Demon Souls March 2011 cutoff - more shafting for CUSTOMERS

[Debonair]

what the, the game extended to at least March 2011, oh thank you very much Atlus for your generosity, the game never came out until Oct 2009 so thats not much time at all.

Its a shame that companies want to shut off servers that save them ohhhh maybe $200 a year. Is it too much to ask. Or have very little respect for your products and company heritage. When you turn off a server you turn off worlds you create. Imagine a museum that had an expo, then sealed everything off in cement and buried it afterwards ?

Same with that Chromehounds, cutoff.

Sorry gaming industry, but you want respect and you whine about pirates. Your control fetish is simply too much in your manner to simply disgard games and game worlds without the slightest hesitation to your customer base. At least release server code for the community to take over.

Anyway playing demons souls without the aid of blue phantoms is pretty harsh, and how do you get to get full health back without blue phantoms ?

Totally ****ING bogus thats what. Makes me want to turn a PC on !

D.

[KAC]

It is because the game was ultimate **** in the way they approached the whole difficulty issue. Not every other ****er playing the game has the time to play the game like a complete moron by repeating the same stage again and again. I actually love it that this game failed. I know at least 7-10 RPG players being put off from the nonsense that this game was.

Great idea, poor implementation and a lot of pissed of purchasers.

[Dungeoncrawler]

When I watch people casting this game its mostly farming the same encounter over-and-over to harvest souls. Just didn't appeal to me much.

[S.Nixx]

I may have to buy the uk version then as the us ver I have seems uncertain.

[ShaidarHaran]

I was thinking about finally buying this game. What is this story (link) and what potential impact does it have upon my purchase decision?

[CHIPS]

Wasn't this game rated GOTY by Gamespot? I heard the sales number was alright too. So suddenly they are turning off the servers in just about a year after the game's release.

Conclusion: Gayest sh*t ever. If a company can't even afford to keep a game server running they probably cannot afford the development cost of a good game. Unless Atlus makes Starcraft 3 or something I probably will not buy their games until they hit the bargain "$10" bin.

[CKS]

the single player mode still works? what's the difference between offline mode and online mode?

[KAC]

Wasn't this game rated GOTY by Gamespot? I heard the sales number was alright too. So suddenly they are turning off the servers in just about a year after the game's release.

Conclusion: Gayest sh*t ever. If a company can't even afford to keep a game server running they probably cannot afford the development cost of a good game. Unless Atlus makes Starcraft 3 or something I probably will not buy their games until they hit the bargain "$10" bin.

The reason they can't keep the servers running is because their game had **** mechanics. Only the ultimate hardcore audience loved it (game websites, some PS3 fanboys, some RPG maniacs that you see in roleplaying events in middle of jungles ).

For the mainstream audience (me) the game wasn't fun at all. It was utter ****e that you had to backtrack soooo much to arrive at the same place to guess what? FAIL AGAIN! It got so annoying that I had to sell my copy after spending only 2 hours with it. Difficulty level adjustment should be there, save system should be better implemented, overall game looked like it had good stuff in it, but they never patched it to FIX it for mainstream audience.

Now I am glad that people didn't purchase this crap and it is a great failure IRRESPECTIVE of how many ****ing awards it received. Game was for the 1000 individuals that love this ****. Guess, they should've figured that out earlier.

Even Ninja Gaiden Sigma devs learnt from their mistakes and with each new game made it more accessible and hence, why they are still in business.

[marqmajere]

The reason they can't keep the servers running is because their game had **** mechanics. Only the ultimate hardcore audience loved it (game websites, some PS3 fanboys, some RPG maniacs that you see in roleplaying events in middle of jungles ).

For the mainstream audience (me) the game wasn't fun at all. It was utter ****e that you had to backtrack soooo much to arrive at the same place to guess what? FAIL AGAIN! It got so annoying that I had to sell my copy after spending only 2 hours with it. Difficulty level adjustment should be there, save system should be better implemented, overall game looked like it had good stuff in it, but they never patched it to FIX it for mainstream audience.

