Funktion

The games in this collection look great on my HD TV with "regular" graphics (I believe there's a bit of upconverting going on). I never use the "smoothing" options, because they totally ruin the games' look (the filter makes quite a few details on the graphics disappear, such as lights on buildings, ...). On a SD TV set they appear to make the graphics a little clearer (but again, detail is lost), but on HD TVs the effect is very distracting, I'm yet to find a single person that prefers to have these filters turned on. As for the aspect ratio, I have been playing them in Widescreen. But I didn't simply use the "full widescreen option", this option leaves quite a few information offscreen, so I manually stretched every single game to fit my TV, without leaving any traces of the border and without cropping anything (it took me almost 2 hours to do this to all games... ). This collection is a steal, especially compared to the price of these games on the Virtual Console. The emulation is good (again, with the filters off), the selection of games is pretty good as well (although by now I own most of the games multiple times, between the original Megadrive cartridges, other compilations, XBLA/VC releases, ...), and the extras are nice, especially the 7 bonus interviews (it's something I love to watch, and for me a must for these kind of releases; I would have loved to see a documentary about the console/developers as well).

Then I'm returning the limited edition. They advertised a HD copy of the anime (heck, most stores advertised the inclusion of a soundtrack, which is gone from the European edition), if it's just a regular dvd it's certainly spitting on the face of European customers. Lets see: the US gets a cheaper edition, with better overall packaging and it includes a bonus Blu-Ray disc, soundtrack, and a few other bonus items; the European edition adds a cheap looking figure, removes a soundtrack, a HD copy of the anime, a few of the bonus items (belt, ...) and is significantly more expensive. Why do they keep doing crap like this?

Is this the PS3 edition? It doesn't come with a blu-ray disc? If it doesn't, I'll be pissed: I ordered the L.E. PS3 edition, so I could keep the anime disc and sell the game to a friend (I don't have a PS3), and I picked up the regular Xbox 360 release...

If anyone received their limited edition of the PS3 version, can you please confirm the inclusion of a blu-ray disc, and if it comes in its own blu-ray case or if it's included on the game case, like in the Xbox 360 version?

If anyone receives their limited edition of the PS3 release, let us know if the anime is indeed a Blu-ray disc instead of a dvd, and if it comes in a blu-ray case (the Xbox 360 release has the bonus disc inside the game case, on top of the game disc, unlike the US release). Also, it seems the soundtrack isn't included either (at least it's missing from the Australian PAL release).

Where did you read that? If that's true I'll be pissed. I canceled my pre-order for the Collector's Edition (Xbox 360) because I wanted the anime in Blu-Ray, so I convinced a friend of mine to buy the Collector's Edition for the PS3 (I'll buy the Collector's Edition, sell him the game and keep the bonus stuff) and I'll just pick up the regular edition.

Has it been 100% confirmed that the DLC featured in the collector's edition is the same as one of the DLC packs that will be released at a latter date?

If anyone in here is picking up the PS3 Limited Edition of the game, and isn't interested in the anime Blu-Ray disc let me know. I'm picking up the Xbox 360 version (I don't own a PS3), but I would love to get my hands on the SFIV anime in a Blu-Ray disc, instead of a DVD.

Unfortunately I still haven't received the game, in fact it only shipped today. I had it pre-ordered from Dvd.co.uk, but they only received their stock yesterday, and today it shipped. I'm kind of glad: in the meantime the game's price dropped £7, and from the listing on my account page it seems I was charged the updated price...

Dvd.co.uk is selling the game for £17.99. That's almost 50% off! Maybe this will convince some people to give it a try...

A review for the PAL release: http://zentendo.com/reviews.php?articleId=428&page=1

Thanks for your impressions. I read several comments "complaining" a bit on the controls when the game was released in the US, and it seems playing with the Classic Controller provided a better experience to some people. You may want to give it a try...

Unlike Baroque (which was a budget release) Opoona retails for £34.99.

Let us know your impressions. And for those interested, the game is selling for £24.98 on Dvd.co.uk. Not a bad price for a new release. My copy still hasn't shipped, but I must admit this is one of my most wanted Wii games ever since it was announced. I really want to play it, I just hope I have time to properly play it...

It looks great. I actually bought a PS2 just to play the first 2 games (Shenmue and Shenmue II are my favorite games of all time, and Yakuza looked way too similar to Shenmue, so I couldn't resist), and it seems rather unfortunately I'll have to buy yet again a console I had no interest in in order to play this new chapter (and the Spin-off)... While Yakuza is actually quite a bit different from Shenmue, it's still a great game, and probably the closest we'll ever get to a new Shenmue. It reminds me why Sega was a great software house, instead of this current shallow corpse of a company. I like to call Yakuza Shenmue's evil stepbrother, it's way darker and more action-based, but with a great story and quite a bit of freedom to do lots of random useless things. The only thing I disliked in the first game was the long and frequent loadings.

