Bewitched Again

Finishing Bayonetta a few weeks back i immediately feel the urge to play it again, not because the entire campaign was too short (10-12 hours) but because i had such a horrible time with my first play-through that i knew i would enjoy it more the next time around. Weird huh? Not so if you are familiar with action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry.

You see Bayonetta has a rigid save system where it only allows you to save the game at the end of the level so not knowing how long the level is and when exactly you can save can be a very scary feeling. Not to entirely bash the game, i suspect the game auto-saves your progress at designated checkpoints because there's always an auto-save checkpoint on my ps3 save file utility. But not wanting to risk losing any of my valuable progress, i have never tried not finishing a level and saving my progress at the end before exiting the game. So here i am, trying to better my score on every level while uncovering the secret mission portals and notes which i may have missed earlier. Not entirely different with what happened with Devil May Cry 4 so maybe that's why i knew once i finished Bayonetta for the first time, there can only be good times ahead.

Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things

One of my early gripes with Umbrella Chronicles was that you never get to see your character or partner enough. Even though it's a lightgun shooter, i must admit i sometimes i enjoy watching my characters breaking out of the zombie hold just so i can catch a glimpse of them before them pull back behind the camera again. This time around on Darkside Chronicles while the camera stays behind the character at all times, it turns and faces your partner every now and again so it never feels like you are sitting on an amusement thrill ride but rather witnessing the events through the eyes of the character which is how it should be. The camera also shake and bobs around in a frantic motion to convey a sense of panic in the character movement and really make the game all that more difficult. Your partner also actively engage in the gun fights with the undead unlike in the past when they are too bust engaging in the conversation to even lend you a hand. Sometimes you have to get your partner out of a fit but it never happens too often for it to be a pain and often times, your partner is usually more capable than you are.

The other little things including seeing your character guns while re-loading and even the amount of shells your character sticks into the chamber depends on the number of rounds actually used, making re-loading time much more crucial in the heat of the battle. While this makes the game more of a first-person shooter than a lightgun shooter, it's a decision that i applaud because of my strong attachment to the characters. There is even an option to turn on the laser sights for all the weapons making it feel like a first-person shooter of Resident Evil 4. While all these little things may have blurred the lines between first-person and lightgun shooter in Darkside Chronicles, it's making me enjoy the game just a bit more than the first one.

Darkness Falls

After what seem like forever, my copy of Darkside Chronicles has finally arrived. Using free delivery during this time of the year can be very risky, i remember my RE4 Wii Edition going missing a couple of years back during this holiday season. Luckily Play asia was able to compensate my loss with another copy of the game and i regret i was not able to repay their good deed by devoting more time to that version. Rest assured this will not happen with Darkside Chronicles as i almost 50 hours into the first Umbrella Chornicles.

The Birds and Bees

Recently the Black Cat made her return to the pages of Amazing Spider-Man and despite eagerly awaiting that story arc, I was ultimately disappointed with how the writer portrays the Cat as an overly-sexualized character. It certainly wasn't the Black Cat I remembered I first got introduced to the character (back when Peter Parker was a married man) and in a way that's the same way i feel about Bayonetta right now.

As with both characters, the costume has already done the job on selling the sexiness of the characters so there's always the danger of over-doing it when it comes to what they say. Unfortunately Bayonetta's english is highly-charged with sexual provocative meanings. I can understand if it's done in a tasteful manner but with Bayonetta, it's a bit of an overkill as she seems to tease and talk that way with everyone in the game, save perhaps for the little girl looking for her mummy. It ruins an otherwise potentially great character so it remains to see if Bayonetta has anything else on her mind at end of her mission aside from making babies.

Friday the 13th Weekend

Had some friends over for the weekend to help me dust off some RE games in preparation for Darkside Chronicles out this week. First up was Degeneration which I manage to watch for a bit on Friday evening while waiting for my dualshock 3 to charge. I enable the enhanced viewing mode to view the storyboards alongside with the movie and much to my surprise, almost every scene from the opening zombie attack on the airport was storyboarded. I really have to see if these storyboards made it onto the Degeneration book I bought a while back.

On Saturday, we played a bit of RE4 Wii edition just to check out the Wii controls and since I had a save file with everything unlocked, we could practically try everything the game had to offer. I was pretty clumsy getting a feel of the Wii controls again on mercenaries mode so needless to say, I didn't survive very far on that one. I did try the story campaign with the Chicago typewriter and the game was a lot of fun, having an automatic weapon with unlimited ammunition. I often forget how you never really get a powerful automatic weapon on RE4 to play with so much so that I'm considering to speedrun through the whole game using the typewriter.

The highlight of the evening of trying to view the Jill sandwich scene in REmake with her unlocked RE3 costume which I assume should be pretty obvious why if you are a RE fan. Since I haven't really speed-run through REmake before, it was pretty hard figuring what I essentially had to do in order to get to the closet room and later to trigger the scene. Disappointment was in the air when I realised that by meeting Barry in the hallway, he subsequently wouldn't come to your rescue later at the shotgun room. Definitely something to come back to later which shouldn't be too difficult now that I remember how.

Got some nice presents too at the end of the day so I have to think of something for Christmas now.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Boy am I having a hard time on Bayonetta, earning an Enzo Stone rank at almost every level. I'm sure I'll get better eventually with enough practise but right now I'm really getting my rear whipped. Luckily the cinematics are cool and the game is littered with Easter eggs to make things bearable and interesting.

Of course, most Devil May Cry fans would know that Enzo's name first appeared in the openning pages of the first Devil May Cry manual where he writes a brief account of his first meeting with Dante. Then Bayonetta utters Dante's famous words when she too tells one of the bosses in the game to flock off, feather-face.

The highlight for me is when pretty boy Luka talks about his past girlfriends after sharing an intimate moment with Bayonetta. Each one of them happens to be a leading lady from past Kamiya games! There's Claire from Resident Evil 2, Trish from Devil May Cry, Silvia from Viewtiful Joe and finally Ammy from Okami. At that point I totally geeked out and wonder if there are any more surprises in store?

