Yep, there's a reason that Forza 6 has an homage to Ridge Racer in its new commercial. The game really brought racing games out of arcades and back to the console. I still remember the elation I felt when I finally beat the Devil car. And Rage Racer and Ridge Racer Type 4 were awesome in their own right.
Who knows what would have happened? In the best of scenarios, the partnership would have resulted in a brilliant system with great 2D games. Well, great Nintendo games (Sony was making really crappy games back then). I doubt the SNES CD would have caught on though (Remember the Sega CD/32X?) and Sony would probably be a footnote in gaming history. Indeed, the biggest impact would be not having the PS one. That thing revolutionized the game industry, and made gaming more acceptable to the masses. Before that, videogames were seen as toys and the realm of the socially awkward. Gaming became more acceptable and the industry grew by leaps and bounds during that generation. We might not even have the XBOX today either, as Microsoft likely saw Sony's success as a relative newcomer to the industry and wanted a piece. Another casualty would be all the great Sony franchises that wouldn't exist if Sony hadn't had to create first-party software to differentiate the system from Sega and Nintendo (and later Microsoft). Imagine a world with no Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, Ratchet & Clank, Demon's Souls, etc. They also helped facilitate the growth of Namco, Square, Level 5, From Software, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sucker Punch and countless other companies with publishing partnerships. Nintendo may never have developed the Wii, which was likely a result of the company's need to move from direct competition with Sony and Microsoft. Anyway, I remember being crushed that the SNES CD got cancelled, but it was definitely for the best. A world without the PlayStation is one I wouldn't want to live in.
Sorry for the late reply but I just read this blog. I remembered reading something about Ultros not too long ago, so I looked it up. He was a DLC battle in Final Fantasy XIII-2, along with Typhon. I own the game but never beat it, so the news interested me at the time (because I remembered him from VI) but I forgot all about it lol. Apparently, he was also in FFXIV. Hopefully, he'll return for XV.
The 1 TB version is out now at $399, but get a PS4 if you like Japanese games at all (that's why I always favor PlayStation).
I loved Portal and Portal 2, and I usually stay away from first-person games (because most of them tend to be shooters.) Forget Half-Life and Left 4 Dead 3, I want Portal 3!!!
Grunge became popular in the 90s just as I was becoming an adult, so listening to it takes me back to my high school/college years (which really are the best years). I hadn't discovered Nirvana by 89 yet. I was still listening to Metallica and Guns N Roses at that point.
I was never any good at Gradius (or any shooter for that matter), but I love them all the same. I saw that the PS4 just got Gradius (the arcade version) as a download. I'm tempted to get it, but I have the Gradius Collection on PSP and Gradius V on PS2 if I ever need a fix. Konami (and Treasure) were the kings of shooters back then.
E3 really is all about the press conferences these days. In years past, magazines like EGM would have me foaming a the mouth with all their show floor coverage, but all you get from websites these days are livestreams from the press conferences and "informed" reactions. I don't think many of the journalists even demo the games anymore.
E3 is also indicative of the industry as a whole. Nowadays, 3 or 4 huge publishers (Activision, EA, Ubisoft, and maybe WB or 2k) produce the best-selling games. Smaller Japanese companies like Namco and Capcom, which used to produce the majority of games, can only hope that one of their games is featured at Sony or Microsoft's press conferences. Indies, the darlings of the industry, get more coverage in the US. Fortunately, there's always Tokyo Games Show, but the truth is a lot of Japanese developers just aren't making console games any more (see: Konami), or they've signed contracts to develop games for companies like Nintendo or Sony (Smash, Hyrule Warriors, Pokken Tournament, Bloodborne).
Anyway, hope you get into E3 soon, if that's what you want. You shold be able to get in on quality of writing alone and the fact that you'd highlight games that the other websites would miss.
That's the one. We kept passing by Konami's booth to check out that trailer, along with Silent Hill 2. That was a great year. We also got to check out Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy X before they launched.
I got both Nier and Drakengard, but unfortunately I haven't had time to play too much of either of them. I'll probably have to get the new Nier though. It's going to be more action oriented, considering Platinum is developing. As for Dark Souls 3, I think it's so soon after Bloodborne and Scholar of the First Sin that maybe people are suffering from Souls fatigue. Or maybe it would have gotten a bigger reaction had it been announced at the Sony press conference, considering that fanbase generally favors Japanese games more.
