PS3 Move Controller Quad Dock Station Charger - Black

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I was looking for a small docking station for our PS3 Move controllers but didn't want to pay a lot. I saw this one and it does exactly what I need it to at a low price.

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I thought I would be able to charge all 4 of my Playstation Move wands, however the ports are sized so that you can charge two and their companion controllers. Works well, just not what I had expected.

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Price was good but the item is usb. If you have an AC adapter for USB charging you should be good to go. Otherwise you can only charge while the PS3 is on...

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Bundle Monster Vinyl Skins Accessory For Sony Playstation PS3 Game Console

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does not specify what concole it is for it is for the ps3 fat not the slim i thought was a slim

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This sticker is for the PS3 FAT console, not the Playstation Slim which has been out for about 3 years now. Although this sticker would work on a Slim, it would stick out on all sides. Sticker is thick and durable and bends easily without leaving bubbles. I could almost get another one, and then cut it into a smaller piece for a netbook. It feels like vinyl, it's such high quality. 5-stars if you're using Playstation 3 FAT 4-stars if you're using the slim model.

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Dirt 2

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I'm 69 years old and my gaming experience, until recently, has been pretty much limited to Pong, PacMan and the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Two years ago I bought a WII, my first console. My favorite game was Excite Truck. That led to a PS3 and GT5P and a Logitech Driving Force GT wheel.

Now my favorite game is "Dirt 2." What an amazing piece of work. The cars handle beautifully, the damage modeling is fantastic, and there is a nice arcade/simulator balance.

I am trying to get some of my friends to buy this game (console, game, wheel, broadband connection, etc.) so that we can race online.

When they pull our real licenses we'll still be racing. Dirt 5 perhaps.

Most of the women, including my wife, who have tried this game have been frustrated, mostly because of oversteering, and have quit after driving 15 minutes or so. After I added a second system and raced my wife on our LAN she started to like it. I think following a cooperative driver who stays in sight, helps a lot.

My 68 year old wife is now level 81 and drives about 1.5 nours every afternoon. I think many women who would give this game a chance would begin to really enjoy it.

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At first glance Dirt 2 is impressive. The overall presentation is original, the graphics are spectacular, the damage modeling is amazing and finally the driving experience is decently fun. My problem with this game lies in its general shallowness. I feel like the series have gone very far from its original roots as a realistic rally racer. With every new installment we get less and less realism and more flash, "action" and arcadish feel. For example, the fact that actual rally racing takes up a rather small percentage of the types of races available in Dirt 2 is very disappointing.

I know the developers tried to shoot for a flashy and user friendly interface, and while I give them credit for their ingenuity, I really feel like it is yet another step to dumb down the whole experience, as it makes the game feel very linear with limited choices of cars and races. While the driving is kind of fun, I keep feeling like I am not playing anything more than an arcade racer, where the goal is to mostly ignore physics and good driving techniques and just ram your way to the top spot, while avoiding the obstacles. The concept of opposing drivers saying very corny things via radio during passing and bumping just adds to the whole "childishness" of an already thin experience. Even after doing well in challenging races, I had no real feeling of satisfaction that I would normally experience while playing either the old Colin McRae titles or the Gran Turismo series.

I am guessing that to offset large expenses that come with good graphics and flashiness, the developers decided to build this game for the masses by broadening the scope of the races, doing away with the idea of driving technique and essentially stopping just short of eliminating the concept of "rallying" from it altogether. Personally, I am not OK with that because no amount of good graphics and flash can make up for that feel of a realistic rally experience that was lost somewhere in the evolution of this series.

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I'll start off by saying that I'm new to the 'Dirt' franchise though I've played other racing games by Codemasters. Prior to purchasing 'Dirt' I was getting my offroad driving kicks with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. After hearing great things about the original 'Dirt' I began looking forward to playing 'Dirt 2' on my PS3.

So what's 'Dirt 2' all about? Simple off-road driving at breakneck speeds. D2 features a variety of modes though the meat of the game is the 'Dirt World Tour'. In World Tour you'll create your own character, choose a nickname and set off on conquering the world of off-road racing. Events take place in 8 locations spread out on 4 different continents. You'll be driving through the desert wastes of Baja California to the jungle trails of Malaysia to the (dirt covered) streets of London and a few places in between. As you progess with your career you'll inevitably come head to head with various professional drivers such as Dave Mirra, Ken Block, Tanner Foust and others. Eventually you'll be able to race against these drivers and if you beat them you can even befriend them and race alongside them in various team events.

World Tour features 3 categories of races starting with the relatively mild "rookie" races to the intermediate "Pro" all the way up to "All-Star". Along the way you'll buy and earn cars as well as purchase generic upgrades for the vehicles. That is, you'll pay to upgrade your vehicles from the beginner rookie level to pro and so forth. All told there are 35 vehicles ranging from rally cars, trophy trucks, buggies, stock-Baja and a few other classes. The vehicles include familiar brands such as Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan and more. One very cool feature of Dirt 2 is the ability to unlock classic vehicles like the 1993 Dakar Rally Mitsubishi Pajero or the 1995 Subaru Impreza WRX driven by Colin McRae and others.

Before you race you're given the option to set the difficulty for each specific race ranging from 'easy' to 'savage'. I believe that there are 5 difficulty settings in all. Besides making the A.I. more challenging in the races themselves the difficulty settings also dictate how many 'flashbacks' you can use in a race. Flashbacks are like a rewind feature that allow you to correct a costly mistake whilst driving. On easier difficulty settings you can use up to 6 flashbacks per race. On the hardest setting you'll be given no flashbacks at all. You'll also have the option to turn realistic damage on or change the setting to cosmetic damage only. With realistic damage vehicle performance degrades as your vehicle takes damage from crashes. Also of note, besides bragging rights from increasing the difficulty, Dirt 2 rewards players with extra cash for driving at higher difficulty levels.

The types of races available include: Rally, Rally-Cross, Trailblazer, Landrush, Last Man Standing and Raid. Rally races are the typical staggered-start events with you and your co-driver racing against the clock. Rally-Cross events are set in arena-like stages with a mixture of off-road and paved surfaces. These events are very tight and technical courses. Trailblazer is in essence a rally race without the co-driver and some cosmetic changes to the vehicles. Landrush and Raid take use Stock-Baja, Trophy Trucks and Buggies and feature tracks with plenty of jumps. Last Man Standing is an elimination event where the clock ticks down from 20 seconds and the last place driver is eliminated from the race until only one driver is left.

Each vehicle in Dirt 2 is rendered well including a full rendering of the cockpit. All the dials and gauges actually work which is very cool. Additionally the in-cockpit view is usable unlike some racing games where the viewpoint is so limited that it's near impossible to drive whilst using it.

All told I am thoroughly enjoying Dirt 2 and absolutely love the tight controls and spot-on physics. The graphics are good and at moments spectacular and have never, ever shown a bit of framerate problems or slow-down. But there are issues that keep me from rating the game higher.

I guess the first thing that I would note is that although Dirt 2 is a good looking game it just doesn't stand up next to the likes of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and some of the newer racers out there. I'm by no means implying that the graphics make the game less enjoyable, more or less throwing the information out there for those that may care to know.

My biggest disappointment with Dirt 2 would have to be the lack of genuine upgrades to the cars. Yes, you can purchase and upgrade to the vehicles from one class to another as I noted before. But there are absolutely ZERO parts to choose from and no real customization besides choosing liveries, horns and dash ornaments. Before each race you can modify basic settings like downforce and brake bias but the choices are few. If you're a fan of tuning your cars from parts you choose then be warned that Dirt 2 is probably not your game.

Another area where the game is weak is the environment effects. You'll spend most of your time in Dirt 2 racing in broad daylight and a few races at dusk where extra lights will be mounted to your vehicles. But no weather effects are present and no terrain deformation like in MotorStorm. Not a huge deal but still something to consider.

Also, Dirt 2 does feature damage models that range from bumps and scratches all the way to major damage doors falling off, broken windshields to broken axels, etc. However, in about 100 races I've realized a few things. Either the damage to your vehicles is extreme or it's very minor. There's very little ground in between. I've had accidents where I rolled my car at 90 mph and driven off like nothing happened this scenario is probably 98% of the damage you'll encounter. The only time I sustained damage severe enough to force me to retire from an event was when I intentionally rammed my car into a rock wall at 140 mph. I guess what I'm saying is that the damage model could be a bit more flushed out to allow for more realistic damage. I think that in the case of Dirt 2 the developers tried to make the game as accessible as possible and thus sort of rounded down the damage delt to vehicles.

