Quorthon

@get2sammyb

I totally share your sentiment about how gamers perceive game scores these days. They take that number and run with it without doing any further research or thinking.

One of my favorite games of the last generation received lackluster scores--the Splatterhouse revival. It's hovering around a 61 or 62 or something on Metacritic, and while imperfect, I truly enjoyed that game. It's the only game of the last generation I played through twice.

In Hollywood, a movie with a 30 or 50% rating will still be considered good and loved by tons of people. We need to get over this "90 or above" mentality for gaming. It's idiotic, and unfair to so many great and enjoyable games.

I know it wasn't exactly the cup of tea for regular Ratchet & Clank fans, but I would really like another co-op game or another one like All4One to play with my kid. We had a blast with that one.

Lots of blasts, actually. Pretty much every weapon was explosive.

Ha, wow. I'd wondered what happened with OnLive. I never saw the appeal--well, I sorta did, but as a platform with nothing exclusive and dependent on online, it really didn't have a chance.

What stuck out to me was that apparently it's the video game industry's fault that one stupid kid with his negligent parents was watching a bunch of Let's Plays on YouTube and being traumatized.

Let that sink in.

Tower of Guns sounds like it's right up my alley.

@thatguyEZ

Thanks, that was was the fear I had for the main menu. Nuts. Maybe the updated version of the Vita corrects this since it has internal memory, but I'm happy with my OLED model.

Helldivers is good enough to buy. I've been playing it with my kid, who has a habit of killing me, "by accident" I'm sure. Although, I think we're missing something by not playing with online enabled. I may have to make his account online-enabled.

@Gamer83

This might help.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/03/04/2015-video-game-release-schedule.aspx

It's the currently-known and frequently updated 2015 release list for all platforms.

If you do a search for (PS4), you'll see 78 exclusives right now.
Xbox One: 29
Wii U: 34 (this one went up recently somehow)
Vita: 33
3DS: 22

The PS4 has handily the most exclusives.

It is incomplete a bit (for instance, my team's game is not on there, but it's released), but this gives a good general idea. Some games are also listed separately and in a quick search appear as exclusives, but upon some deeper digging, are not. But again, helpful guide.

If you're looking for exclusives as well as multplatform, the PS4 is the way to go.

@rjejr

The first year of every console is always the slowest and the "worst" in a "game library" regard. That's when you get the most cross-gen ports and remakes as developers use pre-existing software to break in the new hardware.

I bought my PS4 early (last October) in order to prepare for what is going to be a packed generation. I bought my X360 on year 3 and my PS3 on year 5, and ended up playing catch-up on many games while missing many others. This way, when the major titles I do want finally hit--like Mortal Kombat X, Bloodborne, etc., I'll already have the hardware ready to go.

Plus, I just flat-out hated a lot of things about the PS3. I didn't like that the controller was the same uncomfortable claptrap they'd used for two previous generations. The menu system was the worst in console gaming history. Those awful L2 and R2 triggers. Weird, choppy way the digital store loaded and worked...

Thankfully, all of that was fixed on the PS4 and I switched from Xbox to Playstation for my primary this generation. I think it has the best controller, the best menu system and user interface, the smoothest operation, etc. I have some issues with the XBO controller.

Also: Gotcha. I see your point on the exclusives like MLB: The Show.

@NomNom

Eh maybe. A lot of these are very Japanese-centric games. As a Vita owner, I'd personally prefer more Western games on the system. If I just want a bunch of anime-centric games, I have the 3DS.

@Timvp2120

Microsoft never planned to rule Japan. Though I'm not sure what their actual plan is now. The X360 garnered some strong "ultra hardcore" support, particularly from shmup fans.

Overall, hot damn is the PS4 doing great. Bloodborne deserves its top spot. This is the first generation that Sony has been my "primary," so it's pretty exciting to be sitting with the top seller and most-supported console.

The Wii may have been a top-seller for half of last generation, but it certainly didn't have much in the way of support.

Awwww... Couldn't even "fool me once."

@rjejr

Bloodborne is exclusive. So is MLB The Show, which is kind of a big deal since the XBO appears to have no solid MLB game.

I may actually pick up a sports game for once, just to try out The Show this year. If only Joe Mauer was still on the cover. I guess expecting him to be MVP three times is just too much to ask.

