Dare to Play the Game

There is a Mutant Storm brewing, Doritos brings XBLA snacks and the Wii shows up forgetting beer and a HDD – Welcome to the column that shows up early and then stays way too late (and doesn’t clean up) known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to the spooktacular edition of Dare to Play the Game (no you probably won’t find any other Halloween related material but it will be spooooky). No, I didn’t finish Halo 3 (stuck halfway thru stage 8 ) and I didn’t even start Half Life 2 Orange. I’m a very sad panda. We (my girlfriend and me) are hopelessly addicted to Puzzle Quest. My girlfriend is nearing level 25 with her character and I’m around 15. However, I have to admit I like my wizard very very much. Fireball and Hands of Power are a deadly combo. I was able to finish my PQ review naturally. I also finished a couple of dvd reviews (The Lair – Season One and The Reaping) and have three more on tap (The Tripper, Red Road, and Poltergeist 25th Anniversary). I also went out and bought Guitar Hero 3 Wireless Bundle for the 360. *keep telling yourself, I will get to Half Life 2 Orange* I have to admit that I like the all black face. That and I can’t bring myself to paying $15-$20 for a beeping face plate. My girlfriend might play with me since we have two guitars now but I don’t know anybody else I’m showing it off to. Expect those to hit bargain bins inside of 6 months. Just like any other GH “gear” except the actual guitars themselves.

Has anybody seen those silly Fruit of the Loom commercials with the “guys” singing the blues because they now have blue boxers and briefs? It was on like a couple of years ago and I’ve seen them try to bring them back recently. I’ve always had this notion to see Morgan Webb in an underwear commercial. Get your mind out of the gutter slightly. Like a Hanes Her Way or something; something in cotton would suit me just fine. I can dream eh?

PS3

The latest round of financial results for Sony didn’t paint the games unit in the warmest, prettiest light. Next time around, though, it might be even worse. Sony announced today that they’ve doubled the projected losses for the games unit for the financial year (ending in March), the original estimate of a loss of ¥50 billion chucked out and replaced with an estimated loss of ¥100 billion. No reason was given for the rewrite, but the ¥126 billion they lost during the first half of the financial year probably had something to do with it.

Wow, the PS3 is doing such great business. So great that not only will Sony have a loss for each quarter until the cows come home but the end of the financial year is now doubled in projected losses. Doubled. And I’m not talking about heavy petting either. Game units traditionally do lose money but they make it up in things like accessories and especially software titles. Sony is just losing. The future is not looking bright and I don’t see anything on the horizon saving it. Kids, hold onto your PS2s and just try to ignore the PS3 ever existed. It’s pretty, it might have blu-ray but where Sony succeeded in marketing the PS2 and PS1 to the masses; PS3 is slowly turning into a big steaming pile. Unfortunate, because I was really ready to buy one.

Xbox 360 Live Arcade

The finalists in the Doritos Unlock Xbox challenge have already been chosen, but now it’s time to vote for the best snack-filled advergame from the lucky finalists. Five independently produced games have been given the beta treatment, Doritos Dash of Destruction, Monkeys From Mt. Doritos, Ultimate Dodgeball Champions, PB’s Quest For Flavor and Rhythum [sic] Racing, and are now playable online, granted that you have some plug-in that looks like a lonely puzzle piece to Mac OSX. I’m sure they’re all fine additions to the Xbox Live Arcade library, but I’m assuming one is nacho cheesier than the rest. You’ll have to decide which of the five advertising vehicles is right for you.

Hrmmm, that was quick. I guess my entry for Leisure Suit Larry goes Doritos hunting in Passionate Patti’s backseat was considered ineligible. *sigh* What can you do? They have chosen five and on titles alone I would have to go with Ultimate Dodgeball Champions. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a decent dodgeball game. In fact I would have to say Super Dodgeball on NES. I’m really not expecting anything legendary to say the least to come out of this. I just really hope that it ends up being better than Yaris. I absolutely adore the XBLA concept as many of you know but I’m really worried that there is a lot of potential for crapware and for the market to be flooded with “arcade” titles.

Wii

You want to play the presumption game when it comes to the Wii’s storage space solutions, you’re going to get burned. Example: you’d presume Nintendo would be very, very keen on a HDD for the Wii, what with the VC getting bigger and WiiWare due in a few months. But no. NoA PR Manager Eric Walter:


…the way that we look at it is, we really don’t want people storing every single game they buy on their drive. When you buy a game, it’s yours forever, so you can delete it, and go back and get it at any time you want. In a way, we liken it to putting music on your iPod; you listen to it for a while, and then you get tired of it, and you pull it off, and you put some new stuff on.

Maybe IPod Nanos. I know if I ever purchase a Zune or an IPod; I want something I can put all of my music on if entirely possible and never pull it off. See, I don’t like fly by night bands; I actually enjoy the music. So if I’m listening to Red Rider or the Eagles today, in 5 years guess what I’m still going to be listening to them. The same can be said with various VC titles like Zelda, Metroid, Castlevanias and so forth. We are buying a viable form of the game so that we can go back and play it at anytime (even past the consoles normal life). We don’t want to be told that in 5 years when we want to play Super Mario Brothers 3 on our Wii that we can’t cause you dropped the service and we forgot to keep it downloaded. We want a HDD so we can pull it up at a moments’ notice. Is that so hard for Nintendo to understand? The Wii has so much potential and they have wasted it all on the Wiimote. Look I can move my controller and control the on-screen action. I’m so done getting frustrated with the Wii until the fix the obvious.

