Dear Konami USA,

How are you? Feeling well? Congratulations on getting Metal Gear Solid 4 to be one of the biggest selling games of the year, and good on you for making sure that Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is hitting store shelves. Now with all the pleasantries out of the way, let me cut directly to the chase. Upon reading a popular gaming blog, I came across a startling image, and I'd like you to explain yourself.

Konami, can you please explain to me as to what this is all about?

Yes, I can read, I know clearly what it is. What I want to know is why you are associated with such a project. Aren't you forgetting something?

Do you remember this Konami? No? 

This jog your memory?

If you still haven't gotten it yet, let me give you a quick history lesson. Back in the late 90's, Konami Japan (you remember them, surely) started a new brand known as Bemani - dedicated to the rhythm game genre. They released a few games, you must have heard of them. You know...Dance Dance Revolution...or was it Dancing Stage? Surely you remember that much right? It's one of the most popular and highest selling arcade games of all time - matching Sega's Daytona USA as one of the most profitable arcade games ever made.

No?

Well then, allow me to make myself more clear.

Why do you continue to ignore your past as a rhythm game manufacturer with hours upon hours of music that is stupidly fun to play, and you still own the licenses too - for terrible rhythm games that you don't even develop, farm off to terrible developers (like that whore Zoe Mode), and fill with some of the worst cover versions of some of the best songs of all time. I literally cried in pain during the horrific covers of Blitzreig Bop and All the Small things - something that I'd never thought I'd do.

I can understand why you didn't include vocals in Rock Revolution (after all - you're still trying to sell Karaoke Revolution), that much I don't mind. Disappointing, but understandable. What I do mind is your clueless and unreasonable ignorance to think that the music in the Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, Beatmania or any of the other Bemani games. I can see why you'd think that we Westerns would find horrific covers of some of our favourite songs more preferable than he niche and esoteric J-Pop; but the point is, by the end of session of Guitar Freaks, my ears are not bleeding.

Wake up Konami, realize what the hell you're doing to yourself. Rock Revolution was a terrible idea, no-one is buying it, and you're getting terrible reviews for it, and the game SUCKS. You should have realized that when one of your producers FAILED a song they just played on stage. By comitting to this project, you're basically forsaking one of the most profitable and historic franchises that YOU are associated with, for something that was directly spawned because of your creation.

Bemani is an iconic part of Konami, just as much as Castlevania, Gradius, Track & Field and Metal Gear are. Guitar Freaks, DDR and the rest of Bemani are still copious amounts of fun. Wake up Konami and realize what you're doing to yourself. You've sold out in a big way.

Regards,

           DarthHomer.

Last year marked the first time that I went to the eGames Expo as more than just a guest, and become 'media'. This year marked the first time that I actually had something to contribute to Level 3 than just be someone wandering the show floor with far more experienced media types.

I like to think that last year was my 'work experience year'. You know, go with the guys who have more experience and see how they work, picking up tricks of the trade and what not. It was good, even though I barely spoke to anyone barring the Level 3 guys. It was the first time that I actually met Jason and the crew, so that was also helpful. A year later, and nearly 30 podcasts behind us, I felt more and more like a media person, and hence, more confident in introducing myself to some of the other media personalities and what not that were present.

I was there for two of the three days, and here's a recollection of my experiences.

DAY 1 (Friday 14th November):

The day was split into two parts for me. I was there initially before the show opened to set up contacts for people that I wanted to interview for the podcast, then I had to leave due to reasons of examination. From there, I returned. When I got to the show, I took a series of images prior to the opening that I've uploaded onto my Picasa account, which show just all the preparation it takes to get a show like this ready to go.

-          Cosplayers were present across all three days in general. The one moment that blew me away, and this is something that I wish I took a picture of, a Link cosplayer rocking out to Guitar Hero. Also saw a pretty rad Joker (Dark Knight, of course) as well, aside from the various Best exchange of the day came as I returned to the show, some dudes were walking past a Mudkip cosplayer and remarked that she was a Mudkip. Her response? "So I heard you liked Mudkips..."

