The Video Game Thread
 

mario kart and new mario world on ds
and my mother is now a ds addicted
serious!
I wake up and she is playing ds, every day!!!!!!!! O_______O
and in the weekends she just stop to plays to bath and eat

The world ends with you (DS)

.... so much in love ....

Rhythm Kingdom
I loved the GBA version so I'm making my way through the US version... It was easier when it was just buttons!!

Playing a combination of FIFA Manager 09 on PC, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne on PS2, Crash Bandicoot 2 & Kurushi on PS1 & a bunch of old school emulators on the Dreamcast \0/ besides the recent Resi 5 I barely touched my PS3 as of late, same goes for the Wii but Gears 2 still gets a regular going over in Co-Op on the 360.

I've no clue where my DS went recently ;_;

@Lena, I love Mario Kart DS :wub: I love playing time trials most.

I just bought Zelda: The Minish Cap and Metroid Zero Mission for GBA (on my DS) today. I haven't tried Zelda yet, but Metroid excites me. Unfortunately, I have so much work to do this weekend. :(

Street Fighter IV and Soul Calibur IV for PS3. I've been stuck on a perpetual loop between those two games since mid-February. I play Valkyria Chronicles every once in a while too.

my penis


sorry, I had to :whacko:

okay, seriously, I've been in the process of playing Twilight Princess since the launch of the Wii, it is kind of sad really. My next game I fully prepare to play seriously will be the Silent Hill reboot for the Wii. Either that or Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (imported because NoA is gay, and not in the good "I like boys" way, grr)

Persona 4

I'm not playing anything until classes end in May. Then I'm doing an SMT full run starting with the original Shin Megami Tensei. I'll also get to play Persona 2: Innocent Sin for the first time.

The only thing I play regularly right now is Kingdom of Loathing. Has anyone else here even heard of it before?

Isn't that the one with Hitler in it?

I wouldn't know, as I have yet to obtain Innocent Sin, or to unseal and play the copy of Eternal Punishment that I already have from before it became sought-after and expensive.

Yes. I got it in Japan for only $19.

I'm currently playing Lunar Silver Star Story Complete.
The GBA port/remake I played ages ago was pretty mediocre, but the "original" version is so much better, as expected.

I forgot to mention, I completed MGS4 a month or two ago. Was anybody else pretty disappointed in the game? It was by far the weakest of the 4 for me. The presentation and graphics were great, as always. The cutscenes were long, as always... even longer, in fact. But just not very interesting. I was actually checking the time out of boredom at the final cutscene and I couldn't tell you a single thing that was said now. The boss fights, a metal gear strong point usually, were pretty uninspired and boring. The octocamo was nice, the shooting was OK and the AI was nothing special. It wasn't terrible... it wasn't even bad. I just expected to enjoy it more. Oh well...

Graphics wise it was top class but as a game? not so hot at all. The story was utterly boring and so long winded that I too was doing other things as it dragged on (and on) I've not played it since to be truthful.

MGS1 is King for me.

I think it goes 3 > 1 >>> 2 >>>>> 4 for me. I loved the setting and music for 3, the characters and story weren't too convoluted and The Boss fight is awesome. The Snake Eater theme is just cheesy awesomeness.

3 was great. Awesome setting, music, characters, story. It had it all. But I felt like it still didn't top the boss fights from MGS1. You just can't beat Liquid's FOX-HOUND unit from the original.

Indeed. The boss fights in 2 were very good also. I liked that they were fleshed out characters like in 1 and not just flat characters with gimmicks like in 2 and 3 ('The Boss' aside), but the boss' in 3 made up for it by being fun. Especially 'The End'.

Just finished a two-hour game of SC Broodwar with my dad and my brother... my first one in such a long time. That game will never get old.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Great fun \0/

Currently playing Vagrant Story :o

I can't believe I already defeated the 2nd (or 3rd, depends how you count them) boss in such a short time. Glath explained the weapon system to me, which is basically what I was failing at everytime I tried this game. Hopefully I'll be able to beat it this time.
When you get the gist of it, it's impressive how actually simple it is, just not as obvious as other RPGs I've played. In Final Fantasy games, you know you have to level up, upgrade the weapons, and you'll reach the end easily. In Vagrant Story the difference is that you can't escape the weapon/battle system.

