Yes, well, but you sound a bit like an Intel fanboy, and a desperate one at that. Sure, Intel is going to make new processors next year, but the proof is in the pudding. Let's wait and see if they really manage to trounce AMD, or whether they'll be overly noisy and not that much better than their last gen.
Personally, I use AMD whenever I can - Intel just can't (or rather, won't) beat the price/performance of AMD procs.
But Ghostbuster was a cool game. Come on, you got to drive around NY and capture ghosts. It even had a bit of speech thrown in. I dug it when I had my C64. No, sucky movie conversions started with ET, and then every once in a while, we got some good ones, like Ghostbusters.
How are you streaming movies? What kind of movies are they (regular dvds, xvid, avi, wmv)?
I haven't been able to do this, though I have connected my XP computer to the Xbox 360 via Media Connect. Music streaming works like a charm, but no video. Does it only work with a Media Center PC?
King's Quest 3. Well, it's not amnesia, but it's the same premise. You start off the game not knowing who you are, and during the adventure you eventually find out what happened to you. It's the most memorable of the series, IMO.
Amnesia is a deus ex machina, so authors are wary of using it. Except in soap operas, of course.
Agreed. It's really stupid you're not able to play off movies directly. It would be real nice if you could just plug in an usb memory stick and play the movie files off them. With Live, it's easy to upgrade the functionality of the media player, though, so maybe we'll get it somewhere down the line.
I've checked mine a few times this past couple of weeks, but even after a few hours of usage, it still haven't felt hot to the touch. I'm using the European version, so maybe its internals are different, or less heat prone.
Well, that was a refreshingly decent review of the 360. I say that because it mostly echoes my own feelings toward the console. Exchange COD2 with PDZ and Zonk got the same games as I did when I bought mine earlier in december.
I think I have spent more time playing the Live Arcade games than the Xbox 360 games, though. Robotron just became available, and it's a real hoot.
It has a different atmosphere than Sand of Time, but once you get past the silly and rather dreadful beginning and find yourself inside the castle, the game markedly improves. The puzzles gets interesting, the story gets more interesting, and you'll find it's a very decent game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I dunno...to me Indigo Prophecy came off as a text adventure with purdy graphics and button-mashing. Some very starved adventure-lovers hailed it as the second coming, but I'm a bit wary. It seems like the game was made by film students who suddenly "discovered" the idea of interactive storytelling.
Hehe, but that's because I like it. I like all kinds of adventures, so this one was right up my alley. I dunno about the last part, but if they just discovered the idea of interactive storytelling, at least they did a better job than anyone before them. Though, it did in parts remind me of the experience of playing Tex Murphy in Under a Killing Moon, if only for the ambient atmosphere, though Moon was more of a comedy than a thriller.
Or maybe I'm just pissed because some real idiots I know were very snooty about getting the "uncut" version of the game, blabbing on about how the United States is full of fascists and they were fighting for freedom of speech by importing it, only to find out that the cut material was a sex scene that had little to do with the plot. Oh noes! Teh man is censoring our pronz! Viva la r3sistanc3 omg!
Well, there are a lot of people nowadays who equals American with Bush and thinks USA is a country with some 300 million low-brain rednecks with an itchy trigger finger. It's deplorable and stupid. I didn't actually know there was a cut version of the game, but then I would have if the cut version was the European one and not the American release.:)
I think you raise some good points, though I would argue this:
Well, thats not really true, its neither a classic adventure (no real puzzles, no inventory) nor some action-adventure (no dungeons, no monsters to squish, etc. but plenty of action), its mostly something quite different, 'interactive movie' is probally the most acurat name. Its kind of an like adventure with action sequences done right.
An inventory does not an adventure make, and there are quite a few puzzles, however easy. The important thing is that you can pick up items from your surrounding and use them to further the plot. It doesn't matter that you can't pick them up and put them in your pockets.