Sad, but I laughed.

-          Also had a chance to meet a few people I'm fans of. Specifically related to Australian Gamer. Matt and Yug are awesome guys. Yahtzee shocked me. I was honestly expecting the Yahtzee we know and love from Zero Punctuation...but instead, I got a polite Yahtzee. Which was rad, of course. As was seeing him rock out in Guitar Hero...

-          Recording with the Aussie Nintendo guys...now that was fun. We recorded literally at 5pm, and was the only thing that we had recorded that day. I had JUST come back from an exam, and I was literally out of ideas and had no plan, but the six dudes made it fun. What was a surprise to me when I was  conducting the interview was that YouTube's Blunty3000 was there. I had no idea he was at the show to begin with, and within recording distance.

Would have personally loved for him to get more involved in the show, but he was busy checking footage – and I honestly didn't want to bother him that much. It made for a fun recording though...even if it's a little non-sensical and almost completely directionless. There were plenty of moments that I wish we did record, especially from one Lamington Child...

-          Speaking of Lamington Child, he possibly had the moment of the day. I went walking with Keith to go take some pictures around the show (which is where we saw the Link cosplayer playing Guitar Hero), and when we returned to the Media Office, he was re-enacting the Caramelldansen dance. I literally stood there in the doorway stunned.

-          Meeting Craig Lowdnes and Jamie Whincup was surreal. I mean, it was literally a last minute thing, and while I'm not a big fan of motorsport...it was something. Hearing Craig talking about gaming was also something cool.

-          There was more PS3 representation than I thought would actually be there. For instance, Tomb Raider Underworld was ONLY shown on a PS3 (despite Eidos's best attempts to trick gamers into thinking that version of the game doesn't exist), Resident Evil 5 was only at the Sony booth, Mirrors Edge and NFS: Undercover were PS3 only. Matter of fact, the only NEW game for the 360 was either Gears of War 2, or in one of the stands, Guitar Hero World Tour...

-          Speaking of Guitar Hero WT, where was it? The full setup wasn't there! That would have been a great play! And better yet, where was Rock Band?

-          I should allude a little more on the RE5 point. One thing that I noticed about the show was that in general, there was more unreleased stuff than last year. Obviously RE5, but Ubi also showed off Prince of Persia, Shawn White's Snowboarding (Wii and 360 verisons) and Naruto: The Broken Bond.  Almost all of the games at the Funtastic/Disney booth were unreleased (Pure being the exception).  Nintendo's even had a few – in the form of Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City and Kirby Superstar Ultra. EA had NFS: Undercover. Sony also showed off quite a few unreleased PSP games, including LocoRoco 2 and Resistance Portable. And while not at the Sony booth, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm was shown off...

HOWEVER, AFA Interactive took the cake with all of their games being unreleased. Basically, these were the D3/Marvellous Games, which included Bangai-O Spirits (brutally hard), Little Kings Story (which is making its first public appearance outside of Japan), Matt Hazard (which I really hate hearing about), some game based around Ben 10 and more.

DAY 2  (Saturday 15th November)

Day 2 was really memorable for me. And I'm not just saying that. I didn't spent as long at the show as I did the day before, but there was one main reason why I was there. I'll get to that in a moment. Anyway, experiences:

-          Interviewing Matt and Yug was awesome. It was literally a 10 minute thing that was slightly more prepared than the Aussie Nintendo 'interview' I did the day beforehand, even if I did miss out on a couple of things that I wanted to mention. It was also pretty rad to also have Yahtzee there – he basically played the same role that Blunty played the day beforehand.

-          The big reason why I was there was that I was a participant on a gaming trivia challenge hosted by Yahtzee – and was participated by Jason and myself, Matt and Yug, and two of the dudes from GameArena (who didn't show). It was fun – I find that I'm better at actually answering questions about gaming than re-enacting games without using much in the way of dialogue, but actions and sound effects. Re-enacting GTA 4 and Tomb Raider is harder than it looks. And I will gladly give Yahtzee credit for his "guess the game screenshot obscured by kittens". Yes. Kittens.

