VW

You could try Privateer 2, I remember it as being OK but not great. I still need to finish Privateer 1 one of these years.

Given that you can buy DLC at Gamestop now, I'd have to agree. I'm just letting the industry up and die myself. I've had enough of -this- generation's antics let alone the shit they plan for the next generation. I've got plenty to play through as it is. I completely agree. My disgust is growing with this industry more and more and I have a big enough backlog now that I could probably skip a generation easy. My disgust is high enough that I am not buying Mass Effect 3 even though I loved the first 2 games. EA's forced installation of the Origin client to play any of their PC games finally went too far.

Things like this are why I boycott EA now. I was still able to find matches instantly on FIFA 08 on PS3 a few days before they shut the servers down on it. I have no problem if EA wants to take down servers for their games but when they do so, they should provide a means for interested players to host their own servers. It is quite obvious especially with the sports titles that they want to force you out of the game to buy their newest edition, which since EA is EA is generally pretty close to the same thing. EA continues to move to a games as services instead of games as products business which I hate and will not support.

Collecting boxes and discs is what AtariAge is all about! As long as a digital download world passes the savings on to me, I can live with it but except for Steam this isn't the case at all. In all cases I have seen, any full game download for the PS3 or 360 costs more (up to twice as much more) than the physical disc version would on Amazon. Inexcusable and why I greatly fear a DD only world. Oops I have wandered off topic. I really don't see how a Steam console can work unless Valve takes a bloodbath at first on parts like Microsoft did with the Xbox. I'm not sure they can afford that.

I wish I had time to go more into a couple of games' interesting universe like Bioshock or Mass Effect but there are just too many games these days to play to have time for it all. Plus Mass Effect is now dead to me thanks to my EA boycott.

Disgaea 4. Don't start this unless you have a lot of time.

I think there is a crash coming (check out EA's stock price lately for entertaining viewing) like 1982 but for the opposite reason. In 1982, the shelves were filled with crap but now they are filled with decent games. There are more good games available now than there is time to play them. I am a rabid video game player but I now have a huge backlog of games and many people have this problem. This means I can afford to wait a year to buy any game that comes out and get it for $20 instead of $60. I have noticed that most new $60 games can be found for $40 sometimes even a month or two after release.

I think the next wave of consoles are going to be in for a rough ride. X360 and PS3 came along at a time when people were getting new HDTVs and wanted gaming consoles that would take advantage of HDTV's higher resolution. This was at a time that the PS2/Xbox I think looked as good as you would notice on an SDTV. The next wave of consoles will have higher quality graphics but people aren't going to be having better quality TVs. I think most people are just fine with what the PS3 and X360 already offer, especially with all the internet integration like Netflix being in the consoles and additions like Kinect and the Move as well. I think the jump in quality between the PS3 and PS4 won't be anywhere near the leap in quality the PS2 to PS3 was since part of that leap was the better quality screen.

I could care less about the caring continuum. So you like it then?

I realize I have seen this late but wanted to let everyone know that just cleaning the drive lens with isopropyl alcohol and a swab can work wonders if your ps3 has stopped reading discs or only reads certain kinds of discs. I did this a little over a year ago on a ps3 that had stopped reading discs of any kind and have had no problems since.

You don't have to sign into PSN to get patches to games.

I have mixed feelings about this since I agree that bootlegs are bad but on the other hand, this anime will probably never be officially released in this region. Of course the best option is to get the fansub episodes for free on the internet, I got the whole VC anime in HD that will probably also look better than the bootleg DVD set in question.

Have you tried Dosbox?

This thread reminds me I still need to get to Persona 4. As to the subject matter, the PS2 is for all intents and purposes dead, shelf space for software has gone to almost nothing in most major stores. At Target and ShopKo yesterday, the only PS2 games I saw were on clearance, implying that both stores are getting rid of PS2 software completely. You'll know for sure that it's dead when Madden and FIFA stop coming out for it.

