panzerjedi games

E3 2009 Review Summary

2009-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Microsoft:

Project Natal seems like a neat idea. But the technology is unproven and how long will it take for 3rd party developers to make anything useful out of the accessory? Also, no price was given. Anything over $99 is not gonna fly, if you ask me.

I can't wait for Mass Effect 2.

Nintendo:

Another crappy, boring, pointless E3 keynote from Nintendo. Cammie Dunaway needs to go. Seriously. Anyway... Hey Nintendo - we get that you're trying to invent new ways for gamers to play. Now how about showing us freaking games? The time to talk is over. Put out.

Where are all the DSi games? Where's the new Zelda for Wii?

Metroid Other M may be interesting. Gonna have to wait and see how Team Ninja handles the license.

I'll stick to the tried and true games from Nintendo again. Mario Galaxy 2 & Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Sony:

Keynote went on forever and ever. PSP Go looks way too small for comfort. Analog nub still sucks and is in an even worse place now.

Don't care about Final Fantasy XIV. Try actually showing us FF XIII first.

God of War III looks like a safe sequel. Don't mess with what works I guess.

The Last Guardian looks cool. I want this game.

Multi platform:

I'll probably buy Metal Gear Solid Rising no matter what, but I would have liked to see something more than a teaser. Kojima, you jerk.

The new Castlevania looks cool too.

The Beatles Rock Band. OMG. Yes. Want. Now.

I have high hopes for Batman Dark Asylum, but the Batman franchise is known for very shitty games. Have to wait and see...

Please let this be true!

2009-05-17T01:16:00.001-07:00

Tatsunoko vs Capcom coming to North America? Yes please!

Want.

Dear Capcom

2009-04-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Please release Street Fighter II: 3rd Strike, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, and Vampire Savior 2 on Xbox Live Arcade and/or on PlayStation Network.

Thanks!

There's Something Wrong With Me

2009-03-27T01:49:00.000-07:00

I think there's something wrong with me. I'm happily playing Chrono Trigger and GTA Chinatown Wars on my Colbalt Blue Nintendo DS lite, but at the same time I'm finding myself wanting ANOTHER DS - the Nintendo DSi. What is this hold that Nintendo has over me where I MUST buy EVERY incarnation of their portable consoles (except the Virtual Boy)?

If this the same urge that Apple fans go through every 6 months or so with every new announcement? Eerily familiar...

Must... resist... save money. Aww fuck Black Matte DSi in cart. No! I must resist the urge - that is until Nintendo announces a must have DSi-only game.

Thanks Nintendo!

What the heck Microsoft?

2009-03-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

The Xbox360 design will never win awards of any kind (unless there's a reward for most unreliable video game console of all time) but why does Microsoft save the nice colors for their devkits?

Sure the hard drive enclosure looks ghastly, but it's a pretty color at the least. Even the pattern on the side does something to improve the visual appeal of standing the console vertically.

GG!!!

2009-03-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Twitter.com, I found a StarCraft twitter that links cool matches from Korea. The end result of all this watching StarCraft replays is that I need to get my StarCraft fix on.

Must play StarCraft...

What's the Point?

2009-02-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of friends that own an Xbox 360, but are afraid to buy games for it and use it out of the fear that it will "red ring" on them. I think they're a bit crazy, if it's gonna red ring, it's gonna red ring regardless how much you use it. Secondly, what's the point of owning the thing if you don't use it? You bought it to play games, didn't you?

Time-Exclusive Patches Suck!

2008-06-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Do you play Call of Duty 4 on the PC? Earlier this week, Nvidia was granted a 24 hour exclusive on the recent 1.6 patch for CoD4, which includes 4 new maps that the console players had to cough up money for. The reason conjured up was that Nvidia was sponsoring the new maps. Well, normally it wouldn't matter all that much because this being the age of the Internet and all, once something appears on the net everyone else will just grab it and distribute it on their site as well - nothing is truly exclusive.

So this is all well and good for your Call of Duty 4 players, right? Well, no. If you purchased the game digitally, you're fucked. Steam and Direct2Drive customers have to wait for their vendors to be allowed to release their versions of the patch. As of this writing, Steam still does not have the patch released.

Now, doesn't this really defeat the purpose of releasing the patch in the first place? Isn't the basic function of a patch to make a player's experience of the game better, not worse? Instead of playing a couple rounds of multiplayer with my buddies, all of whom have version 1.6, I'm stuck waiting around watching the time pass by while I'm not shooting virtual people in the face.

