Amnesiac

More sad news, but from a selfish perspective sadder than most because the games that failed to sell were both very good. In fact, Banishers is one of my games of the year and something that I’d like to see more of. It’s one of those games where the care that the creators put into it really stands out. It’s cold comfort, but I imagine that anyone whose name appeared in the credits of Banishers or Jusant would be an great hire for any studio.

And as sure as the turning or the earth, a “Portal is doing well” article is met with a flurry of questions about who could possibly want one. We’ve done this dance for a whole year, and I doubt the music will stop anytime soon.

Really happy to see the Gold Master Series continue. As great as it will be to have access to all of these in one package, it’s the documentary stuff that really has me interested. The Karateka and Llamasoft releases were like mini museums, and I’m looking forward to another dive into the recent past.

It would be kind of neat if it could be used to misdirect enemies. Well, neat for a few minutes, and then I’d probably just want to push a button.

I really loved DriveClub, and spent a ton of time with it, but DriveClub VR was and remains an absolute show stopper.

@thefourfoldroot1 I can’t say that I agree with your take on Astro Bot, but I have to thank you for bringing Max Mustard to my attention. Now that I know it’s a VR platformer and not a condiment application simulator, it’s been added to my wishlist.

It’s an acquired taste, but it’s a taste that I’ve acquired, so I’ve added it to my trusty wish list. It’s always a pleasant surprise when a VN winds up on PS.

I picked this up on release and have been enjoying it. As mentioned in the review, the rewind function boosts the entertainment value in 53 Stations and Madoola, and I always appreciate when classic game collections include a gallery. I’m always happy when I see that cobalt blue Sunsoft logo on my PS5’s dashboard.

Thank smurf that trailer didn’t have the original theme song in it. I’d have that smurfin’ thing stuck in my head all day.

@Fartingale It’s amazing that I had to wade through nearly 40 posts before someone described what’s actually happening. As you said, the backgrounds for some games are being replaced by the latest “official news”. It is definitely making things confusing and ugly, but it’s not quite the advertising assault it’s being made out to be. Here’s hoping it’s rolled back as quickly as it was rolled out.

@UltimateOtaku91 I found that Fairy Tail RPG to be way more entertaining than I expected. It was quite fun and has me looking forward to the sequel.
And your point about the costumes in those 12+ games has me wondering if they’re aiming for an all ages rating? Not sure why that would affect sales unless some outlets only carry all ages games. As is almost always the case, a bit more information would be useful, but we’ll probably have to settle for a comment section full of repetitive grandstanding about censorship.

It’s a fair point, especially with Ubisoft games. I’ve enjoyed a long tradition of picking up the latest Assassin’s Creed title during the holiday sale and playing it through the doldrums of winter. Still, there are always games like Astrobot where waiting for a sale requires more self denial than I’m equipped with.

@awp69 Couldn’t agree more. It wound up being one of my favorites of the year and one of those rare games that rattled around in my head even when I wasn’t playing it. It also has some of the best voice acting I can remember. Really glad I took a chance on it.

Well that’s awesome. I loved the first Ryza and really enjoyed the second, but was a bit too Ateliered out at the time to finish the third. This is as good a reason as any to pick up my basket and staff again.

The inclusion of the LA to San Bernardino line might finally be the thing that gets me to dip my toe in the water here. LA has a surprisingly deep railroad history that often gets buried under mile after mile of jammed freeways.

@MasterVGuides That’s right! I’d completely forgotten. And here I was thinking that it would be a slam dunk to rerelease because the songs are all in the public domain. Seems like I may have to go box diving in my basement if I want to play it again.

This was one of a handful of games released under Eidos’ Fresh Games label, which if I remember correctly, was created to bring overlooked Japanese games to Western audiences. While I’m looking forward to getting to play Mr. Mosquito again, Fresh Games released another diamond in the rough called Mad Maestro that I poured hours into when it came out. Here’s hoping it makes an encore appearance.

