Price change for Xbox LIVE Gold subscription - Xbox Live's Major Nelson

Yesterday Major Nelson announced price increases for Xbox Live. One month of Gold is increasing from $7.99 to $9.99, and one year subscriptions are going from $49.99 to $59.99. These changes will be in effect starting on November 1, 2010.

Major Nelson said the following about the changes:

I think Xbox Live user rogXue, despite having a dumb name, said it best in his comment.

Let's take a look at the free features of Xbox Live. Demos for every game, achievements, friends list, messaging, voice chat, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Indie Games, avatars, downloadable content, a well organized market place, and an ugly interface filled with ads. If you pay, you can get party chat, video chat, online gaming, parties, Netflix streaming, Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm.

I've been a Gold member previously. The voice chatting is horrible. Why would I want to yell insults at children? That's all that's done there. I've never wanted to use party chat or video chat at all. In order to use those, I would need to find a large group of people who all want to play console versions of games most likely available on PC. Or maybe Gears of War. I've never seen that group. I've heard of them, but my friends are computer literate. Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm support is ridiculously stupid. I guess those are the features responsible for the price increase. Why would you ever want those features on a console anyways? I could almost see wanting last.fm until I remember that you can stream media to your consoles anyways (although it's easier on a PS3).

What's left? Netflix. Yes, that's very nice. But I can do it on the other consoles as well. Really they're asking for us to pay to play Xbox-exclusive titles online (because if they're not exclusive, we might as well play on a different service) and chat in large groups that don't exist. It seems like it'd be smarter simply to purchase titles I want to play online for the PS3. Usually the computer is better for playing online, but it's true that my computer is tied up with WoW almost all the time. But the PS3's service is free, so it beats the 360. And there are less ads. The online store is more troublesome on the PS3, but I'll take that for the reduced cost. Thanks Microsoft. Maybe making me shake my arms around to play games will make me happier with you.

Edit: Oh, and I should add that in order to play with my friends online, we all need Xbox Live subscriptions. Great deal. If a few people decide to come over one Friday night, I can just suggest that each of them pay $9.99 to Microsoft.

Ghosts'N Goblins: Gold Knights II | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Platformer

I enjoyed this one a lot.

Massive Mario collection will make your inner 5-year-old jealous | Joystiq

Top Gun 2 for iPhone | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games

Wow. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was really amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's almost strange how it so perfectly adapted gaming (not a particular game) to the movie screen. I definitely want to own this movie. You could even say that I'm in lesbians with it.

The soundtrack is pretty amazing too. I'm pretty terrible at trying to talk about music in any meaningful way, so I guess I won't try much. I will say that I was looking for new music recently. It's been hard for me to find anything new to listen to ever lately. The Scott Pilgrim soundtrack... well, it rocks! One of the best songs on it, Scott Pilgrim by Plumtree, was the song that inspired the creation of the original Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. I looked into Plumtree and found that they're an indie rock, punk-pop formed in 1993 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They started playing in junior high! Anyways, I really liked their sound and have been listening to one of their albums, Predicts the Future, quite a bit now. Good stuff!

I've been playing a few games recently. Besides World of Warcraft, I've been playing a few different Lynx games. I've also been playing some PSP games and a couple console games.

In WoW, I'm now 12/12 ICC 10, 7/12 ICC 10H, and 11/12 ICC 25. I've done RS 10 but still haven't finished 25. I also broke 6k gs yesterday!

As for Lynx games, I'm getting pretty far in Chip's Challenge. I think I'm about one-third of the way through the game. While I've definitely playe more of CC than any other Lynx games, I've also put some time into Gates of Zendocon and Todd's Adventures in Slime World.

I picked up The Club a bit ago for less than $10. It was the first game I purchased since last summer. I enjoyed the more arcade-y take on third-person shooters. I haven't played around in it much after beating it. I also tried to finish Mad World, but I'm pretty lazy, and the boss battles require a lot of shaking.

Okay, I'm fallng asleep. Good night.

Hyperkin Tough Non-Slip Dance Platform | Review | Game Boyz

This dance mat is much, much better than the one that came with my DDR game.

/v/ - The Vidya

selectbutton :: View topic - is this guy serious

I thought this was interesting.

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:23 am

Hollywood Hospital Review Quoted, originally uploaded by theuser.

My review of Hollywood Hospital was also quoted!

Ghosts Attack Review Quoteda, originally uploaded by theuser.

My review of Ghosts Attack was quoted in the App Store description!

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is an RPG set in the Sonic universe for DS. Created by RPG masters BioWare, Sonic Chronicles truly captures the feel of the Sonic material that came before it. It pulls from previous games, the Saturday morning cartoon show, and even the comic series. Sonic Chronicles contains menu driven combat with action elements and is filled with funny dialogue.

In Sonic Chronicles, you're able to travel through known zones as well as new locations. There are a variety of characters that you can control. I won't spoil the game here by listing the characters, but they're who you would initially expect with a few additions. Some characters are optional, but they're pretty hard to miss honestly. The dialogue is funny and smarter than other Sonic games. It's clear that BioWare has done their homework and pulled from the cartoon and comics.

As you run around the map, enemies will be visible patrolling as well. When you touch an enemy, you move to the combat mode. Combat is menu driven with options for attacking, using POW (special moves), using items, defending, and fleeing. POW moves use stylus inputs similar to the gameplay of Elite Beat Agents; to correctly execute the POW move you must tap circles and drag circles at the right time. Out of the eleven possible characters, you use four at a time. Characters have different roles both in and out of combat. Sonic Chronicles is one of the few games in which I liked using status-altering characters. Each character also has moves usable in the main overworld such as flying and smashing objects. Use of these abilities is sometimes required to move about the level. Other times, they're only needed if you want to collect everything that there is to find. Sometimes you'll have to change who's on your team to be able to proceed.

I absolutely fell in love with the graphics of the overworld. It's quite beautiful and has a hand-drawn look to it. The first zone, Green Hill Zone, is the perfect example; it's stunning! The music is decent but gets reused throughout the game. It would have been nice to have more variety. Cutscenes are shown through animated comics. This is an interested method of conveying the story that's cute and a bit different from what's normally seen. I really liked it.

As I said previously, the dialogue was well written and enjoyable. You're given dialogue choices, but they don't have much of an impact. The two optional characters are hard to miss. In fact, there's nothing too far out of the way. It's quite easy to find everything. There's nothing really wrong with this, but RPG fans who want to explore and find secrets are going to be disappointed. However, Sonic Chronicles seems to be made for younger audiences to be able to enjoy everything as well. The difficulty does spike in the second half of the game until you figure out which POW moves to be using and which support characters to use. (Hint: Use POW moves and support characters!) After this is figured out, the game's difficulty returns to normal. The story is very good. It adds a lot to the Sonic universe and fills in a fascinating and exciting puzzle piece.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a great game for Sonic fans. It does a wonderful job of shaping the Sonic world into an RPG and then adding to it. Although I don't like being able to miss things, it would have been nice if there was some more secret characters or items. I really liked where the lore went. I won't get into specifics, but as someone who really likes Sonic the Hedgehog, it was very interesting to see things explained even if some of the points were lifted from the comic series. Sadly, the ending seemed a little rushed to me. The story concluded well, but I would have liked some of the final scenes to be drawn out and more climatic and dramatic. The game ended while I was still feeling pumped for more! The major plot element is finished at the end of the game, but Sonic Chronicles leaves a few questions open. Hopefully a sequel comes out, because I'd love to play it! While Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood isn't for people who don't like RPGs or Sonic, Sonic fans who also enjoy RPGs will absolutely love the game!

(Also posted on GameFAQs.)

RollOut for iPhone | Review | Game Boyz

RollOut's a fantastic platformer/puzzle game. It's $0.99 and worth every penny.

CataGugl for iPhone | Review | Game Boyz

Another game review to which I forgot to link. CataGugl!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 for iPhone | Review | Game Boyz

I think I forgot to link to this previously. I reviewed Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 for the iPhone.

Maps - Boing Boing

I found this interesting article, "maps," on boingboing. Written by Simon Parkin, it's a piece of New Games Journalism examining the author's relationship with Japanese RPGs over the course of his life.

Source: "The endroad of NGJ," by Takashi on SelectButton.

Co-Optimus - Valve Admits Mistake, Gives Two Free Copies of Left 4 Dead 2

Here's something interesting I read on Co-Optimus today. Valve banned 12,000 Modern Warfare 2 players for cheating when they weren't actually cheating. As an apology, Valve unbanned all 12,000 players and gave each play two copies of Left 4 Dead 2 (one to gift to a friend with Steam). That means Valve just gave out 24,000 copies of Left 4 Dead 2!

