The 2010 Video Games Thread

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

My Mass Effect 2 pre-order got backordered, GREAT!!1

I had my copy preloaded off of steam, but right I'm unable to log onto EA Online to use the DLC.

[Super Ugly]

I am positively geeked for Mass Effect 2. Fingers crossed that Amazon came come through with the pre-order. I've been having terrible problems with them recently.

[Qwikshot]

Mass Effect 2 is awesome, that is all.

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Mass Effect 2 is awesome, that is all.

+1

Absolutely love that it found my old save (not a huge advantage, but there was some to it), enjoyed the opening, and actually like that this one feels a bit more driven by the main quest than the first. I thought the first didn't make the main quest feel like enough of a priority at times, whereas here, they've done a nice job of pushing it, at least early. I've put in about 3.5 hours and have only positives to say thus far.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

+1

Absolutely love that it found my old save (not a huge advantage, but there was some to it), enjoyed the opening, and actually like that this one feels a bit more driven by the main quest than the first. I thought the first didn't make the main quest feel like enough of a priority at times, whereas here, they've done a nice job of pushing it, at least early. I've put in about 3.5 hours and have only positives to say thus far.

Yes I felt sucked in, having beaten the first game I imported a level 49 infiltrator. Cinematically inspiring, not trudged down by much. Biggest bonus is that the intro did not feel too long, you went in and got to play.

Already located two additional party members including an "old friend" from the first game (I knew who it was just from the buildup but it didn't disappoint me when it was revealed). I like the characters so far, it's deep and they seem to all have personalities rather than cardboard templates.

I'm pleased and I've only scratched the surface.

[Greyroofoo]

Also enjoyed the intro to ME2, have had a chance to put much time into it yet.

[PurdueBrad]

I really like the new system during the cutscenes where you can trigger renegade or paragon actions. I missed using one, but have used all the others thus far (typically renegade).

[illinifan999]

Has anyone found any decent shops for weapons, armor? I've been to Omega, the Citadel, and Illium, but haven't really found a good one-stop shop like in the first game. I also like how we're recruiting some unstable people, makes me think there's gonna be something very interesting happening later in the game.

[illinifan999]

And I get to the "twist" mission. I was very surprised. Spoiler about the mission you get the twist, just talking about the level nothing else.

Spoiler

Boy the sounds in the Collector ship freaked me out. Just not happy noises for sure.

[RainMaker]

Does ME2 have co-op play?

[Big Fo]

Although I'll be playing the Show instead, I do like this bit of marketing for MLB2k10. They're offering $1,000,000 to the first person that pitches a perfect game on the X360 or PS3 version.

2ksports.com

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Although I'll be playing the Show instead, I do like this bit of marketing for MLB2k10. They're offering $1,000,000 to the first person that pitches a perfect game on the X360 or PS3 version.

2ksports.com

Maybe I should play a game against my 3 year old niece.

[DataKing]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Although I'll be playing the Show instead, I do like this bit of marketing for MLB2k10. They're offering $1,000,000 to the first person that pitches a perfect game on the X360 or PS3 version.

2ksports.com

Console modders are going to have a field day with this.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I saw over at PastaPadre that they removed check swings from the 2K10 game. Interesting that they believe removing features will make the game better.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I saw over at PastaPadre that they removed check swings from the 2K10 game. Interesting that they believe removing features will make the game better.

Well...when you can hit a homerun on check swing, it's probably not that great of a feature anyway.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

God of War III release date is set. March 16th in the States and March 19th in EU.

It’s Official, God of War III Will Be Attacking Stores on March 16th! – PlayStation.Blog

[MikeVic]

Anyone try the Bayonetta demo? It was fun, but I felt like I was just button-mashing the entire time.

[JetsIn06]

I've just found the the final member of my squad for Mass Effect 2. I'm about 30 hours in (No, I have no life right now ) and not entirely sure how much longer I have to go.

I'm pretty much ready to call this the best game I've ever played. It basically took out all of the little things that were slightly annoying in ME1. I love the story, the graphics are amazing...I love it!

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

I've just found the the final member of my squad for Mass Effect 2. I'm about 30 hours in (No, I have no life right now ) and not entirely sure how much longer I have to go.

I'm pretty much ready to call this the best game I've ever played. It basically took out all of the little things that were slightly annoying in ME1. I love the story, the graphics are amazing...I love it!

Out of curiosity, PC or 360 version?

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

I've just found the the final member of my squad for Mass Effect 2. I'm about 30 hours in (No, I have no life right now ) and not entirely sure how much longer I have to go.

I'm pretty much ready to call this the best game I've ever played. It basically took out all of the little things that were slightly annoying in ME1. I love the story, the graphics are amazing...I love it!

I just did as well. It was quite surprising. I have no idea how close I am to the end, but I don't want it to come yet lol. I'm hoping there's more after we make "the jump".

Just a little disappointed. I brought my last team member to the Citadel in hopes that they would freak out or something. Sadly, nothing.

Edit: I'm on the 360 version.

