Pokemon X Is Actually Good So Far

At this point, I don't even need to point out that I have been vocal about my dislike for many aspects of Pokemon games past and present, and those definitely lowered the bar for Pokemon X going in.  However, while it's a bit of a stretch to say I have been suitably impressed by X, I -have- been pleasantly surprised at the very least.  Granted, I haven't really bitten into any of the actual meat of the game - I haven't met the Professor yet, even - but I've spent some time in the first areas, got my first badge and have generally started up a preliminary team with the few pokemon I've come across that I like.  It is by no means something permanent, but merely something that exists until I can switch out the stragglers.

My starter was Fennekin the fire fox, whom I scummed for an hour for to get a Female that I could name Cierra.  Because she's a fire-starter.  (Read the Riviera: The Promised Land LP for the reference and to realize that it's quite brilliant and I'm proud of it)  The fire starters are more or less always the best with some exceptions - if you didn't take a Piplup in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, it's because you're awful since Piplup is a penguin and thus wins.  And Snivy Smugleaf was clearly the correct choice for Black/White.  I've supplemented Cierra with mostly first-gen pokemon out of happenstance I swear, I'm not being a snob or anything.  I caught a Pidgey since they're just a solid Pokemon to have around, and I got a Weedle for a Beedrill since having a fully evolved Pokemon at Level 10 is a pretty neat feeling.  Finally, I've already gotten my standard Pikachu that will eventually be a Raichu, as I have to have a Raichu in every game.  However, this Pikachu is merely a prototype for my eventual Boss Raichu, and I really wish I would've named it Mercer.  Even though it's a girl.

I can't speak much for story so far, but the set-up is refreshing in that it feels a little more...organic, more believable than most games in the past.  The 'traditional Pokemon journey' has previously been set up as something of a 'rite of passage' which makes less and less sense as you go on in the series.  While you can't deny that aspect of it in X, it's not as prevalent, and with the addition of four other characters that form a little group with you (no, you guys don't stick together) to make it feel like something of an adventure it just works -far- better than ever before.  Sure, you still have a mother who is perfectly fine with her tween child heading off out into the world all on their lonesome for some reason, and you still find yourself responsible for completing a Pokedex, but it all just -feels- better somehow.

Presentation is better than it's ever been as well.  This is probably the first Pokemon game with camera angles which shouldn't be exciting, but it is.  Not only that, but the graphics definitely take advantage of the 3DS hardware, and everything just seems far less stiff than previous games.  Animations are nice and smooth and enhance the combat greatly (though they take enough time that I've honestly considered turning them off unfortunately), while everything just seems much better defined.  Character designs are rather nice and fit in well with the rather lovely locales that I've seen so far.  It's at least the most visually pleasant and interesting Pokemon world to date, though I'm not quite sure how much of an honor that is to have held aloft.

Even if I end up disliking Pokemon X because of the story, because of Team Flair and such, I can say without a doubt that X/Y is a -definite- step forward for the franchise.  Mechanics haven't seen many tweaks that I've found just yet which is a big problem, but they've broken out of their comfort zone greatly.  At the very least, we have beautifully detailed Pokemon models and animations that they can lift directly into the next iteration, which means they can focus more on...well, other aspects of the game.  Like the gameplay.  Like the things that they've needed to fix for entire generations of the series in general.  For once, I can say that without laughing like a madman since it....well, it -could- happen!

she's a twisted fire-starter

Dynasty Warriors 8 is Damn Good

After my foray into Beyond: Two Souls that ended with me liking it, but not necessarily ready to jump back into it for the trophies, I turned to my backlog, specifically games from this year, and decided that I should probably play one of them.  Preferably one that I hadn't played yet.  There's an embarrassingly high amount of games that could be included in this, but in the end I decided on going to my comfort zone because I need comfort these days.  So I grabbed Dynasty Warriors 8 which I purchased way back when it came out in July, unwrapped it (yes, it was still in plastic, yes that kind of made me a little ill) and tossed it into my PS3 with the intent on cutting swaths through Feudal China.  Something I've done countless times before and will do countless times yet.

I got that with Dynasty Warriors 8.  I got that in spades.  Originally, you'll remember that I really liked Dynasty Warriors 7 because it changed up the formula immensely, bringing more and more cinematic bits into it and really incorporating them in a worthwhile way, while also completely overhauling the weapon system with weapon switching and such.  I eventually concluded, though perhaps not in a post, that Dynasty Warriors 7 is the best Dynasty Warriors since 3 which is the absolute best through nostalgia-rimmed glasses at least (since I haven't played it in a long time).  8 was shaping up to be 7, but with more stuff, which by all metrics should have put it at 'better' than 7 itself.

I'm not so sure I would put it on that level, however.  Initially, I definitely would not have, but the more I play it, the more I start appreciating it and the effort that went into it, while also slowly realizing awesome things about it.  Some things are a straight step backwards - the game is overall less cinematic and less story-focused if for the simple fact that the little text-dumps in-between missions are not narrated for the first time since...ever and the text is rather small to boot, and you can no longer equip new weapons mid-battle thanks to the Rock/Paper/Scissors mechanic they've almost arbitrarily added to weapons now - but everything else is either maintained or improved upon.  Including one thing that's like a fucking revelation after playing the games for as long as I have been.

You see, in previous iterations, there have always been some characters that simply have the same exact moveset since they share a tenuous weapon choice.  So Cao Cao would play almost exactly like Sun Jian who would play almost exactly like Liu Bei because they all wielded a Longsword and while there was some personalization, it wasn't a -lot-.  It's been in the games with varying degrees with Dynasty Warriors 6 being the worst of it where there were honestly maybe a dozen movesets spread across the 50-some characters in the roster.  In Dynasty Warriors 7, they tried to mitigate the clone issue by assigning "EX" attacks, which were attacks unique to that character with their preferred weapon.  So even though Liu Shan, Sima Shi and Yuan Shao all fought with a Rapier, they had different EX attacks assigned to a different charge, not to mention the different musou attacks.  Dynasty Warriors 8 has a more...elegant solution that is almost mind-blowing in the realization that they've finally done it.

There are no clones.  Everyone has their own weapon type which in turn has its own moveset with nary an overlap between them.  Liu Shan wields a Rapier where Sima Shi wields a "Lightning Sword" where Yuan Shao wields an "Extension Blade" which are all -basically- rapiers, but entirely different weapons in their own right with different moves and the whole spread.  Cao Cao wields a General's Swod where Sun Jian wields a Nine-Rings Blade where Sun Quan wields a Sword (seriously, just basic sword) where Sima Zhao wields a Striking Sword and they're all -wildly- different as you might expect from my previous mentions.  It's honestly a little surreal, having a scenario in which everyone has their own weapon, but it's been something that has needed to happen for a while and it's almost astounding that they finally managed it.  It's strangely liberating even.

