Happy 5th Birthday, killer7

Happy 5th Birthday, killer7.

I remember when I first heard about it, it was an early prototype trailer as featured on a disc that came with CUBE magazine. And I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I would never, ever play that game. How wrong I was.

After reading and watching more of it, not to mention eventually playing it, I was captivated. It's a game that keeps me thinking, even now, discovering new things and trying to make sense of it all. I guess killer7 changed my life; it made me realise that games don't have to just be about blowing shit up.

It's also introduced me to some pretty cool people over at the SINdicate, like BTDO, Topdrunkee, Xed and Lisker.

So thank you, GHM and thank you, Suda, for bringing us this marvelous piece of work.

JoJo's Bizarre Toyventure

This is the best day ever.

I get home from work today and what should greet me but two packages, one containing a Gyro Zeppeli Real Action Hero, the other containing Avdol and Kakyoin Super Action Statues.

I pretty much threw the idea of buying a full set of the Stardust Crusaders SAS out the window, so I whittled my options down to two things:
- Buy Star Platinum and The World because hell, I already have Jotaro and Dio; or
- Forget about Stands and just get the Joestar party (minus Joseph, fuck's sake Medicos!).

So I ended up going with the second option, also because I needed to gay up my shelf a little bit more. Waiting on the re-release for Polnareff and then I'm all set for 100% fruitiness.

And then we have Gyro. You have no idea how much of a bitch it was to obtain Gyro. It was literally months of bugging people and all that. Then I realised that agency services exist.

In the end it was so totally worth it because despite bidding fees, agency fees, shipping, etc., Gyro still ended up being cheaper than what I was willing to pay. Not to mention if I had purchased from the only site I could find that had him for sale. (But it was still a pretty pricey collectible.)

Real, nice pictures when I get a better camera or something. And when I decide to spend half an hour trying to open all the packaging.

Best coincidence ever or best coincidence ever

Sent to me by Hal. When trying to post a comment on my ProLay/Dio post below, this word verification popped up:

PROFESSAH

My Professor Layton Revoltech came in the mail today. Out of everything they could have chosen to make into a Revoltech, this is hands down, the best one.

WARNING: Crappy camera, pretty crappy photos.

It sure comes with a lot of stuff! But what totally sold me was the TABLE AND CHAIR. Keep in mind that the last Revoltechs I bought were Optimus and Megatron which came with barely anything, so this was a huge deal to me.

PLUS A TEACUP AND NOTEBOOK, AWESOME

The orange box that you see in the bottom left hand corner is a little box that you can put all the spare hands and whatnot in. Which is extremely useful because I'm sick of misplacing the tiny plastic bags I put all my other action figure parts in.

Close up of the face.

The first thing I did was sit him down in his chair because THAT'S EXCITING. Also because I wanted to make sure that his legs wouldn't look super retarded (as it goes with pretty much all other figures I've bought thus far).

You can see the packaging in the background. There's an image of Luke. He looks like he put on some weight.

Anyway, it seems like a wonderful figure so far, especially given the price I paid for it (AU$25 or thereabouts). A bit more messing around with it will probably just reinforce my opinion!

BONUS ROUND

And here's the Dio Super Action Statue I bought, rising out of his plastic coffin to murder pretty much everyone, Edward Cullen especially. There's only room for one FABULOUS vampire.

No more pictures of Dio because the quality of my camera is awful.

Sssssshitty punssssssss

Seriously, click them, you'll get a giggle, or at least a facepalm

Also because I felt like blogging but had nothing to talk about

Kaz Kiryu's Minigame Heaven: Non-Moonspeak Edition

Well, Yakuza 3 finally came out in a language I understand more than about 5% of, so there is no doubt in my mind that I will totally get into this!

Other than that, this week has been like, BAD VIDEOGAME WEEK in terms of what I decided to buy:

- 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (because after hearing what Jordaan told me about it it sounds like the most hilarious piece of work ever)
- Akira: Psycho Ball (I like Akira. The game is about pinball. That is fucking bizarre.)
- Deadly Premonition (This review. Enough said.)

Additionally, Destructoid have this fabulous (troll) article about how Deadly Premontion > Heavy Rain. Can't have enough hype for DP.

If I buy Odama, this can be bad pinball videogame week!

I'm so sorry

After hyping about Heavy Rain with Andrew, we agreed that we should rope two more people in (J and Sqwuib), camp out at my place and have a four-player game. As in, we each take a character and play their segements through. Pretty neat idea.

Um, I'm sorry guys. I ran out and bought it yesterday because K-Mart were doing it for a fantastic price ($74, far cheaper than any other retail store at the moment) and then it kind of just sat there taunting me. So... I had to play it.

Upon opening it the first thing that fell out was an origami sheet, which made me smile. I haven't gotten around to making my own origami swan yet because I'm afraid I'll ruin it.