Oh, and we won. That was rad. In the end, there was a huge deficit between us and Australian Gamer, but we didn't care. But everyone had fun.

-          Almost immediately afterwards, Jason had to leave, and I (finally) got to meet up with our forumites. Well, the ones that had come, anyway. It was still really awesome – they were happy I was there (because I normally can't come to a get-together, because of work). The get together at Galactic Circus was fun – actually managed to not (completely) suck at Guitar Freaks, and played  a decent run on Drum Mania. Also had some fun with SF4, actually WON a few bouts (against the computer)...to which I then got my arse kicked in two separate games by some dude who played Blanka and Alioth who played Sagat. The latter I was playing as Akuma, whom is rad and all, but takes damage like CRAZY.

As well as that, Lux, Ali and I indulged ourselves in a bit of Mario Kart DS. Made us look like huge nerds, but really, it was either that, play Daytona, or...watch someone play Initial D. Now do you understand?

-          And to top this all off?  There were some women arguing with some dude on the way home. Particularly loud too – possibly drunk. They were swearing their heads off, threatening to stab someone with a bottle...scary stuff, because really, it could get just a little out of control and someone could have been stabbed. But hey, what can you do? It was a Saturday night and all...

Overall, it was a fun experience. We all had a great time, and the show itself was a big improvement over last year. Some general thoughts about the show:

-          Is there really a point for Nintendo to KEEP showing Wii Sports? I mean, the game is two years old, and everyone who owns a Wii has the game anyway – there's better stuff out there to show off what the Wii can do than just Wii Sports...

-          Kudos for Sony for showing off a good mix of old and new stuff.

-          Hey Microsoft, why don't you want to show off how awesome the 360 is? The first year, there was a HUGE area for the 360. The second year was a massive downsize. This year? No official presence for the 360, unless you count the Gears of War 2 bunker. And hell, none of the 360's there were playing anything unreleased – the only 'new' things there were Gears of War 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour.

-          Speaking of the latter point, you could argue that because Microsoft already have the sales, they don't need to show anything off...but there are still people out there not convinced enough to buy a 360. Like myself.

-          I felt like I should have done more interviewing with people. Or at least pick up my own recording device and recorded people on the show floor.

So yeah, that's eGames 2008 in a nutshell. Can't wait for next years show – here's hoping that we can record more stuff.

Right-o. I'm going to be at the eGames expo this weekend. Should be a rad event - I'm hoping to record an awesome podcast with a variety of interesting people...or whoever will want to talk to me..

But what about those that can't make it? Either through laziness or justified inability or if you live interstate? Never fear, because Web 2.0 has come to the rescue!

I've had a Twitter account for a while. The idea was to initially use it to tell people what the status on the podcast was. Then I got bored with it and reinvented it as my personal Twitter account, where if I want to tell people what I'm doing - I just post. I use it as my signature on the VG Press, and I'm debating using that as my GS sig, but then'd need to watch the language.

Anyway, I'll be twittering as much as possible during the Expo. From about 12-1, then 4-7 on the Friday, and 4-7 (maybe earlier) on the Saturday. I'm not going to be there on the Sunday. There's a link to my account there - so if you have a Twitter account, you can follow me, and I'll gladly follow you.

So yeah, watch this space lads, and you'll be getting up to the minute updates  on DarthHomer at eGames! See you there!

So how 'bout that GTA IV huh? That perfect 10, "oscar worthy" experience that has been hailed, lauded and pretty much akin to gaming nirvana...

Ah screw it, I can't keep this up.

I'm sorry, but I can't see the brilliance in GTA IV. I really can't. This is not the game of the year. It's not even close.

It's been over six months since the game came out. I've sunk at least a good 20 hours into the game across two files. Why two? Because the recent trophy patch that just came out made it impossible for me to achieve most of the end game trophies, and made me several kinds of furious.

It's replaying the game from the start that made this realization possible - that the end of the game is a huge problem compared to the way it start, which is excellent and fun and original (at least, for a GTA game)

Now, before I go into this, I'll be talking extensively about end game stuff. I won't mention anything story related, but if you're the kind of person that cannot have gameplay elements mentioned, then I'm going to try go around it as much as possible. Don't say I didn't warn you.

