Messages

2951

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 15, 2011, 09:28:42 PM »

Hmm....when I got home today I tried to create my new password so I could log into psn...gave me some error message or saying the server timed out.

I assume this is because everyone else is trying to do the same thing.  Good thing I don't have enough time to get any serious gaming in tonight.

2952

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #18 - Perfect Dark (N64/XBLA)

« on: May 15, 2011, 09:23:11 AM »

To this day I have never played more then ten minutes of the single player campaign, it remains the only game in my collection I own solely for the multiplayer.  **** Halo, give me the laptop gun and far sight any day over the Nerf toys Halo uses.  I never played the remake as I didn't buy a 360 until Crackdown 1 came out and by then PDZ wasnt even a common joke anymore.

Just an FYI: perfect dark zero was a sequel, not a remake, and it looked mediocre.  I remember my friend got it when he first got his xbox and deluded himself into thinking it was good because of the "awesome graphics" and "omg those explosions look so real!"

lol.

2953

Nintendo Gaming / Re: best n64 game and why

« on: May 13, 2011, 06:08:30 PM »

So if there was a comprehensive list of NWR forum must-have N64 games, it would include the following:
(list)

Personally there are 255 more games I'd add to that list, but that's just me.

I don't deny that there are more great games, but these are all the ones that are listed so far.  I'll gladly hear about more great N64 games, as I'm currently working on amassing a collection since I recently got a used system

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #18 - Perfect Dark (N64/XBLA)

« on: May 13, 2011, 02:55:47 PM »

Whenever we get around to doing an RFN-wide multiplayer event, my Xbox LIVE Gamertag is broodwars64.

Online multiplayer is the only reason I wish I had an Xbox 360 to buy this game for.

2955

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 242: One-Winged Migration

« on: May 13, 2011, 01:56:50 PM »

Fighters I honestly could care less about the story.  Original Zelda same way but, TP Yeah the story in that game was why I almost didn't complete it.  Same with WW.  It has everything to do with Pacing in the Zelda series.  The last 2 Console ones were not Paced well.  Sometimes you got to know when less is more.

Ok, but is it the story pacing that is tedious, or the gameplay pacing that made you unmotivated to complete it?  For a game like Zelda (Twilight Princess, at least), I imagine they create concepts for dungeons/gameplay before story, and paint a thin layer of story on top of it, so i'd be inclined to blame gameplay before story in the example you give.

2956

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 242: One-Winged Migration

« on: May 13, 2011, 01:44:20 PM »

I like Plots in my Videogames.  I like to have some sort of motivation to do what I'm doing. I'm playing through FF:IV right now and I'm enjoying the plot in that game.  The pacing is fairly good and I can already identify some places where the developers went "you know we can have them grind this but, it be better for the story if we just did this instead."  Pacing and Predictability are the big things for me.  If I know how the rest of Game, Movie, Book turns out I'm not going to continue with it.  Their are a lot of series that I really don't like the gameplay but I'm as happy as a clam to read the dialogue, lore, etc about. (Metal Gear series comes to mind on that one.)

I think plots are critical to RPGs.  The story is at the core of what makes that genre, and I'd be willing to guess people are more forgiving towards mediocre battle systems than stories in RPGs, because a lot of the time the story of the RPG is what makes it memorable to a person.
 
Most other genres of games you can tolerate a bad story if the gameplay is spectacular.  I don't care about Ryu and Ken's rivalry if they both move as fluid as someone with epilepsy in front of a strobe light.  I don't care if Link can save Zelda from Ganon if he has to go through a string of quick-time events to beat him.  Great story in other genres can turn a great game into an amazing game, but a bad story in these genres doesn't hurt these games as much as RPGs.

2957

Nintendo Gaming / Re: best n64 game and why

« on: May 13, 2011, 09:29:46 AM »

Ok, so one game I forgot to mention that I haven't seen on here is Gauntlet Legends.  I played this game for hours on end with my cousins when they came to visit.  By far the most fun version of the series i've played, although not nearly as fun without people to play it with.
 