I’m sorely tempted to give this a try. I remember paying $20 to visit the Pinball Museum in Alameda, CA, and this is like a year long pass for a museum in my living room.

It took a little while to get used to the second screen implementation, which is functional but not exactly elegant, but I’m finding this collection as addictive as the last one. It’s become my go to portal game for bite sized monster slaying.

@naruball You’re not wrong. The comment sections for a number of topics seem to turn into a solid wall of self-righteous schadenfreude in the blink of an eye. Still a few folks around with interesting things to say though!

Also, I find the Arab Strap tune Allatonceness the perfect soundtrack for reading any Concord related comment sections.

I’m all for these rereleases of older games, but it strikes me as odd that the game costs more than the Piko 4 Evercade cart that features Glover along with nine other games.

Interestingly (or not), for the PS family each generation has seen an average price increase of between 40 - 45% except for the PS4, which was only 8% higher than the average cost of the PS3 at this stage in its lifecycle.

This review had an excellent mix of self-deprecation and grumpiness.

@get2sammyb Thanks for clarifying. As a non-Twitter/Ecchs user, it’s hard to see posts in chronological order, context, etc. without an account. Still seems like the English post is unnecessary if you’re addressing a Japanese audience, but hey, I’m sure it won’t unnecessarily stir things up.

This must be a translation because surely you wouldn’t address your Japanese community in English…

Interesting to see another game from an Evercade cartridge broken out and sold separately. The additional features on the stand alone release are nice, but it really makes me appreciate the value of the Evercade carts.

@Ravix It’s nice to see Al Horford finally get to hold that trophy after 17 years in NBA.

That’s welcome news. While it will be nice to start earning points with purchases again, I kind of missed the little missions that had me rummaging through my backlog or trying out a game I would have normally passed over.

@Shepherd_Tallon I wonder if PS Stars’ problems are related to some of the tracking for Days of Play. It seemed like they wanted to integrate some of the Days of Play missions into the app, but had to resort to external links, and I believe PS Stars went dark just around the time of the second challenge. Just complete conjecture on my part, but maybe the two are related.

@Ralizah I’ll probably regret asking this, but why was it ill-advised? I sign up and do nothing but what I normally do, I earn points for store credit. It’s very difficult for me to see a negative here.

Another summer of scattershot announcements at all different times, coming from all different places. It can get confusing! It’s a wonder nobody’s thought of having a gathering in one central location where all kinds of developers could show what they’re working on. An expo, if you will. But only for entertainment that runs on electronics.

Finally going to scratch that Jet Set Radio itch now that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is on sale. Also grabbing As Dusk Falls as it looked interesting, but not quite regular price interesting. If nothing else, these sales are teaching me a little impulse control.

@MrBook Ah yes, the good old pre-DLC days when you had to buy the entire game again for new content! I mowed many a lawn to afford Street Fighter II, Champion Edition, Turbo, and finally Super over the span of three years. Don’t get me wrong, I loved all of those games, it’s just that with the modern approach to DLC characters and free balance patches, I don’t have to mow as many lawns.

Infogrames doesn’t so much roll off of the tongue as stumble out of the mouth, but I do remember enjoying some of their games. I also have to agree with the comments here applauding Atari for how they’re doing things lately. Speaking of which, about to give Lunar Lander Beyond a go!

@Stevemalkpus My (very limited) understanding is that it takes quite a bit of work to port a UE4 game to mobile hardware like the Switch and have it run well and look good. It may just be that releasing on Xbox is the path of least resistance.

Maybe it’s a case of finding the right game at the right time, but I have nothing but fond memories of Kena. The overall presentation is outstanding and the character animation is superb, as is to be expected given the developer’s lineage. It’s also a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, since after a fairly easy opening act, the game reveals a bit of a cruel streak that saw my Kena meet her maker a number of times due to my questionable skills.