Anyway, the game's pretty wonderful so far. It's doing a good job of fucking around with my emotions too. I'm maybe two hours in and tears have come to my eyes like three times already.

No More No More No More Heroes

Guess I've just been too lazy to update.

Anyway, No More Heroes 2 arrived in the mail yesterday, after about three weeks of waiting for Play-Asia to ship it out. So far, the wait has been so worth it.

The game seems quite short. Having a look at my playtime indicates that it probably is as long as the original No More Heroes, so maybe I've just been playing it obsessively.

Seriously though, this game is enjoyable as hell, not to mention as batshit insane as ever. And it pleases me greatly that some of the Darkside tracks are in here! Especially the We Are Finally Cowboys remix - it would have been cruel not to put that in there while playing as Henry.

A review soon, perhaps.

Start the hype machine up!

No More Heroes 2 is out in America tomorrow. Because I am one of the gamers that don't have much patience, I am importing my copy in. Waiting wouldn't be so bad if there was an actual date, but what can I do? My copy should come next week, with luck.

In the meantime, have an MP3. The following tune is No More Riot from the No More Heroes Sound Tracks - Dark Side album. The intro to the song was also present in one of the trailers released.

Download.

Expect more related hype posts in the coming days, especially since I have some unposted NMH2-related content.

Extraordinary!!

Amazing news: A Blazblue cab! Actually here in Australia! And we're not talking vanilla BB, we're talking Continuum Shift. They changed the announcer and everyone's character art.

Used Jin. Spammed ice car and ice swords like a total scrub because I was too much of a pussy to use Bang.

UH OH WITCH FIGHT

So it turns out I completely forgot that people break street dates (how?), so I was surprised went into JB and saw Bayonetta on the shelves. So I got my copy of the Climax Edition from the store I preordered it from.

Shit is fabulous. I don't just mean the CE, which has an artbook, soundtrack, special packaging, but also an ab-fab replica of Bayonetta's gun in the game, which was basically the clincher for me.

That and because she shouts a Viewtiful Joe reference and spends the opening level using Ebony and Ivory (from Devil May Cry fame while lamenting over how much they suck.

It shits all over Devil May Cry though. You're not penalized (time-wise) for exploring the level and there are checkpoints so if you die, you don't need to go through five thousand waves of enemy and lava-hopping again. But I guess it's a little less challenging as well, as in it's pretty easy to pull off spectacular combos and whatever. Not to say I haven't died.

Also, the titular (see what I did there) character is balls hot.

More stuff.

Videogames awards aside, more stuff.

This is belated, but XED from the K7 SINdicate has opened a new site, Paradise Hotel 51 which will one day be full of cult gaming resources (and is also the current host of the forum). Shameless plugging - I write for the site now. Go and check it out. We're going to build it up to be fantastic.

Anyway, Happy New Year, everyone. It's nice to know that if you are reading this, you are still alive, unless your definition of hell is reading my blog. Please ignore the spam. I'm working on deleting it all.

Happy anniversary, Jordaan.

2nd Annual Misc. Game Awards

Another year gone. Another decade gone! And with another year comes more videogames. But for now, let's roll through this. (Another entry soon about completely unrelated stuff.)

Most bizarre announced movie tie-in
Antichrist was that one movie they showed at the Cannes Film Festival. It's so chock-full of sexual violence and all-round disturbing scenes that a bunch of people fainted. It was a pretty decent (and artsy, if that's your thing) film that was hampered by the fact that you can tell the director is a pompous, arrogant dick. That being said, it's probably one of the better horror movies I've seen in the last year. But to the point: they're making a... game?

Supposedly the game takes place after the movie ends (Willem Dafoe on top of a hill in the woods with a hole drilled through his leg). The only image this conjures up is The Path, which I babble about next.

Most pretentious and artfaggy game that I actually liked
The Path is a horror game unlike any other. Loosely based off Little Red Riding Hood, you take control of several sisters on their way to Grandma's house. Are you supposed to stray from the path. Of course, or else it wouldn't be very interesting. Exploring the woods means that you encounter and experience strange, horrific and wonderful things, learning more about your character and ultimately, how they perish.

Grandma's house is a total acid trip.

Hugest moment of regret
For my birthday, I had my heart set on getting a copy of Ryu ga Gotoku 3/Yakuza 3, because you can never hang out in too many host clubs. Of course, I didn't really think it all the way through, as you do when you have your heart set on things. Three weeks after I got my copy, it was announced that it was being localised. 'Fuck yes!' and 'Oh shit' were the two conflicting thoughts in my mind.

I have to admit that I haven't really been able to play or enjoy the game due to the language barrier either. It's easy enough to import when story isn't important and all, but goddammit. It doesn't help when you only understand maybe 5% of what's going on.

