Lost is found in Half Life, Xbox 360 Elites Selling Out (In Japan), and a TurboGrafx CD game available for download – Welcome to the column that is one oxymoron away from a plate of jumbo shrimp known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. This past week, I became addicted to the game known as Puzzle Quest. Except it was the trial version. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pay down the 1,200 points required for the full version. *sigh*. Everyday I come home I want to pull the trigger. But I know if I do I can kiss my girlfriend, work and normal social life goodbye. But wait, I’m mature now! *laughter in the background* Well I hope so anyhow. When you sport Evil Dead posters in your living room and Daredevil switchplate and figures in your game room, you start questioning maturity. Not that I care, I never want to be fake but I would like to be taken seriously every once in a while too. Anyhow, got a slew of achievements in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 07 this weekend. I got through the season mode and completed the legends and challenges section. Now onto the GM Mode. I even got 3 more achievements in Bomberman (Costume Balls, Super Revenge & Cowboy Fragging) to bring the count up to 8. Though the last 4 are most troublesome and might require some luck. Is something wrong with me when I want to play Bomberman and Smackdown more than Halo 3?
Today, Morgan is letting us know about the Alien Invasion. I’m scared, and I need Morgan to hold me. It’s times like these when it needs to be close, so close that I can smell her perfume and feel her…ummmm hands around me. I have needs, most of which can’t be expressed without a court order.
Xbox 360
Last Friday, the Xbox 360 Elite went on sale in Japan. By the end of the day, the black HDMI console with a 120GB HD sold out at several major Akihabara retailers. AsoBitCity, Gamers, Messe Sanoh and Sofmap sold through all their Elites on launch day. When the Xbox 360 originally went on sale in Japan, it bombed. No, it worse than bombed. The 360 launch was a miserable failure, and Microsoft has been playing catch-up ever since. These Elite sell outs do come as a surprise. Are things beginning to turn around? Maybe, just maybe.
Wonderous, joyous. Makes me want to strip naked and parade the streets in satin boxers. Okay, not really. But at least Halo 3 is selling additional systems for Microsoft. Group that in with the Elite and its snazzy new 120gb hard drive, and they might make the Wii sweat for one whole month. To be honest, I really would like to see the Wii sweat because then maybe they will get off their rump and produce something more than the 30th installment of how to use your WiiMote as an interactive device for X game. I want to buy a Wii someday, but right now I would only buy a Wii if 1)they included a hard drive and 2)they have more decent games than the next Zelda or Metroid game or a stripped down 360/PS3 port. That’s all I require, seriously. The $250 tag is right, the VC support is amazing, and I do like the blue light. It calms me.
Xbox 360 / PC
Apparently, the design team working on Half-Life Episode 2 are fans of the ABC TV show, Lost. This morning I received an email from Kotakuite p00pzilla with this screenshot clearly showing a symbol on the wall that mimics the logo of Lost’s Dharma Initiative. Now add to this the email I received yesterday from another Kotakuite saying he had seen Lost’s mysterious string of numbers, “4 8 15 16 23 42” on a CRT computer screen in a blocked off room of the game’s second level. Unfortunately he didn’t include a screenshot so I had to let it go by, but now with this corroborating evidence, it’s clear that the HL2 team is slipping in references to a favorite show. Has anyone else found Lost references n HL2? if so, be sure to send in a screenshot so we can add it to the dossier.
Pretty cool stuff, I kinda lost interest (ha, get it!?) last season when I thought most of the plot points had run their course. However, it is nice to see it crop up for inspiration purposes in a game that I am still on the fence for. I find it slightly alarming that they would include the numbers on a CRT screen in the game though. If you follow the show, those numbers aren’t exactly what I would call lucky. But as long as you aren’t required to enter those numbers every 108 minutes to get an achievement, we should be okay.
