Are you rad enough to outrun the law and carjack the ’80s? Then power-up your POWER-UPS, because you’re about to go on a RETRO CITY RAMPAGE!
Retro City Rampage is finally coming to Europe on PlayStation this Wednesday after its legendary (and lengthy) development. I greatly appreciate everyone’s patience. Your wait was not without merit, and you’ll be enjoying the best possible game from day one. It boasts an additional month of development, polish and improvements since the original North American release, which has dominated the charts; sitting at #1 on PS Vita downloads since it was released.
Retro City Rampage drops you into an 8-bit open world full of send-ups of ’80s and ’90s video games and pop-culture. Mashing up the old and the new, you’ll be jumping on civilians for coins before stealing their cars to outrun the law and get to the next mission.
There’s no better way to grasp just what it is than to just watch the trailer below.
It’s not all just the classic driving and shooting. The missions span many genres, all crammed into the open-world experience, sharing the game’s moves and mechanics. To add more to the strategy, many missions can’t be attacked simply guns-a-blazin’. Much like classic games required you to figure out boss patterns, some missions revolve around a similar idea. They’ll require you to stop and strategise or your death count will quickly rise.
For example, you must figure out which weapons or moves to use (such as the stomp), or where to enter an area filled with enemies. The game has hint screens and checkpoints to make these parts more forgiving for modern gamers not accustomed to retro games, but prepare for a real challenge on some missions.
Much of the game is also non-linear, so if you’re stuck on a mission, you can always drop out, then go back to it later. Spend some time free roaming, playing arcade challenges, mini-games, or other missions. There can be up to a half-dozen missions unlocked at once.
The overlying theme of the game combines even more layers. On the surface it will evoke your nostalgia for the 8-bit era with densely packed references and nods, but beyond that, it is also composed of parodies, satire, puns, innuendo, social/local/industry commentary, PSAs, inside jokes, a few memes and some classroom humour to take you back to your childhood. There’s something for everyone.
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141 CommentsAdd Yours
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 12:41 pm by grimbarian
How about for that truly authentic feel – we get a psn card that is actually a cassette?
Then all the ones that want it free would just have to find a double tape deck.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 12:59 pm by oggy78
off to buy some credit now for it. looking forward to playing this.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 1:35 pm by Turbine_inc
yes there has been a release delay due to a number of hard to avoid issues……that couldve been avoided if sony didnt for some twisted reason think it was a brilliant idea to have different stores for different regions, but hey ho, when has sony ever admitted to being wrong? even when they are so obviously wrong?
the game looks like an unglorified megadrive game and for 11.99 i dont see how its worth it
one of the things that annoys me most about this generation of consoles is the sheer amount of rubbish old games and retro looking trash that is thrown in our faces, consoles these days are capable of so much more and to me there is no excuse releasing a game like this at that price, and then tell people asking for a discount is depressing
whats the point in splashing out on a current gen console to play games that couldve been released 20 years ago?
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:42 pm by Fred Dutton
This thread makes me
There are countless gamers out there who love playing retro-inspired games and get just as much entertainment value out of them as they would more contemporary titles. If they don’t appeal to you, no problem, there are plenty of more ‘modern’-looking titles out there that look cutting edge on your PS3/Vita.
While we absolutely welcome criticism and constructive feedback concerning services or faults in games, I’m not sure your comments fall within that bracket (aside from the regional store issue, which is of course noted). Lots of people are clearly excited to play this – there’s no need to pour water all over that with this sort of negativity. Instead, why not go and post about something which you are excited to play?
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 1:36 pm by You_Better_Hide
Wait, only Vita release here in Australia? That makes no sense. They released it on PC as well, why not PS3 / 360. Hmm, weird. Do not think it is the Government that stopped this, according to news articles, the Dev did not want to submit due to costs. Well does it support trophies on the Vita version in Australia, because they listed it as a mobile game (which is exempt from classification)
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:50 pm by Brian Provinciano
Console games in AU/NZ require game ratings where mobile (Vita) and PC do not. As I’m one guy doing everything from development to business, production, design, twitter, the website, the trailers, you name it, I simply couldn’t allocate the time and money to get those ratings when I can spent less time getting both the ESRB and PEGI ones which cover even more of the world in one shot.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:02 pm by ZACHSP8
Waited so long for this since US release, not interested anymore.