I picked this up when it came out and it quickly made its way to the top of my VR rotation. It’s got charm to spare and is great for a ‘catch your breath’ moment between some of the more frantic VR games.

This is great news! I really enjoyed it on PS3, but as with all my PS3 things, it’s buried in a box in the life size jenga game that is my basement.

Also, this has been a great few years for classic shooters (or shmups, if you must). Everything from cutesy Cotton to tough as nails DoDon Pachi is making an appearance, though you may have to navigate the Japanese store to get to some of them.

I was going to keep my distance as I found the last few Neptunia installments to be underwhelming, but that trailer has put this game on my wishlist. Besides, at this point it’s not like I can unsee the beach body Dogoos.

Push Square should reciprocate and set up a poll for the best British films and television series. Then the folks who post at BAFTA could freak out about how there aren’t any Ken Loach movies on the list.

This made something flicker in my memory, and sure enough, my Amazon order history tells me that this along with Crimson Gem Saga shipped in June of 2009. So rather than dig it and the PSP out of their snug cardboard tomb in the basement, I’ll do the lazy thing and just buy the re-release.

Oh great, now I have to go and retroactively unenjoy all the fun I had with it when it released.

@LifeGirl So you can suss that out but can’t figure out how economic policy may relate to layoffs? No need to toss a match when you’re clearly a pro at self immolation.

@LifeGirl So the person appealing to the moderators is accusing someone else of “excuse hunting to have a moan?” Quick, stifle this conversation before someone says something interesting! As neither Sony nor Playstation is mentioned in this article that has somehow found its way onto a Playstation website, maybe they should just bin the whole thing? Problem solved!

@rjejr They match players up based on MPR rather than level, don’t they. Seems like it should at least be a blend of the two. And seeing the season end date suddenly extend by two weeks was a bit deflating, as was the announcement about the different materials going away.

I guess I shouldn’t complain, though, since I’ve never completed any of those “tell us what you think” surveys. Just be yourself, game, you don’t need me or anyone else telling you how to be. It’s still my daily go to for a quick 10 minute blast of fun.

@Melee_Ace You make some good points, but I think everyone has their own calculus depending on the game/price/features. I’m on the fence about the Grandia collection, partly because it seems a bit steep for one game I only have fuzzy memories of, and another I didn’t play at all. And there is something to be said about adding modern conveniences to older games. They don’t all need to be Digital Eclipse historical archives, but simple, unobtrusive additions like those made to the Final Fantasy remasters are much appreciated.

Also, there seems to be a pretty viable market for remasters of all manner of classic and not so classic games. Whether it’s the seemingly inexhaustible Arcade Archives series, the slightly obscure titles the Qubyte is putting out, or the incredible work being done in the mostly Japanese only M2 Shot Triggers releases, this is a golden age for golden oldies.

Just wanted to congratulate Sammy on the name check in the screen shot. I had no idea you were big in Korea! Annyeong haseyo!

I have a feeling Rise of the Ronin will be taken to task by most reviewers, gleefully pilloried in the comments section, and that I’ll still absolutely love it.

It’s definitely got that gee-whiz factor, but when I think about implementation, I have to scratch my head. It seems to me that most in game conversations with NPCs that move the story along are limited by context, so until I’m shown otherwise, I’ll go for the dialogue crafted by human writers. Conversing with random NPCs in a realistic manner could be fun, but it’s ultimately seasoning that adds flavor to the overall game world, and too much seasoning can ruin a meal.

This and Pentiment were the two games from big green’s strategic towel throwing that I was most looking forward to. I’m about an hour in and love the aesthetics but I’m still struggling with the gap between input and action. It feels like I push a button on a downbeat and the attack happens a half beat later. It’s not so bad with heavy attacks, but with light attacks it’s kind of jarring. I probably just need way more practice. Oh, and jumping on platforms in rhythm can go to hell.