Definately start with Beyond Good and Evil, then proceed immediately to Katamari Damacy.  Two amazing games right there.

Shania Twain is a singer?  I just thought she was eye candy.  

For whiteboy:







Yummy.

[Burnout 3]

Say hello to my little friend: Crash mode in Burnout 3!  Take turns trying to cause the biggest pile-up or simultaneously cause pure havoc!  It only supports 2 players at once (8 players switch-off) for that, but really, there is nothing more fun to watch than insane crashes full of twisting metal and explosions.

We also have tons of fun with the Road Rage racing mode, where the objective isn't to come in first, it's a race to see who can take out 10 opponents first.  Always a good time when you're bumping your friends into walls!

I'll second that one.  My brother and his wife came over on Monday, and we spent close to 5 hours playing Burnout 3.  Road Rage is so fun and easy to pick up that even Mrs. Gratch & my sis-in-law (who detests video games of any sort) were having a great time with it.

It does have more of everything. The issue with the game is that it takes too long to get to the races. I don't want to spend 5 minutes driving around the city trying to find a race. I just want to mod my car, pick an option in the menu for what kind of race, and then actually race. I tried to like it. I really did, but I got so bored looking for things to do I just couldn't take it anymore.

That was exactly my problem with it too.  Plus, after playing Burnout 3, crashing cars with no damage just seems so silly.

congrats!  Never had that much at once.  You must have been giddy.  You got some fun gaming ahead with those.

Absolutely. Amazingly, I have spent more time with NFS2 than any of the others so far, its just got me hooked.

Just out of curiosity, had you played NFSU before trying NFSU2?  Nearly everyone I talked to that played the original hated the second game (myself included), but it seems that those who skipped the original like NFSU2.

Just curious...

Are all the email things that entertaining?

Absolutely.  The single funniest thing on the entire intarweb.

I've been considering the new DVD, to support the Brothers Chap.

I'm pretty sure I'm getting that for X-mas from Mrs. Gratch.  Something arrived yesterday from homestarrunner.com that was about the size of a DVD box.  It's either that or a Homestar hat, which would also be good.

Transformers.

Geeeeforce!

Isn't that from "Battle of the Planets"?  Been forever since I've seen it, so I could be wrong.

I'll throw up an super easy one, cause it's the only thing that comes to mind:

See You Space Cowboy

[/quote]

I love Ninja Scroll as well.  If you can handle a bit of the ultra-violence, NS is awesome.  Avoid the series though, it's pretty awful.  Here's a couple other recommendations...

Must see:
-  Spirited Away (if you only see one anime, see this one)
-  The Cowboy Bebop series
-  Princess Mononoke
-  Akira
-  Vampire Hunter D (& Vampire Hunter D:  Bloodlust)

Fun, but not superb:
-  Trigun series
-  Vampire Princess Miyu
-  Ranma 1/2 (more of a comedy series)
-  Metropolis (amazing artwork, weak story)
-  Castle in the Sky
-  Last Exile

I've basically given up on GIII at this point.  I refuse to spend hours and hours powerlevelling on "auto-battle" just to advance the story.    Too many other good games out there.

[you]

You're from Utah ... you figure it out.

Ummmm.  Not sure what that has to do with anything, but OK.

Were you getting your hair cut here?

There's one of these just down the street from me, but somehow I don't think Mrs. Gratch would take kindly to me making it my regular barber shop.

Almost done.  Have a couple more things to get for Mrs. Gratch and one for my brother, but that's about it.

Now if UPS would just deliver my stuff from Amazon, I'd be set.

I'll second (third?) Alice In Chains.  Most of their music is even more poignant now given Layne's downward spiral.

This year, I made it a point to track down most of the PS1 RPG's that I missed the first time around.  I played:

-  Vandal Hearts 1 & 2
-  Valkyrie Profile
-  Star Ocean 2
-  Vagrant Story
-  Legend of Mana
-  Final Fantasy Anthology (?  The one with Chrono trigger)
-  Xenogears
-  Dragon Warrior VII

I also caught up on some PC classics thanks to the PIFF thread.  

