Dark Mirage

@Courtney

Personally I thought it was junk. The pace was agonizingly slow and the art direction dreadfully dull.

And I don't mean slow as in I'm ADHD addled FPS gamer. I mean it was slow as in menu operation lacks zip, the game needs continuous confirmation of everything, navigation takes too long, combat feels pointlessly long, etc.

It's no Wizardry 7.

I was pretty sure it had less to do with natural disasters and more to do with the fact that competitors are offering comparable, or better, products without Sony's premium pricing. Or their ridiculous lock on proprietary formats.

@PointlessPuppies

Of course they do. Any franchise would. That's the point of a franchise.

The difference is that Nintendo recycles their content with reverence, respect, and quality. They also don't do it frequently so as to kill any nostalgic factor it may carry (when is the last time you saw that Tanooki suit in a new game huh?).

Sega, on the other hand, regularly takes that which they hope gamers will remember fondly the most and then proceed to cram it into whichever hideous game they've created for the year. Sonic Team doesn't take a damn break. They just funnel half-assed content down a pipe annually. Sega doesn't take the time to carefully develop anything, they continually misinterpret fan feedback (or simply laugh in the face of it. I can't decide which is more true), they use the same damn references every time (there were more Genesis titles than Sonic 1 and 2) , and they continually insist on adding new characters or clumsy titles with more than one gameplay style.

tl;dr, Nintendo has its shit together. Sega doesn't.

Looks cool. If it plays like a really good FPS, then I'm fine with it.

Honestly, the classic kind of Syndicate game has no place on modern consoles. They're not suited to it. It would, however, be a perfect fit on the PC or iPad. Plus, you could easily accomplish that sort of title on an indie budget.

I would absolutely love to play a title similar to classic Syndicate on the go.

I'm not even remotely interested... What the hell happened anyways?

Max used to be a desperate, broken, ex-cop noir hero. He visited secret labs, had bizarre dream sequences, dealt with Norse mythology, uncovered conspiracies, etc. Now he's what? A drunk in Brazil? And before that he fought the mafia?

This series has tread so far from its roots. The hero isn't even the same character, even if he's been stamped with the same title. I understand the evolution of a character, but they completely removed the atmosphere and intrigue.

At this point I'm really just excited for the phone port. Never mind this awkward sequel.

I'll agree to disagree this time.

The difference he's talking about is fine when comparing home consoles, but we're talking about handhelds here. I'll buy a home console for a more complete experience, yes. But on the go, you're really only looking to be carrying ONE device. There is only so much room to carry around a phone, wallet, and game device, without also needing a bag to carry them in.

My personal opinion is that Nintendo will do fine in the end. They won't be as successful as they once were, but they'll survive. I say that because their market has, and likely always will, focus more on children than adults. Children don't carry around cellphones very often, so a DS works well with that age group. But adults are much less likely to carry around a dedicated portable when they have a phone on hand, so the Vita is going to have a hell of a time finding a solid market. Especially considering how damn big that thing is.

So dedicated handhelds will survive... but they're going to be neutered. The reign of the dedicated gaming hendheld is pretty much over.

@GuardianLegend

I was under the impression that the JAPANESE people wanted the wifearm. Certainly that feels like a Japanese plot twist.

@BiCuriousGeorge

Alright. Well I'm going to rent it anyways. I was just looking at the review screens and wondering why the heck the game looked to have the same old, boring brown environments if the review was claiming otherwise.

"...Colorful, visual palette..."

*Looks at screenshots. Sees an overwhelming abundance of grey and brown*

Um... Okay... I'm not sure if you just picked bad screens or what, but it still likes the same old, drab Gears palette to me.

@Gooblechev

It is entirely dependent on the genre. I'm perfectly decided that phones WERE meant for gaming! ....But only specific kinds of gaming.

The problem is that certain developers feel you can somehow create a game like Sonic or Halo for a phone and it's acceptable. It's not. There will never ever be an FPS with purely touch screen controls that works as well as a console or PC title. On the iPad you can do a lot better thanks to a bigger screen, but even that only takes you so far.

The Xperia Play is the only device out there that successfully bridges that gap... But, unfortunately, it needs to do it better.