Day One Purchase

Over the months i have managed to amass a bit of commission from my Play-asia affiliate earnings to finally use for my Darkside Chronicles pre-order. While it isn't much, it's enough to purchase Darkside Chronicles at a budget game price, lessening the burden of having to purchase two brand new games in the short span of one month. It's unlikely to happen again anytime soon, making a day-one purchase let alone two so i figure i best use this chance to spend some of my affiliate earnings.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who helped contributed to my affiliate earnings, though it's hard to tell if any of them even came from this blog at all. You have my heartfelt thanks, making this forthcoming Darkside Chronicles game even more special than it already is. In a shameless plug to earn some more, here's where you can continue to show your support.

Winter Comes Early

Talk about surprises, here i am not keeping myself up to date only to realise Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is scheduled to ship later this month! Last time i check, Wii was still the top dog of the console sales every month and Darkside Chronicles won't be out until sometime during the winter holiday seasons. My, how things have changed over the course of a few months, now the game's only a week away from release so either development of the game was cut-short or the guys at Cavia/Capcom really bust their rear to get the game done earlier than scheduled. Or winter is coming earlier for this year. Best not to speculate but either way this is certainly good news for me as my Wii has been sitting idle for a good few weeks now.

I was playing a bit of Madworld but i really couldn't get into the groove of playing so it's probably a good idea to put it aside in anticipation for this. I have seen a recent trailer of Darkside Chronicles and the game is shaping up to be a lot better than i expected, in fact it looks a lot better than what i remember its predecessor to be! Of course it's been quite a while since i last boot up Umbrella Chronicles so i will probably have to dust it off this week to see before i can make a fair comparisons when my copy of Darkside Chronicles arrives.

Word Gets Around

I got (coaxed into getting) Bayonetta over the weekend, laying to rest any earlier doubts seeing the negative comments surrounding the ps3 version. I guess it was inevitable that I would purchase the game regardless of how it turned out and which version was better. At least according to others.

Having failed to seriously get down to playing a string of action games of late, I was having doubts about whether I could sustain my interest and commit myself to Bayonetta. Especially since the Japanese import isn't exactly cheap. But perhaps that's exactly what I need right now and if any game possess that ability to keep me hooked until the very end, it's a Hideki Kamiya game. The last I heard of the game was the rather entertaining Q&A video session with Kamiya at Platinum Games official website where he was doing a gravure idol pose at the end of the session.

I do know that the Japanese version will ship several months earlier than other versions to give the game a better chance to perform overseas once the holiday seasons is over. I also know that the Japanese version will have a different cover art compared with the US version. All that remains is whether the Japanese version was import-friendly or not to seal the deal. Once the word got around that it was, I really had no excuse not to. The timing of it being just two weeks after my birthday didn't hurt either. And so it begins, the road back to gaming and hopefully the reboot of my good ole gaming blog.

Slim Second Chance

So Sony has finally gone and done it, they have relaunch their Playstation3 in dire attempt to breathe some life onto the hardware which is still lagging behind Microsoft and Nintendo in this generation's console war. It seems there's a price drop with this new revision but i rarely keep track of the console price anymore seeing i already owned the 80GB for more than a year now. As far as i'm concerned the ps3 is still a pretty expensive hardware when compared with the other two reigning console. What struck me as pretty unusual is Sony's ps3 was the last of this generation console to hit the market but was the first to introduce a new slimline version, guess lagging sales does drive a company in all sorts of funny direction.

The Freak Accident

Someone living very close to me had their collection completely damaged by the one thing that was there to protect it; dehumidifiers. All the moisture absorbed by the dehumidifiers seems to have leaked out from the container designed to hold it and with no where left to turn, the water ended up soaking into the CD case and sleeves. It's not a pretty sight i can tell you, the kind of freak accident that have to be seen to believe and the whole irony of where the source of damage actually came from is not lost on me. I have done this many times before, in fact i have placed my dehumidifiers in far more precarious position without a thought of what damage it might do should such a thing happen. Let this be a lesson to us all not to get carried away with over-protecting our precious collection because some times it does more harm than good.

Ever since i was little i have always had the habit of over-protecting my stuff what ever it may be. I guess i derived some sense of pride from how good my things still look but the fact is, it also doesn't make me very popular with friends as i have the tendency of not sharing my things. So if i have something i'm not willing to share with you, please don't take it the wrong way. Then again if i'm not sharing it with you, maybe it's because you are too much of a dick for me to be so nice to anyways.

Wait a Minute(Man)

I just recently purchased Watchmen The Motion Comic blu-ray which is a bit out of the norm for me because

a) it's published by rival company DC comics

b) purists like me prefer to read the actual comic books

One of the things i was really excited about it was the digital copy of the movie included as i was planning to use it on my psp. So i popped the disc onto my computer to hopefully extract it onto my psp only to discovered that it required me to update my window media player before i could view it. Being curious why this would involved my media player, i logged onto Warner Bros website to read the troubleshoot and it seems that the digital copy is only playable on window media player. What's the point of a digital copy of the movie if you can't even extract it onto your portables like a Sony PSP?

Sooner or Later

Some gamers liked to use their ps3 to watch blu-ray movies while me i'm somewhere in between, i'll decide depending on which movie and other reasons i rather not indulge here. I did notice that blu-ray movie have a pretty long loading time and the playstation3 tends to load the movies faster than standard blu-ray players. The only problem with that is the movie disc will also download certain files onto the playstation3 hard disk without even prompting the user whether or not to do so, and i'm not just talking about the BD Live download here.

Yes i guess you could say the inevitable has happened, i'm starting to get addicted to blu-rays.

The Common Enemy

After a rather long hiatus, i'm back at blogging though i sometimes wish i didn't have a self-imposed quota of posts to meet. As you might have known i have recently gone back to collecting comic books so i thought it might be an appropriate time to reveal some of my early collecting habits and how they have influenced my game collection. There are more here than it meets the eye so rest assure this is not some lame post about comic books.