My last gripe has to do with the menu. I find that entering certain events are confusing. Yes, 95% of the game is straightforward and not confusing at all. But to this day I still cannot find out how to download a time trail ghost and race against it. Also Dirt 2 features weekly community events where you can enter to race only problem is I've yet to figure out how to do so. Before you judge that this is a problem with me and not the game consider that I've been playing video games for over 20 years and play a lot of racing games. If I cannot figure it out, it's a problem with the interface of the game.

My last comment would be that although I'm new to the 'Dirt' franchise I was really expecting more of a rally type game than Dirt 2 really is. While it's true that there are plenty of rally events, they're generally short and more of an emphasis (out of sheer number of events) is placed on events like Rally-Cross or Trailblazer or the other game modes. I didn't realize just how much of an emphasis the X-Games played on rally racing or in Dirt 2 for that matter. Because of it the game has a sort of extreme-sport, "dude" type of feel to it.

All in all I don't believe that any of the issues I outlined are enough to keep me from enjoying the game and recommending it here. There is certainly enough content and races to keep a racer busy for a long time. Coupled with a fully featured online multiplayer Dirt 2 will be in my PS3 for many months to come. In finishing, Dirt 2 is an good off-road racer that lands just shy of greatness.

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Dirt2 rocks! Am up to level 40 and still having fun. Graphics are great, the mud on the windshield drives me nuts, I can't see! There is a switchable damage mode to allow for crash damage to affect speed and handling. And damage to the car will happen. You have to be really agressive in the car-to-car races, so it's inevitable. The "celebrity" drivers taunt you and will even break your concentration with their comments to you and each other. Hard to drive when you're laughing... Drive clean and they will be your friends. Ram them too often and they retaliate. It's even kind of cool when they tell you they think you're a legend after you beat them enough. You can drive any car on any track in Time Trial mode, something Dirt wouldn't do. The Dallenbach Special is a handful on the Del Ray Stadium track.

Don't know what others are crying about, there's plenty of Rally available in Dirt2. Is it ALL rally? No, but if it was, plenty of gamers would cry about that too. I was a little disapointed the big Raid trucks(DAF, Kamaz) are gone, as are Pike's Peak hillclimbers. Trailblazer cars a similar. But do you really want a warmed-over rehash of a game you've already played? I'm so sick of waiting for GT5 to come out and find out it's the same old tracks, the same lame cars, and a million races in Yugo's to get to a Ferrari. You get to drive decent cars on new tracks from the start and they get better...

All in all, a great game. If you love off-road, there's none better in my opinion.

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I bought this as a Christmas gift for my Hubby as it was on his list. After reading some of the reviews I thought I was going to send it back, but I gambled and it paid off. He and my Son love playing this game, I guess some people have really high standards for games. My guys have been playing these games for years and love this game every time they play, go figure!!

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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Collector's Edition

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Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the sequel to the controversial 2010 release Final Fantasy XIII. It is loved by many, and hated by others. This is something that it has in common with many of the predecessors that came before it. Square-Enix was determined to try and fix many of the mistakes they felt that they had made.

Personally I have enjoyed every Final Fantasy, even Final Fantasy XI, XII, XIII, and XIV (now). I come into each, and every one of them with a different set of eyes. This is not a series that is not going to stay along a specific formula. Each chapter in the Final Fantasy saga is constantly evolving, and changing. It is up to the fans to embrace that change or sadly this Fantasy may be Final for you.

Story (Spoiler free):

The story in XIII-2 is pretty interesting. It plays off similarly to a mystery. It starts off 3 years after the events of the previous game. Lightning is gone, and Serah is determined to find her along with Noel. They set off on their grand adventure. Where did Lightning go? How is Noel involved? Who is Etro, and how is she involved? What is the main goal of the antagonist? All of these questions popped into my mind several times. Luckily XIII-2 succeeds in the story department, especially in the later segments of the game. XIII-2 has an excellent cast of characters, with one of the best antagonists in recent memory.

If you aren't a fan of getting the overall plot in smaller portions, and then a grand finale in the later segments of the game. You will more than likely dislike XIII-2s story. Also one needs to remember that this is a time travel game so you need to keep an open mind of what is happening because there are certain things that don't make sense at first, but they will later on. Outside of the story from the cinematics, some bits and pieces are told through data logs and through NPCs (Talk to ALL of them). This was a nice addition because I really enjoyed reading those extra tidbits from the datalog fragments.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a time traveling game. You will be delving through the Historia Crux jumping between the timelines to enter new areas. In these areas you can of course do the main plot, but Square also implemented many outside additions for the players to do. These biggest additions include:

Monster Hunting One of the best additions to the game. The 3rd slot in the party belongs to a monster, so hunting is essential. You can capture tonberrys, cactaurs, ochus, and even in some cases primals! Each monster has a different role, and can be leveled through the Crystarium (similarly to the main characters, except they take monster components). In certain cases, there are even one of kind monsters. So choose wisely before you level them up. Monsters can be infused to inherit abilities, and traits. One can lose hours of their lives with this system, especially if you want to catch them all.

Sidequests There are tons of these throughout the game. There are simple fetch quests, killing quests, detailing a map, obtaining 100% of the beastiary, solving puzzles, answering questions, and many more. The nice addition that Square did here is that every character in the game has a voice over, and they aren't reused. If Square did re-use voice actors for NPCs they did a darn good job of hiding it, and I'm pretty good at catching that sort of thing. Also every quest is started in the form of a basic cut-scene. Gone are the days of long dreadful text walls.

Paradox Puzzles Square implemented puzzles to the game in the form of Paradox Puzzles. These puzzles take place in what seems like a rift between time, and there are three different forms of puzzles. Running tile puzzles, connect the dots of sorts, and the brain crunching clock puzzles. Some of these puzzles had me stumped. One in particular took me close to an hour to figure out. (By the way, those clock puzzles are random. Good luck finding a guide).

Serendipity This optional area is a theme park of sorts if you wish to call it that. There is Chocobo Racing, Slot machines, and more that will be added later via DLC such as card games. There are dozens of adornments to be found, tons of prizes to win, and lots of money to be lost.

The battle system is pretty much the same as Final Fantasy XIII. At first I actually had a hard time readjusting to it because it's so darn fast. I still dislike the "Auto-Battle" option but I do understand why it's there. You never have to use it once through the entire game if you wish not too.

Square redid a lot of the animations, especially in the magic department. The later tier magic spells seemed to have a lot more effects than its predecessor which I found to be really nice. Though there was a lot of reuse in abilities such as "Ruin, Blitz, Imperil" and more. Monsters from XIII are also reused in a lot of areas, which is also understandable because it's still the same world so they aren't going to just disappear. However if in the future a sequel is made (oh and there will be) I would like to see more additions. There is enough for it not too be annoying, but I would like to see more variations.

Characters advance through the Crystarium, a system used in Final Fantasy XIII. While it may look similar in style to its counterpart it's actually a lot different. There is still a one way path for each role, but depending on what role you level and when, the stats you have at the end of the Crystarium may differ greatly from another player. When leveling the "Bigger Orbs" there are stat bonuses determined by that role. For example a Commando is a 2 STR bonus, while a Ravager is 2 MAG bonus. Choose wisely.

Square implemented dialogue trees, and cinematic actions for more of a western appeal approach. These additions were alright, but as a fan of JRPGs over WRPGs. I hope that in the future, they stay far away from the genre. It's not that I dislike them, but I would rather appreciate 100% of the story, and watch the impressive cutscenes.

Music:

The music in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a bit of a departure from other games in the series. A good portion of the soundtrack which boasts over 70 songs has vocals. Luckily the rap tracks have been eliminated from the western version, but almost all of the songs are a delight to listen too. Naoshi Mizuta, Masashi Hamauzu, Nobuo Uematsu, and Mitsuto Suzuki put together a very decent soundtrack.

There were only a few songs I really disliked, and unsurprisingly they were composed by Nobuo. I am a big fan of Nobuo's early work but that Crazy Chocobo theme was entirely unnecessary, and didn't fit with the Final Fantasy universe at all. Head banging, and really crazy death metal isn't my style especially in a boss fight or, when riding a cute little bird.

Naoshi Mizuta continues to impress me with themes like "Warrior Goddess" and "Caius Theme." I really hope that he is a part of all future Final Fantasy installments. In my opinion he is the new Nobuo Uematsu of this time period.

Technical Problems:

In a generation where video game technical issues seem to be the norm, it is nice that Square-Enix is ahead of the curve with their single player Final Fantasy games. However the game is not perfect. There are frame drops in cut scenes. They aren't anything that will significantly irritate the player (and most people probably will not notice it at all) but it does break my focus.

