Messages

31

Modern Video Games / Re: Forza Horizon 5 coming to PS5. Is it safe to say Xbox is going SEGA route soon?

« on: February 08, 2025, 09:55:59 pm »

Forza Horizon 5 is officially coming to PS5 soon. And dont mind me if im late. But I switched teams years ago as a life long xbox fan. I might not be up on news. I was a product of my friend group and my gf is the reason I gave PS4/PS5 architecture a chance and have never looked back.


However I do miss the Forza Horizon games. Gran Turismo doesnt make an equivelant and they are a wild blast. And this is big news for me.


XBOX WAVING THE WHITE FLAG ON COMPETITION?


I think xbox gave up. I do believe by next console generation that Xbox will not be making a physical console. I think they will be packaging either a roku style device with game pass built on it. Which they already do.  Or just flat out become a game publisher and not a console maker.

Console wars are jover. xbox was already fighting a losing battle but it's actually done at this point 

It's cool them games get on more consoles but it will cost em allot of loyal xbox fans well at least the ones that where still left to even survive this point.

I'm sure they probably still make decent money by going this route but in terms of honor and legacy of being a seperate console, all these big shot moves of buying out legitimate game developer companies for this, pretty mediocre way to go out saying F u to your hardcore fans. Xbox deserves the quality memes and meltdowns coming at em, the people that stuck with em for that long these people can take a beating 

32

General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: February 01, 2025, 05:51:23 pm »

I'm glad I'm not an xbox fan 

33

Modern Video Games / Re: Beware of deceptive tactics I've witnessed from Playstation/Sony store.

« on: January 29, 2025, 04:58:39 pm »

Having access to something because you pay a subscription fee does not make that thing free, and as dhaabi pointed out, if your sub lapses you no longer have access to it (the old XBox Gold did let you keep it, but that's likely one of the main reasons they sunset that service).

As for everything else... yeah.  That's just how marketing and sales have worked for years now.

While neither the person who's purchased access for one specific digital product nor the person who subscribes to a paid payment plan for that same access actually own the product in question, you've neglected to mention something crucial regarding the lowest tier PlayStation Plus subscription plan. When that subscription plan has ended, any items they've redeemed "for free" (let it be known that they are, in fact, not free) become totally inaccessible. Meanwhile, for anyone who purchases direct access to an item, they don't have to worry about that. How long that access lasts, though, is another matter.

Also, saying that everyone who's directly purchased a digital product like the ones you've mentioned that have also been available as monthly PlayStation Plus games but do not subscribe to that plan has been manipulated seems disingenuous. I'm sure that, whether a digital store item was priced at $20 or $20 at a sales discount or however it's being marketed, plenty of people will just be happy to add the game to their collection for that price.

These are great points. Definitely clears up some of the haze. I was looking at it from the wrong angle. I neglected the actually accessing of the content long term. So in that sense game plus is more like blockbuster vs buying a dvd from ebay?  So their is still benefits to buying the actual content.  I still do wish they would announce games upcoming on free to play like xbox used to. But it would deter sales and I get that too.

But what about the other tactic of pretending a sale has a deadline only to extend it over and over or even increase the discount after basically advertising that this deal is a sort of white whale limited deal? Isnt that false advertising? I honestly am more annoyed when they do this. It seems many retailers do. What do you guys think of that scheme? For example. I bought hogwarts legacy for 23 dollars because I was told "limited time deal available until dec 24th" the game right after went on a new promotion for 20 dollars. Then they did 20 dollars for deluxe edition. The sale price wasnt temporary. If anything it went lower. Itd be sort of like if I sold someone a candy bar as a limited time 1 dollar deal. This will only be this cheap for 1 week. Come one come all.  They buy 100 of them. Then poof I make them 50 cents. That happened to me with a few games. They even put a date deadline assuming the price will return but it actually goes lower or stays on sale. Is this not illegal to do soley because they lied and said a sale was to a specific deadline then redid the deal right after? Im sure they know their loopholes being as big as they are but it does feel wrong to me. 


Either way you guys made me feel better about my copy of god of war ragnarok being physical. It may be free to play but at least my copy will remain accessible. All the more reason to go physical route with modern gaming. So I do feel better about owning it.

it being free on psplus does not make it free. you pay decent dough for the subscription to have acces to it.

also you can sell your physical copy if your done with it. with digital you just got a nice image to look at. 

in terms of the sales talk. it's legal and especially with digital stuff not an uncommon tactic.

