The evening Inbox has more of readers’ podcast recommendations, as well as a plug for Crackle on Xbox Live. To add your own comments to the Inbox simply email us at
Late replyHope I’m not too late but my first thought for this Hot Topic was a remake of the Dreamcast version of Jet Set Radio, but then I remembered Blast Corps on the Nintendo 64. Both original games with sublime gameplay but given Rrare’s output since they parted from Nintendo, together with Smilebit now making the Mario & Sonic Olympic games tie-ins, I don’t think I’d trust either developer with money up front in the hope they could recapture some of their lost magic.Then I remembered Shadowrun on the SNES. I don’t know who made it but I loved this game, it was my first taste of a role-playing game, still my favourite genre after all these years. The Shadowrun game’s universe had magic and technology, big guns and voodoo fetishes you bought from shamen, it was just awesome.This is the game I would willingly pay money upfront to play a HD version of, whether it be isometric top down or first/third person view as long as it was handled properly. Happy, happy memories. The SNES really was an excellent little console when you think about it.mitchellGC:Shadowrun on the SNES was by what became Krome Studios Melbourne (who also made 8-bit classics The Hobbit and The Way Of The Exploding Fist), but unfortunately they were shut down last year. Your email was timed stamped 9.23pm on Friday, when we’re glad to say we weren’t around. These other Hot Topic letters were even laterâ¦I too would like to see another Legacy Of Kain game. Being a big fan of the series since the original Blood Omen on PS one. The way Defiance ended left it open for another sequel. Why wait nine years to finish this off? C’mon Square Enix give us fans what we want and that is to see how it all ends.need tree fiddy I too do agree with a Terranigma sequel but the game I would most see reinvented is Turrican, the music done right in an old school way with HD visuals and Metroidvania type play style would be a dream. Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network would be an ideal platform for this, Inbox magic work.Killingchristar (gamertag)PS: Dark Souls ladders are the bomb, long and accurate body movements, almost as good as Snake Eater!Games I would pay upfront for would be Battletoads, loved the original on the SNES. Never could get passed the jet ski level tho’. Also Zombies Ate My Neighbors is another classic that would work well on the 3DS, and a new Desert Strike just like the original on the Mega Drive.Nend (PSN ID)Sorry I’m a bit late for the weekend topic. I would happily pay over £1,000 for a new Panzer Dragoon role-playing game. Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of my favourite ever games and nowhere near enough people got to play it. I know it will never happen, but I can dream.VietnamvetThe final frontierSome interesting comments from the weekend Hot Topic, which reaffirmed some of my views on the games of tomorrow. For some time now I’ve yearned for a good space combat simulator, preferably set in the Star Wars universe. I previously mentioned I thought space combat may see a resurgence in the next gen, and judging by some of the enthusiasm on display this weekend, it stands a genuine chance – in the right developers hands of course. More powerful hardware could give developers scope to show more ambition, and portraying a sense of speed in space is a hurdle I’m yet to see overcome, other than on the big screen.Mass Effect may have filled a small sci-fi void this gen, but full-on space battles is where it’s at, and the potential for team based multi-player is obvious. The honeymoon period for hyper realistic military shooters is almost over – look at the growing apathy towards Call of Duty – there is a gap in the market to be exploited.Escapism – so often overlooked by a number of developers who instead choose to focus on realism. As we all know, escaping reality is one of the major draws of gaming. The growing anticipation for a Call Of Duty set in the future is a good indicator. Popular genres will come and go, but unlike the first person shooter which has seen some significant strides over recent years, the space combat arena has been largely ignored. Could it be in line to undergo a similar evolution? I hope so, watch this space…Up4Banter
