and we have a much easier time with the banshee. case closed.

Well, I'm happy for you, though there's no reason to be snippy about it. I will say that you're the first person I've heard from who thinks the Banshee is easier to powerslide with than the Yakuza Stinger, however.

Just to make sure, I looked up the vehicle stats on GameFAQs. The Banshee and Yakuza Stinger have the exact same mass, resistance to damage, number of gears and maximum speed. (The plain Stinger is slightly lighter and easier to damage, but has identical speed stats.) The Banshee is front-wheel drive and has slightly higher acceleration (about 10%); the Yakuza Stinger is 4-wheel and has better traction and tighter steering.

In a nutshell, in an urban environment (like the Turismo course) with lots of sharp turns, lots of traffic and obstacles and very few straightaways, I'll take better handling over better acceleration any day. If you can keep the back end of the Banshee from skidding during full-speed powerslides, more power to you.

i wasn't being snippy about it at all. it's a difference of opinions, big deal. that's the point. case closed because there's no use arguing about which is better; you think the stinger is, and i think the banshee is. neither of us would ever win an argument, hence "case closed."

but...during quite a few timed missions, it is important to be quick. if i can handle the banshee perfectly well while driving it quickly, it's a better car for me. you know the mission where king courtney makes you go from one payphone to the next? would have been damned near impossible for us without the banshee. infact, we only beat that mission with about 2 seconds to spare. of course better planning on a map or something would have helped the case, but it gets to be a pain to try missions 3 times before you can actually complete them.

I can't argue with the "for me" logic -- we all have our quirks.

I think you're thinking of Payday For Ray as the phone-checkpoint mission (Courtney doesn't have one like that), and yeah, that one does require a moderately fast car. On the other hand, I've been through the game three times now; I finished that mission once in a Yakuza Stinger, once in a Cheetah and once in a Borgnine Taxi, the latter of which has a slightly lower top speed AND acceleration. It's all about knowing the mission -- if you don't know the route, you could be driving a Wile E. Coyote Rocket Car and have major problems. Nobody should be finishing that mission on the first try, unless they're clairvoyant.

Case in point -- the first time I faced Big & Veiny (the last El Burro mission), I must have tried it three dozen times before I finally cleared it. I continued through the game, started over, and by the time I reached it the second time, my driving had improved to the point where I finished it on the first attempt with five seconds to spare.

The reason I went to the stats to support my argument is that it's not as if the Banshee's the _only_ car that's quick. The Stingers, Mafia Sentinel, and Police Car are precisely as fast at top speed as the Banshee is, and the Infernus and Cheetah are faster; the Cheetah, Stingers and Police Car are in the Banshee's class for acceleration, and the BF Injection is faster. That doesn't mean I'd recommend the Police Car or Mafia Sentinel for checkpoint missions, because they steer like a cow; there are a lot of other variables involved.

Anyway, we're drifting from the point a bit. I still say that the Yakuza Stinger is _much_ more approachable for a novice, with the way it hugs the road -- hence I recommended it to a newcomer, instead of telling him to spend the hours necessary to master the Banshee. The Cheetah has all of the advantages of the Banshee and a higher top speed -- have you tried that?

I've tried the Cheetah. I like it a lot, and Paul's brother Jonathan was impressed with my Cheetah skills. But I've been practicing the Banshee a whole lot.

More after I get to work. :P

Well, when I was in Aptos, I played some serious GTA. And I saved about 4000 games. I need to go delete the old ones.

I've decided that I'm going to start the game over and try to make a "perfect" run. Save after anything important happens. No busts. No failed missions. This is with saves, of course. After I get that done and have some serious practice in on the game, I'll try to make an actual perfect run - even without saves, no deaths or busts or anything. Can it be done? I hope so :)

I just had a really cool idea for a jump. On the third part of the city, do the insane jump over the twisted broken bridge with Banshee. Right as you get to it, fishtail it. Maybe get a lot of twists? :)

Anyway... I like that game. A lot. :)

Man. "Bomb Da Base: Act II" is giving me fits. Paul passed it for me when I was in Aptos. I just can't snipe those fuckers that quick. Any tips? Which guy to start on?

