09 Game Completion Check-Up

Looking at my Backloggery page, it came to my attention that there are a number of games I titled "likely to beat" in 09. It has also come to my attention that I have a few weeks at most left in 09 to finish said games. How likely are these predictions? Let's find out!

* Disgaea 2 (PS2)
Possible, just need to get back into it and power level some. I believe I saved after a round of transmigrations, but I am towards the end of the game chapter-wise. (Meaning that a.) I'm close to done anyway and b.) the real awesome plot will kick in soon) The only problem is that Disgaea is quite a timesink, and getting to the proper level to beat the final boss may require more time than I could allow if i want to beat other games as well before 2010.

* Pokemon Leaf Green (GBA)
Not bloody likely. Anyone who has played through a Pokemon game knows that it can take a VERY long time / lot of dedication. (In hindsight, Pokemon requires a LOT of grinding. Not sure how we all put so many hours into it as kids. . . ) Just in hopes of beating other games, probably won't be happening.

* Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)
Quite Likely. Ultimate Alliance is by no means hard or long, it just requires people with enough perserverance to play it through. Ryan bailed out on our original grouping (never seemed too interested in it), but Adam and Beka's new roomie Jason is more than a bit of a gamer / comic nerd. I could see him joining us to finish this.

* Rock Band 2 (360)
The band has gone their separate ways for the moment, needing to overcome apathy before they can reunite. Worst case scenario however could see the Bassist Edge (or possibly even guitarist Ziff Thunderbolt) completing solo mode just for backloggery standards sake. Chances are high of this one at least being technically 'beaten' before 2010.

* Persona 3 (PS2)
Not likely at all. I'm probably halfway or so through this game, with the end not really in sight. (At least, with me wanting to finish the Dark Tower on my first time through)

* Deus Ex: The Invisible War (PC)
Oh god, do I still have my save. . . ? If so, Very doable. This game will not escape me a second time.

* Left 4 Dead (PC)
I need but request "the guys" come back together for one playthrough of the final campaign. Even if I don't technically survive, I'll have experienced all 4 Episodes and can mark this beaten in my book. Outlook good.

* Devil May Cry 2
Most Likely. Would require a couple days of powering at absolute tops to finish.

There are a number of other titles I could think on, but this is a list I required a while ago. As such I'll worry about completing set goals for the time being. I feel that come new year's day on 2010 I'll compile a list of gaming goals for that year. (2010 will be quite beastly with all of the new games due to recent sales. . . )

-Ed Kun Out-

Issues in Game Completion

Hi blogspot. How are you? I know I've been gone for a while. I hope you can forgive me. Are we cool now? We are? Glad to hear it.

I was just speaking with a friend not too long ago about games we've both recently played, and it reminded me of a couple issues I have in completing games. I already know that were it not for these issues I'd probably have a lot more games done, but it's something I'm slowly working towards and having trouble with nonetheless.

The first issue has to do with 'sequels'. For example:

I have not beaten the original Half Life. I saved in a bad spot, lost my save, and now don't want to have to re-play the beginning yet again just to catch up with where I was. (More on this in a bit) For this reason however, I have completely neglected Half Life 2, and both of it's Episodes. (Now granted I own them, and even did before buying the Orange Box. At the same time I have yet to play them)

I have the full intent of getting to and beating these games some day, as I've heard amazing things and I am a fan of the genre anyway. The problem lies in the fact that I feel I should not be touching the sequel without playing the original first. If you had never seen the original Star Wars Trilogy, would you start on 'The Empire Strikes Back' without watching 'A New Hope' first? While I realize most games don't share quite this level of continuity between sequels, there's still a lot of content that can be missed (plot, running jokes, homeages, etc) by not playing the original first. Another factor that comes to mind is that often times you cannot fully appreciate a game without having played it's predecessors. One thing that made WarCraft 3 so amazing for me was just getting to see the progression and where we had come gameplay wise across the WarCraft series, culminating in 3. (I had a similar experience with Command & Conquer 3 as well upon its release)

Now granted, this indeed has kept me from a number of titles in my collection. (I feel bad playing through more of C&C3 when I haven't beaten the original and Tiberian Sun. The aforementioned Half Life is another, Doom 2 before Doom 3, and Quake 2 before Quake 4 for another example.) It gets particularly out of hand when I start to apply the "spiritual sequel" thought process. Even though it's a completely different world / universe / plot and has a lot of differing gameplay, I can't help but tether Mass Effect to KotOR. Both are very sci-fi Bioware RPGs with somewhat similar playstyle and mechanics, with KotOR having pioneered much of Mass Effect's playstyle.

That said, I'm getting close to finally going through with Mass Effect anyway (since there isn't too much if anything I'd need KotOR finished to appreciate) so hopefully this'll be slightly less of a concern.

The second issue stems from co-op enabled games.

I can honestly say that co-op experiences are my favorite in video gaming. Any time that you can team up with friends towards a common goal and see the result of teamwork happening is an accomplishment and feeling that few can match. The social interaction that comes from multiple players all working together (imo) elevates the gameplay to a whole new level.

It's for that reason that I have great difficulty playing co-op games alone. I can start up a game such as Gauntlet, X-Men Legends, Ultimate Alliance, or Rock Band. I can play it for a bit, but I know that I'm really depriving myself of so much entertainment and fun I (and others) could be having if I were playing it with friends at the same time. Sure I -could- beat it alone, but why bother when it would be much more enjoyable doing so with others?

It's for this reason that I find myself having not yet "beaten" Rock Band, Ultimate Alliance on 360, Gauntlet, and others. In such cases I try to hold out for 3 (or preferably 4) players so we can get the maximum value out of the game in terms of co-op experience. The problem just comes in with trying to get 4 people together who all want to play this game at a given point in time. . . (much like card games, tabletop games, and the like)

The last issue is one I think strikes a lot more players than my first two. Not wanting to replay segments.

Earlier I mentioned having played a ways into Half-Life, and then losing my save. (Forgot to back up during a reformat) Getting to other Half Life titles isn't a remote problem assuming I just jump back in and replay it, right? Well, problem is that I've played through the opening few hours quite a number of times. I guess part of it is just being sick of the same old scenery and wanting to jump right back to where I was (without the use of cheat codes).

This problem in particular has kept me from finishing Half Life, Jedi Knight, Neverwinter Nights (ESPECIALLY this one), and Morrowind among others. Is it really that difficult? No, but after having experienced opening areas in a game plenty of times, it often feels more like a chore than playing a game to have to replay through them yet again. I am fortunate however that with some games, a long period of time allows the beginning to feel fresh and new again. It's for this reason that I'm contemplating picking back up the original NWN or KotOR yet again in the future.