Now I am glad that people didn't purchase this crap and it is a great failure IRRESPECTIVE of how many ****ing awards it received. Game was for the 1000 individuals that love this ****. Guess, they should've figured that out earlier.

Even Ninja Gaiden Sigma devs learnt from their mistakes and with each new game made it more accessible and hence, why they are still in business.

I'm a casual gamer and I've beaten Demon's Souls several times. It's been one of the most rewarding experience I've had playing video games. For those of you who say it's too difficult, stick with your button mashing, dumbed down games. This one might be a bit too much for you.

[KAC]

How much time did you spend on it?

[Raiasokura]

what the, the game extended to at least March 2011, oh thank you very much Atlus for your generosity, the game never came out until Oct 2009 so thats not much time at all.

Its a shame that companies want to shut off servers that save them ohhhh maybe $200 a year. Is it too much to ask. Or have very little respect for your products and company heritage. When you turn off a server you turn off worlds you create. Imagine a museum that had an expo, then sealed everything off in cement and buried it afterwards ?

Same with that Chromehounds, cutoff.

Sorry gaming industry, but you want respect and you whine about pirates. Your control fetish is simply too much in your manner to simply disgard games and game worlds without the slightest hesitation to your customer base. At least release server code for the community to take over.

Anyway playing demons souls without the aid of blue phantoms is pretty harsh, and how do you get to get full health back without blue phantoms ?

Totally ****ING bogus thats what. Makes me want to turn a PC on !

D.

Whats new? so why does't this surprise me. but yeah you do seem to hate MS and sony but rightfully so i guess. the PC is getting the shafted just as much too so yeah that pretty much sums it up.

games with dedicated servers go on them others just avoid its simple. seems sony are cutting back on stuff way too much and are going overboard from your recent postings.

EDIT:

just another thing do you really think this is untentional? and are cutbacks. of course its intended. its all done in the grand scheme of things by schemers in suits behind desks. they want you go out and buy something else and then the same will happen again its like a nasty patern. basicly they expect you to bend over. and then go out and buy more games and the same is repeated again thats what they expect of you. that is all.

are you going to tell me, you honestly cant see that? and the solution is simple.

[marqmajere]

How much time did you spend on it?

The first play through was about 12-13 hours. So far I've spent around 100 hours playing it. It's the type of game that seems daunting at first, but there's a trick to success that, when learned, makes the game a bit more forgiving. After you've beaten all of the stages, there are still a TON of hidden areas with weapons, items, etc. to be discovered. There is also the PVP. It's fun running through a stage only to have the "You world has been invaded" message pop up. It really gets the blood flowing to know there is someone there to kill you and you have to get them first.

[Raiasokura]

Totally ****ING bogus thats what. Makes me want to turn a PC on !

D.

Why not get the best of both worlds. yeah its true the PC is getting the shaft too, but why not just go multi platform?

[Zero]

What line of work are you in "Debonair"? I'm curious because you seem to lack any sort of business understanding.

[Debonair]

What line of work are you in "Debonair"? I'm curious because you seem to lack any sort of business understanding.

Wtf trollometer, wtf has their business got to do with my business A lot of business is based on trust and reputation, if you feel badly about a company and its policy you avoid it. True, I avoid Activision products thats my business because they proved they are not worthy of my coin. A lot of it comes down to PR and customer relations, something you may consider when you throw the word of business around.

My work, yeah all I do now is daytrade emini futures and forex, i've done it for 9 years now, before that I had my own company employing 30 cisco experts and solutions which I sold. Now I would just rather trade markets.

D.

[Zero]

Wtf trollometer, wtf has their business got to do with my business A lot of business is based on trust and reputation, if you feel badly about a company and its policy you avoid it. True, I avoid Activision products thats my business because they proved they are not worthy of my coin. A lot of it comes down to PR and customer relations, something you may consider when you throw the word of business around.

