Recent content by Aethonic

Is it just me, or is there something weird about games' graphics that have 2D control with 3D graphics? Particularly remakes. Like Bionic Commando on XBLA, and now Sonic 4e1, they seem kind of.. cheap, or maybe "gamey", I don't know how else to describe it.

I found an article that was written by an angry man that addresses this topic better than I could: http://insomnia.ac/commentary/on_role-playing_games/

Good thing that graphics depend on the graphics card more heavily than the CPU! Physics (and other floating-point calculations) *might* be limited, but that might be a good thing if it means fewer stupid physics puzzles. And yet, Natal is still a gimmick that's going to fail hard.

I thought Red Faction was popular and sold well? It had a relatively high-profile sequel and everything (even though said sequel pretty much killed it). Edit: Wasn't a sequel supposed to come out soon? You know, one series that doesn't get much love is Armored Core. The learning curve and...

I don't watch much anime, but the synopsis for Gantz was kind of interesting and had me want to watch it. So I watch it, and it has to be the worst written and worst paced show of any sort I've ever seen. Moreover, the theme is hamfisted into the last episode via monologue and there is no...

If they have free will, then they have a choice not to follow the laws. I don't really see much point in making robots with personalities or free will beyond novelty value. Or creepy fetish value. Should they ever be made, they would be just really advanced computers hooked up to mechanical...

From a practical perspective, there will be no satisfying the players. They will always try to pass on the blame. One could try to circumvent that, but it's kind of pointless since most everyone already knows the truth. But when we're discussing this academically, fairness implies that...

Sequels are fine as long as they can stand on their own as a good game. They don't need to be better, they only need to be good enough. Like for example, if they kept releasing sequels to Deus Ex that all played like the original but in a different scenario, I'd buy them. So would a lot of...

I like how there's the occasional discussion on game mechanics, but the social stuff seems to get out of hand here. It's the same userbase, so using that as a control, it must be something else causing - or allowing - it to happen. I will be frank, though, the only material on this site...

Mini...blu-ray? The only reason I can imagine is to watch things in hi-def, but that would probably end up being the world's smallest HD screen if it was. I thought the original PSP was supposed to have nearly PS2 quality graphics? If not, well, it doesn't seem far-fetched to have it now. The...

These come to mind as the major problems to be solved: 1. Difference in players' control over the outcome 2. Humans' refusal to cooperate, difference of decisions 3. Validity of specialization The first one is about the commander having a much greater effect on the outcome than other...

The more expensive and harder it is to pay for a game, the fewer "undesirables" you'll get. I think a system like Guild Wars is my favorite, since it sort of makes sense and forces the developers to always be developing new content, since that's how they get paid. It's unfortunate that the...

You might as well pretend all the garbage games that NC Soft and Acclaim Games pumps out doesn't exist, you'd be better off for it. SMT Online is probably the closest thing to a playable Item Mall MMO that is currently available. Maybe it will change when it officially releases, but it feels...

Gameplay is the differentiating factor between games and movies. It seems like the only hurdle is making gameplay artistic; everything else has established means of getting there. Games don't have 'survival utility', and so they must have some *other* utility. I'm willing to bet it is...

It's more than twice as likely as you think! Anyone here played Armored Core? AC Nexus has the most soul-crushingly artificial difficulty in any game ever. Except maybe Red Faction 2, what with the explosive suicide spiders, infinitely respawning zombies, and bosses that kill in 3 hits and...