Xbox 360
I went into Midway’s Atlanta TNA Impact! wrestling event fully expecting to be underwhelmed by the game. After all, the current and previous gen offerings haven’t exactly been the best the sport had to offer the video game world. I fully believed that wrestling games had reached their peak during the heyday of Wrestlemania 2000. Well after spending some time playing through Midway’s new baby on the Xbox 360, I am pleased to discovery that I might have been wrong on that point. The game strikes a very satisfying balance between gameplay, graphics, and animation that I’ve not witnessed in the genre for quite some time.
Ultimately the key for me here lies in the animation. I’ve played too many wrestling games were highly detailed portrayals of the sport’s superstars promise amazing action only to discover that they ultimately move as they are marionettes controlled by an arthritic puppeteer, jerking from one motion to the next. It’s like typing in a cursive font…everything looks pretty but nothing really connects. Midway has taken there impressive animation tools from titles like NBA Ballers and Blitz and applied it to the wrestling genre with pretty sweet results.
As far as control goes, the game is easy enough to pick up and play that I looked like an old hand at it by the time I played my third bout. Unfortunately my opponent looked like an even older hand, but I’ll chalk that down to the fact that he’d been drinking and I had not. Drinker’s luck is real I tell you. Characters were quick to respond to button presses…another pet peeve of mine from previous games taken care of.
The graphics, despite being not quite in a finished state, were quite impressive indeed. Along with the highly detailed players themselves, almost everything was rendered. Crowds, the ropes themselves, shadows…all dynamic. When a wrestler is launched out of the ring the lights playing over the crowd play themselves over the character’s skin as well, and as he climbs back in the ropes realistically part and spring back into place as he passes.
A few of the more acrobatic moves brought a little bit of slowdown, but the game is still being tweaked and for the most part runs at a lovely 60FPS throughout.
As you can tell from recent weeks and in general, I am a huge wrestling fan. TV, Games, T-Shirts. I dig my wrestling. In fact a few weeks ago, I bought a TNA Christian Cage T-shirt on clearance at Hot Topic. I wear it all the time now, just ask my girlfriend. Anyhow, TNA is the second league in wrestling and sports many WWE and WCW cast-offs like Sting, Christian Cage & Kurt Angle. Along with interesting and new wrestlers like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels they make a very fun alternative to WWE. The game should be dropping next year and I honestly hope it does very well. However, history does not dictate very well for non-WWE wrestling games. Look at the ECW (rip-offs of the WWF Attitude engine) or the WCW Nitro/Thunder games. The Nitro/Thunder games are also worthy of mention since they were made by Midway. I have high hopes for the game, but will wait to see more information or a few reviews before purchase. (BTW, Midway; if you want a fair and honest review from a true wrestling fan, please send a 360 copy to the site. I’ll appreciate it much!)
I played with the idea of making every word in this entry to start with the letter “E” but thanks to good sense I decided against it. Every Extend Extra Extreme is a shooter that immediately reminds one of Geometry Wars and its like. However, the difference between this shooter and Geo Wars is that the beats and the frequencies actually matter in gameplay. The game also seems to support custom soundtracks but ones that could affect the outcome of the game. I just think the title is very odd. Alliteration is fun, but should not be encouraged.
I remember playing quite the smattering of Speedball 2 on my PC, Genesis and even Speedball 2100 on the PS1. It was fast-paced and hard-nosed blend of soccer, football and bodies that would clang around for 180 seconds per game. Fast forward many years later, and Bitmap Brothers are bringing it to XBLA. Of course we get the option to play it in old 2d style or updated 3d with high-res graphics. We get 32 teams in 4 leagues and an assortment of options to boot. If you held off on Cyberball which was released a couple of months ago; don’t waste your points. Speedball 2 is much better and will deliver the punch you are looking for. I just hope I have the points to go ahead and purchase since my IV has been dripping Puzzle Quest lately.
