Dare to Play the Game

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m a Sergeant first class in Rainbow Six Vegas now and half way onto Master Sergeant. My ultimate goal is Lieutenant Second Class (certainly not the insane Elite class) but a part wants to reach Captain t…ough I might never get there. I should certainly be Master Sergeant by this weekend but after it might take a while to get to anything else. That and I wish I had a date in the near future (of course this could be helped by a couple of things; 1)I actually ask a girl out and she accepts and 2)I slow down how much I play Rainbow Six :), neither is too likely).

A very nice green bikini awaits us this week. I like her stare, it makes for a very seductive picture. Have I mentioned I need a girlfriend? Well need is such an ugly word, desire might be more appropriate. Anyhow, I found a disturbing picture this week of Morgan and Adam Sessler in cheerleading outfits and didn’t decide to post it. Morgan in a cheerleading outfit is a turn on for sure. However Adam in a girl’s cheerleading outfit is scary. I felt the earth move and not in the traditional way I care for it too. I hold things sacred, I like video games, I like dvds, I crave redheads, I have a thing for Morgan Webb and by all means, men should not wear girl cheerleading outfits. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Conan get it.

THQ today officially announced details of its PS3 and Xbox 360 action title Conan. Based on the character from Robert E. Howard’s original stories, the first details were revealed a couple of weeks ago, positioning the title as a cross between God of War and Ninja Gaiden. While we still don’t know a great deal more, we do know that the game is due for release in early 2008, and that the title will be but the first release in THQ’s multi-year Conan licensingdeal.

The game is in development at Nihilistic Software, the studio behindVampire: The Masquerade – Redemption and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of theImperfects. You’d probably also know it as the studio that wasinitially developing Starcraft: Ghost. In any case, THQ describes Conanas “an action adventure video game featuring a story of epic brutality, sheerevil and visceral combat. Players will follow the journey of Conan theCimmerian as he fights a vicious battle against a variety of enemiesand an elusive power that threatens to consume the Hyborian world.Playing as Conan, players will take advantage of a deep and gratifyingcombat system that offers a variety of deadly weapons, fighting stylesand interactive environments to battle hordes of enemies.”While this title has nothing to do with the Age of Conan MMO, itcertainly seems like the brutal world of Conan is set to undergo agaming renaissance. Fitting, given that it’s the 75th anniversary ofthe first published Conan story.

Conan, the character that essentially every video game, from Rastan to God of War, has tried to emulate the Cimmerian in one way or another. I spent many a nights of youth reading Conan (not exactly E for Everyone reading, but my parents were quite liberal in raising me) and watched each movie roughly half a dozen times. If you ever seen the first movie in its unedited form; that’s the Conan I expect. Axe swinging, ale swilling, and women fondling; that’s how Conan played it. The second movie moved into kiddie territory and was perhaps never the same. I really hope they embrace the mature origins of this character and bring it correctly to the 360 and PS3 consoles. Also, keep the puzzle solving to a minimum; Ninja Gaiden & God of War were a little puzzle heavy for my taste and just give us some good ole hack n slash. It’s the least I can ask.

Sony Japan Comments on Backwards Compatibility

Following Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s bomb late last weekregarding a possible drop in backwards compatibility for the EuropeanPlayStation 3, Japanese gaming site Impress Watch reports today thatSCEE’s Japanese parent SCEI has at last issued a statement on thematter, providing clarification into exactly what will be going onunder the hood.

Sadly, SCEI did not clarify some of the vague terminology used in theEuropean subsidiary’s press release to describe the level of backwardscompatibility that can be expected from the new system configuration.SCEI also kept mum on when the new version of the hardware will appearin other territories.

I hope that this means the backwards compatibility will be improved on the PS3, but it might be the later. That really disturbs me. The PS2 is still the best console to date that supported the backwards compatibility of the previous system (in that case, the PS1), followed by the Wii with the Gamecube. XBOX 360’s original XBOX compatibility is decent but not great. Then there is the PS3, they knew they had to provide backwards compatibility since Sony systems to this point had sold so many millions but they have done a fairly inadequate job of doing it. Software compatibility has to be constantly updated in order to make it current, especially since there are numerous titles for the PS2 still being released. Whether that is the solution remains to be seen. For the time being, this amounts to the fact that you should keep your PS2, hold it close to you. Go buy one of the new silver slims if you have too, but don’t bother with PS3 if you care about playing your older Sony titles until they sort this out.

