The Official "Console War" and Video Game Thread

[Predabot]

Does anybody know when the PC release of Mirrors Edge is supposed to be? And for that matter, the release-date of Bionic Commando for the PC.

[RocketPunch]

I love that joystick in theory, but I've never been able to use a joystick in fighting games due to accuracy issues. I just can't move my whole hand in the same way that I can move my thumb.

I'm the same, I prefer the pad over the joystick.

[wolfsfang]

I'm the same, I prefer the pad over the joystick.

as do I.

I also prefer both stick and pad over keyboard / mouse combo which I just can't use at all and is why I have hardly any games on my PC

[TheDeviot]

as do I.

I also prefer both stick and pad over keyboard / mouse combo which I just can't use at all and is why I have hardly any games on my PC

Xbox360 pad works under Win XP/Vista. Problem solved.

[Beastmangler]

Anybody pick up Street Fighter HD? I'm really digging it. Got it for the PS3 because of the 360 D-pad issue.

[Skullface]

Anyone here in the beta for HOME? I just got an e-mail from SONY telling me I'm selected to participate. Have to download it after I get home from my mother's tonight. (She wants me to install the Homebrew Channel on her Wii)

Anyone who's already in on the beta have any thoughts?

[markatisu]

Anyone here in the beta for HOME? I just got an e-mail from SONY telling me I'm selected to participate. Have to download it after I get home from my mother's tonight. (She wants me to install the Homebrew Channel on her Wii)

Whats your mom want the Homebrew Channel for?

You will have to let us know how HOME is!

[Skullface]

Whats your mom want the Homebrew Channel for?

Emulators - She said if I could get Frogger on the Wii for her, she'd be a happy camper. (This is coming from the woman who has had nothing but disdain for video games since the 2600 ran its course!)

[markatisu]

Emulators - She said if I could get Frogger on the Wii for her, she'd be a happy camper. (This is coming from the woman who has had nothing but disdain for video games since the 2600 ran its course!)

Thats great, its like my brother. He wanted Homebrew to play Full Throttle with the wiimote

[CRAZYMOTUFAN]

Anyone here in the beta for HOME? I just got an e-mail from SONY telling me I'm selected to participate. Have to download it after I get home from my mother's tonight. (She wants me to install the Homebrew Channel on her Wii)

Anyone who's already in on the beta have any thoughts?

I got an email from them as well. I downloaded and I created my character and now I am check out the pad. Which is by the ocean. I will post if I discover anything else, but from what I can see, so far so good

[Galmorzu]

So what's the deal with Home? I got the code, but don't really understand what it is.

I set up it up, and went through the process of creating my character, which I honestly wasn't terribly impressed with. A thousand different variables to adjust to fine tune the look of my character who, no matter how many things I change in the set-up, will still look like a WB/CW cast member of the week. I actually have more fun with the 360 Avatars and Wii Miis.

So I walk around, go outside to look in the plaza, and everything I try doing ends with my entire PS3 freezing up and having to do a hard restart on it to get back to the main PS3 menu.

Honestly, it really didn't do anything for me, and it seems very much full of bugs still. Is it supposed to be like some social player get-together program?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I've been meaning to post some stuff in here for a bit now on games I've played recently and am getting, etc., but I've been rather lazy about it. So, this will likely be a long post to catch up on a few things.


Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
I've been playing this on 360 (got the kollector's edition... the artwork and extra are awesome, but the overall packaging is HORRIBLE).

The game is actually pretty good. The T rating worried me. It's definately got a big of a lighter tone than most of the other MK games, but not too light.

I do like the gameplay and overall I find it to be a big improvement over the last-gen MK games (not that I hated that gameplay, but it wasn't great).

I've done a few Fatalities and Brutalities with ease, though I've been having a lot of trouble with others. I got a moves list from Gamefaqs.com, and I don't know if the info is inaccurate or if I'm just doing something completely wrong, but some finishing moves I can't pull off at all. I have yet to get either of Batman's Brutalities to work.

The Fatalities are toned down, of course. But, still, IMO it's still a big improvement over the "custom fatality" system from MK Armageddon, which I was never really a fan of. At least each character gets their own unique moves this time.

I played through both story modes (there's 2 versions, with you playing on the MK side in one, and the DC side on the other), as well as the arcade mode a few times.

