05.07.08

BREAKING: Nintendo Channel Released For Wii

Posted in Gaming, Rants at 4:56 am

The Wii Shop was updated this morning with the Nintendo Channel, the long-promised news and DS demo station service for the Wii. Upon startup the service asks permission to opt-in or opt-out of the receipt of commercial messages to the Wii Message Board and the sending of anonymous usage data to Nintendo. A short intro video plays after that. Forty-one videos, including the introductory “digest” video, are available detailing current and upcoming releases for the Wii and DS. Videos play smoothly with minimal startup time and no hiccups in streaming. Currently eight DS demos are available on the service, including some third-party demos. (They are not placed intuitively in the menu– you have to select “Find Titles For You” first.) More information is forthcoming.

04.27.08

GAME CLEARED: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All (DS)

Posted in Game Cleared 2008, Gaming at 6:32 pm

At 7:26p, I completed the final case of Phoenix Wright: Justice For All on the Nintendo DS. This is the twelfth game cleared in 2008. The next game that is queued for completion is Beyond Good and Evil (PS2), followed by Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (GBA) and The World Ends With You (DS).

Due to the visual-novel nature of the Phoenix Wright games, from this point onward they will no longer count for or against my Games Complete or Backlog totals.

04.25.08

Don’t Hold Your Breath

Posted in Gaming, Rants, Site News, Writing at 5:15 pm

Yeah, so I’ve not exactly had much to say this week. It’s been busy at work and I’ve had other concerns. This weekend I’m hoping to get enough gaming and anime watching done to be more loquacious in the week to come… I will say that I did finish watching Please Teacher! over this past week, and I’m saving some thoughts on that for the April anime report, but overall this has been a slow month, as expected. I needed this month to slow down and “recharge”, I suppose.

Anyway, thinking about both running the Game and Anime reports next week (since otherwise they’d be delayed until the 12th and 14th), and setting up for an early Essay Week. I’m also curious: would it be too over the top to do two Essay Weeks in 2008? Maybe one in late October? Of course it’s really up to me, but I’m wondering if maybe it would be considered a little too, I don’t know, overbearing.

Off to enjoy the wonderful weather, folks… that’s why there’re portables, you know.

04.21.08

The Bottom Line

Posted in Gaming, Rants at 4:14 pm

You can dress up a video game review in as many ten-cent words as you want. You can get all hoity-toity with the analysis of game as art. You can even pull out the big guns and examine, with a fine-toothed comb no less, the social implications of the Friend code system and the quantitatively better or worse aspect of the various elements of play. You’re welcome to do all of that, and more power to you if you do so.

But this picture tells me far more about Mario Kart Wii than all of that other baloney. There’s something to be said for a universally-accessible game.

04.07.08

Chaos Continued

Posted in Anime, Gaming, Site News at 4:02 pm

It’s a con week, so naturally all hell has to break loose. I just hope that by the time things get settled Thursday evening I’m not going to be hyper-depressed. In any event, this entry aside, we’re likely to have some bleed-over of the anime and game content on this side of the blog this week. The LJ should be business as usual, but no promises.

I’m trying to muster up the motivation to want to play through more of Ratchet and Clank, but unfortunately my remarks over its genericity (that’s not even a word– but genericness is?) have rung true, and so at the fourth planet I’m succumbing to the crippling apathy that threatened my enjoyment so far. I’ll say this, though: getting new weapons did help to make the game a lot more enjoyable, but the fact that it’s exactly like any other platformer that’s been endemic to the PS2 since launch did not help it at all. So, it’s going back to the movie store today, a day early.

As for anime, I’ve been re-watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Ouran Host Club, for no particular reason. There’s still no schedule for Tekkoshocon, so I’ve no idea what I’m likely to see there (and I probably won’t find out until Thursday night) but I expect to do a bit of watching this year. Though I suppose it couldn’t hurt to watch a little more Kiddy Grade in the meantime.