34

General / Re: Top 30 Pick Ups of 2024!

« on: January 07, 2025, 11:13:25 am »

Made some great pickups in 2024, especially for the Mega Drive and PC Engine. Came across plenty of sealed games too. Here are some highlights listed below:

PlayStation NTSC-J
Rakugaki Showtime

This one defo one I want to score someday. very interesting game

Looking back on some of the interesting stuff I picked up in 2024, I got:

Blazing Star (Neo Geo MVS)

That's one of the bigger titles to get for MVS or so I've heard

Here are some of my top pick ups of 2024

Keo Flying Squadron: Sega cd

I remember when I got part 2. I was so dissapointed when it was 80% platformer. part 1 is the shootemup.

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General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: January 07, 2025, 11:08:44 am »

I would boot up the disc and memory card in another console and see if it has the same issues at the same fail points.

The guy failed with 3 different copies of the same game though

also movie dvd's generally lower production quality and bad batches.

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General / Re: Your 2025 Gaming and Collecting Goals

« on: January 04, 2025, 01:01:27 pm »

No collecting goals here. if stuff happens it happens. keeps stuff exciting. slow and steady wins the race

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General / Top 30 Pick Ups of 2024!

« on: January 04, 2025, 12:44:13 pm »

Another year has ended and per tradition on this site.
Share your top 30 favourite pickups from last year of 2024.
It could be a rare game, the best quality game, maybe it had a cool story behind how ye got it?
Doesn't have to be a top 30 could be top 10 top 5 or maybe just a single item.
Pictures or a nice story are a nice bonus to share always fun to see what other people got.


So lets start my list of the top 30 pickups I got in 2024. mainly just my favourite additions of the year

Made some pretty decent progress in terms of collecting.
The quality was pretty solid and I did manage to achieve some personal big goals.
Always on the hunt for those imports that never had european releases slowly but surely always crossing some of those off the list
But this year I finally managed to score a Neo geo aes console with a decent stack of english games 
What a great year it has been didn't expect that anytime soon.

My list in no particular order

30 fist of the north star gameboy
29 growl sega genesis
28 persona psp
27 super adventure island turbografx
26 wanderers of YS Snes
25 Parodius saturn
24 cd denjin pc engine cd
23 Dark legend  sega saturn
22 Blades of vengeance sega mega drive
21 Summon craft story gba
20 Summon craft story 2 gba
19 Brandish snes
18 soccerbrawl neo geo aes
17 samurai shodown neo geo aes
16 Fatal fury neo geo aes
15 Monster world IV sega mega drive
14 Bulk slash sega saturn
13 Nam 1975 neo geo aes
12 Crossed blades neo geo aes
11 Mystical ninja snes
10 Super turrican 2 snes
9 Gigawing 2 sega dreamcast
8 Yu yu hakusho makyo sega mega drive
7 Grind stormer.  kinda funny how I found this one for cheap in Japan.
6 Starwing competition  I'm not really big into cart only and while the game is kinda mid it do be fun to finally score one on the cheap.
5 Air zonk turbografx most of Turbografx pc engine stuff came from one deal. The guy was using google translate to communicate so our talks where getting kinda whacky.
4 Ninja combat neo geo aes
3 Alpha mission II neo geo aes
2 Popfulmail sega mega cd always wanted this one, defo the ''rpg'' I wanted the most out of all the sega working designs ones
1 Sengoku neo geo aes





I have a weakness for strategy guides. I am a connoisseur as a bonus my top 5 strategy guide additions of 2024


5 super metroid
4 final fantasy III players guide
3 castlevania portrait of ruin
2 fire emblem gba
1 ogre battle

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Classic Video Games / Re: PAL/NTSC-J Only PS1 games

« on: December 31, 2024, 09:03:45 am »

I have a few games in my collection/planning on getting which are PAL/NTSC-J only (Any games that came out in the UK, but not the US) and was wondering if people could recommend me any? I have Chaos Break and Mickey's Wild Adventure with plans to pick up Overblood 2 and HellNight. I just think games that came out in PAL regions, but not NTSC are neat.

what's your priority actual pal exclusives or if a jap versions exist jap over pal or vice versa.

