Points of Interest
- These are great if you like Phoenix Wright, and perhaps even if you don’t.
Jean the Fox over at the Gyakuten Saiban LJ Group posted these Newgrounds Flashes, titled “Phoenix Wrong.”
These are short but quite amusing, so take a moment to watch.
- Members of GameSpot and GameSpot UK give their reactions to the news of the PS3′s delayed UK launch.
While not exactly happy, they seem to be taking the whole PS3 thing rather well.
- They’re at it again.
Joystiq tells us the goons over at Something Awful are once again taking the first amendment to its very breaking point as they once more target the wide(and apparently tasty) world of video games in the latest edition of their infamous Photoshop Phridays.
- Kotaku takes on Wired in a debate over the state of saves in games.
As Kotaku mentions, most other mediums allow you to pretty much pick up right where you left off, and I think games should be more forgiving in that sort of regard. In fact, I was recently playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the first time since I got it for my wife last Christmas, and was pleased to see that in addition to traditional save points, there was a sort of “quick save” option on the pause screen that basically kept everything as it is, but could only be used to continue one time.
That’s what we need more of. Something that allows you to stop whenever you need to and pick up later. Because let’s face it, parents and such people can be pretty damn impatient sometimes, and getting to the nearest save point just isn’t a favorable option.
LBD “Nytetrayn”
September 8th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
That’s very true, about saving in games! I would listen to my coworkers talk about PC games versus console games, as very casual gamers. They all seemed to prefer PC games. Why? Was the content better? Were the games more fun? No… their number one reason was that, in PC games, you can save at any time. Aside from that one reason, they seemed to like PC and console games equally.
The quick save option is very handy. I don’t think Dawn of Sorrow was even the first handheld Castlevania with that feature, but I can’t really remember… One little thing about that, though, is that when you load your quicksave, you start at the entrance of the room you saved in. So for rooms lined with tons of baddies, saving at the wrong end of the room can sometimes prove disastrous if you’re low on health and items!! But still, better than nothing, right?
And I believe the DS will allow you to put any game into sleep mode, won’t it? You wouldn’t think it’s a feature to be used for extended periods of time, though I remember the New Super Mario Bros. manual saying you could keep a fully-charged DS in sleep mode for a LONG time indeed… Not as good as saving anytime, but a nice feature nonetheless.
As I’ve mentioned, Enchanted Arms allows you to save anywhere, a feature I haven’t seen in many RPGs before. And of course, even Pokemon lets you save anywhere! Particularly handy for capturing those tough, one-of-a-kind Pokemon, in case you screw up.
Those Photoshop Phridays are HILARIOUS, as usual when video games are involved. I love the Mega Man one, and the one with Life cereal? Genius.
September 8th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Re: Sleep mode is handy, except if you want to play something else. I think it only applies to DS games, also, and possibly only certain ones.
I’m most annoyed in the MegaMan Battle Network games when they won’t let you save right before the final battle.
LBD “Nytetrayn”