Sunday, August 27, 2006

A friend sent this photo to me, and I got a pretty big chuckle out of it.

Apparently it ran in South Carolina, and was pulled from billboards within a day of being up. No surprise there.

What the hell is wrong with America?!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Yesterday I was complaining about FF3's lack of top screen usage in battle. It actually gets worse. Scholars have the ability to scan enemies, yet their scan data doesn't display in the top screen. It displays in the main battle screen! WHAT THE FUCK.

Seriously guys. Lame.

 
The Rurouni Kenshin PS2 game hits Japanese stores September 4th. The Kenshin fanboy within yearns to pick it up, despite my strong suspicions that it will indeed be the worst possible video game realization of Kenshin's masterfully written second story arc.

Rurouni Kenshin, for those who might not know its pedigree, was a long running manga in Shonen Jump, and followed the life of Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai with a reverse bladed katana. There is far more to the story, but I would rather not reveal it for those interested in reading the manga or watching the anime.

The game seems to be based on the Shishio story arc, which was the best written, and most popular throughout the manga's life.

No word yet on a US release. Here is a magazine scan with some shots from the game, courtesy of the Megatokyo forums:

SCAN

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Just thought I'd post a quick screenshot of the rare instance where Square-Enix used the dual screen to its full potential in FF3.




Very cool stuff. I'm really enjoying the game. Tomorrow I won't be teaching classes until 5pm, so I'll have a healthy chunk of time to really knock through the game. Wish me luck.

On my way to work today, I picked up my preorder of Final Fantasy III for DS. While I'm usually against remakes, FF3 is great for a few key reasons:

1) It was never released in North America for NES, so it's like a new game for me.

2) They completely remade the graphics with some nice CG, and complete in-game graphical face lift.

3) They rebalanced the jobs so that, god forbid, you don't need a specific job to defeat a particularly difficult boss creature.

4) There's a pretty interesting story this time around. Instead of starting with all the characters, you now start with just one of the characters, and have to collect the other three over time, akin to modern FF's.

Playing FF3 on a handheld is absolutely geared towards me. With all the commuting and time I spend at the office, it's nice to be able to crack open the DS on the train, or play a dungeon in between a few classes, instead of wishing I was at home gazing at my TV.

The battle system itself is fairly old school. Instead of picking party orders as their turn comes around, you issue battle orders to your entire party at the start of the round. This makes planning much harder, as at the beginning of a battle, you have no idea who your healer should cure next.

I also find the battle speed a little slow for my taste, but still fairly bearable. It's definitely fun. There's no question, there. After playing the streamlined and smooth battle system of Persona 3, FF3 is a definite change for me. Hopefully it won't take too much time to adjust. Here are a few photos I took of the box, and the game running on my DS Lite. Sorry about the photo quality, but these were taken with my cell phone during a break at work.




You might notice that the in-game screen has the world map on the top screen. This is only during overworld travel, and town travel. Curiously, while in dungeons, and while in battle, the top screen, is completely blank! Square-Enix decided not to add anything at all to look at on the top screen. Even a sky view during battles would have been nice. With a black screen on the top during battle, it can feel a little claustrophobic. I eventually got over it, but it still nags me.

I'll post with more impressions later.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I fucking love Club Nintendo. Run by a point system that only japanese Nintendo fans can access, Club Nintendo passes out free goodies to loyal fans. In each of the new Nintendo games, a small slip of paper with a code is placed behind the manual. The code, when input on Nintendo's site, adds a number of points to your overall total, which you can later trade in for cool nintendo products. Codes depreciate over time, so Nintendo rewards gamers for picking up games just after they release.

Last week I finally got the first game released by Club Nintendo: Game and Watch DS Collection. Here are some fapworthy photos:

The back cover

The shipping box, complete with delightful grammar mistakes

Good stuff. My next target is the set of Mario Hanafuda cards. I may have to take up Hanafuda just for those cards.
As I sit on my excrutiatingly low japanese couch, with my huge american legs outstretched to the other end of my apartment, my blood pressure is rapidly rising. Despite all the good will and faith that Microsoft has displayed in the form of creating Xbox Live, a truly viable and revolutionary console online service, they have finally found the way to fuck it up. It was only a matter of time.

Many people argue that Microsoft is no different than any other game manufacturer: they all just want your money. While, of course, a company does indeed want to make money, no company has displayed a sheer bloodthirst for money so ravenous, that they are willing to introduce a service that is intended to overtly fleece gamers in the worst imaginable fashion: consumables.

Described by 1up.com's Luke Smith as a commodity that can be purchased, and then later repurchased, the idea of consumables is that one would presumably purchase this item on marketplace, where it would eventually decay over time. That's right, folks. It would actually eventually decay and disappear, forcing you to repurchase the same item. It's like buying food, except you can't eat it, and Microsoft is fucking you in the ass at the same time. Doesn't that sound enticing?

What I fear is how far developers are willing to go with the idea of consumables. Will frustrated preteens be able to purchase an invincibility potion to defeat a particularly hard dragon? Will racing fans have to purchase gas for their McLaren F1 at the correct current exchange rate for Japanese oil? Will I have to purchase ammunition and upper tier, decaying weaponry for Halo 3?

Only the future knows what kind of bullshit Microsoft has in store for us. I fucking hate this bullshit.

On a quick note: Luke also mentioned that MS is specifically steering publishers from offering free game content on marketplace, citing that companies had already set a precedent with a specific pricing model.

I fucking hate you Microsoft. Choke on a fucking dick.