The Hot Topic Returns

[HandsomeDead]

Probably the Mega Drive I got was a surprise since I didn't even know what a Mega Drive was so getting this new machine was surprising and confusing until it was all connected and I was playing Sonic and realised this really is something different to the Master System I had.  To be honest, I think my mother was doing a little buying for herself too because she also used it quite a bit.

 

But after that I only ever got stuff I asked for gaming-wise.

 

Except once when my aunt was living with us for a brief period.  She must have checked my gaming collection because I opened up a present to find Arkham City and Portal 2.  I never asked for them or mentioned them, I just hadn't got around to getting them myself yet.  I was very happy to get them, anyway.  

[OCH]

I do remember when we first got our PSOne and I sneered at the 3D graphics. It took a while for me to accept the change from sprites to polygons.

[DANGERMAN]

I misread the question 

 

The problem is, none of our main presents were a surprise. My parents looked at it as, they're paying serious money for your main present, you'd better fucking want it. As maligned as it is, I think the best gaming Christmas present I got gaming wise was the 32X. 

 

I only got Doom with it, but fucking hell. It blew my mind and felt properly next generation in a way I didn't feel until the Dreamcast. It wasn't just me either, when my extended family came round everyone piled in to my room to watch it 

 

Shame the 32X is so stupidly expensive, I'd love to get one again 

[spatular]

Yeah i dont remember getting anything big for xmas that i hadnt asked for loads, the main on that i remember asking for for like a year or something was a snes but think that was for a birthday, cant remember really. Think i got a gameboy one xmas but again dont remember it too well. Most of the gaming stuff we had when i was younger was obtained randomly, like an atari 2600 and vic 20 given to us by friends/family, and atari ste aquired for £50 from somewhere, my dad arriving home from work one day with a 386 pc.

[Nag]

1 hour ago, DANGERMAN said:

none of our main presents were a surprise.

 

Yeah, pretty much this (for the same reason too)... we had an electrical store in our village and I remember going down there with my mum and picking out my Megadrive for a main present one year... came with Sonic and I think I picked Splatterhouse 2 from her club book to go along with it...🥰

[OCH]

The only one I remember like that was getting the NES. We all went as a family to Currys and bought it off the shelf. It came with Duck Hunt and SMB 1. We actually took turns with both games. Dad was better at SMB 1 than we were initially.

[radiofloyd]

As I got older I tended to ask for specific games but when I was younger my parents did pick out pretty good games for me. Some of the earliest consoles I got (new) were a PS1 and GBC. I don’t remember if I asked for those but I was very happy to get them! In terms of the games I had the most fun playing at Christmas, San Andreas stands out the most. I don’t think a game has ever matched and surpassed my expectations like that game did. Later on, Christmas 2008 was pretty special too with Fallout 3 and Fable 2 coming out at the same time. Also shout out to 2006 when Kingdom Hearts 2, Guitar Hero 2 and Twilight Princess all came out together.

[Nag]

 

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Readers offer a more considered reaction to the GTA 6 trailer, now that they’ve had time to think about it properly.

 

It’s been a busy week this week, with the first trailer for GTA 6 and The Game Awards, but it’s clear that Rockstar’s long-awaited sequel is far more anticipated than every other current game put together. But after thinking on it for a few days, were readers still as impressed as when they first saw it?

 

Some were but there was also much more scepticism than from the initial reactions, particularly in terms of whether the trailer was showing actual in-game footage or not. Although few were prepared to say they wouldn’t play it anyway.

 

[OCH]

Didn't even know this was a thing😅

(Work-wise, this isn't the time of year that I'm aware of announcements in the outside world)

After quickly looking up the trailer (and thread) here, I'd agree with @mmmark:

 

Quote

Looks like a gta game on current gen console. 

GTA hasn't been my thing since 3. Put a new InFamous, Hulk or Crypto (and his flying saucer) in this sandbox and I'd be interested. Otherwise hard snooze.