Anyway, I'm skipping most of the cut-scenes because I watched them countless times before, which makes the game progress faster too.
Only thing I have to blame is the time it takes to access the weapons menu and change them. One would think that given the importance of changing weapons during the game, they would make it more accessible. I can't understand why they didn't include it in the shortcut system =F

Lately it's been a mix of Phantasy Star Portable and Dis-peep-e-a: Final Fantasy. Not so exciting, but oh well.

It makes me proud Shinji to hear that you are playing the greatest game of all time! :) If you let it get under your skin you will be messing with that weapon system forever! :o I must have put about 200+ hours into that game making 100+ all class weapons and perfect armor! that game is so rich in detail and atmosphere that it's always a joy to play.

Castlevania got finished so on to the next one! Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. :o

Well that's "Portrait of Ruin" finished! on to the next Castlevania game. :o Even though it's the same crappy premise (destroy Dracula) and the castle never seems THAT different in each installment, I'm still Castlevania addicted. :wub:

On to "Dawn of Sorrow" :) wonder who the end boss is??? :P

I'm playing cooking/gardening mama
fucking addictive
and I'm also playing some igo and mahjong games on ds and snes emulator
o.o

Just because you can swap weapons in mid-battle, doesn't mean that's what the game developers want you to be doing. I always ran around with just one actively-in-service weapon, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.

This is my old faithful,
a Hagane Wakizashi with a Power Palm and three Braveheart gems,
that I beat my first playthrough with:

Now although this wakazashi certainlly had some room for improvement, the thing that made it a really nice underdog weapon...
Wakizashis have a fairly nice flow when you are trying to Chain with them
3 Braveheart gems were giving me +60% on my chance to hit, so even when I was getting a little too carried away with my Chains and my Risk was getting too high, a lot of my next hits could still connect with the enemy.
It should also be noted that although most of my Affinities weren't very good, Light was all I needed against the final boss. So this really was a weapon that could carry me through the game, but it wasn't as effective against some of the mid-bosses as I wanted it to be, or some of the side-dungeons that get unlocked during the second playthrough.

Now, moving on to more serious business.
This is my no-room-for-improvement weapon,
a Damascus Rhomphaia with a Spiral Hilt and three Arturos gems:

Now, this weapon is not without its drawbacks. It gives you 3 Risk everytime you take a swing with it, and it doesn't have the nicest flow when it comes to Chaining. However, with the longest range of any one-handed weapon in the game, I can still use a shield, plus this weapon is strong enough that it's not like I need to Chain an enemy very much to kill them. The other notably nice thing about it is the very high Durability Points compared to the very low Phantom Points. It takes you almost no time at all to begin dishing out double-damage with that weapon, and once that starts, the rampage continues on for far longer than it ever could with my Hagane Wakizashi. You see, by the time I got full PP on the old weapon, most of its DP was already gone, so you never got to have a very long session of "max PP with some DP" (the requirement for double-damage).

I'm very proud of this weapon, and it was totally worth going through the game on a second playthrough, and getting more acquainted and abusive with the Workshop.

4 times complete for me \0/ (on my current save) which I can't actually find :P

(on and off over the last 4 years it's probably been 10+)

Super Castlevania IV on the SNES! Struggled through that damn game to be rewarded with the shortest ending I think I have ever seen. :o I know the castle always crumbles but 5 seconds long ending movie? c'mon! I think I'll throw my SNES out the window. :lol:

And why are they always dressed like barbarians in the old Castlevania games? if I were going to fight evil I'd at least cover my legs y'know? (all those bat bites) I prefer the attire of Alucard and the other later Castlevania game characters.

Why did they change the shoot button from 'B' to 'X' in Nba 2k9??? =(
Ive been using 'B' all my life, how can I change now? >=(

Primetime... 1 vs 100 = the most fun I've had on a console all year. This is seriously awesome stuff. Thousands of contestants, live play, genuine prizes and a proper live host = win.

I'm currently taking a break from Vagrant Story with some lessmind games.
Yesterday I beat Halo: Combat Evolved for the first time, which is actually pretty decent despite all the overrated hype, and now I'm playing Super Mario World, which is actually one of the few games I own :P
On to the second castle!

