For the past couple of years all I've seen in the theaters is CG **** after CG ****.

However, I think it's better that I first explain a little history on this.


After years of America dominating the Japanese movie market, Japan had the guts to release a film that could set on par with them.

*Take Note that Disney Owns Dreamworks and since 2006, Pixar*

On July 18th, 1988

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Cover-akira.jpg/200px-Cover-akira.jpg

was released in Japanese theaters, and thus starting a Goldenage of 2D animation in the box-office.

Exactly 4 months after Akira launched in Japan, the United States received another badass animated movie.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/Landtime.jpg/200px-Landtime.jpg

Not only was this movie badass, but it surpassed Disney's "Oliver in Company both domestically and world-wide.

However Disney would then make one of the biggest comeback's in film history.

In 1989 Disney released



It found great success grossing over $200,000,000 world-wide.

After creating "The Little Mermaid" Disney created another epic.

That's right males the movie you've all been waiting for.



That's right **** Beauty and the Beast was release on November 13th, 1991.

The movie was so badass even the boys watched! :o

After that came the legend, that's right the one and only



mother****! This movie was awesome. Impressive animation, memorable characters, **** yeah this was the ****!

And just when you think it couldn't get any better then game...well....one of the greatest creations of man ever made.....yes I'm talking about.



One of the most if not the most beautiful animated film of all-time with an awesome story, characters, **** it had everything.

Whether or not this movie did rip-off of "Kimba the White Lion".



It was still a masterpiece that remains Godly to this day.

After that a ground breaking film would come out that would change the face of animation forever.



Toy Story featured amazing CG graphics never before imagined and it made jaws everywhere drop.

Well I think you get the picture good movies by Disney.

However soon Disney started to suck by creating **** like "Treasure Planet", "Atlantis", ""Home on the Range", and "Lilo and Stich".

I mean **** didn't this little ****er piss anyone else off?



I mean he was like suppose to be what the Conker of Disney? He's a ****ing alien I mean ****!

Anyway during that time there wasn't anything else other companies created that was good besides "The Rugrats Movie" *though that's probably my nostalgia getting the best of me*.

During this time CG got more and more successful with Toy Story 2, Bugs Life, Monsters Inc., and Shrek *which we know were all awesome*

While this was happening Disney's 2D movies went into a downward spiral in profit division, so much so that one even bombed in the box office.


So now Disney along with other companies *SONY being one* is whoring CG with ****y movies.

Cars sucked, Dreamworks is focusing too much on Shrek, Ninja Turtle in CG, Surfing Penguins....what the ****?

Anyway I think you know how annoying it is to see all this **** Constantly we see these movies and unlike before we barely see any big budget 2D ones *except the excellent Simpsons Movie*.

Will there ever be more 2D films again?

Well here's a recent chart showing Pixar's WorldWide Grosses.



As you can see they keep decreasing, the same can be said about most other CG films. So similar to with what happened with 2D animation, all these ****ty films being released at once is making people grow tired of this ****.

However I've done my research on any big budget 2D animation films coming up and I've only ran across 2 notable ones.

Rebuild of Evangelion *If you can call that big budget, I just put it on here because I love Eva :)* and Disney's 2009 movie "The Princess and the Frog" which the only interesting thing in it is that it's the first Disney movie where the princess is black.

Well in the end it doesn't stop me getting tired of this CG **** and hopeful we will see more 2D ones in the future and hope it will take longer before they start sucking again.

Well that's all I have to say.










Also, AMERICA TAKE A HINT FROM JAPAN TO MAKE BIG-BUDGET 2D MOVIES NOT FOR KIDS WITH ACTION!!!!





Oh and Japan take a HUGE risk by making a huge budget "Bleach" Movie! :)

The Way I Review: I judge a game by it's quality and nothing more. I will not lower the score of a game because it is less appealing then other games that have gotten scores similar to it. I judge a game by what it's ment to do and how well it does it, and also the gameplay, fun, and depth of the game and nothing else. I score the game as how it meets the expectations of the current day of gaming, so I am not comparing it against the top tier Gods of gaming Behemoths such as Half-Life 2 and Ocarina of Time as if I was creating a top 100 gaming list, nor will I give a game a break if it's missing a vital part of gameplay. The score I give is the score I think think the game deserves, everyone has their own opinions thus what is and what isn't quality varies. These reviews are to further inform you of deciding what to and what not to play and nothing more.


