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Why do I bother anymore? Enjoy your week of summer shovelware everyone!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •
Monster Madness: Grave Danger | ... | •Little League World Series
•King of Clubs
•Summer Athletics | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom
•GRID
•Little League World Series
•Professor Brainium
•Quick Yoga Training
•Rock Blast | •B-Boy
•Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour |
 Asking me to pick a game to get out of those is like forcing me to stab myself in the eye with a rusty knife, so I'm going to highlight Braid, this week's new Xbox Live Arcade game, and recipient of the 2006 Independent Games Festival award for Innovation In Design. The game is a puzzle platformer that features the ability to "rewind" your actions in order to help solve puzzles and correct your mistakes. However, rewinding creates the puzzles. For example, there are objects in the levels that cannot be rewound, alternate realities, and more. I have never played the game, but judging by the videos and various interviews with the game's designer, Jonathan Blow, this is going to be an incredible game. It comes out on XBLA this week and on PC sometime later this year.
Here's a link to the official website of the game: http://www.braid-game.com/
 Look at that box art. Damn. You know, most people wish for their box art to look somewhere close to what the game is like, but instead, the original Mega Man's box art is that. To me, it looks like the artist or marketing team were on an acid trip while going over / creating that box art, and that is why we have that. Certainly, some creative liberties were taken with that box art.
Anyways, I am not writing this article to talk about that, but instead this. Capcom has finally realized that they can make a lot of easy money by rereleasing Mega Man for the Virtual Console. You know, as a kid, Mario was great and all, but at least for me Mega Man stole the show. I loved that series, and well, Mega Man 2 is a masterpiece. I bet there are a lot of other people who hold a similar nostalgic value for Mega Man.
Well, fortunately for people like myself, Capcom has decided to start the hype train for the release of Mega Man 9, the game that is quite possibly going to be the hardest Mega Man of all time, if what they said is to be believed. All I know is that I want the game, and to further make me want the game, Capcom is releasing Mega Man for the Virtual Console, tomorrow. That's right, tomorrow kids, at least stateside. And even better news for me, Mega Man 2 is coming out for the Virtual Console in early September.
Let the hype train roll, Capcom, I bet you'll see some healthy sales with those two releases, as well as the release of Mega Man 9.
The Blue Bomber is coming to Virtual Console [Dtoid]
Saturday was an awesome day of sales, there was simply too many to get to them all so we had to hurry at each one to get to as many as we could. In total, we drove 50 miles of garage saling. But it was worth the $8 in gas for all the stuff we got. The very first house we stopped at had this stuff:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9803.jpg[/img]
The Captain N and the Double Dragon next to it are still sealed. Everything was marked $1 each, I got my normal 6 for $5.
It was kind of funny getting that stuff, the guy had boxes of VHS tapes, PC games (mostly edutainment), and books. I just happened to see the Sonic R and then the Battletoads VHS so I dug a little deeper and kept pulling out the video game related VHS tapes. Oddly enough though, he didn't have any other video games.
There was a neighborhood sale in the same area but they had one a few weeks ago and it was expensive junk then so this week it was 1/2 off junk. We didn't even stop at the majority of them.
It was a while before I got anything else, but it was worth the wait. For $2:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9809.jpg[/img]
There's actually 3 copies of Sewer Shark, I have no idea why though. The other game in the jewel case is Sherlock Holmes: consulting detective vol. II. The Genesis games are all CIB and I have no idea what that USB cord is for. I paid asking price on that one. The lady was nice and friendly so I didn't feel like ripping her off more than she already was.
We went to another sale that I knew we have been to before (had nothing the last time) but we were already there so I went up to it anyway and came back with these:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9804.jpg[/img]
Nothing amazing, but it was only $2 for it all.
Next up was a huge neighborhood sale, two streets long and nearly every house was participating. Of course a lot of it was junk but I managed to find a couple treasures.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9801.jpg[/img]
These were actually from two different houses. Both are factory sealed although the GBA game is missing some of it's shrink-wrap. I paid the asking price on Trouballs at $1, I offered $1 for the other, we settled on $1.50. Once I got home and peeled off the Trouballs price sticker there was a $0.75 sticker under the $1 sticker. Wish I had known that before, I would have peeled off the $1 sticker.
Also from that neighborhood sale:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9808.jpg[/img]
Paid asking price of $1 each.