My work, yeah all I do now is daytrade emini futures and forex, i've done it for 9 years now, before that I had my own company employing 30 cisco experts and solutions which I sold. Now I would just rather trade markets.

D.

With your alleged business acumen, I find it surprising you'd be bitching and moaning about how anyone is "shafting" their consumers when keeping the servers running (which will save them far more than $200 a year ) for a niche, poorly selling game that provides no return whatsoever makes absolutely no business sense.

No one even cares about Eye of Judgment and Demon's Soul except a tiny, insignificant niche demographic, which means there is no valid customer base to maintain relations with.

You playing the margin game also doesn't mean you have any strategic understanding, but keep telling yourself you do

[marqmajere]

If you do a search for Demon's Souls sales, you'll read that it sold three times as many copies as expected and did quite well, considering it's not a watered down, kiddie game.

[Zero]

Christ, "poorly selling NOW".

[marqmajere]

Christ, "poorly selling NOW".

Which contradicts how it sold well...how?

[Raiasokura]

Which contradicts how it sold well...how?

So this demon souls is really something? might give me an excuse to turn my PS3 on again ive been lookign at it. any good? whats it about.

apolagies for going slightly OT, but Im interested.

[Zero]

Which contradicts how it sold well...how?

It actually didn't sell well (eg 1M+ blockbusters sell well). Even though it exceeded expectations, it's still a niche game by absolute numbers. It sold what, 150K units in its first month of NA release? And it's all downhill from there (VGChartz reports ~670K units sold total worldwide). Prices on the game being slashed well past half-price means it's sales are pretty much non-existent today.

Does the game even have any DLC or revenue-generation past the original purchase? This means by March 2011, Atlus will have supported Demon's Soul online experience for 18 months out of their own pockets, longer for the JAP version. That's 1.5-2 years of giving back to the community in my books. Remember kids, game studios are businesses, not charities.

BTW I haven't played the online stuff on DS, but from the sounds of it, why do you even need dedicated servers to run it?

[wc326]

demon souls in one of the best action rpg game i have ever played in many year.s

you know VGchartz alawys get their number wrong in sales number, They are no more than just some stupid Guesses u know!!

[Zero]

I'm not knocking the quality of Demon's Soul, couldn't care less about it. As for vgchartz' numbers, they're actually on par with NPD's for the the American release timeframe (eg 150K NPD vs 140K VGC in the first month). Both NPD and VGC us some form of "stupid guesses" to get their stats so I don't know what your point is except maybe to make another irrational fanboi display. Bottom line is, Demon's Soul is a game not worth supporting, especially to a small time dev like Atlus.

[Raiasokura]

I'm not knocking the quality of Demon's Soul, couldn't care less about it. As for vgchartz' numbers, they're actually on par with NPD's for the the American release timeframe (eg 150K NPD vs 140K VGC in the first month). Both NPD and VGC us some form of "stupid guesses" to get their stats so I don't know what your point is except maybe to make another irrational fanboi display. Bottom line is, Demon's Soul is a game not worth supporting, especially to a small time dev like Atlus.

Is this even SP? just bought it for 40 notes.

its not a multi only is it FFS? it wont be the first time ive been misinformed on here.

[Zero]

Jebus, look up reviews before you buy! Yes, there's SP...

[Raiasokura]

Jebus, look up reviews before you buy! Yes, there's SP...

I am on IGN it wont load up, yeah i paid 40 notes on it, i never spend that much ever on a game of recent.

so yeah ive bought into all the fan boys hype on here so lets see, you live and learn.. then again i might love it. its a complete gamble for me really.

but yeah i take risks.

[Zero]

IGN not working? Hmm, try this link:

http://tinyurl.com/2wqwgpd

[Raiasokura]

IGN not working? Hmm, try this link:

http://tinyurl.com/2wqwgpd

LOL wut.

[Raiasokura]

Jebus, look up reviews before you buy! Yes, there's SP...

