^^I suppose I am too, but it's all with good reason.
Nintendo's in-house properties mostly don't excite me much (barring Zelda and maybe Kid Icarus), and their home consoles almost always disappoint; I probably have fewer games for all Nintendo consoles combined than I have for the PS2 alone. They put out great handhelds, but the games on them that interest me most are usually third-party anyway. Nintendo aren't bad by any means, but they just don't do a whole lot that appeals to me.
And I view Microsoft with almost no respect at all in the console market; they survive on trends, put out exclusives that do almost nothing particularly inventive whatsoever, and they haven't done a damn thing to advance the industry since the original Xbox. There are some games that I truly love on their past consoles, but none of it is due to Microsoft giving a shit about creativity and fun. If anything, they hinder creativity; they refused to bring Phantom Dust to the west, for example, because it was too Japanese (or somesuch other bullshit). It's great that Majesco picked up their slack in that case, but it showed that Microsoft didn't give a damn about new, interesting experiences. And really, they haven't changed much at all since then. Everything they do strikes me as the confused actions of an old man, squinting with his glasses on the tip of his nose, trying to figure out what's considered "hip" with the young'ns these days.
Meanwhile Sony, for whatever faults they may have, actually fund and release many, many interesting, creative, and sometimes even artful games to the market that likely no one else would have the nuts to put out there. Games like Journey, Ico, SotC, Folklore, Gravity Rush, Jumping Flash, Siren, Rule of Rose (which had some hurdles to jump over, for good reason), and many others... it's hard for me to imagine any of these being backed by any other console makers, and all of them were brilliant experiences for me personally.
And yeah, I do prefer their controllers over anyone else's.
I just feel that they do more for the industry as a whole than the other two, and they not only keep a finger to the pulse of what the gaming community might want at any given time, but they also take risks which pay off for gamers who want something different.
In the absence of Sega in the console market, Sony are easily the best.

Oh, and also, I just saw a commercial for Bloodborne on TV.
On freakin' TV . In the US.
Don't think I ever expected to see a From Software game being prominently advertised like that. Good for them.
And again, another exclusive getting deserved backing from Sony.

Shenmue II on the Xbox is the only time I've EVER bought a console for just one game. It was well worth the price :heart:. I beat it countless times and had it for 6 months before my xbox and games got stolen from me back in 2002. I also had JSRF and Sega GT a demo disc with Halo 1 on it. As well as a yakuza racing game can't remember the name it was great if someone remembers let me know . Ah the wonderful memories of racing friends in SEGA GT before plowing through S2 for the untempth time and trying to expel to them the wonderful world of Shenmue. A few got it.
http://s22.postimg.org/b1a9x0lhd/13472_front.jpg

I don't though. We have seen so much over the years waiting for Shenmue 3, any more info released would just reveal the majority if it all and then what would be the point of releasing another game. I like that it's blurry and distorted, like we are getting a glimpse into what's to come, but not being able to see it property. It's like a little carrot being dangled which we can try our best to get, but we still have continue the chase to get it. I want too happy with the Shenmue Online project which revealed a lot more of Shenmue. Heck, I wasn't over the moon with Suzuki revealing the storyboard for all of the chapters at the Shenmue Postmortem. I don't want to know anything, until I play it in the game.

From the man himself: https://mobile.twitter.com/giocorsi/sta ... 6877937664

Sega are in charge of translating and editing the video.

There was a previous website. Think it was called 'yakuza-games.com'.

Since I didn't know, I looked it up, the fall season starts the third week of September. Hopefully it won't be too long away, the end of the year is getting crowded for game releases..

I don't know what their problem is. I don't mind my waifu sounding mentally challenged.

Hardin shouldn't pretend to know something he obviously doesn't. Just ends up making them at Atlus USA look like dicks now for misleading everyone so much like that.

A whole year to iron out the game's issues is a long time. By the time P5 comes out, it will have been almost 8 years since the last Persona game came out. Instead of making so many unnecessary spin offs, they should have turned their attention to getting P5 out.

Going from VHS to DVD was huge. Going from 480i to 720p wasn't nearly the jump, it it was still pretty nice. Now we're at 1080p and I have doubts as for how much better 4k is going to be. At least, shy of 70" anyway. It seems like a huge GPU expense for diminishing returns. If they even bother I think I would rather have 1080p 60fps than 4k at 30.