@Kayoss

Why, something... like this...?

They should just pack all this stuff together for PSN+. I find it difficult enough to pay for a DoA game as it is.

@iARDAs

I have a question about Vita memory cards--maybe someone here can answer this. Can I use multiple memory cards? For instance, have half my games on one card, and half on another, and just switch out memory cards? Will that mess up my menu? I went through a lot of work organizing that thing.

@Dodoo

Think positively. This will happen to everyone at some point, but you supported a developer, and that's always good.

Well, almost always. There are a few devs who should not be supported.

@themcnoisy

Destructoid gave it an 8.5/10 and praised the fast gameplay. Sounds like something I'd love.

http://www.destructoid.com/review-tower-of-guns-271406.phtml

My damn harddrive is full. I've had the PS4 since October.

@Fath

That's not remotely fair. For one thing, GTA is sold on it's storytelling, which just happens to be in a violent, underground capacity. No different than the movie Scarface.

Hardcore porn is sold as straight porn. It is not sold for the stories "that just happen to have sex in them." It's just for the sex.

@ImNoNoob

By all means, show when "more laws" has ever fixed a problem. I'm pretty sure it never has.

After all, murder is illegal and people still do that. Making murder illegal doesn't stop it. Making it illegal to sell certain games won't stop kids from getting them.

Hell, in the US, we have a prime example (that we seem to have failed to learn from) about how certain laws make things worse. During the 1920's, we had stuffy religious buffoons outlaw alcohol, which instantly led to a rise in organized crime--and way more alcohol use.

I still have some of those PS Underground disks. Fun fact: They did a special version with the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing on the videos.

@NomNom

By all means, supply us some solid numbers, perhaps from the ESA. How many parents are buying games negligently for their kids? How many of them have no idea what they're buying? How many of them are complaining about it?

Because what you think is dangerously common, is not.

@Gamer83

Right, there are always those parents who simply don't care about video games and no matter what, simply see them as some kid's toy. "This is the 'toy' my kid wanted for his birthday. Whatever."

I got Mortal Kombat II for Xmas one year, and I was certainly not 17 years old. My family got home from the Xmas church service, we opened our 1 Christmas Eve present, and mine happened to be MKII. My brother and I went from church to decapitations within an hour, and we had a blast. We hated church, but we loved the Kombat. It certainly didn't screw us up, and it certainly didn't mean my Dad was neglectful.

It was a video game. He just didn't care about the game itself. Ironically, my Mom fell for the negative media around the games--despite basically raising us on Stephen King movies. She was silly.

@sub12

Nobody holds up signs at funerals about hating homosexuals and wanting soldiers to die as something they learned that from a video game.

@Gamer83

Indeed, the Zelda games have often been extremely violent for their ratings. When I was a kid, I was reading from a book on gaming, and it listed the original Zelda as one of the most violent games therein--citing all the numerous weapons and items available to kill enemies.

@Gamer83

I worked at GameStop and Best Buy selling games, and frequently met parents who cared--a lot--about the content of video games. They'd been swept up in scare stories by places like Fox News and didn't know anything else until I spoke to them. I very rarely encountered a parent who didn't care or willingly bought extremely questionable games for under-age kids.

I recall one parent--with a language barrier--who asked if Saints Row was good for kids. I told him "there's no way kids should play this." I think he bought it for himself, but he still bought it.

I vaguely recall one encounter at Best Buy when a parent asked me how graphic Halo is. I told him it's basically a Teen-rated game with an M-rating for some reason. Halo games do not have graphic violence, are not gory, have no sex, and the language is generally pretty clean. Even naked digital Cortana is basically a Teen-rated image. I think that guy shrugged and said, "that's kind of what I thought." I think he was buying it for a 14 or 15-year-old, and I hardly see the problem there. Halo may be M-rated, but as important as that franchise is, MS is not going to allow them to get so out of hand that they make parents afraid of it.

@Scollurio

The content of your post basically states that most of the parents of the world are cruel, neglectful, awful people who don't care for their children.

You not only have a horrific view of the world, but a starkly wrong one.

@Gamer83

It's a surprising difference, but yeah, I have to wonder how much of that is driven by fanboyism. No doubt, if they were looking to call parents neglectful for Zelda, things would be different on that site.

