Entertainment/Gaming Consoles
 

I'm kinda getting back into game consoles, so I figure I'll open up a discussion here.

First of all, what's your favorite of all time?

Currently I have a PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Dreamcast and N64 all set up and functioning. I also own a Gameboy Advance (sorta - I bought it mainly for Jenni but I play it sometimes too), Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 2600, Atari 7800 and a Sega Genesis (original).

I really really <b>really</b> want to get a Super Nintendo and a Sega Saturn. A lot of people dissed the Saturn, but I liked it a lot - I thought it was pretty good overall. The most fun I ever had on that system was at my friend Victor's house, playing Dead or Alive all night with Tory. Man those were good days. As far as Super Nintendo, there was a bass fishing game on there that was really good, and the nostalgia of Street Fighter 2 (my favorite fighting game ever) is pretty strong. So I'd like to get it just for those few games.

PlayStation is arguably the best console ever, simply because it lasted so long (games are <b>still</b> coming out for it 8 years later), it had real 3D, it was far ahead of its time (okay, Saturn looked like shit beside it), and it had <b>so many games</b>. I just got one two years ago (Christmas of '99) and I've had a blast playing it. It's also got the best game ever (Metal Gear Solid). The controllers were (are) great. And now you can get games for like $10.

Dreamcast was a great console, and it still is. At only $50, game enthusiasts shouldn't be without one. Controllers are dirt cheap now too, and the games aren't usually very expensive either. I was really sad to see Sega fail, but somehow they managed to mess everything up. I only got a Dreamcast about a year ago and I've definitely had fun on it. Soul Calibur is <b>awesome</b>. It's probably the best fighting game ever (though not quite my favorite - see above). Crazy Taxi is good fun. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater really makes Dreamcast a great console to own - that game is beyond fun, and the Dreamcast made it look great before any other console did. Sonic Adventure is pretty fun too. Dreamcast is what Saturn <b>should</b> have been, but it was also ahead of its time. PlayStation2 came out six months afterward and even after its supposedly amazing graphics hardware, the games look about the same as Dreamcast games. Two years later and PlayStation2 still hasn't been "tapped" to its potential - the closest that comes to it is Gran Turismo 3. It's hard to compare a fighter to a racer, but Soul Calibur is easily just as good, graphics-wise, as Gran Turismo 3. Dreamcast is a great console.

All that having been said, my favorite console of all time is probably Sega Genesis. I think that it looked better than the Super Nintendo, and its games were hella fun. NBA Jam was one of the funnest basketball games ever released. There were some great WWF Wrestling titles available as well. Genesis had just about everything that I enjoyed playing.

Atari 2600 was simply a great console too. It didn't look as good as the 7800, but it had a ton of games. The controllers were so simple compared to what we have nowadays. A joystick and a button. But what made it, and what makes every console, were the games. Barnstorming. Combat. Pitfall! Carnival. Frogger. The Empire Strikes Back. Spiderman. They were all great. There were so many carts and they were <b>all</b> great! God that was a great console.

My favorite console that I currently have up and running is probably the Xbox. I have to say, it beats the pants off PlayStation2 for graphics, and Xbox hasn't even been tapped yet. Second generation games are going to be amazing. The harddrive is cool because I'm never going to run out of game-save space. The controllers are nice. The sound is good too. Everything about it is good. It seriously is a great console, despite what many Microsoft bashers say. But, as I said above, software makes the console. It needs to have games you're interested in. I have (and enjoy) Dead or Alive 3, Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge (wow!), Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Silent Hill 2 is also sitting at my house, but it's Andrea's. Anyway, all of these titles are pretty tight. It's good.

To buy: a new Genesis, Saturn, GameCube, Super Nintendo, in that order.

What's your favorite console? Why? Which ones do you have? What do you enjoy most now? What are your favorite games?

Let's get talking about these :)

you know, im in the minority amongst my gaming 'friends', but i really dig the dreamcast. breaks my heart sega got out of the hardware business.

i have had nothing but fun on that console. if you havent tried sega bass fishing (the first one, i dont like the second as much), you really need to give that a shot. especially if you can get your hands on a fishing controller. and some beer. :)

the console im playing the most right now would be the gba tho. i picked up golden sun so i could survive one of my wifes 'drag-james-along-shopping' trips, and that game has been a heck of a lot of fun. i also picked up zelda oracle of ages and oracle of seasons. almost as much fun as the snes zelda.

i have a gamecube, and its a little light on 'must-own' titles right now, but super smash bros melee is a fantastic, rogue squadron rules, and its easily the cutest box on my entertainment center.

~james

I'm looking to get a GameCube. The titles I really want are Rogue Squadron, Super Smash Brothers Melee and Super Monkey Ball. All of those games are pretty tight.

The game I <b>really</b> want is <b>Soul Calibur 2</b>. Guaranteed to look <b>incredible</b> on the Xbox. Yum.

I absolutely adore my Dreamcast. I don't know anyone that thinks lowly of it. It's awesome.

soul calibur 2 looks excellent. between that and the new toejam and earl game, i may just break down and buy an xbox. especially if someone manages to port some decent emulators to it. i was ecstatic when nesterdc got good enough that i could start using my dreamcast for nes games and i could set my nes in a place of honor in my office. i still pull it down for certain games; dragon warrior and guardian legend, but the fact that i can save wear and tear on it is nice.

there are some really good homebrew games and ports for the dreamcast. check out consolevision.com.

~james

I've really tried to get into console games, but I just don't like them. In my opinion, computer games are always nearly 1000 times better. I'm not really sure why I feel this way. It just seems like you can do so much more with them.. perhaps because you have 101 buttons instead of just 4 or 5. :]


I mean, honestly.. can you really compare a racing, fishing, or fighting game to Diablo II or Starcraft??

Plus, you've got multiplayer online.


Anway, every time i've tried to get into a console game, all I could think of was how lame it was.

Well, when you have friends and they come over to your house, trash talking and eating Pringles while playing Dead or Alive 3 is a lot of fun. When you have no friends and therefore spend all of your time on your computer playing Diablo II or Starcraft, the prospect of actually meeting people and playing games with them is probably pretty scary, therefore making one of the major allures of a game console a detriment instead..

