I almost never pay anywhere near retail price since most games I purchase have been out for a few months or so already. Nintendo games are somewhat of an exception because they tend to depreciate at a much slower rate.

I can understand the price hike because games have actually gotten relatively cheaper over the years (adjusting for inflation) and I'm sure development/marketing costs have only gone up. But that doesn't change that I personally don't think that most games are worth nearly that much.

@playerp:

1. Checking your inventory would answer that question. Generally, if you are having to restart a checkpoint, then you begin with the same inventory you had before. That is, anything you picked up between the checkpoint and when you had to restart is lost.

2. Depends on the game. It's been a long time since I've played Far Cry 3 so I don't remember the checkpoint system very well. In most games I would say that checkpoints also act as safe points to exit the game to return to the same point at a later time.

3. It's applied automatically. I think the game shows you how to use it if it's a new move or something that would require you to know a new control.

4. Those are pretty broad terms and I would say Far Cry 3 has elements of both. I would say it's best described as an FPS RPG, although its RPG elements are pretty basic compared to games that are primarily an RPG.

Pretty close call for me because I think they're both solid but, at the same time, nothing too amazing. I'll give the edge to Killzone in part due to it having a good game on the Vita while the Resistance Vita game was pretty underwhelming.

Blows my mind how expensive it is to die. There are multiple businesses centered around profiting off of people dying and I just think that's kind of fucked up. I don't care where I'll be buried, how I'll be buried, if I'll be cremated or not, or what my funeral will be like because I'll be dead.

From what I've seen in the latest trailer, there's hardly any focus on her taking down enemies with brute force. And, of course, there are other ways than raw strength to defeat people. As with the first game, I'm sure Ellie's strengths will be stealth and agility. I remember needing to carefully sneak up on enemies to defeat them one on one. She can use a bow very well, too, to deal with enemies at a range.

I think the first game handled the combat really well, and I expect this one will too. I don't see Ellie having the same capabilities as Joel in the first game. Raising the difficulty to the highest level might give you more of the experience you're looking for. Otherwise it sounds like you've made up your mind about the game.

Can't say I've ever even paid the MSRP for one.

I prefer not to know too much before playing. I'll already be interested if it's from an established franchise that I enjoy. Otherwise, I just want to know the basic concept of the game along with a few glimpses of screenshots and gameplay. A very broad overview of the story is good too if it seems like a game that will have more focus on story/characters.

So yeah, I just don't delve into game news as much as I used to. I'll look over new game announcements that might interest me, but other than that I prefer to experience as much as I can firsthand for the first time instead of through lengthy gameplay videos or more detailed plot overviews.

Well, they're easy enough to avoid. The lore of such games as The Last of Us and Dying Light are centered on a world ravaged by a zombie/viral apocalypse, so of course there are going to be zombies/infected creatures as one of the main enemies to defeat. Then there are games that really don't have anything to do with zombies, but include a gamemode or DLC/expansion that centers around killing zombies. Why? People like mowing down hordes of zombies because it's mindless fun. I would say Call of Duty: World at War's Nazi Zombie Mode really helped popularize the whole "unrelated non-zombie game including a zombie mode" craze.

I never really got into these endless zombie horde game modes, but I enjoy the occasional zombie game. There are some franchises/games that do it well such as The Last of Us, Dying Light, and Resident Evil. I find appeal in such games beyond "oh look there's a bunch of zombies to kill", whether it be because of the narrative, survival elements, or whatever else.

At any rate, there are so many games out there to play that it's not worth the trouble to worry about all the games that don't appeal to you for whatever reason.

It's amazing how fast nature would be able to return to a relatively normal/stable state if humans were to just disappear entirely. At this point I just wonder how much further we can push it until most of the world is inhabitable. Mankind's greed and arrogance will lead to our demise and we totally deserve it.

I wrote this over a year and a half ago, so I just want to say that I actually played GTA San Andreas in its entirety on the PS4 a while back and had a really good time with it. Played it without cheats and it, of course, looked much better than when I played it on the PS2.

My new answer to this would probably have to be Pokemon. I was really into the GBA Advance and early DS games. The last one I played was SoulSilver. But I just don't think playing another one would be worth my time. I've been there and done that enough times with the franchise and it just gets way too repetitive and time consuming, especially when I start getting obsessed with stats and trying to make "perfect" builds which ultimately sucks the fun out of it.