Fractured Soul looks pretty sweet to me!

Each screen of the DS shows a slightly different world. To succeed, you have to jump between the two screens. It's developed by End Game Studios and currently doesn't have a publisher.

These talking GlaDOS Curiosity Spheres probably want to kill you | Joystiq

Buy me these!

selectbutton :: View topic - Games You Played Today IV: Play Free or Die Hard

antitype of Select Button made an interesting observation on The Orange Box. Basically, he examines gender stereotypes in Team Fortress 2 (masculine) and Portal (feminine). I'll reproduce it here since forums have a tendency to fall off the Internet:

Recently someone found WebPageless while looking for a comparison between the Crimson Acolyte Cowl and the Crimson Acolyte Hood. This isn't the first time it's happened, so I decided to talk about the two of them a little.

First, Crimson Acolyte Cowl is the headpiece of the shadow set, and Crimson Acolyte Hood is the headpiece of the healing set. I'm just going to call these the DPS headpiece and healing headpiece respectively.

DPS headpiece
Gains over healing headpiece: 8 crit, 72 haste
(2) Set: The critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells is increased by 5%.
(4) Set: Reduces the channel duration by 0.51 sec and period by 0.17 sec on your Mind Flay spell.

Healing headpiece
Gains over DPS headpiece: 80 spirit, 1 spell power
(2) Set: Your Flash Heal has a 33% chance to cause the target to heal for 33% of the healed amount over 9 sec.
(4) Set: Increases the effect of Power Word: Shield by 5% and Circle of Healing by 10%.

Let's break this down by looking at the two headpieces from the perspective of each spec.

Shadow

Spirit is almost worthless for shadow. Spell power is king, and crit and haste are both next in line. Obviously the DPS headpiece has the better stats for shadow. In addition, the healing headpiece's set bonuses don't help shadow at all. The DPS headpiece's set bonuses are pretty nice. This is a no brainer. If you're shadow, take the DPS headpiece.

Holy

Let's take a look at the four stats that differentiate the two headpieces. For holy, spell power is the most important of the four with spirit close behind. Spirits provide both regen and a spell power boost. Crit and haste, while helpful, are less helpful. Looking purely at stats, the healing headpiece is slightly better. Take into consideration the fact that the DPS headpiece's set bonuses don't help holy at all while the healing headpiece's set bonuses are quite nice and this one is easy as well. If you're holy, take the healing headpiece.

Disc

Disc priests will probably have a harder time than holy priests or shadow priests picking their headpiece. I went through this when I first started collecting T10 as a disc priest myself. Spirit is pretty much worthless for discipline priests. Let's look at the remaining stats that differentiate the headpieces. What's better, 1 spell power or 8 crit and 72 haste? Clearly the crit and haste are much more valuable than 1 spellpower. Discipline is in the weird position of wanting the same gear caster DPS players want (except we don't want hit of course).

The problem is that the DPS headpiece's set bonuses don't help disc at all. How about the healing headpiece's set bonuses? Increasing the effect of Power Word: Shield is great. This spell is what makes disc what it is. You should be using it all the time. PW:S should always be on the tanks and anyone taking or about to take damage. For example, when someone gets the Mutated Infection during the Rotface battle, put a shield on them! Once you have enough mana to not worry about mana at all, you should be blanketing the raid in shields whenever you have the free global cooldown anyways. As for the Flash Heal bonus - I think it's a nice set bonus. In a lot of fights I hardly use it at all, but in a lot of fights I still do use it.

It's tempting to go for the throughput stats of the DPS set, but you really should be taking advantage of the healing set bonuses. Go for the healing headpiece. There's also another way to look at it. Let's assume you don't care about the healing set bonuses. Then why get the dps headpiece? If you're going to forget the healing set bonuses anyway, you should go for Corp'rethar Ceremonial Crown (Heroic) from heroic Gunship 25. I realize you'll have to do a 25 mode heroic and that might not have been what you wanted to do, but (at least on my server) it's very easy for anyone to get into a PuG that can do heroic Gunship. This gives you a benefit of 30 int, 30 stamina, 114 spirit, 25 armor, 18 crit, and 47 spell power compared to the 8 crit and 72 haste you'd get from the DPS headpiece. It's even better than the Sanctified version of the DPS headpiece.

There are a lot of other headpieces that are better for disc than the DPS headpiece as well. Another is the Cowl of Malefic Repose (Heroic) from heroic Blood-Queen in 10-man. This is much harder to do than heroic Gunship 25, so let's forget it. Next up is Thaumaturge's Crackling Cowl (Heroic) from Deathbringer heroic 10. Next there's Corp'rethar Ceremonial Crown from regular Gunship 25. Lastly, Cowl of Malefic Repose from Blood-Queen 10 normal.

Some of those are pretty hard to get. Strangely enough, the very best one is the easiest to obtain. Even if you're just starting out, finding a PuG for 25 man shouldn't be hard, and most do heroic Gunship. You should go for the healing headpiece, but if you decide you don't care about the set bonuses (although you should), there are much better headpieces than the DPS headpiece.

Conclusion

So, what you do? Buy the T10 that's made for your spec! Do it! And don't sell the set bonuses short!

Fists of Fu Beta / PC Games / Video Game News

Fists of Fu closed beta starts Friday, and sign-ups start tomorrow. It looks cute!

Co-Optimus - Kirby Super Star: Favorite Co-op Game of All Time

As my entry in Co-Optimus' contest, 1000 Co-Op Games Contest, I posted a blog entry on their site about Kirby Super Star, my favorite co-op game of all time. Feel free to check it out if you want to see what I have to say!

1942: First Strike Flies onto iPhone / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

I had a lot of fun with this scrolling shooter! Note that when Game-Boyz' server migration finishes, this link will be outdated until I can change it.

Kingslayer, originally uploaded by theuser.

The battle is finished! Mooglegem and I are now Kingslayers after defeating Arthas tonight! I also got Halion, Staff of Forgotten Love. Sunday - on to Ruby Sanctum!

I'll post links to all of my Game-Boyz E3 coverage in this post. It'll be in reverse chronological order. I'll specify what category the post was, the data and time, and a brief summary. Check back here to find links to anything I write.

7/15/ 16:53 - Bulkypix's New iPhone Games | Preview | Game Boyz

7/6 13:02 Preview - Vanquish, Third-Person Shooter for PS3 and 360 / Xbox 360 / Previews - Awesome new third-person shooter by Sega, Platinum Game, and Shinji Mikami

6/27 18:39 Preview - Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 / Nintendo Wii / Previews - Awesome!

6/27 11:42 Blog - Sonic Colors / / - Modern formula finally perfected

6/27 Preview - Pac-Man Battle Royale / Hardware / Previews - Awesome arcade cabinet

6/26 23:30 Preview - Disney's Epic Mickey for Wii / Nintendo Wii / Previews - One of the best games at E3

6/23 14:46 Preview - Capcom shows Street Fighter IV, 1942 First Strike, and Ghosts 'N Goblins: Gold Knights II for iPhone / iPhone/iPod / Previews - All cool games

6/22 Preview - Battlestar Galactica Online Preview / PC Games / Previews - Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica Online.

6/21 Preview - DC Universe Online / PS3 / Previews - Sony's new action-MMO set in the DC Universe.

6/20 Preview - Magic the Gathering - Tactics by SOE / PS3 / Previews - Online tactics game set in the Magic the Gathering universe!

6/20 02:58 Preview - Blacklight: Tango Down / Xbox 360 / Previews - Downloadable FPS for PSN, XBLA, and PC. A very good title!

6/19 17:52 Preview - Loong - The Power of the Dragon / PC Games / Previews - New fantasy, free-to-play MMORPG

6/19 02:32 Preview - Black Prophecy, Space Combat MMO / PC Games / Previews - gamigo's free-to-play space combat MMO, Black Prophecy

6/17 01:43 Preview - Hudson's Lost in Shadow / Nintendo Wii / Previews - Lost in Shadow is one of the best games I saw here.

6/17 01:28 Preview - Oops! Prank Party / Nintendo Wii / Previews - New party game / minigame collection for Wii.

6/17 00:54 Preview - Bomberman Live: Battlefest / Xbox 360 / Previews - A quick look at Hudson's new Bomberman game.

6/17 00:34 Preview - Hudson's Bonk: Brink of Extinction / Nintendo Wii / Previews - New version of the classic platformer, Bonk!

