Yazuka 2 Impressions

Yakuza 2 finally(!) hit game stores in the United States this week, and it's been worth the wait so far.

It's very much like the first game(a beat 'em up with RPGish elements, side quests and mini-games), and I've only logged about six hours. The fighting, a big part of the experience, has been improved. Kazuma's repetoire is expanded and his lock-on is less finicky. The guy is almost too powerful early on, but if you played the last game you turn on your Playstation 2(or in my case, Playstation 3 with "Fullscreen" and "Smoothing" options enabled) expecting to whoop ass anyway. No disappointment here.

Since I've just started, the story is only just beginning to unfold. So far I'm enjoying it and I find the characters believable. It takes place a year after the first game, so you'll see some familiar faces along with the new ones that are seamlessly introduced. One thing I miss from the first game is the liberal F-Bombing. While there certainly have been a few dropped and I'm sure there are more to come, it feels as though the decidedly adult language has been cleaned up a bit. The dialogue doesn't suffer; I just miss the occasional chuckle I'd get from classic exchanges like.....

• "Excuse me."
• "Excuse you? No....F--- YOU."

Or my personal favorite, "Step the F--- up and DIE!".

Hilarious.

I've pretty much gotten over it, though:-P. SEGA delivers in every other department. It's a shame it took this long for the game to hit the United States, but at least it did, and it was worth the wait.

Fans of Shenmue will no doubt draw comparisions. I sure as hell did when I played the first game. We all know how that ended; AGGRAVATION at not having the story concluded. A prequel to the series has already dropped in Japan, and Yakuza 3 is supposedly in the works already. Let's hope both games get all the recoginition they deserve.

Three years, three Red Rings....

So my Xbox 360 conked out for the third time in three years.

Yep.

I hadn't even turned it on in two days. I was playing various games on the PS2 and PS3, and had actually dug out my original Xbox to play the game Still Life because it isn't backwards compatible(more on that game later).

I turned on my Xbox 360 to play some Soul Calibur IV, and was greeted with the Red Ring of Death.

Two days later I called Microsoft. They offered an Xbox Live Vision Camera and some free XBL time for my trouble. I said "Ok.". Whatever; I just want to use my Kato online again.

When this happened, two things came to mind:

1. At least it happened now. Theoretically, I can play Gears of War 2 in November with no worries....for at least a few months.

2. Whenever I buy a multi-platform game for the Xbox 360, not only am I dealing with a subpar D-Pad (except in this case where I had an Xbox 360 Hori fighting stick...which also wore down after months of use, ugh), I'm taking a considerable leap of faith.

I'm hoping that I can play through the game at my own pace, uninterrupted by the red ring.

I'm hoping that none of my friends are affected by the red ring.

I may not say these things out loud, but they hover in the back of my mind whenever I go to turn my Xbox 360 on, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

As much content as the Xbox 360 has, it's just not reliable. This is what happens when you're worried about getting a head start on the competition.

While the Playstation 3 fares better, it's not without fault. Call of Duty 4's launch was marred with Playstation Network errors. Certain system updates thus far have caused problems for various users.

However, with that said, I've come to the conclusion that the Playstation 3 is the lesser of two evils, and I'm going to start buying more non-exclusive games for the PS3. Any games that my friends aren't likely to play, and some that they are. Right now I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'll get Resident Evil 5 for the PS3. With this latest event, Sony's stock certainly went up in my eyes. I mean, I've got an XBL list full of people who would be great to tackle CO-OP mode with, but if something goes wrong with anybody's system....

Still Life is a fairly old game from "The Adventure Company". I saw it one day while cleaning the Xbox section. The cover looked interesting and it was used, so I put it on the side for myself. Eventually I had the time to play it, so I picked it up and brought it home.

It's sort of like Indigo Prophecy; heavy dialogue and a deep, dark story, only it's a bit more violent. The puzzles are intensely challenging in this game. I had to look for help with two of them(kinda sucked to see I was headed in the right direction, but that's the price you pay when you don't do it yourself:-P), and nearly did so with others.

I had various small gripes with the game, but the biggest by far is that the characters walk, and only walk, no matter what's going on, at a pace that's only slightly faster than casual. Covering large distances at that pace is annoying, and it's even worse when you've gone somewhere you didn't need to go.

You get around by picking spots on a map. You're basically picking static enviornments. A park, the shore, a sex club, you know...the usual. No camera control, and pretty much everything you need to progress is easy to find. It's just up to you to figure out the occasional puzzle.
The ending was anti-climatic. The publisher must have had alot of faith in the title, as they should have. A sequel is on the way, later this year, exclusive to PC. I'd really like to play it, but if it doesn't hit consoles, I probably won't get around to it.
If you still have your old Xbox, or a PC that can run it, I'd certainly recommend giving Still Life a try.