NEXT
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:10 pm by Catkiller1
I’ll support the developer if the price is right. £7.99 or less & you have my support
Members are stating their disappointments due to the wait. I understand there were problems etc & it was explained but too see the game on the US store with a discount within a SALE & then free with PLUS, is frustrating to say the least.
I think the least the developer can, do is release the game at a decent price & not the intended original £11.99 price.
Played the Demo from the US store & i’m happy to part with £7.99!
107
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:18 pm by fustacluck
[This is mainly aimed at SCEE and their blog minions]
Too late. If you’d released it at the time of NA, or even just gave us any information on whether it was going to be released at all in Europe, you’d have had a sale.
Instead I bought it on XBLA last week. How would it have hurt you to let us know last week before the XBLA release that it was coming out this week? Instead your usual silence made sure you didn’t get my money. Great communication, guys!
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:26 pm by Fred Dutton
The date wasn’t confirmed until late last week. Brian has spoken at length on various other sites as to the reasons for the delay.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 2:21 pm by fustacluck
@TurbineInc
Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s actually a fantastic game, which gets better if you lived through the eighties.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 3:02 pm by fustacluck
@Fred It’s cool that Brian let people know on other sites, but that then makes it random luck whether your customers will know.
Your “blog” needs some serious rethinking. It is your company’s only real line of communication with your customers in Europe, and its failing quite massively at its job.
How do you expect your customers to react if time and again we’re kept in the dark when you delay releases over here, only to find out months later that not only will it come out within a couple of days, but we get to pay extra for the privilege?
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:48 pm by Brian Provinciano
The day I found out the release date was the day that it was announced. The entire time that fans were “in the dark”, we all were as well. Coordinating a release, passing certification for the first time, and the holidays where offices were closed made things unpredictable. The SCEA release was announced 4.5 days before it came out, the XBLA release 8 days before it came out. This is how digital works. Retail games can have earlier date announcements because more than likely they’re READY TO GO months in advance to ensure they hit that date and just sit in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to stores. With digital releases, they can be released as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it’s not as soon in certain cases as many of us would hope. Both myself and SCEE have done their very best. Unfortunately, releasing a game on consoles is not as simple as clicking a mouse button.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 3:02 pm by fustacluck
@Fred In order to get an answer on your blog you generally have to be quick enough to get your comment on the first two pages. Even then the responses are generally “Don’t know, I’ll have to ask someone” followed by silence” or the equivalent of “Not my department”. Either way, subsequent Wednesdays usually end up with the first two pages of comments asking for info on the same games, not allowing new enquiries to get through (you might have heard of Spyro and CS:GO).
Seriously, we might come across as over-entitled crybabies, but all we want is to be treated with the same respect as your other customers around the world. We’ve bought your console and we want to pay you more money for games on it. Just the fact that we’ve done that, despite the many errors in the early days of PS3, proves that we want to be loyal to your company. Your company just makes it really hard sometimes.
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 3:32 pm by Fred Dutton
I’m genuinely sorry you feel that way.
Hundreds and hundreds of questions are asked on the Blog every week, and we do our best to answer as many of them as possible. As much as we’d like to, myself and Jawad (Jawad especially) both have numerous other duties, and we can’t get to absolutely everything.
If a question goes unanswered it’s generally because there are legal or business requirements that mean we are unable to make more information public at that time. It’s frustrating, I know, but I’m afraid that’s just the reality of it.
If a question is regarding a third party title, which many are, more often than not we are simply not in a position to answer as that information is not at our fingertips.
In future, if you feel a question you’ve asked has been missed in the weekly Store post thread, I suggest reposting it in the weekend Recap or asking me on Twitter (@PlayStationEU). There’s just so much noise in the Store post that sometimes it’s hard to get to everything.
Right, back on topic please.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 3:17 pm by fustacluck
@Brian Mate, I am so sorry you’ve been caught up in this rubbish. I just want to say that having played your game on 360 I would highly recommend Retro City Rampage to anyone, even those that haven’t got the history to get all of the references. It is an incredible game and is a testament to your skills and hard work. I hope that you have success on both platforms and Steam as you deserve it. Please don’t let this negativity get to you as I look forward to your next project.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 3:57 pm by fustacluck
@Fred Thanks for replying. The fact that there is all that noise is a big part of the problem, and shows the age of the design of the site, really. Could really do with a more efficient redesign for the comments section alone.
