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May 19, 2010

An Early Postcard From Bright Falls

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 2:02 pm

Alan Wake
I’m only three chapters into Alan Wake and I’m already a happy camper in the town of Bright Falls. That could still change before I reach the ending, and I’ve found a few things that are entertaining for the wrong reasons.

For instance, as Alan explores the woods of Bright Falls at night, sudden gusts of darkness will sweep in with violent winds that give a heads up to imminent danger. Of course these are triggered when the player reaches a certain area, and being a curious jerk I’ve spent too much time walking back and forth to trigger it on occasion, like a kid continually pressing his foot against a squeaky floorboard.

While sinking deeper into the spiraling mystery the game offers, I’ve also had the chance to become addicted to a television show within the game – a Twilight Zone knock-off called “Night Springs” that must be good, because I’ve completely stopped to watch two episodes in full – the entire concept of Quantum Suicide is gold by the way.

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May 16, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Catching Up With An Old Friend

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 4:32 pm

Rocket Knight
Happy as I was at the idea of Konami bringing back their heroic opossum and former mascot, I had reservations about Rocket Knight from the word go. Most of my doubt rode on the 3D artstyle, which is quicker and cheaper than the way mom used to make games, but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

After more than a few play-throughs you still won’t change my mind about the charm of the oldschool approach, but Rocket Knight looks quite a bit better than I expected. Keep in mind that the game uses a zoomed out perspective, which offers plenty of space for details to overwhelm the eyes, with characters in the background, objects in the foreground, and Sparkster himself all fighting for attention. There were times I took damage simply from losing Sparkster for the trees.

The trade off is that you never really get a close-up connection to the characters, so smaller details that make me continue cherishing platformers of the past never really come into play here.

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May 13, 2010

Gamesugar’s Mango-Cherry Flavored Heroes Paradise Contest!

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 8:08 pm

Heroes Paradise
Not only is that the most fun I’ve ever had writing a post title, but it also means Gamesugar has a sweet contest for all of you!

As you may have heard, the release of No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise in Japan was accompanied with a pre-order bonus of erotica art portraits featuring the lovely ladies of No More Heroes – Sexy Cherry flavored for the PlayStation 3, and Sweet Mango for the XBOX 360.

Given that I’m pretty excited about the Japanese release, and suspect I’m not alone in pulling for it to put in an appearance here in North America, Marvelous Entertainment has offered us the chance to give a treat to the fans out there that want to see that happen. As a result, Gamesugar has received sets of the Mango/Cherry erotica portrait pre-order bonus to giveaway to 5 lucky readers. Those 5 winners will be receiving a copy of both the Mango and Cherry portraits together – it just didn’t seem right to split them apart.

What do you need to do to win? Read on to find out!

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That Old Time Charm

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , — Jamie Love @ 5:33 pm

Viva Pinata
As exciting as the new release cycle can be, there are plenty of days where I really want to take my SNES, a copy of Yoshi’s Island and a few other choice carts, and seal myself away in a cave for a few years. I’m not necessarily antisocial mind you, there are just periods where I’m incredibly tired of getting excited for titles on the horizon, only to have the final release dash my hopes that there can still be games that make my fingers tingle with excitement the way I remember.

It always seems like an easier option to crawl back into my childhood memories, which probably skews the truth plenty to make the games of yesterday seem so much better than what we have now.

Over the last week I’ve been watching my girl play a game I missed the first time around though, Rare’s 2006 release of Viva Piñata. The result so far is that I’m absolutely stunned at how refreshed I feel, even from passively experiencing the game, which also comes from a company I’d almost entirely written off.

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Review – 3D Dot Game Heroes

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:21 am

3D Dot Game Heroes
The Kingdom of Dotnia was once a tourist magnet, a place where visitors flocked to following the heroics of one brave and mythical figure who overcame evil in the classical tradition society is structured by. Unfortunately for Dotnia, the tourism industry began to suffer as people became less interested in 2D heroics, forcing the King to issue a decree that would push the Kingdom into the 3D frontier.

That decision provides the space for 3D Dot Game Heroes to unleash its block based world of nostalgia on gamers, but also severely depresses the hell out of me.

Rather than a 2D game that attempts to bring audiences back to a realm abandoned by the industry more than gamers, 3D Dot Game Heroes replicates one of the most cherished 2D legends in 3D. It’s one of those ideas you’d have in the shower and chuckle about for awhile after – and then as you realized there was little else to bring to the table you’d probably drop the idea.

Bits of Dragon Warrior drip in at times, but traveling across the overworld of Dotnia to locate dungeons, defeat the boss monsters, and collect the orbs needed to prevent evil from returning is the order of the day for this blocky link to the past.

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May 10, 2010

Persona 3 Portable Is Streamlined

Filed under: Features — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:21 pm

Persona 3 Portable
As far as Persona 3 Portable is concerned, the word of the day is definitely streamlined, and legitimately so because the game moves from screen to screen swiftly, even without the optional install.

I got the chance to view a demo of the title today when Atlus harnessed the power of the Internet to give an overview of the game’s most notable new feature, the ability to play as either gender.

The trade off is that “anime” cut-scenes have been replaced with more character portrait interactions, and that players now navigate the world with an icon rather than running around loose in it – well except for the dungeons of course.

Pressing square brings up a quick menu that allows players to jump to different locations now, admittedly making P3P a more ideal game on the go. Whether or not that’s a huge loss is debatable. One could lament that loss of immersion, but at the same time locations are freshened with a new 2D art perspective, keeping the game focused on character interchanges and battling with Persona.

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May 2, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Nostalgia Trip

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:38 am

Nostalgia Trip
Yesterday I took a road trip to Kitchener to meet up with some good friends and a few of my favorite game collector’s at CGCC’s annual videogame swap meet. I’m fairly certain that checking out stacks of classic videogames and shooting the shit for hours about collecting and playing them is what “good times” is all about.

It’s also earnestly refreshing to escape the new release cycle for an afternoon and remember where so many of us came from – there really aren’t that many places to soak in the nostalgia of the games that ruled my childhood and also talk with people about the titles that stood out for them. Every game has a story for someone, and picking up a copy of Megaman X or Castlevania IV and hearing how it came into someone’s collection is the kind of bonus you’ll just never get at a store. We even got to meet two very young kids that were collecting classic Mortal Kombat titles even though they had the newest consoles.

It’s also a great chance to catch up on filling some holes in one’s collection.

I can remember when my own collecting habits were guided almost entirely by the rarity of titles, grabbing them up to sit like fine jewels on the shelf. Lately however, I’m every bit as content finding a few common games that simply bring back good memories or offer a chance to play a game I missed altogether when it originally released. From the title picture it’s clear I have plenty to keep my thumbs busy today, but I did want to share two finds from yesterday that make me ridiculously happy, which is pretty much the guiding principle for any classic game I pick up these days.

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