At one of the houses, as we walk up to the garage the woman asks "are you here for the garage sale" we tell her yes, expecting her to say it was closed. But she said that everything in a large pile was free and there was more at the curb. So I went and got the truck and we filled it up with boxes and bags of kids toys. Some of it will go to my niece but we'll probably sell the rest to a guy at the flea market for a few bucks. There was a couple things in there for me as well. The video game related stuff:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9800.jpg[/img]
Most of the toys are circa 2002 but the Luigi on the cloud is from 1989.
Unfortunately, half way through this neighborhood sale, my mom called us. We had to take some stuff to a golf course for an outing we were having. So we stopped and left my dad's truck (which was pre-packed the night before) there and we continued our expedition.
On the way back to the sales, there was a small unadvertised yard sale but it didn't look like much so my dad wanted to just drive by, and I agreed until I saw a small black fabric case on the table and some cords hanging down. I know I've seen N64 system/game cases before and I just had a hunch that that was what this was. So I backed up to the sale and took a look. The cords turned out to be an old walkman and the case wasn't an N64 one. I was so disappointed that it didn't say N64 on it, I almost didn't see "Sega Game Gear" embroidered onto it. I asked the price, he said $10, that's what I paid.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9812.jpg[/img]
[img width=599 height=800]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9813.jpg[/img]
The games:
T2: the arcade game
the lion king
dynamite headdy
Ecco the Dolphin
Batman Returns
Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude
Pac-Man
RoboCop versus Terminator
Star Wars
Taz-Mania
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Sonic and Tails
Fatal Fury Special
IN noN video game related finds, I got some other goodies too.
For $1 I got this sweet trench coat:
[img width=599 height=800]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9811.jpg[/img]
Should be perfect if deer hunting season is as rainy as it was last season.
For $2.50 I got this sizeable box of miscellaneous wires:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9810.jpg[/img]
She was asking $3, I offered $2, we settled on $2.50. I still have to go through it all. There's a lot of composite cables (some high end gold plated ones too), coax cables, and speaker wire.
CDs were from a couple different sales but were all $1 each.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9802.jpg[/img]
And for $0.50 I got this antique coax switcher.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9807.jpg[/img]
Will be perfect for my Genesis and 2600, no more unplugging and switching for me.
The flea market today wasn't spectacular but better than it has been in recent weeks. I'm seeing more and more vendors specializing in overpriced classic games though.
I did manage to get this off a woman for $4:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9816.jpg[/img]
When I asked the price she whispered $4 and I thought she said $40 but when I asked her to repeat it, I heard her say $4, so I bought it for that. I was prepared to pay $5 for it though. The box is in excellent condition with just minor shelf wear and the pad itself is like new. Now I have to decide if I should keep this one or the one from my childhood which is not as nice condition. She also had what appeared to be a CIB Genesis 2 Core System, but it was $20 and boxed Genesis systems seem to be everywhere.
A few spots away was a guy with a bunch of random stuff but I spotted a PS1 with a couple games, he said $25 for it, I passed on it. But then I saw Caveman Games for the NES sticking out of a box, so I looked inside to see a pair of Genesis systems, a tangle of wires, and a few games. He said the whole box was $2, I didn't even bother looking to see what all the games were.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9814.jpg[/img]
I guess this weekend was good enough to make up for the deplorable one last weekend. There wasn't anything one thing that was spectacular, but it was all priced very good and I managed to fill in a few holes in my collection so I guess it was a successful treasure hunt.
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-072/bf/U-072-S-13000-A.jpg[/img]The Final Fantasy series is one of the longest game series out there. What started as a failing company's "Final" Fantasy, ended up as one of the most succesful franchises of all time, with 12 parts in the main series and dozens of remakes and spin-offs.
Final Fantasy XII (2006) is the second game of the main series on the PS2, after Final Fantasy X (2001) and it's semi spin-off Final Fantasy X-2 (2003).
Final Fantasy XII (FF12) takes place in the world of Ivalice, where two major kingdoms, Rosaria and Arcadia are at war. Our main character Vaan comes from the smaller kingdom Dalmasca, trapped between the two fighting nations. He lives in Rabanastre, capital of Dalmasca, with his friend Penelo, and dreams of one day becoming a sky pirate.