So if there was a comprehensive list of NWR forum must-have N64 games, it would include the following:
 
Banjo –Kazooie 
BattleTanx 
Beetle Adventure Racing 
Blast Corps 
Bomberman 64 
Doom 64 
Excitebike 64 
Extreme-G 
F-Zero X 
Gauntlet Legends 
Goldeneye 
Hydro Thunder 
Jet Force Gemini 
Legend of the Mystical Ninja 
Mario Kart 64 
Mario Party 
Mortal Kombat 4 
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber 
Paper Mario 
Perfect Dark 
Pilotwings 
Pokemon stadium 
Quake II 
Rocket: Robot on Wheels 
Rogue Squadron 
Rush 2049 
Star Wars Episode I Pod Racer 
Starfox 64 
Super Mario 64 
Super Smash Bros. 
Superman 64 (lol) 
Tetrisphere 
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 
The New Tetris 
Turok (1,2,3) 
War Gods 
Waverace 64 
Wetrix

2958

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Soul Calibur 2 GC - still worth it?

« on: May 13, 2011, 09:02:51 AM »

Going with the crowd here.  I loved the Soul Calibur series, and 2 was the last one I bought because I didn't feel that there are any improvements that needed to be made (unless you wanted online playability).

2959

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #18 Poll - Originals & Remakes Edition

« on: May 13, 2011, 08:48:20 AM »

Yes!  Perfect Dark!
 
I was excited to get this game.  Just recently bought a N64 and have been amassing a collection for it.  This gives me a chance to pick up a copy of this game and see if it's as fun as I remember it being.  I've had a lot of fun replaying Goldeneye after I adjusted from HD gaming to 64-bit, now I'll have to see if the framerate issues are as bad as people here claim.  I remember there being occasional slowdown, but nothing that dramatic. 
 
Also helps that the game is only 5-10 bucks online.

2960

TalkBack / Re: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

« on: May 10, 2011, 01:09:34 PM »

I had a lot of fun with this game as a kid.  Loved trying to get all the treasures to try to get a better castle at the end.  Actually, the Wario game for Virtual Boy was the only reason I got that system, although I quickly fell for Teleroboxer and Galactic Pinball shortly afterwards.
 
Fun read.  Now I'll have to dig around and find my GBA SP and my copy of this game.

2961

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 242: One-Winged Migration

« on: May 09, 2011, 09:01:51 AM »

I think RPGs in general are a great way to cope with loss/hardships.  As a kid, I was a bit overweight and was ridiculed quite often at my school.  At the time, my way to cope was to play Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger.  I think it's the escapism that's at the heart of why RPGs work so well for this.  The fact that you can insert yourself into this character and imagine you're this ridiculously powerful character, or instead of being at home coping with issues you're a young man traveling through time to save the world. 
 
I know this applies to more than RPGs, but I guess the point to take home is that playing video games can make you feel like you have control over something when you otherwise feel powerless in other aspects of your life. 
 
 

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General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 07, 2011, 09:01:52 AM »

Sony just pushed the return of PSN back again.

I hadn't played a game on my PS3 for months (I use it for media streaming and Netflix all the time, but those work without PSN), and PSN has to be down the one time I need it.

2963

TalkBack / Re: Wii Value Line Box Art Revealed

« on: May 04, 2011, 02:04:14 AM »

If the price is at $20 for these titles, then I think it'll be acceptable.  If it is the same as PS3's discount rate of $30, then it would be too much, as that is how much most of these games are going for used on EBAY (just a quick search, didn't look for lowest deal). 

Anything that forces prices to lower on some of these games for retail AND 2nd hand sales are good things, and maybe this discount price will make me consider purchasing games that I would refuse to pay over $20 for.

2964

General Chat / Re: Holy ****, Osama Bin Laden is dead!