If sponsored patches are the way of the future, then I'd be very worried as a digital distribution customer. Why should I be forced to wait for something that everyone else gets immediately? Didn't I also pay hard earned money for the same game that retail buyers enjoy? I think I should be entitled to the same rights to a patch as they are.

Echochrome and a little Metal Gear Online

2008-04-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

I tried out the Echochrome demo that is available for download on PSN today. Needless to say, I am impressed with the concept of the game, but not so much with how the controls are set up. For those who don't know, Echochrome is a puzzle game based on the physics of impossible objects where the goal of each level is to guide a walking figure through the impossible object to collect its shadows. In a similar fashion to Super Monkey Ball, you don't control the figure but instead you rotate the stage (though it can be argued that you directly control the camera and not the stage).

As I said earlier, the concept for the game is quite original and intriguing. However I have to complain about the controls. You're given two ways to move the stage/camera - you can either just use the left analog stick for slow precise movements or hold the L1 button and use the Sixaxis/DualShock 3's motion sensing controls. To put it plainly, the motion based controls don't work at all and using the analog to move is painfully slow causing the player to continually pause the figure's movement so you can rotate the camera to where you want it to be. It would have been nice if they gave you an option to turn off motion based controls and map L1 to speed up the analog controls.

In any case, the Echochrome demo is worth checking out. I'm glad there are still developers out there trying something new.

I've been playing a lot of the Metal Gear Online beta since it's release on Friday. It basically feels the same as the MGS3 Subsistence release of MGO and there's not too much to say about it other than that the MGS4 engine looks gorgeous and I'm really enjoying playing MGO again. My only complaint would be that I've only been able to play Team Deathmatch. Once people start losing in TDM they leave the server before the other game types rotate in. I would really like to try out the Capture Missions and Base Missions before the beta ends. Most likely, though, I'll have to wait until MGS4 comes out.

Also, Mario Kart Wii comes out tomorrow. I've played a bit of the Japanese release and was quite impressed by how well the Wii Wheel felt with the game. Battle Mode online is gonna rock. I can't wait!

Quick Time Events In Games

2008-03-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I have never liked the notion of the quick time event in video games.

For those of you that do not know, a quick time event in a video game is a sequence in the game where you have to press a specific button, of which is normally displayed on screen, within a given amount of time. Press the correct button in time and you are allowed to advance; failure results in something bad.

To my knowledge, the quick time event (QTE) first appeared in the game Dragon's Lair, a widely popular title even to this day. I never understood the appeal to that game. It's QTEs had you guessing every step of the game since it didn't have any onscreen display of what button to press. More recent games like Shenmue, God of War, Drake's Fortune, and Heavenly Sword make use of the QTE in a less stricter fashion than Dragon's Lair - namely you don't instantly die when you press the wrong button.

Now, QTEs have never bothered me this much before but thanks to the efforts of the huge success that God of War was, QTEs are finding their way into more and more games. God of War itself had pretty relaxed QTEs, giving you enough time to understand that a QTE is happening and plenty of time to react accordingly. God of War also has the benefit of giving the player a reward of some sort for successful completion. Heavenly Sword, however, is a different story and the reason why I'm writing this post.

I felt that Heavenly Sword's QTEs were brutal and felt like they were tacked on to add some kind of depth to the gameplay. First, they didn't allow enough time for me to react after first popping up onscreen. Secondly, when you failed the QTE the punishment usually screwed me out of the time I just spent getting up to that QTE section. Namely, when you failed during a boss fight, the boss would regain their entire health bar. The whole damn bar! Now that's just wrong and needlessly frustrating. If this is the way that QTEs are gonna be in games, I'm just going to avoid any game that has them.

So to any developer out there that is thinking about putting quick time events in their game, please do it right. Don't make it so frustrating and punishing to the player. Make them fun and rewarding - not just to be there as a means to an end.

Finally, True HD

2008-02-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

Things do look better in 1080p. Mass Effect looks gorgeous.

My Games of the Year 2007

2007-12-29T22:09:00.000-08:00

2007 was an awesome year for gamers. Nearly every genre, save the fighting genre, had a title that could have made my Overall Game of the Year winner. Also, only the PS3 had no exclusive game worth playing this year - maybe 2008's Metal Gear Solid 4 can save the already dying platform.

