.

Dear Capcom:

Screw you.

Love;
Nemo

I just don't learn... I keep using my 60GB PS3 to play PS2 games and it has a habit of punishing me for it. I can't tell you how many times it has corrupted memory cards on me. It doesn't matter what game it seems because the cause of it seems to be random. The issue I have is that thisproblem has been around since the launch of the goddamn unit and Sony never bothered to address it. And honestly playing PS2 games on a PS2 on my TV is not easy on the eyes. The PS3's upscaling abilities make these games tolerable on a HD screen. I *ALMOST* lost over 30 hours in my Ar tonelico II journey. Thankfully I didn't shut off after I last saved and went to save again. When I went to save it said something about the operation wasn't able to be completed and none of my files showed up. So I changed cards and was able to save... while I lost one of the files I saved for a replay for the multiple endings I at least was able to save what I have done overall. It burns me that this keeps happening and that Sony doesn't fully support their products like they should. BC is a big deal to a lot of people. And I find it to be an important feature for me. Just like it was with the PS2 to play PSX games. About 98% of the time I am using my PS3, it's for PS2 games. I didn't expect Sony to drop the ball this gen and not have the software that would con me into playing. After I get through Ar tonelico II I think I am just going to disconenct my PS3 until something worthwhile come out on the PS3. Sony makes it very difficult for me to like their unit. Outside of being a decent Blu-Ray player, I can't think of one positive thing about it (BC would be something positive if it was reliable and safe).

Resident Evil 5 has caused a Resident Evil fan like myself to be very concerned with the direction the series is taking. While I feel Resident Evil 4 is a great game, it just wasn't a proper Resident Evil title. I think the engine crafted for Resident Evil 4 is awesome. But Mikami chose to amplfy the overall action of the series and heavily scaled back on the rest of the elements that won over millions of fans for years. Not only that, progression in the game is extremely too linear. The new engine doesn't make it impossible to create a classic-style Resident Evil. And since the new engine is overall better in every sense, they can apply thataction heavy mentality that Resident Evil 4 has while maintaining that classic-RE design. I can't tell you how much I pondered the possibilties of Resident Evil 2 remade with Resident Evil 4's engine and how much more it could improve the overall experience and keep all the elements that made the series famous. The series needed a kick in the ass in terms of gameplay and design, but is this direction what the series needed? I personally don't think so. And I am sure many others feel the same way. Resident Evil 4 wasn't a proper Resident Evil title, but it seems Resident Evil 5 is even less proper. Resident Evil 4 was easy to forgive and enjoy as aResident Evil fan, though it did turn off many fans of the series. Resident Evil 5 is almost offensive to it's roots. I am not at all judging the quality of Resident Evil 5, I have faith it will be a great game in the end. But as a Resident Evil fan, it's very difficult for me to get excited by it's release.

Surfing various Game forums for PSP games and the amount of people openly admitting to running games by ISO [Since they don't own the actualy UMD] is truly depressing. These people declare love for these games yet don't even show the developers any support. They complain about some games not running properly due to their custom firmware settings and such. Buy the goddamn games. Just because you claim you can't afford to buy them doesn't give you any right to steal them. Piracy on the PSP seems to be worse than the likes of the DS [Which has a much easier method of doing so]. It's gamers like this that are the cause for the lack of support for the handheld. I think the DS has better overall software, but the PSP has plenty of good stuff on it. And it's suffering in software sales since it's fanbase doesn't want to buy anything for it. I don't think they realize that they will be the reason why the unit dies.

I know you guys will agree with me. They went above and beyond their duty with the latest upcoming release.

I just got DJ MAX TRILOGY today for PC. Not only does it sport some of the best packaging for a PC game, it has the best use of DRM protection I have seen to date. Rather then using measures that annoy or cause problems, Pentavision uses a physical method to protect their game. The game comes packed with a USB flashdrive they call a 'Profile Key'. Without this Profile Key present, the game will refuse to load. No messy software or install limitations. Just a simple USB flashdrive. I don't like dealing with that DRM BS with it comes with PC gaming which is why I keep my PC gaming rather limited. DJMT provides a simple way to deal with it and I don't mind having to use this USB method when I want to play the game. I don't know if this is the first time it's been used in PC gaming. But it's the first time I have seen it.