6/16 11:08 Editorial - D3's new games at E3 / Nintendo Wii / Video Game News - D3 showed off Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, Puzzle Quest 2, Kidz Bop Dance Party, and Despicable Me The Game.

6/15 10:21 Blog - Excitement / / - Just a list of cool things that I've already missed at E3 but am excited about.

6/15 00:16 Blog - The end of day zero / / - The end of day zero

6/14 15:10 Blog - Checked-in! / / - Quick post after checking into the hotel.

6/13 23:54 Blog - E3, World of Warcraft / / - Made a rather long (at least compared to my previous ones) blog post at Game-Boyz discussing my excitement for E3 and World of Warcraft.

First, an update on guild progression. With so many people leaving, the core raiding group has really changed. Harley, Mekrob, and Darth are now part of the LK attempts usually. Obviously I already knew Harley, but I've gotten to know Darth and Mekrob, both cool dudes. We've had a lot of changes to the roster though. Hopefully we don't crumble more. We're still having a lot of trouble on the LK though. A few weeks ago we were always struggling in phase two and had only one good phase two. We've seen the transition to phase three once but died during it. This week we had trouble getting to phase two. It's supposed to be guild progression not regression! Unfortunately, I don't really know what's happening. I have noticed that things seems to go smoother when I call out things on Vent. It's kind of cool to be able to make an impact like that.

Ruby Sanctum also came out a couple weeks ago. On the first week, I got into a PuG that was horrible and couldn't clear anything. Then I did a 10m with the guild. We cleared to Halion but couldn't down him. First, we had some difficulties in positioning him and moving him as the debuffs were put down on the ground. Harley was having some computer problems, so that definitely wasn't helping. Second, debuff placements were a problem. In all three phases players get a random debuff that, when dispelled, put a circle on the ground of badness. The size of the circle is proportional to how long it takes to dispel it. People had trouble moving into position, so we were getting huge debuff zones. The fight takes place in a large circle with Halion standing near the perimeter, parallel to the tangent line at that point of the circle (roughly). Players were supposed to run towards the tail and then to the outer edge to drop the debuff. In other words, not just to the tail - to the outside edge of the fighting area but near the tail. People were just going to the tail. We also had some trouble on the laser that shoots through the middle in the second phase. We made it to phase three, the final phase, once but died due to a lack of coordination in splitting the raid group. Still we were all learning the fight, so I don't mind too much even though a lot of other people have downed him. Kaytral wanted to do attempts tonight, but there's nothing in the guild message or calendar. Hopefully people show!

CFC's in a weird position right now. More and more I feel like the geared and good people are being forced to carry bads. I really don't mind as much when I'm helping someone knowledgeable gear up an ungeared toon, but we have some people who are just plain bad. I know enough from Tam not to blog about specific problems or name any names. I'm just starting to feel like not showing up for anything but LK kills. For my healing set, I need a wand off of the Blood Princes and a wand off of the Blood-Queen. In last night's guild run, we only managed Festergut, Rotface, and Valithria. We didn't even see the Blood Wing! And if I had PuG'd it, it wouldn't have been any better. Why show up? Oh, I know. I need to carry and help gear the people who don't know how to play at all. Spell power is not better than hit. 30 hit isn't enough. But thanks for taking one of the only pieces that could still help a progression raider. It's not like we needed that character to have that piece. Uh oh, I'm going into specifics, aren't I?

Okay, okay, what else? I did a full clear of Karazhan with Zen and gem the other day. It took forever because we didn't know our way around. We're going to start doing Attumen the Huntsman every week in an attempt to get his mount. We also did ZG, which we're going to start doing regularly as well. I want some mounts! I have four piece sanctified for both my healing and DPS sets now! For my healing set, I'll be 10m-normal BiS as soon I get my wand, not counting Lich King drops. I'm still hoping for Althor's Abacus off of 25m. In Zen's PuG this week I saw it drop. The person who won it had never seen it drop previously and rolled a perfect 100. I guess that's a decent way for me to lose the roll at least. As for my DPS set, I'm four piece sanctified, but I'm using sanctified legs and not gloves. When the sanctified gloves drop in VoA, I plan on switching the legs to Leggings of Woven Death. Also this week the guild let me go shadow for Lord Marrowgar and Lady Deathwhisper! I was horrible, but it was fun for a change. It's nice because it keeps things feeling fresh. Harley suggested I level an alt to keep things fresh, but the I'll obligated to do all the weekly things on two characters when I'm actually trying to find more time to do other things.

Yup, that's all!

Attack & Destroy for iPhone / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

Despite not being able to get past the second level of this turn-based strategy game for the iPhone, I reviewed it!

Appular's iSlice for the iPhone / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

A fun Qix-inspired game for the iPhone!

Capcom delivers a top-notch fighting game to the iPhone! / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

I just reviewed Street Fighter IV for iPhone. The game is amazingly great. I honestly can't believe how great it feels and plays. This is one of the best iPhone games I've played so far!

Race through the skies in this new iPhone game. / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

My first "joystick down" review! If your game is completely unresponsive for up to 10+ seconds at a time, you can't expect a great review.

World of Warcraft 2010 Midsummer Fire Festival Guide / PC Games / Walkthroughs

I created a guide to this year's Midsummer Fire Festival for Game-Boyz.

World of Warcraft Assault on the Ruby Sanctum Official Preview Unveiled / PC Games / Video Game News

Posted an article about Blizzard's official preview of the Assault on the Ruby Sanctum.

World of Warcraft Patch 3.3.5 / PC Games / Video Game News

Posted a summary of the patch notes for WoW's Patch 3.3.5 at Game-Boyz.

Grim Batol, new 5-player dungeon, official preview / PC Games / Video Game News

Posted a news story about the official preview of Grim Batol.

World of Warcraft Europe

Blizzard has posted a promotional poster and teaser for Zalazane's Fall!

iPhone 4 / /

I made a more in-depth post about the iPhone 4 over on Game-Boyz.

1C Company's Another Night in Moscow 2010 / Xbox 360 / Video Game News

I just posted my article on Another Night in Moscow 2010 on Game-Boyz. Check it out!

Hollywood Hospital / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

I just reviewed Hollywood Hospital for the iPhone. I received my free review copy from Zed Worldwide. It's easily the most challenging time-management game I've played, featuring minigames and requiring actual strategy. I enjoyed it.

The Art of God of War III at The Gnomon Gallery / PS3 / Video Game News

I just posted an article on The Gnomon Gallery's exhibit, The Art of God of War III. I attended on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun. It was a bit far to go, but it was a lot cooler seeing the artwork in person than in images on a computer.

Kodix - Break the Code / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

My review of Kodix - Break the Code is up at Game-Boyz.com. It's one of my highest rated games, I think. Kodix is a very fun puzzle game that's adapted from the board game Mastermind. I received my review copy for free from Cazual Games.

Today's Pac-Man's 30th anniversary! Google usually places unique images of its logo on its front page for special occassions. In place of that, they've made an interactive Pac-Man game in the shape of its logo. It's pretty cool! Check it out at google.com. I also wrote a blog post about this on Game-Boyz here.

Itsy the Spider / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

I just reviewed Itsy the Spider, a simple game that's a lot of fun. It was made by Amusement Architects, and I received my review copy for free.

Pocket Devil - Hell Yeah! / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

My review of Pocket Devil - Hell Yeah! is up on Game-Boyz.com. In Pocket Devil, you're given a bunch of ways to kill small devils called mugat2. It's not really a game. It's a sandbox, only the sandbox is filled with things you can kill. I didn't really like most of it, but there's a balloon minigame that I really enjoyed. Also, the music was awesome! It's made by Eyedip, and I received my review copy for free.

Hand of Greed - Dodge the Blade / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

My latest review is up on Game-Boyz.com for Hand of Greed - Dodge the Blade. The game is pretty simple. There are a bunch of spinning blades on the screen that you have to avoid while collecting treasures. It's really enjoyable, and I still cringe and pull away when a knife "cuts" my finger. It's also the first game published by Appular, which is a PR firm I've talked with repeatedly, so that's kind of cool! My review copy, as usual, was provided to me for free.

Paranormal Agency / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

My review of Paranormal Agency is up at Game-Boyz.com. I received it for free from G5 Entertainment, and this is the second hidden object game published by them that I reviewed. I really enjoyed it; it seemed much better than the previous one I played.

Mirror's Edge 2D: Free Online Game

Mirror's Edge 2D is a browser game based on Mirror's Edge. It features the same crisp, high-contrast environments you'd expect from the original, looking very nice. Mirror's Edge 2D is a side-scrolling platformer and features no combat, which is a good thing. It's relatively short and fun to see how wall-running, rolling, swinging onto platforms, and Faith's other moves translate into 2D. Of course, a 2D game doesn't give the feeling of freedom that the original version game, but Mirror's Edge 2D is definitely worth checking out if you like either Mirror's Edge or platformers.

