I noticed "Agarest: Generations Of War" up for preorder on GAME (UK retailer) for only £24.99 - that's like a budget title, in PS3 terms. The full price for videogames has been steadily rising over the last few months so normal RRP for a retail PS3 game is about twice that. T_T
It's Agarest Senki, and is going to be published by Ghostlight, subsidiary company of Midas Entertainment. The page for this game on their website doesn't work yet. They have a press release available to read, if you want a look.
As far as I know, this is the only release outside of Japan that the game is getting. Not that it really matters; the PS3 is region free after all.
I wonder if you will still be labelled a hikkikomori for getting the game's platinum trophy.
I don't have high expectations for the game because it's an Idea Factory game, so it's probably best placed as a budget title. Still, SRPG with dating sim elements is probably worth a look...
It comes out in about a month's time.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Momoi Halko in Minon Everyday Hero
Last Friday, I decided to watch the trailer for the wii game "Minon: Everyday Hero", which is out in the UK now.
Minon: Everyday Hero trailer.
It's a game where you run around each stage knocking down dominoes to succeed. It's the sequel to a PS1 game which came out in the UK under the name of "No one can stop Mr Domino". Looks like it could be fun, to a Katamari Damacy obsessed person like me. :D
I noticed that the song playing in the trailer is a Momoi Halko song! This is backed up on this website. The Japanese version of this game is called "Go!Go!Minon" (with Minon written in katakana).
If you want to download a sound effects free MP3 of the song, you'll have to grab it from Nico Nico Douga: http://nicosound.anyap.info/sound/sm527992 because as far as I can see, there is no soundtrack on sale for this game. That surprised me, because the reviews I saw for the game mentioned that there is a lot of licensed jpop in the game.
I didn't find any mention in English on the internet about Momoi singing for this game, so I thought I had better write it up in my blog. :D It's an energetic little 2 minute song.
I've ordered a copy of the game via an online shop but it hasn't arrived yet, so I don't actually know if this song is in the actual game, but according to the videos on youtube it should be. The game isn't out in America and gets pretty mediocre reviews, and I haven't seen it around much so it might never be released there.
BTW Momoi Halko is coming to the UK next month! She's a guest at Ayacon and will be performing live: http://www.ayacon.org.uk/guests. I won't be going; it's just to let you know. ^_^
EDIT: 2009-07-15 20:37pm
My copy arrived and I can confirm that the Momoi song is in the PAL version of the game!
The game features a comically bad dub with voice work like you only ever hear in British cartoons for very very small children. I don't know where they get these people, I don't hear people talking like this in England. -_-; However, every level features cheerful jpop songs, unaltered. ^_^
The Momoi song is in level 4. Pop idol Michiko Momota is giving a secret concert, and her "fans" turn up, but they're all "Oh, she's past it." "I heard she's 10 years older than she says she is" (which made me laugh, thinking that Momoi is a few months older than me - older than Gundam! - she just looks and behaves much younger than she is. When she was in UNDER 17 she was definitely over 17 years old!).
That's a terrible reason to stop liking her! We have to change their minds about Michiko!
While she sings the song, you have to run over the heads of disgruntled fans in the audience to stop them from leaving! It's a hoot.
The song is longer in the game than in the clip I found on NicoNico - the stage is 4 mins 50 seconds long, and there's another verse.
In the PAL version of the game, they call the song something that sounds like "Lalala Lamikus", but in the NicoNico video I found, it was labelled "Galge (Lalala Namida no Totsugeki Lemon Kiss)".
Overall, the game is perhaps taking a bit of getting used to, it is perhaps a little too quirky for its own good and although you can change the camera angles none of them seem very helpful... but it is proving to be amusing! :D
Minon: Everyday Hero trailer.
It's a game where you run around each stage knocking down dominoes to succeed. It's the sequel to a PS1 game which came out in the UK under the name of "No one can stop Mr Domino". Looks like it could be fun, to a Katamari Damacy obsessed person like me. :D
I noticed that the song playing in the trailer is a Momoi Halko song! This is backed up on this website. The Japanese version of this game is called "Go!Go!Minon" (with Minon written in katakana).
If you want to download a sound effects free MP3 of the song, you'll have to grab it from Nico Nico Douga: http://nicosound.anyap.info/sound/sm527992 because as far as I can see, there is no soundtrack on sale for this game. That surprised me, because the reviews I saw for the game mentioned that there is a lot of licensed jpop in the game.
