June 4th, 2007

Games Played: World of Warcraft (PC), Orbital (GBA), Pocket Ninja (PC), Twin Star DX (PC)

Games Bought: Forza Motorsport 2 (X360) [$59.99], Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP) [$39.99], Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (DS) [$30.00]

Well the games I got were pretty much done through "trading". I returned a Disgaea 2 I picked up at CC to EB for my Forza 2. I traded a bunch of doubles in my game pile for Gitaroo Man and RE:DS. So those were pretty much washes.

I've been checking out some free games recently on the PC. Two I enjoyed were Pocket Ninja (get it from: http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet/downloads.html) and Twin Star DX (see google for a link).

PN is kinda a puzzle/platform game. Very good level design though control with a keyboard leaves a lot to be desired. Twin Star DX is a doujin (fan made) bullet hell shmup. One of the interesting mechanics is "bullet grazing" which rewards you by just barely avoiding enemy projectiles. And since the boss encounters leave the whole screen covered, this isn't too hard to accomplish.

On the WoW front, we've done pretty great in Karazhan with a few hiccups. We beat The Shade of Aran last night which is the last boss before the last boss. We took a few tries on an optional boss (Terestian Illhoof) and called it. A bit too much beating of our proverbial heads against the wall on Shade made things kinda tense. We had him to like 8000 hp (way less than 1%) and due to some stupid mistakes we wiped. I think I pulled the trigger on the situation (go figure), but we did kill him next try. Tough love really does work!

My Druid is 49. Raiding 3 nights a week is slowing down my progress but blah. Karazhan is fun too.

I got subscribed to the Zune "all you can eat" service and have been enjoying it to a frightening degree. I swear that even casual music lovers should be on this thing. They've got a HUGE catalogue of music you can access for $14.99 a month. Granted, you cancel the subscription you don't get the music anymore, but for the cost of a CD a month, this is an awesome deal. And frankly having access to all the music in a great front end is a far better deal than bothering to pirate the albums. I'll actually be getting my Zune later this month (Halo 3 Zune). I need to find out if we can get a second Zune for my wife and use the same subscription. That would be quite rad.

Side note: Tom Petty is the man.

Went hiking this Saturday too. Up at Gem Lake that runs through Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a great hike for us to kick off what amounts to "our season". It was a little cold at the top of the hike, but overall, the weather was fantastic. We also met a nice couple who were out hiking and were pretty much on our pace. He was a World of Warcraft player. Go figure...

May 29th, 2007

Games Played: World of Warcraft (PC), Aegis Wing (XBLA), Lumines (XBLA), Archon (C64, PC, NES), Archon II (PC), Archon Ultra (PC)

Movies Watched: Matrix Reloaded, The Fountain

Games Bought: Bust-A-Grove 2 (PS1), WCW Thunder (PS1), WCW Nitro (PS1), Tenchu (PS1), Tenchu 2 (PS1) [total: $20.00], Odin Sphere (PS2) [$34.99]

Well I haven't bought a lot of games recently as far as I can see. I'll probably be downloading a lot of VC titles to play (not play) on the Wii for the upcoming Classic Gaming Night. The last few VC updates have been pretty amazing. Streets of Rage 2, Blazing Lasers, Actraiser, Ninja Spirit... all top titles from the 8-bit/16-bit era.

The Fountain held up to my high expectations and let them down simultaneously. The movie definitely has it's problems: the plot was far looser than I thought it would be. I wasn't expecting a very cohesive plot, after all, I knew exactly what this movie was about, but it felt like the narrative was shoe-horned in to avoid a totally exposition-free movie. However, thematically, the movie held up extremely well. Aronofsky's passion bled through bright red. If anything, I'd have liked for him to ditch all pretext of a linear story and just shot brief moments to let the audience assemble them. After all, with what he did, he knew he was alienating audiences anyway. Just let it all hang out there and you can do something really great.

World of Warcraft is back all up in here. It's awful that I came crawling back, but it loves me like no other does. Level 44 Druid in about a week and a half. I should hopefully be 60 in two weeks and get get to the BC content again. I'm still playing on my rogue occasionally too.

I was playing a lot of Archon for awhile. I was kicking around the idea of doing a video podcast and was taking footage and information but forgot that I'm a lazy bum and would never actually edit and release a final product. Good thing I remembered before I bought the equipment. But, it did put me back in touch with one of my favorite games. I never played the PC or C64 versions of Archon either, it's very interesting to compare differences from the pretty polished NES version. Archon II is fantastic as well, it take the whole chess idea and ditches it entirely for a unique take.