Plus, you've obviously never played Metal Gear Solid. MGS makes Diablo II and Starcraft and Quake 3 and every other computer game obsolete. It may not look like much (it was on the PlayStation, for christ's sake), but it's got it where it counts - story and gameplay and depth. You'd be hard pressed to beat it on any platform.

Besides, I want to play games on a big screen, not a 19" monitor.

computer games are great (ive been messing with the freedom force demo, definitely picking that up). but i agree with dhamsaic. having a bunch of friends over and and playing some soul calibur, super puzzle fighter or even mario party is great. the trash talk is classic.

the thing is, for the most part computer games have more depth. civ3, diablo 2, heroes or might and magic, etc. all have very deep and involving gameplay. but im a pac-man kind of guy. i like my gratification instant. crazy taxi on the dreamcast provides that. i can play a game for 5 minutes and enjoy it. lots of console games provide that. playing a computer game sometimes feels like work to me. i love simcity, but sometimes i cant play it because its too much thinking.

~james

i think it's all about mood and environment. what do you expect from a game?

for something that's very involved, i have turned to clan play online with quake3. i've been doing it for almost two and a half years now and it's been very rewarding long term. i have a lot of fun in matches. but it's taken a lot of time to build up the teamwork and whatnot that we have. it wasn't as fun a year ago.

on the other hand, you can definitely get that on the console. take a look at "halo", "metal gear solid" and "metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty". all three of them are very involved, have good stories (metal gear solid more than the other two) and provide satisfaction equivalent to that of diablo ii and the like.

however, console games are also good for quick fun. like perth mentioned, "crazy taxi" is a great example of a game you can pick up and have fun with in 5 or 10 minutes. you pop it in, it just <b>works</b> first time (and every time thereafter), and you play. controls are simple and easy to learn.

i definitely enjoy computer gaming (or i wouldn't play quake3 so much), but console gaming has its place as well, and i think that dismissing consoles straight-out simply because you haven't been impressed with what you've seen is based largely on ignorance. there's much more out there. :)

Well, i'm not dismissing them outright. The majority of the population likes console games -- i'm just saying that i'm not one of them. I am stating my minority opinion.

If a game is designed to be played in 5-10 minutes, then I usually lose interest in about 5-10 minutes. The type of games I like are those that consume your life for 3-5 months and require a sacrifice of 4-8 hours a day. Oh yeah, baby. B^)

Also, I haven't played Metal Gear Solid yet. If it's as good as you say i'll definitely have to check it out. Still, if i was limited to under 10 buttons i'd just get annoyed.

(ah.. excellent.. it looks like it has been ported to the PC)

Also, I can definitely see the point as far as friends coming over goes. I have LAN at home so it's not really an issue for me.. but I suppose most people only have 1 computer.

when 5-10 minutes is all youve got, you learn to appreciate the games that can be played in that precious amount of time.

i was so much more into computer games before i had my son. but diablo II gets hard to play when you have a geek-in-training on your lap trying to reach the keyboard. and nothing calms that kid down like seeing the dreamcast swirl.

actually, hes fascinated by bejeweled (bejeweled). i think its the 'plonk' noises. i just hope hes old enough to entertain himself when 'worlds of warcraft' comes out.

~james

Metal Gear Solid is really great the first 10 times around. What's awesome about it is that it consumes you. It sucks you in. Watch the cut scenes. Every single one of them. The first time, anyway. Try different things. There are a lot of things to figure out. What's better, it's actually challenging.

Now... if I skip the cut scenes, I can beat it in probably 3-4 hours... but that's a really quick run through, doing nothing extra, and it definitely is a waste of the game.

When I first started playing it back in early 2000, it had me drawn in for probably 2 weeks straight. That's how long it took me to beat it the first time (and *really* beat it). After that, there's lots of reasons to go back and beat it again - the stealth suit, the bandana... submit to the torture... don't submit to the torture... it's all good.

As for longer games that take 3-5 months at 4-8 hours a day... I simply don't have the time. Full time woman, full time job, part time Quake... and I actually find time to sleep in there.

Got my first console in 1983...the Atari 2600. Wound up getting 40 or so games for it in the end. Went through 5 or so joysticks and a couple of power adapters. My brother still has it in St. Louis.

I got an Intellivision in 1984. Now that was a sweet console. Very state-of-the-art for its time. My brother also has that back home.

My brother got a Sega Master System, but by the time he got it, it was going the way of the 'saurs. I think he still has that too.

I had an NES all of 3 months. My brother broke it. Bastard. We wound up getting another one years later.

He got a Genesis in the early '90s. I have it here in Philadelphia. Great system. You could still rent the games at Blockbuster until a few years ago. I always did like it.

I got a PSX 2 Xmases ago. Another great system. I enjoy it to no end, and it was especially useful during my periods of unemployment. Just got new games for it at Xmas time. In fact, I will be using it for a Sharon vs. Arafat match. (More on that later.)

I played X-Box at dham's place in January. It IS nice...fantastic graphics. I still lean towards PS2 though...I may buy one this Xmas.

Personally, my favorite system of all time is the SNES. It had some of the best games ever on that thing, and every type of game imaginable. Short, instant gratification games, and long, in-depth games, and of course, RPGs out the whazoo. Final Fantasy 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Earthbound, Super Metroid, all SNES games, and quite easily my favorite games of all time.

Final Fantasy 3 was the first and only game to ever make me go "WOW" with the graphics, sound, and even the story. Every FF game since has disappointed me (although they are still good games) and no other game has made me do the same thing with them.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Earthbound were just plain fun. Games like those are really lacking nowadays. Not instant gratification, but fun, really really really fun.

Right now though, I guess my PS2 is my fav, mainly because the GameCube doesn't have many titles out on it yet, as those will all be coming out at the end of the year.

Oh yeah, and to the comment earlier about buttons and keys; console games don't NEED 101 keys. The developers have managed to get everything done with only 4-8 buttons. Personaly, I think that's more impressive then spreading it out across 101 keys and possibly confusing the crap out of players (I still haven't learned what all the keys do in Asherons Call)

I just got Grand Theft Auto 3 and a memory card (from EBGames - Thanks Chris!) for my PS2, and I plan to get some play time in today. Jenni wouldn't let me last night. "Oh, let's go eat dinner, I'm hungry" - "Oh, I'm tired, let's go to bed." Sheesh. Food and sleep can wait. :)

Seriously though, I was playing Tony Hawk 3 (Xbox) last night and it is <b>hard</b>! Gravity has much more an effect on me now than it did in 1 and 2. Dammit! Balancing on rails seems much more difficult now too.