« on: May 02, 2011, 12:13:08 AM »

2965

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:27:18 AM »

PlayStation Plus is garbage. It's the same thing as regular PSN, but you might get to download a demo a few days earlier, or get some bullshit DLC or something. It's useless, and their "gift" is a slap in the face to all customers. Ignorance and arrogance go hand in hand, btw.

I didn't say I was happy with the compensation, but I guess at least I get to do the inFamous 2 beta.

Like I said, my comment was pure speculation, but was just making a comment that so was Geohot's.  Ignorance and arrogance are mutually exclusive.  They can occur at the same time, but that doesn't mean there's correlation.

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General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:13:04 AM »

News out of Hirai's Press Conference: Sony estimates that 10 million actual PSN users had credit cards tied to their accounts.  All users will receive a free PSN download(s) (they do not say what the download(s) will be), 30 free days of Playstation Plus membership for new and existing PS+ members, and 30 days of Qriocity service.  They're also considering paying to replace affected credit cards.

More than what I expected (I assumed just a free trial of Playstation +), although it remains to be seen what these "free downloads" are (I would expect games released by Sony, themes, and cosmetic gifts).

GeoHot weighs in on the PSN situation: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/219136/ps3-hacker-geohot-calls-sony-executives-crazy-arrogant/

Claiming no responsibility for the current incident, Hotz instead established his formal position on the PSN attack, insinuating that the hackers responsible make the modding community at large look bad. Hotz also took Sony's executives to task, stating that the engineers within the company were not at fault. Instead, Hotz implied that Sony's higher-ups provoked the hacking/modding community with arrogant attitudes and poor technical practices.

"Now until more information is revealed on the technicals, I can only speculate, but I bet Sony's arrogance and misunderstanding of ownership put them in this position. Sony execs probably haughtily chuckled at the idea of threat modeling.

 Sony needs to accept that they no longer own and control the PS3 when they sell it to you. Notice it's only PSN that gave away all your personal data, not Xbox Live when the 360 was hacked, not iTunes when the iPhone was jailbroken, and not GMail when Android was rooted. Because other companies aren't crazy."

I have no problems with Geohot, but he makes some broad assumptions about what is at fault.  I would wager it was executive incompetence before arrogance, although that is as much speculation as his post at this point.  Only Sony knows truly who is at fault at this stage.

2967

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #18 Poll - Originals & Remakes Edition

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:05:47 AM »

The original Mega Man, however, is really not much fun. It was innovative and provided a baseline for improvement later in the series, and that's about it.

Crazy talk, crazy talk!

Although I might just be saying this because the 1st Mega Man is the only game in the series i've been able to make substantial progress on.  Anyone have a noob friendly megaman that I could cut my teeth with and then upgrade from?  I have the mega man collection for gamecube.

2968

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 30, 2011, 10:03:39 AM »

It doesn't matter anyway, I'll just wait for the lawsuit like everyone else and hopefully get something out of it. As long as it hurts SONY financially, the customers win.

The hack and theft of our info has definitely hurt Sony financially, but I would hardly call it a win for us customers who have this CC info lost.  You can claim that it finally forces Sony to take security more seriously, and our info will be safer, but the damage is always done.

This reminds me of when a McDonald's in my hometown was reported to have gotten people sick with Hepatitis C.  The whole McDonald's was shut down and basically quarantined, scrubbed from head to toe, and the employees were re-trained on the importance of cleanliness in the workplace (the ones that weren't fired).  That McDonalds might be the cleanest one in the planet now, but I doubt the people who got Hep C would say it was a net win for the consumer.

2969

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #18 Poll - Originals & Remakes Edition

« on: April 30, 2011, 01:32:43 AM »

Have to go with Perfect Dark, if just to see if my nostalgia goggles have lied to me again.

I remember actually playing this game a lot more than Goldeneye.  Split screen with bots and making a makeshift divide for the TV made out of cardboard to prevent screen-watchers!  Look forward to the discussion either way.

2970

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 29, 2011, 10:32:00 AM »

That won't be good enough, and the lawsuits will come pouring in.