I'm sure it will be compatible with non 4K TVs as well.

MiTT3NZ wrote: Don't have a 4k TV so not arsed.

That's exactly what most people are going to say. I'm curious as to who Sony is targeting with this.

I'm curious how this will work. Nintendo brought out the New 3DS with more power and I can only think of one game that uses that extra power. Can't see many devs wasting time and money on making a PS4.5 version of the game when the install base will be much much smaller then the regular PS4.

I know on PC's you can pretty much use a slider to make the game look better but if that costs a lot of money to do I can see this not taking off.

Too bad SEGA is so slow with localizing these. Zero in early 2017, meaning Kiwami in 2018 at the very earliest? And 6 in 2019? Possibly both even later?

Some Yakuza Zero hype!

Already knew it was coming, and yet seeing a legitimate English trailer for it still feels exciting as hell.

Kind of lagging a bit in Y5 at the moment; still playing as Akiyama/Haruka, only making marginal progress here and there. Honestly, I'm not feeling quite as invested in the story for this particular game as I have for earlier entries. It's still fun, but the gang politics have pretty much dried up for most of it; now it's all about investigating a supposed suicide and all that. And even earlier on, when Kazuma's story actually was involving gang bosses and such, it felt a little... fluffy.
Still looking forward to the baseball player, just because he's someone completely new and fresh, so I'm still trudging along. I always like seeing new characters; Yakuza 4 was a constant breath of fresh air because of that.

But yeah, that's a lot of the reason I'm psyched for Yakuza 0 now; the actual gang politics ought to be in full swing. Not to mention the time period ought to lend it some serious mood and atmosphere.

New trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ5F5QF-_r4

Yeah, I also found it interesting when I read it back then. It's cool that the areas in the game manage to feel like the real ones for example. I also liked the comments about the orphanage, the way people talk and not using guns . This made me appreciate Yakuza's attention to detail a bit more actually.

Very Cool little article, and wow even the real yakuza agree that the cuts made to the american version of Y3 drove the game into the ground, couldnt agree more. Was interesting to hear the perspective from the real deal themselves. The bits about whats realistic and what wasnt and how Kiryu is the "old school" type of Yakuza was good to hear. Seems this series is just a tad over the top from reality but apparently some parts hit the nail on the head as well, its just good to hear confirmation from actual yakuza members as to how accurate it actually is.

In many ways Shenmue has always strived to be a grounded franchise, even with all the martial arts and hints of magic included along the way. Shenmue is as much about the daily life of Ryo Hazuki as it is about finding his father's killer. This attention to detail, the measured if often sombre tone, is what makes Shenmue unique and truly remarkable.

In contrast Yakuza knows it's an over-the-top franchise and revels in that fact. Beat-up random street thugs with whatever objects are nearby. Take part in bizarre and often hilarious side missions that reveals more about the seedy underbelly of Kamurocho. Honestly, the weirdness of the Yakuza games is all part of the charm; the whole world operates under video game logic, when seemingly mundane events can suddenly veers into an arcades style minigame.

My advice to you, if you want to start playing the Yakuza games, is to actively seek out the weirdness that Yakuza has to offer. This is not a realistic depiction of Japan; this is a hyper-real depiction of Japan! The intensity of everything has been ratcheted up to eleven. For Kazuma Kiryu even the act of serving ramen noodles to hungry customers becomes an epic test of skill and willpower. So, sit back and enjoy the craziness, you're in for one heck of a ride.
That's a good description. Although the Yakuza games do have their serious moments also. And they also have a lot of attention to detail actually. It's just that they sometimes switch from video game-like parts to serious/realistic ones. Something which Shenmue doesn't do as often.
I personally like over-the-top parts like the Revelations. It's not something that you would often see in serious Western games and it provides memorable lighter moments in these huge games.

Speaking of Yakuza and realism got me thinking of this article where they got yakuza to play Yakuza 3 :
http://boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html

Here's the trailer in question, just as stylish as the first:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKZtJmt85ns

It looks like delaying the game by a few months has really payed off, everything looks absolutely amazing and highly polished at the same time.

