As soon as you boot it up you get a code that you have to input on the website on your PC in order to activate it. This is a fast process. As for the rest... not so fast. In comparison to the 360's offering everything is a lot more sluggish and archaic feeling. If you don't have a Netflix streaming device though, and own a PS3, this is your ticket. Below is a video (sorry for the quality) demonstrating the menus and such. It offers all of the same features as the Xbox 360, just less pretty. The biggest complaint so far has been the lack of HD streaming. I don't know if this is an error on my part, but as you'll see in the video, I try a couple of HD films at the end. They both displayed in an odd 4:3 and shitty resolution. Hopefully there is a fix for this. I tried another movie after the video stops and the same thing happened.



Oh, and don't make fun of my Queue. Just because that shit is on there doesn't mean I am a fan of it. It's also a shared Queue. So fuck you. <3

Why can't NAT be as simple as this Nat?

(I'm sorry but my intelligence doesn't grant me many words outside the F word to emphasize my rage when things like this happen.)

This post is going to be a fail blog in many of your eyes. This post is going to paint me an idiot in a few of your eyes. The majority I imagine will just scratch their heads in confusion because, it would seem, that I am the only person having this fucking issue.

NAT.

What the fuck is this goddamn shit? I have been playing online games for years without any trouble until this shit popped up out of nowhere. Hell, I even gamed online on my 360 without any trouble until this popped up in my life. It all started with fucking Halo 3. When this game hit it greeted you right to your face about your NAT and whether it is "Open" or whether it is "Strict". I had never seen this kind of babble on my video games during the Dreamcast, PS2, PC, earlier 360 and other systems days. Not until Halo 3 came along.

Now I am fucking plagued by it. My PS3s NAT is always type 3 now. I guess my 360 is always closed. Ever since that wonderful ad fest of an update called the NXE launched I haven't been able to check whether my NAT is open or not. The closest I have come is, go fucking figure, Halo 3: ODST. It wastes no time telling me that my NAT is Strict.

I did what the manuals say. I connected my router like the next guy. Yet, I have these goddamn issues. It seems like every fucking forum online goes out of it's way to be vague as hell in what to do in order to fix it. Hell, my problem is vague: "My NAT won't stay open." How the fuck do you answer that in anything less than a million ways?

So far, all I can do is reset my router back to it's Factory Defaults and then click UPNP (even though it was clicked to begin with) and that fixes it. BUT GET THIS! Here recently, that has stopped working! WHAT THE FUCK!?

I don't know how to open or close any fucking correct "ports"

I don't know why online gaming has been smooth sailing until Halo 3.

I don't know what the purpose of the fucking NAT is anyways.

You know why? Because I am your goddamn motherfucking stupid average consumer who doesn't know anything about this shit. No one has told me to learn about this shit. Not Microsoft. Not Sony. Not my router manufacturer. Not my ISP. They are like the rest of you. They live in that perfect world where you just plug up your new router and console and modem and with a big Wal-Mart or Target advertisement grin play your wonderful online games. Isn't something that is marketed to the mass market supposed to be as user friendly as possible? I suppose it already is. I am just in that 0.01% group that has this issue.

This is a plea for help. If you can direct me to a "step by step" tutorial that doesn't throw out techno babble within the first 3 sentences that instantly throws me off and confuses me, or you yourself help me, I would love you to death.

FUCK.

/rant

(As I was writing this, my internet connection to the whole network resets itself. I go and check my PS3s NAT and it is open now. WHAT THE FUCK!?)

Atlus succeeded in making a year in this game feel like a legitimate year. 80 hours later I have finally finished Persona 3, and I would like to talk for just a moment about a few memories that will stick with me after I put this game on the shelf (after The Answer of course).



Memory 1: Junpei Iori.

