- So Nintendogs is more or less a smash hit. It sold 250,000 copies in its first week, making it the best-selling new franchise ever for a portable system. And it seems to be doing well with both gamer-types and non gamers, which I think is absolutely swell.
If Nintendogs is a “gimmick” as many of the haters love to claim, well then, its a good gimmick that lots of people seem to genuinely enjoy playing. Though my favorite are people who love to call it a “non-game”. No one has been able to really explain what the fuck that’s suppose to mean, or make me care.
- Sega’s also generating a lot of buzz at the JAMMA trade show, the big yearly arcade event that’s going on right now. First up is Yu Suzuki’s new game (his first new one in quite a while actually) Psy-Phi. Everyone, including myself, has been wondering what the hell’s been going on with the guy since he totally fell off the radar a few years back; when his own company, funded by Sega, closed without producing a single title. Well his new game looks to inject some seriously needed innovation into the arcade scene (Lord knows they need it now more than ever) with a game in which players fight against each other in the air and via a touch-screen interface.
But the real big game is easily Suzuki’s best known creation in its fifth incarnation, Virtua Fighter 5, running off Sega’s new arcade hardware, Lindbergh (yeah, yeah, stupid name… Model 5 it is not). Anticipation over the game has been growing steadily for weeks now, and once scans from Famitsu started floating around yesterday, everyone has been going totally nuts. And I have to admit, I too was excited when I saw this:
… And here’s VF5 in action. Though I must admit, it was a tad bit disappointing at first. It doesn’t look that much different from Virtua Fighter 4 in my opinion. But the end of the vid is what got me to literally say out loud “Holy Shit!” Thank God this was in the morning and I was the first at work. All I can say is, about damn time they incorporated Luch Libre into the mix!
- Many are also very excited for the recently announced new Ghouls n Ghosts game for the PSP, called Extreme Ghouls n Ghosts, which will retain the original art style and still be in 2D. Looks pretty good thus far; even though I know already that won’t be able to get past the first level, but I’m still looking forward to it.
People have also been talking about the PSP port of Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) 3, though not as much as I would have expected. I can’t figure out if its because: 1) folks are already weary of long load times, as evidenced by the Darkstalkers port, 2) folks are already content with Street Fighter Zero 3 for the GBA, which I too can attest as being pretty f’n amazing, or 3) folks are just tired of Street Fighter. I say number three.
- Plus check this bit of PSP related-bullshit: Sony is going to start charging for downloads soon. God I fucking hate microtransactions. In the beginning, downloads were suppose to extend the life of a game, but now it means to get even more money from people who already paid for the game.
I hope this acts like a reality check who thought that the PS3 was magically going to be $50 in light of the asinine price tag the Xbox 360 carries with it.
- And speaking of asinine and 360, now comes word that it goes on sale on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, more commonly known in the retail world as Black Friday, which is the busiest shopping day of the holiday season. This is such a stupid move for so many reasons, but it makes total sense. Consider what MS is putting on the table, which includes mostly empty promises and confusion, they need the major networks to create some empty holiday hype to help cover this fact.
BTW, want to know the real reason why I’m so against those stupid Xbox bundles, since I do bitch about them a lot? Because they’re just another reason for publishers to force games to stores before they’re ready. Either people get half-finished games or when they go to pick up their $2000 bundle and find out that 4 of the titles aren’t ready. In the end, everyone is pissed.
- Though here’s a piece about the 360 from Gamasutra that shows MS does have a few good ideas. Basically, it talks about how certain options and settings can be carried throughout all games, such as difficulty, control preferences, and the like. Why the hell didn’t anyone think of this before? For example, I don’t like Capcom’s default button layout for all of it’s fighters for the PS2; I don’t like using the shoulder buttons for strong attacks, so I change it for every single game. If I could do it just once and have it set for all my games… yeah it wouldn’t save me that much time, but still, it would be very nice.
