Dare to Play the Game

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m your host that found that drunk obnoxious friends usually ruin any chance you have of meeting a girl, especially a nice one. So I’m lonely again, but hey the PS3 comes out on friday (not getting it, so I’m still lonely). I’m still ha…ing tons of fun however playing Guitar Hero 2(Sweet Child of Mine is soooo satsifying) and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I barely cracked open Sega Genesis collection but I am happy to report that they used the authentic Sega carts and not the redos. I would have been curious to see a redo of Gain Ground but I am not complaining :).

Quick Morgan, turn around so I can finish reading the comic book! I really hate being interrupted in the middle of a story. Raise your leg a little, or I think I’ll miss a plot point. Hrmm…almost done…yeah, yeah…okay *whew*…I think I figured out where the story is going to take a turn next. Just think, I don’t even get paid for these jokes from week to week. Imagine if I got a little dough for my troubles (the quality wouldn’t chage very much, I admit it).

Thanks to a reader from Kotaku, a nasty picture has been painted of the PS3’s birth into the arms of eager Japanese gamers. But things did not go as smoothly as Sony would have liked. According to the email story submission, launches in Tokyo were anything but orderly and enjoyable.

With just 80,000 units available for purchase by the wider public, and these units scattered about the various retail venues in Japan, there was always going to be greater demand for the console than was feasible for a national launch of such scale. This caused (as expected) massive lines and flaring tensions.

According to the story, many of the so-called ‘early adopters’ were in fact of Chinese origin, hired by wealthy Japanese businessmen and families to endure the gruelling lines and constant claustrophobia in order to secure a unit for a small fee in reciprocation. Also outnumbering the ‘hardcore’ contingent were the foreign resellers who were there to buy up as many consoles as possible for resale on eBay and other auction sites for vastly inflated prices.

Although eBay recently put the clamps down on such auctions, this didn’t deter the resellers from turning out in droves. Such numbers were allegedly responsible for pushing and shoving in line as personal space became a pipedream. Police were called by 7 a.m. and after local store employees realised that the Chinese nationals couldn’t understand Japanese and this was contributing to the mass chaos.

Ken Kutaragi addressed the crowds as the rain poured down. He spoke to the very first PS3 customer who was unable to answer him, assumedly because of the language barrier. Tellingly, the first twenty sales were of the hardware only, and all refused media interviews.

You can’t make up this crap. It honestly makes a person wonder if gaming is just not even worth it anymore. I mean the United States won’t be this bad, however there will be crime that day related to this. Personally, I am forgoing getting either the PS3 or the WII this year unless one just magically makes it to my hands via gift or what not. I’m pretty convinced that I will get a 360 first mainly cause it already has a base and most of my gaming friends sport one (though most of my gaming friends had xboxes too and that didn’t stop me from being PS2 proud). I just can’t see myself putting up with this. Folks if you do sit in line, especially for a PS3, watch yourself and bring a buddy even if they don’t want a system. And if you are a female gamer, aged 21-35, I am available for hire (cheap!), especially in the houston area.

New Wii in 2007 to Enable DVD Playback

In a curiously timed announcement, Sonic Solutions revealed it had been chosen by Nintendo to provide DVD movie playback on a future version of the Wii. According to the release, Nintendo plans to offer a new version of the Wii in the fall or winter of 2007. Sonic’s CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator, a standard in DVD playback software, allows for anamorphic widescreen video, motion menus and alternate camera angles.

Now..I would have announced this after the holiday season. I mean I have several dvd players in my home (stand-alone, ps2, computer)…but if you are going to announce a major upgrade in your console before the first one even hits the street, we got problems. That makes me honestly want to wait on this launch as well. Plus, I’m not completely sold on the system. I love how they primp the dvd software, offering anamorphic video, motion mens, and alternate camera angles..oooooooooo. Wow, I haven’t seen that on dvd since 1996. Come on guys, you can do better. Wii will be a good system, but early adoption might not be warranted.

In celebration of Capcom Classics 2 coming out this week for PS2 and X-Box, I have decided to put together a list of the top 10 games/franchises from the hearty minds at Capcom. Next week I don’t have anything planned (big surprise); but we might get something new. Enjoy. (and somebody please get me a copy of Capcom Classics 2…anything around $20-$22 shipped would be nice).

10. Magic Sword – spirtual successor to Black Tiger, this game went beyond in the fantasy realm and provided a great experience. This would lead to future greats such as Knights of the Round and the Dungeons and Dragons series of arcade games.

9. Strider – another arcade favorite, this game featured inspired fast and fun action that could be described as something later games like Sonic the Hedgehog would incorporate ideas from.

8. Vs Series – including games such as X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom and even the newer ones such as Capcom vs SNKs, this series of fighting games took the Street Fighter concept and evolved into another great fighting franchise.

7. Breath of Fire – the best RPG series Capcom ever produced. This series basically took the idea that you had dragon powers but just didn’t know about it yet. It was usually a different lead character but inspired gameplay and challenging puzzles were frequent through the game’s illustrious career.