 

That said, I remember back at Woolworths. People queued for hours before we opened, when San Andreas came out. The hype for this will reach fever pitch by 2025.

[one-armed dwarf]

The only thing I have doubt about in the trailer is the image quality, expecting the actual release to have some fairly aggressive FSR artifacting. Other than that it looks achievable.

 

I'm not too excited about it because for how technically impressive and dense the NPC count and geometry of it are, you know it's going to have that same unimpressive mission design as RDRII where you're like an actor that has to stand in the right part and deliver your lines. If you even flank enemies in that game you can sometimes get failed out of a mission, it's ridiculous. Most miserable game I've ever played. GTAVI has to fix this aspect

[Metroid66]

I loves a bit of GTA, me. I have got a bit bored with the Rockstar mission format over the years and, tbh, RDR2 was a mad chore to finish, but i still have a playthru of GTA 5 now and then, and love it in first person mode.

 

So I'm not counting down the weeks or anything, but I'll definitely hype up when the game is close to release. 

 

Graphically I'm not really arsed. I'd take another game that looks and runs like 5 on my Xbox and be more than happy. And I'd never choose graphics over performance anyway.

[HandsomeDead]

I don't know if there's a lot to say off that GTAVI trailer other than setting the scene so I'm mostly pretty neutral on it.  It did make me finally play GTAV so that's something it did.

 

But unfortunately doing that reminded me why the games aren't a favourite of mine so I guess any excitement I had briefly the reality hit me that they're very well made games that are a bit boring.  I get the feeling of being an actor playing a roll, I'd not thought about it that way but that's the feeling I'm getting from GTAV too.

It's frustrating because you have this very intricately designed environment with all these physics that look like they can open up gameplay possibilities but the missions are very curated.  I can't shake the thought that with these tools I should be doing something more engaging.

 

It would be nice if GTAVI knows this and tries to do something more interesting and I hope that's the case but we'll see.

 

I'm assuming it'll be more of the same but with a new story.  That might be enough for a lot of folk.  

 

I think I accidentally put my GTAV impressions in this thread.

[one-armed dwarf]

For all the shit people say about Ubisoft open world games, at least Far Cry has some open ended strategies to it

[Metroid66]

I agree. I also think cyberpunk has a lot to say about handling player choice in an open world.

 

However, if I'd made a game as successful as GTA5, I don't suppose I'd be too concerned about what other teams are doing with the open world.

 

Plus, GTA seems to me like an open world in spirit only. I mean as soon as you start a mission you're pretty much locked into a corridor - a long and winding corridor in some cases, but a corridor all the same.

 

 

[spatular]

Im not really into gta but will probably get caught up in the hype and give it a go at some point for a few hours at least. News about the trailer releasing earlier was on the radio, which sort of shows how big gta is.

[Sly Reflex]

I think we might as well toss a coin on this game. A lot of the names responsible for the older GTA games have left so you're banking on newer talent to drag it through. Might be great. Might be shit. All we do know is it will make all the money in the world and the online will be in competition to be the most toxic place on the internet.

 

It's literally too big to fail now, so get used to it being talked about.

 

I think the thing I am mostly looking forward to is seeing that's going to be on the radio stations. I do love a good GTA radio station.

[Nag]

Say what you will about GTA online but some of my most cherished gaming memories are from the times on there with you @Sly Reflex and @smallofbooty... I know I've not laughed that much gaming since.

 

If GTA 6 gives me any of the wonder of seeing that beech in 5's opening it'll do me.🥰

[DANGERMAN]

I'm pretty dubious that the PS5 and series versions look like the trailer, but it isn't impossible a top level pc does. 

 

As for the game, I'm not remotely interested, it's just not a series for me. I'm sure I'll be sick to death of it even on release day 

[DisturbedSwan]

I think it's an incredibly impressive trailer and I really can't wait to play the game.

 

I loved GTA V's story campaign but never really played much of online, it'll likely be much the same with GTA VI.

Think it will be excellent.

[radiofloyd]

I expect (hope) that this is gonna be game of the generation level stuff.