This character was written so well. The first time it was really evident to me was during the time when he becomes slightly jealous of the main character. He begins to have a very outward and somewhat negative opinion of your role as the leader toward you and other members of the dorm. I thought I was able to predict what would happen with this. You see, around this time Strega is becoming part of the plot, and I predicted that Junpei would become the cliche "Judas" of SEES. That wasn't the case at all. They handled this moment in the game very maturely. All that happens is that Junpei confronts your character to settle the dispute so that there wouldn't be any sour attitudes during the vacation that he wanted to enjoy so much. Junpei says, "Hey... I know I've been kind of a dick lately... but we're still cool, right?".

That was it.

They settled the dispute in a very human way. The way two good friends would. They didn't lazily weave it into an amatuer plot device that would eventually have catostrophic outcomes. Junpei continues to be doubtful about his abilities and his role in life during a good portion of the game though, but that didn't waver his opinion on who he stood by once. He was loyal to the end. What a fantastic character.



Memory 2: Ms. Toriumi

I loved this woman from the moment I laid eyes on her, and was hoping for a Social-Link with her. If I was a character in Persona 3, it would probably be Kenji. Thankfully I was told that the MMO that you can play in the game had a Social-Link. I thought that would be a neat Social-Link to try out. I was pretty happy when I caught on early that it was Ms. Toriumi. The reason this moment sticks with me the most is because of the timing that I finished this S-Link. It was during the Winter Holiday leading up to the final confrontation. The music in the dorm at this time was a lot more somber than usual and I decided to stay in the dorm every one of these days to spend time with "Maya" online. I felt the impending doom and the outside world wasn't such a great place at the moment. I found solace in my room getting closer to Ms. Tori- I mean, Maya. The way the S-Link ended left me empty inside. It reminded me that old friendships were coming to a close and that a final battle awaited. When she wrote: "i luv u" in the sand inside the game as the last message to "Tatsuya" it really affected me knowing that was the end of the S-Link. The fact that the script writers were not afraid to use the word "Love" in this game has also impressed me.

A few days later the winter holiday was over and it was back to school. I believe the first teacher I saw was Ms. Toriumi and it killed me to not be able to say anything. I had no idea that during the epilouge I would be able to wrap up that S-Link. I was ecstatic to say the least. I thought it was handled very well, and Ms. Toriumi was adorable during the segment.



Memory 3: The Main Characters death

This whole sequence was handled amazingly in my opinion. It was depressing as hell, but it was handled beautifully. They did a good job of making you feel tired and sick as if you were on your death bed. The main character was ready to pass on from the moment he sealed Nyx, but he made sure he kept his promise to his friends that they would all meet on the roof of the school. Once he knew that promise had been fulfilled, he smiled, and then the game gave you two decisions for his last action.

They were: "Close your eyes" and "......"

To me, "Close your eyes" was an option for a content and peaceful acceptance of death. The other option, "......" was a final contemplation on everything leading up to that point. Either way it was basically the same ending. They put his death in your hands in a very Metal Gear Solid 3 kind of way.

It's rare anymore that a game makes me feel for the characters the way this game did. The last game that did it was Metal Gear Solid 4 I believe. This game was still different. It completely put me in the shoes of the Main Character and made me fall in love and find friendship in the company of too many people to name. In 80 hours, Atlus allowed me to live for a whole year in someone elses shoes. That. Is probably what sticks with me the most.

Today I have been active with Dtoid one whole year of my life. I really don’t know what to say about it. This is a thank you and a love letter to the community. It will not be wonderfully and eloquently wrote, but it will be wrote from the heart.

It has been said before by many other Dtoiders before me: “Destructoid has changed my life.” I will say it in those exact words once more, and with just as much sincerity as the last guy.

Destructoid has changed my life.

I have friends in real life that I love dearly. Some of these friends are even gamers to some extent. One thing that I have never been able to relate with them on though is the full on culture of videogames. None of them know what a Miyamoto, Nobuo, Suda 51, or a Cliffy B is. If I mentioned these names to anybody on the street I would probably get an awkward stare. Not many people in the common public can communicate with a hardcore gamer. When it comes to games, we can’t communicate with the general public the way we would like to. Perhaps you can meet people like this in the educational system in places like High School or College, but I didn’t have much of a high school career, and before that I moved entirely too much to meet anyone. Even in my short time in college I didn’t meet many people who were amongst the hardest of the hardcore gamer.