6. Final Fight – sure its no Streets of Rage, but this hard hitting game made ever side scrolling fighting adventure game list you can think of with plentiful and unique villians and innovative fighting techniques.

5. Devil May Cry – this current franchise with the ever wise cracking Dante might have replaced Castlevania as the best action game involving demons and/or undead. Except this one includes a sword and more gunplay than you ever thought could be humanly possible.

4. Ghosts n Goblins – possibly the hardest franchise of games ever. This put the little running in his drawers king arthur against the foulest of demons and devils one could think of. It would make for some great screen caps and even a better time playing it.

3. Resident Evil – the series that single handed re-defined the horror game genre. The original served as possible one of the scariest things ever and made gamers think twice about turning off the light. It also made for a fantastic movie franchise staring the super hot Milla Jovovich.

2. Street Fighter – argument could be easily made for #1, however this fighting game wonder falls just short of our number one pick. This are the fighting games almost everybody points to as the game that kept the arcades in business during the 90’s. Too bad it was for not as time went on. I still dig a good Ryu vs Sagat though..anytime anywhere! 🙂

1. Mega Man – little, blue, different. Mega Man, quite possibly my favorite video game character of all time serves up the best game time after time while keep things the same. Other series are forced to go 3-d, or include more action, or change the puzzles. Not Mega Man, he has kept going through the ages and has only become more popular with each passing decade. He will be here for years to come, and maybe someday I will get a tattoo so he’s a part of me forever (okay that was creepy…).

PS2

Barbie 12 Dancing Princess
Bionicle Heroes
Capcom Classics 2
Drive to Survive
Eragon
Happy Feet
Hard Rock Casino
Horsez
Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles
Need for Speed Collection
NFL Street Vol 3
Shrek Smash & Crash
Singstar Rocks
Victorious Boxers 2
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007
Xiaolin Showdown
Thrillville

PS3

Genji: Days of the Blade
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
NBA 07
NBA 2K7
NHL 2k7
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Tony Hawk Project 8
Call of Duty 3
Madden NFL 07
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

PSP

EA Replay
Eragon
GitarooMan Lives
Gunpey
Hammy Goes Nuts
Hard Rock Casino
Luxor: The Wrath of Set
NFL Street Volume 3
Platypus
Star Trek: Tactical Assault
Warhammer: Battle for Atluma
Xiaolin Showdown
Yu-Gi-OH! GX Tag Force
Thrillville
Sega Genesis Collection
Sonic Rivals

XBox 360

Bionicle Heroes
Eragon
History Channel: Civil War
Pimp My Ride
Sonic the Hedgehog
World Championship Poker: All In
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007

XBox

Bass Pro Trophy Fishing
Capcom Classics Collection Vol 2
DDR: Ultramix 4
Eragon
Xialoin Showdown
Thrillville

Gamecube

Bionicle Heroes
Happy Feet
Tomb Raider: Legend

DS

Asphalt: Urban GT 2
Bionicle Heroes
Charlotte’s Web
Eragon
Final Fantasy III
Gunpey
Happy Feet
Monster Bomber
Spider-Man: Battle for NY
Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2
Tomb Raider: Legend
Uno/Skip-Bo/Uno Freefall
Brain Boost: Beta Wave
Brain Boost: Gamma Wave

GBA

Bionicle Heroes
Charlotte’s Web
Eragon
F-24: Stealth Fighter
Happy Feet
March of the Penguins
Shrek Smash and Crash
Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis
Spider-Man: Battle for NY
Super Robot Taisen 2
Tomb Raider: Legend
Totally Spies!2: Undercover
Tonka on the Job

And then the PS3. Not a great crop of release games but there you go. Funny how PS2 ushered in a ton of titles this week before they start going on PS3. Like here is all the crap before we start doing quality work again. Interesting titles for this week include Capcom Classics 2 (I need to find me a copy), Need for Speed Collection (three good NFS titles for $30, nice!), Victorious Boxers 2(an underappreciated title the first time around), and Final Fantasy III for DS. Highlights for the PS3 include Resistance, Sonic, and Untold Legends, a game that should have been on the PS2 but was regulated at first to PSP duty. The only other game that interests me is WWE Smackdown vs Raw, I just haven’t decided if I want the PS2 or XBOX 360 version, primarily cause I haven’t decided if I want a XBOX 360 yet.

Some things just irk me, like EB’s (or Gamestop for that matter) constant pushing of pre-ordering things. I do pre-order games from time to time but I simply forget to pre-order others. Like Capcom Classics 2. I called EB tuesday to see if they had any copies. “Only if you pre-ordered it sir”, it really is a simple yes or no question. He went on to berate me for a couple of minutes why I hadn’t preordered it. I’m so sorry…a $20 title slipped my mind. What I was thinking, will you ever forgive me….geezus. I really don’t see this as a hard title to get as long as I don’t need it for about 2 weeks with all of the hoopla surrounding PS3 and WII. Oh and they mentioned that about twice in the conversation too. You know not everybody is an early adopter. I miss service. Well, time for me to wrap up kiddoes, join us next week. A couple of new sections might be in the works. Take care.

As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)