I'm spending the new year at my family's house, so I'll have access to a PS3 again. Feel free to add me on PSN (Mav_Destroyer) again. I bought a bunch of new games with me to play so I'll be on quite often.

Hope to see you all soon.

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Depending on the DLC it could add value to a game and keep it relevant and interesting for months after that game has been released. We can say that DLC is a feature that adds more content to an already released game (whether said content is good, bad or worth the price is not the focus here) and as such is an enhancement to gaming since the previous generations.

Well then what about ULC? What does ULC even mean? Let me explain, I noticed that in this generation some games seem to be losing value as time goes by. ULC or what I call Unloadable Content is the opposite ofDLC. Where DLC adds new content to a game ULC is when content from a game expires or becomes obsolete.

This especially affects games with online multi-player features. At some point a few years after a game is released, the devs or publishers decide to take down the online servers for whatever reason (reduce budget, no one plays it anymore, etc) thus making part of the game no longer playable.

Examples of this are Chromehounds, Metal Gear Solid Online, The Club and it almost affected Demon's Souls as well.

So some players pay full price for a complete game only to have a part of that game taken away after a few years. What if someone bought a game a bit late (granted not at full price) only to have the online features for that game shut down a mere few weeks after his/her purchase? What if this happened to a fully online multi-player game like Warhawk? I know it's very unlikely now but will we be able to still play these games say 10 years from now like we do with "retro" games nowadays?

Now I'm not blaming the companies for doing such thing, running servers is costly and if very few players still come online compared to when their game first released then there's no point in continuing to do so. However this is still a problem and technically these games are losing part of their value over time.

In a manner of speaking, ULC loosely reminds me of on disc DLC. The content is there on the disc and you paid for it but are unable to access it for some reason or another.

What are your thoughts? Are there any other forms of ULC you have encountered in other games? Will this be a problem for future games?

Edit: There's seems to be a glitch with the blog where it's sticking random words together without spaces. I'm trying to edit and fix it but it won't let me. Just to clarify, I know how to use the space bar.

Edit 2: seems to have been fixed. If you see any more mistakes please let me know.

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It's been over a year since my last blog. I've come back to GS after a long break but I'm mostly active on the forums or commenting on GS articles. Wonder if I should get back into blogging? It could be hassle sometimes and I have a hard time keeping up both with news and with your blogs so I apologize about that. I think getting back into blogging will help me fall into a routine and stop wasting so much time on useless stuff. I want to improve my writing skills as well so I'll be posting more serious stuff.

See you all soon

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Guess what? I've moved to the UK! I'm gonna be staying here for about a year to finish my masters degree, pretty excited!

Well, hope everyone is alright and doing ok.

see you soon

P.S: anyone know a good mobile service provider in the UK? I need to buy a mobile line and I'm stumped :[

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The desk rep didn't seem very interested in doing his job and simply told me the PS3 can't be fixed. When I started getting angry he suddenly remembered that they they don't have spare parts for the PS3 so had a replacement program instead. I could replace my "out of warranty" PS3 for a brand new one for around $330. That didn't sound like a very good bargain to me since 1) I'll trade in my launch 60GB PS3 for the new PS3 slim and I prefer the older model, 2) they are unable to restore or provide me with a backup of all my files on the old one's hard drive and 3) I could just go ahead and buy a new one myself for almost the same price + extra controllers or games included in it.

So I passed on the offer and asked him to fix the PS2 instead. He told me the Lense needed to be replaced and it would cost me $90 which is ridiculously expensive, I might at well just go and buy a new PS2 as well.

I pretty much gave up on Sony, I don't want to have to deal with their maintenance center again. I found an other alternative, this local game shop told me they can fix both playstations for much cheaper so I'll give that a try, both consoles are out of warranty anyway. And If all else fails, I'll just buy a new PS3 and install the old one's HDD into the new one. I'd really hate to lose all my game save data

lol the funny thing is I was considering buying a new Sony Vaio Laptop, well that option is out the window now. I'm sticking with Toshiba

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I know how horrible it is to live in such a violent and insecure situation since we went through the same over here during the revolution.

