[The video game thread]

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:54 am

I was having a good old crack on Resident Evil 4 last night, with my mate watching and advising it totally changed my style of play. I was jumping between weapons in the middle of a firefight; incendiary grenading the hell out of two monks with shields in front of me, then switch to rifle with scope before they've hit the ground in flames and twice head-snipe the leader standing behind them, once to headshot him, the second to snipe the creepy alien thing that comes out of his neck.

Earlier on I had to shotgun a 'gladiator' type guy in the back. His eyes were sown up and he had big wolverine claws, and would locate me by sound. It made me realise I couldn't get through this game with my usual tactic of sticking to one favoured gun and inching forward at a glacial pace. I always thought that was a safe bet.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:07 pm

Auntie Slag wrote:I was having a good old crack on Resident Evil 4 last night, with my mate watching and advising it totally changed my style of play. I was jumping between weapons in the middle of a firefight; incendiary grenading the hell out of two monks with shields in front of me, then switch to rifle with scope before they've hit the ground in flames and twice head-snipe the leader standing behind them, once to headshot him, the second to snipe the creepy alien thing that comes out of his neck.

Earlier on I had to shotgun a 'gladiator' type guy in the back. His eyes were sown up and he had big wolverine claws, and would locate me by sound. It made me realise I couldn't get through this game with my usual tactic of sticking to one favoured gun and inching forward at a glacial pace. I always thought that was a safe bet.

What platform are you playing it on? I only have played it on the Wii, which I thought the shooting was awesome with motion controls/IR pointing. I've been debating on trading it in and downloading an HD version for my PS3 or 360 though. Just curious if you're using traditional controls and how well the work.

Oh, and on a side note, about an hour after I finished my last post about Force Unleashed II, I finished the Endor DLC. Good thing it was only a buck. Interesting non-canon stuff, but nothing to write home about. And I probably won't be back to play it again. Fun for a short time though.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:36 pm

I had it on the PS2 at first, and it was fine. Now I have it on the Wii, and going back to RE4 on a joypad just feels clunky as hell. The Wii mote as the gun sight is fast and fluid, and so accurate... vital in a game like this where conserving ammo is key. I’ve not seen what the HD version looks like, but yeah, I’d happily give traditional controls a miss, and wouldn't bother playing the PS2 version now.

[Edit] Not trying to put down other consoles. I've played plenty of FPS's on other consoles and had a whale of a time with them. I just think the Wii remote & nunchuck handles it very well.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:29 pm

Auntie Slag wrote:I had it on the PS2 at first, and it was fine. Now I have it on the Wii, and going back to RE4 on a joypad just feels clunky as hell. The Wii mote as the gun sight is fast and fluid, and so accurate... vital in a game like this where conserving ammo is key. I’ve not seen what the HD version looks like, but yeah, I’d happily give traditional controls a miss, and wouldn't bother playing the PS2 version now.

[Edit] Not trying to put down other consoles. I've played plenty of FPS's on other consoles and had a whale of a time with them. I just think the Wii remote & nunchuck handles it very well.

Thanks for the info. I thought it was slick to control the dot sight with IR as well, and when I first played RE:5 about 2 years ago, I thought it was unwieldy. I got used to it, but it just didn't seem quite as fluid. RE: 4 is one of my favorite games of all time (probably the first game I have ever played through twice in a row, and I've been playing since my first NES games in ~1988). It's been dormant on my shelf for a loooong time, sitting there as a game I want to replay sometime, but I don't think I ever really will have the time. I too, think shooters work well with a Wiimote; some of my favorite shooters (if you can call them that) are the Metroid Prime series. I have the collector's trilogy now, and I think the first two are much stronger now with a Wiimote.

Still, I've made quite a transition to newer FPS games, and I fancy playing a lot of Halo 4, with the traditional dual analog approach.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:59 pm

Yeah, I love the Halo games too. If I had the time and the cash I'd get a 360 and all the Halo titles (Wars included). I love the 360 controller, it's great for FPS, as was the original X-Box console.

I did have the first Metroid Prime on the Gamecube but I never really took to it. My housemate at the time absolutely adored it. I was more into Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart etc.

Apparently some Gamestation shops are selling Gamecubes for a whopping £1.99 (and memory cards for the same amount), that'd be worth it just for say, Luigi's Mansion alone!

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:04 pm

Wow, you can't beat that for a Gamecube! I don't know what Wii you have, but I use mine as my Gamecube. I understand some of the newer Wii versions (the black ones) had the GC functionality removed. It's a sad thing to do, since the Wii easily allows you to run your GC games in progressive scan (quite a bit of GC's don't have the ability to do progressive scan - another cost cutting measure done midway through life-cycle). For the most part, the good GC games look great on a newer HDTV.