I particularly like playing as Captain Marvel. He's a lot of fun. His moves are awesome, and I particularly like it when he summons the lighting and in an echo-ey voice yells "SHAZAM!"

The odd thing is that beyond this, the game doesn't have a lot of extra modes or things to unlock. In the previous editions, there was the konquest mode (which was sometimes a good thing, and sometimes a bad thing), and extras to unlock like alternate costumes, extra backgrounds, etc. There doesn't seem to be any of that here as far as I can tell. I assume they're probably going to instead put that up as additional content to pay for, which I'm not entirely thrilled about.

But still, the game is worth picking up, IMO. If you aren't the biggest MK fan around, you may want to wait until it drops in price (which usually doesn't take all that long with the MK games anyway).

I originally preorederd the kollector's editions for both PS3 and 360 (since I'm just that much of an MK nut), but I never opened the PS3 version and I sent it back to Amazon to get a refund. There's a couple reasons for this. For one thing, I already have the bonus material with the 360 set and (as I stated earlier) the Kollector's packaging is terrible. But my main reason is that I managed to place an order for the uncensored European PS3 version of the game, which is region free and will work on the US PS3. I figured if I am going to own two copies of the game anyway, I may as well go ahead and get that version. Now I just have to figure out how to set up an account to eventually download the European add-on content, if possible.


But, onto the next topic: Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
I am looking forward to getting this for Wii. I preordered the import a while ago, and it should be coming out in the next couple of weeks.

I just recently got the Homebrew Channel loaded on my Wii, so I'm all set to go. I am excited that Viewtiful Joe is in the game.



You know, it's funny. I don't know what it is, but the USA seems to be cursed when it comes to these comic book-cartoon / fighting-game franchise Crossover games coming out for the consoles and being readily available. Let's look at the record:

X-Men Vs. Street Fighter: Only US console version was the (IMO) horrible, stripped down PS1 Edition. If you wanted to play a good version of this on a console back in the day, you pretty much had to own a Sega Saturn (which was a great, under-rated system, but was not the most popular system of it's time) and you had to Import this game from Japan, and either Mod your Saturn or get a special cartridge that would allow the game to play. And even then, if you cared about reading the text in the endings, you were out of luck unless you could read Japanese.

Marvel VS. Street Fighter: The same scenario as above. Stripped down PS1 version, Had to import for Saturn.

Marvel VS. Capcom: Things were a big better off here. There was, again, a stripped down PS1 version, but this did get a good USA release on the Sega Dreamcast. So, that was a big improvement, and (IMO) Dreamcast was a great system, but none the less it didn't hit and died out eary, therefore many people didn't get access to it.

Marvel VS. Capcom 2: It came out on Dreamcast first, so the same obscure system issues exist. But, it did eventually get a PS2 and Xbox release, so this was probably the most readily available of these games. But the deal that Capcom had with Marvel ended shortly after, so the game was only on these two system briefly, and if you don't areadly have one of them, you're looking at spending a lot of $ on ebay.

Mortal Kombat VS. DC: Obviously not a part of the same series, but clearly it's trying to cash in on the concept. The US gets the censored version. Granted, this isn't as big of a difference as the stripped down PS1 versions of X-men vs SF and Marvel vs SF, but the fact that anything was changed/censored at all still stinks.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Probably won't even see a US release at all from the looks of things.

It's been hard times for fans of these games. Granted, these days, if you want to, you can easily get emulators of the Marvel/Capcom crossover games, but for anyone who wants to have the official thing, it hasn't been easy. Hopefully this turns around soon. It would be nice if those older Capcom games were to get releases on Xbox Live and PSN


On another subject:
The New Xbox Experience

So, my wife and I FINALLY got rid of our old, crappy dial-up connection and got DSL. It's been nice being able to go online with my systems and update them without having to take them to a relative's house or something.

I downloaded the new Xbox 360 Experience update a few days ago.

I will say, I was really put off by it at first. It has grown on me some, but in many ways it still seems cumbersome. It could be more well organized, IMO. Navigating through everything, especially the stuff on Xbox Live, can be a daunting task the first few times. Plus, while you can still use the background themes with this new set up, in general they seem more covered up than before, thus making them less desirable than before. Also on a theme related note, I noticed that some aspects of some themes have been rendered useless. For instance, previously, in addition to the background images, some of the themes had other types of decorative designs that you show up on various 'blades' and pop-up menus. But now, since the entire menu system has been changed, those elements aren't even present.