All in all, Dynasty Warriors 8 attempts to be a complete refinement of 7 and in a lot of ways, it truly is - maps are nice, large and details, character models look nice (except in cutscenes where they're very...plastic-y), there's like seven weapons of each type and that whole non-clone thing is wonderful.  While it's a step back in a couple important areas, it's not -that- bad, even if it's enough to allow me to continue lofting Dynasty Warriors 7 up high for naught but the best of accolades.  It's enough to get me hyped up for Dynasty Warriors 8:  Xtreme Legends...which probably won't get a physical release over here.  More than a little depressing seeing as I can't reliably download a single goddamn gig these days thanks to what I'm assuming is Playstation 4 traffic.  Still...it has Zhu Ran, so I might just have to find a way.

when I realized that there were no cloned movesets, I literally had no goddamn clue what to do, it was that shocking

Bonus Post - Man At Arms is Amazing, You Should Be Watching It

There was a post on Joystiq that showed off, what was explained as "a guy making an 80-pound replica of the Buster Sword" (which is linked in the article, so it's not embedded above, but rather one of the neater projects from the same guy) but is in reality much much more.  This isn't just some guy who slapped together a thing that looked like the Buster Sword and was 'kind of cool, I guess'.  No, no, no, no, no, this is much much different.

The 'guy' is Tony Swatton and he is the subject of a youtube-based mini-show series called "Man at Arms".  The show, as you might expect given the context so far, is all about replicating weapons from pieces of fiction, be it movies, TV shows, comics or video games, but not only replicating them, but making them actual, viable weapons in their own right.  Every weapon this man forges using his 30 years of experience is an actual, honest, deadly weapon that just happens to be modeled after something that you see and can't fathom it as being an actual thing that is made to be like that.  Hilariously, in at least one, perhaps two of the episodes of the show, he makes something that's based off of a cheaply made thing you can order to display your fandom with, to have something that is -actually- what it's supposed to be.  Specifically, the example I'm thinking of is the Bat'leth from Star Trek, which is an incredibly dangerous piece.

Completely divorced from the fact that he's actually making weapons from games we recognize, like the mentioned Buster Sword and actually a Diamond Sword from Minecraft, or cartoons we enjoy like Finn's Golden Sword from Adventure Time, this is just a legitimately cool thing.  There's just something inherently cool about being able to watch a show about something being made from scratch, so you can see what it came from and how it ended up.  This goes the next level as not only is that thing being made something that is of extraordinary quality (from being forged correctly, with function in mind), but it's something that most of us generally have no idea on where we'd even start on making it.  For instance, I certainly didn't know that metal gets de-magnetized at 1,550 degrees Fahrenheit, but I know that now.  Or that, in the instance of Finn's sword, that tempering metal in a 385 degrees for five hours gives it a golden sheen.

Being that it's a new show, there are only a few episodes (as of this writing, there are 12), and the short-form grates on me a little, mostly because I want at least a half-hour dedicated to these episodes, or like 22 minutes with commercials because I would watch it on television, but it's definitely interesting.  I don't implore you guys to watch that many things, but this is one of those times where I'm going to have to insist.  Mostly because I'm sure none of you will blame me.

Caim's sword from Drakengard anyone?  ....anyone?  shit, it's just me, isn't it

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale - Long Name, Fun Game

Yes, that's a giant Chop Chop Master Onion kicking a Killzone Robot thing.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale has kind of been a thing that's on everybody's radar mostly because it's, well, a big ordeal as a game on a basic level.  Mascot fighting games aren't numerous in number and in fact is sort of a point of contention in what counts for the term, further thinning the numbers.  Regardless, the 'big boy' of the genre has been seen as Super Smash Bros. since it came out and few games have come out in the meanwhile, and fewer still that could hope to challenge for that title in the public eye.  So when PASBR was announced and showed off, there was a lot of eye-rolling and saying "Oh boy, a rip-off of Super Smash Bros., that's going to be pretty bad." and then there wasn't a lot of thought beyond that.  Yet there was some reason, I can't place just what it was, that compelled me to get it even though my time with the Beta was minimal and I walked away thinking it was 'alright'.  Having played it for the bulk of today, however, I am very, very glad that I put down the money for this game because it's certainly worth it.

Utilizing the Cross-Buy feature of the game, I've spent all my time with the Vita version of the game which is a wonderful, wonderful version of the game.  It's clear and good-looking and most importantly, the frame rate seems to be locked in the actual matches.  Maybe it was a trick of my eyes, but it seemed like one of the menus was cutting sub-30 for some reason as I went to customize one of the characters I played with, but it was only a "Blink and you'll miss it" deal and being outside of playing the game, it doesn't matter even one lick.  There are simply not enough positive things I can say about the port job that was done on this game and unless something drastically changes in the meanwhile, I daresay that it is quite nearly perfectly done.

As far as the game goes, the actual gameplay is rather fantastic as it's simple and accessible enough to pick up and understand in the span of a match and 'master' in as little as a few matches depending on the character, yet it's deep enough that there's strategy to it - not just slamming buttons.  That's what I enjoy the most, personally, because yes, slamming buttons does the job sometimes, but if you're not going to employ a little finesse then you're just wasting your time in my opinion.  Catering the the usual tenets of fighting games here, there are various types of fighters and they all rely on their own style to get you through.  Characters like Raiden and Cole (and his Evil version) are Strikers who exist to hit things in rapid succession in ways that are still not just mashing on buttons.  Then you have characters like Sackboy (yes, I've only played four characters so far, don't judge me) who aren't so adept in that and you have to rely more on trappings and the like.  Sackboy has a move that can drop a shock pad down that just waits there for someone to step on it.  He also has a move where he lays down a desk fan which pushes enemies in the opposite direction.  I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.