Now there are exceptions to these general issues. I had a blast playing through X-Men Legends 2 with 3 friends, while having barely touched the original. (For the record, XML2 is in my top 10 of gaming) WarCraft 3 and C&C3 are titles I was also willing to try, not having completed the prior to games. Even so though, these are issues that I know I just need to work on so that I can experience some truly great games.

Let's take a step back. . .

Looking over the blog here, I re-found my Scheduling post. (Figuring out many games to play in such short time) Just for shits n' giggles, let's see how that turned out!

Wolfenstein 3D :
Got all the way to Episode 6, and then hit a brick wall. Episode 6 is pretty damn beastly, just have to get back into the swing of things.

* Devil May Cry 3:
Huzzah, beaten! =D Something productive did come from this list!

* Devil May Cry 2:
Been too lazy to put on PS2 HDD. Beating this by 2010 will be no challenge though.

* Sonic 3 & Knuckles :
S&K did come out on XBLA, and I do own it. That said, haven't had the chance lately to sit down and play it for fun. Full run is definitely on the to-do list.

Comix Zone :
. . . fucking hard. . . D: Need to just put more time into it.

Gunstar Heroes :
See Comix Zone. Needing to draft a second player for co-op assistance. . .

BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger:
Yeah. . . it was pretty much as amazing as I'd expected. Maybe even a little moreso. Still playing.

Operation Darkness:
Yeah. . . BlazBlue happened.

Disgaea 2 :
Still need to get back to this.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil :
Still need to get back to it.

Knights of the Old Republic :
It waits to be returned to. . .

Mass Effect :
Kotor still unbeaten. . .

Perfect Dark: Zero :
Went ahead and found a copy! Not that great, but not really as horrible as I'd expected. Back burner material.

Perfect Dark:
Looking pretty amazing in terms of the updated textures. Sadly though, still not out. =(

Ok, so next time! My plan for attacking my Unbeaten %!

>= 50% D:

When we last left this blog, I was mulling over different things with the possibility of a job looming on the horizon. Well, things all worked out! I am (yet again) employed with Salem Keizer Public Schools, providing IT Support for its staff~! While it's not programming, it's still a very tech related job that I enjoy and am paid to do. All things considered, I'm pretty happy about all this.

Thus with monies and paychecks comes new goodies. I've finally carried through on one of my long term planned gaming purchases and gotten myself a Wii! With it, I'm now actually able to play those Wii games I got before, let alone some goodies I've missed over the years it's been out. (i hear there's some in that vast sea of crap)

I know many gamers who look at their Wii with disgust, saying how it has gathered dust in the past number of months due to nothing worthwhile being on it. I can most certainly see their argument (I agree that most of the library is crap cash-ins on a successful system and gimmick) but feel I'll be holding the console in a different light.

For me, owning a Wii will be the first time that I (legitimately) own any Nintendo console. Part of the excitement in this case is going back and playing NGC, N64, SNES, and NES titles that I missed out on not ever owning a Nintendo system growing up. Sure there have been emulators I've used for some titles, but it doesn't have the same feel as legitimately owning a game: be it on cart or a digital copy.

So that all said, the Wii is definitely providing me a whole new venue of enjoying gaming that I've missed out on the past decade or two. What's the inherent problem of this?

New games!

In my rush to make use of my new toy, I've gone out and purchased a new Wii title or two, as well as GameCube games I'd wanted before. My unbeaten games % has risen above 50%, and this is simply not acceptable.

Tune in next entry, when I lay out my plan of attack for fighting back against that unbeaten %!

Try try again

I just finished watching 15-20 minutes or so of work and 2 pages of summing up my life vanish, due to Facebook (or Firefox. Not sure who) being a complete fuckwad. This honestly doesn't please me in the least, but I feel like talking (wangsting?) too much to leave empty handed. That said, I'm going to post this on a site that at least has the common fucking sense to make periodic auto draft saves. Thank you google for being superior to facebook. (As if there were doubt)

Now for the summarized version:

• Want to draw. Very badly, but absolutely 0 motivation / inspiration. IE my muse is gone once again, at least for tonight. Her and I need to work out some sort of schedule so we both feel like working on the same nights, and thus no more "want to draw but no muse" or "muse is there, but bad time can't draw".
• Want very badly to find my headphones again. I miss being able to lay in bed, listening to music on Jack. (my Zune)
• Tried Dissidia on PSP. Feel it lacks balance in some areas (I RAGE every time I'm halfway close to winning then the computer is able to pretty much kill me in one combo for stupid reasons) but is an overall fun product. Played Cloud first (Hype aside, FF7 is still amazing) then switched to Ultimecia. She's hard to play but fun, and looks wicked awesome junctioned with Griever.
• Ken may be coming up to visit Salem for his birthday. Could be a lot of fun between 40k, FMA Brotherhood to watch, Bubble Bobble Neo (on XBLA), and discussing Horde guild politics. (ie bullshitting at sharis with milkshakes) Sadly no XBLA Perfect Dark to coop yet.
• Apparently have another temp job with SalKeiz lined up. If it works out and does happen, I'll be very very very happy. I'm in need of money both to feel better about college bills, as well as having money to spend on unnecessary fun things. I'll be feeling a lot more worthwhile in life though should this all happen.
• On the topic of feeling happy about life, still very much single with no idea how to remedy this. Still have some really off nights where it really gets to me, though not as often as I could (have them) I suppose. Regardless, really need to find a femme soon. =\ Probably one of the biggest downers for life at this point in time.

Bleargh. Should probably at least try to sleep, even if it probably won't happen for some time. What I'd give for my headphones so I could at least listen to music for a bit. -.-

EDIT --
Note to self. Write follow-up to game scheduling post. Really is interesting to see how my game choice + playing has diverged from or followed previously laid out plans.

-Ed Kun Out-

The Great Scheduling

As with most gamers, I have more than my fair share of games that are unbeaten and need completion in one form or another. I included this comic ( (c) Penny-Arcade.com ) because quite honestly I feel I can relate. I have a mountain of games already to play and beat, with only more coming right around the corner. So in lieu of needing something new blogwise, I decided to have some fun and try to (at least with words) map out my gaming schedule.

First 'checkpoint' of sorts is June.29.2009, the release date for BlazBlue on 360. Seeing as how I've been awaiting this game for the better part of 3 years now, I can safely say that once it's released I'll be playing VERY few other things.

-- Playing Prior to June.30.2009 --
* Wolfenstein 3D :
All things considered, I'm now halfway through the game and have had it for half a week or so. While I may not have it done before June 29th, I know beating it will be no problem at all. (Much love for this game btw. I'm glad I found a good version to buy, after growing up on it. =) )

* Devil May Cry 3:
Beating DMC4 recently reminded me I need to finish up this series. DMC3 is easily the hardest left for me to do, so I'm going to try and power through that. Seeing as how I'm now on Mission 15 of 20, I don't think it'll be too hard. . .