DJ Max is easily one of my favorite franchises to date. I have been happy with all the releases so far on the PSP. But now they have a arcade release that is making it's way to the US this month. And after watching some videoes of it in action I got really excited for it. So what are my plans to play it? Buy it. The touch screen controls look awesome in action. And I am a total sucker for the series. It's all songs I can find in the PSP releases, but I honestly don't care. I gotta get it.

In release heavy seasons [Like right now], gaming almost feels like a part-time job for me. While I enjoy the hobby, but the amount of games flowing into stores right now make me feel I need to invest as much time as I can into them to keep up with the onslaught of releases. All in the while hoping I don't burn myself out on them. I praise companies that push back titles they originally had coming out this season into next year. There is no reason to dump so many games in these short three months. It's counter productive to sales. More so with the way things are right now. People only have so much they can spend on games. And only so much time to invest in them.

I finally finished up all the achievements in Golden Axe. Still chipping away at Saint's Row 2 and Dead Space. I still need to work on PURE more. I haven't even had a chance to play Fable 2 yet. Quantum of Solace has been a pleasent surprise for me. I have also been working on getting Gold Stars in everything in World Tour on Expert while chipping away that million dollars I need for that one achievement. And my portable RPG situation is quite messy right now. The madness doesn't end. :P

I have never been shy about expressing my grievances with GameSpot. This is no longer the site that I use to love. So why am I still here? This community is the reason. Without it I would've left awhile ago. GameSpot use to be a gaming site I use to view as a site that other sites wish they could be. News has never been their strong point. But no other site could touch them with their combination of features, community, quality reviews, editorials and editors comunicating with their community. GameSpot was in it's prime when Greg Kasavin was running the show. He wasn't perfect in how he handled things. But he was a great write with a great passion for gaming. He kept the quality of the content on the site at a very high level. Since his departure the site has fallen into a downward spiral with no signs of slowing down. Features have been weak and reviews falling along the lines of wordy user reviews. To make matters worse, a huge rift has formed between the editors and this community. And a lot of the old faces this community knew and loved are gone. Being replaced by faces that no one knows a goddamn thing about. They are just names at the bottom of their work. GameSpot is just another gaming site now.

Currently GameSpot is trending water to keep up with getting typical content on the site. The site no longer has a draw to it that makes it different from other big gaming sites. They worked so hard to merge the community and the main site they couldn't be any further apart. A lot of users in the community focus on that and could careless for the actual site. The community was closer to the site when the two parts were seperate. GameSpotting brought the editors down to a personal level with their users. Those names became faces with stories behind them. Faces we understood where they came from when it came to their reiviews. They ended up killing off that segment and replaced it with something similar that was quite interesting. I forget the name of it. But it had different editors posting editorials on a regular basis about a variety of topics. Ranging from their concerns in the idustry to game related personal stories. And all these editors would pop up in various features that ran on the site. They ended that feature when Journals were introduced to the community features. That is when this rift started to form.

GameSpot knows about these problems. They make excuses for the way things are. Excuses don't fix anything. Greg never made excuses, He got the site's act together and addressed it head on. He didn't sidestep issues, he was honest. GameSpot needs a little more honesty. A little more pride and honor. I think Ricardo is a great guy. I really do. But if he is struggling to get typical content up on the site at it's current level of quality, is he the right man for the job? Or is he not getting the proper support he needs to properly maintain the site? Do I care? I could careless honestly. I don't want an excuse, I want action. Greg left this place at a high point. Can Ricardo pull something out of somewhere and help GameSpot rise to it's former glory from the ashes of the burnt mangled corpse that Jeff left behind? I honestly hope so, but things are looking bleak.