(Side note, Sackboy also knows how to German Suplex things with the Grabinator Gloves, no I don't know what the hell)

The way the game seems to work is that every character has an Arcade Mode which is actually a Story Mode which means you have an intro that sort of explains why they're in the Tournament (Think Mortal Kombat, but nobody knows what the hell is going on) and then they have a cutscene all the way at the end with a 'rival' which is a term used loosely.  Some Rivalries are awesome and amazing, like Cole vs. Raiden which is fucking perfect A++ would praise again, and some of them are....Evil Cole versus Fat Princess.  This is a perfect way to show off the light-hearted mood the game carries overall, even with the inclusion of some moodier characters like Raiden or Kratos, and I wholeheartedly support it.  If it tried to be too serious about it, it'd be a wholly different deal, but thankfully they avoided that pitfall deftly.  Following the Rival battle, you're immediately placed into the Boss fight against Polygon Man (which is, again an -awesome- idea) and upon winning, you're treated to a little outro that basically sums up what the character has derived from it.  It's certainly not story-intensive, but it also doesn't need to be, and what little is there is done well enough that I can't fault it.

If you need some examples, I can share a couple from my experiences today.  Cole hears of a gathering of powerful people and thinks they're Conduits, so he goes to investigate to find out their intention and also see if any of them will help him defend 'the city', which could be New Marias or Empire City, I don't know.  After beating a bunch of people, he encounters Raiden who is a little hostile and puts him out, beats Polygon Man and returns to 'the city' with the knowledge that he can protect it all on his own.  Sackboy hears of a world that's devoid of inspiration, of creation, and sets out to right that wrong.  He meets up with a Little Sister who thinks he's adorable and wants to keep him but her Big Daddy is less than impressed.  Sackboy puts him down, beats Polygon Man and returns to LittleBigPlanet with a wealth of new inspiration with which to further create and better LittleBigPlanet.  (Side note:  His intro and outro are narrated by Stephen Fry as per LBP games and it's wonderful.)  As I said, it's by no means story intensive, but I don't need a cutscene after every fight where Kratos ponders why he repeatedly stabbed PaRappa the Rapper in the gut and vows to get revenge on Zeus who is sending playthings after him or I don't even know, you get where I'm going with this.

The most important thing to take away from all this is that Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is fun.  Incredibly so.  I'm sure nobody really assumed that was going to be a thing that happened, but I am here to tell you that it did.  It did just happen.  Beyond the Story Mode, there's also trials for every character to take which allows you to get a feel for them, as well as versus modes (I assume for local play mostly) and the online fare with ranked matches and the like.  And even beyond that, the game is lousy with unlockables which is to say there's a ton of them.  (That's a proper usage of 'lousy with', btw, I'm sure you knew that, but I wanted to make sure you also knew I wasn't being facetious)  Playing with a character ultimately earns you Rank Points that ranks you up for a win as well as for earning any Goal bonuses or the like (Win 25 Arcade Matches, etc. stuff like that) which increases your rank.  Each character can seemingly go to Rank 200 which I assume you might meet with -one- character that you -really- like if you're heavy into online stuff, but at the same time, it is -there- for you to aspire to with the others if you so desire.  Which means, in short, there's a whole hell of a lot of game there if you're interested.  And while I won't go to that extreme, I know that I'm going to have to actually ponder whether I want to play Persona 4 Golden or PASBR which is a decision I really didn't think I'd have to make last week.

The Legend of Korra is Pretty Great

I don't do cartoon posts very often - in fact this will be number two, where the first one was for the Regular Show (which is still pretty great, btw), and it's pretty indicative of how much I think of that show and now this one to devote some paragraphs to it.  Though, I should forewarn you, if you've not seen Avatar:  The Last Airbender (the series, not the mostly-terrible movie), then you may want to skip this post since A) it won't make sense and B) it'll spoil TLA which is by and large, pretty great as well.  Aside from the obligatory "kids will be kids" episode in the last book.  Really....really nonsensical.  Anyways, yes, as The Legend of Korra takes place after The Last Airbender, you'll sort of lose a few things in the process if you just jump into this.  So, yes, you have been warned.

Now, I really liked The Last Airbender, as it was pretty cool and did a real good job of balancing the wackiness of a cartoon series with the seriousness that the material deserved.  I won't recap the show, mainly because at this point I've concluded you either know it already, or have resigned yourself to confusion, so it's a little unnecessary anyway.  The last few episodes of The Last Airbender, which were actually sort of spliced together in movie-format were pretty friggin' amazing - it's hard thinking that anything in that same universe could really top it.  So when I heard about The Legend of Korra months and months ago, I could not share the excitement that my friends held.  'There's really nowhere to go but down', I thought.  'You don't need to sequelize something to make it better', I said.  So I didn't pay attention to it as the hype started to build closer and closer to it coming out.  And even when it came out, I gave it no real mind.  That was a couple weeks ago. 

I may have really underestimated everything about the show.  Not only the show itself, but the talents of the writers behind it, and the general voice and support talent involved.  With just three episodes down, I am excited for the Legend of Korra in a way that I haven't been throughout its entirety to the point up until the other day, and my mind has been completely changed on the prospect of it.  There is....something special to the show that I just can't quite put my finger on, but it's that same quality that attracted me to The Last Airbender in the first place, and I'm quite glad to see that it has persisted.  It's hard to tell just what it is, especially with only three episodes of it, but it really just exudes that certain thing that you really want.  It just makes me really look forward to seeing it unfold.

I will say that it is a little odd seeing the world of Avatar advanced 70 years as it has been in Korra, but for as odd as it is, it's also fairly cool.  It's quite steam-punk-ish in a sense, though at the same time, the technology seems to be on the cusp of transcending that, being that there's pretty much fully functional kick-ass motorcycles and sporting event fields with lights and buzzers and all sorts of neat things.  Still, working in a factory, charging a machine with Fire-bending (or the advanced form of using Lightning) is a viable option for work, and it still has a fairly 'classic' look to the way buildings have been designed and set up.  It sort of -is- kind of a weird schism in that aspect, especially with the real nature focus that's inherent in the Avatar world, but that combination really ends up working well, though how that's possible, I have no real idea.

I guess the only real weak point so far is the plot, without spoiling too much.  I mean, -again- three episodes in, but there's been a dramatic reveal of a potential big bad as well as an 'endgame option' sort of idea, so I don't think it's entirely too early to start thinking things up.  My problem with it, I guess, is that if you replace "bending" with "magic", then you have the plot for countless amounts of fantasy fiction, and that's just....what it is, I guess.  I always advocate that it's not the destination, however, but the journey and the road that takes you there that matters, and I'll stick by with that, but I'm not holding my breath for a plot-twist that -really- drives the story up.  I'd welcome such a thing openly, of course, and I almost have to think that it -will- happen, consider the show might be set up as the first, which means there's a lot left to it.  With any luck, it will, and I'll be able to write up something here gushing about it!