If only *The Last Guy had Trophies. The demo is fun and it seems like a game I'll eventually pick up. IGN gave it a 9.0, but some people feels that's too generous a score. If it had Trophies, they would have been "the nail in the coffin", and I probably would have snagged it. The lack of Trophies made me think and remember that Yakuza II is almost here(!) and I'll be playing that soon anyway.

How about some Trophies for Folklore? I'd love the "excuse" to play that again. Going through Uncharted yet again was a blast.

The Dark Knight

Last night I went a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight" with a few friends. We waited on a line that extended about halfway around the theater. Some people had their faces painted up like The Joker's. There were several Batman shirts. One guy even had the cape and cowl on. Well, a black cowl and brown cape. At least he tried, right?

The movie was supposed to start at 12:01, but there were so many people lined up that our showing didn't begin until around 12:30.

I felt it was worth the wait. Heath Ledger's version of "The Joker" was flawless. Chilling, seriously warped and twisted. I would put his performance above Jack Nicholson's, and I'd feel the same way even if Ledger were still alive. I honestly cannot think of one scene I thought he could have done better, one line he delivered poorly, or any dialogue that stuck out as strange. Even his mannerisms were perfect. I feel sorry for the next guy to put on that purple and green suit.

Strangely enough, Christian Bale's "Batman" is the one part of the film that seems to go against the grain. His voice is forced, taking you out of whatever he's saying. In Batman Begins, he really didn't do much talking while wearing the mask, so I guess that's why not too many people complained. This time around he's practically giving speeches. You can't help but notice that the voice is just too much. In fact the one positive I can pull from this choice is that there's NO WAY you'd suspect The Batman of being Bruce Wayne. Someone needs to tell Christian Bale to stop, or Christopher Nolan to stop asking for that voice. It hurt the film. Not much, though.

Everyone else does their job pretty well. Aaron Eckhart is a great Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Leaps and bounds above the laughing maniac played by Tommy Lee Jones in the forgettable "Batman Forever". In TDK, Harvey Dent is a well developed character before he is horribly disfigured. Gary Oldman continues his fine work from the first film as Commissioner Gordon. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a solid replacement for Katie Holmes. Various bit players(and a few cameos) all add to the atmosphere.

I'd definitely reccommend seeing this movie. The 94% rating at RottenTomatoes.com is justified.

Final Fantasy XIII

Oooh, that's gotta suck.

Fanboys wept and screamed in anger as Square Enix confirmed yesterday that Final Fantasy XIII will be multi-platform. The loss of this game as an "exclusive"(really seems to be a hollow word these days, doesn't it?) will no doubt cause Sony to miss out on some sales, unless they have some major announcements today.

Microsoft's announcements yesterday were mostly exciting, and the conference was much better than last year's snoozefest. The team-up with NetFlix? Awesome. I love watching movies, and I've always wanted to get NetFlix just so I could see more. Now's it's like I have no excuse.

The avatars are "alright", as is the rest of the upcoming interface. What's going to happen with everyone's themes, though?

It's about time they let players hop from game to game as a group. Maybe people will actually use text chat now?

2.40 Firmware Impressions

Well, I've spent several hours with the 2.40 firmware update today. I like the new trophy system. So far the only game that has trophies is Super Stardust HD, which I ended up downloading. I haven't earned a trophy yet, but I will before this time tomorrow.

Aside from the trophies, messaging people from within the game works about as well as it does on Microsoft's console. Better late than never, I guess. One big advantage PS3 users have is that they're not limited to just the Playstation Eye when it comes to sending pictures. You can send .jpgs and .gifs from any source. Microsoft forces its users to snap pictures with their Vision camera, which is serviceable at best.

I haven't tried in-game chat for myself yet, but from what I've heard and read it works pretty well.

50 additional friends for a total of 100? Very nice. I'd expect them to bump this cap up further when HOME (finally) releases............"whenever".

You can listen to music off of your hard drive while playing Playstation 3 games that support the new feature. Just like XBL, you can lower the volume of your custom soundtrack if you so choose. Hopefully, Sony can patch older titles to allow them to take advantage. Right now, not too many games support custom soundtracks.

All in all, this a significant update that loses some of its impact because developers haven't caught up yet. If more titles had trophies to earn, exclusives like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Folklore or Tekken Dark Resurrection Online
for example, Sony's answer to Microsoft's Achievements would have made a bigger splash Wednesday morning.

This is not to say it never will, though. Just give Sony time. The trophy system shows promise, and as they further improve on the new features they've added to the Playstation Network today, they'll start giving Microsoft a run for its money.

Playstation 3's 2.40 firmware coming soon

Announced for this Thursday. The 2.40 adds Trophy support and in-game access of the XMB.

This will be the first step for Sony, and it could be a good one. Can't wait to try it.

Xbox 360 price drop?

There's an article at IGN.com about a supposed Xbox 360 price drop for the premium edition that may or may not happen before this year's E3. The amount is $50, which would bring the premium price down to $299.99.