Nevermind that. I got it after leaving the game alone for like 30 minutes and then coming back to it. Anyway.

Right now I'm trying to deliver an emergency vehicle (ambulance) to the crane in the north-east end of Portland Harbor. I can't find it (any crane). We are talking about the docks where I waxed Curly Bob and blew up the boat, right? Any tips?

Bomb Da Base is much easier if you get the Adrenaline pill near the entrance to the docks. Sniping in slow-motion is almost unfair.

The emergency vehicle crane isn't too obvious. It's not far away from the garage where you deliver the 16 vehicles in the Portland Docks (and, no, you can't get the Dodo before Shoreside Vale). Look for a shaded rectangle on the ground in an open area near the boat; park an Ambulance or other emergency vehicle in that area, and if you hear the crane start to hum, get out quick.

Seven different emergency vehicles there (Ambulance, Police Car, Enforcer, Fire Truck, Barracks XL, FBI Car and Tank) will earn you... well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

Thanks Homey. You da man.

I know all about the Dodo. I was trying to fly that bish when I was in CA. I've decided that once I get to Shoreside, I'm going to fork into 2 saves - one of which will be dedicated to flying the Dodo and the other which will be dedicated to beating the game :)

There is a way to fly the Dodo, but it's a pain in the ass and not really practical. I'll type it up for you if you want.
By the way, thanks for helping me burn that one cd when you were here. I was struggling with that fucking mp3 for days.

I'm sure there are guides on how to do it online. I just want to do it :) Don't bother typing anything up. If I can't figure it out and can't find anything online, then I'll bug you :)

NP about the CD.

Well, okay. If you ever do want to find help for it online, head on over to Gamefaqs.

Okay. I've now beaten <b>Payday for Ray</b>, the driving to phones mission, about 6 times. My best time was with about 50 seconds left. My worst was with 2. I've played it about 10 times.

I kept re-beating it because I kept accidentally stepping into Ray's mission after coming out and I didn't want to have a failed mission attempt with cops on my ass and everything. After trying that mission the first two times, it became apparent to me that I need a fast and durable car for it - probably a police car. At that point, my Yakuza Stinger had been wrecked and I had a fucking Blista. So I kept failing that mission and it was pissing me off.

Payday for Ray is a lot easier if you know the shortest routes. I've got them memorized now, and I'll write out my guide for it if anyone is interested. The mission was really pissing me off until I figured them out :) Then it really pissed me off by sticking me in another mission. Argh!

Anyway, now that that's done, I'll go do some more Kenji missions. The last one I did of his was <b>Grand Theft Auto</b> so I'm sure there are quite a few more. Wahoo.

If you're talking about a police car for Ray's first mission, there is a way to beat it that involves no car-chasing whatsoever.

Once you throw the grenade or Molotov into the hapless victim's window, he's going to come out of the garage as fast as he can and dart down the alley, right?

So BLOCK THE GARAGE DOOR with a fire truck. Throw a grenade through the window to rouse the target, then grenade the fire truck into oblivion. It'll blow up, and between that and the other grenades you're hurling, the target will be toasted without even leaving the garage, much less getting out on the street for chasing and such.

You'll want to do Ray's second mission ASAP, by the way -- completing it unlocks a store with some rather choice weaponry, one of which in particular makes Asuka's last mission a hundred times easier...

Word up G. Good tips. I guess you learn this from playing through the game 3 times :) Just as I can now do "Payday for Ray" every time, usually with ~30 seconds left. Wahoo.

It took me a few tries, but I got up there to get the bazooka without paying for it. Free weapon is good :) I now have all 11 weapons. Wahoo!

I'll keep going back and killing bums for Molotovs :) Any other easy ways to pick up weapons/ammo without spending my cash?