Xbox Live Arcade – Mutant Storm Empire (800 MS Points)
















Mutant Storm Empire is the sequel to Mutant Storm Reloaded which is the sequel to Mutant Storm (old pc title). Did you get all that? It is very similar to Geometry Wars but sports prettier colors. The other difference is that there are multiple rooms, each without a lack of loading time and seamless play. Multiplayer will also be available as well as local cooperative play. Looks very pretty but in a land of many shooter clones it will need more to stand out and warrant a purchase.

Castlevania II is often recognized as the bastard child of the Castlevania franchise since it tried to incorporate role playing elements into the game and didn’t really succeed at it. It had the same fun graphics as the original Castlevania (as well as the 3rd incantation) but had experience levels which made a longer life bar by stories end. It was also non linear in where you could go to find the pieces of Dracula. It was heavily criticized for its use of night and day in that monsters would be stronger at the “night” setting as well as shops closing. I found the game to be extremely enjoyable and remember spending many a hour with it. It’s also how I found the franchise before I moved on to games like Symphony of the Night and X. The only problem I had with this game was the ridiculously Old English fonted password system.

Have I mentioned that all of the VC games this week were supposed to be scary? Muhahaha! (okay really I will stop) This is the sequel to Genpei Toma Den (or The Genji and the Heike Clans (not Heiney)) and a fun little romp in 12th century Japan. You were a you guessed it, Samurai Ghost. There were of course lots of demons to fight and sword powerups to collect in this action-platformer. In the end you hoped you would be able to defeat the shogun Yoritomo and his clan.

Magician Lord was the second game that I really liked on the Neo Geo (the first being Ninja Combat and the third being Sengoku). You played the role of Elta, a magician who had to save the world from the evil Gul-Agieze. You had to collect all eight tomes along the respective stages. The cool thing about this game was that you could change into six different forms including a Dragon Warrior, Shinobi or Poseidon. These forms had various attacks that acted differently and made you think how to approach each stage. If I had to recommend one title this week, it would be Castlevania II. However, if you have a glut of points you might really want to consider Magician Lord; it is a lot of fun and worth the change.

PS2
Guitar Hero III
Cars: Mater-National
Honda: SBk-07 Superbike
King of Fighters XI
Manhunt 2
Barbie Island Princess
Bee Movie
Ben 10: Protector of Earth
The Simpsons Game

PSP
Manhunt 2
Ben 10
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

PS3
Guitar Hero III
Cars: Mater-National
Stranglehold
The Simpsons Game
Fifth Phantom Saga
The Getaway 3
The Outsider

Xbox 360
Guitar Hero III
Cars: Mater-National
Bee Movie
Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition
Naruto: Rise of A Ninja
The Simpsons Game
Timeshift
Virtua Fighter 5
Viva Pinata: Party Animals

Wii
Hooked
Guitar Hero III
Battalion Wars 2
Manhunt 2
Barbie Island Princess
Bee Movie
Ben 10
Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey
High School Musical: Sing It!
The Simpsons Game

DS
Ed, Edd & Eddy: Scam of the Century
Cars: Mater-National
El Tigre
Ratatouille Food Frenzy
Barbie Island Princess
Bee Movie
Ben 10: Protector of Earth
Neves
Shrek the 3rd: Ogres and Donkeys
Super Collapse 3
The Simpsons Game
Dr Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Garfield Gets Real

Guitar Hero III actually came out on Sunday which was just a bit weird. Heck there was even midnight sales for it (because Sunday morning is for sleeping or so I’m told). I was honestly hoping for better sales or incentives (we certainly didn’t get anything like a free 1600 point card for buying Guitar Hero 2 when it hit the 360). Oh well, by the time I get to One by Metallica, I doubt I will care. The Simpsons also get a new game and it will be interesting to see if yet another Simpsons game fails to get truly rave reviews and hits the bargain bin. Give it time. Manhunt 2 is finally released with a PS2 and Wii version. May soccer moms and preachers start bashing this game because they have nothing better to do. Parents will be outraged because they have no parenting skills. I know I will be covering it next week but in the meantime I give this simple message: If you don’t like Manhunt 2 or the message you think it sends then don’t buy it for yourself or your kid. End of story. I’m more interested in having animals eat each other in Viva Pinata: Party Animals anyhow. (Now just a collection of mini-games) The true sleeper of the week could be possibly Timeshift for the 360. Sure it appears to be another sci-fi first person shooter but it has a cool story and true to its name you can manipulate time to defeat your enemies. Might be worth the pickup once it drops a little in price.

On the clearance tip this week, I found All-Pro Football 2k8 for 360 for only $14.98. Target, go now! (some Targets might have it at $20.98 so YMMV) In other news, Sarah and I took the rabbit to the vet this week. Seems like we were feeding her wrong :(. No more fancy rabbit food for you. Plain old pellets and timothy hay. And some collard and mustard greens too. Yummy (translation: gag me with a spoon). While we were there, we also got roped into acquiring a new kitty. She’s barely 5 or 6 weeks old and is an extremely cute and unique looking kitten. I’ll have pics sometime. We have named her Needler (yes akin to the popular weapon in Halo 3) for the time being. I’m a sad sad man. She meows quite a bit but she really is becoming part of the family quickly. Yeah, I said it; a family. It’s hard to believe in such things but perhaps they do exist. Here is an even scarier idea: A happy family. Now I’m even scaring myself. But I hope for it to be true. Happy Halloween kiddoes.

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