Review

Introduction

If you're primarily a DS gamer you have heard of Jump Ultimate Stars, or better known as "that game from Japan that's like Super Smash Bros." Well let me cut to the chase and beat around the bush to give you the bad news this game isn't as good as Super Smash Bros *big surprise*......however it is still a very very solid game.

First Thing's First

First of all similar to how Smash Bros. uses primarily Nintendo characters as fighters, Jump Ultimate Stars uses fighters from the Jump Manga's.

The game has over 300, and no that isn't a type three-hundred, different characters to choose from 41 different manga. From Dr. Slump to Bleach, this game has it all from the legends of the Jump Saga so Otaku's prepare to be mesmerized.


[SIZE="1"]Notice any familiar faces?[/SIZE]

Decks

The characters you pick, the special moves you select, to the stat upgrades are all placed within your "deck" on the bottom screen and are referred to as "koma".


[SIZE="1"]The picture above shows all the types of koma that you see on the bottom screen during battle[/SIZE]

There are three types of koma that are called help, support and battle Each of them are unique and are a very important.

Help koma: Take up one square and improve the status of the characters they are set next to. They are the basis of all koma and eventually evolve to the other 2 by getting more nature points *this will be explained later on in the review*.

Support koma: Range from two to three squares that give you special attacks during the battle. It's usually of a defined character from one of the mangas and they aid you during battle by attacking the opposing character(s) or at times aid by healing you.

Battle koma: Range four to eight squares. These are literally the characters you play as in the games. You can have as many characters that fit on the bottom screen or as much as you want balanced between the other 2 koma. You can also upgrade your characters to become more powerful *Again this will be explained later on in the review*.

Each battle koma comes with a certain nature. The natures are titled: laughter, power and knowledge. This works similar to rock, paper, scissors. So let me break it down for you:

Power > Knowledge

Knowledge > Laughter

Laughter > Power

This adds much strategy into the game and is something to definitely think about while building your deck. The Battle/Support koma can be selected by touching them. There are also other ways of doing this which is going to be covered on the next paragraph.

To complete your deck you need to have at least one of each type of koma in it, also you must set 2 battle or support koma to "L" or "R". Finally you must set one of the battle koma as the "Leader" or better known as the starting character.

Combat
The combat itself while pretty unbalanced is fun. "B" is for the weak attack, "Y" is for the medium attack, and "X" is for the strong attack. Balance these when fighting well is gained by experience and there is much to experience to receive especially since pushing the D-Pad left, right, up, or down does while pushing these buttons performs a different attack.


[SIZE="1"]Know what you're doing or you'll have your ass pwned[/SIZE]


Pressing "|" or better known as down on the D-PAD will have your character block. You can also select characters and special attack by touching them on the bottom screen or pressing "L" or "R" to quickly select them. At times items will appear in chests or floating on balloons. These effect you and the enemy (ies) both positively and negatively. If you get effected by them all depends if you run pick them up. *When you open the chest the item falls on the ground so you automatically aren't equip with it*

The combat is just downright fun, it makes the game easy to get into and will have the game go through many screen openings until you get bored of it....that is IF you get bored of it.

While fun the combat isn't without its faults. For one framerate dropping *while VERY seldomly* does occur. Also, due to the high amount of characters and attacks some are going to be more powerful then others. This leaves the game to be unbalanced and if your one of those core fighter fans that registers for Evo, criticizes Chun-Li, Ken, and Yun for ruining Third Strike's perfection, and knows and agrees about the whole "cancelling glitch" from Capcom vs. SNK 2, this game will at times seem like a laughing stock. However if you just want to play to have fun and a party blast with your friends the combat WILL deliver.

Level Design
This is the only point where the game falls flat at times. There are over 40 different areans with a arena for each manga. And like how some characters are better then others the same goes with the arenas. They range from very fun and flowing like Eyeshield 21's arena to the utter crap borefest of the default arena *the arena you play in multiplayer if your friend doesn't have a cart*. Overall most of the arenas are passable and nothing to complain about, they all just seem a little too similar.

Modes

There are 3 types of modes: Galaxy, Arena, and Wi-Fi. Let's go through them one at a time shall we?