Hahahahaha. For <b>Two Faced Tanner</b>, I tried it once and after I tapped him had 4 stars immediately. I was like "this is fuckin' nuts", so I loaded my save game, drove over to the area, got out, readied the bazooka, stood in the circle... he comes running out, drives off and BAM! :) Goooood stuff.

I love this game :)

[ Edit - awww, that was Asuka's last mission. Man, I liked doing jobs for her. They were always good fun :) Oh well. Thanks for the tip about the bazooka, though I didn't realize that's the one you were talking about :) ]

Asuka comes back after you finish some other critical missions.
By the end of the game, you will hate her. Fucking coffee mission bullshit.

Tell Jen to call me. I got too into the game to call her back.

I have like almost half a million right now and I haven't done any el Burro missions or taxi or shit like that. Word!

hmm.

Oh dear.

Well, if that's the case, getting 100% completion will be a tad more difficult than if you'd finished El Burro earlier.

By now, you've probably been back to Portland, and noticed the less-than-happy reception you get whenever you get near Saint Mark's. It just so happens that two of El Burro's missions (Turismo and Big & Veiny) are essentially _races_ that pass through Mafia territory -- once against opponents, one against the clock. They're hard enough to finish without hoods trying to blow up your car with shotguns; with them, they are possible, but... well, good luck. ;)

The Mafia are by far the nastiest gang in the game -- the Columbians and Yardies may have Uzis, but they pale by far to the Mafia shotguns for destructive power. Mafia gunmen don't have a strong sense of self-preservation, and will merrily blow up vehicles (as in, yours) at point-blank range.

Hidden packages. For every ten you find (there are 33 in Portland, 36 in Staunton, 31 in Shoreside), you get a regenerating weapon pickup at each of your hideouts. The first ones that are of real use are at 30 (Grenades) and 50 (Armor), but it's well worth picking up a walkthrough to make sure you reach 80 (Sniper rifle) by the end of the game. Getting all 100 (Rocket launcher) is just icing on the cake.

Once I got the Armor pickup at the base, I bought around a hundred shells for the sniper rifle from the Ammu-Nation in Staunton, then fifteen rockets or so from Phil's when they became available. That's really all you need for quite a while for the missions -- what you need to wreak havoc around town may be another matter.

BTW, if you haven't been to Shoreside yet, try to snag an FBI car before you do and take it to the Emergency Vehicles crane. It's much easier to obtain one when the maximum star rating is 5 than when it's 6. Getting up to six stars has its own hazards and benefits, of course; the good part is that you can then steal a tank, the bad part is that you have to deal with its occupants and their friends to do so...

Ah, well... I don't plan on "one hundred percenting" the game yet. I wanted to finish all the normal missions without a saved fail. As in, keeping my weapons the entire way through. After that, my goal will be to 100% the game. Which will be damn tough, I'm sure.

How can I buy ammo and not the weapons? If I have the weapons, can I buy just shells and rockets and whatnot?

Ah, weapons == shells, so to speak. I refer to it that way because buying/finding the same weapon twice doesn't change anything but the ammo count.

Without spoiling too much... it is impossible to keep your original weapons the ENTIRE way through the game, even if you completely avoid being killed or busted. ;)

The missions are actually one of the easier parts of 100% completion. For my money, the toughest parts are finishing the Ambulance missions (it's about forty minutes to finish level 12, and you have to do it in one continuous run in the same Ambulance -- no repairs possible) and the Rampages. Some of the Rampages will simply make your brain hurt.

This is more directed at vsp.

I'm looking to get a Saturn so I can play... well, Dead or Alive, which is an import only. I don't have it yet, but I'll get it. My queston to you is this: what do I have to do to play a Japanese game on a US Saturn?

Not much.

Moderately complicated method: With a minimum of soldering, you can install a switch in your system that'll toggle it between Japanese and US modes. If you're at all handy with a soldering iron, it's a snap. (I wasn't, and accidently melted off one of the jumper points -- my Saturn is now stuck in Japanese mode, using the cartridge solution that follows to play US games. But oh well.) I should have the specs on the modification somewhere if you're interested -- it's a six-wire solution, if I'm not mistaken.

