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Sorry guys, you won't be getting a Top Games of 2015 list from me. For one, I don't own a current generation console to play games released this year on, and secondly, my list of my favorite games I played it 2015 will be available early next year when you listen to the RF Generation Playcast (http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/) .....shameless plug!! Instead, I'll be focusing on a topic that has baffled and frustrated me (and probably you) for years and that is, "What import games can I play on my North American consoles without having to import systems?" I certainly won't be able to cover every system, but I'll try to cover the more well-known and most-owned consoles. I understand that some imported games can be burned or pirated for play on North American systems; however, since this method is frowned upon by a large majority of the community, I will not be covering or suggesting this method for any system here. I hope many of you will find this article useful and please think of it and my research as my holiday gift to you!
**DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that I have not tried several of these methods myself and that the great majority of the information that I have assembled here has been compiled through research. I have verified as much of the information as possible, but some of it may be incorrect. If you find that something is incorrect, please send me a PM and I can verify and edit this post. Thank you!**
Continue reading Is it Region-Locked or Region-Free?
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Good thing it told me. Source: Jeremysaid.com
Let's be honest here for a minute. You WHAT? I'm... sorry, I think I have to call the police.
Er, let's start over. If we're truly honest about it, people tend to be pretty picky, and that includes gamers being picky about their games. And that's fine! After all, we're dedicating our most valuable resource; time, and usually at least some of our income toward a leisure activity. It only makes sense that we are discerning about how and what we play, and cater our playtime to match our preferences, as we do most other things.
Continue reading Good Thing My Bias is the Right One
I have almost given up on blogging or even commenting on here because I feel my words come out sounding like something my 12 year old brother would type. That being said, sometimes I read something on here and wonder how it is possible that my thoughts are typed in a way that sounds so much better than what I would type. A blog I saw today is one of those times.
My point of view on the next generation has come down to my past, The Wii U will be my next console for the exclusives as I am tired not only of the nitpicking and mud-slinging, but of one of the corporations as well. Microsoft as well as "Cliffy B" (Cliff Blezinski of Gears of War fame) are taking this "Piracy" of console gaming too far. When Microsoft announced they would require online only gaming and prevent my from sharing games with my friends and family, (as well as other reasons), I decided to go elsewhere for my future. Even though they changed their stance, I chose to return to my roots, Nintendo.
I miss the Mario and Zelda franchises, and gaming in groups in one building instead of online. This brings me to my next topic, multiplayer next-gen gaming.
I have played many multi-player games with my brother and our friends over the years. In middle school, it was mostly Super Smash Bros., Mario Party, and Goldeneye 007; in high school, it was Timesplitters 2, Soul Caliber 2, Halo (first and only time I system linked, and it was with four consoles for 16 players), and Super Smash Bros. Melee; in college, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Halo 3 split-screen, and Mario Kart (multiple systems).
With that said, I also spent a great deal of time on two player experiences with my bro, namely Kirby Super Star, TMNT 2, 3, and 4, (Beat 3 with 1 pellet of life left between us and no continues remaining), and the Donkey Kong Country series; as well as some current gen multiplayer as we are living in different states. Dead Rising 2, Army of Two, and Resident Evil 5.
So where does that take us? To the Wii U. I have been missing the old days of single console play and nintendo's first party releases so far are more than enough to satisfy that...with my younger brothers in their teens and my son getting older, it is time to really get back into one room.
What multiplayer experiences defined your childhood? Do you prefer the Call of duty-like multiplayer of today over the old school? What would you like to see from the future in regards to multiplayer?
To put this in the simplest of terms, the way the title of this article can happen is if either or both of these hardware manufacturers do one thing, charge the gaming public to activate used games. The news releases of EA ending their online pass program is just the first reason why trying to extort extra money just for buying a game that's already been played will not work. For those of you that have not yet read about EA ending a much maligned policy of theirs their reasoning is as follows "Many players didnt respond to the format. We've listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward." This translates from business speak to layman's English as 'We were not making a profit.'
Take heed Sony and/or Microsoft. If the 2nd largest 3rd party publisher has already tried and abandoned the tactics that you may well be on the cusp of unveiling to the public then your system is doomed from the start. It is one thing to have individual games lock content up behind a pay wall, but an entire system? The incredible poostorm that has surrounded EA and other companies using online passes to access their multiplayer components after a copy has moved from the 'new' to 'used' bin will be incredibly miniscule compared to having a paywall thrown up blocking me and other gamers from playing a single player game, let alone multiplayer.