Best bargain
Digital Devil Saga is apparently one of the rarer games for the PS2. I managed to snap up its sequel, the aptly named Digital Devil Saga 2 for $5 at JB HiFi. I know they advertise their prices as being totally nuts and all, but I couldn't believe it at all.

Then a month or so later, I found a copy of DDS on Ebay for $20. Then Chip found a copy of Nocturne for $30, meaning that we got the set for $55. Compare this to the price of $167 for the full set on Ebay, and I'd say we definitely got ourselves a deal.

Most surprisingly decent game
My first reaction when I heard of Henry Hatsworth and The Puzzling Adventure was that it was going to be some Professor Layton ripoff. Admittedly, I had never seen any gameplay or read anything about the developmental stage, so when I heard that it was a platformer, I scoffed a little. And then I played it.

The result was a charming, humourous, yet challenging game. Puzzles? Well, yeah, just not Layton's brand of puzzles. Difficult platforming elements? Very much so. Enjoyable? Most definitely.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, chums and chummettes. I hope you all got what you wanted.

As for me: Uncharted 2 and Demon's Souls, fuck yeah!

Hero Worship

This brings the number of posters in my room up to... one.

Is it really my birthday?!

It really is. Today was a fine day.

Totally excellent presents this year!

From J: BLAZBLUE OH GOD YES. It's the Hong Kong version so the back of the cover and the manual basically shouts in Moonspeak, but the actual game itself comes with English audio/subs. And a handy, single-sheet guide as to the basic controls. I kind of wish I could understand everything in the manual, but it's nothing a little bit of googling can't help. It's a good deal of fun so far. All the characters seem to be well balanced and it sure looks pretty.

From parents: Ryu ga Gotoku 3. I bought my copy off Ebay, so it came with the preorder bonus the Japs got - a guidebook detailing the various locations and activities in the areas of the game. Also it has pictures of awful-looking women who were real-life models for the hostesses in the game. Seriously, their hairstyles are like three meters high.

From Chip: A debit card with which I originally planned to buy the original PS2 version of Flower, Sun and Rain with off Ebay, but after seeing that the graphics were really not that much of an improvement from the DS version, I skipped it. So I just downloaded Marvel vs Capcom 2. Oh boy!

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. It sure was nice of you guys!

Your local nice guy ex-member of the Yakuza

Yakuza 3 is totally getting localised!

Now I feel a little silly for having ordered the Japanese edition a couple of weeks ago. I guess at least I still get the snazzy preorder bonus magazine (complete with Japanese women with ridiculous hair and sparkles).

NOW WHERE IS KENZAN?

Here we go again on the hype train

Finally found out about the new No More Heroes 2 videos. Gave them a watch. So, impressions abound!

Demo video #1 involved Travis running around in a mansion killing henchmen, much like the Townsend mansion in NMH. Battles seem a lot faster now, and enemies are much less predictable. There are enemies of varying sizes, as seen when a huge black guy with an axe started lumbering towards Travis and swinging wildly. Some of the smaller enemies also had firearms (!), weapons only seen in certain levels of NMH. Firearms were always annoying in NMH so maybe they'll add substantial challenge to some of the starting ranks.

Certain objects on the level are now destructible as well, as Travis was seen cutting through various potplants. Which brings me to the really cool bit: DUAL BEAM KATANAS! It was exciting to see them in action. (In a separate video, Suda says that you control the other beam katana with the Nunchuck, like in Oneechanbara. The animation is very fluid, except for when your katanas... fall into your enemies - they kind of just teleport, which looks very silly.

The UI has also changed slightly. The battery meter is now less of a meter and and is a tiny icon below a sad looking worm thing. Enemies also have different health meters, this time represented by several dots forming a circle. The dots start out green but turn red with health loss.

The voice acting also sounds top-notch, such as Travis panting and groaning loudly in a lecherous. Let's just say it's much more audible than it was in NMH.

Demo video #2 began at the beginning of the Rank #51 boss battle, complete with cutscene. Travis slices up the two women that Nathan Copeland (the boss) throws at him. Blood goes everywhere, heads are kicked, it's all very graphic. Travis's hair is also much spikier, much more badass.

Bosses (well, Nathan anyway) seem to be a lot easier to stun and throw.

And what excellent music! If the composer is, indeed, Masafumi Takada, it just shows how far and versatile he has become.

The only thing that I have to nitpick at in the second video is that I don't really like the way the health circle works in terms of boss battles. It certainly looks prettier and more minimalistic, but it's not as precise as a health bar, especially if some of the bosses have as much health as, say, Bad Girl in the original game.

Other things: Helter Skelter could be back, if this art does indeed, depict him. This will be a treat! Also returning is Destroyman in cyborg form! (I just want to say now that I totally called a character from the first game being turned into an android/robot happening in NMH2.) And another thing, the job missions are back, but this time, a lot of them are in 2D! Seen in one of the promotional trailers included a sidescrolling version of the coconut mission and a burger flipping mission.