OTOH, the adventure genre is very broad, and I certainly wouldn't compare it to games such as Monkey Island, King's Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Simon the Sorcerer, or Sierra's Manhunter series, to name just a few wildly different adventure games. I would say it's the spirit of the game -- it plays like an adventure, it feels like an adventure, and so, is an adventure.:)
I can honestly say it is. It's an adventure - a real one at that, not the action-adventure kind we've been served ever since Sierra went down and Lucasarts stopped doing (good) adventures.
It's a mystery adventure, and it's got paranormal stuff in it, but it's of the occult variety, not the "The Ring"-kind of paranormal stuff that's been so popular of late.
You play the part of the one being possessed, and the two detectives who chase him. The story is extremely rich and unfolds at a great pace, and the three main characters are very well fleshed out. You also decide the outcome of most situations, meaning you have to make decisions regarding how you interact with other characters (you usually get a few options on what to say, and you have to think quickly -- you don't get a second chance and you can't just traverse the talk tree and try out every response like you could in the Lucasarts adventures). The characters have emotions, and you have to keep them from being too depressed, which admittedly, is a bit hard at times. It's very dark, very moody, and a very adult oriented adventure. It's definitely not for kids.
The actions parts is a bit strange at first, as you don't take direct control of your characters, but have to duplicate the movements on the screen via your two thumbsticks.
While it's a rather odd way of interacting with your character, it's makes for some pretty intense action scenes. It's sometimes hard to see what your characters are actually doing, since you're concentrating so hard on doing it right, though, but it's never too much. At least, that's how I feel.
I would recommend it. Now, I have to admit I've been waiting for a good adventure game for several years, so this kind of hit home with me on that front, which may account for my extremely positive attitude of the game. That said, and being objective, it's a well produced, highly polished and very interesting game. It's certainly unlike anything else on the market. (A bit like Katamari and Shadow of the Colossus in that respect).
As a huge fan of Indigo Prophecy, I urge anyone to buy it and check it out. It really deserves to do well. Those gameplay issues you're talking about -- I dunno -- at least they're original. The way those action sequences are played takes some getting used to, but at least it's something different from the predetermined path other games makes you take.
Dunno about blockbuster, but Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy to you yanks) is the best game I've bought this year, and is one of the best adventure games I've ever played (and I've been playing adventure games since before they were started doing graphics). Civ 4 was also very good, and so was F.E.A.R. The new Prince of Persia is supposed to be very good too, although I've yet to play it.
Who cares about blockbuster games anyway? Take blockbuster movies - how many of those are worth watching (hint: the day after (or whatever it was called -- that uh-oh, here come the ice-movie), Independence Day, War of the worlds (damn sappy ending ruined the whole movie), etc.). It's not the size of the budget that matters - it's the quality.
Wow, there's other reasons than "online piracy" that leads to declined sales of music. Heh, it won't be long until RIAA either demands a halt in the sale of high priced gadgets such as the Ipod and the Xbox360, or demands a portion of the income from the sales.;)
The games that are actually worth playing won't be out for a while yet, and the release catalogue is laughable. Having the system early only gets you some negative cashflow.
I keep hearing this a lot, but I don't think it's quite true. The release catalogue doesn't consist of many titles, but there are a few gems. Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, King Kong and Condemned are very good titles, with Kameo and King Kong being quite spectacular for their shine and graphics (and Condemned for its gore). While I'm not a fan of racing titles, PG3 has gotten consistant high reviews, and probably is rather good. What I'm saying is, there are no obvious stinkers in the release catalogue - they're all decent, well-done games. It's not like all you can buy is crap, like it was when the CD32 or PS2 launched (I have and enjoy both system, but their launch lineup was terrible).
It may be Sony that learned from MS, seeing as this is how the original Xbox has operated since day one. You can't update modded xboxes that are locked against updates. You can, however, deny them access to Live, which is exactly what MS did.
