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[gr4yJ4Y]

...but it was Ancel's dislike of the longer exploration portions and the team was still (at least partially) demoralized by the decision? That must have a negative effect on the working environment for the sequel.

[Esrever]

You can see some of the axed elements in the e3 2002 trailer, like Jade's original design and the original staffless combat. The differences do seem to be largely cosmetic, though... pretty much all of these sequences and creatures made it into the final game, didn't they? They all look pretty familiar.

I'm going to assume a lot of those cut "exploration" sequences would have been in the hovercraft, considering how much of the trailer is devoted to it. (That would also make the Wind Waker comparison make sense.)

And then there's the e3 2003 trailer! One year later, the gameplay is looking very similar to the final version, but Jade's face still looks like the older design. (And both her and Peyj are dressed differently, too.) I remember seeing screens of this version in EGM when I was a kid, and being surprised by how different Jade looked in the final game.

Here's some old screens from the 2002 and 2003 builds:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/advent ... tml?page=5

[Green Gibbon!]

So Red Dead is pretty impressive. The scope of the wilderness and the fact that everything is completely seamless is an astounding feat. Ride for miles through the prairie, into town, into the saloon, and up into your room with no scene changing or discernable loading whatsoever. I didn't even think this sort of thing was possible. It's beautiful, too. The repetitive NPC chatter tends to mar the illusion as do the "random" events which are more of an annoyance than anything else, but other than that and the occasional glitch (forgivable in a game this complex), I have no more nits to pick.

I haven't seen any rattlesnakes, though. I will be pissed if this game doesn't have rattlesnakes.



I also picked up Kage no Tou, Xenoblade, and Ghost Trick, though I've yet to start any of them. I honestly don't expect Kage no Tou to be that good as desperately (and shamelessly) as it apes Ico, but I desperately want to believe that Hudson can still make a great game even though they haven't in, like, 15 years. I think they're kind of like my senile grandfather or something - as completely useless as they've become, it's kind of comforting that they're still around.

Anyway, how's Limbo? I played a bit of the demo and it's pretty and cool, but I can't see what it's got going for it other than the art direction. Is it awesome?

[Locit]

Here's some old screens from the 2002 and 2003 builds:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/advent ... tml?page=5

Woah, final boss spoilers much?

[Green Gibbon!]

Rattlesnake ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━ !!!!!

[Segaholic2]

I haven't seen any rattlesnakes, though. I will be pissed if this game doesn't have rattlesnakes.

One of the first things to happen to me in the game was walking through the prairie at night and falling over from taking damage to some invisible thing. I looked back and saw a snake skittering away from me, so I shot the fuck out of it.

I like RDR a lot. It's pretty much just GTA4 in a different setting with some new gimmicks, but the open environments and slower gunplay are much more appealing to me. GTA feels really hectic at times from a traffic perspective, as well as the shooting mechanics, where a lot of times you just run and spray. RDR lets you slow things down with the bullet-time mechanic and pick your targets.

[gr4yJ4Y]

I've been replaying Twilight Princess and recently picked up de Blob. Then I sprained my thumb playing volleyball. After playing Zelda for a few hours it hurt a bit. So I tried playing it (and de Blob) "left handed" - with the remote in my left hand and the nunchuku in my right. I didn't have nearly as much pain moving the analog stick around as I did pressing the A button.

It was kind of hard re-learning how to play with that set up. It took me about 2 hours to get through the Water Temple (where I was when I first started playing like this). Even though I've played through the game before it almost felt brand new to me. I'd reach for buttons that weren't there and swing the wrong controller. I actually felt mentally worn down from it. After a while I really got used to it and it's become about as natural as the normal set up was.

I've been playing de Blob "left-handed" from the start. I tried switching hands for a challenge level I was having some trouble with, but it was much harder to play it the proper way. I wonder how much it's affecting my "experience" with the game, if at all.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Talk about a game oozing (hurr) personality. Too bad de Blob failed at being a compelling game. I've still hope for the sequel, though!