Actually Pretty Cool - Swapnote

As with many things that are on the 3DS, I have been completely oblivious to the existence of a things called Swapnote until today when I found out something pretty neat about it.  From what I can tell, Swapnote is basically PictoChat from the original DS (basically a service that allows you to implement something of a chatroom setup with friends, using text either written or typed and drawings to talk) but does what I wanted PictoChat to do:  be viable as a thing to use when not surrounded by friends.  Basically, try as I might, I couldn't figure out a way to connect with anyone on PictoChat without being right near them and, well, if you're that close, why not just talk to them?  There are reasons, of course, but I found more that I hoped to be able to open my DS, find one of my online friends and draw little pictures back and forth at them.

Swapnote proves to be able to do this with the added security of knowing that any Note you get through this is from someone you've already friended on your system through the 3DS' Friend Code.  As such, should you find a picture of a wang sticking out at you (literally), well, that's your friend doing that, so you either find it funny or you need new friends.  Where it really starts getting impressive is when you get into it a bit more and realize that it's more than just "Here's a picture" "Here's a picture in response to a picture" in that you can apparently bundle four screens-worth of notes together to send as one to be scrolled through.  This is handy, of course, as I'm sure we've all often found that limits actually do get in the way of some things (character limits on Twitter, space limits on pictures, etc.) so something much looser, as four screens is, can only help.  If you need more than four screens then, well, you're being a bit ambitious but perhaps not overly so.

I don't think I will ever not be amazed at what some people can create with the simplest of tools.  Nor do I think I'll ever be able to have the kind of intuitive creativity some people display with this sort of thing.  How do you get from "This thing that sends four screens of info" to "Let's play some gatdamn D&D on it"?  Apparently the sight of what looks like a graph paper background, which, admittedly might have sparked it for me as well.  (As a young'n, I once attempted to make D&D maps using Excel after changing the visible cells to little squares.  It actually worked in theory as I never got to use the maps, but they looked pretty cool.)  After figuring out he could make maps on it easily, the next step was trying to figure out how to build an actual game around that which I think was handled fairly brilliantly.

It seems like, after watching the above video, that it might not be that intuitive to use/work with, and someone would likely say "there are probably better methods of doing this" and you'd certainly be right; being that you have to at least somewhat know the person enough to get their friend code, it's entirely possible you're already in contact in another fashion where doing this would be a little easier.  Message boards and Chat setups (IRC and IMs) can likely be setup to be at least a little more elegant than the Swapnote solution, though they don't allow for as much freedom with pictures (aside from linking).  But the point of it all is that this is honestly so impressive on merit alone that it seems at least worth a shot.  By the same virtue of pointing out that Chat/IM could be offer better implementation than Swapnote, you could make an argument that Real Life is better than Chat/IM which might not be open to you.  Use what you've got, is the basic message here and if you use it well (Like this usage of Swapnote) then it will at least be fun for everyone involved.  Provided you can wrap your head around the execution and work out mechanics with the buddies you want to play this with (which could honestly be fairly easy to handle with Swapnote itself), it could be one of the more memorable uses of a Free App that you could get from a handheld.

I will say also that the 'turn-based, person-to-DM' system this presents might actually help games get played in all honesty, which has been a problem in my endeavors into D&D and the like.  It's too easy to get distracted with shooting the breeze and before you know it, you've realized that you've talked about the virtues of a certain class over another for half an hour while your buddies have talked about how awesome this other campaign they've been in was, and you're all thinking about how awesome it was when you actually played the game.  With only four screens to respond back and forth with, the DMs is the easiest four to fill which means the responses back and forth between player and DM should be easy enough to handle.  Just another thing to look forward to for when I ultimately pick up a 3DS sometime down the road.

Dear Japan, Stop Teasing Us You Jerks

Look, Japan.  We get it.  You like the PSP.  And that's fine!  It's a great system and you're allowed to like it.  But the thing is, some of us who aren't in Japan also like it.  A lot of them, apparently, not in the right way, since they're the reason you stopped giving us games.  And I get it, I do.  Kind of.  Alright, I don't, and in all honesty, I kind of hate you guys for making PSP games that you never intend to give us, unless NIS, Atlus, XSeed, etc get involved to do it for you.

So when you do things like this, announcing a pretty righteous sounding, and beautiful remake of a game, we're going to get a little upset, since there's always going to be that language barrier present, y'know?  We don't hold Uncharted in front of you and snicker because it's ours, no, we share.  Remember sharing?

Okay, in all honesty, every time I see a new PSP card game announced on Siliconera, I sigh a little to myself because at this point, there's pretty much -zero- chance we'll see it in English.  I imagine Final Fantasy Type-0 could very well be the last PSP the West sees, unless there's another one out there that's been somewhat announced that I'm not thinking of.  So pretty much anything announced now will likely only be out after the Vita.  Which, well, might encourage developers to make PSN versions of previously un-localized games, but I'm not holding my breath too much for that.

So when I saw Over My Dead Body at Siliconera I, as I said above, sighed and checked the article as I am wont to do.  I suppose this could be seen as a little masochistic, but, eh, what can I say - I just like the PSP.  But I did something else when I read about the game and looked at it:  I actually mumbled to myself, "Oh, for fuck's sake", because this is a genuinely interesting, beautiful game that will likely never be shipped overseas.

The premise of the game is that you're not just playing one character, or a party of characters, but an entire family lineage of them.  Generations of characters.  You'll end up playing your first character's grandson and very well likely that character's grandson in an attempt to complete the ultimate goal of slaying this demon who has cursed this family.  Now, the article says that the curse is that every member of the family will only live for two years.  I'm going to try and word this out in a way that doesn't imply two-year olds have to have babies themselves to ensure you don't get a game over.

This could happen in one of two ways, though the first is not the one I'm betting on.  One could guess that the curse has just taken place, so every member of the family itself only has two more years.  However this doesn't seem to fit into the theme or background of the game itself, since it's an actual multi-generation system.  So the method I'm betting on is that every member of the family is only destined to live to a certain age, say somewhere between 15-18.  So in all actuality, they only have two years to live after reaching maturity and thus, the age in which they can actually fight.

I don't think the game, even on PSOne ever saw a release outside of Japan, so there's not exactly a dearth of information about the original that this new game is being made in the image of, so I could be wrong.  Maybe these people just sort of....uh....phase into existence as fully-grown adults but only for two years.  Who knows!  It's Japan, there's demons, it's a video game, so honestly, anything could go.  I guess we'll just have to see based on Japanese impressions of the game.  Unless it actually gets locali-ahahahahaha.