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Please be smarter than the Discworld Dibblers.
I know I'm only one person and this is anecdotal evidence but I spend almost 90% of my purchasing power on used games and almost never buy a game at launch. When I do it is something I have eagerly been waiting for months to come out and hone in on my targets with the precision of a falcon. I do not pre-order something if I have any shred of doubt that the game might not be good, hence I tend to stick with only a few series which see sporadic releases. Most of the used games I buy are in the $5-10 region and I'm perfectly fine waiting 1 or 2 years for the price to get there. So if either Sony or MS want to charge me an extra $5 to activate a used game and essentially double my investment, they will lose 100% of my business.
No hardware, no pre-orders, no software, no collector's editions, no used games, nothing, nada, zilch.
I will say this once, do not forget it. Your customers are your backbone, defy them and you lose them. Your publishers are greedy snobs, listen to them and you defy your consumers. If these rumors end up being confirmed I will happily go out and buy a brand new Wii U and 4-5 brand new games just to support more level headed and less obvious cash grabby, greedy business tactics. I don't care how weak the hardware is compared to the PS4 or possible NextBox specs, and I know Nintendo is far from perfect. That said, they will have 100% of my gaming budget if Sony and/or Microsoft is really this stupid.
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Now here's another scenario, only one of the two unlaunched systems will have a used game activation fee and 'feature'. Given how close the sales are between 360 and PS3, this is just asking to get completely reamed in the backside through marketing techniques. What was once a close race turns into a landslide victory. I can see it now, "No fees just to play," "We don't charge a disc insertion fee," etc. etc. Millions of potential system sales are at stake here, and those millions of systems can support hundreds of millions of software sales. We're talking billions and billions of dollars at stake here, trillions of yen, you will not Cut-Your-Own-Throat will you?
The X-box brand turns 10 today! Hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Microsoft made the plunge into the video game console market (competing with the Playstation 2 and the Dreamcast at the time). Thank you Microsoft for 10 great years of the X-box - here's to 10 more!
 OH GOD! SOUND THE FANBOY ALARMS! Insomniac Games, longtime developer of exclusive Sony properties like Spyro (before it got sold to Universal), Ratchet and Clank, and Resistance have sold their souls to the devil! They are teaming up with EA Partners and making a new IP that will appear on PS3 and 360! This is the first time Insomniac has made a game for anything other than a Sony platform, and Sony fanboys are going absolutely apeshit with negativity over the announcement. "RATCHET AND RESISTANCE ARE GOING TO EA! THEY SOLD THEMSELVES OUT TO THE DEVIL! THE WORLD'S ENDING! HAVING A GAME ON ANOTHER SYSTEM ONLY SPELLS DOOM!" hahaha no.
Insomniac has been never owned by anyone. They're independent and will remain so, but they still have strong ties to Sony. Sony still owns the big franchises, AND Insomniac is going to be doing further games in those series exclusively for Sony. As Insomniac's CEO Ted Price said, they will continue working on games with Sony. It's just this new IP that's going to be done with EA that will be on 360. However, some Sony fans can't really understand that and throwing huge fits about it. They just see the words "Insomniac making a 360 game" and go into instarage mode.
no see you just took a huge shit on sony so no-one who has a ps3 will like you no excuses sell outs You money grabbing tossers. Im telling you now, if Ratchet and Clank standards continue to slip, and us PS3 owners get a WORSE game to conform to XBOX mechanics, i will never buy another Insomniac Game again. i just wanted to say !!WHAT THE F***!! joining with EA that's one of the dumbest shit i ever heard in my gaming history. EA is going to f*** you over so bad i can't wait to see your faces and what you guys have to say. GOOD LUCK. the only thing that doesn't bother me is at least it's not with Activision and that it's going multiplatform. you guys just lost alot of fans and respect for going multi!!! you aren't getting any money from me anymore jackass and trust me LOYALTY and RESPECT goes along way so f*** you Insomniac games! Couldn't care less right now. I feel like your any other game studio out there and it's all about the $$$. I will never buy an insomniac game ever again and I own every single one you have ever made. Congrates, your fan base that you have built on for over a decade is now gone and all the respect with it, have fun with those 360 fanboys
This deal is kinda unique though. As Kotaku said, there's never been a situation like this before. It's not really like Rare because Rare was owned by Nintendo then got sold to MS. Not really like Bungie because they still appear to be loyal to Sony and are willing to work on the franchises that made them a big name in the first place. It's not like Square because they aren't leaving one company to go to another (like they did with Nintendo to Sony). Not like Factor 5 or Sega either. It's a pretty unique deal and I'm excited to see what comes of it.
