IntrepidWombat

Not sure I'll manage much gaming time this weekend. I've been very disinterested since my third Requiem run.

I think instead, I'll spend some time in the garage. My lawn mower needs new blades, and now that my dad's ATV is fixed up and out, I can start to work on my two that aren't running. I'll start with the Honda since it just needs a new battery, carb gone through, and an oil change. The Polaris is going to be a multi week adventure, so it's going to have to wait until after vacation.

If I play anything, I'll pick some more at Trails in the Sky FC before bed.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

They look like the types of game accessories you'd find at a discount shop from a brand you've never heard of with a stack of price stickers in the corner where it's been marked down and gone unsold. You know the one. It's the type of thing your well-meaning aunt would buy you on a visit because she knows how much you love your Nintendo, but it's for a console you don't own. How could she not grab it for $4.99 on clearance?

Excellent game - good adaptation of the original.

As much as I liked it, I do wish that Capcom licensed out its RE Engine for games like this. Would have loved to see SH in REE.

@TechaNinja Translation: "I don't know what I'm talking about, I've never run a business, and I'm just here to say what everyone else is saying because it's cool to hate corporations." Thanks for the clarification, bro.

@TechaNinja Oh, that's cool. Can you share with me where you were able to access and read their P&L? They're a private company, so I wasn't able to find it.

Margins are getting slimmer, the cost of hardware upgrades is skyrocketing along with the cost of energy. This makes perfect sense to maintain both margins and growth. It's an interesting way to implement it. I don't understand the vitriol here. They're raising the prices on optional cosmetic content to offset the cost of continuing to do business. I'd rather see them continue to employ their devs and charge a little more for skins.

It 100% depends on the type of game, and more important, the quality.

If Capcom had a small team locked in an office cranking out classic-style Resident Evil games complete with tank controls, PS1 graphics, and great puzzles, I'd be a sucker for each and every one of them.

Now, a mediocre side scroller based on an established IP but in a completely different genre? I don't know. It doesn't seem to fit. Why not do one in the style of the original God of War trilogy? You don't have to capture the visual aesthetic the same way, but you have to understand what the original developers did to make players feel a certain way and capture THAT.

When the greatest games are discussed, there isn't a lot of discussion about how cool the particles effects are or how accurate the MoCap was or how the ray traced light made a thing look 17% more realistic. We think about how those games made us feel. The story. The gameplay. The music. Sometimes the presentation, but not necessarily the visuals themselves, but how they were able to convey the developers' vision. That's the core of what people want when they say, "You don't have to spend insane amounts of money to crank the quality on everything to 11, just put out a solid game that costs less to make, takes less time to make, and can be sold to us for cheaper."

We're not going to just blindly put support behind something because Sony comes out and says, "Hello Gamers, here is the cheaper thing you wanted!" That's missing the point.

Man, I forgot about Fatal Frame II. I just spent a bunch of money on hunting stuff, so I'm going to pass on it for now, but if physical copies stick around, I'll check in on it in a few months.

@Nilexson I won't spoil anything, but be sure to have Trails of Cold Steel II ready to go - I think you will want to jump in immediately!

I'm three runs through Requiem at this point (only because I failed my first attempt at Speed Demon at 4:06 - the second was 2:45). I would still like to do another very slow, ponderous run on Insanity mode this time to get everything else wrapped up, but it may be time for a break.

I think I may end up back into Trails in the Sky FC. I'd like to finish it before I finally start on the Calvard games.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

PS5 owners are already in lesbians. Aloy, Ellie, Atsu, etc, etc...

This game would have been cool as an Earthbound style RPG. I understand why it's a beat-em-up, but man, what a missed opportunity.

Sony is the sole proprietor of their store. It's why I am desperate to hang on to physical media. Without the ability to buy from Amazon or some other retailer, they have no competition.

I'm 40. I guess I feel old. I bought my first house, got married, and became a father at 24. I've been grinding for a while. I went to the doc for blood work a few days ago, and he said something like, "Well, at your age..." and I'm just thinking to myself, "what the hell did he just say to me??"

And yeah, I got my PlayStation in 1998, and RE2 was the game that I got with it because a dude on the bus said I should (good call, Everett). Learning tank controls on those first couple of screens sucked, but I eventually got it. It took months, but I finally beat it all the way through.

Capcom is going for a record year of awesome or something.

@Fartingale Especially since it's a Microsoft product. It will be competing against Steam's offering which has the advantage in both OS and marketplace. I think Valve's customers tend to trust their products more and actively seek them out, where Microsoft's customers are by and large forced into doing business with them thanks to their dominance in the PC OS marketplace. This is an interesting proposition, but I do think it's a generation late.