Nintendo Wii Game of the Year:
Nintendo usually doesn't make it easy for its fans. Every year they release a handful of titles that are must haves. This year, however, was different. Metroid Prime 3 was good, but still remains in the shadow of the first Metroid Prime. And had Super Smash Bros. Brawl been released this year, it would have been a really tough choice. But ultimately, Nintendo EAD never disappoints, giving us a new way to think about how platformers can be played. Never has a platformer been this much fun since Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy is clearly the Wii's game of the year.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Game of the Year:
Unlike the Wii where months went by without a release worth buying, the Xbox 360 had maybe only 2-3 months out of the year where I could make that claim. Of course, most of these titles were multiplatform and don't count, in my opinion, leaving me with only two choices that really stand out: Halo 3 and Mass Effect. If you know me very well, you'd know that I'm not a big fan of the Halo series. I've always felt that it was just another shooter. I'm sure it did great things on teaching other developers on how the FPS genre should be played with a controller, but other than that it just didn't do it for me. Halo 3, however, gave us one thing I really enjoyed: 4-player campaign online co-op via Xbox LIVE. I don't care much for FPS multiplayer, as online gaming is just full of assholes. Giving them voice chat just makes it that much more unbearable. Anyway, my choice of Xbox 360 game of the year obviously goes to Mass Effect for its solid delivery of an epic that just oozes amazing attention to detail as well as a rich history to build a franchise on. Mass Effect, while short for an RPG (roughly 24 hours minimum), still manages to tell a great story that leaves you wanting more. I can guarantee that you won't be playing any other game at the same time you play Mass Effect.

Sony PlayStation 3 Game of the Year:
Sony's behemoth console has had yet another disappointing year. Still overpriced, even after they castrated the console of its PS2 backwards compatibility, and without a title worth mentioning in the same breath as Super Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, or even Halo 3, the PS3 is just not worth it. It doesn't help when exclusives like Lair and Heavenly Sword were overhyped and, especially in Lair's case, wound up hurting the console's image. But hey, at least we got some laughs out of them when Sony's executives attempted to cover up with their hilarious comments. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune looks to be its best game, but still strikes me as a fancied up Tomb Raider: Legend clone (which is ultimately a fancied up Prince of Persia: Sands of Time clone). I wouldn't spend $60 on it though.

Nintendo DS Game of the Year:
If there's any clear winner in terms of console sales, it's the Nintendo DS. No one is laughing at this console now as it has already outsold the PS2's total sales in Japan. Simply amazing. I don't even think Nintendo thought the NDS would be selling this well. In a way, I feel that the Nintendo DS is all about taking risks in design. The only title this year that really does that is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Many question whether it was the right thing to take the proven game play style of A Link to the Past and Minish Cap and turn it into an entirely touch-screen based style of game play. I think Phantom Hourglass turned out very well given the radical game play style. I especially enjoy being able to write on maps. However, I wish Nintendo had opted to give us the option to choose the tried and true dpad control scheme mixed with touch-screen controls.

Sony PlayStation Portable Game of the Year:
You have to give Sony credit as they totally refuse to admit defeat in the portable market. The PSP continues to try to be a thorn in the Nintendo DS's stylus but will always fall short. The notable titles this year are Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. MGS:PO and Castlevania were solid efforts by Konami as they both gave PSP owners to dust off their PSPs. Though I never felt the need to finish either title. It is however, very hard to resist not returning to Ivalice in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. FFT tells an awesome story of political and religious deceit and how Ivalice was saved by Ramza. It is one of the best strategy RPG games in the genre and its now available in portable form. If you don't have a PSP, go and find Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1 and play it on your PS2 or PS3. You won't be disappointed.

PC Game of the Year:
The PC also had a great year, much like the XBox 360. Well, it doesn't hurt that many of the great Xbox 360 titles, like BioShock, also appeared on the PC at the same time. Some like Gears of War took a while longer to appear, but eventually showed up with minor improvements. But in terms of enjoyability that can only be found on the PC, I would have to say that World in Conflict is the clear winner. Yes, World in Conflict is/may eventually find its way onto the Xbox 360, but I still have doubts on whether the RTS genre can be done right on the console and played with the controller. World in Conflict's game play was built for action. Gone are the tried and true RTS methods of resource gathering and tech trees. Instead, World in Conflict focuses on teamwork. It's really hard, if not impossible, to win a multiplayer game in World in Conflict by yourself. I haven't enjoyed an RTS game this much since StarCraft: Brood War.