I didn't find any mention in English on the internet about Momoi singing for this game, so I thought I had better write it up in my blog. :D It's an energetic little 2 minute song.
I've ordered a copy of the game via an online shop but it hasn't arrived yet, so I don't actually know if this song is in the actual game, but according to the videos on youtube it should be. The game isn't out in America and gets pretty mediocre reviews, and I haven't seen it around much so it might never be released there.
BTW Momoi Halko is coming to the UK next month! She's a guest at Ayacon and will be performing live: http://www.ayacon.org.uk/guests. I won't be going; it's just to let you know. ^_^
EDIT: 2009-07-15 20:37pm
My copy arrived and I can confirm that the Momoi song is in the PAL version of the game!
The game features a comically bad dub with voice work like you only ever hear in British cartoons for very very small children. I don't know where they get these people, I don't hear people talking like this in England. -_-; However, every level features cheerful jpop songs, unaltered. ^_^
The Momoi song is in level 4. Pop idol Michiko Momota is giving a secret concert, and her "fans" turn up, but they're all "Oh, she's past it." "I heard she's 10 years older than she says she is" (which made me laugh, thinking that Momoi is a few months older than me - older than Gundam! - she just looks and behaves much younger than she is. When she was in UNDER 17 she was definitely over 17 years old!).
That's a terrible reason to stop liking her! We have to change their minds about Michiko!
While she sings the song, you have to run over the heads of disgruntled fans in the audience to stop them from leaving! It's a hoot.
The song is longer in the game than in the clip I found on NicoNico - the stage is 4 mins 50 seconds long, and there's another verse.
In the PAL version of the game, they call the song something that sounds like "Lalala Lamikus", but in the NicoNico video I found, it was labelled "Galge (Lalala Namida no Totsugeki Lemon Kiss)".
Overall, the game is perhaps taking a bit of getting used to, it is perhaps a little too quirky for its own good and although you can change the camera angles none of them seem very helpful... but it is proving to be amusing! :D
The Japanese rape game controversy and getting round website blocking
There was a big hoohah in the news a few weeks ago about some British MP being really offended that 3rd party sellers on Amazon.com were selling copies of the (rather offensive) Rapelay computer game, where players rape women and girls, and, well that's the whole game. Horrific and distasteful and wholly unerotic stuff, imho.
That started a huge controversy, and the initial outcome was that one of the main videogame ratings bodies (EOCS) decided to ban games from having "rape" in the title, as well as banning games containing mostly rape. Hooray! This stopped Rapelay from being sold, and other knock-on positive effects are:
* Rape victims really suffer in Japan as it's not seen as a terrible crime, and the victims are not given much help, and are stigmatised. I read some articles citing government reports saying that although the official crime rate of rape appears low, estimates are that 10 times as many rapes are unreported. It's a really bad problem there. A lot of these games trivialise rape (e.g. "that was a surprise!" then they go about their normal life), and/or show women appearing to have really enjoyed it when it's over, so it's good to stop the positive reinforcement of rape that these games give.
* Rape has become a worn-out cliché of the adult-only erotic game genre in Japan, and there are often a lot of unavoidable rape scenes in games. I am thinking that maybe if makers are forced to stop using boring old rape scenes, they might be forced to dream up new pleasing erotic content using only consenting adults, and attract a bigger and more mainstream audience. I know that when a PC erogame proves popular enough to warrant a mainstream release, all sex scenes are removed for a home console version. I'm thinking that if erogames became less extreme in content they might appeal to more people, and if they clean themselves up they won't have such a bad reputation. So I'm thinking that in the long run, the industry could actually benefit from this action.
However, the controversy continued beyond the subject of rape and some online shops decided to stop selling certain games with other types of extreme sexual content, and it's all still a hot topic and various other things could stop being permitted by the two main ratings bodies.
One way that a few Japanese game companies have decided to react is to block all access to their official websites by all people outside of Japan. Instead, we get holding pages telling us to go away, or perhaps write to the Japanese government in support of erogames. Unfortunately, this action is even being taken by some companies which don't make or sell extreme pornographic games. This is highly annoying, as an official website is often the only (reliable) place to find information about games, and it appears to be nothing but an unhelpful xenophobic overreaction.