Then I found Destructoid.

I first heard of Destructoid from gametrailers.com. It was on the episode of the Bonus Round where Workman made an appearance. I watched the whole episode and still didn’t visit the site. It was HAWP that drew me here. HAWP is one the tiny handful of game related comedy series that actually make me laugh. I was kind of shocked at how good it was, and how odd the humor was. Gametrailers didn’t seem to think so. The community hated it at the time. I loved it. I would message Anthony on gametrailers occasionally to let him know that there are people who do indeed enjoy it. I finally decided to do what could have been such a simple task long ago and clicked the link to the site.

When I got here I heard rumblings of a recent event called PAX and how it had changed so many people lives and outlooks on the community. Community? What exactly do these kids mean? Digging further I found the Cblogs. I noticed how well the community seemed to know each other from the interactions of characters like Mr. Sadistic, King3vbo, Mxyzptlk, Dexter345, Y0j1mb0, Blehman, and many others. Not only did they seem like they knew each other; they seemed to know the staff. The staff seemed to know them. Whoa. Seriously, what the hell is this? At that time I thought I wanted to get into game journalism. So I decided that these Cblawgs would be just the thing to practice with. That is a thing of the past now. I honestly do not see how you guys do it, but thank you.

Anyways, I write my first blog and I remember making a comment on it that got screwed up during the sending process. I ended up repeating my self in an awkward fashion. Blehman probably doesn’t remember this, but he commented on my first blog in response to my screwy comment. It was something along the lines of: “Confirmed: John’s a robot”. I lol’d.

Little did I know that one year later I would be waking up in a hotel bed with the guy, thanks to him and some other Dtoiders letting me crash at their hotel for the night at PAX.

What. The. Fuck.

How does this happen? How did this happen? In the course of a year I have gone from only knowing people in the south-east of the US; to knowing people in Australia, Texas, Canada, Washington, Virgina, Iowa, New York, LA, San Fran, Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc. A huge portion of these people would let me stay with them if I were to come and visit the city. Who has that? I would have never dreamed I would have that. I never intended to have a career that would grant me this. Hell, I would think that a career like that is rare anyways. The people here at Dtoid are amazing. I have met people who I intend to communicate with until one of us draws a last breath. That is something. That is something profound.

I would like to thank every Dtoider individually, but I don’t think that is possible. This blog is already long enough as it is.

I will just thank you guys as you come to my head. If I leave you out, I am sorry.

Bushofghosts: Thank you for coming to this community and giving so much to it. You are fucking rad.

Krytinite: Dude, I really do hope that Superman game gets released. If it does… I will be at that launch party with you. Mark my words.

Tdiddy: You are awesome, man. Thanks to you, I am able to download any PS2/PSone save file I need for my PS3. You were the first Dtoider to simply send me something for free. You did so without any second thought. Hopefully we can meet at an event in Florida sometime in the future.

Funktastic:Do you ever not smile? That’s not a bad thing!

Blehman: Thanks for being incredible.

Coonskin05: One of these days I will make it to Texas. I promise! You’re awesome.

Itemforty: It was great meeting you, man. Hopefully I can make it to the next Texas NARP.

Walkyourpath: If Red Dead Redemption has an actual awesome co-op or multiplayer (unlike GTAIV)… Me and you, man. Me and you.

Counting Conflict: Seriously, I love you Texas mother fuckers.

Prof Pew: You are a man after my own heart when it comes to TV shows. The Wire, Stargate, LOST. Fuck yes, man.

mid3vol: It was great meeting you. You are as cool as they come.

RiotMonster: Come BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Nihontiger90: Thanks for your devotion to the community.