Overall Game of the Year:
2007, as I have mentioned, was filled with awesome games. Many are fun to play alone and some are only fun when played with friends. It's really hard to choose one game that defines 2007's level of quality. BioShock should win solely on its story and its ability to draw the player into the creepiness of Rapture. It doesn't hurt that it also had solid game play. Guitar Hero 3 should win because of its ability to draw gamers into thinking they're an actual guitarist (and well, because it's freaking fun!). Rock Band should win because its just fun to pretend you're in a rock band, singer and all. And who doesn't like rocking out to good music with friends? (If you ask me, Guitar Hero 3's music selection is better overall.) Super Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect should win, well, because they're just that much fun to play.

In the end, I have to choose Mass Effect as my Overall Game of the Year 2007. These days it's hard for me to actually find the time to get to sit down and enjoy playing games. Mass Effect made me make the time to do this. Mass Effect tells an epic story that's just as grand, if not more so, than that of Star Wars and does all of this with fully spoken dialogue. It lets the player choose what kind of savior they want to be, allowing the player to really care about their actions in the Mass Effect universe. I can only hope that the sequels build upon this, as well as continue Commander Shepard's quest. If you only play one game from 2007, please let it be Mass Effect.

The Grass is Always Greener

2007-12-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've had a Macbook Pro for just about a month now and I'm willing to admit that yes, all those Apple freaks I've been making fun of all these years were right. Apple makes one damn fine computer. Mac OS X is truly an amazing piece of software engineering, as every little detail that you'd think they'd glance over was taken care of with care. Many times I've been doing something I'd normally do on Windows and it was made so much easier to do on Mac OS X.

Maybe I what I really want to say is that Mac OS X is a more efficient OS to use. I can see many aspects of Mac OS X that Microsoft has tried to copy in Windows XP and Windows Vista, but ultimately screwed up in some way or another. For example, Mac OS X has something similar to UAC on Vista. Yet somehow it doesn't seem as intrusive or annoying as it does on Vista. I don't really understand why that is, but it just is.

I never really thought I'd be recommending buying a Mac to anyone, but here I am telling everyone I know how great these machines are. My only real issue with the Mac platform is the continuing lack of options for gaming. Hopefully this will change with time. But if not, well, there's always the work machines or my Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, etc.

Probably the final question to answer is: would I buy another Mac in 5 years or so? Well, right now I'd say definitely but as we've all seen with me, anything can change.

That time of the year

2007-10-08T23:12:00.000-07:00

Roughly around the same time every year, I get into this mood where I must listen to The Beatles. I don't know why, but I just do. Maybe because their music helps to soothe my nerves and lighten my mood.

Hey Jude, in particular, is lifting my spirits at the moment.

Hey Jude written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey, Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better.

And any time you feel the pain, hey, Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
Well don't you know that its a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Hey, Jude! Don't let her down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember, to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey, Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you, hey, Jude,
You'll do, the movement you need is on your shoulder

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

It's been a while

2007-09-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to make a post here for a long time, but unable to do so due to various reasons such as work, moving to a new apartment, or just being unable to write about something interesting.

First and foremost, I'm really unhappy with my PS3 purchase. Sure, I'm glad that I got a PS3 with PS2 hardware built-in but I'm not even currently using it to play PS2 games. The most use that my PS3 gets is being the main DVD player in the apartment for myself and both of my new roommates. Other than this use, the PS3 is a dust magnet and won't see a PS3 game in its BluRay drive until March 2008. Thanks for supporting your system with quality games Sony. Thanks a lot.

I feel even more burned by my PS3 purchase with the recent announcement that Paramout and Dreamworks will no longer support BluRay for the foreseeable future. That basically means for me that there won't be a BluRay release for Transformers. =(

On the PC front, BioShock was impressive, but I think more for it's actual emphasis on story instead of mindless violence. We definitely need more games that emphasize on story. Having said that, gameplay is still what's important for a video game. A game can have the best story ever written and still suck if the game play isn't any fun. BioShock manages to get both done right, and I think everyone should experience the game if they have the chance.

Having said that, I'm also finding Stranglehold to be an enjoyable game. Sure the story is kinda cliché but sometimes a gamer just wants to stop thinking and just have some fun.