Here's hoping the police get everything under control and this whole ordeal ends without further violence.

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has this happened to anyone else or is it just me?

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its rare for the lunar month to start at the same day as a normal month in the calendar.

anyways, looks like i just leveled up to radical ninja

lol i bet if i was a bit more active i'd be a much higher level by now, well i'm not complaining

Also, been play some FF Dissidia 012. Decided to give the game another try, I gotta say the best thing about this game is it made me curious to play the FF games I've never played and nostalgic enough to re-play the FF games that I have already played. I'd have to say Squall is my favorite character so far

well see you all soon

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yes its been quite a while...whew! How is everyone doing? Been quite busy myself with life, personal issues and the chaotic situation here in the country but meh. I just have to move on.

I missed all of you and the gamespot community, just lovely to see you all again

On the gaming front: I haven't been playing much lately though I've been following up on the latest news (or trying to). My launch PS3 has finally died it seems, gonna try one last attempt to fix it. If that doesn't work out then I might have to buy a new one though I'm not happy with that idea, especially since my PSN account is still closed due to the PSN hack fiasco. PSN is just refusing to reset my password so its impossible for me to sign in. So I've lost my save files on the PS3 and my account on PSN, just sucks.

On the other hand, pretty excited about the PS Vita, might invest in that instead of a new PS3. The 3DS I'm not so sure tbh though at the moment it has the better games.

Well enough of that. Looking forward to talking to all of you again

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Internet connection has been finally restored after a 4 day suspension, not sure if it will be suspended again.

Things have been quite crazy here and there were a few close calls but we've made it through. I don't live in Cairo so i'm relatively safe from all the demonstrations and violence but we've had our fair share of action too. Tanks rolled in and blocked enterance and exit to our compound, the whole neighborhood teamed up together to guard the area from any mobs or gangs. It was hard to sleep for 3 days with gunshots being heard all around us at night. Things have relatively calmed down now.

This whole situation is just surreal, it feels like we just went to war, i suppose we are at war, i just hope everything ends ok.

i'll see you guys again hopefully.

Long live Egypt!

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i guess these achievement/raptr features are still very glitchy...

also it seems the usual annual "best of" emblem is missing again and i can't find a way to report it. this sucks, i won't bother voting then if they can't get the emblems right.

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hope you had a good 2010 and i hope your 2011 is even better.

been busy lately and new year here in Egypt started with quite a bang! (you'll know what i mean if you read the news) not a very nice start to say the least but i suppose we must move on. this year is gonna be full of political tensions but there's little i can do, so i'll keep my head low, mind my own business and be optimistic

i really miss all of you guys and girls and i really missed all of GS, hope to hear from all of you soon.

New year's resolutions:

1. become better at my job (or find a better job)
2. excercise more and become more fit
3. learn to express myself in better ways
4. improve my blog and post more often (both here and on reploidrepository.blogspot.com)
5. learn more about my culture and religion
6. maintain a peaceful relationship with my parents (its getting harder and harder to do)
7. Re-organize my room (or the easier option, blow it up and start from scratch)
8. publish an app for android and iphone (easier said than done)
9. tie up any loose ends before 2010 comes to an end
10. have an insanely long gaming session

Hope you all have a good year, Game on!

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Story:

So far for VCII the story is great, 2 years after the events of the first one a faction of rebels started committing crimes all over the country because of a certain revelation that occured in the first game (not gonna spoil it for those who still haven't played the first game) and well its seems Gallia is on the verge of a civil war.

Characters:

You start out with what seems to be a hyper active farm kid called Avan. He decides to enroll in Lanseal's Royal Military academy to find the whereabouts of his missing brother who was also enrolled in the academy.

During the entrance exam you meet up with the other 2 main characters: Zeri (shock trooper) and Collete (engineer).