When it comes to comic books, it's usually reprinted several times either in magazine form or collected trade paperbacks especially if it's a popular issue. This is where i first learnt of the importance of first printing and how subsequent prints vary in cover art or even re-coloring if we are talking about paperbacks. Granted it's not entirely the same when it comes to games but the similarities are there; games that are re-issued as budget labels also tend to have different cover art and of course the value of these games will vary depending on which print it is. For those who are actually concerned about the value of comic books (or even games for that matter), the first printing will always net the highest value and beyond that really depends on what incentives were thrown in for subsequent reprints. Yes these two very different hobby are much more alike than you may think and unfortunately the bad must also come with the good so i'm afraid to say in my experience with both, neither one is safe from one common threat.

Yup you guessed it, fungus.

Coming To America (Not)

The truth is finally out, it looks like Yakuza 3 won't be leaving its native home Japan after all.

Can't say i'm really surprised though it does leave me with the inevitable decision which i knew i would have to arrive at, playing the import version. I foresee it to be a long and ultimately unrewarding process since the real charm of the Yakuza series has always lies in its side missions. To top it off, the game is still selling at its original price so it likely won't be cheap to import at this stage. I certainly have the time to go through this meticulous process of playing the import version but i would probably have to finish the second one before i even consider it right now.

You Only Live Twice

There was a common theory that Separate Ways was conceived or at least the idea of it before the Gamecube version of RE4 even shipped. That it was held back so Capcom would have the added incentive to tempt gamers who played RE4 on the Gamecube to pick it up again. There are parts of the game that feels pretty clever how like the developers manage explain what happened to leon jacket but then there are also parts that doesn't make any sense at all.

Take the part where chapter 2 ends and chapter 3 begins, at the end of chapter 2 we see ada watching in the shadow as luis sera dies and the sample falls into saddler's hands. Then she proceeds to radio wesker and tells him the location of the sample only to arrive at the start of chapter 3 when she meets krauser and ask him the same thing wesker just asked her only moments again. Ok so the scene where krauser is having a conversation with ada while playing with his knife was in the original game but you would think the developers could have done a better job of making the scenes all tied up. Of course this could go on forever like did krauser actually die in Separate Ways or the end of Assignment Ada? It's pretty clear that ada was the one who put him away for good but it's as how mikami intended in Assignment Ada or what kawata envisioned in Separate Ways?

One at a Time

I have a habit of not leaving my games unfinished before moving on to the next one, whether it's a game i have played before or for the first time. To me it's a meticulous process of figuring what to play now, when i would roughly finish and what would be next. Of course along the way, new games come in to the picture and i have to change my schedule to suit everything but often than not, the process is very satisfying. What i'm currently playing would be influenced by what interests me right now and that in turn will influence what i play on the other platform as well. It sure sounds like a lot of thought and work is put into this but i realised i tend to get the most out of the games by playing them in the right order at the right time.

For instance i could have just leave No More Heroes aside when i got hold of my copy of Madworld but i decided to play Yasumi Matsuno earlier hit Vagrant Story instead in the mean time. The timing was just right as i doubt i will have any desire to play Vagrant Story again in the foreseeable future. Now that i have finished NMH, it worked out pretty well with July being a big month for my favourite comic books and a game as artistic-influenced by comic books as Madworld.

A Shot of Tequila (Time)

I logged into the multiplayer mode of Stranglehold today to see if there is anyone around for a quick game and sure enough, i did managed to find someone this time. With him hosting, we quickly engage a game of mano a mano deathmatch with just the two of us trapped in that teahouse. The game runs surprisingly smooth on multiplayer online even smoother than the actual single player campaign i believed, perhaps because it's just two players in one largely destructible environment.

The first 8 minutes were pure fun as the tequila time gauge has yet to fill up so both of us were on even ground more or less, the nice thing is there are healthpacks and weapons all around so you can easily engage in a very long duel of running and gunning without actually killing anyone. Once the tequila time gauge finally tops up however, a player can easily dispatch the other away by using the tequila time to their advantage because the other player has no idea when their opponent is in tequila time or not. The game also doesn't engage tequila time automatically like the single player campaign so i die a few times before i realised my opponent was using tequila time to his advantage. The worst part was when i actually got my first kill and by doing so, resetting my opponent tequila time made him go into hiding while waiting for his gauge to fill up again. Having being new to the multiplayer mode, i was certainly surprised by this move but maybe it's the same for everyone else because of how invaluable tequila time advantage is.

Separate Opinion

Now that i have finished No More Heroes i can really sink my teeth into RE4 Wii edition to see how much better it's compared with the Gamecube version. With the help of some save files on gamefaqs, i was able to unlock everything from the go and immediately jump into Assignment Ada and Separate Ways. True enough, Assignment Ada does feature knife attacks now so it's possible for RE fanatics to do their knife-runs. As much as i liked the Wii controls i also notice it makes the game almost too easy to play, aiming is second nature and you can switch back and forth between knife attack instantaneously. I didn't even get hit one bit by krauser during my first run on assignment ada which i usually struggled before.

Separate Ways is definitely re-built from the ground up using the Gamecube engine so everything looks on par with the rest of the game. I have heard that ada model is ripped definitely from the ps2 version without any enhancements so that could possibly be the only downside of this Wii edition. The cutscenes are also in FMV like the ps2 version but since Separate Ways doesn't feature any alternative costume, it's not such a major issue. It has taken me a long time to finally play the Wii edition but i'm glad the time is finally here since i told myself i won't bother with it until i'm on LCD display.

Reality Bites

I used to think No More Heroes was a pretty easy game so much so that i didn't give it a second thought whether or not i could actually finish it on Bitter mode. Finishing the Bitter mode however has managed to send my (gamer) ego come crashing back to reality and nearly reduce me to tears. Ok maybe not that but i easily spent over 5 hours to dispose of both Bad Girl and Jeanne as both boss fight require a heavy dose of patience especially if you tend to be very careful. I have certainly come to appreciate the game and the intricacy boss fights a lot more, something that would have been lost on an easier mode as you can basically button-mash your way through them.

