Real Zelda and Link at E3!

Ran into these guys briefly at Nintendo's booth. Really cool if you are a dork. like me ) They didn't do too much smiling but I think it was the third day or something. Everybody is tired and worn out by then.
Still a great time. You can tell by the fact that I keep bringing it up.

News from Japan

Big news from the big N in Japan. They will soon open a Korean "branch". Big news for them seeing as Yamauchi never expected it. There is friction between Japan and Korea, but not as much as there used to be. Maybe we will see some Nintendo content from Korean programmers who happen to have alot of talent.
Nintendo Japan has registered some WiiPatents recently. According to Magicbox-
Nintendo has registered a number of new patents in Japan between June 18 - 26, including WiiCan, WiiClub, WiiCommunication, WiiDiary, WiiHappy, WiiHealth, WiiHome, WiiKids, WiiMap, WiiOnline, WiiSenior, WiiWords, WWWii, WiiActive24, WiiCountry and WiiAlive24.
Of course these are Japan patents and may not see the light over in the states.
Sales of the DS continue to impress everyone. Another 150k+ flew off the shelves this week. The #2 system was PS2 with 25k. XBOX 360 was ranked #8 with 1100 systems sold.
I found this comic to be humorous. Even though its from EQ2, anybody that plays an MMORPG can relate. I think you need Adobe to see it. http://newsletters.station.sony.com/images/eq2_eof/comic/Survival_Tips_1.pdf

Final Fantasies

A big year indeed for the Final Fantasy franchise. First off, we have Final Fantasy III which not only was never released in the US, but gets a full 3D upgrade looking similar to part IX than anything else. Coming to DS end of September. FF V and VI which strangely have been quietly announced for the GBA with no dates or screenshots is being promised for last quarter. Wow. Both games which are awesome epics coming at you from Nintendo themselves. Finally, I will finish FFV in English since I never did for PS1. In a recent issue of Nintendo Power, they announced that there will be new job classes and dungeons.
Got the call from Gamestop today saying that there will be a limited collectors edition for Final Fantasy XII for PS2 exclusive to Gamestop and EB Games. Of course I had to reserve that. The new announced date is end of october. Played a bit of it at E3 and enjoyed it even though the battle system is changed.
Ridge Racers 2 was announced also for PSP. This game promises more tracks mostly for RR Revolution, R4, and Rage Racers. I'm excited.
Also, Major Nelson from the XBOX Live time answers everybody's question about Marketplace releases here. http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/06/27/Where-is-_2800_insert-title-here_2900_.aspx . Pretty much just tells you to shut up and relax. You'll get your stupid content soon. =D

I Got a DS Lite!

Teri surprised me with an early birthday present yesterday. It is so awesome. Nintendo really did a good job on this one.
I'm supposed to keep an eye out for a game called Phoenix Wright for the DS. I have been checking Ebay and it probably is the most expensive and rare game to find. http://cgi.ebay.com/Phoenix-Wright-Ace-Attorney-DS-NEW-SEALED-RARE_W0QQitemZ120001999063QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I just might give it a bid.
One thing I must say about rare games in general. I am intrigued by them. The harder it is to get the more I went it. Take XBOX 360 for example. I had absolutely no plans to pick one up at launch. The games just didn't do it for me. Then I found out how hard it is to get one, and then I became hooked. I checked every Target, Best Buy, and Wal-mart to get one and I finally did mid December. There were 6 of them on a Wal-mart shelf and Tommy and I picked up one each just on an impulse buy.
A game like Phoenix Wright makes me want to get it simply because if I don't get it now, I may not be able to get it later on. Well, there is always Ebay, but the rarer a game is, the more you are gonna pay for it. When I used to go to Japan, I searched every used game shop for the rarest of the rare. Neogeo games, PC Engine games, you name it. There was a shooter for the Japanese Sega Saturn called Radiant Silvergun. I picked it up in Japan for $80 used and sold it here for $160. Its a great game, but $160 for a disc? I got even more if the game was complete with the Japanese exclusive "spinecard".
Another game I was eyeing for awhile was Mario DDR for Gamecube simply because they were sold out everywhere last year. Now it has been rereleased and "want" value has gone way down. Ebay sellers now suffer because Nintendo flooded the market with them.
Its always fun to check the auctions of rare games. Oooh is this a rare complete Final Fantasy 3 for Super NES? Why yes it is! http://cgi.ebay.com/FINAL-FANTASY-III-3-Super-Nintendo-SNES-GEM-MINT_W0QQitemZ104752733594QQihZ020QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It even has the cart baggy!