First big problem? The mission cutscenes. This sounds rather vague, but let me explain. You're on a mission to try kill another character (plenty of this, but that's irrelevant). You get to the destination, and you get a cutscene of Niko spooking whoever it is you're about to kill, and they run off - forcing a chase.

I cannot express in words how much this makes me furious, but not only is it incredibly stupid, BUT IT HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE BLOODY TIME.

This could have been allieviated by making the person spawn when you get to the location, and then if you're skilled enough - kill them before you get on the bike/car/whatever. You mess up, you do the chase. Make it a challenge to beat the mission easily, rather than forcing the player to engage in a chase.

Then there's some other stupid parts in some missions by having police officers swarm your location THE SECOND you finish off an objective. How in the bloody hell does that work!?

Lastly - some missions conclude with Niko executing another character. Now, this isn't a problem, but the way it's handled is. The first one you do, you pull the trigger to execut him, and you get a cutscene of Niko shooting the character in the eye. Now why couldn't I do that? It's not that hard to make a headshot...

Next, the random missions. Not so much the idea of them, but how poorly implemented they are. Here's one example of how this happened to me (admist many). I do a particuarly brutal mission. I've been playing for long enough, so I decide to head back to my apartment to save the game, and turn off the PS3. I get to my destination, to which I recieve a phone call.

I accept it, and at the end of the call, I'm in a mission. I have no opportunity to save my game, heal my health (well, that much can be allievated) and forced to play longer than I want to. The sad thing? It's happened to me every time I want to save the game.

Not cool. Not cool in the slighest.

I can understand if the mission trigger was a text message saying that "we're ready when you are", and then you call the person to start the mission. It then gives me time to save the game and pick up the game later. How this doesn't bother anyone is beyond me.

Then there's the new police system. It's good to see that now there's a system for getting away from the cops, and it's clearly defined. 1-2 stars is easy, 3+ stars? Get ready for frustration. It's far too difficult than it needs to be to escape from the cops - there's a HUGE jump from 2 stars to 3 stars and makes it far harder than it needs to be.

The cops just spawn at the most inappropriate moments, and it's just stunning to see that no matter what you do, THE ENTIRE LIBERTY CITY POLICE FORCE IS AFTER YOU. Frustrating as hell, and makes some of the later missions more difficult than they need to be.

One of the cooler additions in the game, the phone, is also poorly utilized. Specifically, there's one instance where you need to use your phones camera to take a picture. That's the ONLY time you use it. Why? Apparently Niko has the worst phone in history as although you take pictures, you cannot save them. AT ALL. It braks the illiusion, and hey, it'd be really cool to send pictures to friends.

Shame though, the phone also lends itself to one of the cooler and more innovative missions in the game.

Why make this? With many websites and publications considering their GOTY awards - and given all the critical wankery upon the game's launch (in particular, IGN), it's hard to not see GTA IV given game of the year over something far more deserving (like Burnout Paradise). Same goes for MGS and LBP.

Though there are plenty of positives (the driving, the soundtrack and the new combat/cover systems), they're outweighed by far too many negatives.

I could be wrong, and not playing the game right, but honestly - with things like this, I find it hard to believe anyone could still consider it for any major awards.

I'm kinda involved in something big at the moment - the launch of a new website. No, this isn't anything to do with Level 3, it's something to do with a website and people that I've grown to love over the past few months.

Around a year ago, during the whole Gerstman-gate issue, a bunch of the more prominent Gamespot GGD members left the site seeking greener pastures - those at 1UP. Suffice to say, that didn't work out as well as we'd all hoped - so we settled on a brand new home, Insert Coin. Needless to say, it grew and become an awesome place to go talk about games and the latest news.

Now, Insert Coin is dead. BUT IT LIVES ON! How so?

Direct your browsers to The VG Press The news (GG Weekly) is still there, we've got forums - basically, if you want to discuss the latest in gaming with people that you know (or are familar with at least), the VG Press is the way to go.

