BlackKnight

You know that game, God of War? The one that won all the GOTY awards? I picked this up the other day because it was cheap. I figured it'd be a short action game, that'd keep me occupied for a few days. Sure enough, it did. On top of that though, I was blown away by its art direction, cohesive plot, production value and OST. Boss fights were few but fantastic. Fighting the Hydra in the first 5 mins of the game really sold me on it completely. The fact that I'm fairly interested in, but also liberal with the mythological setting notwithstanding, combined with my 3 consecutive play throughs prepared me to say 'yep, this really is the game of the year.' Best thing on the Ps2 since sliced bread. Challenging too- finishing God Mode (particularly the second to last trial) was extremely difficult. I thought. Now I've played Devil May Cry. I've even played DMC2. After doing so my impression of the series is a trashy, ill thought out series of levels smashing things with the occassional, equally trashy, boss. Basically the whole game was a vehicle for the cool combat system, with puzzles and other features just tacked on. And I'll give DMC one thing- I found it hard. But that's it. And so what? GoW was hard too. I havn't played DMC3, but they say that's the hardest game ever... but again so what? GoW is hard enough, and from what I gather my other gripes with the franchise havn't been rectified either (the whole ugly setting / bad layout / monotonous and uninteresting story progression...). The argument that surrounds which of these games is better comes down to GoW being all pretty, but shallow and DMC being less concerned with anything but the insane fighting. In otherwords DMC is for the hardcore, GoW for everyone else. Why a game with no competitive aspect whatsoever needs to for the 'hardcore' though is beyond me. I mean Castlevania - Rondo of Blood was ridiculously difficult and I loved that, but it really was everything that a game could be back in the day. DMC putting everything else on hold just to have hectic fighting is fine, but then you can't really say something like that is better than GoW which has EVERYthing, but just with the difficulty turned down a notch, can you? So I want to know what you all think- what makes a better overall game? Should a single aspect (such as the fighting mechanic) be able to define a game as being good or bad or does the sum of the parts really need to be considered? And basically, do you think GoW or DMC is a better game? I ask this because I'm tossing up getting DMC3 when the special edition comes out here, and don't know if I'll even want to play through it after playing GoW. And also because asking this on GameFAQs etc. rapidly degenerates into a Kratos vs. Dante fanboy flame war.

Would that involve getting the arcade board at home and using some technical wizardry or is it mostly impossible?

PS-Live news not so interesting. However, the PS3s multimedia capabilities still impress, especially if compared to the less than amazing offerings of the 360. If they can live up to these promises Im looking to be sold on the PS3 (and maybe even a PSP too).

Yeh... after nothing got it to work in WMP I uninstalled all the codecs. Then just installed Matroska, Ffdshow, Ogg and MPC, and it works fine.

Thanks everyone.. I got all those packs installed, and still it didn't work. I think its just coz Im being a stickler for WMP.. which Ive given up on now. I decided to just give in and use MPC. Doesnt matter anymore, seeing as I can watch the stuff now. So yeh thanks again everyone

Hey all. I've got an MKV file... two audio streams. I've installed the directshow filter for MKVs... video plays fine.. the first audio stream (Jap) plays fine... Except when I switch to the English one I get 'This pin cannot use the supplied media type.' from WMP. Any ideas? PS The stream that is not playing is OGG, but Iv got the OGG filters and normal OGGs and OGMs work fine.

I hate that attitude. It's like saying stuff you, government, for spending however many millions you already spend on welfare. Whatever they alot budget to you will have a line like 'well ''''I'''' think you should spend your money differently...' Too bad. Not your choice to make is it? There isn't even a dollar figure mentioned in that, and yet there is always someone to jump on the Kanye West bandwagon. As if just throwing money at miscellaneous social problems will solve them anyway. And I bet if an amount equalling whatever laser research costs was right now pledged to solving these issues, it still wouldn't be enough. And honestly I am shocked that out of all the crooked regimes out there America cops the most flack, just because there's so much money involved. How dare anyone else presume to know how to run a country with no economic peer in the world anyway. No offence Robbbet, but that attitude really really flockn craps me.