MGS2 on my PS2 is pretty fun so far. The one thing I don't like is that it's not quite the same feel as MGS on PlayStation. For instance, it's zoomed in more - Snake appears larger than he did in PlayStation. The controls are different as well, but I'll get used to that - they're probably for the better or Hideo wouldn't have changed 'em. Anyway, with Metal Gear Solid 2 and Grand Theft Auto III, PS2 may just turn out to be my favorite console.

SNES was definitely pretty cool, but I never had one so I never really got to get into it. I rented one a few times and all my friends had one, but I was on the Genesis side from day one. It just seemed a cooler console to me. :)

You know, speaking of the Sega Genesis, I really need to get a Sega Nomad. Genesis games on a portable system, that's just plain cool.

Also, the new Greatest Hits for the PS2 has come into effect now, so I can get all the games I've wanted for only 20 bucks now. Oh yeah, MGS2, Dark Cloud, Twisted Metal Black, all three for only sixty bucks. That ought to help take my mind off of things for a while now.

I never really noticed any problems with the gravity in THPS3 for the GC, just that it's basically a revamped THPS2...125,000 from grinding all over the first level...

I really wish I knew what the first game I ever played was called. It was on a really really really old apple (1985, I believe). This guy was stranded on some planet and had to go around and kill aliens with his ray gun and collect apples for health. It was kind of like Legend of Zelda, except way before Legend of Zelda. That was the game that got me hooked onto VGs for life, and I really wish I knew what it was called, because I want to download it and an emulator. Nostalgia, baby, nostaligia.

I have an original Playstation, a SNES, an Atari 2600 (bought with a load of cartridges as a birthday present for my wife), an original Gameboy (barely works--the battery connection is loose), and a brand-new Game Boy Advance.

I don't really bother with PC games... partly I can't be bothered to keep my computer up to get good performance out of them (I currently have a 4 yo 233MHz MMX system at home). It's completely irrational.

As for the consoles, I would take the Playstation as the primo console in terms of number & variety of games, and I still drag it out occasionally. But the one I spend the most time with is the Gameboy... I can carry it anywhere in the house and don't have to negotiate for use of the TV or computer. (Being old-fashioned, we only have one of each. Well, one WORKING one of each.) The other thing is, Gameboy games tend to be simpler, and that suits me. Those of you of A Certain Age may remember Defender, which was one of the popular arcade games when I was in high school back in the early 80s. I could never play it--WAY too complicated. It had 4 or 5 different kinds of ammunition, so you had to remember which button did what, etc. etc. Frogger and Q-Bert are more my speed. So, while I've whiled away the occasional hour or two playing Tomb Raider or Final Fantasy Tactics on the Playstation, the bulk of my gaming time is puzzle or classic arcade titles on the Gameboy.

Check on eBay for a Nomad. I've been thinking about getting one for a while now but I'm more interested in just having the Genesis hooked up to my TV at home. I'll need to buy another A/V switch (currently have 4 consoles hooked up to that TV on one A/V switch, wahoo) and then use it for GameCube, Super Nintendo and Genesis, but that's alright. I can do that. :)

Man, I spent a lot of time this weekend on Tony Hawk 3 and Grand Theft Auto and <b>DAMN!</b> GTA3 is <b>good</b>. Tony Hawk 3 is <b>good</b>. Tony Hawk 3 still seems harder than the first one, but I have all of the important stats (air, hangtime, ollie, rail balance, spin, etc) all maxed out now, so I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it. I was watching some of the movies they have and some of the moves they do are just fucking nuts. Manuals in between grinds, that sort of shit. 600,000 point moves and stuff. I need to get that good. :) I'm thrilled when I pull off a 20,000 point combo. Damn.

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A bunch of responses:

My console collection (a few of each in most cases):
* Atari 2600/5200/7800/XEGS/Jaguar
* Mattel Intellivision (original gold and condensed white), Aquarius
* ColecoVision
* Odyssey^2
* Bally Astrocade
* Three Vectrexes
* Sega Master System, Genesis, CDX, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear
* Nintendo NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, (wife's) Game Boy / GB Color
* TurboGrafx/16, TurboDuo, import adapter, two TurboExpresses
* Sony PSX (two, one modded), PS2
* Goldstar 3DO
* Microvision
* multiple NeoGeo Pocket Colors

Yes, I have zero life. As for my own gaming preferences:

PORTABLES: The NGPC has grown on me quite a bit. Cardfighter's Clash has burned away much of my free time, it actually makes fighting games playable in a two-button format, and its capabilities (IMHO) blew away the GB Color. Pity that it didn't have Nintendo's marketing muscle or Pokemon.

The Game Boy family has never really grown on me that much -- there are games I'll play on them, certainly, but nothing that's made me run out and buy one for myself. Fire Pro Wrestling for the GBA has me tempted, but I'll wait until I find one for cheap.

The Game Gear is (and was) a hunk of junk. Ditto for the Microvision.

For my money, the best portable of all time is clearly the TurboExpress -- color screen, easy Japanese game compatibility, a TV Tuner attachment, and the ability to play the FULL system's games instead of scaled-down ports (think of what the GB would be like if it could play real NES/SNES carts). The Nomad is similar, but played Genesis games (most of which I disdain) and ate up batteries extremely quickly.

OLD-SCHOOL CONSOLES: The Atari 2600 had the game library, pure and simple. Once 2600 adapters existed for the Intellivision and ColecoVision, there was no longer any reason to own a real 2600. Intellivision was the king of sports and strategy games, and gets my nod as the king of its era; ColecoVision had some funky arcade ports and finishes a close second.

The Bally Astrocade had The Incredible Wizard (a FANTASTIC port of Wizard of Wor) and little else to recommend it, apart from the coolest controllers of all time. (Trigger-grip with a rotating knob on top that doubled as a joystick -- a thing of beauty.) The Odyssey^2 had K.C. Munchkin (the best home Pac-Man until the authentic 5200 version came out, and even that was flawed by the horrid 5200 joysticks) and not much else. A 5200 with real controllers would have ruled the fricking world; as it was, it was a footnote. (Still has the only home port of Space Dungeon, though.)

