Mass Effect 2. Seriously, this game kicked so much ass. I've rented it twice and think I'm still going to end up buying it.
Take this as you will, I only have an xbox. But I hear Heavy Rain is, epic. Like I'm debating getting a PS3 because of all of the awesome thing's I'm hearing about it. But to recommend a game I've actually played, UFC: Undisputed is fantastic to kill some time. Seriously, want to beat some people up in a video game? There ya go.
Heavy Rain is probably the most emotionally invested I've ever been with a video game. It will sucker punch you, make you feel genuinely god awful and tug at all the heartstrings you possess. And this is only in the first hour or so of the tutorial. There's also so many endings that a rental probably won't satisfy you, literally there are at least over twenty. If you are going to get it, I will recommend one thing, take it or leave it. If you do get it, DO NOT ever stop and restart a part of the game because you think you messed up. Part of the joy of the game is doing things the way you want to and seeing how YOUR story unfolds. When it first came out, myself and four other friends picked it up and to date, none of our stories have been the same. The choices you can make, the decision you are tasked with are yours to make, so make them without fear and live with the consequences.
The thing I love about Final Fantasy games is that I can play them for 100+ hours before I feel the need to advance the story. If you need a game that kicks ass and burns time up like weeds in a brush fire, Final Fantasy is the ticket.
I'm about 35 hours into Final Fantasy XIII, and I am very, very near the end. Right now, I'm running around doing some missions just to level up a bit and to improve my weapons before beating the 'final boss.' My characters seriously do insane damage, and fights are still a pain in the ass. I was dealing some 25,000 to 35,000 damage to one of the harder Mission bosses, and damned if that thing didn't beat me like a red headed step child. Clearly I've more power-leveling to do. On the bright side, I just got Vanille's Death spell, which... Spoiler ...spoilers, just in case. Vanille's death spell is apparently pretty effective against those giant frigging turtles that wonder the Central Expanse on Pulse. Those things drop an item that sells for 150,000 gil (which means much easier leveling of weapons), not to mention give pretty decent CP. I'm hoping to exploit this the next time I play. The one thing about this game that I both love and loathe is that there is absolutely no penalty for losing a battle. You literally respawn a few feet away and can either fight again with a different strategy or realize you're horribly outmatched and come back later. Either way, no real punishment at all. Couple that with the fact that it seems like there is a save point every two minutes, and it just seems like its almost TOO easy. While I do love this for those incredibly difficult battles, it also seems pretty cheap and like they've basically made the game idiot proof.
So I've had a Wii for about 2 years now and just got around to connecting to the internet. I was reading about A Cave Story and wanted to play it so I downloaded it, and it's as good as I've heard. One other game I downloaded is Super Mario World. I had it in my head that I beat all the Mario games when I was a young lad, including SMW. Good fucking god there is no way I ever beat this game when I was younger. I am much better at video games now (I'm 27), and am getting my ass kicked at it. I've almost thrown the controller about 20 times in the last day because of the moving platforms and falling in pits. My new goal in life is to beat this god forsaken game and then take on Mario 3.
Might be wrong place to post this, but, get in while you can... EA Store is offering a $20 off $40 coupon. Apply PAXEAST842 at checkout to save. Shipping is free (select budget shipping). I placed two orders (one for DoA:Awakening, one for Mass Effect 2), both went through as of last night. The code is still showing as valid.
This game is criminally short, but I love Gravity Bone more than anything else I've played in a while. It's like a Tarantino movie, except you're in it. I can't say much more than that. Free for Windows, runs great on Crossover. Fucking beautiful.
When playing Mass Effect 2 make sure you to stick to either Paragorn or Renegade or risk not unlocking the important speech options for the important conversations. I went half and half my first playthrough and lost the loyalty of one of my squad because they were in an argument and I was forced to choose between the two. That said, this game is awesome. Its a huge improvement over the first game, which is still a great game even today and is worth being played through at least once just for the story.
