Buyer's Remorse?

[Chris Lionheart]

I had just gotten paid my first wage from my first job. I knew... I just knew that I would hate the GameCube controller. But I still went out to GAME/GameStation and collected together:
- GameCube, x2 controllers, x1 memorycard
- Resident Evil 0, Remake, 2, 3,Code Veronica X, 4

I just loved the idea of owning all the RE's on one console, even if 1, 2 and 3 were repurchases from PSONE, and CVX a repurchase from PS2. This notion, of course, died shortly afterwards with Resident Evil Outbreak returning to PS2 territory. And on top of that I do still hate the GameCube controller.

I also got myself:
- WWE WrestleMania x8, WWE WMXIX

With WMx8 I liked that it was set earlier in 2002 than Shut Your Mouth was. Indeed it was set before the Draft, whereas SYM was after it. So this meant that either some roster members were in their Alliance gear still (Hurricane with long brown hair rather than short green hair as in SYM, we also got Mighty Molly), and we actually got Scott Hall. With WMXIX I like the idea of throwing security guards off scaffolding (haha!) But in general I was never a huge fan of the control scheme... though I'm not sure if it would have transfered better over to a PS2/3 Pad or an Xbox360 controller... I imagine WWE'12's control scheme will be something simillar to the NGC controls. I hope it was just a case of not liking NGC's controller.

[Chris Lionheart]

The Batman: Arkham Asylum Saga

I am STILL PISSED I ended up TRIPLE DIPPING for Batman: Arkham Asylum! Got the X360 version because that was literally all I had back then (since got a PS3, Wii and Gaming PC). Was eternally pissed off about PS3 getting Joker exclusively. This was the first time that I knew of in which a console exclusive hadn't magically become avaliable on the competitor's online system at a later date later.

Then I saw the lovely mods that people were doing for the demo. Imagine your favorate bat-suit. Is it Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, Batman Begins or The Dark Knight? How about the 60's Adam West show, or countless iterations of cartoon series suits like Batman of the Future? Modders were doing things like white-ing out the eyeys, taking the ears off the bat suit, removing the cape, to create playable characters such as Nightwing (aka a grownup Robin), Big Daddy (from KickAss), NightOwl (from Watchmen), Captain America, The Flash..... I couldn't contain myself, as I wanted desperately to play as Tim Burton's 1989 Batman and others.



As soon as I had my gaming PC I ran to Steam to purchase Batman:AA GOTY Edition at full price for £40. My body was ready... Then I found out that Warner Bros had put DRM onto the retail disc, and thus these hacks only worked in the demo!

Once I did get a PS3 I waited until Batman:AA was cheap, since I'd already been burned by the PC version, and I had a suspicion that after so much hype the Joker maps were going to be a let-down. At £10 I decided to bite. And now... when Batman:Arkham City comes out I actually have a choice between consoles/PC version. CONSOLE EXCLUSIVES SUCK!













The whole 'buying one game 3 times' is it's own regret, but I have to say I was pretty damn underwealmed by the Joker gameplay. That the thought of playing as Joker basically made me pay £250ish for a PS3 is a regret in itself. Hype is a BAAAAD thing, kids.

[Chris Lionheart]

Bought an American Slim PS2, WWE SVR 2009 and a GameShark right on the death-knell of the PS2 life cycle. THQ/YUKES were already leaving features out of the PS2 versions of their games and plumping up the 'big brother' PS3/Xbox360 versions. Like the 'Highlight Reel' feature. But TNB came first, and I wanted a quicker way to swap gamesaves with other simmers, and hack the game with the GameShark to get interesting match types, or to hack female CAWs into males. Then 2010 came along with it's new Creation Community feature and my American PS2/Gameshark became useless.

It's not like PS2 is a current gen machine where I might like to import the latest big release, those are happening on PS3/Xbox360. As an NTSC DVD Player for the DVD Box Sets of TV Shows that I purchased while in America..... well lets just say that I'm getting too lazy for the disc medium as a whole. I have the exact same seasons of, say, The Simpsons on either UK or USA DVDs on a bookcase in the office, and instead all I do is double-click the file on my computer for instant access. No having to go to the other room, get the disc, put it into the PS3 (UK DVD) or into the American Slim PS2 (American DVD), no waiting for unskipable trailers/adverts/copyright pages... Just simple instant access via my PC after having downloaded them from the internet.

[MG Cage]

I sold LFD2, biggest mistake I ever made

[Chris Lionheart]

I have to say that I regret cheaping-out twice now on capture cards.

In 2007, for SVR2008, I bought the capture card that I used up until this February. A cheap and nasty job, it would only work with the specific software it came with - some crappy Cyberlink PowerDirector. This software only showed the video feed in a tiny window in CPD.

Finally in Feb 2010 I purchased a capture card by Hauppage, a trusted brand of mine which I used to use all the way back in 2002 to capture SYM caw pictures. However since money was tight I cheaped-out again and got the non-High Definition version for £40 which uses S-Video, rather than the HD version for £150. I know that I probably did the right thing at the time, money concerns considered, but that doesn't help the fact that when I inevitably do upgrade to the HD capcard, I would have wasted £40 on this version, as I will have no use for it; just as I no longer have a use for my older one in the previous paragraph.