Anyone who doesn't have a Vectrex is missing the boat -- it was such a unique gaming experience that everyone should play it at least once. (Picture a vertical mini-TV with vector graphics, playing an Asteroids clone, Cinematronics ports and a host of fun-but-funky ports.) I have one for sale, BTW. Sadly, the 3D goggles are like hen's teeth to find.

The other old-timer consoles (the original Odyssey, Fairchild Channel F, APF Imagination Machine, RCA Studio II, Emerson Arcadia, etc.) weren't much beyond glorified Pong machines.

I'll split this up for readability purposes...

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CARTRIDGE CONSOLES: What can I say about the NES? Obviously, it was the 900-pound gorilla of its era -- lots of great games, lots of real stinkers. Some authentic ports of old-school classics, some "modernizations" that were wincingly bad (I'm looking at YOU, NES Gyruss). Anyone who can't find five games worth playing on the NES isn't trying, though they may have to wade through some crap to find them. The Sega Master System tried to compete and failed, though it did spawn one of the first great console RPGs (Phantasy Star).

I've never been sold on either the Genesis or the SNES. Too many platformers, too many repetitive games, too much shovelware. There were gems for both systems, of course (FF2-3, Ogre Battle, Mario Kart, perhaps Tetris Attack for the SNES, Herzog Zwie, the Thunder Force series, and the Sonics for the Genny), but I've played both systems combined less than I have, say, my Jaguar or my 3DO. There were fun games to be found, but the Japanese titles (most of which never found their way here) were often far more interesting than what I see today clogging flea-market bargain bins.

The TurboGrafx (and its Japanese version, the PC-Engine) was the most underrated system ever, IMHO. Fabulous power, great games, easy compatibility with Japanese titles, ports that were often better than the SNES/Genesis versions, some of the best shoot-em-ups ever (Blazing Lazers comes to mind), and a CD-ROM attachment to come. PLUS you could play your games on the road with the Express. Other than the price tag, what wasn't to like?

And the Jaguar... well, let's just say that there are exactly four (4) games worth having for the Jag. Tempest 2000, Rayman, Defender 2000, and Aliens vs. Predator. AvP looks horribly dated today, as it has the framerate of a flip-book. However, the first three will RULE YOUR WORLD -- some of the best games ever created. (The Jaguar CD is best left as a curiosity.)

I'll cover the N64 in the next section, despite its lack of CD-ROM capabilities...

THE CD-ROM ERA: ...because its specs once included a CD-ROM unit, to be designed by Sony. When that fell through, Sony designed their own CD-ROM console, and the rest was history...

But the Sega CD and 3DO did come first. The former had zero going for it other than Working Designs RPGs, particularly the Lunar series (now available on PSX). The latter had a handful of titles that were wonderful in their day (the original Need For Speed, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Samurai Shodown, PO'ed, Out Of This World, Shanghai, Battlesport, Gex, Alone in the Dark).

The TurboCD (also sold as a standalone TurboDuo console) remains one of my favorites, even if some of its games are dated today. Great games, very easy Japan compatibility, and the best Castlevania game EVER (Dracula X: The Rondo of Blood).

And then came Sony. It took me a while to warm up to the PSX, but once a bunch of worthy imports started trickling in (and even more so when I modded my system to play imports that WEREN'T brought to the States), I wore it out to the point where I had to replace the CD-ROM drive. The game library is huge and varied, and there's really no reason not to own one. Whatever your tastes, games of that type exist therein.

The N64, on the other hand, is wonderful as long as you're between the ages of eight and sixteen. I was not. To this day, it and the Atari Lynx are the only major mass-marketed game systems I haven't bought between the 2600 and the PS2, because there's simply nothing I want to play on it that badly. (The Lynx is more of an oversight on my part, and that I can't find the carts for it cheaply.)

The Saturn was badly underrated. It had a lot of quirky games nothing like what the other systems were offering (NiGHTS, the Panzer Dragoon series, Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes), it had Sega's flagship titles (VF2, Virtua Cop, Fighters Megamix, Daytona, Sega Rally, Virtual On), it had easy Japanese compatibility, and it had major multitaps (six-player Fire Pro Wrestling S! Ten-player Bomberman!). Plus LOTS of awesome imports like Fire Pro S, Soukyugurentai, Cotton 2, Chatting Parodius and Bubble Symphony...

The Saturn failed to kill the PSX, so Bernie Stolar pulled the plug on it in the US in favor of the Dreamcast. Again, an underrated console, for many of the same reasons -- Fire Pro D on it remains my favorite wrestling game for realism AND fun, Soul Calibur and the NFL2K series are jaw-dropping, VF3 is there, Crazy Taxi is flat-out fun... but the game library was lacking for a while and by the time it started catching up, the PS2 had arrived and the DC was dead in the water.

I picked up the PS2 this Christmas -- again, I was waiting for second-generation titles that interested me. Grand Theft Auto 3 is certainly that; I have no memory of anything that happened in the month of January, apart from missions and carjackings and blowing up ice-cream trucks with rocket launchers for the sheer malicious glee of it. This is my favorite game of the entire CD-ROM era, one of the best of all time -- it's deep and playable on so many levels, whether you're playing it with a purpose or just screwing around. My wife's been having fun with Fatal Frame (think Resident Evil with cameras), Virtua Fighter 4 is tremendous and a major upgrade to the series, Devil May Cry is flashy... the library has plenty of weak spots, but the good games (like GTA3) far outweigh the negatives.

The XBox bores me so far, as does the Gamecube. Not necessarily bad consoles, but there's nothing yet for either that excites me. Maybe next year.

So, what did I miss?

Man. I'm on the mission for Tony where you blow up the laundromat trucks (I've only been playing for a day, remember) and it is damn <b>hard</b>. I blow up a truck and automatically get 2 stars on the cop radar. From there I maybe get 1 more before I'm busted. :( Any secrets to this?

Re: ...
 

Oh man, Fire Pro D is the best video game ever. Metal Gear, Schmetal Schmear.

I'm gonna take a guess that you mean GTA3, and not Tony? I don't remember blowing up trucks in Tony...

Anyways, if you just take your time blowing them up, you should be ok. Plus, the trucks go all over the city, just follow one until it's not near anything else, and then blow it up. If you get stars from it, you'll be in the middle of nowhere, and should be able to stay away from the cops until your wanted level goes down. Then just go do it again.

