Word re: Move and Natal. Why can't controllers just be enough? WHY???
Also, I agree with everyone who mentioned EarthBound (or Mother, whatevs). If Nintendo ever decides to put EarthBound on VC, I might start believing in God. Or at least a god of video game rereleases...
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I agree with @Bryan. eBay is my game-provider of choice. And I've gotten some SICK deals. And I don't usually use the word "sick" that way.
I've never had a bad experience with eBay--once I got a game disc that didn't work, and the seller refunded the money. End of problem. I do agree that the supply-and-demand thing can be tricky at times, but games go in and out of style. If you want a game that's currently in style, just wait it out--sooner or later, it'll get cheap again. Unless it's Suikoden II.
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I'm a big indie game person, especially downloadable titles that often offer way more content and originality for WAY less money. (Hi 'Splosion Man, Zenonia, Phoenix Spirit, Chime, Trash Panic, etc...)
But I don't think that short games (7-10 hours, that is) are the worst thing to happen to the games industry. I love a 50 hour RPG as much as the next compulsive gamer, but I would rather a game do what it does really well for a short period of time than needlessly draw it out. For example: The first 10 chapters of Final Fantasy XIII (nearly 30 hours) should have been condensed to half that, at the VERY most. And I was perfectly happy with the bite-size Metroid-style iPhone game Phoenix Spirit just as it was--cheap, short and sweet, and flawed--but incredibly fun.
Lots of people (me included) who have jobs/school or other non-gaming hobbies that eat up their time simply don't have enough hours in the day to dedicate over 20 hours to EVERY GAME that comes out. I generally agree with you: Aritificial pumping up of games with unnecessary multiplayer and ridiculously short single-player modes (ahem Beautiful Katamari) is an unfortunate industry trend. But length isn't everything! (ha?)
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@Steven @Tim I finally finished Heavy Rain last night, and I actually think the ending (I won't spoil it, but it was very choose-your-own-adventure-ending-y) was far outshined by the rest of the game. Though it's definitely not my favorite game ever, I appreciated its ability to play with my emotions more than the vast majority of other games.
@Michael I would really enjoy having that ability when he tells me my small katamari is pathetic.
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Apparently at 44% I only think Japanese games are worth playing... Okay some of these questions were so hard that I couldn't get the ones about the games that I've BEATEN. Also math section: totes unnecessary.
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@Harold @Tim I think that you're both partly right--Heavy Rain is a lot less directly interactive than many other video games, in that the player controls the characters' choices rather than their individual actions. (eg. You can choose whether or not to shoot someone if the option is presented to you, but you can't, say, kick a hole in a random wall for no reason a la many action games.) But I also think that "toys" can be interactive. There are plenty of games that give you different choices (even if they aren't as serious as Heavy Rain's) and that can also be categorized as toys.
I think the term "toy" can be used as a slur, and I think David Cage was using it that way. But I don't think it should be a slur. There's a time and place for toys just as there is for more mature content in games.
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I'm playing Metroid Prime right now, so this is definitely a fresh topic in my mind. I think (as the commenter above me suggested) that is has to do with pacing. And it's a delicate balance, because the new abilities have to be pretty monumental to justify the backtracking. When I wander around for an hour and find the Space Jump Boots, I feel gratified. When I get the Thermal Visor (which does a WHOLE lot less), I feel a little ripped off. So not only do the power-ups have to come at the player fast and furious, but they have to be valuable and interesting. Which is perhaps why so few games do backtracking successfully...
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@Tim No--I unfortunately accidentally had to play the first hour or so of the game twice, for technical reasons, and I know that it's more or less identical up to a certain point, so I have no interest in playing it again.
@Renato I think Shenmue does a better job, actually (even though, I confess, I only ever played a little of it when I was in middle school--I should give it another go!) because it really does let you do pretty much whatever you want, which is way more realistic than Heavy Rain. There were points in HR when I desperately wanted to do something, anything that wasn't listed as an option. Sigh.
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