Which reminds me– I need to update the novel word count with what I managed to eke out during lunch. Then I need to go return the movies, get dinner, think about doing the laundry, etc. etc JOHN R BUSY. Catch you all tomorrow.

04.03.08

Gin And Juice

Posted in Gaming, Site News, Writing at 12:11 pm

Laid back.

I’m feeling very, very relaxed now. The chaos of the 1st, while it produced a lot of crushed hopes with regards to the video game industry, helped to flush out a huge amount of stress that had been building up. It seems like March is always a very tense time for me, but unlike last year, I’m still employed on the third of April, so there is that.

Anyway, I’ll save the analysis of the gaming news and rumors for the LJ tomorrow– there are a couple bits which came to light on Tuesday of suspicious veracity, yet not unwarranted interest– and just say that the writing is progressing nicely on Blueberries. I hit 10K words Monday night, and managed not to fiddle with the tracking spreadsheet too much. (Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with other chaos– Tuesday was obvious, but last night I had some minor panic with my wireless network.) Progress is being made, which is the important thing to note.

Oh, and I managed to get a Playstation 3 for (close to) half price. Craigslist is love. I’m forbidding myself from installing it tonight, however, until after I’ve written a couple thousand words.

Catch you all tomorrow.

03.17.08

GAME CLEARED: Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)

Posted in Game Cleared 2008, Gaming at 9:51 pm

At 10:45p, I cleared Stargazer Coliseum, the final challenge in Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii. This is the eleventh game cleared in 2008. The next game that is queued for completion is Band of Bugs (XBLA), followed by Phoenix Wright: Justice For All (DS) and Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (GBA). Final clear time is 13:45.

03.11.08

GAME CLEARED: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Posted in Game Cleared 2008, Gaming at 9:11 pm

At 10:00p, I completed The Subspace Emissary, the single-player campaign of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. This is the tenth game cleared in 2008. The next game that is queued for completion is Band of Bugs (360), followed by Phoenix Wright: Justice For All (DS) and Super Mario Galaxy (Wii). Final clear time was 9:02 over three days.

03.10.08

And Then There Was Brawl

Posted in Gaming, Rants at 3:59 am

And it was good. I’ve got a couple of characters unlocked, I’ve played with a few of the new combatants, and I’ve become slightly proficient with Pit… and the best part, really, is that I’ve only just barely scratched the surface of the game. One trip through Subspace Emissary will be enough for the Game Clear, but I am so going to be playing this consistently for quite some time.

On a completely bizarre note, playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl has me getting in the mood to play through Wild ARMs 5 as my next “major” RPG. There’s a very simple reason for this– two that I’ve discovered so far, actually. They’re two music tracks that were arranged by WA’s primary composer, Michiko Naruke. I’m not understating it at all when I say that her style is completely divergent from any other composer’s in the game, and that her take on the Ocarina of Time Medley and Donkey Kong Country’s Bramble Blast aren’t just distinctive, they’re emblematic of her work while still retaining the core melodies and phrases. (It doesn’t hurt that Bramble Blast was one of my favorite tracks from DKC, either.) Contrast this to, say, Motoi Sakuraba’s contributions– they’re good, and he was responsible for another of my favorite of the Kirby tracks, but they’re just not really “his”. (Of course, I’m just bitter because I absolutely adored the orchestral version of “Fountain of Dreams” from Melee, and that didn’t make the cut to Brawl.) Oh, and to my great surprise, the Kid Icarus tracks are phenomenal.

Yeah, so I’m geeking out over game music today. I think I could be excused.

See you tomorrow.

03.06.08

GAME CLEARED: Alien Hominid HD (360)

Posted in Game Cleared 2008, Gaming at 8:51 pm

At 8:44p, I defeated the final boss of Alien Hominid HD on Xbox Live Arcade. This is the ninth game cleared in 2008. The next game that is queued for completion is Phoenix Wright: Justice For All (DS), followed by Band of Bugs (XBLA) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Subspace Emissary) (Wii).