Really, where DOES the time go?
From a grand epic "big picture" type of outlook not that much has really happened in my life and yet I haven't been able to find the time to even post something blog worthy in quite some time, but I'ma gonna try somethin' right-about-now...
Music: If you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend giving Bloc Party's new album ~A Weekend in the City~ a listen. If you're a fan of slightly arena rock, slightly pop, slightly emo, slightly electric this is the album to get behind. It feels a little top heavy, the first seven songs kind of eclipse the last five, but those first seven are some of the best music I'm most likely to hear for the rest of '07. The tracks I'm digging the most: -Hunting for Witches -Waiting on the 7.18 -Uniform -Where is Home? REALLY good stuff going on here. And if you know Bloc Party from their first disc "Silent Alarm", you best put your expectation in the back seat because Weekend really sounds nothing like Alarm. At all. But that by no means make this a bad album, just good and different.
Games: I beat ~Kingdom of Paradise~ and it can take the slot as being the FIRST PSP game I have actually finished for the platform. Before this I guess unlocking all the skins in Lumines was as close as I've come, but I don't really consider that a game that can actually be "beaten". Anyway, Kingdom of Paradise is a really fun game, should have been played by more people, corny voice acting, but still totally worth the 20-30-ish hours it takes to beat. I picked up, and am playing, ~Hotel Dusk~ for the DS. I'm up to Chapter 5 and, while I think it's an interesting and very unique game for the platform, I can't help but think that a lot of people have a hard on for this just because it's differences. The actual game and story really stands out to me as being something not at all special. The only real challenge comes in all the reading because the actual game can practically play itself. You talk to someone, they tell you they need this thing or that thing done, you go do that thing, then you run into someone else and the process repeats. There are a couple of pretty clever puzzles, but all in all it's pretty much nothing more than an interactive novel. A novel, that in all honesty, I wouldn't find all that interesting if it were bound and printed. Guess I should save some of this for my eventual review. I've also picked up and dabbled with ~Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops~ and, for the time being, I LURV IT.If Snake were an actual flesh and blood man, and I were an actual flesh and blood female, I would have his babies. there are two things that this game does right. One it's an actual MGS game with a truly fleshed out story, and two, it stands as a true beacon to all comers as to what the PSP can and should do. It legitimizes the PSP like no other title before it. When I warmed it up and played it, it was like the sun was rising on the PSP for the very first time. Ordered (but haven't received) ~Elite Beat Agents~ for the DS and a super cheap (new) copy of ~Star Wars: Republic Commando for Xbox. I also put down a preorder for ~God of godamn War II~ and can NOT wait for this one. I knew the game would look pretty hot, but dammit, not THAT hawt and where's my demo?!! It would be nice of Sony to actually get on the stick and do something like, I don't know, offer up a free demo download of GoW2 via their PlayStation store ala XBL Marketplace or something. Talk about instant gratification and something that would help push Sony's PS3 agenda. Speaking of Sony, I really liked what Phil Harrison had to say ~here~. Particularly the stuff about SingStar, not because I really want to play the actual game, but because it kind of validates what I posted ~here~ and is a major step in the right direction for these guys. On the other hand I was reading the newest issue of EGM (#213) yesterday and couldn't help but feel more than a little mad at their interview with Jack Tretton (SCEA's CEO and Prez). Mad isn't really the correct word, more annoyed. It was the same poo slinging that they tried pulling on Peter Moore about 12 months ago. Nothing but super negative, cry-baby questions about mistakes that were made with the PS3's launch. It reads as if EGM is PS3's ex-girlfriend and EGM caught PS3 on a date with Game Informer. Places like Penny Arcade pick up on the interview and cherry pick the "I'll pay anyone $1200 for a PS3 that has sat on a store shelf for more than 5 minutes" comment without paying much notice to information that this interview was done in EARLY January, when seeing a PS3 on a store shelf was still pretty rare. All in all, if you read the WHOLE thing, I think (like Peter) he held his own pretty wellcan . Especially his comments about being number one putting a huge target on their backs and if they were actually dead last the nostalgia train would roll back around and people would pine for the days when Sony was number one again (as it would seem is happening right now with Nintendo). He also kind of points the finger at the press for trying to sensationalize and blow things out of proportion. It's a good read if you can get past the super jaded slant of the questions.
VGA, are you still planning on picking up Crackdown?