[Big Fo]

I know everyone is on Mass Effect 2 but I'm a few hours into the first game, I'm enjoying it so far but can't decide if I want to keep plugging along at the minimum screen resolution and a still occasionally choppy framerate or wait until I get a new computer to finish it. I like the shooting/RPG combo and find the story interesting and want to keep going but I'm sure I'd like it even more with a higher resolution, more detail, and >30 fps. If I like the rest of the first one as much as I have so far I'll definitely get the sequel.

[illinifan999]

Most. Epic. Ending. Ever.

Just did the last mission. I don't know how any game could ever compete with a final mission like that one. I mean...just so amazing in every sense. All the decisions you're faced with...it's just...incredible. I'm so amazatized...it deserves its own word.

I can't wait to play ME3 and see how the decisions you made in this one affect that one.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Out of curiosity, PC or 360 version?

I'm on 360.

[MrDNA]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Anyone try the Bayonetta demo? It was fun, but I felt like I was just button-mashing the entire time.

Pretty much my evaluation, as well. I did enjoy the constant "WTF?!?!" factor as stranger and stranger crap happened.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sony announces that Heavy Rain will have a demo available on Feb. 11th.

Heavy Rain Goes Gold, Demo Coming February 11 – PlayStation.Blog

New trailer for Red Dead Redemption. Looks really nice..........



New trailer for White Knight Chronicles. Comes out next Tuesday............

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sceablog/videos/756/

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Although I'll be playing the Show instead, I do like this bit of marketing for MLB2k10. They're offering $1,000,000 to the first person that pitches a perfect game on the X360 or PS3 version.

2ksports.com

Bill Harris nailed exactly why this is so ridiculous........

Dubious Quality: Gaming Notes

If you play sports games, you know that the MLB2K series has been an embarrassment for several years now. Terrible bugs, crappy framerate, and inconsistent design have combined to make this one of the worst franchises out there.

MLB2K10 is coming out soon, and with zero buzz and record levels of skepticism about the game, 2K Sports announced a contest today that will pay $1 million to the first person who throws a perfect game in MLB2K10.

That's genius. Instead of adding eight or ten programmers to the game for a full year (which could theoretically improve the quality of the game), they decide on a shitty promotional stunt instead. Well-done.

[mckerney]

I'm about 30 hours in to Mass Effect 2 and only have two complaints so far. The first is that the controls don't seem very well designed for the PC, but instead made for a console. The shortcuts for squad upgrades, journal, and codex from the first game are gone, and Use/Run/Cover are all mapped to the same key. Secondofly, I was disappointed that Adam Baldwin's character only has a small role in the game.

Other than those minor gripes I've been having a great time with it, easily one of the best games I've ever played.

[mckerney]

I'm about 30 hours in to Mass Effect 2 and only have two complaints so far. The first is that the controls don't seem very well designed for the PC, but instead made for a console. The shortcuts for squad upgrades, journal, and codex from the first game are gone, and Use/Run/Cover are all mapped to the same key. Secondofly, I was disappointed that Adam Baldwin's character only has a small role in the game.

Other than those minor gripes I've been having a great time with it, easily one of the best games I've ever played.

[Ramzavail]

Interesting, b/c I heard that the ME1 PC version had better controls than the XBOX 360 ME1.

Anyways, I'm still on back order on deepdiscount.com - with no followup email. Great. I do like all the ME2 chatter, it whets my palette.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am looking forward to "Mass Effect 2". It's going to take a while before I get it, though.

I am currently in the midst of a new "Golden Age of Gaming". I played through "Fallout 2" finally a few months back, I am nearing the end of "Dragon Age", after that it's "Mass Effect" (never played the first one) and then "Mass Effect 2". After all of that, I still have "Bioshock" and, possibly, "Bioshock 2" waiting in the wings.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

Interesting, b/c I heard that the ME1 PC version had better controls than the XBOX 360 ME1.

Anyways, I'm still on back order on deepdiscount.com - with no followup email. Great. I do like all the ME2 chatter, it whets my palette.

The Mass Effect controls were great with the exception of driving the Mako. Would've been happy if that had been a part of the game that didn't change, but it is a rather minor annoyance with how good the game is.

[Ramzavail]

Maybe I heard the PC version had better 'group team' controls than the XBOX version - did they improve that in ME2?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Bill Harris nailed exactly why this is so ridiculous........

Dubious Quality: Gaming Notes

I think Bill is off on that. The million dollar prize is marketing which they hope to use the buzz from to make over a million dollars in sales from. I don't think you can put the hard cost of development with the variable cost of marketing.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I think Bill is off on that. The million dollar prize is marketing which they hope to use the buzz from to make over a million dollars in sales from. I don't think you can put the hard cost of development with the variable cost of marketing.

But the argument could easily be made that an investment of $1,000,000 in development would be more than offset in future years (assuming improvement of the overall engine) if they can correct the obviously poor development currently on the game. The $1,000,000 will only be good for this year under that scenario. You don't have to look any further than 'The Bigs' franchise to see what can be produced by that studio when good development work is done with a similar engine. The Bigs is a good game. 2K10 is awful.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

But the argument could easily be made that an investment of $1,000,000 in development would be more than offset in future years (assuming improvement of the overall engine) if they can correct the obviously poor development currently on the game. The $1,000,000 will only be good for this year under that scenario. You don't have to look any further than 'The Bigs' franchise to see what can be produced by that studio when good development work is done with a similar engine. The Bigs is a good game. 2K10 is awful.

