*when leaving car*
"You did it! The Lexus brought you luck! Unfortunately, the Lexus cannot accompany you any further, and must be euthanized. State and local regulations prevent you from leaving your Lexus alone and companionless. If your Lexus could talk - and the Enrichment Center reminds you that it cannot - it would tell you that it would rather die in a fire than inconvience you."
*after a crash*
"Spectacular. You appear to understand how the Lexus conserves momentum - or to be more precise, how it does not. All Lexus technologies remain safely
operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no
chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence. Goodbye."
*when coming out of repair shop*
"Remember when the Lexus caught on fire and I said, "Goodbye." and you were like, "No Way!" and then I was all "We pretended that we were going to murder you? That was great."
Actually, since the player handles the dice and controls what position they start and end in, a player with exceptionally fine motor control (or larger dice) could throw dice to land on whatever side they want. Thus, each roll of the dice becomes the equivalent of a move in chess: determining which piece(s) to move and how far to move them each turn.
The computer should be able to match this capability as well - after all, a computer has successfully bowled a perfect game. Not to mention that each side has methods of cheating this as well - humans can use loaded dice, and computers can use *cough* "random" number generators.
They actually addressed this issue on Adult Swim via their text bumpers a while back. It was something along the lines of:
"So Comedy Central bought another season of Futurama.
Why not us?
Money.
They have it.
We don't."
I agree wholeheartedly with this. I consider the ultimate quote about AI from one of Looking Glass's designers (yeah, he said it quite a ways back...unfortunately I'm paraphrasing a bit until I find the book where it was written):
"Gamers don't want good soldiers. They want good babysitters. In Thief, we had guards patrolling around loudly saying how they can't find you. Now, we could have easily made the guards mercilessly hunt you down, but then it wouldn't be fun..."
This is also a big problem with AI people on your side as well. I just love how in just about every game with people following you, they manage to get stuck in corners or put themselves in front of you right when you fire the rocket launcher.
That's why over the past few years I've been playing more and more games that don't depend on AI, such as puzzle and rhythm-based games. Either that, or use other people to fill in for AI-based opponents/friends.
Ah, floppies. I remember when I did a complete backup of all the non-application files on my positively gargantuatan 800 MB hard drive using nothing...NOTHING...but reformatted AOL/Compuserve/Prodigy floppies mailed to me over the course of the last year.
Haven't actually used one in more than three years, though - and haven't used it more often than whenever I need to read nostalgia files since I got a CD burner (SCSI, even!), in 1999...
My wife's engagement ring was a little $8 plastic one purchased at Wal-Mart (see my other post for my ring history.)
My mother-in-law's engagment ring was a twist-tie.
I agree wholeheartedly.
I concur wholeheartedly - my wife's engagement ring was purchased *after* I proposed to her from Wal-Mart for $8 (one of those little plastic thingies) - in fact, it wore down after a couple months, so I bought her an identical one later on.
For our wedding rings, we had them made by a local silversmith for $300 total (which included both our rather ornate rings as well as two plain 'working' rings.) Unfortunately, we then found that my wife's skin oxidizes pure silver rather quickly, so we shopped around online and found a beautiful sterling silver ring for $40 which she still wears to this day (and shows no oxidation - a friend gave her a sterling silver ring several years ago that she constantly wears, so we know sterling silver's alright with her.)
And what's best of all is that she loved all of them. She even keeps the Wal-Mart rings in a little plastic bag to tell our kids about someday.
Of course, it may be due to the fact that my mother-in-law's engagement ring was a twist-tie.
While I don't particularly care for Sony, there's no reason to deprive yourself of their entertainment properties solely to prove a point.
It's possible to enjoy all of these without paying Sony for the privelge:
Playstation stuff - It's debatable about whether or not the hardware for the PS3 is a loss leader - thus, purchasing it may actually hurt Sony financially. To top it off, if you sell one on eBay this Christmas for a higher price, you would then make money at Sony's expense.
Alternatively, you could simply purchase all Playstation products (including the PS3 once there are ample supplies) used. Since Sony only makes money for the first sale of each property, you can rest assured that Sony won't make any money on your purchases. Or rent games from video stores or Gamefly.