Less complicated method: You can still send your Saturn to National Console Support (ncsx.com) and pay them $35 or so to install the switch for you. Shipping is extra, of course.

Less expensive method: If you don't mind having your cartridge slot taken up, you can use a converter cart like the ST-Key or the Pro Action Replay. (The former is a simple country-code-neutralizer that I have used for years; the latter adds some extra functionality, think Game Shark.) I went with the switch because I wanted a memory cart in the slot, and you can't switch carts in mid-session. It was the difference between 16 edit slots and 96 edit slots in SAT Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6 Man Scramble (the finest game ever for the system, IMHO). You can find the ST-Key online for about ten bucks.

Less complicated and expensive, but possibly not as good method: Buy Dead or Alive for the PlayStation. ;)

DOA for PSX is running about $40 which is all good and everything, but it's hard to get and I'm not at all confident that it has the bouncing boobs, which is about 50% of the reason I want the game. The other is the nostalgia factor. :)

My dad is an electrical engineer. So soldering is no problem.

Hook me up with the instructions if you don't mind. I still want to get a Saturn, though admittedly, it's mainly to play Dead or Alive (I think I already said that earlier).

How much are memory carts for the Saturn? I hardly remember any of this shit, mainly because I never had one. Oh well.

Where are you looking for DoA? Amazon has it for $20, I'm sure my local EB Gameworld has it preowned for much less than $40, and I believe the PSX version does indeed have the boingy-boingy. Next time I'm in the area I'll check price and availability. (Where can you find the import Saturn version for less than that, besides?)

Try www.icedragon.com/mod/saturncon.html for a pretty good Saturn modification guide. www.ncsx.com/satmod.html has a similar guide, as does www.gamesx.com/importmod/saturncon.htm.

Saturn memory cartridges are high, if you can find them. The official Sega memory backup cart is 8MB, if I recall correctly, and was priced accordingly; figure $35-40 as a minimum even now. There are also RAM carts (used only with certain import games, mostly Capcom fighters), and hybrid cards like the Action Replay series (which combine country-code negation, Game Shark-ish code entry, RAM in some cases, and "passive" saves (meaning you can't save directly to it, but can only swap files to and from it in the Saturn's memory manager)).

The switch-mod and the genuine backup cart are the ideal solutions, but an Action Replay or ST-Key is a decent short-term solution. (The Saturn does have some built-in save-game memory space, so you can go without an expensive card.) Stay far away from the Interact Memory Card Plus -- like most Interact products, it's a steaming turd.

I can't, but I am one hundred percent sure that the "boingy boingy" is fully intact in the import Saturn version. :)

Amazon doesn't actually have Dead or Alive in stock. Go check again. I don't need to, because I already did earlier this morning. If they did, it would have been overnighted to me a long time ago :) I need to check out FuncoLand or something. I'm not sure of any around me though. If you find it for a decent price <b>with case and booklet</b>, pick it up for me and I'll send you a check to cover cost + shipping + your time. By decent price I guess I mean about $26 or less. That's for the PSX version.

Totally unrelated - I can't help but love my Dreamcast. Am I wrong in thinking that it's a better console than the PS2? Obviously it's not up-to-par hardware-wise, but I just love that goofy little white box. Especially now that everything for it is dirt fucking cheap. I guess I'm partially just really sad to see Sega exit the console business. I had more fun on Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast than I did on all the Nintendo consoles. Man. Nostalgia.

If you have any Dreamcast games that you're looking to get rid of, let me know. I might be interested in acquiring them for a reasonable (read: mutually satisfying) price.