I wish the best of luck to Insomniac with their new IP, and hope it's a huge hit. They really deserve it. In the meantime, let's just laugh at all the fanboy hilarity that this move has generated.
In conclusion:
Stupid decision Insomniac, Hope your new project fails!!!
I have added a new console, and bought quite a few new games. I just thought I would jazz this up a bit more.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
2. Super Mario 64 (N64)
3. Resident Evil 2 (N64)
4. Star Fox 64 (N64)
5. Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
6. Beetle Adventure Racing (N64)
7. Banjo Tooie (N64)
8. Duke Nukem 64 (N64)
9. F-Zero X (N64)
10. Super Smash Bros (N64)
11. Excitebike 64 (N64)
12. Mario Kart 64 (N64)
13. Wave Race 64 (N64)
14. Goldeneye 007 (N64)
15. Jet Force Gemini
16. Max Payne (PS2)
17. God of War II (PS2)
18. God of War (PS2)
19. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (PS2)
20. Driver 3 (PS2)
21. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PS2)
22. Twisted Metal Black (PS2)
23. Final Fantasy X (PS2)
24. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006 (PS2)
25. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2)
26. Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
27. True Crime: New York City (PS2)
28. Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2)
29. Medal of Honor: European Assault (PS2)
30. StarTropics (NES)
31. Excitebike (NES)
32. Mega Man 4 (NES)
33. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
34. The Legend of Zelda (NES)
35. Metroid (NES)
36. Kid Icarus (NES)
37. Dr. Mario (NES)
38. Tetris (NES)
39. Air Fortress (NES)
40. NES Open Tournament Golf (NES)
41. Yoshi (NES)
42. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)
43. Pro Wrestling (NES)
44. Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt (NES)
45. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (GB)
46. Super Mario Land (GB)
47. Game & Watch Gallery (GB)
48. James Bond 007 (GB)
49. Centipede (GB)
50. F-1 Race (GB)
51. Tetris (GB)
52. The Castlevania Adventure (GB)
53. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (GB)
54. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB)
55. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (GBC)
56. Pokemon Pinball (GBC)
57. Shadowgate Classic (GBC)
58. Donkey Kong Country (GBC)
59. Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors (GBC)
60. Super Mario Bros Deluxe (GBC)
61. Mario Tennis (GBC)
62. Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion (GBC)
63. Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare (GBC)
64. Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC)
65. Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen (GBA)
66. Grand Theft Auto Advance (GBA)
67. Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls (GBA)
68. Driver 3 (GBA)
69. Max Payne (GBA)
70. Tekken Advance (GBA)
71. Pokemon Ruby/Emerald (GBA)
72. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
73. Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis (GBA)
74. Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World (GBA)
75. WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role (PS1)
76. Twisted Metal 2 (PS1)
77. Twisted Metal 4 (PS1)
78. Cool Boarders 4 (PS1)
79. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (PS1)
80. Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft (PS1)
81. Army Men: Sarge's Heroes (PS1)
82. Pipe Dreams 3D (PS1)
83. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX (PS1)
84. Army Men: Air Attack (PS1)
85. Broken Sword: The Shadow of The Templars (PS1)
86. Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
87. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (GCN)
88. Gun (GCN)
89. Star Fox Adventures (GCN)
90. NBA Courtside 2002 (GCN)
91. Sonic Gems Collection (GCN)
92. WWE Day of Reckoning 2 (GCN)
93. Soul Calibur II (GCN)
94. Killer 7 (GCN)
95. Chibi-Robo (GCN)
96. Ikaruga (GCN)
97. Mortal Kombat: Deception (GCN)
98. Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem (GCN)
99. Animal Crossing (GCN)
100. Super Mario World (SNES)
101. Mortal Kombat (SNES)
102. Mortal Kombat II (SNES)
103. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
104. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES)
105. Star Fox (SNES)
106. Super Mario Kart (SNES)
107. Star Fox Command (DS)
108. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
109. Mario Kart DS (DS)
110. New Super Mario Bros (DS)
111. Final Fantasy IV (DS)
112. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
113. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
114. Brothers In Arms DS (DS)
115. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Horglass (DS)
116. Tetris DS (DS)
117. Metroid Prime Hunters (DS)
118. Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles (DS)
