I picked up Okami (PS2) last weekend, and I am in looooove! This is one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I've seen since, oh, Katamari Damacy, but with a different kind of beauty. Think if Zelda was designed with a calligraphy brush rather than CG. And in a lot of ways, this game is like Zelda, though I don't have too much experience with Zelda to find all the similarities.

Anyway, Okami (which Ben tells me stands for "god") takes place in a magical world run by gods and beasts. You play as Amaterasu, the sun god who has taken on the form of a wolf, and using your skills with a calligraphy brush - "The Celestial Brush" - and a sewer lid-looking type object (I still can't figure out what it is...), you slay beasts and demons and restore life to the world and the people in it. There is help from other gods and goddesses who also posess calligraphy skills that you will learn, and guidance from a tag-a-long artist bug named Issun, who seems eerily similar to Navi from Zelda (but perhaps less annoying? Maybe not...).

That's the basic gist of the story, I'm only an hour or two into the game so there is definitely more room for development. But what I love most about the game is the attention to scenery and detail. Every time you jump, the area that you land on is suddenly filled with flowers and grass. And everywhere the landscape looks exactly like a Chinese handscroll painting. It's just... breathtaking. The music is also a great component, I almost wish there was a way to turn off the dialog noise during cutscenes just so I can hear the music better.

Augh, the dialog. The actual text is fine, but the voices are similar to the obnoxious gibberish in Animal Crossing. I understand that this solves the problem of recording different languages for the Japanese and English versions, but I don't know, it's just really annoying. And kind of shrill. And during the cutscenes, I can't speed up or skip the dialog! Trust me, the first 10 minutes or so of the game were so frustrating simply because they were introducing the story and I had to read ever letter that showed up on the screen. Oh well, it's been a pleasant experience ever since.

Anyway, here are some screenshots (again, not mine) so you all can also enjoy the art in this game:

               

I'd say that any intelligent gamer who appreciates beautiful gameplay and graphics should pick up this game. It's definitely more worthwhile than a lot of the games out now like, say, Kingdom Hearts 2. Heh heh.

Rating: 9 out of 10 (for now)

(And yes, I know its Okama Gamesphere.)

Soooo true. Two entries in, I already dissed Kingdom Hearts 2. Seven entries later, I do it again! It's not that I didn't like this game. I liked it alright, but it was a HUGE disappointment from KH1. That game was gold! Whereas every minute of KH2 felt like a money-making scheme. Nothing made sense, nothing was solved, and I still don't understand what actually happened. Sigh... I heard rumors of KH3 too; it has to get superior reviews or I won't even touch it. Yeesh.

On a different note, I'm about 40 hours into Okami, and I LOVE it! I thought I had beaten the game, and little wandering-artist-bug Issun said, "This is only the beginning!" And I think, oh it's over, they said that at the end of Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door too. But no! It wasn't over, it really was just the beginning! The game suddenly became eerie and haunting, and now I have problems playing this game without someone else being in the room. When I turn my PS2 off, I can just sense the evil black death-haze surrounding the console, and paper-scroll spirits trolling my room. And the spiders. They're the reason why I could never get through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time... the SPIDERS! (Which of course meant that I played for about ten minutes and then put it down.) Luckily Ashley helped me bypass all of them in Okami. But what is it with adventure games and spiders? These weren't your normal spiders either; swinging spiders, elevator spiders, launch pad spiders... geeeeeez I was in a spider haven! :shudder:

Well that part's over, I have to fight a water dragon next or something. And I'll be picking up Final Fantasy XII today! It's only $37.99 at Circuit City, pick it up while it lasts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYCTpU_7Eis&eurl=

A mash-up of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and the Weapon Raid from Final Fantasy VII. This is sweeet.

Guess what I got for Christmas? GUITAR HERO II. Thanks Ben! ^_^

I can't... stop... shredding..... Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everybody!

Hey, here's a game you don't see every day... in America. With crazy Japanese-y games like Katamari Damacy and Elebits becoming really popular, this obviously is the next step - kissing adventures. In Chulip, you play a young boy who lives in a dreary world without love, where everyone hides in fear in their homes. Your job is to lure the people (or animals, or anything that moves) out of their holes and kiss them until they're happy! Eventually, happiness will be restored to the town. But your ULTIMATE goal is to kiss the girl you love under the tree - so essentially everyone is just practice. The whore.

