Exactly what I thought as the trailer showed the city. I like the concept, but I'm more interested by what kind of gameplay structure Naughty Dog will use for this game. Though I'd still get somewhat excited if they stuck with something akin to Uncharted, a game with nonlinear progression or an open world like the Jak games to screw around or take missions in would be a welcomed change of pace.

So, The Last of Us was teased by Sony a week or so ago. Turns out it's Naughty Dog's new game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWzcYbtZQrk&feature=player_embedded

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thoughts?

I have to say though, I am bit sad that we won't be getting UnKarted.

I played through the Playstation version of IS a little under two years ago and the encounter rate coupled with the dungeon design do annoy at times. I found it to be bearable, more so due to the overall quality of the game than any sheer tolerance on my part. I also remember being perplexed that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as EP, which I had played a year prior to that. I enjoyed both of their stories to about the same degree and, as I recall, they play and even sound very similar, so the lukewarm response to IS relative to EP seemed a bit odd to me. Regardless, some redesign would have gone a long way with this game but sadly that isn't the case. My preorder has shipped, though I doubt I'll be playing through it again so soon.

Yeah, I'm getting it. I like what I've seen and read about this game, plus it's Mikami and Suda. I'm not letting myself get too hyped but I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out.

I'd say go for a different PSU. I use a 750w Corsair PSU which is 100 dollars. It's very reliable, though a tad annoying on wire management. Additionally, don't get the 'superclocked' GPU. You're paying a bit more money for overclocking that you can easily do yourself. As for a CPU cooler, go for the Cooler Master Hyper 212+: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&Tpk=cooler%20master%20hyper%20212
I've overclocked my i5 with this cooler and the temperatures don't go above the mid to high 50s on full 100% load after 19 straight hours. If you do decide to get that cooler, drop the thermal compound you're buying since the one that accompanies the CMH 212+ is good.

Aside from changing it to easy, use Dark Lance for most of the fight with words that increase the damage and decrease the cost. Also check if you have any words that will increase magic regeneration and magic defense.

Yeah, you can only change the difficulty before loading your save file and it will apply to all saves. Additionally, having the game on easy decreases the drop rate of rare items. It's not really that much of an issue seeing as how you will still get enough items to upgrade at least a few weapons.

You can change it to easy at the main menu and there aren't any difficulty based trophies.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan has a good guide on Gamefaqs and the cut scenes are subbed on Youtube.

This looks great.

The biggest surprises for me were Nier and 999. I went into both with neither high nor low expectations. In the end, I played games that engrossed me far more than many of the games I played in 2010. Nier for its plot, characters and incredible music and 999, similarly, for its intriguing plot and characters.

The biggest disappointment would have to be XIII.

Finished up 999 with all the endings. The story is incredible as is the writing. I never thought much of Aksys prior to this game but their fantastic work here shows that they are far more than a competent localization team. The game itself wrapped up pretty well but left some things open to discussion. There was, however, one part at the very end of the true ending that I was just baffled by. Hopefully we will get to see another Chunsoft visual novel brought over here.

I decided to start up 999 despite the fact that I'm currently juggling a bunch of other games. I haven't been this glued to my DS since Devil Survivor.

Damn, that's awesome. November is just too far away.

Yeah, I did buy the DLC before the price drop. Thankfully, half of the money I spent on it was refunded back to my PSN account.