If you want to get round the blocks to Japanese websites, use this intermediate website to access them: http://www.ijapan.org/red/
That started a huge controversy, and the initial outcome was that one of the main videogame ratings bodies (EOCS) decided to ban games from having "rape" in the title, as well as banning games containing mostly rape. Hooray! This stopped Rapelay from being sold, and other knock-on positive effects are:
* Rape victims really suffer in Japan as it's not seen as a terrible crime, and the victims are not given much help, and are stigmatised. I read some articles citing government reports saying that although the official crime rate of rape appears low, estimates are that 10 times as many rapes are unreported. It's a really bad problem there. A lot of these games trivialise rape (e.g. "that was a surprise!" then they go about their normal life), and/or show women appearing to have really enjoyed it when it's over, so it's good to stop the positive reinforcement of rape that these games give.
* Rape has become a worn-out cliché of the adult-only erotic game genre in Japan, and there are often a lot of unavoidable rape scenes in games. I am thinking that maybe if makers are forced to stop using boring old rape scenes, they might be forced to dream up new pleasing erotic content using only consenting adults, and attract a bigger and more mainstream audience. I know that when a PC erogame proves popular enough to warrant a mainstream release, all sex scenes are removed for a home console version. I'm thinking that if erogames became less extreme in content they might appeal to more people, and if they clean themselves up they won't have such a bad reputation. So I'm thinking that in the long run, the industry could actually benefit from this action.
However, the controversy continued beyond the subject of rape and some online shops decided to stop selling certain games with other types of extreme sexual content, and it's all still a hot topic and various other things could stop being permitted by the two main ratings bodies.
One way that a few Japanese game companies have decided to react is to block all access to their official websites by all people outside of Japan. Instead, we get holding pages telling us to go away, or perhaps write to the Japanese government in support of erogames. Unfortunately, this action is even being taken by some companies which don't make or sell extreme pornographic games. This is highly annoying, as an official website is often the only (reliable) place to find information about games, and it appears to be nothing but an unhelpful xenophobic overreaction.
If you want to get round the blocks to Japanese websites, use this intermediate website to access them: http://www.ijapan.org/red/
Monday, 29 June 2009
I bought a wii.
Sorry about the lack of posts recently, along with the lack of photos. My camera is being weird at the moment. No matter whether I put in new batteries, or fully recharged batteries straight out of he charger, all it can manage to do is open it's lens..... then a few seconds later, close and shut down. I suppose I could try using the camera on my netbook, but that would be a bit weird and awkward to use.
I have bought a wii console. In fact, I bought it slightly before my PS3, but I didn't write it up. It's second hand but in impeccable condition, as the previous owner seems to have only played with it once or twice, according to the internal log.
I have bought a whole load of games for it; Baroque, Blast Works, Dewy's Adventure, Disaster Day Of Crisis, Dragon Quest Swords, FFF Chocobo's Dungeon, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Guilty Gear /\ Core, The House Of The Dead 2 & 3 Return, Little King's Story, Madworld, The Munchables, No More Heroes, Opoona, Samba de Amigo, Samurai Warriors Katana, SNK Arcade Classics 1, Soul Calibur Legends, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, Warioware: Smooth Moves, Wii Music, Zack & Wiki.
All of those are PAL version games, apart from Tatsunoko vs Capcom which is a Japanese game. Most of them cost around £10 or less, and I am happy with the selection I have chosen. I've played a bit of most of them, but there are still some I haven't even taken out of the wrapper yet!
I haven't bought any wiiware downloadable games because I do not trust Nintendo with purely digital ownership thanks to them revoking most of my loyalty points which I had spent years building up, complete faith in them. There is no personal ownership for wiiware games - you download them to your console without it being tied to any form of identity. So if your wii breaks, you can't transfer your games to another console without phoning Nintendo and begging, and they are very reluctant to cooperate, from what I have heard. Plus, they do not offer any demos for games, and there's not much internal memory in the console, nor much in the way of online play, so it doesn't seem very good.
I held off buying a wii for a few years because there didn't appear to be that many games for the platform which appeal to me, and the price of games was too high - for a long time they retained their prices very well. Buying a second hand console for £50 less than the standard price, and picking up games fairly cheaply, now that I have this console, I'm quite pleased with it.
The speciality of the wii seems to be games which you can pick up easily, play in short bursts, and laugh with. This is what I really appreciate the console for. There are some games which seem like normal home console games, but I would say that a great deal of games are more like amusement arcade games. For example, you can go mini-bowling with friends. You can wave a stick around and play swordfighting. You can play accurate ports of one-on-one fighting games. You can move about with music / rhythm games. Amusement arcades are becoming more and more scarce as the years pass, and they contain more and more gambling machines and fewer arcade games, so I really appreciate the fact that the wii seems to replace and regain part of what has been lost.