Movies - Essentally the same as video games, simply rent the DVD once the movie leaves theaters or buy it used.
TV shows - Unless you're part of a Nielsen family, it makes no difference to Sony whether you watch their show or not. The TV show was already purchased by the TV station with money from the advertisers. If you feel you must do something, then either ask your local TV station to stop running said shows (Good Luck there - "I feel that since Sony shut down a game importing company it is morally reprehensible for you to show "The Boondocks.") or mute the ads and/or don't purchase any products that are advertised during said shows (this may prove diffcult, though - can you honestly stop going to your favorite local hot dog stand solely because one of their ads happened to run during Jeopardy! ?) Alternatively, wait for the series to be printed on DVDs, and then rent/buy used.
So...yeah. By doing these things, I'm contributing exactly as much money to Sony as the above poster while still watching shows I like.
...you, the master of unlocking...
on
Just Let Me Play!
·
· Score: 1
It's mostly the first one, though I can understand goodie desire.
See, in games like DDR or Amplitude or Guitar Hero where you can pick any song you want, the desire to advance doesn't come from unlocking harder songs by playing basic ones - the desire comes from getting higher grades playing songs you like. In other words, the level/song you're playing is so fun that you want to do it again, better, instead of it being a means to an end level/song. I can't believe how people think that any game has to be a quest towards something instead of fun on its own merits. Honestly, it's like if dice only had numbers 1-3 on them until you rolled them 500 times to unlock additional numbers.
Could you beat Maxx Unlimited or Bark at the Moon Expert your first time up? There's a 99.9999% percent chance you can't. But still - I welcome the *option* to fall flat on my face. Heck, I'd want to come back to it at later points (say, after I beat medium) to fail after 15% complete instead of 6% complete, and say, "Yeah, it's still hard as hell, but I got the first part! I'm getting somewhere!"
As far as the old saw of "Well, playing these easier songs will be a progression towards being able to play Bark at the Moon" - well, let's think here. How do you think you'll get better at BatM - playing some completely-unrelated not-even-the-same-tempo song, or practicing Bark at the Moon?!!
As far as the arbitrary goodie discussion - you guys (and gals) were almost perfect with Guitar Hero, my personal Game of the Year 2005 (Resident Evil 4? Puh-leeze. I Gamefly-ed it and was bored with its linear hell after two weeks...) - but unlocking songs was a completely unnecessary way to give achivements thanks to the Unlock Shop! Now *that* was the way to go! (Well, except for the buying non-liscensed songs part.)
Why? Because everything (besides songs) in the shop was cool, yet completely unnecessary to advance! Who wouldn't save up cash to get the Grim Ripper or the double guitar? It served as a badge of GH Rockitude (since the Grim Ripper required anywhere from 14 5 stars to 80 completions.) There was no "Oh no, my reward for having fun is something useless and hollow..." because I'm shredding a skull-scythe with fucking DEATH!
So yeah - the main point I'm trying to make is that you guys have one of the few games that's actually fun to play at any skill level. Don't fuck it up by cutting off huge chunks of the game to people of lesser skill. (I mean, did you plan to have people not be able to play any of the Face-Melters on Easy without already beating them all on Normal at least? If I wasn't around to lend her my memory card, my mom-in-law (who, incidentally, ROCKS OUT at this game, even with her low guitar skill) would only be able to pick from five songs!)
Right, as long as I've got you here, here's what you guys need to put in GHII:
- Practice Mode. With slo-mo, handclaps, and a metronome, DDR-style. (I can't remember offhand if Freq/Amplitude offered those in their practice modes, so sorry if there's an unintentional insult there. I know you guys had a killer looping system, though, so leave that in.)
- Jukebox Mode. I can't think of another game that needs it as badly as this one. Props if you show the band onstage playing the song and then getting up to change singers/stretch/drum solo/something between songs. Also playlists.