Finally found an absolutely flawless Sega Saturn emulator, and am currently playing Panzer Dragoon Saga! it seems pretty good so far.

Oh, is there one already? I used to play Nights on a version of GiriGiri, but that emulator got discontinued (I believe).
I always wanted to play Panzer Dragoon Saga, got to find that!

Also, I just completed every single level of Super Mario World, including the Special Star World stages. The only thing I didn't do was collect all the Dragon Coins, but that's pointless anyway. It was loads of fun and nostalgic <3

Even though the draw distance can be shocking and I'm never fond of sprites in a 3D environment (especially up close) Panzer Dragoon Saga is quite a good game! This console is the only one I've never been able to emulate properly up until now, so it's great to finally get a chance to go through my Saturn discography of games! there is at least 20 I'm looking forward to. :)

Panzaaaaaaa Drag-oooooooon (don't let the visuals put you off, it's great)

Attachment 3743
Scan lines look good from about 2 meters away.

I'm sure you can turn the scan lines off, it won't run any worse... I played some games (like Nights) with SSF some time ago.

I'm quite versed now with the settings on SSF. I like the scan lines :0 makes me feel like I'm playing on a normal television with an RGB Scart cable, whereas it can look too clean without them on a monitor.

^Also, turning the scanlines up improves speed.
I'm playing mine without them, tho.

finally i just finished persona 4 lastweek
starting on devil survivor on ds and it is awesome!!

I've been playing through Onimusha 3 on the PC :) surprised it took me so long to get around to it as I loved the previous 2. It was great!
What annoys me about the PC is that unless you like strategy or FPS games there really is little choice for you Attachment 4212, be nice to get something with a bit of story that isn't an online RPG, something offline with a bit of character would be nice.:(

^ The Witcher.

I'll check it out :) saw a screenshot and it looks OK.

The upcoming Dragon Age from BioWare looks good. Not PC exclusive though, if thats what you're looking for.

Well I'm downloading The Witcher to have a go but I'd like more games like Mass Effect & Knights of the old Republic to play through (Bioware also if I recall). I don't mind about the lack of exclusive status but I want to actually get some use out of my PC as otherwise it's an overpowered neon net browser :P.

You'll love Dragon Age then.

I got Wii. So add my friend code:
1677-2599-3856


I play Mario Kart exclusively right now.

BTw is this code usable for other games as well?
Any recommendations?

The Witcher was great but I had to give in due to sever motion sickness. :(

Played through an old school PS1 game today called "Klonoa" seemed pretty childish but was pretty fun even though I finished it in under 3 hours. :P

I'm thinking about going through the Batman Arkham Asylum game but for whatever reason I can't muster the will to actually play it? anybody else here went through it yet and is it worth a go?

I used to love Klonoa as a kid. The PS2 sequel isn't bad either. I haven't played Arkham Asylum yet but I've heard very good things about it.

Wii Sports Resort Golf has consumed my life. I'm turning into my dad =(

-6 snitches!

Fired up my old Vectrex today.

Vectrex Demo

Batman's taking a back seat as I'm going through Onimusha 4 (Dawn of Dreams not the beat 'em up), which 10 days ago I never even knew existed! it's fully 3D as opposed to the pre-rendered locales of the previous installments and has a touch of the RPG about it so it's perfect for me :).

Persona 4 again. Just crushing the optional bosses with my untouchable Trumpeter. I'm getting Batman when it comes out for PC.

What's up with Onimusha 4's Dark Relam optional dungeon? 100 levels of tough fights with NO save points at all! if you get to level 30 and return to the hideout for a rest you must start again from the very start :( I get to 40 then fear a power cut or interruption and back out but then you have to go all over again. Looks about seven hours work and is simply brutal! why can't they have put a save point every 20/30 floors?

Unbelievable.

OH! and there is fie characters and they expect you to do it with them all! no way, I'll go with Soki (main guy) but to hell with all five.

Playing LSD Dream Emulator for PS1. It's utterly bizarre and in Japanese but so compelling to keep playing.


It's odd
Attachment 4258
Attachment 4259

I picked up Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for the DS the other day. I'm a big Bowser fan and this is his first spin-off game, despite being an entry in the Mario RPG DS series: Mario and Luigi. The game is pretty good, you actually play as Bowser a fair bit more than Mario and Luigi. At any given time in the game you can control all three, it works basically so that Bowser is on top while the boys are inside his body on the bottom screen, and you can switch back and forth through the A, B, X, and Y buttons (X and Y control Bowser, B is Luigi, and Mario is A).