Oh, hehe. Yeah, GTA3, but that's a mission for the mob guy Tony. That's what I meant :) Tony Hawk I'm doing pretty well on, working on manuals between tricks and shit. Pulled off like an 80,000 point combo earlier. Now <b>that</b> was cool.

Sadly, because I spent most of the night cleaning up the living room, I have not yet had the chance to work on some PS2 gaming. Like I said, I've been playing Tony though. Jenni wanted to play with me, and when a girl wants to play a video game, I let her - this is a rare occasion, my friends. Must encourage good behavior. :)

Man, I hope when they put out the PS2 hard drive, they take advantage of the FireWire port on the front of the PS2. That would totally rule, especially if you could save game data to it and shit. Lalala. I do like PS2. I'm just not as impressed, graphically, with the games as I am with Xbox. Plus I think that the Xbox hardware will take it farther than PS2. Wait for the games that come out this winter... they'll be killer I bet.

Must get GameCube... Rogue Leader... Super Monkey Ball... Soul Calibur 2...

This guy I work with went to Activision for a job interview and he was telling me about some of the guys there. Apparently, one of the guys at Activision can consistently get 50,000,000 point combos (yes that's the right number of zeros) without even trying.

Now that's just sick.

He might have had the cheat codes in. I've seen some <b>unreal</b> combos and they only go up to about a million points or so... :)

If I had perfect rail balance and perfect manual balance (like maybe what the Activision guy had), I could do 50,000,000 point combos too... but I don't :) However, I did play some Hawk last night after writing that (okay, about 90 minutes worth, while I was waiting for laundry) and I got some <b>nice</b> combos pulled out. My favorite was on the Canada level, starting out with a couple grinds (all together to get my special meter up), manual real quick over to the ramp on the left, grind down that, manual out of it and over to one of the pipes going down the parking lot, grind that, quick manual to the ramp, then pull a 900 :) revert the landing, manual over to a rail, grind up it (awww yeah), then find something else to do at the top. As you can imagine, I was getting some pretty nice points off it : )

Sure. The easiest way to handle this mission is to get in a car and follow a targeted truck. When it gets to a place where it stops, like a red light (since they're not on alert yet), pull in front of the truck and block its path without touching it. Then carjack the truck and drive it away, leaving the angry driver behind.

Destroy the truck any way you like -- take it to the crusher, flip it over, ram it into things until it's flaming, get out and grenade/shotgun it until it blows. With you behind the wheel, you can take it somewhere quiet where the cops won't notice, or destroy it by non-weapon means (flipping over or ramming) that the cops don't care about. Then grab another car and go after the NEXT laundry truck. Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you prefer the hands-on method, remember that you can always visit the Pay & Spray to wipe your police record, even in mid-mission...

jeff. your one-stop GTA3 guru (halfway through his third trip through the game)

that's a damn fine idea. i figured that since i was given grenades, i should use them. i never thought about carjacking those though. haha. as hansel says, "it's so simple!"

i have been tony hawkin' it supreme lately, but i might have to get some gta3 in real soon after those tips. i can't really give you any about tony hawk, except "practice" :)

Man. Tony Hawk owns my life. God.

I'm done all my work here today so I'm waiting for Mike to give me something more to do. In the meantime, I'm thinking about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I have the original on the Dreamcast and versions 2x and 3 on Xbox.

And I want to go home and play.

Man, they're such complete games... there's so much to do in them. All I can think of is getting home and playing. I only beat the first one with one character - Tony. I should beat it with more.

I haven't even beaten 2x yet (not enough time). I should beat it with all the characters. Unlock everything. Must. Do. Everything.

And then there's 3... which I'm making damn good headway on. But I still need to make perfect runs with all the skaters. God.

By the time I'm done all that, Tony Hawk 4 will have been out for a while and I'll probably already have it. I am addicted.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has got to be one of the best game series ever. I simply can't think of anything more complete and perfect.

There aren't enough hours in the day...

Oddly enough, I have never tried any of the Tony Hawk games. I know how critically acclaimed they are, but they just haven't piqued my interest. Same goes for Tomb Raider in all its incarnations. The only skating game I have was Jet Grind Radio for the DC, and I never got out of the training mode on that.

The beauty of GTA3 is that there are usually several ways to approach the average mission. For instance, you've offed "Chunky" Lee Chong by now, and may have had some difficulty if you approached it in the obvious way (you have to deal with or run past three Triad gunsels while Chunky flees to his car). Option two is to find the bums in the tunnel underneath Saint Mark's -- run 'em over, take their Molotov cocktails, then go back to Chinatown and fling one from a distance. Chunky will be roasted before he or his flunkies even know you're in town.

Or option three is less efficient, but gets major points for style -- without alerting Chunky, steal his getaway car (a Perennial). Take it to 8-Ball's, put a bomb in it, then go back to Chinatown and flush him out. He'll run to his car (which you put back where you found it), start to drive away and FOOM! Mission cleared, overtime for the maid.

Free hint: do as much as you can in Portland (hidden packages, rampages, and particularly El Burro's missions) _before_ you leave for Staunton Island. (You can't leave yet, but you'll know your opportunity when it arrives.) Without spoiling too much, those missions will be a lot harder if you leave town and come back. And if El Burro's first one (Turismo) gives you fits, do Fire Truck missions until the car you extinguish is a white-and-red sports car (the Yakuza Stinger), which has the best handling in the game... use THAT to outrun the Diablos.

jeff. You will learn to hate El Burro. With a passion.

Yeah, I took care of him. I did it the obvious way - sprinted over to his ass, blew him away, took his getaway car and broke records for "getting the fuck away". :)

I've actually gotten a lot of missions done for Joey, but I pretty much skipped that goddamn laundromat truck one because it was fucking me up so bad.

One of my favorites was the getaway with the body in the trunk. I knew something was gonna be up ('cause they wouldn't put that simple a mission at that point in the game), but I wasn't sure what. When I saw a guy in the car sitting in the parking lot I figured he was a baddie. So, I parked my car in front of him, grabbed the car with the body and tried to make my getaway. I didn't make it the first two times, but on the second one I managed to find a way to lose the dudes following you every time, guaranteed (or at least it worked for me the two times I tried it). Go up that grass bit on the left and just fucking ramp, but kinda hit it on the right. They'll hit it on the right too and wreck their car, but you go left and then just haul ass across all the medians and whatnot.