Yeah, I looked up reviews ages ago anyway, and liked the look of it. so didn't think it was neccessary at the time.

I've bought it now anyway and hoping for the best.

[Akumajo]

what the, the game extended to at least March 2011, oh thank you very much Atlus for your generosity, the game never came out until Oct 2009 so thats not much time at all.

Its a shame that companies want to shut off servers that save them ohhhh maybe $200 a year. Is it too much to ask. Or have very little respect for your products and company heritage. When you turn off a server you turn off worlds you create. Imagine a museum that had an expo, then sealed everything off in cement and buried it afterwards ?

Same with that Chromehounds, cutoff.

Sorry gaming industry, but you want respect and you whine about pirates. Your control fetish is simply too much in your manner to simply disgard games and game worlds without the slightest hesitation to your customer base. At least release server code for the community to take over.

Anyway playing demons souls without the aid of blue phantoms is pretty harsh, and how do you get to get full health back without blue phantoms ?

Totally ****ING bogus thats what. Makes me want to turn a PC on !

D.

Debonair the companies are not to blame, its really the current gamers, even the hardcore gamers and even the Playstation gamer.

I personally would love to blame gaming sites and print magazines, its easier to gather print mags from 2 years to now and look at the covers, how many times are you going to find the words "Demon's Souls" "Halo ***"and "Gears of War" and "CoD Modern Warfare"

The Demon's Souls game was intentionally developed by Sony devs collaborating with From Software devs as a hardcore gamer's game they had no plans to release it ouside of the Japan, Asia regions because of the media blitz of online shooter games and negative hype on PS3 games, this is a reflection of the times we are in, i remember when I first mentioned Demon's Souls here on this board there were people saying that there was no appeal to it.

The game gets released outside Japan to the US and all game reviewers while reviewing it kept mentioning how hard or difficult it was instead of saying you gotta learn how to play, be patient, think before you strike, hell even Sony's own official game mag (probably infected with xbots) gave the game a lower score AFAIK did not put it on the cover and called it a game for masochist, holy crap if Ninte3ndo would have released this game with the same difficulty they would be featuring extended strategies and tip lines in Nintendo Power (free advertising like how other game mags do to CoD, halo, Gears)

In Japan they were not expecting much in sales but alot of people like me who sensed the quality were importing it and word of mouth kept on generating that the initial Japanese audience that had already bought it became extended from the sales causing more word of mouth.

In the USA this game faced a brick wall, look at what happened to a bunch of previous PS3 games, anything that can be used against it as a flaw gets talked about it first and the hipocrite gamers who cry about games being too easy were talking crap about the difficulty in DS or were afraid of playing it or worse, doing a wait and see screwing up sales.

However the game did sell MORE than what was expected (SCEA feared negative backlash cause of the difficulty too) even though Atlus picked it up they were really aiming at the people who were importing it since the Japanese game already had English voice acting and mostly english menu, very import friendly.

Its really funny this game is all about word of mouth and hardcore gamers yet in every thread a bunch of haters would show up bashing it for not having coop like halo/gears/MW again not informing themselves of the game, not playing it, if playing and losing having reactions like Kickasscop did and just giving up instead of sticking with it.

I'm an old school gamer, if I would have given up when I got my ass handed to me in Street Fighter 2 I would have never gone on to learn the different fighting game languages and hand people their asses in KOF, SF, MvsC, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, etc and hell years earlier I remember this kid who could beat Ghouls and Ghosts (stand up arcade) with a single quater twice and do the same in R-Type... there are still people with that kind of skill outside of Japan but these days all these devs and media are in a different direction, have you figured out how Assasins' Creed 1 sold 7 million yet (all that free media coverage)

Even though the game sold better than expected prompting SCEA to regret not publising it and prompting Namco Bandai to publish in Europe (hey they though or assumed people would not care and rightly so and not defending them) it still did not sell or reach the magical million mark AFAIK and the chances of the game showing up as a greatest hit in the US are none or unknown.