Sucker Punch Productions' PS3 exclusive, inFamous, really impressed me. I heard some good things about it but was expecting a more generic third-person action game. What I found, despite some flaws, was an awesomely fun game that's one of my favorites from this generation.

As I said, I heard good things about inFamous before I played it. My friend Edward praised it without giving specifics, and my friend Antonio kept talking about how he missed it while he was on vacation. I knew it was about a character who had some sort of super powers, climbed buildings, and beat up enemies, but beyond that, I didn't really know much. inFamous turned out to be fun from the start. The opening screen asks the player to press start, and rather than breaking away to the game, things happen immediately in the scene that's on the screen. This was a great opening because it was a smooth transition directly into action. Then the player is provided a scene that acts as a tutorial. While it can seem a little slow, especially on a second playthrough, it isn't more than five or ten minutes.

You play as Cole who has electricity-based powers. At the start of the game you don't have any powers, but as the game progresses you unlock more. You also earn experience that you can use to upgrade powers or purchase new ones. Most offensive powers replicate conventional weapons such as sniper rifles, grenades, and rockets. Of course, there are others, some of which just help you get around, like the ability to grind on power lines or glide through the air. Some actions also give you either positive or negative karma, which can affect your appearance and powers as well as the plot.

The game opens with a bomb detonating. Empire City is quarantined, and Cole finds that it seems he has power over electricity. Over the course of the story, Cole seeks to help the city and discover the truth as to what's happening. At first he fights a gang of former drug dealers, but eventually he's fighting a black tar dripping psycho, a telekinetic old man, a strange guy with unknown motives, and lots of other lesser enemies with mind powers.

Story is told through three means - phone calls, dead drops, and television reports. It's intriguing and great motivation to play through the game multiple times. Various characters call Cole or talk to him directly, and this is from where most of the plot comes. Strangely, Cole's phone seems to automatically answer every incoming call and place it on speaker phone, but, sure, I can understand wanting to keep the process streamlined. Scattered throughout the city are things called dead drops. These are satellite dishes that when found can play a recording giving more background information about the story. These are supplemental, but I highly recommend finding all of them. They really add a lot. Finally, televisions in the city will sometimes play either news reports or recordings from a pirate broadcaster known as "the Voice of Survival." While the actual plot from these two sources is relatively minor, they add a lot of atmosphere to the game. Most of the story they add isn't really from information in the broadcasts. Rather, it's information about which the player can speculate based on the validity and tone of the broadcasts. The atmosphere adds a lot to the game. The broadcasts can start whenever Cole is near a television, so be sure to watch if one starts. Like the dead drops, I find these very important, but they can be skipped by a player trying to be fast. I really recommend paying attention to them though. The story is also fascinating because of the difference between what Cole knows and what the player knows, especially after beating the game. The dialog has more depth to it after you already have finished the game and are replaying, knowing what happens throughout the story. Combined with the fact that there are two moral paths, there is ample motivation to play the game at least twice.

Sadly, the important supporting characters lack depth. While the three main antagonists are fleshed out well enough, Cole's best friend Zeke and girlfriend Trish are not deep characters. Cole clearly likes Trish, and I believe the player is supposed to like her as well, but I didn't care about her. Zeke is also rather shallow, but he basically provides comic relief, so this isn't too huge of a problem. I get the feeling that Zeke was probably a loser who thought he was cool. He probably enjoyed going clubbing and looking at girls while girls tried to avoid him. Zeke would probably get home and delude himself into thinking he was a big hit. In the game, he usually seems calm and cool, always wearing his sunglasses but not seeming to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Regardless, I wish Zeke was a deeper character.

There are a few flaws in inFamous. First, while the graphics are decent most of the time, some parts stand in contrast. There are occasionally close views of faces that really only emphasize the fact that the facial expressions in the game are rather limited. Trish, who as I said before is supposed to be liked by the player, is by far the worst model in the game. She looks shockingly appalling compared to everything else in the game. There is also issues with clipping. I fell through the world multiple times, sometimes had problems getting Cole to actually stand correctly, and once was able to pass right through a wall. One power requires Cole to stand over a person lying on the ground, reach down, and touch them. Sometimes when I activated this, Cole would step back and forth a short distance, clearly trying to path over the body, walk a few yards away, and then stretch his arm way over to perform the ability. No, stretching his arms is not a power he has. There is also a rather big hole in the story. In one particular mission, a character does something at which Cole gets mad. (I'm trying to be ambiguous here as to avoid spoilers.) According to Cole, because a character leaves, something bad is allowed to happen. The other characters all seem to agree that the character leaving caused the bad thing, but it was never clear to me, after playing through the game twice and watching others play it three times, how this character could have prevented the bad thing anyways. Finally, the moral system itself is too polar. Cole either becomes a hero for being good or infamous for being bad. There's no question as to what actions send Cole down what path. In the beginning of the game, Cole is faced with his first choice. Does he allow the citizens of the city to eat the food that's airdropped or does he shoot them and take the food for himself? This isn't a very deep moral question. I'd like to see the ramifications of more complex moral questions. It's also not clear just how the infamous Cole is supposed to behave. A mission would come along in which I'm tasked with defending some normal citizens from something bad because apparently I want to protect them, but I also go around introducing rockets to the faces of random passersby when I'm in control of Cole. At other times, the story seems to imply that I have no regard for anyone else at all. Which is it?

That paragraph on the game's flaws was rather large, so what's so awesome about inFamous? Moving around the city for one thing! The sense of freedom is pretty cool. When Cole has all his movement improving powers, it's amazingly fun to climb up a building, grind across some power lines and glide to the next building. The atmosphere is intriguing too. Cole becomes cleaner and brighter as he moves down the hero path or dirtier and darker as he moves down the infamous path. The news reports (and dead drops to a lesser extent) add a lot to the atmosphere as well, making you question what's happening (and providing some small answers). The most interesting thing is how people react to Cole. When neutral, they just throw things at you. If they learn to fear you, they'll attack you or cower from you. If they learn to love you, they'll praise you, ask you for help, take your picture, or just brag on the phone to their friends about seeing you in person. These events aren't plot points or anything; random characters will just interact with you as you run by them.

inFamous is full of flaws, but it's really awesome to play. It's a ton of fun, and that's what really matters. I played the game twice, once as hero and once as infamous, and I watched one additional playthrough in its entirety and two more off and on. Despite having seen the story that many times, I still find it entertaining to watch and play and am looking forward to a sequel. Running around in Empire City reminds me of gaming when I was younger. inFamous is a lot like Super Mario 64 to me. Both games had goals, but a lot of fun was had by simply running around, interacting with the world. Most games I play today don't elicit from me the want to just run around. This is exactly what inFamous does right.

Boxing Fighter / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

Reviewed Boxing Fighter today. My review copy was received free. It's a relatively simple fighting game with punches, charged punches, and blocking, although the blocking and charged punching didn't seem to help me much. You can train your character, which I really liked, but it wasn't very in depth. Oh, and the game crashed every couple minutes. I think I'd like the game much more if that was fixed in a patch, heh.

PandaMania / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

Posted a new review on Game-Boyz! The game is called PandaMania, and it's a pretty amusing defense game about a panda whose fu manchu mustache is stolen right off his face.

Real Trophy Hunting / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

New review of Sunstorm Interactive's Real Trophy Hunting. The review copy was provided to me for free. Although I'm not really into hunting, the game was more fun than I thought it would be!

Battle of Puppets / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

I just posted a review of Battle of Puppets from Small Wonders. It's a strategy game for the iPhone, and I really enjoyed it. The game was fun, but what I liked most was the gorgeous visuals and great music. Battle of Puppets was $0.99 when it was given to me but is currently $1.99.

Farm Frenzy 2 / iPhone/iPod / Reviews

New review up at Game-Boyz. Farm Frenzy 2 is a farming game similar in style to Cake Mania or Jane's Hotel. My review copy was provided by Alawar Entertainment.

Tank Battle: Iron Warfare / iPhone/iPod / Video Game Reviews

My Tank Battle: Iron Warfare review is up at Game-Boyz.com. The game was given to me by Judnich Productions.

Wii to fret over 'Rock of the Dead'

This must be the most amazing game announcement ever. Rock of the Dead looks like a zombie light-gun shooter except that each zombie has Guitar Hero type tabs on them. Play the notes with your guitar to kill the zombie.

