The 2010 Video Games Thread

[stevew]

I have one.

[Groundhog]

Awesome. Would love to play some multi when this game shows up in my mailbox.

[dawgfan]

I'm really debating which system to buy Red Dead for. On the one hand, I'd rather long gaming sessions take place on the PS3; on the other hand, for online play I think I'd rather be on the 360 - more friends on that network and I just prefer Live to the PlayStation Network.

I haven't read enough to know - there aren't any output resolution differences between the two SKU's are there?

[PurdueBrad]

After watching the two latest trailers of Red Dead that are linked in this thread, I'm definitely buying it. I'll be picking it up on the 360 rather than the PS3 though (prefer the controller and the on-line service) so if anybody wants to posse up, drop me a line: BVest1121

[MizzouRah]

MizzouRah0971

I need to watch Tombstone before next week.

[PurdueBrad]

This link gives you a good run down of the various pre-order specials out there as well as what the use for each item is:

Red Dead Redemption Preorder info

[spleen1015]

Awesome. Thanks for that. I wasn't going to preorder, but I want a faster horse!

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Awesome. Thanks for that. I wasn't going to preorder, but I want a faster horse!

Yeah, I was really torn. I had already ordered (the $20 that amazon offers is too good [although the Rockstar site only says $10 it is actually $20]) but I really was interested in the three:

Assassin outfit for the faster dead-eye reload
Golden guns for fame (which is what I got with the Amazon pre-order)
The War Horse for speed/power

Of those, the horse is probably my favorite sounding, followed by the outfit and then the guns. The only thing that bugs me about the guns is the gold appearance looks a bit silly. Otherwise, the fame bonus could be cool.

Decent in game bonuses though.

[Scoobz0202]

Has this been posted yet?

hxxp://www.spike.com/full-episode/red-dead-redemption/38258

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

This link gives you a good run down of the various pre-order specials out there as well as what the use for each item is:

Red Dead Redemption Preorder info

Crap... I wish I hadn't seen that. A "Play-N-Trade" store opened up near me. I've been in there a few times and picked up a couple of games. I like to encourage competition. There seems to be a Gamestop at every other corner. So I just pre-ordered with PNT. But these deals are starting to become too good to pass up. As far as I know, I got nothing extra for my pre-order. Ugh...

[Balldog]

I'll be getting RDR for PS3, feel free to add me - grismosw7

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Interesting that the PS3 version has exclusive content listed on the package. It says it has "Solomon's Folly Gang Hideout" and the "Walton Gang Outfit." Not sure why this hasn't been publicized more by Rockstar. I'm guessing that these are minor add-ons.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

The last two paragraphs in the EDGE review of Super Mario Galaxy 2 make the game sound pretty awesome. They gave it a 10/10 btw.

Those couple of review paragraphs are why I like reading well worded reviews

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Some Sony news leaked about E3 plans. First, early info on the 'premium' PSN plan. $50 plan that includes one PSN game a month amongst other features. It'll be interesting to see if MS counters by offering games to XBox Live subscribers. Also, it's noted that voice chat will be part of the free service.

VG247 » Blog Archive » Premium PSN plans for E3 reveal, to cost “less than £50 per year”

New PSP2 will have touch screen and two cameras. 4-Cell processor.

VG247 » Blog Archive » PSP2: Touch-screen, two cameras, games for “end 2010, beginning 2011″

Heard on the CAGCast that the 3DS will have PS2/Wii level graphics. Slim 360 also sounds like a real possibility.

Finally, Kevin Butler + Jack Tretton + trashtalking = very funny........

[PurdueBrad]

Early Red Dead reviews have been killer, but I'm waiting to catch a source or two that I trust a bit more. But these are the reviews that are in thus far:

Red Dead Redemption Critic Reviews for Xbox 360 - GameSpot

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

New York Times, while not necessarily a standard or even trusted source, gave it a ridiculous review.

Video Game Review - ‘Red Dead Redemption’ Brings Old West to Life - NYTimes.com

In the more than 1,100 articles I have written for this newspaper since 1996, I have never before called anything a tour de force. Yet there is no more succinct and appropriate way to describe Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar rides again.

[tyketime]

I feel a 24-hour Red Dead flu coming on... cough..cough.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by tyketime

I feel a 24-hour Red Dead flu coming on... cough..cough.

Stay away from my son, he's already been showing symptoms.

[Scoobz0202]

Amazon's release day shipping better be here tomorrow. I'm pumped.