And, even if the games are short, they don't cost too much anymore, so I don't mind.
The wii does suffer the same overall problems with its game catalogue that the DS does - there are are a lot of gimmick control games (use this control method because it's new, not because it is the best or most useable), and there is a lot of software for the console that is not a game but self-help training software. These appeal to a broad market and bring in a lot of money, so that kind of stuff is what people have come to associate with the console, but there are some really decent games for the platform too.
I have bought a wii console. In fact, I bought it slightly before my PS3, but I didn't write it up. It's second hand but in impeccable condition, as the previous owner seems to have only played with it once or twice, according to the internal log.
I have bought a whole load of games for it; Baroque, Blast Works, Dewy's Adventure, Disaster Day Of Crisis, Dragon Quest Swords, FFF Chocobo's Dungeon, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Guilty Gear /\ Core, The House Of The Dead 2 & 3 Return, Little King's Story, Madworld, The Munchables, No More Heroes, Opoona, Samba de Amigo, Samurai Warriors Katana, SNK Arcade Classics 1, Soul Calibur Legends, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, Warioware: Smooth Moves, Wii Music, Zack & Wiki.
All of those are PAL version games, apart from Tatsunoko vs Capcom which is a Japanese game. Most of them cost around £10 or less, and I am happy with the selection I have chosen. I've played a bit of most of them, but there are still some I haven't even taken out of the wrapper yet!
I haven't bought any wiiware downloadable games because I do not trust Nintendo with purely digital ownership thanks to them revoking most of my loyalty points which I had spent years building up, complete faith in them. There is no personal ownership for wiiware games - you download them to your console without it being tied to any form of identity. So if your wii breaks, you can't transfer your games to another console without phoning Nintendo and begging, and they are very reluctant to cooperate, from what I have heard. Plus, they do not offer any demos for games, and there's not much internal memory in the console, nor much in the way of online play, so it doesn't seem very good.
I held off buying a wii for a few years because there didn't appear to be that many games for the platform which appeal to me, and the price of games was too high - for a long time they retained their prices very well. Buying a second hand console for £50 less than the standard price, and picking up games fairly cheaply, now that I have this console, I'm quite pleased with it.
The speciality of the wii seems to be games which you can pick up easily, play in short bursts, and laugh with. This is what I really appreciate the console for. There are some games which seem like normal home console games, but I would say that a great deal of games are more like amusement arcade games. For example, you can go mini-bowling with friends. You can wave a stick around and play swordfighting. You can play accurate ports of one-on-one fighting games. You can move about with music / rhythm games. Amusement arcades are becoming more and more scarce as the years pass, and they contain more and more gambling machines and fewer arcade games, so I really appreciate the fact that the wii seems to replace and regain part of what has been lost.
And, even if the games are short, they don't cost too much anymore, so I don't mind.
The wii does suffer the same overall problems with its game catalogue that the DS does - there are are a lot of gimmick control games (use this control method because it's new, not because it is the best or most useable), and there is a lot of software for the console that is not a game but self-help training software. These appeal to a broad market and bring in a lot of money, so that kind of stuff is what people have come to associate with the console, but there are some really decent games for the platform too.
500 yen discount voucher for CD Japan
There's a special offer on at CD Japan at the moment: put in your email address and they will send you a voucher for 500 yen off of any order of 5000 yen or more, to spend before the 30th of July 2009.
Special Offer coupon page
I guess 10% isn't that much, but it's more than welcome. (See my previous 2 posts, I have some preorders to place...)
Special Offer coupon page
I guess 10% isn't that much, but it's more than welcome. (See my previous 2 posts, I have some preorders to place...)
I Senshi - upcoming Anniversary Gundam album
Have you ever liked a song so much that you think that an album containing 6 cover versions of it would be a great thing? I think I'm unusual. I own the album with 18 versions of "Yuusha Ou Tanjou!", the Gaogaigar opening theme.
Now I've heard about this upcoming Ai Senshi cover album, I'm really thinking of buying this too.
Gundam 30th Anniversary I,Senshi Tribute
Catalog No.: VTCL-60161
Label/Distributor: Victor Entertainment
Format: CD
Number of discs (or other units): 1
Release Date: 2009/07/22
Price: 2000yen (2100yen Tax incl.)