I may just pick a game like that a month and go and play the hell out of it to learn more about it just for fun. I think next time I'll look at Elite and Starflight since I have such eternal love for Star Control II.

May 8th, 2007

Games Played: SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters DS (DS), Catan (XBLA), Tony Hawk's Project 8 (X360)

Movies Watched: Deja-Vu

Games Bought: NRA Gun Club ($9.99) [PS2], One Piece: Grand Battle ($9.99) [GCN], One Piece: Pirates Carnival ($9.99) [GCN], Puzzle Challenge: Crosswards & More! ($4.99) [PS2], Gunpey ($9.99) [PSP], Pac Man World Rally ($9.99) [PSP], M&M's Break 'Em ($19.99) [DS]

Lots:

[All NES]1942, Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing, Bad Street Brawler, Bee 52, Big Nose the Caveman, Danny Sullivans Indy Heat, Dragon Warrior (Complete), Duck Tales (Complete), F-117A Stealth Fighter, Fisher Price: I Can Remember, Jaws (Complete), John Elways Quarterback, The Karate Kid (w/box), Legend of Zelda x2 (Complete), Life Force (w/box), The Lone Ranger, Mike Tysons Punch Out, Peter Pan & The Pirates, Rally Bike, Silent Service (Complete), Terminator 2, Top Players Tennis, Zelda II (Complete) - $86.76 shipped

[Saturn] X-Men – Children of Atoom (Complete), [N-Gage] Rayman 3 (New), Crash Nitro Cart (New), Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer (New), MLB Slam (New), Bomberman (New), Ashen (New) - $50.00 shipped

First off. This collecting thing needs to stop. I'm spending too much damn money. Sadly, I've got my eye on a ton of Saturn imports. Oh lordy.

SNK vs Capcom is bad. Still as bad as I said. But I can't stop playing it. I need help.

Tony Hawk 8 is a LOT harder than any one before it. Some of the harder goals are brutal. I'll beat it, no doubt, but the 100% thing is NOT going to happen. I don't have it in me.

Catan is fantastic of course. I've actually played some random pick-up-games online with great success. It'll be in rotation for a long time.

Last, I need to post more...

May 2nd, 2007

Games Played: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Xbox), Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox), Killer Instinct 2 (MAME), King of Fighters '99 (MAME), Twinkle Star Sprites (MAME), Star Fox 64 (Wii), Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Wii), Settlers of Catan (XBLA), Pinball FX (XBLA)

Games Bought: Genesis Collection (PSP) [$10.00], The Guardian Legend (NES - PAL version) [$29.54]

Games Downloaded: Star Fox 64 (Wii) [1000 points], Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Wii) [800 points], Dragon's Curse (Wii) [600 points], Bonk's Revenge (Wii) [600 points], Pinball FX (XBLA) [800 points], Settlers of Catan (XBLA) [800 points]

We had classic gaming night last night, played a bit of MAME, played a lot of Street Fighter. Was reminded how totally awesome Panzer Dragoon Orta is. I will be playing that again soon for sure.

Downloaded several new games for the Wii but we didn't get a chance to play it (hook ups disappeared). Kind of a small turn out too. I played a few before we got there. Beat Star Fox 64 on the easier routes. Forgot how fun that game is too.

Downloaded and purchased Pinball FX on the 360. Achievements are killing me. I did check out the demo first thought and I did enjoy it. It's quite a bit of fun. I might have been on a pinball high from the show though. Good physics even if the tables are kind of boring.

Catan is fantastic for the little bit I played. Every bit as good as the boardgame version with an outstanding trade interface. I only played the CPU this morning, I'll probably play online soon. Very pleased with the translation to Xbox Live.

Catch up!

Games Played: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (X360), SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS (DS), Saints Row (X360), Lots of Pinball (Pinball!)

Games Bought: .Hack //GU: Rebirth Special Edition (PS2) [$39.99], SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS (DS) [$29.99]

MUA's additional content just released. It doesn't fundamentally change the game but it makes it fun to play again. The Hulk is ridiculous. If you add his "boost" power with Cyclops skill up team boost (might work with Thor's too) he becomes so fast the whole game just becomes punch, punch, punch for the win. Hawkeye is pretty rad too with his piercing arrows and Cyclops has an awesome optic beam attack which turns your screen into a laser show. Might even slow it down if you're blowing up some stuff at the same time. Venom is blah. Nightcrawler is pretty awful. Doom has got some neat stuff like a eye beam. Magneto is ok too with a metal shard you can shoot out just like Cap's shield throw.