FF12 starts with a small prequel (which serves the function of tutorial), where we meet Reks, the two year older brother of Vaan, who gets murdered in a fight with Aradia. We also meet Bash, captain of the Dalmascan army, who prevents his king from signing a treaty, by murdering him. Because of his action, Dalmasca doesn't become part of the Arcadian empire and a resiliance rises against the opressing nation.
From here, the story continues and it doesn't take long until you meet (in typical FF style) the other characters of your party.
A couple of negative remarkes should be made about this story:
1) The main character Vaan is a pretty ordinary guy who doesn't seem to influence the story all that much. Balthier (and to a lesser extend: Ashe), a member of your party, seems to be making the decisions when it comes to what to do next, which makes me wonder why you don't view the story more out of his perspective.
2) Although the voice acting is fine (with some characters having a refreshing non-American accent) a lot of the sentences spoken, are not. Lots of the "higher" class character speak as if they just walked out of a Shakespear play. This makes the story sometimes hard to follow, especially in cut-scenes where text is being said rather fast. This maybe fun for those who major in english, but for others (and those whose first language isn't english) this can be a problem.
Anyway, enough about the story, let's talk gameplay. For FF12, Square dared to innovate. Whether you like this or not, that's up to you to decide, but certain things have pretty radically changed.
Most noticably: The random encounter, turn-based battle system is gone. Now, you can simply see your enemies walk in the same environment as you, and even avoid them if you don't feel like fighting. The battle system changed aswell. What Square calls the "Active Dimension Battle" (ADB) is a real-time battle system in which your characters and the enemies can freely move. Blue and Red curved lines indicate which char/enemy is atacking another. Because the battle is in real-time, the gameplay is much faster (a good thing) but can get pretty hectic with lots of enemies on the screen or during a boss battle (a bad thing).
Another new addition to FF12 is the gambit system. Gambits are commands your characters (both the character you're controlling and the 2 others) will execute under certain conditions.
Things like "Attack enemy who is HP critical" to "Throw elexir on character with MP>10%". The order in which you place these in the Gambit screen will mark the importance of each action, the highest placed gambit being the most important. Lots of different options make this an interesting system to experiment with, aswell as making the battles more enjoyable; because the player doesn't have to select each action manually.
The "License Board" serves the same function as the "Sphere Grid" in FF10, although less complicated. License Points are required to activate licenses, which you gain next to experience in battle. It's basically a large chess board, with magic spells, augments, armor and weapons on all spots. This board controls what the characters can do/wear, because you can only activate a license that borders a license your character has already learned. In the first 20 (or so) hours of the game, it's important not to waste your License Points, so your characters can wear the latest armor, use the latest spells, etc. So if you want to use the spell "Fira" with a character, you have to activate the corresponding license on the board, aswell as buy the spell in a magic shop. This seems rather complicated, but works pretty smoothly.
A bad thing however is that it's much too easy to complete the License Board. With a character at level 50, he/she will probably have almost the entire License Board activated, which makes all characters identical and renders character tactics completely useless.
Graphics of this game are very good for a PS2 game, with the addition of a fully 3D world where you can control the camera in, something that makes the game much more accesible, and maybe even more mainstream. Also new is that non-playable-characters (NPCs) who have something to say are indicated with a text-balloon above their heads, making it unnecessary to try and talk to each NPC in an area. I have the feeling the amount of CGI has gone down alot compared to FF10, but I might be wrong.
As I said earlier, the voicework for the main characters is done well, apart from the lip-sync being wrong alot, which is a common problem when dubbing a Japanese game.
Music in this game has the typical FF-atmosphere to it, but is composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, instead of Nobuo Uematsu. Don't let that scare you though, because Sakimoto is also responsible for the music of Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) and Vagrant Story (2000) to name a few.
As always, FF12 is filled with side quests and little things you can busy yourself with apart from the main story such as: going on Hunts or finding Unique (rare) monsters.
If you'd like to skip these completely, it'll still take 50-60 hours to finish the game, depending on how much you try to rush your way through it. Doing all sidequests too will keep you busy for atleast 120 hours. In other words, this game is good value for the money.