[SackAttack]

I'm passing on RDR for now. I wants me some Mario Galaxy 2. Alas, no release day shipping for Sunday releases. I gotta wait 'til Wednesday next.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by tyketime

I feel a 24-hour Red Dead flu coming on... cough..cough.

Me too

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Stay away from my son, he's already been showing symptoms.

How old is he? Only asking because it's an "M" game and is probably not going to be much different from the GTA series in terms of subject matter and language.

I figure you're probably on top of this stuff and know this already...

[RainMaker]

I can't wait for the game. Have it coming on the 360 tomorrow through Amazon. $20 gift card sure makes this a great deal.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

How old is he? Only asking because it's an "M" game and is probably not going to be much different from the GTA series in terms of subject matter and language.

I figure you're probably on top of this stuff and know this already...

His son played Fallout 3. I can't imagine M-rated games are a concern in the MiddleGA household.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I can't wait for the game. Have it coming on the 360 tomorrow through Amazon. $20 gift card sure makes this a great deal.

+1

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

How old is he? Only asking because it's an "M" game and is probably not going to be much different from the GTA series in terms of subject matter and language. I figure you're probably on top of this stuff and know this already...

If you knew me (or at least sat down here in the basement where I spend most of my time & where the 360 is) then you'd know language isn't much of an issue. They really can't say anything in any of the games that my son hasn't heard out of my own mouth at some point, in some similar combination of words at least. That isn't optimal, and I'm not really proud of that, but it's the reality of living with me. Let's say that my word choice is often considerably coarser IRL than what you see here on FOFC, particularly when it's spontaneous.

Content was a much larger concern, but I've seen some references in the past few days to the general affect that while mature subject matter is referenced (for example, I know there is at least one rape victim that's an NPC of some sort) it isn't as blatant as,say, GTA which is & remains persona non grata in my household. I'm still not totally reassured about that frankly, but what I'm expecting is roughly something a little more blatant than the prostitute character in Fallout 3 but well short of having to make a choice of which saloon girl to screw in order to advance the game storyline. Which of those two points RDR ends up actually coming closer to will have a lot to do with how uncomfortable I become with the game & whether I end up having to say "enough, it's gotta go". Another way to look at it might be "how much worse does it get than some of the network promos that run on Spike TV during wrestling?"

He knows that going in though, and has been looking pretty diligently for the past couple of weeks for quotes in magazines & online that would reassure me. If not for finding those, it would have not been a day one purchase for our house.

FWIW, it's a valid question you asked afaic, & I have no problem at all explaining my answer. Where those lines are is something every parent has to figure out & it's probably fairly healthy to discuss those amongst ourselves on occasion. We may not all agree on where the lines belong but it's still good for conversation afaic since it promotes the importance of making those decisions in an informed manner.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

FWIW, it's a valid question you asked afaic, & I have no problem at all explaining my answer. Where those lines are is something every parent has to figure out & it's probably fairly healthy to discuss those amongst ourselves on occasion. We may not all agree on where the lines belong but it's still good for conversation afaic since it promotes the importance of making those decisions in an informed manner.

I can get behind that reasoning. It sure beats all to hell and gone the parents I run into from time to time who justify letting their kids play GTA because, after all, they played Halo at Johnny's house, and all M-rated games are equal, and aren't even interested in learning about the content descriptors.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just assumed you were required to have sex with horses in RDR. This is no longer a day one purchase for me.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I can get behind that reasoning. It sure beats all to hell and gone the parents I run into from time to time who justify letting their kids play GTA because, after all, they played Halo at Johnny's house, and all M-rated games are equal, and aren't even interested in learning about the content descriptors.

I'm particularly sensitive to the ratings issue being on the other side of the coin as someone creating content for games (and soon to be on the parent side of the equation as well).

I think it's great that Rockstar is out there creating content that fits their vision and that a system is in place that allows parents to have some level of information about what's contained in the games that they buy for their kids (or that their kids buy for themselves). But the system starts to fall apart if:

a. Retailers don't take the ratings restrictions seriously, and
b. Parents don't put any effort into paying attention to the ratings and monitoring what their kids are playing

I love the GTA series, but I wouldn't let my kids play them until they were mature enough to handle them; I can't put a specific age on that as it will depend on each kid, but I'd guess mid-teens would be the earliest I'd feel OK with them playing those games.

Of course, I was allowed to watch A Clockwork Orange when I was a tween and I didn't turn out to be an amoral rapist thug, so maybe I'm being overly cautious...