* Devil May Cry 2:
Might as well finish the series. This will be a cakewalk, as DMC2 was remarkably easier than the rest of the series. I can then take pride in having finished the whole series.

* Sonic 3 & Knuckles :
These goodies are being released on LIVE Arcade in less than a week. (At least Sonic 3 is, not sure when S&K is out) While not hard and not unbeaten, I still love em dearly and will be playing them a bit.

* Comix Zone :
Yet more Genesis XBLA goodness. One of my fave Genesis games, but very hard. This could be tough to beat in time.

* Gunstar Heroes :
See Comix Zone. Thankfully not as hard.

--- June.30.2009 ---
BlazBlue is released. I will be trying to not only pick up a new system, but to take my time and fully enjoy new sights, sounds, a new story environment, etc. I will be trying to get absolute maximum enjoyment from this possible. In addition, time will most likely be spent learning a competitive level of play, and sparring with Ryan + Adam.

--- Past June.30.2009 ---
Not necessarily after I'm "done" with BlazBlue (as i feel this won't happen for a VERY VERY long time) but moreso in between sessions, and once i've started playing it not as often.

* Operation Darkness:
Fun now that I'm getting back into it. I put this one after Blazblue however, because there's no physical way possible I'll be finishing it before the 29th. If i can clear it at least once though, I'll feel happy and that the money was well spent. That said, i may skip optional missions for the sake of clearing it quickly.

* Disgaea 2 :
I'm so close to the end I can taste it. I might as well do that last grinding stretch (since i Transmigrated iirc) and finish her up, then doing the sidequests (or not) on PSP once that's out.

*Hellboy: The Science of Evil :
Was having a lot of fun with it, just need to get back into the game.

* Knights of the Old Republic :
I own Mass Effect now, and i've seen how pretty + fun it looks. That said, I want to finish KotoR first. I know once I get back into it, i'll enjoy playing. Just have to catch back up to where I was.

* Mass Effect :
See Kotor.

* Perfect Dark: Zero :
Perfect Dark has been confirmed for Winter of 09, and with it a good chunk of my time. (See below) That said, I've recently tried the PD:Zero demo and found myself having some fun with it. I may very well go ahead and pick up PD:Zero, playing it a bit (ie beating it) in preparation for my reunion with Perfect Dark. =)

--- Winter 09 ---
As of some time Winter 09, Perfect Dark will be released. I feel this will have a very similar effect to when BlazBlue is released in terms of sheer time I will put into it. Hopefully I will have more games done by then so I don't feel so neglectful.


That said, that's just about everything I can foresee in the near future gaming wise. It'll be interesting to see how closely I can follow all of this. =)

-Ed Kun Out

Perfect Dark on XBLA!

I've been waiting a few months to a year for this confirmation, and it finally came.

Personally, I really couldn't be happier. =D

Super Sad Face

It was very very recently (as in not even 5 minutes ago) brought to my attention that SF4, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and hell, even the original Bionic Commando have their OSTs up for legit purchase through a site called 'Sumthing Digital'. Apparently Capcom is going with these guys for digital distributions of about everything.

On one hand, I'm very happy to see a company actually going forwards in making OSTs a lot more reasonable to acquire. I know a lot of gamers would be much more willing to buy an OST for 10$ than the usual import cost of 50 or so.

So why the sad face? It's a digital purchase, and thus only the MP3s. Probably one of the most fun (and one of my most favorite) parts of my OST collection has been the legit discs, the cover art, owning it physically. It's sort of a principle of mine to not buy digital game OSTs. (Which is strange, considering my great love for digital titles on 360 and Virtual Console)

The difference between the two however, is that with digital music purchases, it's honestly little to no different than me having MP3s anyway. (As opposed to say LIVE Arcade, where I wouldn't have had it otherwise)

All things considered, I may break down and buy anyway. I found myself thinking how awesome BC Rearmed's OST was today, and wishing I could buy it. I just hadn't wanted it digitally. That said, these prices are rather damn good, and it's still the same feeling at least of having supported the companies + whatnot. (ie legally owning the music)

To anyone reading, what are your thoughts? Is owning music digitally truly any different than owning games digitally? Is it really that much of a difference between CD vs MP3s, against discs vs digital games?

A Strange Phenomenon

As said in my previous entry, I've been playing a bit of Soul Calibur 4 lately. This was fun and all, but has reminded me of a very real thing I see any time I play something halfway competitive online. For the unaware, most LIVE enabled games offer ranked and player matches. The difference between the two being that wins / losses are recorded on ranked, while not for player matches.

The phenomenon, is the abundance of douchebaggery one finds in Ranked match as opposed to Player match. Now, i realize this isn't a terribly strange phenomenon if someone takes a second to think about the situation. With ranked play, there's a score of some sort associated to your name. There's also (often) achievements on the line tied to ranked play as opposed to player matches. As a result, these records seem to push people to be far more asses than they normally would.

It seems like ranked play is where you see the worst. The most trash talking, the most ragequitting, the most picking of hard counters (which while a legitimate strategy i suppose, still shows you lack the skill and confidence to beat someone with your 'main', resorting to someone statistically better ) While these factors are not unheard of in player matches, they happen far, far less in my experience. Player matches seems to be where you find people playing for the sake of enjoying the game, not getting off from acting like a child.

I don't expect this blog to change a damn thing, and don't expect folks to change on their own. Just something I noticed today however, and felt like ranting just a little about. If you guys need me, you'll typically find me in player matches, where people are actually fun to be around.

-Ed Kun Out-

Moar Updates

Nothing exciting going on, just figured a new update might be in order.

Life goes. More temp work at the school district finished, leaving me without any sustained income. (At least, till my next job) In the meantime, the job market still sucks for programmers. Imagine that.

Game wise, haven't been accomplishing much. Been doing auction housing on WoW, and playing random XBLA titles in the meantime. Oratorio Tangram came out not too long ago, which made me probably 90 or so shades of happy. It's a truly wonderful port, being all the love of Oratorio Tangram with sexier graphics and netplay. (Very stable and lagless netplay, i might add. At least in my experience) The option for 'cast controls vs twin stick was a nice touch, with twin sticks being very arcade accurate in terms of execution. Regardless, I've been having a lot of fun with it. Playing (better) Japanese players online has been quite the timesink.

I also recently picked up Tetris Splash on LIVE arcade. Kind of an impulse buy, but not so much a bad one. For 10$, you get Tetris plain and simple, with the extra option of online play akin to Tetrinet. For me, it's partially that I've never been very good at all at Tetris. Whereas just about every other friend of mine is good, I never have. (Which I attribute to never playing at all growing up) Aside from this, I still have fun playing some Tetris, and figured it would be a fun buy. That said, it too has been a massive timesink.