I remember when finishing DMC4 on Hard mode i got message screen with a rather cheeky remark about how you are not just a casual gamer after all. These days i try to get the most out of my games so playing it first on a cheap easy mode is another way of prolonging the life of these games. Action games tend to have a pretty short playing time so looks like it's the ribbon of disgrace for now in Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

The Ultimate Shame

A couple of stuff came in before the end of this week, the last two of my Organic zombie diorama and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. I ran into a bit of problem when placing this order last week as i didn't have any coupon codes with me anymore and had to look everywhere for one. Luckily i find a kind soul who posted some on his blog, wished i could remember his blog now so i can quote him but if you are reading this, you have my thanks.

Looking back maybe i should have ordered Dragon Sword on the DS instead as it was only USD16.90 right about that time and quickly reverted back to its original price. The Greatest Hits red casing for Sigma is a lot worse than i expected, as it wasn't the slightly transparent case shown on that page but completely shiny red which you can't see through. It looks pretty cheap to be honest, perhaps befitting for a Greatest Hits label as it's the ultimate shame for not picking up the title initially.

Wii Edition Impressions

I finally finished playing Resident Evil 4 on professional mode last night, the entire run took roughly two hours more than my previous and seeing that i clocked a Leon death count of triple digits, i suspected a lot of the time was spent replaying some of the more difficult set pieces in the game. I had my copy of the Wii edition ready with me so by the time the credits finished rolling, i immediately popped in it for comparisons.

Sure enough, the Wii edition is indeed enhanced 16:9 widescreen so you don't have the black borders if you are on widescreen display. A couple of minor issues worth noting, Capcom has included all the game demos that played when the game is left idle from the previous versions and had enough sense to change the gameplay scenes to Wii controls so that's a really nice touch. The game manual also has a couple of extra pages introducing the supporting cast of RE4 which i really liked, complete with classic quote from the game and a portrait shot. The bonus trailer of Umbrella Chronicles included does a good job of tempting gamers to buy it but i wished Capcom didn't try to disguise it by sneaking it onto the extras menu and calling it a bonus video. No shame in advertising your product if it's a quality game and Umbrella Chronicles certainly deserves much better.

Now onto the game itself the controls are as great as what reviewers have raved about, it's hard to believe the Wii controls lend itself so well to the game without dumbing it down. I like the little buzz from the Wii mote speaker when Hunnigan radios Leon and kinda wish Capcom would have included her dialogue onto the speaker ala No More Heroes but seeing it's a two way conversation between Leon, it would be a little difficult to realised. I do foresee the inventory menu being a bit cumbersome with the Wii controls, Capcom should have just went all the way and implement a drag and drop function for that whole part. Of course the big question remains whether the previously-ps2 exclusive Separate Ways campaign was completely redone in the original Gamecube game engine but unfortunately you still have to finish the main campaign in order to unlock it. Perhaps i can steal a save file from somewhere just to see for myself first.

Red Hot and Ready to Rumble

My decision to purchase Ninja Gaiden Sigma Greatest Hits was purely an impulsive one, for the longest time i have avoided the series because of Itagaki verbal sparring with Kamiya. Of course being a kamiya fanboy, i was naturally on kamiya side but it pains me as an action junkie not having played what critics touted as one of the best action game of this generation.

The first game came out with a Gamestop-exclusive Collector's Edition and the standard version quickly went out of the print to be replaced by a Greatest Hits version. My only option was the Greatest Hits version and i wrestled with the notion of owning a GH this soon for the longest time. Since graphics are much more of a concern for me now, the fact the game runs at 60fps on 1080p certainly helped in making my decision. Also Itagaki's lack of involvement with the Sigma series and also his eventual departure from Tecmo also made the decision a lot easier. In the essence, it was the perfect fit as i was looking for something new to play on my ps3 and also to top up my order of the last remaining two Organic Biohazard diorama.

What's The Deal with Qore?

One of the dumbest thing i did when i got my playstation3 bundle was not claim my free PSN game bundled inside. You see there was a coupon inserted inside the blu-ray demo disc for complimentary download of the PSN game, Pain. A couple of the thing held me back from doing so during that time, the worry of storage capacity and the concern of a long download time. Eventually when i finally decide on claiming it, the coupon had already expired sometime at the end of last year.

So when i got a couple of back dated game magazine today and discovered one of them contained codes for free download of QORE Episode 8, i was determined not to let this opportunity slipped by me again. Never mind that the said issue with the code is already five months, it doesn't hurt to give it a try and sure enough, the code still works! Being a bit of an old school gamer, i rarely ever take my playstation3 online so i'm not terribly familiar with either QORE or Pulse, gaming programs produced by Sony aiming to bring you the latest in the world of Playstation. My friends download Pulse religiously which i believed is because it's free and also partly because it's got some asian chick hosting it. QORE on the hand, requires subscription fee which i initially thought is because it's a high definition gaming program and thus requires more work than Pulse but then i found out that Pulse is also available in high definition too. So why is Sony charging for one show and not the other? The file size is pretty big at 1.5GB so it would probably be a while before i finish downloading the entire episode and see what the fuss is all about.

The Great Mistake

My first experience with Sony Greatest Hits label was not a pleasant one so since then i have swore off against all things Greatest Hits but rest assured this biased is not unfound. You see i got my sister and mum to pick up a copy of the first Devil May Cry when they were visiting in Singapore. What they came back with was a Greatest Hits label as the game has been out for some time now but what was worse was the manual inside had a copy of pages missing! I kid you not, ok the number of pages were correct but in place of the correct pages were misprint of some other pages. Sure it could all be a bad coincidence but it just reaffirms my belief about how subpar these Greatest Hits can be.

Now i'm about to embark into that territory again as i have just ordered a copy of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. I couldn't resist the offered price and on top of that, i need something to make up the order.

Robbed Zombie

Alas the two Organic zombie dioramas which i have yet to purchase are no longer in stock, i seriously miscalculated as they were the first two to go out of stock, not the chris and jill ones. Looks like unless i source the remaining two from somewhere other than Play-asia, i would likely end up with incomplete set of the Organic Biohazard series. Such a crying shame as these diorama are some of the best i have seen, they are certainly worth every cent of their full price and when discounted are an absolute steal.

