What did you do this year regarding games? Played, loved, hated, indifferent to; how was your year in gaming?
I'm still on the last generation, trying to finish it up by playing all the games I'm told I should have been playing all along. I don't remember the order I bought or played the following in, so I'll just break it down by system.
Gamecube:
An uneventful year for my Gamecube. I bought Zelda: Minish Cap for my Gameboy Player and have yet to finish it. I've put quite a few hours this past semester in to Mario Kart: Double Dash and I've gotten pretty good at it. My friends won't play against me anymore. I had intentions of getting Zelda Twilight Princess for my GC, but now I'm not so sure as I think I want a Wii now.
Playstation 2:
I finally finished Final Fantasy VIII. It took me two years of forcing myself to play, and in the end (quite literally about 5 hours before the end) I enjoyed the game. Not my favorite Final Fantasy, but a good one.
I bought Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation. I've given both some considerable play time and now I don't feel like playing them. I think they're too difficult, and I don't want to waste the little time I have for games on something that's going to frustrate me. I've heard they're both wonderful games though...pity.
I also purchased my first Dragon Quest game, DQ VIII. I had heard how wonderful this series is, and particularly how great this installment turned out to be. I've only put about 12 hours on it but I'm not impressed. The animation and music are absolutely superb, the story is quite good too, but the battle system is about as simple as they come and makes battles more of a chore than an engaging fight. I will finish this game.
Final Fantasy XII; The best Final Fantasy I've played. I've put about 42 hours on it and I'm about 2/3rds the way through (Phon Coast). It's almost unbelievable how high quality of a production it is. I'm eager to finish it.
Just two days ago I picked up Shadow of the Colossus. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I initially wrote this game off, saying it would be tedious and boring only fighting the colossi and finishing them off in the same way. I was so wrong. This easily goes on my top ten list of amazing games for this past generation.
I also picked up Crash Bandicoot Warped (3) for the Playstation. I found it in a bin at Gamestop and the clerk just let me have it. He said they don't sell them anymore, that it must have been overlooked. I played it for a few mintues the other day...I can't believe I used to think they were fun.
My roommate bought Dance Factory and a dance pad. This particular dance game lets you play any cd you want. I went through my entire collection of what I consider dance music. Quite a bit of fun but I got over it in about a two months' time.
Xbox:
Heh, my Xbox got a little more love than my Gamecube, but only because I had fallen so very far behind in Xbox games. Earlier this year I purchased Unreal Championship 2: Liandri Conflict; it's beautiful, fast, and addiciting; easily one of the most underrated games for the Xbox. Melee combat ftw.
I am currently borrowing Fable from a friend. The graphics are not all that. In fact, I think it's rather ugly. The gameplay is good, but not great. I'm thinking this game will take me quite a while to complete as I'm just not that interested. Then again, I've only spent about an hour with it thus far.
About two weeks ago I purchased Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. I'm usually not a fan of shooters but it was only $4, so I gave it a shot. I'm sorry I passed it up for so long. I spent a good chunk of last Saturday playing the game, and I wish I had brought my Xbox with me to my parents' house for the holidays. A lot of fun. Really pretty, too.
I tried my hand at Panzer Dragoon Orta again. It's still one of the best looking games of last generation. I bought it years ago but got stuck at a boss. I'm hoping to finish it someday, but I'm not going to try too hard. (I'm thinking this game needs to be made for the Wii...it would kick some major arse). Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is another I bought some time ago, and I would like to finish it. I kind of lost interest though about half way through it earlier this year. A really great game, but I'm not good at the sneaking around like I need to be.
Looking in to 2007:
I plan to finish most of the games I listed here. There are still other games of this last generation I need to play:
Xenosaga II, Xenosaga III, God of War, God of War 2 (assuming I like the first), Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Grabbed by the Ghoulies (not a typo), Fuzion Frenzy, Prince of Persia Warrior Within, Prince of Persia Two Thrones, Katamari Damacy, Jak X Combat Racing, Ratchet Deadlocked
I hope to complete a number of those by summer so I can start on my next gen gaming. The DS will likely be my next system (so many games, OMG). I'm committed to getting a 360 but not until I do it properly with a HDTV (which I'm hoping is right around the time Halo 3 releases).
Okay, the jist is this. 6 health care workers were accused and tried in court of intentionally infecting patients at a hospital with AIDS. Scientific findings have shown that the strain of the virus the patients were infected with was already present in the hospital environment before the workers showed up and was in fact spread by poor conditions before the arrival of these workers.
However, this evidence was not admitted into the courts, for reasons unknown. The courts, with no evidence to back up their claims, have found the 6 guilty and have sentenced them to death.
This is a witch hunt, pure and simple, and I'm shocked it hasn't been all over the news outraging everyone. Why isn't anyone DOING anything?
The PS3 is readily in stock as is the PSP, and Nintendo's Wii and DS are sold out everywhere you go. What is happening?! I was at Wal-Mart today picking out a PS2 game and all the while I was there (about 30 minutes, I just couldn't decide) not one person gave the two PS3's in stock a second glance. Nearly everyone went to the Nintendo section first only to find that they were out of DS and Wii; others went to the 360 section to play it, but I didn't see anyone buy one (they were in stock). This is the same situation at the Best Buy I went to the day previous.
The Playstation 3 is no doubt in what one would assume is short supply as they haven't been able to make very many units for and since launch. It seems people just aren't interested. I suppose it's a combination of the price and lack of games. In any case, this is a very different situation from the PS2 or Xbox 360 launch, where both consoles were very difficult to come by 5-6 months after launch. I wonder if Sony will be able to turn it around soon.
Anyone think the big N could come out on top this generation?
Quote:<b>Forecast Channel Arrives, Internet Coming Friday</b>
<i>Browsing is free for now, costs 500 points next year.</i>
by Patrick Klepek, 12/19/2006
68 of 68 users recommend this story.
Both the Forecast Channel and Internet Channel were expected to be day-and-date features with Wii's launch, but Nintendo failed to deliver and has been a awkward and coy about confirming release dates for either. But the mystery is over, as today the Forecast Channel was launched as a free download and Internet Channel, complete with an Opera-based browser, hits on Friday.
Internet Channel, however, is only free until June. The ensuing months will be a beta test for the browsing software, and while the full version arrives in March, Nintendo apparently won't be asking for 500 Wii Points ($5.00 USD) until June. Will people bite?
So we get to try it for 6 months, then decide if we want to pay for it. Really, we're getting in on the beta, as it says. This wasn't supposed to LAUNCH until June, was my understanding.
Well, two days away, who will be the 1st to post at TC from their Wii??
Insanely lengthy list of pretty much every PC game with a chance of coming out next year, and with a screenshot for almost every title... some I hadn't heard of, even. Click. :)
Not from Nintendo, but interesting. My main question is what SORT of rechargeable are we talking about here? If it's nickel cadmium, forget it. If it's lithium ion, I'm getting this as soon as it comes out. At least the look fits with the Wii style.