The first Control was so much fun. It's a nice game to drop into for 20 minutes or so, have a couple of fights, and dip out for something else. If Resonant can capture that, I'll be on board.

@LordDieALot Tank controls definitely aren't for everybody. If you manage to train yourself on them, the older games have a different kind of feel to them that straddles the line between 3D action and point-and-click adventure. I can understand that they're a product of their time and that it's most likely nostalgia speaking, but RE2 and RE3 Nemesis are still peak Resident Evil.

@GeeEssEff For someone who scares easily, I can't recommend it. It leans into some Resi 7 type horror in some sections.

Resident Evil Requiem seems to be bucking that for some reason. When I went to grab my copy, there was a line out the door of the game store, and it seems to be dry pretty much everywhere. What a strange phenomenon.

I buy digital when it's dirt cheap. I buy physical even if I already have a digital copy for games that I really love. I also will buy digital on PC just for the mods, but again, only on a deep sale (basically, the price of a rental from Blockbuster).

Went down to GameStop at 10am to grab mine. I'm a couple hours in and taking a short break (my cat said so - who am I to deny that?). Taking PTO for a Resident Evil game is tradition!

I'm reading nothing, but I'll check this out sometime next week after I've had a chance to finish it. Thanks for posting it.

Not even a little bit.

Shipping is another $40. I'll have to think about it.

@Paultall I was thinking the same thing. This is a very strange hire.

Spent most of the day with my dad working on his 4-wheeler that's been stashed in my garage. Oil is changed, new battery, did some troubleshooting on the reverse switch, and tore down/rebuilt the carb (twice). We uh...ordered a new one. Real quick about my dad - He's 76, getting treatment for cancer (half way there, he's going to be fine), and still has absolutely no quit in him. He's always been smart, and he's sharp as ever. Amazing guy.

Anyway, games. I had some PSN credit, so I bought Slay the Princess. It's neat so far, but I've only spent 20 minutes with it. If I have time, I'd like to finish Control. I will also dip in and out of some Resident Evil games over the next week. I feel like a kid on the week before Christmas. Can't wait for Requiem.

Drakengard 3 didn't get the love it deserved. A simple port would have done it some justice - it somehow performs better in RPCS3 than on native hardware. To me, it was kind of a precursor to Nier: Automata with some of the things it tried to do with the combat and the writing.

@Flaming_Kaiser Oh, for sure. I was somewhat joking - I have more PCs than anyone really needs and bins of consoles. Bless companies like 8-BitDo and RetroTink for allowing us to play the older consoles with some of the modern accoutrements.

Time for those retro PC builds, fellas. To eBay for DDR3 RAM!

@PercyChuggs No. No clue how you got that conclusion.

I know that I'd stop my PlayStation journey at the first discless console. It's the main reason I haven't gone over to PC. I'm an older guy with plenty of shelf space, and I like putting things on my shelf. It's that simple. If the time comes that I can't do that anymore, then I'll go full PC at that point with GOG as my preferred storefront.

The PS4 only feels slower now because we've experienced PS5. PS5 is our baseline. The only thing we can do with PS6 is speculate.

It's because we're getting to a point where each generation is merely iterative that longer wait times for new hardware aren't a bad thing. A longer wait time means more capable hardware.

Thing is, what deficiencies in the PS5 need to be addressed at this point for most users? You could say that we need games with RT running at 4k120, but do we really? Most people don't have displays higher than 60Hz.

I understand that you live and breathe PlayStation. I don't make a living playing it and writing about it, so new hardware doesn't excite me. The experience I get from the hardware is why I play, and that typically comes from the software. Good hardware should basically be invisible - it should provide seamless interaction with the software, and PS5 has achieved that better than any console in years.

There's also a growing sentiment for making things last. If I buy something, I want it to serve me for a very, very long time. A PS6 launch starts a ticking clock on the PS5.

We're never getting a PS1 -> PS2 level jump again. Getting excited for a new PlayStation at this pont is like getting excited for a new iPhone. It doesn't make any sense to me.

@KernCasey @Drnsnsr Well shoot, thanks.

Not too shabby. My day off is in the books. I can't wait.

A company called Gaime released a light gun that works with modern televisions and sells it with a small dedicated console with Time Crisis. I've been tempted to buy it, but it's steep (about $150 with the pedal). This just might be a neat alternative.

Have we heard whether or not this will run at 4k60 or even 1080p60 yet?