Yeah, I didn't win the first el Burro mission, which was that first race. I had a Diablo car (hehe), but it fuckin' sucked ass. My current favorite is the Mafia Sentinel, but those are a bitch to get and it's hard to keep them in a decent condition after you do ('cause you're getting rammed by other mafia dudes). Ugh. Still, it's a pretty slick car all around.

Where can I pick up a Fire Truck? Man, I love taxi-ing. Hehe.

Yep, in Dead Skunk in the Trunk, that's a Forelli brother sitting in the parking lot. So instead of blocking him in, park a nice big car right next to his and BLOW IT UP! You can't blow up the Forelli vehicle directly (i.e. with your own weapons), but the explosion from another car will carry over, and voila, one less Forelli to outrun.

Better yet, let the Forellis whack you from behind until your trunk falls off. The corpse will be visible. :) (Pity that it's a Manana, or I'd keep it.)

Mafia Sentinels are actually among the easiest cars to get, if you know how (or, more properly, where). Go to the top of the hill in Saint Mark's, and take the offroad path leading to a large mansion. There are two Mafia Sentinels (free of charge and unlocked) in front of this building at all times. That should give you a hint as to whose mansion that is, but the big Don doesn't believe in car alarms... They're reasonable all-around vehicles, but there are certainly better ones.

The Fire Truck is in the north end of Portland -- Harwood, I think. It's not too far from the auto dealership (where you can usually steal a Banshee, which is lightning-quick) and across from the gas station. Grab it, turn on the vehicle missions, and you'll get to drive recklessly around Portland putting out car fires. The type of car that you extinguish is randomly generated -- you can get good stuff like Cheetahs, Stingers, Yakuza Stingers, Infernuses, etc., or oddball vehicles like the Mr. Whoopee ice cream van or the Trashmaster. Again, the Stingers are highly recommended for Turismo, as they handle and powerslide like a dream and have a good top speed, though it may take a lot of missions to find one.

Oh yeah -- complete 100 taxi missions (not in a row) for a pleasant surprise...

Yes, I've had the visible course. My first run, actually. I managed to get to the squashing facility with a battered car but they took me out somehow. I forget exactly how it happened.

Man, I can't wait to get home and play now. I think I need to take tomorrow off and just stay home and play games. God that would be a good day. Kinda like every Saturday. Hehe. :)

im weaning myself back in... any objections, voice them now.

:)

personally, the only realy game i consistantly enjoy is tetris. i dont know why. probably because its sort of somewhat kind of educational. i have tetris worlds for game boy advance, only game i own. it was a birthday present, and an enjoyable one. unlike the dangly (sp?) cat earrings my aunt bought me...

i enjoy playing soul calibur. it is good fun. i like watching people play more though, because i suck at video games. and its no fun when you are getting your ass kicked EVERY TIME you play against someone. i have beat soul calibur a few times, though, so im not completely frustrated with that yet.

ill admit it, i can be a sore loser. :)

tony hawk's pro skater 3 seems pretty fun from what ive played of it so far. i even made my own character. thats neat. but i havent played it enugh to know if im going to hate it yet.

as far as grand theft auto goes... just watching david play it has warped my driving ability. i dont think i could ever play it, because im afraid one day out on the beltway ill slip into game mode and jump out of my car and start beating the crap out of some asshole.

not that they wouldnt deserve it. :)

Man, I just busted out a 140,000+ point grind combo on the Airport level in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Damn that was a fine ass move. 4 manuals, a ton of grinds and a "Sick!" score. Daaaaaaaaaamn right. :)

I think I want to concentrate on Tony Hawk for a while, but every once in a while just take a day and play Grand Theft Auto 3. Like. Saturday. :) Man. I didn't get to play it tonight, mainly because I had a Quake 1v1 match (I won) and then I played Tony Hawk 3. But I'm definitely looking forward to putting some time into it pretty soon. Thinking about taking Friday off and getting some rest and playing some games. Long weekends are nice and I have almost 3 weeks of vacation in the bank.... Hmmmmmmmmmm.

So after I beat GTA3 like 400 times and I'm the master of Metal Gear Solid 2, what are some other good games for PS2?

Other PS2 joys:

If you're into racing, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec will be your poison of choice. Ultra-realistic auto racing with all the bells and whistles, though a steering wheel controller may help (I haven't tried it myself). Alternatives in the need-for-speed realm include Burnout (which challenges you to drive as dangerously as possible without wrecking, rewarding you with speed boots for close shaves) and SSX Tricky (downhill racing on snowboards).

For straight-up action, Devil May Cry is an adrenaline rush, Twisted Metal: Black is the first Twisted Metal worthy of the name since the second one on PS1, and State of Emergency is an immensely fun (if shallow) Final Fight-style beat-em-up. Onimusha is structurally similar to Devil May Cry and can be found for less.

For some run-and-gun platforming fun, Jak & Daxter has gotten solid reviews (your standard 3D run-and-collect-the-objects Crash Bandicoot clone). A lot of people liked Maximo; a lot of critics liked Klonoa 2, and everybody liked Rayman 2. Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame and Soul Reaver 2 are more Resident Evil-ish and dark.

There's still not that much in RPG-land. Final Fantasy X is the big dog, of course, and I'm not a huge FF fan so I didn't get it. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was reviewed well. Shadow of Destiny is a quirky RPG with more conversation than action -- it's short, but has multiple ending paths.

For fighting games, there's Virtua Fighter 4, and then there's Virtua Fighter 4. Accept no substitutes.

There's Metal Gear Solid 2, which has its legions of devotees.

And in the What Were They Thinking? category, consider Frequency (music-rhythm action), Rez (a tripped-out polygon shooter that's major eye candy), Gitaroo-Man (points for sheer freakiness) and Mr. Mosquito (which would have to work VERY HARD to be any less twisted).

My own library: Silent Hill 2, Devil May Cry, GTA3, State of Emergency, VF4, Fatal Frame, Monster Rancher 3.

I currently have just <b>Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty</b> and <b>Grand Theft Auto 3</b> for PS2. They're definitely good so far. :) It should keep me tied up for a good while. I don't have a whole lot of time to play video games, unfortunately. Work + Jenni (jennofay) + sleep + chores around the house + the need to eat != lots of free time. Oh well.