Seeing as the release date in my world was March 05, well, forgive me thinking of it as a 2005 game. Sorry.. I'd have to retract Tekken 5 then which was released in 2004 as well...

Yeh... I meant I hate Tekken as a franchise. I've really disliked Tekkens in the past, especially 4. So I was trying to make a point about how good Tekken 5 must be for it to be my game of the year, despite my hating the franchise hardcore previously.

I played a lot of bad things this year. Quake 4 was alright, but not great. MGS3, contrary to what everyone says, was not as much fun as the others. Guild Wars I;ve just started so not in any place to comment really and I havnt played RE4. So I'll just skip right to #1 1) Tekken 5. I hate Tekken. Period. For as long as I can remember. That has to say something about how good this game is. Character mix, both artistically and technically speaking is fantastic. Gameplay is just plain fun. Stages are marvelous... Hell's Gate and Moonlit Wilderness were what drew me to the machine in the first place. Soundtrack kicks arse, mad having a Devil and another demon type fella as bosses. Game of the Year.

This game is ageless and beyond legendary. I find the fact that there isnt a PAL PS2 version one of the greatest injustices in the realm of gaming ever. I recommend you travel to whichever arcade you have to to play this game if you havn't already. Can't express for the life of me how much I love it. Edit: Sorry I missed the point that this was a DC related thing.

Im glad. I hated the way GF FX was gettin smashed by Radeons for ages.

The x1300 is bad stay away. The 6200 is bad too- its a decent upgrade from a 4MX, but again low settings / low res for new games.

I was also shocked to see that the graphics were a lot lower than my expectations, despite hardware specs that seemed ridiculously overpowered. Especially seeing Quake 4 on the 360 compared to my 6600GT... its pathetic. I dont see what the selling point for this now is either. Some damned good games had better come out quicksmart or Microsoft isnt looking in a good position this time round. PS Rev looks interesting but I stand by my hatred of Nintendo. Zelda, Mario Kart.. all that crap does not interest me in the slightest. Something had better come out for that that grabs my interest otherwise Im willing to write it off as well.

I would say PSP because I have this idea in my head that you can get heaps of emulators for it and cram heaps of roms onto a big memory stick... but with all these new updates how realistic is that?

There's a setting for that inside the AOL application... something along the lines of 'Logoff and Shutdown.' Seeing as I havnt used AOL for many years though cant tell you anymore. :S Sorry.

Err no.. you'd have to get VGA cable adapters for your console to play on your monitor... ...but if you want to make a screensaver or whatever youd need to have a VIVO video card... and I dont think that Intel onboard thingo would have it. USB? 'Fraid not.

Hmm hyped as the new in emulation? This is as exicting as a debug mode- useful yeh, I guess, but... big deal :S Is that really all it is though or could there be more to it? GC hasn't said anything on it yet.

That's true but I'm going to jump the gun and go with Gryph- get a 6600GT. It is best value for the price I've ever seen. I think the only question is whether your board is PCIx or AGP only. Either way just get this card.

Spam or otherwise... NFS: Most Wanted Painkiller Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

I wonder, since I'm hearing the whole Harry Mason dynamic is gone. Would it have been so much harder to have a guy called Harry instead of some woman called Rose?

I want a media center app for when I watch movies etc on my TV. Anyway, what should I get? I tried Media Portal, but its buggy and slow on my comp.. OGM videos are unwatchable. I dont want to shell out for MCE- is there a way to get that Media Center application to run on normal XP? Or are there any other media center apps out there that are good? Lost

I disagree. Both of those movies were unspectacular- bad even. I am not a big fan of Jackson, or of Halo, but considering the reputation both seem to have attained the chance of this movie sucking would just be slightly lower, but not completely inconcievable. Video game movies always are bad, so this would have to be a first. No exceptions. My bet is on this being a bad movie. Let's wait and see.

As have I. They wouldn't be bowing out of the mainstream console competition if they had been doing everything right.

I agree completely. Sony is doing a lot of dick things lately.