...but I can't help but be fascinated by Blippr. 160-character game / album / movie reviews? Blasphemy... or not? This is sure to help my deck-writing. The site's gotta get some more products up there, though... it doesn't even have any Nas albums to Blip last I checked.
Update: ... ... ...57 blips and counting... ...must stop before I get even more addicted...
Coupla things happened:
1) I spent the entire day Saturday preparing for my birthday Rock Band party. Al was also at a family function during the afternoon, so we could not record then.
2) As the party went late (Al left at 3am-ish, many people didn't leave until 5am, and I didn't wake up until noon), there was much fatigue. So Sunday was out.
3) I was feverishly playing through as much of Digimon World Championship for review during all other free hours, including non-free hours -- for example, on Saturday while in the kitchen preparing burgers for the party.
Thus, Episode 104 will be gifted to you fine swine sometime next week. In the meantime, enjoy these random images of bundt cake.
Anyone who has not beaten or who is not familiar with Final Fantasy II (SNES) -slash- Final Fantasy IV (SFC, PSone, GBA, DS) need not read this because they won't understand and it also might spoilies some things.
So I just took down Zeromus for what's maybe the umpteenth time in my FFIV career, this time on the DS version of Final Fantasy IV. After a healthy assault by me, Zeromus took out Rydia and Edge. Then as I was about to Arise one of them with Rosa, Z pelted my guys with Meteo (yes it's Meteor, but I like calling it by its original US-botched name -- it looks cooler). Took 'em all out. I quietly swore and was about to turn off my DS when Kain, still alive with only 6 HP left, swooped down from the sky and dinged Z with his Jump attack. I had completely forgotten he was waiting up there. As I whooped and frantically anticipated using a Phoenix Down on someone, the screen flashed -- it turns out that Kain had smacked Z with the game winner. Talk about dumb luck!
Oh yeah, podcast is in rendering. I'm also taking on Digimon World Championship (DS) for Gamespot, so I'll likely be a hermit until I'm done.
As I start to remember the games I've sold back for store credit or eBay monies, I'll start jotting them down in der blogenheimer. Of course, I can't remember everything I've sold back but again -- it'll be a growing list. Here's part three of who-the-hell knows. Clicky the linky if you want to see parts one and two.
Dedicated to the swath of launch-year garbage that polluted the DS's inaugural year!
Spiderman 2 DS - Shortly after the Nintendo DS was unveiled at E3 of 2004, Reggie Fils-Aime said that Spiderman 2 DS was his favorite game so far. Uh. Great. Truth be told, Spiderman 2 DS had a decent fighting engine and smooth graphics. Here's the thing -- the gameplay was primarily 2D, based on a pseudo-3D world. That is, you could "turn corners" in the levels -- the camera would automatically pan around the corner -- but the gameplay continued to remain in 2D. Some of the levels were designed around 3D, meaning that you might have to know how rooms and spaces fit together in order to navigate the level. Then, there were objectives scattered about timed levels that lent an unnecessarily mundane scavenger hunt feel. Add those two things together, and the smooth graphics and decent fighting engine are all for naught. Had Spiderman 2 DS been my only DS game at the time, it would have been my favorite game so far, sure. But it wasn't my only game at the time. In fact, I also had...
...Ridge Racer DS - What a disaster this was, especially in light of the relatively magnificent Ridge Racer for PSP. This was a port of the Nintendo 64 Ridge Racer (called, surprisingly, Ridge Racer 64 -- who'da thunk it). Now, that game was pretty decent. This game for the DS substituted the analog stick -- like so many games back then did -- with the touch screen. There was never, at any point, a happy medium with the steering. It was either too jittery and loose or not nearly sensitive enough. (Cue evil memories of the abysmal Excite Truck or the wonky Motorstorm... except three times worse than those two combined to the zillionth power.) Sure, you had D-pad control -- but again it never met a happy medium, and it was eclipsed by the awesome arcade d-pad controls of Asphalt: Urban GT (hint: it's one of two launch-period DS games I still own). But that's not all. The kludgy physics from the Nintendo 64 version made it over, and without the smooth control, so what do you get? Something that's less playable than Phoenix Wright in a language you don't understand.