Another interesting week of sorts, we start with the often forgotten Ninja Gaiden 2. There is a new villain on the horizon, Ashtar. However, you are that loveable Ryu and sport new abilities like Shadow Clones where you can create multiple versions of Ryu to repeat previous actions in a time delay cycle. Of course you can still wall climb and do all of the things that you found interesting in the first game in the series. This is recommended for the Ninja in all of us.
Metal Marines is an interesting real time strategy game where you control a member of the Space Colonies Allied Forces in an attempt to battle General Zorgeuf and the Imperial Federation who have taken over the Earth. This rts game is a little different from other older traditional games where both sides move at the same time and force you to make quick and decisive decisions. The game sported a lot of options and was well equipped to fuel all strategy junkies.
I’m this close to hooking up my Turbo Duo and inserting my copy of Gate of Thunder. You have no idea. It was the first awesome horizontal shooter to use Super CD technology on the Turbo Graphix system (which was dubbed Turbo Duo by this time). The game had many enemies, kicking music and was gradual on speed. Meaning it started slow but by the time you got to the seventh stage you were screaming with boyish delight as enemy ships flew by. Bosses were nice and huge and powerups were plentiful. In my opinion it was my favorite horizontal shooter of all time beating out games like R-Type. If you have to select one, this is the one this week.
PS2
Mountain Bike Adrenaline
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Avatar: The Burning Earth
Backyard Football 2008
Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey
Honda: SBK-07 Superbike
PSP
Crash of the Titans
Spider-Man 3
SWAT: Target Liberty
PS3
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition
Xbox 360
Beautiful Katamari
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Shivering Isles
Wii
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Mercy Meltdown: Revolution
Rockstar Games: Table Tennis
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Avatar: The Burning Earth
Backyard Football
Victorious Boxer
DS
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day
Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game
The Bee Game
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Avatar: The Burning Earth
Disney Princess: Magical Jewels
Fish Tycoon
Hannah Montana: Music Jam
Power Rangers Super Legends
Prism: Light the Way
Wild Pets: Dolphinz
I can honestly say that if you were to fall asleep this week for Console releases, you wouldn’t miss a thing. In fact, maybe I should just find a pillow and….okay okay let’s see here. Tony Hawk asks to show him the money as he has yet another title on all of the major systems except PSP as far as I can tell. I still haven’t picked up a Tony Hawk title since they stopped numbering them. Some Oblivion related material makes the list as the expansion is available now in disc form for 360. (which only makes sense if you can find the original Oblivion super cheap or don’t get on Live) The PS3 gets the game of the year edition which is a true bargain especially if it ever hits $40 and below levels. The Wii actually sports a really good game in Guilty Gear which is one of the most under appreciated fighting games you will find. Finally, if I own the PS2 or DS; I can now have a game where I can be a Princess. It’s about damn time.
A couple of weeks have passed and my parents have not called me about their computer since I transferred them back to XP. Imagine that. Nice when things work. I went to Tyler last friday, nice place to visit but not exactly somewhere I would want to move to. The girlfriend train is going along nicely. It’s weird when somebody truly appreciates you and for once in your life you have nothing to argue about and can just be happy. An interesting point was brought up this week which I need for you guys to think about. We all have bad instances in our lives and there are all times when we feel sad or depressed. I’ve been through my share with my divorce but have been much more upbeat in the last few months than I’ve ever been. However, and here is my question; why is the general idea (mostly in the US) that it is bad to be depressed and you should be medicated if you are? Why are kids and adults in many situations being forced to take pills and all sorts of medication just so they can appear to be happy? Isn’t it okay to be sad? It also seems to tone-down your happiness too. Sometimes I am mega happy and I appreciate the situations or people that put me there. That shouldn’t be wrong either. I just have a real problem with being fake and being false anything whether it be happy or sad. Let’s be real folks. If you are depressed and have no reason to be depressed, then I understand medication. However, if you just got divorced or you just lost something incredibly important to you; then just maybe it is okay to be sad. Take care kiddoes.
As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)