Galaxy: This is similar to the "campaign" mode in other games similar to the genre. In this you pick to fight which manga world in any other. They have "missions" in each one and beating each mission gives you more nature points so you can upgrade your koma and at times koma themselves. There are usually around 5 missions in each world and some can be tough. Beating enough of the 5 however progresses you to the next level of the world. Repeating this process has you beat the world and once you've defeated all the worlds in the area usually a boss world appears. After you've defeated the boss world, you are then able to go into the warp hole and repeat the process until you've beaten the game.

Arena: It comes with the following modes:

Ranking which is basically "battling" Coms. It lets you choose whether you want to fight your characters over and over until the time runs out making the new competitors harder to defeat with each victory. Having the last man standing win with every victory the competitors get harder to defeat. And Finally, having the one who collects the most starts the victor.

Mission try which you choose from a wide variety of missions to perform.

Battle which you fight an enemy once while deciding the time, amount of enemies, and the difficulty of the enemy (ies).

Training which is self-explanatory.

Wi-Fi: Online is a nice added addition as you can fight anyone from around the world. The problem is that it isn't always fair since: A, as stated before the game is unbalanced and B, by now most players are highly skillful. There's also the matter of lag and high ping *framerate drops* which becomes an annoyance, I mean after all the majority of players are from Japan. Even with these faults online is a nice thing to choose when you're tired of fighting the CPU. You can also save your competitors "Rival Data" so you can use his deck during other modes in the game such as Galaxy. This is highly useful since it makes it much easier to know the top tire koma in the game.

Quiz: This is completely useless unless you can speak Japanese so let's pretend it doesn't exist. But just in case you are curious it quizes you on the mangas in the game.

Translating the Import

This is surprisingly easy since there are many dedicated sites that give an easy walkthrough of the missions and ways of playing. Some even dedicated enough to do pic by pic translations such as this site.


[SIZE="1"]Thank you site creator! :)[/SIZE]


So if your worried at not knowing how to play it due to Japanese text then have no fear.



Closing

This game is a must have for DS fans. Easy to pick up and play, lots of fun and depth, and lots of lasting appeal. It may not be Smash Bros. but it is definitely something to take a look at. Get your credit cards, go to yesasia.com, and IMPORT GET!

Gameplay - 9
Graphics - 9
Sound - 7
Lifespan - 10
Fun - 10

Overall - 9.4

This was a topic I created on TGZ, the poster like it so much they made it a feature. :)

*If only they'd let me edit it to fix my mistakes and describe more of what I ment :(*

http://www.totalgamerzone.com/article-299-There-was-a-time-when-2D-was-king.html

:|

"But the ESA said the average gamer is 33!" But you have to actually READ what they said.

"This is most obvious in the breakdown of game types for the online survey, which shows that 52 percent of all games played on line are puzzle/board/game show/trivia or card games. This compares to 22 percent for action/sports/strategy/role-playing games, 9 percent for browser based games and 7 percent for persistent online worlds."

So OVER 50% of the market plays casual games? Keep in mind this was done May of last year before the Wii and the DS dominance. Oh no I have more.

"The average adult gamer has been playing games for twelve years, with adult males averaging ten years and females eight years. The report also shows that 44 percent of most frequent game players play online, up from 19 percent in 2000. Males account for 58 percent of online gamers and females 42 percent."

Do I need an explanation? And it can't be MMO's it already said that MMO's only take up 7% compared to 52% almost 8 time smaller. Hell here's more proof if you don't believe me. This belief is totally false. And almost half of these "adult gamers" play many online casual games, also if you remember right it said 52% of game plays play online so with 33 being the average gamer that must mean those around that age must make up that big chunk more then anyone else.

No the average person who plays console games *remember this includes PC, which PC gamers are older then console gamers* isn't 33, try 23 or younger. 33 year olds are too busy raising a family and trying to keep food on the table then to "game".

Remember the biggest game isn't Halo, GTA, Dragon Quest, Lineage 2, or WoW.....it's Solitaire.

People always say why do the Japanese always have characters with a metrosexual or emo like haircut.

Well today I have the answer.

It's a common natural hairsty|e there. So they aren't making their characters look "emo" or "metrosexual", they're just drawing out many's natural hair sty|e. So thank you fellow Westerners for being ignorant.