It's fascinating to see the comments here compared to the Nintendo Life article. Nintendo fans apparently think government intrusion into the private lives of families is perfectly okay.

The people here, thus far, seem to understand that this is not the place for teachers to interfere, and that this is not neglect.

Not only is this not actual neglect, it is attempting to fix a perceived problem with an outrageous solution.

Should my son be taken away from me for playing EDF games with me?

If they're going to do this, I think they should take it to its logical extreme--report any parents raising their children on religion for neglect as any holy text contains vastly more gruesome content than even the worst video games. Remember that time God sent two bears to murder 42 children because they made fun of a bald guy? Then they should report any parent for allowing their child to see any news report as the news contains sex, violence, war, prejudice, and all manner of evil content.

I'm generally interested in Metroidvania style titles, just not when Metroid is doing them these days--that franchise has done all it can in 2D. For the most part, all they do now is attempt to remake Super Metroid every time.

But this, I'm very interested in--particularly because most of these Metroidvania-style games tend to do things Nintendo cannot do in this genre. Particularly with the actual Metroid franchise.

@get2sammyb

I'll see if I find it annoying later tonight.

At the same time, on it's worst day, the PS4 menu is still a million times better than the PS3 menu.

At the same time, we are a laughable species.

Didn't even know about this. Pity, I've been playing the Vita a lot lately.

@charlesnarles

Japan's porn is terrible anyway.

@Faruko

It's like you've never used Miiverse. Most of the comments on there range from utterly pointless to nonsensical.

"The last thing that anyone wants is a forced character, crammed into a story purely because they're of a sex that's underrepresented elsewhere."

That's an extremely negative way to look at having female characters in games. No one wants forced characters, so don't force them, learn to f**king write better stories where the characters fit together naturally--you know, like in real life. For that matter, if one has to think that damn hard, then said person has a sexist mindset in thinking "women can only be used a certain way." Yes, in how women speak and represent themselves is different, but when it comes to jobs--or hero work in a game, gender really doesn't matter.

And no, an all-male cast won't appeal to everyone. Neither will an all-white male cast.

For instance, we can go back to Final Fantasy VI to find female characters written into the story, without extraneous efforts being put into the game "just because of ladyparts." When you approach games that way, you end up with crap like Other M that devolves writing to "women are all about mommy issues and should be treated like mentally deficient little girls by men."

No, it shouldn't be forced. Their writers should maybe suck less.

Ohhhh... I'll have to keep this in mind.

For.... reasons.

@arnoldlayne83

I'll have to give that a shot. I didn't expect to win my first meeting with the Cleric.

And whenever I died, I played Fat Princess on the Vita until the game was finally done loading.

NONHYPE!

@BladeRider

I just used the PS button to pause it last night.

I'm looking forward to using this feature as my 3DS and Vita are pretty much permanently in this state.

I'm glad I live in a society where I have ample food and opportunity and this is what amounts to a serious problem.

I had a bit of time last night and finally got into the rhythm of the game. Purchased a surplus of items, upgraded all my gear, and finally able to level up.

Still didn't defeat the Cleric. When you get behind him, the camera becomes your enemy. May grind and explore a bit more instead.

How far is the Cleric Beast from the starting area?

Holy crap, thanks! I needed this article. Bloodborne is my first time diving into a Souls-style game, so I was pretty lost from the outset. Now I know how to level up. At last!

Ohhhhh that's pretty nice. If there's one for the Twins, I may have to get that.

@GraveLordXD

That is actually pretty helpful. I guess I'l screw around enough to upgrade my clothes and stockpile some ammo and Molotovs, and then try to find that boss. Wherever the hell he is.

SO! This is my first time with a "Souls"-esque title, and boy howdy, am I lost. I only had about an hour and a half with it last night, but I'm not clear on how to level up. I guess I should have picked Lone Survivor, but I went Cruel Fate. Maybe I should start over. Nuts. Nuts and derp.

I'm just surprised Battlefield sold so well over there. Happy to see the Vita finally picking up serious steam.

Given my usually poor performance in Call of Duty online, I'm probably not using the good weapons.

Also, I'm terrible at Call of Duty online. In that rare instance when I was the top player on my team, I usually quip, "boy, our team sucked."

@NomNom

They did the same thing with the revival on the previous generation. It didn't hurt anything, and was supposedly the highest-selling fighter, at least on the X360.