Don't let Black's presence put you off
Black's presence on this planet puts me off a fair bit, so playing a game he's in... <shudder>

Raskolnikov wrote:
FM10 Demo. Oh dear.

I'm quite enjoying it (although I would quite like the skin that makes it look like 09).

Some tips on Brutal Legend from Schafer, who advises you not to play it like an RTS.

So, I've played a few hours of both Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend, so I can give my first impressions.

Uncharted 2

Wow. There are quite a few needlessly frustrating sequences early on, but having got through those, I'm continually being blown away. It's easily the most gorgeous game I've played and the way it strings set pieces together is without equal in gaming. I've just finished the hotel sequence in the Nepalese city and the combination of remarkable environmental detail and thrilling action sequences is about the most fun I've had playing a game. I haven't even mentioned the fantastic dialogue and voice acting, but anyone who's played the original will know about that.

Brutal Legend

My feelings are more mixed about this game. The archetypal Schafer stuff, like the character and environment design, the writing and the pacing are truly great. The actual gameplay is only fine, rather than spectacular. Funnily enough, I'm enjoying the brawler stuff more than I expected and the RTS stuff less than I expected, although I am just getting to grips with the latter. I suspect I'll enjoy it more when I've got a handle on what all the units are good for and I get used to the order system. I'd still highly recommend it, and once you get going it's very addictive. Given that I'm really not a metal fan at all, it's remarkable how much I like it. But if I were advising someone on a budget who was only going to buy one of the two, I'd probably recommend Uncharted 2 unless it was Carcass.

Anyone tried Borderlands on the 360? I love the look of the artwork and I'm a sucker for run & gun RPGs since Fallout 3, but the reviews I've read have been mixed - nice graphics, nice multiplayer, a bit dull otherwise.

If I get it, it will be on the PC. The Rock, Paper, Shotgun guys gave it a very positive write-up, while acknowledging some serious flaws in its design. I think I'll wait for more word of mouth. I never got excited about it during the preview stage, and I'm still not sure why I should be now. I like Diablo style games, it's true, but I can't imagine that genre working so well as a shooter.

I downloaded the Uncharted 1 demo the other day.
Even on easy it was needlessly difficult and frustrating.
I don't want to have to think about what I'm doing. I just want carnage.

Have you tried Red Faction Guerilla, mate? It's insanely difficult on hard and in the later stages even on normal, but on easy it's some of the most glorious gratuitous carnage you can imagine.

So do we have an OTF 360 contingent? Anyone fancy swapping gamertags?

That sounds desperate. Tell you what <coughs> never mind....

Fine with me. I'm crisiomiro. Although, having said that, I don't have a gold subscription at the moment (waiting for the right game).

I'm SniperWolfTwo, I believe. You'll add me, and then studiously ignore me for months. YOU'RE ALL THE SAME! <sobs>

I'm Ginger Yellow, unsurprisingly. I don't play much multiplayer stuff on consoles, though. If you like any of the great board games on XBLA, then I'd be up for a game sometime. Well, except for Carcassone, because I'm rubbish at that.

I'm MonarchDodora on Live.

Games I'm up for playing are:

FIFA 10
Left 4 Dead
Gears Of War 2
GTA4 and Halo 3 (at a push)

It would be interesting to see if we could set up a club for FIFA with all the virtual pros. Mine is fairly spot on. Except for the talented bit.

I really must log out before posting my own messages. Indeed I am MonarchDodora, but I guess in a way he sometimes is too.

I'm MitchAlex, but err.. I've let the membership run out as well. And the bloody thing is in a box on its way to Germany to be fixed at the moment...

I'm so tempted to just sack it off, and get a PS3. Red Rings my arse (so to speak).

My boss at work has a bust PS3 by his disk that is displaying the 'Yellow Light of Death' or something, so it's not just 360 owners who have a fault that has an unofficial 'name'.

By the way, any Wii owners who have the Homebrew Channel installed, you will need to re-install it after the most recent system update as it deletes it.

Happily, it's easy enough to get it back...

Blimey. I'd forgotten I asked about the gamertags, to be honest. Apologies. I'm Sharpey5, by the way. I'm normally to be found aimlessly tooling about on Fallout or playing Horde on GOW2 but I could probably get persuaded into a game of something or other.....

GY: Which RPG games to you play on the PSP? (I'm currently in Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, which is pretty fun, but has the slowest start I've ever seen in a game.)

Not a lot, to be honest. I haven't found many good ones. I'm half way through replaying Final Fantasy VII. And I gave Crisis Core a go, but have kind of drifted away from it. I'll almost certainly get the Valkyria Chronicles sequel when it come out, as I love the PS3 original. Most of my handheld RPGing is on the DS, although even there I haven't played too many. I just picked up Bowser's Inside Story, as the Mario RPG games are always fun. And I've played some of the Final Fantasy remakes.

Did you ever try Jeanne D'Arc? I thought it was great.

I'm probably going to do the Star Ocean sequence as they come out. First Departure was quite enjoyable.