^^^^^^ Haha he has a bulge in his pants. :lol:

I just brought the game, after beating Deus Ex I felt myself less "wowed" by this game. I mean it seems that everything it does another game did better.

Level Design - Half-Life

Goal Completion - Deus Ex

Backtracking - Metroid Prime

Immersion - Half-Life 2

Morphing All into One - Half-Life 2

I mean don't get me wrong it's still a great game, but praising it as the best game of the year even ever made, is kind of ridiculous in my opinion.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

NOTE: There is not that much text in here just a lot of pictures.

Back in the day games use to just try to be nothing but games.

While their were some exceptions.

Many games didn't rely on trying to be "cinematic" or "immerse" you.

A fair share amount of games solely focased on their core gameplay mechanics. Banjo-Kazooie is a perfect example of this. It rarely had any cutscenes and it focused solely on exploration and platforming.

No worrying about the amount of square-miles for Deus Ex, it was focused on level design, tactics, and a phenomenal RPG experience.

Level Design, speed and level-design was all that mattered in this game. No voice acting, no story, just sheer speed and level design.

As time movied on people wanted more and more power, however with pretty much every genre but a few, there was really nothing more that could be added to the core gameplay mechanics. So what did games do? Added "Wow" to their games or movie like presentation.

Take Daxter for the PSP for example, yes while a good game, it's still far from other 3D platforming greats such as Mario, Banjo, Conker, and Spyro 1. It's fault is that it rely too much on trying to impress you with the game instead of having fun.

Yes you did a great job with the graphics but how about letting me know what I have to do, tighten up the controls, and stop making me have to make that perfect jump and press the spray just to reach that energy tank so I can keep going.

Yes that last cutscene with voice acting was nice, but in a platformer I don't want to go with this trial and error BS with jumping on lilly pads, I want to relax, explore the world, and have fun, not struggle to get through one damn thing just to realize that I didn't even need to go their in the first place.

Wow nice graphics and the world is HUGE, now if only the focused more on RPGing then these things so the game would'nt have been a total hack-n-slash fest.

So many things about this game I don't know where to begin. Well let's see, pathetic level design with standards of the 90's, a broken combat system, little polish, next to no pacing, this game is just a flatout mess.

It's nice to see a Japaense publisher/developer trying to appeal to the Western audience, and yes this game was fun for a while, but could I do something else besides running around and shooting. I mean here's an example, why don't you have me use tactics to take down the enemy or have me hone my accuracy and all that I know to beat him instead of just running around in circles shooting and hoping that the damn thing doesn't land on me?

See games aren't suppose to be so interactive and try to be real as possible nor should they feel like your watching a movie, they just suppose to be fun, and you don't need voice acting, high quality effects, and miles long worlds for that. Don't get me wrong they're a plus, but really are they a necessity? Let alone something to focus the majority of a developers concentration on?

Luckly their are some games out/coming out that focus just on the gameplay.

No voice acting, high quality graphics, or big worlds to needlessly control your character in Phoenix Wright. It acknowledges that fact that moving by text is the easiest and most relaxing why of travel and search and focus's solely on the adventure expeirence along with the fun cast and characters.

Miles of area, voice acting, and thousand of characters on screen? GTFO out of here, Zack and Wiki solely focus's on exploration and puzzles to get through the game.

Screw trying to appeal to "all of the family" Dementium: The Ward for the DS is First Person Survival Horror at it's best that solely focus's on fear and trying to find out how to GTFO of the place.

Yes you may have voice acting and some high presentation. But Odin Sphere concentrated on two things that really mattered. Gameplay that was very tactical, doesn't get boring, skillful, and fun. Group Centric as being a JRPG only for the core fans and not dumbing it down for the n00bs.

Everyday games get announced and the developers talk about "pushing techs, immersive worlds, so many polygons, etc." Well that's nice but what about the level design, core game mechanics, innovation, etc.? I don't care that Soul Caliber IV is online, just improve the game mechanics from III and I'll be happy, concentrate on making the game more balanced instead of online and boobs.

However as time passes on, it seems that a few more games *especially on the DS* are being announced to focus on gameplay and not on other things. Will they stick? Only time will tell.

Anyway these are my points, your thoughts?

Seriously the top selling games were amazing.

1997

1998

1999

Seriously WTF happened?