I used to have high expectations when it comes to gashapons and models but thanks to my friend's usual skepticism i have learnt to expect a lot less when it comes to the actual finished product versus the early prototypes. This is certainly not the case here as these finished products looked even better than i would have imagined. I will admit that i'm gushing a bit more than usual perhaps it's because i haven't bought these stuffs for so long until now.

Emotions of the Game

Backward compatibility seems to be a very thorny subject when it comes to Sony and their playstation3, ever since they remove it from their current SKU they have never come fore to say why they did so or whether it will ever make its way back to future SKU. In fact their latter SKUs which feature limited compatibility like my 80GB also seems to have problems of their own. By removing the Emotion Engine chip which powers the original ps2 from the ps3 hardware, the system have to rely on software emulation to run ps2 games thus there is never any guarantee that every game will work and if they did, that any technical problems might arise.

I have been quite fortunate with my string of ps2 games running on ps3 however i can't help but to notice the Cell processor works extra hard to emulate the EE chip as the cooling fan spins faster than usual. This has led me to believe that while there have been some talks about backward compatibility coming back to ps3, it won't happen without some hardware change inside the system because it sounds to me like the Cell is just straining itself to keep up right now.

Decisions, decisions

As much as i dig the puzzles of the old Resident Evil games, some of the ones in RE Outbreak are just downright devilish. I don't know if anyone's aware but it's pretty hard to figure out puzzles in a game where you are not encouraged to pause the action as it's meant to be an online multiplayer experience. Probably if done in the right context and situation, these would have been hailed as some of the better puzzles in the series but as it stands, they are dreadful (to me at least) because of the timing and placement. It's been months since i first started on Outbreak file 1 but have yet to complete the game probably due to the episodic nature of the game and the fact i'm only playing it on my PS3. This is the last episode and i'll probably shelf the game once that is done in favour of yakuza 2.

Days of Being Wide

Contrary to what i earlier thought the new Resident Evil Archives does indeed support widescreen display unfortunately the game itself isn't made widescreen-ready (if there is such a term). This is based on what i have gathered so far as i have yet to purchase the new Archives or even test the original NGC version on my new setup.

Remember back when everyone was on 4:3 display and you always get letterbox borders when viewing widescreen movies on dvd? Well this is similar except now your display is widescreen while the source of the presentation is still well, 4:3 wide. Thus if you have your Wii set to 16:9 display then RE archives will have black borders on both sides to preserve the 4:3 aspect ratio. In a way the game is now widescreen-friendly but without sacrificing the original aspect ratio of the game. Alternatively if you want the image to be stretched across your widescreen display you have to "trick" your Wii by changing to 4:3 display in the settings and then manually adjusting from your TV remote to stretch to 16:9 display. The NGC version i believed doesn't have this feature and because of this will always appear to be "fullscreen" regardless of your type of display. The solution therefore is really quite simple if you have 4:3 display you should stick to the NGC version while if you have a 16:9 display then you should really get this new version. Assuming you are the type of person who actually cares about preserving the original aspect ratio. Of course the real solution is Capcom should really have made this the definitive version by going widescreen though i heard it's a bit impossible considering the backgrounds are all pre-rendered.

Regeneration of Degeneration

The new TV has a nice little notice appearing on the screen whenever it changes from its native resolution so while watching Degeneration blu-ray again on the new setup, i happened to noticed not everything on the disc is full HD as i would have thought. The main feature is of course full HD however the Generation of Degeneration making-of is output at 1080i, not such a major issue considering it's just a making-of. Some of the Degeneration trailers are also output at 1080i but thankfully all the wonderfully-recorded voice bloopers are in full HD. The interview with leon motion-actor along with some other odd film trailers are output at standard definition (480p) probably due to the source material itself. However the real highlight of watching the blu-ray on the new setup is i can finally view the picture-in-picture (PIP) feature which i had a really hard time on standard definition as the smaller frame was simply impossible to see anymore on SD.

Metal Geared

I didn't have a good experience with my first Metroid game being Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS so naturally when the Big N announced that they are re-packaging all three Metroid games onto one Wii disc, i was still sitting on the fence whether or not i should purchase it. Then i saw the promotion pictures of how the box art would look and i was sold, the game housed in a metal tin box with a cardboard jacket looks pretty tempting indeed. To top it off, Nintendo is sure to step up and deliver updated controls and visual to the first two NGC games, unlike the recent Resident Evil Archives. The only shame here is Retro Studios are no longer developing the series and the price is still a little too steep for three old games bundled into one. My only concern at the moment is this going to be the standard version for all copies of the game or it is limited like numerous collector's edition?

Borderline Annoying

I rushed home today to find that my Biohazard Organic Dioramas have arrived promptly from Play-asia so someone should have got their commission by now and hopefully would return the good deed soon. These diorama looked better than i expected, i can't wait to display them and would certainly consider completing the entire set of six in due time. Since Resident Evil Archives was also released yesterday, i thought it might be a good time to reflect on my current decision whether or not to re-purchase the game.

Early impressions were as expected, the game supports progressive scan of 480p but unfortunately lacks 16:9 widescreen support. The widescreen support probably won't bother me a week ago but now that i'm on widescreen display and don't intend to switch my Wii back to the 4:3 tv, it has become a bigger issue than before. I really can't stand black borders around the screen, the RE4 NGC version has tested my limits so buying a Wii edition of REmake just for the sake of collection now doesn't seems like such a good decision. Another thing worth noting was one gamer commented that the NGC version runs on "full widescreen" on the Wii without having to adjust anything while the Wii edition doesn't though bear in mind neither of these are actually true widescreen. If that is indeed the case then too bad for the latecomers and RE4 band wagoners out there, i will probably confirm with my NGC version soon and see if it's possible to continue to play that version until the price of Wii edition comes down.

