robio said:

I don't know if I'd call it saving a situation as much as I'd call it "not completely ruining it beyond all repair."  Ultimately they failed in the west with it.  At best they're going to keep some of the current audience, but they won't be building on it. Cataclycsm and DCUO have both received good enough reviews to make people not give FF14 a second look. Maybe it'll fair better in the east.

WoW isn't on PS3 so as long as they make a good game to launch with that version, they may make some of that money back. Not that the stupidly long, ongoing dev time will ever be justified, but still... WoW players only play WoW, I doubt many gamers choose between "Cataclysm or FFXIV?" or something. Wow itself? Sure, many new players will pick WoW over other MMOs. But that happens Cataclysm or no Cataclysm, they won't see the expansion content before hitting lvl80 or whatever anyway, and don't even have to buy it to begin with and until then, although of course just the media blitz and news for expansions helps with selling the main game also.

It's also too early to call DCUO critically acclaimed, there are what, 3 reviews from at least semi popular sources, and one of them less than favorable. Although, regardless, it's too early anyway. These games will be judged on their longevity, the bulk of the players has yet to see how it holds up in that aspect, as exciting as it may start.

And they still have the purdy graphics to sell the game with, if they can make it worthwhile.

Personally I'm waiting for Tera Online to jump in a MMO again, if it's not crap to play. The world just looks amazing and a joy to explore, and that's what I loved about WoW the most. Not the end game content, not the high level raiding, but just the journey from lvl 1 to lvl 60 (at the time), discovering and seeing all the wonderful sights on the way there. Terra also seems to have somewhat of an influence from Monster Hunter in its combat, although with its own style (which doesn't seem as good to be honest, but could be fun), so that's promising too.

I realized today that you guys have never seen my PC workstation, here is a shot.

Archangel3371 said:

I finished Lost Planet 2 the other day. What a shame that there's a couple of frustrating aspects to it like the knockdowns and dumb friendly AI because the game is excellent outside of those. Gorgeous graphics, a solid soundtrack, wide variety in locations to fight in, some really cool big boss fights, and a really fun online multiplayer. Despite the frustrating aspects I had a real good time with this game and I'll certainly play it a lot more. Definitely worth the $30.

How are the boss battles?  Do they also have some cool set pieces?

Its like Drebin's MGS4 store in that picuture.

travo said:

Anyone getting Dead Space 2 tomorrow?  I would love to see some impressions.

Speaking to Nintendo World Report, Ryo Totoyama commented that previous Ridge Racers had been built with a European flavour, but this time, the company had “tried to focus on the US audience”.

Totoyama mentioned that the Ridge Racer series has a significant entry barrier in the form of advanced drift mechanics, but that these had been wound down for the new title.

“Drifting itself is hard enough – sometimes it’s really hard to enter the drift state,” he said. “You’ve gotta release the gas pedal momentarily to enter the drift, and then you’ve got to counter steer and everything, to control the car.

“So we’ve introduced this easy one button drift system. It really works similar to Mario Kart. So these young audience, young gamers, they’re familiar with how Mario Kart works, so it really helps to lower the entry barrier.”

Uuh, the Epic Mickey story, where are you getting that they laid off 300 people? I thought the studio only had like 120 people or so, with Epic Mickey's development at its height having like 250, due to all the outsourcing...

Edit: oh, so it's lay offs in Disney Interactive as a whole that are so numerous, including studio closures. Maybe change the link since the article linked to doesn't mention this, or any number, at all. Stupid Disney.

Looks like some people in Japan already have The Last Story, a day or so early. I'm gonna try to avoid watching many videos to not spoil too much, the official stuff have shown/will show enough. I also won't post user gameplay videos as news. Here's the very beginning of the game including early control tutorials.

Archangel3371 said:

YES!!! The Bulletstorm demo is up on XBLM.

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm downloading it now!

I'm doing this as I ALSO download DeadSpace Extraction. This came as a freebie with the purchase of Dead Space 2, which is cool and all --BUT--

*begin rant*

I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF PUTTING IN A GAME THIS GENERATION AND THEN HAVING TO WAIT FOR A NEAR OBLIGATORY PATCH AND/OR DOWNLOAD ! ! ! I'D LIKE TO PLAY DEAD SPACE 2, BUT I SAW THE BONUS CONTENT BUBBLE ON MY DASHBOARD, THOUGHT TO MYSELF: "COOL, LET ME INSTALL THIS SO I CAN TRY IT LATER." NOT REALIZING IT HAS TO BE DOWNLOADED, SO NOW I AM WAITING FOR THE 3544 MEG DOWNLOAD TO FINISH BEFORE BEING ABLE TO PLAY THE PROPER GAME ! ! ! WHY COULDN'T THEY JUST PUT THIS ON THE DAMNED DISC ? ! ?

*/rant*