I took down the final, final boss in Trails Into Reverie last night - not as hard as the Cold Steel 2 final boss, but it definitely tests your team's depth and ability to strategize with as many as 24 different characters. A fantastic send off.

Two weeks until Requiem - I'll be playing some other horror games to whet my appetite. First up will be Daymare 1998 which I nabbed off of Amazon for $6. I will also continue my way through Control and may dip back into another RPG that I dropped like Romancing Saga 2 or Metaphor ReFantazio.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

No Onimusha update, but I get that they want to focus on REquiem and Pragmata. Both of those trailers were great, though I'm disappointed in the lack of Requiem demo.

Silent Hill: Townfall surprised the heck out of me. What little they showed looks fantastic. I still don't like the fact that it's not tied to SH the town, however. The "Silent Hill Phenomenon" retcon rubs me the wrong way.

I was hoping for technical specifics on MGS4. If it runs at a locked 60, it'll be a day one purchase for me. Otherwise, I'll replay the PS3 version and continue to be happy with it.

A pretty OK show all things considered.

I hope it's a remake in the same vain as TLoU Part I. Give the visuals a great polish, but leave the rest of the game intact.

That's awesome. DQ games have never been my cup of tea, but I love seeing this type of work succeed. If I can get back into DQXI at some point, I may pick this up in a couple years.

I wonder if we could also see a release date for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter.

I have my fingers crossed for a Requiem demo.

Rolled credits on Trails into Reverie last night. I'll mess around with the epilogue a bit and continue my way through Control.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

This game ran and played incredibly well on my SFF PC, which is no powerhouse in the slightest (i7-8700, RTX A2000 6GB). The demo converted me from a solid "no" to a day 1 purchase. I rather imagine that it will run well on PS5 - I'll be playing it again to compare. I also appreciate that this is a $60 title. If Capcom manages to release Onimusha this year after RE9 and Pragmata, they'll be on top of the world.

@Krlozgod No problem at all. I should have been more specific - make sure you get the Wingman XE2.

@Krlozgod Rumble is good to go. Double checked with RE4 HD. Tilt, I didn't have anything to test with off hand, but you can use the tilt control to make the particles move in the XMB - I confirmed that it works there at least.

@twitchtvpat The only thing it does not support is turning the console on remotely. The USB port up front is also a tad stiff. I have not tried it with a PS1 disc based game (digitals work), and my CECHA01 is YLOD in a box somewhere, so I can't test it for PS2 backwards compatibility.

For me, being able to dip in and out of games and play Drakengard 3 (which does not work with a PS4/5 controller paired via Bluetooth but works with the dongle) have been great.

@Krlozgod The Amazon listing and reviews say that it does, but I haven't personally tried it. I think I have a game or two that use Six-Axis - I will try it later on this evening (I'm in US Central time) and report back.

I recently bought a Wingman XE dongle so that I could use a DS5 with full home button support on my PS3 (I have a drawer full of bad DS3's that I should get around to fixing, but ehhhhhh). Works fantastic - I was thinking about buying the Tales of Xillia remaster but remembered that I bought it years ago on PS3 and never played for more then 30 minutes, so that's been fun to play with. As well as some games have aged, others are just so rough. Drakengard 3 and RE6 are in the neighborhood of 25 FPS. Some games have aged much better - Spec Ops: The Line, Okami: HD, Resident Evil 4 HD, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - all look and play wonderful on the console still.

Want to know something crazy? The XBox 360 turned 20 this past November. We are further from the launch of the 360 now than the period of time between the release dates of the NES and XBox 360 (in NA at least).

My back hurts.

These are RE1 tier remakes. They've allowed the developers to shrug off their previous limitations and really show what they envisioned in the first place. Really excited to did further into FC so that I can play this one when it comes out. Between Capcom and Falcom, we're eating great this year.

I finished both Final Fantasy VI and Tormented Souls II this past week. I thoroughly enjoyed both. I'm not sure what I'll be playing this weekend. I'll cycle through several and see what sticks. Some possibilities are Control, Fallout 4, Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven, Trails into Reverie, and Star Ocean: The Divine Force.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

This looks awesome. There's a gaping hole in the racing genre between the hyper realistic simulators and the cutesy kart racers. We need more of this, Burnout, and Ridge Racer.

@Hi569 Not really, no. It's been a really long time - I got it as a gift for a lady friend of mine on release day, and she had me play it for several hours that evening. I remember the story being very, very strange. The controls were floaty, and the combat was not very responsive. A number of PS2 games from this time frame became rare due to limited print. Dot Hack Part 4 and Blood Will Tell are a couple of others that are super rare because of this.