Last, I went ahead and gave Soul Calibur 4 another shot today. Having taken some time away from it, I found myself really enjoying the game again. As far as Soul Caliburs go, it's not that badly done / built. (I personally disagree with Butters that it's any more button mashable than it's predecessors) It's very pretty, has a good soundtrack (better than SC3 methinks) and has a lot of fun character choices. The biggest change however was trying out my stick playing Soul Cal 4. In doing so, it reaffirmed for me that fighters of all types are designed for play using arcade sticks. It feels like once given time to adjust to stick playing, you could land controls a lot more precisely than on controller. (At least, on 360 controller) Twas also a good feel, but then again I'm a little biased pro-stick. That said, in the next few days I'll probably keep giving online play some more tries.

Last, speaking of sticks: Been playing Rival Schools lately with Adam. It's been a very fun experience, with both of us getting to go re-visit a classic (and great!) fighter, while learning it the "intended/meant" way. I feel like he's still very much adjusting to using a stick, but even so he's been catching up quickly. (Meaning for very good matches in the meantime) It makes me happy to help get him back into fighting games, but also that we can (as said above) revisit a very well done game, and give it some attention even in lieu of more modern fighters. Personally, i'll be more excited to try out some Project Justice once I can get dreamcast controller adapters. (Or if it ever comes out on XBLA. =) )

So that's really it. A little gaming here and there, with some job hunting. We'll hope I can get something in the not too distant future. Until then, going to try to enjoy myself somewhat.

List of To-dos:
* Mod Aoko (my stick) and Hinata (Adam's stick) for modular adapters.
* * Make a PS3 adapter for Aoko, in preparation for Kumori tournies.
* Buy new stick + buttons for Aoko.
* Get better at Tetris
* More Soul Cal 4
* Maybe some more SF4 before Blazblue comes out. (And i thus never touch SF4 again. ;P )

-Ed Kun Out-

Game Days Sale

So yesterday, headed over to GameStop to take advantage of their (apparently) annual Game Days sale. New games are always a good thing, no? Well, last year's sale was pretty hard to beat. (Street Fighter Alpha 3 on PSP, Katamari Damacy, among other great titles) On that note, how would this year's Game Days sale compare?

While many may be dissapointed, I personally walked away very happy at the sales. The first title picked up was Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Friends will know I'm a bit of a Resident Evil fan (not as much as some, but still an overall fan of the series) and loved the idea of a light-gun rail shooter game that presented a summary of most of the games. It provides a really cool alternate way of seeing the stories told, and is great for catching folks up to speed. (I will most likely play through this with Ryan, and then have minimal storytelling myself to do before we play RE5) Not exactly an impulse buy at the cost of 30$, but definitely an easy to decide purchase as opposed to it's normal price of 50$.

The next was House of the Dead 2 & 3 Returns. Being a little bit of an arcade kid back in the day, I have fond memories of playing this, Area 51, and other rail shooters with friends. In this regard, I have a lot of nostalgic value for this and similar games of the time. The fact that i could buy this for only 20$, get 2x 'new' lightgun games to play, and play at a whim alone or with friends was too good to pass up.

Next up was a bit of a hard one to find. The guys there weren't aware Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was a Game Day sale item, so I had to ask up front rather than finding it in the box. Fortunately, unlike the downtown Gamestop this one actually has good service. A hop skip and a jump later, the guy behind the counter had found it hidden away (apparently it's a game for children. fair enough. . .? ) and i was able to get it. FFTA2 for 20$ was a bit of a no-brainer, as FFTA has become very fun for me and i'm eager to play it's sequel. A2 is the same core gameplay, but looks and sounds a hell of a lot sharper. (My only true complaints with the original) I was a little worried when at first I couldn't find it, so I was glad when we found it.

So I was getting ready to pay and leave, when a brand new (just released that day) copy of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus quite literally flew off the shelf and stuck to my hand. I tried to put it back, but it simply wouldn't give! I figured it'd be best to pay for the game, so they didn't think I was trying to steal it.

Overall, a pretty solid haul. I got a good number of (what i'd consider) good games, for a not bad price all things considered. While others may not be terribly excited at the selection, I still find myself rather happy with Gamestop. They've treated me well. The only possible downside would be the fact that I've kinda cemented myself into buying a Wii now, but that was fairly certain anyway so it's not really a concern. Oh, and now I need to spend time unlocking stuff on yet another Guilty Gear iteration. I'm sure I'll live though. ;P

-Ed Kun Out-

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - The Second Chance

I remember first trying out FFTA back when it came out for GBA.  At the time my experience to strategy RPGs was severely limited to only the original Final Fantasy Tactics. That said, seeing FFTA as a sequel I couldn't stop comparing the two. Sadly to say, I wasn't too impressed.

My biggest problem was how dumbed down FFTA felt from the original Final Fantasy Tactics. The original FFT was built on layers of complexity, in that you couldn't really make decisions as you went. Your characters had to pick a move and stay there before acting. (you couldn't undo a move because you'd made a mistake, or it turned out to be a bad idea) Zodiac alignments would dynamically change your ability to spellcast on others, as well as the majority of abilities taking an amount of turns to cast. (you had to think a ways ahead for your plan to succeed) In the meantime, don't let your characters stay dead for 3 turns, or you lose them forever! Also there was the JP system, which meant as you performed more actions with a character, they gained more abilities in that class.  I was very dissapointed to find such complexities gone, or at least heavily modified (the AP system instead of JP) in Tactics Advance.

What was the last straw for the moment was the nature of the story. The original Final Fantasy Tactics had a rather mature story and theme, telling the tale of war, conspiracy, backstabbing and betrayal, among other themes. I can't help that FFTA was dumbed down not just in complexity, but also in story for the 'younger' GBA owner base. Instead of a rather grim world in an economic schism, we see grade (middle?) school children who get transported to a magical fantasy world. There's prisons and judges, but overall the FFTA world feels very happy go lucky and kiddy.

After putting some time into the campaign, I ultimately quit out of boredom and not caring so much for the game.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I've beaten the first Final Fantasy (remake on PSP) and needing something new and portable to play during work breaks + lunch. Looking over my backloggery, I decide FFTA needed to be beaten eventually, why not give it a second shot?

As much as I hate to say this, I've come to the conclusion that one thing truly allowed me to appreciate FF Tactics Advance more, and that one thing is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Disgaea proved itself extremely fun and addictive, by taking the general mechanics and gameplay of a strategy RPG (such as FFT) but keeping it simple and fluid enough as to not bog down the player. This improved my second playthrough of FFTA, in that I had now realized FFTA didn't necessarily have to be on the same level of complexity as it's predecessor.