Thankfully though out of the entire time I spent with the game that was all I encountered. No freezes, no screen tears, no cutting out music, hell my entire 24MB save didn't drop to 10 frames at all!

What I played:

My adventure in XIII-2 lasted about 65 hours (the main story took me roughly 35 hours, and I skipped some content). That time will differ heavily depending on what content you do. The Platinum trophy has been obtained, and I have conquered a majority of the games content. I have seen every Paradox ending, the secret ending, and all 160 fragments have been found. I however did not capture every monster (but I did kill them all ^^), or obtain all of the adornments that can be found throughout the game. I also did not collect the weapons that require ridiculous farming time.

My score and final thoughts:

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is by no means a perfect game, because it isn't. Not everyone will enjoy XIII-2 but I do believe that Square succeeded in bringing back the joy for many Final Fantasy Fans. XIII-2 boasts a very decent story, great music, decent characters, one hell of a protagonist, and one of the most memorable endings I have ever seen. Time literally flew by while playing XIII-2 for me, so thanks Square for the fun.

Quick Recap:

Pros:

Characters

Story

Music

Caius is EPIC

Monster Hunting

Ending

Illusion of freedom is back

Collector's Edition has an amazing casing

Neutral:

Dialogue Trees

Cinematic Actions

Re-use of Monster assets

Cons:

Inconsistent Difficulty (Luckily the Final Boss is insanely fun!)

Frame drops in cut scenes

Nobuo's ridiculous head banging music

Note: This review has also been posted on the standard edition, because I purchased them both. I think it's fair that it gets credit on both fronts.

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I'm one of those that liked the first one, though I had some problems with its game design. XIII-2 fixes most of those problems. The combat is faster and you're thrown into the story without a 12 hour tutorial. The graphics are gorgeous, the music is gorgeous, and the gameplay is a lot more fun.

However, you had to have finished FFXIII to really understand whats going on.

If you liked FFXIII you'll love this one.

If you hated FFXIII you'll hate this one a bit less than you hated XIII.

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I just want to say that I really enjoyed the first one, FFXIII. I had a lot of fun with it and nearly spent 120 hours on it, damn you treasure hunter trophy, but i've also played every other final fantasy except FFX, FFXI, FFXII, and FFXIV. If your going to compare it to the best the final fantasy franchise has to offer, sure it's going to be a little disappointing. Though it still is a really fun JRPG. I feel people just hold it to an extremely high expectation because, will I mean come on FFIX,FFVIII, FFIV, FFV as well as FFVI...which all are really incredible games so it's understandable to a point. In my opinion sqeenix was doing what they always have done, which is to change the formula of their own standard they set on the previous title. They generally outperform, or at the very least are on par, with their previous title. I will have to agree that they fell short on quite a few aspects, definitely not the graphics though, on their FFXIII title.

FFXIII-2 is so much of an upgrade, as far as my 6 hours of game play can tell, that it's astounding some of the reviews that gave it a lower score than it's predecessor. I'm enjoying the story and especially the fighting of this game, it is roughly the same, which I personally loved the battle system of FFXIII to begin with and the only thing they changed was instead of a third person as a party member you get to choose any number of monsters that you tame throughout your journey. I feel this is a decent trade off from a third person party member but I will really have to see with more experience with the game. I do like the idea of it all though. The environments of the areas I've explored as well as the character designs and enemy designs are fantastic. I especially love the way Sarah looks, quite cute if I say so myself, and the boss you fight at the beach area is really cool looking, but a bit easy. I'm playing on normal and only every once in a while I get 4 stars, but it's quite rare so I'd have to say that it's pretty easy.

One of the best changes is the fact that you get gil from winning battles. My god the most annoying thing about FFXIII was the fact you couldn't get gil any other way besides selling things. That is why the treasure hunter trophy is stupidly hard to get. Not sure how this will effect trophies but it's much better than having to hope you get something worth selling. Another welcomed upgrade is the fact that there are NPC's which you can talk to, and towns which you get to explore. This, to me at least, is what final fantasy is all about, I mean who doesn't love to explore areas endlessly in the hopes that a rare treasure is behind some random corner, or even that some NPC will give you the scoop on the best item in the game if you talk to him a couple of times. It's one of the appeals to the franchise in my opinion and this definitely has that.

I do wonder though, if this is a case of a little to late. I feel people were so turned off by the linearity of the first one, in combination with all the things aforementioned in my review of this title, that it makes it hard for people to even give this a chance. If FFXIII would have been more like this title then I definitely feel that it would have gotten better reviews. Ultimately anybody who is a fan of the final fantasy franchise will really enjoy this title as it's aesthetically pleasing and has fixed everything wrong with the first title. The only thing would be if you didn't like the battle system of the first one you wont like the battle system of this as it's essentially the same. If you were ok with the battle system then please pick this up as it is by far and away an improvement and I don't see how you wouldn't enjoy it.

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First of all, let me just say I absolutely fell in love with FF13. I sat there mesmerised when seeing the intro sequence for the first time. I was completely captivated by the story. I fell in love with the characters (I even got to like Snow in time). Even outside of the main story, there were so many moments I loved... It was so nice to see Light levitate a behemoth for the first time and then jump after it and continue her work... I laughed out loud the first time I saw Lightning head towards an opponent to start her combo and then very skilfully stab the empty place where the monster used to be... It was so nice to finally beat a (ne)ochu thanks to vanille's unique skill... The first time using an eidolon and the first zantetsuken... So many firsts, and so much to enjoy... What can I say, overall it was a masterpiece, and in my opinion it is almost impossible to improve it. And as far as I'm concerned, 13-2 did not improve it in any way.

It's impossible for me to try and judge it as a standalone, so mostly I'll just compare it with the original. The gameplay / battle system is mostly unchanged. You get the same six roles, the same paradigm system, but just two playable characters. The third member of the party is always a monster you have to capture. Unlike the main characters, monsters only have one fixed role, and you can use only three monsters when building your paradigm deck. Naturally, this limits the strategic choices available, and as such the introduction of the possibility to save/load paradigm decks is quite welcomed (this being a feature I for one would have loved to have in the original as well). The game feels more difficult at maximum level, but you can so easily be over-levelled for a particular area during the main story that overall the game is considerably easier. This is in direct contrast with the original, where it was pretty impossible to be over-levelled for a particular area (I for one was completely humiliated by a shaolong gui on my first visit to the archylte steppe (yes, shaolong gui, not adamanchelid)).

Visually, the game still has the same (extremely high) quality, the only loss here is that the gorgeous cut-scenes from the original are no more (from what I understand they are no longer pre-rendered but generated live, and you can see this loss of quality quite clearly in the game).

The fights overall feel faster than in the original. The ATB bar seems to fill faster, paradigm shift is always instantaneous. This is not really a bad thing, but compared to the original, I found myself relying much more on the auto-combat option. While in the original, halfway through I changed the default option from auto to manual, for this one it was impossible. I simply do not have time to manually queue commands (well, maybe if I'm really efficient, I can populate a queue with 5*fire) without wasting a at least half a turn (and this is non-hasted with standard weapons, I won't even begin to describe how many turns I'd waste when the character is hasted and wielding a +50% atb rate weapon).

The adding of the "playable" monsters unfortunately also means no more summons (and implicitly no more zantetsuken ;_;). The ultimate character-specific moves are still there, but are considerably easier to get, and nowhere near as impressive as the original. You won't see Lightning's time dilation inducing army of one, or vanille's rather frightening death here...

The story is... well... you get a lot of choices. And for people who value the illusion of freedom, this may be a good thing. My opinion about all this is that no good game offers that much freedom to begin with. For me, a good game is one that tells a story worth hearing, worth living, and I for one do not know of any good story that can be read with its chapters shuffled. I did play many games offering the illusion of freedom, but the truth is that although you may choose to go to B before you go to A, more often than not all you can do once there is learn that you should go to A if you want to advance the story, and this is why I called it "illusion of freedom". Choices are never a bad thing, the real problem with the story for me was... well... it's really difficult to say exactly what... it just falls (waaaay) short of the original story. As others said before, it's difficult to have a good story with time travel as the main theme, and the story is really not that bad, it's just... not impressive.

About characters... Now, since she's Light's sister I won't say anything about Serah, I'll just say that compared to the first, I was greatly disappointed by the lack of real characters. There's just Serah and Noel, and neither gets much of a story. The "bad guys" get a much better story here, for me Noel just felt like Caius's shadow just as much as Serah is just Light's sister. Serah already had a story and character, beautifully exposed in the original, but Noel could have used a better story imo.