That being said, I'm also involved in another aspect of the site - the Press Room, which is the podcast for the site. It'll be a fornightly podcast, but the two episodes we produce a month will be with different 'teams' across the globe. So one podcast, it'll be a combination of American and Australian voicers, while the other? European and American voices.

It's an interesting task, and it does work surprisingly well. It's also awesome to hear the voices of people that you know...kinda.

Hope to see you guys on there!

On October 29th, 1988 - Sega released this little console into the Japanese market:

This is the Sega Mega Drive. American gamers might know this as the Sega Genesis. Either way, it was the start of something wonderful. Granted, the console never really took off in Japan, but in the West, it was absolutely huge.

I can't say that I had some personal experience with the console. I never owned one (I had a SNES), but when I would play a Mega Drive, I was hooked. There was always something cool to play that I couldn't get elsewhere - one of which you'll learn about in a moment.

To celebrate, here's a look at some of the greatest games you can ONLY play for the Mega Drive/Genesis.

Sonic 2. Sega's finest achievement, and arguably THE game for the Mega Drive. Still holds up exceptionally well today. Every time I hear the Emerald Hill Zone music, I go back to 1994 when I first played the game for the first time at my cousins place...and I can still remember it vividly.

Another legendary game. In something that hasn't really been duplicated since, in order to play the most expansive Sonic game yet, you needed to own a copy of Sonic 3 (great game) and Sonic & Knuckles (still aiight). By fusing them together, you got the ability to save the game in the Sonic & Knuckles levels, play as Knuckles in Sonic 3 and if you owned Sonic 2, you got this:

Not a hack folks. This is the real deal. And hey, it's a game so nice, why not post it twice?

THE TOWER OF POWER! Yes, the Sega add-on crisis was a big reason as to why the system slowly died. What you're looking at is a Mega Drive, with a Sega CD, with a 32X, with a Power Base Converter (which allowed the user to play Master System games), a Genesis Cleaning System, a Game Genie, TWO copies of Sonic & Knuckles, and finally - a copy of Sonic 3. Wow.

Kid Chameleon - basically a platformer where you play this kid tasked to defeat an evil computer system that has locked in all that who have played it. The kid could become a Samurai...and other things....yeah, I know. It's been a while since I've played it - but it's a rad game. It features close to 100 levels, so you know you're in for the long haul...

Sega didn't have the support of Squaresoft or Enix back in the day, but when it came to RPG's, Sega could hold their own. Shining Force was a great example of this - it's a fun turn based strategy game, developed by the team that would later be known as Camelot...who really need to make a new Mario Golf/Tennis game.

Fine game - absolutely recommended.

Here's Phantasy Star II. Regarded by many as being one of the greatest RPG's of all time - thanks in no part to a great storyline which was not only fourth wall breaking, but also featured the Aeris twist a good few years before Final Fantasy VII. Hard game, but worth checking out. The other two Phantasy Star games on the console are also worth a look.

The late Genesis-era Vectorman (as well as its sequel - Vectorman 2) were interesting little games that deserve mention. The character design was really something (basically your character was a series of balls and shapes), and you could transform into a variety of forms to help you progress throughout the game. Really underrated, definitely worth checking out.

Altered Bea...actually, wait...no.

Arguably one of the two games that really justified the purchase of a Sega CD (the other being Sonic CD), the Sega CD version of Hideo Kojima's Snatcher is the only time the game was ever released in English. Has a great story that combines elements of Blade Runner & The Terminator, as well as shows off a few fourth wall breaking moments - which would later become more and more prevelant (and awesome) in later Kojima games.

OH YEAH. Comix Zone, one of the most unique brawlers you'll ever play. The entire game takes place in a comic book world - complete with panels that you'll be moving through, speech bubbles, scene descriptions and more. Short game, but really neat. The fighting system is also cool.