Now, I realize this may sound incredibly dumb reading back over it, but in all honesty few would expect a sequel to a game to be dumbed down, and have less of it's strategic elements, etc. It simply comes down to that having clouded my opinion on the game, and once I could look past that, it became better. Anyway, back to pseudo-reviewing.

Once taking FFTA as it's own strategy and letting it have a little light instead of living in FFT's shadow, it was fun. Gameplay is rather solid (traditional Strategy JRPG gameplay), and even though the story is a little weak you're still given complete control over your party's build and design as you decide every aspect of your party from race, to class, to weaponry, to abilities. Speaking of races, I recall at first not liking classes being specific to races. It annoyed me that I couldn't create super awesome characters with the best abilities out of every class. Since then, I've come to actually enjoy this aspect of the game.

This is because FFT gave you the option of creating a 'god party' (if you had the time and patience) that could have the best of all worlds. This was displayed when my final party in the original FFT wiped out the final boss with little to no resistance. (2x calculating black mages and the remainder having Two-Swords wasn't very fair) By limiting what races can perform what jobs, I had completely missed an entirely new level of strategy in FFTA. If you want variety of classes, you're forced to mix up the racials in your party. At the same time however, there's enough variety that you're not forced to use any one race if you'd rather not. (Need a white mage? Having a Nu Mou (or whatever they're called) isn't necessary. Get a Viera! <3)

Probably FFTA's greatest strength however lies in something many before me have stated: it's portability. The original FF Tactics (and many / most SRPGs for that matter) had very long battles. On that note, I've come to discover that a typical skirmish (say with an opposing clan) lasts 15 minutes or so. Even when they go over, FFTA has a -VERY -handy quicksave feature that lets me save where i am, and then load that exact spot in battle later. This has allowed me to play FFTA at any little work break, not having to worry about if i have enough time or not to finish a battle. It's also a lot more motivating to play a game when you have the ability to pause or standby the entire game at a moment's notice. (ie chipping away at it in short bursts) (A feature now thankfully default on DS and PSP)

Now at this point, I will say that I've found a lot of fun with FFTA again, and am glad to have picked it up. On that note though, I wouldn't say the game is without it's flaws.

• Story -
  As said before, the game feels a bit more themed towards a younger audience. While I realize most people are probably not bothered like this, it gnaws at me. It's hard to keep caring about the story when it's "kiddies sucked into the FF world", like something out of a middle schooler's fanfic.
• Difficulty -
  As much as I try to separate the two now, I can't help but compare FFTA to FFT once again. FFT had some very hard battles (until a 'god party' is acquired) , and really made you earn the right to continue. This was a very welcome change from traditional FF games, which many would agree just 'give' you the story anymore. While I'm not terribly far in the game, FFTA still feels very much like easy mode. Battles are not at all hard, at least of those I've played so far.
• Laws -
  I realize this is the #1 thing complained about when people speak of FFTA, so I'd like to take this moment and clarify that my complaints are a bit different. As a whole, I have little to no problem with the idea behind the law system. My complaint rather is with the implementation. There is no order at all to the laws, but rather a list of laws randomly by day. You can't use swords or ice in a given battle, simply because it's a "no swords" or "no ice" day. In this regard, it feels like the only reason you can't use swords or ice in a given battle is "because we say so". No valid reason. While this may be another thing that just gnaws at me, I'm annoyed that there's no real logic or sense to the laws. Instead it feels like Square put them in just because they could.
  (yes, i realize there's a plot element relating to this, but I don't think it's a very good explanation in the least)
• Clans -
  Just like laws, the idea / concept is a cool one. Instead it becomes little more than a replacement for the random battles one would find in FFT. The entire 'turf warfare' idea has amounted to nothing of importance, and is simply an excuse for mobs to wander around the map until I fight them or they leave. 

All in all, after giving it more of a chance than I did originally FF Tactics Advance has been a fun and enjoyable experience. It has it's share of flaws, but not enough to bring the game down as far as i'm concerned. It's a fairly solid and enjoyable SRPG, so long as you let it out from under the original FFT's shadow and regard it as it's own game.

Now that said, maybe it's time to give FFTA2 another chance as well

-Ed Kun Out-

The only explanation

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/RZ0Ci3Ep248/scea-ps2-price-drop-will-cut-into-wii-eventually-help-ps3-sales

In lieu of me borderline fanboy-raging, I figure I should just sum this up and try to keep the blog halfway respectable.

Sony's continuing to shoot themselves in the foot. Rather than giving people what they want with a BC enabled PS3, it honestly feels like they're just being greedy and expecting users to put out the money for a second Sony console if they really want to play their PS2 games that badly. 

Somehow this will not only boost PS3 sales, but the PS2 can also compete with the Wii sales wise. (Both of which i -STRONGLY- disagree with) Personally, I feel like this is yet another moronic move on Sony's part, and further distances me from the company and platform I used to adore gaming on.

It really is a shame, to say the least. I keep wanting to give Sony the benefit of the doubt, but each time I'm almost willing to look past their terrible decisions, they simply throw more at me, as if to keep me and my money away. I really don't understand it.

EDIT -- Justin's impeccable logic.

[09:53] Justin: As I was saying: The one who runs Sony -http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/1/11462_400x600.jpg
[09:53] Justin: MAN-BAT
[09:53] Ed Kun [Lone Wolf]: . . . . 
[09:54] Ed Kun [Lone Wolf]: your deductive reasoning is astounding.
[09:54] Justin: You see, when they were making the PS1 and PS2 he was well mannered Dr. Kirk Langstrom
[09:55] Ed Kun [Lone Wolf]: *snickering all to hell over here*
[09:55] Justin: but then during the PS3 era he took the bat juice and trasformed into.. MAN-BAT
[09:55] Ed Kun [Lone Wolf]: it makes complete sense.
[09:55] Justin: IT DOES

Holy Crap

So, just finished the trial of "The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai".
Wow.
Anyone with a 360 owes it to themself to at least download the trial.

Vedetta Over

I'd like to start this blog off by mentioning my absolute love for downloadable arcade types. X-Box Live Arcade was actually quite a large factor in my going 360, and the Virtual Console is an idea I've loved ever since it was first announced for Wii. It was for this reason that I went ahead and sprung for an X-Box 360 Elite, knowing I would get a lot of use out of the larger sized hard drive.

While I have many qualms with the Wii, the primary one has always been the lack of space. Wii users are given at max 512 MB of storage for their saved games, their downloaded titles, and their system updates. (Yes, system updates take space away from the 512, even if not much)  I knew that were i to ever get a Wii, I would gather -quite- the collection of VC titles, and would require more than the default storage on the Wii.

The problem then becomes Nintendo's update this week, in how Wii users can now run Virtual Console and WiiWare titles off of SD cards directly, in addition to expanding SD support up to 32 GB. Now as long as I have a large enough flash drive, I could store -and- play every VC title I could possibly buy.