It is painful to give a game featuring Lightning anything but a perfect score, but things just went in the wrong direction in my opinion. While 13 was designed around a story, around characters, it had a different battle system, and the result was nothing short of a masterpiece, this one just feels like a "let's give the fans what they want" version. There's nothing wrong with listening to fans, but people should try and remember that fans are created by great games and great games created by fans are rare to say the least. It still has enough of the original to make it a very good game, it just lacks that certain something that got me addicted to 13.

Is it still worth buying? Yes. Would I have had a better opinion of it if I played it without having tried 13? Yes. But to call it an improvement in all aspects over the original, that it fixes all the things that were wrong in the original... That just feels like a joke to me. Then again, I honestly do not think there was anything important in the original that needed fixing.

All in all, it's a good game, with considerably more playable content. It will keep you busy probably twice as long as 13 and getting all achievements is a titanic task. Oh, and I would highly recommend buying the guide too if you are interested in 100% completion, there are certain vital things that can be so easily missed the first time you play an area (or in my case the 10th time as well).

It's just not the same without Light. And it's a pity too, because Serah had such potential as a character...

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I love Final Fantasy and have been playing each installment ever since I was young. I also enjoyed Final Fantasy 13 even though many did not, it may not have been a great Final Fantasy but I enjoyed the game anyways. Because of the enjoyment I had playing Final Fantasy 13 as soon as I heard Final Fantasy 13-2 was announced I wanted it. Unfortunately, though the game is fun it is not as good as I had hoped.

PROS -

-The game has much more explorations and gives you a lot of freedom from the start.

-The monster mechanic is pretty fun and collecting and infusing to make an ultimate monster in endgame will prove to be very fun.

CONS -

-The story is not even finished, I payed $80 for an unfinished game to say I am angry would be an understatment

-The music though not necessarily bad is by far my least favorite of all the FF games which is disappointing since I payed $40 more for the collectors edition.(since Amazon was giving $20 credit on normal edition)

-The game is unbelievably easy even on normal difficulty. Final Fantasy 13 wasn't necessarily hard but at least it wasn't so easy you dominated everything. The game is so easy I kill bosses usually in less than 90 seconds and I haven't went out of my way to farm at all, in fact I stopped spending crystarium points about 25 hours into the game because I was hoping the game would get harder but no it hasn't I still kill every pack of monsters I run into in less that 5-10 seconds.

-Lastly my biggest gripe which is the scourge of gaming in my opinion and will only get worse, DLC. It has already been announced that things that would normally have been in a Final Fantasy game will be released in the future as DLC, this includes a finished story. Yes, you read right the story is not finished and it has already been announced that extra character stories will be released in the future and that Lightnings would bring about the resolution of the end of the game. Also, in the casino there is a card game that has not been implemented yet and when asking how to play it gives a message saying will be available in future downloadable content. The coliseum which is kind of like the one in Final Fantasy 10 where you can pick a boss to fight is also a mainly dlc feature with the earliest bosses being classic lightning and master sergeant Amodar for $3 being released on February 7th.

CONCLUSION -

This is the first review I have ever written so it is not that great. Yes, I know there is probably lots of grammar errors if you want to point them out in comments so I can correct them in future reviews that would be great. Overall, Final Fantasy 13-2 is still fun which I why I gave it a 4/5 for fun. The reason for the 3/5 rating is because the game is unfinished with the rest of the story being released in DLC at a later date which just sickens and infuriates me, I think my 3/5 is very generous considering this but I am enjoying the game regardless so I will cut it some slack. I can only hope this money milking trend called DLC does not get any worse than it already has but I foresee a future where 75% of a game is with held for DLC. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against DLC my main problem with it is the rampant abuse of DLC currently in the market. I have bought every single Final Fantasy since 7 the day it was released (excluding FF11 and FF14) but if Square continues this disgusting practice it started with FF13-2 I will wait for each one to drop to $20 before I buy them in the future for a couple of reasons. Not only will waiting for it to drop to $20 make up for all the money I will be spending on DLC but I usually do not even bother with DLC even if it is something I would want because after beating a game I rarely go back to it as I am busy with other games.

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Battlefield Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $21.48
Today's Bonus: 46% Off

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is an excellent game. The single player is spectacular and the multiplayer is more addicting than Call of Duty games. For anyone who has played a previous "Battlefield" title, there's a familiar formula here that has been reworked for an even better online experience. Since the majority of players will be playing online most of the time, I'll go into some detail on the multiplayer aspects. The maps are large and the gameplay is challenging. Unlike some other first person shooter games, you have to really employ some strategy and you must work as a team if you really want to win. In Bad Company 2, your team consists of squads, up to 4 people in each squad. You can create objectives for you and your squad memebers and you can "spot" enemy team members by putting them in your cross-hairs and pushing the "select" button instantly showing your entire squad where this enemy player is located (it puts a large orange triangle over their head and shows their location on your squad-mates mini map.) Bad Company 2 also has 4 awesome multiplayer modes: Conquest, Rush, Squad Rush, and Squad Deathmatch. Most everyone knows the object of a deathmatch, get your team as many kills as you can and make sure your team has more kills that the other team if you want to win. Well Battlefield 1942/1943 were both known for their "Conquest" mode and Bad Company 2 brings it back. The objective is for your team to capture and hold flag points scattered along the map, as long as you own these flag points, you and your entire team can spawn on them. In the Rush game mode, there are M-COM stations scattered throughout the map. One team defends these stations, while the other team tries to destroy the stations by either planting bombs on the stations or tearing the building down (yes, you can blow buildings apart and watch them crumble to the ground smashing any player still inside!).

Ok, now for the benefits of the "Ultimate Edition". The Ultimate Edition includes Battlefield 1943 and Onslaught mode. Battlefield 1943 is a downloadable game from the PS Store that usually costs $14.99 and it is a fun throwback that was built off of the original hit Battlefield 1942 that was released on the PC. There are only 4 maps in BF 1943 but it is still a great World War II game. The other extra is Onslaught co-op mode. The Onslaught mode is a downloadable add-on to Bad Company 2 that usually costs $9.99 at the PS Store but is now included with the Ultimate Edition. Onslaught is a co-op online game mode in which you and 3 other squad mates can take part in. It is a very fun game mode that is sure to add even more re-play time to an already addicting game.

Now for the negatives about this game... Actually, I have very few complaints about Bad Company 2. A few people have complained about getting randomly booted from online matches, I have never had this happen and I have logged over 45 hours in the multiplayer modes. I do wish that there was an option to play 4 player (or even 2 player) split-screen online. I also think that the helicopters are way too dominant. They are very hard to take down once an enemy player gets in one.

All in all, Bad Company 2 is a GREAT game! If you are looking at this game and considering it, you should buy it, or at least checkout the full professional reviews at some other websites. I downloaded the demo before the game was even out, and I knew it was going to be good. I pre-ordered it and paid $60 for it, then bought this version for the Onslaught mode and Battlefield 1943 and gave my old version to a friend so he could play online with me. This Ultimate Edition is a great value at only $40, you get the Onslaught mode free (usually an extra $10) and Battlefield 1943 (usually $15)! That's $25 worth of free content, not to mention the VIP code that comes with all new versions of Bad Company 2 giving you access to some FREE map packs.

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I loved COD4, and MW2. I spent so much time playing those games. But I got to a point where I was just SICK of it. I didn't play a shooter for a good couple of months. I didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money on Black Ops either. I recently got the itch to play again and plugged in MW2... still tired of it. Oddly enough, the day after that, this game went on sale for 27 dollars, and I picked it up without hesitation.

It is an entirely different experience from the COD games. There is a bullet drop on sniper rifles... totally awesome. Now when you make a longshot with the sniper, you have to aim higher to account for this. I fricken love it, because now you feel accomplished when you get that long distance headshot. Plus, you actually have to work as a team. If you run around trying to be a badass, chances are you will get killed. The emphasis here isn't team deathmatch. Its all about capturing enemy bases, or destroying enemy objectives. I love the fact that you can tag an enemy, and said enemy is instantly visible to all your teammates.

Theres a lot of guns here, different equipment, and the expected perks and attachments of most FPSs right now. The inclusion of vehicles adds a lot as well. Boats, land vehicles, and various air vehicles make for an exciting match. I will admit though, it gets annoying when every single person hops into a tank or a helicopter.

A quick warning that was already stated by another reviewer: being new to this game right now is rough. Be prepared for that.

Plus, this edition gives you sooo much extra stuff. BF1943 is alright, and I havent played the other mode that you download, but what I can attest to is the greatness of the extra maps you get.

I recommend this, especially for people who are finally tired of COD and want a different type of game.