119. Dragon Quest V: Hand of The Heavenly Bride (DS)
120. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
121. Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii)
122. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
123. Call of Duty: World at War (Wii)
124. Manhunt 2 (Wii)
125. Red Steel (Wii)
126. Excite Truck (Wii)
127. NHL 2K9 (Wii)
128. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii)
129. Sonic and The Secret Rings (Wii)
130. No More Heroes (Wii)
131. The House of The Dead 2&3 Return (Wii)
132. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
133. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
134. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii)
135. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as A King (WW)
136. Onslaught (WW)
137. Dr.Mario Online RX (WW)
138. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (WW)
139. Mega Man 9 (WW)
140. World of Goo (WW)
141. Lit (WW)
142. Doom 3 (XB)
143. ESPN NHL 2K5 (XB)
144. Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (XB)
145. NHL 2003 (XB)
146. Black (XB)
147. Second Sight (XB)
148. Halo: Combat Evolved (XB)
149. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (XB)
150. Project Gotham Racing (XB)
The time is upon us once again, today E3 kicks off with Microsoft's press conference in less than an hour. This year's E3 is supposed to be bigger and badder than the last couple of years, as the ESA tries to recapture some of the show's glory from years past. Over the next few days I'll be bringing you lists of new software announcements, hardware announcements, updated release dates and my thoughts on the press briefings of, at least, the big three. For now, here is a list I'm working on of the games that have been annouced over the weekend and so far today. I'll be updating this as the day goes on and will likely have it posted to the main page after Ubisoft's press briefing this afternoon.
Edit: Updated with announcements from MS Press Briefing.
Continue reading E3 '09: Pre-Show and Day One Announcments
Welcome to ask-a-blog, where I ask you! The reader! To answer a question posed in the blog. Today's questions comes from a bout of playing Katamari Damacy: What is the most trippy game you have ever played? Make sure to tell us what console the game is on, as well as what makes it so trip inducing. Is it the gameplay, music, visuals, or something else? Tell us all about it!
For me, the award for the trippiest game goes easily to Katamari Damacy on the PS2, pictured on the right. If you have played this game, you know what I am talking about. if you haven't, here's a little summary. You are the son of the King of All Cosmos. The king, your father, has accidentally made all of the stars go away, so he commissions you to roll "Katamari", and help bring the stars back. The Katamari is formed by rolling a ball into things that are smaller than it. This makes the smaller things stick to it. You can pick up anything. ANYTHING. People, cars, buildings, islands, towns, boats. The possibilities are endless. The game is quite short, but it has a high replay value. It is also highly trip inducing, and the music is even weirder. Man is that game odd. I recomend it to anyone wishing to have lots of fun playing a quirky type of game.
So, what do you feel the trippiest game is? Be it a shoot em up, a puzzle game, or a platformer, we want to hear about it! Let's see those comments! 
With the recent announcement that Patapon 2 for PSP will be available only via download (Ars Technica), I began wondering how that will affect my future in gaming. At first glance, it seems like this is the new trend. I have seen speculation that disc-based games appear to be on their way out with the popularity of Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Nintendo's WiiShop and new DSi App Store, and Sony's PlayStation Store.
I am just a little skeptical though. As games continue to grow in size, acquiring a game via download will become a chore for those of us living in the US. The majority of us that do have access to broadband cannot get much higher than 6-8Mbps connections unless we pay a large premium for it. Couple that with Time Warner's announcement of a wide-spread deployment of "bandwidth tiers" and we are quickly going to be paying for more than just the game. At 5.5GB for an HD movie, you are already over the lowest tier, not even taking into account your normal Internet usage. Plus, even with a speed of 8Mbps (1MBps) maxed out the entire time, you are looking at 94 minutes to download. As you all know, that perfect scenario never plays out, so you are probably looking at 2.5-3 hours minimum to watch a 90-minute movie in HD with 2.1(!) audio. Imagine downloading a game that is 10, 20, 30+GB, then waiting for the install, then the patch, etc.