Now that you mentioned it, I imported the US edition of Apollo Justice on it's release date, and I'm yet to play it... I still have to play the last case of Trials and Tribulations (I started working lots of extra hours at that time, and that's when the backlog of games to play began...), so I never started Apollo Justice. And funny thing: I actually also own a still sealed Limited Edition of the Japanese release of Apollo Justice... I definitely overestimate the time I have to play nowadays, I pretty much only have time to play on weekends, and even then on most of them I'm so tired I end up playing an arcade game on the Xbox 360 or a VC game on the Wii (and I'm a major RPG fan).

I imported the second game, but I'm yet to play it... My pile of games that I'm yet to even start playing is getting absolutely ridiculous (Trauma Center 2, Etrian Odyssey 2, Shiren the Wanderer, Baroque, Too Human, ...), but unfortunately I've been terribly busy at work...

If there's no last minute delay, it should finally be released this Friday (29/08).

Come on, name me one other game that allows you to have jobs such as fortune teller, or that allows the main character do dance on TV? Gametrailers review has some nice footage from the game: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32627.html

Yeah, it was 600 points.

We're (finally) one week away from the game's European release. Baroque is not the kind of game that will set the charts on fire, and the US reviews were mostly negative (it's more or less typical of the genre), but hopefully the budget price tag (I've seen it online between £17.99 and £19.99) will mean more people will give it a try. I remember watching a friend of mine playing the Saturn (Japanese) release and thinking the game's "atmosphere" and overall setting was just plain weird... I'm looking forward to play the game and see what it's all about. For those still undecided if the game's worth your time, here's an interesting article from Hardcore Gaming 101 about the several incarnations of the game, including this latest release: http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/sting/sting2.htm A Japanese trailer (that shows gameplay and introduces some of the characters): http://www.gametrailers.com/player/30711.html And a few reviews (that show the wide range of opinions this game received): http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/04/18/wii-fanboy-review-baroque/ http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/baroque-wii/index.html http://wii.ign.com/articles/870/870063p1.html

This week's releases will probably make a few people happy... :wink: -Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) (900 points) -Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES) (600) (the game was already available in the past and then removed, it seems this time it's here to stay)

Frankly, nowadays I don't care about reviews at all. More and more they never seem to reflect in the slightest my views or tastes. If I did, I would probably only play sports titles and FPS sequels, and most of them pretty much read like publicity adverts. Take GTA4, for example. The number of 10's and A's the game received was quite numerous. For me, after an afternoon of gaming in which I was bored senseless, I put it on my shelf and I'm yet to pick it up again. In the meantime one of my favorite games in the past years is the DS game Contact, which received quite a significant amount of 5's and 6's. If you notice as the gaming industry grows the media covering it seems to be more and more less tolerant to games with lesser budgets and production values that stray away from the "norm". A glitch/bad looking texture? The game sucks. Look at most of the high scores this year, and besides Braid which games didn't have a strong brand and actor "x" voicing character "x" and whatnot? But I digress... Here's a positive review I found, to balance out a bit all the mediocre reviews the game's been receiving: http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/04/11/game-review-opoona-wii

The lack of "hype" for this game is depressing... The Wii software library is at the moment full of mediocre games, shoddy PS2/PSP ports, and lame spin-offs of series whose "real" games are getting released on other consoles, and it's a bit depressing when original games made exclusively for the Wii that try out something different get low sales and an all around lack of interest, such as Elebits/Eledees, Dewy's Adventure, Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure, and now Opoona. With the release date less than a month away, there's not even one new post about this game? Personally Opoona is one of my "most wanted" games of the year (the others being Flower, Sun and Rain (DS), Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS), White Gold (PC), Yakuza 2 (PS2), Mega Man 9 (Wiiware, 360, PS3) and, if it actually gets a 2008 release in Europe, Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)). Even though I currently have a significant backlog of games, this is one game I'll surely buy on day one (it's already pre-ordered). I was wondering: who else is planning to get the game? For those not already aware of the game, here's a trailer that will hopefully raise some interest: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28390.html

That "Tour of Etrian Odyssey" is a good read, and it shows nicely how the game is played. The game does have a bit of story (especially a few hours into the game), but it's not really heavy on it. Your party doesn't really have backgrounds, so it's a case of they are what you make them to be, as is most of the game. Think of this as a Dungeons & Dragons game, in which a party of different classes tries to fulfill a certain "ultimate goal" at the end of your quest, something generic and simple as "clear a dungeon", or something like that. The game has a few side quests along the way, but it's not really like most modern RPGs in which for each quest you complete you move the plot forward. My description may make the game sound a bit dull and "empty", but on the contrary it's a fascinating and interesting game. There's a cool fan site for the games, those interested in getting more info should check it out: http://www.intothelabyrinth.net/