Fawful is pretty awesome as usual "FAWFUL HAS FURY!"

apparently later in the game Bowser morphs into kaiju of Godzilla-like proportions and you dual-screen battle where you hold the DS on it's side and control bowser with the touch screen and stylus while the enemy is on the right (top) screen.

Been playing the multiplayer beta of Uncharted 2 and so far it's feeling pretty good :)

Wasn't a fan of the first one but this feels like it'll be worth a shot when it comes out.

It's amazing how much better Resident Evil 5 looks and runs on a PC compared to X360/PS3.

thats like saying a piece of shit floating in a toilet bowl looks better on HD tv with blu ray than DVD on CRT. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy survival horror, but RE5 wasn't even a horror game, it was a stupid first person shooter with mild RE themes. where is the horror?

on the subject of RE lameness, I read that they are considering rebooting the RE film franchise after the next and fourth movie launches. sounds cool, right? set it in the mansion, stick the game's plot, develop strong brand-name characters...no, they want to *remake the first film adaptation* what startles me about this is while the industry is running on remakes, this would be the first remake/reboot of a franchise that isn't even 8 years old. I mean, COME ON people.

I'll agree RE5 was a straight action game instead of a horror game, but it doesn't matter to me because games in general aren't scary anymore. Dead Space wasn't and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories won't be either.

games can definitely still be scary. its just a matter of how you play them. have you ever played Haunting Ground? How about Rule of Rose or Fatal Frame? None of this big popular franchises are really that scary anymore. And SH:SM will probably be scary to some degree since the entire point is running away and I can't imagine that won't make you anxious.

We should have an EMF Beatles Rock Band session. Anyone up for it?

Playing Umineko. Well, if you can count that as something you play.

zomg, Scribblenauts is awesome.

After gaming on a 32" CRT with an RGB cable for the past million years and being used to the awesome picture that required no tweaking, I decided to give HD a shot! People are always telling me it's better but is it really?

So after saving up for a few weeks (which killed me as I'm useless at it) and doing a little research/asking people, I bought a 32" Full HD Samsung for £300 (usually about £370/400 but depends who you know!) anyways it's the full 1080 resolution which I know is probably useless at this screen size but who cares!

Anyways later today (when it's delivered) I'm gonna hook my PS3 up to it via the HDMI cable and if it looks worse than RGB then I am going to be more than a little let down given the hype about High Definition gaming :hmph: so basically what I'm asking is does anybody here regularly play PS3 on a HD set and do they notice GENUINE improvements?

Like more pixels is one thing but if I have to play with contrast and brightness like using the crappy old SCART 2 port just to get a decent enough picture then it doesen't seem a worthwhile trade off against the no hassle plug-in-pin-sharp RGB cable!

If it's crap I'll just use it for normal TV.

One of my ongoing missions is to dispel the notion that LCD is the herald of all things new and cool - which is an especially common belief among people who take Apple gear seriously.

When somebody mentions an "HDTV", it should not automatically mean or imply LCD. Many of the earliest high definition televisions were CRTs. There even exist some CRT-based HDTVs that can display 1080p. "CRT" and "HD" are not mutually exclusive.

I would think that CRTs would have huge advantages over LCD when it comes to high definition, because some channels or programs might be offered in 1080p while others are only offered in 720p or 480p. If the lower-resolution material isn't getting upscaled, that means an LCD-based HDTV isn't always running in its native resolution. All LCD displays have one specific resolution they want to do, and if you stray away from that, they look bad because the content doesn't conform to the grid of one reserved diode for every possible pixel. Since 1080p is not fully adopted throughout all material in the world, you would want a display that could handle different resolutions. I believe plasma is the only "flat panel" that can do this (pfft - as if there's no such thing as CRTs that are at least flat on the front).

Don't spend any money on an LCD display unless you're only ever going to be looking at it from one angle, and if the screen is always going to be fed the same resolution it wants. Even then, make sure you get one that's fast.

