Toy Story 2 + Mother 3

Sorta watching Toy Story 2 when I came across this:

Slinky: Fellas! Fellas! Okay, I got some good news, and I got some bad news.
Mrs. Potato Head: What news?
Slinky: The good news is I found your hat, Woody.
Woody: My hat! Slink, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where'd you find it?
Slinky: Well, that's the bad news.

And anyone who's played Mother 3 will remember Bronson talking to Flint in the first chapter:

Bronson: I have good news, and I have bad news.
Which do you want to hear first...?
No...
Let me start with the good news first.
I picked up a giant "Drago Fang".
It'll make for a great weapon.
I figured you could probably use it.
......
As for the bad news...
......
The bad news is...
............
...It's where I found the Drago Fang.

Does this kind of thing appear in movies or games much?

Hurr

I still find it kind of grin-worthy that during the week after Heavy Rain comes out, Brisbane is totally inundated.

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 No More Heroes

I finished NMH2 today. As a result, I managed to pinpoint the things that I miss that were present in the first game:

- Collecting money and shirts from dumpsters.
- The multi-layered heart that represents your life. In the new game, it just means you take more hits before a square disappears.
- Suda's marvelous trolling. I mean, I expected something totally huge, which I guess kind of worked on me, but then the ending came and nothing really happened.
- OXYGEN GRAFFITI

Well, here's to the next playthrough with the Classic Controller.

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.

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.

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.

Oh Ebay

Yeah, I mean...

Apparently, this is No More Heroes

As is this

I can see why they would be related to NMH, but really, that's kind of inexcusable, especially if you're trying to sell the goddamn games.

SON I AM DISAPPOINT: Arcade Mode

Today, I went to the Gold Coast so that mum could visit a relative. Apparently they were going to spend a good portion of the afternoon cooking at her place or something, so we requested to be left around the Surfers Paradise area. I was totally pumped for this because there is a massive Timezone around there. Huge arcade equals loads of games equals 2D fighters, right?

I lost track of how many times I said to Chip: "SON I AM DISAPPOINT".

Seriously, the Timezone in Surfers is the biggest arcade I've ever been in, complete with dodgem ring, bigass mechanical pony ride (it has a ladder leading up to it) and bowling alley. Lots of arcade shooters - we saw two Silent Hill: The Arcade cabs and about four Blazing Storm cabs. Those one were huge.

BUT NO 2D FIGHTERS OR SHMUPS! The only fighting game we found was Tekken 6, tucked into a corner beside Primeval Hunt and behind a whole row of basketball ticket games.

After leaving and swearing a bit, we walked around some more and found this pathetic, dingy place that was a game room for a backpacker's hostel. It turned out to be the best arcade on the whole damn Coast, based on past experiences with other arcades around the area.

Metal Slug 4! Marvel vs. Capcom! Street Fighter 3: Third Strike! X-Men vs. Street Fighter!

So I played Marvel vs. Capcom and felt slightly better, but still disappointed.

The search for a Guilty Gear cab continues...

Demonophobia is such a bullshit game

I suddenly remembered that I have a game called Demonophobia sitting on my hard drive and decided to give it a spin again.

For those who have not heard of it, Demonophobia is a Japanese survival horror game.I do not know much moonspeak so a quick google indicates that the story is about a girl named Sakuri who tries to summon demons for revenge and ends up being transported to hell/the demonic realm. The game is heavily focused on showing you various and graphic ways of killing your character.

So if you do not like messed-up shit, you probably shouldn't click on any of the image links.

Still here? Cool.

See, I probably wouldn't think that this game was incredibly bullshit if it was actually impossible to complete it and if you had to run around hell forever and get killed a lot. Instead, it's like, "Hey, I'm not doing too badly, maybe I'll actually get to fight the boss!" and then you'll get decapitated by an enemy.

I wonder what happens

As another example, there was one room that I went into, grabbed an emblem or something off the pedestal and tried to exit the room, only for a giant red man teleport in front of me and start punching me in the stomach, then the face, then the face again.

I get it, I'm dead

Due to the controls being clunky, it is hard to maneuver and run away from enemies. Not to mention bosses, who are impossible faggots to beat. Maybe my keyboard is just awful or something, but my character would sometimes stop running for no reason at all despite my insistent hammering of the X key. "RUN, DAMMIT! I'm dead again, thanks a lot!"

I could not run fast enough

Also, when I pressed keys that do things in-game, except I pressed them when I was typing messages on MSN/renaming files/whatever, stuff still happened in game. Resuming when I wanted the game paused. Annoying stuff like that. Not really a big deal, but still requires you to have no friends talking to you while you play it. Or you ignoring your friends.

Most notable on the fucked-up scale is one stage where you seem to be back in your house. Everything looks fine and dandy and you can hear your mother's voice. When you enter the room, it's um...

Goddammit mom

It gets even creepier when suddenly, her moonrunes turn into letters of the alphabet.

I swear this is not my PC acting up

Then you go outside and JESUS CHRIST MY HOUSE

Although is sure is MS Paint around here

Then for some reason somewhere in the middle, I felt like listening to Sexual Healing on loop, probably because the game doesn't have any audio.

GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP

Seriously, very little health, no audio, shitty controls, shit like walking near a wall killing you AKFDS FUCK, this is a pretty DUDE THIS GAME IS BULLSHIT game.

Whoever made this is probably sitting back in his chair with his best smug internet troll face.

EDIT: I am a retard and cannot screencap for shit, so have a better version of JESUS CHRIST MY HOUSE. The green things actually have two legs now.

Being a dick about Eternal Sonata

After finishing Baten Kaitos and being somewhat reluctant to start Baten Kaitos Origins before finishing Yakuza 2 (or something), I decided to sit down with Chip and play some Eternal Sonata.

Apparently he got some 8 year-old girl with stupid hair and a Southern accent in his party while I was playing other stuff.

It's kind of strange, you know - I don't particularly mind ES, really, but there's something about it that makes me wrinkle my nose. It's more than me just yelling about how much better BK is, despite the voice acting in ES sounding somewhat better and not like they were recorded from inside a telephone booth.

It's such a goddamn pretty game, too. Today I commented with "Holy crap everything in this game is so bright seriously I think we need to take a time out and go back to Gears of War or something." But then Chip said something that I actually agree with: gee, copypasting faces much?

But I feel that the characters are kind of irksome. Everyone just kind of hovers on the same level as each other, in that HEY LET'S ALL HAVE THE EXACT SAME REACTION TO EVERYTHING. There was a cutscene where they escaped prison and made it outside and all just bitched about 'We did nothing wrong man and they just dumped us in prison' - AND I MEAN ALL OF THEM. Everyone used pretty much the exact same words with maybe a couple of them changed.

It's kind of like how BK had one faggot pansy-ass character (read: Lyude), except it's the complete reverse with ES; there's maybe three ok characters so far and everyone else should just quit blinking and moving.

I think we need a drinking game for this too. 'Take a shot every time Polka looks depressed'. You would be dead so fast.

But really, it's an ok game. Will update if shit gets really awful.