PSN & XBL games

[The NZA]

There's a lotta quality titles these days on both networks, and many can be had for a fair price. I thought id make a thread about recommending the ones out, and a look at the ones forthcoming.

 

 

Playstation Network

 

Theyre really getting good for indie games. Full releases like Tekken, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Warhawk have also been valid entires, including patches & updates for greater support.

 

Personally, i enjoyed flOw but not for $10 or so. The best ones ive played thus far've been Everyday Shooter (personal favorite of all their offerings) which is a great mix of classic shooter (think R-Type and such) with music elements.

Super Stardust HD is a great answer to Geometry Wars, and im looking forward to the online co-op patch ive read about, since newt is far better than I at this one.

Calling All Cars is like NBA Jam with cars. Online vs matches were scarce for me, but local playing is awesome - i need to bother gunsmithx to get my copy.

Echnochrome recently came out, and its a really great puzzle game - its similar to this. Its artsy, fun and hard as hell.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD remix - is awesome on both systems. I like how they tried to balance out the characters a bit more and Chun Li's no longer a bad option. Online play for this is great.

PixelJunk Monsters - got this one from Losifer, and its another cutesty one that's fun, simplistic strategy and deceptively hard.

I do really wish PS1 games were supported better, but eh, at least Suikoden's on the way (give us part 2!) When Vib Ribbon shows up, ill be quite pleased.

 

Forthcoming:

 

PixelJunk Eden - another of the series of games im looking at thats cool but i couldnt possibly tell you what its about. Kotaku adored it.

 

Elefunk - I dont know dick about this one either, but it gets namedropped a lot.

 

Bionic Commando Rearmed (coming to both) - Capcom's new trailer of it looked really awesome. I wish more 8-bit classics got this kind of treatment.

 

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (coming to both) - Its SF II, redrawn with more frames/detail and online play. This is like 10 years overdue as it is, my book.

 

Games the system should get:

 

Aside from getting passed up by Penny Arcade, im sure there's a lotta great flash/indie titles that belong here, though i dont know as many offhand.

PSX titles, though, we could go on about all day. For instance, on the japanese PSN store? Theyve got RE 1 director's, Metal Gear Solid and tons of games that belong on both shores. I imagine most sins will be forgiven by the time LittleBigPlanet makes it out the gate.

 

Final Fantasy VII HD or whatever is the system-seller they're sitting on at the moment.

 

 

 

X-box Live Arcade

 

What i dont get is that in recent times, ive seen XBLA get knocked for being basically a place for classic arcade/console games returning. Granted, there's not nearly the indie focus PSN is doing, but honestly, these are the titles id venture get the most purchases so i cant blame them. Additionally, i give them a lotta credit for ensuring each and every game has a demo to give you a feel for the game, and a unified system of leaderboards is cool too. One of the best elements is when older games get a graphical tweak, and for the bitchy purists, they still leave the option of playing the original mode there, i think that's cool.

 

The best of, for me, is titles from Q! like Red HD, E4, and Lumines - the former 2 being awesome music-based games, the last being the best puzzle one since Puzzle Fighter II.

Geometry Wars is popular for space shooters, but the popular classics of Ninja Turtles, Contra, Bomberman Live, Doom, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage 2, Worms, etc are all indeed great. I like the fact they went with the arcade versions on most. The best of this category for me has gotta be Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

 

Puzzle gamers have a ton of shit with Hexic, Puzzle Quest and the like. Ikaruga recently got released (with controversial changes) and i stand by Pac-Man Champion Edition even if ill never see its #@$%in end. Also, i was forced to eat my words with Uno. Also, do not miss Alien Hominid if you did so on PS2.

 

Me, im this close to picking up N+.

 

Forthcoming:

 

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One - props on beating capcom for longest name here. It comes out wednesday and im hyped! Its $20 (for PC too) but for a full-fledged RPG of 6 hours, it might very well be worth it. That, and an army of invading fruit-fuckers.

 

Castle Crashers - Holy shit, it took years but its finally done, cant wait till its out. The Alien Hominid people have what looks like the best XBLA game in a while here.

