Travo, you are a reader. Scroll back up, read the review summary I added to the original post about 9, 9, 9 and tell me it doesn't sound intriguing!

I'll say one more thing about 999 and I'll then wait for the day one of you takes the chance of trying it and lets me know how right I was...

9 people are kidnapped from their homes by a person known as 'Zero.' They wake up on a 'Ship' and need to solve progressively harder puzzles centered around the Nonary system of Numbers. Each of the 9 People are fitted with a Bracelet and have been force fed a small bomb when they were unconscious. These bracelets are numbered and are tied to a series of doors throughout the ship. These doors can only be passed thru by a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 5 people. Their numbers must add up to the number on the door, using the Nonary System. Once passing thru the door a sensor activates and must be DE-Activated on the opposite side of the door. Failure to do so, or attempting to break the rules of the game, sets off the bomb inside the captives intestines and they literally explode. The ship they are on is also SINKING and they are given 9 hours (game time) to find door number 9 and escape. This sets up an incredible feeling of urgency --AND-- more importantly, by the very rules of the game --NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE ABLE TO ESCAPE-- either the number on his/her bracelet or the number of people passing thru the doors limits just how many people will survive! What starts out as a group of people co-operating with each other to survive, quickly devolves into self-preservation and desperation! Think Survivor with deadly consequences!

This is not too much of a SPOILER, as it literally happens before the game even properly starts --BUT-- the Ninth man tries to escape and passes thru a numbered door on his own after taking one of the others hostage momentarily. The text describing the carnage of his body after the bomb goes off inside of him, and the blood splatter which is shown (the body is NOT) was descriptive and suggestive enough to make me squirm in my seat and feel VERY uncomfortable and borderline nauseated! I must reiterate: THE QUALITY OF THE WRITING OF THIS GAME is TOP NOTCH and makes for one of the most UNIQUE experiences you'll ever have playing a game!

'Nuff said!

The demo is simplified, starts out differently than the game itself and the writing isn't quite the same, but you'll at least get an idea of some of the puzzles you'll encounter!

Andriasang said:

Sony Gives No Comment on PlayStation Vita Sales

Following a debut of 325,000 units, PlayStation Vita sales dropped 78% in the system's second week. With 72,000 units sold, the system placed below all other active systems, including the system it's supposed to replace, the PlayStation Portable.

Meanwhile, the 3DS saw its best week ever, selling 482,200 units, taking it above the four million mark in domestic sales. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata had previously forecast that the system would reach four million by its first anniversary. It managed the feat two months in advance of that.



So what does Sony Computer Entertainment have to say about what appears to be a slow start for the Vita? Nothing at present, it seems. Bloomberg Japan asked for comment on the Vita's second week performance and was given the old "no comment" from SCE PR head Satoshi Fukuoka.



Perhaps we'll hear something once business returns to normal following the New Years break.

?

Andriasang said:

PlayStation Vita Lives in the Media Create Top 50

PlayStation Vita did not make it into the Media Create top 20 software chart, which was released yesterday. It didn't make it into the Media Create top 30 software chart, which was released earlier today.



And so we waited for Media Create to release its top 50 software sales chart, wondering if those 70,000 people who'd picked up a Vita over the week had either not bought a single game, or had gone the download route.



Media Create just released its top 50 for the week (covering 12/19 to 12/25), and a few Vita games did manage to sneak in. Placing 37, a few slots below the PSP the Best budget release of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on PSP (released in September), was Hot Shots Golf 6. Uncharted placed 40. Dynasty Warriors Next made it in at 44. Lord of Apocalypse managed 49th place, just beating Smash Bros. X on Wii released in January 2008.



Media Create does not provide actual sales figures for games below the top 20. This week's 20th game, Mario Kart Wii, sold 43,752 units.



As reported earlier in the week Vita sold 72,479 units over the week.

phantom_leo said:

With the release of VVVVVV on the 3DS e-shop, I --MUST-- say: Since the release of Mario 3D Land, EVERY WEEK Nintendo has been doing their damnedest to keep the portable going strong, providing GREAT games (Kart), GREAT incentives (especially for Ambassadors) and AWESOME downloadables (Mighty Switch Force, VVVVVV). Where there was next to nothing to mention about the system for the first 6 months it was available, NOW there is something to make me smile every, single week!

KEEP IT UP NINTENDO!

I really hope it keeps up this time. The eShop looks like it'll be strong over the next 6 months or so with some pretty big releases at least once a month.  You throw in a couple sleeper games here or there, and maybe one good VC game or 3-D classic as well and it'll build a strong reputation.

As far as the physical games go, I'm happy with what they've offered, but at this stage I'm ready for some third party games. Gimmie something other than a god damned plumber and his green fairy boy hetero lifemate.

phantom_leo said:

Hamster, if you had a 3DS, I think you of all of us would be ALL over this game! Besides the C64 inspired graphics, check out what Destructoid has to say abou the game in general:

Bleh. Thanks to Sony and MS, I'm now an HD graphics whore.

I didn't forget it, just looked past it.  I loved it back in the day when I bought it with a rumble add on, but see no reason to shell out $40 for it now.

travo said:

I didn't forget it, just looked past it.  I loved it back in the day when I bought it with a rumble add on, but see no reason to shell out $40 for it now.

The same feeling I have with Ocarina of Time. Why is a remake of Zelda good, while we even have never better versions, while a remake of Starfox 64 is not looked as fondly upon, while the never versions are shit?

Archangel3371 said:

Yeah I really enjoyed Starfox back in the day but the 3DS version wasn't high enough on my 'too buy' list to interest me. I'm planning on getting Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus, and that Bravely rpg from Square-Enix. Not really on what else is coming out for the 3DS anytime in the near future. It still feels pretty slow on the games front for the handheld to me right now.

Resident Evil is coming in January I think. 2012 is going to be packed, so I hear. I can't be assed to look into it. A cold place in hell for you Archie. First no Sin and Punishment and now no Starfox. Shame on you.