Childhood memoriesJust thought I’d let you know about two classic PS one games I’ve recently re-acquired called Nightmare Creatures 2 and Apocalypse. Nightmare Creatures 2 first holds a lot of sentimental value to me as I remember back when I was six or seven years old and my father playing it repeatedly while I watched him. It was his favourite game and he loved it dearly so he was quite upset when three years later he decides to try it again when the disc became unreadable and broken.After that he fell out of gaming and the only times he actually plays games these days are five-minute killers on his HTC. He was in his mid ’30s when he used to play it and I’m still a bit taken aback that he played games then. It is a true classic with a challenging difficulty setting and such addictive and gory gameplay. If any fellow GCers have played this game before please share your thoughts on it.The other game, Apocalypse was made by the Tony Hawk game developers Neversoft; just before they made the first Tony Hawk game. It is a stand out as it’s one of the few video games that features the voice and likeness of Bruce Willis , complete with humorous one liners. It is a fun shoot ’em-up with platforming as well, that can sometimes be tedious on the later levels but overall very fun. I used to play this game in my early childhood and just hearing the music from the prison level floods me with nostalgia.On a side note I’ve seen some trailers for the upcoming Journey, what with the release date finally confirmed, and it looks to be the third downloadable game I’ll buy after inFamous: Festival Of Blood and Crysis.moham-24 (PSN ID <- It's Back! Good old PSN)Crackle and pop cultureI just wanted to echo other readers’ sentiments on releasing yearly Assassin’s Creed games. Although technically good games, you have to question whether there’s room for the one development team to implement much in the way of new ideas and innovation. It’s surely why all the games since (and maybe even before) number two just seem to be almost the exact same games with no real evolution. I never bought any after two, as I just don’t have the time or inclination to keep up with them now and it doesn’t help that they keep piling more on.I also just wanted to recommend Crackle on Xbox Live to anyone that hasn’t tried it yet. There’s some rubbish stuff on there, but also some great stuff like some cult films and great animes, and animations such as Viper’s Creed, Samurai X and the Starship Troopers CGI series. And best of all, it’s completely free (if you’re on Gold membership anyway)! Well worth a look.During your interview with BioWare GC, did you ask, or did they mention if they had gotten rid of the awful planet scanning from Mass Effect 2? It killed my will to replay through the game and slowed the pace down to catatonic levels.Spartas EdgeGC:He did confirm it was gone, yes. But he wouldn’t say what it was replaced with.On conditionI purchased EA’S Bulletstorm after a GC reader recommended it last week, loaded it all up and a very, very long terms and conditions message comes up. I started to read a bit and it said I must agree to EA being able to collect and share personal information of mine with third parties, without accepting this I couldn’t even get to the title screen! Needless to say I’m absolutely disgusted by this invasion of my privacy, no wonder several GC readers have noticed a link between EA games and hacked Xbox Live accounts! I promptly put the disc straight back in its case (I’ll sell it to CEX) and I shall never, ever purchase an EA game again.ADAMS 6 LEGEND (gamertag)A bit late to the party I know but, I recently picked up Bulletstorm and it is awesome! I can’t remember the last time I have had this much fun from a first person shooter. The skill shots are awesome and the combat is meaty and satisfying. Obviously People Can Fly have borrowed a lot of the mechanics from Gears Of War, but leashing an enemy, shooting him up and then kicking him into a giant cactus or other such insane moves is amazing fun.The four-player online co-op Anarchy mode is brilliant too, basically the same as Horde mode from Gears Of War. Except you need to do skill shots to earn enough points, not just killing all enemies. There is also Echoes mode where you replay missions from the campaign and try and set high scores on online leaderboards. Great fun and can be bought pretty cheap now. Heartily recommend. If anyone wants to play co-op in Bulletstorm let me know.Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)/4811-7356-3183 (3DS)Radio timesI’d recommend IGN’s Gamescoop, Beyond and Knockin Boots (not games but sex and relationship advice from IGN team. Very funny). For UK, PSM3’s podcast. It can be a bit irregular in release but is great and Eurogamer’s podcast. Weekend Confimed (found on Shacknews) with Garnett Lee (used to be on 1up). It’s long but packed with good stuff.SupplyNCommand’s recommendations in his podcast feature were excellent. I was listening to some of them already, but the Cane and Rinse podcast in particular is especially engaging. I felt compelled to mention some podcasts that were not on his list that readers might also be interested in.That Video Game Podcast is a brilliant weekly episode produced by three American gamers. This Podcast Contains Spoilers with Evan Killham (pretty self explanatory). Also our very own Videogamer.com,a very funny and informative show. Add to that Xbox World 360 and PSM3 podcasts and those long boring trips out walking or driving will zip by.Jeff DelvesPS: I also got into podcasts because my car stereo malfunctioned, spooky that!I want to say thank you for posting my reader’s feature at the weekend. I sent it a few weeks ago and every weekend I excitedly went to GC Metro only to find my feature hadn’t been used. As an impatient person, this weekend I had no expectation that my article would be posted and was delighted to see it on the main page. I hope fellow GCers found it helpful and will try a few of the suggestions. One podcast I left out (as I incorrectly assumed it had ended) was Joypod – presented by Spong.com. I won’t go into much detail but this podcast is usually very funny. I would recommend GCers download the recent clip show (celebrating its fifth anniversary) which was uploaded on 06-Feb-2012. Listeners will know from their reaction to these clips whether the podcast is for them or not but I love it. Anyway, thanks again for posting my feature and I look forward to submitting more over the coming months.SupplyNCommand (gamertag)/Angry_Cadaver (PSN ID)PS: A thank you also to the kind comments posted below the article.GC:Thanks for sending it. We always try to use as many reader’s features as we can, but sometimes there can be a bit of a wait for them to go up if others seem more time sensitive.Busy monthThough I’m sure it must be manic on your end, I’d just like to say what a joy it is to have so much content to read on GC as of late due to the PS Vita launch. Keep up the good work, gang. Also, a shout out to a most helpful reader’s feature by SupplyNCommand. These recommendations will surely see me through many a lonely night shift.Daniel SavagePS: Can’t wait for your interview with Sakaguchi’s moustache.DoubleplusgoodRE: Callum Jarvis Jones. I think you meant George Orwell, not Orson Welles. Yes sorry about that, got caught up in my own excitable letter there, but the names are similarEric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) -1984 – bookGeorge Orson Welles – Citizen Kane -filmInteresting to note though is how influential some of his literature has seeped into the gaming world, with games like Half-Life 2, etc. Which kind of makes me think of the way our minds will be eventually forced to like downloadable content and a disc-free future, and actually like it!AlucardInbox also-ransI keep on reading that Assassin’s Creed III is going to be in the American Revolution but, after getting the stories of Ezio and Altair done why don’t Ubisoft just stick to the Desmond story and not go back in time when they don’t need to? I know people don’t like the Desmond arc, but I don’t mind them.Anthony GroganSnake can only see through one eye, that’s why first person view is in 2D as opposed to 3D. A nice little touch I think.RyuheiSasagawa (gamertag)I love my GC I do. And I just got an awesome new Android Tablet, and I’m looking for a smooth way to keep up to date with you. I can’t find an app, or an official RSS feed. I am rubbish at this, so maybe could point me in the right direction, or maybe there’s some fan service one?If not, Why not!?~NeilGC:There’s a RSS link on our main page, we think it still works.
Do you think Capcom will port Resident Evil: Revelations to the PS Vita or is it a 3DS exclusive?J.BGC:It’s a 3DS exclusive, but whether it will always stay that way remains to be seenâ¦This week’s Hot TopicWith Sony’s PlayStation Vita due out this Wednesday in the UK, the topic for this weekend’s Inbox seems fairly obvious: what are your impressions of the portable and do you intend to buy one?What do you think of the hardware itself and does it represent good value for money? Is the addition of the twin analogue sticks and touch controls a significant step forward? Are the graphics impressive to you and are there are any other features you would’ve liked it to have? In terms of the games what do you think of the launch line-up, and have you played the PS Vita at all prior to its launch? What forthcoming games are you looking forwards to and what do you hope gets announced? Do you think the PS Vita will be a success and do you think its greatest rival will be the 3DS or smartphones?
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