Sam Spectre, Serpentish, Banj, Brigg, Ron, Craineum, digtastik, Technophile, Riot, Minxx, CG(RIP), nebones, ArcticFox, Zombutler, DMS, Dexter345: I love the forums. Translation: I love you fuckers. I hope I didn’t forget anyone…

Krow: I have some incredible conversations with you. I look further to many more.

Kiranio: Prog Rock for life, brother.

Half Left, Bunnyrabbit2, Gandysampras, Simmy, Hollie, McSnow and all of you other brits were some of the nicest people I have ever met. I cant wait for next PAX.

Necros, Kacie, the Golden Avatar, Wex, Knives, Vexed Alex, Chooly, analoge, detry, BPG, CrocBox, all the other IRC members I have mentioned, and all of the ones I have forgot right now; you guys are incredible. It’s awesome having somewhere to go to have an immediate conversation about any game topic. Even though it’s rarely about games in there…

Also, tGA. GO TO PAX EAST!

All of the guys over at MediaWhore: King3vbo, Excremento, Nikmonroe, Ryan, and everyone else. Thanks for the site.

Tactix: Team Fedora. Team SCIENCE! You are a leader among men it seems.

IronPikeman, SantanaClaus89, Takeshi and the rest of the PS3 crew: I fucking love gaming with you guys.

Grumpy Turtle: Thank you for the drawing! You are awesome!

Mikey: It was great finally getting to meet you as well. I knew your talent would benefit Dtoid from the first time I laid eyes on it.

deBLOO, Char Aznable, RAB: I swear when I get a better controller for the 360(fuck that dpad) I will be down for some more serious matches. You guys have some incredible skill on the neon green side of the online gaming spectrum.

Bulletmagnet: Words can’t describe how awesome you are. That is, unless you described it yourself. Because you would use every word in the English language in just one blog.

Storyr: Thank you sooo much for everything, dude!

Hoygeit: It was awesome meeting you at PAX. Thanks for giving me your spot in the hotel for the night. That was the second best sleep I had on the trip.

Mr Sadistic: I’m sorry I left you handcuffed at the Best Western. I needed the money really bad.

Y0j1mb0: A very special thank you to you for the countless Street Fighter matches. I had always played fighting games but never had anyone to actually play against. You taught me how to fight. Thanks, sensei.

RevAnt: Thanks for HAWP. It led me here.

Dtoid Editors: You guys are one of the most varied group of writers on the web. Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t be afraid to venture into new territory. I disagree with you guys often, but for every disagreement there is something that we click on perfectly.

Hamza: You’re a great community leader. It’s been a learning process for you, I’m sure, but you have done a fine job so far.

Niero: Thanks.

I know I forgot a whole lot of you, and I am sorry. I would be here for days thinking about everyone.

Most people would kill for what we have here. That is, if they could even realize that something like this exist. Here’s to another year.











Also, cocks.

I think you are associating the people on this site with the majority. That isn’t the case here. This site is full of hardcore gamers who love the whole spectrum of video game culture. You yourself professed your love for the console in your own blog. I don’t doubt that a good bit of the people claiming that they love the system, do in fact, love the system. This is a community of hardcore gamers who would logically love any great system, new or old. Who allowed the DC to fail? Not destructoid. No, that is too far of a minority to count as the group who hammered the nail in the the Dreamcast’s coffin. It was the average joe. The guy who cared about the DVD component, not the colorful games. It wasn’t the 5,6,7 or 8 year old who had no power to acquire the Dreamcast or the judgement to not buy into the marketing crap. It was the vendors, the adults who wanted a DVD player, and Sony’s fault for simply crushing Sega’s system in terms of marketing.

I will agree that there are a few out there who are simply jumping on the bandwagon, but I truly feel that it is only just a few. At least here in this community. I bought a Dreamcast when it came out back in the day and I too fell in love with system and it pained my to see it die on the store shelves. I can’t bring myself to call out Dtoid for allowing it to happen though. You want a culprit? Ask the buyers of the Wii if they loved the Dreamcast. I can pretty much tell you that the majority (you know, the people not on Destructoid) will tell you that they could have cared less about the Dreamcast and that they turned it in for a PS2 or simply chose the PS2 over it.