[dawgfan]

Oh, and thanks for the response Jon, and I'm glad you didn't take any offense to the question. Great reasoning on your part, and good to hear you're involved in monitoring your son's gaming content. I'm not a particular stickler for "bad" language myself, but I'm a little more leery of the casual violence. I'll be very interested to see how much Red Dead resembles GTA in gleeful amorality and button-pushing.

[Kodos]

Says my preorder from earlier today has shipped from Amazon. Woot!

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Says my preorder from earlier today has shipped from Amazon. Woot!

Just checked and my order says it's being prepared for shipment. I wasn't able to get the release day delivery where I live, but hopefully I'll get it by Wednesday at the latest. Could still work out ok if I get in Wed morning being that's my only day off this week.

[spleen1015]

How old is your son, JIMG? I ask because my stepson is 17 now and I was cool with letting him play GTA4 when it came out. I just want to compare ages and see. That's all.

As far as language goes, I'm like you that I don't have too much of a filter around him. His mom has been cautious about game content, but I've been comfortable letting him play pretty much anything for a couple of years.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Says my preorder from earlier today has shipped from Amazon. Woot!

Mine says preparing to be shipped with an estimate of tomorrow... be interesting to see how that works.


But Amazon doesn't normally let me down so..

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

How old is your son, JIMG? I ask because my stepson is 17 now and I was cool with letting him play GTA4 when it came out. I just want to compare ages and see. That's all.

As far as language goes, I'm like you that I don't have too much of a filter around him. His mom has been cautious about game content, but I've been comfortable letting him play pretty much anything for a couple of years.

He turned 12 last month. But you could back date him playing relatively mature content (if this qualifies) to about Halo I.

[k0ruptr]

man, I'm really going back and forth on buying this (RDR) tomorrow. On one hand I have a feeling this game is going to be absolutely frickin amazing. On the other hand I probably should save my 60 bucks and wait till it drops to 40 or so. I really want it. what to do what to do.

Edited: also I am halfway through Splinter Cell: Conviction (another awesome 9 out of 10 game for me) And Assassins creed 2 is sitting on my tv shelf un opened. So I have a semi back log of really great games that can keep me busy. But I also have this feeling that RDR is gonna be so good that I won't pop in another game for at least a month if I do buy it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

re: the content thing in general -- Those of you who've got kids/tweens or have been around them in the past few years are probably familiar with Drake & Josh. My son has seen 'em all many times over, it's occasionally still turned on here as familiar background noise if there's nothing else on. It's a pretty benign show, about like watching I Love Lucy with teenage boys. Any how, point being this: He's back & forth around the house at the moment, Drake & Josh happen to be on down here in the basement, I'm vaguely aware of it. The old rerun ended, I glance up to see something else coming on and in the first sixty seconds of the show immediately following one teen hands another a box of Trojans. Turns out they've scheduled Degrassi: The Next Generation immediately following one of the more unobjectionable shows on tween's TV.

No matter how hard you try, short of shutting off all media, you aren't likely to completely avoid all sexual content around your kids. You just do the best you can with reasonable efforts.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Mine says preparing to be shipped with an estimate of tomorrow... be interesting to see how that works.


But Amazon doesn't normally let me down so..

Mine too.. it better be here tomorrow.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

man, I'm really going back and forth on buying this (RDR) tomorrow. On one hand I have a feeling this game is going to be absolutely frickin amazing. On the other hand I probably should save my 60 bucks and wait till it drops to 40 or so. I really want it. what to do what to do.

Buy.com is still offering a preorder deal of $45.99 shipped if you're looking to save money. It shows as $59.99 but a $14 discount applies when you add it to your cart. Shipping will take a while though.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Mine too.. it better be here tomorrow.

So thats how it will get here tomorrow.

Just got my email. Shipping from Whitestown IN. Two and a half hours away from me.

[Groundhog]

RDD is another fine example of how messed up console game prices are over here in .au, and why it's wise to buy a PS3. If I buy RDD from EB Games when it's released it's going to cost me $118AUD ($103USD). I'd imagine even the cheapest retailer would charge $100AUD for it ($87USD). Yet if I buy it from play-asia online for the PS3 thanks to the lack of region coding? $67AUD ($60USD).

[Neon_Chaos]

Rdr will cost around php2500($50) here.

Edit: Region 3 of course. But that really doesn't matter since the ps3 doesn't region block, and only a few online games do so.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

So thats how it will get here tomorrow.