I've also seen a tracklist:
1. Ai Senshi (Andrew W.K.)
2. Ai Senshi (MIQ)
3. Ai Senshi (Daisuke Inoue (original singer), 1999 version)
4. Ai Senshi (Gackt)
5. Ai Senshi (Richie Kotzen)
6. Ai Senshi (Matsuhiro Oikawa)
Source. As it's another blog, I can't tell if that tracklist is finalised.
Preorder on: Gundam 30th Anniversary I,Senshi Tribute
I really like this song! I think it's definitely my favourite song to come out of Mobile Suit Gundam. It's from one of the films, which I haven't seen. I just really like the song. I think the album would have been better rounding off with the original version, as I think it's the best. The Andrew W.K. version is in English and it's a good translation; accurate and with a lot of impact. I haven't heard the MIQ version, I'm hoping it's new as I like all of her covers. I haven't heard the self cover... I don't much like the Gackt cover (even though I like a lot of his music), the Ritchie Kotzen cover is another English cover but the lyrics aren't as good, and I haven't heard the Matsuhiro Oikawa version but I have enjoyed some of his past music too.
Not listed is this live cover of Ai Senshi: Super Robot Spirits Acoustic version, with Mizuki Ichirou, Kageyama Hironobu, Endoh Masaaki, Horie Mitsuko and MIQ. It's really good, and is another reason I have to look forward to a MIQ version.
Now I've heard about this upcoming Ai Senshi cover album, I'm really thinking of buying this too.
Gundam 30th Anniversary I,Senshi Tribute
Catalog No.: VTCL-60161
Label/Distributor: Victor Entertainment
Format: CD
Number of discs (or other units): 1
Release Date: 2009/07/22
Price: 2000yen (2100yen Tax incl.)
I've also seen a tracklist:
1. Ai Senshi (Andrew W.K.)
2. Ai Senshi (MIQ)
3. Ai Senshi (Daisuke Inoue (original singer), 1999 version)
4. Ai Senshi (Gackt)
5. Ai Senshi (Richie Kotzen)
6. Ai Senshi (Matsuhiro Oikawa)
Source. As it's another blog, I can't tell if that tracklist is finalised.
Preorder on: Gundam 30th Anniversary I,Senshi Tribute
I really like this song! I think it's definitely my favourite song to come out of Mobile Suit Gundam. It's from one of the films, which I haven't seen. I just really like the song. I think the album would have been better rounding off with the original version, as I think it's the best. The Andrew W.K. version is in English and it's a good translation; accurate and with a lot of impact. I haven't heard the MIQ version, I'm hoping it's new as I like all of her covers. I haven't heard the self cover... I don't much like the Gackt cover (even though I like a lot of his music), the Ritchie Kotzen cover is another English cover but the lyrics aren't as good, and I haven't heard the Matsuhiro Oikawa version but I have enjoyed some of his past music too.
Not listed is this live cover of Ai Senshi: Super Robot Spirits Acoustic version, with Mizuki Ichirou, Kageyama Hironobu, Endoh Masaaki, Horie Mitsuko and MIQ. It's really good, and is another reason I have to look forward to a MIQ version.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
EIZO JAPAN - upcoming album
This is one to look forward to! Anyone who is a fan of Sakamoto Eizo (lead singer of Anthem, Animetal and an ex member of JAM Project) should look into this!
He's got a new album of covers of anime songs coming out at the end of August 2009 in Japan - it's available to preorder on CD Japan.
Tracklisting from his official website
Engine Sentai Go-onger
Pegasus Fantasy (Saint Seiya)
Butter-Fly (Digimon)
Unbalance na Kiss o Shite (Yu Yu Hakusho)
Turn A Turn (Turn A Gundam)
Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan (Sakura Wars)
Kimi o Nosete (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)
DELUGE(Instrumental)
Dengeki Sentai Changeman
Aiai Mikochan (Norakuro)
Kioku no Umi (School Days)
Hana - Shinomori Aoshi no Theme (Rurouni Kenshin)
Towa no Mirai (Rurouni Kenshin)
Pegasus Fantasy Acoustic Ver (Saint Seiya)
It'll be good to hear the self-cover of Animetal's Towa no Mirai (presuming it is a cover). I saw a video on youtube of him singing Butter-Fly live at an anime song event, it seems to be a song with a resurgence in popularity, which is great because it's always been a fun song. ^_^ I have wanted to hear him sing the Sakura Taisen theme for ages too. ^_^
It mentions on his English MySpace page that "We are also promoting overseas. Working hard to bring the album to your countries!!", I think that means concerts rather than the CD being released internationally, but I can't be sure. I think I'll put an order in for the Japanese version anyway.