Ridiculous, right? The people are insane looking, like giant muppets, and I can only imagine the backlash after children are exposed to this game and little boys go around kissing all the little girls. Oooh wait, they already do that. The game comes out on Valentine's Day (of course) for the PS2, and if it's cheap like Katamari, there's really not much stopping me from getting this game. ^_^

You can't ever have too much PaRappa the Rapper music. Though it always looks weird when white people try to fake Asian accents. Mmm now I want some cake.

Hello everybody! You may remember that Panic Goods sold cool Katamari Damacy t-shirts. Well they've updated and are now offering 5 new shirt designs, including 2 that are shiny and one that is fuzzy! I like these designs much better than the original ones, and I especially like the fuzzy shirt. Perhaps now I'll actually shell out the money for one of these...

   
   

More Katamari news! Keita Takahashi, Katamari's creator, is currently working on something completely new, but promises that more Katamari is coming, just without his involvement. I'm not really sure whether this is good or bad, because what will Katamari be without Takahashi? I guess we will see. And hopefully it comes out for a system that I actually own, because I'm sad I never got to check out Me and My Katamari on the PSP.

(from Game | Life)

edit: Orange Lounge Radio has dug up some tasty tidbits about a new Katamari game. Entitled Beautiful Katamari, the game will be coming out for the PS3 and XBox 360 on October 17th for $39.99, with Sixasix support for the PS3. The Wii version will come out shortly after, on November 14th for $29.99.

...Curses. I really hope the Wii version is as successful as the PS2 version, there won't be any more two-joystick control. Or else I might have to just break down and buy a PS3. Or XBox??? Then I could play Viva Piñata...

Old one from XKCD, but today I finally took the time to look through all his old strips. I think it's become my favorite webcomic, with VG Cats coming in at a close second, but he needs to start updating ON Mondays or else I will be disappointed!

This game looks beautiful! The PS2 still is strong; it is not yet time for the PS3. /end Fran-speak

I meant to put this trailer up a while ago, but it got lost in the great world of internet searching. It's a new side-scrolling RPG by Atlus (which in my opinion, has put out more interesting games than any other company). The 2D animation is gorgeous, and I just like the mood of the coloring in general :) Here are some more screenshots:

Hopefully it plays as well as it looks! The game comes out at the end of May, but I'll have to hurry up and finish all the games I'm in the middle of before I can buy another one...

You know all those video clips of kids destroying their game consoles? Well some guys from the University of Wyoming wanted to keep with the fun and decided that since they just bought a PS3, they would destroy their now-obsolete PS2. One of the guys started to pee on the PS2 which was still plugged into the wall, was electrocuted and promptly fell unconcious onto the floor, fried. "After coming to about ten seconds later, the student was rushed to the hospital where a doctor's prognosis confirmed he was in fact an idiot." Dumbass.

(from Kotaku)

P.S. Why yes, I do have Internet in Taiwan, so I will be updating!

So, I don't know if YOU know, but there's going to be an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie coming out this holiday season. Why, I have no idea, but I'm sure it's for the same reason they're remaking Underdog. :shakes head: Anyway, in conjuction with the movie, Brash Entertainment is making a rhythm game where the Chipmunks rap their way from small venues to sold-out stadiums, and eventually, to Rockathonapalooza (very original, guys).

The game will have about 40 songs from acts like Run DMC, Blink 182, REM, but in those annoying high-pitched chipmunk voices. You have to be really masochistic if you decide to get this game, or a terrible person if you get this as a gift. The game comes out this holiday season on all the consoles.

If you enjoyed playing Final Fantasy VII, and remembered anything about what the game looked like, then you will enjoy this video. It's a compilation of photographs taken around the Earth that look like places in the world of Gaia. It's a rather impressing video - everything from Midgar to Shinra to the canyons and fields are represented. And of course, the video is set to lovely orchestral music from the game. Ah crap, this is making me want to play the game for the eleventieth time.

It's been a while. Let's talk video games, shall we?