I'm not overly convinced myself that it's gonna be amazing hence the smallish amount spent on the set. I also have one of those HD CRT screens and it's no good at all, when you connect anything via it's HDMI cable you get an awkward wobbly part of the image on the left side of the screen which is off putting to say the least!

I would blame that wobbliness on the nature of HDTVs more than the nature of CRT, even if it's not a problem that comes up in LCD-based displays. You see, if it was VGA going to a CRT monitor, you could calibrate that monitor and get all the edges to line up properly. HDTVs are for consumers, and nowadays they don't want to calibrate a damn thing.

I would say the only time my living room CRT HDTV shows anything wobbly or warped on the edge of the screen, is from analog input from a PS2. I've hooked an upscaling DVD player made by Sony, to the CRT HDTV before - via HDMI, and there was nothing wrong with any of the edges of the screen.

However, this screen can only do 1080i because it was one of the earlier HDTVs. But since it is a CRT, it doesn't make 720p look bad. Someday this screen will have to go because it can't do 1080p, rather than because it is a CRT.

sometimes I feel like reading this forum is akin to taking part in a never ending penis contest...I freely admit I don't understand half of what goes on, it is a total buzz kill.

Well, the TV arrived and it's all set up now. I tested it using a PS3 via HDMI and ran through a few things...

01, Resident Evil Degeneration Blu-ray: Looked incredible :)
02, Dragonball Z avi upscaled to 1080P: Looked Great!
03, Soul Reaver Legacy of Kain (PS1 upscaled): a bit blocky looking up front but quite decent at 2 metres away :/
04, Killzone 2: Amazing :)
05, Standard TV (football for how it handles motion): pretty good actually! no ghosting or lag from what I could notice and the colours were accurate as well :)
06, I tested the viewing angle as well as in most PC LCD monitors it kinda vanishes if you go to the side: It looked great from any side of the room even at extreme angles I didn't lose brightness or clarity of picture :)
07, For old school I plugged the Wii in and ran Mega Man 2 :P: A little jaggy as it's been stretched to fill the screen but it was negligible and ran smooth and great!

I plan to see how this TV handles on PC gaming later as it also has a PC input (VGA)


All in I am rather surprised by the quality of this screen handling both High Definition and Standard Definition :) given how much I am pro CRT I really am happy with this screen! for the entry-level price point it's quite fantastic given the screen quality and number of connection too.

The model in question by the way is the entry-level priced 'Samsung LE32B530P7WXXU'

EDIT: I should add that Resident Evil 5 (PS3) and the Uncharted 2 Beta look utterly awesome! :o I was looking hard to find this TV's weak spot and so far it's only that it's not so hot looking when watching old standard Definition stuff! My Macross 2 DVD was a right shocker in the looks department and so were a few other things too :(

So outside of the PS3's SD processing I don't think the set handles that source well (maybe better with newer stuff in SD over older stuff) but for gaming on this generation and all that is HD (720 upwards) this screen is a complete winner! :lol:

Really?
Then who would have the biggest real or perceived penis?
And by what exhibited basis, would anyone believe they had a penis worth swinging around?

Bongo passes his judgment almost exclusively on people who don't even post in this community (not necessarily because they don't post here), and even then it's nowhere near as many non-posters as he could be judging. He's only ever judged people for how (ir)responsibly they behave with how little or much they have, rather than Bongo judging people for how much they own, or how much they've donated, or how much they've posted, or where they rank on the reputation ladder. He's never put himself up on a pedestal, and he's never belittled anyone else.

So since he and I are the latest people replying to each other, and since this isn't the random or short thoughts thread, I am going to assume you are talking about me.

Let me make a few points very clear to you.

I got rid of my "Who Owns Shiina Stuff" list months ago.
I haven't asked other people how much music they own (except how many versions of HF you own - and that was to assess EMI's marketing success rather than assess or compare EMF members), and I haven't treated anyone like shit specifically because I own music which they don't, but rather I have treated two people like shit for how irresponsibly they handle the music they don't own.
I've established myself as an audio connoisseur and as somebody who also really knows their computers, but I've hardly mentioned the specific gear I own, and I've hardly asked anyone for information about themselves which I could use to look or act superior.
I haven't presumed or postured myself to be someone who knows more about Shiina Ringo than everyone else in this community, despite the booklets/books/magazines I have access to.
I haven't presumed or postured myself to be someone who cannot be challenged by other people who have facts.
And most importantly, I haven't established myself as someone who cannot in any way be disrespected as much as anyone else who follows the rules.