EDIT: 2009-07-15
Keep an eye on his official myspace page! It now contains clips from the album to listen to, and he'd revealed that he will start recording EIZO JAPAN 2 next month! :D
He's got a new album of covers of anime songs coming out at the end of August 2009 in Japan - it's available to preorder on CD Japan.
Tracklisting from his official website
Engine Sentai Go-onger
Pegasus Fantasy (Saint Seiya)
Butter-Fly (Digimon)
Unbalance na Kiss o Shite (Yu Yu Hakusho)
Turn A Turn (Turn A Gundam)
Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan (Sakura Wars)
Kimi o Nosete (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)
DELUGE(Instrumental)
Dengeki Sentai Changeman
Aiai Mikochan (Norakuro)
Kioku no Umi (School Days)
Hana - Shinomori Aoshi no Theme (Rurouni Kenshin)
Towa no Mirai (Rurouni Kenshin)
Pegasus Fantasy Acoustic Ver (Saint Seiya)
It'll be good to hear the self-cover of Animetal's Towa no Mirai (presuming it is a cover). I saw a video on youtube of him singing Butter-Fly live at an anime song event, it seems to be a song with a resurgence in popularity, which is great because it's always been a fun song. ^_^ I have wanted to hear him sing the Sakura Taisen theme for ages too. ^_^
It mentions on his English MySpace page that "We are also promoting overseas. Working hard to bring the album to your countries!!", I think that means concerts rather than the CD being released internationally, but I can't be sure. I think I'll put an order in for the Japanese version anyway.
EDIT: 2009-07-15
Keep an eye on his official myspace page! It now contains clips from the album to listen to, and he'd revealed that he will start recording EIZO JAPAN 2 next month! :D
Sunday, 24 May 2009
King Of Fighters XI
My left thumb is worn out today. I spent last evening playing King Of Fighters XI on PS2 (PAL version) with my brother. There are loads of characters to choose from, and I've only managed to unlock one extra character so far.
If I turn the difficulty to minimum and damage to maximum, I can sometimes get lucky and beat the game! ^_^;; Yeah, last bosses in these games are so dispropotionately difficult compared with all the other fights leading up to the end.
There seem to be slowdown issues, especially on the final boss. It's quite annoying. And, the text in story sequences flows off the side of the screen, so you can't read what's going on. Especially bad when the only story you get about the characters is their ending sequence! Buggy, buggy, buggy.
If I turn the difficulty to minimum and damage to maximum, I can sometimes get lucky and beat the game! ^_^;; Yeah, last bosses in these games are so dispropotionately difficult compared with all the other fights leading up to the end.
There seem to be slowdown issues, especially on the final boss. It's quite annoying. And, the text in story sequences flows off the side of the screen, so you can't read what's going on. Especially bad when the only story you get about the characters is their ending sequence! Buggy, buggy, buggy.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
I bought a PS3.
I have a PS3 now; I bought myself a 2nd hand one - a USA 60GB import model because that's the most fully featured and because my American PS2 makes worrying disc-eating noises and there are more US PS2 games I want to play than PS3 games.
So far, I've had some fun with it playing "LittleBigPlanet", "Noby Noby Boy", "Rag Doll Kung Fu", "Riff: Everyday Shooter", "Pixel Junk Eden" and "The Last Guy".
I've also bought "Disgaea 3" and "Valkyria Chronicles", as well as "Flower" and "Pixel Junk Monsters". I haven't tried them yet.
I might also get "Hakuna Matata" (Afrika), which is a game about filming wildlife in Africa.
There aren't too many games in shops for PS3 that I want to buy - its range is so limited it's almost as bad as the Xbox in the last generation of consoles.
The range of downloadable games is more appealing to me. Not so much the selection of PS1 games as I own all of the games I'm interested in already, but the new titles. Apparently there are a lot more games on the USA and Japan versions of the PSN store than what I see in the European store, so I might have to set up foreign accounts and buy prepaid cards to use. There are no prepaid cards available for the European PSN shop; you have to use a credit card which is a bit annoying, so I am still a bit reluctant. I wish there were more game demos available too, even if it is a few £s to buy downloadable games, it seems like too much of a risk to buy a game based on its name and a very short paragraph of text to describe it. I have been looking up reviews of the games, but you don't really get a feel for a game like you do with a demo.