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I'm not here to provide a lengthy review about the gameplay, if you want that I recommend going to gamespot, gametrailers, and IGN, for a professional review instead of getting countless skewed biased reviews from fanboys. I will say, however, that this is a great deal on a very good game. Bad Company 2 has a thriving online community that rivals that of Modern Warfare 2, so if you're looking for a fun shooter to play online, you've come to the right place.

People seem to be a little unsure just what is included in the package. You get the original Bad Company 2 game (40 dollar value), the VIP code for the map packs (if you buy the game used you have to purchase a VIP code for 10 or 15 dollars to be able to download the map packs), you also get BC2's DLC Onslaught mode (a 10 dollar value) and Battlefield 1943 (15 dollar value). If you do the math, it's easy to see why I consider this to be a great value.

I can't tell you whether or not you'll like the Bad Company 2 or Battlefield 1943. Both games are a lot of fun and have very unique FPS personalities. Check out professional reviews to see if it's up your alley.

Note: I purchased this game when Amazon had it listed at 40 dollars. If you can get it for that value, it is a must buy. 60 is still a good deal though.

If you are a parent concerned about the violence in either game please be aware that it is Rated M (17+). The game does have minimal violence/blood (no where near the most violent games on the market) and some harsh language. Also playing online always increases the chances of running into other players swearing.

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I bought this game so that I could have a feel for Battlefield for when Battlefield 3 comes out. I never played this game before, but once I did, I could not stop playing it. This game overall is better than all the FPS shooters out there. I was a huge fan of Call of Duty; I played MW1, MW2, BO, and I was going to preorder MW3. After playing Battlefield Bad Company 2, I will not even waste any time or money on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Everything that I hated about COD (campers/noobtubers/claymores/TRYHARDS/quickscoping/etc) was not seen in Battlefield. Overall classes and playing is more even so its up to a person's real skill rather the gun and the perks they have. (For example: my friend has a 2.0+ KDR on Black ops and when he switched over to this with me, he has about a .01 KDR while I have a 1.14 right now.) This game takes tactics and real knowledge/skill to play, not just run and gun to build up killstreaks and then let those do the work for you. Plus it is a team based game, so you do not have to worry about 5-year-old kids screaming that they just got noobtubed or listen to a guy you just owned scream at you because you have no life. This game is a MUST, or at least until Battlefield 3 comes out.

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Don't buy this edition!

Let me start by saying that items like this really get me mad. Buyers have the choice of whether to buy the standard edition of a game like this one (Battlefield Bad Company 2) for a lot less money...or they can pay more to get the "ultimate" edition with all of the extra content. I have always been a person that likes to get everything for a game...so I bought this. However, what no one tells you (especially Amazon) is that the code you get to download all of the extra content EXPIRED 2 YEARS AGO! So I essentially paid a lot more money for a game with a code that was no good after August of 2011.

There should have to be some sort of disclosure about expiration dates if they continue to sell these types of games. It is false advertising to say that it includes tons of extra content but then you cannot get any of it. As a lawyer, I may file a lawsuit over this issue. I should not have to worry as a consumer about getting screwed by false claims like this.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds: Special Edition

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List Price: $69.99
Sale Price: $49.99
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

Got this game for my nephews...it is really fun and flashy, but some things could have used improvement. The online is just atrocious, they should have improved it greatly before releasing this game. There are a lot of characters which is nice. Besides Jill/Shuma (which aren't that great IMO), the DLC is pretty crappy. I wish the arcade mode would be longer. Sometimes the game seems kind of hectic, but this is to be expected with MvC. The fighting is overall very fun and I like the stages.

Kinda feel ripped off that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is coming out so soon after this.

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Intro:

I'm a LONG time fan of the fighting game series and when the announcement for the game was done ALL of my friends who were fans and me jumped for joy. I pre-ordered originally from Best Buy and long story short they sold my copy, cancelled ordered one on here that was about $80, made me wait 3 weeks until telling me their supplier could not get them the game. So one last time on Amazon and I happily received my game .

Game play:

The game play is a simple 3 vs 3 tag team battle. Players fight using teams of both Capcom and Marvel characters. First person to lose all health on all 3 characters loses or the one with the lowest life loses. Players can "tag in" their team members anytime, while their opponent also can forcefully switch their team by performing a "snap-back". The other team members not being used can be also used as an assist who can jump in for a moment (along with the character you have control over currently), perform a move of combo and hop back off screen. There is also a specials bar meter that the player can store and use to pull off devastating special moves. The controls have 2 set of buttons "normal" or "simple". Normal has 6 button use:

Normal:

"Light", "Medium", "Heavy", "Special" (Essentially the launch for air combos), "Partner 1", "Partner 2"

Where as simple mode makes it easy for players just starting:

"Attack"(Replaces "Light" and allows players to perform combos with one simple button, "Special" (Replacing "Medium" button does moves such as for Ryu, Hadouken), "Hyper Combo" (Replaces "Heavy" and does a bar special.), and the same 3 other buttons.

The current roster is 40 (38 without DLC characters). People complain about the character selection but I, along with others see no problem with it. Sure we lost old favorites (Megaman and Gambit to name an example) but we've gained new interesting notable ones (X-23 and Amaterasu for example). Future DLC characters are TBA but will eventually be out.

There is a training mode to practice new moves and combos. There's also mission mode which helps you get use to a character as well and improve your game play. Online has player (Friendly/Casual Like) and ranked(Serious/Competition Like) matches. There are online leader boards and statistic trackers so you can review yourself and compare yourself to friends/other players. There is also customizations for player title and emblem (not Black Ops custom level, think MW2 custom level). The gallery has character models and profile viewers to learn more of their origins.

Video:

Graphics are great and make me not mind the 3D model transaction opposed to the previous 2D model. Also like the comic feel and presentation of the endings with it. The gallery has concept art, character art.

Sound:

Like the video I am very impressed although it was a given. Players also have the choice to change Capcom characters to either English or Japanese voices. (I prefer Street Fighter and Megaman Characters in Japanese while Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Resident Evil characters in English voices.) There's also a gallery to view sounds or characters and BGM.

Overall:

I hate to admit it but I love it as I do with all or most games. I even bought a Hori Real Arcade Pro V3 SA for it. The game is aimed at casual players with the simplified "normal" controls (rather than a standard fighting game Light, Medium, Heavy punch/kick. or the MvC2 buttons (Light/Heavy Punch, Light/Heavy Kick, Assist 1, Assist 2). I can still have fun with it and my friends who consider me good when I don't (Ha...) enjoy watching me and sometimes playing against me. The online may be an issue for some, but I have no problems. However like any fighting games there's also problems with some players (spammers, etc.) so be warned.

If you want tips or more info here's a game guide to it:I give the game a 5/5.

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Has it really been a decade since Marvel VS Capcom 2? It seems like only yesterday I first discovered it in an arcade and eventually played it to death on the Dreamcast all those years ago, so saying that Marvel VS Capcom 3 has big shoes to fill is saying it lightly. Featuring graphics similar to Super Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko VS Capcom; Marvel VS Capcom 3 takes all the insane combos and crazy character team-ups and gives them a serious upgrade. There is so much chaos going on on-screen that keeping up with it is difficult at first, but the game delivers everything that fans of the Marvel VS Capcom series have been yearning for. It looks and plays spectacularly, is easy to pick up and play, and it's final boss in Arcade Mode is Galactus (!), which makes the game worth checking out regardless. The only gripes I have with Marvel VS Capcom 3 is that the character roster isn't nearly as massive as it was the last time around, but that's understandable. However, while giving both Normal and Simple control schemes before you start playing gives button mashing gamers a whole new way to inflict damage. This choice between Normal and Simple comes off as being a bit cheap, especially considering how surprisingly deep the fighting engine was in Marvel VS Capcom 2. Still though, Marvel VS Capcom 3 is a spectacular achievement, and is more than worth picking up.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is in a word...PERFECT. But since this is a review I have to say more. MvC series goes back a long time to PS1 and I loved those games, so my expectations were very high for this game. And this game is absolutely wicked, first of all I have to talk about the game has the same tag team feature like the past games so no worries on that. This time the fighters are 3D which really set them out from the stage and environment , the gameplay is slower than the ones of the past and you have 3 attack buttons like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom if you have a Wii. When playing this game the fighters and their moves are so fluid and precise, I can imagine if these people were real that's how they'd do it because they look so good doing it. Now for the fighters there's 36 of them plus 2 if you got DLC for preordering so the list is shorter than MvC2, the list is awesome some fighters made it that I didn't think would like: Taskmaster, Super-Skrull, Albert Wesker and Chris Redfield from Resident Evil and I can't forget one of my favorites X-23 she's better than Wolverine and they dropped fighters such as Venom, Captain Commando and Gambit but it's hard to focus on the negative. Of course you got your usual fighters like Ryu, Hulk, Captain America and Chun li. The combos are incredible the whole linking, juggling, tagging in and out and the versatility of the combos are spectacular. Then the Hyper Combos how they have improved are really great even linking them are cool and how some of them make good counters and anti-air attacks like Iron Man cannon now can be angled for a jumper as well as Ryu's hadokens. I can't spoil it for you because I can talk about this game for hours. You know Capcom is truly on a hot streak with fighting games they hit hard with SF4 then SSF4 and of course Tatsunoko vs. Capcom on wii all of these were perfect. So for my review: GAMEPLAY 5stars this feels/handle better than previous MvCs and the combos are better too , GRAPHICS 5stars this game is 3D and looks beautiful, FIGHTERS 5stars they improved on an already great roster, ONLINE 5stars some minor drops here and there but what multiplayer doesn't have that. MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3: FATE OF TWO WORLDS 5STARS... PERFECT!!!