I do think that handhelds are in line for it. Due to their portable nature and the cost of an SD card, you can easily hold a bunch of small games/apps so you don't have to swap. But I have to believe that, for now, the disc is going to be the preferred method of console distribution.
Just something fun I thought I'd try out to add some depth to my top 100 list.
NES:
1. Mega Man 3
2. Mega Man 2
3. Adventures of Lolo
4. Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers
5. Super Mario Bros. 2
6. Totally Rad
7. Bubble Bobble
8. Contra
9. Dr. Mario
10. Duck Tales
SNES:
1. Super Punch Out!!
2. Street Fighter 2 Turbo
3. Super Mario RPG
4. Maximum Carnage
5. Mega Man X2
6. Mega Man X3
7. Mega Man X
8. Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
9. TMNT IV
10. Killer Instinct
N64:
1. Mario Golf
2. Mario Kart 64
3. Resident Evil 2
4. Super Smash Bros.
5. Star Wars Rouge Squardon
6. Mario Party
7. Iggy's Wreckin Balls
8. Zelda Marjora's Mask
9. Hybrid Heaven
10. 1080 Snowboarding
Gamecube:
1. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
2. Resident Evil
3. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
4. Resident Evil: Code Veronica
5. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis
6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
7. Beyond Good & Evil
8. Resident Evil 0
9. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance
10. Chaos Field
Wii:
1. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
2. Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles
3. Super Paper Mario
4. Zack & Wiki
5. Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
6. Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
7. Sonic and the Secret Rings
8. Super Mario Galaxy
9. Link's Crossbow Training
10. House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return
DS:
1. Lost Magic
2. Trace Memory
3. Yoshi's Island DS
4. Contact
5. Mario & Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
6. Pokemon Pearl
7. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
8. Elite Beat Agents
9. Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
10. Crosswords DS
Genesis:
1. Sonic 2
2. Earthworm Jim
3. Earthworm Jim 2
4. Streets of Rage
5. Sonic
6. Sonic & Knuckles
7. Castlevania Bloodlines
8. Maximum Carnage
9. Gunstar Heroes
10. Golden Axe
Playstation:
1. Final Fantasy IX
2. Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
3. Marvel Vs. Capcom
4. Legend of Dragoon
5. Castlevania Symphony of the Night
6. Xenogears
7. Worms Armageddon
8. Twisted Metal 2
9. Resident Evil
10. Resident Evil 2
Playstation 2:
1. Castlevania Lament of Innocence
2. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2
3. Xenosaga
4. Xenosaga 2
5. Xenosaga 3
6. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
7. Raiden III
8. Shadow of the Colussus
9. Resident Evil Outbreak
10. ICO
Xbox:
1. Jade Empire
2. Call of Cthulhu
3. Guilty Gear X2
Virtual Boy:
1. Vertical Force
2. Warioland
3. Mario Tennis
4. Galactic Pinball
5. Kemco Baseball
Dreamcast:
1. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
2. Resident Evil Code Veronica
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
5. Soul Calibur
6. Sonic Adventure
By the end of the year I should be able to get both the Dreamcast and Saturn to a solid ten titles, but right now I've only had very short experiences with the systems and not a lot of titles I would consider as "must have" titles. The Virtual Boy may even see a couple titles added if I'm lucky. Unfortanutely for the Xbox though it'll probably sit at a measley 3 titles unless something really surprises me.
There's a reason why I haven't done this in three weeks, you'll see why. Here's the release list for the last three weeks.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | • Lord of the Rings: Conquest | • Lord of the Rings: Conquest | • Deal Or No Deal
• Fishing Master World Tour
• Hotel for Dogs
• Neighborhood Games
• Paws and Claws Pet Resort | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | NOTHING
PC
• Cartoon Network Universe: Fusion Fall
• Delta Force 10th Anniversary Collection
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Mirror's Edge | • Bigfoot: Collision Course
• Elebits: The Adventures of Kai & Zero
• Hotel for Dogs
• Inkheart
• Jumble Madness
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Moon
• Paws and Claws Pampered Pets
• Personal Trainer: Math | NOTHING |
 Very exciting for not doing it in such a long time, I know. First thing worth mentioning is Mirror's Edge on the PC. If you have a good gaming PC and haven't experienced the game yet, please do so. Mirror's Edge is easily one of the five best games of last year. Yeah, the game is technically "short", but it never feels short. The pacing and length feels perfect. After you beat the game, there's plenty more to do, such as speedruns on all the game's levels and trying to beat your friend's scores on the online leaderboards. Please, don't skip this game. Give EA your support by buying the game. Let them know that they are truly headed down the right direction with innovative, original titles like Mirror's Edge.