I have enjoyed the games I've played, though.
LittleBigPlanet is an extremely customisable platform game which has some great levels built in, plus you can create and play levels and play other player's levels too. All the objects in the game look and feel like they are made out of small bits and bobs; painted cardboard, various kinds of cloth, cotton reels for wheels, burning coals, etc. Some player levels I've seen have been really inventive; I've seen a roller coaster, a piano, a side-scrolling shoot-em-up... I'm really impressed.
Noby Noby Boy is a little downloadable game that costs £3.19 and is the latest thing that the guy who created Katamari Damacy has been working on. You're this little caterpillar-like thing who eats stuff. He's called BOY. You can stretch him, and by eating more, you can make him very long. When you're done, you report the length to GIRL, which is a global total among all players in the (real) world. So far she's stretched long enough to reach the moon (which opened up a new stage). The first time I played it was just before there was a huge update to the game which is bigger than the original size of the game! It added a lot of music and sound effects and multiplayer support, and somehow seems a lot more professional now. The take-up of this game has been a lot lower than expected, so I think in response to that, there have been multipliers to reported lengths all this week. It was up to 765 times yesterday, and is down to 523 times today. I think we will get GIRL to stretch to Mars soon! I'm looking forward to it!
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists Of Plastic... I only have because they are giving this game away for free on US PSN at the moment so I got someone with a US account to log in and download it. It still costs £7.99 in Europe, even though it's made my Sony Europe! :/ It's a pretty fun and amusing little fighting game, again with little objects as the main characters (reminding me of LittleBigPlanet), though some of the controls use motion sensing in the controller, and I found those controls too imprecise and hard to use. :(
Riff: Everyday Shooter is a two-stick shoot-em-up. Robotron / Smash TV / Geometry Wars style controls. Each stage has its own way of playing, and best tactics to score the highest points, so you aren't just shooting wildly - you are waiting to destroy the targets which will benefit you the most, and chain the destruction. It feels like Every Extend in that respect. Each level is the length of a song, rather than until you have destroyed X boss or whatever, and the music is realy tied in with what you are shooting. Some people describe it as "an album you play" because of this. I think it just makes a terrible racket, though. One of the most annoying soundtracks I've heard. Think: autogenerated amateur American grunge.
Pixel Junk Eden is a fun little 2D game where you jump around a large landscape trying to hit floating circles that release pollen to make other plants, to jump around.... and you can swing on some silk for a while to help... um, I don't know if that's a very good description. It took a while to work out the best way to play the game, even with tutorial messages, because the game is hard to describe. It's fun once you've worked it out, though. Fun to play local multi-player as well. :)
The Last Guy is... well, if you ever played the "Demonstration Roundup" minigame in WTF (Work Time Fun / Baito Hell 2000) for the PSP, it's basically an updated version of that. I think I even heard some sound effects from the PSP game reused, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was made by the same team. In this game, you have to run around a city (these are accurate real world aerial shots, like what you see in google maps), and when you pass by buildings, the people inside come out and join a line behind you. You need to take the people to the safety zones in the city to be rescued, without them being chased away by zombies or giant monsters. It's quite fun.
So far, I've had some fun with it playing "LittleBigPlanet", "Noby Noby Boy", "Rag Doll Kung Fu", "Riff: Everyday Shooter", "Pixel Junk Eden" and "The Last Guy".
I've also bought "Disgaea 3" and "Valkyria Chronicles", as well as "Flower" and "Pixel Junk Monsters". I haven't tried them yet.
I might also get "Hakuna Matata" (Afrika), which is a game about filming wildlife in Africa.
There aren't too many games in shops for PS3 that I want to buy - its range is so limited it's almost as bad as the Xbox in the last generation of consoles.
The range of downloadable games is more appealing to me. Not so much the selection of PS1 games as I own all of the games I'm interested in already, but the new titles. Apparently there are a lot more games on the USA and Japan versions of the PSN store than what I see in the European store, so I might have to set up foreign accounts and buy prepaid cards to use. There are no prepaid cards available for the European PSN shop; you have to use a credit card which is a bit annoying, so I am still a bit reluctant. I wish there were more game demos available too, even if it is a few £s to buy downloadable games, it seems like too much of a risk to buy a game based on its name and a very short paragraph of text to describe it. I have been looking up reviews of the games, but you don't really get a feel for a game like you do with a demo.