Damnit.

The Regular Show is Pretty Great.

So, I haven't really been in the best mood today.  To say that I've been "blah" is a bit optimistic, but the only real problem it's created is that I've sat here for two hours staring at a blank screen wondering just what to write.  And my mind has kept wandering to, in my opinion, the best Cartoon out there at the moment:  The Regular Show.  And I just...had no real idea on how to do an actual blogpost about it, because I don't want to link to, y'know, full episodes since that might become a felony at some point, but then I realized, hey, Cartoon Network should have clips.  And they do.

Basically, the premise of The Regular Show is to be a goddamn cartoon and be funny.  You don't get a lot of those these days, in all honesty.  Some just want to be 'creative' for creativity's sake, some want to use it as a delivery method of ideals or whatnot, but The Regular Show?  Nah.  It's about two slackers who work at a park.  And....work is used loosely here.  Mordecai, a Blue Jay, and Rigby, a raccoon, are just best buds who like playing video games, hanging out, and looking out for number one.  It's evocative of older shows, where they come up with absurd ideas to make money and fail spectacularly and hilariously, but they duo aren't always looking for money.

In this clip they are, though.  (Embedding is disabled, sorry you'll just have to live with links.)  They just want a little cash for tickets to Fist Pump, a rather popular band in the Regular Show universe.  And they're using their new friends who are coffee dealers to help!  In 80s Montage style.

And in this clip Mordecai and Rigby are having a bit of a wrestling match with.....well, they're just having a wrestling match.  At home.  Which you probably shouldn't do.

And here, Rigby discovers the best plate ever and the duo quickly decide such a great plate deserves a delicious treat atop it, but discover a personal shortcoming preventing them from achieving that.

So, if you're particularly inclined to watching cartoons, consider this the highest recommendation I can offer.  I absolutely love the show and hope you do too.

All in the Cards - Magic 2012

So, I may be tapping into the deepest reaches of nerd-dom here, but I just love love Trading Card games, and while Magic 2012 (Full name:  Magic:  The Gathering:  Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012) may not be the perfect video game form of a TCG, it's acceptable at its worst, and excellent at its best.  There's just something about the strategy involved in a card game like this that gives it an allure I can't resist, not to mention the inherent "Collection" aspect of the game.  I've made it fairly clear in the past that I'm highly susceptible to collecting in games and the like, so you'd actually think that a TCG with a full-range of cards that you can gather would destroy me absolutely.

...And, in all honesty, it could.  I remember staying up til all hours of the morning playing Metal Gear Ac!d 2, grinding battles for points to buy booster packs just to try and get cards I didn't have already.  But the point of the matter here is that Magic 2012 (Nor its predecessor) is not one of those games.  Which is a blessing and a curse all in one.

Instead, what Magic 2012 does is starts you off with two Pre-Constructed Decks (that likely actually just mimic the decks they created for 12th edition) that you can use to try and unlock the rest of the ten available decks through campaign mode.  And as you use, and win, with each deck, you unlock up to 16 more cards per deck that you can swap out with cards in the deck.  Bare minimum deck is 60 cards, so when you unlock everything, you can have a 76 card deck, but, for a more optimized experience, it's heavily advised that you pare it down to 60 again, using your own judgment to decide what you need and what you don't need.

Doing some quick math here, every deck starts with 60 cards, with about 25 of them being lands, and with copies of cards, you can generally take that number down quite a bit still.  So let's figure on there being about 20 cards per deck being unique, not to mention the unlockables (which are sometimes copies as well.)  Bump the number up to, being generous, about 28.  Times that by 10, you get 280, which seems like a good number.  That's the number of unique cards I'm figuring are in the base game, or something of a rough guess, at least.  Every deck is different of course, but it's a fairly simple guesstimate anyway.  $10 for 280 unique cards is pretty good!  Even though you can't really mix and match them like you can with physical cards.

....Getting back to the point, is that Magic 2012 offers a fair bit of bang for your buck (especially if you got it on the Playstation Plus sale like I did.  Sure it was only a couple bucks less, but, well, I saved a couple of dollars) considering the Multi-player is quite well set-up, and there is a rather full campaign.  Pictured above is the campaign path, or at least one of them, with each battle with a planeswalker (the dots with faces in them) offering either a new deck to use or a pass to one of the other two 'campaigns', titled Archenemy and Revenge.  While I haven't played those yet, I took a look at the Archenemy board and it, well, looks kind of like the campaign board.  So even if you don't have any friends who'd geek out with you in a TCG, you can still play it.

Or, if you do have friends to play it with, you can.  And possibly lose spectacularly.



So if you're looking for a TCG game and don't mind minimal customization, consider this an endorsement for Magic 2012.  Once you get used to the flow of the game, it really captures the essence of playing face-to-face.  And speaking of, apparently there's an option where you can actually use your Playstation Eye to sort of Video Chat during matches online like only a few other PSN titles that I can think of (Hustle Kings being one of them.  I think.) can do.  Which is actually pretty neat, if you're playing with someone you know personally, or if you're just not camera shy.

Let's Talk About Minecraft Again - 1.7 Edition

Now, we all know I've repeatedly Lamented my lack of ability to play Minecraft, thanks to the gruddiness of my computer (which is only slightly less gruddy), but we all know I still follow it from afar, watching with bated breath for the day which I may get my clutches on the 'finished' product to make my blocky dreams come true.  Until then, as is the custom, I find that I catch every piece of news about the game that comes to pass (being subscribed to about, ohh.....five people who play Minecraft on Youtube pretty regularly will do that) and I always find a bit of intrigue in just what happens to make the game grow.

Pictured above are likely the biggest things added in the latest update:  Pistons.  Now, we all know what pistons are; they're things that move up and down and occasionally move things.  And in Minecraft, that's what Pistons are all about, is moving things.  People have already come up with rather neat ways to use these (specifically Sticky Pistons) to make lots of neat things, including, of course, secret passages.  As you can see below, the possibilities are colorful and varied.

As always if you prefer, feel free to just take that to Youtube proper to watch it better.

Colorful trailer aside, (As it really was pretty nice) it really does highlight the various uses for whatever you could desire.  As long as it involves something that can be done by just moving blocks.  Still, just from the doorway thing they showed, that's enough for some real big enticement there, as if you could hide switches in your house well (which, you can, currently) and run Redstone wire well, you could have a lot of really neat things going on.