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MVC3 took away a lot of the variation for combos by changing the button layout. What they did was dumb down the game to try to make it easier for new players to just pick up the game and start mashing. Also, if you don't know what you are doing or mess up slightly with ANY CHARACTER, you will lose the the character to a short combo and two supers with minimal effort. For example with MVC2, You could lose a character to a long combo BUT, it REQUIRED SKILL(precise timing) to do so. (Magneto, Iron Man, Sentinel, Storm, Anakaris, Cable, Etc.)

Not to mention the fact that they are, or so it appears to be, doing the same thing with the MVC franchise that they did with Street Fighter 4: Release an INCOMPLETE GAME and release ANOTHER VERSION with a few more things added in, rather than using an on-line patch/update for the game. Also, lets not forget the SELLING of "extra" characters. They really should not be selling an incomplete game.

An eye sore in the game: The OVER EXAGGERATED visual effects when a character gets hit by an attack. They get in the way when one is trying to use an opponents animation to visually time a combo.

Walk away people.

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Playstation Move Motion Controller

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List Price: $49.99
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Today's Bonus: 43% Off

The Motion Controller and the PS Eye are the minimum needed to bring 'Move' to a any PS3 console. No exceptions. If you already have a PS Eye then the controller alone is the only purchase necessary. On the other hand, to fully enjoy certain games, you may want TWO Move Controllers.

It's hard not to be impressed by the Move. While I can't see how the Move's Motion Controller can become PS3's 'main' controller, I believe that it's going to find lots of good uses and hopefully in hard-core games and in the RPG games that I'm usually playing.

SETUP

Press the PS button. If the controller is charged... you're done.

Of course, to do anything useful, you WILL need a PS Eye camera and maybe a game :). You CAN use the controller to navigate the PS3 XMB menus but it may take some getting used to I am still reaching for the DualShock.

MOVE'S MOTION CONTROLLER

The Wikipedia has a very thorough review of the technology inside the controller impressive. It's probably worth going there to get an idea of what's under the hood.

From a user's point of view, the Move could be viewed as approximately the right side of the DualShock 3 where the motion tracking function is the R3 analog stick, R1 is the MOVE button and the R2 becomes the Move's T(rigger). You also get the 4 Square/Circle/X/Triangle, in a square (not 'diamond') formation, the PS button as well as the START and SELECT. So far, the most used buttons during gameplay were the MOVE and the T(rigger).

In addition, you get a wrist strap. At the opposite end of the microphone or thick wand-shaped Move there's a USB Mini-B port for charging and another port that seems to be proprietary must investigate.

The controller is quite substantial as far as both size and weight I like that and liked its being shaped in a way that makes it easy to grab and hold. Very much like a microphone or a very thick magic wand; NOT a remote control.

Based on my experience so far, Move's ability to track your motions far surpasses anything that I'm aware of in the gaming universe. Every single movement, up/down, left/right, toward/away and wrist rotation are accurately captured and almost instantly reflected on the screen and so is acceleration that would usually translates as 'force' in games such as sword fights or ping pong. In addition, there is haptic (tactile/rumble) feedback, a little too weak in the games I played so far, making the gaming experience that much more realistic.

I am not writing a lot about the Eye camera because... it's just there and it's not the subject of this review. For as long as it can see you, it simply does its part so that you may enjoy your game.

PLAYING

I've tried so far everything in the Champions game and one puzzle game demo downloaded from the PSN. Our little girl is playing the Eye Pet demo and my boys are playing mostly the sword fight and the archery games in Sports Champions. Considering that Sports Champions is an early game, my expectations were not that high but, surprisingly, Ping Pong did meet my expectations. I've been playing real Ping Pong ever since I was 11 or 12 so I probably know what I'm talking about and the Move version of Ping Pong is GOOD. As for the others... sword fight, kids like it. Archery was okay, Bocce was so-so, Frisbee Golf not too bad. Three of the six Champions events benefit significantly from using TWO Motion controllers.

For the games I've played so far, this is NOT a couch experience. On the Sports events I was sweating after a few minutes and I had to get off the couch and stand up even when playing the puzzle because of its depth element. This is probably a good thing.

I am sorry for having to do this but, absent 'hard core' games, the only comparison I can make is between Move and Wii and... to put it VERY mildly, the Wii shows its age when placed next to the Move. Except for it lacking a built-in speaker, the Move controller is ahead of Wii in every single respect: precision, responsiveness, ergonomics. The fact that the Eye camera can and in certain games DOES track your body not just the controller helps too. Of course, the Wii has the games but the Move games should be coming fast so I'm not worried.

MY RATING

It's 5 stars for the technical merit, ease of setup and for the overall experience. Hopefully, the games will be coming quickly and in good quality.

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It's a shame that Sony's new motion controller Move is so much compared to the Wii. Aside from the basic principles, Move is a lot different than the Wii. And if you ever played Wii and then pick up Move, you'll quickly be able to tell the difference. The accuracy with this thing is out of this world. It follows the wand with 1:1 motion and no lag at all(not yet anyway) And you can go into 3D space, like going into the the picture and grabbing something out, something the Wii couldn't do. But this review isn't about the Move VS Wii, so I'll shut up. I've played Sports Champions and Start the Party and some demo games, and this controller is perfect. It's built solid and it feel good in your hand. The glowing orb on top is actually pretty cool, but it's not just for looks, it actually has a purpose, and it's purpose is to help the camera follow the controller by following the light. This controller is still very new so I can't note on reliability, but I'm sure it's great giving it's from Sony.

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After having bought the PS3 move all I can say is amazing at how easily it's to use and how incredibly it reads the hand and arm motions of the player while you are playing a game. The Wii motion Plus when it came out was suppose to help fix the wii remotes sometimes unsteady reading of the Wii remote motion during gameplay but even than it really didn't seem that much of a vast improvement, but with the PS3 move as you play the gladiatorial fights and archery or just playing ping pong reading the wrist movements and the location of the motion controller is vastly superior especially if you've just played a Wii game and start playing this a couple of hours later. Setting up the motion controllers is also vastly easier than the Wii remotes just use the usb hookup when you turn on your console and motion controller than go to the accessory settings on the PS3 and you'll see the motion control calibration setup to begin and within a few seconds you're set to go. It does seem a little more fun though if you have two motion controllers for some of the games on the Sports champion one, notably the Gladiator and archery one for the most part but not truly necessary to play the games if you just want to have one or just only bought one. So for the great price for this is it worth getting?, I definitely say yes while some have called it a clone of the Nintendo Wii I feel it's vastly more than just that with all it's been able to do and the great enjoyment you're sure to get while playing with the PS3 move as well...

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I already have a PS3, so I bought the bundle with the Eye, game, and controller, then I bought this controller for 2 player and more 1 player versatility. So far, I have had a lot of fun with the system. The camera and controller are very easy, just plug and play. You calibrate the controller at the start of each game, which basically entails pointing the controller at the Eye and hitting a button. Not difficult.

The game play is fun and intuitive, especailly when compared with the Wii remote, which was pretty cool for its time (I mean, they just took a Game Cube and made a new controller for it. I certainly didn't guess it would sell as many as it did). The Move just takes it to a new level. It's not shaky like the Wii, and you actually have to move to make it move around the screen. If you've ever played Boxing on Wii, you will have noticed that you don't actually have to punch, just flick your wrists. With the Move, you have to actually move around.

Anyway, I like the new controller and am glad I bought 2 to start with. I may buy more later, as the games are developed, but this is a lot of fun out of the box. One more thing: the glowing, color changing, ping pong ball looking thing on the end of the controller is not hard plastic, but a rubberized material, like silicone. So, if you whack it into things, it won't break or anything. Seems like a good design.

