foghorn6

I've played Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Silent Hill: Downpour, The Darkness II and SSX. I'd say Mass Effect 3 for now.

I used to, but my backwards compatible PS3 died.

So 12/21/12 is when the hard drive crashes?

I'll donate a few thousand Planets to charity for them to change it.

@MikeGosot said:

@CptBedlam said:

If you like the slow gameplay of the early RE games, then yes, you might like SH2/3. These games are even slower and more focussed on mood, puzzle solving and exploration.

Personally, I love SH2. SH3 is pretty good, too, but it is kinda like the second part of SH1 which is missing in the collection. SH2 stands for itself.

Would you recommend SH3 for people who finished Shattered Memories? I don't want to but the collection just for one game, so it would be good to know if i can understand the history of SH3.

The original Silent Hill and Shattered Memories are very different. I do not recall Shattered Memories getting into the mythos of Silent Hill much if at all. Silent Hill 3 has its own way of retelling the main plot points of Silent Hill, usually through notes found or cutscences used as exposition. It just might take you a bit to get familiar with the different characters and their motivations.

There should be a fire poker somewhere in that building that will allow you access to the upper level of the theater room in that building. That should be enough to set you on the right path.

@kingzetta: @Hizang:

I did play PS3 games on my launch PS3 that had backwards compatibility, but I also buy older games that I did not get a chance to play for various reasons when they were originally released. This blog post was not written to complain that Sony stripped the backwards compatibility out of the newer versions of the PS3. Instead, it was just to talk about the events that were involved in me hooking up my old PS2 to play some games after I had not played a PS2 game for a while.

I was more frustrated that I needed to spend money on a new PS3 than I was about losing the backwards compatibility.

Towards the end of August, my launch 60 GB PS3 died as I was finishing up Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Suffice it to say that the next few weeks were frustrating and sad as my best attempt to emulate Dr. Victor Frankenstein resulted in failure that was surely inevitable. When I got over the denial and random outbursts of violence--that would make Tommy Wiseau feel ashamed--I had to let my game saves and PS2 backwards compatibility go.

I had to start anew, which meant buying a slim PS3; it was hard to get used to at first, especially since I had to start Deus Ex: Human Revolution all over again, but I grew accustomed to the much quieter system quickly.

Despite the over-dramatization in the opening paragraph, I did use the backwards compatibility in my now deceased PS3 to the fullest, but until this past weekend, I had not played any of my older games because it meant I would have to find my PS2 and hope that everything still worked.

Well, this weekend I was in the mood to do just that. After rummaging through a few boxes in the basement, I found my slim PS2 with everything but the composite cables, which was not a problem due to the fact that the component cables I bought for my PS3 worked with my PS2. Tentatively, I connected everything to my TV, and much to my relief, it worked--except for the controller, which was smashed face down in a box for more than a few years; luckily, I had a spare controller that worked perfectly. Also, remember memory cards? I had to clear a couple in order to save my progress.

What got me motivated to dig up my old PS2 was a combination of boredom and the desire to play the PS2 Final Fantasy games, which was largely a result of Final Fantasy XIII-2 being just a few weeks away. Though the Final Fantasy games helped spark the process, I ended up playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas first, which was the start of my third attempt to complete the game. I got San Andreas the day it was launched and stopped the first time somewhere around one of the first flying missions; the controls annoyed me enough for me to put it down until shortly before Grand Theft Auto IV was released. As the newest iteration of Grand Theft Auto approached, I gave San Andreas another go on my PS3, and I got much further with the second attempt--probably towards the end of the Las Venturas portion of the game. I did not complete it before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV and never got around to finishing it.

Though I stated I am on my third attempt, I am not sure as to how serious I am about actually finishing it. I am ignoring as much of the side stuff as I can, such as the odd jobs and messing with weight training, and I finished the initial Grove Street/Los Santos portion, which after listening to a recent Bombcast where Jeff Gerstmann talked at length about his love for Easy-E and the rest of N.W.A., I could not help but think that he had to have enjoyed San Andreas quite a bit--his review certainly suggested he did.

After some confusion and what seemed to be betrayal at the end of the first act or chapter, I am at the start of the badlands portion of the game, which is why I am unsure about whether or not I want to continue. From what I can remember, driving around the badlands was boring and it took forever to get from place to place, so that is something that has me all but inspired to continue. Other than that, I was initially surprised just how bad those Grand Theft Auto games looked; it took me a few missions to get used to the graphics, and once my eyes adjusted to the bland textures, I was able to make out the environment better. That being said, it was nowhere near as bad as trying to play an original PlayStation football game or Star Fox on the SNES; to be fair, most early 3D games do not hold up well, though.

I did get around to playing Final Fantasy X, which I did not play when it was first released in 2001; the character models and the CG actually hold up fairly well. Based on how they used the camera in cutscenes, it seemed as if they were really going out of their way to show just how good games could look on the PS2. However, I cannot say I am much of a fan of Tidus so far and his ridiculous outfit, nor blitzball, but I do not mind the combat or the main story.

To wrap this up, it is nice to have the ability to play my PS2 games again. Maybe now I will (not) get around to playing Drakengard.

@QuistisTrepe: At least Jamaal Charles took out the Lions' mascot on the play he got hurt.

My PS3 died right at the end of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I was trying to finish before Resistance 3 came out. I thought I'd be able to handle not having a PS3 for a while, but it is pretty tough knowing that the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection and Uncharted 3 are coming out soon.