AndrewTS

From: Jeremy Parish's 1up blog Japanese site, containing gameplay vids: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/aspj/index.html BTW, NoJ already has a pink DS over there, Anya.

Coming to the US February 27th--yeeees!!

from 1up.com, some new US release dates: GCN Chibi Robo (2/6), Odama (3/6) GBA Drill Dozer, (2/6) Tales of Phantasia (3/6) DS Electroplankton (1/9), True Swing Golf (1/23), Super Princess Peach (2/27), Metroid Prime Hunters (3/20) So Tales of Phantasia finally comes to the US, like a decade since the original Super Famicom release. Ah well.

You're a fool. Anderson's mediocre video game movies turned out relatively well because they (MK, Resident Evil) were based on schlock in the first place. This will be Van Helsing, but stupider. W.S. Anderson is by no means a good director. It's pushing it to call him average. I mean, he's not even as good as Ratner, and *maybe* is on par with McG. Yeah, he isn't Boll, but have we set our sights so low that WS making a movie based on a game is acceptable?! I'll take even the Bible-quoting, "have at you!" Dracula over Roxborough. VH was directed by a guy who allegedly had lots of love for the Universal monsters, but was completely and utterly clueless about what made those movies work. It wasn't cgi and big stupid action scenes, after all. Cornell should be the hero--he's already got it in him to kill Dracula.... I wouldn't mind them hiring some of the folks who designed the sets/outfits/etc though from VH, cuz that stuff was pretty good at least.

A friend wants to know if he should be able to make a good creation for this guy:

I hated Virtual Bart, but it was somewhat playable at least--some stages were pretty good...then you had that damn pig Bart level. Bart and the Beanstalk = ugh. Simpsons Wrestling is worse than you probably can imagine without playing it. Krusty's Super Fun House I flat out hated in every way. I hated it more than any Simpsons game except Bart and the Beanstalk. Hit and Run and Road Rage were okay, as was the old arcade game.

Happens to me now and then--mainly when I've got a few smudges, but sometimes just for no apparent reason. Strangely, I've never gotten a DRE with my PS2 slim except for discs that already look shot to hell.

The X-Box 360 is right around the corner, and it's got its share of reasons to buy (expanded XBL, high end specs, stronger development support). The DS has its dual screens, touch screen, and soon wifi online play. PSP can do the online thang as well, and can play movies, MP3s, and make dopey people pay 40 bucks for old PS1 games with crappy control (although the DS had that phase too--I haven't forgotten about Rayman and Mario 64 DS). However, specs mean nothing without the games. I remember that despite the hype surrounding the PS2, when I tried to decide on whether to get a used PS1 or just plunk down for a PS2, I looked over the pitiful (at the time) library, and I saw one game I actually wanted to play--Klonoa 2. I never thought it'd get a sequel, but was grateful there was one, and picked up the system with a copy of Klonoa 2, although the library of games coming out in the near future was also tempting. My first video game system was the Genesis. At the risk of sounding mundane, I got it for Sonic. I was disappointed to get the "Core" system for Christmas, but my brother in law got one as well and gave me his Sonic 2, so I still ended up with it soon enough. For the SNES, it wasn't Mario, exactly. Finding demo units of SNES units with Super Mario World in them was a common sight, but playing it...it never really resonated with me like SMB did, and I could still play SMW all the time without buying. I will admit, however, that seeing DKC, and then looking back in old magazines about all the great titles I was missing got me into begging for an SNES. The announcement and arrival of Knuckles' Chaotix suckered me into getting a 32X--my dumbest gaming purchase decision ever. Just finding a copy required me to pester my mother to drive all over the greater Pittsburgh area until we found a TRU with copies of the game. Sega CD: my first used system. Got it fairly cheap when we were in the pseudo-next-gen period when Jaguars and 3DOs were on the prowl. Sonic CD was the breaker on that. No longer own it. PS1: I rented one to play the nearly-as-close-as-possible-to-arcade version of Wrestlemania The Arcade Game, but the real reason I actually bought the friggin' thing was that the demo disc included as part of the rental unit included several games that just blew me away--Jumping Flash and Tekken. I didn't see the big deal over Ridge Racer, although I liked it too. So, initially--WM arcade. Let he who was not influenced at all by Toshinden cast the first stone. No longer owned since I have a PS2 now. N64: Mario was nearly enough, but OOT actually convinced me to pick up the system. Saturn-- also was purchased used, from a pawn shop. Not really purchased for one game so much as multiple old titles, but since my EB Games sold import Saturn titles, I picked up mainly to play X-Men vs. SF and Guardian Heroes. Dreamcast -- Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur did the trick, although my DC was purchased long after the fact. Gamecube: Metroid Prime made me cave in, Mario didn't hurt either. X-Box: No longer owned. I got mainly because of the good price, but didn't find a lot of games worth keeping the system for. However, Ninja Gaiden is the game I miss the most. GBA: Castlevania CotM and Wario Land 4 sealed it. DS: Dawn of Sorrow sold me on it, and so far I'm very pleased with that decision. So, anyone else? What's *the* game that compelled you to open up the old wallet (or beg the parents) for a new system?