I never really had a ton of money to get my 360; I saved some cash, used birthday $$ and sold some stuff on eBay to get mine. I inherited my PS3 through a friend of mine. I love them both but tend to favor the 360. I think it's a combination of hard saving and the controller that drives me to the 360 more. All in all I've got all 3 current consoles (sans the Wii U - which I won't consider until they announce a Zelda title) so I'm pretty happy. Plus, I haven't had the 360 or PS3 for even 3 years, so there's oodles of great games out there I have never played. I'll be enjoying 'new' games for years to come!

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:26 pm

I have a black Wii running v4.3 so it’s up to date, and its one of the more recent Wii’s, as it had that firmware from new. I also use mine as a Gamecube (having given my Gamecube and 36 games to my niece. I had a daaaamn fine collection too). As far as I’m aware the Gamecube functionality was only removed on the redesigned Wii models that were produced in late 2011, they have a different body shape, smaller unit overall. Like you say, the great thing about the Wii is it can play both Wii and GC titles, so I’m slowly building back some of my old GC titles, for next to money! So far I’ve picked up:

- Pikmin
- Mario Kart: Double Dash
- Billy Hatcher & the Giant Egg
- Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System
- Mario Sunshine
- NFS Underground 2
- Smugglers Run: Warzones

I let my nephews carry on the modern line with the 360 and PS3’s. I had all of the previous generation and found I was fondest of the GC (and that’s the console I started out with on that generation). I’ve been through the ‘grass is always greener’ thing with consoles and know it’s not necessarily true... so that and a hankering to play Mario Galaxy 2 led to me opting for a Wii. I still regret not having a 360 and being able to play joys like Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect, RDR, Fallout, Skyrim and all the indie titles, but I do still enjoy the Wii. Mario Kart is still one of the best titles ever (Double Dash being my favourite).

The REAL truth of it is that I actually love PC gaming more than any console. Starcraft, Diablo II, Age of Empires, Unreal Tournament, Quake III, Sim City, Warcraft 3, Monkey Island, Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, Day of the Tentacle... oh man. No console game compares to these. To have a killer PC, now that’s something that would ensure I never see daylight again.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:57 pm

Yep, you're right. I knew they were black, I forgot about the early black Wii systems. It was the repackaged ones that came packed with a Mario soundtrack and I believe New SMB Wii that had the stripped GC functionality (at least here in the US).

That's an impressive GC collection! I've got a small one of my own as well, and it's a thing I like to browse over whenever I go to my local used shop. At the moment, I have:

F-Zero GX
LoZ: Collector's Edition
LoZ: Wind Waker
LoZ: Twilight Princess
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Monkey Ball 2
SW: Rogue Leader

There's a handful of titles I still look for, but sometimes the GC games run $30-40 used depending on the title (like Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes) so I usually end up dumping the $ on a newer title instead.

I used to be a PC gamer, back in the early days of the N64/PSOne era. Now I just don't have a PC that can run the newer stuff, nor do I have the time or money to invest in it. At this point, it's just easier for me to fire up a console. I used to be into Diablo and Diablo II, Quake, etc. Good times, for sure!

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:36 pm

Yeah, much the same here. It's hard to get the time to have a decent play these days. One thing I am kicking myself for passing up on; a couple of years ago a local game shop was selling off lots of old stock. They had a stacks of PS2 and X-Box games (just the discs, no cases) selling for £1 each. I rifled through and picked out all the best PS2 games, then bought a PS2 the following week.
The X-Box games were not so bountiful, in terms of quality... but there were a smattering of Gamecube games, and I left Luigi's Mansion in the shop. It was only £1. I had gotten rid of my GC by this point and thought I'd never have a Nintendo again. That was a brilliant game, I was so stupid to leave it there for the sake of £1.

Back when I had my GC I did own Luigi's Mansion so I know what a gorgeously brilliant game it is.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:13 pm

I've actually never played Luigi's Mansion, much to my regret. I hear it's pretty fantastic, if a bit short. I've always wanted a go at it anyways just for the pure fact it was a launch title. In recent history, I can't think of any other system I loved more than the GC (not going as far back as the NES/SNES/Genesis era, that was just too great on all fronts). I played the hell out of SW: Rogue Leader and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle back in college. The GC is just such a great and overlooked system.

Nowadays I am lucky if I can squeeze 30-60 mins of game time in after everyone in the house goes to bed.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:19 pm

It is great eh? At the time I was so convinced I was missing out on all these classic games on other systems at the time, really lamenting not having Grand Theft Auto and whatnot.