So where is this contest you speak of?

The common theme of my bitter remarks has never been about the size of my own metaphysical penis or my own ego. The common theme of my bitter remarks is that the majority of metaphysical penises do not have the credibility to be the size which their owners would like to believe (and often the wishful size is medium - which is still far from reality). In that regard, I have hardly targeted anyone in particular. Most of my criticisms focus on third-party stereotypes.

You as an observer I was not specifically talking to, may have decided you're an eligible third-party, being as that you are not only an Apple user, but now in hindsight (and a Search function) I can see you have defined CRT and HDTV as separate camps before (a distinction I'm alleging is common among Apple users). So you pass the litmus test, but that wasn't the aim of my remark.

I would apologize, but then that would imply I didn't actually mean anything I had said. Apple has very closely aligned themselves with LCD displays. I perceive this as a trendy business move, which most of Apple's customers are completely okay with. I don't think they/you/whoever should be okay with that, but Apple knows their own customers all-too-well.

I understand LCD is the only feasible choice in portable scenarios today. That's fine - that's not what I'm nitpicking at. I just think LCD gets a little too much home use, and that Apple has been embracing this trend rather than fighting it.

Now I could swing my dick around and manifest precisely the problem you're describing, but unfortunately some people might actually derive some kind of pleasure from that.

Plasma > LCD (Even the LED backlit ones). The newest plasma TVs are pretty much the same as a CRT in quality. They just don't match the input lag or the contrast ratio yet. Still much better than LCD though. They're pretty cheap too unless you go with one of the Pioneers.


I'm playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. I think I like the original NG2 more so far. NG2 is more difficult and the combat is much more satisfying with all the gore. Momiji and Ayane are fun to play as in Sigma, but they don't really add to the experience. Ayane needs to be in her own action game.

Whether you go LCD or Plasma, they both carry the advantage of that you can actually lift/move them without feeling like your arms are gonna seperate from your body :P Though strangely my 19" CRT PC monitor weighs like twice what the 32" standard TV does??? I recall carrying it 30 yards from the car when we got it to the house and felt like I was gonna die! my legs near buckled and I had to rely on an actual adrenaline rush to charge up the six flights of stairs with it :O

I'm still playing the Uncharted Beta more than anything right now! even though the retail version will have a single player quest to go through I'd buy it solely on the strength of the online multiplayer alone (that's all you can do in the beta) never before have I been called a bitch by so many random folk online :P (usually after being shot with a rocket).

I'm dreading having to move my 34" beast of a CRT someday. I really want to take it with me when I move next year though.

I'm gonna pick up Uncharted 2 with the Toys R Us buy 2 get 1 free deal (yay for US gamers). Uncharted 2, Demon's Souls and Marvel: UA2 is what I'll be getting. I've been waiting to play Marvel, but the stupid rental place won't ship it.

I always thought that CRTs were the only displays without a native resolution. A quick search pulled up an article that confirms that plasma displays do have a native resolution.

From a cnet article: "Nearly every HDTV sold today is a fixed-pixel display. A fixed-pixel display is any HDTV or monitor that uses discrete pixels to produce an image, including flat-panel LCD and plasma screens as well as rear-projection microdisplays and front projectors that use DLP, LCD, or LCoS technology. We'll ignore non-fixed-pixel displays, namely direct-view CRTs, because they treat incoming resolutions differently than their fixed-pixel cousins do--since they don't use discrete pixels, their specifications are much more difficult to pin down. They're also basically extinct as a product category."

Oh, and I like Apple products but am no big LCD fan. I still use a 21" CRT. I am looking forward to laser DLP maturing and becoming cheaper because of the wide color gamut, excellent contrast ratio and saturation, lack of mechanical color wheel contraptions bla bla bla. Some Apple users actually know what they are talking about.

FWIW, all early HDTV was CRT. NHK was developing their first analog system in the late 1960's, decades before the introduction of flat panel technologies. I'm also pretty certain that LCDs don't use diodes. Applied electric fields change the optical properties of thin liquid crystal films.

I still use a 22" CRT.
The only difference between those and the 21" CRTs, is better performance (usually higher refresh rate) with the 20 viewable inches you do get.