Great Scott

Being a comic book geek in my youth, i do check in on my favourite series every now and again. Since Activision's first Spider-Man on the PSOne, i don't think i have ever played a bad spidey game with the last one being Ultimate Spider-Man. I have thankfully avoided the last few not because i heard they weren't any good but i just couldn't follow the direction of the game whether they were trying to be faithful to the comic or the movie.

Now the Amazing Spider-Man series is approaching its 600th issue, I was an avid collector after the 300th issue during the McFarlane/Larsen run and dropped out sometime after Mark Baegley began his lengthy run. Many years later i was introduced to the Danger Girls series which opened my eyes to a different kind of American comic outside the spandex hero genre. It also made me a fan of J Scott Campbell, who reportedly is a huge Nintendo fan and got his work first published in the very pages of Nintendo Power. Now Campbell is also pretty fond of the ole web-head as he has done some guest cover art for the Amazing Spider-Man series. Let's just say to be able to do guest cover art on a series like Amazing you must have a lot of clout and Campbell rightfully does. I planned to pick up the landmark 600th issue and also the issue after which Campbell has done the cover art for, having missed his last few i don't intend to miss this one being a fan of the black cat.

Retro Story

Before jumping into Madworld, i decided to get myself familiarised with some of Yasumi Matsuno earlier works. Matsuno who serves as a story consultant in Madworld happens to be one of the most talented game designers working today, having done Square Enix's most critically-acclaimed games, Vagrant Story and FFXII. Both were the only SE games to ever achieve perfect score from Famitsu reviewer team which is no small feat indeed. Vagrant Story as you have may have read has been sitting in my collection gathering dust so the timing was just right to finally get started on it.

The game doesn't play like a standard RPG, leaving you by yourself to make your way out of the dungeon as you progress through the game. I suspected you won't ever leave the dungeon at all as one of the statistics the game records whenever you make a save is how many percentage of the dungeon you have explored. The game like any RPG looks a bit daunting to get into when i initially start but i soon discover it to be pretty easy to get into, with a slight emphasis on weapon design. The cinematics are a thing of beauty probably the best i have seen on the PSOne library which uses in-game engine for storytelling. The only problem i have is the game camera often doesn't give you the best angle and adjusting it is a little cumbersome but the game offers enough flexibility so it doesn't become an issue, even allowing you to adjust the view during the combat.

Yakuza 2 on PS3

Yakuza 2 being a late entry into the Playstation2 game library plays very well on my backward compatible 80GB PS3 as expected. The graphics upscaled to 1080p still has a very soft grainy look on certain scenes such as the opening demo which i suspected was badly compressed judging from the sheer size and depth of the game. The other cutscenes which were rendered by the in-game engine i presumed, looks much better even when the game zooms in upclose to the characters. The game supports 16:9 widescreen so everything's in proper proportions on a LCD display unlike some ps2 games when you set your ps3 to upscaled the image to fill the entire display. The loading times has also improved significantly, you don't even have to wait for the option to press start to skip the loading come fight sequences. While it's not as fast to the point when it's seamless like in yakuza 3, gone are the days when i would dread getting into a fight in the first yakuza for fear of the long loading time.
You could certainly do much worse than yakuza 2 when looking for a game to play on your ps3 as my previous other ps2 games have been known to display a glitch or two during playback.

Hubba Hubba

Playing No More Heroes got me looking forward to the sequel, will Desperate Struggle feature a new HUB? While it's entirely possible to Travis to get out of his small apartment in Santa Destroy, it would be a bit sad to see it go. I'm completely fine if GHM retains Santa Destroy while opening out new location and stores in the town ala the Shinjuku HUB in Yakuza 2. I'm beginning to grow fond of those sadistic one-hit kill missions too so hopefully they will scatter some more of those side mission in NMH2 hub.

Wii Deserve Better

Now that i have the proper HD TV setup that i have been longing for i can finally play the ps3 like it was meant to be played. In the process i also couldn't resist hooking up my Wii to it as well despite the Wii not being a pure HD console. Actually with some decent component cables, the Wii doesn't look too bad on a LCD screen from my early playtest of No More Heroes. The same unfortunately cannot be said of Gamecube game running on the Wii, Resident Evil 4 NGC looks absolutely terrible with letterbox borders and a very blurry image compared with NMH. I'm sure not all Gamecube games looked this bad as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes demo theatre looked pretty dazzling with progressive scan mode on. I'm tempted to switch over to my Wii edition of RE4 to see if it's any better now that i'm on LCD display but i'm already halfway through professional mode so i'll try to make it as quick and painless as possible. These are some of the games i have tested on the new display over the weekend, the best part of it all is seeing them again and how much better they looked on LCD display.

The Signature Character

Looks like i have to scrap my initial plan of waiting for the first three diorama to arrived before deciding to order the other three as the Chris and Jill diorama are already sold out this morning. When i realised i couldn't order all six in one transaction to qualified for free delivery, i ordered the Chris and Jill one first and foremost not because they looked the best but because i knew they would run out first before the rest. Even upon learning this, i left things as it is and only when i noticed the Rebecca one too went out of stock in the span of the two hours later i knew i didn't have the luxury to wait anymore.

By then the zombie mauling kenneth corpse and zombie with cerebrus were also gone, leaving me with just the tyrant one left. So i ended up ordering just one more short of the two zombies to make the complete set. I guess i should feel content because these were the four i had in mind when i first saw the set but somehow having a Biohazard set of figure without the signature character just feels incomplete.

Diorama to Die For

Ask me if i have anything in mind to buy and i will usually have a endless list of games, artbooks and figures that i may never finish buying them all. It's less so with games these days as i have run out of space in my game collection but anything else which i can keep randomly somewhere in my room, i will not hesitate to pick them up. High on my list of stuff to get are the recent Biohazard Play-arts, a collection of diorama centering around key moments of the first game. I have been looking for these for quite some time now, probably because pictures of this collection were released very early on and my favourite online store didn't stock it until quite recently. In fact i have given up on the idea of Play-asia even bringing this in as they are usually quite fast going about these things. Then months after Resident Evil 5 came out, Play-asia finally starting to stock these at their store, by then the hype surrounding Resident Evil had sort of cool off and this collection slip off my radar so much that i even forgot to put a tag on it should it ever get discounted.