- Ability to play *all* songs via Quick Play/Practice. Unlocks are for cool (and gameplay-irrelevant) guitars, videos, paint jobs, venues, singers, and so forth. Give us the music post-haste. Career mode is fine to do the whole unlock-songs-in-chunks thing on, but I need a way to get to the music. (Or at the very least, leave that code in. I'll still play all the damn songs either way, but I won't feel as bitter about it.)
- Dragula. DO IT BABY DO IT BABY (T for Teen!) ME LIKE AN ANIMAL
I've been wondering about this for several years now. I used to be incredibly into video games as a kid and teenager, digging up all the info I could find on every console under the sun. Then a few years ago, inklings of this philosophy started to hit me. It started with me no longer liking RPGs - after a while, I just couldn't take the grind anymore. Online or offline, it seemed that all there was to it was to hit "A" or "X" repeatedly to bash enemies or scroll through text.
Then it started spreading to fighting games. Try as I might, I just couldn't get excited about having to memorize another arbitrary set of physics and counter-attacks and just frames and special-joystick-breaking moves - honestly, I've probably surpassed the point where I could go learn an actual martial art instead for all the time lost there. Adventure games were the next to go when even the simplest task to complete had loads of baggage attached via loading screens, unskippable cutscenes, fetch quests that served no purpose but to extend the game...
I ended up having only two sets of games left that I liked - music games and puzzle games. Both of them aren't Work, but Fun, in my eyes. Puzzle games (such as Tetris, Tetris Attack, Meteos, and such) all depended on quick thinking to solve many slightly different logic puzzles (Where is the optimal place for this block? How can I form a chain with these colours?) - a sharp contrast from the 'puzzles' in adventure games the second or subsequent time through (Oh, wow, this painting has a blue light on it. Gee, if I hit this yellow switch, the light turns green and the door opens. I am quite impressed and astounded.)
Music games (such as Frequency/Amplitude, Guitar Hero, Drum/Beatmania, Karaoke Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution) I find more fun due to extreme replay value. Not (and I repeat, NOT) for unlocking new songs at arbitrary points, but because I like listening to and dancing to or even creating music! I'll jump at the chance to listen to a good song that I know more than once - which is more than I can say for backtracking through Jak3. Plus, they even give a bit of return back with a better sense of rhythm and a bit of a workout! Sure, not as much as, say, playing a sport or joining a band, but still a damn sight more of a life upgrade than MurderDeathKill Online 3!
Heck, these games are even more inherently social than the others - almost no learning curve! My mom-in-law hadn't played a video game since the original Super Mario Bros., but she f'n ROCKS OUT at Guitar Hero! My non-gaming friends were completely entranced when I broke out the Karaoke Revolution at a party! Even Dance Dance Revolution got a wonderful reception when people realized that they were better/worse than they thought they would be.
So yeah, while I don't quite think that all games are a waste of time, I believe that most are, now. But I also have a place in my heart for great, replayable games that people of all skill levels (not just those that have sworn fealty to games) can enjoy.
That masterstroke was by none other than Akklaim, the company that had some seriously depraved advertisments before they went bankrupt about a year or so ago. Case in point - they asked cemeteries if they would be willing to put advertisments on tombstones for "Shadow Man - 2nd Coming". And then they offered a $10,000 reward for one set of new parents to name their kid Turok.
Oddly enough, they were very effective at advertisements a decade ago - one of the major reasons that game releases are now treated like events is due to their "Mortal Monday" campaign, for the home version of the white-hot (then) Mortal Kombat I.
Yes! And you didn't even mention the worst part - the Prince ends up getting in this battle to begin with by being hit with one lucky shot despite HAVING THE POWER TO REWIND TIME!
Unfortunately, instead of being able to rewind time and AVOID THIS ENTIRE BATTLE, since the ambush in a cutscene you and The Prince have to partake in the absolute lowest part of this otherwise stellar game. I found that galavanting around the rooftops was quite cool since you nearly always had a 'lifeline' in the dagger if you screwed up. Likewise, combat was wisely sidestepped with speed kills since straight up combat was never PoP's strong suit.
So in one fell swoop we have the one-two punch of unavoidable combat immediately following an unskippable cutscene in a game where the very premise is that history can be rewritten at the player's whim. Way to go, designers!
