AndrewTS

My Belkin works fine for DS and Wii, but my PSP is *impossible* to get online. Just flat out impossible. I get an IP time out every time.

Some things you may not know about Crisis Core: -The game is headed by a first-time director, yet has incredible polish and production values. -The script/localization is really good. It's often downright funny, too. Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal fangirls openly bicker over their favorite SOLDIER 1st Class dudes! -The gameplay does an excellent job of balancing "action" and "RPG" in its battles. It's in real-time but mashing won't get you far except against really weak enemies. Think of FFXII with timing bars thrown out, and a faster pace. -The lead character is interesting, well-defined and likable, despite some level of similarity to someone else (Cloud). -The DMW wheel is, well, kind of hard to explain. It's not really random. You do earn real EXP, and it just *looks* random when you level up / materia levels up. Basically, the tougher enemies you fight, the more likely you/materia levels up. -You can actually go over your HP/MP/AP limit, when you get a "Power Surge" you may gain more than your actual capacity. When you use/lose it you can't directly renew it past your limit, but it can give you a great advantage when you take on a really tough mission, but *play well* enough that you can survive anyway. -Of course, if you liked anything about FFVII, you should get this. However, even if you hate it with every fiber of your being, it's still a fine game anyway.

Now and always. The dongle was just an alternative for those without wireless internet. I *think* WEP is required, though.

He's as funny as Chevy Chase. ...is now. However, he is the most funny recent SNL alumnus. That doesn't mean dick, though.

Knew about it since his very first video on The Escapist, actually...

We are getting that, actually.

Lost Odyssey's got its share of cutscenes, but you can pause and skip them, so I'm cool with it. Plus, if Xenosaga had Jansen I could tolerate it more. The game's okay but if you've played through disc 1 you've played through the whole game more or less. Anya's basically got the game beat and very little actually *happens* and the game's battle/skill system is about as dull and ancient as they come. It feels more like Final Fantasy...oh, IV...than its modern peers. Those aren't the problems, actually. It's more the repetitious game design that's the problem; the missions that never change much and aren't any fun anyway. I can't imagine what you found problematic about the controls except combat (the rest is easy). Combat isn't the games' focus (and that part is supposed to be hard anyway), and aggressive approaches to combat simply don't work well--it's supposed to be that way. If you think it's a "bad" game than you must live in quite the happy little fantasy land of little else but super A+ games. It is a game that is nothing like how it was originally planned, and somewhat collapsed under its own ambition. Remember that part in the tutorial about working your way through lines of people and crowds? Did you *ever* do that in game? Thought not. Assassin's Creed circa 2005 game concepts isn't the same beast as Assassin's Creed the 2007 retail release. They knew it was going to be a series from the beginning. Like it or not, it's probably what was planned. Hop back into the Animus and check the little attachment at the end of the last chapter. It's the ending. Yes, in text form! The story is fine, but the switch in tone is annoying.

The games mostly used glorified 3D effects, so it's possible. I'd d/l Wario Land since I haven't found an overall-good emulator for VB Great new announcement for WiiWare: Toki Tori! http://kotaku.com/378268/two-tribes-revive...ori-for-wiiware

Garrison will probably be happy for a bit, then he'll want a pair of testicles...

Maybe only on one or two jokes, but mainly because of his accent or Brit/Aussie terms I don't understand. I'm about to watch the No More Heroes one. Perfect candidate for one of his reviews; a game I throughly enjoyed while being perfectly conscious of its many flaws. EDIT: so did he, apparently.

Yes and no; they revised it to block out international companies exploiting it, but Boll's exploitation of it is still hunky dorey.

I'd think if you played absolutely nothing else during that time, the game should load quickly. When I played Ninja Gaiden Black on my 360, if I only played that, the initial load times on the game would be very brief. If I switched games, it would be back to being a long time. Anyone know if that is still an issue with the GotY edition?

Alien Crush 2: I assume that's WiiWare, right? It'd be hard to top Devil's Crush. Metroid Prime Pinball didn't grab me, for instance. God of War II actually fits that description, in a lot of ways. The amount of combat was scaled down and the puzzle-solving boosted a bit. There's more use of grappling/swinging play mechanics than in GoW1. Heck, you even have wings you wrest from an insane Icarus that are used for a few flying sequences, and when they aren't, they're used for gliding to complete difficult (or otherwise impossible) jumps. Plus the first boss battle is against the Colossus of Rhodes, although most of your climbing is the inside of it. Also, I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate God of War 1, but GoW2 is terrific.