- There’s another piece on Gama about a game design “mash-up” from the Game Developers Conference Europe, which just took place. Some designers were asked to come up with an idea for a game that would appeal to… get this… grandmothers. Read on if you want further proof that Keita Takahashi, the mad behind Katamari, is an absolute genius.
- The Escapist, a relatively new online publication focused on industry related issues just published a piece from everyone’s favorite local New York game guru, Greg Costikyan. Its called “Death to the Game Industry so perhaps that might give you a clue as to what its about. One of the best parts has to be:
“The problem is that once something becomes technically feasible, the market demands it. Gamers themselves are partly to blame: Indie rock fans may prefer somewhat muddy sound over some lushly-orchestrated, producer-massaged score; indie film fans may prefer quirky, low-budget titles over big-budget special FX extravaganzas; but in gaming, we have no indie aesthetic, no group of people (of any size at least) who prize independent vision and creativity over production values.”
- Well the first review of the new Final Fantasy CGI flick, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has come in, courtesy of Variety, and the word is… it sucks. Well, at least to those who aren’t familiar with the game. So I guess it’ll be 100% fan-service. Sorta of a shame really…
Co-worker Steve pointed out for me (since I never really played Final Fantasy VII that much… I got stuck on disc 1 cuz I couldn’t find the “hotspot” on one of the pre-rendered backgrounds) that the story is excellent the first 90%, but the last 10% is total trash (which he says is the case for pretty much all of Square’s games), so its funny to hear that the movie is basically the last 10% of the game but in an hour and half format.
- I’ve always been interested in Play-Yan, the GBA media player, but always assumed that it would be inaccessible for someone like me since I use a Mac and you need a PC to handle the media files. Well it seems that there’s a OS X utility. Neat.
- Oh and here’s something interesting from the GAF: if you’re a fan of the music from Doom, then you should probably check this out.
- Finally, here’s a screenshot from some budget title hailing from the UK called Ninjabread Man. Simply amazing:
- In other news, here’s a pic of what the box will be for those that bought the Simpsons season 6 box and requested a replacement case:
And it manages to incorporate the original packaging in a semi-intelligent manner. According to a DVD news site:
“On closer inspection of the alternate box, the cardboard frame will still contain a peephole which was usually occupied by the television screen. The shape of Homer’s eye through the magnifying glass matches the inside packaging of the plastic Homer’s head set.”
Though I still hate the set up of the folded up disc holder, its very cumbersome and makes getting the discs out a pain.
- Plus, I’m still trying to follow-up on Google’s supposed plans for the Internet part 2. And I for one welcome our new Google overlords.
- So remember the shitty morning I was having yesterday? Well by the evening I was nice and tipsy; after work was a faculty meeting, followed by food and booze. And being part Asian and all, it took just two beers to get me in “a very good mood”. Afterwards, as things were wrapping up, we still had plenty of beers left over, so I decided to take a bunch over to Joe’s, who lives just five blocks away from work. Problem was, I had no means to effectively carry them, so I had to use small garbage bags, ones that are super thing. So I quadruple-bagged about nine bottles.
As I was heading out, it began to rain and become windy (of course). So even though it was a relatively short distance, it was a real pain due to had my hands being full of beers in a flimsy bag, plus I had negotiate the chaotic weather with my shoddy $3 umbrella that kept whipping me around, plus my senses weren’t exactly sharp (yeah, I was sorta drunk). Before I could really do anything, the bag ripped and the beer hits the ground, with a few bottles shattering.
While salvaging through the mess, a guy who had just come out of a store (I was right in front of Whole Foods) went up to me and expressed great sadness: “Ah, man… that’s too bad!” The guy then put his groceries in his backpack and offered the shopping bag for me. As I placed the unbroken bottles in the bag (only four broke and I had six good ones) he gave me his condolences: “That’s rough man… I feel you’re pain.” I offered him a beer for his trouble, but he kindly declined.
So yeah, New York is not totally filled with assholes after-all.