I can conclude with saying I enjoyed playing this game, despite of the couple faults I named, and think anyone who likes RPG's should get it, aswell as those looking for a game that'll keep them busy for a longer time. 9.1/10
PS: I realise now this is no longer a "little" review, but it's hard to review a game like FF12 in only a couple of lines 
[img width=250 height=189]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/J-098/bf/J-098-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]
During the early mid 1990s, the video game market exploded due to the new technology available to developers, specifically the jump in processor speed and the release of the CD-ROM format. No longer were game programmers limited by the small canvas standard cartridges provided - the CD-ROM was their dream come true. With this new media format at their disposal, manufacturers began to truly expand the definition of a video game console. Computer hybrids (Commodore 64 GS, FM Towns Marty, Amiga CD32, etc.) and all-inclusive multimedia devices (Philips CD-i, Panasonic 3DO, Pioneer LaserActive, etc.) were designed to target a new, and older, audience. Taking a slightly different approach, popular game developer Bandai decided to enter the foray with their release of the Playdia. Instead of following the current trends, Bandai marketed the Playdia to children and families. Would this Japanese-only release hit the mark? Far from it as you will see.
[img width=250 height=189]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/J-098/hw/J-098-H-00010-A_00.jpg[/img] The Playdia is a rather unsophisticated looking unit. The rectangular chassis is comprised of medium weight plastics, sporting an indigo-blue top section with a leprechaun-green base. The design is simple and to the point. A simple power and reset switch reside on the left top of the console, with a large banana-yellow 'open' button on the right to open the door of top loading CD drive. There is a rectangular recess directly in front of the unit to park the wireless IR controller (the first system ever to have a wireless controller standard). The weight of this unit is a bid odd, with most of the weight residing in the back. A standard composite output and DC 9V power supply jack adorn the rear of the unit. Though simplistic in appearance, I do have to say it does stand out in a collection due to the unique colors utilized in its construction. But that is the only reason it stands out.
With a younger audience in its sights, the library of games for the Playdia is comprised of mostly edutainment titles. All games for this system are interactive FMV movies - there is no real game play with this system with the exception of selecting an action for your character to perform from a lit of presented options. The FMV titles are really not that bad. The anime sequences are presented well with very little frame rate drop off, but this is easy to accomplish since there is no real-time input from the user during these sequences. Surprising around 40 titles were released for this system. But not all of these were for the kids.
[img width=300 height=350]http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/images/1990s/94_Bandai_Playdia/playdia_dbz_2_11.jpg[/img] The Playdia was not succeeding at all and Bandai began feeling the fiscal repercussions of a failed system. The Sony Playstation entered the market just months after its debut and sealed this system's fate. Looking to recoup their losses, Bandai released interactive anime adult titles to stem the negative financial losses incurred in the first two years of this console's life. Odd that a system initially tailored to the family would resort to these measures, but it worked. Bandai was able to get out with minimal losses after all was said and done in 1996. Plus, Bandai had significant resources devoted to a bigger project - the Bandai Pippin. But that is for another article.
The Bandai Playdia was a short lived and unsuccessful system. Even with devoting their efforts to a rather untapped market (children / families), the Playdia could not survive the release of the Sony Playstation. This is definitely not a recommended purchase for the gamer - only for a console collector. Though unique, the unit is not that pricey. $100 USD should net you a CIB system. The Playdia is nice to look at in your collection, not so much when you fire it up and experience it.
The link to the full review of this system (including ratings, pictures and video):
http://www.videogameconso...rary.com/pg90-playdia.htm
My reviews thus far. I'll just edit this whenever there is a new one instead of adding new entries. Any comments would be cool I guess. These are in order of when I first published them here.
Reviews Since I Stepped Down AKA The Reviews I Didn't Have Pressure of Completing And Thus Are Long, Elaborate, And Entertaining
Bleach: The Blade of Fate - Nintendo DS
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-03740-A
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-076-S-04040-A
Timesplitters
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-072-S-02340-A
Contra 4
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-03760-A
Dark Cloud 2
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-072-S-03320-A
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-072-S-01230-A
Reviews from my Features Editor days, AKA The Reviews Which Range From Great Quality To Complete Crap Do To Time Contstraints And Pressure To Submit Them
New Super Mario Bros.