REVENGE OF SHINOBI! How awesome was this game? Aside from the fact that it's such a fun game to play, it's also the only game that has Godzilla, Spiderman and BATMAN as bosses. Not making that up either. Well...at least in earlier versions (Godzilla and Batman were changed slightly). Spidey remains, and only because there had to be copyright clearance from Marvel...oh well. For many gamers, this was their first chance to beat the crap out of Spiderman...the first of many...

Hell yeah, Streets of Rage 2. Regarded as being one of the finest brawlers ever made, the game combined fantastic gameplay with wonderful visuals and an awesome soundtrack. Not convinced? Get the game and play with a buddy. Then you'll realize just how awesome it is...

(Now why couldn't we get it on a compilation disc again? That excuse about the violence is pathetic...)

That's all for now. I'm off to go play some Mega Drive. You should too.

Later.

For some strange reason I have a penchant for old commercials. There's just something about the datedness of the whole thing, as well as the way that products were advertised back then that fascinates me. Also helps that I'm a sucker for nostalgia. Today, we'll be looking at possibly the pinnacle of video game advertising – the 90's. I'd like to start off with taking a look at Sega's commercials during the 90's.

Bit of history first. Sega had a lot of ground to cover in the US. The Master System didn't fly as well as Sega hoped it would (compared to Europe, Japan and Australia), and Sega needed a big hit in the US. The big thing that helped sell the system was to make it an 'American' system. This would involve changing the name of the system (from Mega Drive to Genesis) as well as engaging in some very 'American' advertising.

Across all the ads that I'll be linking too, there are a few things linking each together, and kinda show off the two 'generations' of ads that Sega were running back in the early to mid 90's.

No doubt you'll remember this. It's one of the catchiest ads for anything game related, and was a pretty big shot at Nintendo. You have to understand – the Genesis had a good two/three years ahead of the Super Nintendo, and while the NES still had some great games at the time of the Genesis launch, it was something that would repeat for both the Saturn and Dreamcast. The phrase itself (Genesis Does What Nintendon't) is easily the most quotable advertisement about the Genesis – more so than Blast Processing.

There was also this. This is actually a pretty cool slogan, I must admit. This is basically the more edgier of the Sega ad campaigns, which really do take more shots at Nintendo (and some kinda vicious ones too – such as burning a SNES and making plenty of shots against the Game Boy). All of them seem to end with someone yelling out "SEGA!" – not in the same way that you hear the Sega name in some of their other games. Anyway, onto the commercials.

Comix Zone

Great game this was. The ad? I cannot make sense of it. A voice over asks the viewer "So you wanna live in a comic book world huh?" when really, this people don't seem like ANYTHING in a comic book – even 90's comic books. The dialogue seems mostly like the family is a bunch of D&D roleplayers. Judge for yourself.

Street Fighter II - Special Championship Edition

Around this time, Capcom had some really interesting adverts for Street Fighter II. There was a series of live action adverts for Street Fighter II Turbo for the Super Famicon which aren't too bad. This one is possibly the most interesting, because it portrays a Street Fighter II SCE cart as being a monster. A Mortal Kombat crushing monster. Weirdly enough, you never see MK taking a cheap shot at SF...

Blast Processing

The infamous Blast Processing commercial. If you've ever wanted to know what it was, it was basically marketing hype to make you think your Genesis was more powerful than a SNES – because it could run stuff like Ecco the Dolphin or Sonic 2. Aside from it being completely untrue, it was great console war/fanboy fuel.

Sega CD Ad

I like to think of this dude as the harbinger of the Genesis' death. He's not only angry at this kid for not only not buying a Sega CD (and waiting for Nintendo to make one...which nearly happened), but was later seen trying to sell Ground Zero Texas (for the Sega CD) and a Sega 32X. Need I say more?

Genesis Does

The legendary commercial. Basically, there's a number of the same commercial, changed to suit what Sega was trying to hawk at the time – be it the number of sports games or games you could get when you mailed away or what awesome game is out on the system or whatever. Though it almost always ends with a montage of people shouting "GENESIS! Does! GENESIS! Does!"

Think that was exciting? I've got another couple of parts going up soon. Look forward to those.