It just got released in Europe and I posted a not really spoiler link to two high quality videos and here in RAGE3d and all I got was someone who claimed to be a fan saying the game was old.

GAF has a long, long thread on Demon's Souls that is still in the first page on their forum, gamefaqs still has Demon's Souls in its top ten message board (thats real people playing it and talking about it even after having over 100 hours of play) go to game media site or pick up a game magazine you think you gonna find Demon's Souls... next thing you know we are going to have some pathetic fanboys crying about Shenmue III, erm I mean Demon's Souls 2 when they just did not react quickly or were too busy playing the online shooters or hating Playstation.

I am going to quote wikipedia here:

Demon's Souls (デモンズソウル?, pronounced /ˈdimənz soʊlz/) is a fantasy action role-playing video game developed primarily by From Software (with assistance from SCE Japan Studio) exclusively for the PlayStation 3. It was released in Japan on February 5, 2009 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment; in North America on October 7, 2009 and published by Atlus and in Europe on June 25, 2010 and published by Namco Bandai.

Set in a dark fantasy medieval Europe-inspired world, players take control of a custom hero who has journeyed to the fictional kingdom of Boletaria, which is being ravaged by an accursed fog that brings forth demons that feast on the souls of mortals. The game has been described as a spiritual successor to the King's Field series,[4] a previous series of games from the same developer. The gameplay involves a character creation system with emphasis on gathering loot through combat with enemies in a non-linear series of varied locations. It also has a unique online multiplayer system integrated into the single-player where players can leave useful messages and warnings for other players' game worlds.

Upon its release in Japan and North America, Demon's Souls was met with a positive response from critics, winning numerous awards. Praised for its dark fantasy art design, variation in combat choice and integrated online multiplayer, the game is particularly notable for its high difficulty level with many critics praising it as a genuine challenge.

Development
Before the start of the two-year[22] development period, according to lead director Hidetaka Miyazaki, the studio had previously ruled out the following game to be a new installment to the King's Field series.[22] Instead SCEJ producer Takeshi Kajii described the game as a "spiritual successor" to King's Field, where he stated "I am a fan of From Software, but naturally that also means there are parts of their games I'm not satisfied with, too," explaining the development choice as an opportunity to be more creative and potentially innovative, stating "If this was a new King's Field game, there would be areas we wouldn't be able to touch since they're part of the series; working together like this, we can try to make something really new."[4] Many elements from the King's Field series however can be found including the dark fantasy setting, role-playing elements and high difficulty. Besides King's Field, Kajii also mentioned fantasy-themed gamebooks such as Fighting Fantasy and Titan as inspiration for many location and character designs.[23] Other style of characters such as the "Adjudicator" boss taking some influences from pagan folklore, yet rather than exactly deriving from other designs, instead the design process involved "mixing a couple of images of primitive gods together" to create a "raw concept" with "an unusual and chaotic feel".[22]

Miyazaki commented on the game's notorious considerable difficulty as "never the goal" but rather focus on creating a real sense of accomplishment. Difficulty was rather described as "one way to offer an intense sense of accomplishment through forming strategies, overcoming obstacles, and discovering new things."[22] Other locations of the game were described as "places of evil intent" such as the Tower of Latria embodying man-made evil and the Valley of Defilement embodying natural evil, with the difficulty heightening their sense of dread and evil for both gameplay and atmosphere.[22] The threat of death that also sees players potentially losing all their hard-earned souls was also created to emphasize this mood, that "if the Souls could be recovered anytime, there would be no suspense or sense of accomplishment". Boss battles were primarily designed to be "varied and exciting" to make sure "players didn’t get tired of the same fight" and like the rest of the game "encourage them to figure out different tactics, to think on their feet".[22] Takeshi Kajii actually felt that the boss battles were not the hardest element; "You say boss, but it’s not just the boss. It’s everything including the road up to the boss that makes this game really hard. If you find patterns to destroy the boss, it’s not that hard. It’s how you get to the boss that makes this a difficult game."[24]