I'm inclined to think that this will actually happen. Most people who want an Xbox 360 already have one. To keep the system moving, a price drop is necessary to help sway people who are still on the fence about what they want to buy, or just starting to play video games. A $299.99 price point brings the Xbox 360 closer to Nintendo's $249.99. It probably won't put much of a dent in the Wii's sales, but it's a start.

Now if only they could eliminate the red ring of death....

Sony on the other hand, probably can't afford to cut the price of the Playstation 3 again, at least not too soon. I'd expect them to extend the "limited edition" Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle if anything, but I can't say they'd drop the price of the system by another $50. MGS 4 is providing a much needed shot in the arm for SCEA. Now they just need to get their act together and release other exclusives like Playstation HOME to make the PS3 more attractive. All these delays aren't helping.

What costs $80, yet sits and collects dust?

The Limited Edition copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 I bought last week.

I caved in to common sense, buying a game I wasn't 100% interested in due to the insane amounts of positive reviews from the few remaining websites I respect and the friends I trust. Technically, Hideo Kojima hasn't let me down yet. There is just too much good praise for this game for me to skip it. I went all out (Limited Edition) because I liked the extras.

To me, Metal Gear Solid for the PSX was one of the best games on that system, bar none. MGS 2 was still fun even though Raiden was a douche.

Snake Eater interested me, but I could never get into it. Each time I played, I spent too much time listening to the characters speak on the Codec instead of going ahead with the mission. Then something else would come out and I'd play that instead.

Everyone I've talked to told me the game gets better after about an hour, so I've been playing it again($9.99 used at Gamestop). The camera(which I understand was improved in Subsistence) is annoying at times, but if you use everything at your disposal you can deal with it. It's very early in the game, but I like it so far and I'm sure it will indeed get better as everyone has been saying.

So yeah, MGS 4 is sitting there collecting dust. Well, technically not, because I do move it to get to other games in my collection. So the dust never truly settles on it.

I'll get to it when I finish Snake Eater. If HOME comes out before then, I'd be pretty happy.

---

Recently I finished Folklore. When I first tried the demo I couldn't get into it. I'm not sure what it was. I ended up getting a copy of the full game months later. After a slow beginning, the game really picks up and ends up being alot of fun.

Celtics won. I'm glad it turned out that way, not because I dislike a certain arrogant Laker and the way he treats his teammates, but because they were clearly the better team. A better team, with players who've been in the league for years and deserved a title to carry into retirement.

Ray Allen. Kevin Garnett. Paul Pierce. They've all paid their dues. Kevin and Ray and two of my favorites. I knew Paul was good, but he really carried this team as a leader should.

Boston's role players stepped it up quite alot. Sam Cassell wasn't much of a factor, but Rondo picked up the slack. Powe? No idea who he was until he tore through the Lakers' defenses for 21 points early in the series.

Even when the game was clearly over, the reserves were throwing alley-oops and stealing the ball. It was great. So great that it's inspired me to start practicing again. I'm serious. I'm ready to risk back spasms for the good of......mankind?......or whatever.

---

Ninja Gaiden II, murder for masochists

The long awaited sequel to Tomonobu Itagaki's Ninja Gaiden remake, Ninja Gaiden II, hit store shelves this week. Anyone who's played the first game knows that Team Ninja doesn't mind throwing players to the wolves. Do a quick Google® search and you'll find horror stories scattered across the internet from gamers who found the first game too tough for their tastes.

Ninja Gaiden II continues the tradition of not pulling any punches, but if you can handle the sometimes steep learning curve, you'll find yourself playing one of the better action games of this generation.

Everything has been amped up for the second go round. Blood flows, drips and splatters in many different colors. Limbs fly. Heads roll. Any new weapon you pick up won't stay clean for long, no matter how much blood Ryu shakes off.

The combat is fast and furious, and for the most part the camera keeps up, but there are some instances of slowdown. Maneuvering the camera in tight spaces can also be a problem, though you usually won't do much standing still during battles anyway.

Ninja Gaiden II's story makes.....no goddamn sense whatsoever, but you probably won't care. Fans expect action from Team Ninja, and they won't be disappointed.

Aside from new weapons and moves, players can also record and upload clips to Xbox Live for people to download and view.

Those who enjoyed the first game, you have nothing to worry about unless you haven't picked up an Xbox 360 yet. First timers, I honestly recommend playing one of the original games first. If you can't find a copy of Ninja Gaiden Black or don't own a Playstation 3(ruling out Ninja Gaiden Sigma), the original still holds up today. Play that, and if you don't break anything in your house, go and pick up a copy of Ninja Gaiden II.

If Itagaki and Tecmo really do part ways, what do you think will happen with him next? The guy is clearly too talented to just fade away, but he does have somewhat of a bad reputation.

What do you think will happen over the next month?

Introductory post

Thanks for checking out my blog.

I'm an official reviewer for the up and coming video game website FirstPenguin.net. The site is going through some changes right now, so I've set up this temporary home to post my thoughts on new games and things going on in the industry. Please check back soon.