Avan seems to be a scout when you start out with him but soon you gain the ability to make Avan switch to any class you like (which is a nice touch)

I can't say i'm really loving the characters at the moment but i haven't spent that much time with the game yet so its too early to judge.

when you start out you play and do missions around the academy which is like a tutorial stage (or thats what i think as far as i've played). for players who already played the first game this is a nice recap on the battle system though it is quite boring. it does help to learn about the new and changed classes in the game and get the hang of the new tweaks to the battle system.

First Impressions of Battles/Missions:

on my first battle one of the major things that put me off was i can't save during battle. i'm not sure if this is because i still haven't seriously started the game or if this is a permanent thing. so far all the fights i've done barely take 5 mins to finish. on the PS3 saving in mid-battle was a very important feature for me. maybe its different this time around since on the PSP you can just put the device on hold, but its sucks if you want to put off a battle and play something else.

Classes:

most of the classes are the same, the major changes happened to the engineer class and there's now a new class called Armored Tech.

Engineers are more of medics now, their main role on the battle field is to repair tanks, heal units with ragnaid (you can heal units that are far away from you now too) and restock ammo for tanks and units.

Armored Techs took some of the engineers' old abilities like repairing sandbags and disarming mines. in addition to that they are units that carry huge shields that protect them from in comming bullets. weapon wise they are similar to lancers in that they don't do support fire or counter attacks from other units. they use a big wrench/hammer to attack so they need to come up close to enemies to actually hit them.

i haven't gotten to that part yet but i believe the sniper and scout classes have been mearged. depending on the rifle your unit has equipped it can either be a scout or sniper.

The Battle System:

pretty much like on the PS3 with some minor changes here and there. capturing an enemy base camp can, in certain missions, open up a new map for you or like a second section of the map. when a unit falls in battle you can't deploy it again right away after rescuing it, you have to wait 2 phases.

thats all i can think of right now, overall i was quite excited about this game but some of that excitement died down because of the academy missions. maybe when the real missions start things will start to pick up again.

so there you have it

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I'd post some pics but i'm a bit cautious as to who views these things, instead, if you would like to see them pm me and i'll send you a link with the pics. (please don't be offended if you ask and i refuse, there are lots of people on my friends list here that i don't know that well)

Job news:

I've been asked to learn iPhone programming so i can give classes to the students, my collegue is learning Android programming at the same time also for the same reason, its part of new material thats being introduced to the computer science students and i'm quite excited about it. i'll be attending the android classes along with learning the iphone so i can have wider knowledge on mobile development (which seems to be the trend nowadays)

also Google is having an Event here called G-days Egypt, pretty excited about that also. i registered and i'm waiting for them to confirm my registration.

hope to hear from you guys soon, i want to blog and check out your blogs more often when i can. please bear with me ^^;

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in any case, i also find it weird that you can give your daughter a real life pet tiger as a gift (is that even safe?) but i guess thats what the game is pretty much: an over the top funny/crazy/dramatic zombie game

In other news:

I just got this pm from EpsilonZX:

you know what this means, right? I have full authority to recruit people at gun point (or at X Buster point in my case) get your butts over there and get joining or ima have to destroy each and every last maverick of you! you have been warned!

*shoots RPG_Hacker anyways for fun*

EDIT: oh and keep an eye out for an interesting blog soon. gonna be talking a bit about what i've been doing the past few weeks (or months? i lost track of time lol)

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i know everyone is busy with back to school and all that, i don't expect many people will even see this blog. but i'll post it here in case anyone wonders where i disappeared too. i am not sure when i will be able to come back.

thanks for understanding

~Mav

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here we go:

Pokemon Sapphire (GBA) i got berry glitched and dumped the game
Dragon Quest Monsters (GBA)
Pokemon Fire Red (GBA)
Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA)
Chrono Trigger (PSone)
Final Fantasy VII (PC)
Final Fantasy VIII (PC) can't find the damn white SEED ship
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
Final Fantasy IV (GBA)
Final Fantasy: Tactics (GBA)
GTA 2 (PSone)
GTA: Vice city (PC)
Digimon World 1 (PSone)
Digimon World 2 (PSone) its impossible to finish anyways
Digimon World 3 (PSone)
Alundra 2 (PSone)
InFamous (PS3)
Burnout Paradise (PS3) Never got to A Cl@ss license
Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3) in soviet Russia, Sonic The Hedgehog finishes you
Fallout 3 (PC)
Assassin's Creed (PC) got all the way to the last memory (TWICE) and stopped
Patapon (PSP)

---I know you must think i'm pathetic by now there's still more!

Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? (PSP)
Need For Speed: Underground 2 (PC)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (PC)
Dragon Age: Origins (PC)
Crysis (PC)
Bioshock (PC)
Megaman Battle Network 1 (GBA)
Megaman Battle Network 5: Team Colonel (GBA)
Megaman Zero 2 (GBA)
Megaman X2 (GBA)
Metroid Fusion (GBA)
Metal Gear Solid (PSone)
Metal Gear 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) played the first few hours and never picked it up again
Armored Core 4 (PS3)
Portal (PC) too hard to play with just the laptop's touchpad
Devil May Cry 4 (PC)
Shadow Hearts (PS2)
Kingdom Hearts (PS2) had to return the PS2 to my cousin, not sure when i will have a chance to play again
Kingdom Hearts 2(PS2) same as above
Bully: Scholarship Edition (WII)

well, i'm sure if i dig up games in my collection i will find more titles i've never got to finish. i can no longer consider myself a hardcore gamer. i'll need to finish at least half the games on this list before i can even consider myself one lol

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BUT

what the heck are these horrible looking icons littering my profile page?! the PS3 trophy icons look horribly pixilated and messed up! i hope this is just temporary since i noticed they still haven't added a PS3 tab to FUSE yet and they'll get cleaner images soon.

seriously, these icons make me want to hide my tophies not show them off D=

anyways i'm glad that we alteast get some PS3 support from Raptr, now i can see who's online from my computer and drop in for a quick game

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allow me to explain the reason for such a name.

inspired by megaman (i guess this proves that i really am a hopless case XD*) after a quick wiki search, it turns out that the name reploid is derived from the words "Replica" and "Android" which is cool. although its not the main theme of my blog but i think google's Android OS will be taking up quite a chunk of my future posts, so this name works out pretty well. Repository is kinda obvious since i'm using the blog mainly for documenting tutorials and stuff, so it also fits well.

well if i ever find a better name i can always change it again, in the mean time i'm sticking with this one. thanks to everyone for their suggestions (feel free to make more suggestions if you have a better name)

here's a link to my blog (opens in new window/tab): http://reploidrepository.blogspot.com/

hope to see everyone soon

*I'm not sure if i should really be laughing here, I'm torn between laughing and crying tbh

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got this interesting e-mail a while back, i meant to share it here much sooner but meh blame my laziness.

aparently on the 21st of June a small star entered our solar system and came pretty close to earth, that explains the unusually hot weather that day (it was over 50 degrees celcius here!)

anyway here is the actual e-mail:

Two Suns on 21stJune 2010

21stJune - the Whole World is waiting for......... ....

Star Aderoid will be the brightest in the sky, starting 10 June. It will look as large as the sun from naked eye. This will culminate on 21stjune when the star comes within 34.65M miles of the earth. Be sure to watch the sky on june. 21 at 12:30 pm. It will look like the earth has 2 suns.!!
The next time Aderoid may come this closein 2287

pretty cool huh? i'm kinda bummed that i missed it, found out about it the next day, i would have liked to take some pictures of it myself, oh well.

other random news: i'm making a tech blog where i'll document my dev adventures, dairies, tutorials and other stuff. i still can't decide what to call my blog, any suggestions?

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