The Gaming Paradise

[Tommy Thunder]

Yep. Sega did the same damn thing with Sonic. They were so eager to just cobble a game together, for the sake of driving their annual sales by releasing a known quantity, that no real long-term thought was put into how terrible installment after terrible installment would eat away at the legacy. I mean, remember when Sonic used to almost be on the same level as Mario? Some say it takes 3 awesome games to help erase the aftertaste of one awful one, and Sega have had to learn that the hard way. Good to see them finally getting their house in order now, though.

With any luck, maybe the new Tomb Raider reboot will be as good as Sega's past 2 Sonic games (Colors and Generations both far exceeded my admittedly-low expectations to kick all kinds of ass).

Yeah Sonic really went downhill for a while, I remember those days when the series was considered on par with Mario. Great to see that it and Sega in general are getting back to what matters though.

Yeah Edios and Core Design to be fair did a good job with Tomb Raider 1 through to 4, managing to release a title each year and produce a great game, but then Tomb Raider 5 was meh, and 6 was just plain garbage. Luckily, they swapped Core Design for Crystal dynamics and Edios was taken over by Square Enix. Since then, they've really produced excellent games again with TR: Anniversary, TR: Legend and TR: Underworld.
From what I've seen of next years reboot (trailers etc), so far it looks amazing. I've been looking forward to that game for a while and will definitely be getting it when it comes out. My only problem is that it's out around the same time as GTA 5, which I also want to get when it comes out. Tomb Raider > GTA for me though, so that'll have to wait a few weeks before I get it!

[HeelTurn]

Again, not exactly reinventing the wheel, but the additions/improvements/whatever are certainly more pronounced than those made with the last couple of AC titles.

I'm not knocking the series I'm a fan, but I agree AC along with the likes of Halo, COD and many sports titles are a lot worse than Mario.

[Iron Ape]

I'm not knocking the series I'm a fan, but I agree AC along with the likes of Halo, COD and many sports titles are a lot worse than Mario.

Yeah, I wasn't implying that you didn't like the games or anything; just politely disagreeing with putting the Mario games on the same level of incremental improvement as Assassin's Creed is all.

Anyways, I've got my Wii U unboxed, hooked-up, and am in the middle of installing the launch update. Haven't gotten to do too much yet, but I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen so far. Set-up is incredibly simple and intuitive, and controlling my console, cable box, and plasma all with the GamePad is awesome. Being able to retire my many remotes with the same device that I can curl up on the couch to play console games with while my girl watches whatever trash it is she watches on the television is all kinds of swank and convenient. I can see this thing becoming a pivotal piece of living room tech, so its value goes well beyond just Nintendo games in HD. I like that versatility a lot.

Here's my launch line-up:
- Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
- Darksiders 2
- New Super Mario Wii U
- Nintendo Land
- Scribblenauts Unlimited
- ZombiU

I doubt I'll get to every game today, but I'll post up some impressions as I get them.

[Viperfish]

I KNEW IT! I knew something looked off about ZombiU.

http://www.gamespot.com/zombiu/revie...eview-6400225/

[Iron Ape]

Terrible Gamespot review is terrible.

"How dare this survival horror game be, um, a survival horror game and not a run 'n gun shooter like that recent Resident Evil game that we hated, too."

It also strikes me as strange that people across the interwebs are using that singular opinion to somehow validate their making up their mind on the game in advance while completely ignoring the praise being heaped upon it by outfits like Eurogamer, Polygon, and Destructoid. I personally think, qualitatively speaking, that the game falls somewhere between the two extremes, but gamers would be smart to try things on their own instead of putting so much stock into what one other person has to say (especially when many of said reviewer's negatives could/would be construed by others as positives).

[Viperfish]

I called the folks at Gamespot who write in the comments section to actually try and refute the review rather than just sit there and whine about it, but it's nowhere near the response that Natural Selection 2 got where people were refuting points left, right and center and pointing out straight up inaccuracies. I wish people that have the game would say stuff about it.

[Iron Ape]

Couldn't you, like, just read the reviews of people who played the game and liked it and compare it to the Gamespot review and then go from there? Or just accept that matters of subjectivity can't necessarily even be refuted? Seems odd to put so much stock in that one review, especially by an entity as suspect as friggin' Gamespot. The overall critical consensus usually seems to paint a more accurate picture.

[SilverGhost]

Yo everyone. What do you guys think of the WiiU?

I am not gonna get it but if I was the gamer/consumer, I am not convinced by it and what it can do....yeah it has fancy bells and whistles but other systems have better ones but that is just me. Thoughts?

[Iron Ape]

Yo everyone. What do you guys think of the WiiU?

I am not gonna get it but if I was the gamer/consumer, I am not convinced by it and what it can do....yeah it has fancy bells and whistles but other systems have better ones but that is just me. Thoughts?

What are you basing this off of, exactly? A gut feeling or something?

EDIT: Also, I posted some brief impressions up-thread already.

[SilverGhost]

What are you basing this off of, exactly? A gut feeling or something?

More or less, a gut feeling. You know the feeling that the hype gets so big and it doesn't meet the expectation? I feel that. If I was in the role of a consumer/gamer, what are the good things of the WiiU that would make me buy it?