play PAL VC games on an HDTV in europe and even when they work the scaling makes everything excessively pixellated.

Forgetting all that..................... I mean what the hell? I remember why I stopped playing some of these games. I hit choke points. I play DKC on the SNES and I am stuck on the same mine level, diddy jumps higher than DK yet he can't beat some enemies. These freaking armadillos boomerang back at you from off screen. Platforms just freaking drop in miliseconds. I must have died 20 times and still couldn't make it past. I completed this game back in the 90s.

Choke point.

Then I put on Super Metroid, I don't have the charge beam so I have to flip between missiles with a toggle button. I have to hold down different shoulder buttons to get angled shots, press down twice to get morph ball, everything is so unintuitive. And all the while the game has these floaty wafting controls that feel woefully inaccurate next to the gba games, by God the jumping. And then I'm stuck at Kraid.

He starts raising platforms and there are balls flying about the place randomly, you can only shoot him when his mouth opens and these jagged platforms are firing at you. And spikes below me and all the while I'm trying to use these floaty controls like I have a sponge attached to the control pad. Choke point.

Castlevania 4 is easier than this.

So, worst mistake next, I kick on R Type 3, jesus hell in crap, what the in the name of god. I got killed 20 times plus trying to kill this boss that has all sorts of shit flying about the screen and stuff is rotating and million things are going on that your eyes can never keep focus on at once. Choke point. And I completed Super R Type no problem.

Finally I play shinobi 3 and thankfully I didn't hit a choke point, but man, the controls and design of modern games is so much better in just how well they control and how responsive they are. But then other old games have perfect control, like contra, or mario or cybernator.

Then I put on NyxQuest and everything is good. Environments are a little repetitive though.

And then DKC 2

Please no.

gamingeek said:

Epic Games boss Mark Rein reckons the next Xbox and PlayStation could be portable.

"Imagine a future Xbox 360 that is actually a tablet you carry around," Rein told Develop.

"It will have more power than 360 does today, with technology like Kinect built right in.

"Imagine walking into a bar with some friends, propping it up on the table and playing games like Dance Central or Kinect Adventures anywhere you go. Then when you get home that same device will use technology like AirPlay or wireless HDMI to connect to your big screen, you'll pick up a wireless controller, or use your phone as a controller to play games like Gears of War.

"It feels like there's a great opportunity for game consoles to cease to be something you plug into the wall and rather become something you take with you. Of course it will be more than just your game console; you can have your productivity apps, your documents, and your media collections on it as well."

i've seen people at the bar i go to, play with an ipad like thing (i don't think it was an ipad).  not cool at all