Kudos Nintendo. You definitely just got yourself a customer in the near future.

Final Fantasy - Don't know if want. . .

Folks reading my backloggery lately may have noticed me lately playing the original Final Fantasy (or rather a remake of said original) on PSP. Having tried it a bit before, I went ahead and decided to pick this version up as a.) it was a very nicely done (ie nice looking and sounding) port, and b.) would have the most bonus content out of any FF1 versions available.

So I played it a fair bit, fought the Earth fiend, and put it down only to recently pick it back up for a game to play during breaks + lunch. I've come to terms that as far as I'm concerned, Final Fantasy isn't really what i'd call the best in game design.

The beginning of the game is good for the most part. You're told to go defeat Garland, and told the general direction to head in. After this is when you're pretty much told "go and restore the crystals", and when the game heads downhill imo. Pretty much from that point on, you get few (if any at all) directions or even hints where to go. Instead, you as a player only really know there are four crystals (and you figure out there are four fiends after defeating the first one), and that's it. 

The result of this, is that you the player are forced to either a.) go straight to a guide, b.) spend countless hours trying every explorable corner of the world randomly in hopes you might find what you're supposed to get next, or c.) some combination of the two. This wouldn't possibly be so bad if the game didn't have "random" encounters as often as it did. Every 2-5 steps (3 being the most common occurance) results in another random battle. One could possibly make this case for RPGs as a whole, but I'd personally have to disagree. Most RPGs I've typically played (FF6, 7, 8, and 9 for examples) tend to have what i'd consider a reasonable, or even good amount of random encounters. FF1 just ends up going overboard with the "random" encounter rate. Add to this how dungeons are designed to make you take wrong turns. The majority of rooms are much bigger than the screen's visibility, thus causing the player to explore a nice long ways before realizing they went into a dead end, only to turn around and backtrack through yet more random encounters.

I will first and foremost say that I don't like my games to be easy. (Harder series like Mega Man, Devil May Cry, and Shin Megami Tensei tend to be my favorites in gaming.) I typically perfer harder games, but not in the style of "difficulty" that Final Fantasy presents. Final Fantasy (the remakes anyway) are not hard. They are time burners. The battles are not hard by any means. Even in the rare event of a hard battle, the amount of money gained from the average random encounter is more than enough to cover any lost HP / MP in-battle. There's no real challenge to this game. The only thing keeping a user from beating the game is simply having no effing clue where to go, because the game does not say a damn thing for the most part.

I say for the most part, because I have experienced two or so instances of the game hinting at what to do. The first was an old submarine, which is made clear runs out of oxygen. You then receive an item later that lets you breathe underwater. Kind of obvious. You are also told of a town (with people) that you can't understand without a Rosetta Stone, then run right into the Rosetta Stone in a dungeon immediately afterwards. While a bit too easy on the hints imo, they're still far better than nothing. The problem then comes back in when for each moment like these, there's numerous moments without a single hint or direction.

After defeating the Fire fiend, i was left with no idea where to go next. After randomly exploring a cave (that was not mentioned at all by any NPCs) I found a "Levistone", with no real item description. Then, upon entering a random desert, an airship is found by use of this levistone. The only reason I knew this was due to a guide, as the last thing for ideas on my mind was "randomly wander every desert until I find one that interacts with this levistone".  Another example is a "Warp Cube" that i found in another random dungeon. (At least this cave was hinted at by an NPC) What does it do? No effing clue. Where do i use it? No idea. I have an item, with no real description, that will get triggered by something I have no idea about. I'm about ready to cross out "Final Fantasy" on the case and use a sharpie to write "The Warriors of Light in : A series of Unfortunate Events". (Coincidentally, Xenosaga 1 was close to getting this treatment too)

I can't stress enough how much this style of game design bugs the hell out of me. While I don't want the game given to me on a golden platter, I am disgusted by a design that artificially adds hours to the game because the player has no effing idea where to go or what to do. I have a feeling that if the game actually gave me rough directions to go, I'd have finished a long time ago.

Now, I fully understand that this game was something very different back when it came out, and few games (if any) could even be compared to the depth. That said however, it still feels like a very lazy move on the designer's parts to artificially increase how long the game will take to beat. It seems like they could have added at least a few more hints or directions, so that players weren't quite literally spending hours scouring a world because there was no other way to figure out where to go.

Now, all that game design hate aside, I really like this PSP port for the most part. The graphics are very crisp and look nice, along with great re-done music and sound. From what I understand, there are four bonus dungeons packed with extra bosses that are all homeages to the later Final Fantasy games. This really makes me happy. (I'm such a sucker for bonus end-game content) I will also point out that when I do know where to go or at least have an idea, I'm enjoying the game for the most part. It's just sometimes hard to remember these good moments, when they feel far outweighed by moments with nothing to go off of.

PA Adventures - Reflections

3 days, 3 games beaten. While I wish i could keep up this pace and finish off my backlog, that's simply not happening. In either case though, this post is moreso about my most recent accomplishment : beating "On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1"

From beginning to end, Rain Slick was a very fun game. I have an immense amount of respect for it's creators in making an experience that again, was all 'round fun. I keep emphasizing fun, because that's the biggest part the game has going for it. Mostly because the game lacks a bit in the design department.

My problems with it, mostly go back to the lack of material. Even for being terribly short (5-10 hours tops) a lot of content is repeated. Each area will typically only see you face 2 or 3 different enemy types. While the battles are still enjoyable and fun (i'm reminded of Super Mario RPG's battle system, since I have to interact for super moves or blocking / countering) there's terribly little variety to it all.

I would also say the same for locations in-game. There are a total of 3 different locations that you actually traverse and explore. It also seems like gameplay time is fluffed / padded by making the player return between these same 3 areas. While I realize many an RPG have backtracking, I feel that Rain Slick is relying on it to not seem too short.

Back to good things though, I enjoyed the character designs, and loved the dialogue too. All in all, the script was a joy to read over, and I found myself laughing quite a bit more than I do anymore gaming. The characters are great variants of the people we've come to know from the Penny Arcade comics.

All in all Rain Slick was a very pleasant and fun experience, and I'm eager to dive into Episode 2 once I have more money. My only true complaint is simply that there's a lack of variety, or that I'd expect more even in a game this short. I realize that the very nature of Rain Slick is episodic content, but at the same time it feels like the developers could have given us more locations (or at least more variety in said locations), especially at the 20$ price tag. Despite that, I'd still recommend it to any friends, especially those who are already fans of Penny Arcade. I would simply suggest they maybe wait for a sale, or something similar.

They're done

So after 6 years of having lost my saves, I finally got around to putting the save backups back on a real memory card. (This was all possible thanks to a modded PS2 and black magics.)