PSP 15 Months Later

The PSP was released March of last year and it has been a great ride so far. When my buddy Tommy and I saw the PSP at E3 2004, we were quite shocked. Is it really gonna be that cool? Sony's booth had a nice corner devoted to the system. PSPs filled the walls, but the only thing playable was a 16bit looking RPG. All they could really show off is the screen quality and give us a sneak peak of whats to come. It was a very thin, shiny, and sexy machine. Even then, we knew the system had awesome potential.
So, Tommy and I were both at Walmart for the 12am for the launch of PSP. I guessed that there was gonna be crazy demand and there would be lines....Nope. We got there at 1150am and there were 2 other people waiting. Turns out Walmart received almost 100 of them. Nice. That's one of the cool things about PSPs. Everybody has them in stock. Always have.
PSP has been getting some bad press because the majority of titles are PS2 ports. There are only a handful of original titles for it. Most of them are very good. Also, UMD videos are abundant. You can find most anything to take on the go.
So why is PSP falling behind Nintendo's technicaly inferior handheld DS? To start, the price. PSP launched at $249 and came with a 32 meg memory card, headphones, pouch, wrist strap, and demo disc. Not a bad price for what it is, but almost double the DS. Now you can get a PSP new for $200 with a few less goodies.
Second, lack of original titles. Sony has always been a company to rely on 3rd parties to push their consoles and they have been very lucky. PS1 or PS2 needed the Capcoms, Konamis, EAs, and Square Enixs of the world to sell consoles. They have very few original 1st party games. There has been not one system seller for PSP yet. I will be honest and say that after my dad say Lumines running on it, he made me get him one. Other than that, there are few exclusives and nothing that will alone sell it.
3rd, short battery life. The PSP can play anywhere from 3-8hours on a single battery charge. Setting such as brightness and volume could affect that and watching a UMD movie at full volume (which is not loud) could shorten it too.
4th, the PSP is a very delicate machine. At launch, there were complaints about dead pixels, buttons that weren't working, and ejecting discs. The PSP has lots of delicate parts and dropping it might just end its life. It just feels fragile.
5th, a horrible E3 2k6 showing. Now that is just a matter of opinion and is not really correct, I think I spent about 20 minutes in Sony's PSP area and that might be my problem, but honestly, there was nothing to write home about.
So, in the end, the DS might just win after all. Its still selling hundreds of thousands weekly worldwide and with the introduction of DS Lite, Sony is gonna have to come up with something. This is the first time in a long time Sony should be shaking in their little booties.

More E3 Pics Get!

I got a CD full of pics from one of the guys I went to E3 with. He combined everbody's pictures for my convenience. Browsing through the disk, I found these to be kinda interesting. Shwai and I playing DDR Supernova. He thought he could take me on. He did good, but I got him. Maybe he should stop smoking. Not sure why I stuck out my tongue in both pics. Maybe I was hot.

Lumines Lives!

Lumines is probably one of the best games out for PSP. It is nothing but a very simple puzzle game dressed up in brilliant graphics and trippy tunes. It has a very addictive quality to it. Who can forget the wonderful "Shinin'" first stage? It debuted on PSP then Cell phones now XBOX Live Arcade soon. A couple of bad things though. The game will (all rumors at the moment) come out at 1200 points which is $15 and then on top of that, multiplayer will cost extra in the Marketplace. They will probably release even more downloads at hefty pointage. Since the game will take advantage of licensed music, you can bet there will be backgrounds and tunes by popular artists such as Shakira and William Hung. Huh huh Hung. But who knows really? This pic is from E3. My guess is that the game will launch sometime in July.
Oh. DDR is available on cell phones now and all I can say is "Meh". Nothing special, but I would do most anything to support DDR in any form. Heck I bought every home version available from Konami. Still haven't got the stones to buy Mario Mix. Can't wait for Supernova home mix. Not really sure I want the arcade version anymore. Not for $4000 anyway.

