Okay, the shipping delay explains a lot. I went into Best Buy last night and they had a spot for it and no copies. I thought, no way... I've never had a 360 game be completely sold out there opening day.

I'm playing on 360. Not sure about Toys R Us, but Gamestop got it in yesterday.

I'm playing on the PS3, got mine from Gamestop as well.

I know at least 2 Best Buys in my area that didn't have the game actually out on the shelf yesterday, just a blank spot. You had to go up to the cashier and let them know and they retrieved it from their cage up front. Not sure why they're doing it, but you may want to check it out.

I watched my roommate play this for about two hours last night.

Great atmosphere and graphics. Very fun game. It really is like Resident Evil in space. I probably won't end up playing myself (more into sports & sandbox games), but it's worthy of the praise it's getting. It's really freaky in parts.

= J

Exactly how bored were you to watch someone else play a video game for two hours?

I could see it with Dead Space honestly. It's extremely cinematic.

I don't know man, watching other people play a video game for longer than 5 minutes... no matter how "cinematic" a game is... is like watching flies fuck.

But maybe it's just me.

Well..it's probably not just you, but yeah....people have different ideas of entertainment. (Fly fucking notwithstanding of course.)

Goddammit!!! I had the fucking 360 version in my hands, but opted for the PS3 version instead, just because my PS3 doesn't get enough play - so of course this would happen - and I bet anything that if I were to get the 360 version, the exclusive shit would only be available on the PS3...

PS3 got an exclusive one too in last week's PSN update.

It's not just you. I'm totally into fly porn, too.

How dare you piss all over my righteous indignation!

Any official reviews out yet? DVDtalk?

I am on chapter 2. Trying to find time for this and SR 2. Next week they both get put aside for Fable II.

A bunch:

IGN

Gamespot

GameSpy

even CHUD, which has the best written review.

But they all agree that it's pretty great. Not looking forward to the back-tracking though...

I was playing pool in the same room.

And it is very cinematic.

= J

I'll say this on the back-tracking, if it continues to be how my last chapter was, then it's not really that bad. The game moves you by tram to various sections of the ship. So by backtracking they mean that while one stage is in the Medical Bay, a few chapters later you may have to revisit the Medical Bay for a different purpose. My experience has been that you're doing different things, and even going into different areas you didn't go the first time around.

When I first heard about the back-tracking stuff, I immediately got Metroid pains. This game doesn't abuse you like that. Think of the stages as trees. You start at the root and going through the stage is the branches. Later on, if you have to revisit a location you're already been to, you're delivered right back to the root again and go off on your new path. Which is quite different from having to retrace your steps.

For me thus far it's definitely seemed more like the same location being used for multiple purposes rather than actual "back-tracking".

I just started chapter 3 and I'm loving this game. It looks that great. It sounds awesome. 100'' screen and 7.1 surround makes it more amazing.

I just slept 5 hours last night because I couldn't stop playing this game. I'm still waiting for Fallout, LBP, GoW2, etc. but so far this is GOTY for me.

Or was it because you couldn't stop thinking about the Necromorphs?

what's the name of the little monsters? I hate those! I tried to kill them but they outnumbered me. So I just "froze" them and ran away.

I read in one of those reviews that the level design was pretty repetative. What's everyones feeling on that?

This hasn't been the issue for me. Almost every area has had a different look/feel to it, and I've done pretty different things in each one. I'm at the halfway mark, starting chapter 7, and I'm going into yet another totally new environment. I did have one chapter that had me returning to a previous location, but it wasn't the same deal exactly. (See post #43 for my take on the "back-tracking" I've experiences thus far in the game.)

100" screen HD and surround sound

I am playing this on a 27" TV (at least it's HD) with lowly stereo sound. How much does a 100" cost anyway, 10k?

So, this game is really good then? I remember watching the trailer and thinking it looked terrible.