The point of this being, I beat both Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy Tactics today.

They were pretty awesome, I'd even say amazing.

I'm just not sure how to feel, now that they're done. These have been games I wanted to see beaten some day, always on the horizon. I never foresaw the day I'd actually beat them.

*goes back to thinking on em*

Games to Beat '09

I've noticed many BackLoggery members making use of their new "note" space to list their planned (and hopeful) game beatings. That said, figured I'd do the same. Said note space thus just contains the titles I'd like to beat, while I'll use this (much larger) space to give more reason and explanation for what I hope / want to beat.

Games Very Likely To Be Beaten:

• Pokemon Leaf Green (GBA)
  I do enjoy playing Pokemon, the only thing stopping me being a grinding point to beat Gary. Once I get back into the groove, beating Leaf Green really shouldn't be a problem.
  
  
• Devil May Cry 4 (360)
  I got through half of the game no problem, and hit a complete and total brick wall at the halfway boss. I also know for a fact that once I beat this boss (and play as Dante for most of the rest of the game) I'll have little problem, as I can play Dante much better than I can Nero. Mostly a case of getting around to it.
  
  
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)
  This game is not hard. In fact, on "Normal" I'd say it's rather easy. I just simply refuse to play without a full 4-man party, as that is truly what makes the game unique and worth playing.
  
  
• Rock Band 2 (360)
  Pretty much the same as MUA. Skill is not keeping me from this, I just want to do everything with a full band.
  
  
• Persona 3 FES (PS2)
  I feel like I'm at least halfway through the game. I enjoy the game, even the grinding. Right now I simply put it down and have to pick it back up at some point. There is really nothing stopping me from progressing in P3. (On that note, I will most likely consider this beaten once I beat the original P3 story. FES can wait)
  
  
• FF Tactics (PSX)
  I have a save at the very end of the secret dungeon in the game, on farming status for the ultimate summon. All things considered, there's no reason to not beat this. I just have to get my save onto a memory card, and this WILL be beaten.
  
  
• FF 6 (PSX)
  Just like FF Tactics, I have a save at the very end where I was grinding. Need to transfer the backup to my memory card and this will also happen.
  
  
• Deus Ex: The Invisible War (PC)
  I finally caught up to my original save out in Antarctica. The end-game (and Templar power armor. -.- ) is right before me, and I have little reason to not beat Deus Ex IW. For that matter, I need to do this before DX3 comes out so that I am 100% ready for it on release date.
  
  
• Left 4 Dead (PC)
  I just have to beat the last Episode and I'd consider this beaten. Maybe I'll play through on Normal though, try and get through all 4 without any actual deaths. (ie having to respawn)
  
  
• Penny Arcade Episode 01 (PC)
  Not terribly hard, and I have a save a good ways in. This one is probably not too far off, after which I'll buy Ep 02.
  
  
• Devil May Cry 2 (PS2)
  This game is stupidly easy, requires little skill, etc. If I sat down, I could beat this with little to no effort.
  
  
• Serious Sam : The 2nd Encounter (PC)
  Ken has more than proven himself as a serious ally. I figure this one will go down quite easily.
  
  
• Blazblue (360) If it's in America before 09 is finished, you better believe I'm beating and/or completing it before the year is over. That is a given.
  

Games I'll beat if I ever get to them:

• Legendary (PC)
  There hasn't been too much challenge yet (though i have yet to encounter the 2x minotaurs) and is still fun, I figure this one will get finished this year.
  
  
• Final Fantasy (PSP)
  Another JRPG that I simply haven't gotten to due to how long I know it'll take to beat.
  
  
• Hellgate London (PC)
  Were there still co-op play (ie servers, or even lan-play) this would have no problem being beaten. As such, I'm not sure when I'll want to bother sitting down and single-playering this.
  
  
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)
  I put this game down originally due to it being a very lackluster sequel to the original. That said, it's fairly easy so I really don't think there'll be a problem beating it if I ever get back to it.
  
  
• Comix Zone (Gen)
  Surprisingly, even watching Try4ce play the majority of this, it's still hard as hell. If i ever feel motivated enough, I could probably sit down and try to power through it. Mostly a matter of time though.
  
  
• American McGee's Alice (PC)
  I have a save a ways in, but absolutely no idea how close I am to beating it. Will get to it at some point, just don't know if that point is within 2009.
  
  
• Dead Rising (360)
  From what I understand, the majority of time spent in this game would be for sandboxing. Time passes somewhat quickly in this game, I feel that were I to sit down (and beat the boss I'm stuck on) I could beat it with little problem. (Well, little problem aside from difficulty) Once again, a matter of when I set aside the time for it.
  
  
• Megaman & Bass (GBA)
  I play Megaman, I play Megaman well even. That said, if I ever got off my ass to play this, I think I could beat it.
  
  
• Katamari Damacy (PS2)
  Not really that hard? Just need to play it more!
  
  
• Persona 4 (PS2)
  This one I've been putting off until I can finally beat Persona 3. That said, this entirely hinges on when I finally get around to P3. I think I could do it once that day comes, but not until then.
  
  
• Shin Megami Tensei - Nocturne (PS2)
  In the same boat as P4. While I loved this game (probably more than P3) I put it off for getting into Persona 3. I will probably get back to it after P3, or after P4. (I'm tempted to restart just to be up to date on everything and get the full experience, but at the same time i've put in a LOT of hours thus far into Nocturne)
  
  
• Half Life (PC)
  This game alone keeps me from playing Half Life 2 (with accompanying episodes), OpFor, and Blue Shift. That said, I think I need to get through this game at one point or another. Just need to set aside some time for it.
  

Games I want to beat, but probably won't: (See if you can notice the theme here)

• Command & Conquer (PC)
  Fucking, hard. I want to finish this, I really do since I know the rest of the series wouldn't give me remotely as much trouble. That said, this game is god damned hard, and very unmotivating for me to play.
  
  
• R-Type DX (GBC)
  Much like C&C, R-Type is HARD. Especially consider this does not have "infinite" mode that R-Type Dimensions has. That said, I may train up using Dimensions (mm pretty graphics) and try going back to this, but the sheer amount of time, training, and difficulty pretty safely stores this one past 09 for being beaten. I also feel that I'd have to beat all of R-Type 1 and 2 in succession. (As that is what R-Type DX mode itself is)
  
  
• X-COM UFO Defense (PC)
  I've gotten . . . well, you could say I've gotten halfway close to this. The fortunate thing about X-COM is that you either do well or lose rather quickly. That said, it's just the sheer number of tries necessary to win, that become the biggest factor in me getting around to it. (Also, let us remember that no 2x X-COM games are the same) That said, I'd love to claim I've beaten X-COM, but it's not happening for a while.
  