It's not just you, I have had terrible luck with 3.5" disks overall, a lot of ST ones have gone bad and I only had somewhat better luck with the HD disks for PC. And yet 5 years ago my mom found a bunch of A8 5.25" disk games that were buried under a bunch of junk in an outdoor shed for 10 years in an extremely humid and cold damp area close to Seattle. I was shocked to see that about 65% of those disks still worked.

I completely agree that Raptr is hardly a great source, I have never heard of them. Like you say actual trophy stats from Sony/Microsoft would be an accurate gauge. I guess I am a freak, I think I have finished every game I have started (although Persona 3 FES took me about 2 years of on/off playing) ever since Icewind Dale II's poor pathfinding enraged me beyond the point of no return. It's probably why I have an enormous backlog and Dragon Age Origins is not helping!

I hate Sega. Valkyria Chronicles is still the only game I have ever got my wife to play, she liked it so much she would even play it when I was not home. Don't know why they only make sequels for the PSP, I would think the game has sold a respectable amount of copies by now with the generally good word of mouth it has received.

Consoles are not immune from this stuff, check some of the Capcom DRM on the PS3. Also EA has affected the console market with their blatant greed by shutting off multiplayer modes for games only two years after release.

The PC version was going to do that but Capcom amazingly relented after a lot of people complained. Not sure about consoles.

I have Continuum Shift for the PS3 and it's great. Online play is very smooth as well.

Three years is generous nowadays, EA already cut off the servers for their '09 series of sports games a few months ago to force people to buy newer versions. Modern gaming just sickens me more and more. Gaming survived just fine for decades with the second hand market, yet companies' greed makes them want to take that money too. Gaming survived just fine printing actual manuals, cloth maps and physical media, now they cut all those costs and pass the savings on to themselves. I can't remember the quote I saw but EA said several months ago that all their games will have an online component no matter what, so they can better oppress the users. I would encourage everyone when buying new games that pull this crap, either boycott it or if you are weak like I am with Mass Effect, at least wait a year so you get the game cheap and the evil company doesn't get much money.

Spot-on with this comment! Totally agree and I am no fanboy, I have a launch PS3 and PC with no Xbox even. Sony just seems hell bent on their own destruction. I have an early HDTV that doesn't have HDMI but blu-rays would at least play at 1080i. It was already ridiculous that there was no upscaling of regular DVDs over component but to take away the HDness of blu-ray over component is just ridiculous. This could end up harming their format as new purchasers might buy a new ps3 to go with their old HDTV and wonder why blu-rays literally look the same as DVDs.

To combat this crap, I would encourage everyone to do what I do and just wait a few months before buying any game. I think there are more games coming out now than anyone has time to play and over the last year or two, I have noticed that you can often find $60 new games for $35 new just a month or two or sometimes even weeks after they come out. There are many examples of this but recently I saw Portal 2 and the new Mortal Kombat for $39 two weeks after release at several stores. I view this crap like I do dealing with Steam on PC. I am getting less for my money now so the savings should be passed on to me. When I buy a game on Steam for $5 or $10, I am not getting a box or disc like I would if I had paid more but I am getting a huge savings. If people would realize that pre-ordering is a scam and hold off for a few weeks before purchasing, the $60 price point would vanish, as it is I haven't paid $60 for a game since NHL 2k8.

Where are you guys getting those controller clipons for the L2/R2 buttons? I would love to get some of those, I hate the current design.

Apparently Capcom didn't learn their lesson from the huge backlash they got over SSF4:AE for the PC. The fact that you can't resell PC games wasn't enough for them, they wanted to remove half of the characters in the game even in local play if you didn't maintain a constant internet connection. There was a massive outpouring of hate about this and Capcom relented. The greed in the industry is just sickening these days, between Capcom and EA and their Project $10 crap. I too am hoping for a crash, interestingly I think the crash will come from too many good games. I have a huge backlog of games I would like to get to but just don't have time. It has caused me to alter my buying habits and I have not paid more than $40 for a game in two years and most of the time pay just $15-$20 for games about a year old. The price of new games seems to be dropping faster and faster all the time, I hope more people pick up on that. $60 is outrageous!