Not so amazing?

The main character is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris.

Yes.

Also some girl is in it.

Jane's Hotel / Apple / Reviews

I just posted a review of Jane's Hotel on Game-Boyz. I received the review copy free from G5 Entertainment. Jane's Hotel is a game similar to Cake Mania. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit.

The Treasures of Mystery Island / Apple / Reviews

I just reviewed another game at Game-Boyz, The Treasures of Mystery Island! It's a find-the-hidden-object game for the iPhone that was provided to me for free by Alaware Entertainment.

Sonic 4

There's an Intro section on the official Sonic 4 website now with the background story of Sonic 4. There's no direct link, but click "Intro" under "Game Info" on the upper left of the site to see it. The site recaps the story for Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles.

Basically, the story is that in Sonic 1 Dr. Eggman turns animals into robots on South Island in an attempt to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic defeats Dr. Eggman in Final Zone. Then, in Sonic 2, Dr. Eggman tries to create the Death Egg. Sonic and Tails fight him on West Side Island and the Death Egg, defeating him. Immediately after, in Sonic 3, the Death Egg falls on Angel Island, which was floating in the air, causing it to crash into the sea. Angel Island held the Master Emerald. Knuckles steals the Chaos Emeralds because Dr. Eggman convinced him that Sonic was after the Master Emerald. Dr. Eggman repairs the Death Egg, but Sonic and Tails blow it up again. It crumbles back down on Angel Island. Finally, in Sonic & Knuckles, Dr. Eggman has EggRobo attack Knuckles because he no longer needs him. Dr. Eggman then steals the Master Emerald and launches the Death Egg again. Knuckles pursues EggRobo, and Sonic pursues Dr. Eggman. Sonic saves the Master Emerald and returns it to Knuckles and Angel Island, allowing the island to float again. Now Dr. Eggman prepares to fight Sonic once more.

For anyone who cares about the Sonic story (which most likely isn't anyone reading this), this is interesting for a few reasons. It seems that the Sonic 4 story is disregarding every game besides Sonic 1,2,3, and S&K. Also, there's no mention of the Super Emeralds. There used to be confusion about why Knuckles thought Sonic took the Chaos Emeralds when they hadn't been on Angel Island, but they took that part out as well. It's the simplest explanation and is what I expected, but it's interesting to see it.

Editorial: Thoughts on the Ensidia ban

Dawn Moore provides well written and informative editorial on the recent Ensidia ban. I haven't done the research she has, and of course, no one but Ensidia really knows what happened and what their motivations were. Assuming Dawn was correct in her facts, I agree with most of her deductions. Given that information, it seems to me that the Ensidia members did deserve the 72-hour ban. That said, I can't blame them for using the exploit.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 Q&A - Xbox 360 Previews at GameSpot

SEGA of America announced that GameSpot would be revealing Project Needlemouse at midnight tonight (12:00 AM 2/4), and they certainly did! It's actual title is Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, and it going to be downloadable on all three consoles. The versions will be near identical, but the Wii's will be 480p while the other two will be 1080p. Also, certain parts will take advantage of the Wii motion controls and the PS3's Sixaxis. I don't really want any motion control, but I think I'll go with PS3 just to have the nice d-pad. I'm really excited about this! Sonic 4 will be out this summer.

SEGA America Blog | Happy Hedgehog Day!

Happy Hedgehog Day! I hope everyone's excited about Hedgehog Week! All week, SEGA will be releasing information about the new Sonic game, Project Needlemouse, including it's official name on Thursday. Also, today marks the 16th anniversary of the US release of Sonic 3!

If a Genesis and a Wii had a baby, it would be Sega Zone

Sorry, just kidding! It's the Sega Zone. It contains 50 games, 20 of which are classic Genesis titles, as well as a slot for Genesis carts. It physically looks like a Wii knock-off only with a bit more "bling." I've seen things like this previously, but it still looks cool. It's about 60 USD and is coming to the UK.

The Backloggery - TheUser's Backloggery

The Backloggery is an interesting site for gamers who are obsessive like I am. You use it to track your backlog! In other words, it catalogs your game collection and tracks which games you still need to finish. It also groups compilations together (grouping SMB 1, 2, 3, and Lost Levels as four different games all under Super Mario All-Stars, for example), which is quite handy, and records the original platform of each game. I just finished entering all 643 of my games into the system!

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal / Apple / Reviews

My review of The Mystery of the Crystal Portal is up at Game-Boyz. It was provided to me by G5 Entertainment.

Although some people had defeated Rotface in PUGs or with other guilds, Carpe Flux Capacitor as a whole has been unable to defeat 10-man Rotface until this past Tuesday (as I mentioned previously). I had the privilidge of raiding that time, which was my first time in the Plagueworks and second time in Icecrown Citadel, not considering fail PUGs that started on Deathbringer Saurfang, fail guild runs filled with alts and PUGs, and trash runs.

It was really interesting. Festergut was a fun but not very hard fight. I was marked, and the ranged were told to clump on me where I was standing when Festergut used Gas Spore. That just made it extra easy because I didn't have to move, although I also felt special that people came to me (even if I didn't do anything).

Rotface was just awesome. Struggling with the guild and trying different tactics is still new to me. It just felt amazing. We had three healers, and on our first couple attempts, we didn't coordinate. After a few wipes, we decided to be a little more organized. We had one designated tank/melee healer, one raid healer, and one healer focusing on the off-tank kiting the Big Ooze and the players running to him. I was the off-tank healer (and Mutated Infection remover). This made things go much more smoothly.

As Tydros, the off-tank, ran around the perimeter, I made smaller circles on the inside so I could stay near him. I could probably have done my job with a lot less moving, but it made it easier to be near him and watching. There were still a couple problems. First, healing someone running to Tydros wasn't a big deal, but healing myself while running to him was a bigger deal. I can't actually say that this caused problems for the group, but it really disoriented me. Another problem was multiple slimes being up at the same time. Sometimes someone with Mutated Infection wouldn't get to the off-tank in time, leaving a Small Ooze somewhere else. Similarly, this means that sometimes a Big Ooze was exploding while other Small Oozes already existed.

The last problem was that people sometimes were unable to find the off-tank. He was marked at the start of each attempt, but after he got Mutated Infection, he would become marked with a different mark. After the infection was removed, he would no longer be marked, and neither of us (the two people worrying about Mutated Infection) had the ability to remark. I pointed this out, and he was given Assist so he could remark himself if needed. Eventually, on what was to be our last attempt, we got him really low before wiping, so decided to give it one more go. That last attempt (duh) was when we finally downed Rotface.

I also wanted to mention something about ICC-25. I've only done a 25-man once, and it was an Icecrown Citadel PUG on a Monday night before raid resets. I had between 800 and 1500 ms latency (most likely due to there being two people sharing Wi-Fi both in 25-mans and both running Vent). The lag kind of sucked. I wouldn't want to try another 25-man in which people depend on me unless it was a guild run and I could do trash as a trial or a bad PUG that I didn't care about. Anyways, as a disc priest, I felt that my role was much more defined in 25-man. In 10-mans, even when I'm "tank healing," I'm still doing extra healing. In the 25-man, I focused just on the tanks. It also seemed like had I not been lagging my Penance could actually heal the tank rather than become overhealing. Regardless, these thoughts on doing 25-mans are just from the one 25-man raid I did before going with on the run that killed Rotface. This is important to note because while that was the first time I felt like my role was really defined, it was before I had that awesome ICC-10 experience. In fact, we had much more coordination as a guild on the 10-man run than the PUG on the 25-man. Still, I'd be interested in trying 25-man content in the future.

iSamJackson / Apple / Reviews

I just posted my review of iSamJackson at Game-Boyz. It's actually a really funny soundboard featuring Samuel Jackson. I got it from Heatwave Interactive, and they even sent me an iPhone 3G case that says "BAD MOTHER ****** iSamJackson" on it - except that word was written in of course.

Magnetic Sports Soccer / Apple / Reviews

My review of Magnetic Sports Soccer was posted today on Game-Boyz. It's sort of like foosball except for two differences. First, only the goalies can move. Second, the ball acts like it's magnetically pulled to the players. Anyways, it was pretty fun! I received the game for free from publisher Bulkypix.

Guild First Rotface, originally uploaded by theuser.

gem and I were there for Carpe Flux Capacitor's guild first killing of Rotface! I posted this on the Playground Justice Blog as well, but I'm very excited! There's a post on the CFC site as well!

Cute guy at the Dalaran North Bank - w4m

I'll reproduce the post below this. Any idea who wrote this? The "you" sure sounds like me!

