I guess you guys haven't seen The Crade of Life? The first was absolute dogshit, so I wouldn't fault anyone for not sticking around for the sequel. But you should have. Because it's great. In fact, it was so great, I don't really think anyone should ever need to make another vidya game movie ever again. I mean, what could possibly be better than a spandex-clad Jolie sucker punching a shark? Definitely not Seeeen Beeeen overacting again.

Oh hell yeah, that movie fucking rules. Blade Runner City 17 on shrooms with time traveling dinosaurs equipped with Super Scopes and alien boogers engulfing the city.

Can't beat it.

As a recent adopter of both HD consoles, I feel compelled to call out some fanboy bullshit. For one thing, the implication that PS3 is a bastion of stability next to the 360's old RROD issues. I have a used both (although I think I accidentally lucked out with my xbox when I insisted on a model with an HDMI port. at the time all I wanted was HDMI, but later I realized it couldn't have been launch hardware) and so far I've gotten more trouble from the PS3. Particularly the "no signal" when connected with an HDMI cable, which is a common problem based on some google searches.* I will try some of the fixes tomorrow, because I spent $30 on a HDMI bus so I could switch from one console to the other conveniently and I'll be damned if I'm going to let that go to waste. Having to pay for automatic system updates is pretty fucking dumb, but I mean you have to pay to do most anything online with the xbox so that's kind of a wash.

Not to sound like a fanboy myself, I am more excited by the PS3 exclusives than the xbox ones. And the dual shock controller is a lot better for action games where you need to use the right stick to dodge. its also a lot quieter than my 360, which is a big bonus when it comes to using it for media other than video games. over all I'm glad to have both, and since I bought them used I spent about as much as either would have cost new. desire being what it is, now I'm envious of the PC gaming master race and am considering building my own gaming rig with any holiday money i may acquire. I have little interest in getting a Wii U but it looks like Nintendo is putting more effort into getting some of the 'core' audience back.

*It's not just me being an idiot and not having the console set to HDMI output. I've actually had it go from working to "no signal" when trying to run the internet browser and, even worse, a game. maybe it's the 4.25 update which seems to be riddled with issues even according to the official PS forums.

/disjointed stream of consciousness post

My xbox has started dropping it's signal sometimes. Actually, it could be the TV also. Can't really be sure.

I beat DKCR. What a challenge getting all the KONG letters, the golden temple was a nightmare, fuck! I'm not that familiar with the previous games apart from DKC2 (I've played the others briefly years ago). Really should get on that.

What fanboys? I haven't seen much bitching about the RRoD lately...?

Also, I prefer the PS3 overall but YLoD is wayyyy worse than RRoD. Without a backup of all your data, if you get YLoD, you lose all your saved games. With a backup, you... still lose all the "locked" saves (guess which games use those? come on, do guess, I dare ya) and all your PS1 virtual memory card saves. Because Sony are fucktards.

So yeah... I'm no stranger to Sony's massive hardware fuck-ups.

I never had any problems with my PS3 so far. My 360, on other, fried after two months of use.

Any idea if YLoD is from overheating like the RRoD was? I'm very wary of leaving my xbox on for too long but haven't been as cautious with my PS3. Also can you backup your PS3 saves to a pen drive?

I'm gonna go ahead and guess it's the first party games that use the locked saves.

OK Resident Evil 6. Based on the demo you think Leon's campaign will be more survival horror. But after the beginning, the game gets more action intense. I don't know if the next chapter gets better and slows down. I certainly hope so.

What made this game fun was I played with a fun partner. Someone I used to play Dark Souls with. So we were on top of each other and helping each other out. We had chat running and I'd signal "Wait" when it was time to use chat. Or like if I found one of the hidden emblems I'd point it out. And we were constantly congratulating each other and cheering each other on.

So it was us 2 making the game fun by staying in character and covering each other in the game. The way we did in Dark Souls.

It's fun, but I'm skeptical about this being good. So far the 3DS version is blowing this out of the water. Portables should never be better than the console version. But this is.

Err... what?

System won't update automatically unless you have PS+. Says so right on the settings menu.

Huh? That's nonsense, I get all the firmware updates for free of course. Unless you mean that I get prompted to download updates instead of that being done automatically, but then... who cares?

First game has some of the best SNES music by far. The whole trilogy is amazing. Get on that!

I found a shield in Borderlands 2 which causes enemies of a lower level to literally expload if they touch me, or my blade. It rules.

I found Donkey Mong. He throws barrels.

I'm actually more fond of DKC2's soundtrack. Stickerbrush Symphony, Mining Melancholy, Enchanted Wood, King K. Rool's Theme...

Seconding the awesomeness of the DKC trilogy's music. My favorite would have to be the theme music to the industrial levels in the first one...anybody know the actual name of that piece?

Fear Factory.

Probably my favorite from DKC3. Water World is crazy too.

It's weird that David Wise hasn't done more soundtracks. He's been pretty quiet since DKC3. Too bad since he crushes 99% of video game composers.

Love his underwater themes. They're so eerie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Z8T3sk ... re=related

How great is that?

Stickerbrush Symphony is by far my favorite video game soundtrack song of all time. I get goosebumps every time I hear it.

That's probably my favorite too. The music from those games was unique among the SNES song library, way more laid back, almost trance-y in its mellowness.