There's a ton of stuff I want to update about, but I've been bogged down by school and work and trying to catch up on sleep. But my bookmarks folder is getting pretty insane, and I'm tired of not updating. So I'm thinking I'm just going to knock everything out in one whopper of a post, seeing as most of this stuff is pretty old news, and my night class got canceled so I have three extra hours to bum around ^_^ Sorry, this is going to be pretty unorganized and to the point!

ONLINE TIMEWASTERS
To start things off, here are the two main reasons why I'm doing terribly this semester - Scrabulous (online Scrabble) and Warbook (a strategy, level-up type game), two of the most popular applications on Facebook. Be forewarned - these games are incredibly addicting.

DiggKiller is a simple shooter game where you kill recent top stories on Digg.com. I like how when the stories explode, you can collect all the comments, heh. Pretty clever.

Even though it's not really a game, the treehugger in me has to plug Consumer Consequences, a flash application that calculates how many Earths it would take to sustain life if everyone lived like you did. It takes 4 Earths for me, but there's little I change while I live in an apartment complex :(

Lastly, some of the best time wasters on the net - Grow Games. I've mentioned these before, but they're still fun and challenging, and very cute, of course. ^_^

SO YOU WANT KAWAII...
Wan! Entertainment Music Channel

Angel Love Online

MUSICAL GAMES
To the makers of the fully functional Lego and Kiss Guitar Hero controllers - you're insane! But good work.

Anna has introduced me to Anime Song Generator, and while I'm not sure this is a game, it's closely related enough. It's a computer program that lets you create sickeningly poppy anime songs, and the results are pretty impressive. It's like GarageBand for otakus, yikes.

I haven't said anything about Rock Band yet. Wired has covered it pretty extensively, so I say just go check out their articles. But basically, it's like Guitar Hero but with the whole band, the setlist is killer, and since this game is produced by MTV, the game includes the actual songs rather than covers like in Guitar Hero and all the other Konami games (like the RATM cover in GH3 :shudder:). The only kicker? it's $200. Sigh.

SMAAAAASH BROS.
Let's see. This game will have Wi-Fi capabilities. Lucas from Mother 3 will be in the game. Watch Snake kick everyone's ass. Think that about covers everything new that interested me. Check Smash Bros. DOJO!! for daily updates.

BECAUSE YOU LIKE TO READ
The Next 25 Years of Video Games - Man I can't wait for Spore!

57 Things We Know Because We Game - Killing people makes you stronger!

101 Things You Didn't Know About Games - No list should be longer than 50. But this still includes a lot of interesting trivia to, you know, impress the stranger in the elevator with.

UP AND COMING WII GAMES
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is coming to the Wii, PS2 and PSP this holiday season in a Phoenix Wright-like crime solving game.

Be prepared to use the force as you swing your light saber Wiimote in the upcoming Star Wars game.

Read everything you ever wondered about the new Wii title, MySims, which is high on my to-buy list.

This beautiful 2D platformer, Eternity's Child, is making the move from XBox's Live Arcade to the Wii and DS. I don't know much about this game, but it looks gorgeous, and the plot sounds intriguing.

I don't know what the heck Miburi and Teburi is about, but it's coming out for the Wii, so I guess it fits in this section. Basic description: "It's not just a crossword game, but a crossword game based on charades and cosplay." Perhaps this photo will suffice?

RELIVING THE LEGENDS
Chrono Trigger, one of my favorite games of all freakin' time, has been lovingly retranslated into clearer English! It's available in HTML, Excel files, text files, and as a playable patch. I'm excited, I'll happily replay this game.

I thought I had more for this section, but I guess Chrono Trigger is it. Whoops.

ARTSY FARTSY
The Most Stunning Gaming Fan Artwork of Zelda - Well, the title says it all. Much better than, oh say, the Zelda cosplay event that went down this Sunday to promote Phantom Hourglass. Heh.

A fabulous papercraft of Master Chief!

Wowzers. That's all I have to say.

And one of the most beautiful games of all time - Okami - now has a book completely dedicated to the art from the game. Really, it's more a study of Japanese art rather than video game art. I'd really, really like this for Christmas, thanks. ^_^

And finally, I leave you with this:

Hopefully I'll be updating again soon!