All of the themes I have I've downloaded for free, but this really stinks for anyone who's paid for them.

The new Mii-like avatar thing is kind of cool, but I could take it or leave it.

And onto my final talking point... earlier today I downloaded:
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

It is really cool. It looks very nice on an HDTV.

It has some cool options, too. There's the remixed soundtrack or classic. You can pick between a widescreen display or a 4:3 display if you prefer to keep it old-school in that sense (this options only works when using a widescreen TV... if using a standard 4:3 TV, it just stays fullscreen). Also, you can pick between the new redone HD versions of the characters or the classic sprites. You can even pause the game in the middle of battle and change the option. But only the characters, themselves, are effected by this. The backgrounds don't change and are always the new HD versions. There's also 2 different play modes, the new Remix one, or classic (I think this effects things like difficulty, character balance, etc... but I've only played the Remix version so far).

All in all the game is really nice, and play-wise it's just old-school Street Fighter.

The one thing that I am very, very happy about is that they use Guile's voice from the earlier versions of Street Fighter II for when he says "Sonic Boom", etc. In the original Super and Super-Turbo editions, he suddenly had this weird accent that never sounded right (maybe they were trying to make him sound like Van-Damme from the movie?)

This is definitely good stuff, though it is a little pricey for an arcade download game. It was 1200 points on Xbox Live, or in other words $15. It's still cool, though.

If they ever do get around to putting those Marvel/Capcom crossover games on Live and PSN, it would be cool if they did an HD Remix like this.

[ehenyo]

Does anybody know when the PC release of Mirrors Edge is supposed to be?

Amazon says January 9th: http://www.amazon.com/Mirrors-Edge-P...7762626&sr=8-1

[Predabot]

Amazon says January 9th: http://www.amazon.com/Mirrors-Edge-P...7762626&sr=8-1

Thank you. I found the info last week tho, but thanks for giving it a look, mate.

Seems like a really great game, and definitely one suitable to my tastes.

Now... when could that there Bionic Commando for PC be released...? Hmm..

[markatisu]

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
I've been playing this on 360 (got the kollector's edition... the artwork and extra are awesome, but the overall packaging is HORRIBLE).

The game is actually pretty good. The T rating worried me. It's definately got a big of a lighter tone than most of the other MK games, but not too light.

I do like the gameplay and overall I find it to be a big improvement over the last-gen MK games (not that I hated that gameplay, but it wasn't great).

I've done a few Fatalities and Brutalities with ease, though I've been having a lot of trouble with others. I got a moves list from Gamefaqs.com, and I don't know if the info is inaccurate or if I'm just doing something completely wrong, but some finishing moves I can't pull off at all. I have yet to get either of Batman's Brutalities to work.

The Fatalities are toned down, of course. But, still, IMO it's still a big improvement over the "custom fatality" system from MK Armageddon, which I was never really a fan of. At least each character gets their own unique moves this time.

I played through both story modes (there's 2 versions, with you playing on the MK side in one, and the DC side on the other), as well as the arcade mode a few times.

I particularly like playing as Captain Marvel. He's a lot of fun. His moves are awesome, and I particularly like it when he summons the lighting and in an echo-ey voice yells "SHAZAM!"

Yes Captain Marvel is awesome, I love doing the Bearhug where he yells SHAZAM.

The odd thing is that beyond this, the game doesn't have a lot of extra modes or things to unlock. In the previous editions, there was the konquest mode (which was sometimes a good thing, and sometimes a bad thing), and extras to unlock like alternate costumes, extra backgrounds, etc. There doesn't seem to be any of that here as far as I can tell. I assume they're probably going to instead put that up as additional content to pay for, which I'm not entirely thrilled about.

But still, the game is worth picking up, IMO. If you aren't the biggest MK fan around, you may want to wait until it drops in price (which usually doesn't take all that long with the MK games anyway).

I agree, I rented it this week and I really liked it. The story is ok, I really miss Konquest mode though...not sure why because it was not like it was really all that developed in the last few games.