I mean, it may not seem like much but I love how the UI looks in this game, every menu just flows so naturally. This is beyond static text scrolling across the screen; every sub-menu looks like it has its own distinct style, like even the text is almost alive with its own energy.

RPG developers are going to be studying Persona 5 for decades to come. This is how you make a truly stylish game.

I didn't mean that in a bad way. I was just surprised they decided to go this way and leave the WiiU out. Maybe they are very ambitious with the 2017 project but I don't see how Mania doesn't work on the WiiU.

By the way, did any one notice that the typical ring with wings that Sonic goes through on the title screen in this game starts of as the red part around the power led on the Genesis and the ring generally resembles the design of the system? Very clever of them.

http://i.imgur.com/Ll5Lhb3.png

Sonic's 25th anniversary party and live stream has just ended. There were many announcements made but most important among them were two brand new Sonic games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxmtYdEWVzo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCh9--2xcKk

I can't wait to play both of these games!

Fist bit of gameplay from Sonic Mania. Yes, the new Zone definately looks like Sonic CD.
Funny and creative design, basing everything around a TV studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8EedQJk7Y

And let's not forget, that there was a third announcement today. This is just :lol:

https://youtu.be/EgqMlOMvQNY

So by minor you mean someone that's not important to the main story, right? No "supporting" characters?

Mine would have to be Yamagishi-san for Shenmue I, and Delin for Shenmue II. Fun fact- Delin's grunts actually have a purpose. If you hear him grunt, you know it's safe to press "up" because he's not going to call out "left" or "right."

I'm obviously talking about ine-san and her crack addiction

Master Chen talks about this matter when he talks to Ryo about the Mad Angels.
Oh and what an opporunity to bring out this joke gif I made a while ago.

Ryo and carrots ?

Believe it or not Chai had his 6 months sober chip by the time the first game started.

Rakim wrote: Believe it or not Chai had his 6 months sober chip by the time the first game started.

Withdrawal is a hell of a phase.

I was playing through the section in shenmue 2 where you listen to the wiretapper's cassette tapes and at one moment they talk about a mule running off with 500 of something.

Jesse wrote: Lol. I don't think its ever mentioned what kind of drugs. I just had a random thought about it when Mark mentions the Long Zha. Side note if any of the characters were on drugs who would it be and what kinds?

clearly ryo is on some kind of prozac

Judging by his reaction towards women, I'd always assumed that Ine-san was putting saltpeter in Ryo's water.

Jesse wrote:Side note I wonder if Yu has ideas to develop any More games when the saga is over?

If you mean non-Shenmue games, when a Russian magazine interviewed him in 2013 he had a laptop full of ideaa.

Just finished this tonight. What a fantastic game and a great experience. What an interesting and extraordinary way to use the medium of video games for storytelling. I'd never played anything like it before. I haven't played Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. This was my first Fumito Ueda game.

I think what really amazed me about this game is that it is about Trico. Not the nameless boy you play as, but Trico. Trico is the main character while the player is playing the role of the narrator, a grown man who reminisces about his adventure with Trico when he was a child.

I found it fascinating that the boy and this savage animal formed such a strong friendship and became like brothers, depending on each other to make their escape together. On one hand, Trico was that fierce and majestic beast, huge in size but on the other hand, sometimes he was just as vulnerable and helpless as the boy in a lot of situations, so he depended on the boy's help a lot of times just as the boy depended completely on Trico. This created a very interesting dynamic for the game.

And then there's countless epic scenes where Trico and the boy escape death by inches or split seconds. Especially those slow motion scenes when Trico rescues the boy by grabbing him with his mouth or his tail. How cool is that?

The only things which prevent The Last Guardian from being an absolute masterpiece are the camera and control issues, especially when climbing on Trico. Yeah, the boy and other humans look a bit dated as do the environments but Trico looks just phenomenal. These things probably go to show that this was initially meant to be a PS3 game and had a bumpy road in development hell to traverse before finally coming out.

Still, this was such a great experience and one of the defining games for the PS4 as a system along the likes of Persona 5, Yakuza 0 and so on. Thank you Sony, for developing this and actually not pulling the plug on it.