I understand the red tape that can come with your job, but in this case, as RCR came closer to release, just a word from Brian saying that it was definitely coming to SCEE PSN would have stayed my impatience, even if it was a post from you guys (remember it’s supposed to be a blog, not everything has to be a full-blown article) with a quote. As it is, his last appearance was May last year. Is it any surprise that so many lost hope?
It’s a shame, as your company have shown that they’ve learnt from their mistakes in this generation, and I hope you continue to progress.
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 4:08 pm by Fred Dutton
Hopefully we’ll be bringing in some shiny new blog features before too long that should make commenting a smoother experience. We’re working on this.
As for RCR, it was always stated that it was coming to PSN – that was never in doubt. There was plenty of discussion behind the scenes about messaging a release timeframe to you all, but we are really reluctant to make announcements to you guys before things are 100% confirmed, hence why there was some silence on it. Unfortunately it wasn’t all tied down until late in the day. Like I said, this is just a frustrating reality of doing business. We weren’t hiding the information from you all, it just wasn’t firmed up.
Obviously this is a nuisance for everyone – we’ll absolutely do our best from our side to make sure these sorts of issues are avoided in the future.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 4:22 pm by dmukgr
I’ve waited for this for the Vita since it was first announced (and I think the Vita wasn’t even out at that point. I could have bought the xbox or steam version in the meantime but I waited as I believe the Vita is the perfect platform for it. Can’t wait to get it tomorrow even if the International Grains Council get it for free at some point.
One point I would like to make though – all those saying it is for 80s and 90s gamers. I’m a 70s gamer, so maybe I won’t like it after all
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 4:24 pm by chrisboers
@Fred, I understand your dilemma in this, but I think most of the readers here would have preferred openness on this issue, and are able to handle uncertainty. Personally, I would have preferred to have heard a possible release window, even if that means it gets pushed back a couple of times.
It’s not the end of the world that Ni No Kuni was delayed a week, and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if it was pushed back a month or two. At least people will get some insight on what’s going on behind the scenes, now you have to manage an audience that goes ‘boo, hiss’ and slow-claps. It’s difficult to recover from that when the curtains are finally drawn, and the show begins.
Just my 2ct, maybe it helps (maybe not).
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 4:36 pm by Fred Dutton
Absolutely, comment noted. The problem arises when members of the gaming press then take my conjecture as fact
It’s a difficult one. But we will do our best to keep you as informed as possible in future, promise.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 4:58 pm by Golwar
I surely don’t want to ruin your joy here any further Fred, but this so called business reality and requirements must seem odd from our point of view. It would be absolutely legit if everyone else in this business would have to face the very same conditions, with the very same results for each faction. But that it simply not the case.
We have dozens and dozens of examples where games manage world wide releases on other platforms, be it Steam or XBox. Just SCEE is often enough falling behind, mostly for reasons that we can’t possibly understand.
Shall I mention CS:GO? It is already localized. It is being sold in Europe, just not by SCEE. It runs on the PS3. So what kind of business reality could that be, that a translated, running and legally acknowledged game is missing for just one store on one platform?
I already know that we won’t receive any reason and I even understand why. But all those examples are the reason why it’s not up to someone on SCEE’s side to be “sad” or “disappointed” about how people react. That is entirely up to us.
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 5:28 pm by Fred Dutton
Alas Golwar, I’m afraid I can’t really add anything further to this conversation, other than that we’ll do our very best to offer you a great service in 2013 and improve on 2012. Hopefully you’ll like what you see.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 5:01 pm by Golwar
Besides that I should probably mentioned that I’m very happy how you handle your job. If everything else at SCEE would be done as well, we’d have barely something to complain.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 5:50 pm by AeonsDead
To be honest, i’d never heard of RetroCityRampage before it started getting all the attention from the PSN faithful, i would probably have never gave it a second look, but after all the ruckus over its release i might be more likely to buy it.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 6:34 pm by artopand
I honestly sympathize with all the frustrated posters and understand your reasons and point of view.
Having said that, abusing the developer by repeating the same posts of “too late, no buy” or “it should be free” when the guy is here to finally announce the game and answer our questions is very poor taste, to say the least.