 

Also, see above entries on Bionic Commando: Rearmed and SFIIHDRMX cause they apply here as well.

 

 

Games the system should get:

 

The no-brainers for me start with Goldeneye; its so heartbreaking the deal with nintendo fell through. Online play for this...damn.

Look at it, and weep with me.

 

 

it isnt right, and i cant see them not getting it eventually. Honestly, doing it on Wii's Virtual Console - meaning, offline - would be a waste.

 

Anyway, we could all name games that'd be great here, but honestly? I hope they keep milking the Dreamcast's teet for classics. There's so much that'd be great here between Crazy Taxi, Shenmue II, Powerstone 2, so many others - but topping the list would be Marvel vs Capcom 2, if for no other reason than demand.

[Jables]

THERE'S A PA GAME COMING TO XBLA?!?!?!?! Oh hell yes!!

 

Great thread Nick, I heard on the grapevine Soul Calibur is coming too, so it'll be nice to house international on that as opposed to just in my house. Even shane bit that pillow, eventually

 

Other than that, It'll be nice to see some expanded titles like early FFs and the like, otherwise how big are oldold PC titles like Fallout or Duke Nukem? Could they fit them onto a medium like that, d'yeh think?

[Maldron]

Perfect Dark was awesome. Remake of that instead of Goldeneye. I love Goldeneye, don't get me wrong, but I miss the ability to snipe anybody from anywhere on the map regardless of Line of Sight.

 

One of the reasons I loved Red Faction so much. Railguns are made of win. Despite the idea of a portable version being laughable, anyway.

[The NZA]

Skeet - yeah, the PA game isnt getting a great deal of attention yet, i hope it does, it looks good so far. Might wanna check out Castle Crashers when it makes it out, too.

 

Oooh, yeah, Duke Nuken's a good candidate too. As for older PC games, i think theyd fit the bill - there's a max size for XBLA games, but for some they make exceptions. Still, id love to see command & conquer, lucasarts stuff, etc - i think (sadly) fallout 1 might be too big though.

 

maldron - i heard that a lot about the original Perfect Dark but never played it, unfortunately. Still, you gotta admit, for namebrad recognition? Goldeneye would be a packed house any day of the week. Mebbe im just being nostalgic here - its not like its got anything on CoD4 and the like - but there was an awful lotta love for that game, and me, id love to see if i still got my skills, much less if i could hang.

 

i know you got more suggestions in you for both services though, sir.

[Jables]

Maldron's right-Railguns almost feel unfair they're so great. $20= how many points to buy? I was googling screenshots yesterday arvo and it looks friggin' great! In terms of space, I read that they had a pretty limited cache for XBLA ports, but Castlevania being a PS1 port broke the seals on space, so they could start posrting greater sizes(not sure how big that one was though, I recall a couple hundred meg?). How decent a system would I need to run Fallout 1? I'm deathly curious/hyped for Fallout 3 and want to get a sense of continuity. Having said that, the article I read makes me want to play/continue through Oblivion.

[Maldron]

 

That video has the Perfect Dark railgunny thinger. Which I still love, 'til this day.

[Jables]

Were they in PDzero on 360? I can't remember. Otherwise the last time I used 'em was Red Faction.

 

I know Nintendo's shitty fucking virtualconsole has a handle on the Nintendo classics, but I'd love to see Mario Allstars on XBLA, as well as other SNES classics like Secret of Evermore Chronotrigger and the like.

[The NZA]

skeet - they just announced the new cap for XBLA is 350 MB (bear in mind, we're better at compressing games these days too) and i read its to do with a graphical tweak for Soul Calibur which is cool.

 

i forget MS' "dont think of it as dollars" point system, i think PA is 1600 points though? i forget.

 

@ fallout: this site says:

 

Intel Pentium 90 CPU; Microsoft Windows 95 or higher, or DOS 5.0 or higher; 16MB RAM; 2x CD-ROM drive; DirectX 3.0a (if playing on Windows); 1 MB VESA-compliant SVGA graphics card; Sound Blaster compatible sound card

 

so if you can read stillbored's sig, i think you're solid.