I was also on another podcast! I'm a member of Insert Coin (soon to be known as the VG Press), a site created by former Gamespot GGD members (and some current), and we had our first podcast. Listen to it here

That's all for now. Later.

It's been a very interesting few weeks. The Q4 gaming rush has kicked off in style, with some great titles now (such as Saints Row and Dead Space) and plenty on the way (too many to mention). Though I want to comment on one of the more interesting events that has been happening as of late that might not seem like a big deal...but it's fascinating nonetheless.

If you've been paying attention to Kotaku (mainly them, not too sure if Joystiq are running the same article), they've been reporting on how several high profile games (namely Saints Row, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2 and Far Cry 2) have actually been leaked onto the internet - allowing anyone with a DVD Burner and modded consoles to play these games.

Now, before I continue with this, let me set something straight. Personally, I don't like piracy. Much like everyone else here, I think it's wrong and that if you make a game, you should be rewarded for it, regardless of quality. If you pirate, that's cool. I won't treat you any differently, it's your business after all. Just try explaining yourself to the **** that believe you're the cancer killing the industry, and trust me, there are PLENTY out there.

Anyway, the one that's really shocking about these games was that all of those games? 360 games. Normally, it's not too much of a problem with the 360 - mainly because it's kind of a hassle to actually mod the thing and ensure that you can still use Live (which, after all, is a key component to the system), but the fact that all of these games got leaked for the console? It's a surprise. Especially since the multi-platform games (Saints Row, Fallout and Far Cry), you'd normally see the PC version getting leaked.

Though the real shock comes in the reaction. Normally, when you'd see a PC game getting leaked, you'd hear cries of "PC GAMING IS DEAD" or some stupidly ignorant thing like that. With this, you would hear the exact opposite. I've heard people actually HAPPY that this has happened - and are so amazed that you can actually pirate 360 games, they want to know how to mod their 360's to play the games for free. If I could find the comments, I'd post them here.

What really drives me up the wall though is that many sites are reporting this as news. Personally, I don't think so. I mean, my belief is that if it can be pirated, chances are that it WILL be pirated. That's the way I've held PC piracy for years, and I'm still shocked as to whenever a game is leaked - it's reported as news. Granted, these are major games and they will attract clicks...but really, is it news? Then again, Kotaku posted the story - and EVERYONE knows that their definition of news is flawed..

That's all for now. Later.

Sorry guys. I'm kinda busy this week with schoolwork. Here's this weeks' update - finished weeks in advance.

GAME NUMBER NINE - BOKOSUKA WARS (Sharp X1, MSX, Famicon, NEC PC-88 - 1984).

I just had to do this one. You'll have probably heard of any of the other games on this list, but I unless you're someone who lives and breathes bad games, or has a somewhat large knowledge of obscure Famicon games, then you'll know exactly what I'm about to talk about. Otherwise, allow me to explain.

Bokosuka Wars is an strategy game where you play as King Suren, whose army has been turned into various objects by the evil King Ogereth. The idea is that Sureth is 597M away from his castle (and subsequently Ogereth), and you and your army are constantly moving towards this goal, defeating enemy soldiers and recruiting friendlier soldiers.

Now, you might think of this as a turn based strategy game, but it's not like that – it's actually more action based. You basically have free control over Suren as you move towards the goal, but in a move of sheer bastardry, everytime you take a step, your enemies also take a step. If you've played a 'rogue-like', or any of the Chunsoft dungeon crawlers (i.e. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Shiren the Wanderer etc.), it's very similar.

Here's where the game falls apart in a huge way. If Suren is not with an army, he dies instantly. Which is, of course, never fun. If he's with an army, then your chances of survival are still pretty slim. Why? All the battles in the game are randomized. You have absolutely no control over the battles whatsoever. You may have one hell of a huge army, but at any time, the game decides randomely whether or not you'll win or lose.

Though that does lead to arguably the highlight of the game, and one of the biggest 'flip the bird' moments in gaming. If you get a game over, you're greeted with a screen saying, in huge red letters, "WOW, YOU LOSE". I'm not making that up. It gives a similarly positive message if you win, but trust me, the game over screen is worth playing through the game – because you'll be seeing it A LOT. And because it's awesome.