The Elusive XBOX System

Try finding the original XBOX game machine now. Its not too easy. They are leaving store shelves so fast and they are not getting restocked. Microsoft stopped production on the machine a bit ago to focus on 360. Probably a bad move since alot of games are not compatible with 360 hardware. My neighborhod Gamestop guy told me that somebody came in and bought theirs and Blockbuster's inventory of machines. For what reason, I am not sure, but it makes sense. There is a bit of a demand for the original giant box. Checking Ebay, I did not see anything in abnormal price ranges, but they were up there..more than I expected. I have a broken XBOX myself and those are selling for $40 or so on Ebay.
Speaking of Microsofties, there is a solid rumor that the 360 will be price reduced this holiday. As much as $100 for the bundle! Good move but just make sure you stock the shelves then. Thats a great way to lose customers when you advertise a great product at a very competitive price and then watch in horror as customers are scooping up PS3s and Wiiwiis because the 360s are MIA.
Target updated their site to presell PS3 and Wii games. http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_0_1042122_1/601-4497922-0762515?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=194115011
http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_0_1042122_2/601-4497922-0762515?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=193754011
The games start selling in October, but its fairly safe to predict that the Wii will not release before November. Not with the demand for this machine. I hope Nintendo proves me wrong.
In WoW news, patch 1.11 Shadow of Necropolis was unleashed on the world of Azeroth. Lets just say it wasnt easy to get a patch to download through traditional means. It was slower than slow and the patcher kept telling me I was behind a Firewall when I wasn't. So, I spent the time on Eq2. Played for about 2 hours and got a group in the Kingdom of Sky area, the Nest. Good times and I got a great ring upgrade to boot. Its fun when you group with guys who know what they are doing. As a priest I dint have to do to much and you know thats a sign of a great group.
Got a full day off today. I just might head out to the mall to get some DDR on or ITG2.

Summer and DDR

Back when DDR was just starting out here in the states, there was a group of hardcore players from the Twin Cities that used to come over and play on my machine during the summertime. We dubbed these "gatherings". There would be about 10-15 of us just having a good time in my garage just letting loose on the machine and just having a good time in general. There was pizza, silly antics, wrestling in the grass and the legendary "Z" chases around my neighborhood. Now most of the original crew have moved on to bigger and better....well, they just got lives.
In this pic, Freakmasta (AKA the robot) owned all with Z next to him as I watched.
The new DDR crew seems a bit young with most of them being 15-18 so I probably wont be doing any gatherings at my place. We'll see if SuperNova comes out soon though. I just may change my tune.
Gametap introduced a few new classics to their already impressive line up. Blue's Journey, Legendary Wings, Magician Lord, Shock Troopers 2nd Squad, and World Heroes Perfect.
There has always been a soft spot in my heart for SNK games. Most of them were harder than hard, but they had great graphics, personality and some of the best Engrish known to man.

Super Mario Paper!

Yeah! This game was a total no show at E3, but its coming soon to a Gamecube near you. Check out this video courtesy of youtube from the World Hobby Fair in Tokyo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygpD5SMKXfc
Nothing too good in the Sunday ads this week unless you want Guitar Hero. $5 off at Target. Same with the DDR Extreme 2 PS2 with pad.
Was chatting with my friend, NoGib. He ordered me to try out Street Fight Anthology and Daxter. Him and I have similar tastes when it comes to gaming and I know he wont let me down, so look for comments soon.
Also, Dad ended up in the hospital again this week. He had irritated his pancreas. Today he was up and talking so that makes me happy. Hope to see him home in 2 or 3 days.

Pass me the Parodius Da!