But nothing compares to stuff like Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion (such wonderful animation), Metroid Prime, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Rogue Squadron (I had the third one), Double Dash, Doshin the Giant, I even enjoyed Starfox Adventures!

More powerful than the PS2, allowing for bigger game worlds, and just... different to the X-Box. Perhaps on a par with the X-Box power-wise? Even if not, it had a lot more style. Do wish it had Out Run 2 though. Have you seen screenshots of Luigi's Mansion on the 3DS? It looks outstanding.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:02 pm

If you take a look at strictly CPU speed, the GC lies right between the PS2 and Xbox. How that really adds up, I don't know. I don't have the technical know-how to see how it all fits together.

My current Xbox has a hard drive (recently purchased from Amazon) so I can now play the old XBox games on it via the emulation software. Sure, it may be a bit buggy depending on the game, but at least I don't have to keep one of the original beasts on my shelf. Especially with that giant brick controller. Unfortunately (or fortunately, not sure how to put it) my PS3 is a slim model, so the backwards compatibility has been gutted. If not for that, I would be able to play anything from the current and last generations on what I have currenly hooked up to my TV. And if you add in the Wii's Virtual Console (my Wii is actually modded, so I have NES, SNES, Genesis, GB, GBA, N64, and Atari 2600 emulators and games on my system) there's absolutely everything a gamer could ask for.

We gamers sure are spoiled nowadays.

Oh, and those tiny discs the GameCube used are just plain awesome.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:14 pm

Oh man, that's what I want to do with my Wii one day, mod it and have all SNES, NES, Genesis, N64, C64 & Amiga games on one unit.

Gamecube discs are great, such incredibly fast loading.. almost to the point where some games felt like they were loading from cartridge!

dEcEpTiCoN MEGAtron · Post by **dEcEpTiCoN MEGAtron** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:53 pm

Been a minute since last time I've posted. How is everyone?

Anyways, I picked up Forza Horizon during the holiday season and that is by far the best $15 I've spent on a game! The visuals are nothing short of amazing! The M$ store has some pretty good deals at times and that's where I got it.

Also, has anyone seen the new Aliens: Colonel Marines trailer? Sega and Gearbox looked like they've done a good job with it...

Aliens: Colonel Marines Kick Ass Trailer

The PS3 KILLeR · Post by **The PS3 KILLeR** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:39 am

Yeah im so excited for Aliens colonial marines. I preordered it back in 2008 the day after i read the first gameinformer cover story about it. Gearbox always makes nothing short of a masterpeice and as a huge alien fan i simply can not wait till February 12!!! And its official cannon! so its the true fourth alien film we have been waiting for except we get to play it!!! What more could we ask for besides a real life size powerloader?

The marines voice over in the trailer is kinda... meh though.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:58 pm

Downloaded Mechwarrior: Tactical Assualt for the iPad. It doesn't completely feed the need for playing Battletech or Mechwarrior(I want to whack Clan mechs with hatchets, damnit!!!), but it helps.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 6:45 pm

Thought this was ace and wanted to post it Special game moment.

Anyone remember special times like this?

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:10 pm

Auntie Slag wrote:Thought this was ace and wanted to post it Special game moment.

Anyone remember special times like this?

That's awesome. I distinctly remember getting our original NES for Christmas in 1990. My two sisters and I all got a game each (not counting the packed in SMB/Duck Hunt). My sisters got Tetris and Dr. Mario, while I got the first TMNT game. What a fantastic Christmas!

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:47 pm

Oh yeah, I coveted a NES and a copy of TMNT so much. The trouble was here in the UK NES games were insanely expensive. I have no idea how they worked out the price of these things compared to normal computer games on PC/Amiga/ST etc.

Also round that time I rented The Wizard which made the mythical NES seem all the more um... fantastical.

Finally, seeing the two FBI agents on stakeout playing Turtles on the NES wat into the night in My Blue Heaven made it seem like the ultimate game machine.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:22 pm

Auntie Slag wrote:Thought this was ace and wanted to post it Special game moment.

Awesome! I remember my parents surprising us completely out of the blue with an Atari 7800. It was just there after school one day. No holiday, no birthdays, no nothing. And I remember going to Radio Shack and getting to thumb through the TRS-80 cassette games, then having my dad tell me "Go ahead and pick one. We'll get it." I think I got a cat the same way a few months later.

Now, as a parent, I get to experience the joy of being on the giving end of those surprises. It's just awesome to see my kids' faces when I do something like that, and even awesomer when they really enjoy the thing for a long time.