I feel like people are becoming interested in Resistance by default, there's nothing else whatsoever to get excited about or justify the price tag of the console. If Resistance was to be exclusive on the 360 this year, god forbid the same month as Gears of War, I don't think nearly as many people would care about it. Not to mention the developer, Insomniac, doesn't have any experience outside of the worlds of Spyro and Ratchet.

I have to admit, the only interest I have in getting my hands on a PS3 this year would to be to resell it for profit. As a machine I actually want to play games on, I'm not interested for at least another 6 months.

Yeah, I'm thinking I can manage to hold off until early 07 as well. I definately want another 360 before Bioshock and Mass Effect are released.

Under unfortunate circumstances I had to sell my Xbox 360 (or make a trade, rather), this was around the time Madden 07 was released. I haven't touched a 360 since then, and with the upcoming fall line-up I am DYING to own a 360 again. I want to play Saint's Row, I missed that one. I want to play F.E.A.R, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Splinter Cell: DA, Call of Duty 3, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Gears of War, DOAX2, Rainbow 6: Vegas... Ah it's not fair!

You really don't know what you've got until it's gone, I miss my 360 

People seriously need to stop rating this game if they haven't even logged more than 20 hours, even crummy RPG's seem good until you reach the half way mark and realize it's not worth finishing. Rating the first 10 hours of the game just seems pointless to me.

Don't forget, a lot of people have actually already played the game or at least been given a live demonstration at E3, and all those people say it's awesome.

I think some of you are taking this too far, it's not THAT horrible of a retail environment. Sure, they can pressure you with suggestive selling, but is it that difficult to interrupt them and say "Sorry, I'm not interested, please don't offer me anything else"? That would shut them up right there, and if they make some snide remark, ask to talk to that person's manager (even if it's the store manager).

Oh, and I have a tip for people who wish to make their complaints heard. There is actually an 800 number that you can call, I forget what the heck the number is though, and the number of calls is actually tallied in each district. If a district gets a lot of these calls, they go on some sort of list and the DM is given hell from the Regional Manager. I remember my DM telling me about that. So if you wan't to beat them, beat them at their own game by hurting their productivity.

Kobra said:

I call every company I do business with to bitch, moan, cry or threaten to cancel.

Ouch, where's your dignity? I mean you are right, it's a dog eat dog world out there, and you've decided to be a bitch.

Wow, some of you have some outrageous stories. You really should make an effort to talk to the district manager of the store you are shopping at if that stuff is happening. It would do a whole hell of a lot more than complaining in a message forum.

Luckily, the people in this thread complaining are actually a minority in the customer base for most of these stores. I was a store manager at both a GameStop and an EB for a while, and you guys wouldn't believe the amount of pressure I was put under to make good numbers. They basically threatened to fire a store manager if they couldn't produce good numbers (numbers meaning pre-orders, subscriptions, used game sales, guarantees, etc.). Honestly, as a manager, I didn't care too much about my net sales because as much as they wanted me to believe it, having higher sales did NOT give me more hours to work with. Like others have said, stores with 1/3 the amount of business as a high volume store gets nearly the same amount of hours. So, all I cared about were people who regularly pre-ordered or traded in and bought used games. When I say I cared about those people, I mean I treated them extremely well. Addressed them by their first name, hooked them up with a magazine from time to time, made small talk, etc. Regular shoppers who were adamant about not pre-ordering and so on just got regular joe schmoe treatment, I could care less if they ever returned. I could care even LESS if they complained about me, because the way my DM put it, if they were complaining about me being too pushy, I was doing my job. At some point, when doing interviews, I would basically give interviewees a disclaimer to let them know that it was a highly competetive environment, we're big on suggestive selling, and if you couldn't keep up you wouldn't be given any hours. I'm not trying to be an asshole about the whole situation, that's just how it works in the GS/EB world, it's a tough game to be played.

I would definately complain if I was being blatantly lied to, or being called an idiot, that's inexcusable. But otherwise, as far as all the pushy salesmanship, your best bet is to just order online if you don't want to deal with sales people.

MUST.HAVE.NEW.IMPROVED.OBLIVION..........   

From what I've read, there aren't any improvements, not even faster load times. There will be a new faction, which will most likely be available to download for the 360 version eventually, but nothing other than that.

Fuck it, I'm going to pay someone to steal me a PS3 from an unsuspecting customer walking out of a game store with one. It'll still be cheaper than what I would have to pay someone on Ebay for it.