Playing Gradius on PSP has really restored my love for the classic Konami shooter. One game series that never made it to the US from Konami is a parody of the Gradius games aptly named Parodius. It featured the same intense shooting action, but instead of killing space ships, you are killing brightly colored happy things. Also, the music is top notch featuring whimsical Nutcracker type tunes. Most game level music will be recognized by everyone in some shape or form. There are some questionable content in the games too. For example, in Parodius 2, in your choice of ships, you can pick a little guy who glides on a giant paper airplane. When you get his shield upgrade, a giant condomn appears to protect you from damage. There are also some matters of scantily clad characters as well. Check out this vid for the last level of Parodius 2 before the boss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kACndacawMc
Parodius series appeared in arcades, Famicom, PC Engine, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, Super Famicom, and Sony Playstation. So that means it has been about 10 years since the latest Parodius game. C'mon Konami! At least give us Parodius Collection for PSP..or Salamander Collection! Please!
In Everquest news, I did the naughty and renewed my subscription to EQ2 for one month just to check out the latest adventure pack, the Fallen Dysnasty. I have had about 1 hour with it so far and I can't complain. Very Asian atmosphere with new story and music. The first quests are simple fetch quests and start at level 55. Since my healer is level 62, I feel good about fitting in the adventure. I probably wont play past 1 month, but I would like to see what Sony has done with Fallen Dynasty. Their adventure packs are $8, but the content is good enough to indulge, even if WoW offers patches for free.

Penny Arcade

I love these guys. They update their web comic 3 times a week and its usually a classic. Ubisoft has made some room for them at their booth for the last 3 years. I did not wait in line for a comic book or autograph this year. I did 2 years ago though. The wait was 1 hour to see them. They are considered to be icons in the world of gaming and even hold their own expo, PAX. Kinda like E3 but more for gamers rather than business. I hope to go next year.
Kind of a slow month for games. This week saw the release of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for PS2, Megaman Battle Network 6 (both versions)...and thats about it. I hate to be a hater, but why did Capcom do more MBN games. They are all extremely similar. Everytime they release a new one in Japan, its sells in the hundred thousands. Its like a Pokemon phenomenom or something.
Speaking of phenoms, the DS Lite sold a whopping 136k units in 2 days in the States. It continues to be the #1 system in Japan selling well over 100k each week. They are eating up games like Brain Age, New Mario Bros, Animal Crossing, and almost every other title for the little dual screen wonder. Meanwhile the XBOX 360 barely sells 1000 units over there. They are strongly anticipating Wii. Nintendo seriously has a shot of becoming #1 again if they get their act together and focus on RPGs and their classic franchises. Here's hoping.

Well that was mean

I turn on the old XBOX Live to see whats new. Click on the Marketplace then New games for Download and wooo!! Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting! I click that and instead of being able to download the game, there are gamer pics and a theme to download. What a let down. I did download a set of pics and I am temporarily changed to Ken. Also I found out that the yesterday's update involved more backward compatibilty. They added a whole 20 games more.
USA today had an article on cell phone games. Pretty much compares it to XBOX Live. Cell phone games are a way of selling basic games to millions of people easily. The games are much cheaper to develop and distribute than regular console games. The article had some input from John Carmack from id software who just recently released Orcs and Elves hot on the heels of DOOM RPG. Other games noted are DDR, Paris Hilton's puzzle game, and Lil Jon's golf game.
Oh I finally made it to Wave 10 on Robotron! Thank the lord. Got 2 achievements yesterday.
Gonna hit 40 in WoW in 3 more kills =)

Sunday's Ads

Dave Chappelle's Block Party comes out on DVD and CD and Season 2 of Beavis and Butthead.
Not much going on at Target or Best Buy, but Circuit City has 2 full pages of games in the ad. The big deals are God of War and Gran Turismo 4 for only $17 each(reg $20). They also have $12 off a bunch of games including Ape Escape 3, Ice Age 2, new Onimusha, Black, and Harvest Moon. On the PC side, the big deal is Starcratf Battle Chest for $7.99. If you have not played Starcraft, it is the time to buy now! You get Starcraft, the expansion pack Brood War, and the 2 Prima guides. Warcraft 3 Battle Chest is also on sale for $28. Not a bad deal at all, but Starcraft is better.
Just a quick rant on Comp USA. They have a great store with a ton of product and a sizable games section. Yet their ads usually never show one game at all. What gives? It just grinds my gears. However, when they do have a game or 2 in their ad, it is usally a loss leader for them and a great deal for us. I'll let you know.
Well Everquest 2 launches Live Update 24 tomorrow. With that comes their new adventure pack. Very interested to have a looksie at it. Also, when I booted up XBOX Live this morning, there was a brief update. I wonder what that was all about.