---

Hi! I saw you at the Dalaran North bank last night. I forgot my ATM card, so I had to run in really quick. You were at a different teller, and I thought about saying hi, but by the time I was done and out of line, you were already gone.

You: Tall guy with a blue mohawk. I think I remember seeing you with the Hammer of Purified Flame, but I couldn't make it out clearly.

Me: Pretty average height girl wearing my red hair in a ponytail. I had my 2pT10 on and gold hoop earrings.

I know that chances are you'll never see this, but you looked like the kind of guy who'd shield me from anything.

While I'm not even two hours into Desperate Struggle yet, I have to say I'm already pleased with it and excited to continue. It takes place three years after the first in a Santa Destroy that's now a larger city, filled with large corporations. There seems to be more cut-scenes, but that might just be early in the game. The graphics are still great, and the little bits of breaking the fourth wall are amusing while not annoying. The first fight was fun but simple. It was a tutorial after all.

But let me tell you about the two things that made me fall extra in love with the game. First, Travis' cat is back, but now she's fat! You can play with her to make her lose weight, but exercising makes her unhappy. Then you give her treats to make her happy! She's fat and cute! Second, Desperate Struggle has awesome minigames! There's a video game Travis owns in his house. It's called Bizarre Jelly 5, and it's a vertical shoot 'em up in which you control a magical girl who can shoot with her hand. On the harder difficulty, it's like a (mild) bullet hell. Bizarre Jelly is based on the anime that Travis Touchdown loves. After I played it, it unlocked a video that allowed me to watch an anime clip of Bizarre Jelly, complete with the second and third panty shots in Desperate Struggle (the game's not for kids). The side jobs all play as simple games that feel like they would have been right at home on the NES. They're fantastic!

All in all, the main gameplay is still awesome, and the minigames are great. I love how aware Desperate Struggle is that it's a game. It's like an homage to the medium as a whole.

Capcom has once again created an awesomely fun Vs. title. It's true that I don't know any of the Tatsunoko characters, but that doesn't stop them from being interesting characters. I prefer the graphics over SF4 with it's simpler backgrounds and 3D models with a bit of cel-shading. Street Fighter IV, which does have an interesting graphical style, consists of characters bulging all over the place with muscles and gross eyes. TvC is a 2v2 fighting game with 3D models on a 2D field.

It can be played with Wiimote and nunchuck (although I wouldn't want to use an analog stick for a fighter), Classic Controller, or Wiimote held sideways, which is how I always play. It's nice to see a simple control system. For the most part, you use two buttons for fighting with a third to call your partner. Just like with Marvel vs. Capcom, the characters are a lot of fun to use, and I'm looking forward to unlocking Frank West (from Dead Rising) and Zero (from Mega Man X).

Ultimate All-Stars gained an online mode after being localized from Cross Generation of Heroes. The game also has really great music and sound effects. I'm glad they didn't put in some hip-hop music in an attempt to localize. The music sounds very... early DDR. I like it.

If I get around to it, I'll write a full review later! But for now, I really recommend Tatsunoko vs. Capcom if you like fighting games.

There are some obvious generalizations to be made from my last post. First, any role in which I'm going to be using Flash Heal benefits from me having two pieces of healing-T10. This is pretty obvious. The 2-piece bonus from healing-T10 is to have Flash Heal have a chance to place a HOT. If my role is tank healing with Greater Heal, the 2-piece healing-T10 set bonus is worthless, so it would be better for me to go for additional throughput by taking the DPS-T10. For raid healing, I want Prayer of Mending to be stronger, so I should keep 2 pieces of T9 for the 2-piece set bonus. The T10 facts came as no surprise to me, but I hadn't thought of keeping the T9 pieces. Maybe I'll keep two pieces of T9 on me in case there's a fight in which I think having the Prayer of Mending bonus would be beneficial.

I've been trying to decide how to spend my frost emblems. Here's what I'm buying:

Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Volde's Cloak of the Night Sky
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of False Gestures
Circle of Ossus
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing
Spark of Light -> Purified Lunar Dust

For my own reference, here's what Rawr came up with when optimizing under different conditions.

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/fh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of Ambivalence
Lightweave Leggings
Sandals of Consecration
16305.77 -> 17873.88

---

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/gh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Cowl (dps)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Meteor Chaser's Raiment
Gloves of False Gestures
Leggings of Woven Death
Sandals of Consecration
Score: 16277 -> 17904.91

---

raid - pw:s/penance/fh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
keep current T9 chest
keep current T9 gloves
Lightweave Leggings
Sandals of Consecration
Score: 24465.8 -> 26152.38

------

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/fh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of False Gestures
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing)
keep current shoes

---

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/gh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Cowl (dps)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Meteor Chaser's Raiment
Gloves of False Gestures
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing)
keep current shoes

---

raid - pw:s/penance/fh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Ermine Coronation Robes
keep current T9 gloves
keep current T9 pants
Keep current shoes
Score: 24465.8 -> 25467.19

My Best of 2009 was posted over at Game-Boyz. It was actually posted almost a week ago, but I missed it. There's no normal link to the article. I had to click a small "Recent posts" link in the bottom right and then look through a table of posts to find it.

My list includes Space Invaders Infinity Gene, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Atsumari, Rat on the Run, World of Warcraft: Mobile Armory, and GameCenter.

Atsumari was the only game that I received for free as a review copy, but I assure you, it deserved to be on the list.

Atsumari App Store Description, originally uploaded by theuser.

A quote from my review was put in the App Store description of Atsumari! I know it's dumb to be excited about this kind of thing but... =D too bad!

Graal, originally uploaded by theuser.

Graal Classic is a version of Graal Online developed for the iPhone! It was released last month, and I just tried it today! It feels pretty good! Menus and such seem to lag a bit. Hopefully they're better on an iPhone 3G. The game ran smoothly over WiFi and claims to work over Edge and 3G. I'll check that soon! I died pretty quickly after starting. Everyone's pretty PVP crazy in Graal. You can see a picture of my first death!

Babel Rising is a simple game and is quite fun / Apple / Reviews

My review of Babel Rising for the iPhone is up at Game-Boyz.com. It's a pretty fun game! Waves of people come to build and tower, and you have to stop them. It's similar to those games in which you have to defend a keep or a castle. My review copy was provided by Bulkypix.

Hellgate: London servers set to reopen in Europe and U.S.

Hellgate: Resurrection: Hellgate: Tokyo Announced Today - MMORPG News - New MMO News, Free MMOs, Tidbit, Top 10, Topics, Previews - News.mmosite.com

Joystiq reports from gamesindustry.biz" that HanbitSoft, who owned the rights to Hellgate: London in Korea, has acquired worldwide rights to publishing the software and plans on reopening servers in Europe and the United States. The game will now be called Hellgate: Resurrection and will have new features.

This is definitely good news. Reading through the comments on Joystiq, it's obvious that a lot of people do not share my excitement at Hellgate's return. Most likely they're judging the game based on what it was originally. Yes, Hellgate: London was pretty horrible (although still fun!) at launch, and it remained so for quite some time; however, the game was much better at the time of server shutdown. I was actively playing at the time, having recently come back to the game. Hellgate definitely still has some issues.

My three biggest issues were needing to use the mouse to look around while also needing to use the cursor, the sluggish interface, and the bland atmosphere. The first two problems combine to be particularly annoying, but you do get used to the cursor usage. I doubt the atmosphere can be fixed. The entire game is gray. Thanks Gears of War for making gray worlds so popular! I understand their reasoning: a post-apocalyptic world should be covered in dirt and dust. Still, I feel like some more color could be used.

Despite these shortcomings, the game was actually very fun. While marketed as an MMO, it functioned similar to Guild Wars. The towns were like MMOs, but everything outside of town was instanced. Playing similar to Diablo, it was really an online, role-playing, dungeon crawler. It had an intriguing plot that I never got to see through to the end. I was always sad that I didn't get to find out what happened at the end. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint! The graphic novel and three novel series were very entertaining. The novels seemed to end without as much conclusion as I had hoped, but they were still quite enjoyable.

mmosite.com reports that Hellgate: Resurrection includes The Abyss Chronicle, the second patch (the first being the Stonehenge Chronicles), which was developed by Flagship Studios and on the test servers but never released. In addition, HanbitSoft also has new content known as Hellgate: Tokyo, which will take place in Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama. I hope those locations are more colorful! The game has also been tweaked a bit with the removal of the level cap (uh, I doubt there's no cap), a new/changed character advancement system, and changes to class balance.

Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category

WoW.com put up a nice transcript of the WoW developer Twitter chat organized by category. I've included some of the more interested ones to me.

Q. For those of us who collect tabards and armor sets, do you see a way for us to store and not use our very limited inventory?

A. Yes. We'd like to store them the same way you do titles. In general, we don't want to punish the packrats out there who just like to collect stuff. We will have to wait and see what we can do about it though.

This is great news! Tabards should be easy, but I'm curious what they could do for armor sets. When they answered this question, they were probably specifically thinking of tabards and not armor. I'd like to see a 100-slot bag, only purchasable at the level cap, that can hold any armor or weapon piece that was a certain item level below the current tier item level. In other words, you can always put your old stuff in it.

Q. What knowledge have you gained from WotLK/ICC in regards to your future design plans for Cataclysm?

A. That's a broad question for just 140 characters! I'll say one thing we learned in retrospect was that the progressive badge structure has ended up confusing. We have a simpler one in mind that accomplishes the same goals.

It wasn't confusing at all. It worked really well.

Q. Will you be emphasizing more Horde vs. Alliance hatred in the future?

A. It's a major focus for Cataclysm. Neither Garrosh nor Vyrian is a major fan of cross-faction cooperation.

Are we going to get at least some leader to whom we can admire? Garrosh is war crazy, Cairne doesn't do anything, Vol'jin doesn't do anything, Sylvanas is kind of mean (and I don't trust the Forsaken), and I don't even know who the leader of the Blood Elves are. Who should I look up to? Tirion Fordring? I'm not a paladin. Do priests count for anything to the Light? Will he be around in Cataclysm? I doubt the Ashen Verdict will still exist. Will the Argent Crusade, in some form? Will Fordring still be amicable to Horde? I suspect he will, but he's not really my leader. Darion Mograine? I'm not a Death Knight. And I have no idea how the Knights of the Ebon Blade will be integrated into society without the driving force of killing Arthas. Maybe I should look closer to home. My guild leader? Oh yeah, she's inactive, lol.

Q. Will Trolls ever get either their own capitol, or a district in Orgrimmar like the Gnome district in Ironforge?

A. Personally, I think it adds a little to the troll story that they have such an amazing cultural legacy and have fallen so far from that in recent history. That said, we have a little bit of love for trolls in Cataclysm (beyond the ability to be just about every class in the game).

*excited*

Q. Can we expect a Canadian style pet for the Olympics this year?

A. I will put in a request today for an epic moose mount, not sure if it will make it in though.

Room... with a moose!

First-Person Tetris

First-Person Tetris will spin you right round, baby, right round

Just play it.

SEGA America Blog | Project Needlemouse Character Countdown – Finale and Concept Art!

SEGA America Blog has been eliminating possible characters for Project Needlemouse, the new 2D Sonic game, all week. They posted a picture with various characters' names on Monday, and each day they've been rejecting some of the characters. Today SEGA finished by rejecting every character other than Sonic. This is pretty good news for long time Sonic fans. To be honest, there's a lot of characters I don't mind. Tails is alright, although I feel like being able to fly breaks the game a bit. Knuckles is fine, and I enjoyed playing as Amy in Sonic Advance. Still, I hate the introduction of random, additional characters with each game. Here's hoping Project Needlemouse turns the Sonic series around!

Yes, I Wrote for the WoW Magazine – Check out my Articles | World of Matticus

I’m A Sucker For Pretty Things « Azure Shadows

The first issue of World of Warcraft Magazine was released recently. It seems most people are pretty pleased with the content besides the fact that it seems rather dated (as print always is). However, Matt from World of Matticus wrote on his blog that he wrote two articles for it yet went uncredited. A woman named Lesley wrote in a comment on an Azure Shadows post that she too went uncredited for her contribution to the magazine. It seems that the editors at World of Warcraft Magazine feel that crediting authors for their work isn't something they should do. Not that I was going to buy the magazine anyways, but I don't think this will help them any.

My review of the fantastic puzzle game, Atsumari, was posted yesterday on Game-Boyz.com. It's a relatively simple game in which you use a few rules to determine which hexes of a hexagonal grid should be black and which should be right. It was a relaxing game, and I really enjoyed it.

I also found that my review was quoted on the front page of Atsumari's web site at Atsumari.com, which really excited me! I had to save a screenshot!

I think I forgot to mention that my review of Twin Blades: The Reaping Vanguard for iPhone was posted at Game-Boyz.com. It's normally $0.99, but I received a review copy for free. It was a really fun, although rather repetitive, hack and slash with really gorgeous sprite art.

My review for Warrior Epic Sagas was posted today. Interestingly enough, my gradings weren't posted along with my text. I gave it a 4/10 for gameplay, 3/10 for graphics, and 3/10 for sound. Warrior Epic Sagas is a free game.

My review of Ghosts Attack just got posted tonight. It was a fun game, and the atmosphere was really cool. It really reminds me of the feeling I got from The Journeyman Project (although none of you but William know what that is). Ghosts Attack is $4.99, but I received a review copy.

I recently reviewed Judgment Day War, an iPhone game by G5 Entertainment and Gaijin Entertainment. I submitted it on the 12th of this month, and it was posted today. The game normally costs $0.99, but I received a review copy for free.

I reviewed Waze yesterday, 12/4, and it was posted today. Waze is a GPS application for the iPhone that uses data from its users to improve. It also keeps track of your improvements in the form of a point score. Waze is a free application. More information about my Game-Boyz reviews can be found here.

I submitted a review of iMEvil - OverLord 2 Edition Vide Game SoundBoard on November 17, and it just got posted today. At the time I wrote it, the application was $0.99 on the App Store, but I received my review copy for free. More information is here.

EA + Wii pushing play, originally uploaded by theuser.

I saw this on Tuesday on campus. A little strange that EA is pushing the Wii by letting people play in a tent at school.

I wrote a review of FIFA 10 for the iPhone recently. I submitted it and it was posted on November 10 over at Game-Boyz. I received the game for free in exchange for writing it, which I feel is important to mention. It's $9.99 on the App Store today. More information can be found at my previous post. The post on Game-Boyz seems under construction, but the content is there.

I was asked recently to review iPhone games and hardware for Game-Boyz. It seems that the owner of Game-Boyz must have liked my GameFAQs reviews, because he contacted me at the e-mail address I use there. In exchange for writing reviews, I get to keep the software for free. For hardware, I've been informed that I can keep cheap hardware for free but not expensive items. I'm very excited about writing for Game-Boyz!

I think it's important to note that I'm receiving the games for free. I'll link to this post explaining the situation in future posts regarding the reviews.

Uncharted 2 - Pre-owned, originally uploaded by theuser.

Uh, this came out today. How is it available used already?

Tim Schafer was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. I watched for two reasons. Sure, I was interested in Schafer, but I wasn't expecting anything I hadn't heard previously. However, I was also curious about how Jimmy Fallon was going to handle having someone from the gaming industry on his show. Fallon has claimed that he wants to treat big video game releases similar to big movie releases. He had four guests on his show - Drew Barrymore (plugging her movie, Whip It), two people from The Universal Records Database (for storing world records), and Tim Schafer.

For those who don't know him, Tim Schafer is the designer of the upcoming Brutal Legend. I'm looking forward to it a lot. It seems like Tenacious D: The Game in a lot of ways. Schafer worked Monkey Island 1 and 2, Maniac Mansion, and Psychonauts among other games, and Brutal Legend is developed by Double Fine, developer of Psychonauts.

Fallon wanted to know how Schafer got the idea for Brutal Legend. Schafer explained that when he was younger and listening to music, he'd look at the album covers. Unlike today where people listen to mp3s and go about their day without looking at the music at all, people used to actually pay attention to the art on the record jacket. Metal albums often had intricate details such as runes on the first album Tim Schafer owned, "Diary of a Madman" by Ozzy Osbourne. He wanted to explore the world of metal that he saw when he stared at the albums.

In Brutal Legend, a roadie is sent back in time to a past during which mankind was enslaved by demons. This is the world of metal the Schafer imagined. He went on to talk about how the main character uses a battle axe as well as a guitar. There was no mention of the term "axe" being used to mean "guitar," but I suspect that played a role as well. The guitar is amplified by the magic, and the main character uses it to summon lightning, pyrotechnics, etc. When asked how he got Jack Black for the role of the main character, Schafer replied that at first he just wanted to make a game that Jack Black would like. To Schafer, Jack Black was the type of person at whom he was aiming the game. There was also mention of Jack Black and Tenacious D loving the serious aspects of music while still appreciating the over-the-topness of it, which is exactly like Brutal Legend. When they were casting the main character, Schafer wanted someone who would sound sort of like Jack Black. Then he found out that Black was a fan of his previous game, Psychonauts, they invited him to play the role. He also said that Ozzy Osbourne is in the game as well.