Just got my email. Shipping from Whitestown IN. Two and a half hours away from me.

My email just came.. think I'll work from home tomorrow.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

RDD is another fine example of how messed up console game prices are over here in .au, and why it's wise to buy a PS3. If I buy RDD from EB Games when it's released it's going to cost me $118AUD ($103USD). I'd imagine even the cheapest retailer would charge $100AUD for it ($87USD). Yet if I buy it from play-asia online for the PS3 thanks to the lack of region coding? $67AUD ($60USD).

How much are a pack of cigarettes and a case of beer.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

How much are a pack of cigarettes and a case of beer.

I'm not entirely sure re: cigarettes, but a new tax came in the other day that pumped their price up, somewhere towards $15AUD IIRC ($13USD). A case of beer, for your average middle-of-the-road type beer, is about $40AUD ($35USD) depending of course on where you buy it from.

[Scoobz0202]

And I've been pissed cause a pack cost me 5.50......

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you knew me (or at least sat down here in the basement where I spend most of my time & where the 360 is) then you'd know language isn't much of an issue. They really can't say anything in any of the games that my son hasn't heard out of my own mouth at some point, in some similar combination of words at least. That isn't optimal, and I'm not really proud of that, but it's the reality of living with me. Let's say that my word choice is often considerably coarser IRL than what you see here on FOFC, particularly when it's spontaneous.

Content was a much larger concern, but I've seen some references in the past few days to the general affect that while mature subject matter is referenced (for example, I know there is at least one rape victim that's an NPC of some sort) it isn't as blatant as,say, GTA which is & remains persona non grata in my household. I'm still not totally reassured about that frankly, but what I'm expecting is roughly something a little more blatant than the prostitute character in Fallout 3 but well short of having to make a choice of which saloon girl to screw in order to advance the game storyline. Which of those two points RDR ends up actually coming closer to will have a lot to do with how uncomfortable I become with the game & whether I end up having to say "enough, it's gotta go". Another way to look at it might be "how much worse does it get than some of the network promos that run on Spike TV during wrestling?"

He knows that going in though, and has been looking pretty diligently for the past couple of weeks for quotes in magazines & online that would reassure me. If not for finding those, it would have not been a day one purchase for our house.

FWIW, it's a valid question you asked afaic, & I have no problem at all explaining my answer. Where those lines are is something every parent has to figure out & it's probably fairly healthy to discuss those amongst ourselves on occasion. We may not all agree on where the lines belong but it's still good for conversation afaic since it promotes the importance of making those decisions in an informed manner.

Just picked up my copy and thought of you and this response. FWIW, the back of the box says it is has "blood, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs." Or is that a standard M+ rating box and not specific to this game?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Just picked up my copy and thought of you and this response. FWIW, the back of the box says it is has "blood, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs." Or is that a standard M+ rating box and not specific to this game?

Nope, it's specific (or at least non-standard), gave me pause this afternoon while I ate my lunch & noticed that myself. Thing is, every but the nudity notation was something that could show up in the warning based on what I expected.

No real idea where the nudity comes in ... well, not until I regoogled with some more specific terms ("nudity" instead of "sexual content")

Here's a more detailed description (that I probably wish I'd seen before purchase)
ESRB reminder: Red Dead Redemption not suitable for K-12 - Destructoid

The game contains a scene in which two characters have sex on a table; there is a brief instance of female nudity."

[Kodos]

From IGN:

hxxp://xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1088656p1.html

A number of campsites were found raided, complete parties wiped out by a gang of bandits. The sheriff of Armadillo and I were on the trail of these bastards and came to a farm that was far too quiet. We made our way to a barricaded barn, busted in, and found death. In the center of the room, a naked man was hanging by a noose. He was the patriarch of the house, and he was dead. Below him were the beaten and tortured bodies of his family. From the shadows, the murdered man's daughter emerged and told us that the rest of her family was being held captive in the main house.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Just picked up my copy and thought of you and this response. FWIW, the back of the box says it is has "blood, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs." Or is that a standard M+ rating box and not specific to this game?

M-rated games can run the gamut.

Fallout 3, for example:

Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs.

Mass Effect: Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence

Mass Effect 2: Blood, Drug Reference, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

I don't have GTA IV anymore or I'd post that. *Some* descriptors can trigger an automatic M and might be fairly common to M-rated games Language, Violence, Strong Language/Violence, Blood and Gore, etc.

Some go much further than that.