Heh, I remember when a customer asked for Tom Hanks Pro Skater while I was working at GameStop, I about hit the floor rolling 

I'm being extremely skeptical about FF12, simply because I let myself get caught up in the FF10 excitement and ended up losing interest in it half way through, and I wouldn't touch FFX-2 with a 10-foot pole. I'll wait a few weeks after release to decide whether I will play it or not based on everyone's impressions.

I don't really look at review scores, I go off what I read in the review. This is an excerpt from the GI review that made me skeptical:

"These nagging doubts are distracting enough to keep Final Fantasy XII from ascending to the same heights as some of the previous entries..."

You would have to read the entire review to know what his doubts refer too, bit it is disheartening nonetheless.

I read the Game Informer review and it didn't seem very promising, I'm worried this one may be all flash no substance.

A friend of mine was absolutely raving out it, but he seemed more impressed with the graphics and physics more than anything.

You really gotta give it to Nintendo, they sure know how to turn a profit.

Cool article.

Some of the older point-and-click adventure games on the PC were very bizzare. Phantasmagoria and Sanitarium take the cake for me.

I know exactly how you feel man, I've quit maybe 4-5 times now but I keep coming back. It always starts with that fucking itch  Anyhow, when I decided I wanted to quit WoW and never come back, I d/e'd my epics (not like i had that many), deleted my 60 priest, uninstalled the game, and told everyone I QUIT FOREVER!! Lo and behold I came back, I even paid to have a Shaman powerleveld to 60 (I just cant stand powerleveling), I had an admin retreive my Priest and have him doing MC now, I'm raiding 3-4 nights out of the week and PVPing here and there. I've thought about quitting AGAIN, but part of my problem is I don't quit because I'm bored, I quit because I figure I'm doing my life a favor. However, knowing BC is coming out and all, I'm not even gonna bother quitting cause I know I'll be right back. :sigh: Why do drugs when you can play WoW and be healthier.

I'm not married, but my girlfriend and I are pretty close and spend a lot of time together so I can relate. I go back and forth in my own mind about whether I want her to get into gaming the way I am. I love video games, but I'll admit they have kept me from certain activities which would probably be more beneficial for me. Sometimes, because of video games, I'm too lazy to exercise, or I don't study as much as I should, or I rush home from work early because I've been dreaming about video games, or I pass on social activities. I don't really want my girlfriend to get hooked on video games and develop the same negative habits I've developed. At the same time, I know it it would be cool to be able to have conversations with her about video games, look forward to the same upcoming video games, have her play WoW with me in the evenings, help eachother when we're stuck in a particular part, and so on. She's definately shown signs of a potential video game girlfriend; I let her borrow my GameCube for a few weeks when she first moved into her apartment, she got about 13 hours into Paper Mario within a week which I thought was great progress, that's enough time to beat most console games. She also LOVEs the DS, over the weekend on our 4 hour flight to Texas, and the flight back, she put a lot of time into New Super Mario Bros. and many of it's mini-games. I've tried to get her into WoW, but simply out of principle and knowing how much time I can spend on it she won't touch the game. She gets angry when I put a raid in the evening ahead of seeing her or some other social activity, but other than that she doesn't mind my video game habit.

Most of the 3D Sonic games are too difficult to control. I gave up on Sonic Heroes because of the controls.

Almost 20 hours put into this game, I voted a 5. You gotta love JRPG's to enjoy this game, otherwise it becomes a snorefest.

I used Xfire for a few months then uninstalled it, I really didn't find too much use for it.

I didn't mind Makoto's voice,  I just can't stand Atsuma's. I switched to the Jap track about 15 hours in.

I don't know what to say really, I'm about 15 hours in and my interest is waning fast. It had such an incredible opening, but over time everything has become such a huge bore. The battle system is pretty boring, I just have the party auto battle most of the time unless its a boss enemy. I thought collecting golems would be fun, but I only use a few of them, the rest suck. The story hasn't done anything to pull me in, I don't particularly like Atsuma or any of the supporting cast of characters, and the game is in desperate need of cutscenes. I'm not talking about CGI, I just want some simple FMV cutscenes rather than two characters talking back and forth. I really would like more than implied actions, I want to see it.

I guess the reviews were right afterall... The need for something new on the 360 or wanting to love the first JRPG on the system blinded us, I'm thinking.