Besides, most industries view women as potential buyers of their products, just like they view men as potential buyers. Try to notice the pattern here..
Ah, this means that E3 needs a supplement for the female market. They need to hire HARD GAY!
This theory is true so long as you pick the right games. Speaking for myself, I can't buy a linear game anymore (such as a platformer or RPG) - I rent them instead. Spending about 3 hours a day or so playing them, I beat both Psychonauts and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones both in one five-day rental.
While I enjoyed both games very much, I don't plan on playing them again - I've already extracted all the fun from both. Thus, it's a lot better for me to spend $6 on a rental then $50 on a purchase.
On the other hand, games that offer high replay value by being easy to learn but hard to master (such as music games or puzzle games), I often think worth it to buy new. These games often don't become obsolete by better hardware as action games often do (example: compare, say, Top Gun on NES to Ace Combat 4 on PS2) mainly due to the fact that they don't concentrate on hardware - DDR, for instance, despite being on 4 different consoles, remains fundementally the same while being fun even now. The icing on the cake is that these games are often priced at $35 or less when they first come out - and will often provide months to years more gameplay then the latest action fix.
I dunno about that - a large part of Sony's success with the PS2 was that they were selling it for $300 at a time when dedicated DVD players were $200-$300. A lot of consumers bought it with the thought of "Well, I really want a DVD player so that I don't have to worry about VHS tapes anymore - plus this one plays video games too, for 'free'!"
Granted, I don't think having a bundled Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player will have quite the same effect since DVD's are just fine for everyone with a non-HD TV.
I'm on board with this idea too! Just think of the possibilites...
Short Selling - Think that Britney Spears is overpriced? Then sell first while it costs $5/song and then buy it when it devalues to 99 cents! (Note: will cause loss of ability to listen to sample)
Buying Music on Margin - Really want that new Sum41 CD, but don't have the bread? Just mark some old Nickelback tracks as 'margin' songs and then rock out! (Warning: will lose ability to listen to Nickelback until Sum41 increases in value enough to cover margin call)
Song Options - As a reward for working more than two years for EMI, you'll be able to purchase 1,000 songs at $0.25 each, regardless of their listed price! (Warning: Insider Trading is prohibited)
Man, I wish I could upgrade to the Master System. Adventure used to be my favorite game until I went over to my friend's house and he showed me Alex Kidd in Miracle World. It was the coolest RPG I've ever seen!
Slashdot Mirror
*when leaving car*
"You did it! The Lexus brought you luck! Unfortunately, the Lexus cannot accompany you any further, and must be euthanized. State and local regulations prevent you from leaving your Lexus alone and companionless. If your Lexus could talk - and the Enrichment Center reminds you that it cannot - it would tell you that it would rather die in a fire than inconvience you."
*after a crash*
"Spectacular. You appear to understand how the Lexus conserves momentum - or to be more precise, how it does not. All Lexus technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence. Goodbye."
*when coming out of repair shop*
"Remember when the Lexus caught on fire and I said, "Goodbye." and you were like, "No Way!" and then I was all "We pretended that we were going to murder you? That was great."
ZORK!
Gesundheit!
Sports Illustrated Cavic-Phelps frame-by-frame
Actually, since the player handles the dice and controls what position they start and end in, a player with exceptionally fine motor control (or larger dice) could throw dice to land on whatever side they want. Thus, each roll of the dice becomes the equivalent of a move in chess: determining which piece(s) to move and how far to move them each turn. The computer should be able to match this capability as well - after all, a computer has successfully bowled a perfect game. Not to mention that each side has methods of cheating this as well - humans can use loaded dice, and computers can use *cough* "random" number generators.
They actually addressed this issue on Adult Swim via their text bumpers a while back. It was something along the lines of: "So Comedy Central bought another season of Futurama. Why not us? Money. They have it. We don't."
The $499 version of the PS3 has been discontinued from U.S. and Japanese retailers for at least three months now - apparently they weren't in as high demand as the $600 version. It would be very difficult to find a 20 GB PS3 now.
Sorry, but it was one of the few times when it was actually appropriate.