I -was- going to talk more on the subject, but my current rage at MSN being unable to send goddamn messages has ruined my ability to think.  I'll try and edit something else in if I think about it.

PSP Dual-Packs Out Now: What's Next?

So, today's Playstation Store Post had a lot of interesting fare for the customers, including the Uncharted 3 MP Beta (for Plus and inFamous 2 purchasers, which, hell, is pretty much everyone) and Beyond Good & Evil HD (Not to mention some real tempting deals for Plus members), but it also brought in the first (of a few, hopefully) wave of PSP Dual-Packs, pictured above.  As pictured, there are only three, and the offerings seem slightly strange at first, what with the two Syphon Filter games separated, and packed with other games, but it's smart, at least, because Sony wants you to buy both!  The only thing that bothers me is that I have a two copies of Killzone:  Liberation already (Physical and digital) but I don't have Logan's Shadow.  Jerks.

What I'm not quite sure on about these dual packs is if they're just two game cases packaged in a neat little box, or some sort of barebones mess that any PSP Bundle comes with, with everything but a case, surely to drive purists crazy.  (Like me.  I -need- cases for my UMDs, damnit!)  But as it is, it seems a solid deal;  Two games of at least mid-level quality for $15?  No problem.  The fact that they're available in both Physical and Digital mediums shows forethought, which is just lovely.  While I may not need to be able to play, say, Secret Agent Clank, on my Playstation Vita, the ability to do so is alluring, just because.

Clearly, despite assertions to the contrary, the PSP library is rather large and varied, so the possibilities for future dual-packs is fairly impressive; especially if/when Squeenix gets on-board.  Hopefully it'll be what kicks them in the ass enough to get their goddamn games on the PS Store.  Between Final Fantasy Tactics:  War of the Lions, Crisis Core, Star Ocean:  First Departure, Star Ocean:  Second Evolution, Kingdom Hearts:  Birth By Sleep (Which might be an issue with Disney), Valkyrie Profile:  Lenneth, Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II they should be able to find some things they can put on the goddamn PS Store together for $15.  And that's just one dev; imagine all the others.  Persona pack from Atlus?  Disgaea pack from NIS?

Yeah.  I certainly don't expect this to be the last we'll hear of the Dual-Pack scenario.  Let's just hope the next lineup is just as favorable as the first!

Dragon's Crown To Use Touch Screen in a Good Way

Now, while I may not be as excited for Dragon's Crown as some people (merely because the company/dev is more of an unknown to me, haven't played their games that I know of) I can always applaud someone taking something that is, of course, purely optional, and doing something neat with it.  That is to say, of their own volition, and in a way that will not bring upon annoyance to the players.  (See:  Sixaxis support in 99% of PS3 games)  And from the sounds of it, Dragon's Crown will do just that.

For ease of use, the touch screen will be allowed to be used to select items for quick consumption, which is neat, but that's not really the big thing.  The big thing is using the touchscreen as a sort of call-back to those point-and-click adventure games where clicking something right made something happen.  (Which sounded a lot better in my head before I typed it)  Pressing a section of a wall, for instance, will crumble it and reveal a secret item or way forward.  So from start to finish, you'll be looking at the background, not only to admire it, but to inspect it for hidden clues and things.  Which will only make you appreciate the art that much more, of course, which is a good thing.

Hopefully this and Uncharted will continue the trend of showing other developers ways to implement the touch screens in fun and purely optional ways, so that we get some better ideas from them.  I know I'm not adverse to touching a touch screen anymore, as my Rune Factory 3 playing has more or less forced me into it to save seconds here and there.  So I know if there's ways about it, I'll be ready to do it.

Transfarring, Transfarring, Transfarring

Okay.  I think I can go without spelling it wrong anymore.  Kojima said recently that 'all future games of his will feature Transfarring in some way.  Which, well, is mighty cool.  If you don't know what Transfarring is, well, I have cleverly given you a link to the actual official page on it, which might help shed some light on this three-phase project.  Yes, three phases.  Phases is probably the wrong term, though, because it's really just three different styles to implement Transfarring, which you probably know of already.

Style 1:  Transfering Transfarring your PSP and PS3 game saves for PSP Remaster games between each console.  (The example given, obviously, is Metal Gear Solid:  Peace Walker.)  So, start a game on your PSP while you're out, get home, transfarr (Yes, I'm going to keep doing this) your save to PS3 and resume!  Since the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection will feature a downloadable version of Peace Walker PSP, there's actually no reason why you shouldn't take advantage of this.  For those of us who've already bought the game, well, free code to share with a buddy, I suppose.  Or, if you bought a UMD version (like me), then now you don't have to rebuy it for Vita.

Style 2:  Transfarring between PS3 and Vita for PS2 Remastered games.  Listed as an example is the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which, this Style is the one that is the most confusing to everyone so far, since Konami's been fairly tight-lipped about it.  Does this mean the Metal Gear Solid/Zone of the Enders (Possibly Silent Hill) Collections will also be available on the Vita?  That.....seems like it would be the only case given the context of Transfarring (Swap your saves to play on the go and/or at home), but being able to play Zone of the Enders 2 -anywhere- is a dream I dare not dream lightly.  So I'm going to wait for official word on that before I get my hopes up.

Style 3:  Transfarring between PS3 and Vita for....PS3/Vita games.  Listed here is the still-unannounced 'Fox Engine' game.  This is the one that's pretty much what we've seen already with the title Ruin that claims you'll be able to stop playing the game on your PS3 or Vita (after saving), pick up whatever you weren't playing it on, and resuming from right (or about) where you left off.  Which is fascinating technology, of course, if it works (which it didn't quite seem to do in the E3 Keynote, unfortunately.  Maybe it was just all the nervousness though.  The Ruin guys were just not prepared at all, poor dudes.) and I have no doubt that there will be -some- way to make it work.

Curiously, a lot of games weren't mentioned, but key of all is the already announced but on rocky waters Metal Gear Rising.  Metal Gear Rising would certainly be considered an "Upcoming title" and, with the touchscreens on the Vita, it would seem a natural candidate for the precise cutting the game has been shown to offer.  If the 360 version gets Kinect support (which, well, -was- announced, of course), it's possible the PS3 might get Move support as well and if all works out like it seems, then we just might get to cut watermelons on the go.  (Also support structures and soldiers.)  Perhaps that's even been what's holding the game up.

Reasons to Own an Xperia Play: +1 (Kind of.)