<b>Current Game Library</b>

<b>Xbox</b>
Dead or Alive 3
SSX Tricky
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Project Gotham Racing
Rallisport Challenge
Halo

<b>PlayStation 2</b>
Grand Theft Auto 3
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
Virtua Fighter 4

<b>Dreamcast</b>
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Soul Calibur
NBA 2K1
NFL 2K1
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Q*bert
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Street Fighter 3 Alpha
Virtua Tennis
Sonic Shuffle
Sonic Adventure
Crazy Taxi

<b>Nintendo 64</b>
1080º Snowboarding
Mario Kart 64
Star Wars Pod Racer

I think that's it. I may have forgotten some for Dreamcast: if so, I'll edit them in later. I picked up some Dreamcast games last night, as well as Virtua Fighter 4. I got Gran Turismo 3 when I was in California last week - $20 at Fry's. I'm currently looking for the following titles:

Devil May Cry (PlayStation 2)
Twisted Metal Black (PlayStation 2)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)

I'm interested in, and will probably buy:

State of Emergency (PlayStation 2)
Spiderman: The Movie (Xbox)
Worms Armageddon (Dreamcast)
Worms World Party (Dreamcast)

If only money grew on trees... :)

Oh, hell. If I started typing in my collection, I'd be here for a week. ;)

The only major systems I missed between the Atari 2600 and the Dreamcast were the Atari Lynx, the (non-pocket) NeoGeo systems, and the N64. I skipped the N64 because there's nothing on it that I wanted to play, and the other two just never fell into my lap. (Note that 90% of those systems were bought used and at steep discounts via flea markets, clearance sales, etc. -- I'm not Mr. Moneybags, either.)

Current addiction: back to MAME for a bit, as I just finished filling the holes in my .59 collection. Between MAME, Visual Pinball/VPinMAME and the 400+ Game Boy Advance ROMs I picked up this weekend (insert some arrr! arrr! noises here, mateys! USENET -- when you've got DSL, it's not just a MUD for very slow typists), I have plenty to keep me occupied in the emulation world. Freedom Force (PC) is on deck when I have the time to get into it. Meanwhile, my AI in VF4 (Wolf) is up to 7th Dan, and I'm slowly but surely weaning him of some last remaining unproductive habits.

AI training in VF4 is hard work, and quite frustrating early, but it's very cool when a trainee starts getting the hang of it. The first time my Wolf got hammered early in a Ranking Match, came back with a combo I taught him, then finished the opponent with a picture-perfect Austin-style KICK WHAM STUNNER, I nearly wept. :)

I got an N64 solely for 1080º. It's one of the funnest games I've ever played. Actually, Jenni got it for me for my birthday last year. It came with Pod Racer, and I picked up Mario Kart for some good fun.

I have a lot of stuff for my old consoles, but I was only listing off stuff that I currently play :) Not that I have as much as you do (I saw your webpage, and even that was way out of date), but I certainly have enough to keep busy. Shit, I wish I had the time to play the games I do have. GTA3 is eating a lot of my time right now.

Oh yeah. And all of my consoles have been purchased brand new. Which is another reason I don't have as many :(

"Smack Down" is giving me fits. Every time (<B>EVERY TIME</B>) I manage to get 7 dudes. SEVEN! But not eight. I'm just having trouble finding the dudes in time to kill 'em. And that one that's always in the park is generally a pain in the ass. It's easier to clip 'em on the streets. Argh!

Tips?

Well, it's not really that complicated a mission. Fast and accurate driving (i.e. city knowledge) is the key. Try a few ambulance missions in Staunton for some practice -- they'll help you locate blips on the map quickly with a timer counting down.

Go for the dealers in their order of arrival whenever possible -- if a new arrival's close, nail him, but it sucks when you're ten feet away from an early-appearing dealer and he vanishes. If one's a real wart to reach, skip him and go for another one rather than wasting time getting in and out. Use a reasonably fast car, dodge traffic, and if your first car gets demolished, grab the first wheels you can find to keep going. Just keep practicing, as you only need to get eight once.

Trust me, karma catches up with Kenji later for being so aggravating...

I've heard. I read a little bit of a strategy guide that gave away spoilers in the beginning. Oh well.