I originally preorederd the kollector's editions for both PS3 and 360 (since I'm just that much of an MK nut), but I never opened the PS3 version and I sent it back to Amazon to get a refund. There's a couple reasons for this. For one thing, I already have the bonus material with the 360 set and (as I stated earlier) the Kollector's packaging is terrible. But my main reason is that I managed to place an order for the uncensored European PS3 version of the game, which is region free and will work on the US PS3. I figured if I am going to own two copies of the game anyway, I may as well go ahead and get that version. Now I just have to figure out how to set up an account to eventually download the European add-on content, if possible.

I am going to try and get the PS3 Kollectors Edition from Amazon for $39.95 (offer good from Black Friday through to Dec 1), you will have to let me know if you are able to get the Euro edition to work

[TheDeviot]

I picked up a Retro Duo for a friend's birthday this week. Came over for Turkey Day so we were all playing it. It's actually pretty cool.

The system plays most of the original NES, and Super NES cartridges. It's nifty because if your old NES or SNES goes south, you can still use most of your games, and accessories. It's also compatible with the original SNES pads. It came with two which admittedly feel cheaper than the original SNES ones, but for the most part they played fine.

You can order them from Innex, although I got one for my friend at the local Play N' Trade that opened up in my town. From what I've read it's perfectly legit too because Nintendo's Hardware patents are over, and it doesn't include any copyrighted material. You have to have an actual cartridge (or Game Paks as they called them Stateside) to play anything.

Thought I'd give it a mention, as I'm sure some of us have old school systems that don't work anymore, and don't want to re buy everything on PSN/Live/VC if we have it on cart already.

But yeah pretty cool clone. Brings back memories of Coleco upsetting Atari with it's 2600 mode on the Colecovision I'm old

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I am going to try and get the PS3 Kollectors Edition from Amazon for $39.95 (offer good from Black Friday through to Dec 1), you will have to let me know if you are able to get the Euro edition to work

Whoa, that's a really good price.

I'll definately update here if the Euro version works. The site I ordered it from has this message: "Region Free The European version of MK vs DCU is region-free and may be played on any version of the Playstation 3 console hardware." So, hopefully there are no problems.

They are also now selling the Euro version of the game for 360, which is also supposed to be region free, which that site wasn't previously. I'm sticking with the PS3 version since I already have the American version for 360, and because from the sounds of it, it will be easier to get the Euro download content onto the PS3 than the 360 (though I could be totally wrong on that).

[markatisu]

The new "Jasper" Xbox 360 started hitting retail last week, looks like we may finally be rid of RROD for good

New Details on Improvements in 'Jasper' Xbox 360 Model, it will probably be January when they are readily available but if you keep your eyes peeled you might see them close to Christmas.

Alterations in the latest Xbox 360 model should, theoretically, finally end the Red Ring of Death.
By 1up/Kris Pigna, 11/30/2008

Last month, reports began circulating that the latest "Jasper" models of the Xbox 360 had begun selling at retail. Why is a new model of the Xbox 360 so important? Because, as VentureBeat explains in a report on the Jasper's improvements, the changes made to this model could finally mean the end of the dreaded Red Ring of Death fiasco.

The biggest improvement made to the Jasper model is that it uses a smaller 65-nanometer graphics chip, which will consume less power than previous Xbox 360 chips and fit more securely in its motherboard socket. That means it's far less likely to overheat and come lose from the motherboard, which is the main cause of the ubiquitous "Red Ring of Death" system failures. So, at least in theory, that problem should finally no longer plague those with Jasper model 360s.

But that's not the only change Microsoft made to their new hardware. The other big addition is an increase of the system's internal flash memory from 16 megabytes to 256, which will be used to store the New Xbox Experience. That means even Arcade units without hard drives will be able to have the NXE, without needing to circumvent the storage problems that earlier Arcade units faced. The last big difference is the Jasper model uses a 150-watt power supply, as opposed to the earlier 175-watt power supply.

So for those keeping score, that's approximately 1,060 days that it took for Microsoft to finally build a model of the Xbox 360 that doesn't have an unreasonably high probability of self-destructing.

[krosfyah]

The new "Jasper" Xbox 360 started hitting retail last week, looks like we may finally be rid of RROD for good

New Details on Improvements in 'Jasper' Xbox 360 Model, it will probably be January when they are readily available but if you keep your eyes peeled you might see them close to Christmas.

will it be easy to spot?

[markatisu]

will it be easy to spot?