So it was announced today that the Mobile version of Minecraft, previously announced in vague terms, such as a release date of "Sometime", followed by "Sometime in 2011" just got a little, tiny-bit more defined; this time as "Sometime in 2011, on the Xperia Play.  Then another sometime in 2011 for other mobile devices." in fewer words, likely.  While a bit weird to think of it on a couple levels, it does eventually work out for everybody, as mapping it to the controller-like....controls of the Xperia Play may just open the door for console versions at some point.....or perhaps a version styled after a similar handheld device with a similar control scheme that may or may not be codenamed NGP.

I am a very hopeful person, I understand.  It is quite possible that I've already started thinking of just how it would be custom-mapped to the NGP's controls, like swiping the back panel to place a block, or assigning general commands to general buttons - inventory to start, hot-bar navigation to L and R, looking around to the wonderful new right stick with movement to the left, X to jump, Square to punch, Circle to activate an item....etc., etc.

This is....this is all hypothetical, of course.  I haven't been thinking about this at all.  Assuredly.  Just, uh....just trust me on that.

Anyways, the point is, early access and a possibly better overall mobile experience, considering the controls, of Minecraft Mobile was announced, and that's pretty cool.  Now they just need a few more dozen good reasons to convince anyone to own an Xperia Play.

(Also, this is a little side-note, but some of you may notice the timestamp of this article and go, "Hey, I was around at 11:30 PM EST, and this wasn't up!" and that's because blogger went down and wouldn't let me sign in.  I'll be damned if I let that interrupt my daily flow now that I know how to Time Travel.  Of course, I will only use this power when it's Blogger getting in my way, not the weather.)

 Update!:  A few details have come out for Minecraft Mobile (my name), including the tentative(?) title of "Pocket Edition" for reasons that are no doubt immediately obvious.  So far as we can tell, the game is multi-player ready, but only in short-ranges, and there's not the actual single-player portion of Minecraft; merely Creative Mode in a capped limit world.  (Of which there can be multiples, I would hope.)  For the uninitiated (I use this phrase a lot, I hope it'd not condescending) Creative Mode is essentially the Infinite Lego version of Minecraft where all or most of the block types are immediately and infinitely available for you to build with.  No need to go off and 'harvest' anything, just build your masterpiece and admire it.

It also re-confirms that it will be exclusive to Xperia Play for undisclosed amount of time and, without giving specs out, says it'll run at 30+ FPS.  Which, hey, for Minecraft, is fairly impressive! (Or so I hear.)

This is Neat - Game-Making Program on DSWare

I checked over at Siliconeria and saw this little article about Petit Computer, a program you'll be able to download from the DSiWare Shop in Japan(For now, don't know about an American/PAL version).  That's the problem I have with linking Siliconeria stories, is that they often deal with exclusively Japan-centric things.  But regardless, I'd imagine the chances of this seeing American shores would be pretty good; why wouldn't they bring it over, I mean?

Anyways, the program allows you to handle the programming and art side of games, programming things in BASIC (which, I'll admit, I have no idea on; from what the comments say, it seems like it's not anyone's first choice) while using a graph square to make your sprites for your characters and other assets.  While you can't make the best looking thing around, a little time will net you something neat-looking at the very least.

The games made will be able to be distributed online, as they save on the SD card in your DSi, so everyone will be able to see just what you've made!  Though a bit limiting, this is still a step in the right direction, as far as I'm concerned.  Since, well, this reminds me of a subject I've been thinking on for a while now.

Do any of you guys remember the RPG Maker series of games?  It always struck me as odd as they were around when it was, well, cumbersome to allow anyone who wasn't in your household to play your game (not counting the PC versions), yet as soon as Online Distribution through game consoles and such boomed, the games never showed up again.  Someone should, y'know, bring that back.  Since now it's going to be a lot more appealing to people, especially after the success of LittleBigPlanet and similar games where User-Created Content reigns supreme.

Nier Gets Ultimate Hits Re-Release....In Japan

I was looking around at the usual circuits for something to write about today, when this Siliconera article caught my eye:  Square Enix CEO Wonders If He Should Run Through Nier a Second Time, which....frankly, kind of confused me.  I didn't know quite what it meant, but after I read the article, I finally got it.  And felt the need to make an article about it here to let you guys know the importance of what apparently plenty of people including the CEO of the fucking publisher don't know about Nier.  But first, I want to direct your attention to something.

This box art is fucking sweet, dudes.  Despite Raiden-Nier on the cover, I still think it looks really righteous, and the Ultimate Hits part of it doesn't seem too bad, even though I'm not a Red-box/Different case hater.  At least, not in the less extreme cases.  (Specifically, well, the Red Blu-Ray cases for Greatest Hits, that I mentioned just last sentence.)  I just wanted to draw attention to that since it was pictured in the article and I thought it was awesome and wanted to share.

Anyways, the point of this is about what the body of the article said.

Producer Yosuke Saito hopped on Twitter asking players who purchased the popular edition to run through Nier twice since that’s the beginning of Nier.

Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square Enix, responded to Saito’s tweet saying it’s been a long time for me, I wonder if I should give the second run a peek.

Specifically what this is mentioning, since I don't consider there to be a 'second run' of Nier aside from starting a New Game, is the New Game +.  The second run being you beat the game once, get the first ending, and then, well, start the NG+.  I really don't know what to say about people who only get the first ending of Nier and then claim to have beaten it.  Because, well, that's like a fourth of the game.  New Game + takes part from the second half of the first run, granted, but everything's a little different, without spoiling much.

So here's my little PSA:  If you play Nier, play all of it.  This isn't like your normal New Game + where you just play through the game again and retain your levels and stuff.  Every time you NG+ it, there's a little something different, even if it's just the Ending portion.  But trust me, you will know when you have beaten Nier.  There will be no doubt.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy is pretty awesome so far you guys.

So, I'm sure we all remember a while ago when a trailer for a Live Action MK movie went out, which was later revealed to be a pitch someone made by calling in a few favors to all involved to create.  Or something.  Anyways, the point is, it was pretty goddamn good.  I'm not sure if it was intended to be called "Mortal Kombat:  Rebirth" or not, and honestly searching for the goddamn thing proved to be too frustrating for me to care at the moment, but the point is, it was really neat and if you haven't seen it by now, you should watch it.  Especially before watching the following.




Now, yes, I did embed it here, but you'd likely be better served by watching it here instead, since you'll get a better experience, almost assuredly.