Kotaku.com is reporting that Fantasy Zone and Wonderboy will be the first Master System titles to come to the US Virtual Console, and will cost 400 Wii Points. This adds yet another new system to the U.S. Virtual Console for Nintendo to publish the most well-known, successful titles from, then complacently forget about. Except for crappy titles that no one wants to buy anyway (see: China Warrior).

Kingdom Hearts 3? Has it been confirmed yet? I remember reading over a year ago that it would eventually be coming out, and on the Wii. Unsubstantiated rumor; Nomura announced "multiple Kingdom Hearts projects" which included DS, PSP, and and mobile spinoffs/prequels, and no Wii or PS3 title has been hinted at even. KH2 wrapped up the series' loose ends pretty tightly. Plus, the Kingdom Hearts team and Nomura's big project this year is going to be Final Fantasy XIII vs. on PS3. I wouldn't rule out KH3 coming at some point (especially with the rechristened "Crystal Tools" being planned use on Wii: http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/02/finalfantasy.html). However, it appears very unlikely until at least '09, unless it's being ninja developed. Square's Wii input will surely be increasing, but PS3 not being dominate left them with some egg on their faces and a lot of time and money invested in games designed for the PS3 exclusively. The Wii 3rd party bomba boogeyman/myth/self-fulfilling prophecy may cause them to drag their asses a bit, though. However, they'll go for a sure thing, no doubt. Right now, the DS is the sure thing and that'll get lots o' love first. However, Square games are about the only 3rd party PSP titles that Japan buys up in massive amounts.

Never really left, more like lurky. However, things have slowed down in the games biz these days, and I've been hitting my backlog hard. There's still plenty of games I wanna finish still, but the biggest game of 2008 (so far, and possibly period, even with stuff like Gears 2 coming) was something I am not passing up. It seems you MUST be in Shadow Moses stage...then.. There might be a trick to doing it consistently, but it seems like mashing d-pad down rapidly in sequence does the trick for me (I'm using GC controller, so that's down-taunt). However, often I just hide in a box, so there's another trick I'm sure. Mashing it at the start of the match, or mashing it while I'm using shield then letting go seems my best bet. Luigi gets no respect; no respect at all! Was up to a certain point, then stopped paying attention at anything but the character reveals. That or maybe senility set in before the game was freakin' released. Until the Prime games, I'd heard of people referring to Samus as "Metroid", and Kid Icarus is a way more obscure game. So my guess is "until it gets a proper new-gen sequel."

I think Marvin needs to be GANNONBANNED! 2 n's, not 3. On Link: boomerang seems to be a bit slower to me, but range may be different on it so that could be why. However, I really do like Pit's arrows, which you don't have to shoot straight forward. For a "sword based character" Link is vastly different from the F.E. boys, anyway. Similar ranges on basic attacks, though. Link's attacks, on the whole, dish out way more damage. Plus, the damage is the same no matter what distance he hits you. Marth's sword attacks do less damage if you're closer to him. Marth has some good combos that make up for it, though. I haven't spent much time w/ Ike.

Why? What do stickers do? (*reads the f'n manual*) ...oh. Me too.

Got the game and completed Subspace Emissary, about half of it in co-op. Lovin' it. However, having the camera always focus on Player 1 can really screw things up.

Gru's randomly on one of those comic covers in a shot inspired directly from NFA. I'm sure Anya could dig it up. So I do believe he's in After The Fall, but I haven't bothered checking it out. Too much about it sounded really lame.

This better be good. What they have to offer right now is free and it's still a ripoff.

Virtual Boy killed Gunpei Yokoi.

At the moment, there are 360 shortages, though, so there's no reason to do a price cut, just like with Wii. I can't honestly think of a reason to recommend the "Arcade" or "Core" 360, unless you only have dial up internet. Even then, 360's (limited) BC with Xbox games can still be used.

http://kotaku.com/358821/gears-of-war-2-co...-in-two-flavors http://kotaku.com/358805/gears-of-war-2-teaser

I had thought Shane Kim confirmed "a new Gears of War" project some weeks ago, but seems that was just a rumor someone else dropped. Least surprising news since Resistance 2.