Shadow's backstory gets exposed, but you have to do certain things and go to certain areas with him in your party to do it. It's actually a real pain in the ass to do, but you can find out who he is if you're willing to dig deep enough in the game.
Tifa and Cloud did grow up together. That part was never in question. Tifa never contradicted it, though there were parts of his story that he made up when he was telling it to the rest of the cast at the inn at Kalm. Tifa isn't the girl he was talking about, though. It's been a while since I've played the game, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot of hints that Zack had been Aeris' boyfriend. She even mentions an ex-boyfriend that was in SOLDIER when she notices Cloud's "Mako eyes".
I feel a little dirty discussing this with so much seriousness.
You forgot about "the master of unlocking", which is probably the worst line ever uttered in a video game. I've actually heard people argue that RE's bad voice acting was intentional, that it was supposed to give the game the feel of a cheesy horror movie. That's just an excuse for mediocrity as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the game was pretty good for its time, good enough that I'm considering doing the whole thing over again on the DS.
You're in luck! I found this for you, but since I don't own an NGage and have never bought from them (Britain is a long way from here), I cannot guarantee that they're reputable.
Rifts had a hardcover edition of the core book, but that was a special edition. To be honest, though, I find the softcover ones to be less unweildy when I'm constantly flipping back and forth through it for whatever reason.
Actually, from what I've seen of the Sega CD Shadowrun, it is VERY different from the Genesis version (which was one of my favourites). That was a good thing about the Shadowrun video games, you were getting a different one when you bought for each console.
Not only was there talk about a movie, but the NGage game wasn't even supposed to be the first Rifts game. There had been talk about Rifts being made into a video game for years and years, so long that I had assumed it would never happen. I was pretty surprised (and disappointed) to find out that after all this time it was coming to the NGage. The potential is there for a great MMORPG, though, I'll agree. But then, just how much room is there in the MMO market for another one, even if it does turn out to be very good?
Pod Racing? You want to really hit the bottom of that barrel, try "Super Bombad Racing". WTF?
The first KOTOR game was brilliant, though. I'm betting that's got more to do with Bioware than LucasArts, though. The second one was not as good but I'd heard that LA started leaning on Obsidian to get the game going in certain directions and some of the Obsidian people never want to work with LA again because of it. I still want to see a third KOTOR game, though.
The SNES controller was good for playing SFII, but the best was the Genesis 6-button/Saturn controller. They more closely replicated the arcade button layout and felt more natural for fighting games. The SNES controller was better all-around, though.
Omni Consumer Products. And they were basically a caricature of American corporations at the time, bloated, plagued with internal politics, and more worried about quantity than quality (recall Dick Jones' rant about the ED-209. "Who cares if it worked?") In fact, by the later additions to the series (the terrible Prime Directives TV movies) OCP was facing a takeover by a Japanese corp.
I know this may shock you, but you can actually BUY pdfs of those books. I googled "pdf rpg books" and thesewere the first two results. Crazy stuff, the things you find on the Internet.
I've always been a fan of Shadowrun myself (another Fasa game), but it's a pain in the ass to find people to play it with. Most people either don't like it or aren't familiar enough with the rules for a game to go at a reasonable pace. But then I also like the Palladium games which also seem to be unpopular among the hardcore role-players, so maybe I'm just a misfit among a group of outcasts.
The theatre's aren't "suddenly" the problem. The theatre's have always been the problem. The difference is now we have alternatives. Video cassettes were of crappy quality and the TVs of old were not anywhere near the quality we have now. Nor was their widespread proliferation of high-end audio equipment. You can get damn near any movie you want at your local Blockbuster, watch it on a big screen HDTV with surround sound from the comfort of your couch and eat better food than at the theatre for a lot less money (less the investment in the equipment, which doesn't seem to be an issue for most middle class people.) What's the appeal of the theatre, now? An even bigger screen? A better sound system? At what tradeoff? Crappy seats, overpriced everything, and loud idiots? Do you really think "obnoxious neighbours" is only a western thing?
No, it really doesn't. The first poster in this thread debunked it pretty well. He said those theatres were doing poorly because of piracy until they raised the bar for the theatre experience. He's in one of those countries where people are "crammed on top of each other". Face it. The theatre experience is shit for the money they expect you to spend and it's to blame for the decline in theatre revenues.
The problem, since you missed the thousand or so other posts pointing it out, is that the theatre experience has turned to shit. Very few people have a problem with being in a large room with a lot of other people, but it would sure be nice if everyone in there would extend some common courtesy to each other and shut the fuck up for 90-120 minutes. It's tough to justify spending $13 (+ $12 for pop and popcorn) to see a movie once when I have to put up with people having loud conversations during a movie, kicking my already uncomfortable chair, leaving their cell phones on, etc.
While I agree with most of your point, I take issue with the statement that violent video games are all that's out there. I suppose it's true that the majority of games have some form of violence in them, there are a good many in which it's more like an old Roadrunner cartoon than the gritty gore-fests which are so popular these days. If you think that violent games are all that's out there, you're really not looking hard enough.
Coersion is a very different animal than hypnosis. You might murder a stranger if it meant saving the lives of your loved ones, but I sincerely doubt that you'd murder that same person if someone said "you are getting very sleepy... now bludgeon that man to death..."
Slashdot Mirror
The fact that MTV showed it is not proof that anyone watched it.
Shadow's backstory gets exposed, but you have to do certain things and go to certain areas with him in your party to do it. It's actually a real pain in the ass to do, but you can find out who he is if you're willing to dig deep enough in the game.