That being said, there really isn't much else to it. It's a REALLY obscure game that never got released in English, The Famicon port was the last port of the game made (following a port on the MSX), but is arguably the most infamous. I really wish that I could speak a little more about it, but really - there isn't much else to it.

Later...

Much like E3, it's safe to say that Microsoft have 'won' TGS (as much as I think it's stupid to say such a thing). One needs to look at their press conference at said event, which started off poorly, then ended with some megatons. Suffice to say, my reasoning for wanting an Xbox 360 has increased, what, with the confirmations of Metal Slug 7, King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and Space Invaders Extreme as XBLA games (though I can't help feeling there's something wrong that I want it JUST for the downloadable games).

Oh, and then there was some more confirmation about the new Halo game, but who cares about that? I'm more interested in the new No More Heroes game, complete with awesome trailer (look it up - it's rad).

However, I want to spend some time talking about one particular announcement. One which I've used the E3 analogy for. You know the one.

Err...no, not that one. Though the trailers were cool.

Ahh, there we go.

So yeah. Tekken...on an Xbox. Who'dve thunk it? Who'dve forseen it? Who'dve think that it would have actually have happened?

This is where I'd be saying that upon learning this info, I went to various forums and cried fould over Microsoft and Namco for doing such a thing, and crying into my pillow - like the Tekken fan that I am.

I didn't.

Was I angered? Well, yeah. I mean, we're talking about a game here that I've read multiple reports that people BOUGHT a PS3 for, and will now happily trade away their PS3's to get a 360 so they can get some ACHIEVEMENTS LOL~! (no, not really). But to be honest, none of this wasn't a shock - if you think about it.

I mean, we are talking about Namco Bandai here. We're talking about the same company that has eschewed Sony exclusivity for Microsoft (Ace Combat, Katamari), as well as completely ignore the point of DLC (where do you want me to begin?) . Then there were the rumours and all that have been floating about for over a year now.

Still, I can't get all the complaining. Does the fact that it's going to the 360 suck? Kinda. Though if you're an embittered PS3 owner, let me offer you a sound bit of advice here.

You're still getting the superior game.

Let me explain my point here. This is by no means a fanboyish rant or plea or whatever. I'm not trying to troll 360 owners. Just give me a moment to explain.

First reason - it's still a Playstation game. There's a YouTube video floating about showing off the game being booted up, showing off a XMB interface akin to a PS3. Then there's the fact that all the previous Tekken games have effectively been built on Playstation technology. Granted, we haven't seen any comparison shots (or anything, really) of both versions of the game, but you can't help but wonder that this gives the PS3 just that bit of an advantage.

Then there's stuff like online play and achievements. Online's been confirmed for the PS3 version, and safely saying, the 360 game. Achievements is a no brainer for the 360 game, and there is a chance that the PS3 version will be receiving trophies. Nothing entirely confirmed at this point, but there's a chance that it'll still be the same game.

The other big reason? Controlling it. For those who aren't familar with Tekken, you've always had to input directions using the D-Pad. It's never really been a problem (except on the PSP's Dark Resurrection) on a Playstation console, but for the 360? Yup - that'll be a BIG problem. Though there is the fact that D-Pad issue always has the possibility of being fixed in the future (and can be now, unofficially). Or has it been confirmed that it'll be fixed? Let me know if you do know.

If you're the kind of gamer that plays with sticks, then that makes it slightly more even. I can't talk too much about this, because I have too little experience with it.

The one real kicker here is the release date. FALL 2009. If you want to blame Microsoft and Namco for something justifiably, then you can blame them for that. Why does this suck? Well, the arcade game would have been out for nearly TWO YEARS at that point. I can't think of any other fighter that's had a home port delayed for that long.

Though it will be quite unreal to read that the 360 version outselling the PS3 version.

Look on the bright side though, at least Street Fighter IV will be out by then, now with added SAKURA. Yay!

Still not happy? How about this?

:3

I know I am.

Later.