Me and the Pac Family Minus JR

Notice the shirt.

DS Lite and Stuff

First off, I want to say thanks for all the support for my father. He is home and resting now. He had a rough week and its so good to have him back. I also want to thank my mom who has been putting in 10-14 hour days at the hospital to be with him.
Not too much new here. The DS Lite is out and yes it is sexy. Not sure if its sexy enough to throw down another $130 for. Gamestop is only giving $50 the old DS. I might try to put it on Ebay to see what I can get. Hoping for at least $75.
Gradius Collection is f'n hard. I went through Gradius 1 with little trouble. Gradius 2 gets real tough. Stage 7 is a collection of Gradius and Life Force bosses. There are like 6 of them back to back and if you die, you start from the begining. Talk about frustrating. I still stand by word that it is a solid package, but only if you like these kinds of games.
Teri and I saw Cars earlier today. Good movie. Its amazing what they can do with CG these days. Some of the shots are just amazing. The story is typical Disney, but what really sells it is the wonderful CG and characters. They were playing it in Lakeville's new Mega theater. That thing seats at least 1000. Its huge!

Games in the Paper

I always look forward to the Star Tribune on Saturday. Even though its small, there is video game coverage. Usually about a half of a page. There is a game review, a top 10 list from Game Informer(based in MN), and a news clip of the week. Today's game is Fifa World Cup. 3 and a half stars out of 4. Everybody is soccer crazy now with the big games going on. The top 10 list features XBOX games. Now I'm not sure if its the best games of the week, their favorite games of the week, or the biggest sellers. Tomb Raider is #1 with the Platinum Hit Midnight Club 3 right behind it. The story of the week involves the name Wii and the criticism behind it. I think people are starting to adapt. maybe.
Also, USA today like to print stories related to the game industry. Though their stories are more geared to the business side of things, they usually have a story or 2 a week.

Gaming Mags

I love gaming mags. Of course nothing beats the daily updates of the internet, but I love gaming mags. There is something about opening a new unread issue. I cant explain it. For example, I bought the latest issue of PSM today. It was page after page of stuff that I probably saw online 6 weeks ago. I didn't care. I just cant explain it.
On the upside though, magazines can be brought into the toilet room (bathroom). I love taking care of business while reading the latest reviews on PSP games. Since I'm married, I cant have anything too naughty anyways. Also, mags can be brought on planes, break rooms, and even in the car, so if you see me checking out the new Gran Turismo game at a stop light, honk and wave.
When I was younger, I waited impatiently by the mail box for the latest issue of Nintendo Power. Of course i was 12 at the time of the first issue, but it was pure heaven to open it up and read all about Super Mario 2. It was the only way to get any gaming news whatsoever. Then, all these other mags starting coming out...Gamepro, EGM, Game Players, and many others. I spent a fortune in game mags and I still have most of them!

My First Discount

I was hungry and I needed lunch so I get a BBQ pizza at the Food Ave and viola, 10% team member discount. Orientation was not as boring as I expected. Target is a very upbeat company and their DVD training was interesting, if not full of common sense. They showed the FISH video thats always fun to watch.
So Microsoft releases their upgrade for Live. Not a huge fix, but not bad. I was able to play Zuma while downloading a 500mb demo. Nice. Before, you would select a download and walk away and do something constructive until the demo downloaded. Now you can enjoy their fine product while it does its thing. Neat. Still no new downloads worthy of mention.
Nintendo does some more talking about Wii, but doesnt reveal anything much. They expect games to be between $4 and $10 for the virtual console. They will announce details like a release date and final price in September. Talk about cutting it close. Also, they will release original titles for Virtual Console. That should be cool.
I picked up Gradius Collection today. Its a good package for what it is, but $40 may be a bit much for the average sh'mup fan. But still, 5 great shooters with a bonus music and movie gallery and you got fan service.