And here's the new website.

Also, here's 1UP's cover story, to be updated daily until the 23rd!

I totally can't wait.

Super Impressive Man Antics

YAKUZA/RYU GA GOTOKU 2 SPOILERS.

I was playing Chapter 12 of Yak2 last night and the whole thing was pure manliness from beginning to end. It ran like this:

Kazuma got stabbed with a poisoned knife by a mysterious man. He pulls the dagger out and runs off to his hideout, Aoi. Two groups of three thugs ended up confronting him and he beat them up while slowly bleeding to death.

An hour or so after passing out at Aoi, he has more or less fully recovered from the poison and the wound (when you leave the building, you have a full health bar!) and heads off to find Haruka.

Blah, blah, blah, detective work, find out where she's been taken...

OSAKA CASTLE IS A GIANT GOLDEN PALACE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

He enters the building and is immediately attacked by some guy who summons endless waves of samurai and ninjas. After fighting a bunch of them, making their leader run away like a little girl and dodging spike traps, Kazuma gets to a room with a gatling gun, with which he mows everyone down. Make the leader run away again despite being shot in the face at least four dozen times.

MORE NINJAS, MORE SAMURAI, MORE RETARDED LEADER GUY, THIS TIME WITH A SPEAR. Defeat them all and then...

Kazuma gets to fight two TIGERS. As in, the animals. There's also a sequence where the tiger jumps on him and he kicks it off him (if you do the action sequence correctly).

After beating the shit out of them he rescues Haruka. Only then does his wound reopen.

Yeah, I think he wins some kind of prize.

PROFESSOR, I'VE SOLVED IT 2 - A Review

Title: Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box
Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Level-5 (JP), Nintendo (NA/PAL)
Year: 2007 (JP), 2009 (NA/PAL)

Two years year ago, Professor Layton and The Curious Village was released in Japan to the delight of puzzle-lovers everywhere. A year later it was released in English, allowing a good number more of the gaming population to try their hand at it. Of course, the game's 'TO BE CONTINUED' screen at the end left many eagerly awaiting the sequel, so fast forward a year and a half later...

My excitement for Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box was only heightened by the fact that it feels like we're in the middle of a game drought, combined with the fact that I had been looking forward to playing more games about charming English gentlemen.

And I couldn't wait for more mind-breaking puzzles, of course.

You see, the Professor Layton series is based off the Metal Gymnastics series of puzzle books by Akira Tago, which are reportedly very popular in Japan. Many of the puzzles from the books have been directly transposed into a more interactive form for the DS and as a result, the game is chock-full of logic and lateral thinking puzzles, designed to really make you think.

A puzzle's difficulty is measured in 'picarats', which acts as the player's score throughout the game. The more difficult a puzzle is, the more picarats it is worth. If a puzzle is too difficult, the player has the opportunity to unlock a hint using a hint coin, which are limited in number and found scattered throughout the game world.

Additionally, some of these puzzles are directly related to the plot and require you to solve them in order to progress through the storyline, but a large portion of them are optional. Solving some of these optional puzzles give you items such as camera pieces, a hamster toy, a diary key or a tea ingredient, which are used for the mini-games. Completing these minigames means that the player can unlock bonus puzzles.

I suppose puzzles like the ones presented in The Diabolical Box are either a love-hate affair, but in my case, I thoroughly enjoyed having to think each puzzle through carefully. It's a refreshing change from games in which shooting everything that moves is key. The hints make perfect sense, and the game has the decency to explain the solution to you in greater detail when a puzzle is completed. This is especially useful if you've managed to solve a puzzle by luck.

I only have a slight problem with The Diabolical Box, and that is the slight imbalance in puzzle difficulty. There are quite a few puzzles that seem easier than the number of picarats they are worth and conversely, some supposedly easy puzzles that are challenging. But that could just be me.

As in The Curious Village, Layton is back in The Diabolical Box to solve another mystery, this time concerning a strange artifact called the Elysian Box. After receiving a letter from Layton's mentor telling him he has acquired the Box, Layton and Luke set out to meet him, only to find him dead and the Box missing. The two of them decide to find the Elysian Box as well as solve the mysteries surrounding it.

As you would expect from any good adventure games, there are several plot twists, many of which I didn't see coming at all. The characters are charming and are each distinctive in their own right with their own catchphrases and mannerisms. Professor Layton himself is especially notable, managing to be no less than a total badass who just happens to be polite and likes drinking tea.

Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box is a very special game, one that is sure to appeal to a large audience. With its numerous puzzles, loveable cast and exciting storyline, anyone who is enthusiastic about games that require a bit more brainpower is sure to love it.