I'm now best in the Yakuza Stinger (which <b>is</b> a better vehicle than the Banshee, though I'm pretty adept at handling the Banshee now too), but the Stinger takes like 2 hits and it's gone.

Admittedly, I don't know Staunton as well as I know Portland. Oh well. I'll probably get it tonight.

I found a PSX Dead or Alive locally for $20... but it's disc-only. I'll dig in some of my other sources this week for a more complete version.

Well, I trashed 'em with a Stinger earlier, and with boatloads of time to spare (I drove around for a full minute before all the damn Yardies were off the street). It was the Yakuza Stinger that proved to be their undoing. Currently I have a BF Injection, Infernus (that I carjacked off the street!) and a Cartel Cruiser saved. I don't know when, but I just know I'm going to need that Cruiser later and I have bad luck getting them so I'm keeping it saved. Anyway, I always grab a Yakuza Stinger or a Banshee from Asuka's condo and that generally works pretty well, so that's what I did this time. I ended up just hitting the guy that was closest to me and it worked every time - I didn't miss a single one 'cause they disappeared. I might have just gotten lucky - not sure. But it worked, and that's what's important. Then I killed (not really, as I found out) Ray's partner. And then I had had enough of actually playing so I went back to my hideout on Portland (where I have the Infernus - I stole it in Staunton but had 2 saved there already so took it back to Portland), saved, grabbed the Infernus and started doing jumps with it - man, that mofo is FAST. It handles like shit, but it's fast. Anyway, it gets some seriously good distance on the jump up between the bridges (you know what I'm talking about). And then I started just killing people and getting myself up to five stars, blowing up as many cops as possible and then loading my saved game and starting again. :)

I love that game. :)

BTW, thanks a lot for looking for that. I seriously do appreciate it.

no you won't. the cartel mansion is in shoreside vale, and the cruisers are ALL OVER staunton island. trust me.

Hahaha. Well, doesn't matter. I figured how how to get at least 3 cars into my garage in Staunton. I'm going for 4 when I get home, and I think I can get 6 in there. Yeah!

I'm tricky.

I'm about to open up Shoreside, I think. I think that was my last mission for Ray (where I killed the guy laying in the road), so I just have Donald Love to do. I couldn't be bothered with it last night - after running over that armored body cast, I saved and then tried - successfully - to get 3 cars in my 2 car garage. After that, I went and blew people up. :)

Don't get too tricky with your garage. If you cram too many cars in there (or sometimes even when you don't), they have a tendency to disappear without a trace. Most cars are eminently replaceable, but it's aggravating when you've gone to the trouble to obtain a bulletproof Cheetah, and it's gone when you need it most!

Besides, you're not too far away from having a third garage to play with...

(Cartel Cruisers are not only all over Shoreside Vale, but they're common as dirt in Fort Staunton near the construction site. Just go north from your Staunton hideout and drive towards the hospital -- you'll probably find a couple of them. Which is good, since you'll need one for a couple of Donald Love missions. They're not terrible vehicles, but I don't use them much; I prefer the Patriot for gruntwork, with its lower center of gravity.)

Again, if you haven't stolen an FBI car yet, try to do so before you open up Shoreside Vale. The parking garage in Staunton is the best place to steal high-end law enforcement vehicles; the methodology is left as an exercise for the reader.

I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me.

I figure if I can get into it and drive it, I can easily get the 5 stars off me - hey, Pay & Spray! Right out back. Awwww yeah.

Will I actually <b>need</b> an FBI Car though? I drove one in Aptos and I didn't think it was all that swell. Personal opinion though.

Here's why:

If you take all seven emergency vehicles to the crane in Portland, you get a nice cash bonus, AND seven icons on the ground. These icons let you "order" any of the emergency vehicles, free of charge -- the crane will lift one off the boat and drop it at your feet, and you can do this as many times as you like.

In other words, if you deliver one FBI Car to the crane, you can get AN INFINITE NUMBER OF RHINO TANKS slightly later in the game, with zero risk involved in obtaining them after the first one.