Bleh

My dad is in the hospital for a mild heart attack. He is recovering from that but now other things seems to be popping up. Spent the last 2 days at the hospital now. He's ok, but very weak. I'll visit him again tomorrow.
Couple of things of interest, Circuit City is advertising some good deals this week. World of Warcraft for $20, Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories for PS2 for $15, Final Fantasy IV for GBA for $23, and Tetris DS for $23. Also, Best Buy has FFIX for $40 and NBA 2K6 for $30 for the 360. Preowned games are real cheap at Gamestop too. Most of the used 360 games are under $40 now.
Didn't win this auction, but I never expected to anyway. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBUAA:US:11&Item=8290867318

Destination: Target

I love Target. I am there at least twice a week. The store is clean, the selection is great, and the prices are luscious. I applied for a cashier spot for a part time job and they hired me pending a succesful drug test. I'm not worried.
I hit 38 this week with my priest in WoW. Getting a bit frustrated with finding a Scarlet Monastary group. You'd think it would be easy. In fact, I'm just hanging out now, waiting for all to show up. I'm tired too. I accepted the group invite about an hour ago and I wanna go to bed.
Check out this baby. I love SNES more than the next guy, but is this worth it? http://cgi.ebay.com/SNES-Earthbound-Game-w-Original-Box-Strategy-Guide_W0QQitemZ8285437500QQihZ020QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It was a cool package when it came out. Oversize box with guide book. I dont remember the people eating this game up. I never played it myself. Guess I shoulda.

Dreamcast Luvin'

Dreamcast coverage is making another appearance courtesy of IGN. http://dreamcast.ign.com/ They are ranking all the US released DC games. Worth checking out on a daily basis. The Dreamcast was a system I was hoping would succeed. Their launch games ranked from great to Woot! Nothing beats Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, Power Stone, and NFL2k. They also had Blue Stinger, Blitz, Mortal Kombat Gold, and more! The system never caught on. It couldn't play DVDs. The online component was lacking. It never got the developer support that is needed. Was there any EA games at all? Capcom put alot of effort into it, porting lots of great games. Sega tried hard. In the end, it just vanished and PS2 took over the console war. I miss Dreamcast. I hearted you.

Superbike Pic

This thing is huge! They had to move the DDR from my favorite spot in the window. Nothing is more wonderful than having an audience staring at me through the windows wondering what the heck a balding fat guy is doing jumping around on that crazy doohickey. I joke.
Well, according to the Magic Box, Hudson has announced the first games for download on the Wii. R-type, New Adventure Island, and Bonk's Adventure. Enough to make me wax nostalgia. I assume R-Type will be the Turbografx version in all its glory. Here's hoping we'll see Alien Crush very soon.
They also reported that Super Mario sold 900,000 copies in Japan in 4 days. Wow. The way I see it, the more/faster it sells, the more likely we will see a sequel sooner.
A few games of interest next week. Gradius Collection for PSP, Big Brain academy, and Magnetica for DS. I'm all over Gradius.

More Konami Goodness

Konami showed the latest edition of Beatmania IIDX at E3 for arcades. There are more Beatmania games than I dont know what. The series is very popular in Japan, but has a much smaller following here. Konami recently released a PS2 version. Its good but they could have used a better interface and songlist. The game is only $60 and comes with a nice DJ controller. The arcade version has never really made to many arcades in the States. Mostly due to its smaller fan base and very high costs to manufacture and ship. With the game being at E3, there is hope yet, but no promises. Its sad to say, but arcades are barely holding on these days. Many big time arcade makers have left the industry such as Midway, Atari, Capcom, and for the most part, Konami and SNK have abandoned us.
Recently, Burnsville Center got in the new Fast and the Furious Super Bike game. They have a 4 player. The game itself looks decent, but the cabinets themselves are very nice. Nothing beats the look and feel of a brand new arcade game, so if you are in the area, check it out. Your support of arcades may just wake up some of these developers.