Super Mario 64 DS - The minigames ruled, and the d-pad control was actually adequate, but I own the N64 version, and I'd still rather play it with the analog stick. When I learned that similar minigames would carry over to New Super Mario Bros., that pretty much eliminated my need for Super Mario 64 DS. Yeah, there was Yoshi and Wario to play as... but I'd still rather play it with the analog stick.
Rayman DS - Yeah.
Sprung - Why did I buy this? I don't know, and I don't care, because it's gone now. Well, ok, I bought it because a ma n' pa shop was selling it used for $12. Of course, that's $12 I could be putting towards the $15 Braid instead. But that's neither here nor there. This sad sack of an adventure dating game was only very slightly funny, with one standout line being one that called a group of preppy dweebs "The Circle Jerks". Ok, and the character art was well-drawn. But that's about it. For something that was supposedly written by a Fox sitcom writer, this was utterly disappointing, and some of the dating activities boiled down to a virtual game of Simon/Memory. Yeah, thanks, I'll take Phoenix Wright.
More as I come across 'em.
Sometime yesterday I came across this news.
Not good.
If you didn't bother to click on the link, here's the quick synopsis: Turner is selling off GameTap, and no buyer has been announced thus far. Now, as a proud member of the crow-eating club, one might surmise that I'd be happy that I could finally say, "I told you so!" When GameTap came out, I laughed at it as a stupid thing. I wasn't looking forward; all I was looking at was the fact that it was Ted Turner's evil little scheme to nudge his way into gaming. Even if it was that, the product was solid, and as I saw the games list grow and as I became a subscriber myself, evidence mounted that this thing was really, really awesome.
I mean come on -- it's a dream come true for old-school and new-school game fanatics alike. I don't have to spend 800 Wii Points on Phantasy Star III -- I can pay $5 a month (I got a discount) to have access to that AND all the Tomb Raider games (old and new), AND Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, AND Sega Friggin' Saturn games (though the catalog isn't exactly "complete", ahem), and stuff like Civ IV and other current-day PC games that I missed over the last three years. I haven't even had a chance to fully sink my teeth into the service because of my job, and I've been itching to dive in.
But now comes word that it's being sold off with no buyer? I don't know the details, so I'm a little scared as to what this means for the division as it stays in limbo. It already had its editorial division (where former Gamespotter Alexei Navarroski freelanced for a few months) chopped off. So if no one buys this puppy, who's going to be there to fund it? Obviously it's not doing well enough to be self-sustaining or Turner wouldn't have sold it off. I don't think, at least. Anyway, this is a pointless, panicked ramble, so don't mind me. Just please, please, please find someone to buy GameTap.
...pleeaase?
As I start to remember the games I've sold back for store credit or eBay monies, I'll start jotting them down in der blogenheimer. Of course, I can't remember everything I've sold back but again -- it'll be a growing list. Here's part two of who-the-hell knows. If you want to see part one, HERE it is.
Red Steel (Wii) - Does this really need any explanation? From using a poor man's Keanu Reeves (circa Point Break) to do the voice acting for chop-shop gangstas with Jheri curls, to glitches in which you witnessed enemy character models in their inactive Vitruvian Man positions or saw frozen enemies through whom your bullets passed without any reaction, to the awful butchering of mouselook, Red Steel had the makings of a phenomal "FAIL." Quite honestly, I believe that with some more work, without the pressures of pushing a launch title, and with the addition of Wii Motion Plus, the development team at Ubisoft could make a serviceable sequel. But the first game? Blech.
Manhunt (PS2) - I looked all over for this and finally found it for $15 used. Then it was available on STEAM like, two days later, with better controls and graphics, courtesy of my PC. Yay for good timing?
Jak & Daxter (PS2) - No, I do not want to collect 7 pieces of fruit, 9 insects, 238 power cells and 3884x^2 yellow orbs to advance to the next level. Don't you remember why I stayed away from Donkey Kong 64 and virtually every other Rare platformer on the planet (save for Conker's Bad Fur Day)? Don't you remember why I sold back...