I think it’s great having this blog where we can communicate directly with developers when they release a new game, please do not ruin it for the rest of us who don’t mind waiting a few months for a new release. Plenty of other games out there, vote with your wallet but don’t abuse developers, especially if it’s an indy game we’re talking about!
119
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:32 pm by Mazyx
Awesome! Great game, can’t wait!
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:33 pm by Mazyx
Awesome! Game looks great, can’t wait!
121
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:36 pm by pn3b0y
cant wait to get the game
122
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 9:46 pm by V_Ben
This thread isn’t particularly joy bringing, but I appreciate the developer’s efforts in sticking with it, and genuinely responding to people’s concerns. The game may be delayed, but at least the fixes in the interim have been incorporated. We’re getting the game later, but getting a better game because of it.
Game looks great
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 10:01 pm by KiiillRoy
Go Go Go Vblank, you are the best. Don’t give up, Retro City Rampage is one of the best game of 2012 and it’s finally here for European Vita owners. I will support till the end !!! (i hope i will win :p )
124
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 10:56 pm by Dermado
artofpoland
Its more of a “Mummy, why do you hate me so much, you give your favourite child shiney nice toys, but instead you cement two giant inflatable hollow clowns just inside my bedroom door , why do you promise me sweeties and then just as we are outside the shop run away and not explain where you went or if I am getting sweeties or not.
Then let mean aunties and uncles come and act all high and mighty about why their (product? Idk “cake”?) is amazing, and you HAVE to try it, but only the dry mix, all other ingredients and toppings will cost you , or two new toys, one for your aforementioned brother, and one for your neighbour (months later ofcourse) while mummy just stands there, ignoring and poking you, seeing how long it will take before you run away, whilst leaving you in the incapable hands of child minders who also ignore you, or claim its “someone elses job”.
”
So in short your attempt at trolling falls flat, and its people like you that will allow SCEE to continue sucking =\
125
Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 11:00 pm by Dermado
^+ also, RCR was not free initally over there, people are wondering why its still full price (I believe its still the intended RRP, which usually winds up being about 25% more than the Americans RRPs anyway, smeone feel free to correct me or PSM it, but people complain about this every time the store is updated, the Euros and Australians atleast not sure about elsewhere) given the months of delays, complete lack of useful feedback (no “we are working on it” or “Its in QA” or “.” are not helpful comments
No idea what the “improvements” are, or if they are even noticable, but then the game went completely under my radar untill folk started to complain, and now honestly I doubt ill ever get it if its not on PS+, so to the dev, either bite the bullet and go Steam or xbox indie thingimer, or recieve less sales and potential angry rants due to disgruntled customers, whilst it may not be your fault, given SCEEs terribad track record its not surprising if this will not sell nearly as well as it could.
Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 3:33 am by Brian Provinciano
Retro City Rampage will cost the same price for PlayStation in Europe that it does for XBLA, North America, Steam and everywhere else, converted to whatever currency you use. I cannot give exact prices because currencies for the SCEE regions vary, but it’s the equivalent to $15 US. NOTE that I actually make LESS money on EVERY EU purchase because I the developer must pay the VAT tax from my portion of the royalties, a tax which players end up having to pay in other parts of the world.
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Posted on 15 January, 2013 at 11:13 pm by Dermado
hmm…whilst I would not edit anything out of what Ive already posted, if Fred or someone else from SCEE continues to actually attempt to answer some questions (given the mass repeated questions that remain unanswered, then two guys come along at once and ask if a game is £13 or £13.01) on all of the boards, not just ones that came along that day, or are seen as not supporting indie growth otherwise, then you could well make up a bit for how awful the level of feedback was last year.
Fred, given the volume of complaints why is someone not hired at minimum wage to reply to everyone o_o? Or a feature that lets users vote up a comment, that will make it more likely to be noticed, and have less people repeating the same thing(in practice, yeah they are still gunna post the same thing, but if it were to say “this contains similar keywords to X’s post, does his comment cover yours?” and auto-upvote it on yes then itd be much more streamlined and make finding answers much easier o_O?
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 11:34 am by Catkiller1
@ Brian
I understand how much hard work you’ve put into this game & it shows.