I'm sure you can tell by the title, but I quite enjoyed this.  I think it was a bit too heavy on the slow-motion, and in terms of real, meaty content, I'm not sure 10 minute chunks will be able to satisfy as fully as one would hope.  Still, I watched it earlier and then immediately watched it again, grinning all the while.  And the fact that I'm talking about it now, at Episode One, rather than patiently waiting for a few to craft a carefully thought out opinion on it speaks of the excitement involved.

This is basically just me showing you the bright spot of my day, since it's actually been a pretty rough day.  I have energy, though!  So I imagine my lethargy is finally passing a bit.  Or, perhaps just because I flew into a hulk rage at looking up that first trailer/pitch/thing, I'm feeling alright.  Still, I just wanted to put that out there to quell any possible worries.  Anyways.  Go, enjoy Mortal Kombat at its best in years.

Actually Pretty Cool - Hoard (PSP)

So, I grabbed the demo for the PSP version of Hoard earlier while I was waiting out official meteorological consensus that the storms for today had passed, which meant that I wouldn't have to worry (much) about getting back to the normal electronic lifestyle.  I'd been meaning to grab the demo ever since it became available because, I mean, dragons, but I just hadn't, since I've been a bit preoccupied in my gaming and such, as one might surmise from my posts here.  Now, with nothing but time on my hands, I figured, "Welp, it's time", and managed to grab it before the PSN became rather hard to access today for reasons.

Upon starting it up, I navigated through a couple of the menus and tried out the offered tutorial, which involves telling you about the overall goal of the game, which is to collect gold to take back to your hoard, because, well, Dragons.  Dragons are pretty fond of gold, you see!  But all they do is keep it, presumably to look at when life gets them down, especially after putting a little fire in the air to make them glint and glitter.  But they collect other things, like Princesses and Jewels, which you also can steal through different circumstances; destroying a carriage in the former, destroying a wizard's tower in the latter.

The way the game is played is rather simple; you burn things to get gold, take it back to your hoard, rinse, and repeat.  Of course things get varied so it's not so cut-and-dry.  Over time, the map grows and grows as civilization does, cities rise up, fields grow, and eventually offensive buildings go up as well, like Knight Towers and Mage Towers.  Knowing what to burn and what not to is cruicial; letting towns flourish to start is a good idea so that you can swoop in and burn part of it later, just enough to frighten them into sending you tributes of gold directly to your hoard.  And as an added bonus, any archers that come from the town will from then on, fire at any dragon that is not you.

Unless, of course, the town square is destroyed, because that essentially acts as a reset button for the fear.  I imagine because there's an implied deal of "We give you gold, you make sure we don't die in a fire or by a giant", and upon failing that, they're like, "Welp, Dragons suck".  But of course, I might be thinking into it a bit too much.

Over time, provided you haven't died (upon doing so, you're forced back to your hoard to recover), and a thief or other dragon hasn't stolen from you, you gain a multiplier, which, as you would imagine, multiplies the amount of gold you drop off.  Burn a cart that drops 100 gold and take it to your hoard with a 3x Multiplier (which is as high as it will go) and you'll obviously get 300 gold.  You eventually get to 'level up' as you get more and more gold, which lets you upgrade you dragon's speed, fire-breath, carrying capacity, and defense which will last the entirety of the match.

Admittedly, I just played the demo version, but I can imagine in the future, I'll end up picking up this version of the game, since it's really fun drop-in-and-out style playing; the basic modes offer a time limit that doesn't go on too long, but, from my experience, makes me just want to go another afterward.  "Just once more", of course.  I'd urge you to give it a shot if you haven't already since, well, demos are free, after all.  (Aside from Duodecim's.)

Actually Pretty Cool - The PSP Internet Radio

So, if you have a PSP, you've probably seen the little icon for the Internet Radio and skipped over it, completely uninterested.  I know I did until last night.  After checking something on the browser concerning Dynasty Warriors:  Strikeforce, I wasn't ready to get to bed yet, but I didn't want to start up Valkyria Chronicles 2 because I've been kind of slacking with it; I'm in December, I know what's in store, and I'm just really not prepared to face it.  Sure, I could probably overcome it, but it would be frustrating as hell and probably drive me to grind needlessly since Levels don't really do that much.

But anyways, this isn't about VC2.  I'd gotten the Internet Radio Players before and tried them out, but after listening to about an hour of music I'd never heard before and never wanted to hear again, I decided maybe my horizons didn't need broadened -that- much.  But last night, for whatever reason, I just decided to go for it.  (Well, I tried Qirocity first, but no such luck there as it's still not active for PSPs or something.)  Heading to the site, I immediately realized that, "Hey, there's new radio players!".  Since the last time I tried this feature out (Which may be ridiculously far back, or maybe I just forgot) they'd added these little "Clip" radio stations that are just based on single genres.  To give it a shot, I grabbed the one for Rock, Soundtrack, J-Pop, "Counterculture" (since I didn't know, nor do I yet, know what it's supposed to be), Game, and Classical.

The Clip Station layout.  This one is for Video Game music, if you couldn't gather.

They're pretty basic; just an image similar to the above, and, when applicable, the radio station will be displayed at the bottom and the song/artist at the top.  To switch stations, you hold square and hit up on the analog nub.  Sound quality was good except for one station which played the last five or so seconds of a song that I recognize but can't remember and it's driving me crazy, as those five seconds kind of faded in and out.  There are a few other stations like that, but all the players that I tried provided various options for my musical needs and even surprised me with music that I, gasp, recognized!  Hearing a piece from the score of Hannibal was a delight even if it wasn't the strongest song in the movie.

I couldn't help but lament the fact that, when you're on the go you're likely not in a position to really take advantage of the feature, given that Wi-Fi might not always available, which just made me remember the NGP's proposed 3G functionality.  Which just made me hope upon hope that the internet radio feature will make the transition as well.  On the one hand, it's such a neat little thing that can't be too difficult to do, so it's hard thinking it wouldn't be in, but on the other hand, it's a fairly small feature that maybe not a lot of people take advantage of.  Either way, if it's not implemented, I'm sure there'll be other ways to get the music fix whenever.  Still, if you're able, I'd recommend you at least check it out.  It might not be last.fm or anything of the sort, but does last.fm have radio stations dedicated solely to Squeenix music and Zelda music?

I think not.

(I don't know.)

UPDATE:  Since making this post, I kept thinking about it, and eventually manged to figure out where I'd heard the song from.  Surprisingly, it was from Metal Gear Solid:  Peace Walker.  It's Koi No Yokushiryoku (Love Deterrence).