...Starfox Adventures (GCN) - Bafmodads. ENOUGH SAID. (Hi, Rare! Thanks for Banjo Kollecti!)
Tokobot (PSP) - This game was a charming, inventive little platformer, and I actually did enjoy much of my experience with it. The problem was that it eventually got way too slow for my tastes, and that can be taken literally -- just look at the main character's walking speed. The camera was also a little annoying too. Maybe I should have stuck with it a bit longer but I think by that point, I cared more about playing Mega Man Powered Up than watch my character trudge through invisible mud. Maybe one day if a sequel comes out with better foot-speed, I'll give it a whirl.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper (GBA) - A surprisingly good conversion of possibly my favorite Street Fighter game (neck-and-neck with II' Hyper Fighting). But at some point I got frustrated with its controls. Street Fighter II Turbo Revival for the GBA did a better job mapping six attacks to four buttons, and I don't understand why Crawfish couldn't use the exact same technique for SFA3 Upper. In any event, there was this little game called Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX released for the PSP, which ends up being a near-perfect translation (albeit with a horrendous D-pad). Perhaps you've heard of it.
Super Mario Sunshine (GCN) - Take Super Mario 64 and put it on one side. Then, take Super Mario Sunshine and stand it right next to SM64. Now, take Super Mario Galaxy and put it adjacent to Sunshine so all three games are standing next to each other as if in a bookshelf. One of these things is not like the other! Let's find out which one. Smash the book-end games into each other. Which one gets crushed in the middle? Sunshine! Which one deserved to get crushed? Sunshine! Which one did I not crush but instead sold back to get funds for something else? Sunshine! F.L.U.D.D. was abhorrently (is that a word?) lame, the levels were the annoying kind of "challenging" where I felt more relieved than accomplished that I finally got a Shine, and the camera needed a swift kick to the rectum. Super Mario Sunshine, I choose you! To be the only Mario platformer that I failed to enjoy.
WipEout Pure (PSP) - I don't know why I bought this in the first place, but after my third race of ultra-slow-but-I'm-supposed-to-think-it's-fast-and-visceral action, I remembered why I eventually put down WipEout 3 for the PSone. Then I saw Burnout Legends and figured that if I wanted a fast racing game, I could go get a fast racing game. I threw WipEout Pure back at the store and proceeded to... not buy Burnout Legends for what ends up being probably another year or two. But the important thing, kids, is that I did get it. Because knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe. End credits. (Ned ftw)
Tomb Raider Legend (X360) - Now this is an odd duck in the list. This is one game that I played from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed. Mediocre gunplay aside, the Prince of Persia (revision Ubi) mechanics really worked out well for Lara, and I loved being able to solve the environmental puzzles without walking around like a tank. I sold this game back because after all was said and done, I was just finished with it. I had no gumption to play it any more past its ending; I didn't care about getting achievements for it (in fact I really don't give a hoot about achievements period) and quite honestly I was just ready for the next one. Which means that yes, at some point, I'll be playing Tomb Raider: Anniversary happily. TR:Legend is one of those games that I'd put in the "It'd be nice to have to play whenever I wanted" bin, but I've never once felt that pang of regret, so I'll say I made the right choice here. Besides, even if I did ever want to play it again, it's on GameTap...
Kameo: Elements of Power (X360) - lulz moer liek kamo elements of COLLECT! (Oh, hi Rare, it's you again!)
Resident Evil 4 (GCN) - Resident Evil 4 is hands-down one of the best damn games I've ever played. Guess what? Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition makes it obsolete. Goodbye!
An aside: If you're wondering why the list so far is devoid of original Xbox titles, it's because I have so few of them. I've not once sold an Xbox title back, save for NBA 2K5 which makes some sense because it's a sports game. Usually I figure that I'll sell back a game I don't like when I've realized after some extensive play that I'd really rather be playing something else; I have barely played my Xbox titles long enough to ever get to that point, and the ones I have played for a long time, I've absolutely loved (Ninja Gaiden: Black, Panzer Dragoon Orta).
As usual, more as I think of 'em.
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