Curious Sofa

Not to alter the command, but the only ones that come to mind aren't the absolute _worst_ but the most disappointing. And that honor goes to Lord of the Rings: Conquest for 360. I was so excited to have the (supposed) developer of Star Wars Battlefront II doing a LOTR version... But it was garbage (apparently EA gutted the team as they tend to do before development got anywhere). I waited and waited, and paid full price on release day. And it was a buggy, poorly conceived, completely unfun pos. Second mention would go to Comic Jumper for XBLA. The demo was one of the funniest, engaging demos I'd ever played. And the game was just a complete mess. I kept re-trying it because I couldn't believe that after playing the demo that the full game was such a crapbag.

Excellent list, a lot of games I would put on my personal favorites. Loved the section on Bleem! I am still angered that Sony sued Bleem! and basically kept losing, but had enough $ to keep appealing and opening new frivolous cases such that Bleem! had to shut down. They did release Bleem! for PC at one point, it let you run PSX game son PCs with fancy graphics cards so you could get anti-aliasing and whatnot. I've still got my Bleem! Tekken 3, and the difference between that on a Dreamcast and running it on PS2 is night and day! I guess Sony felt (?) that it made the PSX hardware look bad or something, though they failed repeatedly to successfully make their case in court. Particularly loved the mentions in Parts 1 and 2 of these videos: Armada, Cannon Spike, Zombie Revenge, and most definitely Demolition Racer. I got more play out of DR than possibly any other game back in the day, just fun time and time again. Also really loved seeing the prototypes. I've seen Prop Arena at shows before, and have played the arcade version (completed with pedals in the full rig!). But again, excellent video! And my edit...a few hidden gems I highly recommend that didn't get mentioned: I have to say if you've not tried it, please try...Ooga Booga. It's so weird, and yet so fun if you can get into it. Remotely like a Super Smash Bros of sorts, but with Witch Doctors. And eventually you can open secret characters including...Abraham Lincoln. Who runs around the island shouting things about giving you four score and seven years' worth of a beatdown. Bizarre, fun, insane little game. I also have a strange love for Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein. It's kind of a standard 3d fighter, but for my taste it's just really good and addictive. It's a sequel to Star Gladiator for PSX. Basically a way way way better and slightly weirder version of Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi. And a really fun James Bond themed light gun shooter, Confidential Mission. The DC Light Guns aren't as great as the Saturn's, but it's still an excellent, fun, strange game (that really really should have seen a Wii release along with the Virtua Cop series, since they did HOTD with such success). And though it might not be considered a hidden gem (?), you HAVE to play Typing of the Dead sometime. Just have to. And same for Power Stone (what really constitutes Hidden? ) Viva Dreamcast, my favorite console of all time.

I've heard Garry Kitchen speak about doing DK for the 2600, I don't think he purposely was making it poorly. It is....kind of fun, if not nearly as good as the CV version. I love a good conspiracy theory but I don't think it holds in this case.

Back on the light-gun shooters... If you like House of the Dead, don't overlook Ghost Squad or Link's Crossbow Training. Or the Gunblade NY / LA Guns compilation. Just wish they'd have done a Virtua Cop compilation, grr. My other Wii games that I own and keep on playing: Mario Kart, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort. Love them all. And am probably going to get the two Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles / light gun shooting games too.

As a fellow 720p tv set owner...I will just say I like the component cables. HDMI is good but as has been stated, only really necessary or beneficial if you've got a 1080p monitor / tv. I must be old / old school, but I think 720p looks migh-t-fine and I'm not dying to upgrade.

I fell mostly in love after playing the demo. I'd probably still prefer Torchlight and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, but this was fun and good, and obviously had a lot to offer. So I traded in a buncha stuff at the local used game store and pre-ordered the first used copy to come in (since I don't want Activision to get my money directly if possible, it's a personal / political thing against companies that give millions of $ every year to right-wing causes). I'll wait to give it full judgement, but off the bat I don't think it's notably better than Torchlight, which was $20 brand new for XBLA. But perhaps it's fuller, longer. Definitely has more character classes, so there's that. Eager to have some crazy dude trade his in when he gets bored or needs the cash.

Egad this is a tough one. Three is so few! I'm going with Demon Attack, Seaquest, and Enduro. And if homebrews were allowed, Toyshop Trouble and K.O. Cruiser would replace ... two of those.

I would play the Diablo III Xbox demo but you've got to have a gold account to get it (makes so much sense, y'know, since they don't want to sell copies of their game to additional people by making the demo available to them or anything...) and I don't even want one. But this thread got me to pop in some Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. I hadn't actually played this on the 360 before since I've still got an original Xbox... sure looks sweet in 720p.

A bump and a Thank You to Tempest for the games. Fast shipping, excellently packed, and in excellent condition. Thumbs up!

If you love Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which I very much do, you may also be interested in Torchlight for XBLA. It is I believe made by some of the original Diablo team. But in any case, a fun hack n slash n loot gather game. And it has some Steampunk elements too.

The music is just perfectly awful and awesome. I seriously would like a full record of that.

Seaquest, hands down. Then probably Demon Attack, Ms Pac-Man, Frogger, and River Raid.