Priority would be anything that came out in the UK, but not the US. PAL over Japanese version where possible. I like to look for more niche games not everyone will know about.

on the top of my head

in terms of pal

Rapid reload / gunners heaven in japan
hell night

are some of the cool titles to look out for in pal format. still though you guys getting fed in the USA, way more good stuff out there compared to us. trying to do the opposite in spades.

In terms of japan I'd look at some lists ton of exclusives out there in the 2d shootemup beatemup arcade department. most of em pretty pricy though but quite a goldmine.

39

General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 07:18:07 am »

Do you think it's more likely my PS2, then?

I would probably work on a ps2 with a good laser yes.

However in said state a clean copy of X would probably be read withouth issues.

In your state I wouldn't go for drastic measures if all other games can be enjoyed however. Take it slow no rush.

FF X is a Very cheap and common game, it's not something that even resellers can get rid of easily. you'll find a cleaner copy easily at some point on the cheap.

Get a near mint to mint disc in the future if you decide to try it out. aka only very few very faint scratches if not better.

40

General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 07:07:10 am »

I don't see any stores near me that offer CD/DVD repair.

I looked at the bottom, which has a lot of sticky paper residue, and it says SCPH-7500.

7500 is not a great one. well if there ain't an cd repair shops nearby. I'd recommend to just skip FF X for now. enjoy the console with other games.

Find a better copy in the future, quite cheap and common game.

Or like some people already said, Give the laser a cleaning with some alcohol and a cotton swab. could just be a bit dirty after a few years. could do wonders seen people doing that and even being able to read dual layered discs again.

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General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 07:01:19 am »

I got the PS2 back in 2021. It should still be in relatively good shape, right?

was it used from somebody else or brand new?

Considering it's 2021 I find it hard to believe it was brand new. would cost quite a bit if that's the case.

also phat or slim version?

disc repair, go to some shops or stores that offer a disc repair service, usually should only cost a few bucks.

Pre-owned, and a Slim.

what model number? allot of slim versions are unreliable aside from the latest version. 90K version is pretty reliable for example

And in pre owned it probably already was used quite allot.

also earlier slim models have some compatibility issues with quite some games, even some ps2 ones. wikipedia however removed the list some time ago. kinda doubt X was in there but still.

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General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 06:58:02 am »

I got the PS2 back in 2021. It should still be in relatively good shape, right?

was it used from somebody else or brand new?

Considering it's 2021 I find it hard to believe it was brand new. would cost quite a bit if that's the case.

also phat or slim version?

disc repair, go to some shops or stores that offer a disc repair service, usually should only cost a few bucks.

43

General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 06:55:27 am »

Do you think it's the game, or the PS2's laser?

How is the condition of the disc?

Looked at it. It has quite a few scratches, but PS2 discs are supposed to be pretty hardy, as someone else said.

it is but not when the laser is on it's way out especially not with big games like this. in your case, I'd recommend disc repair and see if the issue persists.

Get those scratches cleaned out so that your ps2 has an easier time reading them.

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General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 06:52:45 am »

Do you think it's the game, or the PS2's laser?

How is the condition of the disc?

Relatively good, I guess.

so it has some light scratches. It's probably your console struggling with trying to read it. Try a near mint to mint copy in the future and see if the issue persist I'd say quite a cheap game you'll find one at some point. or give the disc some disc repair to weed out most of the scratches and see if that fixes it.

Where all 3 of your FF X copies in relatively good shape. none in near mint to mint shape? I could see lasers that are starting to break down have issues with bigger games if they aren't near perfect. almost every spot is used on the disc in FF X case with over 4gigs when a dvd has a max cap of 4.5

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General / Re: Finding a CD/DVD copy that works.

« on: December 31, 2024, 06:45:57 am »

Do you think it's the game, or the PS2's laser?

How is the condition of the disc? Disc is far more packed compared to the average game. so unlike other games wich have more room for empty spots and to duplicate data. FF X doesn't have that luxury. would need to be in better shape on average.

However it's a 2 sided problem. could also just be a weaker laser cause unless it has some damage at the top and the damage is actually severe a good ps2 should be able to read it.

a temporary solution if it's the laser that's starting to wear down could be to try and polish the FF X copy to be near mint and up in which your laser can read it easier.