A game that I'm really really looking forward to is World in Conflict. I already had the chance to play through the single player campaign, which was a total blast mind you, and I'm eagerly awaiting the game's release date so I can play it online. I really like what Massive has done for this RTS. They took out all of the resource gathering and need for speeding through your tech tree to get the units you need. They also designed the UI in a minimalist way, allowing you to use your entire screen to view the battlefield. All I can say is that it's beautiful and that I wish other RTSes had this minimalist approach.

I'm finding it very hard to get back into playing Company of Heroes after playing World in Conflict. CoH just feels so slow in comparison - UI wise and gameplay wise. It irks me to say this... but I wish that StarCraft II would borrow WiC's UI enhancements for itself. I really feel that WiC's UI brings the player that much more into the game. I can't imagine being forced to go back to playing RTSes "the old way."

World in Conflict is a definite must play and will get my vote for game of the year.

My New Expensive Toy

2007-07-19T00:31:00.001-07:00

Set up the PlayStation 3 and the girlfriend says "It takes up too much space." The PS3 really is an eyesore and looks out of place.

Let's not forget how much heat the unit generates when simply idling. Always place the PS3 in a well ventilated area, preferably with a desk fan blowing cool air towards the unit. Well, I'm not sure if the last part is necessary - or even helps at all.

And what's up with downloaded games having to be installed? Isn't this a video game console, not a Windows PC? =\

I do like that the PS3 is relatively quiet compared to the Xbox 360. But that's about it so far. No games for my PS3 until Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out in 2008. Well, that is if you don't count PS2 games, of which there's plenty for me to play with upscaled graphics and smooth shading.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with smooth shading puts the Xbox 360 version to shame.

Just for Fun

2007-07-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

My blog getting a PG rating is quite an amazing feat in itself. I'm surprised with myself actually. Just wow. That's not like me at all...

Disgust

2007-07-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

I'm disgusted with myself. I caved in. I went against everything I said about not buying a PS3 for years. With the $100 price drop for the 60GB model plus the announcement that future models will not have the Emotion Engine chip, the urge to buy now was hard to overcome.

I went searching for the PS3 at local retailers, most of them already sold out by the time I got off work. Amazon.com turns out to have the best deal, given the fact that there's free shipping and no sales tax (at least for me).

So yeah, I will soon be the owner of a PS3, but without any games that I really want to buy until MGS4 comes out next year. On the plus side, I can start buying Blu-Ray movies.

Hurry up with Transformers and Spider-Man 3 on Blu-Ray disc!

WST Dinobots

2007-06-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

Some of my most favorite Transformers toys were the Dinobots. I mean, how could you go wrong with robots that transform into dinosaurs? I'm sorry, but it's impossible.

Grimlock was my favorite of the 5 Dinobots, and probably was the favorite of every other child as well. Sludge and Swoop were my next favorites with Snarl and Slag as my least favorites. I think Snarl and Slag are my least favorites due to their ugly transformations into robot mode. Snarl was way to top-heavy while Slag's tail just looked weird in robot mode. Oh well, their alternate modes still rocked.

Every time I played with my Transformers, the Dinobot had to have a key role that would lead my Autobots to victory. It was just the way it had to be.

Imagine how sad I was as a child when I broke Swoop. His fragile top beak broke off while I was having the dinobots reenact a scene from the TV show against Devastator. Oh yes, I remember that day dearly. T'was a sad day for all my Transformers, Autobot and Decepticon.

I never threw him away though, as I swore to one day repair my might Dinobot Swoop. To this day he lays in a box in my parent's garage with my other G1 toys.

To my dismay, Hasbro never re-released Swoop or most of the Dinobots for that matter when G2 came around in the early 90's. They re-released Grimlock and Slag for sure, but I can't remember if they also re-released Sludge or Snarl. What I am certain about is that they didn't re-release Swoop. Curses!

Maybe it was for the best since Hasbro did recolor most of the toys for G2. Grimlock wound up to be blue of all colors. =\

I recently purchased some new Dinobots, three of which you can see here. These aren't your normal sized Transformers however (nor are they officially licensed toys).

Over in Japan, Takara released a new line of Transformers called "World's Smallest Transformers" or WST. They released the staple Transformers such as Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream and various others. Sadly, Takara decided to stop making WST toys due to the lack of interest.

The WST Dinobots come from a company called JustItToys, a Hong Kong company that specializes in making 3rd party collectible Transformers toys and accessories. The quality of their products is just amazing.