Anyone else ever have serious HDMI cord issues with their PS3? I switch my cord between my system and a Popcorn Hour. For a while everything worked fine. Then the other day the signal started fucking up when it was connected to my PS3. It would crackle and fuzz and lose signal repeatedly. I tried the two beep reset as well as testing the output settings at the TVs 1080i standard but the same crackling sound and fuzz occurs and I cannot get a High Def signal. It only seems to output the normal low def signal through the HDMI cables but no high def. The fuck?
I've had the same HDMI cable connected between my TV and my PS3 for the last year or so. Cheap ass 6 feet for $30 cable. Haven't had any problems whatsoever yet.
Just a little more on that. Any cord you get for free with anything you buy, is cheap. If you have issues with it replace it. Seriously those are the cheapo cables, they only put them in there because they can get them for five cents. At the same time you do not need the 100 dollar cable either, unless you are watching blu-ray's on some of the top tv's out there. You really don't need high performance cables. Just my 2 cents though, whatever.
Couple things: First, I have a brother that works at Best Buy. He gets items at cost, which means he can get things like $30 HDMI cables for something like $5. Basically, what I am saying, is if you know someone who works at a place like Best Buy and offers employee discounts like that, talk to them about hooking you up. HDMI cables (and, honestly, most cables) are THE most overpriced items you buy. My brother actually buys them as gifts for birthdays and things like that. Second, I downloaded Mega Man 10. It is fucking brutal so far. I've beaten every Mega Man game, and in fact I consider myself very good at them. That being said, this game is kicking my ass. If you want a real challenge and loved the shit out of those old 8-bit Mega Man games like me, I highly recommend it.
My understanding of HDMI cables was to basically buy whatever's cheapest (up to a certain point), because it either works or it doesn't. As this little graphic explains, "with HDMI being a digital signal, sending a string of 1's and 0's, it either works perfectly or not at all." With that in mind, I'm inclined to think your (Kubla Kahn) problem is not with the cable, but the way you describe it it really sounds like it is the cable. To sum up: I have no idea what your problem is, but I wouldn't worry about buying really expensive HDMI cables.
Im not a 100 percent on the cause still but I finally got it working with some tinkering with the settings. But I still couldn't tell you if it was the PS3, cable, Tv, gremlins, ect.
TBH, if you switch out quite a bit, I'd consider getting an HDMI switch box. The setup here has an Xbox 360, PS3, and BluRay/home theater system all ran into a switch box. Never had an issue in over a year with anything... except since the switch box auto senses whatever device you turned on last, you have to remember to turn on the theater system before the console if you want the surround sound speakers going. For cables, just keep an eye on slickdeals.net, they routinely post deals like this.
I'm posting this here since it's a problem with my XBL. I have a Verizon cell phone and whenever I'm online playing something using XBL, my cell service goes to shit, it seems like the wireless connection jams the signal or something. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I've had problems with my piece of shit Olevia tv since day one through HDMI. First I had the "blinking problem" which I learned was pretty much Sony and my tv's fault. Sony's HDCP bullshit is waiting for the "handshake" from my tv, which doesn't come fast enough for Sony's liking so the signal blinks in and out. The only solution I found was to unplug and plug in the cable, which worked about half the time. After it stopped blinking it'd be fine. then I started getting the static you describe. The signal would blink on and off, but all I was getting was a screen filled with fuzz and static. After trying everything I could think of I finally broke down and bought a component cable, which sucks because the ps3 doesn't upconvert dvds through it. Games and blu-rays look fine though. At this point, I still don't know what is at fault. My ps3 has worked flawlessly with the other 5 tvs I've tried it with so I'm thinking it's more likely the shitty Olevia. Still, the blinking problem is not an isolated incident. I've also heard trying a v 1.3 hdmi cable fixed the problem, but that didn't work for me.
If you are looking for a fun, open world, fuck shit up everywhere you go and have fun doing it, then look no further than Just Cause 2. You are a CIA operative tracking down your mentor who went rogue in the island country of Panau. Your objective is to find him and cause as much chaos on the island as humanly possible. I've been playing it for about 8 hours thus far and have only unlocked 38 out of 350+ locations. Supposedly the game itself is 400+ square miles of area to explore. One thing that made me especially giddy, the Island from Lost is there, complete with a Hatch and everything. Second, you can record and post your own videos on YouTube from the game, the following one is just something I made fucking around yesterday.