I have enjoyed the games I've played, though.
LittleBigPlanet is an extremely customisable platform game which has some great levels built in, plus you can create and play levels and play other player's levels too. All the objects in the game look and feel like they are made out of small bits and bobs; painted cardboard, various kinds of cloth, cotton reels for wheels, burning coals, etc. Some player levels I've seen have been really inventive; I've seen a roller coaster, a piano, a side-scrolling shoot-em-up... I'm really impressed.
Noby Noby Boy is a little downloadable game that costs £3.19 and is the latest thing that the guy who created Katamari Damacy has been working on. You're this little caterpillar-like thing who eats stuff. He's called BOY. You can stretch him, and by eating more, you can make him very long. When you're done, you report the length to GIRL, which is a global total among all players in the (real) world. So far she's stretched long enough to reach the moon (which opened up a new stage). The first time I played it was just before there was a huge update to the game which is bigger than the original size of the game! It added a lot of music and sound effects and multiplayer support, and somehow seems a lot more professional now. The take-up of this game has been a lot lower than expected, so I think in response to that, there have been multipliers to reported lengths all this week. It was up to 765 times yesterday, and is down to 523 times today. I think we will get GIRL to stretch to Mars soon! I'm looking forward to it!
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists Of Plastic... I only have because they are giving this game away for free on US PSN at the moment so I got someone with a US account to log in and download it. It still costs £7.99 in Europe, even though it's made my Sony Europe! :/ It's a pretty fun and amusing little fighting game, again with little objects as the main characters (reminding me of LittleBigPlanet), though some of the controls use motion sensing in the controller, and I found those controls too imprecise and hard to use. :(
Riff: Everyday Shooter is a two-stick shoot-em-up. Robotron / Smash TV / Geometry Wars style controls. Each stage has its own way of playing, and best tactics to score the highest points, so you aren't just shooting wildly - you are waiting to destroy the targets which will benefit you the most, and chain the destruction. It feels like Every Extend in that respect. Each level is the length of a song, rather than until you have destroyed X boss or whatever, and the music is realy tied in with what you are shooting. Some people describe it as "an album you play" because of this. I think it just makes a terrible racket, though. One of the most annoying soundtracks I've heard. Think: autogenerated amateur American grunge.
Pixel Junk Eden is a fun little 2D game where you jump around a large landscape trying to hit floating circles that release pollen to make other plants, to jump around.... and you can swing on some silk for a while to help... um, I don't know if that's a very good description. It took a while to work out the best way to play the game, even with tutorial messages, because the game is hard to describe. It's fun once you've worked it out, though. Fun to play local multi-player as well. :)
The Last Guy is... well, if you ever played the "Demonstration Roundup" minigame in WTF (Work Time Fun / Baito Hell 2000) for the PSP, it's basically an updated version of that. I think I even heard some sound effects from the PSP game reused, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was made by the same team. In this game, you have to run around a city (these are accurate real world aerial shots, like what you see in google maps), and when you pass by buildings, the people inside come out and join a line behind you. You need to take the people to the safety zones in the city to be rescued, without them being chased away by zombies or giant monsters. It's quite fun.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Megami Tensei / SMT / Persona / DDS / Demikids info
Someone posted a link to this on a forum I was reading. It contains a lot of information about the Megami Tensei series that I didn't know.
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/megaten/megaten.htm
I didn't even know that the Megami Tensei anime OAV that I saw was based on the novel which the Megaten games are based on. I thought it must have been based on the first game just because I don't know anything about it. ^_^;;
See how little I knew?
See also:
Digital Devil Story novels by Nishitani Aya, translated into English
Shin Megami Tensei game translation patch
Shin Megami Tensei II game translation patch
Wikipedia page
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/megaten/megaten.htm
I didn't even know that the Megami Tensei anime OAV that I saw was based on the novel which the Megaten games are based on. I thought it must have been based on the first game just because I don't know anything about it. ^_^;;
See how little I knew?
See also:
Digital Devil Story novels by Nishitani Aya, translated into English
Shin Megami Tensei game translation patch
Shin Megami Tensei II game translation patch
Wikipedia page
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