For Xbox I have <b>Halo</b>, <b>Dead or Alive 3</b>, <b>Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding</b>, <b>Project Gotham Racing</b>, <b>Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x</b>, <b>Rallisport Challenge</b> and <b>Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3</b> (in order that I bought them). <b>Silent Hill 2</b> is sitting at my house but it's Chris' (cornelius). Personally, I enjoy all of the games I have on Xbox (or I wouldn't have bought them), but Tony Hawk 3 is just like heroin. Seriously, it's just purely addictive. Man. I can't describe how amazing that game is. It's just one of those games that I can't put down. I went to bed at like 4 AM last night. All Tony Hawk. I don't really have time to play anything other than Tony Hawk :) Plus, I've already beaten the hell out of Dead or Alive.

Rallisport is definitely a very cool racer. It's on loan to a friend of mine right now, but I'll get it back probably tomorrow. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to play it. TH3 baby :)

Amped is also pretty addictive. It's like Tony Hawk on a snowboard. Except it's not quite <b>that</b> good. :) Don't get me wrong, it's a seriously seriously great game and before I had Tony Hawk on my Xbox (have always had him on my Dreamcast), that's just about all I played. But... TH3. :)

You seriously oughta rent it and try to get into it. I can't think of a more satisfying game. After busting out that awesome run on Airport last night (and ending up with like 360,000 points after my 140,000 point combo), I felt like I had been watching Jesus Christ on a skateboard. I was pumped. I was in awe. It's just one of those games. Man. :)

I think my problem with Tony Hawk is the theme, not the game. I just can't picture myself playing a skateboarding game, because I've seen far too many skateboarders with the IQ of dental floss.

(You know the ones -- there are probably half-a-dozen in your neighborhood, too. They hang out on street corners, jumping up and down on their boards viciously, jamming them into the curbs, and that's ALL THEY DO. No tricks, no ramps, no using them to get somewhere, just flailing and jumping on their boards in an apparent attempt to break them in half.)

Vehicular stunts? I'll take GTA3. Instead of intricate skateboard tricks, I can drive an ice cream van off the top of a parking garage, do a flip and a rotation in mid-air, and land it squarely on top of a granny crossing the street. And THEN get out of the car and pick up the money she dropped. Now, THAT'S COMEDY!

It's not really about it being a skateboarding game though. That's just the vehicle. I'm no big fan of skateboarding or skateboarding games - except Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. There's just something about them. I guess you have to have played them to understand :)

I did a pretty cool trick in GTA3 the other day - I flipped the car, rotated it I think once and then landed perfectly. The game told me it was a "perfect insane jump" or something, so I was happy. :)

dude, paul got 15,000 i think once for a triple insane stunt bonus. in the second city, there is a parking garage you can get a good jump off of. man i want to tell you all the cool stuff. dammit!

Muahahaha. There are insane stunt jumps, and then there are INSANE stunt jumps...

There are twenty Unique Stunt Jumps scattered around Liberty City (eight in Portland, though some are somewhat inaccessible at first). When you hit one of those, the camera goes slo-mo and you get a big cash bonus on your first successful landing. As a free hint, the first one is near your Portland hideout -- look for a concrete wedge near the water and the overhead railway tracks. Look at the long straightaway leading up to that concrete wedge. Look at how the wedge points up and over the railway bridge. Do the math. ;)

As for your garden-variety insane stunts, there are criteria for jump distance, jump rotation and flips. If you surpass one of them, you get an Insane Stunt Bonus. Two, and you get a Double Insane Stunt Bonus; three gets a Triple. If you land squarely, you can get a Perfect (1,2,3x) Insane Stunt Bonus, which adds to the bounty somewhat.

The game can be picky as to what constitutes a perfect landing (or even when it'll give you an insane bonus at all), but vehicular mayhem is half the fun of the game -- the vehicles are generally quite replaceable, so it's a blast just to drive around and see how horrendously you can jump and crash them.

Now, the MOTHER OF ALL INSANE JUMPS is extremely difficult to pull off, and even more difficult to survive without cheating, but it's worth seeing at least once. There's a jump in Chinatown that can put your car up on the overhead railway tracks. If you get there in one piece, you can maneuver your car to a certain position and wait for the train to hit it. Sometimes you're just knocked off the tracks, sometimes you're wedged INTO the tracks... but once in a blue moon, the train hits you JUST right and your car is launched into the sky, spinning like a top. If you aim it right, you can get hit in Portland and land in Staunton Island!

Jen, I think you need to come home and play GTA3 with me. One thing I'm pretty good at is outrunning cops. The other is running over people. :)

Oh yeah, I'm also real ballsy. I'll carjack a cab right in front of a cop. I've also tried carjacking cop cars with the cops still inside, but this never works. Any tips? :)

shoot the cop car first and then hit triangle. that'll get them out, and you can get in before they touch you because actions queue. then you can smash the bodies over and over again!
another fun thing to do is to steal a police car from the station (hit the car door with another car to unlock it) and then drive around the city dishing out police brutality. drug dealers, older women; everyone ends up getting a baseball bat to the face.

jeni's fun to play GTA3 with.
she's the only reason i beat one of the later missions. i sat there moping and complaining until she finally marked the map for me and told me exactly where to find each of the dozen or so landmarks i had to find. best girl ever? yes.

Man, as I was running away from the station after getting busted once, I saw this cop car come speeding and mow down like 10 people on the sidewalk before speeding off. I started laughing :)

That's a good tip about unlocking the cop car :) How hard do you have to hit it? I wouldn't want to damage it too much. hehe :)

that always makes me laugh too. "oh no, he punched someone! quick, run over several pedestrians to get to him!"
as for unlocking the door, i don't exactly recall. i think you DO have to dent the door, but after that, it's yours. not a big deal anyway, as you can get the car fixed for free if you want by just letting it sit in the garage long enough for the garage door to close.

:)

david, i think YOU need to come here with dad this weekend and play gta3 with paul and i. YES.

He told me, and I was like "score!"

but... work. :(

If you have no stars, even occupied cop cars are easy to carjack. Just yank on the PASSENGER-SIDE door. The cop will get out of the driver's side and run around to confront you; while he does, you can open the (now-unlocked) passenger door, slide across and floor it. Do remember to do this only where you can floor it, or the cop will bust you in nothing flat, of course...