My last order at Play-asia was the regretfully unnecessary Resident Evil Prima Game Guide, seeing that Capcom released an official artbook recently and all i wanted in the Game Guide were those precious few pages of concept arts. Upset about my last few purchase, i sought to stay off from ordering at Play-asia for as long as i could only to get suckered back in when i found out today that the Biohazard Playarts Collection has already been discounted. All was going well until i realised that purchasing the entire set will not entitled me to the usual free delivery as these figures are shipped in rather bulky boxes so i could only order three and had to decided quickly which to get and which to drop momentarily. Right now my only concern is whether or not i should make a separate order for the remaining three figures of the set and how long they will still be around at discounted price before i decide to place my next order. I suppose the smart thing to do is the wait for the first three to arrive and see if they are really worth collecting the entire set.

This is Your Chance

A few days ago i was pretty chuffed having save USD30 by getting my buddy to buy Madworld and Yakuza 2 from Gamestop. Today i learnt that the Collector's Edition of Resident Evil 5 has dropped to USD79.90 at Play-asia, that's like a USD30 discount not with counting any additional discount vouchers. Sure i'm mad about it especially since the Xbox 360 CE has long since been out of stock, it just goes to show how many more 360 users there are and how well the game is selling on that platform. Nothing much i can do about it, i won't have trade the experience of playing it back on 13rd of March for anything else and certainly won't settle on a standard edition that time while waiting out for the price of this to fall. For those who were waiting out for this big discount now is your chance, it may not be worth it back when it was full-price price but at this price you are certainly getting your money's worth for everything included.

Mad For Sega

Here are the two games my fellow friend string brought all the way back from New York for me, both happened to be games published by Sega and coincidentally have similar black & white covers. I could go on all day about the similarities but i rather brag about the savings i get from having to purchase the games directly from a Gamestop outlet. Yakuza 2 ended up being a bit difficult to find with the only copy available in J&R selling for USD10 more than expected, thus both copies came up to USD29.90 each. Despite all that, the savings compared with ordering from Play-asia was enough for me to purchase another game of similar value. The savings instead went to the Biohazard 5 Official Artworks you can see in the background which i didn't really planned on getting so soon but seeing it's sold-out in Play-asia i didn't really want to take a chance with this. With all these stuff in my possession it looks like i won't be ordering anytime soon from Play-asia...well at least until their annual summer sale.

Could It Be Magic?

This here is the early cover art for NBA 9K which is scheduled to be release soon, a highly-regarded bastketball game series that has surpassed the likes of NBA and NBA Live. Basically if you are a gamer and a hoops fan you need to be playing this and not the latter, those much like THQ's Smackdown series have been coming out almost every year without any significant improvements.

I have yet to really sink my teeth into this series, i have played NBA 8K for a bit on my ps2 but playing it on an outdated console just doesn't do the series justice. I came close to owning NBA 7K for my ps3 but end up with Sony's NBA 07 instead because of the promised full HD support. The real reason i posted the cover art is because i have a real gripe with it, NBA K series have traditionally used the last season NBA champions as their cover art star and this season's NBA finals is just about to start today, isn't it a slight disrespectful much like those Nike commercial featuring lebron and kobe puppets? While i do think the Magic doesn't really stand much of a chance against kobe and the lakers, i'm rooting for dwight howard because i have always been a big fan of NBA big men and i liked howard's nice guy persona despite his lack of offensive moves. Maybe the NBA games are fixed like some have suspected all along?

Resident Evil No Go

The reality of yesterday's great announcements are finally starting to sink in today, Resident Evil designed specifically for the new Sony PSPGo? Does that mean it won't come in UMD since the new PSPGo doesn't have a UMD drive? This is not going to bode very well with my treasured collection seeing i won't be able to secure a hard copy and on top of that, i have never been very fond of digital download.

As for the game itself, i'm not too fond of the title Resident Evil Portable, it gives a vibe that you will get a severally compromised game compared with its console brethens. It has been something that has always plagued game franchises making the jump to handheld and made me approach these games with great scepticism. It's uncertain at this stage just what kind of a game Resident Evil Portable will be but seeing that Capcom stop making RE games that aren't considered canon or have at least some familiar characters, it would probably be something worth checking out.

The lazy presentation of the game announcement also bothered me, of what is clearly a mock-up of what the title screen would look like. Capcom twitter says the game is designed specifically for the PSPGo, why couldn't they use the PSPGo for the mock-up? I don't really know who's to blame for this one between Capcom and Sony, i assume the PSPGo has been in the works for sometime now before the official announcement couldn't Sony at the very least provide mock-up of what the system would look like for Capcom to use?

3 Cheers for Capcom

With the E3 promising to be bigger and better this year, plenty of surprises were in-store for gamers of all platforms to ensure that the media and everyone else were paying attention.

Capcom finally unveiled their other secret E3 game, Resident Evil Portable for the Sony PSP satisfying the long cry for Capcom to bring one of their famous franchise to Sony portable machine. While it isn't groundbreaking news, it's certainly a good move aimed at pleasing the fans as with their other E3 game, Tatsunoko Vs Capcom coming stateside against all odds after no one believe it would even have a chance of leaving its native home. Among the other big Capcom news revealed at E3 is for PS3 users as Capcom confirmed that Lost Planet 2 will indeed be made available on the platform.

Predictable? A little i guess but in a way it's all good because all the games announced happened to be coming to platform near me. Selfish yes but isn't that's what being a fanboy is all about?

Where Nothing Amazing Happens

My gaming has been pretty inactive lately ever since finishing RE5 so naturally you can expect less updates as well. Playoff basketball and and comic reading are among the other things occupying my time thereby influencing me to play a little bit of NBA 07 on the PS3 and the PSOne Spider-man which are not exactly great blog material.

Fear not, things should get a little bit more interesting this week as my copies of Madworld and Yakuza 2 are likely to be making its way back from New York courtesy of stringfellow.