When developing the integrated online feature, Miyazaki felt many new games had what he considered "too much communication in online games which can become a burden for some people", instead integrating the online experience subtly, with certain online elements like the ghostly figures of other human players adding to the dark mood of the game.[25] When implementing the system of allowing players to leave useful messages, instead of allowing players to write any message they want, a list of pre-written messages was chosen instead not only to make the process quick and easy to use since players cannot pause gameplay, but also was to prevent the system from becoming "a large chat, which detracts from the feel of the world."[

Reception
[hide] Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 89.86% [32]
Metacritic 90/100 [33]
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 9/10[34]
Eurogamer 9/10[35]
Famitsu 29/40(9/7/7/6)[36]
GamePro [37]
GameSpot 9/10[38]
GamesRadar 9/10[39]
GameTrailers 8.9/10[40]
IGN 9.4/10[41]
Official PlayStation Magazine (US) 8/10[42]
Dengeki 95/85/85/85 [36]
Demon's Souls sold 39,966 copies in its first week in Japan,[43][44] and boosted PlayStation 3 sales in the region.[45] It has sold 134,585 copies in Japan as of December 2009.[46] In North America, Demon's Souls debuted at the eleventh place of the October 2009 charts according to NPD Group, with over 150,000 copies sold,[47] selling up to 250,000 by the first quarter of 2010.[48]

Upon its release in Japan, Demon's Souls was received well by critics. Dengeki scored the game 95/85/85/85, saying that "fans of old-school games will shed tears of joy." Famitsu gave it 29 out of 40 (9/7/7/6) with an editor calling it "a game you learn how to play by losing -- you'll face sudden death frequently. But! Keep playing... and you'll realize how deep it really is", while another editor found the game to be "far too stoic... it's not a game for everybody."[36]

Upon release in North America, critical response was very favorable with an average critic score of 90% at GameRankings [32] and 89/100 at Metacritic.[33] Despite the game's high difficultly, many reviewers found it to be a positive aspect, making the game more rewarding to play. GameSpot called the high difficulty "fair", saying players will "undoubtedly take a lot of damage until you learn the subtleties of fighting each enemy, but combat feels just right."[38] IGN echoed this view, encouraging players who "can remember the good ol' days when games taught through the highly effective use of negative reinforcement and a heavy price for not playing it carefully should scoop this up instantly."[41] Game Informer called it "one of the first truly great Japanese RPGs of this generation, and certainly the most remarkable."[49] Official PlayStation Magazine however, while commending the game overall, said Demon's Souls was "best left to the most masochistic, hardcore gamer."[42]

GameZone commented on the online aspect as being "innovative" and "perfectly blended into the game",[50] while Game Revolution felt it "turns a solitary experience into a surprisingly communal one."[51] On the technical and design side Games Radar called it "graphically stunning, too, looking more like the old Ultima games than anything that’s ever come out of Japan,"[39] while Game Trailers said the game "nails the dark fantasy look" along with what they considered "music from actual instruments". although they mentioned certain issues with the physics engine being "jittery".[40] Shortly after its North American release, ScrewAttack named Demon's Souls as the eighth best PS3 exclusive to date.[52]

Prior to the game's release in Europe, European critics reviewed import copies. Eurogamer called Demon's Souls "stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding"[35] while Edge explained their positive view on the difficulty by stating "if gaming’s ultimate appeal lies in the learning and mastering of new skills, then surely the medium’s keenest thrills are to be found in its hardest lessons" concluding "for those who flourish under Demon’s Souls’ strict examination, there’s no greater sense of virtual achievement."[34]