It will have a manuf. date after October 2008 and the most important method will be the power supply number, it will the lower watt version.

[Skullface]

New Prince of Persia gets a 9.3/10 from IGN:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/934/934014p1.html

I hope they're right - this has been my #1 anticipated game of the holiday season!

UPDATE: Just an M$ update: My console was received Wednesday, and I just got an e-mail this morning saying my repairs are complete, and it should ship back to me shortly. I'm sure they just grabbed one of their already refurbed units and sent it. Hopefully they transferred my DLC rights to the new console. Otherwise, I'll have to call them to do it, and do it myself on the xbox website and hope I don't have any problems for at least a year.

[markatisu]

Wii Shop updates for today, Space Invaders is pretty awesome

From Nintendo:

After a long, lazy holiday weekend, it's time to shake off your post-Thanksgiving daze. Need some suggestions for boosting your activity level back into the red? Let the latest additions to the Wii™ Shop Channel be your guide: Take command of a UFO in an epic space battle, get your engine revving as the leader of a frenzied pit crew, or storm the battlefield in a high-tech military mêlée. With all this excitement, you may be ready for another vacation day sooner than you think.

Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

WiiWare™

SPACE INVADERS GET EVEN (Taito, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): The Space Invaders are back, and this time they're out to get even. Take control of a UFO and make those Earthlings pay by unleashing your fleet of heroic invaders against their puny tanks, fighter jets and artillery-but watch out for the massive boss awaiting you at the end of each stage. Use your invaders' five attack types and the might of the mother ship to rack up high scores, then upload them via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and see where you stand in the global rankings. (Note: Router and broadband access required for online play. For more info, visit www.nintendo.com .)

Pit Crew Panic! (Hudson Entertainment, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): Pit Crew Panic! is a frantic, action-packed game that unfolds on the racing circuit. During the game, the pit crew is not only faced with repairing vehicles, but also various WHATSITs. Handling the WHATSIT repairs is a pit crew made up of legendary beauties. The controls are simple: Just grab a member of the crew with the Wii Remote™ controller's A Button, then release the button when the Pointer is over the damaged PART, and that crew member will begin repairs. Assign repairs to the members of your team and provide support using the Wii Remote to send a fully repaired WHATSIT out of the pit as quickly as you can. The game features Normal mode, which can be played using one of two rules: Abnormal mode (players split into two teams and compete against each other) and Ranking mode (compete with players around the world for the top record). Each mode can be played with a maximum of four Wii Remote controllers, allowing you to team up with friends and family. Your teamwork could lead to outstanding records.

Virtual Console™

METAL SLUG 2 (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated T for Teen-Blood and Gore, Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1998 by SNK, METAL SLUG 2 is a side-scrolling military-action game. Players choose from Marco, Tarma, Eri and Fio, setting their sights on wiping out Morden's newly remobilized Rebellion Army. Just like the original METAL SLUG , players blaze a trail by shooting and jumping, but METAL SLUG 2 adds a new arsenal for you to command, including a heavy machine gun, a shotgun and even a laser gun, providing players with rich variety. Battle effects are packed in, as well-players turn into mummies after getting caught in poison gas coughed up by mummies. After picking up too many food items, characters turn fat, but they get an attack-strength upgrade. Two-player action is supported, too, so players can have a blast with their friends.

[wolf-manj]

So what's the deal with Home? I got the code, but don't really understand what it is.

I set up it up, and went through the process of creating my character, which I honestly wasn't terribly impressed with. A thousand different variables to adjust to fine tune the look of my character who, no matter how many things I change in the set-up, will still look like a WB/CW cast member of the week. I actually have more fun with the 360 Avatars and Wii Miis.

So I walk around, go outside to look in the plaza, and everything I try doing ends with my entire PS3 freezing up and having to do a hard restart on it to get back to the main PS3 menu.

Honestly, it really didn't do anything for me, and it seems very much full of bugs still. Is it supposed to be like some social player get-together program?

Do you not know what a beta is? The point is to play it and figure out the bugs so they can get fixed by the release date. Betas are almost always unfinished games.

[markatisu]

Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves


10 page spread in the Jan issue of Game Informer

Teaser Trailer

[wolfsfang]

WOW I so want that

The original Unchartered was one of the reasons I got my PS3 and it remains one of my most played games on that console.