Oh yeah, I remember Daggerfall, and Arena as well. I remember countless nights playing Arena on my 486 - fun times. It had an inventive spell making system that let you create your own spells. I made a spell that did a lot of things simultaneously, including destroying the wall you were facing. That made a lot of those endless dungeon missions quite easy. That said, I never finished either of them (nor Morrowind for that matter). I do have high hopes for Oblivion (I already have it on preorder...), but there are a thousand way they could ruin it, so I guess only time will tell if it's any good:)
Ok, but the Xbox360 is about the same size as the original PS2, and that one sold like crazy in Japan. The original Xbox, now that was an unwieldy beast, but the Xbox360 is very sleek and nowhere near as intrusive as the original Xbox.
It was, and always will be, a unwanted marketing gimmick by Microsoft.
First of all, there is no such thing as 'backward compatibility' - the few games that actually do run are essentially quick and dirty ports to the 360.
Second, Microsoft seems to be using the incredibly low standard of basically being able to run for claiming a game is supported.
You don't have a clue what you're talking about. When a game is on the list of supported titles, they work as well on the 360 as on the Xbox, and in quite a few cases, they are better for it. Halo 2 is much nicer on the 360 than on the original Xbox (the problem that was introduced with the update mentioned in the blurb has now been fixed, according to Gamespot).
Nothing is ported, so there's no "quick and dirty" ports being made.
It seems it's all about slashing through as many enemies as possible before the game ends. It's really disheartening. I did really like Fable, but before that one, I think Planescape was the last good one. I wish someone could come up with something that had the quality of Ultima 7 and the visuals of Fable:).
Most current console/portable games have disappointed the hell out of me, and I'm hoping that '3rd-gen' can bring something with more substance than another 90 Madden titles and rehashed FPS'. Call me jaded if you will, but I'm just trying not to buy the system that's over-loaded with unoriginal garbage for games after it's first year.
I hear you on this, but have you tried Fahrenheit? I just started playing it on my Xbox the other day, and it's really the most intelligent and interesting current-gen console game out there. It's a mystery adventure (go figure, in this day and age), and it plays supremely well.
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Personally, I use AMD whenever I can - Intel just can't (or rather, won't) beat the price/performance of AMD procs.
But Ghostbuster was a cool game. Come on, you got to drive around NY and capture ghosts. It even had a bit of speech thrown in. I dug it when I had my C64. No, sucky movie conversions started with ET, and then every once in a while, we got some good ones, like Ghostbusters.
I haven't been able to do this, though I have connected my XP computer to the Xbox 360 via Media Connect. Music streaming works like a charm, but no video. Does it only work with a Media Center PC?
King's Quest 3. Well, it's not amnesia, but it's the same premise. You start off the game not knowing who you are, and during the adventure you eventually find out what happened to you. It's the most memorable of the series, IMO. Amnesia is a deus ex machina, so authors are wary of using it. Except in soap operas, of course.
You were probably going for funny, but if not, it's very clear you never had any kids. ;)
Agreed. It's really stupid you're not able to play off movies directly. It would be real nice if you could just plug in an usb memory stick and play the movie files off them. With Live, it's easy to upgrade the functionality of the media player, though, so maybe we'll get it somewhere down the line.
No crashes so far. No hangups, no reboots, no problems. And I have two...
I've checked mine a few times this past couple of weeks, but even after a few hours of usage, it still haven't felt hot to the touch. I'm using the European version, so maybe its internals are different, or less heat prone.
Well, that was a refreshingly decent review of the 360. I say that because it mostly echoes my own feelings toward the console. Exchange COD2 with PDZ and Zonk got the same games as I did when I bought mine earlier in december. I think I have spent more time playing the Live Arcade games than the Xbox 360 games, though. Robotron just became available, and it's a real hoot.
It has a different atmosphere than Sand of Time, but once you get past the silly and rather dreadful beginning and find yourself inside the castle, the game markedly improves. The puzzles gets interesting, the story gets more interesting, and you'll find it's a very decent game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
OTOH, the adventure genre is very broad, and I certainly wouldn't compare it to games such as Monkey Island, King's Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Simon the Sorcerer, or Sierra's Manhunter series, to name just a few wildly different adventure games. I would say it's the spirit of the game -- it plays like an adventure, it feels like an adventure, and so, is an adventure.