So please, Dtoider, continue with the love-fest that DC is getting. What other system came and conquered only to die shortly after in such a way as the Dreamcast did? 3DO? No. Turbo Graphix 16? No. Saturn? No. The Dreamcast was short lived, but it ushered in a new generation of technology, offered an incredible library of games, and did it at an affordable price. The Dreamcast deserves every bit of praise it is getting. Especially from a community like Destructoid.

You know, the vocal minority. Not the majority.

Awesome graphics

You probably clicked the title thinking that I was going to go on some ignorant rant about bad graphics or something. Graphics have indeed evolved. I look at games like Heavy Rain and I am blown away. This isn't about 3D graphics though. This is about the evolution of 2D graphics. Why haven't they evolved? Don't get me wrong, they have evolved in titles like Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade,Blazblue, and King of Fighters XIII. But it's just a handful. Odin Sphere was released on a dying system in standard definition, Muramasa was pawned off to the lower resolutions of the Wii, BlazBlue will probably not reach a huge market for the fact that it is a poorly marketed new fighting game IP, and King of Fighters XIII will not be too successful because it's a KOF game.

Sadly big companies will look at this game as an example of 2D failing in the market.

Most of us grew up on 2D graphics. When the NES came out we were shocked by the quality it had over the games on the Atari-like systems. When the 16 bit era came in we had the same reaction. When the 32-bit era came in- well... it started to fade. That excitement for colorful sprites was being replaced by pixelated trashy looking 3D games. I am not really bashing those 3D games though. I understand it needed it's infancy just as much as the 2D era did with Atari. By the 64 and beyond though, 2D was dead. With only a few games carrying the torch. These games were unpopular new franchises though (Tomba anyone?). We needed the franchises that got us where we were at to continue carrying the 2D torch. They could have done this while ushering a new era of 3D. Mario has done this to an extent. It's Paper Mario games has stayed 2D and have obviously been successful. So then why don't more companies take this route? Take this route on more than the DS or PSP.


I think it's sad that the few games coming from Vanilla Ware (Odin Sphere, Muramasa) were released on a dying system, or with the Wii, a system with a crappy resolution and too much competition from crappier titles. They could be part of the evolution of 2D gaming. A lot of you will say,"HD doesn't matter, Odin Sphere looks great either way". I say to you: No, it does matter. Super Street Fighter II HD Remix has "HD" in the title for a reason.

Get an HD television.

This, but in HD.

You might say that it is too risky to test the market with such titles. They wont sell to the masses. No, it will. It will sell without a doubt. Here is an example of a game that I believe would sell over a million copies without fail:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

This game would have nothing but hand drawn artwork and sprites. The game would run at the smoothest framerate possible and it would blow fucking minds. Even the casual "GRAPHICZORGOHOME!" crowd will understand that this game could only be done on today's hardware. You may say that it will fail because the Sonic fan-base has been betrayed time and time again. No, it will not fail. Take Mega Man 9 for example. While it isn't an new hand drawn HD Mega Man. People still forgot all of the shitty games between it and the older ones and bought the shit out of it. SSFIIHDR sold tons of copies as well. Make Sonic 4. It will sell. It will sell without a doubt.

This is what I am talking about. Even better though.

If big names like Sonic would do this, it would bring a new era of 2D gaming that the people would love. Imagine if Strider came out with a hand drawn sequel? Streets of Rage, Metal Slug, Final Fight, Battletoads, Castlevania, Metroid? Come on people. Make these games! I have been waiting since the SNES for graphics to improve! That is unacceptable.

I don't want 3D games to die. I want them to enhance tenfold. But why kill 2D in the process? You want to kill hand drawn art? For it to forever be reduced to the Gamestop pre-order concept art-book? I am not saying that 3-Dimensional graphics should replace 2-dimensional graphics.

I am just saying that the sculptor never replaced the painter.