The other title worth talking about is Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero for the DS. In case you don't know, I'm like one of two people that actually bought and enjoyed the first Elebits game on the Wii, so I was intrigued when I heard there was a DS version coming. A few weeks ago, I downloaded the demo to my DS from the Nintendo Channel on the Wii and played through it. I thought it was pretty fun, but repetitive and nowhere near as good as the original. What's different about the DS version is that it's structured more like an RPG/Adventure rather than a puzzle game. I'm not really sure what else to say about it. It's merely a decent game that's kinda fun. I certainly wouldn't rush out and buy it right now, but maybe when it hits $10 or so in a few months.
Check back very soon for this week's releases!
Random Review: Dead Rising
My last review was a Famicom game, this one is 20 years newer and a totally different experience, but still a blast. Dead Rising was released August 8th 2006 for the Xbox 360 and at the time, was an exclusive for that system. It has since been announced that it will be coming to the Wii as "Dead Rising: Chop 'til You Drop". This game is huge and as my reviewing skills are not top notch yet, I probably will be excluding portions, but I'm trying more for a overall experience review anyway.
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The Plot:
The plot of the game is essentially: you (an independent photojournalist, Frank West) come to a small isolated town via helicopter and after the US military forces your pilot to drop you off on the roof of the mall, you soon realize the town is infested with zombies. All you know is that you want to cover the story and the helicopter will return in 3 days. Through the game, you will uncover the mystery of the zombie outbreak if you do everything correctly, but if you don't finish a mission in time, the facts will be lost to you (and the rest of the world) forever. But, you can still finish the game and get a sub-par ending that inevitably ends in the destruction of the world. In addition to the regular missions, you can embark on numerous "side quests" rescuing survivors and killing psychopaths.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is simple; finish the missions and kill as many of the seemingly infinite zombies as you can before your 72 hours is up. But, there are a few aspects of the game that make it unique. The first is the RPG elements the game uses. As you gain "Prestige Points" in the game (by killing zombies, taking photos, killing psychopaths, rescuing survivors, or the other numerous ways) you gain abilities like increased health capacity, increased storage capacity and new fighting moves. These gained abilities are kept once you finish the game and start again, so you can go through the 72 hour mode as many times as you need to get the abilities to finish with the best ending.
The second feature that sets Dead Rising apart, is the weapons. Of course, there is the standard handgun, rifle and shotgun of any good zombie game, but there are also items like Molotov cocktails, katanas, swords and battle axes. But, that's not all, basically anything you can pick up is a weapon, whether it's a trash can, potted plant, 2' x 4', lead pipe or one of the other 250 items in the mall. Using everyday items to kill zombies is a blast, there's nothing like slicing a zombie down the middle with one fell swoop of your Katana or using a hole digger to skewer and zombie and use his spinning body to kill more zombies. This is definitely the best part of the game for me, on my first playthrough I didn't bother with the missions, I was having too much fun slamming faucets into zombies and watching them bleed out through it and cutting up hoards of them with chainsaws and lawn mowers.
[img align=left]http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/watermark.php?type=bf;ID=E-115-S-00180-A&sizex=200[/img]
Sound and Graphics:
The sound effects of the game are top notch. Zombies groans and moans seem to be all around you and the screams of distant survivors make it seem more real. The weapons all have their own sounds and they all sound pretty realistic.
This was my first Xbox 360 game, so the graphics blew me away at first, but after playing more games on the system, the graphics are pretty standard. Nothing super awesome, but everything is smooth and I didn't notice any kind of glitches in the game. There are numerous zombies which is nice (especially if you compare it to a game like RE4 where it seems there are only 5 different "zombies") and at first you may think they are all unique, but after a few hours into the game you'll start recognizing zombies by their appearance.
In conclusion, this is a very, very fun game and is definitely worth a pick up. I got my copy for $20 and it was well worth it. For me, it got a little boring and redundant after my 2nd playthrough, but I can see myself coming back to the game after a while.
I'm giving this game a 95% as it really is worth the money and if you've got a 360, you really do need this game. It's not a game you'll devote your life to playing, but it's good for many hours of play time.