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-01070-A
WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-027-S-07520-A
Phantasy Star Collection
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-074-S-03610-A
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-00380-A
Fisher Price: I Can Remember
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-027-S-02320-A
Shadow Hearts Covenant
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-072-S-07860-A
Game and Watch Gallery 4
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-074-S-01880-A
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-072-S-05780-A
Sword Master
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-027-S-06430-A
Shaq Fu
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-044-S-04940-A
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-00360-A
Mario Hoops 3 on 3
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-01360-A
If I am forgetting any of my reviews I submitted feel free to let me know. And honestly, feel free to criticize me as much as you. And final note... I don't really care for my reviews from when I was a Features Writer. The time constraint sorta imposed on me so I didn't really take my time, plus my writing skills have improved tremendously. Also, considering I really don't play videogames seriously anymore I feel like I am a bit more objective about what I am reviewing.
This game will just about get a horrible review anywhere you go. The controls are crappy in the rally races, and even worse when you get to the side-by-side races! In the rally races, the controls are pretty straightforward (A - Accel. B - Special Weapon; Left/Right - Steering; Up - Nitro). When you get to the side-by-side races, the controller is just too damn hard to use. I swear that the people that made the game (Acclaim), must have thought that they needed to use every damn button on the controller, with the exception of the start and select buttons. You have to use the B button for Gas, and the A button for the Transmission Shifting. At the same time that you are accelerating and shifting, you have to simultaneously press left and right on the d-pad to get the damn monster truck moving!
Also, between side-by-side races (which consist of Mud Race, Pull-Off, Car Crunch, and 1 drag race in the last race of the game), you have to use the money that you start with and the money that you earn from winning other races and rallies to buy parts for your truck.
And one of the worst things is what happens with the CPU opponent. When you start the game, you play as the driver of Bigfoot up against a green truck called the Growler. Both the P1 and CPU start with 5000 dollars. If at any point the Growler runs out of money and then crashes in a rally, the game ends for that truck. But, they will automatically put in a new truck that is yellow, called the Charger.
The shit of that is the fact that they give the truck 5 grand, AND doesnt have to buy any new parts for the other races. Now i got the game, simply cuz im a Monster Truck fan, but i CANNOT play this game for more than 5 minutes before i get pissed off and have to turn it off!
I have to say that this game has got to be one of the worst games in the NES library. I cannot find even one redeeming quality about it.
Following Sirgin's lead, I am also going to be contributing some more reviews. The only difference is, my are short as all hell. They encourage you to make an assumption yourself.
Hurray! A new Arkanoid game!! If you remember Arkanoid for the NES, or Super Arkanoid for the SNES, this game is for you!
Some great things with this game are:
* Revamped Gameplay integrates stylus use.
* Great soundtrack that NEVER gets old.
* The ability to win points to buy things in the game with.
* Amazing replay value! You can pick this game up again and again!
This game is a 10. I am an easy grader, but this game truly deserves it. Taito has done well with this new version of the classic, as they did in Space Invaders Extreme. The only downfall is, ONLY THE JAPANESE VERSION HAS THE ARKANOID KNOB!! Oh well, the people in Japan always get it better...
I was just playing Super Mario Bros. on my NES about id say about 15-20 minutes ago, and something truly screwed up happened. Now just about everyone on this site knows of the classic 99 lives, turtle shell hopping trick, in world 3-1. Well i was playing and pulled off the trick about, id say, at least 15 times until the time ran out. Then i came back and did it for another 10 times, then just finished off the level. I started up level 3-2, didnt get too far, and then fell off of a platform and died. Then somehow, i got a fucking GAME OVER! Now how in the world did i get a game over?!?!?!? I had to have had at least 60 or 70 lives left! Is there something wrong with the trick or did something just fuck up? Has anyone else ever experienced this?
[img align=right width=200]http://www.sofacinema.co.uk/guardian/images/products/1/60241-large.jpg[/img]For my first review, I've decided to take up SSX 3 for the PS2.
SSX 3 is the third installment in the SSX series by EA, following the succesful launch title SSX (2000) and SSX Tricky (2001).
SSX 3 continues on the succesful formula of the previous two games in the series. In short: smooth, fast and easy to pick up gameplay combined with nice graphics and good soundtrack.
New however, is the fact that all tracks are located on the same mountain, devided into three peaks. To get access to the next peak, it is sufficient to complete the challenges in one particular aspect of the game (for example, the race events)
Depending on which character you're playing with; another character will "challenge" you on every peak. In the off-course area called "The Backcountry" you have to show him/her who's boss.