P.S. I think I have a good idea.

My problem with gaming of today are two things

One is Variety: Comparing the time of the 360's NA launch to present time to the PS2's NA launch to present time 5 years ago the PS2 in my opinion had much better games both for their time and today's standards and so much more variety.

Grand Theft Auto III Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec PS2 Devil May Cry PS2

SSX

Guilty Gear X

Tekken Tag Tournament

PS2 Final Fantasy X PS2 Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy 11.ICO
13.Twisted Metal: Black 7.Silent Hill 2

These are just some exclusive games and yes I know the PS2 launched in Japan before NA so it's a little unfair, but one could also state that adding those extra months would put the 360 into 3 holiday seasons *which is when the majority of quality games are released* would be a little unfair also, either way even if you chip off those few months I'd still say the PS2 had the edge *remember these are just some games I left out a few here and there*. mean I like 2D fighters, but are their any for the next-gen consoles at retails? Nope. How about platformers *Kameo is an action-adventure game I'm sorry but that's my stance on it* Negative. JRPG? As of right this second now Negative. *Unless you count Enchanted Arms, but....* I mean sure I like shooters and all of the two 3D fighters that are currently out, but come on throw me a bone here. Also yes the PS2 obiviously had more support then the 360, but I can easily bring in the DreamCast which had less third party support but even better games in it's first years then the PS2. Anyway being honest if someone was holding a 360 for $400 with all it's games and a PS2 for $400 with all these games *if I couldn't get them for much cheaper like I can now* I'd take the PS2 in a heartbeat. I mean I just feel like there's a lot less variety in gaming when comparing 2004-2007 to 1998-2001. Now this is just my opinion.

Second is Focus: IMHO most devs these days are more focused on presentation such as pushing tech, movie quality cutscenes, making the game feel real then actual core gameplay. I mean this obviously was done 10 years ago, I still remember the "CG Cutscenes" and the developers modo of "who can push the most polygons" but since games were so much simpler to create and cheaper many devs still focused on core gameplay.

Third is less games for the Core Gamer: I don't care about "the Wii" Playstation, Xbox and well Nintendo would have too if they had more third party power have been casualizing gaming for years. Back in the day there were many games for the core gamer. Fighting Games, JRPG's *not SE crap look at the SEGA Saturn*, Shoot-em-ups,WRPG, Tactical Shooters, Adventure, etc. But since development costs are on the rise, these games are certainly becoming a rarity. There use to be a JRPG in vein of Disgaea almost every month in Japan, can't really say the same for now. WRPG's have been severly dumbed down just look at Oblivion and the upcoming Fallout 3. Tactical Shooters are dying more in favor of Action Shooters. And the rest of the genres I listed are just flatout dead.

Personally I feel that console gaming just went through the shoot after 2004, since then there have only been a handful of games that I've actually enjoyed. I mean sure it got worse from the previous gen but from 01-04 it kind of plateaued and didn't really change. It's definatly not nostolgia since I'm playing many of these old games for the first time and having much more fun with them then the new games coming out on consoles.

I will tell you now that I am NOT alone, for that many long time gamers I've talked on this and other forums usually agree that gaming has been getting stagnant and loosing it's overall quality *however most aren't on this particular board but in unions and other forums*.

If you want an explanation of how gaming got worse in MY views this is it.

1. High Development Costs

2. Near Death of the Japanese Core Gaming Market

3. We've Done Almost Everything We Have Dreamed of Doing, so not too much room to be impressed by anymore.

I'd also like to add that I'm having MUCH fun with my Nintendo DS, and it's personally my favorite gaming system of all-time, but I think this is more taste of games on my part then just overall quality in my opinion.

I mean think of it this way. People say that games are better becasue they are more immersive and we can do more....that is seriously the stupidest load of **** I've ever heard. So Star Wars Episode I is superior to Episode V for the sheer fact that it actually has thousand army battles and better special effects? Transformers is superior to Independence day for it's more rampage and destructional effects? Seriously GTFO of here. Just because you can do something more with something doesn't mean it's better. Yes I have a bigger level area with more detail in GAME A then in GAME B, but what good is it if the level design sucks? Yes I have more enemies on the screen in GAME A then in GAME B, but what good is that if the combat system sucks? How much you can do doens't matter for crud, substance is the only thing that truly matters.