I can honestly say it is. It's an adventure - a real one at that, not the action-adventure kind we've been served ever since Sierra went down and Lucasarts stopped doing (good) adventures.
It's a mystery adventure, and it's got paranormal stuff in it, but it's of the occult variety, not the "The Ring"-kind of paranormal stuff that's been so popular of late.
You play the part of the one being possessed, and the two detectives who chase him. The story is extremely rich and unfolds at a great pace, and the three main characters are very well fleshed out. You also decide the outcome of most situations, meaning you have to make decisions regarding how you interact with other characters (you usually get a few options on what to say, and you have to think quickly -- you don't get a second chance and you can't just traverse the talk tree and try out every response like you could in the Lucasarts adventures). The characters have emotions, and you have to keep them from being too depressed, which admittedly, is a bit hard at times. It's very dark, very moody, and a very adult oriented adventure. It's definitely not for kids.
The actions parts is a bit strange at first, as you don't take direct control of your characters, but have to duplicate the movements on the screen via your two thumbsticks. While it's a rather odd way of interacting with your character, it's makes for some pretty intense action scenes. It's sometimes hard to see what your characters are actually doing, since you're concentrating so hard on doing it right, though, but it's never too much. At least, that's how I feel.
I would recommend it. Now, I have to admit I've been waiting for a good adventure game for several years, so this kind of hit home with me on that front, which may account for my extremely positive attitude of the game. That said, and being objective, it's a well produced, highly polished and very interesting game. It's certainly unlike anything else on the market. (A bit like Katamari and Shadow of the Colossus in that respect).
As a huge fan of Indigo Prophecy, I urge anyone to buy it and check it out. It really deserves to do well. Those gameplay issues you're talking about -- I dunno -- at least they're original. The way those action sequences are played takes some getting used to, but at least it's something different from the predetermined path other games makes you take.
Who cares about blockbuster games anyway? Take blockbuster movies - how many of those are worth watching (hint: the day after (or whatever it was called -- that uh-oh, here come the ice-movie), Independence Day, War of the worlds (damn sappy ending ruined the whole movie), etc.). It's not the size of the budget that matters - it's the quality.
Wow, there's other reasons than "online piracy" that leads to declined sales of music. Heh, it won't be long until RIAA either demands a halt in the sale of high priced gadgets such as the Ipod and the Xbox360, or demands a portion of the income from the sales. ;)
It may be Sony that learned from MS, seeing as this is how the original Xbox has operated since day one. You can't update modded xboxes that are locked against updates. You can, however, deny them access to Live, which is exactly what MS did.
Oh yeah, I remember Daggerfall, and Arena as well. I remember countless nights playing Arena on my 486 - fun times. It had an inventive spell making system that let you create your own spells. I made a spell that did a lot of things simultaneously, including destroying the wall you were facing. That made a lot of those endless dungeon missions quite easy. :)
That said, I never finished either of them (nor Morrowind for that matter). I do have high hopes for Oblivion (I already have it on preorder...), but there are a thousand way they could ruin it, so I guess only time will tell if it's any good
Ok, but the Xbox360 is about the same size as the original PS2, and that one sold like crazy in Japan. The original Xbox, now that was an unwieldy beast, but the Xbox360 is very sleek and nowhere near as intrusive as the original Xbox.
Nothing is ported, so there's no "quick and dirty" ports being made.
The slimline PS2 is incompatible with (a few) games written for the PS2. That's pretty weak. ;)
Compatability-wise, I don't know if it's any better or worse than the standard PS2 unit.
It seems it's all about slashing through as many enemies as possible before the game ends. It's really disheartening. I did really like Fable, but before that one, I think Planescape was the last good one. I wish someone could come up with something that had the quality of Ultima 7 and the visuals of Fable :).
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I hadn't heard of Magna Carta, is this the one: http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/magnacarta/review
If so, it doesn't seem quite like my cup of tea, but thanks for the heads up anyway.
Yes :)