GameStationX

I see that you're a Batman fan by your avatar, as such you likely know about the concept of Elseworlds, alternate realities, and different adaptations and interpretations. Take the Spider-Man films for example, they're based on various bits of 616 Marvel universe storylines, but they have their own set of standards and concepts.

Or alternatively, and easier to follow for those not familiar with comic lore: Spider-Man movie games are "based on" the films, but that doesn't mean they match them scene for scene. In fact, they're forced to do alternate variations of scenes so as not to step on the toes of the films.

Also, even if you put that information aside my previous point stands. Wolverine's healing factor doesn't fight off symbiote possession, as he has become a host to the Venom symbiote in the past. It merely fought off the symbiote "virus", a variation also known as the "Venom bomb".

A couple of things:

1) Wolverine has had a symbiote bonded to him twice. The first time in the Venom ongoing series and it actually possessed him. The second time was in Mighty & New Avengers where it wasn't a true symbiote, but rather a symbiote virus whichis healing factor fought off.

2) This game is only based on Marvel continuity, so things that are true in the 616 universe aren't necessarily true here. Although as stated above it's NOT a continuity error.

3) Non-movie-based Marvel games have been notoriously awesome. X-Men: Legends 1 & 2, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 1 & 2 for PS1/N64/Dreamcast were all released to great critical acclaim.

4) Even those Marvel movie games that were subpar had their strong elements. Spider-Man 2 for example was quite well-received. Spider-man 3 improved on the previous game in every way, but suffered due to rampant bugs caused by a rushed release.

So basically it comes down to this, the games suck when they try and rush them to the market to tie-in to the films. This game doesn't have that problem. Nor did the other well-received Marvel titles.

Oh, and on top of all that they lost Peter Moore to EA as well. I loved Peter Moore, he was an absolute delight. =(

Holy mother of god what is Microsoft DOING!? First they shut down FASA Interactive, the team that created Crimson Skies, the MechWarrior series, and Shadowrun. Then they let Activision buy Bizarre Creations out from under them, the studio responsible for Project Gotham Racing (Microsoft should have bought Bizarre years ago). Then they let Bungie loose (although still with an exclusivity contract). And now BioWare, creator of the critically acclaimed Jade Empire and soon to be acclaimed Mass Effect, has been bought by EA.

So I ask again, what the hell does Microsoft think they're doing!? While every other publisher is bringing new studios into the fold (even Nintendo bought one recently, and they never do that)... Microsoft is losing the ones they actually had a hold over. And it's not an infrequent thing, this is the 4th one they've lost within the last couple of months. And sure, they might not have owned BioWare, but they could have at any time, and they should have. It was the ideal choice.

I'm usually a pretty calm guy, but this is just ridiculous. Now what we have is Microsoft with fewer high quality game studios, Sony and Nintendo with a legion of developers, and EA and Activision buying everything that moves, and then turning the products to crap. So one final time, I must ask, what the goddamn hell do they think they're playing at? Anyone with any measure of logic would have bought BioWare, and Bizarre.

And as for Bungie, well, that was actually a pretty good deal on both parts. Now Bungie has the freedom to create what they like (not just Halo, Halo, and more Halo), and Microsoft gets the exclusive rights to their productions. And on top of that, for Bungie to separate they would have had to buy it from Microsoft, meaning MS got payed for something they owned, which in turns leading to Bungie being more creative, and Microsoft still getting to publish all their games.

Amen to that, they're the best damn comedy group around. Even if they haven't been active as a group for years, ha.

Now on the subject of the price drop... WOOHOO! It may not be a deal to you Americans, but we've had to pay $499 +tax before now. So while we may be paying $50 more than you guys, it's still a hell of a lot better than it was. And that's good enough for me.

Errr... that's not really what I meant. I'll probably never really play the game, but the fact of the matter is that *A* free game is better than *NO* free game. Even if you don't like it, you could sell the game and make a little bit off money off of your purchase.

If someone comes up to you and offers you a car for a lower price than you've seen that car anywhere else, that's a deal. But then if they say they want to give you a free blender as well, where's the harm? You get a cheaper car AND a free blender. A less pricey console AND a free game. Free = good no matter what you're getting.

This is what I've been waiting for since the Xbox 360 launched. I love all the next-gen consoles, but the 360 is my console of choice from a value/game/etc perspective. Come shortly after Christmas time I'm almost certain I'll finally have the console.

I've been waiting for better hardware (IE: the extra heatsinks, the 65nm chips, and other internal revisions), better backwards compatibility, stronger firmware, and a price drop; as most people have. And now all of those are either finally happening, or on there way within the next couple of months.

Beyond that I'm pleasantly surprised to see that not only are they dropping the Premium's price by $50, but they're packing in a game for added value. With the Wii I knew I was paying a little extra for Wii Sports, regardless if I wanted to. But with this, the price is lower AND there's a game, it's a win win scenario. Plus there's the whole extended warranty bit, so even if the hardware does malfunction, it will be fixed in no time.

Only two things could possibly make this better for me: a larger HDD (40-50GBs is my ideal number), and another $50 knocked from the price. All in all though, I'm rather pleased. I've been waiting a long time for this, and now finally the time has come.

Heh, this is good news for everyone. It will mean more money for the company that created the game, and a chance for a new user-base to play what may or may not be a great game (it's up to the individual). Multi-platform benefits everyone, the publisher, developers, and consumers.

Well said, Michael. I have a PS2, ,Wii and Xbox (soon to be a 360) because they each offer something unique that you can't get on the other. Brandism is just awful, judging products just because they're published by a certain company... that's not what being a gamer is about. It's about the games, not the brand.

Well, when I say huge strides, I mean huge strides for Microsoft. Which is to say, are significantly smaller stride-wise than a Japanese brand. What I mean is that their progress will always be hindered in comparison to the other brands, because the Japanese hate foreign products, but that they're still making progress in their own way.

As for Mistwalker, I'm not 100% on this, but I believe they have no choice but to stay exclusive to Microsoft console-wise (handhelds are a different story, as even Microsoft's in-house studios like Rare are allowed to develop for the DS). But anywho, I believe they have no choice but to stay with Microsoft due to the fact that MS funded their studio. It was a joint venture.

As for Eternal Sonata, I personally believe that it will turn out multi-platform, but as of now the only real proof is that the ESRB listed it for the 360 and PS3, and then removed it from the list entirely just as quickly.

Back on the strides for a moment. What I was really talking about wasn't a lot of huge advances, but rather many little ones that are slowly (it's a gradual process) changing the opinion of the Japanese market. Taking the Blue Dragon, the game and anime, for example again... the J-gamers see that it's buy Sakaguchi, Toriyama, and Nobuo Uematsu... they see it for Xbox 360 only and think that perhaps it's not such a terrible product after all.

Perhaps it's not all FPS games. Then maybe one kid tells another that he got a 360 and the other kid reacts with "What!? That stupid foreign gaming system!?" and the first kids explains that it actually does have good games, and the 2nd kid's opinion changes.

It's a small difference, but if one consumer changes the opinion of another, and so on, then eventually the stigma will disappear. I don't think it will ever fully disappear in this generation though. It is my personal belief that the Xbox brand won't be fully accepted until their 3rd console. Again, it's a very gradual process.