This is also a big problem with AI people on your side as well. I just love how in just about every game with people following you, they manage to get stuck in corners or put themselves in front of you right when you fire the rocket launcher.
That's why over the past few years I've been playing more and more games that don't depend on AI, such as puzzle and rhythm-based games. Either that, or use other people to fill in for AI-based opponents/friends.
So if you leave, they're going to make you leave?
Haven't actually used one in more than three years, though - and haven't used it more often than whenever I need to read nostalgia files since I got a CD burner (SCSI, even!), in 1999...
Perhaps by buying solar panels, windmills, or a bicycle generator?
My wife's engagement ring was a little $8 plastic one purchased at Wal-Mart (see my other post for my ring history.) My mother-in-law's engagment ring was a twist-tie. I agree wholeheartedly.
I concur wholeheartedly - my wife's engagement ring was purchased *after* I proposed to her from Wal-Mart for $8 (one of those little plastic thingies) - in fact, it wore down after a couple months, so I bought her an identical one later on. For our wedding rings, we had them made by a local silversmith for $300 total (which included both our rather ornate rings as well as two plain 'working' rings.) Unfortunately, we then found that my wife's skin oxidizes pure silver rather quickly, so we shopped around online and found a beautiful sterling silver ring for $40 which she still wears to this day (and shows no oxidation - a friend gave her a sterling silver ring several years ago that she constantly wears, so we know sterling silver's alright with her.) And what's best of all is that she loved all of them. She even keeps the Wal-Mart rings in a little plastic bag to tell our kids about someday. Of course, it may be due to the fact that my mother-in-law's engagement ring was a twist-tie.
It's possible to enjoy all of these without paying Sony for the privelge:
Playstation stuff - It's debatable about whether or not the hardware for the PS3 is a loss leader - thus, purchasing it may actually hurt Sony financially. To top it off, if you sell one on eBay this Christmas for a higher price, you would then make money at Sony's expense.
Alternatively, you could simply purchase all Playstation products (including the PS3 once there are ample supplies) used. Since Sony only makes money for the first sale of each property, you can rest assured that Sony won't make any money on your purchases. Or rent games from video stores or Gamefly.
Movies - Essentally the same as video games, simply rent the DVD once the movie leaves theaters or buy it used.
TV shows - Unless you're part of a Nielsen family, it makes no difference to Sony whether you watch their show or not. The TV show was already purchased by the TV station with money from the advertisers. If you feel you must do something, then either ask your local TV station to stop running said shows (Good Luck there - "I feel that since Sony shut down a game importing company it is morally reprehensible for you to show "The Boondocks.") or mute the ads and/or don't purchase any products that are advertised during said shows (this may prove diffcult, though - can you honestly stop going to your favorite local hot dog stand solely because one of their ads happened to run during Jeopardy! ?) Alternatively, wait for the series to be printed on DVDs, and then rent/buy used.
So...yeah. By doing these things, I'm contributing exactly as much money to Sony as the above poster while still watching shows I like.
See, in games like DDR or Amplitude or Guitar Hero where you can pick any song you want, the desire to advance doesn't come from unlocking harder songs by playing basic ones - the desire comes from getting higher grades playing songs you like. In other words, the level/song you're playing is so fun that you want to do it again, better, instead of it being a means to an end level/song. I can't believe how people think that any game has to be a quest towards something instead of fun on its own merits. Honestly, it's like if dice only had numbers 1-3 on them until you rolled them 500 times to unlock additional numbers.
Could you beat Maxx Unlimited or Bark at the Moon Expert your first time up? There's a 99.9999% percent chance you can't. But still - I welcome the *option* to fall flat on my face. Heck, I'd want to come back to it at later points (say, after I beat medium) to fail after 15% complete instead of 6% complete, and say, "Yeah, it's still hard as hell, but I got the first part! I'm getting somewhere!"
As far as the old saw of "Well, playing these easier songs will be a progression towards being able to play Bark at the Moon" - well, let's think here. How do you think you'll get better at BatM - playing some completely-unrelated not-even-the-same-tempo song, or practicing Bark at the Moon?!!
