te72

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of grief for this, but Half Life 2. To be fair, I played the PS3 version, which as I understand was less than optimal of a choice. However, the PS2 version of the original was great, where could I have gone wrong with HL2? Oh yeah... COD4 came out the year before, and suddenly the controls in HL2 (non configurable at that!) just didn't feel natural to me. Shame, because the game itself was really cool. I think the biggest thing to remember folks, is to go into a game with a fresh and open mind. I purposely avoid spoilers for anything that seems like it is getting a lot of hype, natural or a result of good marketing. This approach has served me well, and I'm rarely disappointed by games or movies if I've left the opportunity to experience it all for myself without having the opinions of others make an impression on me.

According to Retro magazine, this one was released here in the US, but in rather limited numbers. Check out the Zelda themed issue if you like (it is a good one), they had a feature on the CDi games. I remember seeing at least one of the three in a Sears when I was a kid, thought it rather strange that a Zelda game wasn't on a Nintendo system... Either way, from what I understand, you're REALLY not missing anything by not having played it.

Various contributing factors, as pointed out. Smart phones. The economy in general. The internet having a wide appeal and various ways to entertain. Is the primary function of a game escapism? If so, there are MANY ways one can do that in this modern age. Personally I really only buy games anymore if I truly dig the art style or it presents a fun new twist on gameplay, or just does an incredible job all around. Art - Valiant Hearts, WWI era... uh... game? I mean, technically it's a game. It isn't very challenging or technically impressive, but between the art style, the integration of the music into the gameplay, and the overall care put into the atmosphere makes this a really good one. Gameplay twist - Portal turned the first person genre on its head, brought comedy, physics, puzzles, logic, and a sterile environment all into a smooth playing romp that is fun for the whole family. All around - Valkyria Chronicles falls into this one for me. The art is what drew me to it, the gameplay kept me hooked, the challenge and sandbox nature of the loosely "rock paper scissor" rule structure... I loved it all. Breath of the Wild also appears to fall into this category, but I haven't picked up a system to play it on yet... All this is a long winded way to say that consoles / home gaming will always have a place in my heart, as long as quality games are still made. If the day comes that phones are the only way to play, well, I'll probably have quit playing new games by then.

Give it a couple more years, at least. They seem to be on a 5 year (give or take) cycle when it comes to new titles in the series. The first two were in the mid / late 90's, Morrowind sometime around 2003-ish, whatever 4 was called came out around 2008-ish, then Skyrim in what, 2012? Now we're looking at ESO, I figure you'll see another game in the main series in the next two, maybe three years. I've never really cared for them as much as most people, but I purposely avoid them so I can continue living my real life, if that makes sense. I got pretty hooked on Arkham Asylum, I can only imagine how many thousands of hours I could pour into a game like Skyrim... *shudders*

I think you summed up my thoughts on the subject. I won't even own a smart phone for my disdain for touch screen "controls" (quotes used very much in a mocking tone, in case it wasn't clear), much less try to play a game on a phone. Some things need buttons and or other analog controls of some sort. Touch screens have their uses. I struggle to come up with any, personally, but I'm sure someone can make a convincing argument easy enough. They are easy to clean, I suppose there is that. Keyboards tend to get gross, and I can only imagine what grows on some folks' controllers haha. I'm firmly of the belief that cell phone manufacturers have to keep reinventing the wheel, otherwise who would keep buying their products every year? It doesn't really matter to them whether or not the new phone is truly an improvement over the predecessor, so long as marketing can convince the customer that it is and they need to fork over the cash. I'm just waiting until buttons are cool again before "upgrading" my 6 year old Casio phone. Good on you bud. Personally, I'm two types of gamer: one is entertained by the game itself (puzzle, racing, rpg), the other is a social gamer. I find it a lot of fun to play games with other folks, or watch others play. It's just a good way to bond with friends and strangers alike. Hmm, that may explain why I'm on here more often than I actually PLAY anything haha!

I don't need one, but I did say in another thread that if they included Yoshi's Island, I would buy at least one. Likely more, as gifts. Now, if Nintendo is smart enough to let me buy them, that's up to them. I'm not gonna hinge my life on their bullshit marketing, there are MANY other ways to play these games, as I've been doing for oh, I dunno, nearly 20 years now? That said, I never had an SNES as a kid, yet it is one of my favorite systems to this day. I'll buy one if I have the opportunity. Edit: I wonder what Gabe Newell's thoughts are on Nintendo's marketing strategies. I remember reading an interview with him where he said that piracy was a problem rooted in poor customer service. Give the customer a better way to buy, and they won't be as likely to pirate. Does Nintendo truly believe that making hardware unavailable is a better way to buy?

Did you somehow miss all the horrible, agonizing sacrifices that Yoshi was subjected to? Mario is a slave driver, dude literally PUNCHES his steed to make him eat things that he may or may not even WANT to eat... Mario's just a terrible person, simple as that. ...yet I've never played a main Mario game I didn't like.