There's already a class action for it. 
 
Wasn't saying that compensation was adequate, just that it's the most I would expect from Sony, as that would cost them very little.
 
Ruh-Row
 

Security researchers said Thursday that they had seen discussions on underground Internet forums indicating that the hackers who infiltrated the Sony PlayStation Network last week may have made off with the credit card numbers of Sony customers.
The comments indicated that the hackers had a database that included customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers, the researchers said.
Kevin Stevens, senior threat researcher at the security firm Trend Micro, said he had seen talk of the database on several hacker forums, including indications that the Sony hackers were hoping to sell the credit card list for upwards of $100,000. Mr. Stevens said one forum member told him the hackers had even offered to sell the data back to Sony but did not receive a response from the company."

 

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General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 29, 2011, 07:41:07 AM »

Every PSN user should get a $50 PSN credit.

Realistically, we'll be lucky to get a free PSN game, if anything.  Probably looking at maybe a free month of Playstation Plus, the way this article reads.

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General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 28, 2011, 08:04:55 AM »

Well they just sent me a long winded email about what I can do to protect myself including contacting the FTC.

I don't have a CC on file nor have I used my PSN account since my PS3 was jailbroken back in October. Still, crazy ****.

I got that email as well.  Doesn't seem like it's any more information than what was posted on their blog, but I guess it's nice they decided to email users in case they don't read the blog regularly...7 days later...

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General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 26, 2011, 05:05:52 PM »

Enner beat me to it.  Bad news all around. 

I'm not happy with the hackers that compromised my data, but I'm more-so angry with Sony.  They are the gatekeepers of mine and obviously millions of other users personal data in this circumstance, and were expected to have the proper checks in place to prevent such fraud.  It is deplorable that they could have such limited capability to defend against this type of intrusion.

Let this also be a lesson to people who rooted on the hackers throughout all of this fiasco.  You had every right to be upset at Sony for their recent actions that hurt their customers more than hackers, but it is apparent now that the consumer will be the one to pay regardless of who wins in this fight of corporation vs. pirates.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 240: They Call Him 'The Streak'

« on: April 25, 2011, 10:17:40 PM »

It is unreasonable of me to think the code name "Cafe" has to do with the idea of connectivity with other people?  When I heard the word I think social gathering with free wireless internet.  I can't help but think this is an inkling towards Nintendo putting a serious foot forward on their online infrastructure.

As unlikely as I think it is, I would really like to see the option to utilize a DSI or 3DS as a spare controller for the new Nintendo system.  I have the same problem with piles of plastic controllers that Jonny has, and would love to be able to use my 3DS as a second controller instead of having to drop $50 for a 2nd/3rd controller.

I actually started playing Chrono Trigger not to long ago too. Haven't put a lot of time into it, but I certainly hope to finish it soon and hear Jon finally complete it and get the biggest (?) cause of Lindemann Syndrome of his back. =P I played Fallout: New Vegas and while I did find it to be unstable with some minor freezes and long loading times, I found exploring and finding places to be intriguing and it was a surprisingly engaging experience for me.

Enjoy your playthrough.  Nothing like playing Chrono Trigger for the first time.  My first RPG was Final Fantasy VII, and I came back and played Chrono Trigger on PS1, and even the terrible menus and load times couldn't ruin my wonderful experience with that game.

Maybe i'm just getting old, or don't have enough time, but I can't bring myself to invest time in an RPG lately.  I end of thinking for a while that i've just grown out of the genre, but I love coming back to Chrono Trigger, FF IV, and the PS1 FF games. 

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: 1 year anniversary of Monster Hunter Tri game day with Nintemple.com and NWR

« on: April 20, 2011, 04:11:45 PM »

Appreciate the invite, Maxi, but I'm pulling in 60-80 hour work weeks while finishing up my final Masters course, so now's definitely not a good time.

Also, i've only gotten a total of 3 hours in Monster Hunter Tri, and haven't even gone online yet :