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When I got my hands on this device I realized instantly it was no Wii rip off. The precision is dead on, and trust me.... you won't be dissapointed. It's farrr more comfortable then it looks and it is truly 1:1. I do warn you, it does look a little bigger in real life than the pictures though.

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WSC Real 11 (World Snooker Championship)

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I lived in England from 1978 to 1982 and fell in love with Snooker while I was there. For a casual fan, this game is fantastic. You start out as rookie, play qualifying matches, enter tournaments, manage your career and create as many players as you like. The in game commentary is funny but a bit repetitive but I didn't mind it where a lot of afficianados turned it off. I liked it because I miss the quirky British humor that often was displayed by the announcers on BBC TV. The game mechanics are perfect, it's most of the fluff that isn't quite commensurate with the gameplay itself. If you want the fluff, forget it, don't buy it. If you love to play snooker, by all means buy this game!

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Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2

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A very nice realisation with the original Karaoke Revolution spirit, mixed with the American Idol series.

A great one !!

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I love that there is no video showing in the background. On the singstar ones, you see the video....(Not always something you want to see.) You get a wide variety of play options, can create your own characters and etc. It is like a game and not just a kareoke disc.

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My husband and I really love karaoke, even though neither of us can carry a tune. American Idol Encore 2 is just as much fun as American Idol Encore. The song list is great, and this game makes a nice addition to our karaoke game collection.

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Sony PS3 Street Fighter IV FightPad - Akuma

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I received two FightPads as a gift in February, 2009 (the month of its release).

Within a few weeks, one FightPad was completely malfunctioninga defective D-Pad (downward direction glitch).

The other FightPad worked OK when used by itself; However, when playing with two FightPads simultaneously, they would interfere with one another and lose their signals (obviously, this is not a good thing to happen during fighting games).

I contacted Mad Catz, via their website. I was assured that it was an issue with the USB donglesMad Catz mailed me two complimentary USB dongles.

The issue continued and became progressively worse.

I once again contacted Mad Catz. This time, they requested I mail the controllers back, along with a receipt, in order to be covered by the 1 year manufacturer's warranty. I explained to Mad Catz that the FightPads were a gift, and that I had no receipt.

I also explained that the controllers were released in February of 2009. It was still the year 2009, so how could the 1 year warranty be over?

Apparently my logic was too much for Mad Catz to handle. They refused to help me without a receipt.

The design of the FightPad is excellent, but the malfunctioning wireless technology is inexcusable.

Furthermore, I am disappointed with the way Mad Catz handled my situation.

I've spent a lot of money on their products throughout the yearsshame on them.

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I purchased 2 of these pads, one for the PS3 and one for the 360. I have no complaints about the design (very reminiscent of the 6 button sega genesis/saturn controller), and in fact i wish there were more controllers designed like this. It fits comfortably in your hands and the buttons are excellent. While the d-pad may not be for everyone (it's incredibly 'loose' making it easy to roll your thumb around, but is very snappy), it does it's job. The main problem i have is the wireless connection with PS3 pad. It tends to lose signal and your character may move in a direction you may not want. I have only found that this problem occurs on the PS3 controller, which makes me wonder why they didn't just wire it like they did with the 360 version. Overall I like the design, but there are some significant flaws which make this an item to avoid. I would recommend sticking with the standard controller for both the Playstation and Xbox, or save for a arcade stick such as the Hori EX-SE(360) or EX-SA(PS3).

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I bought this fightpad months ago and it worked flawlessly for 2 months I think, then the D-pad began to get stuck in the downward position. After another week, the USB receiver stopped talking to the Fightpad. My warrenty was up so I had to buy another one because I could not use the PS3 controller after using this Fightpad. So I order the SS4 Round 2 Fightpad and it was a little stiffer than the first one a got but once again it was a WONDERFULL controller. After a month, the USB stop talking to this controller as well.........NOW I'M REALLY STARTING TO GET TICKED OFF!!! For the life of me I could figure out why the USB and Fightpad just stopped communicating w/ each other. So just messing around I took the USB transmitter from the first Fightpad I bought just to see if my new controller would reconize it and you know what IT DID!!!!!! MadCatz needs to work a little harder on their quality; THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE THE PS3 FIGHTPAD WIRED just like the Xbox Fightpad. And one more thing, the range on this thing is like 2 to 3ft. I swear because anything further you start to notice some lag response.

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I originally bought the gamepad because I wanted a more classic button layout than what the PS3 controller offered me. Ironically, I found this pad harder to play with. In all fairness to the gamepad, I realize now that I was burning out on the game when I bought the pad and this was an effort on my part to extend my fun in the game. Unfortunately when I got the pad I think I had already gotten to accustomed to playing with the PS3 controller. I found the moves harder to perform using this pad.

I gave it to a friend who swears by it, so whatever it is, it is not a bad product, it just did not work for me.

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I had bought 2 of these controllers for my PS3 because to me the PS3 controller seemed a little slower to respond to buttons being pressed. The first month with this controller was excellent. I use Vega on SF4 and has Ultra was difficult to pull off in time to hit the opponent exactly when I wanted to. The PS3 controller would just make Vega jump in the air leaving him wide open to counters but the madcatz controller seemed to cure that mistake 90% of the time. Then as expected from madcatz equipment it wasn't working correctly. The controller was stuck in the forward position (Vega would continue to walk forward without pressing the D-pad). So since I bought 2 of them I switched to the other madcatz controller since my primary one wasn't working. I plugged the second controller in to find out... THAT ONE DIDN'T WORK AT ALL! madcatz I'm done with you.

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Console Toolkit

Customer Ratings:
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus:

All the parts are good quality, but the bits are too fat to open the game cartridges. If you just need to open the console though, this should do fine. Also, there are no instructions on how to use the 360 tool.

EDIT: After an hour or two spent sanding down the collars on the gamebits, I finally got them to fit.

This kit opens (after a little work, anyway):

NINTENDO

1. Original NES console, games, and controllers.

2. Super Nintendo console, games, and controllers.

3. N64 console, games, and controllers.

4. Gamecube and gamecube controllers.

5. Gameboy and games.

6. Gameboy pocket.

7. Gameboy color and games.

8. Gameboy advance and games.

9. GBA Micro.

10. GBA SP.

11. Nintendo DS.

12. NDS lite.

13. NDSi

14. Wii console and controllers.

NOTE: I have not gotten my hands on an NDSi XL yet, so I don't know if this kit will open it, though it is highly likely that it will.

SEGA

1.SEGA Master System console, games, and controllers.

2.SEGA Genesis console, games, controllers, 32x, and SEGA CD.

3. SEGA game gear and games.

4. SEGA Saturn and controllers.

5. SEGA Dreamcast and controllers.

PLAYSTATION

1. PS1, PSone, and controllers

2. PS2, PS2 slim, and controllers

3. PS3, PS3 slim, and controllers.

4. PSP (all models)

XBOX

1. XBOX and controllers

2. XBOX 360 and contollers.

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The pictures here don't give you a full view of this kit. I didn't realize that it was going to be as small as it was there are no dimensions given. The whole kit is approximately 6" x 3.5" x 1.75". The screwdriver handle is very small and the bits don't really lock in they're held in by pressure. This isn't really a big problem, just a minor gripe, as the handle is pretty tiny for someone with hands as big as mine. The two bits designed to open up older Nintendo hardware (SNES, N64, GC, and carts) in my kit look like they were poorly molded. I haven't had occasion to use them yet, but I'm somewhat dubious as to whether they'll work properly I might end up having to take a file to them to even things out. Last, but certainly not least, we've got the tool for opening an XBox 360. Like the rest of this kit, it's on the small side, but it works like a charm. All in all, if someone were needing a console repair kit and they didn't already have some of the tool, this kit might make my recommendation list (but it wouldn't be at the top). If all they were needing was an XBox opening tool, I'd tell them to go get one elsewhere for a cheaper price.

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This product help repair and clean my old video game consoles like Super Nintendo,Nintendo 64 and I also open my Nintendo GameCube easily with out breaking anything I recommend to all who owns any type of Video game console like the ones I have or this others like DS and microsoft xbox and xbox 360 and ps3 and more. if you want clean or repair your systems and even you can repair your own cell and this tools will not be found on hard ware store and I recomend this Product Console Toolkit for all your repairs and cleaning also for upgrades.

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The kit works as intended. However when I tried to open game boy cartridges I found out that the bit was far too fat. After spending an hour filing it down I was able to finally open it. A day later and I was having the same problem with n64 cartridges, and again a few days later with XBOX 360 controllers. I have yet to have any issues opening up consoles.