As far as the arbitrary goodie discussion - you guys (and gals) were almost perfect with Guitar Hero, my personal Game of the Year 2005 (Resident Evil 4? Puh-leeze. I Gamefly-ed it and was bored with its linear hell after two weeks...) - but unlocking songs was a completely unnecessary way to give achivements thanks to the Unlock Shop! Now *that* was the way to go! (Well, except for the buying non-liscensed songs part.)
Why? Because everything (besides songs) in the shop was cool, yet completely unnecessary to advance! Who wouldn't save up cash to get the Grim Ripper or the double guitar? It served as a badge of GH Rockitude (since the Grim Ripper required anywhere from 14 5 stars to 80 completions.) There was no "Oh no, my reward for having fun is something useless and hollow..." because I'm shredding a skull-scythe with fucking DEATH!
So yeah - the main point I'm trying to make is that you guys have one of the few games that's actually fun to play at any skill level. Don't fuck it up by cutting off huge chunks of the game to people of lesser skill. (I mean, did you plan to have people not be able to play any of the Face-Melters on Easy without already beating them all on Normal at least? If I wasn't around to lend her my memory card, my mom-in-law (who, incidentally, ROCKS OUT at this game, even with her low guitar skill) would only be able to pick from five songs!)
Right, as long as I've got you here, here's what you guys need to put in GHII:
- Practice Mode. With slo-mo, handclaps, and a metronome, DDR-style. (I can't remember offhand if Freq/Amplitude offered those in their practice modes, so sorry if there's an unintentional insult there. I know you guys had a killer looping system, though, so leave that in.)
- Jukebox Mode. I can't think of another game that needs it as badly as this one. Props if you show the band onstage playing the song and then getting up to change singers/stretch/drum solo/something between songs. Also playlists.
- Ability to play *all* songs via Quick Play/Practice. Unlocks are for cool (and gameplay-irrelevant) guitars, videos, paint jobs, venues, singers, and so forth. Give us the music post-haste. Career mode is fine to do the whole unlock-songs-in-chunks thing on, but I need a way to get to the music. (Or at the very least, leave that code in. I'll still play all the damn songs either way, but I won't feel as bitter about it.)
- Dragula. DO IT BABY DO IT BABY (T for Teen!) ME LIKE AN ANIMAL
I've been wondering about this for several years now. I used to be incredibly into video games as a kid and teenager, digging up all the info I could find on every console under the sun. Then a few years ago, inklings of this philosophy started to hit me. It started with me no longer liking RPGs - after a while, I just couldn't take the grind anymore. Online or offline, it seemed that all there was to it was to hit "A" or "X" repeatedly to bash enemies or scroll through text.
Then it started spreading to fighting games. Try as I might, I just couldn't get excited about having to memorize another arbitrary set of physics and counter-attacks and just frames and special-joystick-breaking moves - honestly, I've probably surpassed the point where I could go learn an actual martial art instead for all the time lost there. Adventure games were the next to go when even the simplest task to complete had loads of baggage attached via loading screens, unskippable cutscenes, fetch quests that served no purpose but to extend the game...
I ended up having only two sets of games left that I liked - music games and puzzle games. Both of them aren't Work, but Fun, in my eyes. Puzzle games (such as Tetris, Tetris Attack, Meteos, and such) all depended on quick thinking to solve many slightly different logic puzzles (Where is the optimal place for this block? How can I form a chain with these colours?) - a sharp contrast from the 'puzzles' in adventure games the second or subsequent time through (Oh, wow, this painting has a blue light on it. Gee, if I hit this yellow switch, the light turns green and the door opens. I am quite impressed and astounded.)
Music games (such as Frequency/Amplitude, Guitar Hero, Drum/Beatmania, Karaoke Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution) I find more fun due to extreme replay value. Not (and I repeat, NOT) for unlocking new songs at arbitrary points, but because I like listening to and dancing to or even creating music! I'll jump at the chance to listen to a good song that I know more than once - which is more than I can say for backtracking through Jak3. Plus, they even give a bit of return back with a better sense of rhythm and a bit of a workout! Sure, not as much as, say, playing a sport or joining a band, but still a damn sight more of a life upgrade than MurderDeathKill Online 3!
