The Videogames Tab

Hey, everyone has different tastes, especially when it comes to gaming. That said, at least you liked the game. I personally love it. It's Naughty Dog's best game so far, and this coming from the guy who holds the Uncharted series in high regard.

Since it entitles you to a copy of the full game when it comes out there's no rush. But yeah, it's definitely the kind of game where you actually have to read the manual and practice first, though a lot of players just dive in anyway, being trained by so many other games to do it that way. I'd stick to other new players at first, of course. Or me! Whichever you prefer. The community's great and full of experienced players anxious to help and tutor new ones.

I know a lot of changes are coming over the next couple of months, too, including a new mission. Very exciting.

I felt about the Uncharteds the same way he does about Last Of Us. I didn't feel they lived up to the hype but I enjoyed them.

What's crucially different for me this time is how much I love the characters in TLoU, and how impressed I was by the story. It's a very mature game and I don't mean mature in the usual sense it's used for gaming. For me, The Last Of Us is a genuine work of art. The way it unfolds in seasonal chapters, the lovely score, the humane yet unsentimental presentation of its survivors (even the main human antagonist has unnerving depth), and what cinched it for me was the gutpunch ending. That ending is courageous for a video game. It doesn't hold your hand; it forces you to decide your own feelings.

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

I don't think The Last of Us's ending will be as heavily discussed as BioShock Infinite's ending (my head is still spinning from that mindf***), but it is one to be discussed because of how much of an emotional impact is has, and how it doesn't give you any easy answers. I won't spoil it, but man...it left me on the verge of tears. Joel and Ellie are hands-down one of my favorite video game duos now.

The characters are memorable, for sure. Even the minor ones were so well-written. Bill was awesome... Henry and Sam were tragic... Tommy and Joel's fractured bond. David's cunning and rationalization....

Or take Tess, who was actually a believable female, like Ellie or Marlene or even Maria. That's another reason I admire it: TLoU's female characters aren't really marketable eye candy. They're just people. Naughty Dog showed good judgement and restraint in their focus on strong narrative and character development.

Between Last of Us and BioShock Infinite - which do you recommend playing first? I'm still finishing up Ni No Kuni, so both games will be on my backlog. I'd be interested to know which one gets top billing.

That being said, I'm looking forward to both of the games.

Ooh man, that's a really tough question. BioShock Infinite definitely has the most original story, even if the gameplay feels familiar (but it's still fun as hell). The Last of Us takes its zombie apocalypse setting and takes it to new heights, and with great gameplay to boot. I can't really decide which one to play first. It's dependent on which one interests you the most out of the two.

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

Now we just need them to release a (cheaper) version without Kinect.

The one advantage the Xbone will have for me over the PS4 is the controller. The Sony pad looks a little larger than the PS3/2/1 version but until I hold it I'm still calling the Microsoft left analogue position more comfortable.

I see that MS has snuck out a new £100 360 when no one's been looking. That's serious value for money, especially for people with big game collections wanting a backup for a few years hence when their grey slab shuffles off this mortal coil.

I've not been paying much attention but is the state of backwards comparability between the 360 and Xbone zero? Last time I checked Sony were mumbling about getting around this by playing your old PS3 titles on PS4 via the ubiquitous cloud. How that'll work outside the PS3 game you bought via PSN, I dunno.

I'll believe it when I see it.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

I haven't heard anything about the Xbox One implementing any kind of backwards compatibility, Cloud or otherwise. I honestly prefer the PS4 controller. It looks the same as the other ones, except for the bulkier grips (which makes it better for me)

Yeah, it's a personal thing I know but I've never been 100% with the layout of the Sony controller going back to the PS1's Dual Analogue - The analogue sticks just felt as if they were stuck on to wherever they could fit on a PS1 digital pad.

The original Xbox controller (especially the Controller S) felt like the analogues had been designed much more ergonomically.