[Kj719]

Just got PixelJunk Encore expansion back...Love me some PJM. It sucks that I'm in G'ville cuz playing it with 2 players back home is definitely the way to go.

[The NZA]

See, im eyeing that but im of the mindset that i cant finish the fucking game as it is; why buy more for it?

 

i love the wall of difficulty you get after level 4 or 5 or so. I gotta get back to this one and try again; i think cannibalization is the key. i mean, when is it not?

 

ps hey, can i post your PSN username in our thread? gotta add you, maldron & others.

[Losifer]

Man...I've been dying to get my hands on Dark Mist (PSN title). Developed by Gamers Republic (Folklore), the game seems like a dungeon crawler/shooter hybrid. I've been glancing over the Japanese store and it seems to have a few add-ons like modes and characters. It recently came out in Europe(last week) and I was hoping it came out this week for us. But alas, the wait continues. Check it out:

 

[The NZA]

Hah, i hadnt noticed that one before; gave me an odd feeling from Fatal Labyrinth and Golvelius, in the day. I like it, any idea when its out?

[Losifer]

Hah, i hadnt noticed that one before; gave me an odd feeling from Fatal Labyrinth and Golvelius, in the day. I like it, any idea when its out?

Not sure. I was hoping for a release this week since it was released in Europe last week, but no one seems to have a date. I didn't get a Fatal labyrinth vibe from this. I actually got an Ys vibe out of it (although its less sword and more bow & arrow). It'd be great if they release this with all the add-ons ready to buy cuz I may get bored of the same character.

 

In any case, here's a Demo of it and someone beating Stage Five:

 

 

 

UPDATE: After further investigation, I have discovered that this title is not planned for the US/Canada store. Quite the head-scratcher.

[bishopcruz]

1600 points is $20. Big fan of the new 350 meg limit. THere are a ton of XBLA games I need to catch up on, Pac Man CE, bomberman, SoR2 and others.

 

I'm still amazed that the XBLA versions of Sonic SoR2 and Sonic 2 are cheaper than their Wii VC counterparts, esp since SoR2 has online coop.

[The NZA]

Seconded. got N+ and PA last night. This just in: Penny Arcade is actually worth the $20, and as close to the irreverent humor of earthbound as im gonna get right now. I love it.

[the division of joy]

WipEout HD is full of win.

 

That is all.

[soldier of fortune]

Is it worth the €'s?

[the division of joy]

One of my friends in america got me a 20 dollar PSN card as an early birthday present and i got it with that. Very much worth it i think.

[soldier of fortune]

Its 17euro isn't it. might look at it, though i've way too many games to finish.

[the division of joy]

I figure, for about 13 euro (converted from dollah) you can't really go wrong with a full game, great graphics and eye blisteringly fast turns. The fact i've loved the previous wipeout games helped too. I wonder if i could stick it on an SD card or something.... *ponders*

[Jables]

I've been meaning to cock around with that to see if I can keep XBLA games on 2 different harddrives(MS let's you download purchased games up to 5 times or something, accounting for red rings or changing HDs), cause I'm a fiend for those arcade titles and would like to share the love with my more miserly friends.

[The NZA]

ah, but i dont thin it works that way, sadly, or else id have Castle Crashers and Duke Nukem both.

 

if im not mistaken, data/identities move around live on a one-way trip; meaning, when i signed into your x-box, my account's data migrated there, and woudlnt be accessible from home until i signed back in here and had it moved, basically. so - and bish or others might need to correct me here, but as i understand it - i could theoretically sign into my x-box as you, and perhaps download one of your games & play it. but for you to then play it yourself, youd have to move your account back to your system, and said account - needed to play your game, i think? - woudlnt be available to me here.

 

id very much like to be wrong about this, but MS is good at keeping their goods nailed down.

[Jables]

Well that makes sense(my wiley imagination extended so far as to think I could pull it off because I could play XBLA games signed in as someone else on my box. However, I has a fuck-tonne of games and two boxes, so I'ma try it out and let you all know. IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!!