Reason enough? ;)

(Without the Parking Garage method, the FBI Car's one of the hardest vehicles to obtain, because the FBI agents are nuts and heavily armed, and when you have five stars they come in bunches. The Rhino is actually easier, IMHO, because it's nigh-invulnerable -- you can use grenades or rockets to take out its guardians without worrying much about blowing it up. Only some of the bulletproof vehicles are harder to get; the bulletproof Cheetahs are a pain, and I've never managed the bulletproof Bobcat.)

Okay. So the seven are:

Police car
Ambulance
Fire Truck
FBI Car
Tank
that funky police truck
???

right? :)

The seven are:

* Police Car
* Ambulance
* Fire Truck (all three readily available all over Liberty City)

* Enforcer (SWAT van: appears at 3-4 stars, or freely available from the police station in Staunton Island)

* FBI Car (slightly jacked-up Kuruma: appears at 5 stars)

* Barracks XL (troop transport, resembles an overgrown Flatbed: appears at 6 stars, or freely available from Phil's Army Surplus)

* Rhino (the tank: appears at 6 stars)

There is a Rhino at Phil's, but it's locked. However, here's a tactic someone suggested recently that I haven't had the time to verify... Go to Phil's, get the Barracks XL, and smack into the side of the tank repeatedly _until the door falls off_. Once it's off, get in the tank and drive it back to your Staunton garage, scot free.

Let me know if it works!

I'll try it when I get home :)

Entertainment/Gaming Consoles or, The Dave and VSP Show

:)

i read a rumour somewhere that gta3 would be ported to the gc so i decided i would just wait patiently. after reading all this im not too sure i can wait that long. are there any other must-own games for the ps2? please dont say final fantasy x.

~james

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is only $20, so you should buy that.

Twisted Metal: Black is only $20 too, so you should also buy that.

Virtua Fighter 4 is pretty tight if you're into fighting games, which I am.

I'm a big fan of Metal Gear Solid, so the sequel was a "must own" for me.

Check out http://ps2.ign.com - basically, anything they give an 8.5 or higher under their "reviews" category is worth owning. Some that are below 8.5 are as well, but it all depends on your tastes.

GTA3 is just awesome.

vsp: When I went to Phil's, the Barracks OL was there but no tank. ?

the only time i've seen the tank at phil's was when we did the mission to rescue him, during which we didn't quite have the time to get the tank open. is it there at some later point in the game?

Well, I just tried it myself with a Staunton Island savefile, and whaddya know, no tank. I know there's one there later in the game -- definitely one when you've beaten the game, because it's unlocked then, but I could swear it's there before then at some point.

However, I will verify a neat little trick you CAN do around Phil's for sure. Go to the docks near Asuka's, and steal a police boat. Steer it north until you're near the barrier. Find a nice low spot, and drive the boat out of the water and up onto the grass.

Now, go get a big vehicle (a Barracks, a Trashmaster, a Bus, etc.) and ram the boat to the other side of Phil's. (You can push it by running into it on foot, but it takes forever.) Once you're on the opposite side of Phil's (and the barrier), push it into the water, and jump in. (Careful -- don't miss and go kersplash.) You can now steer the boat to Shoreside Vale ahead of schedule, and collect hidden packages, etc. In theory, you could have 99 packages before completing a single mission in Staunton Island by doing this. (One is in a location that you just can't reach until you "officially" can get over there.)

Shnifty. I'm on Love's first mission. I should do it, but I've been trying to get an FBI car.

Now, I'm not going to go looking around how to do this. I am, instead, going to plead. You and Paul have gotten them before. I have not. I cannot. I get wasted. Every time. I can get the 5 stars easy. That's no problem. I just get my ass fucking blasted to all fucking hell before I get anywhere near the fucking car. So what's the trick?