Demon's Souls favorable review scores made the fiscal performance of the game unique because of the lack of a supporting marketing campaign. Gaming analyst Jesse Divnich commented "Demon's Souls is probably one of the most statistically relevant games released in the gaming world as it helps answer an often asked question: how much would a high quality game sell if it was supported by no mass marketing, released by a little known publisher (no offense to Atlus), and was a new intellectual property.” [53] With the critical and commercial success of the game, Sony Computer Entertainment VP of international software Yeonkyung Kim later admitted that it was a "mistake" to pass on the game, instead allowing Atlus to publish it, initially due to concerns over its difficulty and unusual design decisions.[48]

lastly its not like Demon's Soul game should have sold a million or whatever despite what i said about Assasins Creed 1 doing 7mill at least but if it would have sold one to two million in the USA it would have sent a clear mesage to Japan that there are people who still have intelligent skills and the server cutoff might have been extended and a sequel in the works, if it sold 3 million (better number imho) they would have announced a sequel but its sad really, there are no plans because of the slow adoption and critisizims and lack of gamer coverage, ads can only get you so far.

Demon's Souls is a spiritual successor to King's Field series, there were three KFs made in Japan, only 2 of those made it to the US PS1, KFIV The Ancient city was made for PS2 and it was localized by dropping the number indicating sequel and its sales were modest... funny thing is that despite all the positive hype oblivion had (I have it) people critisized how the dificulty was a joke, gamers, casuals and hardcore keep making these bad judgements and nintendo has to put a how to guide in NSMBwii to spoil how to beat the stage instead of building skill like what they did with Snes Zelda.

Im betting that my post is not even going to be read because someone is going to be like too many words to read...jk

[spindoctor]

my understanding is that the servers being shutdown is only going to affect american players because atlus or namco bandai runs the servers there. european and japanese servers will stay up as they are run by scee and scej respectively.

i've been looking to buy this game actually... heard a lot of good things about it, and a lot of bad things too but overall, it does have my interest. the online implementation sounds really good to me. problem is, only the black phantom edition is available in my country and it costs about 5 times what i pay for a regular pc game which is just a little too high for me. it would be one very expensive gamble to take, especially if i end up disliking it.

[dfua]

Apparently the EU version is only guaranteed until June 2011 so for 12 months after the release. Not sure who runs the servers but Namco Bandai published the game in Europe.

[Debonair]

Wait "hard" wtf, it wasnt hard at all, just challenging and a bit strategic. Look i'm over 40, old yeah I know, my reactions won't be that of some punk 14 year old, and yet they find it hard.

Wtf all you had to do was select the right gear, use the shield and learn how to duck, oh and wear the right ring and eat different types of grass for health, it was really simple.

I had a great awe and wonder as I wondered about discovering the world of DS, as it really felt quite unique with a foreboding and great atmosphere.

I felt some of it was hard but never cheap, unlike say the original bionic commando.

D.

[Akumajo]

Wait "hard" wtf, it wasnt hard at all, just challenging and a bit strategic. Look i'm over 40, old yeah I know, my reactions won't be that of some punk 14 year old, and yet they find it hard.

Wtf all you had to do was select the right gear, use the shield and learn how to duck, oh and wear the right ring and eat different types of grass for health, it was really simple.

I had a great awe and wonder as I wondered about discovering the world of DS, as it really felt quite unique with a foreboding and great atmosphere.

I felt some of it was hard but never cheap, unlike say the original bionic commando.

D.

Indeed see you found out and informed yourself about this, the problem is on the gamemagazines, sites and gameforums a bunch of people just say, oh I got killed...too hard...I give up...its comparable to like what I was saying about arcade fighting days, some people would be like oh hell yeah I got a challenger I can learn from, but a good number would be giving up, of course when you watched them play they always spammed hadoukens and uppercuts.

its comparable to the early days of dreamcast online gaming, were playing some people who were losing the footbal game in the 3rd quater and they just shut off their console instead or like early days of halo, its some people with bad case of not being able to take losing well in a video game.

i always say that the first time you play any videogame, even after you read the instruction manual and even though you mastered any virtual simulation missions, once you go into the actual game, you either make a mistake, not pay attention and get killed thats it for you but a bunch of games encourage the bulletsponge phenomenom and checkpoint system making games way too easy.