I've gradually worked my way up from being comfortable with 1600x1200, to being comfortable with 1792x1344, and finally to 2048x1536 (very recently). Technically I could be running 85Hz, but I don't like the way it looks on my screen at this resolution (fonts become a little blurry), so I'm running 75Hz instead.

Now if I wanted to go down to 1024x768, I could run it at 160Hz if I wanted, but nowadays that resolution (at any refresh rate) is only acceptable for people with netbooks (a totally overhyped bandwagon I'm surprised Apple hasn't gotten into yet). With all the windows I keep open at any given time, I would feel virtually claustrophobic with anything less than 1600x1200. Strangely it's the most commonly recommended resolution on 21" or 22" CRTs, too. Usually 1600x1200 at 85Hz in particular, even if the monitor can go to 100Hz at that resolution.

You're also an old school Apple user, from before their equipment became a status symbol for hipsters, and you're still running on PowerPC architecture if I recall correctly. I've got no quarrel with your kind, though I do have to ask - if you buy a newer computer in the future, is it going to be based on x86, and if so, then are you still going to have much attachment to OSX?

I run at 1280x960 now. My eyes don't like tiny text anymore. I use and old 17" monitor for extra real estate. My next computer will be x86, and I will probably use OSX because it does all the things I want it to do and won't involve much of a learning curve, but that might change during the time before I actually buy something.

I could be delusional, but 12-point Times New Roman on 2048x1536 within 20 viewable diagonal inches, to me looks the same size you would find in many printed publications. It's not as tiny as the stock market section of a newspaper, and not quite as tiny as some paperback books, but maybe on par with the font size you'd find in a typical hardcover book. What's nicer about the hardcover books is they usually spread the font characters out much more - not just from one character to the next, but from one line to the next.

So it's like staring at a typical legal-size document, except the characters are squished closer together, and there's a lot more real estate.

I still run 1280x960 for games, if I don't have a good enough video card to play a particular game lag-free at a higher resolution.

Oh, and congrats on staying away from 5:4. Some CRT owners still haven't figured out what it is or why they shouldn't be running it.

Castlevania 3 for nes.

Sigh. Maybe we will be able to revisit this topic when you reach the far side of 45. I am by no means old, but stuff changes. I have not experienced any retinal degeneration, but have had to come to terms with the inexorable fading of lens plasticity.

Ink and "darkness" on a phosphorescent surface are analogous, but in some ways dissimillar. Ink is just easier to read for me. A more organic, natural absence of light. A pure void, not it's pixelated equivalent.

P.S. The more I edit this, the more it sounds like goofy crap. I have never really thought about this topic before, and these initial reflections are a bit lame.

Once again I decided to give FIFA a go and once again it's not in the same league (pun!) as Pro Evolution Soccer. The clear majority of my friends really rate it, but I never feel fully in control when I play FIFA? it's like I press buttons every once in a while which don't really seem to do that much whereas in Pro Evo I feel 100% in control of the on screen actions. Even though Pro Evo's not been at it's best recently, I still prefer it by a mile.

I don't think I can play RPGs anymore without falling asleep.

In other news:



Yeaaaaa

I can only play Shin Megami Tensei RPGs now. I need to feel like I can actually die in the game to play it. Even regular battles can wreck you if you aren't prepared in those games. I'm playing through the PSP version of Persona now. It's not hard though so I haven't felt too motivated to continue. I should have played the more difficult Snow Queen Quest instead of the main game.

The Uncharted Beta network seems to be really lagging tonight :( half the time the player wont move and other players just vanish :/

Think I'll just watch the Snooker highlights.

I played through Secret of Monkey Island again. On the iPhone...
golden morning/evening subway runs...

Just finished Uncharted 2 which was awesome! though at 9 hours or so it was a touch short :(

Roll on Tekken 6 :P

I'm really tempted to get the version that comes with the Hori arcade stick (like Street Fighter had), but £149.99 is hella steep :( probably costs half that Stateside!