The PS3 isn't going to be a game console, it's going to be a SUPERCOMPUTER with UNLIMITED ENTERTAINMENT POTENTIAL. It just happens to play games. It'll probably play UMD movies and PSP games as well, but Sony doesn't want to kill off the sales of the PSP before economies of scale kicks in on making those damn things.

Very cool commercials. Basically it seems like a ROM download service, but each "game" is self-contained. No need for emulators, risky downloading of Roms that could come with spyware/viruses, no site wanting you to vote for them on a shady ranking site that with an anime porn banner on it or else you get corrupted Roms. On the downside, although you get a "free trial" you need to sign up with a credit card. It's 15 bucks a month, but since I don't have a real credit card I'll probably hold off on it a bit.

Goldust managed to be one of the few comedy faces that didn't go overboard into irritating territory. I don't know if anyone else on the roster could have as good chemistry with him as Booker did, but I approve of his return. Of course, he'll obviously be heel for a while, but that likely won't last too long.

Anyone know if he owns his ring name or not? IIRC, prior to signing with WWE he wrestled under "Christian Cage" but not sure if Christian became a WWF/E trademark when he signed up with them.

Kameo's pretty darn good considering it was just a demo, but I'm not 100% sold on the final game yet. It's not really a Rare "collectathon", not that anyone really considers Anya an authority on the genre anyway. The multiple forms, puzzle solving, relatively little focus on precision jumping: game Informer wasn't totally off when they compared it to Zelda. However, I don't see it stacking up to Twilight Princess. However, play the game first before you label it, Anya. Say, what did you collect in Kameo? I don't remember that aspect of the demo I played, but maybe it is a different one. The whole main-character-transforms-into-multiple-creatures premise makes it sound, on paper, as derivative as anything Rare's done in the past, but considering how well the game plays so far, the art direction and apparently a decent story, I'd probably spend more time on the demo if it were longer. I agree that it makes little sense to only have *videos* of your launch titles instead of something playable.

Let's see... We've got the incumbent leader in the console race: Sony. Not really promising or planning to deliver anything radically different. Have abused their power, staunchly conservative in their business models, and spends assloads of money. X-Box--the most promising challenger has plans. Lots of plans. Tons of plans and promises and little to actually show for it so far, although a decent performance this past generation. Still rather conservative, but a few "forward-thinking" ideas, and at least is trying to move beyond the status quo. Then there's the long shot...an old face that used to have more influence, and is now offering radical changes that sound pretty good on paper, but are unproven in practice. Likely they'll be drowned out by the hype of the bigger two leaders, and all of their good ideas will be engulfed at some point by the other platforms. At this point I'm leaning towards, but not committed to, the Giant DoucheBox.

Someone needs to call the WWE writing staff on their idiocy! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Like Mick Foley did a few years ago? Oh, you mean and actually keep their word? Never going to happen. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That too.

Uh, but Austin losing to the fucking Coach... that... is... beyond... stupid. You say locker room leader... I ask, where is the leadership amoung the fools coming up with this crap? Someone needs to call the WWE writing staff on their idiocy! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Austin only calls them on their idiocy when it affects him. Otherwise he doesn't give a crap.

I shall rent. And beating the crap out of Tidus is tempting.

Speaks the truth. ^ Christian simply doesn't sign a new contract, but works one more date as asked. Austin walks out just prior to a PPV he's booked on. What a locker room leader.

A hollow victory considering the other worthless Divas that have been hired on and the inevitability of Candice's Playboy push. But I will not be missing her, and Maria > Torrie.

X6 is an annoying kind of hard. The classic versions usually had their tough sections (those platforms that drop out, the blocks that vanish/reappear), but overall weren't that bad compared to other games since you had passwords. The Zero games are nasty, though.

To be fair, I didn't pick up the GC versions of SC2 until I got it really cheap, and even my PS2 version was a preplayed Movie Gallery one. I mean, how awesome can it be that I *need* a new one when the older game is still fabulous?

Those Game Tap commercials are pretty cool.

Well, he quit himself and wasn't released, at least. Of course, lack of details won't stop us from speculating that he quit because WWE wouldn't give him anything resembling a push even though he was getting over well by himself several times.

I'm not sure if it is just a few select KBs, but mine was marking down a lot of games. Here's what I picked up: Tekken 5 - $10 (2 of 'em) Shadow Hearts - $5 Pac-Pix and Polarium for DS, each 10 bucks. Final Fight One (GBA) - 5 bucks. Sword of Mana - 10 bucks Prince of Persia Sands of Time (GC) - 5 bucks There were some Donkey Kongas for 10 bucks, but other folks already snatched them up.

What he said.