Worth $10? Maybe, maybe not, but the new characters are, mostly, a lot of fun.

SNK vs. Capcom is one of the biggest letdowns. The game play is pretty broken but you can muster some fun out of it. The big problem is the game is ACTUALLY broken. Apparently one of the NPCs will lock up your game if you talk to him twice. The problem is that you have to talk to him twice to beat the game on New Game+. We'll see how Playmore responds... The card art is pretty great though!

We went to the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown this weekend in Golden, Colorado. It was a little dissapointing. There were about 50 pinballs there, give or take, with several Twilight Zones, Black Nights, and Terminators. There were no Theater of Magics, no newer machines like Sopranos, Simpsons, Railroad Tycoon, Monopoly. There were a couple of Pirates though. I did get a chance to play some pretty good games though. The ones I played were The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Street Fighter II, Terminator 2, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dirty Harry, Twilight Zone, and Funhouse. Twilight Zone is still pretty darn amazing.

April 24th, 2007

Games Played: Saints Row (X360), Orbital (GBA), Robotron 2084 (arcade)

Games Bought: Used 360 Wireless Racing Wheel in Box w/ Project Gotham Racing 3 (X360) [$60.00]

Steal on that wheel. Awesome being in the right place at the right time.

Pre-ordered SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters for the DS. I'm excited but tempered given all the reviews from the Japanese version. I have heard nothing if they fixed some of the play balance issues.

Orbital is brilliant. Totally f'n brilliant. It's part of the bit Generation games that came out in Japan for the GBA. You're a little planetoid who has to navigate oddly spaced "solar systems". You have two abilities: attract gravitational field and repel gravitational field. The rest is inertia. You use your gravity fields to whip around planets or to pull yourself in to where you are in planetary orbit. The physics come from balancing using your fields (or not using them) to get on a proper intercept course to your goals...

And your goals, similiar to Katamari Damacy, are to absorb smaller planetoids in the system to become larger so you can absorb more planetoids. You do this by running over the smaller ones. Alternatively, if you are of a sufficient size to absorb a planetoid, you can buzz by it and pick it up in your orbit. This will significantly add to your score and give you additional "lives" on the next stage. You beat the stage by putting a glowing "sun" planetoid in your orbit.

The graphics, like in the whole bit Generation series, are definately minimal. They are, however, beautiful. And the music is absolutely stunning despite the NES style five channel sound. The levels have a base music theme and when you add a planetoid to your orbit the theme changes. As you add more planetoids the music gets slightly more layered with additional sounds.

There are 30 stages and the replay value comes from beating all the stages by picking up "moon" planetoids that become active after you've grown in size big enough to pick up the "sun" planetoid in your orbit. Getting the "moon" can be very tricky on some levels since it's normally placed outside of a clean orbital path. I assume something unlocks once you have picked up the "moon" on each level. I haven't done it yet so I can't confirm.

And after beating the 30 stages a "special" solar system unlocks with 5 stages that are BRUTALLY hard. I haven't beaten one yet.

I can't recommend this game high enough. Get it from Play-Asia.

Catch up time!

Games Played: Saints Row (X360), Gears of War (X360), Gyruss (XBLA), 3D Mini Golf (XBLA), Puzzle Quest (DS), Puzzle Quest (PSP), Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Xbox)

Games Bought: Trigger Heart Excelia (DC) [$59.99], Chromehounds (X360) [$20.00], Center Ring Boxing (Saturn) [$5.00], WWF In Your House (Saturn) [$5.00]

Been pretty lazy recently so here's a big catchup post.

Been playing a lot of Saints Row, it's like an even more buggy Grand Theft Auto but it still pretty good. Lots of side missions and some decent comedy (not so much satire).

Played some Gears last night with a friend on co-op.

Gyruss is GARBAGE on Live. They changed the graphics to make them more "effecty" and it ruins gameplay. And the famous score (Toccata & Fuge in D Minor) was remixed and techno-ey. No option for playing the undoctored original. You're way better off waiting for it on the Virtual Console. What a failure.