JustItToys managed to shrink the Dinobots into a height of less than three inches! On top of that the Dinobots transform almost with 100% accuracy.

Snarl was the first one to be released by JustItToys, followed by Slag and then Grimlock. Grimlock is the only of the three with a 100% authentic transformation - Snarl and Slag require you to attach their hands separately for robot mode (originally, their hands were hidden inside their legs). Sludge and Swoop will be released later this year, hopefully with even better build quality.

I really enjoy these toys, particularly because of the nostalgia but especially after seeing and feeling the quality of the toys in hand. I can't wait to get my hands on Sludge and Swoop.

If you want to collect these toys, I purchased them from TFSource.com. The website is run by only one guy, but my toys were still shipped to me in two business days and with packaging that keeps the toys' safety in mind. Happy collecting!

Transformers toys

2007-06-19T23:23:00.001-07:00

Being in the Transformers mood that I've been in lately (all thanks to the upcoming movie) I went and bought a couple of the movie toys, namely Leader Class Optimus Prime, Voyager Class Starscream, and the Target exclusive Robo-vision Optimus Prime.

I'm really impressed by the quality of these toys. They have a lot of fine details that the old Transformers toys didn't have. Additionally, the Leader Class Optimus Prime has rubber tires (something that the Transformers toys of recent years have neglected).

I'm most impressed by Starscream. When I first saw the toy, I hated the design because I thought that it made him look top heavy and bulky. Not something I normally think of when I think of a F22 Raptor or a fighter jet in general. After buying the toy (I had to, it's freaking Starscream) I was instantly amazed how well designed the toy was. The transformation is very nicely done and goes very smoothly.

The transformation for Leader Class Optimus isn't as nice as I feel it should be. I think it's over-complicated for a kids toy. Sure, it is rated as one of the more difficult toys to transform, but I still think it's too complicated. Regardless, both the robot and truck forms are impressive.

I'd like to get a Megatron toy, but I don't like the look of the Leader Class version. Hopefully the Voyager Class Megatron will be better.

Less than two weeks until the movie premieres in the US. I can't wait!

Online Fun

2007-04-17T01:10:00.000-07:00

I recently got the chance to play Gears of War co-op via Xbox Live and I am very happy with the experience. Online play like this allows me to have a chance to play video games with my long-time friends up north in San Francisco.

I miss the good old days when I didn't have to worry that much about work and whatnot. I could just hang out with my friends and play video games all day. Those days are gone now, especially now when I'm living in So. Cal., and I miss having the chance to play the latest games with the guys. (I've known these guys for most of my life!)

Anyway, I wish there were more games that offered the option for online co-op. I'm glad there's plenty of competitive online gaming, but I'm usually getting my ass kicked. Sure, winning isn't everything, but last place all the time gets tiring after a while. (I want to play games online, not watch them!)

I also wish that Nintendo would hurry up and let developers get their hands on the Nintendo WiFi middleware. The earlier they have the toolsets, the sooner we'll have online gaming on the Wii.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl had better learn from other fighting games' online experiences. I don't want some crappy half-assed online modes.

Finally, Megatron!

2007-04-08T02:08:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to get my hands on the original Megatron toy for several years now. Heck, it could be at least 10 years I've been looking for a reasonable price on an unopened box.

It's been a while since I've checked eBay prices on Megatron but last time I did, the toy was hovering at around $50-100 for the varying degrees of loose-unboxed to opened-box qualities. Unacceptable to a TransFormer fan and collector like me (at least in my opinion).

So when I found out that the Masterpiece version of Megatron was going to be released, I immediately asked "how much?". Thankfully, it's not costing an insane amount but it's still pricey. BBTS has the toy for $99.99 + shipping, or roughly $110 to import from Japan. BBTS also has to modify the toy so it conforms to US law regarding toy gun-replicas. Minor downside, but I'm just to thrilled to finally being able to have a toy Megatron in his intended transformation. None of that tank crap that he's been reduced to in recent years (or whatever horror he's going to be in the TransFormers movie).

Hurry up and ship that toy to me! =D

Video Games Live Review

2007-03-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm late with my personal take on the Video Games Live experience. It's been really busy at work.

First off, the hands down best part of this Video Games Live was Koji Kondo's appearance in person. Everything else at the concert paled in comparison. I would have loved it if he performed more than the Mario theme on piano, namely the Legend of Zelda theme.