I'm about 15% into the game so far, still enjoying it but not as much as the first bit when I had Toya and Makoto with me. Karin and Raiger just aren't interesting in the least bit, and it gets annoying having Karin bitching at you with her high-pitched voice so often. I don't see how people can knock these graphics as not being truly next-gen though, the PS2 and Xbox don't come close to pulling these visuals off.

One question though, is anyone noticing some major tearing (i.e no Vsync) in the graphics?

Awesome system, short life-span. I got lots of fun out of this system for a couple of years.

[WOW.]

Thanks to good impressions from GT and OO, I decided to pick up EA last night. WOW.WOW.WOW.WOW  I'm only 6 hours into it so far but I'm in love. The visuals are gorgeous, what is this average rating bullshit people are giving it? And the cutscenes, the first cutscene with the Devil Golem... I was blown away. Final Fantasy eat your heart out, seriously! As far as battle system goes, seems deeper than the average RPG of this type, although I'm not far enough into the game to determine whether its great or not. I'm also digging the characters, namely Makoto! He is hilarious! It's so funny to hear him and Atsuma bicker, and I love how Toya keeps the trio focused.

I don't want to get too hyped up, but so far it's been one hell of an opening. I don't think I'll ever look at a publication's review again, it's all forum impressions for me from now on.

Thanks to continuing positive impressions of Enchanted Arms, I just may pick that one up.

I think the Wii is going to be huge in the first few years of the generation, but I honestly think the horrible graphics power and novelty of the controller will wear off after just a few years. I simply can't envision any longevity in the Wii's lifespan. As for 360 Vs. PS3, its hard to say. In the beginning Sony's loyal fanbase will push system sales but really it comes down to which console has the best exclusives between the 360 and PS3, the price of both consoles, and how much better PS3 game's graphics look than 360 towards the end.

Sony can ship as many consoles as they want at launch, they are gonna be hard to find for the first year regardless of how many they ship.

OMG it looks horrible compared to the PS3 versionx0r!

I have a unique perspective on Resident Evil 4. I was a huge fan of RE1, RE2, and RE: CV. Couldn't get into the rest. I basically bought a GameCube to play Resident Evil 4. I thought it was a crummy Resident Evil game, it just didn't have the atmosphere I was expecting and the storyline didn't feel true to the series. However, as an action game in it's own right, the game was tremendous.

As an RE game, no good. As an action game, awesome.

You guys say that the graphics are good, but I had problems with Vsync and frame rate during the demo. Has that been cleared up?

Because, as I pointed out, you're just not buying a product, you're supporting the company behind it by giving them money and telling them "hey, keep doing what you're doing, I'm ok with it!"

What exactly do you care, as a consumer, how the business is running? It's not YOUR job to fix EA's job quality issues or business methods. Let the Better Business Bureau handle that. So they bought the NFL license, it's not like other companies can't make football games now, their games just can't feature any players from the NFL. If you wan't to hate on someone, hate the NFL. Stop going to football games, never watch them on TV.

Like I said, I've always enjoyed EA's products and continue to enjoy them. As a person who simply likes to play video games, that's the only thing that concerns me. I absolutely have zero intention of investigating into a company's practices every time I buy a game. 

Yep, made by the people made the Riddick game. Lets hope that they can get stealth right in this one.

The way I see it, it's simply a fad. Who cares if some EA employee's wife is bitching? EA isn't the only company guilty of that type of work environment within the industry. Why do people who don't even play sports games care if EA owns the NFL license? What pisses me off is people are hating on this company based on their own personal principles, rather than because of the games they put out which is really the only thing as consumers we have a right to judge by. I personally like EA, I like the production values in a lot of their games. Why is it, when you look at all the good RTS franchises out there, Command & Conquer is one of the few still going strong? I love EA for giving the series life. They may milk their games on a yearly basis, but companies like Capcom are guilty of the same fucking whoreness and no one hates them for it.

People are going to hate on EA as long as they are as big, powerful, and important as they are in the video game industry. But let's at least be honest that it's all predicated on bullshit.

I'm considering trading in the game already, I don't feel like back-tracking through the stuff I did just a couple days ago. I didn't have all that much fun doing it the first time 

Valkyrie Profile has tempted me to purchase a PSP... that and my constant disappointment in DS game graphics. I just bought Metroid... has to be one of the ugliest games I've ever played aside from the interface.