In other news, I popped in Virtua Fighter tonight, and though I hate the PS2 controller for fighting games, I'm making it work. Looks like a lot of work to master it though. Oh well. If I get good enough to beat my friends I'll be happy :)

we got our fbi car by doing an asuka mission where the fbi got after us, then waiting until the guys got out of the car, and completing the mission. voila, the fbi guys are gone and you can steal the car because it takes the stars off of your ass. i don't remember which mission it was, though it was at the construction site in fort staunton. anyway, that is how we got ours. it was pretty simple.

My method is a little riskier than that, but you can do it any time.

Go into the parking garage, and do things that'll start raising your police record. You know, blow up cars, snipe pedestrians, block traffic with your car and toss a grenade at the pileup, that sort of thing. Once you get up to three stars, rocketing helicopters will ensure a swift ride up to five.

Get in a car (whatever you can find -- a taxi will be fine), and drive through the first-floor entrance closest to the alley leading to the Pay & Spray. Hang a right, and an immediate right down that alley. Don't go full speed; you want at least one FBI car to follow you. Lead it up the ramp and to the Pay & Spray; when they're close, dive into the Pay & Spray to clean your record.

When you exit, the FBI car should still be there. Steal it; it'll probably give you an immediate star or two, but drive IT straight into the Pay & Spray. (Yes, you can spray an FBI car; it's the one law vehicle that you can do that with.) If agents are between you and the back wall of the P&S garage, run over them for the humor value. Repeat until the vehicle is yours and your record is clean, then drive it to your garage and save it. Then, off to the crane!

I am distracted right now, because I downloaded DAPHNE (the laserdisc emulator) and the Cliff Hanger MPEG-2 footage. I haven't played this game in fifteen years, and I doubt I'll get any sleep tonight. :)

Ah, steal an FBI car. This is some easy task? Like "Yeah, and then just walk on water and it's yours." :)

I'll try it when I get home. Yeah. Finally, weekend. Time for games. Yes. :)

My method and jeni's give you a fighting chance, because you're attempting to carjack it when the FBI agents are at peace with you (zero stars). There's a huge difference between that and when they're machine-gunning you while three other FBI cars are trying to run you over...

For those of us in the Philly area, this time of year is particularly sweet for gaming -- the Philly Classic show (old-school console and arcade games) is tonight and tomorrow in at the Valley Forge Convention Center, and the Allentown pinball show (the largest of its kind on the east coast all year) is next weekend...

Okay. I think that I've made a lot of progress since the other day. I have an FBI car, I've already wasted my bullet-proof Patriot and those death squads are annihilated.

I'm now on Paul's favorite mission, "Espresso-2-Go". It doesn't seem so bad - I'm not too bad on the timed driving missions, especially with a decent car. However - what's the deal with the dots showing up? Do they not show up until I get close to them or what? That's kinda pretty fugging lame.

You wasted your BP Patriot? Too bad. It's a nice vehicle for the last mission (though not necessary) and for D-Ice's first mission (which is a real pain in the ass), plus it makes the run-over-Cartel-members-by-the-Airport rampage a snap.

The dots do tend to pop up at the last minute. However, they're in the same locations every time, AND the timer doesn't start until you nail the first one, giving you all the time you need to scope them out and plan out a route of attack. (I recommend starting with the one at the Hospital in Shoreside Vale and finishing with the one in Saint Mark's, but you can do it going the other direction, too.)

I think this is what Paul and Jen were talking about regarding "marking the map".

The map is in my head; I do this mentally. I guess I'll just need to find them all though.

Yeah, the Patriot got wasted after I went to the construction site and ran over a trillion Cartel fools. It got blowed up when I was trying to get out. :(

'sallgood, I'll make do with what I've got. Or I'll start the game over again and play through it with more brains and more completely. Though I haven't lost any weapons yet. Wahoo.

I'm guessing Donald Love doesn't come back? I liked him. Hehe.

Well... there IS a sequel on the way. Perhaps Ray won't be the only one who'll "see you in Miami!"

Optimistic release date is October.

Hope the sequel hits Xbox as well. GTA3 could look so much better if they harnessed it.