I just completed the Bayonetta Demo. I loved every minute of it!
I've never seen such a huge list of combos which all play very well. And then they had the brilliant idea to put you into an empty room for every single loading screen and give you a full list changing on your current combo, so you can train them. But since the loading screen is over pretty fast you only have like 2 seconds to memorize a new combo. What a brilliant idea.
The whole fighting is so over the top and almost ridiculous that it turns into pure fun when you get bullet time every time you successfully dodge at the last second. I just ordered it from gamestation.co.uk
Has anybody experience with ordering there?
I ordered from the UK, because in germany the game is like 65€ and, if I have bad luck even cut, while I can get the UK Version for roughly 38pound including shipping, which is like 41€
Lucky me that I'm comfortable enough with an english version :)

^ I also just went through the Bayonetta demo a moment ago and absolutely loved it! really looking forward to this game even though Wiki says it's not out until next year :(

Also, Gamestation are fine, I use them all the time and shop at my local branch :) no trouble at all.

I just read that Bayonetta got 40/40 from Famitsu. One Member of my german board currently has the import version from Japan and he is like ultra excited about it, saying that it is better than God of War ever was.
And I just read that the german version is indeed completely uncut, but it's still so much cheaper to buy in Britain :P

TEKKEN 6 :o

I've been so looking forward to getting this in \0/ struggled through the heavy rain but I'm more than pleased! I was gonna get the stand alone version but I was tempted when I saw it in the flesh!

Box seems to have taken a kick but I'm not fussy + it was the last that store had available.

Good Times :lol:

Attachment 4456

EDIT: Got trashed in arcade mode by the shittiest end boss of all time with the snidest array of spammy moves in existence! I then went online for a game while the line was throttled (peak time) and got smashed by a beginner cause I couldn't move due to connection lag :O

When some actual humans show up later (in the house) I'll have more fun :)

I'm currently playing Dragon Age: origins. I expected nothing from the game, never played Baldurs Gate, only KotoR.
The game totally blew me away. Soooo many cutscenes, so many good dialogues, a very fun fighting system and a well presented story. I'm completely addicted.

Yeah, I've heard great things about the game! I've been keeping my eye on it, hoping it turns out as good as recent BioWare titles and it looks to have surpassed expectations. I'll definitely be buying it soon.

Currently splitting my time between Kingdom Hearts:358/2 Days and replaying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time over and over again. Love that game so much.

Dragon Age is out? I also have been looking forward to that game too. I'll have to get it next week at some point. :)

Also playing Dragon Age. PC version. It doesn't run very well on my PC, but it's still quite fun and difficult. I'm playing as a human rogue and the first boss smashed my team. Even regular encounters can be difficult if you don't plan things out. Love it.

Yes, I heard the console version isn't as demanding as the PC one. Did I mention that I love the dialogue? I love the dialogue.
It's SO uncommon nowaday to feel like listening to characters instead of just cliches that it really stands out for me in this game.
And I think it's way better than the Last Bioware title, Mass Effect. That one was fine, but the story was just too short for an rpg. And the "side quests" were ridiculous.

It just had to be set in a typical fantasy setting, did it? I look at Mario Galaxy and shake my head at the majority of game developers and their preference for brown/green/grey colour schemes and emphasis on manchildish 'mature' plots and cinematics.

Kotor is one of my favourite games, so I'd be lying if I said that I won't be playing the hell out of Dragon Age!

I bought the Modern Warfare game yesterday at midnight :P I thought the Night Vision Goggles would be flimsy and a bit rubbish but they are the real deal! they really work :o. Cue me wandering about the house with the lights off pretending to be Solid Snake :P

Playing through Dragon's Age. Man, I haven't enjoyed an RPG like this in a while. This totally compensates for no KOTOR 3. The setting sucks, but it has everything I'd ever want from an RPG. The only thing I'm bothered about is my companions so far. I've got Morrigan, Alistair, Senn and the dog...although the first two can be amusing, I have a feeling I've seen this 'pairing' in other Bioware games. Bastila/Carth?

I also turned down the religious girl because she reminds me of the Jehovah's Witnesses who pester me on the streets (No offense to anyone here who is one). I'm looking forward to recruiting more characters.

I'm playing an evil character who will eventually turn to good.

Yayyyyyy. Thank you, Bioware =D

So far I don't think KOTOR can compare to DA:O at all.

And I do love the setting, because they took the classic fantasy setting, but built in on completely new grounds with a shitload of details, available to anyone not too lazy to read the codex.