-  Grim Fandango
-  System Shock 2
-  Fallout 2
-  Dungeon Keeper 2

Probably the only game I played this year that is destined to be a classic is Beyond Good & Evil.  Too bad we'll never see a sequel.  

Nothing great.  Just my attempt to get past Mr. Hairy Ass up there.

[that]

OK, now the required power levelling is getting old.  I had to power level for close to 2 hours to get past the last boss, and just came up against a new one that is 10 levels higher than anyone in my party.  I'm guessing I'll need another 2+ hours of levelling just to have a shot at him.  

Kind of a shame, really.  The first 12-15 hours had a very nice, steady difficult  curve with some challenging battles and scenarios, but nothing that my characters couldn't get past with a little preparation and good combat tactics.  Now I'm at a point where I have no choice but to hop on the levelling treadmill if I want to continue (I'm at about 18 hours, btw.  The boss at the bottom of the "Star Door" cave north of the capital city.).  The combat system is fun, but I'm not sure if it's that fun.

I'd say none of the above as well.  A couple of them were dissapointing, but that's far different than being awful.

I think it really depends on the kid.  My friend's 4 year old son absolutely loves them, but my 8 year old niece was terrified.

[Shadow Hearts: Covenant]

Shadow Hearts:  Covenant

An absolutely fantastic game through and through.  Graphics, voice acting, story, battle system...everything was near perfect.  One of the few games I can honestly say I had fun from start to finish.

A couple close runners up:

-  Thief:  Deadly Shadows
-  Beyond Good & Evil (was released in 12/03, but I didn't play it until Feb.)
-  Burnout 3
-  Katamari Damacy
-  Growlanser Generations

Wow, you really can grow pubic hair on your back.

And as an aside...ewww.

Poor, poor compy.  We hardly knew ye.  But at least SB got a new high tech replacement.  At a slim 42 lbs., Lappy is the ultimate in portability!

I'm about 16 hours into Growlanser III and am having an absolute blast.  It does have a really old-school feel to it, so depending on your tastes that might be a turn off.  

Haven't played Baten Kaitos or KotOR2 yet (Mrs. Gratch has hinted that it will be an X-Mas present), but was thoroughly unimpressed with Star Ocean 3.  I guess I'm the complete opposite of EddiieA because I thought the graphics were bland, the voice acting was horrible, the story was juvenille, and the battle system was not fun in the least.  It is a front-runner for my Coaster of the Year at this point.

[Katamari Damacy]

Check out Katamari Damacy.  It only has single player, but it's fun.  And it's only $20.

That was what I was going to suggest.

[anything]

This is very bad for the gamer in the long term.  With no competition, Madden has no incentive to do anything to improve their games year in and year out.  They can now release a game full of bugs, a game with the most pathetic AI, a game with totally lackluster presentation...and you will have no choice but to buy it if you want NFL football.  Not that I think EA won't put effort into next year's version, but they have no incentive at all to make it the absolute best it can be.  That's not a good thing at all.

And those of us who don't like Madden and don't have X-Box Live (assuming ESPN makes a game with dowloable rosters) are pretty much screwed.  Guess I won't be playing any football games for the next 5 years.  

[selfish]

Mark my words... in a few years (hell, maybe now), Kobe will have the same rep as Barry Bonds.  Good player, absolute dickhead.

gellar

I'm pretty sure he's already got that covered.  Just need to add "Good, selfish player" and you've got him pegged perfectly.

A couple things:

-  Graphically, the X-Box is heads and shoulders above the PS2.  It looks awesome on an HDTV.  If a game is multi-platform, I will always get it for X-Box simply because it looks so much better.

-  The selection of titles is not nearly as good for X-Box, imo.  This will obviously depend on what genres you like, but there is a far greater selection of RPG's and "niche" titles (Katamari Damacy, Disgaea, Culdcept, etc.) for PS2.  X-Box is best for sports, action, and racing games and PS2 is best for platformers, RPG's, and the quirky stuff.  

-  Can't speak for the on-line features, as I don't bother with them.  The idiot to quality gamer ratio is way too high.

-  From everything I've heard, the X-Box 2 will be out sometime in 2005 and the PS3 will be released either in late 2005 or 2006.  All indicators are pointing to an X-Box release long before a PS3 launch.  