Gameplay of SSX 3 is rock-solid and the main reason I enjoyed this game as much as I did. Learning curve is very short and you'll be throwing out "Uber-tricks" in no time. After doing enough of these to spell out the words "SUPER UBER", you'll get unlimited boost for a relatively long time. The events you can take place in are: "Race", "Slopestyle", "Super Pipe", "Big Air" and "Backcountry".
By winning events and picking up collectibles on the tracks, you get the necessary cash to outfit your character as you see fit or to (more importantly) upgrade his/her attributes such as "Speed", "Tricks", "Acceleration", etc which will noticabilly improve your boarders' abilities.
Graphics of this game are very nice for a PS2 game with the snow and ice beautifully depicted as your rider glides through it. Once at the top of the mountain, you can get to the bottem of it (which takes about 30min) without a single loading screen.
I like the soundtrack of this game, which sets the atmosphere well as you participate in one of the events with songs from Basement Jaxx, Black Eyed Peace, Fatboy Slim and others. Particulary well done is how the music fades out when you're in the air for a longer period of time or when entering a cave. While not racing you get to listen to the never irritating "DJ Atomica" who briefs you in with all the latest updates on the mountain news.
All in all I can say this is a great game with solid gameplay, nice graphics and funky soundtrack which can appeal to both less experienced gamers aswell as the hardcore.
SSX 3 gets a 9.0/10 from me and I recommend it to anyone who owns a PS2.
This week is highlighted by a fighter, a downloadable platformer, and a shooter.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Soul Calibur IV | •Soul Calibur IV
•Spectral Force 3 | •King of Clubs
•MLB Power Pros 2008
•Summer Athletics | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Suzuki Superbikes | •MLB Power Pros 2008 |
 My pick this week is Soul Calibur IV for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. SCIV is the latest installment in Namco's popular fighting franchise, and features Star Wars characters, Yoda on the 360 and Darth Vader on the PS3. However, that may change since rumor has it that you will be able to purchase the character the other system has via downloadable content. The game is averaging 90% on GameRankings so far.
But my real pick of the week goes to the surreal PS3 downloadable platformer PixelJunk Eden. The demo came out last week, and I was completely blown away by what Dylan and the team at Q Games did with this one. I highly recommend picking it up if you're a PS3 owner looking for something relaxing but challenging...or if you're a Trophy Ho since Eden is the second game on the PS3 to support trophies. For you 360 owners, Geometry Wars 2 comes out this week as well. Geo Wars 2 is the sequel to the wildly successful Xbox Live Arcade original. New features include additional gameplay modes, and four player online co-op.
Well, this is my first blog post as a staff writer and I wish it could be more interesting than it is. However, this weekend was dismal for treasures, so I guess this post will be to show that even I have bad treasure hunting expeditions.
Well, without further ado, my treasure from this weekend's garage sales:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9789.jpg[/img]
Yep, just two loose games, common ones too.
I paid $3 for both.
Non-gaming related finds weren't much better either:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9790.jpg[/img]
The records were $0.25 each. The Bob Dylan CD was $1 and everything else was $1.
The sale that had the records also had a N64 with about 10 loose commons for $20 but I passed on it, if I had known this weekend would be so bad, I would have bought it.
What really bothers me is that I have no idea why the sales were so bad either. The weather was great, we shopped from 8:00-2:00, and put nearly 75 miles on the truck. There just wasn't anything good, there wasn't even much stuff at high prices. I fear the area is drying up.
The flea market today wasn't any better. I saw a couple Genesis systems with 1 game for $5 but I'm sick of seeing those things. I almost bought a sealed Mega Man 64 for $15 but decided against it. Another woman had a box of PS2 games (around 60) that she wanted $4-5 each for, I offered her $100 for the box full but she declined. One of the usual game vendors had a SMS with hookups and 2 loose games for $42, I really wanted it but that's just too much for me to spend on a system I know I can find for a few dollars eventually.
And to give a little more flesh to this post. I've decided I'm getting rid of all my duplicate games and systems in one fell swoop. I've got a potential buyer for it now for $1000 but if that doesn't work out I'm going to offer the deal to some of the flea market vendors. I think it's a really good deal considering it's over 300 games and 35 systems. But I just need to get rid of it and have more space.
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