The interview with Tim Schafer was pretty interesting, and I'm glad I watched tonight. I'm also glad that Jimmy Fallon does seem to be treating games similarly to movies. Yes, movies get more of the spotlight than games, but this is still a nice start. I'm definitely not going to watch Fallon's show regularly because I'm just not interested in the movie industry, but I'll check out his show in the future if there's a guest who's from the video game industry.

I've always really enjoyed Harvest Moon. Learning to manage my time to care for my farm can be stressful, but once I have a routine down, it's actually relaxing. Feed the chickens, grab the egg, feed the cows, milk the cows, brush the cows, brush the horse, harvest, water. Then I get a little bit of precious free time to go up the mountain or talk to a girl. The dating simulator aspect of the game is also fun although simple, reminding me of the system from Azure Dreams. Sadly, I've never finished a Harvest Moon game.

The first I played was Harvest Moon for the SNES. When I picture Harvest Moon in my head, this is the version I see. I played it quite a bit for a while, and I remember talking to William about it while he played it as well. I tried the PlayStation version, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature as well which was 3D and ugly. Some people liked it more, but I just couldn't get into it. I did have a friend, most likely Shaun, who used to play it at my house, but I passed on it.

William let me borrow Harvest Moon 64 for the N64, and that was much more enjoyable than Back to Nature. It was also 3D but just seemed more pleasant. Harvest Moon 64 featured a greenhouse, allowing me to grow plants even in the winter. Even though Harvest Moon is a single player, I really enjoyed talking to William about this game while I played it.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town came out in fall of 2003, my senior year of high school. William and I each bought a copy. This was the first time I played Harvest Moon on a portable, and it was great to have it with me wherever I went. I talked to William every night about how far we were and what was happening. In this version, sprites lived around the farm. After I befriended them, they did various work around my farm for me. This version seemed really amazing, and it was by far my favorite. Unfortunately, I lost the game and never did find it.

In my second year of college, I purchased Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. This was just too stressful for me. I kept having to check FAQs to make sure I didn't miss things, and I didn't want to play like that. However, I didn't want to progress in the game only to find that I was unable to get something because the opportunity passed. I ended up giving up pretty early. Maybe the previous versions also had things I could miss, but I just didn't know. A Wonderful Life was also the first time I played Harvest Moon without discussing it with William frequently. Luckily, gem played it too so I talked to her about it!

I think it's time to play Harvest Moon again. On the DS there's Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, and in November Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands will be released in the US. There's also Rune Factory and Rune Factory for the DS which feature dungeons and action-RPG elements. Rune Factory Frontier is also on the Wii. Rune Factory seems to be pushing the 3D a little bit too far, leaving the game looking ugly. I'll start with Harvest Moon DS and see how I like it. Perhaps I'll finish it this time!

Okay, by gamer, I just mean me. Joystiq and GameSpot just confirmed the rumors about Super Street Fighter IV. Disappointingly, it's a retail game, not DLC. It's adding eight characters, but only three have been revealed - T. Hawk, Dee Jay, and newcomer Juri. Characters have been rebalanced, and new ultras have been introduced. The online features are also going to be "enhanced," whatever that means.

I'd be excited if this was reasonably priced DLC, but making us pay for a new game while at the same time making our older version worthless doesn't please me. I'm sure this will also weaken online play in the original Street Fighter IV, thus lowering the value of the game for those of us who don't want the new version.

Sources:
GameSpot, Joystiq

Yesterday was my Dreamcast party, and I had a blast. I started the day by playing Sonic Adventure by myself. I love how beautiful the game looks even today. When I first saw it, I was amazed. It was Sega's blue skies at their best! I played up to the point where Sonic finds Tails. I just love that first love, complete with loops and a whale that chases Sonic.

Soon after the guests began to arrive. There were eleven people at the party counting myself - Gemma, William, Edward, Pat, Tony, James, Antonio, Linh-Nam, Collin, Duncan, and myself. We had chili dogs in honor of Sonic and cupcakes with Dreamcast swirls on them. We also had a variety of soda, juice, chips, and dip.

We started the multiplayer with Power Stone 2. It's definitely my favorite 3D fighter, and one my favorite fighters in fact. Then we played some Samba de Amigo, which Pat brought. That game's fantastic! I played the Wii sequel, but the maracas work so much better on the Dreamcast. There's mat that you put down with a sensor bar that attaches via velcro. It plugs into the Dreamcast, and the two maracas attach to the bar. It senses the height of the two maracas, and the maracas have one button each. It was fun, and now I'm borrowing it from Pat. Thanks!

We also played Chu Chu Rocket, one of my all-time favorite games. It was great to bring that game back out of my closet. Some guests played Crazy Taxi 2 while I took care of food. Then we played San Francisco Rush 2049. That game's crazy. It was hysterical, but I think it'd be pretty boring in single player. What got crazy was the wings that the cars have. When you're airborne after driving off a ramp, pressing a particular button causes wings to extend. I'm sure they do something useful, but for me, they just seemed to cause me to spiral out of control before exploding. Every time you run into anything, your car explodes. Crazy, but fun.

Ooga Booga, a game designed to be a party game, was strange and not that fun. After only a few minutes we moved to the next game. Bust-A-Move 4 was fun, but I'm sure no one was surprised. I think we're all familiar with Bust-A-Move. The guests played Looney Tunes Space Race and Armada while I did other things, neither of which seemed very interesting. They also played King of Fighters for a bit.

Then it was time for KISS Psycho Circus! This game was ridiculous! You play as a member of a KISS tribute band. Apparently the members of the tribute back one day have super powers for some reason. It seemed like a bad Hexen or Heretic clone. The coolest thing about this game was the enemy known as the Arachnoclown, part spider, part clown. Picture a centaur. Now replace the horse part with spider. Now picture the human part very overweight, wearing a stupid shirt and clown make-up. Ta da! Arachnoclown!

Then we played 4x4 Evolution, which to our surprise featured a variety of real cars. I played against William in a pitch black match with rain, although for some reason we couldn't really see any rain. It was a bit buggy, and for a while William was dragged slowly around the track after driving too far out and getting stuck. After something similar happened to me and he was teleported back on the track, he was able to win.

We tried some Alien Front Online, which allowed us to blow up the Capitol. That game wasn't that great, but I remember enjoying it when it came out. Then in Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 we tried beating on each other for a while. The character models were pretty strange, and I never really figured out any strategy. It seemed like whichever character had the greater reach would win.

Finally we played Sonic Shuffle. I bought it three years ago and never had the chance to play it until now. It definitely feels very similar to Mario Party, but was still different and fun. By this time the only people left at the party were Collin, Duncan, and William. We played for a while before William had to leave, and then we switched his character to computer controlled. The map was a train level, and different cars of the train would disconnect or reconnect. At one point, the car with Knuckles, the computer player, disconnected and stupid Knuckles was trapped for a while. There's a helicopter space that can be landed on which causes a helicopter to pick you up and take you somewhere else. Unfortunately for Knuckles, it dropped him back on the same car the first time he tried to use it. Eventually I won, but I was pretty surprised that actually. I hope we get a chance to play it again. Unlike Mario Party's dice system, Sonic Shuffle uses cards. Each player is dealt a hand of cards, and you pick a card and move the number of spaces corresponding to which card you pick. You can see your own cards and now your opponents, and you can pick anyone's card. This means you might want to try to remember what cards they have, although they can shuffle their hands so you don't know which card is where. I'm going to try and unlock some new characters, but I don't know how much fun single player will be.

The party was a lot of fun, and it was great to honor the Dreamcast. Hopefully everyone who came had a good time. Thanks for coming!

Happy 10th birthday Dreamcast! I look forward to celebrating with you today!

I'm also looking forward to hitting 1000 hours played on Devee in World of Warcraft and playing bob's game!

Capcom-Unity recently embedded a clip of the Phoenix Wright musical from YouTube, including English subtitles. I still can't get over how strange it is that Phoenix Wright became a musical. I hope that the DVD gets released here or that there's some other way for Americans to watch the Japanese release. It's also amusing that Capcom-Unity found this via Kotaku.

Source: Ashcraft, Brian. "Japanese Phoenix Wright Musical In English!" Kotaku. 8/31/09.

Via: "We Do Not Object to These English Subtitled Ace Attorney Musical Videos." Capcom-Unity Blog. 8/31/09.