So tell me, why do games have a shelf life no more than a year or two when the average console life span is 5 years?

...

I think I got the answer to my own question. I'm gonna guess Royalties: when they print a game, the publishers pays royalties to the format owner (sony, nintendo or msoft) up front, not when the game is sold.

while Vanishing point cost the studio only the plastic and paper on which the dvd was made because they own the full rights to it, publishing Dragon Force on Sega Saturn again would cost Sega actually much more than that.

that and the perspective that most games that are one year or more would not sell enough to warrant a new print run.

Difficulty's a bit punishing though.

They've put a bunch of Sam & Max stuff on sale as well for the release of Season 2 so I've ordered a bunch of things I've been meaning to get (like comics and dvds)

Well worth it guys, go and get it!

The thing is, PC has alternatives. a whole bunch of them. LIVE is a closed system. No way around it. Also it means that only Microsoft pays for the expenses of bandwidth/keeping it updated/etc.

I think it would be awesome if XBL was free but then again you get what you pay for and if that means the quality of the service (which is excellent) could change because they wouldn't have paying customers to answer to, I really don't mind to keep on paying.

but seriously, this has always been what Fallout was about and I'm glad that they managed to recreate this in a first person point of view game.

All signs point towars:
It's going to be one hell of a game.

look it up. It's not a disease, it's a condition (like autism).

It can lead to VERY peculiar behaviours

Preach on, if you feel Nintendo supports the 'harcore gamer' in you.

Uncanny.

but I second that, it was an awful read.

I don't know if the Wii will be able to handle this but if it'S watered down, it's just not Dead Rising.

it's a word.

then be Cancelled like Starcraft Ghost and Warcraft Adventures for no apparent (valid) reason.

... though some may argue that Ghost is still in development.

XBOX Live is free for all its uses but online play.
- you can download demos/content
- rent movies/tv shows
- chat live
- send msgs
- interact with MSN
- ETC.

GOLD adds online play and some time exclusive demos for about 5$ a month (60$ a year).

There are many misconceptions about Live for people who have never tried it.

My girlfriend will LOVE that she won't have to spend 400$ on a PS3 so she can play her beloved Final Fantasy.

It's getting tiresome

'MS reveals Avatars!'

Kotaku: 'Oh yeah we didn't see THAT coming'

this game really stimulates your sense and I had worked very hard to get the 'real' ending. In order to get the real ending you must not get shot during the last battle.

**spoiler**

by remaining in the baby form, you ''reunite'' with the system which is really a mother figure then.

then a really great, highly emotional track is played and the full ending movie unfolds.

then the credits roll and a minimalist track starts and it hit me like a ton of brick.

not sad, not happy, just so beautiful it makes me cry.

except for the DVD/Game upscaling. 360 wins hands down.

''4. All games are Vista and XP compatible.''

That is pure genius.

Sell me a ROM and I'll laugh at your face. Sell me a supported and compatible version and you might (actually, probably will) get my money.

@Koztah: in 1995, the Playstation was barely out. You got it all wrong, it came out at about the same time as Nintendogs but for the GBA

A Daikatana Collectible Card Game!

I'm gonna be rich!

Boys will be Boys!

Oh and I'll add my own comment

'I'd hit that'

they cant just turn everything they touch into warcraft

that'd be sad

Read it this way: ''If We Launch A Game On 360 & PC Simultaneously, We Shoot Ourselves In The Foot by allowing people to pirate the game''

Cry, argue, whine, deal with it.

If you look at magazines marketed for women, there's actually MORE girls in bikini/underwear in them than magazines for men.

Say what you will but you'll never make me pity women who say they're judged by their look. They all actively participate in this and are the first to mock a girl whose looks are neglected.

There, I said it.

Out of those 3 hours I watched about 1h30-2h of cutscenes.

When you play short sessions late at night like I do, you do a whole lot more watching than you do playing. It's not bad, but it was certainly not necessary.

Someone in the comments said that MGS4 blends cutscenes 'seamlessly' into the game.

Funniest thing I ever heard!

And you really consider 'Haze' and 'Kane & Lynch' to be part of 'the cream' ?

whoa.

People need to realize that making a game about a subject does not condone it. In fact, if anything it will lead the player to think and realize what happened back then much more when they use those tactics to 'kill' the competition.

Anyone ever thought American History-X condoned violence? or that Shindler's list was pro-nazi?

Putting the players in the shoes of the empires who colonized the world is definitely a good way to learn more about that era.

Plus, it's not like your average joe could ever go on a colonization spree eh.

In my mind, a 30% game is shite. Not 'oh could've been better ' shite. SHITE. Escape from Bug Island, Ninjabread Man, Vampire Rain shite.

It seems in this day and age you need to slam a review hard to get more hits on your site. when you visit meta critic, who are you going to visit? the mid range or the extremes?

I'll try to make my own opinion on this one, fully expecting bad controls.

but it's sorta comforting to own it. I'm confident that eventually it will be a haven for developers who cannot afford big budget games and that's when the quality will really start to come out.

developers like the ones who made good games that sold poorly like Dark Sector, Stuntman, Overlord and many others... they'll be able to make games without risking it all on the Wii.

for now though, it really doesn't get much playtime

can't a guy say he's tired of the sucker punches at microsoft in the NEWS?

you guys can say whatever the hell you want but I'd appreciate if Kotaku wasn't so inclined on hinting at the red rings issue almost every day. Make it every other week for a change. All it does is keep the flaming alive like it's a used tires bonfire.

all I'm saying is that we *know* they've had the rrod issues, it's not necessary to point it out every time the console is mentionned.

And was that Red Ring on the Samsung player really necessary? it's getting fakking old.

It's a case of the chicken or the egg nowadays. You can't have a game that sells millions that's coming out of nowhere nowadays.

Now you could argue that Diablo worked and I would agree with you to a certain extent.

Diablo comes from Blizzard, and they'd made Warcraft 1 and 2 before that. Warcraft didn't sell. It was a great game but a mild success at retail.

The second was history.

I think there's a market for Blizzard games. ANYTHING that Blizzard makes, people will consume. I think this is a direct consequence of the incredible quality of what they make.

New IPs never make a big splash anymore. Dead Rising? Assassin's Creed? Gears of War? They all sold very well but didn't make retail asplode.