Heck, these games are even more inherently social than the others - almost no learning curve! My mom-in-law hadn't played a video game since the original Super Mario Bros., but she f'n ROCKS OUT at Guitar Hero! My non-gaming friends were completely entranced when I broke out the Karaoke Revolution at a party! Even Dance Dance Revolution got a wonderful reception when people realized that they were better/worse than they thought they would be.
So yeah, while I don't quite think that all games are a waste of time, I believe that most are, now. But I also have a place in my heart for great, replayable games that people of all skill levels (not just those that have sworn fealty to games) can enjoy.
That masterstroke was by none other than Akklaim, the company that had some seriously depraved advertisments before they went bankrupt about a year or so ago. Case in point - they asked cemeteries if they would be willing to put advertisments on tombstones for "Shadow Man - 2nd Coming". And then they offered a $10,000 reward for one set of new parents to name their kid Turok. Oddly enough, they were very effective at advertisements a decade ago - one of the major reasons that game releases are now treated like events is due to their "Mortal Monday" campaign, for the home version of the white-hot (then) Mortal Kombat I.
Unfortunately, instead of being able to rewind time and AVOID THIS ENTIRE BATTLE, since the ambush in a cutscene you and The Prince have to partake in the absolute lowest part of this otherwise stellar game. I found that galavanting around the rooftops was quite cool since you nearly always had a 'lifeline' in the dagger if you screwed up. Likewise, combat was wisely sidestepped with speed kills since straight up combat was never PoP's strong suit.
So in one fell swoop we have the one-two punch of unavoidable combat immediately following an unskippable cutscene in a game where the very premise is that history can be rewritten at the player's whim. Way to go, designers!
"Uh, excuse me, sir? I was wondering if you're interested in the book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ."
"Qué carajo estás haciendo aquí? Lárgate, cabrón!"
"Sorry to bother you."
(Villager then tries to attack Leon with an axe.)
"Freeze! I said, Freeze!"
(Leon takes out the villager and gets a message on his radio.)
"Is everything okay?"
"There was a hostile local. I had no choice but to neutralize him. There are still others surrounding the area."
"Get out of there and head toward the village. Take whatever measures necessary to save the subject."
Ah, this means that E3 needs a supplement for the female market. They need to hire HARD GAY!
While I enjoyed both games very much, I don't plan on playing them again - I've already extracted all the fun from both. Thus, it's a lot better for me to spend $6 on a rental then $50 on a purchase.
On the other hand, games that offer high replay value by being easy to learn but hard to master (such as music games or puzzle games), I often think worth it to buy new. These games often don't become obsolete by better hardware as action games often do (example: compare, say, Top Gun on NES to Ace Combat 4 on PS2) mainly due to the fact that they don't concentrate on hardware - DDR, for instance, despite being on 4 different consoles, remains fundementally the same while being fun even now. The icing on the cake is that these games are often priced at $35 or less when they first come out - and will often provide months to years more gameplay then the latest action fix.
"We have seen the enemy, and it is us." - Pogo (comic strip character)
"All the modern inconveniences." - Mark Twain
However, all I have to say about that is, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Emerson
Granted, I don't think having a bundled Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player will have quite the same effect since DVD's are just fine for everyone with a non-HD TV.
Short Selling - Think that Britney Spears is overpriced? Then sell first while it costs $5/song and then buy it when it devalues to 99 cents! (Note: will cause loss of ability to listen to sample)
Buying Music on Margin - Really want that new Sum41 CD, but don't have the bread? Just mark some old Nickelback tracks as 'margin' songs and then rock out! (Warning: will lose ability to listen to Nickelback until Sum41 increases in value enough to cover margin call)
Song Options - As a reward for working more than two years for EMI, you'll be able to purchase 1,000 songs at $0.25 each, regardless of their listed price! (Warning: Insider Trading is prohibited)
Man, I wish I could upgrade to the Master System. Adventure used to be my favorite game until I went over to my friend's house and he showed me Alex Kidd in Miracle World. It was the coolest RPG I've ever seen!