Site updates first: release dates updated. Lots of delays in the PS2 and Xbox scenes, with rapidly-dwindling futures for Dreamcast, PSOne, and Game Boy Color.
New review, too: Shadow Hearts, a Midway RPG in which the main characters are exorcists. Freaky, yet not as dark as Persona.
Rob Boyd, a contributor to Gamebits, recently sent me a WonderSwan, which he picked up while in Taiwan. (So few people know me well enough to truly appreciate my desires. Maybe I can send Rob the sweater my aunt knit me.) This black-and-white handheld by Bandai is not available in the States, but is popular in Japan - at least, popular enough for Square to release Final Fantasy remakes for it. The only game I have is Gunpey, a puzzle game named in honor of Gumpei Yokoi, the creator of Metroid, who died a few years ago in a car accident. I look forward to trying this game, and also to deciphering the rules for the Chinese chess game Rob sent me.
I've taken a brief hiatus from video games to watch the Season One DVDs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a television series heretofore unknown to me. It's leagues beyond the 1992 movie, that's for sure, with better themes, more surprises, and more humor. I look forward to seeing more of Buffy… on DVD.
That's the last update for the month. Peace out.
Two new reviews up. After 25 hours, I finished playing Shadow Hearts - a fantastic RPG - and have begun playing Advance Wars, a Christmas gift. Between these two titles I briefly indulged in Sega's Rez, which was not as good as Tron, the movie to which Sega claimed the game to be similar.
Speaking of movies, I finally got the Harry Potter film under my belt. No complaints, but it didn't really add much to the books, which are so available and easy to read that there's little reason for a fantasy-lover to not have read them by now.
One last movie tidbit: one of my all-time favorite movies (right up there with Tron and Terminator 2) is coming to DVD. March 26th brings not only Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season One to DVD, but also Watership Down I never thought I'd live to see the day… Alleluia! (of course, my cherished 1983 TV taping, complete with "New Fruit Roll-Ups!" and "Tonight, on the Dukes of Hazzard… followed by Dallas and Falcon Crest" commercials will always have a place in my library.)
Somebody commit me: I keep doing things I say I'm going to stop doing. And I don't just mean playing MGS2 Substance's VR Missions (yes, I'm still hooked), but also registering for E3. My media confirmation came through yesterday, and I immediately proceeded to book a flight and a hotel room. On the former, Expedia has traditionally done a better job of offering discount fares than E3's travel agency, but this year, the latter is equipping attendees with a discount code and telling them to go directly to the airlines. Great Gatsby, Batman - that's "discount" with a capital count - as in, count the savings!
Oh. And E3 is about games. So let's talk about that.
I had consciously altered my brain waves into a thought pattern that perceived Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball as a game releasing this week. Unfortunately, my influence did not, this time, extend to reality, and so I'm left to look forward to getting my mitts on Panzer Dragoon Orta. Oh, the humanity…
Speaking of which, I was looking at the games I've reviewed or are reviewing this month: the two aforementioned Xbox games, as well as Dragon's Lair 3D, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers… all of which are based on some existing property. Since most of these games rock, I'm not complaining, but I'm amused to notice there's nothing new under the sun.
New article posted today: "The Best Games You've Never Played". I'm sure we all have favorite games that most other people have never played, or even heard of; here are some of mine. What are yours?
If you're a PS2 owner and an RPG fan, you owe it to yourself to check out Shadow Hearts, from Midway. I've been enjoying this game more than Final Fantasy X. I've also discovered what I like in an RPG: battles and constant story progression, with as little exploration as possible. No wonder I enjoyed Vandal Hearts II so much. I'll have reviews of Shadow Hearts & FFX up later this month, dependant on print distribution.
Happy New Year! I'm back from celebrations and knee surgery, ready to get my game on, or something. So, what's new?
I've been playing Final Fantasy X, which is to the PS2 what Final Fantasy VII was to the PSOne. Expect a review shortly. There are many PS2 games I want to be playing this month, including Konami's Shadow Hearts and Crash Bandicoot, and Sega's Rez. Not much is being released for the other systems, so like it or not, Sony has my attention this month.
I received a call from a nice lady representing E3, indicating that I was "missing some credentials". Apparently she thought I was trying to register as freelance (I wasn't; I've learned that, where getting into E3 is concerned, "freelance" is the Mark of Death). We cleared up that misunderstanding, and I received a registration confirmation email moments later. Registering for E3 is getting tougher and tougher every year…
The Gamebits community on Syndicomm now has web access to the chat rooms. You still need to be a service subscriber, and we're still offering a FREE GAME to all new members.
I also finally created a personal web page, combining and updating various pages I've had over the years. Linking to it here wouldn't be very professional, though. ;)
