GwiDan

Replaced the old headset with a Plantronics one and it's dispiriting to see it become obsolete already.

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I was dispirited to find the Plantronics [X20] headset is worse than the official model.

Why did they make the mute button inline on the 360? It's so much more convenient to press as part of the controller - same with the volume control if some idiot starts playing loud music down the mic.

If Jack Thompson wasn't such an inbred fool, I'd say he knew what he was doing. He's giving irresponsible parents - the ones that let their children play GTA and the like - an opportunity to make money off it. By not targetting the parents or the Russian arms dealers that sold the kids the guns, he's making the parents think, "videogames turned my kid into a grade-A psycho. I want my money back!" Although I'm probably talking nonsense, and he hasn't enough grey cells to think that far ahead, I doubt.

Any cock-ups of note?

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It's a good, sensible piece, which I suggest you try and get printed where it'll be of use. I am disappointed by the lack of any plugging for gameplay.com, however.

IIRC there was something about it feeling a little 'empty' due to the lack of any crowd at trackside, which has been rectified in this release.  Cant remember the rest though.

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Ah right. Thanks for the info - Bizarre have addressed some of the prequel's shortcomings that Edge pointed out, then, which would account for the better score.

That original topic was horrible reading. This line in particular, posted by someone on the sixth page particularly grated:

"I don't think anyone can argue that the DS is aimed at a younger audience..."

Just because you don't have to remember a thousand button combinations and has NINTENDO written on the front, it's made for kids. I'd rather go back in time and hear "Games are for geeks" on a daily basis than hear this rubbish.

Another rubbish point about that prototype PS3 pad - why on earth is the d-pad rotated slightly clockwise, so up is slightly to the right, and down is slightly to the left? That's bound to get annoying.

One reviewers problem - this may have been written by someone else.

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I suppose you're right, but that's terrible for consistency.

o uve plyd pgR3? ne gud chrsx.

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Okay, you can be picky like that, but Edge's main problem with the series is that it isn't sure whether to be realistic or arcadey - I personally love PGR2. Are Bizarre really going to change the driving style for this release? Unlikely, as that would stop it from belonging in the series.

I can't stand the Dualshock design, yet I think Sony have managed to worsen it with the DS3 shown at the trade shows. The location of the analogue sticks makes it tricky to push directly up, so I end up running diagonally quite a lot - a problem not remedied by the lack of a GameCube style hexagon around the mounting. Maybe it's because I don't own a PS2 so haven't had enough practice with the pad, but I know it's a flawed design. It looks like they just stuck two sticks onto the original PSX pad wherever they would fit because that's exactly what they did.

I also have a tendency towards the idea that the DS3 shown is the final design, or at least near final. As already mentioned, why else show it? Nintendo did the same with the GameCube pad - they had prototypes at E3, that were just slightly changed at the final release. I think they changed the B button from kidney shaped to circular, and made the start button small, grey and flat, where it used to be big and red in a "Call in Airstrike" sort of way.

So when did Edge decide they actually like Project Gotham? The review text for PGR2 slated it for having a bit of an identity crisis, if memory serves me correctly. Now they give the sequel, essentially the same game but better looking, a Nine?

What gets on my nerves so much more than unskippable cutscenes are the developer logos at the beginning of every game. They're unskippable, and multiplying like rats. You can spend a good few minutes staring at the pointless logos every time you load up a game.

Console exclusivity deals don't last long any more - look at Resident Evil 4. I suspect we might be seeing this one on the 360 within a few months, hopefully Live enabled. Live is the only way you can find someone decent enough to challenge you in a game like this, unless you live in a town of fighting game geeks.

Shenmue has a massive unskippable cutscene at the beginning that got right on my nerves when I decided to start the game again after buying an RGB Scart lead. Lucky it looks good, or my Dreamcast might have come face to face with a window.

Star Wars has lightsabers! It's got people that have the power to detect where and when blaster shots are going to hit them, and deflect them accordingly. The original trilogy has evil men in charge of the galaxy - evil men with equal powers to the 'super' heroes. It has charismatic characters like Han Solo, epic battle scenes unsurpassed by any other film, and some of the coolest looking vehicles in cinema history.

Then they messed it all up with fake science and midichlorians.

Give me some co-op Streets of Rage, and I'll be happy!

I'm pretty decent at parrying standard hadoukens or other projectile moves - it's just when they're done at very close range, I don't know when to start the parrying sequence. Tapping forward just before the super art animation starts (with one of Chun-Li's supers) sounds pretty interesting.

Ferrari F355 Challenge.

Three screens and massive speakers in your ears - pure Ferrari bliss.

What are you lot on about? Gladiator is a quality action movie! It also features one of the most memorable scenes in recent cinema:

Maximus: My name is Gladiator.

[turns away from Commodus]

Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.

Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

How is that not epic?

Third Strike is a magnificent game. I find it difficult to work out which moves combo into each other, though. Same when trying to parry supers at close range - how do you know when to tap forward when the opponent is whipping out a super art right next to you?

Blue Skies = Daylight.

Daylight = No stupid stealth sections.

Therefore, blue skies in games get a vote from me!

Wireless pads are ace, but it takes a while to get used to the feeling of not being attached to the console or having the weight of the cable pulling down slightly. It's also really annoying when you realise you've forgotten to turn the pad off and have left it on for days. I'm not too keen on Microsoft charging extra for a recharge kit - it seems underhand and cheap.

Fleagle got banned (on purpose) from GR for launching into the admin due to their complete uselessness at running that place.

First mod ever banned from there I think.

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I thought you were banned for stirring it with Nintendo fanboys? The Cobra was the first mod banned on that forum - for giving his password to a lot of people.

Now we know why the selection of avatars you can choose for your gamercard on Xbox.com is so rubbish - Microsoft want you to buy better ones.

I kind of agree there.  Certainly as I play Test Drive LeMans and a couple of other racers.  It is completly devoid of any life later in the game, right up there with other souless crap like the Rallisport games.

But then you say PGR2 is a better racer?  WRONGFAX.

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Most racing games are flawed, anyway, because no-one takes part in any racing. How many people restart the race if they aren't in first place by the end of the first lap?

The "get a batter internet connection" arguement doesn't work for Xbox Live (Halo specifically). We simply don't have fast enough internet connections in the UK to compete with the Americans, so they always get host, and the Americans on the host's team get host advantage. All these problems would be sorted if Bungie used dedicated servers, preferably on this side of the Atlantic.