Tifa and Cloud did grow up together. That part was never in question. Tifa never contradicted it, though there were parts of his story that he made up when he was telling it to the rest of the cast at the inn at Kalm. Tifa isn't the girl he was talking about, though. It's been a while since I've played the game, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot of hints that Zack had been Aeris' boyfriend. She even mentions an ex-boyfriend that was in SOLDIER when she notices Cloud's "Mako eyes".
I feel a little dirty discussing this with so much seriousness.
You forgot about "the master of unlocking", which is probably the worst line ever uttered in a video game. I've actually heard people argue that RE's bad voice acting was intentional, that it was supposed to give the game the feel of a cheesy horror movie. That's just an excuse for mediocrity as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the game was pretty good for its time, good enough that I'm considering doing the whole thing over again on the DS.
You're in luck! I found this for you, but since I don't own an NGage and have never bought from them (Britain is a long way from here), I cannot guarantee that they're reputable.
Rifts had a hardcover edition of the core book, but that was a special edition. To be honest, though, I find the softcover ones to be less unweildy when I'm constantly flipping back and forth through it for whatever reason.
Actually, from what I've seen of the Sega CD Shadowrun, it is VERY different from the Genesis version (which was one of my favourites). That was a good thing about the Shadowrun video games, you were getting a different one when you bought for each console.
Not only was there talk about a movie, but the NGage game wasn't even supposed to be the first Rifts game. There had been talk about Rifts being made into a video game for years and years, so long that I had assumed it would never happen. I was pretty surprised (and disappointed) to find out that after all this time it was coming to the NGage. The potential is there for a great MMORPG, though, I'll agree. But then, just how much room is there in the MMO market for another one, even if it does turn out to be very good?
This is true. Maybe the GP meant Mechanoids? That predated Rifts by quite a bit IIRC, and the material actually wound up as a sourcebook for Rifts.
Care to guess how much it costs to spend 3 hours/week in the bar? Hint: Substantially more than a WoW subscription.
:D
Not if your friends are buying the beer.
Fuck, I say "though" a lot.
Pod Racing? You want to really hit the bottom of that barrel, try "Super Bombad Racing". WTF?
The first KOTOR game was brilliant, though. I'm betting that's got more to do with Bioware than LucasArts, though. The second one was not as good but I'd heard that LA started leaning on Obsidian to get the game going in certain directions and some of the Obsidian people never want to work with LA again because of it. I still want to see a third KOTOR game, though.
Yes, you should. ;)
The SNES controller was good for playing SFII, but the best was the Genesis 6-button/Saturn controller. They more closely replicated the arcade button layout and felt more natural for fighting games. The SNES controller was better all-around, though.
Omni Consumer Products. And they were basically a caricature of American corporations at the time, bloated, plagued with internal politics, and more worried about quantity than quality (recall Dick Jones' rant about the ED-209. "Who cares if it worked?") In fact, by the later additions to the series (the terrible Prime Directives TV movies) OCP was facing a takeover by a Japanese corp.
Well, they're all watermarked for starters. If you distribute your copy, it's easy for them to find out who sent out the initial copy.
I know this may shock you, but you can actually BUY pdfs of those books. I googled "pdf rpg books" and these were the first two results. Crazy stuff, the things you find on the Internet.
I've always been a fan of Shadowrun myself (another Fasa game), but it's a pain in the ass to find people to play it with. Most people either don't like it or aren't familiar enough with the rules for a game to go at a reasonable pace. But then I also like the Palladium games which also seem to be unpopular among the hardcore role-players, so maybe I'm just a misfit among a group of outcasts.
The theatre's aren't "suddenly" the problem. The theatre's have always been the problem. The difference is now we have alternatives. Video cassettes were of crappy quality and the TVs of old were not anywhere near the quality we have now. Nor was their widespread proliferation of high-end audio equipment. You can get damn near any movie you want at your local Blockbuster, watch it on a big screen HDTV with surround sound from the comfort of your couch and eat better food than at the theatre for a lot less money (less the investment in the equipment, which doesn't seem to be an issue for most middle class people.) What's the appeal of the theatre, now? An even bigger screen? A better sound system? At what tradeoff? Crappy seats, overpriced everything, and loud idiots? Do you really think "obnoxious neighbours" is only a western thing?
Yeah, Apple sure blew away the gaming market the last time they entered it.
No, it really doesn't. The first poster in this thread debunked it pretty well. He said those theatres were doing poorly because of piracy until they raised the bar for the theatre experience. He's in one of those countries where people are "crammed on top of each other". Face it. The theatre experience is shit for the money they expect you to spend and it's to blame for the decline in theatre revenues.
The problem, since you missed the thousand or so other posts pointing it out, is that the theatre experience has turned to shit. Very few people have a problem with being in a large room with a lot of other people, but it would sure be nice if everyone in there would extend some common courtesy to each other and shut the fuck up for 90-120 minutes. It's tough to justify spending $13 (+ $12 for pop and popcorn) to see a movie once when I have to put up with people having loud conversations during a movie, kicking my already uncomfortable chair, leaving their cell phones on, etc.
While I agree with most of your point, I take issue with the statement that violent video games are all that's out there. I suppose it's true that the majority of games have some form of violence in them, there are a good many in which it's more like an old Roadrunner cartoon than the gritty gore-fests which are so popular these days. If you think that violent games are all that's out there, you're really not looking hard enough.
Coersion is a very different animal than hypnosis. You might murder a stranger if it meant saving the lives of your loved ones, but I sincerely doubt that you'd murder that same person if someone said "you are getting very sleepy... now bludgeon that man to death..."
What if they kill 4 people though? The disclaimer didn't say anything about that!