Running video games (and consoles) thread

It's just now occurring to me that there are two MLB games that seemed to be aligned with the MLBPA. (2K and The Show). How's that work? I had assumed the game company pays MLB for the rights to be exclusive.

 

I know that's what EA did with the NFL, which led to the best NFL game disappearing.

I know 2K used to have the exclusive rights because the Triple Play and old MLB series went away.

 

I would say it's a console thing (The Show for PS3 and 2K10 for Xbox), but that's not quite it since 2K10 is available for both consoles.


I believe that 2K does have the exclusive rights for Xbox. That exclusivity expires 2012, I think.

 

Street Fighter 4 looks pretty rad on iPhone, just not sure a fighter would work on a touch-screen device.

 

I am very big into that series. I'm not buying it until at least the end of next week. So busy with college hoops that I won't even have time to start it. And I know once I start I won't want to put it down.

 

And since we're talking FF ... my favorites. Note I've only played from the time it started on Playstation:

1. FFX -- I played it through three times, that's how much I liked the storyline and gameplay
2. FFVII -- Just so much fun, even with the rudimentary graphics
3. FFXII -- Sooooooo expansive.
4. FFIX
5. FFX-2 -- Graphics were good, the storyline was a little cheesy though. Still fun. Wouldn't play it through a second time though.



12. FFVIII -- I've tried this one twice and each time I stopped after playing for 30 hours. Boring and clunky. Worst game in the series in my mind.

 

Just bought it and started playing a little. It's pretty darn fun. It's not as in depth as the game on the PS3 with a stick and buttons, but it's a fun game indeed.

 

I will also jump into the FF rankings, since I kind of got us started down this road.

My personal favorite has always been 2e/4j. Classic kind of story and "feel" to it, with lots of characters legit dying and what not. Some of the remakes have unfortunately undone some of that, but it was a pretty intense storyline and a hard game for me at age 10ish to 13ish when it came out.

From there, I consider 7 and 6j/3e equivalent for different reasons. I actually liked the plot and characters in 7 more than everyone else seems to now; I think people calling it crap now are overreacting violently to the others who want to give it oral before bed every night. On the other end of that spectrum, I think that people give too much credit to 6 - The first half of the game sets it up to be the best of the series by far, but I found the unfocused second half to be a downfall as opposed to a virtue.

8 would be next for me. Really, really flawed gameplay; I hated the draw system. But the plot is super-mushy and effective to me. I think this is the only FF game that gets the "falling in love" kind of plot done effectively.

Conversely, I disliked most of the characters in 10 - Lulu and Rikku and Auron were cool, everyone else should have fallen off a cliff. I thought the gameplay system was fun though, once I got the hang of it. This was the first FF game (at least to me) that had an obscene amount of things to do at the end, with the mugging and sphere grid maxing, that I actually wanted to do.

I'm not really sure where to put 5 or 12, so put them in a tie here. Both were kind of "blah" to me, but still playable. 12 was quite excellent for a bit, story-wise, but the ending and story arc just seems to resolve out of nowhere, and at times it feels like you're a droid in Star Wars - You're (Vaan, Pinehro) watching the interesting characters (Ashe, the thief, Fran) go through their journey and you're just tagging along. 5's plot feel amateurish and lackluster sandwiched between 4 and 6.

2 and 3 I never got into because of their format at the time I discovered them. By the time I played translated versions, I had blown through 7 and 8, IIRC. 3 is better than 2, which is ridiculously broken.

I put 1 down this low because I don't find it that fun to play anymore. One of the remakes that adds in dashing and more generous gold amounts? Sure - Those versions are above 2 and 3 on my list. But the actual old NES cart game has not held up well at all. The "challenge" is derived from illogicals and programming shortcomings. I can carry 99 potions but only 4 of each weapon? It takes 5 minutes to buy tons of potions? A piece of armor is 30k gold, and I get 800 (at most) per battle from giants? I can hit thin air with my sword? Just a miserable, miserable slog in PRESENT TIME, when there are tons of better options; the SNES games still hold up, whereas FF1 does not to me.

And, unless I'm missing a game, 9 is my least favorite. Horrible plot, horrible lead character, needless and foreseeable plot twists, and a fake "retro" sheen.

 

It's so funny that we're talking about this because I heard a guy on G4 one time say that you can tell the age of a gamer by which FF game they like the most. If they are in love with FFVII they are X age, FFIV this age and whatnot.
I fell in love with VI and it was the first RPG I really sat down and obsessed over. VI was great, but nothing will ever be IV to me.

 

Has anyone tried Battlefield Bad Company 2 yet? Reviews on IGN seem to be decent.

 

I've got it. Single player is miles beyond COD, but its hard to compare the multiplayer because it is so different.

 

Another Baseball 2K10 note:

Mentioned this to Storm (either on here or email), but the AI for pitching changes probably needs a little tweaking.

In his my player, his pitcher got left after giving up 12 ER.

In my my player, when I was in the minors, the opposing pitcher was left in in an extra inning game. Ended up going 12 innings with 183 pitches.

Routinely, I see opposing pitchers going 120 pitches in AA (which obviously isn't going to happen these days).