Second Opinion on NMH

I went back to playing No More Heroes in an effort to finish up my remaining batteries as soon as possible. It's been probably over a year since i last touched it, i was surprised to learn that i only spent a little over 18 hours in my first go especially since i clocked more than 40 hours on a much shorter game like Umbrella Chronicles. I still think the graphics looked great, cel-shading can do a lot to mask the technical limitations of a console and none is more apparent than here. I remember reading somewhere that NMH had ps2 standard graphics but i sincerely don't feel like that's the case.

I do agree that the game controls aren't very precise, some say you can play the game with your back to the screen, just wave the motes aimlessly and still can get by. I do believe that is possible, even more now that i'm playing on hard mode and still barely struggling despite the long lay-off. There are a lot of room for improvement so hopefully we get to see how far the sequel is coming along in the upcoming E3.

Does What A Spider Can

There was an article recently that suggested that superheroes are just too powerful to be portrayed accurately in video games. I on the other hand don't seem to think so, in fact just about the only sandbox-styled games that i would play other than SEGA's yakuza series happened to be comic superheroes games.

Back before free-roaming games became possible on console, there was one noteworthy superhuman game on the PSOne simply called spider-man. While it isn't sandbox-styled, it was one of the first that actually lets you do what a spider can. It was a game was made for fans of the comic book, from the rogue gallery of villians included to the hidden comic covers and bonus costumes spidey have wore over the years. It also takes its cues from the animated series with spidey voice-over done by the same lead actor and narration from stan 'the man' lee. You don't have to be a comic book collector to enjoy this game but you will definitely appreciate the little touches thrown in for long-time fans. It also benefit from the timing because the sam raimi's spider-man movies have yet to be released so the developers have the free reign to create an original storyline and pull the characters from the beloved comic book series. The problem i find with most superhero games these days are the developers aren't sure whether to follow the movie franchise or the comic storyline, most of the time meshing the movie plot with some familiar characters from the comic creating one fine mess. With the comic book industry in a state of flux, the movie franchise often take precedence these days so it's nice to pull one a retro game from a time when things are in the right perspective.

32-bit Onimusha

Nowadays i'm pretty sure of my preference in games that i don't normally buy games based on reviews anymore. Sure i will read some reviews but usually it's after buying the game to see if i agree with the reviewer's argument or whether i missed anything in the course of playing it. i wasn't so wise back in the 32-bit era, infact i bought a konami game solely because the back of the box says "from the makers of metal gear solid and silent hill". During that time, you will be hard-pressed to shop for games and not come across a game from a famous developer or publisher that says from the makers of this or that. You don't see this very often anymore but i gotta admit i got a kick of this even if i already know who was developing the game.

Anyways this game was called Ronin Blade and was infact developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Sapporo not KCET so it actually had nothing to do with Metal Gear or Silent Hill. It also plays nothing like those games instead it feels like a game trying to ape capcom game rather than a konami game. Thankfully the game does not suck even ten years upon release but it's not always you suckered into buying something based on brand alone and actually end up with a quality product.

Girl Trouble

Leon S Kennedy has always been established as a ladies man right from his first appearance in RE2, that's the one thing that seems to separate him from the series first male protagonist, Chris. I was happy that learned that the director of the upcoming Darkside Chronicles pointed this out because for the longest time, it seems like i was the only one among my friends who noticed this. Either we are been playing different games or someone is just not paying attention but let's not get side-tracked now shall we?

Anyways the director revealed in his blog that he and game scenario writer Suga-san are dreaming up new plot points and events for the series' favourite ladies man with the ladies of RE2, namely Claire, Ada and Sherry. Yup that right, Sherry who only had a brief brush with Leon at the end of the game will share several levels with Leon which i suppose you would have to assume the role to protect her from the horrors of raccoon city. This is certainly an interesting twist as with the prospect of Claire and Ada meeting for the first time in the series.

Leon will have all the ladies he can handle in DC

State of Panic

You can probably tell by now that i use my Wii to play Gamecube games more often than Wii games these days. A pair of AA batteries can last me for a great deal of months, even more so now that i sort of drifted off playing Oneechanbara on a consistent basis. Yup i replaced my AA batteries so rarely that the thought of getting re-chargables AA has never occur to me, i had a terrible experience using them with my first Gameboy and would really like to avoid them as long as i can.

So imagine my surprise when i was about to replace my AA batteries last night after a long period of use and reached out to my supply of spare AA batteries only to discover that two have leaked! I have built up a healthy supply of AA batteries over time but it seems i'm not using them up fast enough for them to outlive their usefulness. This sends me to a state of panic because now i have to use the remaining ones as fast as possible so they don't leak like the last two. It doesn't help that i hardly any Wii games i'm eager to play right now, be it new or the ones i have completed. Guess it may be time to look for some new Wii games after all, there is only so much Oneechan one can take.

7" Wonder

While i was at a local game store last week i spotted a 7" portable LCD screen for the Wii, something similar to the 5" screen i have been using with my PSOne. I do admit i loved my 5" PSOne screen to bits, having the comfort of playing games right on the desk of my room but i just don't see myself doing the same with the Wii just yet. Gamecube game perhaps but playing Wii games where you have to point the wii-mote at the screen sounds like a nightmare with the 7" screen. Frankly i can bear with playing PSOne games on a small screen because of the low resolutions which don't look especially good when blown up to a huge television screen but i still think that Wii and Gamecube game should be appreciated on a bigger screen.

The price is pretty tempting, about half the price of a korean Wii set but i don't know how long these babies will still be on the shelf. Probably not long enough till the day when i decide that Wii and Gamecube games don't look that great anymore and would prefer to play it on a smaller screen.

Silent Hill Origins Second Playthrough

Total enemies killed using melee weapons : 238
Total enemies killed using firearms: 25
Total enemies killed using fists: 39
Total items collected : 341
Number of map views : 204
Number of times saved: 26
Distance walked : 34.81 km
Total game time : 6:57:58
Total flashlight use time: 2:42:27
Number of game completions: 2
% of enemies killed with melee weapons : 79
% of enemies killed with firearms : 13
% of enemies killed with fists : 8