Hope that helps  

Either Bloodrayne 2 or Fallout:  BoS.   Crap, crap, and more crap.

BTW, didn't we already do a thread on this?

Anyone catch this story this morning?  Kobe is mad because Karl Malone apparently made a pass at his wife.  While it wouldn't surprise me if he did, how in the world does Kobe think he'll get any sympathy from the public?

Dude, you apparently didn't care enough about your wife not to cheat on her, so why suddenly get all concerned and possessive now?

We have 3 cats and brought a puppy into the mix earlier this year.  I really think that how they get along depends on the personality of the individual animals more than anything.  One of our cats gets along fine with the dog.  They play together, wrestle on the floor, play tag, etc.  The middle cat doesn't play wtih the dog, but seems to tolerate him fine.  No hissing or growling when the dog's around.  The third cat, however, goes completely batshit if the dog comes within 10 feet of him.  Hissing, spitting, and full-on attacking the dog.  We've had the pup almost 10 months now, and they've all just kind of settled into their roles as the friendly cat, the indifferent cat, and the psycho cat.

We were pretty lucky in that from the time Vader (the dog) was little, we trained him not to go into the basement.  So the cats can go down the stairs to "escape" from him if they need to, and we also keep their food and water down there.  We tried leaving both food dishes upstairs, but the dog ate the cat food more than his own so we had to move everything downstairs.  Don't know if something like that would be an option for you, but it's worked great for us.

I am up to level 24. At 21 started getting 3 skill points per level. The game requires you to do quite a bit of powerleveling. It basically pins you and you can't go anywhere until you level up enough to get past it. The levels come quickly and the levels matter. You can be having a tough time with something and 2 or 3 levels later you can handle it easily. If you leave a dungeon it respawns and you have to fight your way back in again. It also changes the layout. This sounds bad, but the dungeons are very simple it is impossible to get lost or to miss anything. At the end of the dungeon there is a save point and you kill the boss and you are able to proceed in the game. Although, twice now first time I got there I wasn't strong enough to win, and I had to fight my way back out, level some and come back.  

That's the point I'm at right now.  Just got to the fight with the Guardians at the top of the tower and got my ass handed to me.  Looks like I'm going to have to fight my way back up a couple times in order to be powerful enough to handle it.  Good thing the combat is fun.

[not]

Trust me, I know it's not just Utah that got the shaft.  Cal, Boise St., Auburn, also got screwed royally by this system.  If there was ever a year that screamed out for change, this is certainly it.  At least Utah gets the BCS payout, which somewhat helps to make up for the fact that we will never get a chance to prove how good this team really is.  Oh well...  

Sad thing is, had Utah not made it to the Fiesta Bowl, they would be matched up against Louisville in the Liberty Bowl.  Now that would have been a hell of a game to watch.  Two top 10 teams (not to mention the #1 and #3 offenses in the country) going head to head.  What a blast that would have been.

Quick question:

In GIII, do you ever gain more than 1 skill point (or whatever they're called) per level?  Some of these skills take 8-9 points to master, which would take forever!

College football is, at the same time, the most exciting and most anti-climactic sport in this country.  Don't even get me started about the crapfest that is the BCS.  There's too many teams with too many reasons to be pissed off this year (see my sig for example 1.  An 11-0 season and we get Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl.  You kidding me?), and it could all be solved with a playoff.

Too bad the powers that be will never let it happen.  Too much money involved.  

Yum, yum, Bumblebee,
Bumblebee tuna.
I love Bumblebee,
Bumblebee tuna.
Yum, yum Bumblebee,
Bumblebee tuna.
Love a sandwich made with Bumblebee.

"The Bumblebee Tuna Song" by Mephiskapheles.  Funny stuff.

[always]

I have a pretty large collection of game OSTs (somewhere around 150).  Since I'm mainly an RPG'er, I get most of mine as imports from Japan (E-bay is your friend).  I've found that it's much, much harder to track down soundtracks from western games.  

If a "special edition" that includes a soundtrack is released for a game, I will always pick it up.  It's never a bad thing to add more OSTs to the mix.  

Listening to "Beyond Good and Evil OST" as I type.