There are 3rd party pads for the PS3 which ape the Xbox layout and I've tried a lot of them - They've all got awful deadzones in the sticks rendering them useless for any kind of precise movement.

If the PS4 pad is bigger overall then it would help, and at least they now seem to have proper triggers for L2 and R2.

I just wanna know how the hell they're going to implement the touch pad. As far as I've seen, they've said absolutely NOTHING about what it's able to do, and that bugs me more than it should.

Can't say it's concerned me. The game devs are probably trying to shoehorn some functionality into the launch games as we speak.

What I'm interested in is whether my Driving Force GT will be compatible with PS4 - Quite a few PS2 wheels work fine on PS3. I'm not spending serious money on a new wheel just to play GT 7 properly...

Xbone is not having backwards capability, which sucks imo but its something we have had to get used to over the last gen. I dont know why they do this, it cant be that hard. The WiiU does it, your able to play Wii games on it.

I think personally we will be going to Sony this Gen. I have been a big fan of the xbox but I just dont like the idea of having the kinect camera on you 24/7. Yes they have back tracked saying they are not doing this DRM nonsense but you still have to have the kinect connected for it to work. Even though they have said you dont need to have the console connected to the internet once every 24hrs for it to work, its still going to be plugged in to the router, who is going to unplug the ethernet every time the console is on, its always going to be plugged in. As my children play the console most I dont feel comfortable having a camera on them all the time.

So it's always your kids I see when I log into XBL?

I can understand why the PS4 won't be hardware backwards compatible because the architecture is completely different from the PS3's. My first PS3 (Lord rest its soul) basically had a PS2 built-in but it was an import and would only play Japanese PS2 discs. Region free for PS3 games though.

I find the 360's compatibility with old Xbox games to be patchy but at least it's there - I'm glad I got an Xbox Crystal (£40 new, long after the 360 was launched) which is boxed and in the loft. My PS2 cost me something like £30 second hand a few years ago - It's the old model with the HDD port so I've got a 250GB drive in there filled with games via Open PS2 Loader, a great app.

Never use the PS2 now though because it's well emulated on PC, as is the PS1. I doubt we'll ever see 360 and PS3 emulators though.

The kids love playing Skylanders or Minecraft at the moment. Since our daughter has gotten abit older she loves playing the xbox now lol

I was reminiscing about the PS2 the other day wishing I could play Oddworld - Ades Odyssey I loved that game when I was younger. I have been keeping an eye out for a PS2 and that game in our local Cash Generator but nope. I was wondering if it would be on the playstation 4 store, because we are probably going to get a PS4 it would be amazeballs if I could get that game. Also Cabelas Big Game Hunter on the PS2 was great. I have played afew of the Cabelas on the 360 and they just dont meet the PS2 game.

Oddworld is $2.99 (under 2 quid) on GOG right now. It shouldn't take much of a PC to run and the sequels are there too.

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/oddworld_abes_oddysee

From memory it's got keyboard controls or you can use an old style D-input (ie the cheap ones) gamepad. Don't think the 360 pad is supported but there are emulators out there to help the 360 pad with d-input games.

You could cut out the middleman and get one of the Logitech pads which has D-input and X-input at the flick of a switch.

I think I'm gonna abandon the console ship after this gen. Don't like where it's heading.

I'm still reasonably open but it'll take at least until the first round of price drops for me to do anything, and it'll probably be the PS4. If my PS3 quits on my I'll jump more quickly, but that'll be mainly for the media capabilities, although if I can find a cheaper BD player with Netflix capability I mightn't even bother then.

I got a PS3 pretty near launch but only because I could pick up an import for £200 less than the UK price. Didn't get a 360 until its price dropped to £150.

Same with the PS2 and PS1 - I bought after the price dropped - and I didn't buy an original Xbox until after the 360 was launched.

Yep, I'm patient.

I'm fine with where console gaming is headed, especially since Microsoft dropped all of its DRM policies recently.