Oh dear lawd. I couldn't decide whether to post this in Interesting Auctions or here, and here seemed best. Ridiculous. "Game" (It's actually a demo disc) is worth like $7 tops. http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FVGA-Graded-NM-85-Xbox-Exhibition-Demo-Disc-Volume-1-Halo-First-Master-Chief-%2F290892325428%3Fpt%3DVideo_Games_Games%26hash%3Ditem43ba88a234 I do not cease to be amazed at the idiocy.

I will likely be able to help Friday night for a bit, depending on how things go with my flight etc. I will PM when I get my schedule hammered out a bit better. I will also look into helping on Saturday if I'm able, kind of depends on how the day goes (and I've a suspicion time will be _flying_).

A funny note on the 6-button controller and Golden Axe (I think it's GA1, possibly GA2, not sure) - the game won't recognize the 6-button controller unless you hold down the mode button when starting. I'm sure this happens for some other games too, but Golden Axe is the only one I really care about that this happens frequently with (and it disturbs me every time for a few seconds even though I know what the deal is and have to remind myself). I've said before and I hold to it, the Genesis 6-button arcade pad is my favorite videogame controller of all time for any system. It's what got me back into gaming (after skipping the Nintendo entirely because I hated its gamepad so much, and the Snes' Milkbones were too mushy for me), and playing SF2:SCE was a dream come true. Despite the _awful_ sound effects. And also just agreeing, Streets of Rage 3 is my favorite of the series too. I just can't get enough of Dr. Zan. Most people vote for SoR2, and it is awesome. But SoR3 is my favorite too.

PM sent. Probably too late to get the stuff I want but had to try. Teach me to not log in for a couple of days.

Ooh, you have way more good stuff than you even alluded to up top. Zow. Fantastic collection! Lots of really rare / valuable stuff, and great picks from the commons. Good taste dude.

Fantastic video, really enjoyed it! As a long time Streets of Rage megafan, I learned some new things about the series. Informative and fun. And while we're on the topic, found via a link off of soronline:

I am definitely interested in some of those items. Eager to see pics.

Just an FYI for those thinking about going from out of town, the first couple of hotels listed on the PGRE site (the two giving a discount for PRGE attendees) are booked for that weekend. I am still going, just am likely to pay more $ than I'd planned for a hotel somewhat near the Expo center. My fault for not getting my reservation in earlier, grr.

Good start with the Sonics, Golden Axe and Streets Fighter II. My personal favorites (some of which may be a bit pricey now, some not at all) and recommendations: Adventures of Batman & Robin (incredible graphics, killer soundtrack, a bit difficult but well worth it) Dragon's Fury (get this instead of the sequel, Dragon's Revenge. Pinball at its best and craziest (and most unholy!)) Tiny Toons: Acme All-Stars (has the _best_ basketball video game I may have ever played, no joke!) Rock n' Roll Racing (an early Blizzard game and possibly my favorite video game of all time) Golden Axe II (some say better than the first Golden Axe, I say it's a toss up, but it's really good) And I've got more but those five are my highest recommendations.

My buyer's remorse I can live with; the amount I bid was reasonable (if indeed I'd read the description better, that is completely my bad I realize). I just thought the 19 bids was kind of crazy, especially with some of them occurring within 3 seconds of the previous, rapid fire style. But all the same, I'm okay with it. I didn't wildly overbid and I'll see how the condition of the item is, it'll probably be a wash in the end. And yeah, of course I obviously wish I'd have gotten it cheaper, who wouldn't. I don't generally like to spend time watching auctions until they wind down, so my general behavior is to enter the actual max I'm willing to spend on an item and then forget about it until it's over. If I lose, even by $1, no biggie, and if I win, even for my max, good enough, fair expenditure. I was really just wondering if there was something I wasn't seeing or understanding about those 19 bids by the one bidder (being some kind of foul play or...well anything weird), but apparently that's just how the ball bounced this time. As a few have said, they probably just cut off at the same price that I did. And, for whatever reason, thought they'd enter a bunch of small bids REALLY FAST and then quit just as quickly. Weird.

I want to love the Lego games, but I absolutely hate them. Even though I love the ideas and the humor, the graphics... For the reasons the OP states I just can't enjoy any of them at all, even after many tries. I generally don't like "Item collecting" games one bit and that is definitely a factor here. The other major one being what the OP says, that some of the puzzles are not so much puzzles as "you're just supposed to guess or know what to do". And I am terrible at those kinds of puzzles. I wish it weren't so, I know a lot of people love these games and get a lot out of them. But they vex me and I won't come near them anymore lest I burn my house down in a fit of rage.

I bought a game without having read the description (or I thought I was bidding on a different copy of the game, not sure what on earth happened actually), and as such overbid on a crappy copy of a game, which is very unlike me, but I'll live with it. Except that somehow, with around three hours to go on the auction, someone bid up my price to nearly precisely my maximum, placing 19 incrementally increasing bids within (if I'm seeing this right) one minute (!), and then stopping just before my bid max of $35.55 was exceeded. From what I can tell they _didn't_ pull the scam where they overbid then retract (I've had that happen and had Ebay take care of the situation previously), so I don't really know if I got legitimately hosed or illegitimately hosed here. I sent a generic report to Ebay about this, but I'm just curious if anyone has thoughts on this. It indicates that the bidder's bid activity % with the seller is 38%, which could be reasonable I suppose.