Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Chrono Trigger has arrived!!

So I picked up my DS copy of Chrono Trigger. Notice the lack of the letters "DS" appended to the end of the title. A small part of me would have died if such a mindless edit was made on such a great game.

And yes, right behind it is the extra music soundtrack CD pre-order bonus.

This has certainly sweetened my Thanksgiving weekend.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Fighting game completion with Backloggery

Not long after my short gripe on games I've yet to complete, a friend sends me this site called Backloggery that keeps track of all the games you own, as well as the status of their completion. Although interesting, I was hesitant at first creating my list of long-forgotten titles once great in their time.

But when I found out I could add games that I've already completed, my morale boosted a little as I added any games I've beaten in recent memory.

However, I stopped after a couple of completed entries. The purpose of this site is to motivate you to complete games, not to boast what you have, or what you've done. Sure, there are people out there that exploit that to a degree of defiance, lording over others as if it meant something. But that's not you. At least, not yet.

Personally, I think my list is moderately adequate, all things considered. And it's nice to have an online list to keep tabs on everything you play. Plus, there's no massive game database list to look things up - all you need to add yourself is the game's title, and the rest is just selection descriptions.

Which makes this option technically valid:

Game: Your Mom
Status: Mastered

Monday, November 24, 2008

A watched pot never boils...

Creating and publishing a level for the first time in Little Big Planet is a big thing for any player. The wait, the wonder, the anticipation of players checking out your hard work. And in the end, you hope that they will "heart" your level (similar to assigning a bookmark to a favorite page).

Currently, I'm in the "waiting" stage, seeing what people think of my 2-week-long project dedicated into recreating the endgame music for the classic RPG Chrono Trigger, which will be making its DS debut this week! But, after only 2 weeks since it was published, my level only has 14 hearts. Compared to other, more simplistic levels that have reached upwards to the hundreds and even ten thousands, my level still has a ways to go.

If anything, my level is steadily getting popular, and only recently did I receive those blue "tags" describing my level. Maybe while I create my next level will I stop checking my published one every day for more hits.

Oh, and if you have Little Big Planet, check out my level and let me know what you think! My username is as it is in the screenshot, GameritisGuy.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

And that's only part of it...

This is probably the reason my "I'm finished" posts have been dwindling lately - too many good games to play, and not enough time on my hands.

Aside from Little Big Planet (which I DID finish, but technically doesn't count as a game in my book), all those other titles you see there are incomplete for one reason or another.

Believe me when I say I'll finish these games.

I want to believe.

Zero Punctuation review: Fallout 3

"Lazy Wednesday" completely missed my radar, so this "Lazy Thursday" will start off with Yahtzee's impressions on Fallout 3. Which apparently is easily summed up in the first 10 seconds. But he gives a good review nonetheless.

I'll save you the lame-ass "even though I've never played the game" speech, and let you view the NSFW review, k? Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Goodbye, my HDTV...I knew you well...

So Animal Crossing: City Folk has finally arrived at my doorstop, and it doesn't take long for my wife to crack it open and have at the cute goods within. Although I do not share the same "animosity" as her towards gameplay, I still play along.

The game goes back to its "one town" theme, so the race is back on as to who can find what first before the other. Plus, there's the new city to wander around in, so at least the game won't be ENTIRELY the same.

But yeah...now I'll have to wrestle TV gaming usage with the misses every night. Not looking forward to that.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Crab fishing and gaming

Only recently did my friend got me into crab fishing in the wee early hours of the morning, but it wasn't until recently when the weather permitted good conditions to whip out my DS and get in a few minutes of gaming in between fishing.

Never thought I'd say "fishing" and "DS" in the same post.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia...finished!

And so ends another chapter in the popular Konami franchise as I bring Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia to its end yesterday. There are no Belmonts this time to fight Dracula, but you get this hot chick that absorbs glyths that can be used in battle.

Even though I finished the game (rather anti-climatically, since my character was terribly over-buffed), I'm still playing through to increase my completion rate. I don't think I've ever been this absorbed into full completion in the past two Castlevania DS games, but I'm so close that I might as well keep going. There are still a few games that I don't mind grinding through to collect every single item, and now I can add Ecclesia to the list.

Overall, this is still an excellent Castlevania game, and one that you'll regret if you don't play.

Man, it's been a while since I finished a game. Time to play catch-up!

Zero Punctuation review: Fable 2

I think this week's game review has become one of my favorites. Yahtzee's back this week, this time reviewing the sequel...er, upgrade of Fable, Fable 2. Now with more dog!!

I think the non-linear aspect of Fable just turned me off in general. To know that you can just do more random shit than just play the game is fine and dandy when you find that out on your own...but when the back of the box tells you you can, it suddenly doesn't seem so appealing before. I'll give an example - playing Little Big Planet is great fun when you can create anything, but becomes less fun if the box specifically says "you can create penis-filled levels!"

Besides, who would want to get married in a video game? It's not even close to being real, unless you have a weird fetish for polygon characters.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

What our imaginations would be if it were made into a game

Little Big Planet is one of those games where it's up to the player how awesome the game can be. There will be people who don't like to create objects, don't like designing their own levels, and hate customizing anything in general...and those people would probably hate playing a game that requires you to become very imaginative throughout.

For the rest of you guys, this game is simply incredible.


At first, I never grasp the possibilities with such an ambitious game as Little Big Planet, but all it took was one video of some art group recreating a humongous Shadow of the Colossus level to show me how much can be done with this game.
Now, I find myself wasting most of my free time trying to create imaginative levels that I will potentially share to the online community.

And what an online community it is! So many creative minds making so many levels! Some are less spectacular than others, but all are pure player-made levels that show that everyone has a creative bone in their body. I've even experienced my first online co-op play during the brief time I had on the LBP Beta with a friendly person that was patient enough to help me secure some of the more elusive items in the 2-player-only parts of the levels, all while their servers kept screwing up with our connection. We must've tried the same level at least 10 times...but we were still having fun throughout.

The single-player mode is no slouch, either, with highly-imaginative levels and tons upon tons of stuff to collect to amass your own collection with.


All in all, you only really stop playing this game when you run out of good ideas, or, as I see it, when you cease to function as a human being.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Zero Punctuation review: Dead Space

After so many weeks of reviewed games that I have never played, Yahtzee finally talks about one that's currently in my possession - Dead Space. While he doesn't get much more than a startled jump from the whole ordeal, I'm cowering in the corner of the room pissing in my pants.

Feel free to NSFW, right below!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Presidential Election going on...NOW!!

Go. Vote. Now.

Today's the day to make an impact, and nothing will happen if you don't go and vote. So put down that game controller, that PSP, that DS, that Wii-mote...and go and make a difference out there.

I mean it. Stop playing Little Big Planet, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Dead Space, and WoW, and get out there and vote!

Us gamers must unite! If we can make an impact on a terrible lawyer, we can make an impact on the world!