  
• Raiden (TG16)
  I love Raiden dearly. It was among the first games I've ever played. That said, it's probably (imho) the hardest of the 4 games listed in this sub-section. I don't know if I'll ever beat it, let alone beat it in '09. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try every so often though. . .
  

As titles get beaten or progress is made, I'll adjust this list. (Or make a new one) That said, later folks.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Blazblue has finally been confirmed as getting a home port for 360.
This is the day I've waited for since I bought Valentine (my 360) in the first place.

HAPPY DAY

Oratorio Tangram

It's come to my attention that Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram will be receiving a port on X-box Live Arcade. This is a day I've been waiting for ever since I first bought my 360. . .

http://kotaku.com/5159889/virtual-on-for-xbox-360-its-on

Also, I have to agree with the last words at the bottom of the post. Many Dreamcast titles (VOOT included) have been getting updated copyrights. I can only hope that Sega is pulling this with more than just VOOT, bringing over (at the very least) Jet Set Radio, and Chu Chu Rocket. These two and VOOT would be money I'd happily part with in a heartbeat.

MoarGames

In actual news, I continue to buy more games. While still a little wavering, I'm pushing myself to stick with my con related decision. (No Sakuracon unless I'm employed) On that note, Dad wanted to hit up Best Buy today for an audio aux cable. Seeing as how I had 20$ in Best Buy coupon thingies, I figured I'd go along with and blow a little money.

First thing I had in mind was Legendary for PC. While most seem to hate this title, I figure 20$ is worth an FPS that I found rather fun from the demo. I also came across the new Prinny game (40$) and Megaman Powered Up (15$). Powered Up I got because I really don't know how much longer I'll be able to find that game new in stores, let alone for that price. While I haven't even tried Prinny yet (ie ISO or demo) I have a lot of faith in Nis, and thus a lot of faith that I'll be rewarded with a good product. (Plus i'm a big fan of the Disgaea universe anyway)

I also picked up Pokemon Emerald for 20$ on ebay. While I'd rather buy a new copy, the fact is that GBA carts aren't really carried new anywhere. Plus, the typical price (35$ new or so in the occasional game crazy) was almost double. I really am only getting it for shits n' giggles in filling out my Diamond pokedex, so little sense in paying double the price.

In other news, I also picked up Street Fighter 4. First and foremost, I'll not say this game is perfect, 5/5 10/10 or whatever people are rating it in magazines. That said however, I'd definitely give it a 9/10, or at the very least an 8/10. The game uses a good and solid system, one that is pretty much built off of Super Street Fighter 2. (There are very few differences between the SF4 and SSF2 systems.) Personally though, I find this a good thing. They're taking a good established system, making it prettier, and adding in everyone's favorites from SF2 and SF Alpha series. It's a good or even great game, just not perfect, or innovative. (Then again, that is a field Capcom rather fails at)

Last, I'd like to point out a correction from my last blog. It turns out you can -not- use the PS3 SF4 Fightstick to play PS2 games (Such as Guilty Gear). While the 360 Fightstick works just fine with Xbox 1 games, the same cannot be said for the Sony counterpart. Apparently this is due to the driver/decision on Sony's part. How silly of me, to think that anyone still played PS2 games when there are PS3 games out now! Isn't that right Sony?

And on a final note, my 360 SF4 Fightstick is now modded to work with PS2s as well. That ladies and gentlemen, is awesome. I will finally get around to the GG scene with a joystick. =)

PS3?

Hey, turns out Accent Core Plus is getting released stateside. Just another confirmation that Aksys is amazing where Sega/Sammy absolutely failed at life. =) Sadly though, I was a little sad as it's only for PS2 / PSP / Wii. IE no 360. Why would I be bothered by this, considering that I own a PS2 and PSP?

Well, just this last week I preordered my Street Fighter 4 Arcade stick at Gamestop, for 360. Justin was also talking about playing Accent Core Plus / Accent Core on his PS3, and i'd thought about how if i had a PS3, i could also have a nice sturdy stick to use for it. In addition, I'd get Blazblue too(as i'm guessing it's coming out for both consoles stateside) and life would be swell.

For a minute, I remembered that my tax returns were coming in, and I'd possibly have enough money for a PS3, assuming the "PS3 for 250$ with a Sony credit card" rumors are true. So i asked my good friend Justin.

Ed: so umm, yeah. PS3 still has no ps2 support on new models, huh?

Justin: nope.

And that alone reminded me one of the major reasons I own a 360. Sony doesn't care that I'd been an avid Sony fanboy for years, they didn't care that 36% of all my games owned are for Sony consoles. I'm rewarded for my years of commitment by them turning around, and giving me the middle finger. It's obviously my fault for not having bought a PS3 at launch, so there's no reason that I should have access to a single PS2 game on their new system.

Thanks Sony. I'd -almost- reconsidered my feud with your current system, and then remembered that you still don't give a flying fuck about your customers or what they want. Thanks for saving me the money I might have spent on a new console. =)

C&C FEST 09

I was looking over my Backloggery a few minutes ago, and realized how far I'd gotten in both C&C2 Tiberian Sun, as well as Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 but had never beaten either. In addition,  my PC game count is sickeningly unfinished. This got me thinking, and scheming for lack of better words.

The objective is simple, attempt to power through the Command & Conquer games I have yet to beat. I have constructed a to-do list to help hilight this adventure.

• Command & Conquer - Tiberian Dawn
• Command & Conquer 2 - Tiberian Sun
• Command & Conquer 3 - Tiberium Wars
• Command & Conquer - Red Alert
• Command & Conquer - Red Alert 2

Expansions will be played provided I have time of some form, and still have the willpower to sit through even more C&C. (IE i will play Firestorm after C&C2 if i'm still motivated, Yuri's Revenge after RA2, and so on.) 

--EDIT--

The original plan was to leave C&C and Red Alert for last. The simple fact however is that I am a creature of habit, and it simply felt wrong leaving the original games for last in a "C&C Fest". That said, I'm going with the new order as shown above. This way it'll also make more sense once I get to Red Alert 3.

--END EDIT--

If all goes according to plan (which is unlikely, but still worth persuing) I will have a job or money by the time these games are completed, and will use it to purchase C&C : Red Alert 3 to finish the series.

Wish me luck, folks. This is no small endeavor.

Blog Revision

As fun as the GG videos were, they were very short lived. The technology setup was established halfway to the last third of the year, and so much GG was played that the owner of the setup (myself) god burned out, thus ending playing in my room for quite some time.

Afterwards, we didn't get a similar setup working the next year (last term), and I have now graduated thus eliminating the ability to record matches with dorm members.

That said, I'll be converting this to a generally gaming themed rant-o blog or something like that. In the event I ever get a similar setup and fighting game competition in the area, I'll start recording and posting again. Until then however, expect text and the occasional pretty picture.