Where/what level is it/how much HP does it have?

Yeah, DKC's music was great. I guess now I have to replay the trilogy.

Guess he's like another Spencer Nilsen case. I imagine plenty of old PC gaming composers that did some gems never did much else either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0LtW5p5S2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JONGBcqzDKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86CLdIFdcs8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAh_mF4XDZQ

Doesn't get much better in my book.

Speaking of weird hardware (this is technically my fault I guess because I had one of those gamer rage moments, but all I did was hit the controller against my thigh--I've put controllers through much worse) failures, my controller wouldn't turn on. But it works if I put a different recharge pack in it, AND the pack that was in it works if I put it in another controller. How does that even happen?

Random drop/don't know/ like 200 something. Some corrosive shields are way more powerful than other ones.

I tried to play online with a friend a earlier and I couldn't get the multiplayer working. Probably something really simple like a default port which is already used.

Dishonored has been getting absolutely rave reviews. I will pick this up on Tuesday provided Gamestop has any available copies.

Dishonored, Hitman: Absolution, and Assassin's Creed 3. Why do all three of these games have to come out so close to each other? Aaargh.

Don't forget XCOM! It' sounding pretty good too.

I'm curious to see how Hitman does. Haven't played any of them, but the design of those games sounds pretty dynamic and like my kind of stuff, level based stuff with lots of freedom. This new one is sounding pretty flexible too from the things I've heard.

About to pay off my preorder for XCOM, can't wait for tomorrow. Also, another badass track from DKC2 is the music when you're in the beehive levels.

Playing through Halo: Reach's campaign actually has me excited for Halo 4. I took a long break from videogames until recently, so while I loved Halo 1, I never played 2 or 3. I hope Halo 4's campaign is good.

Pokemon Black and White 2 have been out a couple of days now... I must say I love them. Has anyone else here played them yet?

I think Pearl was the last game I played in that series. I have Soul Silver barely touched, pity I can't find my DS!

I only seem to play Pokemon games when all my friends are playing it. I was originally going to miss out on Black/White but when coming across a deal to get Black and White together, me and a friend of mine agreed to pick them up. I'll just wait until a fair number of my friends are playing it and then I'll hop on the bandwagon. It'll be out here this weekend so I'll see how many of them get the new games.

Just started Dishonored on hard, because I want to feel like I actually need to be stealthy and it seems the game can be beaten VERY quickly with a run and gun approach. Fucked up any chance I had of an initial "no kill run" in the first 5 minutes though. I'm not blown away yet but neither am I disappointed. The one flaw that I have picked up on so far is the leaning controls, but they may wind up working better later in the game, who knows.

Thinking about getting my hands on a way to play emulators on a handheld. There are of course several options - there are special handhelds that run Linux, there is homebrew for the mainstream handhelds and there is the possibility to purchase a controller-module for my android phone which is the cheapest but also most limiting option (fucking google p(l)ay). Anyone who has experience with any of these? There are tons of old console games I need to play, but when I'm using my PC I'm not playing those because there are also tons of new games I can play instead.

Dishonored seems to follow Arkane Studios's long established trend of "great, highly reactive first person gameplay, absolutely shit writing and voice acting." FWIW, I'm having a lot more fun than I thought I would.

If you solder an old snes controller to an ipod video cable you can play old Doom wads on the iPod itself if you have Rockbox and the iPod version of Slax installed on it. You can play it without the controller, but I mean, you loose all your nerd points.

Dishonored is interesting. It feels like a good solid game, but hasn't blown my mind away yet.

Sort of like Dragon's Dogma. But better. Dragon's Dogma was a good solid game with some flaws. It had bits and pieces of what made other games fun but had some lazy design at parts.

And this is how I feel about Dishonored but it's better. All the good stuff from other games and it feels like some care was put into this game. I'm not noticing huge flaws, but I'm still very early in the game.

The biggest thing is that stealth doesn't seem to pay off that much. Maybe as far as endings and all that, but when I mess up sneaking around and have to fight, it's not bad at all. It's quite easy. This is the same problem with Assassin's Creed. Combat is just not hard at all.

Compare this to Batman. You mess up in Batman sneaking around and the game gets harder. You can fight your way still, but it isn't going to be easy. Same with Deus Ex. And the one that started it all, the Metal Gear Solid series.

Stealth is patient with less risk and combat is quick with greater risk. It's a trade off between time and difficulty. Just like a good JRPG. Grind and make a boss fight easier or just go with it. I'm not getting that stealth vs. combat/time vs. difficulty vibe from Dishonored yet.

But unlike other games I've played, Dishonored feels promising. Like the flaws I'm noticing is probably just cause it's easy tutorial level stuff and it gets better later. We'll see.

Nice, but I'm not gonna buy an iPod. I read you can also hook some bluetooth gamepads up with an Android, though then it's arguably no longer a handheld...

X-COM has an absurd amount of hand-holding so far, but it's finally starting to give me some choice after a couple of hours playtime. Which I don't mind because if the course of the campaign is anything like the original, I expect mass chaos to start raining down pretty soon. Seems like a great remake, and one of the very few in recent years that hasn't been completely unnecessary. Glad the job went to Firaxis as they seem to be the only company that can do strategy right these days.