This brings me to my biggest gripe about the VGL. While it's not VGL's fault and more fault of the audience (and American culture), I found it very difficult to hear the music itself due to the cheering throughout the pieces. Yeah, I'm sure you're totally stoked about hearing music from popular games but wouldn't it be nice (not to mention respectful to others in attendance) to keep quiet and hear the music that is to be enjoyed? It's not that hard really. Clapping and cheering after the piece is done is fine (though aren't you supposed to wait until the end of the entire concert to applaud?).

With that said, let's move on to the music itself. (I won't go piece by piece or in order of appearance, just the stuff that stood out.)

The VGL started off with two pieces that can be found on IGN Insider in HD quality (click on links for low quality versions), the classic games medley and the theme from Metal Gear Solid 2. They were both very nice, but it was nothing new to me thanks to seeing them on IGN Insider. The MGS piece stands out solely because of Tallarico creeping onto the stage in a box while the genome solider is on alert mode. Funny stuff.

Koji Kondo is invited on stage to introduce the VGL's rendition of the Mario Bros. theme.

Lucasarts' old audio team is formed on stage to play some of their classic themes.

Martin Leung, The Video Game Pianist, came out to play his Final Fantasy medley and various Mario music. This guy has talent. I think it'd be nice to see him play his own scores, if any, someday.

Another very talented musican, VertexGuy, comes out to play the Contra theme. His solo performance was one of the highlights of the night. (I was sitting next to the guy that made this recording.) Kudos.

A very well performed piece was that of the Civilization IV main theme. Another highlight of the evening.

Tallarico also exposed the audience to his work for Advent Rising. Apparently it was rewritten to be an opera. It was very well done, but the music itself was not very memorable. I only remember this piece because my friend said "what the fuck was that crap?"

The Legend of Zelda theme was played, but I would have much rather heard it being performed by Koji Kondo himself.

There were several pieces on SquareEnix titles, FF8's Liberti Fatali, the Kingdom Hearts theme, and FF7's One Winged Angel. For reasons unknown, SquareEnix didn't allow the VGL to show video from the games. For Kingdom Hearts, clips from Disney movies were shown. It's a scary day when Disney allows rights and when SquareEnix does not. It could have been a technical glitch or something, but the chorus could not be heard at all. This made the piece suck, as the chorus is the main focus of Liberti Fatali.

The concert ended with One Winged Angel. The group of guys in front of me were begging for this music piece to show up all night. Once it did, they were very into it. Now I don't know why One Winged Angel is so popular. Is it just because it's attached to the game that many people consider the best RPG of all time? (FF7 is not the best RPG of all time nor is it anywhere close, but that's for another post.) I personally think there's far better music to play to end the concert. Another problem with this piece was that Tallarico and VertexGuy both came out to play it. The problem isn't that they came out - it was that they couldn't be heard at all.

One Winged Angel ended the concert in a very unsatisfying way.

The last piece that I'd like to mention is the Halo theme. I believe that the VGL faked a bit on this one, as the chorus and synth music was being played off a synthesizer and not being performed live. (Some of the chorus didn't even look like they were singing.) I'm sure they'd dispute my claim, but I know what I heard, and it sounded too close to the original score to be performed live. I'd be disappointed but I'm one of those people that can't understand why Halo fans are, well, Halo fans.

Overall, I'd have to say that my VGL experience was enjoyable, but not worth the $77 priced I paid. Sure there's music that I would have preferred to hear, but that's my preference and they're just trying to appeal to the masses. It'd be nice to see the VGL perform pieces that are not main themes from popular games, but rather selective tracks from a game with good music.

(For another blogger's take on the VGL concert, read this article.)

Colossal Squid

2007-02-27T23:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since I learned about their existence, I've been fascinated by giant and colossal squid. I'm not intrigued by the tales of the Kraken but just interested in learning more about how they grow to become that size and just what the hell they do their whole lives.

In fact, I remember i wanted to go for marine biology as my major because of my fascination over these squid. I guess my dislike of swimming overcame that real easy.

I still enjoy learning about these animals and I watch and read everything that I can. So when I read news about a complete colossal squid being caught, I just get totally re-energized about the animal all over again.

It's really cool stuff and makes one wonder what else lies in the depths of Earth's oceans.

IE sucks

2007-02-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

Apparently this blog isn't happy when you use IE. =\

I'm lazy and IE users should be using Firefox instead.

Go get Firefox.