The way they put music to TV scenes these days is quite a powerful thing. I recall an episode of Sons of Anarchy where a song by Straylight Run is played on their way to a brawl, and it just made that song (by a band I was a huge fan of when they were still making music), even better. Kitsunebi - Loved the video, that was a lot of fun. Even if I don't understand the language, it was still a fun song. About the only J-rock band I'd be able to recognize would be MOVE, they did a lot of the opening / endings of Initial D. Have heard a handful of other J-rock bands that I liked, but couldn't recall (or recognize, if they weren't in Romanji) the names of the band. Twiztor, I dig it man, good find! I wonder where Gun originated from? I always found it interesting how music sprouts and flourishes, especially before the advent and influence of the internet. As for my recent, I err... can't say I have anything. We kinda live in a hole where new culture is hard to come by and I don't really go out of my way to find new music like I did when I was younger. However, I did just recently buy my first vinyl! I would have inherited a bunch of them from mom, had they not been stored in the garage... in Phoenix. Oops. Turns out, vinyl melts when the ambient temps are upwards of 140, 150 degrees in a garage down there. Anyway, the album I bought was Broadcasting to the Nations, by Authority Zero. Highly recommend those guys. About the only way I can describe them is if The Offspring and Sublime had a jam session that had some great mexican food beforehand...

My eyes aren't so great, so it's difficult for me to appreciate the advancements in modern displays. I will say the best aspect of Blu-ray in my opinion is the sound. I actually enjoy movies again after setting up a nice Klipsch home theater system that I let a good friend talk me into. That said, I still have my 32" Sony CRT from 2002, it was 4:3, but would still display 1080i and 720p. I haven't used it for much in the last 8 years since getting an LCD, but I still like that old Sony. Sound was great, actually had an internal subwoofer! Kinda helps explain the 176 lbs that it weighs...

We've been watching Better Call Saul recently, the first couple seasons are on Netflix. Starts off slow, like Breaking Bad did, but like it's predecessor (sequel, in this particular case), it pulls you in further and further. On that note, I can only imagine trying to watch a show as good as BB over the course of five years. We watched all of Sons of Anarchy in a couple months, then had to wait a couple years for it to finish. I was not too happy with that, reminded me of The X-files in a sense. I tend to forget stuff in the off season... That's why we haven't started Game of Thrones either, don't wanna make that mistake again. Seinfeld and the Sopranos, two shows I more or less missed when they originally aired. Seinfeld because I just didn't find it all that funny as a kid, and Sopranos mostly because I never had HBO back then. Will probably end up watching them at some point.

Perhaps not Nickelback, but I would suggest that Linkin Park fits the mold of era defining musicians. I can't think of any other band around that era that had as big an impact.

Ahh, I can totally get where you're coming from there. The world of music seems to be cyclical, if you ask me. What was cheesy 20 or 30 years ago, is new and fresh again today. Perhaps if Kurt had lived as long as we have, he might have come to understand that, although I doubt (as you do) that he ever would have embraced any of it. Perhaps the alt / indie rock scene may have become all the things that Kurt hated about the industry. Money has a way of corrupting innocence and art alike. That said, I wouldn't doubt that a lot of the music in the second half of the 90's turned out the way it did BECAUSE of Nirvana. Some bands leave a mark on their scene, Nirvana was the stone that most others left their mark on. No worries about hurting feelings, we all have our tastes, and what we as individuals love, entire crowds are disgusted or put off by. As for Smash Mouth, I seem to recall liking their Fu Manchu album, whatever was the prior album to the one that All Star was on. I remember hearing that for the first time and thinking, "THIS is what Smash Mouth is becoming???"

Curious why that is Kitsunebi? I thought the late 90's were pretty solid, music wise. Then again, that was the period of my life where I was discovering rock music beyond the classics mom played while cleaning house when I was a kid...

Preferably at a bowling alley. What? It's what I was doing when these songs came out... can we throw in some Oasis while we're at it?