Actually, it's amazing how much marketing can push the sales of a game regardless of quality or how the game actually stands up to review scrutiny. All you need to do is compare marketing budget to first-week sales of games to see this corollary.

Word of mouth can certainly help/hurt a game once it's been out for a bit, but it's amazing how much marketing dollars equates to day 1 sales. And of course big day 1 sales drag additional people in pretty quick. It's longevity that can be affected by quality, but if you get those giant sales up front who cares about longevity, especially in this day and age where most of your sales are in that initial launch period anyway before the used market and pirates take over?

Also note that if they spent the money on development without the marketing budget, how are they going to convince folks who have been burned in the past that they are actually better now? I think you could make a case that just having the existing team fix bugs without adding much in the way of new features, and then putting a big marketing push out to renew interest in the franchise and having them get a polished product, might be the best way to get themselves kickstarted for next year. It worked for Madden, didn't it?

[rowech]

All the 1 million prize tells me is they've made it impossible to throw a no-hitter.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

But the argument could easily be made that an investment of $1,000,000 in development would be more than offset in future years (assuming improvement of the overall engine) if they can correct the obviously poor development currently on the game. The $1,000,000 will only be good for this year under that scenario. You don't have to look any further than 'The Bigs' franchise to see what can be produced by that studio when good development work is done with a similar engine. The Bigs is a good game. 2K10 is awful.

Marketing is an indirect expense while development is a direct expense. If you spend $1 million in marketing, you expect to make more than $1 million off of it. They are two different types of expenses that can't be compared to one another.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by rowech

All the 1 million prize tells me is they've made it impossible to throw a no-hitter.

That's the conversation at many fan boards.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Actually, it's amazing how much marketing can push the sales of a game regardless of quality or how the game actually stands up to review scrutiny. All you need to do is compare marketing budget to first-week sales of games to see this corollary.

Word of mouth can certainly help/hurt a game once it's been out for a bit, but it's amazing how much marketing dollars equates to day 1 sales. And of course big day 1 sales drag additional people in pretty quick. It's longevity that can be affected by quality, but if you get those giant sales up front who cares about longevity, especially in this day and age where most of your sales are in that initial launch period anyway before the used market and pirates take over?

Also note that if they spent the money on development without the marketing budget, how are they going to convince folks who have been burned in the past that they are actually better now? I think you could make a case that just having the existing team fix bugs without adding much in the way of new features, and then putting a big marketing push out to renew interest in the franchise and having them get a polished product, might be the best way to get themselves kickstarted for next year. It worked for Madden, didn't it?

All good points.

[JPhillips]

Yeah, if they're being honest about it it shouldn't take long. Over the history of baseball the average is around one no hitter every 1300 games.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Yeah, if they're being honest about it it shouldn't take long. Over the history of baseball the average is around one no hitter every 1300 games.

But perfect games are much rarer, around one out of every 19,000 games. But still, if there are 100,000 copies sold on the first day and 2 games played per copy, that means there should be at least 10 or so perfect games on the first day.

[MizzouRah]

MBBF posted the weapons video, here is the hands on preview:

Red Dead Redemption Hands-on - Xbox 360 Preview - at IGN

This game is going to eat hours of my life.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

MBBF posted the weapons video, here is the hands on preview:

Red Dead Redemption Hands-on - Xbox 360 Preview - at IGN

This game is going to eat hours of my life.

*drools*

cannot wait.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Marketing is an indirect expense while development is a direct expense. If you spend $1 million in marketing, you expect to make more than $1 million off of it. They are two different types of expenses that can't be compared to one another.

I'll make one slight change to that statement if I may;
If you spend $1m in marketing you expect to make a lot more than an extra $1m off of it.

[Qwikshot]

Mass Effect 2 completed, absolutely awesome game...

[JetsIn06]

Also done with ME2.

Wow!!!

[CleBrownsfan]

Will I'll be lost or miss out on a lot if I haven't played ME1?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Will I'll be lost or miss out on a lot if I haven't played ME1?

I'm replaying ME1 before I start 2, because it is also a very good game and I want to refresh myself on the story.

[PineTar]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

MBBF posted the weapons video, here is the hands on preview:

Red Dead Redemption Hands-on - Xbox 360 Preview - at IGN

This game is going to eat hours of my life.

May be nothing, but...

Sources: Red Dead Redemption development in trouble [update]

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey32

Is the game challenging? I never played the first one.

The game is as challenging as you want it to be. On the basic level, you'll probably die a few times, but nothing that will want to make you throw your controller in a rage. I think they're more focused on the storyline than on trying to frustrate players.

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Will I'll be lost or miss out on a lot if I haven't played ME1?

You won't be lost, but there's a lot of things in the first game that show up in the second one. It'd almost be like if you started watching the Star Wars trilogy with the second movie.