Pros:

Elegant design

Has convenient number card to help you find the right tool for the job

Bits are long.

Cons:

Suffers from poor design.

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Works great just as described. The only con for me is that tools are a little small but other than that works like a charm.

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Madden NFL 08

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $7.73
Today's Bonus: 74% Off

First let me say that I have bought Madden since the first version on the Sega Genesis up to Madden 05 Collector's Edition.

Im my opinion, Madden 05 was the best version of all time. Every year up until that point, the question was asked, how could EA out do themselves? They put out such a great product and innovated each year it kept gamers coming back for more.

Well it turns out 05 was the high water mark for EA. I refused to buy the 06 or 07 versions because neither version offered anything that improved vastly over the 05 version (QB vision cone? Are you serious?! Since when do NFL QBs play with blinders on their head?). I skipped the X-Box 360 version as well as I knew that would be a rushed, " we got to get it out on a Next-Gen System!" version.

So flash forward to Feb 07 through July 07 when previews for Madden 08 were hitting the various online gaming sites. Hungry for a new version of Madden (after playing 10 years of owner mode in Madden 05) I began to get hyped. I also wanted an excuse to upgrade my TV and to get a Blu-ray player.

The previews seemed to give Madden 08 a thumbs up and when the PS3 price drop hit, that triggered my purchase of a PS3 and a brand spanking new 1080p LCD HDTV. I waited patiently for Madden 08 to be released and enjoyed watching Blu-ray movies in the meantime.

So now that I've owned Madden 08 for two weeks, here is my review in one word, "eh.".

Don't get me wrong, the game has it's great points. The graphics are simply stunning. If you aren't playing this game on an HDTV of some sort, you are doing yourself and the game a disservice.

This being my first new version of Madden in a few years, it took me a little while to get use to the new button mapping. But I got rolling pretty fast.

I love the new branch animations, the movement of the players is now so much more realistic than ever. Stop LT with a lightwieght CB? Forget it. You are going to need some help and the if your CB can wrap LT's legs up long enough for help from a LB or Safety, expect to see LT go down with a gang tackle. Otherwise, you can watch your CB hang on futily as LT sheds the tackle and takes off to the end zone.

The AI is so much better as well. On the PRO setting, the AI adapts quickly. If you are passing you have to make your reads very quickly and hit your 4th receiver in the flat if you expect to move the ball through the air. And you better not rely on the same play over and over again because the AI will recognize that play. Of course, it remains to be seen after many hours of play if the AI can be outsmarted as has been the case in prior versions.

My franchise games that I have played so far have been fairly tight which I have enjoyed.

Now for the bad parts:

Sounds: Well, for years online reviewers and gamers alike complained that Madden was getting old and that a new commentator crew was needed. Careful what you ask for. I understand that John Madden was removed from commentating in the game sometime in the last two years but now we are given some announcer whos sounds like he is speaking into a papercup in the closet. Absolutely terrible. Marshall Faulk's intro to each game is forgettable as well.

In fact the presentation of the game is non-existent. As a Madden fan, I was always impressed with the way 2K Sports integrated the TV style presenatation with ESPN on their games and wished for something similar from EA on Madden. Now that EA has the ESPN license, where is that presentation? Other than an ESPN logo on the front upper right corner of the cover, ESPN has no presence anywhere in the game. Money well spent EA, which I am sure has been passed on to the gamers. How can EA not intergrate the ESPN license into the their flagship sports title? Hmmm my guess is that the ESPN broadcast will appear as the "new" thing in a future versions to keep the Madden brand selling.

Also the game chatter that is heard is mostly useless, especially after a play. It honestly sounds more like a live cocktail party than an NFL game.

Details: No chain gang? The 1st Down Markers on the sidelines are a staple of football. But there is no chain gang present. Yet there countless other people on the sidelines that have nothing to do with the game.

No refs on the field? Yet another staple of the game not included for some unknown reason. It's symbolic of EA's shortcomings when after a play is over, a player tosses the ball to an empty patch of grass.

No formation Substitutions? WHAT?! If I have a OLB who is faster than my MLB I want the OLB in my dime and quarter packages, instead I am stuck with a slower MLB try to cover the middle or chase after a scrambling QB. If I want certain guys in my Kickoff unit dedicated to contain to make sure I don't get burned to the outside, I should be able to make the change. This omission by EA is unacceptable.

And the worst issue in this game is the use of a virtual football covered in virtual Vaseline. Fumbles are so prevalent in the game, it is comical and at the same time frustrating. You can have a player with 90+ carrying ability and he will still fumble 2-3 times a game. It's not uncommon to have each team with 5+ fumbles at the end of a game. What's worse there is no slider available to adjust this. There is a slider for interceptions (which also seems to occur at a high rate) but not for fumbles. Another obvious oversight that should have been addressed by EA.

With all that said, I will stil play this game since it is the only NFL game in town.

The bottom line is this game looks Next-Gen and feels Next-Gen but the stunning shortcomings hold the game back from actually being Next-Gen.

Unforuntaely, EA has yet to capture the magic they did with Madden 05.

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I was willing to forgive the first version of Madden for PS3 for having way less functionality than the PS2 version, but version two should have caught up. For basic playability there is improvement in running between the tackles and short passing.

However, on the strategic front PS3 is a big step backwards. You can't do player substitution that makes it inconvenient to platoon RB's and impossible to platoon at any other position or to have a "fast receivers" set. There is no way to disguise the zone or matchup CB's to WR's in a zone. There are very few audibles. Finally, and most exasperatingly turnovers are completely out of control. In a game with 10 minute quarters I am averaging 9 takeaways a game even with the interception slider at "5" out of "100".

On the whole I can't recommend this game to anyone.

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Entertaining, but I have high expectations for Madden and there is just too much missing here. The game play is decent on the PS3(though not as good as I would hope/expect) and overall the game is entertaining for 5-10 games or so, but I find myself getting bored. I am one that is very into the intangibles (like the franchise mode, stats, etc), and in this regard, the game is a disapointment. Having come from the 2007 PS2 version (never played the 07 PS3 version, though I hear it sucked), a lot of the "extra" features are missing; I really feel like I'm missing a large chuck of the game (like there is a menu or something I'm not finding...serious). Basically EA Sports is still building out it's football model for the PS3 (and I assume Xbox 360), because there is so much potential unused.

The graphics are obviously better (than PS2), but still no where near as smooth as they should be. Choppy at times, and there are a lot of little bugs. A lot of the outside game play animations get redundant. The commentary is TERRIBLE; and I really don't care about commentary. Some of the outside sounds (players yelling/talking) which are meant to be muffled and just add to the game experience are good. Otherwise, there is work to do here.

It seems like, given EA Sports progress rate, it will be a few years before they really are able to put out a PS3 Madden that is worthy. Not sure where the Xbox 360 is at, but looks like its getting similar reviews. I'm considering renting the PS2 version to get my fill...

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If you love headaches and frustration, then you would love this game. The game is filled with constant glitches and game freezes. I would rate this game as a zero star if there was such a rating.

It took me 3 hours to get through one game with the quarters set to 5 minutes. The game kept freezing over and over and over until I finally got through one game in my franchise. Now, I can't even play a single game anymore. It freezes within the first 2 minutes of every single game. Yes, I have exchanged this game twice already and I am on my 3rd copy and the same thing happens. I'm at wit's end with this game and EA Sports. None of my other PS3 games ever freeze. My next option is to go back and exchange it for the GameCube or PS2 versions since I own those systems as well. If that doesn't work, then I will just resume playing Madden '07 until something else comes along.

Please do not even bother with the PS3 version. There haven't been any fixes and I have spent hours searching forums and trying different things to get Madden '08 to stop freezing. I feel that EA or Sony owes everyone who bought the game their money back.

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They revamped the whole game, so even starting a quick game so Brady could throw a bomb to Moss was confusing. Once I got the game up, again they changed everything. Picking a play has changed. Change for the sake of changing as it didn't make it easier. Players are smaller, you can't change your view or the field, can't change audio settings, No Madden or Michaels or any intelligent play by play. In fact, one of the worst and poorly thought-out pieces is after you have picked your teams, Marshall Faulk comes on to give you his prediction. It is always canned, never smooth and always wrong. NE vs. Oak, he said "this one won't be close, (long pause) Oak 34, (long pause) NE 10". Game in NE. (I know I am a Pats fan, but this happened 4 times I played.) I have had the game for just one night but so far just really disappointing. This is what you get for product when you stop competition. I am going to see if I can find update rosters for past games. Yes, it is that bad.

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