Flight simulators and I are a funny business. I can’t stand Microsoft Flight Simulator, I don’t see the point and a lot of combat simulators leave me flat cause they require you to know how to fly a plane or close to it. This is due to the complicated controls that you spend more time learning than actually playing the game. Then there are games like the Star Wars series (X-Wing / Tie-Fighter) & Wing Commander. These were simplistic, good looking games that conveyed the idea of flight battle without giving us ridiculous controls to boot. Wing Commander Arena is coming this summer to XBOX Live and will support up to 16 players at the same time in online play. Provided the fact sells well and everybody gobbles it up; it could make for a fantastic simulation. Supposedly the controls will be simpler by making it more arcade like in play. This will allow for co-oping and perhaps a little multi-player online dueling action. Prepare to have a lot of fun with this one and keep your frag count up high. On tap to release this week is Alien Homind HD (Wednesday, February 28th) for Live Arcade; a former flash game remade for 800 points.

Most people know of this game by the NES Version, however I like some others found this game in the arcades a little before the famed console release. It was the best light game that was not Duck Hunt. The idea was simple, simply shoot the cardboard cutouts of the bad guys and keep the innocents unharmed. Of course as you got further along, it became faster and required your reflexes to be tested. The Nintendo game from digging through history probably was derived from a Hogan’s Alley that was established at Camp Perry in the 1920’s. This was part of an FBI training academy. It was eventually ported to Nintendo where it found the most success. Recently it’s found a new home in WarioWare games and it is confirmed for the Virtual Console on the Wii.

PS2

Major League Baseball 2k7
MLB 07: The Show
Lumines Plus
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires

PSP

Major League Baseball 2k7
MLB 07: The Show
300: March to Glory
Chili Con Carnage
Marvel Trading Card Game

PS3

Major League Baseball 2k7
F1

XBox 360

Major League Baseball 2k7
Bullet Witch
Dance Dance Revolution: Universe
Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
2 Days to Vegas
Alone in the Dark
Battlefield: Bad Company
Dog Tag
Golden Axe
GTR
Haze
Huxley
Indiana Jones
Metronome
Possession

Wii

SSX Blur

DS

Meteos: Disney Magic

GBA

Zoey 101

Huh? 15 different titles for the 360? Well that’s what the release list is reporting. However, from Alone in the Dark through Possession take those with a grain of salt. They are all listed as a date of 3/1 which is Thursday. Not rare to have a Thursday release, but it is rare for ten different titles on that day. However, Golden Axe is certainly worth a look whenever it gets released. (the original is another one of those titles begging for XBOX Live Arcade treatment). 100% legit titles wise, you get your yearly fill of baseball titles this week along with some Bulletwitch and DDR loving for the 360. A nice list of PSP titles are also among those released with some 300 fare and even an interesting concept in the Marvel Trading Card game. May that Daredevil card trump all!

Well I did purchase a few games this week. In the XBOX Live Arcade section, I procured Time Pilot and Frogger. Time Pilot looks to be of the 1942 variety and should make for a good game. Then Best Buy had to go and have a clearance sale; I ended up picking up Dynasty Warriors 5 for the 360, Soul Calibur II & Jade Empire for XBOX & Romancing Saga for the PS2. All for the tidy amount of $30. I was hoping for Elder Scrolls Oblivion CE, Star Wars KOTOR2 or even Suikoden V which were all at very low prices if in stock(9.99, 4.99 and 1.99 respectively) but they were nowhere to be found. But these sales can be hit and miss and with good reason. I would like to get to Jade Empire once I finish Fable but I’ve been playing Fable on and off for so long that who knows when that will be. It’s pretty much the Rainbow and Rumble Roses connection for me currently. Fortunately, I see myself playing Rumble Roses consistently after a couple more weeks. Very addictive due to the path it takes to get achievements but very repetitive on how to achieve them. So essentially I’ll go through singles titles for each character and then mess with getting all of the costumes when I’m bored.

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