My only concern is that the game was delayed on PSN within the EU & the US have had this on sale & free for PLUS members. You offered the game a few days ago for 50% off on STEAM! I’m all for supporting indie developers etc but what about supporting us?
You state above about paying VAT etc but that didn’t bother you when you discounted it by a huge 50% on STEAM etc.
If this was released at a reasonable £7.99 then you would have more sales imo. Releasing the game at the £11.99 price tag is a shame, so I will wait & pick it up later in the year!
Great work though & i’ve always championed this game since it was first announced. I still wouldn’t have picked it up if it released back in October though, as £11.99 is too much.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 11:59 am by manlybrown
I’m getting this today, seriously all the whining above makes me sick.
Cannot wait to play this.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 12:02 pm by Catkiller1
@ manlybrown
Good for you!
I think we have a reason to whine on this occasion, as it feels like a bit of a slap in the face!
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 12:09 pm by manlybrown
You get the most complete, bug tested version of the game, its a one man band, indy dev. Not EA.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 12:13 pm by B1NGZA
@Brian Provinciano
i just wanted to say thanks for all the effort you have gone to; to get this game out to us all in the EU i have been looking forwarded to playing this for sometime.
@ the rest of you whiners
stop being cheapskates going on about waiting for it to be free on PS+ if you have been following the progress of this title which i guess you are as your reading this blog then dust you wallets off and get your cash out you and support the developer (singular). this is *one* guy doing all this on his own not a money grabbing EA/Activision shovelling yet another yearly rendition of FIFA/COD down your throat.
you all tirelessly moan about developers not fully supporting the Vita; with a ungrateful user base like this i am not surprised.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 12:42 pm by Catkiller1
All i’ve stated is for it to be cheaper so I can still pay for it. I wasn’t bothered about it being free!
£8.99 is an excellent price & i’ve purchased & added this beauty to my games collection!
I’ve had a look on the website & there is a promotion for 2 music CDs, 5 Download codes for the soundtrack & 5 stickers for just over £10 including postage to the UK! I’ll support that too!
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 2:59 pm by adumr82
@manlybrown we get the same version as everyone else except theirs was earlier, patched and possibly cheaper. Don’t fall for marketing bull, open your eyes just a little. The game looks good, but this should have come out at least the same time as Xbox and it sounds like, for a time at least, they got it cheaper than us. People talk about supporting devs but I have to earn my own money too, whose supporting me? This reaction was more than expected and will continue to happen as long as customers are treated like fools with wallets to empty.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 3:00 pm by adumr82
And I’m not saying the dev in particular is treating us like fools, more the industry
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 3:02 pm by adumr82
I wonder if the people complaining about people whining actually earn their own money.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 3:34 pm by manlybrown
Adumr82, after reading your post a couple of times I’m a bit confused who you are upset at and at a loss to what your point was, especially when you added that stuff about the industry. Also it is quite clear you haven’t read the developer’s or the community managers responses.
That little snide comment about people that don’t earn their own money can be applied to people that don’t want to pay out too.
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Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 5:14 pm by cncx83
I just bought it from EU store
why the game is still Version 1.00 ??!!
shouldn’t it be the latest patched version as you promised ??!!
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Posted on 17 January, 2013 at 2:46 am by R_a_z_i_e_l
Your silly to think the game was improved on during the months it was delayed for EU, they just say that stuff to make you *feel better* about your purchase.
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Posted on 17 January, 2013 at 9:08 am by o2SeeKUo
I can’t seem to find it on the store (Web and Vita). Has it been removed?!
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Posted on 17 January, 2013 at 12:34 pm by Longview01
103
“one of the things that annoys me most about this generation of consoles is the sheer amount of rubbish old games and retro looking trash that is thrown in our faces, consoles these days are capable of so much more and to me there is no excuse releasing a game like this at that price”
Oh look its one of those gamers who thinks all games should be aimed towards him…just cause you don’t want it doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t as well.
You do not speak for all of us, so kindly get over yourself.
Thanks
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Posted on 20 January, 2013 at 3:04 am by jzivk
So it’s $16.95 on the PSN AU store plus no crossbuy with the PS3? That is a really hard sell for me Brian, sorry I’ve waited for this game but at that price and without PS3 crossbuy I can’t justify the cost at the moment.
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