You can usually yank one from right in front of your hideout -- they tend to drive by a lot, and you can scoop up the car and immediately double back to the Police Bribe icon in your hideout to get the cop off your tail. (You ARE doing Vigilante missions to earn Police Bribes, right?)

The jump I mentioned along the river near your hideout is your friend, as well. Not only does it give you some cash and look cool, but there's a Police Bribe at the high point of the jump. One of the funniest things I ever did was to do the jump with a cop right on my tail -- as it shifted to slo-mo, I watched my car soar over the bridge, collected the Bribe to get the star off my record, and then watched the cop SLAM INTO THE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE. That'll teach him to chase ME.

I meant to mention that, I just forgot. Not to be outdone, however, I will now make up outrageous lies which include being able to fly the helicopter as well as ways to turn into some sort of monster.

How do I do vigilante missions? :)

just push down the right joystick. you can do special missions in the police car, taxi, ambulance, or firetruck. there might be another, but i can't remember it.

I think we're talking about different things? I've been doing taxi and ambulance missions. What are vigilante missions though?

vigilante missions are just the police equivalent of the taxi or ambulance missions. you chase and kill people.

you have to "get criminals off the street" - a certain number of them. get them off the street, a.k.a. kill them.

I tried that. It was pretty tough.

I'm now on to Salvatore's missions. I just brought Amy or Mary or whatever her name is back from the busted party, then I grabbed some health and went and saved my game :) And that's exactly where I am. I notice he has another mission for me, and I imagine that Tony does too.

I am definitely looking forward to bringing my memory card over there and getting some help on some shit. Maybe Jen could teach me how to find places from anywhere in the city. Still, after having played basically just two days, I think I'm doing pretty good. :) I passed all the recent missions on just one try so I was pretty tickled about that.

Man, I destroyed those three laundry trucks last night in all different ways. The first one I pretty easily carjacked and then just rammed the shit out it until it blew up. Since I didn't get out of it quick enough, I went and got some health :) I was on my way to carjacking the second one when I tapped it at a red light accidentally (oops!) and it just took off, evading me for the rest of the game. I eventually knocked it into a building and it caught on fire. I got out of the ambulance (what I was driving at the time) and ran like a mofo. Both of 'em blew up. The last one was also evading me (tapped it at a stop light! DAMMIT!) so I was banging it up pretty good. I eventually got it stuck with like 3 other cars and my car was smoking real bad. I rammed the truck and it caught on fire. So I took off. My car blew up and then the laundry truck did too. Score!

Jen - I found the Banshee. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. It handles like shit though. LIKE SHIT! So do cop cars. Oh well.

Jeff - So I should get a Yakuza Stinger, take it to Pay-N-Spray to get it fixed up, and then go save with it? That seems like a wise idea. Also, if I leave it in that garage, will it <b>always</b> be there for me? Like say I leave it there, grab a car out front of my save point, go off and do some shit... then when I need it, can I come back and it'll be there?

Jeni says the Banshee handles like shit cause you're not used to it. Once you are, you'll see that it's basically the best car in the game. The Stinger's okay, but not as fast or durable as the Banshee.
By the way, yeah, the garages save any car in them. Even if, for example, you leave a car in one garage and then save in another part of the city, the car will still be there any time you return.

Bah. The Banshee has a higher top speed than the Stinger, but the Stinger has THE best handling in the game, bar none. Driving styles will vary, but when it comes to handbrake turns, I have a much easier time with the Stinger than with anything else -- the Banshee has a tendency to fishtail, though it's about average in that regard. (The Stallion is just plain miserable for precision driving. Try a handbrake turn with a Stallion and you're suddenly doing doughnuts.)

The Stinger is slightly slower in speed and acceleration than the Banshee, but it's pretty close on both counts, and both of them blow the doors of any non-sports-car vehicle in the game. Of course, CPU-controlled cop cars can always reach a speed of (your vehicle + n) if they're so inclined.)

The reason I highly recommend the Stinger (Yakuza or not) for Turismo is because you're rarely going to be at top speed on that course -- there are lots of turns on congested city streets, with three maniacs driving up your tailpipe. With a Stinger, I can tap the handbrake and have it facing exactly where I want it to with a minimum of effort; with a Banshee, I have a tendency to overshoot or overcorrect. Durability is about the same, really (pretty low for all sports cars). If you can handle the Banshee, more power to you, but the Stingers are MUCH more approachable for novice and expert alike (unless you're a Gran Turismo addict).

As for other vehicles, I have a soft spot for Patriots, after suffering through Patriot Playground and Gripped! and learning how well they can climb steep inclines.

As for Vigilante missions, here's a free tip/glitch; get the target vehicle in your sights, then hit Start to pause the game. When you resume with Start, if you're within a certain distance of the target, he'll GET OUT OF HIS CAR and be easy pickings. Squash, lather, rinse, repeat...

So much for free time.
 

I have a new addiction, with a second new addiction sitting in the on-deck circle.

The on-deck addiction is Freedom Force (for PC). The reviews have been great, the documentation is promising, and I just haven't had time to install it yet because I know I won't do anything else for a while. (I do that a lot with games.)

The current addition is Virtua Fighter 4 (for PS2). I've owned VF2 (Saturn) and VF3tb (Dreamcast) in the past, so I'm no stranger to the gameplay, but this one is far superior in several areas:

* Two new characters, each of which is very interesting in design. The sumo (Taka-arashi) from VF3 is gone, which is also a plus.

* Kumite mode is fascinating. It's like being in a Japanese arcade -- you create a ring-name for your favorite character, then face off against a nearly endless stream of opponents with varying skill levels, earning rankings and special (costume) items along the way. Absolute fun, and a perfect way to measure your skill level with your character du jour.

* But AI mode is even better. In this mode, you create a CPU-controlled sparring partner who's a tabula rasa; he or she has no moves, no strategies and no skills. You train the AI by sparring against it (teaching it new moves and techniques), showing it replays and critiquing performance (hitting O to reinforce good moves/trends, X to scold bad techniques and strategies), and acting as his/her coach during live fights (again, O/X to promote or rebuke accordingly). You don't have to be a master to train a master (though it helps, of course). This is a wonderful new dimension for fighting games, and one I'd love to see repeated elsewhere -- even if I am beating my head on the wall occasionally, trying to get my Lion AI to break out of some bad habits.

Best... fighter... ever.