I'm not dead, I just took a week off to do my final exams and stuff like that. Plus, this time of year is dead anyways, so I figured it could wait. So, here's what came out last week and what's out this week.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | • Rise of the Argonauts
• Sonic Unleashed (get the Wii/PS2 version instead) | • Rise of the Argonauts | • Calvin Tucker's Redneck Jamboree
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure
• Rock Band 2
• Summer Sports 2: Island Sports Party
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Word Jong Party | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | • Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War
PC
• Band Manager
• Lost Secrets: Bermuda Triangle
• Hidden Expedition: Amazon
• Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
• Prince of Persia
• Rise of the Argonauts
• RPG Fantasy Action Pack
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate Collection | • Animal Boxing
• Australia Zoo Quest
• Build-a-Lot
• Candace Kane's Candy Factory
• Cate West The Vanishing Files
• Driver's Ed Portable
• Dreamer: Horse Trainer
• Dreamer: Puppy Trainer
• Learn Math
• Left Brain Right Brain 2
• Mystery P.I.: Portrait of a Thief
• Slingo Quest
• The Tale of Despereaux | • Rock Band 2
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
• The Tale of Despereaux |
 Very boring, am I right? Get used to it. That's what the next few weeks are going to be like.
The only highlight here is Persona 4 for the PS2. I don't know much about it other than it's a weeaboo JRPG with an even more weeaboo translation that keeps all the honorifics and stuff on there. Also, you commit suicide to gain powers. Apparently it's good if you're into that kind of thing, but I'll stick to Fallout 3 thank you very much.
So, next week, I don't think anything is coming out. Literally, nothing.
Sorry for being so late with this, but this is the last week of the semester for me before finals, so the professors have been dumping all sorts of homework on me. Yippie. So, I need to keep it short and sweet this week.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | • Prince of Persia
• SingStar ABBA | • Destroy All Humans 3: Path of Furon
• Prince of Persia | • Bigfoot: Collision Course
• Family Party: 30 Great Games
• King of Fighters Orochi Saga
• Mushroom Men: Spore Wars
• My Fitness Coach
• Nancy Drew: The White Wolf
• Safecracker
• Ski & Shoot
• SPRay
• The Tale of Despereaux | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | NOTHING
PC
• Disney's Bolt
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure
• The Tale of Despereaux
• A Vampyre Story
• Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate | • Animal Boxing
• Dreamer: Puppy Trainer
• Emma at the Farm
• Emma in the Mountains
• Happy Cooking
• Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi
• My Fun Facts Coach
• Prince of Persia: The Fallen King
• Slingo Quest
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Wordfish | • Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
• SingStar ABBA
• The Tale of Despereaux |
 Yet another slow week, but there's some good stuff. Such as Prince of Persia. This installment in the long-running series has UbiSoft trying to reinvent the game with a new cel-shaded Okamiesque art style and open world gameplay...and apparently the results are good if early reviews are to be believed.
The other big game I'm interested in this week is Mushroom Men for the Wii. Why is this shovelware sounding game so intriguing? First of all, the game's music was composed and performed by none other than Primus bassist, Les Claypool. However, what makes the game really interesting is that the entire game is synced to a metronome that runs at 120 beats per minute. The result is a very unique look and sound that I've never seen in a video game before. It really must be seen to be fully understood, so take a look at this trailer from GameVideos about the metronome system. IGN also has a great article about the system. Oh, I supposed I should probably mention what the gameplay is like. Well, it's basically your standard platformer, but with some neat MDK2/Fallout 3 like weapon creation elements. I just hope the gameplay is as brilliant as the metronome system, but even if it isn't, I know I'll like the game since it's a bold experiment in sound design. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy this game right away.  If anyone gets this game or hears anything about it, leave a comment, because I'm dying to know how this game turned out.
Oh yeah, there's some new Kingdom Hearts game out this week on the good ol PS2. It's a 3D remake of the GBA game, Chain of Memories entitled Re:Chain of Memories (clever). Since I don't know anything about Kingdom Hearts other than a lot of weeabos that don't normally like Disney love this game...probably for "kawaii" artwork and stuff. Never understood the appeal of this game.
If you missed out on the consoles, GTA IV will hit Windows this week in all it's SecuROM-protected "glory" (if you can call it that). Hooray DRM!
Anyways, check back next week when I'll be burned out by final exams. But then I'm done with school for a month.
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