Man, feeling the 90's up in here all of a sudden haha! Blood: I recall playing one of these games at a friend's house in about 1996 or so. "Whaddya gonna do, BLEED on me?" For a kid in his early teens back then, the gorier the shooter, the better, and Blood had the stuff in buckets. Good times! Type O Negative: Was quite aware of when Steele died. I was a really big fan of theirs starting in high school. There is a certain quality of their music that requires a very dark sense of humor to appreciate. The song, "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity and its Dire Consequences" is quite a lot of fun if you're of the right mindset to laugh at that sort of situation. I still listen to their "Least Worst Of..." album a few times a year. On a whole though, I think Areala is probably right, they're perhaps an acquired taste. Chumbawumba on the other hand... I got sick of that song after hearing it about 400 times when it first came out, but when I hear it now, I can definitely appreciate it more than I did as a kid. Something about life experiences and whatnot haha. As for music just to annoy someone else... I can't say I ever did that. I did buy a couple albums to play, loudly, in my car, while slowly driving through grocery store parking lots. All in the name of cheese factor and getting that, "WTF?" look from people. Notably, Iron Maiden's Best of the Beast, I thought they would be a cheesey 80's hair metal band. Little did I know, man, little did I know... Turns out, they're a really good band. Did the same thing with Billy Idol. Bought it as a joke, and turned out to really like it. I'm more the type of person to introduce you to music I like that you may not have heard of. One of the more surprising discoveries was a band called Straylight Run. They only put out a couple albums, I would really recommend their first one. Hard to pin any particular sound on them, maybe that's what I like. Also, Authority Zero. If you don't know who they are, PLEASE look them up. I've been listening to these guys for nearly 20 years now, going back to when they were just another local band in the Phoenix valley. Without hyping them up too much, I can genuinely say they made their sound by taking influences from the Offspring and Sublime. Weird as that may sound, it really does work well together.

You make an interesting point here. How many arcade games have any of us beat? I think I might have quartered my way through Turtles in Time and The Simpsons, possibly SF2.

Hey, congrats! I felt that way when I played Fez last year, it was genuinely fun. I'm still slogging my way through GT6, still need to do the S-class license tests, the Redbull X-car challenge, Goodwood Festival, and Senna events, then whatever in the S-class that I want to do. It's not that I don't enjoy it, but it can be quite challenging a the higher levels. I really enjoy taking a competitive car (as opposed to just out-carring your competition), but it can be difficult with the rolling starts and "chase the rabbit" gameplay when dealing with a ridiculously fast car that starts out in first place, who doesn't have to deal with the other cars like you do... If I truly wanted one thing from the GT series, it would be better sound. The visuals are great guys! The sound could use some work at this point though, the engines sound muted and drony, there's no wind noise, even on the "large theater" setting and the volume turned up.

I somewhat doubt that I still have the save file, but between my brother and I, I would not be at all surprised if we found all the hidden packages and stunt jumps in GTA3. That game was revolutionary for its time. Between having less disposable income, games being relatively more expensive, and the internet being used very sparingly back then (for us at least), we never had a guide, and played that game all the TIME. Fun times.

I haven't bought my Switch yet. Considering the Wii U simply for the library on there is still really appealing to me, particularly Yoshi's Wooly World. Either way, I'll play this eventually, once real world priorities calm down a bit. Philly, perhaps the amount of Korok seeds out there is just so you don't HAVE to find them all? Or is there some special reward for doing so? Seems like it would be as time consuming, if not more so, than finding all the special collectables in the GTA series, without any sort of guides.

Definitely a smart approach Kitsunebi. I think the last time I bought a new game was in 2013, when Gran Turismo 6 came out. I'm a pretty big car nut, have a whole seat / frame / wheel setup, it's been a fun investment. I even quit buying digital games, with the exception of the Suikoden releases as they've happened on PSN, if only to support Konami for making them available. All in hopes that, maybe, someday, they might make a sixth entry in the series. Seeing as though Konami, like EGM here, have largely forgotten what it is that they do, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

International, I can somewhat understand, but surely shipping a magazine to Canada is an easy task to accomplish? Not like it's a big package and has to go through customs and the like? Perhaps I'm missing something. Only ever shipped packages up there, which can be more difficult than necessary, in my experience. As for Retro, I'm on the Zelda issue at the moment. Really getting the urge to play through Link to the Past (again, kinda forgot my time playing it, was in a bit of a forgetful place in life at the time), and Wind Waker for the first time. Wind Waker may have been the first game I bought that I never actually played... the start of an unfortunate trend in my case. Not really excited about the interview issue that you mention, but I'll certainly give it a read. Definitely looking forward to issue 13, the survival horror issue though!

Well that's a shame, if unsurprising. I feel for you EGM fans (I was one, long ago), this is just like what us PSM fans went through a few years ago. At least they had the courtesy to say goodbye though... Might I suggest supporting an indie magazine instead? I've been a subscriber of Retro for the last couple years. They're not exactly monthly (or even bi-monthly), but you know what? Reading each issue makes me wanna play the games they're featuring. Isn't that the whole point?

I know what you mean bud. Apart from those PSM issues, I think the only ones I've paid more than cover price for were a few issues of 1994 EGM, back when they were like catalogs. Heck, with the price of recycled paper these days, I think it was worth it just in the materials!

I would wholeheartedly recommend reevaluating your priorities in life if you were to consider spending $1000 on a single magazine. I have mint condition, still in the padded manila envelope early issues of PSM, and I think I only paid $50 for the four of them, including #1. That said, I doubt any of us can honestly say that we've never spend money on something silly, least of all me.

You ever price out a nice table at a furniture store? That $1100 really isn't all that bad, provided the quality is there. Plus, people who would truly be nostalgic for Pong are going to be the folks who are at an age where money tends to be a little looser...